Cyberpunk 2077: V

Chapter 24: The Recording

"Are you two done playing around?" Evelyn's clipped voice cut into the air as V pulled out of the brain dance.

"Playin' around?" Judy asked with a mock hurt tone. "Now Ev, you brought this merc to me and didn't tell me she'd never taken a dive before. Barely popped and now you're pushin' for more? We're movin' on now okay, just needed to make sure she knew the ropes before lookin' at your scroll."

A muscle in Evelyn's jaw twitched as she stared cooly back at Judy, who returned her gaze with a fond smirk. She then turned to V.

"Anyway, you ready to look at your rec now that you got the hang of it?"

V sat there, a thought forming at Judy's words. This was V's first time EVER diving into a braindance, and she'd only just now played with an editor and scanner. She picked it up fast, but she didn't want to risk being so distracted with manipulating the braindance that she missed out on critical info for the gig. Evelyn Parker didn't even know what she was looking for in her own scroll, so where did that leave V?

The solution popped into her brain, and she sat up in the chair.

"Yeah I'm ready, but before I dive in I wanna call in a part of my team, T-bug, to shadow me."

V had barely finished her sentence when Judy's eyes widened and she shot to her feet. Her chair smacked against the server rack behind her.

"Woah woah woah - who?!"

Judy didn't trust easy it seemed; not that V could blame her. V held up her hands to placate her.

"She's the runner in my crew; I'm not a solo artist. She's also our security specialist and knows literally everythin' there is to know about ICE, net-warping, alarms, anti-runner bugs, etc...she'll be able to tell me what to look for and help us pick up some good intel, instead of just havin' me stumblin' around in there." V paused, then asked, "That's not a problem, is it?"

Judy crossed her arms and stared daggers at V.

"Actually, it IS a problem," Judy hissed. She turned sharply to look at Evelyn. "NOT what we agreed, Ev."

Evelyn didn't say anything, just stared at both of them with pursed lips. The silence stretched on a beat before V spoke up again.

"Look Judy, sorry to spring this on ya. I don't know what you and Evelyn agreed to, but like you said; this is my first time playin' with braindances. It would make sense to have a professional, a member of my own crew, come in and shadow and help me analyze the rec. It'll get done faster that way and then I'm gone and out of your hair. And T-bug is also discreet to a fault, lemme tell you. You can trust her."

Judy gestured angrily towards V.

"Why, 'cause YOU say so?!" she shouted.

Evelyn finally spoke up then. Her boots creaked as she stood up from the desk and walked a few steps towards Judy.

"Please, Judy..." Evelyn said softly. She stopped just in front of Judy, the desk between them. "I'd never expose you to any danger, you know that..."

They stared at each other for a few seconds, Judy's eyes flickering over Evelyn's face. From where V was sitting, she could see Judy's expression soften, then fall. She'd given in. With a tired sigh, Judy stepped back and fell heavily into her chair.

"All right V," she called out. "Call T-bug, and we'll dive in..."

V nodded to her, gave a look to Evelyn, then pulled up her phone HUD and hit dial on T-bug's profile. The strange ghostly "T" popped up, and the line rang a couple of times. Then the chirp of a connection and T-bug herself appeared, looking chill as usual.