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From Badlands To Good Times A Cyberpunk 2077 Tale	By : Crystal_Dreams_Writes Category: -Misc Video Games/RPGs > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 3887 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Cyberpunk 2077 nor the characters from it I do not make any money or profit in any way from the writing of this story

Chapter List
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V arrived at Judy’s apartment building with a pizza. She parked her bike in the back and went upstairs, finding the apartment, she buzzes Judy “Just a second!” she hears, a few moments later the door opens, Judy looked like she had just put on some makeup and the apartment looked like it had just been cleaned, although she was also wearing a bandage on her right upper arm, V smirked but didn’t think much of it “Pizza’s here” she announces, Judy smiles and beckons her to go inside “I got the beer!” V places the pizza box on the kitchen counter and opens it, the aroma of the locust pepperoni pizza permeated the apartment “That smells so good, it doesn’t even smell like Buck-A-Slice” V smiles “That’s because it’s not Buck-A-Slice, took me a while but I found a Pizza To Go in Watson, far better than Buck-A-Slice with the benefit of no styrofoam aftertaste” Judy places two bottles of Broseph beer and opens them, offering one to V “Sorry I called you at the wrong time, hadn’t realized you hadn’t eaten” V waves the concern off of Judy’s mind “Don’t worry about it, it was just a job on the Badlands that went longer than expected, but let’s dig in, you go first”.

V was hungrier than she realized, so much so that the pizza tasted like heaven to her, Judy had a good appetite too, and she seemed to be doing better. As she takes a sip from her beer, V realizes Judy is getting serious, if not a bit anxious “So… I suppose I should talk to you about Ev” V clears her throat “Judy… Before that, have you taken a decision? I only ask because I don’t wanna step on any toes…” Judy sighed as she walked to her living room and sat on a chair, V followed suit “I think I have” She looked at V “I know that if I ask you to find her, you have to report what you find that Arasaka” V took another sip, nodding slowly “I don’t know what will happen, I know Arasaka will probably put her away or something worse… You said you had an in with the guy you’re working for, right?” V tapped the bottle with her fingers “To a degree, yeah… He’s been keeping me in the loop and shares information whenever he has it, I feel compelled to do the same too, you know? But he has a boss… And that boss of his? He’s the ruthless corpo kind…” Judy takes a long sip from her beer as if preparing herself for what had to be done “So… Would it be too much to ask you to guarantee her wellbeing?” V knew this was coming. As close friends as Judy and Evelyn were, maybe even closer than friends, it was not on her to guarantee anything. “It wouldn’t be my call, Judy. This contract I have… Is to help them solve this whole mess and everything related to it. That includes finding every person involved, once that is done, they’ll close the gig, pay me, and free me from the contract. Whatever they do afterward? I seriously doubt they’ll tell me” Judy sighs, clearly there was a lot weighing her down “V, she’s been my friend for a long time, she’s always talked to me about her dreams and what she wants. She was tired of the doll life, the stinking joints, the lecherous clients. She felt we deserved better, she did what she did thinking, hoping that she would find a way out…” V fell silent, she didn’t know what else she could say or do to show sympathy for Judy, if she were working on her own, she could probably think of ways to help her out, but in this particular instance, her hands were tied.

“I want you to look for her” Judy finally speaks “And… I want you to try your best to ensure she at least remains alive, I know that is asking a lot, and that’s probably not within your power to grant… But that’s what I want… And as far as your payment is concerned I—” V interrupts her, shaking her head “That won’t be necessary” Judy looks at her, confused “What? Aren’t you a merc? I don’t want you to take pity on me, I can pay!” she felt Judy getting worked up, so she proceeded to explain “This falls within the Arasaka contract, Judy. They are paying me for my time and my skills, I know what you’re goin’ through, and you’re trusting me, so I wanna help out in any way I can, besides…” V raises her beer and grins “Good beer” Judy finally smirks, shaking her head “You’re such a gonk, V… But… Thank you” V nods, taking another sip “So… You saw Evelyn…” Judy nods slowly, looking down.

“Last night” Judy starts “You were out on the Badlands, so you probably remember there was a massive sandstorm… The alert went off on Night City, so we closed Lizzie’s early and went home, some of the girls just stayed in the club, so I told Susie I was leaving, and taking the day off today since we’ve been doing well with our BD editing biz, she didn’t have an issue with that. I said goodnight to the girls and made my way to my van. That’s when I saw her, under the bridge, she was just… There, watching, staring” Judy begins to shake her leg, the restless leg syndrome showing again “But there was something strange, her dress was all… Dirty, her coat still was alright, and she had lost her shoes. She was also wearing aviators. V, she hated aviators” Anyone else would have started to come out with theories. Cyberpsychosis? A quickhack of some kind? “The storm was starting to pick up, so it was hard to see more details, I called to her, I swear she heard me because she turned to look my way, and one second she reacted as if she recognized and even made a move to say something, but stopped at the last second, it looked like she was in pain, so I got scared and rushed to her. She drew a gun on me” V looks at Judy, she was struggling with the memories “I don’t even remember her owning a gun, one of her clients gifted her an Arasaka katana once, custom made, but a gun? Never… She told me to walk away, that she had a job to do, and that it was best if I forgot about her” Judy looked like she was about to cry, but made an effort to contain herself.

“I couldn’t leave her there, V. She was dirty, she hadn’t been to her apartment, or to Clouds where she worked as a doll, and she hadn’t even dropped by Lizzie’s until last night. If you knew Evelyn, you’d know that she hated not looking her best, it was always something kitsch, gold cyberware, gold jewelry, nothing too ostentatious, but definitely noticeable. She had nothing like that on her, except those damn aviators. I told her I could take her home, take a bath, and get her a fresh change of clothes, she twitched, like she wanted to say something, but immediately afterward, she aimed the gun at me again and told me to leave her alone. She started to walk away, and when I tried to get close, she actually shot at me” Judy was fighting back the tears and looked at V, as she undid the bandage on her upper arm, showing a recently treated wound, V winced “She never hurt me before, not even as a joke… And last night she shot at me… I don’t know what happened, but I know that’s not Ev, not anymore… She doesn’t even have that much cyber work done on her, and I always kept an eye on any upgrades she had done to herself, the most recent acquisition was her Kiroshi optics with some custom work, everything else is just maintenance and upgrades to her regular work, it couldn’t have been Cyberpsychosis… I don’t know what is happening to her”.

“What she told you, about having a job to do, do you have any idea what she could have meant?” Judy sniffled and shook her head “Her whole focus was that damned Konpeki Plaza fiasco, finding a fixer, finding a merc team. She sounded so sure, V, like she had figured everything out going forward. She estimated we would have new lives two weeks after stealing that chip. I was scared because if you steal from a corp, sooner or late it’ll come back to bite you in the ass, and Arasaka? That’s sooner rather than later too. I still helped her, she had a recording of the Konpeki suite the team was supposed to hit, where the chip was stored, and I only edited the scroll so those mercs would study it” V started to put the pieces together. That’s why Bug and the other three mercs knew where to go, and it’d also explain why the security in the suite had been deactivated promptly. Sighing, V looks at Judy, she was a nervous wreck, but a very perceptive one. Judy looks at V, and frowns “You… You know something already, don’t you?”.

“Arasaka is rolling with the official version that there were two mercs killed on site and one netrunner that was neutralized. But I think you know as well as I do that there were three mercs” Judy nods slowly “I spent some time at the Konpeki Plaza hotel and visited the suite too, my contact was doing this… Sort of advanced forensic analysis, he recreated the whole infiltration almost effortlessly, and that’s when I realized that Arasaka knows much more than people think they do, the corp rolling with an incomplete story is part of the show, it’s a way to play for time. But everything in the hotel points out at the third merc actually making it out of the hotel, with the chip. There was a stairway outside the suite that this merc could have used” Judy looks at V, following so far, V continues “Personally, I think the merc escaped, made his way to Evelyn, and gave her the chip. My contact seems to think the same, but he only acts if he can prove that it’s possible, he’s no doubt looking into it as we speak” Judy stops V, sniffling again “I don’t understand why are people losing their shit over this chip, I know it’s a prototype, but that also means no one else has the technology to work with it, why all this mess when they can just wait and recover the chip later down the line” V chuckled, remembering that she had asked the same question to Vaughn “Are you familiar with that Arasaka commercial, the Secure Your Soul one?” Judy nods “Yeah, they upload digital consciousness to a shard you can slot in so you can interact with this consciousness, what about it?” V continues “The chip is a prototype of a very advanced version of that” She breathes out, looking at Judy “I’m breaking my contract by telling you this but… I think you should know” Judy was still confused “Know… What?” V stands and heads to Judy’s computer “May I?” she asks, Judy just nods, and V looks for an image and beckons Judy “Are these the aviators Evelyn was wearing?”.

Judy looked at the image, and her heart skipped a beat “Y-yeah, well maybe not the exact same ones from the picture but… Yeah, red tint, black rim… Who is this guy?” V looks at Judy “That’s Johnny Silverhand, the rockerboy, and depending on who you listen to, either terrorist or savior of the rebel path” Judy was still confused “What does this guy have to do with what’s going on? Didn’t he die like fifty years ago?” V looked at Judy, taking another sip from her beer “Apparently, Evelyn Parker wasn’t the only one looking to sell the chip, Yorinobu Arasaka was trying to do the same, he’s the reason this chip is here and not in some lab in Japan, the chip isn’t empty though, it has the personality of Johnny Silverhand loaded into it” Judy fell silent, trying to process what she was listening. “Judy, this is important… Do you know if this surviving merc met with Evelyn after the Konpeki fiasco? And if they met, do you know if she received the chip?”.

Judy took another long sip from her beer, finishing the remainder of it, she returns to the living room and sits on the chair, V follows and sits in front of her “She was supposedly in constant communication with the fixer” she starts “She was at Lizzie’s when things were going down. When news about the breach in Konpeki spread like a wildfire, she panicked. She tried to get in touch with the fixer, he took her calls at first, but then he stopped. She was talking about leaving Night City, she had some eds saved up, but there were also rumors that Arasaka could ask City Hall to seal off the city until the security breach was handled. She was trying to call everyone involved for answers. About an hour or two after the breach, she got a call. She never told me who it was, all she said was that she had to leave and that it was important and would explain later” Judy stops, and shakes her head “That was the last time I saw her, the real her”. V wasn’t liking what she was hearing, but that made a lot of pieces connect, and the whole picture was starting to take a full form “The chip…” she starts “They call it The Relic, it’s a codename… The personality uploaded in it is not restricted in any way. They can think and talk on their own, and the host, that is, the person who slots the Relic, is vulnerable to the construct’s influence. The host starts to act differently, take on different traits, and sometimes does not recognize close friends, or even family” Judy was about to say something but V continued “Are you absolutely sure you don’t know if Evelyn received the chip from the merc?” Judy mouthed some words, but no sound came out from her, she was making a genuine effort to remember any details that could shed some additional light on this mess “The Relic has a container” V explains “With the ideal temperature settings because that chip needs to be kept cold. If the container is damaged, the integrity of the chip tanks, and the only way to prevent the chip from becoming useless is to slot it in… I think Evelyn saw this merc, saw the container was damaged and the chip was at risk and decided to slot it in herself, and if the construct in the Relic is that of Silverhand, well, that could explain the changes in her”.

“W-what do we do?” Judy asks, looking at V “What happens now?” V sighed, rubbing her temples “We’ll have to find Evelyn, chances are, Arasaka already checked in her apartment, maybe even at Clouds, I’m surprised they haven’t stopped by Lizzie’s yet, but we’ll have to find her” Judy looks at V still, almost pleading with her “Will you have to kill her?” V sighs again “I don’t know” Judy stammers a bit “T-then y-you’ll probably need her alive, right? T-to keep the chip active!” she was looking for any argument, anything that would keep Evelyn alive “I don’t know” V repeats as Judy keeps going “I-if the chip is the issue, there are some brain synapses that can be reworked, m-maybe Arasaka has some of those neurosurgeons that could perform the procedure” V looks at her “I don’t know” Judy finally breaks down “For fucks sake, V! What DO you know? You’re telling me all this grim rot about what happened and how some cyberghost from fifty years ago is possessing Evelyn because of a chip she probably slotted, and now… What? He’s gonna turn Ev into a terrorist too? Is that what’s happening!?” Judy fell to her knees in front of V, tears rolling down her face, she reached out to V, holding her hands with hers “V… Please! I just want to understand what is happening to Ev, and what will happen if Arasaka gets her” All V could do was hug Judy, and try to comfort her. Judy finally let go and starts sobbing, V truly didn’t know what would happen and how it would happen. As she embraced Judy, her holo went off with an incoming call, V didn’t let Judy go as she took the call “Vaughn?” she asks, he was about to speak but waited instead “... Is this a bad time?” V nods slowly, sniffing “Can you… Can you give me five minutes? I’ll call you back” Vaughn nods “I’ll be waiting for your call, it’s important”.

After the call ended, Judy put herself together, she looked at V “Was that your handler?” V nods slowly, without saying a thing, but Judy seemed to understand. She sniffled one more time before standing up “Thank you, V” she starts “You’ve been open with me since the beginning, you could have avoided all this nonsense if you told me to shut up and talk to a fixer instead, but you took a chance anyway… Thank you” V nods, standing up after Judy “I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help” Judy shook her head “You’re already doing more than I could ever hope… V, I know you might have to do something horrible if that’s what ends up happening if that’s what they force you to do… Know that I won’t blame you, I want my friend back, but I know that in this city you don’t get to have what you want, you only get to have what you have, thank you for trying” V nods again, clearing her throat as she turns to leave “Well… Thanks for the beer Judy, I had a good time, I guess I’ll see you around” Judy nods “V, wait” V turns around and looks at Judy “Yeah?” Judy forces a smile “W-would you like to hang out some other time?” V finally smiles and nods “I’d like that a lot, Judy. Drop me a line whenever, alright?”.

V leaves the apartment and heads to the stairs on the back, then she called Vaughn. “Sorry about that, bad timing” she apologizes but Vaughn shakes his head “It’s fine, can you talk now?” V nods, clearing her throat “Yeah, what’s up?” Vaughn sends V a few files, containing images of Evelyn Parker on different spots in Night City “We have confirmation on Parker, we’re still tracking down the surviving merc, but we haven’t had any luck so far. As for Parker, I believe she is in hiding somewhere in Corpo Plaza” V remains quiet as she looks at the files and finally addresses Vaughn “Could we meet? I may have a lead” Vaughn raises an eyebrow in surprise, normally, he’s the one providing new information, but V may actually turn out to be a valuable asset “Is it something you can discuss over the holo?” he asks “Not really” she replies as Vaughn nods “I’ll pick you up, time and place?” she starts making her way down towards the parking box where her bike was “Thirty minutes, parking garage in my Megabuilding?” Vaughn nods “Thirty minutes, I’ll be there”. With that, the call ends and V breathes out. That’s why a merc shouldn’t get personally invested in the job, it leads to pain and heartache. Trying to shake those thoughts away, V starts the engine of her Brennan and makes her way back home.
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From Badlands To Good Times A Cyberpunk 2077 Tale