Cyberpunk 2077: V

Chapter 44: The Diner

It was early evening now. It didn't feel like a day had passed—V felt like she had lived the whole week in just the last 12 hours. She was tired and sleepy, but she decided she was going to take Mama Welles's advice to heart. To go do something she wanted to do. As she sat in the Orange, she texted one of the boys that owned The Grid—the garage that she frequented.

It was neutral territory for all gangs, including Maelstrom, which meant that the three teens who ran it did pretty well for themselves. V didn't know how (or if) the kids were licensed mechanics, but she'd seen enough NCPD vehicles getting worked on in the shop itself to suggest that if they were operating "under the table," Night City's finest weren't about to bust them.

Just as she turned on the Orange and shifted into drive, she got a text back from Ace, the head honcho of the triad.

Hey V—sorry, but the shop's full tonight. Got some 6th Street in here, and they're hogging everything. Can slip you in tomorrow mornin', early if ya want.

V's shoulders slumped, but she texted back:

Awww—figures. Yeah, sign me up for a mornin' slot. Shouldn't take too long, just gotta finally fix the cracks in the Orange's exhaust. Easy peasy.

Ace replied:

Sick, glad you finally got the scratch to do that. Btw, we had somethin roll in the other day. Been sittin in our storage box. Bit didn't want to get rid of it, said we had to wait, and now that I think about it, I think you'd be verrrry interested in what we got. We'll show ya tomorrow. Chao

V minimized her phone app and sighed, letting her head fall back to thunk onto the seat. There went her idea of something she could do to "relax" and "enjoy herself."

 Was there anything else she could do?

She could go grab Jackie and hit up Tom's Diner or get noodles or pizza and binge-watch trash TV. But Jackie was talking with Mama Welles... and he was going to be spending a lot of time with V on the Big Gig and the crazy gigs beyond, so she wanted to let him spend time with family.

So what else?

After tapping her fingers on the steering wheel for a moment, V decided that Tom's Diner sounded really good right then. She'd hit the diner and eat while she did some research—slurp on fake hamburgers and waxy fries while letting herself dive down information rabbit holes. Sounded like a tame but fun evening. Decision made, she pulled off of the sidewalk and bumped onto the street.

V drove back to her apartment building to park her car, then moseyed her way down the stairs to street level once again so she could walk to the restaurant. The sun had almost set by then, a dull red-orange glow that faded against the black and steel of the skyscrapers around her. V pushed open the door that led out onto the street itself from the stairwell, let it close slowly so the lock didn't jam again, and was about to march forward when she heard a familiar voice from around the corner of the filthy vending machines.

It was Norton.

V had no idea why she did what she did, but something made her freeze, then quietly slip to the side of the closest vending machine to listen. He was talking to someone.

"I told you, Don—" Norton said with a frustrated lilt to his voice.

"Nuh uh," came the terse reply. "We're gonna talk about what happened today. Right now."

V recognized that voice too. Don Peters, Norton's patrol partner. She ever so slightly peeked her head around the corner to see Norton and Peters standing in the vending machine area, the high concrete wall of the main stairway behind them cloaking them in shadow.