Cyberpunk 2077: V

Chapter 61: Amends

Despite V's exhaustion, she wasn't able to stay asleep.

She found herself in the same fucking nightmare again—the one with the dark table and three cards, a thick void around her untouched by a flickering overhead lamp. And again came the slash of fangs and the burst of pink-red eyes, followed by the terrible voice:

IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME!

I'VE FOUND YOU ONCE-

I'LL FIND YOU AGAIN!

V clawed her way out of sleep, waking to find herself half out of the bed nook, sheets wrapped around her legs, one hand stretched out toward the door like she was trying to escape.

At least she hadn't been screaming her head off this time.

She drifted in and out of consciousness after that, power napping, as it were—her subconscious ready to pull her out of trouble the instant something strange tried to creep into her dreams. When V finally woke up for probably the fourth or fifth time, feeling like she got at least some rest, the sun was out, and it was 0900.

While V munched on a sad breakfast of lukewarm cheese burritos, she sent a text to Regina to remind her that V was going to be unavailable today and tomorrow, as she had a previous gig set up. Regina seemed to have cooled off from snapping at V yesterday; she sent back a brief but understanding message, telling V that she was tracking and to let her know when she was ready to start running after cyberpsychos again.

V just sent back a thumbs-up in reply.

After breakfast, V shoved her burrito wrappers into the trashcan, then made her way to the bathroom. When she saw herself in the mirror, she cringed.

She looked like shit. Pale skin, dark circles; Jackie was right. The closest she could hope to looking corpo in that moment would be one that was on a perpetual bender. But, there was some good news. The makeup she'd picked up would cover up everything she didn't want seen, and that cut over her eyebrow was completely gone.

Looking down at her hands and forearms, V saw that the leftover cuts and small bruises on her fingers were all gone. The vicious bruising on her arms was almost completely healed now, just mottled patches of yellow that she knew would disappear within a few hours. After a quick splash of water on her face, V moved back into the main room of her one-bedroom apartment.

She paced, restless. Her apartment felt smaller than usual today, like a cage instead of a haven. As much as she wanted to waltz out of there, V forced herself to stay put. She knew better than to set one foot out of that apartment today—especially with Jackie already on edge with her. Especially with that 2 p.m. call waiting for her. It was the only thing on her schedule today, and she couldn't afford to screw it up.

It was hard though, just sitting there. The sounds of the city droned outside her window, almost calling to her to come out and play. Her scanhop app chirped a few times, filling V with a surge of adrenaline before she realized she couldn't answer them. It made her pacing faster, more restless. She made loops around her room, cycling through multiple radio stations, hearing nothing but commercials until her favorite jazz station finally came through with an actual tune. Leaving it on, V hoped the soothing music would calm her down.

It didn't.

Eventually, V found herself stopped at her window, looking out over the skyline. Her eyes zeroed in on a couple of MaxTac AVs soaring through the sky, heading over toward Northside. Another cyberpsycho attack? V set her scrollers to search the web for any info, the strange feeling of being "left out" cutting through her chest.

But whatever was going on was someone else's nightmare, someone else's mess.

Not hers. Not today.

After a couple more rounds of pacing, V forced herself to sit down at her desk. She pulled up the Net and threw herself into car sites, looking up repair videos, parts, and paint for her new Type-55, Shetan. That took up a good chunk of her time and proved a worthwhile distraction, as cars always were for her. She added a bunch of things to her various carts, saving them for future purchase with the eddies they were going to be grabbing from the Big Gig.