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"So, what are your plans now?"
V gave a sad grin.
"You don't believe that I just want to live out the rest of my days?"
"You?"
I looked at the girl with a questioning, mocking expression and, scoffing, shook my head.
"Not for a second."
"And you're willing to help me?"
I shrugged.
"Within reason..."
"Reason? And what do you consider reasonable?"
"You tell me what you need, and I'll tell you if I'll take it or not. Although... I'll warn you beforehand... no going after corporations like Arasaka, Militech, and Kang Tao. Or a few other corps like them."
"I see..."
V closed her eyes.
"Alright, are you guys just going to have your little chat in here?"
"Well..."
V shrugged, embarrassed.
"Get out of here... I have to clean up after you guys..."
I shrugged and headed for the exit, noticing Misty quietly slipping into the clinic.
"I told you..."
Vik couldn't finish his sentence because he realized who had just come to him.
"I'll help..."
I didn't hear what happened after that. V and I, with her slow limp, went outside.
"I need information..."
"And what kind of information?"
"The chip... who created it? How can I get it out without flatlining?"
I sighed.
"I'm guessing the easiest option is out?"
"The easy one?"
"Well... that suit who's not a suit anymore but is loyal to his suit past... giving him the footage from your optics and..."
"So you believe that old man wasn't zeroed by me?"
I shrugged.
"You're not a fool... you wouldn't take a job like that... at least not against Arasaka. You know too well what that corporation is capable of."
"Heh... thanks for believing in me... and yeah, I gave the data to that Goro... but you want to know the truth?"
"Yeah?"
"I don't trust him..."
I grinned.
"...yeah, yeah, you can laugh, a former corpo doesn't trust a former corpo. But... I talked to Vik... a personal bodyguard in a corpo like that doesn't have chrome that isn't part of the standard kit. He would have been sidelined a long time ago...
I looked at V carefully.
"In short, that Goro is hiding something. Even at the level I was at... having unauthorized chrome wasn't exactly frowned upon, but people with that kind of chrome were considered less trustworthy, and my boss... he certainly had no right to have chrome installed outside of the regulations."
"So that Chinese-looking Japanese guy..."
"Yeah... He was sent on purpose... all I can count on... is Hanako's kindness, and she really is known for her kindness..."
"Her kindness?"
"Yeah... that she'll take me off the kill lists when she gets the data that her own brother zeroed out her father. But that's only from the public Arasaka lists, and from the hitmen exchanges, again, on behalf of the corporation. But her brother... he'll probably use personal assets to... take me out of commission. Because I broke his game..."
I sighed.
"I see... So info..."
"Yeah... everything about these chips..."
I closed my eyes and quickly put together a request for Rogue and Regina, sending them messages. Then I opened my eyes again and looked at V.
"Well, I sent the requests... I think it'll take my fixers a couple of days to figure out if they can even dig up anything on this info..."
"Regina and Rogue, huh?"
"Hmm? I don't think I mentioned Rogue to you..."
"Dex told me... when we were in the Afterlife discussing the job. He went after T-Bug pretty hard then... said she couldn't find the info... she fucked up..."
I nodded in understanding.
"And you're a dark horse, too..."
"You have to be in our profession..."
"You're right about that... " she gave a sad smile. "Alright, fine, I called myself a taxi... I'm gonna get some sleep, and then I'll start looking for data myself... and I'll start with that Parker... by the way, do you know where I can find her?"
I shrugged.
"How would I know? I don't talk to her... and Judy... it's been so long since she talked to her normally..."
"I see... too bad..."
V and I stood there for a bit, and when the taxi arrived, she got in.
"Alright... thanks for the help, and just in general..."
She grinned.
"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have gotten my revenge on Dex for the betrayal..."
I raised a questioning eyebrow.
"The first shot from his revolver wasn't very good; it ricocheted off my subdermal armor, and I managed to activate the claws on my hands and tear his dick off... the asshole was standing too close..."
She laughed, but soon the laugh turned into a painful cough. She calmed down a little and looked at me.
"After that, they beat the shit out of me, and the second shot to the head..."
She took out a necklace with a bullet that Misty had given her when she left Vik's clinic.
"...was more successful... But in the end, I'm kind of alive. And he's a corpse..."
I shrugged.
"You take care of yourself."
"Yeah..."
The taxi door slammed shut, and soon, V was gone.
"David..."
As soon as V's taxi disappeared from our sight, Judy was right next to me, grabbing my hand.
I slowly inhaled, and after a long exhale, I looked at my girl.
"You're worried about her..."
"Yeah..."
"And you want to check and make sure your ex is alright?"
"Yeah..."
"Well, then call her..."
"I... I thought you'd be against it..."
"Judy, I can't say I'm thrilled that you're worried about your ex, with whom you had no kind of relationship in front of me. But I'm not going to stop you from finding out what's going on with her. And if you need me to, I can even help..."
Judy kissed me on the cheek gratefully, then pulled away, and her eyes lit up...
A couple of minutes passed, during which the girls and I got to the car.
"She's not answering..."
"She doesn't want to talk to you?"
"No... I don't know... I'll call a couple of other friends..."
Meanwhile, Panam started the car, and we headed toward the apartment...
"Panam, stop!"
Panam reacted to Judy's words, but since we were in the middle of the road, it took her a little while to stop, as she had to pull over.
"Did something happen?"
"Yeah... I talked to a couple of dolls from the Clouds... they weren't exactly eager to talk about what happened, but they told me some client beat her up yesterday... at least, that's what they said..."
"I see, so to the Clouds?"
"You're not against it?"
Judy looked at me with apprehension and worry.
"Let's just say, I would be against it if I had to go there as a client, but as Ghost..."
I shrugged.
"I'll get in, give you access, you'll find out everything, and..."
I shrugged.
"...then we'll decide what to do."
"Alright... we'll do it like that..."
I sighed.
"Yeah, but first, let's eat..."
"Huh?"
"Judy, you might not have noticed, but we're all really hungry. So a snack wouldn't hurt any of us. And we don't have to go anywhere for it. We always have a stock of food I've made in the car..."
"Well..."
We all turned to Becca at the same time.
"Don't tell me you ate it all, and now we're going to have to choke down some store-bought junk food?"
The girls' emotions were in sync: disbelief and righteous indignation.
"Of course not! I'm just kidding!"
Everyone let out a sigh of relief, including me. After all, we were all used to eating well and were wary of food from street food stalls... Well, for us, it was comparable to eating out of a pet's bowl. Becca, while we were still recovering from her joke, moved over to Judy's lap, folded down her seat, and quickly climbed into the trunk... where she got the food containers and handed each of us our own.
"Alright?"
We exchanged glances after we had eaten, and Becca, after putting the containers away, folded her seat back and sat down in it.
"The Clouds?"
"Yeah..."
I nodded at Judy's question.
"...give Panam the address; she'll drive us to the spot. And yeah, all of you will stay in the car, and I'll get inside."
"Just be careful. The Clouds are under the Tiger Claws, and they supposedly have ties to Arasaka."
"Yeah..."
I sighed.
"...don't worry, Judy, they won't even know I was there... unless, of course, I run into something out of the ordinary... But in any case, if something happens, I'll just go outside and work as someone else... or I'll just find another way out..."
"Alright..."
Judy nodded. I leaned back in my chair.
"Still, Judy is just too good-hearted..."
"Well, none of us are villains, not even you, Becca..."
"Huh?"
Becca looked at me in surprise.
"Bec... you think we don't know you're helping your brother?"
"You're watching me?!"
"Not at all..."
I shrugged.
"...it's just that the city, despite its size, is small... and I gave the girls a job to keep an eye on everyone you all care about. So we can step in if something happens. Panam and I have no one in this city. Judy, she has no one in Night City either, and the fact that she's now developed some kind of attachment..."
"Hey! It's not an attachment... it's just..."
"Just?"
Panam gave her friend a sly look.
"Maybe one of our spots is free..."
"No! Nothing's free with you! I just remember that she used to be different... and in memory of those memories, I want to help Evelyn, if she needs the help, of course..."
"Well, there you go..."
I, grinning, continued the topic.
"Kiwi has no close ones in the city either, and neither does Lucy... that just leaves you, Becca, with a brother in the city. Although, as far as I know, Lucy and Kiwi are still keeping an eye on Maine and Dorio..."
"We are... it's not that hard, really. All three of them are working together. It's just that while Dorio and Maine are living a pretty cramped life, Placide... well, he spends money a bit more freely, which means he has another source of income..."
"Yeah, I send that moron a little money... and ready-made meals from take-out joints so he doesn't starve to death... he's the only close relative I have in this city, after all..."
"So, even you, Becca, aren't a villain... so calling Judy too good-hearted in our company is wrong."
"Alright, alright! She's not too good-hearted! Happy now?!"
"Yeah..."
An uncoordinated chorus of voices responded to our gun maniac, and fifteen minutes later, we pulled into the parking garage of the megabuilding where the Clouds was located...
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