Cyberpunk 2077: V

Chapter 7: The Meeting

Before she left V took a moment to chat with Vik about the fight he was watching; apparently it was a rerun. They spent a few minutes discussing the state of fighting nowadays, and how much it had changed in Vik's lifetime. It was all chrome and enhancements now. No more flesh and blood fights. V almost told him about the fights Coach Fred had set up for her, but embarrassment kept her mouth shut still. She'd win one, and then tell him she decided.

V made her way back up to Misty's shop. The alleyway was still empty, with no sign of the cat from earlier. She was about to stride into the shop itself when she heard Misty's voice. For some reason V felt her steps slow, then stop, pausing just inside the doorframe. 

"Your heart chakra is out of wack, babe," Misty said with a long, drawn out breath. "I can release it for you, but you have to watch out for any negative energy fields...and avoid mean reds, anything red!"

V slowly looked down at herself. She was wearing a bright red leather jacket; an old hand-me-down of Vik's from his "punk days" as he called them, along with red boots. Something twisted in her chest.

Not wanting to dwell on it, V cleared her throat and stepped into the back shop. Misty was in the middle of saying something else, but Jackie's eyes lit up and focused on V, interrupting her. 

"V, yo listen up!" he cried from his sitting position in the esoteric chair. "I talked to Dex while you were in with the doc!"

V was able to catch the faintest look of disappointment on Misty's face before her neutral expression returned, and she stepped back, letting Jackie speak. V gave her what she hoped was a friendly smile. Jackie continued.

"He's waitin' in his ride. For you. Ain't but a hop to where he's parked, next to Gramsci Burgers."

Gramsci Burgers; she and Jackie would sometimes get takeout from there whenever they visited Misty or Vik. It was just around the corner, about a block away on the other side of the overpass behind the Jacked and Coke. V shuffled her feet, shivering as a cold sensation welled up her spine. A warning. She shouldn't be doing this. They shouldn't be doing this. Something was wrong. 

V wanted to say something, but with what Misty had just said, she elected to let it go. This would be a conversation just for her and Jackie, later. For now, she would do what she told Vik she would do; meet with this Deshawn character and come up with her own assessment.

"All right, I'll go talk to 'im," she finally managed to spit out. 

She noticed then that Jackie had an acupuncture needle in his chest, one of the long "tuning" ones that Misty used. V gestured to it with a sly grin.

"Ah, so they finally got ya, huh? Stake through the heart? What's next, a garlic rubdown?"

Jackie's laugh made the tuning needle bob up and down comically, but before he could say anything Misty intervened.

"Babe, no laughing or you're going to throw off the calibration!"

Jackie's laughter faded, and he gave V an apologetic grin. V stuck her tongue out at him, then turned to Misty. She was back at her counter, shuffling her old tarot card deck. Wanting to be friendly, and convince herself she was reading too much into what Misty said as she walked in, V moved up to the column and lightly leaned against it. 

"So Misty, how's biz? Booming?"

V said it with a mix of a slight joke and genuine curiosity. Misty's lips twitched as she continued to shuffle. She sighed.

"You're the first person to walk in here for two days. And two days ago it was a pizza guy, got lost." She leaned onto the counter, shaking her head. "People in this town, they've lost their spiritual connection!"