[Check Out My P4treon For +30 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!! And get chapters before publishing them here for free on my p4treon][p4treon.com/echotales]
===
We went to the barbecue after all, and a day later, in the evening, Misty called and told us that some guy with disabled corporate implants had brought in V, who had a bullet in her head...
"And what do you want from us?"
"Well... can you come over?"
"Hmm?"
"Viktor might need some help..."
I shrugged, a gesture my avatar must have repeated, and agreed to come. Thankfully, we had already finished our work for the day, so we didn't have to put it off. And in just half an hour, we got to Viktor's clinic.
"Vik, hey..."
My Sandevistan turned on when someone tried to point a pistol at me. Two steps, and I was right up close to the Asian-looking guy, twisting his arm. I twisted it in a way that the barrel of the pistol wasn't pointed at anyone present, which caused extra injuries to the guy. To put it simply, I broke his wrist. I also slammed his forehead into the floor.
"Ugh!"
"David!"
And at that very moment, the pistol fell from his wrist, which I caught in midair.
"What?"
"Let him go!"
I looked at Vik in surprise.
"Vik, are you sure? This guy was trying to point a pistol at me..."
I demonstratively waved the pistol, which I was holding by the barrel, in the air.
"Yeah... at my own risk..."
I shrugged and let the guy go, then quickly took the pistol apart and threw the pieces right onto his lap.
"So?"
"V..."
"I see her. What do you need from me?"
"I don't know what to do... she's got some kind of shard in her that restored her brain, or rather, it established alternative connections that kept V from flatlining, but at the same time, something's recorded on the shard, and it's starting to rewrite her..."
I frowned a little. Even if I didn't know the canon, I probably would have come to the same conclusions, conclusions that Vik didn't want to believe.
"The only thing that comes to mind is that chip from Arasaka..."
"But you yourself..."
"Vik, if all that fuss about Kompeki was her..."
Vik nodded jerkily.
"...then you have to understand that she was probably stealing that exact shard. And that it's not just some random shard... it's probably either a prototype of a technology that was cut for mass production, or a prototype of a more advanced technology."
"Fuck..."
I nodded, looking at Vik carefully.
"So why did you call me? I don't believe you couldn't have figured this out yourself..."
"I could have... but... uh..."
Vik waved his hand.
"Here, catch the data. Maybe you can figure out how to stop the nanites that are rewriting V's personality?"
He sent me a file, which I immediately started studying. Meanwhile, Vik moved V to a separate gurney and helped that Asian-looking guy get into the chair, giving him first aid, and then he swore.
"What else is wrong?"
"He's only alive out of spite! And foresight; he has a couple of non-corporate implants, and they're what kept him from flatlining."
I shrugged. I didn't give a shit about the corpo's life. I didn't like him in the canon, either... there was something about him... he was with you, but he only seemed like a good guy if he died after the girl from Arasaka was kidnapped. But if you saved him and chose to storm Arasaka at the end...
He talked so much shit about you...
I sighed and shook my head. It wasn't my problem; I wasn't going to have any contact with him, and I wasn't going to storm Arasaka. It wasn't my problem.
"Hmm..."
"What are you thinking about?"
Vik, without getting distracted from his work, still noticed that I was thinking about something.
"Hold on... can I send the data to the girls?"
"Hmm?"
"ICE..."
Vik looked up at me in shock.
"...and if we also make a patch..."
"A patch?"
"Yeah... extract the personal port that the shard is plugged into, then run a duplicate system through a small micro-computer that has strong ICE installed on it. And then cut off the port's main communication channel, leaving only the new one..."
"Hold on, let me finish with this corpo and see if that's even possible. But even if it is, you realize that's only a temporary solution..."
"I do, but the two or three weeks she has now, and the two or three months she'll have after my plan is implemented... the difference is significant, I think..."
"I won't argue with that..."
I thought for a moment and, after throwing a suspicious look at V, I quickly started calculating another option.
"Hmm... and we could extend her lifespan to a couple of years..."
"A couple of years?"
Vik looked at me in surprise again.
"Yeah... But for that, I'll need Judy's help. I could do it myself, of course, but it would be faster with her..."
"Did you come up with something else?"
"We could make a low-power EMP generator. Not powerful enough to zero out the shard, as that would most likely kill V, but powerful enough to make the processes in the shard a little more sluggish."
"And you can do that?"
I shrugged.
"I can at least try... but in my opinion, we should go to someone from Arasaka for this... but... V would just be zeroed out there."
"She won't be zeroed out... if I can contact Hanako... and I have proof that V didn't kill Mr. Saburo..."
I scoffed.
"Vik, did V listen to me at all?"
"Huh?"
"Well, she has third-generation Kiroshis... did she record what happened during the job? If she recorded what happened during the job..."
"We'll check when she wakes up... and you, don't move... I don't need you messing something up because of your fidgeting..."
Meanwhile, the girls came over with Misty, and I have to say that Misty was clearly being led here by my girls. And the looks she was giving Vik... wow! So much was in them... embarrassment... and shame... and...
So my plan had moved their relationship off the dead center after all. Of course, nothing would happen between them now; they weren't the kind of people who would start a relationship right after the death of a friend and partner... but at least now they had a chance.
"Lucy, Kiwi, check what kind of ICE we can install on an intermediate processor so the shard doesn't rewrite V's mind so fast..."
"Yeah..."
Kiwi and Lucy said this in sync and nodded, after which they clearly got to work.
"What about me?"
"You, Judy, will work with me on a low-power EMP emitter. Here's a rough idea of the job..."
And I sent her the task now.
"Hmm..."
We got to work and went to different corners of Vik's clinic, though not for long. Because while Kiwi and Lucy could work there—Vik had a processor, and all they had to do was write some ICE on it. Although it only sounds simple...
To write ICE...
In reality, it's not just writing ICE, but also optimizing it, strengthening it, and a lot of other things that regular runners couldn't handle, but I believed in my girls.
Judy and I had to go home. Panam was driving, but I left Becca with Lucy and Kiwi because I didn't trust that Chinese-looking Japanese guy one bit. He was a corpo to the bone. And V...
Right now, she's in a situation where she'll cling to every opportunity with her teeth and nails. She didn't get a chance to get out of her corporate shell yet... and now she'll have to make some very bad decisions... I just hope she doesn't go over the edge...
To my surprise, Misty decided to come with us, closing her shop just for that.
"David... you did this on purpose, didn't you?"
Misty asked this question as soon as we got to the apartment.
"Hmm?"
"Don't play dumb..."
She looked at me sadly.
"Yeah, Misty, I did it on purpose."
"Why?"
Sadness and disappointment were in her voice.
"Misty, you know exactly why... I always thought you were too good for a guy like Jackie."
"David!"
"Misty..."
I looked at her, my eyes slightly narrowed.
"...you started this conversation. And I know that what I'm saying is unpleasant for you. But you also knew that I was going to say this..."
She flinched slightly, and Panam immediately came in front of her, shielding her with her body.
"David..."
"Panam... if she didn't want to hear this, she wouldn't have started this conversation."
"Panam..."
Misty put her hand on her shoulder.
"...thanks, but... I really need this."
Panam looked back at Misty in confusion and moved aside.
"David..."
"Yeah, Misty, as I was saying, I always thought Jackie wasn't worthy of you."
I shook my head.
"Ever since I first met Vik, or rather, since I realized he was in love with you, I thought you two would make a good couple. How many times have I tried to influence him, to get him to at least flirt with you... But that idiot always made excuses. He loved you too much and respected Jackie too much; he didn't want to ruin your relationship..."
"I... I saw his feelings, but... why now?"
"Misty, when else? Later?"
"Yes..."
"Misty, as disgusting as this might sound coming from me, now is the best time. Yeah, you won't get together as a couple right now, but your relationship will at least move off the dead center. And in time, you might find happiness with each other."
"I..."
Misty bit her bottom lip.
"Misty, no one is asking you to jump into bed with Vik right now... just give him a chance to be there for you. He was friends with Jackie, too, and he won't be inappropriate..."
"Alright..."
She nodded.
After the conversation ended, Judy and I finally got to work. And we worked very quickly, but at the same time, we worked well. The understanding that every minute we wasted was time taken away from V helped us not to waste any time.
Maybe I should have started building a device like this before V got into this mess. Or rather, after she got into it, but before she was in this situation. But... there were too many unknowns, which would have made it impossible to create a device that would only need a little fine-tuning.
We spent about five hours building the necessary device, which basically looked like a collar with some kind of attachment on the side.
And with that device, we went back to Vik's.
The Chinese-looking Japanese guy was no longer in the clinic, but V was conscious.
"You came..."
There was no judgment in her voice, just a statement of fact.
"Yeah. Did they install everything for you already?"
"Yeah... according to Vik, I'll last even longer than the time you thought I would in this state. Your girls did good work... I have six months."
She gave a sad grin.
"Yeah... now we're going to try something else..."
I said to her.
"Vik, are you ready to monitor her vitals?"
"Yeah..."
And with those words, I fastened the collar around V's neck, making sure the protruding mechanism was directly in front of the port with the shard.
"I'm turning it on..."
"Go for it..."
"Ouch!"
V flinched as if she'd been shocked.
"What happened?"
"My optics are glitching, and there's a buzzing in my head..."
"Alright, we'll adjust the power now... just remember, this is an EMP. It's going to get in the way of you working the way you used to. So when you go on a job, you turn it off. When the job's done, you turn it on again."
"You think I'll turn it off?"
V gave a sad grin.
"Well..."
I shrugged.
"Who knows..."
===
Note: So far this story is published up to chapter 85 on my p4treon, go check it out
Gain access to exclusive 18+ character images, early chapters, and so much more. This is your chance to get a ton of exclusive content while supporting my work.
p4treon.com/echotales
if you want more updates == supports with power stones
Every 50 Power Stones == Bonus Chapter