[CALLING: Viktor Vector]
"V? What brings you to remember this old man today?"
V chuckled softly. "Vik, you're not old. Just the other day I saw you watching boxing replays, muttering about getting back in the ring to teach the young punks a lesson."
"Get to the point. Work again?"
Vik's voice always had a way of putting people at ease.
"Yeah." V glanced at the passenger seat where Ethan's arm stump was still leaking blood. Even after she'd injected coagulants and huffed a canister of Black Lace into him, he wasn't stabilizing.
"I've got a... let's say work-related person here. Lost an arm. Major blood loss. Back's torn up too..."
V pulled the cord from her wrist and, steering one-handed, plugged it into Ethan's neural port.
"Vitals are bad. I'm half an hour out. Can you do surgery? Sorry to make you work overtime."
She transmitted the data. She wasn't sure Ethan would even make it that long.
"Trauma Team client?"
Vik was always careful. V worked for Arasaka—her contacts sometimes included Trauma Team platinum members whose systems had glitched.
V was blunt. "Broke-ass nobody. Definitely not Trauma Team."
Viktor gave a helpless smile. "Then bring him in. If the blood loss is that bad, remember the coagulants."
"Don't worry, Vik. I've picked up a few tricks watching you."
Call ended. V's car hit a hundred and fifty kilometers per hour as it tore out of a Pacifica intersection. Every NCPD radio channel lit up with reports about her vehicle.
The car blazed past neon-soaked skyscrapers. The glow of [NO EQUAL] slid across the chassis as V's Herrera EC-D I360 became an urban aircraft.
[WATSON DISTRICT]
Little China.
This neighborhood in Night City was a zone of mixed poverty and neon-lit commerce. Street corners flashed past—distinctive signs, food carts selling cheap fare—the usual Watson scenery.
There was a strange contradiction embedded in the urban structure here.
Corporate office buildings sat next to illegal gambling dens. Crowds mixed together. The salary workers who couldn't afford apartments near the corporate plaza breathed the same air as the homeless in these streets.
Cheap entertainment meant card tables and strip clubs.
Aside from the occasional Tyger Claw, no major gangs had staked territory here.
Vik's clinic was hidden in a basement behind a maze of storefronts, down a back alley.
V pulled up. Misty had already gotten Viktor's call and was waiting outside, yawning. Her smoky eye makeup made her look even drowsier.
"Viktor asked me to help. V."
"Misty, I can handle it myself... okay, thanks."
Right now it was midnight. No one around, but a couple of homeless guys still startled at the sight of two women hauling a man between them.
Blood dripped down, staining Misty's sweater along the way.
V felt a bit guilty.
"Set him down here, kid."
Viktor's cybernetic hands were raised, freshly sterilized. "Let's deal with the arm first."
Looking at the blood pooling on the chair, Viktor asked, "Who is he to you? I need to know whether to use the good stuff."
"Use whatever you've got, Vik. If he can't pay, I'll cover it. I still have to go to work."
Viktor shook his head. "I only let you run a tab."
With that, he began stopping the bleeding and extracting shrapnel with forceps. Misty was in the back, searching for suitable cyberware.
Surgery had begun.
Ethan dreamed.
In the dream, the corporate plaza was immaculate. He stood at the base, looking up at the skyscrapers that pinned ordinary people to the bottom of society.
So what was he, really? Why was he still alive?
No one answered.
"Hey! What are you spacing out for, Ethan?"
Maine's hand clapped down on his shoulder.
Rebecca stood with her hands in her pockets, oversized collar hiding an expression that wasn't her usual carefree self.
Beside her were the other crew members: Dorio, Kiwi, Lucy, David Martinez...
"Yo! Amigo, looking pretty fired up today!"
Ethan turned. "Oh, it's you, Jackie..."
The burly man with the samurai topknot wore a leather jacket, arms crossed. Beside him stood someone... wait, was that the cyber-babe?
But then the mirror shattered.
Those people lay silent on the ground, broken beyond repair.
Only the woman remained—covered in wounds, on one knee, staring fixedly at Arasaka Tower.
A silver-haired man with one arm, wearing body armor, leaned against her back. "This broken-down world isn't worth shit. Burn it all to ash."
[SYSTEM RELOADING...][DATA RETRIEVAL... // ...]
The darkness in Ethan's world began to brighten. Red vital-sign data reminded him—he was alive.
Had his call to the ripperdoc gone through?
Whatever. Being alive was enough.
Ethan opened his eyes. He was lying in a surgical chair. The corporate woman was asleep in a nearby seat.
He tried moving his neck, scanning the room.
Small space. Computer screens glowing faint blue. Trophies beside the monitor. Random junk scattered around.
And an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
My hand!
Instinctively, Ethan raised his arm—and found both hands intact. Fresh. He flexed his fingers. They felt more responsive than before.
Real-skin coating covered the palm, hiding black synthetic membrane beneath. A silver-white square was embedded there. His grip felt stronger too.
"Subdermal Armor. Ballistic Coprocessor."
A voice made Ethan jump. The corporate woman had woken without him noticing. Fatigue and a hint of sharpness showed around her eyes as she stared at him.
"Where am I?"
"Night City. Watson." She crossed her legs. "Now, as payment for saving your life, you can settle the cyberware bill with Dr. Viktor Vector here."
"And what I want in return is for you to tell me everything about the stolen Barghest shipment."
This is... Viktor? Old Vik's ripperdoc shop?!
Then the woman in front of him was... Ethan swallowed.
[SUBJECT: Valerie (V)][AFFILIATION: Night City — Arasaka][AFFINITY: 0][DEVELOPMENT VALUE: ???][MILESTONE REWARD: Encountered this subject. System recalibration. Cyberware upgraded: Ballistic Coprocessor (Blue), Subdermal Armor (Blue), Titanium Bones (Blue). Intelligence +3, Eddies...]
"Don't try anything clever. I can fry your brain and wake you right back up. Now tell me about the Dogtown mess."
"Don't make me get rough!"
Corporate quickhacker—V. The pressure was immense. Ethan's body went rigid.
He didn't even know if he should explain everything.
Militech. Arasaka. What the hell was going on?
No—he couldn't just spill his guts.
"I need to know what's actually happening before I can tell you anything."
Ethan had been burned too many times. Even if this was V, he couldn't be naive anymore.
V's gaze turned cold.
Ethan scrambled. "No, I mean—I watched a braindance. You've got to give me some context about what's going on so I know what you're actually asking for. I swear! Tell me, and I'll talk."
V drew a knife from her waist and began casually tossing it, catching it.
Ethan wasn't sure if that counted as a threat.
PLZ THROW POWERSTONES.
300 , 500 , 1000 for each milestone 1 Bonus Chapter.