Cyberpunk 2077: V

Chapter 10: Let's Make A Deal

As V stepped out of the Edgenet, she brought up her map and dropped a ping on the location Meredith Stout said to meet. Not far at all - how convenient. She briskly walked back to her Quartz Bandit, eased it off the sidewalk, and joined the streams of traffic. The sky looked even angrier than earlier, and the air was filled with the tension of an impending storm. 

V felt the charge in the air around her adding to her own apprehension. The meeting with Meredith could go multiple ways...several of them with V lying in a storm drain with a bullet in her head. She reflected on the information she mentally recorded from the shard Dex had handed her in the car, and her holo-call with Meredith Stout. The corpo agent had a decent career, rising from the ranks before joining the administrative side of the corporation; Internal Affairs. She didn't get to where she was by being a cupcake. V knew that some of the numbers she saw on that record were written in blood. From the way the corpo carried herself, she was used to being obeyed and holding a tight leash on others. Losing the convoy was a red mark on her record of the biggest kind, given the classified nature of the cargo. Her bosses needed someone to blame, and Stout had gotten the finger. The corpo was a rabid coyote backed into a corner with few options for escape. V'd have to play this meeting right.

As V maneuvered her way through traffic and turned onto the slightly smaller streets of Little China, she gave Jackie a call on the holo. After a couple of rings he picked up, his face obscured in shadow.

"This is agent Bloodhound, reporting for duty," he whispered seriously. V smirked, causing Jackie's face to break into a smile.

"Aye just kiddin', what's up chica?"

V sighed as she slowed to let a Quadra move into the lane in front of her.

"On my way to have a little chat with Meredith Stout. When I get there I'll send ya a ping just in case I go dark."

Jackie's smile fell.

"You sure that's wise, V? What's that corpo-cunt even got? She's runnin' around like junkie with 'is head cut off lookin' for that bot. If she knows that you know where it is, what's to stop 'er from fingerin you instead?"

V shrugged. 

"Dunno till I try. We need that bot or it's all off according to Dex. Gonna see if she knows where it is and how close she is to findin' it so we don't get caught with a MiliTech squad showin' up at our doors. Could also get her help with Maelstrom. Have some backup in case things go south."

She knew that Jackie wouldn't like that, especially when he closed his eyes and let out a tired sigh.

"Chica, you know how I feel about dealin' with corpos. Ya can't trust'em. And this chick sounds like a piece of work. Could find a shiv in your ribs instead of a handshake."

While they had been talking, V wound her way through Little China, the traffic thinning out as she went. She turned onto a side street that she knew would take her to the main road to Northside. 

"I know Jackster. I'm not sayin' I'm gonna try to become bffs with her and do brunch every Thursday. This is just intelligence gathering, and maybe a little 'you scratch my back I'll scratch yours'. Need to know what she knows, and I'd rather have MiliTech show up because we made a deal, and NOT as a nasty surprise. Y'see what I mean?"

Jackie pouted for a moment, then nodded.

"I get it, chica. The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

V smiled faintly.

"Exactly. Anyway, I'll let ya know how it goes. In the meantime, how goes your reconnoiter?"

"It goes; but somethin' is up. The factory's gone quiet, which is really fuckin' weird. Usually it's runnin' twenty-four seven. Lot's'a cars parked but no one there. I know the buggers are in there though-see movement through the windows, hear screams..." He paused, then shuddered. "I think they're torturin' the ones who were loyal to Brick."