Cyberpunk 2077: V

Chapter 9: Gifts

While V wandered the streets talking to Jackie, her message HUD had blinked a few times indicating incoming texts. V didn't really get texts from anyone other than Jackie or Vik or Misty, so she took a moment to see what was going on.

Regina Jones had messaged her again; the woman was persistent. The message went into great detail about her expectations for cyberpsycho heists. To the best of V's ability, when Regina called about a potential psycho, she was to drop everything and head there to get ahead of MaxTac. V's eyebrows raised at the price Regina said she would pay for V's quick action, and she felt her heart rate go up. It was a good chunk of eddies. 

Next was a message from Coach Fred. The old hustler had already sent her a detailed layout of the unofficial champions in the city's districts, ranking them in order of strength. He was more excited than V thought. At the bottom of the list, the strongest of them all, was a woman named Rhino. V had actually heard about her through rumors and street mutterings. Even though she was part of the Animals and drank stims by the gallon, V had heard that she was a decent sort of gonk. All Rhino seemed to care about was fighting and lifting weights. V knew she'd have to train a bit harder in order to even stand a chance again a hopped up meathead like her, however.

The last message was from Vik, surprisingly. 

"Hey V...thought just occurred to me - can't start your career in the major leagues right by sporting some rag of a t-shirt. The wind blows a lot stronger up there on top of the world. Old-timers like me hate to see you kids catch cold :) Left ya a couple of things in the trunk of your car while you were at your meetin'. Give'm an honest try and I bet they'll treat you just right."

V's heart swelled with appreciation and love for her old ripper. Kyroshi's and a new hand rig on credit, and now on top of that, free threads? Vik spoiled her; which was half the reason Misty and Jackie gave her so much guff. But outside of her schoolgirl crush on Vik, which V knew realistically would never lead anywhere, she had real affection for the man who treated her with true, genuine kindness. It was still a lot of stuff to just be...given like that however, especially in one day.

She quickly replied, "C'mon Vik, feel like I owe ya a bajillion eddies already. No way I can accept another gift!"

V stared at her HUD, hoping that she didn't come off as ungrateful; but Vik was too nice. The reason she even had half the clothes that she did was from Vik's "punk days" clothes donations. And now he was going to hand her even more?

After a couple of seconds, a reply popped up.

"Another? Hope you didn't think those Kyroshi's were charity... Anyway, where else could I find a home for these things? Not Misty's style and my bad boy biker days are behind me."

Another text box immediately joined the message.

"Look, what I said about once carin' about who's who and what's what? Lookin' the part was half that battle. Hopefully these ole rags of mine will give you a good startin' point to figure out your brand. There's one item I think you'll like in particular. Now, don't forget to take the second huff of your medicine, all right? Take care, V."

V smiled to herself. Jackie, Misty, and Vik had talked to her about her "brand" once. She was indeed still trying to figure it out, and was now intrigued about what goodies Vik had tossed in her trunk. Just as V went to close the message app, a new text popped up. It was from Dex. Smile and good humor fading, V opened the message.

"Ms. V, how's about somethin' to get the tastebud's tinglin'? The biochip, our target, is in fact the so-called 'Relic'; a nova-tier piece of tech catering to the top 1%. Supposedly the best life insurance that money can buy. You and I are going to be neck deep in eddies."