Cyberpunk 2077: V

Chapter 28: The Pickup

V had to force herself to eat breakfast the next morning. Anxiety was tearing her insides apart in the form of an icy deep ache in her core. She didn't think she could stomach the "eggs" from Tom's Diner, so she slipped down to the noodle stand in front of her apartment building. Like before, there was a little flicker of hope she would see Norton there as she jogged down the stained concrete steps. No such luck. As she sat there slurping on some pepper noodles, she decided to send that gonk badge a message - see how he was doing after their brush with death last night.

Hey, it's V...hope my patch job held up. You good?

Just as V scraped up the last bit of meat and noodle at the bottom of her carton, she got a reply.

Hey V! Did more than that, got me to the station all right. Peters says to thank you for saving my 'dumb ass'. Got my stitches so I'm good to go. Thanks again for showing up when you did.

V smiled to herself, kicking her legs back and forth as she perched on top of the stool.

Any time. You ever need backup, give me a ring on the holo, m'kay?

Norton replied with a simple thumbs up emoticon, causing V to chuckle.

After breakfast she went back up to her apartment and changed into workout gear, then texted Jackie, asking him what time he wanted her to swing by and pick him up. His response surprised her.

No need for that, chica. I'll meet ya there!

V felt an eyebrow raise as she replied:

You got some other driver that I don't know about? Jackster, I'm hurt!

The reply came quick.

Why chica, are you jealous?? :) Have no fear, you'll see later! Meet ya at All Foods at 430 sharp, in the street out front. Hasta luego!

V couldn't help but wonder if the big palooka had FINALLY gotten himself a set of wheels and just hadn't told her yet. That, or Misty was giving him a ride. That was unlikely though, with how Jackie felt about showing up to take her on dates without a car. There was a reason he kept borrowing hers. V pushed it to the back of her mind and resolved to see what Jackie was talking about later that afternoon.

The rest of the day went by pretty quickly. V hit the open-air gym in the building that Coach Fred ran, focusing on some nice light jogging to work off her nervous energy. She didn't want to lift heavy or run too much and get sore. Maelstrom was notoriously finicky and prone to go off randomly. V needed to be in top form in case things went south later, especially since she'd zeroed some of their own no less than a few hours ago. She jogged for a bit, did a bunch of stretching, then passed some time chatting with Coach Fred. He reminded her of the fights, eagerly asking her if she'd tried any of the circuits yet. He was disappointed when V told him no, but that she might wander around and give it a try when she was done with her current gig. The dollar signs lit back up in his eyes when she said that.

After a quick shower, V grabbed a cheese burrito and Spunky Munky, then lounged in her bednook, surfing the net with a little help from T-Bug's "net-cracker" software. V read everything she could about the current Maelstrom situation, and she didn't like what she was seeing. Royce, the turncoat who'd knocked down Brick and taken the Maelstrom crown for himself, was REALLY nasty. Just reading about how he did biz and what he did to people made V's blood boil and her jaw clench. She'd rather go into the factory blasting and take out the chromed-up fucks, those sick bastards who killed their own and innocents alike in gruesome ways then cannibalized their parts for themselves; but they had a job to do....and all that job entailed was walking in with eddies, and out with the Flathead bot.