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‘One more gig’ was never just one more.
Sure, as V drove closer to Watson, the lie became more believable, but it was hard to put the gun down when the eddies just kept rolling his way.
So, yeah. Perhaps V was running on sheer adrenaline and lights so bright he wondered if he had astigmatism. They confined him to Watson once they started blurring his vision, which was fine at first, until he decided to deal with a cyberpsycho.
It’s usually a breeze, ten minutes tops. Scan the area, locate the gonk, knock them out from behind and text Regina when done. But this one packed a punch, no doubt. The consistent pace and accuracy was unmatched, dodging and attacking beat-by-beat. With easily predictable moves, it shouldn’t have been such a challenge for V to lock on to it and perform a few quickhacks.
He had to run off from the fight.
It had already gone tits up when he was spotted. Combine blurry vision with incoordination and a relic malfunction—”Are you stupid?”
The engram had materialized, a glitchy blue hologram standing in front of a currently crouched V. He held a cigarette, which glitched similarly, along with the clouds of smoke he blew in V’s face. Course, didn’t have the same effect as real smoke, but it annoyed him all the same. V still felt the need to wave it away. “For your standards, no.”
Couldn’t argue there. Johnny had met more than a fair share of brainless gonks, but V was effortlessly making his way to reach the top of his list. Didn’t take a genius to understand he’s overexerted himself—shit, his reinforced tendons were overheating; fumes from his legs. Johnny thought it best to visit Viktor when morning rolls around.
“Why not go see him… now?” V interrupts himself with a cough. “Guarantee he’s not sleep.” Right, yeah. Johnny’s thoughts aren’t exactly private.
“Because you’re sick, dumbass.”
“The relic malfunctions all the time.”
V’s logic, or lack thereof, spoke so loudly that Johnny could not let himself stoop so low to try and speak some reason into him. Johnny—same guy that tried to bomb Arasaka—trying to speak reason into V—same merc that tried to steal from Arasaka. What a fucking concept.
Johnny looked up at the sky and noticed it had brightened, idiot stayed up all night again. “You’re killing yourself.”
V’s eyes moved to glare at Johnny, but he had to close them almost instantly. Even that made him dizzy. “Fine. You win. I’m going home.”
His body maintains a still position for a moment, his legs are shaky from holding his weight and his optics seem to be glitching a bit. There’s a few overheating errors, but they’ll probably go away once he enters the freezer he calls an apartment.
When he stands up is when his legs give out. He falls straight onto concrete, right on his temple. “Fuck…”
Johnny glitched closer to V. He kneeled down with extended arms, as if to hold V up for support. “V?! Come on, don’t pass out on me.”
If V wasn’t in such a state, he still wouldn’t be able to hear Johnny. Too many noises, it’s easy to hear and feel everything. The cars incessantly honking, the lights, the smog entering his nostrils, the lights, the constant beeping from the amount of errors, the fucking lights—
…
Something comfier to lay on. A pulsing pain in his head, as if someone were stabbing his brains from the inside. A lo-fi version of Never Fade Away. And Johnny sat right next to the radio. “J’nny.”
He looked up at V, who was curled into a fetal position on his bed. “V.”
V rolls over to face the wall, groaning. “It fucking hurts.”
A scoff left Johnny’s mouth as he glitched over to sit on the ledge of V’s bed. “Trust me, I know. Guess who drove you home.”
Home. Right, that’s where he is. He’s on his bed. The AC is on full blast. That music is from his radio. Which means Johnny must’ve took control while V was out for… well, the sun’s setting. He’s been sleep all day. A whole day’s passed, and no progress has been made. No eddies. Just a whole day of sleep. “Shit…”
“Saw Vik while I was at it,” Johnny continues, turned around to focus his attention on V, just in case anything happens. “Couldn’t even get a word out before he caught on to damn near everything.”
“Yeah?” V’s tone bordered on sarcastic, even though it was intended as more of a chuckle. It just sounded in character for Vik. “Even knew he wasn’t talking to me?”
“Instantly. Said it was the way I walked or some gonk shit,” Johnny grumbled. Funny. Their memories blurred together, personalities in perfect tune with each other. The line separating V from Johnny had started to fade, but the walk? Now, that’s how you can tell the two apart. V huffed a chuckle.
“Won’t be laughing for long. Chrome almost burned you inside out.” Oh. That zeroed the small glimmer of equanimity V had felt. He turned his head around to face the engram.
“Assuming you’re gonna tell me how?”
“Hell if I remember.” Rich coming from the guy that did attempt to take V’s body the night he had regained consciousness. Would’ve thought he gave a damn about his body. There was a subtle movement from Johnny’s eyes, even if he hadn’t noticed. To say they softened would be an overstatement, but there was a glimpse of something related to trepidation. “It’s hot outside, your body can’t regulate its temperature because you haven’t been sleeping, and you’re running a fever. Even high-end chrome has a limit.”
“Damn. So my body’s trying its hardest to kill me off,” a grim chuckle followed. He turned to fully face Johnny, even sitting up to avoid straining his eyes by looking up at him. “God forbid I get sick in the Summer.”
“You have no reason to work as hard as you do, relic or no relic.” A sigh left V’s lips, then a cough. Was Johnny right? Irrelevant. But it wouldn’t be truly wrong to say V doesn’t deserve some time to just process. With what happened to Jackie and T-Bug and how he had no time to cope after the fact. Night City never stops, V thought.
“But we can.” Johnny glitched back to the couch and looked at V expectantly. He walked as steady as a rockerboy after a small-time gig, and Johnny snickered at him for it. Still, he moved over as if to give V space to lay. “Trust me on this: I’m not giving you your body back until you learn to take care of it. Damn how long it takes.”
“Oh, you’re going to be stuck with me a long time,” he says, stretching out the o. Johnny, from V’s perspective, didn’t seem opposed. And V wouldn’t be either, but something’s got to give at some point. Not worth dancing with the idea of the two coexisting.
“How are you feeling?” V had assumed Johnny always, at the least, had an idea of how he felt both physically and mentally, so the question came unexpected.
“A bit hungry and nauseous but I’m fine.”
Johnny tsked at the notion of it all. A fever, one so high that it threatened V’s wellbeing. But take his word, sure, he’s fine. “Spent all night chasing eddies. Least you could do for yourself is order delivery. Get some soup.”
V stared at the engram with a bit back smile turned laugh. It’s refreshing, Johnny’s never seen V smile. Not smirk, but genuinely smile. Of course, all of it to mock him. “Man, I forget how old you are. There’s gotta be a variant of an airhypo to help, but sure, I’ll order some chicken noodle soup.”
“If there’s a drug you can take, why not just start with that?”
“Well, Johnny, some people don’t like being sparked all the time.” His tone indicated pompous sarcasm. Johnny hasn’t felt a real high since last week when V took some pseudoendotrizine by mistake, leaving him to his own vices. So he isn’t sparked all the time. That’s neither here nor there for either of them. Johnny felt a sense of satisfaction as he saw V actually order soup. “Said it’ll be ten minutes.”
“Considering it’s 2077, you’d almost expect it to be instant,” Johnny chuckled as he manifested (V stopped questioning it) a holographic cigarette. He took a drag, exhaling in a direction away from V’s. “Now what?”
It was a good question. Not like V’s on house arrest again, but the second he leaves the apartment complex, it’ll be a repeat of last night. Earlier in the morning. Whatever. He can’t leave.
It’s been a while. Is this what relaxing feels like?
He spiraled into a coughing fit and instantly remembered that no, this isn’t relaxing. This is being forced to rest due to a self-imposed sickness. Same difference when you’re a ticking timebomb though.
V flicked through radio stations until Johnny told him to stop on one. Of course, it was a station full of oldies, and Archangel was currently playing. “Didn’t know they still played this song. Isn’t this your smallest?”
“Yeah. One of our last too.”
V leaned back to the couch, lying down between a throw pillow and one of the arms. He sighed, curling up a bit, “Can’t believe aged me fifty years, damn.” His eyes flutter shut, occasionally reopening when he feels like he hears a knock on the door.
“Just go to sleep.” Johnny says, softening his tone a bit. Not enough for it to lose that monotonous edge that made Silverhand Silverhand, but enough to lull V closer to sleep. “I’ll wake you up when it’s here.”
Huh.
V stayed awake a bit longer, even if it was just five minutes. It’s not often that Johnny is so… whatever. Doesn’t matter. Think about it when he wakes up. Now’s the time to rest.