Cyberpunk 2077: V

Chapter 37: Sacrum Profanum

Today's theme was water, apparently.

V bumped up over the curb and parked on the sidewalk. Out of her windshield, she could see Jackie's form leaning on a fence overlooking the docks. Cranes, pipes, and ships towered over them, fading into the distance toward the oil fields. Jackie looked over his shoulder at her as she turned off the Hela and slipped out. V quickly trotted over to him, then leaned up against the fence herself. She gave Jackie a little distance, planting her elbows on the rusty red metal about six feet away. She didn't say anything. They stood there in silence for a few minutes, watching as a giant yellow crane picked up cargo and loaded it onto a ship.

"I'm sorry, V," Jackie said softly.

V looked over at him. Jackie was staring at the water, an uncomfortable hunch in his shoulders.

"I didn't mean what I said about you babysittin' me. That... that was outta line..."

V slid across the distance between them and put her hand on Jackie's shoulder.

"You were just upset, I get it," she said softly.

Jackie immediately shook his head and turned to look at V.

"I was pissed, yeah, but that ain't no excuse. It's just... it's just that I'm sick of everyone treatin' me like some fragilito. Like some kid they gotta watch all the time. It's almost like they just wanna wrap me in bubble wrap and stick me in a corner."

V searched his face, seeing the same tension and odd exhaustion in his eyes that she noticed when they were at the Afterlife. She thought she understood why, but she wanted to hear Jackie's own words.

"You've been holdin' on to somethin', Jackie," she said quietly. "Seen it in your eyes. Saw it at the Afterlife. See it now. Somethin's eatin' at you. Crushin' you, looks like. What's goin' on?"

Jackie's eyes fell, then slowly flitted out over the water toward the distant oilfields again. They stood in silence for a few moments before he answered.

"I'm the last Welles boy, V. Brothers flatlined, dad's a ghost... Mama, my family—they always talk like I'm their last hope. The one who'll stay outta the gutter. Feels like I'm walkin' on eggshells every day, tryin' not to make the same mistakes. Almost kicked it once already..."

V nodded, remembering the story of how Jackie almost died while running with the Valentinos.

"But when I woke up in that hospital bed, somethin' else woke up with me. I tried to play it safe for a little while, but there was always somethin' different—somethin' that wanted to succeed beyond just scrapin' by. I wanted to do somethin' with my life, to become somethin' other than an ex-ganger runnin' small-time gigs to scrape enough eddies together to take his girl out for burritos once a month."

Jackie sighed and ran a hand over his face.

"I just wanna do more... y'know? Don't wanna fade away into nothin'. I wanna leave a legacy."

V stepped closer to Jackie, resting her temple on his shoulder. That ball of ice was in her throat again. She understood what Jackie was saying. She understood his need to do something more with his life—to rise up from being just one of the thousands of mercs in the city barely squeaking by. To be someone that his family could be proud of. 

To do something more than just die in a gutter one day.

V understood because, in the end, she felt that call too. Even though it scared her.

"What Misty said, chica, about the long term...it got me thinkin'," Jackie said suddenly. V didn't move, just listened.

"We've been runnin' gig after gig, only really slowed down after the Dorsett job because T-Bug was tryin' to finagle the Heist for us. But...slowin' down, gettin' to spend more time with Misty; we got to talkin' more. It's... it's been good."