Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"We're having A MOMENT!"

Rebecca roared, wrenching her heavy rifle up and firing. Adam Smasher's cyborg body shrugged off the AP rounds like normal street iron.

Lucy watched in shock and horror as he simply crushed Rebecca down into the ground, and through it. No one could have survived that impact. Not with the mods Rebecca used.

Down below, in the atrium of Arasaka tower, Rebecca's body twisted out around Adam's falling mass. She flailed through the air like a doll, and crashed into a wall. Blood and servo-fluids gushed out of her sides and limbs. She twitched, trying to look up, trying to focus.

David needed her, she had to... but she passed out from catastrophic damage. The rubble she crashed behind protected what was left of her.

Until Arasaka security found her body at least.

Lucy's eyes snapped open with a sharp inhale. Holoscreens surrounded her like an absurd cage. She quickly straightened, wiping her eyes from awful memories. Slumping back into her chair, she started to rip out the standard connection jack from her neck, but paused as she actually read her screens again.

Arasaka was dying. Something had gone wrong, another terrorist attack some were saying, and their entire 'Secure Your Soul' program had just completely collapsed. For such a monolithic corporation, they were already falling to pieces, only months after the fact.

Lucy took a breath, wiping her hands back over her white hair. Part of her wanted to say it was David, that what he did finally brought the monsters down, in the most horrifying terms to them even, but she knew better.

They'd all been ground up and spit out. The only victory she could hold on to was David giving her the means to see the moon at last.

Maybe she should've just stayed up there.

Her system pinged with a call. Her eyes glimmered, and she frowned a bit, but seeing Falco's name, she just sighed softly before answering.

"Yeah, Falco, I'm here."

"You eaten today?"

"...Can't remember."

"Come on. Unplug, I'll get you something warm."

"Falco..."

"You didn't stay on the moon, so wallowing isn't going to help you with your demons. Come on. All you have to do is sit and eat. I'll keep my mouth shut the whole time if that's what you need."

"Their ICE is in pieces, Falco. I can finally start..."

"You can start after you eat."

Lucy sighed heavily, but pulled the plug from the side of her neck. She hadn't needed any deep diving yet. "...You're picking me up."

"Heh, already outside."

She had to smile a little for that.

Lucy couldn't bring herself to say the words, but she appreciated Falco's friendship. He was a little naggy, but she knew she needed it. He was patient, he was quiet. He reminded her of the important things once or twice, and then let it be. In her own head, she could admit she needed it. She was so close to just... stepping off the edge herself.

The moon wasn't enough without David there.

If she'd just told him what was going on, maybe...

She shook her head against that as she plugged in her deep dive connection on the back of her head, and sank further into the freezing ice water. Her eyes glimmered, and she dove into the networks. Arasaka's subnet was a security disaster now.

Immediately, she could see where they'd tried to shore up their ICE, but it was a bit of a joke compared to their previous standards. For her skills, it was wet tissue paper against cat claws; the toughest part was cleaning her claws after ripping through it.

Dirty little secrets were everywhere, ripe for the taking. Worth less now, with Arasaka already dying, but still valuable. She started to collect the ones that seemed like they'd net the most ennies with the right pressure.

Sucking Arasaka dry felt like the most appropriate 'retirement' plan she could think of.

Lucy couldn't help herself, though. She wanted to know what finally brought them down. Some of the last vestiges of their good ICE were in her way, but their network was in shambles. The massive system that would hammer her down before was too shattered to find her now. It was a single fortress rather than a country she had to crack.

After dodging AI kill-spikes for her entire childhood, this was a vacation.

Mikoshi was apparently the heart of it. A super data-fortress, a vault, that had the engrams for the Secure Your Soul program. At least, that was the public part of its function. Her eyes widened as she confirmed Soulkiller was real. And the damage torn through the system around the void that was Mikoshi, Lucy understood far better than most living net runners.

An AI had torn this place to shreds. Ripped it down to the code and drained it dry in seconds.

An AI getting through the Blackwall to nuke Arasaka made more sense than Lucy cared to admit. It would take one of those digital demigods to actually bring a corporation down, wouldn't it?

But if it got through the Blackwall... Why didn't the AI wreak far more havoc?

So, Lucy kept digging. At last, she found some footage. A team of mercs. Only three, but they crashed a ship into the tower, then dropped down with anti-grav boots. The AI was... helping them. It tore everything apart in front of them once they got a shard into the subnet.

Lucy recognized two of the mercs. One was none other than Rogue, Afterlife's boss and the most powerful fixer in Night City. One of her heavies was with them, but the third was a relatively small woman. Small, but heavily chromed.

When she found footage showing Adam Smasher ambushing the trio, Lucy's heart clenched in her chest. It was so like... but wait. She watched in growing shock.

Rogue died almost immediately, a hand through her chest, but she did manage to jam a grenade right into Smasher's chest plating. He shrugged it off, but it cracked his shell a bit.

And then that third merc, the young woman, she actually charged Adam Smasher--ADAM SMASHER--with her bare hands.

Lucy was too shocked to really process the video feed. The woman was a third Smasher's size with all his mods, but she was just hammering and hammering and hammering him. She was fast, brutal, desperate, but indisputably winning. She broke joints, ripped off weapon systems, while Rogue's heavy mowed down the fodder that was trying to 'help' Adam.

Lucy realized she was nearly on fire with catharsis. She was eating it up, savoring it, watching Adam be broken down, piece by piece, torn open, beaten, knocked around. Something was driving that insane merc that was so different from David or Rebecca or Maine. She wasn't in a cyberpsychotic break, it was just pure, rabid determination and desperation. She had to win. It was etched into every violent, wrenching blow she delivered to Adam's ruined frame.

And at last, Smasher was just kneeling there staring up at the third merc. Lucy clenched up with tension, nearly feral herself, watching with vicarious fury as the merc sent her modified fist right through Adam Smasher's head.

What the hell was this girl made of?

Lucy watched, almost numb, as the girl plugged herself into the Mikoshi access point. The system was nuked then and there, with the speed only an AI could manage.

So yes, an AI brought down Arasaka... but it never would have gotten in without this insane merc that just tore Adam Smasher apart with her hands.

Lucy had to take a few to calm herself down, but she kept digging around. There had apparently been some attempt to revitalize the Secure Your Soul program, but it fell apart before it could really get off the ground.

So she kept digging. With Smasher finally dead, a great deal of her fear was finally off her shoulders. She could almost focus properly.

Then she froze, feeling the cold of her icebath.

Rebecca. They had Rebecca. It wasn't just her remains. They were keeping her alive as a study case in some secured building. She was in some kind of storage, but definitely alive.

Lucy reanimated, immediately scouring the subnet for everything on the facility holding Rebecca. The more she dug, the more her heart clenched in her chest. It was an experimental lab, heavily secured physically and kept off the subnet itself. She couldn't just crack in. Rebecca wasn't important to them, she was just fodder for experiments.

And the most maddening part was Lucy couldn't tell if Rebecca had already been used for any or not. The data was old now, everything current would be inside the facility's private subnet. And the security on the building was a small army, even with Arasaka collapsing. It wouldn't get back up, but it had plenty.

To get Rebecca out, Lucy would need a team. Just her and Falco couldn't do it alone.

Lucy angled her head. Was that third merc still alive? They clearly had no love of Arasaka. And if they took out Smasher, this place would almost look easy.

Lucy started digging again, pulling more information on the merc.

"Falco?"

"Whoa, you're calling me? Something explode?"

"I need to find a way to get in touch with a merc named 'V'."

"Just 'V'? That's gonna be a little... wait. Hold on."

Lucy was a bit annoyed, but she did wait.

"...Holy shit. What put that name on your board, Lucy?"

"You know her?"

"Spoke with her once. She tried to dig into... David. I convinced her to leave it alone. Hell of a merc. Apparently made Night City her bitch for a few weeks, then dropped off the map."

"She killed Adam Smasher, and I have a job for us. We need her."

"Whoa, whoa, okay, slow down. You blazed through some heavy stuff there."

Lucy sat up physically, pulling her deep dive plug. "Because I found Rebecca, too. She might still be alive, but we won't get near her without a heavy."

"...Rebecca's alive...?" Falco's voice was distant, both suspicious and hopeful.

"She was a few months ago at least, but they're holding her in a 'Saka lab that's off-net. We might already be out of time, but I have to try, Falco. I... owe her."

"...Shit. Alright, I'll start digging off-net, see if I can figure out where V went. Just... Lucy, are you sure she'll even help? The stories I've heard..."

"I don't know, but once we know where she is, I can learn more."

"...Okay."

Chapter Text

V had let her hair grow out again. Judy teased her for it, but the smile with the teasing was beautiful and warm, so V knew it wasn't a problem. She'd probably get Judy to help her trim it again soon...

She sniffed calmly as she rode her tiny moped down one of the side-streets in Seattle. She even had the stupid helmet on. She looked like a gonk, and she just smiled at that.

Pulling to a stop outside a little shop, she plucked a sealed crate off the back of her moped, and stepped inside, planting it on the counter. She half-smiled at how nervous the man behind the counter was. He made the crate disappear, and confirmed delivery to the fixer.

A little later, she was driving another crate into uptown. Another too-nervous recipient, but no issue confirming delivery.

Fixers were pinging her from all over the city. Pick up here, drop off there, payment on receipt.

Easiest fucking work in her life.

As she went through her day, switching out crates, trying not to burst out laughing at someone nervous about getting a few hits of drugs NCPD cops wouldn't have even bothered with, V realized her younger self would've been horrified to see this.

A nobody, driving a dorky moped, wearing an idiotic helmet that made her hair look even worse than it naturally would.

Thankfully, V knew her younger self was a fucking moron who didn't know what she wanted.

Sure, the deliveries weren't GREAT ennies, but they were plenty. She was raking in a few thousand a day, and Judy was getting plenty from her action BDs at the little studio.

V just wasn't going to risk her Cthulhu to some dumbass side swiping her while driving around town all day, so she bought a shitty moped.

And after only a couple of months of focused work, V was known to every fixer in Seattle, and she hadn't even tried that hard.

Of course, Seattle fixers were something closer to community resource management rather than merc go-betweens.

Oh, something interesting. She stirred out of her bored reverie as she got off her moped, realizing the bouncer for the club she needed to deliver to was clearly determined not to let her inside. She shrugged, and just waggled the crate. Everyone knew what those crates were.

The bouncer, about twice her physical size, just glared with folded arms.

V glanced up and down the street. It was pretty quiet, no PD. She smiled innocently at the bouncer as her eyes glimmered.

He suddenly twitched, jerked, and just collapsed. She caught him under one of his arms, and played it off like he was passing out drunk and she was laughing with him as she dragged him inside with her.

Lightly dumping him on the floor inside the door, every customer in the bar staring in horror, she just walked over to the person with the right net-tag, and plopped the crate on their table. She didn't even have to look upset, she just stared. Waiting.

The now-sweating customer quickly confirmed receipt. V smiled sweetly, and started for the door.

"He'll wake up in about an hour," she added to the bartender before stepping out.

Yep. Over-eager bouncer. That would be the high point of today. The week, actually. Month? She shrugged.

Apparently word was spreading through the fixer network, because even her next delivery had people scrambling to get out of her way as she walked in to offer the crate.

Scariest merc in Seattle. Because she knocked a bouncer out.

V burst out laughing as she rode to the next pick up. She probably looked completely insane to anyone on the sidewalks. And she finally didn't care.

After such an exhausting day, V pulled up to the bottom of the apartment complex, disengaging her moped, locking it to a pole that probably cost more than the moped itself, and hurried inside.

Judy greeted her at the door with a big grin that already had V smiling back.

"Welcome home, honey!"

Judy knew exactly what she was doing.

V groaned as they hugged and kissed. "Please, don't make me feel any more like a 1940's dad than I already do."

Judy cackled, and playfully undid V's helmet clasp, then plucked it off her head. She frazzled V's hair, which actually just had V shiver a bit at how good it felt to have those fingers through the strands.

Judy gave her a fresh kiss and hug for that. "You sure this isn't driving you crazy, poor thing?" she checked more sincerely.

"Easiest work I've ever done, and I get to come home to this?" V squeezed the hug a little, smiling fondly into Judy's eyes. "I'm perfect, Jude."

Judy blushed, and they shared another kiss before she eased back with a grin. "Come on, got some dinner lined up."

"Holy shit, I come home to a cooked meal? I thought that was movies only. OLD movies."

Judy swatted her shoulder. "Shut the fuck up, and sit down for dinner."

They both laughed.

V's eyes snapped open that night, glimmering with network activity. She was wide awake in a split second, her systems flaring to full combat readiness.

Someone was pinging her network. She immediately scanned around Judy's, confirming something was sniffing around her systems, too. And it was Arasaka-style access.

V twisted sharply, shaking Judy. "Judy! Judy! Someone's trying to hack us."

Judy snapped awake abruptly. "F-fuck, really? W-what should we...?"

"I'm killing all the cameras in our apartment. Please hide in the bathroom. I'll be on comms."

Judy sat up, fully alert now as V was yanking clothes on. "Are you seriously trying to hunt down a netrunner? I'll back you up, I can--?"

"No, please!" V urgently replied. "Please, just hide so they can't access your system." The sincere fear and urgency in V's face as she finished yanking her jacket on was what actually stopped Judy's argument.

"V... I don't want you alone out there..." Judy returned in a pained tone.

V rushed closer to her, caressing her cheeks, and kissed her before finding her eyes again. "I'll have you in my ear the whole time. Please, I'm begging you. Let me handle this."

Judy was still pained, but she saw that pleading. She nodded quietly, and hurried over to the bathroom.

"Thank you!" was all she heard before V shot out of the door.

Lucy's brow creased as she sat beside Falco in the old truck. It had seen better days, but was still sturdy.

"Some kind of signal mask is slowing me down. Strange," Lucy muttered.

She hadn't even gotten into V or her roommate's systems yet. She'd been trying to play it safe, delicately sneak through the firewalls. The signal mask was designed to look like interference, like bad relays, but that wasn't quite right.

Falco glanced to her. "Need me to get us closer?"

"No, I--!?" Lucy's eyes flared.

The signal mask dropped, replaced with a violent, lashing rush of code and signal bombardment. It wasn't subtle in the slightest, it was rushing along the network for HER, and it was furious about it. She watched two ICE layers shred under pre-fab assault code. Just choosing the right code that fast was horrifying.

"OH FUCK, FALCO DRIVE!" Lucy cried, bracing in her seat.

Falco knew not to mess around with that tone, but he was clearly lost as he started to speed off down the highway. "What the hell happened!?"

"I thought she was a fucking solo! These are netrunner countermeasures! She's hunting me down, and I wasn't prepped properly for this kind of fight!"

"She knows where you are!?"

"That's what the mask was hiding! She tracked me, and now she's countering!"

"You really didn't expect another runner, just in case!?" Falco demanded in growing panic himself.

"I fucked up! Just drive!"

Falco glanced to her. There was very real fear in on her face, and she was practically crushing herself back into her seat while her eyes glimmered with frantic data processing.

"Shit, shit, shit! How does she know all the loopholes!?"

"Wait, she's outhacking YOU?"

"N-no, it's--! It's like she's just dumping algorithms on me! I can't keep up! This is how data-fortresses defend themselves!"

"So she's just keeping you busy!?"

Lucy blinked as Falco said it. "Y-yes, that's... what is she..."

And then the assault stopped. Lucy glanced around, immediately disconnecting her jack. "It stopped..."

Falco almost started to relax, then his eyes flared in panic as the next second stretched out with horrified realization.

V was flying over the side of the highway, crashing down into the hood of the truck, and driving her fully activated gorilla arms down into the metal like it was cardboard.

Lucy stared with Falco, her eyes widening at the violent fury etched through V's face. It darkened her scars, her silver cat-eyes burning as her hair writhed in the wind. Lucy had seen Maine do something this insane once, but he'd been built like a tank. This girl was a third his size, and somehow far, far more terrifying.

Falco immediately tried to swerve so he could swing V off, but she'd literally embedded her fists into the hood. Her legs lost grip, but she didn't seem to care about her lower half swinging around. She lifted one fist at a time, punch-climbing toward the windshield with the most horrific determination in her eyes.

Lucy's eyes darted between Falco, V, and the road a few times. She opened her window, and leaned out, her monowire igniting out of her wrist.

"Back off before you get us all killed!" Lucy roared over the rushing air.

She saw V's eyes tracking the monowire, all but ignoring Lucy herself. It wasn't fear, just calculation. A new threat to estimate.

That mixture of fury and focus was what was really getting under Lucy's skin. She braced with part of the monowire. "I mean it! Last warning!"

V's eyes sharpened. The hesitance was odd. They wanted her alive, perhaps? Too bad for them. She twisted herself with her embedded fists, snap-kicking with each leg in turn at the white-haired netrunner.

Lucy folded back and lashed out with the monowire. She and Falco both watched as V's body burst with a flicker of speed. It was just for a second. It got her legs out of the path of the monowire.

"A sandevistan!?" Falco barked.

V glanced to him, but didn't stop moving. Her one fist ripped out of the hood, and snapped out, catching the monowire with her armored fingers.

Lucy jerked, and tried to retract it, but V held it fast. With a sharp yank, Lucy was pulled against the car-frame, and V used HER to brace on the car, freeing her other fist, and punching it clear through the windshield.

Falco tried to swerve to throw her off, but V's fist was like lightning. The armored fingers opened and grabbed the steering will with far more force than Falco's modded arm could generate.

Lucy kept trying to yank her monowire back, more desperately now that she was stuck with it. She was starting to consider cutting it.

"Stop the car," V roared darkly at Falco.

"Like I'd listen to a fucking cyberpsycho!?"

V clenched the wheel enough to warp it. "If you want to LIVE through this, you'll stop the FUCKING CAR!"

Lucy blinked, then focused. "The car stops, we all live?"

"For a little while at least!" V hissed back. "I've got some questions!"

Lucy was caught between just letting go herself, taking the fall, and knowing Falco would blame himself for her dying. They were only here to try to help Rebecca... If she hadn't fucked up her data dive. "We can talk, we just--LOOK OUT!" she cried out, seeing them rushing up toward another car on the highway.

V actually jerked the wheel for Falco, steering them around the other car.

Falco and Lucy both stared at her for a moment again. That focus... while still being completely furious.

"...S-stop the car, Falco," Lucy finally called back inside.

Falco stared for a beat, then slumped, easing the breaks so it wouldn't be too abrupt. V waited, gently steering them over to the curb as they came to an actual stop.

"Driver, out first. No weapons, or I'll make the netrunner pay for it," V hissed.

Falco raised his hands, and only used one to open the door before easing out slowly. "I'm out, see? Let her go."

V twisted around toward Lucy with a writhing coil of her body. Lucy yelped, retracting her monowire, but she was yanked out of the window fully, and choked as an arm locked around her throat. Her monowire arm was also gripped awkwardly, fingers digging in just around the monowire port.

"Easy!" Falco shouted, looking at Lucy with V behind her, keeping her in a headlock.

Lucy started to reach for her monowire with her free arm, but the grip at her neck clenched. It was just enough to cut off air, and she panicked for an instant.

"Ah, ah," V rasped at her ear. "I've got your monowire pinned. We'll talk, but I don't trust either of you, so we're going to talk like this. Understand?"

Lucy grimaced in frustration. She twisted her legs, and slammed one down into V's leg, but V didn't even twitch. She just squeezed on the monowire firearm enough to cause pain, and Lucy gasped, her eyes watering.

"STOP! Just stop, okay!?" Falco called urgently.

V did ease the grip on Lucy's neck, and Lucy gasped for air.

"We learn our lessons? We good to talk now?" V continued with a vicious kind of fake humor in her voice.

"If you hurt her, you won't get anything you want from me," Falco returned darkly himself.

V's eyes glimmered. "I can rip plenty out of your dead skulls. You're not intimidating me, fucker."

Lucy actually raised her free hand to Falco, which confused him enough to stop him anyway.

"I-it was me," Lucy got out, her voice hoarse from the choking. "I didn't intend to threaten. I was trying to confirm information."

V grimaced at her ear, Falco wincing at the chrome teeth.

"Keep talking..."

"W-we have some info about you, but some of it doesn't add up. I was just trying to confirm things before we reached out to you directly. I wasn't expecting netrunner level defenses."

V glared in at Lucy's profile. "I take it personal when some random runner sniffs around my wife's brain, fucker. You wanting to get me over an information barrel before talking to me isn't earning you any favors, either."

Lucy groaned softly. "I was just trying to make sure you were the right 'V,' I swear. I wasn't going to try to harm either of you, whatever I learned."

"Pardon me if I don't buy that from a 'Saka runner!"

Falco blinked, and Lucy twitched with a sudden surge of fury herself.

"I don't fucking work for those pigs!"

"DON'T FUCK WITH ME RIGHT NOW!" V roared openly. "Your access points, methods, and even the damn coding all stink of 'Saka processes. Now, I've had it up to HERE," she squeezed a little, but not enough to stop air, "with Arasaka fucking around me with my life, but ESPECIALLY my family. So you better start coming clean RIGHT NOW!"

Lucy couldn't help a surge of despair. To be called out like a netrunner, reminded that everything she could do 'stank of 'Saka'. Tears actually dripped from her eyes, and her body hung in V's grip more heavily.

V did calm slightly at this shift, but her eyes remained hard as they glanced up at Falco.

Falco raised his hands to remain peaceful. "Look, there are no friends of 'Saka here. We fucked up, yeah, but we meant no harm. Come on, there's gotta be a little trust for talks to work, right?"

V narrowed her eyes at him, but didn't squeeze Lucy for it this time. "Who the fuck ARE you then?"

"I'm Falco, this is Lucy. We're just mercs. You and I spoke once. Briefly."

V was suspicious, but her eyes glimmered as she double-checked her contacts.

"...Martinez's crew?"

Lucy nodded weakly, Falco mimicking it.

"You told me to delta off, so why the fuck are we having this conversation?" V hissed again.

"Lot of open wounds about David for us, but now we've learned something, and we... wanted to hire your help."

V turned dismal. "...Are you fucking joking?"

Falco shook his head. "That's why Lucy was trying to confirm data. We didn't want to spill information about the job to the wrong 'V.'"

V just stared hard for a moment more. She mentally relived the chase, the data 'fight', and how they'd responded to her. Scared at getting caught, hesitant to kill, but reacting to defend each other. It was... consistent.

V: Judy, what do you make of this?

Judy Alvarez: Other than you being fucking terrifying when you're pissed? They seem legit, V. At least worth a normal conversation. Without you choking the one girl out. What little I can dig up seems consistent with their faces.

V: Jude, I asked you to stay off network...

Judy Alvarez: Don't you fucking dare after you DOVE ONTO A MOVING TRUCK!

V twitched physically.

V: ...Okay, sorry.

Judy Alvarez: Ugh... me, too, sorry. I was just scared. Look... they already know where we live. Just bring 'em over. We'll talk some biz.

V: You sure?

Judy Alvarez: May as well at least hear 'em out.

V: Okay.

V let her eyes stop glimmering, and finally released Lucy. Lucy hurried over near Falco, rubbing her neck ruefully.

"How do you run runner gear and a sandevistan at the same time?" Lucy had to ask.

V raised an eyebrow. "Sandevistan is a good way to burn out your entire nervous system. I don't bother with them."

"Wait, how the fuck did you move like that without a sandy?" Falco chimed in.

"Combination of smaller mods, works with the adrenaline release--I'm not discussing this yet!" V cut herself with raised hands. "Your truck still run, or did I damage the engine too much?"

"She's taken worse, we'll be fine," Falco returned.

"Alright. If you two want to talk biz, we'll do it at my place. I'll ride in the back this time," she added sourly.

Lucy rubbed her arm a little. "Maybe we should just meet you somewhere?"

V smirked. "Lady, if I was going to shoot you in the back, I'd've just popped your head off while I had your neck."

Lucy stared sourly this time, but slumped, and glanced to Falco.

"...Gonna be a long fucking ride," Falco muttered, climbing back into the driver seat.

V let Lucy take the passenger seat fully before moving around, opening the side door, and climbing in. As they started to drive along, she blinked, glancing around the cabin.

"Huh... not a bad crew van, actually."

"Despite you punching a bunch of holes in it," Falco had to retort.

V shrugged. "If you two are legit, we'll call that the penalty for sniffing around my wife's brain."

Lucy slid down in her seat, arms folded, glowering at the dash.

"...Where'd you learn that onslaught trick? Even just choosing the codes to use..." Lucy finally poked after a few minutes of driving.

V glanced at her. "Ever watched a pissed off AI tear through a subnet?"

Lucy jerked, and stared at her. "...Arasaka Tower..."

V nodded.

"B-but, actually comprehending it enough to mimic it..."

"That's my trade secret."

Lucy looked forward, disappointed, but getting it. It forced her to remember being so obviously Arasaka trained. "...Do I really feel like just some 'Saka runner?"

V squinted, glancing to Falco briefly. He was watching this conversation in his mirrors. V sighed, and focused back on Lucy. "Yeah, you do, but you're a lot sharper than most of them. Took me way too long to catch you sniffing around."

Lucy blinked back at her. "You were asleep."

"Should've realized what it was on the first ping, but you masked it well. I thought it was just kids looking for faster networks. Second ping is when I noticed the method."

Lucy looked off sharply, clearly upset, but not snapping. "Fucking shortcut. I knew it."

"Eh, cut yourself a little slack. You're both still alive."

"Huh?"

"Last person who pulled anything on my wife doesn't have a head anymore. Well... she was 'girlfriend' at the time."

Lucy cringed a bit, remembering the footage of V killing Smasher. Satisfying, but with context... "You... really like destroying people's skulls, don't you?"

"If I'm going to kill someone, I make sure they're fucking dead. Got enough ghosts in my life."

Falco returned, "You seem pretty young for that to be true."

"Night City has a way of filling your life with the dead," V snapped a little.

The drive became quiet as all three of them realized how true that was.

Chapter Text

Judy had to smirk a little at the awkward trio at her door. She just waved them in casually, leading around to the living area. "You two sit. V, come 'ere." Her tone was sociable, even kind, but all three reacted like it was strict orders.

V obediently came over like a scolded child, and Judy just flicked her hands.

"Let me see your arms, you crazy merc."

V ducked her head, but lifted her arms forward. Judy gently turned them over, inspecting them for damage. She sighed as she spotted something. She plucked a shard of metal out of one of the plates, and held it up to V's eyes with a dry stare.

V glanced off, blushing.

"This is why we don't punch into cars at 90-miles-an-hour, V."

"Yes, ma'am," V mumbled softly.

Falco and Lucy had to stare at this from across the living room. Watching the terrifying killing machine that had hunted them down turn into a meek child was disturbing. Seeing how sincere and tender Judy's attention was got under Lucy's skin and made her heart ache.

Judy patted V's hair, kissed her cheek, and stepped around. "Okay, folks. I was listening with through V. Lucy and Falco, was it?"

Judy actually slipped down into one of the seats casually, but V remained standing. Judy didn't try to convince her otherwise.

Falco answered, "Yeah, that's us."

"I'm Judy, this is V, just to try and start over properly. Don't take it personal, V takes her guard-dog job very seriously for me," Judy added with a wry smile, clearly fond as much as teasing.

V grumbled as she folded her arms, but didn't seriously protest.

Lucy sighed gently. "I'm sorry for the invasion of privacy. I only intended ID verification, nothing threatening."

"I heard you. Let's... say I buy that for right now," Judy replied simply. "I'm more concerned about you two wanting to hire V."

V simply flicked her eyebrows up, echoing the concern without a word.

Falco folded his arms as he leaned back, already tired of the whole mess. "We intend to pull something very valuable to us out of an Arasaka facility. It's still heavily secured, even with the company falling apart. Some research," he gestured to Lucy, who glanced off, "indicated V was probably the best single merc to look to for that kind of job. A big crew wouldn't work for us, and we need this to go off as smoothly as possible, so we want the best."

Judy wasn't impressed, but she didn't get angry either. She glanced up to V.

V shrugged to her look. "Haven't heard a reason to upset my life for this shit, yet."

Judy had to smile a little. V's willingness to stick with things for her sake--because she knew it was for her sake--always warmed Judy's heart.

Lucy rubbed her forehead. "This was clearly one massive mistake on my part. Falco, we should just leave."

Judy glanced between them. "Well... if that's really all you've got to convince us to help, then yeah, sounds like we should wrap up. But this... feels important to you guys. More than just some enny-grab."

The two visiting mercs just looked off to opposite sides. Judy gave V a little glance. V slumped, exhaled, and finally slid down into a chair. She was exhausted emotionally, but re-focusing. "You have no chance of hiring me without details. I get why you don't want to share 'em, but that's part of my requirements. I need to know what I'm getting into, and what I'm getting into it for." She waggled a hand between the two, "This looks like a personal issue, not just a job, like Judy said."

With this, Falco specifically stared at Lucy, a mixture of annoyed and dry himself. It was becoming clearer which of the two was the driving force behind this entire situation. Lucy wilted a bit where she sat, her folded legs tapping as her agitation spiked.

"...We lost most of our crew, including David, on an assault on Arasaka Tower. I just found out that one of our crew is being kept alive, in storage, in this Arasaka lab. It's locked down like a fort. I can't just crack in, they kept it off-net."

V's brow creased, and Judy glanced to her softly. The parallels were disturbing as much as undeniable. "...How sure are you this person is alive?"

Lucy clenched her fists. "The confirmation of her being alive is a few months old at this point."

"So, with 'Saka being what they are, you do realize your friend is probably dead now, right?"

"We have to try," Falco returned simply this time. "Your cut wouldn't be affected by Rebecca being alive or dead. We need confirmation, retrieval if alive."

"I owe her. She died--I thought she died--trying to help me," Lucy added quietly, not able to look up. "Even though she loved David more."

V slumped back, folding her arms, and glared down to the side. Judy glanced at her with a knowing, if somewhat sad smile.

Putting on an air of toughness, V replied, "You don't sound like you're swimming in ennies. I'm not cheap."

Lucy looked up at this point. "I have a lot of Arasaka data. It would be more if it was another company now, but still valuable on the market. Easily six figures for your cut. IF we get Rebecca out safely."

"IF she's alive."

Lucy glanced down. "Yes."

"I don't like selling data, takes too long," V leaned back casually, hands behind her head, eyes closed. "I'll give you a week to pay me in ennies after the fact."

Falco started to retort sourly, but Lucy lifted a hand across him.

"To actually liquidate your share, I'd need a month. Too unrealistic otherwise."

V cracked an eye open. She was watching Lucy's solemn expression, the haggard edge in her pale eyes. For someone who clearly valued the appearance of her body, looking so worn out meant her emotions were taking their toll.

Judy got V's attention, and tapped one of her cranial slots. V frowned, but pulled her personal jack, and offered it to Judy. A private conversation. Judy plugged it in.

Judy Alvarez: You're not seriously shaking them down for ennies, right? They need help.

V: Give me a little credit, please? I just need them to take me seriously for the moment.

Judy Alvarez: It sounds like they want you going in alone, more or less. This dude doesn't look combat-ready, and she's all cyberware.

V: That's my guess, yeah.

Judy Alvarez: I'm coming, too. I want to make sure you have some REAL back-up.

V had to violently restrain her urge to jerk in panic.

V: Judy... please...

Judy Alvarez: Nope. No negotiating this one, V. If you want to help these guys out, I'm helping, too. And I don't think that beautiful heart of yours would do well turning them down.

V had to give Judy a haggard stare of her own. Judy seemed mildly apologetic, but didn't back down. V groaned, and nodded, Judy unplugging the jack, and letting V retract it.

"You've got a deal then," V said clearly. "What do you have on the facility?"

Falco and Lucy shared a glance, then Lucy leaned forward, placing a shard on the coffee table. V took it, slotted it, and patched Judy in.

Lucy's eyes glimmered, requesting everyone patch in to view the data. V allowed it.

The display for them was a simple enough building plan. It was almost a cube, with several floors.

Lucy explained as more detail added on the display, "Exterior defenses include heavy turrets, drone patrols, and security personnel. Specifics may have updated with Arasaka's collapse, but at least 3 patrol squads, at least 6 drones, and at least 4 turrets."

"I see hermetic seals on all the ventilation systems," V added. "So we have to get in through a real door."

"The first real problem, yes. Rebecca could be held in any of three storage systems inside the building," the plans highlighted a few different rooms as Lucy explained, "and the internals are all LAN-only. It can only be breached with a direct connection."

"Any designs for the reception area at the front there? Does it have enough network access?"

"If they didn't change the designs, yes." The view of the plans focused on the front entry chamber, and the hefty reception desk, with different interface screens and input types. "But even with control of internal security, assuming we get that far, they supposedly have another 20 or so security personnel inside, and only a handful of turrets are key positions. Not enough to clear the building if we can breach them."

"Arasaka thugs won't slow V down," Judy pinged this time. "This is all about finding your friend, and making sure she's safe while V clears a path."

V didn't correct her, and Falco and Lucy shared a glance physically before anyone replied.

"If we can get reliable network access, I can make sure Rebecca's storage is kept in stasis. All of their emergency sterilization protocols on the books I can override easily," Lucy confirmed.

V added, "Then we should make sure there's redundancy. An obvious network shard in case someone slips past me, so they think they've cut you off, but a second in place to make sure you can keep working."

Lucy highlighted all of the network viable inputs on the desk, and then a few other points in the building. "These are your options."

"...Comm jamming methods?"

Lucy shifted the display to some other data screens. "Standard Arasaka suite. The only one I can't reliably filter out is the hex coding used to keep the labs signal-sterile."

"Highlight all the labs that would use that, please."

The model returned to focus, and several spaces lit up.

"Alright, we'll put the obvious shard in the reception desk, your foot in the door. As I infiltrate, I'll make sure to plant additional network shards here or here, depending on how I have to adapt," V highlighted input points at opposite sides of the building.

Falco offered, "I'll get to work on at least three wireless shards that should handle the load, then."

Judy said, "I can swing some of that. What specs you need?"

Lucy brought up a separate screen, showing data transfer rates and signal strength ranges. "I need these to reliably do my work."

"Yeah, I can pull that with some modified BD headset shards. I can swipe some from work easily enough."

"That safe for you?" V challenged gently.

"I have a pile, and I know how to clean them. By the time it looks weird on my work books, no one will care."

"What's the range? Aren't BD shards barely a foot radius?" Lucy confirmed carefully.

"Those are the broadcast shards. Editing rigs use different specs because of how much bigger the raw scrolls are. They'll hit the marks, trust me."

"...Alright."

V disconnected the call, and pulled the shard from her slot, offering it back. "Get your truck fixed up. That's the mission vehicle."

"I'd prefer to move as quickly as possible," Lucy returned seriously.

"That truck is Rebecca's exit. Do you want it full of holes immediately over the engine?"

Falco half-smiled a bit, and looked to Lucy.

Lucy twitched a little. "Good point."

"It's armored, right? Looks like a modified Militech truck?" V confirmed simply.

"Yeah, that's right," Falco confirmed.

"If it can make the drive back to Night City, Dorio's in Heywood can make some miracles happen with body work. Speaking of, how far from Night City is the facility?"

"Just inside the airspace perimeter, Northeast quadrant," Lucy answered.

"So in the middle of the desert."

"Yes."

"Alright, where do you want to meet before rolling on the facility?"

"Old safehouse of ours," Falco answered, sharing the coordinates. "Safe distance from everything."

V nodded, and then looked to Judy meaningfully. Judy just nodded.

"Alright, we're doing this. Let me know when the truck is twelve hours from ready. We'll drive down then," V said simply.

Lucy took a breath, and then tipped her head.

Everyone got to their feet, but Judy offered Lucy a sympathetic glance. "Hey... how's the neck?"

Lucy rubbed it with a dry stare. "Good enough, I suppose."

V blinked. "I'm not apologizing for that."

Judy swatted her shoulder. "Just let me be nice, okay?"

V shrugged.

Lucy rolled her eyes, and nodded to Falco, the two moving for the door. They did pause for a moment.

"...V, Judy... thank you," Lucy offered quietly.

Judy smiled, and V shrugged casually.

"Thank us if we get Rebecca out safe."

A serious nod was shared, and the two visiting mercs finally left the apartment.

V ran her hands back through her hair, taking a big breath. Judy surprised her with a playful hug, immediately cheering her up.

"Ya big softy," Judy teased warmly.

V glanced off with a blush.

Lucy was slumped in the couch at the old hideout. She'd realized it was a mistake to agree with Falco to use it a little too late to say anything. The memories were like daggers in the air, cutting into her. She distracted herself with data-diving, her eyes glimmering crimson as she double-checked everything she could find about the lab facility.

Falco came through one of the doors, and spotted her, his eyes squinting at the bags under her own.

"Wearing yourself out before the big job isn't doing Rebecca any favors."

Lucy twitched, and ended her dive. "We shouldn't have used this place."

"Was still empty, and no one patrols near here. You going to freak out instead of being glad Rebecca is alright, if we get her out?"

Lucy scowled at him, but was conspicuously silent.

Falco shrugged, and came over, planting a beer in front of her before slumping into the couch near her to sip one himself. "Dorio guy is legit. Trucks in better condition than she's been in years. As soon as I mentioned V, suddenly all the charges went away."

Lucy blinked. "Wait, what?"

Falco shrugged. "Maybe he owed her a favor."

"Or she'll use that to get a bigger pay out," Lucy hissed, glaring off to the side.

Falco glanced at her sidelong. "So what's actually pissing you off? You've been in pain, I get that, but these last few days something is really under your skin."

"Being made to feel like an idiot!" she snapped.

Falco raised an eyebrow. He sipped his beer before speaking. "You found Rebecca, and we've got V on board. Should be arriving any minute, in fact. Hell, even got an extra crew member out of her wife. Solid techie."

Lucy jerked up to her feet, pacing rapidly in a random pattern as her arms twisted into each other tightly. "V's the problem! She's..."

"Everything David needed to be to stay alive?"

Lucy jerked and stared at him, her flared eyes a mixture of betrayal, shock, and fear.

Falco didn't twitch at the stare, though. He was ready to give some tough love. "David was a good kid, but also very stupid, and we all knew it from day one. Solid instincts kept him alive as long as they did, but he couldn't think through a situation to save his life. Literally. You know that far better than anyone. So why don't you scream at the person you're really angry with?"

Lucy finally broke loose, roaring back as her arms lashed out. "ALL HE HAD TO DO WAS DOWNGRADE! IF HE'D JUST FUCKING LISTENED ONCE, HE'D BE FINE!"

Falco tipped his head. "Yep, exactly. Now keep going. Get it out of your system. The part that's actually driving you so damn crazy."

"What are you talking about!?" she shouted, more desperate than angry. "I couldn't save him! I loved him, and I couldn't protect him!"

"Almost there, little further," Falco returned with torturously calm words.

Lucy clenched her fists as her eyes watered. "...If I'd just told him what..." her voice cracked, and she slumped down, fighting it, "was going on... he might've listened..."

"There it is. Come 'ere. Sit."

Lucy blinked through the tears dripping down her face, a bit confused, but vulnerable enough to just obey for a moment. She stepped back near the couch, and poured herself into it, sniffing.

Falco leaned closer just to catch her eyes with his own. "The truth is that neither of you listened to a damn thing. Ever. We all knew it. You two fell in love despite it. Now, if you think you fucked up somehow, the only thing you can do now is make sure you get it right next time. David would just be happy you're alive, and that you got to the moon. Hell, you probably should've stayed there. No idea why you came back when you did myself."

"Because he wasn't there with me," Lucy whispered.

"Fair enough. So what are you going to do, assuming we pull this off? Rebecca's going to need help, support. She'll be heart broken, too. Can you help her?"

Lucy winced. "I'm not even thinking that far ahead."

"And that's part of the problem. You're avoiding so many ghosts, you're not thinking straight. You know it. That's why you're so pissed off at your slip-up with the data dive on V and Judy."

Lucy bowed her head. "I can't save David, but if we can get Rebecca out, it's... it's not all a giant waste. David would be so happy she was alive, too."

Falco smiled a little. "That might be enough for now then. Just remember, she'll need you. Can you be there for her?"

Lucy sniffed, swallowed, and took a breath. "I'll try."

Falco patted her shoulder, and then they both glanced out as they heard tires and a powerful engine outside. Lucy's eyes glimmered briefly, and she nodded, "It's them."

Outside, V and Judy were just leaning back on the hood of V's Cthulhu. Lucy and Falco came up to them, their own truck parked just a small distance off.

"Dorio didn't even ask for ennies," Falco 'greeted' casually.

V smiled casually. "He's the best."

Judy smirked at her sidelong.

Lucy folded her arms again, showing her concern. "You looking for a bigger pay out for this?"

Falco face-palmed.

Judy snorted.

V kept her casual smile, but angled her head as she locked gazes with Lucy, "Everything's square regarding your truck, don't worry about it." Then she gestured lightly at Lucy herself, "You look like shit, though. You need sleep."

Lucy soured, but Falco cut in, "She does, but we're short on time. She'll rest on the way out to the job."

Judy pouted a bit. "Sure that's enough time? Seriously, girl, you don't look good."

"I need to do this, alright?" Lucy snapped a little. "I'll be focused."

V shrugged, and leaned off her car finally. "If you say so. Everything ready in the truck?"

Judy hefted a small satchel. "Brought the shards and some gear for myself."

Falco nodded, "Then yes, we're golden."

They loaded into the truck, V and Judy defaulting to the back, which mildly surprised Lucy. Lucy had assumed V's ego at being hired would want to call shotgun, but she didn't actually say anything.

Falco had them on the road in a few seconds. V and Judy quietly coordinated, Judy familiarizing herself with the console interface on the side of the truck. V grew curious over the quiet sloshing in the sealed bay on the opposite side.

"...Is this an ice bath?" she finally asked of the pair up front.

"Yes, for me," Lucy confirmed simply. "Once we're on-site, I'll be going deep-dive ready to make sure I can pull all of my resources."

V just seemed mildly confused. "It's just a building subnet. Shouldn't your cyberdeck be all you need?"

"I'm not taking risks on this one," Lucy replied with a faint sharpness to her tone.

Judy waved lightly for V to just let it go, then turned back to the console to double-check a few things. "Okay, should have everything I need here. Lucy, what presets you want on the wireless shards?"

Lucy glanced over her shoulder. "Should have profile data ready in the subfolder with today's date."

"...Ah, got it. Yeah... okay, loaded up on the shards." Judy pulled them, and offered them to V, who pocketed them without comment.

Falco called back, "How close do you want me to get you, V?"

"Maximum broadcast range. I'll get inside on foot."

"Harder for us to back you up against the outside security if we're that far," Lucy commented, looking back to V with some manner of concern.

"Rebecca's in danger until you're in their subnet. Better if the external security doesn't see anything until I've got you hooked in. If you can't shut them down at that point, I'll wrap them up."

Lucy blinked, and V just raised an eyebrow.

"That's... a lot of risk for a crew you barely know."

V smirked and shrugged. "I don't normally run with a crew, remember?"

Judy groaned, "A bad habit I'm trying to break her of."

V frumped at Judy's back for a moment.

"What, you saying you've taken facilities like this solo?" Falco chirped with a laugh.

"A few," V returned simply.

Lucy and Falco shared a wary glance at that.

"...If it makes it easier, I can rig an EMP onto the harpoon, should probably wipe out most of the outside forces?" Falco offered.

Judy twisted. "No EMPs! Not around V."

V blushed a little, but didn't correct it, ducking her head down and away. Lucy and Falco were just confused by the frightened urgency.

"Her mods are that sensitive?" Lucy checked, looking around her chair fully.

"My brain is fucked up," V answered, serious, her eyes focused down on her own hands. "We don't know how bad an EMP would hurt me."

"It could kill her, so we're not fucking around with that," Judy added sharply.

Lucy glanced between the couple with growing sympathy. "...A single EMP could kill you, and you're still doing this work?"

"Single anything could kill me," V returned simply, looking up at Lucy. "I do what I have to do, and try to avoid stupid risks. So yeah, please no EMP bombs on the outside of the building."

Falco lifted his hands off the wheel for a moment. "Got it! No EMPs. Sounds like Judy would skin me alive even if you lived."

"Damn right, I would."

V snickered, and that let everyone chuckle a bit in morbid humor.

V suggested a particular ledge in the rocky terrian for Falco to park behind. Checking his map of the area, he had no reason to disagree, and brought the truck to a quiet stop.

"You really want to run half a kilometer on foot for this? Won't they see you coming?" Falco checked seriously over his shoulder.

Lucy slipped out of the passenger seat, and moved toward that sealed bay with the icebath.

"Not my first rodeo in the badlands, Falco. I'll make sure Rebecca's not exposed until Lucy's in their subnet," V replied simply, checking the ammo in her shotgun.

It was still the gun Judy had gifted her. After a few mods, V had no reason to replace it.

"Alright, alright. Just seems dicey for everyone involved," Falco muttered.

"You hired me, right?" V teased with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah..."

V happened to glance over as the icebath opened, and saw Lucy stripping her clothes off. V blanched, then blushed, and jerked her head away.

"Why the fuck are you stripping!?"

Judy was just confused, and glanced back. She remained mildly confused as Lucy did her thing, but then glanced to V, and started to grin like an imp. V was practically red from the neck up.

Lucy's tone was simple and unbothered, "No point soaking my clothes." She barely gasped as she slipped into freezing water, connecting her deep dive plug.

"Use a fucking runner suit!" V burst out.

Judy had to tease, "Oh, I see. Short hair, confident, good with tech. You have a TYPE, V."

V stared up at her wife in horror, and Judy had to cackle.

Lucy glanced up, only then mildly embarrassed. "Wait, what...?"

Judy smirked down at her from the console. "What, you thought showing off that perky little ass wouldn't affect the chromed up lesbian you hired?"

V groaned violently, hiding her face with both hands. "It's what the suits are for!"

Lucy sank herself a little more into the water than she usually would, sourly snapping, "I don't wear that shit. Reminds me of Arasaka."

"Then use a different--ugh," V cut herself off, rubbing her temples. As she moved to leave the van through the side door, she all-but-pouted at her wife, "I wasn't ogling, she surprised me."

Judy grinned, and reached over to tussle V's hair. "I know, that's why I'm still in a good mood." She winked.

V did relax a bit, smiled for the touch, and then leaned up to kiss Judy. "See you soon."

Judy leaned to kiss V again before she could escape. "I better."

V winked, and finally hopped out of the van, sealing it back up before she jogged out of sight.

Falco finally let himself chuckle. "Think I'm starting to get a bead on V, finally."

"Porcupine streetkid with a heart of gold?" Judy offered dryly.

"Something like that."

"Hey now, only I get to tease my wife, buster."

"Ugh, please stop," Lucy groaned while tapping into her systems, eyes already glimmering. "...You two are a closed relationship right? I don't need to worry about letting her down?"

Judy facepalmed. "For f--yes, we're monogamous!"

"I had to ask! I didn't know I was setting something off just getting into the ice."

"I'll give you one little clue about V; she's actually insanely shy about bodies. Don't know how or why, growing up in Night City, but poor thing will turn into a lobster if a girl shows some skin to her."

"...Seriously?" Lucy had to ask, the glimmer fading from her eyes as she stared at Judy.

Judy shrugged with hands up, but her smile was clearly warm. She was fond of the detail of her wife's personality. "I think it's adorable. She tries to act all tough, then I show her a BD I edited, and she gets all flustered."

Lucy blinked, and then smiled a little, settling back into her bath. "...That is kinda cute, yeah."

Judy smirked as she turned back to her console. "Just fair warning. You make a move on my wife, I'll take it personal."

Lucy groaned, Falco laughed, and Judy snickered.

Chapter Text

V was blissfully unaware of the conversation still going in the truck. She had her shotgun slung down her back, and flitted across the wastes, using brush and ridges to block her line of sight every time she suspected part of the lab's defenses might be looking her way. With how finicky it could be, she didn't want to waste her camouflage until she had to strike.

A smirk marked her face as she confirmed the defense wall just around the lab structure was short enough for her enhanced legs. Of course, leaping over it would make her a sitting duck for any drones or turrets, so she still had to be careful.

So, she had to mix and match. Reaching the base of the perimeter wall, she braced, her legs making soft hisses, and then she sprang up. She only caught the edge of the wall with her metal fingers, and slowly lifted herself to get her eyes over it.

Lucy's information was mostly accurate. Heavy turrets at each corner of the roof, four patrolling drones, and four pairs of guards marching around. Cameras watched all four sides. They had enough redundancy in their sweeps that there was no clean path. Normally, cracking the ICE and shutting down the turrets and cameras would be her play, but with the off-network subnet, that wasn't an option.

V quickly memorized the lay out, and then dropped back down to the bottom of the wall. She eased along to the main gate, and peeked around the corner to start tracking the patrols. She grimaced as one pair actually stopped at the entrance, and clearly stood to guard it directly for some portion of their shift.

Pulling herself out of view entirely again, V took a breath, thinking through her approach. The gate likely had a biometric lock, so she needed a living guard, and her camo would last about twelve seconds. She needed to get inside and slot Lucy's first shard before they could trip alarms.

V: Lucy, you ready to work fast?

Lucy: Been waiting. Something wrong?

V: Tight window, but not a problem. Just need to make sure you're ready to kill security the moment you have a connection.

Lucy: I am.

V: Alright. If this works properly, you'll have access in... twelve seconds.

And V's body shimmered out of clear view just before she wrenched herself into a massive leap. She crested the wall with barely a hand-touch, landed sprinting, and rushed right for the two guards at the entrance.

They started to notice something strange, but she was on them the next second. She hammer-punched one into the ground, and wrenched the other into a sleeper hold. Even as he struggled, she pulled his arm to slap the entry panel. She quickly twisted as the door opened, keeping him upright.

The two guards at the desk in the small lobby were momentarily confused by their comrades odd posture. V let him drop, and didn't waste time seeing if her fake out worked. She bolted for the desk.

She had one stroke of luck. The two guards ran to check on their fallen comrades before raising the alert.

V's camo started to flicker and fade as she slotted the shard into the desk's lowest jack.

Lucy: Got it. Cameras are mine, internal turrets offline... I have security control. Trying to pull Rebecca's position now.

V blinked. Getting all of that done in a few seconds was no easy feat, even knowing how to do it. So Lucy had just been sloppy when sniffing around her and Judy's heads.

The two desk guards started to rise up, and saw her for the first time. They dropped their comrades, pulling their rifles up, but that was too little too late.

V vaulted the desk and rushed them, her gorilla arms activating just before she punched one into the door frame and slammed the other one down into the ground. She paused for a beat to make sure they weren't moving, and then ran deeper into the building.

V: Can you use the turrets to kill the drones outside?

Lucy: Yes, one moment. ...Found Rebecca! It's storage room 4H. Dropping the drones now.

The stuttering fire outside followed instantly, and V smiled as she moved to take the building's left side to get to Rebecca's 'cell.'

Judy: V, Lucy's got control, but there's a lot of Arasaka soldiers inside still!

V: Got it.

Judy pressed a hand to her heart for a moment. V sounded so confident. Was that for her sake, or just natural? She just hoped V would make it out safely now.

Meanwhile, V entered the first chamber. It was some kind of utility space, with storage and equipment down below the catwalk she was stepping onto. Arasaka guards reacted to the door opening, and snapped their rifles toward her just as quickly.

Lucy was about to start crashing their systems, but she had to pause and just watch through the camera feed.

V vaulted across the space with completely unnatural speed. She was crashing down behind the handful of guards before their bullets even hit the walls around the entrance she'd used. The first guard was punched into the back wall, the next took a blow to the gut so powerful he flew up into the storage units.

The remaining three guards were twisting to aim back at her, and the doorway leading deeper into the building opened at the same time.

V rushed forward, elbow-ramming one guard's helmet to drive him into the ground, twisting out to chest-punch the next, sending him flying, and flowed into a downward punch to floor the third.

Lucy: LOOK OUT!

But even as Lucy tried to warn against the flickering mass that was rushing through the new door that had opened, V jerked, flickering for just a second.

The mantis-blade from the sandevistan-using guard flew through empty air that had been V's back. Lucy watched as V grabbed the weapon-arm with crushing force, and then just wrenched the entire guard's body forward by that limb, slamming him into the flooring. While he was stunned, V drove two more punches down, one into the chest, another the head, crushing them both.

Physically speaking in the truck, Lucy asked, "How does she keep up with sandevistan?"

Judy shook her head. "No idea how she pulls it off, but she's built to take hits. Once you're close enough to hurt her, it just means you're close enough for her to crush your skull." More dark, she added, "She just also makes sure they can't get back up once she gets them."

Lucy didn't reply, but she'd listened closely. Watching V move into the next chamber, she realized Judy was right. V did take sandevistan threats seriously. She countered them hard, fast, and permanently. And V could hit hard enough that one solid impact would kill a normal person.

V: Kill the lights, please.

Lucy did so, but still pinged with her curiosity.

Lucy: Done, but why?

As the facility went dark, emergency lighting in crimson hues flickered and flashed, turning the dark facility into a hellscape. V ducked out of sight for a beat, planting the secondary shard at last.

V: They're spooked. I'm capitalizing.

Lucy was only confused for a moment.

As guards poured into the second room, already aiming and firing at the open doorway, V coiled and lashed along the ceiling, her modified legs and hands able to sustain her weight impossibly. With the flickering, red lighting, she looked like some kind of monstrosity writhing along the grates.

Just as the guards started to track and fire at her, she shot across the room with a leap.

"Where is it!?"

"Use your damn scanners, and shut up!"

"I can't find the target!"

V tore into their back line again. A punch into the back of one head, another into the ribs of the second, she grabbed the collar of the third's armor, and yanked him across her front as the next two finally twisted and opened fire.

With a full spin around, V lashed the body around, and threw it into the two firing, then leapt across the gap. She drove punches into the chests of the two other guards behind them, carrying all four into the ground.

Just as they tried to recover, she whipped her shotgun out and pulped all four into the flooring.

Someone tried to get up behind her, so she snapped around. Their monowire missed down her back, and her right leg arced out and in, planting into their helmet before crushing it down into the wall.

V heard the faint rush of a body moving too fast through the air again, and she kicked off the wall, flipping out to the side to watch a blurring body slam down into the grate she'd been on the previous moment.

V whipped out her shotgun with one arm, firing mid-air. The enhanced guard flickered around the cloud of pellets, rushing in at her with a punch-blade in the one fist.

Of course, the dodge around her shot was predictable. V was able to grab the rushing punch-blade at the wrist, forcing it out just past her side rather than impacting.

This also let her jam her elbow down into the guard's neck. It only stunned him, but as he reeled, she fired point-blank into his chest. Parts of his torso sprayed across the room as his body dropped limp.

Reloading as she ran toward the far wall, V sprang up with unnatural ease, reaching the next door herself at last.

Lucy: V, the guards outside were smart enough to hide once the turrets took out the drones. You'll have trouble from both sides soon.

V: Understood.

Lucy glanced up to Judy again in the truck, "I kinda expected her to be pissed at me for that."

Judy smirked a little despite her anxiety. "Normally, she'd have to deal with the turrets, drones, and guards alone, so you're still ahead on that count."

Inside the facility, the security office had several guards waiting in it.

"I can't access the purge systems!"

"Why not? They have power redundancy!"

"It's not power! Something infiltrated our subnet!"

"HOW!?"

"Ain't that a bitch, hm?"

The two guards twisted from their screen just in time to get slammed into the operation desk with shattering force.

The other team of guards twisted from the doorway they were watching to see V looming over the pair at the desk. Before they could open fire, she leapt into them at full speed, dropping two more before the bullets could hit the air. Then she simply lashed out to the sides, sending guards flying back or crashing into the flooring.

Taking a brief moment to verify none of them were moving, V vaulted back over the desk, and started to open the heavier gate guarding the vault Rebecca would be stored in.

V: How many incoming?

Judy: More than a dozen left, V, and I'm pretty sure a few more are using nervous system enhancers.

V: Seriously? Usually only see one or two in a facility like this.

Lucy: Probably why it's still operational. They invested too heavily to abandon it.

V watched the gate open so slowly, scowling.

V: ...Any other prisoners in here we should get out? Not sure how many it holds.

Lucy: Too many, honestly. No idea how we'd get them all out.

V: Judy, put a call out to Regina Jones for me. Only details she needs are how the prisoners are contained, and that it's a rogue 'Saka facility.

Judy: You sure that's a good idea, V? Place will still be dangerous, even if we wrap this up cleanly.

V: This place will be a fucking ghost town when I leave.

Judy and Lucy shared a little glance in the truck.

With the gate finally open enough, V slipped through with a growl of irritation. She vaulted the steps that would have normally led down to the storage facility's floor, and ran up to an elevated console facing the right wall. The right wall was clearly built for high-security storage, with armored doors and interface-restricted access.

V tapped through the controls rapidly, trying to find Rebecca. She paused with a wince after a few seconds.

V: Uh... guys, Rebecca's alive, but she's in pieces. Supposedly I can reconstruct her here, but what do you want to do?

Falco: Those sick fucks.

Lucy: ...Rebuild her, see if you can wake her up. I can't access the storage unit directly, it's isolated to that room.

V: Sure waking up to a stranger won't make her freak out?

Lucy: She's a survivor. The freak out will happen later.

V: Got it. Starting reconstruction sequence.

V tapped in the commands, and looked up with a wince of sympathy as six different pods opened up. Rebecca's head, torso, and each limb all shifted out of their holding cells, while an operating-table of sorts slid out of the center of the wall. Various mechanical arms pulled down from the ceiling, and started to remove Rebecca's parts from their units, and move them to the table.

V swallowed a lump. "Jesus, how old is she? She's tiny."

Falco: Just don't say that to her face when she wakes up. She's a killing machine with any kind of gun.

V: And these arms are nuts. The forearms are nearly as big around as her damn torso.

Lucy: Kind of a family thing for her. They loved heavy arm mods. Wait... V, you've got incoming!

V started to twist to the gate, but she heard the pulsing rush of sandevistan users rushing along. She twisted, assuming they were going for her back, but she was wrong this time. She started to wince at her mistake, but her adrenaline spiked as something started to stab into her shoulder.

V instantly wrenched that shoulder forward, twisting her whole body with the motion, and grabbed onto the mantis-blade that had started to stab her with crushing force. This also let her eyes finally catch the second attacker, who was slicing in at her neck.

Folding at her hips, V dropped while yanking the one she had gripped upward. It pulled her head under the second attack, and slammed the two Arasaka guards together, ruining their speed.

As they grunted from the impact, V sent her free arm up, grabbed the second attacker by the collar, and roared as she spun them both completely around, out of the air, scraping them off the floor, and then threw them full-force into the wall opposite the surgical table.

They crashed into the wall so violently blood sprayed out from several joints, and they collapsed in a too-limp pile.

As V yanked her shotgun free and ran to get under the stairs of the entrance, Judy's voice finally reached her.

"Your shoulder okay?"

"Barely a scratch, Judy," V rasped simply, and focused up. As three more guards started to charge onto the landing there, V opened fire.

Her three shotgun blasts shredded them from below, raining blood down on V, but she didn't blink.

Two more guards leapt over those bodies, trying to rush down at Rebecca's still-building body, but they were hit by more shotgun blasts, and with such force that they sailed clear over the surgical table, and slammed into the opposite wall.

V jumped out from below the steps, hearing the next set of guards brace and aim weapons. As they rained firepower through their comrades corpses and down into the space she'd occupied the moment before, V leapt straight to the landing itself, threw her legs into the two on either side so that they crashed into the doorframe with awful crunches from their ribs.

As the remaining guard snapped his rifle up to her face, V actually twisted her head around it, bit onto the side of the barrel with a vicious shout, her eyes blazing. Before the horrified guard could open fire, she pulled back with her entire body, pulling him clear over the side of the stairs.

When he started to free-fall, she twisted, and slammed her fist down into his jaw, the panels and hydraulics flaring out with the maximum torque firing into the pistons.

It nearly decapitated the guard, and was such a violent, sharp impact he spun around like a baton before crashing into the ground.

Lucy's mouth hung open in her icebath. "Y-your wife is terrifying."

Judy swallowed, staring at the feed herself. "A-always wanted to be a predator people would take seriously..."

In the lab, V panted, but quickly ran back down to Rebecca's surgical table. She looked almost normal at last. For her, at least. Her unnaturally pale complexion was flawlessly clean, and the strange pinkish pattern around her torso and hips was still there. V quickly looked around, then checked the console for any clothing that might at least let the poor girl cover herself.

"Ugh, nothing. Uh, guys, Rebecca sensitive about being seen naked?"

"Honestly, not sure what she considers 'naked' at this point," Lucy dryly returned. "Any of the guards have an oversized jacket, at least?"

"...Oversized for this pipsqueak, probably, yeah."

"Seriously, don't tease her about her size. That's not a fight I want to referee," Lucy returned.

"She looks twelve!"

Judy cut in, "V, sweetie, please don't fuck this up because you had to tease a short girl."

V fumed, but finally let it go, and hurried over to the largest guard's remains. She pried the armor off, winced at the muck and gore, but managed to get the top coat off. It was solid enough.

"V, got another group closing on your position!" Judy warned.

V growled as she ran back to Rebecca and just tossed the jacket over the girl's torso. "I get the feeling Rebecca's going to wake up in a firefight, and she has no way of knowing I'm a friendly."

"Keep her alive, I'll keep her from shooting you by mistake," Lucy declared.

"I'll hold you to that," V muttered, rushing back to the gate for the lab.

V reached the previous room just as the next squad did. They immediately snapped weapons to her position and opened fire, but V was able to dive behind the desk, then throw herself to one side with her enhanced legs and arms together.

With the rooms still mostly lit by gunfire and red flashes, V sprang from floor, to wall, to ceiling, to the first guard. She hefted him up as a body shield while several magazines punched through his body armor and torso.

This let V close on the next pair, which she suddenly wrenched back with her arms in turn. They crunched into the walls.

During one flicker of darkness, V flung herself to one side, letting her shield body drop. The remaining several guards started to scan urgently.

One of them was wrenched into the darkness near the previous chamber. The guns snapped after him and fired, but nothing was there.

Another's yelp was cut off by his neck snapping before he was flung up into the ceiling, but by the time their guns filled the space with fire and iron, there was no sign of their enemy.

And then V was able to come up from behind them, smashing one's spine with a punch, crushing the other's neck with a squeeze of the other hand, and head-butting the third enough to crack his helmet.

Gun fire opened up from the only two left she hadn't hit, but they only hit their comrades' clustered bodies.

V replied by chest-punching the one she head-butted, throwing him between the two reloading their rifles. Sharp punches across their heads killed each of them on impact.

Now drenched in blood, her eyes the only thing clearly visible thanks to their glow, V panted, hanging from her shoulders, listening as much as she could for more attackers.

"Looks like she's waking up, V," Lucy alerted her.

V twisted, and ran back into the lab, simply vaulting the steps again. She hurried to the side of Rebecca's table, but then waited, not wanting to look threatening.

Rebecca groaned, shifting without coordination at first. Her violently bright optics snapped open after a beat, and she looked around instantly, trying to sit up. The second she noticed V looming over her, she started to scramble backwards with a shout of alarm.

"Easy, easy!" V called, hands up and open.

Rebecca blinked as a data-comm patched into her system as well.

"Rebecca?"

Rebecca was clearly dazed, but touched her head as her eyes glimmered with the connection. "Lucy...?"

"Yes. The woman there is named V, she's part of our crew for this rescue. You're in an Arasaka lab. Can you fight out with V?"

Rebecca's eyes darted around rapidly. "W-what... h-how, I..."

"Rebecca! There's no time! I'm sorry, I'll answer your questions as soon as we're safe, but you have to get out of there first!"

Rebecca blinked rapidly, and then slapped her face a few times with her massive, mechanical hands. "Okay, okay! 'Saka assholes between us and the door?" she asked instantly of V.

V nodded, and plucked a rifle off one of the guards, offering it over. "I'm told you're good with guns."

Rebecca discovered the bloody jacket covering her finally, and just shrugged, slipping her arms through the sleeves and buttoning it enough to hold onto her. "Guns, yes. This is a peashooter," she muttered as she took the rifle, hopping down to her feet. "...Whoa, looks like I missed the party?"

"Plenty of party left, especially on the way out. Take whatever won't slow you down, if you want," V replied, shrugging, and started to run for the stairs.

Rebecca grinned, and scurried over, grabbing several more rifles on her way over to the stairs, practically spider-crawling on all-fours while slinging most of them over her shoulders between uses of her arms.

V didn't see this until they were both at the gate at the top of the stairs. She had to blink. "You're... good?"

Rebecca nodded, and hefted two rifles in her hands. "Just wish these were grenade launchers."

V shrugged, and hurried forward, waving for Rebecca to follow. Rebecca scurried along.

The moment they reached the connecting storage room, more guards were starting to run in from the other side. V immediately snapped her shotgun forward, shredding the first three guards with a couple of shots.

Rebecca roared as she braced back and unloaded with two rifles, pinning the other four guards back. When the rifles both clicked out of bullets, she tossed the entire guns and whipped two more forward from her back, continuing the spray of fire until all four guards burst with blood and collapsed, their body armor ruptured from so many hits.

V angled her head like a confused dog, staring at Rebecca for a moment.

Rebecca snapped from vicious combat focus to massive puppy-eyes, while making grabby hands at V's shotgun. "I LOVE IT! CAN I, CAN I!?"

V blinked, and then yanked the weapon further away. "No way! My wife gave this to me. No grabby."

Rebecca blinked, then her eyes grew even wider somehow, making V lean back a bit, and the pale, petite girl started to squeak like a leaking balloon, curling her fists under her chin.

"YOUR WIFE!? That's so romantic!"

V was now bewildered, her eyes darting over Rebecca's exaggerated features for a beat. "...You're like a living mascot..."

"Huh?"

"BOTH OF YOU KEEP MOVING!" Lucy cut in desperately.

Judy explained, "We have a big fucking problem, you need to get out of there right the hell now!"

V grabbed Rebecca's sleeve and started running, Rebecca just giving a startled shout as she scrambled to keep up.

"What's going on?" V called back sharply as they ran.

"Arasaka AV is closing on the facility! It'll land in two minutes!"

V frowned. "Two minutes is certain?"

"One minute, forty-seven seconds!" Lucy clarified urgently.

V actually full-stopped as they made the lobby at last, and gave Rebecca a little tug to stop her.

Rebecca blinked up at her. "Uh... running?" she asked, pointing at the open doors just waiting for them both.

V shook her head. "We won't make the gap across the open desert." She started to reload her shotgun. "Judy, Lucy, Falco, what size AV is it? Standard format?"

"Yes, similar to the Militech AV-17," Lucy returned. "Why aren't you two running!?"

V explained, "Because we're going to kill the twenty troopers inside the AV as soon as it lands, including the pilot."

Rebecca grinned, and immediately started counting how many rifles she had to work with. "Might be enough!" She declared, hefting the nearly dozen weapons up in her massive hands.

V had to stare again for a beat, then asked, "Uh... we got a map on the armory here?"

Lucy sent data to both of them. Rebecca practically salivated just at the idea, especially seeing the armory was simply a couple of rooms over on the other side of the building.

"Yep, that'll do," V muttered, and ran along with Rebecca to the armory.

The Arasaka AV swept down with a heavy rush of its engines, parking just in front of the main entrance to the facility. Both flanks of the vehicle opened, and combat-geared soldiers ran out, starting to file into the lobby immediately.

Four explosions sent chunks of several of them flying back through the doorway, followed by shot-gun blasts and rifle fire that started to plow into the rest. The back ranks that started to spread for cover... until sparks and flashes erupted off their heads, and they started to collapse to the ground.

Lucy called, "The guards are down, neutralize the pilot!"

V and Rebecca shot out through the smoke and debris.

"Having a real netrunner on my six is actually pretty nice," V commented idly as she and Rebecca got into the side of the AV.

"Lucy's the best! Way better than that treacherous bitch Kiwi," Rebecca explained sourly, and just aimed her new grenade launcher into the cockpit, firing once.

V jerked back with a yelp, wincing as the explosion sprayed fire, smoke, and chunks of metal back out between them.

Rebecca's grinning face appeared as the dust settled. "Can we leave now!?"

V just gave an awkward thumbs up, and they started to run out of the AV, for the main gate of the perimeter wall.

There, Falco swerved the truck down into view.

"You killed everyone, no point making you run that far, right?" he called simply out the window.

Judy had the side door open, and was waving the pair in urgently.

V and Rebecca all but leapt into the truck, and Judy slammed the door shut as Falco started to speed off.

V focused toward Lucy, who was only then disconnecting her plug. "The turrets are fully down, right? Don't want Regina's clean up crew to run into that."

Lucy nodded as she started to pull herself out of the icebath. "Everyone on that network is dead. Would take a real netrunner to get it back online now."

V glanced off with a blush. "Ahem, good, good to hear that."

Judy smirked again.

Rebecca didn't give Lucy a chance, however, crashing into the naked net runner with a shout.

"LUCY! We got you out!"

Lucy was startled enough to just crash back under Rebecca's attack, then stared in growing horror at the happy, young face. "It's... it all just happened for you, Rebecca?"

Rebecca blinked, pouting, and starting to ease off her friend. "Wait... Where was I? Why do you have new people with you? Where's David!?"

The final question came with a rush of panic in her voice as she sprang up, looking around the truck frantically as she realized she'd never heard his voice on the line.

V and Judy remained back, a sympathetic glance shared as Lucy only sat up enough to slump against the back of the truck.

"Rebecca, I thought you were dead. You've been held in that lab for... nearly two years."

Rebecca faltered, her arms going limp at her sides. "What...?"

"As soon as I learned you were alive, we put this mission together," Lucy gestured out to the others. "But it's... been a long time. David... David died, Rebecca. He died during that fight. Not long after... Smasher... hurt you..."

The runner was bowing her head, wiping at her eyes as her voice constricted.

Rebecca's massive hands twitched, and she spun around. "Falco!? Please tell me this is a bad joke!?"

He bowed his head as he drove. "Rebecca, I'm sorry. It's... a miracle to see you again, but David... David is definitely gone. I'm sorry."

Rebecca grabbed at her head. "No! ... NO!" she screamed, tears welling up in her eyes. "He needed to get Lucy out! He needed to see her okay! He can't have died before she got out!"

Lucy broke into sobs. "I'm... sorry! ...I couldn't... protect him!"

V was only tense because she was worried Rebecca would fully snap. She sympathized, and she'd do her best not to permanently harm the girl, but if she endangered Judy, Rebecca would be in pieces again if it was necessary. V already maneuvered herself to shield Judy bodily, and Judy realized why, wincing at the thought.

Rebecca stared back at Lucy, disbelieving, then horrified, then agonized. She crashed to her knees with an animal's roar of pain and impotent rage, starting to smash her fists against the floor of the truck.

Lucy curled tighter and tighter, just repeating, "I'm so sorry," with each breath.

Rebecca started to roar up at Lucy, but faltered finally, seeing the obvious pain Lucy shared with her. She sagged heavily, her hair draping to the floor. "...Two years?" she checked weakly.

"Give or take, kid," Falco answered, his manner grim.

Rebecca looked up to Lucy, and then crawled over, pulling Lucy into her arms and legs in a full-body hug. Lucy gasped in shock at first, then froze, stunned by the response, her eyes darting around as she tried to process this response from the smaller woman.

"You've been really lonely," Rebecca managed through her own tight throat.

Lucy burst with a fresh sob at last, nodding into Rebecca's shoulder.

"...Did you get to the moon?"

Another crying nod.

Rebecca wrapped her arms and legs around Lucy more securely. "That's good at least..."

V exhaled slowly, relaxing away from Judy, and looked over to Falco. "...We gonna be good here?"

He nodded, still serious, but clearly relieved now as well.

Judy blew out a sigh, and shared a little smile with V. At least the job was done.

Chapter Text

V was relieved everyone had clothes on finally. Apparently Rebecca didn't wear much, but her fondness for oversized jackets made up for it. A set of her favorites was still in the truck, which told V plenty about the emotions involved for Falco as much as Lucy.

Lucy let Rebecca ride up front, for both her sake and Falco's. The tough old driver had a soft spot for Rebecca, and seeing her alive was doing him good.

This left Lucy back with V and Judy, which was socially awkward enough she kept her eyes averted most of the time.

Judy was focused on patching up V's shoulder, because, of course, the 'scratch' was a deep stab wound that only avoided a bleed out because of all of V's subdermal armor.

"We should probably get Rebecca to a ripperdoc, just to make sure she's okay," V suggested simply, controlling a wince as Judy cleaned her wound.

Rebecca shrugged. "I feel fine! And Doc's an asshole. If he's still alive."

"He is," Falco admitted with a sigh.

Judy raised an eyebrow, glancing up from her work. "Your ripper just goes by 'doc'? Generic as hell."

Lucy hissed, "And a greedy liar."

V blinked. "Wait... where's he work out of?"

"Santa Domingo."

V glanced off, thinking over the ripperdocs throughout the city. "Wait, wait, wait! THAT psycho is your ripperdoc? No wonder you're all so fucking crazy. No, no way in hell. Dude's nuts. Hey, Falco, take us to Buran street."

Judy smirked. It said everything to her that V was trying to direct this weird group to Viktor. Judy also finally got a proper bandage across V's cut. Just cleaning all the blood off from around the wound had been a chore. V was still practically coated in the morbid color.

"Eh, V, we have a bit of a deal with Doc, he cuts us discounts, and we know how to manage his BS."

V, after thanking Judy with a little touch, leaned her head between the two front chairs, staring dryly at Falco. Rebecca giggled, and Falco grew uncomfortable.

"Go. To. Buran. Street. Ripperdoc named Viktor. Best in the city."

"Never heard of 'im," Falco muttered back.

"Because he likes it that way. You care about your friend?" V jerked her thumb up at Rebecca, who just smiled lightly at Falco, "You'll take her to Viktor. And never, ever, ever go back to Doc again. Seriously, I nearly murdered that psycho just because of how he looked at me the one time I checked him out."

Lucy lifted her eyebrows. "You went to Doc?"

Judy sighed softly. "V has been to every ripperdoc in the damn city."

"Supply chains are a bitch, okay!" V defensively snapped. "I'd have everything done by Vik if I could, but he doesn't lie and cheat to get better chrome. Obviously, her chrome's not the problem, we just want to make sure she's good, so he's the best."

Judy was smirking at V's defensive reaction, and V finally blushed, folded her arms, and curled up in a huff.

"Is Viktor expensive?" Lucy checked seriously. "You'll get paid, but we're not very liquid right now."

V waggled her hand dismissively, breaking out of her grumpy mood. "I'll cover it this time, but no he's not expensive. Especially if you really need help, he'll always work with you on costs." She sighed heavily, leaning back in the corner seat. "And all that shit about paying me was just me acting tough, make sure you weren't bullshitting me."

Falco blinked. "Wait, what?"

Judy giggled. "She did this gratis, genius. All you had to say was 'friend's stuck in a 'Saka lab' and she was on board."

Lucy stared in open shock at V. "You're... serious?"

V sighed again, staring up at the ceiling of the truck. "Judy's not wrong, but you're also not the only folks to lose someone close to Arasaka's bullshit. If I could pull him out of some lab they buried in the desert, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Owe that much to Misty."

Judy pouted, and reached over, gently gripping V's shoulder.

Rebecca leaned in to see them all clearly. "You lost someone, too?" she asked, her tone sincere and sympathetic.

V was patting Judy's hand on her shoulder, appreciating the touch, but blinked up at Rebecca. It would've been awkwardly close in most other situations, but Rebecca was child-like enough to V's perception it didn't phase her. "Yeah. Jackie Welles. He was a true friend. Died because I couldn't adapt enough to a shit situation."

"V..." Judy gently admonished.

"Losing him to that bullshit is what drove me forward at first. Why I enhanced so much, scrambled for all the best chrome. Just when that was wearing me out..." V glanced to Judy with a little smile, and Judy blushed, glancing off. "I found a reason to hang on to the future."

Lucy's eyes watered, but she quickly glanced down and away.

Rebecca squealed again. "YOU TWO ARE SO CUTE!"

V and Judy both blushed for that, but were laughing a little.

"I'm jealous," Lucy admitted quietly, still looking away.

V wasn't sure how to reply, and Judy glanced over, serious, but still sympathetic.

"...Maybe you, Rebecca, and Falco can get back to work? Might be something to hold onto for a little while?" Judy offered.

Falco shrugged. "Wouldn't mind it."

Rebecca cackled. "Arasaka's a burning crater, and Night City still has plenty of merc work, right? Hell yeah!" Her mood faltered, and she sank in her chair. "...Tough without David or the others, though."

Lucy sniffed, and straightened, a bit more life in her eyes. "He'd like the idea of us sticking together, I imagine."

Rebecca eased a bit. "...Yeah."

V smiled a little. "Sounds like a plan for now, at least."

"You're happy with your plan? Sticking with Seattle?" Lucy tested softly.

V blinked, Judy raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I'm golden," V confirmed. "Easiest work ever, and Judy loves Seattle."

Judy blushed, but smiled fondly at her wife.

"...Can I ask a stupid question?" Lucy shifted gears with a hint of humor in her manner at last.

"Eh?" V blurted in confusion.

"So... I saw that you took Judy's family name when you got married. Does the 'V' really stand for Vale--!?"

"IT'S JUST V! V ALVAREZ!" V roared over the sentence while blushing.

Judy burst into cackles, leaning back in her seat.

"Vik's is out back, but you should meet Misty, too," V explained as she led the small group into Misty's shop.

Misty herself blinked up. Her smile at V's voice was only subdued by honest confusion at seeing several people with her. "V, Judy! Is this... a crew?" she checked, her head tilting. "You... look like a mess," she added sympathetically to the blood-covered V.

V and Judy awkwardly smiled in almost identical ways.

Lucy was hanging back, using quiet aloofness to disguise how awkward she felt. Falco just offered a natural smile and little wave. Rebecca shot forward, grinning up at Misty.

"This shop looks neat! What do you sell?"

Misty blinked, her smile warming up again.

"Sorry, Misty," V added. "Introducing these folks to Viktor, didn't want to exclude you. This is Rebecca, Falco, and Lucy," she tossed a little hand-wave to each in turn.

Misty glanced about to link names and faces, then focused back on Rebecca, "I can give you tarot readings, treat your chakras, or even analyze your aura. As a sample, you have the most frenetic, pink aura I've ever seen. I'm guessing you don't slow down much?" she offered with an indulgent smile.

Rebecca bounced. "Yes! Oh, oh, can I get a reading?" she looked back to Lucy like a child begging her mother.

Lucy was keenly aware of this metaphor, her eyes twitching a little. "W-why are you asking me?"

V strode over in an exagerrated fashion, lightly gripping Rebecca's shoulders. "Misty, I will happily cover a reading for Rebecca here, but she reaaaaally needs to see Vik, just in case something's up with her chrome."

Misty grinned. "Of course, make sure she's okay. I'd love to give you a reading, Rebecca! Come right back after Vik checks you out, okay?"

Rebecca hopped up with a cheer, Misty's eyes widening as she realized the massive mechanical hands were not just gloves of some kind.

Judy grinned, and both she and V gave Misty quick, tight hugs as they led the little entourage past and into the alley.

"So far, this looks similar to Doc's place," Lucy had to mutter as she trailed the group.

V snorted. "Don't even! Just come see."

Lucy shrugged, hands up, and followed down the short steps, and up to the gate V was opening for everyone.

"Hey-hey, Vik! I brought you some business for once!" V announced them lightly.

Viktor blinked up from one of his old favorite fights, his eyebrows rising to see a full crew stepping down into his shop.

"Well damn, kid. Who're the new faces? What brings you two down from Seattle? ...Sure you don' t need the medic first...?"

V quickly flapped her hand to dismiss the worry for her part, Viktor easing again.

Judy waved happily and Viktor smiled back. She explained, "We just helped pull poor Rebecca here out of an Arasaka lab. And this crew's... normal ripper is... uh..."

"A complete asshole that shouldn't be allowed near people," V clarified flatly.

Viktor laughed, and came over, Rebecca staring up at him with an owlish blink this time.

"You're... big for a ripperdoc."

Viktor's laugh intensified before it had even finished. "I used to box, kid. Come on over, take a seat. We'll check you over. You look a lot better than V did the last few times she fell into my lab."

V blushed, glancing off, Judy smirking at her. Lucy and Falco followed along, clearly somewhat protective of Rebecca.

Rebecca herself was curious enough about the lab, Viktor, and the prospect of getting a reading, that she plopped into the examination chair without fuss, and just looked around while wagging her feet together.

Viktor glanced up to the new pair as he started setting up his scanning programs. "You worried I'm gonna hurt the poor kid?"

Falco coughed down to the side. Lucy folded her arms, glancing off, but answered, "Trust is hard to come by in Night City. We're only risking this because V is... helpful."

Judy giggled, making Lucy blush, and she refused to look over at the couple.

Viktor chuckled simply. "Healthy self defense in this city, that's for sure. Just running diagnostics to start, so no issue if you want to watch me. If she does need work, you'll need her permission to hang around. Patient privacy and all that. Make sense?"

Falco finally answered, "Reasonable, thanks."

Lucy pouted, but didn't argue. She did very much start to watch closely.

"Okay, Rebecca, had any nausea, glitches, aches and pains?" Viktor started simply.

"Mm, not really. Well... my arms do feel a little sluggish since I woke up."

Viktor nodded, and offered a jack from his console. "Plug this in, we'll get those diagnostics handled."

Lucy jerked slightly, and Viktor just paused, waiting. Rebecca blinked between the two.

"Uh... Lucy, either we're letting this guy check me over or we're not, right? Which is it?" Rebecca confirmed blandly.

Lucy winced, then pinched the bridge of her nose. "Sorry, you're right."

Viktor half-smiled, and just hefted the jack a little to re-offer. Rebecca plucked it from his fingers, and slotted it in.

Judy and V stole stools from near Viktor's desk.

V explained, "She was in pieces, Vik. Rebuilt her with the lab's tech. I trust them less than this crew's old ripper."

Viktor winced. "Jesus, seriously?"

Grim nods came from everyone he glanced to, and he shook his head, focusing back on the diagnostics.

"...Well, considering, you're in damn good condition, kid. I think your issue is nerve atrophy because of being... Well, you get it."

Rebecca nodded along. "So is that... permanent?"

"Not for you. You're so chromed up, I just need to run a few repairs. Just to ask, you sure you want resource-hogs like these industrial grippers still? They're already causing servo stress on your shoulders and most of your trunk musculature."

"I like my hands!" Rebecca shouted grumpily.

Viktor lifted one hand. "I got it, I got it, no worries. Can repair the nerve junctions and stress damage with a few hypos of nanites, if you want the least invasive version. Little pricy, though."

V called over, "On me, Vik. Whatever they want."

He glanced over. "You sure?"

She just nodded.

He shrugged, and looked back to Rebecca. "So what'll it be, kid?"

Rebecca blinked. "You can do all that with hypos?"

"It's small-scale, high-detail work, but it's all standard repair, if you follow me? I have different batches of nanites prefabbed for exactly this kind of stuff. Now, obviously, the nerve network atrophy isn't usually because someone was cut apart and stuck in a damn lab by corpo psychos, but nerve damage is nerve damage."

Lucy saw how sincere and careful Viktor was being. He was looking Rebecca in the eyes, he was attentive, and his suggestions were all for her longer term well being. In a few short minutes, she already wished she'd been able to get David to visit him. "U-uh, doctor, is there any risk of... psychosis with her chrome rig?"

V and Judy were intrigued as much as curious, Falco staring at her. Rebecca frowned firmly, but didn't snap. Yet.

Viktor just seemed confused. "Cyberpsychosis from industrial grippers and standard body reinforcement mods? No, no, there's no danger of that. Her nervous system itself isn't under high stress for a chromed up person. Her joints will just get achy and possibly lock-up without regular maintenance."

Rebecca glanced off, pouting. "Oh, that's why my shoulders were getting so sore."

"Bingo, kid."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Falco chided her softly.

Rebecca shrugged. "I kinda just figured it was from our jobs. We were busy."

"So, kid," Viktor cut back in with a light clap to get everyone's focus back, "hypos a go, or you want something different?"

Rebecca smiled at him. "Hypos, please! Do you have to jab me all over?"

"Just a few spots on each arm. You okay losing the jacket for a minute?"

She answered by simply slipping it off. Lucy watched for a moment, and saw no hint of ogling in Viktor's manner. He was completely professional despite his casual garb and the... rustic lab. It felt safe here...

"Okay, three on each arm. Ready?"

Rebecca nodded quickly.

Viktor moved with simple ease, but made sure Rebecca knew what was going on at each step. He did the left arm at the forearm, elbow, and shoulders first, then had her give it a few flexes to get the fluids circulating.

Then he rolled around on his stool, asking for space politely from Lucy and Falco, who backed off easily, and did the same thing for her right arm.

In just seconds, while he was rolling back to his consoles on her left, Rebecca rolled her shoulders with a strange haze in her eyes.

"Whoa... that feels so much better."

"Got all the kinks worked out, hm?" Viktor replied with a little smile.

"Yeah, seriously! Thanks, doctor!"

"Please, just Viktor or Vik."

"Hehe, Vik!"

He winked casually. "You can unplug that jack now, kid. Just making sure I didn't miss anything. I'd recommend a check-up in a couple of months. Sooner if you start to feel soreness again."

Rebecca plucked the connection out, and it retracted to Viktor's console. She sprang onto her feet energetically, tugging her jacket back on fully. "Wow! I feel great!" She danced and hopped a bit. "It's like a new shell entirely!"

"I imagine it does, with how much joint stress you had, kid."

Falco glanced across everyone briefly, and then focused on Viktor. "Uh... since V is paying, would you mind giving my arm a look-over? It snags sometimes."

V laughed, Judy grinning, and Lucy was just surprised. Rebecca cackled.

Viktor gestured to the chair with a casual smile.

Falco settled right in, and Viktor set up his structural scanner over the mechanical arm.

"Oh ho, an Arklite Remington. Classic," Viktor muttered casually as he started up his programs.

Falco smirked. "You do know your shit, huh?"

"Helped install one for a friend back in my boxing days. Held up better than anything since for constant work."

"She sure does. Can't bring myself to update."

"Neither did he," Viktor chimed lightly. "Ah, here we go. Yeah, you've just got a bent rotor inside the elbow. Looks like... you caught a bullet there?"

Falco laughed. "Oh shit, I remember when it happened then! How'd I miss the rotor?"

"Hard to see from outside, probably looked like it was caught between two of the guide plates without damaging them."

"Don't suppose you have the parts?"

"Short answer is 'no,' but like I said, I worked on one of these for a friend. If you don't mind going armless for a few minutes, I can bend that rotor back into shape just across the shop."

"Well shit, Vik, please do."

"And only asking this because V is paranoid, but do you want your pain receptors left online during the detachment?"

Everyone stared at V, who blushed and looked off.

"I prefer to know what's going on, okay!" she whined defensively.

Falco snorted, and shook his head, "Off, please."

Viktor smirked, gave a thumbs up, and got to work.

"Can I got get my reading!?" Rebecca hollered across the shop.

Lucy fidgeted, but seeing Rebecca's pleading face, she just smiled and nodded.

Rebecca hopped for joy, and zipped off.

"...Should I keep an eye on her?" Lucy asked directly of V.

V shook her head casually, "Nah, she'll be fine. Misty's the best, and the bums around here wouldn't dare cross Viktor's customers."

"No more pro bono repairs, if you cost me a customer," Viktor called over, already working on the partially dismantled arm on the other side of the room.

Lucy blinked. "You... do repairs for the street kids who can't pay?"

"Nothing major, but if someone's hurting or it's life threatening, doesn't feel right to just send 'em back out the door. Stopping pain is easy, and the worse-off folks are too grateful for help to raise a fuss even if they want to the rest of the time."

So if David's mother had gotten here...

"...That's very noble," Lucy muttered, glancing aside.

Judy, V, and Falco all realized she was shy.

"Nah, nah. I'm well-off enough I can eat a few losses, that's all it is. Don't make a thing out of it."

V rolled her eyes, but didn't poke. She knew he was managing embarrassment himself.

Viktor checked his work for a moment, then rebuilt the arm in a quick, well-practiced rush. "Alright--Falco, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Just Vik, seriously--You should be good. Let me get this beauty hooked back up for you."

Falco had the biggest smile V had yet seen on the man's scruffy face. In just a minute more, he was testing and flexing his arm.

"Damn, Vik. She's like new! Thank you!"

Viktor gestured simply. "Happy to work on a classic. And it's V's tab, so..."

They all laughed, even Lucy cracking a little smile.

"I'll go check on Rebecca. Mostly to make sure she's not dragging your friend all over the city," Falco explained as he stood up.

"Get a reading while you're at it!" V playfully suggested, Judy laughing again.

Falco lightly waved that off as he walked out through the gate.

Lucy was conspicuously hovering near the medical seat, and Viktor glanced up at her, waiting in silence.

V and Judy shared a quick glance, then eased up to quietly depart the room. Whatever was on Lucy's mind, it likely needed privacy.

Lucy took a breath, and finally met Viktor's eyes. "I haven't gotten maintenance in a long time. Would you mind?"

Viktor just gestured to the chair.

She awkwardly eased into it. "Are you able to examine deep-dive jacks?"

Viktor paused at her screen, focusing on her seriously. "...I have to get another piece of equipment out for it, but yeah."

Lucy pulled her disguising patch of hair off her deep-dive jack, and added, "Please?"

Viktor whistled, clearly at the jack itself rather than her body, and just rolled over to pull another cable from his lab desk.

"Helps to have access from the standard port as well as the deep-dive. That alright with you?"

Lucy nodded mildly, and took each plug as he handed them to her, connecting them to herself.

She recognized the mild tingle of diagnostic access, but felt nothing amiss, either.

"Ports look clean and structurally sound. You take good care of them."

"My livelihood."

"Heh, fair enough. Hm. You sticking with the OS version 12.22 because of the security loopholes it has?"

She blinked at him. "...You really do keep track of things."

Viktor shrugged simply. "Runner like you wouldn't miss out on soft without a reason."

"Edgerunner or netrunner?" she checked with a mild smirk.

"Oh-ho, edgerunner? Haven't heard that one in a while, kid."

"Really?"

"Yeah, at least for me."

Lucy half-smiled, and just glanced down as his scans continued.

"You look mostly fine, kid. Only thing I'm catching is mild damage on your epidermal layers. Looks like cold damage. Icebaths?"

For some reason she blushed, glancing off. "...I don't like wearing a runner suit."

She was grateful he was so professional, he didn't even blink at the implication. "Everyone has their preferences, but it'll start to cause real damage over time. At that point, you'll need a complete reskin to address it."

"...And right now?"

"Not sure it's worth fixing at this stage. Nanites would be my most recommended option, but you'd need a lot. If this is a habit you're going to stick with, then... hm. Come back in about a year? Full nanite-flush should get you set back up."

"...And a runner suit would actually help?"

"Yeah, it mitigates the thermal shock quite a bit. Your chrome would be able to keep up with self-repair routines."

Lucy cringed down at her hands. "I don't suppose you know of any suits that... look significantly different?"

Viktor glanced to her, then frowned thoughtfully, pulling up another console and checking a few things. "What part gets under your skin the most?"

"I suppose the... color and the collar. It feels like it's choking me so slowly I won't die."

"I assume the suits that bother you were black, too?"

She just nodded quietly.

"How's this look?" he asked, pulling the screen around to show her a product display.

Lucy blinked. The collar was cut lower, exposing most of her neck, and it was a vibrant white and gold pattern. "I... hadn't seen that style before."

"Well, sounds like you had no reason to look, right?"

She was comforted by his understanding. She eased into an actual smile, nodding.

"Want me to get this shipped here for you? Or is there an address you want it sent to?"

"H-here is fine. Um... is it okay if we dump this on V's tab, too?"

Viktor laughed lightly. "She said she was paying."

"...Is she really that well off? I'm a little concerned by all the bills we're wracking up on her."

Viktor patted Lucy's shoulder casually. It was such a simple, friendly touch, she was only shocked because such friendly manners were so rare.

"V has plenty tucked away for various reasons. She wouldn't offer if she wasn't good for it. ...And if she brought you here, it means she's got a good feeling about the three of you."

"...Huh?"

Viktor nodded simply as he got the order finalized. "V's a porcupine. She wouldn't share anything with anyone if she didn't have a reason to let down the spikes. Also, granted, if the ripperdoc got that reaction out of her, she wanted to protect you guys from them."

"So she's a bit of a bleeding heart?"

"Especially in Night City terms? She's probably the sweetest kid you'll ever meet. Just uh... don't piss her off."

Lucy rubbed her neck at the reminder. "Learned that the hard way."

"Oof. Lucky you got out of that one then."

Lucy frumped slightly. "So certain I'd lose, huh?"

"Let's just say I saw what happened to HER the last time someone pissed her off. Kid will fight through any level of pain if she thinks she has to."

Lucy blinked, and then glanced off more thoughtfully. "...Yes, she's... very ready to suffer if it'll protect someone."

"Damn right," Viktor muttered softly. "And there we go. Order's all set, and your systems are good other than that one issue we discussed. Any concerns?"

Lucy smiled gently for him, shaking her head. "None. Thank you, Viktor. I... imagine you might see more of us in future. V indicated you're... flexible if we're tight on eddies during an emergency?"

Viktor chuckled. "Dammit, V, stop giving away my secrets."

Lucy showed an apologetic wince.

"But yeah, that's right. I'm not gonna turn someone away that's tore up. Just uh... try to pay me when you can, alright? Especially with high-end chrome like you and Rebecca are sporting."

"Of course."

"Then we're all good, kid. Now get on up to Misty's and make sure your friends know I didn't try to steal your chrome."

Lucy had to laugh a little, and gave him a soft wave before she picked herself up and left.

Viktor looked at the bill he was about to slap V with, smiling dryly. "Told me to put it on your tab, kid..."

Chapter Text

Lucy was puzzled when she found Falco, Judy, and V all waiting outside the back of Misty's shop. Falco actually waved her down.

"They're having a... important talk. Felt like I was intruding."

V and Judy just gestured to him to confirm they were waiting for the same reason.

Lucy remained confused. "Because of the... reading?"

Judy offered, "It probably started there, but Rebecca was obviously emotional. Probably talking about... well... your lost friend."

Lucy was caught between sympathy and discomfort. She didn't like David being discussed with a stranger, however well-recommended.

"I-I'm going to check on her," Lucy explained, quickly brushing past them.

Falco reached, but didn't actually grab her, wincing a little. V and Judy knew they were on thin ice with such a close-knit crew, so they didn't try harder than Falco.

Misty and Rebecca glanced up from the recliner Misty used for her clients. Rebecca had clearly been crying, but she was smiling as well.

Lucy paused, her steps trailing. "Sorry, I just wanted to check on her."

Misty smiled warmly, patting Rebecca's shoulder. "Beautiful heart in this girl. It's been so nice to meet her."

Rebecca wiped her eyes shyly, and then grinned more at Lucy. "Misty's great! She can actually see auras and understands that tarot stuff! I never got the point, but she makes it really interesting!"

Misty giggled a little.

Lucy showed a polite smile. "Well, I'm glad you had a nice reading, then. Sorry for interrupting."

Rebecca hopped up, grabbed Misty in a hug that the surprised woman happily returned, and then she rushed outside with the others.

Lucy was a bit stunned by the speed, and then adapted, offering a little nod to Misty as she turned, clearly intending to join the others.

"Can I talk to you for a sec, hon?" Misty checked weakly, hesitant.

Lucy turned serious, but did face her, an eyebrow up.

"It was clear something was really hurting Rebecca, so I nudged a little. I know it's not my business, but I just had to share that she's really worried about you. I assume Falco is, too. Have you had a chance to grieve?"

Lucy restrained her desire to scowl, reducing it to a simply cold stare. "I don't want to discuss my personal affairs, please."

Misty was saddened, but nodded.

Lucy started to walk away, then rolled her eyes, and turned back. "David died for me, and the sequence of events that led to his death were... avoidable. By me, and others. I'm not just grieving him. I'm... to blame. In a very real way."

Misty eased closer, and reached her hand out. She moved slowly, letting Lucy see it, react... and Lucy allowed her to touch her shoulder.

"Lucy, hon, the dead aren't helped by blame. Blame gives us something to latch onto, something to stay connected to, which is why it's so easy to hold onto it. Do you think David blamed you for his death?"

Lucy bitterly stared down to the side. "He probably wasn't sane enough to realize what I'd done to him."

"I'm talking about his heart, not his head, hon."

Lucy blinked, glancing back to Misty.

"Did he ever express, in any way, that he stopped loving you?"

Lucy wilted, but as she thought on that awful conversation on the road-side, before it all came crashing down, she knew he still loved her. They were hiding things, being idiots, but the love never faltered. "...No," whispered out of her.

Misty offered a gentle smile. "Hold onto the good times, learn from the bad times, but let your heart grow again, Lucy. Even if you're right, if you did something that hurt him, the truth is that we've all hurt the ones we love. And tragedies can grow out of that. It's worth it to hang on to the people you have around you, and live forward."

Lucy winced, her head remaining bowed. "I don't know how..."

"Well... that's a good place to start. It means you're open to learning. My suggestion? Rebecca would really like to keep working with you, and she clearly cares about you as a friend. Use that as your starting point."

Lucy took a slow breath. She paused as she put some pieces of information together in her mind. "...You... you lost Jackie."

Misty blinked in surprise, then showed a sad, calm smile with a little nod.

"How did you do it?"

"I'm still in the process, too, hon. It's... why I wanted to reach out. I've... been where you're trapped. The guilt feels like the last real thing in the world, but that's not the whole truth. If you need to feel guilt, feel it, but feel love, too. For your friends that are still here, and the ones that aren't. Don't close yourself off."

Lucy wiped dampness from her eyes carefully. "...Thank you."

Misty's smile blossomed, and her hand finally retreated. "You're welcome. And it's been very nice to meet you guys. Come by any time."

Lucy eased into a little smile. "I get the sense Rebecca might drag us along a few times, yes."

Misty grinned.

When they brought V and Judy back to the hideout where their car was waiting, Lucy was only surprised to learn that the couple were going to check on something in Night City (including a shower for poor V) before they left, and asked if they could check back in later in the evening. No one had a problem with it, and Falco offered to get some beers so it could be a proper send-off for a successful gig. That kept spirits higher.

It was a little more bearable with Rebecca back. She was clearly mixed between relief and painful nostalgia as well, and Lucy wound up following her around, the two of them just staring at different rooms, remembering better times.

Abruptly, Rebecca said, "He really needed you to be okay. I'm glad you're alive, Lucy."

Lucy wilted from so many conflicting emotions. "...I should've handled things differently. If I had, he..."

Rebecca slapped Lucy's back, making the taller woman yelp and stumbled forward slightly, blushing and staring in open confusion.

Rebecca just gave Lucy a dry stare with the attention. "We all could've handled things differently. Maybe I could've stolen him away from you after all," she smirked a bit. "But that's not what happened. SO! ...We need to make this place our base again. A new style for a new crew. Maybe see if there's anyone worth hiring out there," she finished, rubbing her chin thoughtfully with a hand bigger than her head.

Lucy was still overwhelmed, feeling like a car had just sped past her. "I... I suppose we could?"

"I really wish we could get V and Judy to sign on, but they're obviously a THING, and like SEATTLE, which is way too boring."

Lucy was gently amused and exasperated in equal parts, wiping a hand down her face. "I think those two have their happy ending, yes. You really want to keep doing this? Gigs and guns?"

Rebecca braced with a big grin, fists clenched. "Damn right! We've been dark for way too long! Time to make Night City remember this edgerunner crew!"

Lucy sighed to one side, but said, "I suppose I could do netrunning for you..."

Rebecca squealed and hopped for joy. "I knew it was a good idea!"

Just a couple of hours later, Falco had beers in coolers in the lounge, Lucy and Rebecca were relaxed, and V and Judy arrived, V hefting a small box.

"You guys look settled in, finally!" Judy declared with a smile, snagging a beer and plopping down in one of the chairs.

"Just you wait," Rebecca started, hopping to her feet. "You'll hear about us all the way up in Seattle! We'll be the number one crew!"

V flicked her eyebrows up. "Oh-ho, starting things back up after all?"

Falco gave a thumbs-up. "Unanimous to the three of us. First thing is to see if there's anyone worth hiring out there."

V chuckled. "There isn't," she commented playfully, making everyone roll their eyes. At the same time, V just walked right over, and offered the box to Lucy.

Everyone but Judy seemed confused.

V explained, "Falco gave me this a ways back, mostly to keep me from digging too much into your crew. Now that I've learned a thing or two, realized it belongs with you."

Falco blinked, and then facepalmed. "Lucy's gonna kill me."

"Not my problem!" V declared lightly.

Lucy was confused, Rebecca was now desperately curious, and Judy just giggled as she sipped her drink.

After a pause of incomprehension, Lucy took the box, opened it, and stopped short. V eased off, and moved to grab a drink and sit near Judy, having some idea of the emotions the 'gift' would set off.

Rebecca stared, too, a potent mixture of sadness and warmth in her bright eyes.

Lucy finally moved again, pulling David's old jacket out of the box. She abruptly hugged it to her chest.

"...You gave this away?" she whispered painfully to Falco.

Falco pinched the bridge of his nose. "You were on the moon, and I thought Rebecca was dead. It... felt like a decent salute to another merc trying to survive the city, okay?"

"Was thoughtful... and stupid," V added mercilessly for poor Falco.

He groaned, and Judy had to chuckle a bit at the scene.

Lucy might've snapped a few days ago, even, but now she just listened, then glanced up to Rebecca tearfully. "Is it... alright, if I...?"

Rebecca wiped her eyes, and just nodded. "He'd love for you to have it, we all know it. Even the new kid," she indicated V with a giant thumb.

V silently scoffed at that moniker, and Judy burst out laughing, leaning into her side. Falco gained a smug grin for his indirect revenge.

Lucy smiled through her tears, and quickly slung the jacket around, curling it closer as she got her arms through the sleeves.

Savoring it for a moment, she finally looked across with the warmest smile she'd managed in a long, long time. "Thank you, V."

V smiled back, and raised her drink. "To old friends, and new beginnings."

Everyone raised a drink to that.

As the two small teams were preparing to part out by the vehicles, Lucy stepped aside with V, while Judy giggled at a story from Rebecca and Falco.

"I... appreciate you not losing your patience with me, V. About David."

V blinked at her, then shrugged. "I couldn't fault you for it."

"How do you mean?"

V glanced out, her eyes landing on Judy with a kind of reverent warmth this time. "Judy's my world, Lucy. I did everything for her, and she's done so much for me. If I lost her?" she looked back to Lucy gravely, shaking her head. "I wouldn't be nearly as healthy about it as you."

Lucy raised her eyebrows, and then nodded softly. "I understand. Then... thank you for being so honest."

V just gave a little thumbs up. "Take care of your crew, Lucy. You've got a family here," she said as she eased off toward the car with Judy.

Rebecca and Falco waved warmly, Judy returning in kind, and Lucy eased over to her team to smile and wave back. "Give us a shout next time you visit NC, hm?" Lucy decided to offer.

"Likewise, if you wander North!" Judy chimed, V grinning.

A moment later, the couple were revving off into the distance, and Lucy turned back to her crew.

"So... how about we look into jobs we can handle as a trio for now?"

Rebecca grinned, and Falco gave a little salute.

It was a fresh start at least.