The repair worker outfit she was wearing didn't make her look down-and-out; instead, it added a sense of free-spiritedness and casualness to her appearance.
V was humming a little tune in a cheerful mood. When she turned her head, she saw Mercer staring at her, and she felt inexplicably uneasy.
At first, she instinctively looked away, then immediately stared back with a smug look: "What? Is your sister beautiful?"
"You know, when you're not talking, you're quite pretty." Mercer suddenly felt a bit regretful, asking her to switch back to her previous expression - it looked so much better when she was a bit aloof, but as soon as she opened her mouth, it just lost that vibe.
V snorted and appeared to withdraw her hand from him, but Mercer immediately changed his tune: "Beautiful! Damn beautiful! Why don't we not go back today and find somewhere to hang out?"
"Go on, aren't you afraid Rebecca will strangle you when you get back?"
V playfully made a disdainful face, then shifted her eyes and grinned: "It's not that you can't date your sister, but you'd better think it through. I don't like my boyfriend to have ambiguous relationships with other women."
She leaned in close, pretending to tease him casually: "If my boyfriend dared to cheat... I'd crush him with my own hands."
V gently squeezed her palm, and Mercer couldn't help but wince, but he then said confidently, "Cheat? Don't kid me, I'm a faithful good man, V. I think you misunderstand me."
"Then swear, if you're lying, you'll fall off from up here immediately."
V smirked and deliberately jostled the drone.
The drone shook in the air, and Mercer promptly shut his mouth, only speaking after a moment: "Anyway, I think I'm..."
"Give it a rest!"
V said irritably, looking at him with contempt: "Just you wait, there will surely be a time when you're troubled. I tell you, kid, you should better start thinking about your future early on, don't just keep fooling around with those unreliable things of yours."
"What's with all this consciousness upload, Soulkiller, cloning and stuff... Seriously, why are you pondering over all this?"
V stopped looking at him and instead gazed at the city below: "Are you really planning to take on this city all by yourself?
We can take out a convoy, storm a hotel, but that's because we have the element of surprise.
What if one day we're the ones ambushed... Have you ever considered this?"
V sighed deeply and said with emotion: "Sometimes I really don't know if going crazy with you is the right choice."
"Don't think about me, think about the money... I promise, this time the money is all yours.
Right now, I don't have much to spend money on. This time's team funds can be left for everyone to upgrade their gear, I've got enough random stuff to keep me busy for a while."
Mercer raised an eyebrow at her: "Think about it, isn't the decision quite right?"
"I can risk my life for money, how about you?" V countered, looking at him. At that moment, the night wind blew through her white short hair, as if a star from the sky was reflected in her bright eyes.
"Why do you risk your life? For justice? Thrill? Or is it just for a sense of satisfaction?"
After a string of questions, V shook her head and said: "You need to consider the people around you. What I mean is... can we really go head-to-head with those corporations?"
She spoke with some despondency: "A corporation can lose once, twice, lose ten people, a hundred people, even a thousand people, it doesn't matter. Arasaka alone has over a million employees worldwide.
But if we fail just once... like if this busted drone suddenly malfunctions now, we'd both be dead meat."
"Damn, don't say things like that." Mercer gripped her arm.
V chuckled: "I thought you weren't afraid of death at all."
"If I weren't afraid of death, why would I bother with bioengineering cloning equipment? I'm afraid of death... mainly worried about dying before I finish what I've got to do."
Mercer said: "If I could, I'd really plan on enjoying life for two or three hundred years before kicking the bucket."
"Couldn't tell... I always thought you acted fearless and crazy, like you're living for the moment." V commented with a bit of surprise.
"That's because I'm not living comfortably now, so I'm going crazy."
Mercer sighed, looking at the glowing city beneath: "I'm willing to risk my life to live comfortably, even if occasionally... okay, often it feels damn thrilling, but if I were to choose for real..."
He thought for a while, seriously saying: "I'd rather find a girl I like, a loyal and pretty one, have a home of our own, not too big or too small.
Being able to eat a couple of pieces of meat a day, some fresh vegetables, and take a clean bath every day, I'd be quite satisfied with that.
Going out sometimes to watch a movie or travel with the girl I like.
Having a kid around thirty to build a stable family, and at seventy or eighty, dying in the arms of my spouse, wouldn't that kind of life be nice too?"
But then, Mercer shrugged it off, discarding such an impractical fantasy for now: "But look at this city, just walking down the street and you might suddenly run into a gang fight with stray bullets ending your life abruptly.
The medicine you buy for a cold might have side effects that kill you at home, the drinks you buy offhandedly might have addictive substances that exceed safe levels, the meat you eat is made from bugs, and the food is a byproduct left over after bio-engineering extracts biofuel.