Cyberpunk 2077: V

Chapter 79: Proditio

How long had it been?

Her vision was a black, cold swimming mass, glitching and sputtering. Her eyes - what happened to her eyes?

V tried to swallow again but felt nothing but fire. Her jaw hurt. Her ears rang.

She couldn't hear over the high-pitched ringing at first, but slowly, painfully, everything began to come back into focus.

That was strange. Someone was screaming.

Vision swam back into clarity, overlaid with an error message. Her Kiroshis were constantly power-cycling. As the error message cleared, eyesight returned along with her hearing.

Someone was screaming and crying.

And that someone was V.

Her shrieking, wet sob cut off with a jolt as she realized where she was. When she saw who she was holding, limp in her arms.

Jackie.

He was cold. Jackie was never cold. Jackie was never-

"Mr. Welles has passed."

A strange, neutral-toned male voice was talking. Who was that?

V blinked again. She remembered; the cab. They were in a cab. Delamain.

"Mr. Welles has passed," Delamain said again, something gentler in his tone. "Where shall I take his remains?"

"W-what?" V whispered, her fingers digging into the drying, stiff, bloody fabric of Jackie's suit jacket.

She registered the screen in front of her face. White skin, blue eyes.

"The Excelsior package provides for the disposal of passenger remains free of charge. I merely require a destination."

V hugged Jackie tighter, protectively. Her mind whirled.

Remains? Jackie? Jackie wasn't... remains. Jackie was Jackie. Big, strong, and loud, and full of life.

"I merely require a destination for Mr. Welles'-" Delamain began again, his words a dagger in V's heart.

"Just - just GIMME A SEC, WILL YA?!" she shrieked at him, tears pouring down her face.

Delamain fell silent. V let out another sob.

What to do? What could she do? Her best friend and brother was lying in her arms. Dead. She had to accept that, now. Accept that she was a failure in every definition of the word. Accept that she failed. She failed Jackie, failed Mama Welles, Vik, and Misty. She failed them all.

How could she make a choice right then, of where to go, what to do? How could she dare choose, when his blood was on her hands... literally?

"V," Delamain spoke again. "We have arrived at the termination of our itinerary. Where shall I take Mr. Welles?"

He didn't say "remains" this time.

V took a deep breath, her cheek pressed into the top of Jackie's head. A single tear fell from her eye and dripped onto sweat-soaked hair. A cold, numb darkness was spilling out of her heart and through her body, making it hard to think.

"Nowhere," she finally whispered.

Her eyes flicked to the windows, taking in where they were, only just now registering that they weren't moving any more. They were parked in front of the No-Tell Motel, the garish red and pink lights blazing above them, shifting and shimmering in the rain.

Dexter DeShawn would be there, waiting for them. But only one of them was going to make the meeting this time.

V swallowed.