Sunshine Estate — top floor.
After several days of grinding, Vash finally had the open-plan loft looking the way he wanted.
Friday had already seized control of every camera and listening device in the surrounding blocks, pulling everything into a clean, readable feed across the monitors. One glance told him who moved, where they moved, and how long they lingered.
Next was the oversized weapons room — super soundproofed, built like a bunker.
With 〈Perfect Weapon Mastery〉, Vash could assemble and repair firearms like it was second nature. And later, when he had time and materials, he would start designing his own.
Night City's best iron came from the megacorps — Arasaka, Militech, Kang Tao. Their products didn't just come with a price tag; they came with control. If they could lock down the source code of a cheap smart toaster, you could bet they did worse with guns.
Vash needed a way out — slow, steady, and permanent.
After the weapons room came the rest area. A bed was enough; he didn't need luxury, just somewhere quiet where the city couldn't reach him. The rooms on the lower floors were still empty for now. Later, they could hold whatever he scavenged, whatever he built, whatever he didn't want anyone else to see.
The Sandra rescue had gone clean, and Wakako's payout had been generous. After the split, Vash still pocketed a decent cut. Add the occasional side "job" at Lizzie's, and life — shockingly — was starting to stabilize.
「Incoming call: Judy Alvarez」
Vash answered while working at his bench, hands busy turning spare parts into something usable.
"Hey, Judy."
Judy: "V, got two pieces of good news for you."
Vash: "You and Jackie talk the same now?"
Judy: "It really is two pieces of good news."
Vash: "Alright. I'm listening."
Judy: "I fixed everything in the second half of Island of Doom. All the errors, the crashes — gone. It's clean now. Proper black-market BD, no weird issues. That's on us."
Vash: "Don't pin that on me. That's your tech."
Judy: "Don't start. Without you hauling me into the second half, I wouldn't have found half the bugs to begin with."
Her voice softened — still Judy, still direct, but warmer.
Judy: "Anyway… I called to celebrate. Come to Lizzie's. For a bit."
Vash: "On my way."
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After changing clothes, Vash rode his Kusanagi CT-3X to Lizzie's Bar.
Even in daylight, the place was alive — different vibe than at night, but still packed with people drinking, talking, and slipping into braindance rigs to disappear from their own lives.
"Good afternoon, V."
The two Mox guarding the entrance already knew him.
"Hey." Vash greeted.
"You're special." One of them said, nodding toward the building, "You don't always gotta use the main entrance. Rooftop access is open for you. We've had some good boxing matches up there too — if you feel like watchin'. We'll come cheer."
"Appreciate it." Vash said, "Next time."
He headed inside.
Lizzie's hit him with the familiar overload — lights, bass, heat, perfume and sweat, and the kind of music that made your bones vibrate. He crossed the stage, cut behind the bar, and went straight for the basement.
"V, you're here?" Judy's voice carried up as soon as he came down the stairs.
For once, the equipment was on standby. No frantic editing, no hunched shoulders. She was present.
Vash glanced around, "You said celebrate."
Then he looked again. No food. No beer. Just Judy and her workshop.
"…Just the two of us?" He asked.
Judy tilted her head, "Is that a problem?"
Vash shook his head, but the confusion stayed on his face.
Judy caught it immediately and smirked, "Who said we're celebrating down here? This is my workshop, V — not a restaurant."
"So we're going out?"
"Mhm. Let me change."
Vash stood there, unsure what to do with his hands.
Judy rarely left the basement. Even for food, the Mox would bring plates down to her like she was a ghost that didn't belong upstairs.
As a BD editor, she had seen most of Night City's ugliness — cut into it, rewound it, polished it, sold it. And when you saw enough of that, you either burned out… or you locked yourself behind a door and pretended the city couldn't touch you.
But now she was asking him to go out.
In the original game, Judy was "out of reach" for a male like Vash.
Here? Maybe that rule wasn't as ironclad as he'd assumed.
Judy's living space was tucked into a corner near the rigs, hidden behind a smart privacy curtain that swallowed light so completely you could barely see a silhouette.
A minute later, she stepped out.
Still Judy — still the cool girl uniform. Black overalls, a white sports bra underneath. Nothing flashy, nothing exaggerated, but it fit her like it was made for her.
When they came back upstairs, the Mox at the door looked like they'd seen a ghost.
"Judy… sis, you—"
"Can't I come up for air?" Judy said, and tapped the girl under the chin with two fingers, "See you later."
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T/N: Comment, give me Power Stones, like and favorite, it all supports me and makes me go foward with this. Appreciate my other stories as well, I guarantee the good work!
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That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)