Cyberpunk 2077: V

Chapter 62: The Evening Before

After saying goodbye to Misty, V wandered back to her apartment building, texting Jeanie Jean as she went. She asked if Jeanie would be free sometime the next day to help her out with some makeup and hairstyling. Jeanie Jean replied quickly, ecstatic, bombarding V with references, pictures, and sketches of all the ways she wanted to doll her up — until V finally managed to get her own references in, sent from T-Bug.

Jeanie went silent for a couple of minutes, then sent a confused message back: the makeup and hairstyle V had sent her was full on corpo exec style. Was V planning on doing the unthinkable; going for a corp job interview?

V quickly assured her that wasn't the case — that the getup was for a gig. She needed to look a certain part, and look it convincingly. There was no one else she could turn to, no one else with the kind of skill Jeanie had.

Jeanie accepted that, said she'd be free around 1 p.m. and could get V all set up. But she left her with a parting shot — a warning about working with corps. 

Just be careful, sug. Corps have played the long game, figured out how to make their poison taste like sweet tea. Make ya think it's okay to drink from the jug every once'n awhile, draw ya in, then suddenly you're dyin' and desperate and suckin' the sugar of some corpo's toes 

V raised her eyebrows at that analogy, unsure how to respond, and just sent a quick thanks and confirmation that she'd meet Jeanie in her apartment the next afternoon.

She reached her  megabuilding not long after and began the long trek up the stairs, not wanting to risk the screeching elevator again. As she climbed, she texted the boys at the Grid. Ace got back to her quick, letting her know it was quiet at the moment, and she was welcome to swing by anytime to work on the new addition to her car collection.

V told him she'd be by, and asked if the crew wanted any coffee or drinks. Ace enthusiastically said yes, and sent over their orders: a Chromomanticore with espresso shot for Bit, a plain black coffee with cream for Mouse, and a chocolate mocha for himself. Ace tried to send her eddies for the drinks, but V declined. Told him that the fact they'd even put her onto a preem Type-55 like Shetan was payment enough.

She chose to take the Hela out, and parked in front of SynAPSE before walking in to get the coffees. As she went, she looked for Norton — not trying to hide it this time, now that it was just her. He wasn't at the noodle stand. Wasn't outside the precinct. Wasn't in the coffee shop. As V waited for the order, she thought of him again. Hoped he was okay. Hoped he wasn't in too much pain. That he was being safe.

Hoped he didn't think she was a giant weirdo. Or hate her for being a merc.

Shaking off the insistent dark thoughts, she grabbed the drink carrier with her and the kids' coffees, hopped back into the Hela, and headed for the Grid.

The boys were extremely thankful for the java, wishing her well on her journey restoring the new Type-55 and pestering her about her promise to talk to the Delamain AI about a potential maintenance contract. V gave them her reassurances that she would stand by her part of the bargain, then made her way to the storage container her new car was sitting in. As she walked through the lot, glancing at some Sixth Street and Maelstrom working on their rides, she sipped at her marshmallow latte and relished the warmth and sweetness. The coffee fought with her inner turmoil, trying to lighten the lead weight sunk deep in the pit of her stomach with fake sugar.

But it turned out that coffee was a poor attempt at distraction; there was only one thing that could pry V's attention away from visions and fear and dread - a car. And as she opened the doors of the storage container and the lights flickered on to reveal the old black-purple Type-55, all thoughts of the Big Gig and dread and nightmares disappeared.