nercyar-ika

[nercyar-ika]

Bad Habits: Chapter 14

Fandom: Cyberpunk 2077 Pairing: Johnny Silverhand/Fem!V Read on Ao3 - Master List Previous Chapter - Next Chapter Rating: Explicit Warnings: Smut, Mutual Masturbation A/N: This is also my first time writing anything slightly smutty like this. It is on the short side, but hopefully, it is enjoyable!

Waking up, V was back in her body. She found herself sitting with Kerry. He was holding onto her possessively, ensuring she wouldn't get hurt. Of all the places for V to wake up, it just had to be another Rockerboy's arms. Everything felt foggy and different. Is this what it feels like getting close to the end? V thought to herself before blinking. "Johnny? You okay?" Kerry asked in a panic, snapping V out of her thoughts. V must have looked confused now that she had awoken. She remembered being in the bar for the show but didn't expect to find Kerry holding onto her. Not when she could tell he still thought Johnny was hosting. "I'm Preem. Oh... yeah... he left, sorry," she said sheepishly to the older man before moving to sit up normally again. "He still can hear you, though," V added as Johnny returned to his normal glitchy self, now standing behind the bar. The look on his face matched Ker's, panicked. "Sorry, still trying to figure out how this thing works. Hell of a show you missed there kid. But I'm sure Johnny will tell ya all about it. He's good at that kind of thing." V nodded in agreement with Kerry. He then lightly patted her shoulder, excusing himself.

Johnny moved to stand next to V and gently placed a hand on her thigh without thinking. "V... how are you feeling? Enjoy the show?" His voice was soft, he sounded worried for her. V found herself starting to blush again. Whatever charm he was trying was working overtime on her now. It was just a small relic hiccup, probably a reaction to the pills, V paused to think about Johnny's other question before answering him. Yeah, it was great. Just kind of surprised Kerry let you sing that last song. "Why's that?" Johnny raised an eyebrow and grinned. Did you forget it was my voice coming out, not yours? He laughed at her question before giving a light squeeze of her thigh. His grip was tight enough that she could feel it right before Johnny's fingers began to faze in and out. "You sing great, don't fucking worry about it," He paused. It was clear he was unsure about something. "Can ya do one more favour tonight? I promise it's not asking you to take another pill," Johnny watched V as she stood up from the bar stool she had been sitting on. "Just meet me behind the building, kay?" Just out back?... behind the bar? She asked, raising an eyebrow at him. All Johnny did for a response was give V his famous smile followed by a nod. V could feel her face turning warm even more. That stupid smile of his always got her going now, and he knew it. Fine, I will go behind the venue for you. And just like that, he was gone again.

"V! Hey," A familiar voice yelled from behind her. "You scared me with that text you sent. You okay?" V turned around and found herself staring at River. "Yeah, just had a moment, thanks to some pills wearing off." She gave him a sheepish smile before looking to see what text he was talking about. V read what Johnny attempted to send and then read the new ones from River she had missed.

V are you okay? You're not making any sense? Where are you... - River Come on V answer me please you have me worried. - River Read

"Pills?" He asked, sounding concerned. "Yeah, ones to deal with Johnny... They are from my ripper, don't worry." V smiled at the man once she noticed his worried look start to disappear. "So... was that Johnny who was playing for the show?" Ward asked, sitting down on the bar stool next to V. He was at eye level with her now and slightly less intimidating. V watched him closely, trying to figure out how to answer his question. "Mhmm," She nodded. "Sometimes, I got to let the dog off his leash." River laughed before ordering himself a drink.

"I'm getting the worst symptoms from the relic..." V blurted out, feeling safe to open up to River. After staying with him for the night, she felt close, but nothing like how Johnny felt. River took a drink before letting out a sigh. "That's why I found Kerry holding you?" V nodded in response to the question. "Any way I can help? I'm sure we could try to find other rippers." "I got a couple of options... I just need to be extra careful..." V smiled at the man, hoping to lighten the mood. "I'll do whatever I can to help." River looked sad but meant his words. "I know." V said softly before hugging River. He held onto her for a while before the two finally let go. It was nothing like the hug with Johnny, but hugging someone real made V long even more to help Johnny find his body. She was thankful for inviting River to the show, even if it was to see Johnny play.

The two chatted a bit longer. They shared one more embrace before V finally excused herself. She scanned the bar, trying to find Kerry and Nans to let them know she was leaving. Both happened to be chatting together, making it easier to say thank yous and see you around. After finishing up, V looked around one more time. River wasn't there anymore, but there was a chance he was waiting outside. Did Johnny know that, and that's why he wanted to meet there? With how small the venue was, V was surprised she hadn't bumped into River sooner. He was worried and wanted to help her, which made V question if he would wait for her outside just to make sure she made it home safely. As V made her way to the back of the building, she did her best not to stand out, hoping no one else would stop her before she exited. With a strong push, she opened the door leading outside and looked around. No groupies, no drunks, and not even one person smoking out back. Johnny's car was still parked out back just where V had left it before the show. Johnny had asked her to take it out tonight. She did love the thing, so he didn't have to twist her arm too hard. V was just thankful Johnny's car wasn't bringing too much attention, just knowing a Samurai fan would be looking it over because of the decals. Even a superfan would think it was just a copy and not the original.

V scanned around once again, and on the 2nd glance, Johnny made himself known. He was leaning against the building, lighting up. V couldn't help but smile as she got a small glimpse of what it may have been like finding him after a show. Thankfully, he wasn't drunk or high. He looked up at her, catching V's smile. "Enjoyed the show, I take it? Or are you just enjoying this view?" He asked the question again and teased her. "What I saw of it. You still got it even after 50-some years of being dead," V teased back. She made her way over to the Rockerboy, dodging his last question. "Did you at least enjoy yourself?" "Takin' that as a yes," He grinned before answering her question. "Wasn't the same as it used to be because of the body and all, but I am thankful you let me do this. Did feel like the old days. Just too bad you missed most of it." "Nah, I got to hear my favorite song at least." "OH yeah?" Johnny smirked, knowing what she was about to say. "Mhmm. I mean, you hear me singing along to it sometimes when it comes on the radio," V gave a soft smile at him, knowing what the song was about. "It's got to be hard for you to still hear it, hell even play it." Johnny shook his head. "Has new meaning to me now, so it makes it a little easier..." He moved closer to her after finishing his thought. "V," He paused again, clearly trying to think about his next move. "Valerie. Thank you." Johnny's voice was soft and caring now. V's heart started to beat faster hearing him say her name and not her nickname. "You don't have to thank me." Her voice was just as soft, given how close Johnny had moved. He placed his ganic arm over her head, resting his body weight on his hand, leaving enough room to block V in against the building.

"Ever had a dream about getting picked out of the crowd by a Rockerboy and taken backstage?" Even being in V's head, Johnny knew the answer, but he still had to ask her. V could tell he loved to make her flustered now that he had an understanding of her feelings. "Go back behind the venue, maybe make out, fool around some, then head back to his hotel? The way you keep blushing at me says a lot. I get it; I am a charmer. Always have been. You saw how I was with Alt." "You also were a total jackass to her." V laughed, reminding him of when she saw the two of them together. "You want me to be a fucking jackass to you too?" Johnny asked, raising an eyebrow. V wasn't able to answer him, she was starting to get flustered again, reminding herself about how she saw them having sex. "And now you're thinking dirty, cute.  Come on, I want to take you someplace before the night is over," He then gave a quick kiss to V's forehead, putting her in a bit of a stun lock. "I think the pills may still have a small effect going," Johnny's face slowly moved even closer to hers. V then watched as Johnny moved. They both had been able to feel the forehead kiss as if he still had a body. This caused them both to get an idea. "Might be able to make that wish come true after all. And not just because I was able to mess with your mind to make you feel me." He whispered, placing a hand under V's chin and pulling her in for a kiss. In that moment, V felt as if Johnny was really with her, and everything seemed to stop around them. She wasn't sure what this would look like to others if she was spotted, but at the same time, V didn't care. Johnny had her under a spell, one that she wished could last forever. It felt as if they both were trying to express their feelings without words in the short amount of time they had. The two had already confessed that they loved each other; was this the next step?

V stood there for some time after the kiss had ended. Her eyes started blinking, snapping out of the trance Johnny's kiss had put her under. It had taken her some time before noticing that Johnny went over to his car and leaned on the hood. He looked pleased with himself, maybe a little too pleased. "You okay, princess?" "Where are we going?" V asked, getting into the driver's seat and acting as if nothing had happened. She wanted to act like her normal self. Not some school girl who had just been kissed by their crush. "Well, I was thinkin' maybe head out to the dam away from the city lights some." "You want to look at the stars?" "That not romantic enough for ya? Could go back to the water tower and take your right there." He laughed "Johnny, what the fuck," V couldn't help but laugh too. "You trying to mark your territory or something?" "It's about sending a message, you saw what I did to Arasaka I can escalate if I fucking have to." He sounded proud of himself, and V couldn't help but laugh even more. "Does this mean you are trying to claim me as yours?" "And what if I am?" V didn't answer him; her grin said enough.

The rest of the car ride was silent. Johnny had turned the radio on low just enough to give a bit of background noise. He knew how much the silence calmed V, but at the same time scared her. It's part of why V was always humming along to old Samurai songs or that pop-rock she'd force him to listen to. They both felt for once they didn't need to be talking, and Johnny was okay with that. Once they arrived, Johnny got out of the car before V did and sat on the hood of the Porsche. "Figured I already took you to one of my favourite places before; might as well find a way to see a view you like without heading into the Badlands." Johnny paused to watch V exit the car and plop down next to him. "Better place to talk about all this," He let out a sigh and looked out as the sun said goodnight to the Night city. "Valerie, you don't want me; trust me." "What do you mean?" V could feel her cheeks beginning to burn, hearing him say her name. "You've seen my past; you've seen how I am with women. Took me 50 years to somewhat make up for the date I promised Rogue," He paused, trying to figure out his words carefully. The Rockerboy was trying his darnedest to be vulnerable, but all this was still pretty new to him. "I don't have a body anymore. It's all just not fair to you. I'm the reason you are dying after all... I want you happy and healthy... I even led you on earlier. I know we both wanted it, but somehow it still feels that way to me," His voice was softer this time. V lightly placed her hand on top of his. It felt weird to her to be able to feel the metal of his silver hand and also the metal of the car. V tried to focus on Johnny, hoping she was bringing him a small amount of comfort with her small gesture. "I know that I keep reminding you of these things, that we keep having the same talk but... What if I promise you that if somehow we fix all this and Alt finds me a new body or even my body? We start over. I take you on a proper first date. I won't threaten to kill you when we first meet again," He started to laugh before even saying what he thought was so funny. "You get to see the impressive cock of Johnny fuckin' Silverhand in person and not just how I am now." "I feel like you trying to kill me in some way has become our thing in a way now," She teased before asking a serious question. "Will you take things slow and romantic?" "I will do whatever it fucking takes to make things up to you. It's pretty damn clear even with me trying to stop you from falling for me, you always do. That kiss probably didn't make things less complicated either." "What do you mean, Johnny?" He let out a sigh. V watched him think his words over. "It means we've done this before," Johnny said, finally knowing the right way to word everything. "Not exactly this. Not this date... and not the sharing feelings part. We both knew but were too fucking stubborn to say it until Alt was splitting us the first time. I wanted you to live. You would have been able to survive," He paused before speaking again. His voice started to get lower with his next words. "Or at least for 6 months after all this... Vik's words, not mine. We were in the clear of saving you, and Alt said we could go back and start over, but the catch was you forgot everything... She said I couldn't tell you, but I think Alt only meant when we were with her, not here. Or I just royally fucked this whole thing up for us right now. My memories came and went, but most came back, which is why our first meeting ended before I hurt you worse than I did. I'm not proud of myself. Sometimes I feel like this was more selfish and hurtful to you but I feel like we did some good with this, plus here we fucking are having a date in a way."

V listened to everything Johnny said, she always listened to him. His voice brought her comfort. Not having him around scared her, and it scared him as well. "To be honest, I never thought we'd make it this far." Johnny added. V could tell a lot was on his mind tonight. "Do you still feel like you can't breathe in here?" V asked, remembering how much Johnny hated being in V's mind at first. Old memories started to come back from the first time. "Nah, that changed a while ago," He moved to smile at her. "Not saying being this way is great; it's different. It'd be a hell of a lot better with my own body. Sometimes when I wake up, I feel like I'm back for a while." "What do you mean back for a while?" V interrupted. "Well, like I got this body to myself, like I'm free. Seconds later, it feels like I'm missing something... Something really important. Then I realized you're there, always were," He laughed "And a stupid wave of relief washes over me. Valerie... I can rest easy once I know I have saved you. If I weren't killing you, I'd find a way to keep us together even if it's like this. I can't be selfish with you even if selfish is how we got this second chance..." "What if I want you to be selfish?" V asked, trying to pull Johnny out of his mind.

"Was all of this date after the concert because you knew my feelings and knew I had some groupie dreams involving you?" Johnny laughed hearing V's question. "You just have to tease me while I'm opening up to you, don't you? Look, it was cute that you've always had them. The dream, I mean. I figured this would be the closest to you getting that dream. I dunno if I'll be able to come back after we get you fixed... so I wanted to give you something while I could. I promised to make things better, and I plan to keep that promise. I promise to make things up to you if for some fucked up merical we can get me a body," V moved so she was sitting close enough to him that their shoulders were touching. The pills had worn off by now, but to V, it felt as if Johnny was still there. "But that also leads to a couple of other problems... It's clear we both crave touch, but I can only do so much. Your brain reacts to me as if I was real, but that almost feels like teasing you." "Johnny..." "We could try half dosing, but I'd worry about you not being able to fully consent," V looked at Johnny, smiling, doing her best to comfort him. It was clear he was worried about her just as much as she was about him. Things now felt so different than when they first met. They both could still spit venom at each other, but V knew deep down it was just Johnny's way of protecting himself like he always did. Just as V always did as well. "If I had my way and my body back. We would have been fucking in the back of my car maybe 10 minutes ago," Johnny teased seeing if he could get a reaction. "That's if you wanted to. I am a gentleman, after all." He grinned his famous grin at her. "It's almost as if you forgot I used to be a Nomad." V stated as she started to blush. Her response and reaction made his grin grow wider. "Is that to say you'd want to be fucked in a car or are you implying you like my car?" V didn't reply. "Use your words." Johnny's tone was more dominant than usual. This got V to reply pretty fast. "Both, okay?" She looked away from him, starting to become more embarrassed admitting to what he was asking. "Did I seriously just feel you get turned on by me telling you to use your words?" Johnny asked without really thinking. V found herself not being able to reply, now beginning to get flustered again. All of this felt so strange to her to get so shy around him when normally she wouldn't. V could feel a hand being placed under her chin to force her to look at Johnny. He was smiling even more at her. "Do I have to tell you to use your words again?" He showed just how much he was enjoying this himself. "Fuck you, Johnny." "That's a yes then." He laughed. V didn't answer. She did her best to hide what she was thinking. How to make things work for both of them before pushing herself off the hood of the car.

"V?" Johnny called out as V made her way to the driver's door and pulled the seat up front before climbing into the back seat. Her face was feeling warm, and V could see Johnny still sitting on the hood of the car. He was unsure about what V was about to do. She made up her mind whether or not he would be a part of it. V swivels her body so she can lay down on her back. Her head propped up by the armrest. After bending her knees to place both feet on the seat, Johnny teleported himself into the back seat as well. He sat there with V's legs bent over his lap. Johnny placed a light hand on her calf, helping to guide her feet away from his crotch. The back seat was small but had enough room for the two of them. "We both want something now. Do we want to try something, or are you going to watch?" V teased, lifting her tank top from the bottom to expose her bra. She gave a smile, seeing as Silverhand's breathing began to speed up. They both could feel just how needy and turned on the other was. "You're lucky I don't have a body right now," Johnny growled. "The things we would be doing." His voice grew lower. "We could try some now." V whispered back. Silverhand shook his head. "I feel like it's more of a risk us touching in that way... but I won't say no to a show." He smirked, that famous cocky smile of his.

Closing her eyes, V arched her back up slightly, just enough to get the leverage she needed to slide her pants down. Opening her eyes, she looked up at Johnny, he was still smiling, enjoying every minute of this. Her next move was to remove both breasts from the top of her bra. She began to rub her nipples and play with them. Giving one a soft pull made her first small moan escape V's lips. She could feel her face grow warmer as well as her nipples tighten, the heat between her legs was beginning to grow as well. After a bit more rubbing and playing with her nipples, V finally moved to pull down her panties, now fully exposing herself for Johnny. Once she was sitting back down, he let out a whistle while taking in the view. Pulling up his tank top, Johnny began to undo his pants. Thanks to V being turned on, he could feel how needy she was, causing himself to feel just as needy. With a few quick movements, he was exposed as well now. "Ready?" V asked softly, causing Johnny to grin more. Without waiting for his answer V moved her hand from her breasts down to her pussy. She began making small circles on her clit. Moans began to fill the air as V enjoyed the feelings she was already getting. She then moved her fingers down her folds, slowly pushing a few fingers inside of herself. Slowly moving in and out. V then began to speed up her pace, more moans escaped, this time growing louder. Johnny did his best to keep his pace with V's. He still was taking in the show V was giving him while doing his best to enjoy the feelings from his masturbating. The two of them moaned together, enjoying every part of the relic working its magic as well, causing them both to feel what the other was. V closed her eyes and removed her fingers before placing them back on her clit. It was swollen and needy, just as needy as V felt. She began to rub circles again. Each time feeling closer and closer. V could feel bliss beginning to explode from inside of her as she reached her orgasm. Her moaning grew louder, her breathing became faster. Johnny smiled down at V, and she smiled back.

Once everything was over, V lay there for a bit before sitting up. She moved her legs to lay over Johnny's lap before resting her head on his shoulder. Something felt odd. The two were happy and enjoyed every moment of bliss they shared thanks to the chip, so why would anything be wrong? V could feel something begin to run out of her nose, She lightly brushed her hand under her nose before looking at it to find blood. Seeing this caused Johnny to move to look at V's face. The look on his face confused V. She could see him trying to talk, but she couldn't hear him. She blinked a couple of times before she felt a snapping inside. Was this the relic? It didn't feel like the other relic attacks. V could feel something wet coming from her nose before suddenly everything went dark...

[nercyar-ika]

I know I saw things already but chapter 14 should be done soon. I've been dealing with a bit of writer's block but starting to get things rolling again. I had originally hoped to have this out on the 14th for Valentine's Day but sadly didn't work out in my favour I hope this chapter is worth the wait ;w;

[nercyar-ika]

I feel like I am pretty close to finishing chapter 14! I was hoping to get it out for new years eve but sadly I was unable to. With that being said I hope everyone has a wonderful year!

[nercyar-ika]

Bad Habits: Chapter 13

Fandom: Cyberpunk 2077 Pairing: Johnny Silverhand/Fem!V Read on Ao3 - Master List Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

Hearing V say those three words took Johnny by surprise. He didn't believe what he had heard, let alone that he blurted them out first. The thought that V could just be messing with him or that she didn't mean it more than just friends began to race through his head. This felt like a childhood crush all over again. Had being gone for 50 years really gotten to him this bad?

For once, he questioned something he already knew the answer to. He shouldn't question it, but he did. The worries from his past caused him to doubt himself. Silverhand tried to remember if he had said those words to Alt or Rogue. His memory had always been great. The only time things would be fuzzy was if he had been drinking, or under the influence of any of the drugs he experimented with in the past. But this was something he suddenly struggled to remember. Was V the first person he truly loved? Johnny's feelings for Rogue always felt complicated even if you could call it a form of love. With Alt, things were even more different and complex. Alt had been the love of his life before the accident. He always thought of both Rogue and Alt as ones he loved even if it was in a twisted way, but now things were different. Silverhand felt safe around V. He could even let his guard down around her, which was rare with the others. Alt had been his mused but was V that now too? Johnny questioned his feelings and his past. Had Alt already rewritten some of the relic from the first time? Johnny thought to himself, forgetting that Alt had warned him about missing memories.

"Johnny?" V whispered, her voice snapping him out of his racing mind. "Hm?" Johnny blinked then let out a grumble, realizing he was starting to glitch out where the two met, caused by his concentration being lost. "I was worried I broke you for a moment... You zoned out on me there and I wasn't sure if the chip was breaking more." V sounded worried about him. "It'll take more than that to get rid of me," Johnny laughed shaking his head. He then stepped back enough to make the glitching stop. "For once you'll listen to me and take a break for today? It'll do ya some good." "What about visiting a friend before we go to the show? I swear it'll be a relaxing day," V smiled at Johnny. "I'm not sure why I'm bargaining with you on this when I have control, but promise me you won't listen in too much when I visit them?" This request made Johnny raise an eyebrow at V. He found it strange but knew sometimes she did need privacy. "Fine." Johnny agreed. "Preem. Nova thanks Johnny." V's smile grew bigger. He could tell this meant a lot to her.

As V got ready to leave Johnny gave her a bit of space. Flopping down on the couch, Johnny lay on his back staring at the ceiling. Those three little words were still playing in his head, still confusing him on what level of love it was. Friendship? Partnership? Some form of romantic feelings? Familiar? The list went on and on in his mind. Johnny knew the answer to this yet it still made him question things. If Johnny had his own body still V would have been able to see his eyes glaze over with how deep he was slipping into his mind. That's when a memory came back to him.

Laying on the bed at the Pistis Sophia just watching the fan slowly spinning. It was maybe the first week of staying there. Sharp pain from his left collarbone, and left shoulder blade. Was this what the rest of his life was going to be? Johnny thought to himself touching his right hand to his new shoulder. After blinking Johnny found himself back in V's apartment. The pain was still there after all these years, some days easier than others, but Johnny realized being around V made him forget about it. Even forget about the dull pain on days when pain pills weren't needed. He then moved his ganic hand to rub his shoulder and collarbone. Letting out a groan he sat up realizing that even being on the relic his chronic pain stayed with him. Almost enough to feel alive again. I'm not real and yet this pain still is... Johnny thought to himself. He then moved to light up hoping that smoking would distract him enough.

The Rockerboy moved to lean onto his shoulder, pushing it onto the back of the couch hoping that some pressure would help numb the pain. Things felt better but at the same time, they felt worse. Closing his eyes again Johnny sat there waiting for V. "Johnny?" V sounded worried again causing Johnny to open his eyes and look for her. She had managed to sit down next to him without his knowing. Silverhand didn't move from his position. "I'm fine," He sighed. "Just chronic pain is all... It'll pass it always does." "Need me to -" "No... I'll be fine." He accidentally snapped. "- Okay... Just let me know if you need me to help somehow." V still sounded worried and Johnny hated it. She already had so much to deal with. V didn't need to add Johnny's extra problems to her own. Closing his eyes Johnny lay back down, trying to rest his head on V's lap. Something felt off about it once he was on his back again. He opened his eyes and looking up at V he could see her trying to not laugh. Glitching... It was always the fucking glitching... Johnny thought to himself letting out a loud groan. He then rolled off the seat onto the floor frustrated, once he hit the floor Johnny disappeared and reappeared sitting normally next to V. "You know you could have just sat up again." V chuckled. "Yeah... yeah," he rolled his eyes. "So when are you going to visit this friend?" Johnny asked, moving to look at V. "Once you're done bring a drama queen," She teased. "But real answer. Once you feel up to leaving." "As long as it's not River again I'm good to go." Johnny nodded before standing up and then disappeared.

He watched from behind V's eyes as V walked to the car parking for Megabuilding H10. "Take my car." Johnny chimed in, realizing V was trying to pick which car to take today. She didn't argue with him, she just listened to his input. Silverhand could tell things were weighing on V's mind now too. He couldn't tell what it was but knew if he asked she might not talk to him about it, after asking not to listen to what she and this friend would talk about. Once V was in the car Johnny showed up in the passenger's seat, He didn't speak. Trying to give her space but, also letting her know he was there. So V drove in silence. Johnny watched out the passenger's window trying to figure out where exactly they were going. The only friend she had in this area was Kerry but why visit him before the show? V didn't turn to go up the hill towards Ker's house, she was now driving in the opposite direction. This meant one thing, she was going to the Columbarium to visit Jackie. Once V parked the car and got out Johnny didn't move. "I promised I wouldn't listen." He stated, causing V to smile. "Thank you, Johnny." V said softly before walking away. Silverhand waited until he was out of V's view before going back into her mind. He had promised he wouldn't listen but deep down he felt that V also needed him there. She had been calling Jackie's holo at times just to leave him messages. Maybe this was another one of those times. Johnny thought to himself watching V closely.

Finding where Jackie's name was, wasn't very hard for V. She had visited a few times in the past. Reaching the spot V lightly ran her fingers over the nameplate. She then turned around to press her back on the wall and slowly slid down it to sit on the ground. Johnny could feel the cold stone on their back, as it gave V goosebumps. He watched as she and then Holo called Jackie. No one answered but the inbox still could take messages. "Hi choom it's me again… V, but you already knew that," She gave a sad laugh. "A lot has happened since I last updated you. I'm getting a long a lot better with Johnny now. You would have loved him, he would have loved you too. I've done a lot of pretty cool gigs and helped out a lot of people I can call friends now. Judy and the Mox took over clouds, and Panam and the Aldacados now have a basilisk. Yeah I know it sounds pretty outrageous but they legit have one. Tonight Johnny's going to get to play a Samurai gig for the first time in 50some years. But don't feel bad for missing it, I have to miss it too," V sounded sad even if she was still laughing. Her voice then goes softer with the next part because her emotions of missing him are starting to show. "I told Johnny I loved him. He said it too but the scary part is I don't think I can save him without joining you or getting stuck behind the Blackwall… Even if we find him a body or his body I don't know if that can fix things…" Hearing V say that hurt. Johnny understood where she was coming from and why this scared her. He desperately wanted to comfort her but all he could do was show up again and sit next to her. "Don't forget to update him about Misty and Mama Welles." Johnny added hoping to lighten the mood once he noticed V trying to hold back the tears. "I almost forgot we had an ofrenda for you. You would have loved it. I managed to talk Misty into facing her fears of Mama Welles disapproving of her. I think they have dinner together at times now… I'm sorry that I couldn't save you. I'm sorry that we argued while you were slowly dying… I didn't want to believe you were hurt as bad. I was a jerk… Maybe even selfish. You and your family helped me so much… I'm sorry Jackie." She then hung up not being able to hold back her feelings.

Johnny wished he could do something to help V in this moment. He couldn't hug her, he couldn't hold her, he couldn't even whip away her tears. All he could do was sit there next to her. Even if he focused hard enough for the two of them to touch, Johnny knew he couldn't do that as long as V needed it. "I know you told me not to listen, and I know I said I wouldn't. But I felt that you needed me… so I came." Johnny said softly hoping that his words could bring some comfort. "I was trying to be brave." V replied trying her hardest to stop crying. "I know." Johnny moved and smiled at her. After that, they didn't need to speak. V did her best to calm down and Johnny felt he was helping. They both found comfort in each other's presence.

"Fuck we have a show soon…" V finally broke the silence looking at the time. Johnny couldn't help but laugh. "Come on get your butt moving." He teased after V had stood up and began to walk fast to the car.

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The two made it to the venue with just enough time to chat with everyone before V needed to take the pills. "Promise me you'll enjoy yourself but not have me wake up sick in the morning?" Johnny let out a chuckle hearing that question. He was watching V closely as she slipped away to the bathroom. He could tell she was nervous which was rare for V regarding these types of things. Johnny knew V was trusting him way more than he felt she should. The last time they were in this bathroom V didn't seem as nervous or she was getting better at hiding it from him at times. "It won't be like last time I promise princess. It won't be like the date with Rogue either. It'll just be for the show and maybe have a chat with Ker, then I'll give ya back control." As V moved to look in the mirror Johnny stood behind her. Their eyes met for a split second before Johnny could feel the heat on V's cheeks. His smile said enough, and before Johnny could even comment on her getting flustered V had downed the pill letting him take over. Johnny quickly looked over in the mirror before heading back into the bar. Everyone was still chatting at the table but now Kerry had joined them. "Miss me?" Johnny asked looking at the older man. "OH fuck you," He laughed knowing Johnny was out to play. "It'll be an easy show. Nothin to worry about." Kerry told the other fill-in for Samurai.

Before long the show started. Everyone had gotten into places and Kerry gave the go. The last show Johnny had played was 50 some years ago but today it felt like they never stopped touring. Glancing at the crowd Johnny could have sworn he saw a red flicker out of the corner of his eyes at one point. He didn't think too much about it as his vision shifted to checking that his fingers were still in the right places they needed to be. The red flickering happened again. It reminded him of the vision problems V would have before a seizure or how her hand glitched as they held hands the first time, but somehow this didn't feel the same and the body felt fine. Another flash caused Johnny to look up where he thought it was coming from. His eyes scanned the room again before locking onto her eyes. Things didn't make sense to him but Johnny knew he needed to focus on the music. He looked at Kerry and then back at where he saw her. Looking back she was still there but now smiling back at him. V? he blinked. Still there except now starting to dance to the music. Now and then her figure would glitch with red effects around her, giving Johnny more of an understanding of how he probably looks to her. He could see himself through V's eyes most of the time but for some reason, this didn't seem like it was that. Is this what you were trying to do on the date with Rogue? Johnny thought to himself, hoping V heard him, as his eyes moved to watch her. By the look on her face, the answer was a yes. Trying not to keep looking at V Johnny started to scan the crowd again. This time his eyes stopped on one person he did not want to see and did not want to know was there. River of all people. He seemed to be having a good time but seeing the other man there made Johnny's heart sink. How did River even find out about this show? V would have told Johnny if she told River about the show, was he following V? Silverhand watched him for a bit trying to understand how he even found out. He then moved to look back at V doing his best not to worry for her.

After playing a few songs, Johnny turned to Kerry. The setlist they had planned was just about over, but Silverhand knew he needed to add a song. With V watching them, he felt it would be best to do so. The song might be able to express his feelings even if it wasn't a normal love song. They had already said they loved each other but Johnny still needed to know if they both meant it the same way. He needed to know that V wasn't just trying to give Johnny everything he wanted, everything she thought he needed. "Got enough energy for one more song than what we planned to end with?" He asked Kerry causing the other man to laugh. "Not sure what you got planned but shoot." "Just follow my lead you should know this one." Johnny laughed before starting to play Never Fade Away, the others picked up on it pretty fast and before long Johnny found himself smiling at V while singing along to help Kerry out. Once they finished the last song V disappeared. Johnny hoped he wasn't losing his mind and that he had seen her in the crowd.

Once the band left the stage Kerry made his way over to the bar pulling Johnny along with him. "I missed this ya know." Kerry gave him a bittersweet smile. "You've made it this far on your own. You've done good Ker. It was nice to get one last show with you even if my body is borrowed." "Why add the last song?" Ker asked raising an eyebrow at Johnny. "Just felt that I needed to play it." The two smiled at each other, understanding the reasons even if words didn't express why. Kerry turned away from Johnny for a moment giving him enough time to take the pill to help V come back.

Hey where are you? Just caught the show. Had no idea you could play so well... or was that Johnny the whole time? - River Read

So that really was him. Johnny thought to himself seeing the holo notification before the pills kicked in.

Just hang in with Ker, a bo ut to head soon. sor.... - V Sent

Johnny tried to reply the best she could hoping to give V some time to get away, but with the pills begin to work, writing anything normal was hard for Johnny. He accidentally hit send as everything turned black, and V's body tipped over onto Kerry.

[nercyar-ika]

Bad Habits: Chapter 12

Fandom: Cyberpunk 2077 Pairing: Johnny Silverhand/Fem!V Read on Ao3 - Master List Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

V hadn't heard a peep from Johnny since the night before. The last time she had seen him, he was sitting on one of the steps to Randy's trailer, making a humming sound mixed with a few grunts. Silverhand claimed to be working on a new song while he imitated a guitar sound to work on the melody. Once she had entered their apartment, V began to look around, as if he was playing hide and seek with her. After a few minutes of looking, she realized she wouldn't find him. Johnny did live in the chip in her head after all. He always came off as the type to be the brooding for a few days. "Johnny?" V whispered as she sat on the edge of her bed. There was a hint of worry in her voice that made him show up faster than she expected. "You okay?" Johnny asked standing in his favourite spot to smoke by the apartment window. He looked at V briefly before changing to stare out the window. "Just... you hadn't shown up in a while," V paused and looked down at her knees. Unsure what really to tell him. "I got worried... I figured you'd at least show up this morning like you always do." Johnny didn't respond right away. Instead, he fidgeted with his unlit cigarette before lighting up. V could tell so many questions were racing around his head, but nothing seemed right.

"Did he fuck you?" He finally asked breaking the silence. There was a hint of jealousy. "What?" V looked up at Johnny. "Did you sleep together?" His voice was softer this time, still the same question even if it was rephrased. "What?" V asked again even though she fully understood what he had said. "Why are you even asking me this? No, I didn't fuck him," V tried to read his face but he was too good at keeping up a poker face. Johnny's silence made V take the initiative. "All we did was kiss," pausing she let out a sigh, her body language screaming of embarrassment and anxiety. "I should just say the full story from the start after I couldn't feel you around anymore. We cooked together, he told me about his parents. We played a game with his niece and nephew. Ate together and before long everyone was asking questions about if I liked River, followed by when are we going to start dating," V could feel Johnny's eyes now on her as she kept talking. "Then he pulled me aside and went up to the water tower to talk in private. I still couldn't feel you...," V mumbled the last part. "It had been for a while at this point. It was as if you left after saying something about the song you were working on," She gave a sad smile to pause again and collect her thoughts. "Kind of wished you saw the view from up there it was great. It was nothing like seeing the night sky from the Aldecados' camp but, it was a great view. We then talked about what the kids brought up. I did my best to turn him down. I even tried to explain I was dying but somehow things led to a kiss. He led me to his room knowing it would be a one-time thing," V watched as Johnny lit up again. She could feel a small tightness in her chest. Was this what Johnny was feeling? It felt like her heart was starting to break but it wasn't even her own heart this time. She had felt something like this before but this time it hurt more. V did her best to act as if she wasn't feeling that and wanted to comfort Johnny with her words the best she could. "We kissed more but then had to stop. I told River something didn't feel right. I meant between me and him but then I had started to see some red almost glitching-like things around the room. It wasn't normal. He thought it was us too but it was me about to have a seizure. Once things calmed down I had to explain to him about you... It kind of made him understand better why I'm dying. He didn't know what to believe but figured maybe just go back to talking and me staying the night to make sure I didn't have another seizure. So he held me while we slept. That was it nothing more. Plus the only reason I would have," She had to pause and look down again trying her best not to get flustered. "Like I said the one-time thing. I got needs too ya know. It's been forever since I had any..." V could feel her cheeks start to burn and could feel Johnny grinning about to tease her. "You just wanted his cock so you could fuck something?" Johnny laughed. "Yeah pretty much. Are you happy now? Look I'm not going to pay for a Joytoy! My hands can only do so much." He moved to stand closer to her. Johnny moved his glasses down to get a better look at V before giving her one of his famous cocky smiles. "And you didn't think about asking Judy?" "I don't want to lead her on knowing I'm dying. It doesn't feel fair knowing how hurt she would be." "You didn't think to ask anyone else that wasn't a cop or whatever the fuck he is now?" Johnny moved even closer to V. He seemed to be enjoying this. V didn't answer trying to collect her thoughts

"Plus I don't think who I'm interested in is even into me to begin with." His grin grew hearing V finally speak again. "Could have sworn Judy was pretty into you. Plus River trying to sleep with you says enough. Or are you talking about someone else?" She didn't answer him. "Couldn't be Ker or Panam... or am I forgetting someone?" She could feel just how much he was enjoying teasing her like this. After a bit of silence, V was about to speak up before Johnny beat her to it. "Clearly it's not Rogue because I know you would have been jealous... Well, jealous in other ways. But you do have a small crush on her." Johnny teased having a small realization as he spoke. "Fine I'll say it but you have to promise me that nothing will change between us." Her voice was soft, unlike her normal speaking voice. "You make this sound as if you want me to fuck you right now." "And if I say yes?" "We might be able to figure something out." Johnny whispered touching V's chin with his ganic hand. "Johnny..." "Hmm?" He moved her head so they could meet eye to eye. "I... I..." V began to struggle with her words. "Use your words." His tone was harsher and dominating, which caused V to blush even more. "Okay... it's you, you gonk. I'm getting feelings for the stupid Rockerboy who is living in my head." V closed her eyes. It was hard saying something like that and looking at the man, with how high his ego was. She heard a soft chuckle from him as he removed his hand. "Cute. Now was that so hard to say princess? I had a feeling you were catching feelings. Let me guess wanted to fuck the pig so you'd get genic dick and pretend it was me the whole time?" He laughed. "Cute. Can't blame ya. My cock is better anyways." "Didn't think this would be how I'd tell you..." V mumbled before Johnny smirked and let out another chuckle. "Look I had a feeling something like that was going on in that gonk of a head of yours. You have a hard time hiding crushes. The one on Rogue as an example and well now me." V could tell he was hiding something even tho he was correct. She wasn't sure if she should ask what he was hiding or just drop the subject.

Johnny shifted positions and looked away from V. It was clear he was fighting something in his mind now but keeping V out of the loop. "Johnny?" Her voice was just above a whisper. V stood up moving closer to him. Her heart was starting to speed up, causing Johnny to look at her again. "V... trust me, you don't want me." "What do you mean?" V asked. "V... look," Johnny paused thinking carefully about his next words. "What I'm about to say you won't like but I have to fucking say it. You don't want to be with me. I always mess things up. You've seen my memories of being with Rogue and Alt. I'm a self-centred asshole. The whole reason you are dying is because of me. Even this is due over. I promised from the very start I would fix things for you. I will do so until the very end when I have to stay behind the Blackwall... It's not right making you get your hopes up that we both get to live from this. I never want to hurt you and that's all I seem to know what to do," He paused again, this time to light up again. "I know I sound manipulative. I'm just trying to look out for you and keep my promises. There's a reason taking you to the Pistis Sophia meant so much to me," His tone was heated and loud but not at V it was at himself. He was hurting and scared of hurting V. "I'm good at playing the tough guy but when it comes to you, somehow all my walls just fall around you... I don't understand it. Look V I'm trying to keep you safe at the end of the day." "I'm not letting you go behind the Blackwall," V stated knowing Johnny wasn't going to like hearing that. "I have plans for us both. You deserve a second chance again." "I can't keep your body V." "You won't. I have plans," V told Johnny. "You want to save my life and I want to try to save yours. Sorry... Just... Forget I said anything. About my feelings for you, I mean." V sounded disappointed but realized maybe it was best to drop the all subjects now. Her feelings were confusing but she knew this wasn't the first time feeling them. She knew they also showed up the first go around, or at least that's what V thought she was starting to remember. V turned her back to Johnny. It's going to be harder than before to do so... "What do you mean?" V asked realizing she heard Johnny's thoughts on accident and moved to look over her shoulder at him. "You... you heard that? Dammit," Johnny ran his figures throw his hair trying his best to hide behind his shades. He tried to play it cool the best he could, but V didn't answer his question. "Look it's been clear at times I've been testing the waters in more than one way," V moved so she wasn't looking at Johnny anymore unsure where exactly he was going with this. "We never admitted anything before but at the end, it was clear we had something... I'm unsure exactly what or if we could even give it a name. Now I don't even know what we are anymore," He paused and V could hear him move closer to her. "I understand my feelings but I don't understand yours." Johnny whispered. "Johnny... You don't have to do this." V whispered back. "I'm slowly killing you and yet you still want what's best for me over yourself. You want me to be fucking happy... even after all the times I've hurt you," He moved closer enough to wrap his arms around V from behind. "Valerie please don't make me say it." Johnny whispered starting to laugh. "And that would be?" "Valerie," Johnny paused after repeating her name. "I love you." V wasn't sure she heard him right; her heart began to flutter. Was this the means of her feelings, which she was struggling to understand? "That's why I want you to be able to live again. You saved my life, and now I get to save yours," V moved in his grip so she could face Johnny. She gave him a soft smile before finishing her thought. "I love you."

[nercyar-ika]

Chapter 13 is live on ao3

[nercyar-ika]

Bad Habits: Chapter 11

Fandom: Cyberpunk 2077 Pairing: Johnny Silverhand/Fem!V Read on Ao3 - Master List Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

V had left Johnny with the body faster than he had expected. His vision started to blur turning red before turning back to normal. It reminded Johnny of the relic malfunctions but he felt fine. This made him worry about what was going on in V's mind, but he was stuck in the driver's seat now not being able to get to the parts of her mind where V attempted to hide things from him. She wasn't always the best at keeping things from him in the past, but this time V was. She could stay calm and collected so easily on gigs. But V seemed to struggle to keep things hidden when anything was just her and Johnny.

Johnny gave himself a quick look over before he made his way down from the projector room. There was no use worrying over V when Rogue was waiting for him to return. Rogue had already found a seat for the two of them on an old beaten-up car. The thing must have been one of the last cars to make it into the drive-in but never made its way out. "Grabbed us the best spot hop on up," Rogue smiled at Johnny as he joined her. His attention was on Rogue rather than the movie. "Always knew things would have to change for us to just go out and catch a movie. Never imagined they'd change this much," Rogue paused again to look at the movie. He could tell something was on her mind, but Rogue was unsure how to word it. She then returned her gaze to look at Johnny. "Let's pretend it's twenty fifteen huh? We just met and I got no idea what a bastard you are." Johnny laughed at her question. "Sure, I lured you to the movies so we could bang, by the way," Rogue laughed clearly, seeing he was joking. "Which I'm pretty sure we could still do," Johnny smirked. "I'm pretty sure V has a small crush on you and wouldn’t be upset at all." Rogue laughed again but kept her focus on the movie. Johnny could tell even more now that something was on her mind, but she wasn't saying it.

Rogue moved to look Johnny in the eyes. Her face was serious, and seriously reminding Johnny of their past heists together. "Okay, so it's twenty-fifteen. If you could do it all again what would you change? Anything at all?" Her question made him pause to think. If anything had changed in the past they never would have gotten to this point in time. Johnny never would have ended up in V's head and part of him didn't like that idea. With how attached he had gotten to V, thinking about never meeting her almost scared him. He always longed to make things right with Rogue and Alt but knowing his selfish mistakes led him to V made every painful decision worth it. The pain he caused to the others did way on Johnny's shoulders now. He could never make things up to Alt with how gone she was. He had a better understanding of her death. Rogue on the other hand maybe he could get her forgiveness. "Nope doesn't work that way. All those braincraps, dopey decisions, they were wholly mine." "So you'd get yourself killed again?" Rogue asked raising an eyebrow. "Over an obsession with Arasaka, for someone who wasn't even a real person?" She then shook her head in disbelief before looking back at the movie, no longer seeming to want to look at the Rockerboy. Johnny frowned and looked away from Rogue. He then moved to look at the movie screen as something red began to glitch in and out on the far left of the catwalk, at the bottom of the screen. Johnny was unsure what he was seeing, it almost looked like a human figure was trying to form but struggling. The colour of red reminded him of V when behind the Blackwall with Alt. There was something that felt strange about it. "V?" He whispered accidentally aloud, feeling like a pair of eyes were now watching the couple. "What?" Rogue asked causing Johnny to look at her again. "I never would have met V if things had changed," Johnny stated once he realized Rogue had heard him.

"At the time I had no fucking clue it would all lead to right now. All my self-serving choices… I'm sorry that I hurt you." He couldn't look at Rogue, Johnny than let his eyes wonder again. Returning to the spot he had seen the glitching, but there was no red colour and no glitching. "Are you trying to tell me V means something to you other than a body?" Rogue asked. Johnny sighed and nodded. "Yeah, a lot. I can't explain it. Rogue you mean a lot to me as well and I don't want you to think you don't matter to me," He then felt a hand lightly touch his, and Johnny moved to look at Rogue. "I'm sure it sounds fucked up that I have these feelings." "I'm starting to understand what V asked for before telling me about your little date idea," She gave a sad smile to him. "Johnny, I've moved on a long time ago. Or at least I thought I had. I had 50 years to try and move on. I never expected you would come back." "All that matters is I'm back - with you," He moved closer to her and smiled. "Just for tonight let's forget about the world. I think that's better than any 'what ifs' right?" "But all we've got is this one night." Rogue frowned before it changed into a smile. She was debating something while moving closer. "Rogue, I'm here on borrowed time, in a borrowed body. But I'm here." Johnny whispers before moving in for a kiss. There was anger in Rogue's kiss back. The two had both longed for this but knew something wasn't right. Rogue lightly pushed Johnny away breaking the kiss. "Johnny… this," She paused. "This isn't right." "Meaning not fair to V?" he asked, Rogue noded. "You both have feelings for each other, I think you just miss the past me and don't fully know the new me," Rogue then looked away from him. "Part of me died the night I found you with Alt, another part died when you died. But here we are trying to pretend nothing has changed when so much has truly changed." The two sat in silence again. Johnny thought over what Rogue had said. He wasn't sure how to ask her what he needed to, but he knew if he didn't say anything he'd regret it.

"Part of me felt I needed to talk to you about what if we found my body, Grayson made it sound like they still have it someplace even if what he said was a lie," Johnny paused carefully thinking about his next words already feeling like he was on thin ice. "What if I ended up with V. How was that going to affect you." He did his best to sound sincere. Rogue had placed her hand onto his again and gave his hand a tight squeeze before releasing it. "I was able to get passed seeing you with another woman before, I can get past this. Just don't lose this one, you're running low on second chances. I may have to hurt you if you end up breaking V's heart," She said letting go of his hand and then stood up to leave the car. "I'll get back on my own." Rogue stated before leaving. "Rogue wait!" Johnny yelled out to her, but Rogue didn't stop. He felt defeated sitting all along at the drive-in even if Rogue did give him some answers. Johnny still felt that he needed to make things up to Rogue, but now instead of revenge, it was to make V happy and to keep her alive. Standing up Johnny fished around in his pockets for the pills to bring V back. After finding them he looked around the drive-in again. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The spot that was glitching stopped, along with the feeling of being watched.

Johnny took one of the pills as his vision began to change to red. He then started to cough and understood more about how V felt when a relic malfunction happened. Letting out another cough he fell to the ground. "Johnny?!" It was V who cried out to him, were the pills kicking in already? More red started to glitch around him. For a split second, Johnny could have sworn he saw someone next to him glitching. He blamed it on this was the first time this happened while he was in control. More than likely it was just V's brain trying to push Johnny out while giving him false hope he wasn't alone. Of all the times Johnny had watched it happen to V, he realized she was so much stronger than Johnny had thought. V always knew before getting the warning when it would happen. Maybe the feeling he was getting earlier was the early relic warnings. Things didn't feel right, something strange was going on. Johnny closed his eyes for what felt like a second, but he wasn't sure how long he was out from the malfunction.

Waking up V was still lying on the ground and he was next to her. "You okay?" He mumbled pushing himself off the ground. "I should be the one asking you that," V sounded worried but also sounded like she was trying to hide another emotion. "Where's Rogue?" she added standing up to look around. "She left, it was supposed to be a good night at the drive-in but plans changed. I still owe her a fucking apology...," He let out a sigh. "Well night is still young let's head over to North Oak." "Why North Oak? How is that going to help with Rogue?" V raised an eyebrow. "Cause it's not. I'll tell you when we get there." Johnny smiled at V before leading the way to the car. Sitting in the passenger's seat Johnny waited for V to join him. She seemed to be overthinking something, something that Johnny could tell she was trying to hide. "So North Oak, right?" V asked him after opening the driver's door and plopping herself into the car. "It's not to far from here. By the sign there's a parking lot below it. That should be good enough of a spot." "I think I know the place." V stated as she turned on the engine and made their way to North Oak. V didn't ask any more questions after that and just focused on driving. Johnny fiddled with the radio, most stations were playing garbage he didn't want to listen to. Once again Morro Rock was playing one of his songs which caused Johnny to pause for a moment to listen to it. He then quickly changed the station again, stopping on the growl. Afterlife started to play low in the silent car as they began to drive up the windy hill. Johnny left it on this station knowing how much V enjoyed this song. He couldn't help but hum along as it grew on him. Johnny would never admit it but it was true.

"Didn't expect you to be a fan of that type of music." V laughed as she parked below the North Oak sign. "It's probably just because of your head," Johnny laughed not wanting to admit liking the song. He then teleported over to the body of water below the sign looking up to Kerry's house with his hands on his hips. "This oughta work." The Rocketboy then grinned at V as she stood next to him. "So why are we here exactly?" V asked raising an eyebrow at him. "Heard Kerry got himself a buck-a-masion here," He paused. "Well, I know he got one let's be real here. That right there," Johnny pointed at it before looking at V to see her reaction. "Probably should check up on the guy. Seems as good a time as any to do it now." Bending over Johnny fiddled around in the rocks around the water. Finding the perfect one for skipping rocks he then throws it before looking back at V. "You just want me to break in?" "Why not could be fun." He grinned. "Fine, you win," V sighed smiling back, seeing V smile excited Johnny knowing how this would end up. He couldn't help but be excited thinking about her meeting Kerry, as well as the concert even if she missed most of it. "Come on we got a fence to hop but we gotta drive up the hill more. I'm not rock climbing tonight." She called back to him before getting back into his Porsche.

"I can't believe you are making me break into Kerry fuckin' Eurodyne's house," V laughed parking the car in front of Kerry's gated entrance. "Wait that means I'm going to get to meet Kerry fuckin' Eurodyne…" "V come on you've met Johnny fuckin' Silverhand. Way better than Kerry," Johnny laughed pretending to sound hurt. "Plus me living in your head." "Come on Johnny he's the over half of Samurai," She grinned down at him halfway up the fence. Johnny rolled his eyes at her before reappearing on the other side of the fence. He then watched as V made her way to the front door. Even with the top-of-the-line security that Kerry had it was no match for her stealth, or V just got super lucky that no bots were looking her way. Johnny wasn't sure which it was but it still excited him watching her work. "This was a little too easy." V stated opening the front door. "Hope it was expensive at least. Somethings gotta justify this level of tacky," Johnny said as he gave the place a quick look around. He then realized V had wandered off without him once she spotted some guitars hanging on the wall. "Well, I'll admit I'm impressed." "It's a great collection." V then lightly touched one of the guitars. Johnny couldn't help but smile seeing that she found one that he used to play, knowing Kerry it might even have been one of Johnny's old ones but he didn't want to think too hard on that. "Played a couple of these myself back in the day," He added in a low tone standing close to V trying not to scare her. He could see her begin to blush from how close they now were. V then moved to look over some album covers that Kerry had on the wall. "If I had to pick a favourite I'd probably say never fade away." Johnny stated as he caught V staring at it the most. "Mine too." She turned and smiled at him. "I know." Johnny smiled. As the two stood there a sudden sound of a shower turning on caught their attention. V walked over to the door the sound was coming from. "Guess we're lucky he's even here?" "And alone." He added before heading back to the guitars. "So we just wait?" Johnny nodded. "We wait but you need to give me control again. It'll be easier doing it myself." V frowned but nodded in agreement. She moved to sit down on the couch below the guitars before taking the pill.

Once the pills kicked in Johnny stood up. Turning around he grabbed one of the guitars off the wall and sat down with it. "Now, to see which're up for show and which're actually strummable," Johnny smiled to himself getting lucky with his first pick as he started to tune it. He started to play Never Fade Away and sing along with it wishing V could still see what was going on. "Who… the fuck?" And there Kerry was, right on queue. Johnny stopped playing and smiled at him. He had forgotten about Kerry having a gun pointed at him the last time this happened. "Keep playing." He demanded walking closer to Johnny. "All right." His grin grew bigger as he picked up where he had left off in the song. Their eye contact didn't break. "Johnny?" Kerry asked in disbelief. "Kerry?" He laughed. "No… no, no, this some fuckin' joke? Hang on…" He shook his head before grinning. "What did Silverhand tell me before he died?" "Told you to leave Samurai, go on your own way," Johnny answered as he rolled his eyes at the question. "Clearly I was right. As I often am." "Johnny fuckin' Silverhand," Kerry stepped back once everything clicked for him. "Fuck… I mean how?" "Surprise." Johnny sounded more amused with this than Kerry was. "Motherfucker…" Kerry growled right before backhanding Johnny in the face. He then sat down next to him. "Okay, I get it you weren't expecting me. or V…" "Au fucking contraire. Been waiting fifty years to do that… Well to you not… uh V?" Kerry raised an eyebrow. "This is V you'll love her." "Shit… man I need a drink," He then stood up and motioned for Johnny to follow him upstairs to his bar. "Something about V looks familiar." Kerry mumbled to himself, but it was loud enough for Johnny to hear. The two chatted about Kerry's place as they made their way upstairs. Johnny was trying to be nice with what he said and commented on, but he struggled with words with how tacky most of the decorations were.

Kerry walked over to the bar and grabbed a bottle once they reached the bar. Johnny paused to scan the area, something felt off and Kerry's comment on V didn't help. Sitting on the coffee table was a digital picture frame that was glitching red. Johnny walked over to it and picked it up before studying the image. It was a photo of Kerry and V at the concert Samurai was going to put on. "Oh, that old thing seems to have been busted for a while. Don't remember why it was so important or what the picture was," Kerry mentioned as he watched Johnny study it. "C'mon and sit with me, tell me where you've been all this time."He then sat down and poured a drink for himself and Johnny. "Steel yourself for a long story." Johnny smirked before setting the picture frame back down and replacing it with his drink. "I just really want it to be tragic, sad as all fuck over all those years. Cause if I hear you spent it with the nomads, open road wind in your hair... or cool and relaxing in orbit... and now you've just popped by to shit all over my life, well I might lose my damn mind." "Oh, it is a heartbreaker," Johnny laughed before the two said cheers. Downing his drink he then explained everything he could to Kerry. V's heist, waking up in her head, the date with Rogue, everything that was important. Kerry nodded his head while listening. They both kept talking before changing the subject back to the old days, before something in Kerry's mind clicked, he then raised an eyebrow starting to catch on that his old choom had feelings for someone new. "Hold the goddamn phone... You've gotten over Alt?" Kerry interrupted in disbelief. "You could say that," Johnny said, unsure about what he was saying. He had never considered that until now. "Look I don't feel fully know if V likes me that way or if we could get me fully out of her head." "Nah I haven't seen you talk about someone like that in years! You need to make your move when you can." He grinned. "I've been dead for 50 years Ker." Johnny laughed. "Oh fuck you! You know what I meant Johnny," Kerry smirked before pointing at Johnny. "Hey let me be your wingman! I have a fucking fantastic idea too." "Oh god, what now?" Johnny grumbled before realizing Kerry was about to bring up the Samurai gig. "We do a show for one night like the old times. I'm sure V'll fangirl all over you." Kerry grinned seeming pleased with himself. "Sounds fun," He smirked. "But that won't win her over trust me. You want me to call Nans to see if she's in?" Johnny asked without thinking. "You got in contact with her before me?" Kerry asked confused by this. "Nah assumed you would give me her contact." "Right right, I'll send that over. This'll be fucking great!"

Johnny did his best to set up plans with Kerry but with the pills starting to wear off things began to blur together before being booted out of V's body. Thankfully he was able to explain things to Ker before it happened. After V and Kerry formally met, Kerry explained the concert idea to V. She agreed to help out and got into contact with Nans, who later set everything up for the group.

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Johnny could feel V was getting tired from how much work she had done for him the past couple of days. V was looking over her holo and found that River had contacted her again. He didn't want to be nosy but knowing what was being said now was better than ever to be. "You need to rest. We have a big day tomorrow." Johnny huffed, trying to hide his frustration. He wasn't frustrated at V; he was frustrated at the fact that River was getting in his way. Deep down, he knew there was nothing to worry about, but that's what also scared him. Rogue had mentioned V seeming to have feelings for Johnny, and all her actions before reflected that. Why accept what was clearly a set-up for a date? "Don't you mean you have a big day tomorrow?" V finally answered sounding unsure. "You'll be there too..." Johnny answered wondering where V was going with this. "I'll be missing all of it because you have to take over. Remember how things work for us?" She slightly teased, which was a good thing. "I wish you could still see the show V," Johnny frowned once again realizing she would be missing the only Samurai show she'd be able to attend. "I promise to make it up to you." The words slipped out of his mouth faster than he realized what exactly was being said. V gave a soft smile at him. "I know." V said sincerely in a soft voice.

She wasn't going to change her mind. V was stubborn and Johnny loved that about her. Even though at times it felt that she was getting much more stubborn because of him. "So, you're still going to see him?" Johnny asked already aware of her answer. "Yes," She looked at him trying to read his emotions. "Why do you hate River so much?" "I don't trust the guy," Johnny sighed not liking that he had to admit to this. He knew lying wouldn't save him and later on could break V's trust. "He reminds me of a stalker okay?" The Rocketboy added before looking away from V. "I promise I can look after myself." V stated Johnny could feel her trying to comfort his worries. "I know, that's what scares me," His gaze moved back to V. "Just be careful."

The two stood there staring at each other. Communicating was never Johnny's strong point in relationships. He wanted to tell V more than what he had but knew he'd just come off as being jealous and controlling. "Just don't lose this one, you're running low on second chances..." Rogue's words began to ring in his mind again as a reminder. "What do you even see in the guy?" Johnny asked causing V to raise an eyebrow. "It's just going over for a thank you dinner." "It's a date you gonk." Johnny grumbled before starting to light up another cigarette. "And what makes you say that? It's a dinner with his family nothing more," V sounded unsure with her answer. "Plus didn't you get a date with Rogue?" "That's different. -" "I dunno Johnny. I feel like you did try to get lucky with Rogue." V interrupted. "-That's different." Johnny snapped again. She was right as much as he hated to admit it. "Would me promising to only do dinner make you feel better?" V asked realizing this was getting to Johnny. "No," He sighed. "You don't need to do that. Just be careful..." He sounded defeated. Silverhand knew he needed to drop it. His jealousy and worry were starting to affect V. "It's just dinner." V reassured Johnny before making her way to River's place.

On the drive over to River's place, Johnny stayed put in V's head. He didn't sit in the passenger's seat like he normally would. Silverhand was trying his best to give V space, but he knew once they arrived he'd have to make one last appearance to ease V. Once they arrived Johnny planted himself on the steps leading up to Randy's trailer. He pretended to play guitar while humming. "You sure you're fine?" She asked him softly sounding worried. "Go have fun," Johnny didn't look at V. "I've got a new song I'm working on anyways." He stayed put until he knew V was talking to River. Johnny then went into hiding in V's mind. That way she can do whatever she pleases without him watching. He went to a part of V's memories that always felt like it was her past that V didn't want Johnny to see. It contained most of her favourite memories as well. Memories of the two of them bonding, the Pistis Sophia, her Nomad family. Tucked away deeply was V as a kid listening to Samurai, having a celebrity crush on Johnny. She'd never admit that she did but V clearly did. To Johnny it was sweet. He'd never admit to looking at them. For the rest of the night, he just rested in all those memories taking them in, trying to understand V more. Trying to forget that River was going to try and sleep with V that night even if it was V's choice. Trying his hardest not to get jealous and worried. After the concert, I need to make my fucking move. Johnny thought to himself, unsure about what to even do. But he knew this would be the best time to open up to V.

[nercyar-ika]

I'm really close to having the new update done

[nercyar-ika]

Bad Habits: Chapter 10

Fandom: Cyberpunk 2077 Pairing: Johnny Silverhand/Fem!V Read on Ao3 - Master List Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

Waking up V wished that the way she was feeling was just a bad dream and not because of the hangover. Johnny did say the worst he would do was drinking but V didn't fully expect a hangover. Her arm was sore in an odd spot. V knew this feeling from all her other tattoos but with how her head was pounding, her mind didn't go straight to a new tattoo. Sitting up V looked down at her arm, there was a fresh ink, a heart with an arrow that read Johnny + V in the center. She froze seeing it and sheepishly looked around the room realizing this wasn't her apartment. Then the taste of copper filled V's mouth. Blood? V thought to herself before coughing it out into her hand. "V?" It was a woman's voice, not Johnny calling her. "Hm?" V was still looking at her hand trying to figure out what to do with the blood. "Spit blood first thing every morning?" She then looked over and saw Rogue speaking to her.

The room she was in wasn't one she knew but from the looks of everything it must have been a motel or cheap apartment. Rogue was sitting in a chair across from V was lying on. "Nice of you to finally join us sleeping beauty," Rogue commented making eye contact with V. "How are you feeling? "Like I was hit by 50 trucks... We didn't do it... did we?" V asked beginning to feel shy, as her cheeks turned red. "No, we did not. The first time you walked up, sensed there was something familiar about you. Johnny randomly showed up at my booth at the Afterlife and I thought 'Cute kid too bad she's gone whacked.' The way he was acting I figured you had lost your marbles," Rogue stood up. "Then he smiled and finally explained everything and it made slightly more sense. Only that cocky bastard could smile like that, so I knew it was him." She walked over closer to V's bed. "This feels... weird," V paused. "You know about Johnny I mean," V stayed silent as Rogue looked her over. "So he told you about Smasher?" She asked as Rogue sat on the edge of her bed. "Yes and Grayson. He somehow managed to get us some info about who we were looking for. I'll do some digging around before we can do anything. Rest up and I'll check in later," She moved closer to V before grabbing V's face, now only a few inches away from her face. "Unbelievable that bastard's somewhere in your head" Her eyes moved as if she was scanning V before she turned around to leave.

It was good timing on Rogue's part because right after the door closed behind her another wave of sickness hit V. Once she finished throwing up Johnny showed up. He looked at her worried before moving to sit on top of the motel dining table. "Should be you getting sick over here not me." "Yeah well life isn't always fair," Johnny laughed. "Also, might want to check your holo. I didn't read anything but saw the name River Ward pop up several times. It'll take time before Rogue gets back to you anyway." His tone changed when saying River's name. "Do you really hate the guy that much?" V couldn't help but laugh slightly, she then had to stop herself from feeling ill again. "Don't trust him." That was all Johnny said. "Is it because of his job? Or something else?" V knew she shouldn't push it. "It's part of why I don't like the guy but it's not why I don't trust him," His tone had changed. "Look I'm not going to tell you who you can fuck but really? Him?" "Who said we'd be fucking?" V laughed now able to hear that Johnny was jealous. "Plus I'm dying it doesn't seem fair to get with anyone." "That's why I'm here to fix this..." She nodded at Johnny before standing up, V did her best to drop the subject. Heading outside the room, V was greeted by the sun which felt just a little too bright today. Johnny showed up again this time smoking by the railing outside. "What is this place?" She asked hoping this hangover wouldn't last forever. "Place where you can puke all over the carpet, no problem," He sounded pleased with himself. "Rogue probably got us it."

A day or two went by before Rogue contacted V again. She explained what the word "Ebunike" meant for them and where the two should meet. To V it was very clear Rogue was excited about doing a job like this. V made her way to the Afterlife, once there Rogue introduced her to Crispin Weylind before explaining that he would be helping them. "I hear you're hunting Smasher." Crispin grinned "Ready? We'll talk on the way," Rogue asked before V gave her a small nod. The two then made their way out of the Afterlife and to Rogue's car. She filled V in on things she didn't share over the Holo. "Gotta a little somethin'" Rogue grinned at V before popping the trunk of her car. V moved to look inside, there lay a jacket, Something about it made V's heart skip a beat. She knew what this was but did her best to hide her excitement. "Is... Is this Johnny's?" V asked picking it up to examine things more. "You sure you won't confuse us if I wear it?" She then teased. "Try it on!" Johnny stood next to V grinning like crazy when he saw it. "It'll be like you're wearing your output's jacket." He added. V could tell he wanted a reaction. What are you trying to say? V snapped as she began to blush. Johnny didn't reply. "Quite sure, Thanks," Rogue raised an eyebrow seeing that V was blushing. "A replica, made-to-order. The real jacket must have disintegrated into dust years ago" She added once V put the jacket on. "Thanks." V smiled at Rogue before she gave a nod of approval. The two then entered Rogue's car.

"What'd Johnny say about me?" Rogue asked V breaking the silence that filled the car. "I know you two talk all the time." "He told me you were the best. Always were the best." "The best," Rogue laughed. "Too bad that comes at a price." "You sure you're up for this?" V asked sounding worried for her. "What? You getting cold feet already?" "No... it's just Smasher is Johnny's obsession. I'd hate to see you get hazed. "You think so?" Rogue couldn't help but laugh again. "Just trying to be fair..." V said softly before the silence returned.

Parking the car Rogue explained they should wait until night but keep watch of the shipyard. A steakout didn't sound like the worst thing ever. The two then sat and watched until nightfall. Breaking in was easier than it should have been with how many Maelstrom were around. Rogue was able to keep up easily with V. Making it onto the Ebunike they ran into Grayson just as planned. He pushed Rogue's buttons before trying to bargain for his life with V. The man had been given Johnny's gun from Smasher himself. This upset Johnny but thankfully V was able to take it back from Grayson. V asked him if he knew what happened to Johnny's body, Grayson explained where they were in the oilfields. He then went on about how he had more of Silverhand's things offering them to V in return she had to spare his life. V closed her eyes before letting out a deep sigh. "You got lucky today." She stated before he pulled out a key from his pocket. V then grabbed the key from him. "Getting soft on me V." Johnny teased but he seemed to know more than he was saying the way he smiled. Grayson then explained which container she needed to look into before Rogue hit him over the head with her gun. Rogue was frustrated by V's choice and made it clear more things were going on that she wasn't sharing. She then walked away from V before kicking the air in frustration.

"Pointless, this whole thing. Still no leads, nowhere to go from here." "Fuck, V tell her!" Johnny sounded panicky before disappearing. "To Johnny, this is more than a 50 year old grudge." V said moving over to Rogue. "Really - Like what is it?" Rogue asked raising an eyebrow. "It's about you. He wanted to do this with you." "What to cheer me up? Huh didn't work." "Smasher -" "Fuck!" Rogue interrupted. "You don't get it... This isn't about Smasher. He's just the goddamn tip of the iceberg. Even if we get him, what does that get us? No reason to stay I'm out." She then stormed off before V could even say anything back. "Leave her alone V," Johnny sighed making himself known again. "She'll get it together, but times like this she prefers to be alone." "I get that." V agreed "Time to find out how to get that container down, if it's got something of mine in it I want it back."

V then went to look for controls to drop the container. There was a ladder that led to the crane arm controls close to where they had been standing. Climbing it up and flipping some leavers V had the container on the ground. Climbing down V then walked over to it and found Johnny sitting on a wall close to the container. He seemed excited. "Fuck I think I know what this is." "I guess time to find out if you're right!" V laughed as she opened the door. Inside was a car that had been covered up to keep it safe. Johnny moved to stand next to her. "Take that rag off," He demanded sounding even more excited. V followed his orders and then looked at him after unveiling a Porsche 911 II (930) Turbo. She was silver and covered in Samurai logos as well as things that made it clear this had to have been Johnny's "My ride. Hop in I'll even let you drive," V looked at him doing her best not to laugh, giving him a look that screamed 'really?' "What it's not like I can drive you right now passenger princess." Johnny laughed as V entered the car. "Hate to admit it but you got a nice taste in cars." V laughed running her fingers around the wheel before firing up the engine.  "You mean good taste period," Johnny then made a pleased sound. "Purrs like a dream." "Oh yeah." V grinned now failing to hide her excitement. The car lover in her was loving every minute of this.

"All right, Let's go see where they fuckin planted my ass." "I never realized the thing between you and Rogue was that serious." V stated as they drove to the oil fields. "Damn right, it was serious. When we meet up, someone always died." "Sounds romantic," V laughed. "And very your style." "I could show you something more romantic," Johnny moved to look at V and grin, she caught him out of the corner of her eyes before moving them back to the road. "There was always something going on. She had a gig, I had a gig - music that is... Was never run of the mill. Although did try to take her to see a flick once." "Aaaand?" V moved to look at him while raising an eyebrow. "And nothing came of it. As usual." He frowned before V moved to look forward again. They had just made it to the oilfields, finding a place to park the two then began to look around for anything.

After looking around for what felt like hours and finding nothing that resembled Johnny's remains, V sat down on a piece of sheet metal. Johnny had already sat down across from her, it was clear his mind was racing but he lost all words. "Look... Johnny, I'm sorry." V's heart was breaking for him. She could feel his disappointment and feeling lost. "Just kind of hoped there would be something. No marker even. I'm not even 'resting' where there is a marker back with Alt," V pulled out a knife she had been carrying and began to scratch his initials into the metal, followed by his birth and death date. "What would you even write for me under that? 'Here lies Johnny Silverhand the man who'-" Johnny asked watching V closely as she interrupted. "The man who saved my life." She looked up and smiled at him. It was an easy question to answer for V, it's something she's thought about more than once even. Johnny just might not be able to see it how V saw it she always told herself. "-You told me that last time. I should have known you would again," He smiled back before standing up and taking his sunglasses off. "I really wish I could make those words true for you. When the time comes I'll go back with Alt leaving you with your body. " "I would do the same for you Johnny." V's voice was softer and more caring than before. "I know you would which is the part that scares me about you," He laughed. "Some days it feels like I have my own body again, but then I'll get this feeling like I don't or I'm still in Mikoshi. Then I'll get reminded your by my side in some way," Johnny sat down next to V as he lit up again. "And then everything just feels right. It's a wave of relief, feeling safe even." "Sometimes I have dreams like that. Where I wake up and I'm not there it's just you. It's hard to explain... I really help you like that?" "Always have. You've always been a friend to me even when I was a jerk. I don't want to mess this up. I always pushed others away... Rogue, Kerry, Alt, and even Santiago. I can't make it up to everyone which is why I don't want to get you hating me now." "You were a real jerk there at the start. Kind of funny how so much has changed." V smiled at him. "Remember how you woke up at Vik's talking about seeing things and then crying to Misty about how you're scared to die." Johnny couldn't help but laugh. "How you tried to kill me but managed to stop yourself," Now V was laughing remembering all of this with him. "Maybe you can start with making things better between you and Rogue." She smiled changing the subject back to Johnny making things better for everyone. "I do owe her a date. Said I'd take her to the movies and never managed to make it. Could be a good start but that means you'd have to let me take over again. You'll have to call her to set things up." "I trust you. But you have to promise me something. If I help make things better between you and Rogue for your date do you promise to not listen to what I tell her?" Johnny raises an eyebrow at her question. "And if I say no?" "Then I guess you overhear everything," V laughed as she stood up to brush her pants off after sitting on the dirty metal for so long. "Just don't listen to the call okay?" Johnny nodded in agreement. "Thank you, Valerie." He said softly before going into hiding.

V made her way over to Johnny's car as she rang Rogue. She prayed enough time had passed that she wouldn't be pissed off anymore after things with Grayson didn't go as planned. After a few more seconds of the holo ringing she finally picked up. "Hi Rogue it's V. I have two questions for you. One from Johnny and one from me. Johnny would like to invite you out on a date and would like to know where you'd like to go." "Are you sure this is Johnny asking and not you asking for yourself?" Rogue asked not sounding amused with this. "Oh come on Rogue I thought you said you could tell us apart," V teased. "But it's really Johnny asking this. As for my question, it's more serious and for a fixer... I'm not sure how to ask this without sounding weird but, do you know where Johnny's body truly is? Or could you find some way to find out where it is? I think maybe if we have his body when splitting the engram off and into a new body he can come back." Rogue didn't respond right away, it was clear she was thinking things over before she finally spoke. "For the date. Silver Pixal Cloud. As for your question. Grayson was wrong about the oilfields but he didn't know that. There were rumours of his body being found sometime back in 2030. It seemed to be in cold storage along with the remains of Old Night City. Some say those remains were bought by a collector or Arasaka kept them. I never fully found out if that was true or not but I do know they aren't in Robert's grave. I wouldn't be surprised if Arasaka managed to buy them off of the collector later on. I hope that answers your question. Meet me at the Afterlife for that date." She then hung up. V then sat down in the driver's seat of Johnny's Porcha waiting for him to come back, It didn't take him very long to show up. "Know anything about Silver Pixal Cloud?" V asked now heading to pick up Rogue. "Yeah, it's an old drive-in place. Guess she really did want to see that movie." V could see Johnny's smirk in the corner of her eyes. "Yeah, I guess so..." She did her best to hide the jealousy that was starting to show up. V knew Johnny would be able to read her like a book and yet he said nothing until they arrived at the Afterlife. Parking the car V could see Rogue waiting outside already. Stepping out V noticed Rogue was looking her way so she waved and gave a sheepish smile, still trying to hide she was jealous. Johnny needed to be happy too.  V thought to herself hoping Johnny didn't hear it. "Where did you find that?" Rogue asked seeming to know the car. "Oh, this thing? It's what Grayson handed over. Johnny's been purring all over it excited that his baby is back." V laughed leading Rogue over to the passenger seat and opening the door for her. "I promise Johnny will show up when we get there. Just being your driver for now. Plus I don't fully trust him driving-" "Hey!" Came from Johnny now in the back of the car. "- or at least just yet." V added. The rest of the car ride went by fast. Once they made it to the Silver Pixal Cloud V realized they were going to have to break in. It wasn't a hard job to do, easier than most Fixer jobs. Once getting inside the ticket booth office V was able to unlock everything so Rogue could get in as well as able to unlock the projector room. "Well Have fun you two." V smiled at Johnny after turning the projector on before downing a pill before he could say anything.

[nercyar-ika]

I feel like I am getting pretty close to being finished with writing up chapter 13!! I'm pretty excited for this update. I will try to keep posting the chapters here until I finish writing 14. That way all new updates will be posted here as well as on Ao3 at the same time!

Edit: I accidentally wrote 14 the first time but meant 13. I figured would add this just incase. I do have a good amount of 14 written as well heehe but I did mean 13

[nercyar-ika]

Bad Habits: Chapter 09

Fandom: Cyberpunk 2077 Pairing: Johnny Silverhand/Fem!V Read on Ao3 - Master List Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

When Johnny was returned to V's body he didn't expect to find her on the ground. Silverhand remembered her having a relic malfunction after dealing with the Voodoo boys before, but not this bad. Something was off about the missed call that she had. Johnny couldn't peek at V's holo with her like this. He tried to nudge her hoping she'd respond but no luck. "V? Hey wake up," Nothing. "Come on Valerie... Say something." Even using her real name didn't work. He could feel that her Relic malfunction had stopped but V was still missing. Taking a deep breath Silverhand realized he needed to take over. It would only have to be long enough to get V someplace safer than the ground outside a busy area in Pacifica. Thankfully it was early enough in the morning they were alone. Johnny took the reins of V's body, she didn't fight back but somehow made him feel that she was beginning to wake up. There was a grouping of plastic chairs with a table close to where V had fallen, at the time it felt safer than trying to get her back to V's apartment, it seemed close enough he wouldn't have to take V's pills.

Johnny pushed off the ground before grabbing the railing to pull V's body up. Once standing again he dusted off her pants with his hands. Silverhand began to walk over to the closest chair. With each step, he could feel V more and more. Plopping V down Johnny handed things back over, then took his seat to smoke. And now the waitin' game Johnny thought to himself. He closed his eyes, took a long drag, and released it after holding in the smoke. "Hm?" V sounded like she was asking him a question but was too tired to say more than just a simple sound. Johnny moved to look at her and smirked seeing she was back. "Welcome back sleeping beauty," He teased, V moved to flip him off and gave a tired laugh. "How are you feeling?" Johnny asked after taking another drag. "Just third-trimester cramping," V looked at him, her face was scraped up from the fall and her expression showed V was unsure about something. "At least I still have my humour?" She asked before smiling, which then changed to a grimace of pain. Johnny could feel V's heart. She was starting to have heart palpitations, small ones that he knew would later down the road lead to her death if they weren't careful. "That's your ticker," Johnny stated looking away from V. "Rest you need it, we don't need you flatlining on me. Had a pretty close call there before I helped you." His gaze moved to watching the embers at the end of his cigarette. "Thank you," V said softly. "Are you going to explain what was going on back there?" "Not much to explain, you saw me fuck her, and you got hot and bothered. Instead of seeing everything you missed watching me punch the fuck out of a man after I was the reason Alt died. Guess she just pulled you in slower than me, plus took care of the Voodoos and NetWatch," Johnny moved to look at V who was now blushing, he could tell she was hoping he didn't notice her problem. "Or are you talkin' about my talk with Alt alone?" "Clearly the alone part." He frowned at her statement. "It'll come up later, just focus on resting a bit." Johnny sounded nervous. He couldn't tell V he had asked for Alt's blessing on trying to be serious with V if they found his body. He couldn't tell V how much he longed for her to know everything. V sighed, Johnny could feel that something was on V's mind but somehow she was hiding it well enough from him. Maybe she was jealous of Alt? Silverhand thought to himself unsure why she would be envious of her.

The two sat in silence for some time before V spoke up again. "I got no idea where I'm going," V stated softly, Johnny could feel the fear she was starting to realize. "Be a living legend - That's all I wanted but now it feels like I'm barely surviving. Now I have confusing feelings," She paused before her voice changed to have a small amount of panic in it realizing what was said. "Never mind that last part." Hearing this Johnny couldn't help himself but laugh. "Test of a person's true value? Death - facing it, staring it down. You still got a chance to be somebody." He moved to face V more and removed his sunglasses to make better eye contact with her. "Yeah, maybe," V sounded unsure of herself, Johnny shook his head at her. "When you died," She paused. "What was it like?" "Was on top of the world. Failure - wasn't an option, not a thought... Till it happened. Death feels real now, it's only now I know it." "Now?" V raised an eyebrow at him. "Had half a century to come to terms." "Mikoshi felt... I dunno, like sleeping?" He made an air quote motion with his fingers. "Lacked awareness, had no sense of passing time, didn't mark it. Did what they wanted to me. I just remember... cold, black void, fear, or - or was that your death?" "Well, think I get why you detest the place." "Shouldn't exist. Of all the destruction and pain corps wreak 'round the world, what happens at Mikoshi is worst. Know why?" Johnny looked at V as she thought about her answer. "They can change who you are. Turn you into someone else without you knowing it." "Yep," He smiled and pointed at V. "You're goddamn right," Johnny sounded proud of her. "Corps've already taken the world from their own, now they're coming for us." "You do realize you're doing that to me. What Arasaka is doing with Mikoshi." V frowned. "Yeah, that's why I'm trying to fix things for you," Johnny leaned over the table trying to grab onto V's hand, he glitched out around it. "I'm going to keep my promise." "I think I'm better now. Thanks, Johnny." V smiled at him before standing up.

"Need me to leave you alone at your apartment for a bit? Ya know to fix your problem?" Johnny smirked. He couldn't help but tease V, some days it was too easy. Her face started to get red and not because of her face being scarpped up. Before V could even reply to him she got a holocall from Takemura. "Saved by the bell, but the offer is still on the table or I could watch." Johnny winked at her before putting his sunglasses back on. From what Johnny was able to overhear from the call, it sounded like tonight was the night they would do their recon before the parade.  He listened as V agreed to meet up. Johnny didn't want to believe V had agreed to everything so easily. It was blatantly clear that she was just being used by Takemura. He had never wanted to tell her exactly every little detail she needed to do so everything would change for the better, but now he was starting to question if he should step in. All he could do was watch and listen to V talking to the Corpo about the plan. Takemura explained how all he needed to do was talk to Hanako Arasaka. He planned to jump onto her float to speak privately with her. Johnny could tell V was unsure about the plan after she asked Takemura how he planned to do this. He then explained more about how he had found information about where the dashi floats would be held.  The two continued to go over the plans before Takemura asked V to test out some malware he managed to buy. Johnny watched as V agreed to do so, the malware worked and would be just right for taking over one of the floats. Once the two had finished going over the plan Takemura invited V to join him in doing recon before planting the malware. She agreed to help. After making their way over to a building across the street from Arasaka Industrial Park, the waiting game began. To pass the time they had gone over each other's childhoods and talked about Bakenekos because of a cat showing up on their stakeout. Johnny did enjoy listening to V talk. He could tell at times when parts of himself rubbed off on her, and he figured you could tell the same with how he acted. Once they finished talking V made her way into the building to plant the malware onto the float Hanako would be on. Johnny knew all of this would be easy for V but she still impressed him with her skills. Everything went down excellently, the only problem was her having that man's help. Johnny hated how much she trusted him knowing deep down he was only doing it to clear his name.

To Johnny, it felt like they had some downtime once everything was done. As soon as V was starting to get comfortable resting they both got pulled right back into helping that fucking Corpo. Just like the first go around, V agreed to help, and just like before everything didn't go as planned. All Johnny could do was watch as V made her way from one sniper spot to the next. He tried to warn her about a sketchy catwalk, and thankfully she listened to him. After entering an elevator on her way to the next point Johnny was once again rudely reminded about Adam fucking Smasher. This time he was even more pissed off than before. V gave him a small smile to try and calm him down, somehow it worked. "Why am I not fucking surprised that cyborg is still around," He began pacing around trying to collect his thoughts. "He's the fucker who killed me." Johnny stopped himself from ranting too long about wanting revenge letting V finish her mission, even though he knew after her fight with Oda she was going to be in trouble. Takemura kidnapped Hanako and everything felt like it was going to shit. Silverhand couldn't help but find himself going to autopilot again as he yelled at V to Delta out of there.

Takemura called up V to tell her where to meet. There was a run-down apartment building not too far, He told her to knock four times on the door to let him know it was her when she arrived. Johnny could feel the panic building up as V ran to the meeting spot. V had to stop to catch her breath, she had been pushing herself hard. They had stopped in front of the rundown apartments and the only thing V had to do was go inside now. Johnny lightly touched her shoulder. "You don't have to meet up with him," Johnny did his best to help V calm down enough that they could start to move again. She looked at him but her eyes didn't seem all there. "If you're going to have another seizure at least let me know. What's wrong?" V blinked. She looked a little more normal now. "Do you really think we can just leave him here and go into hiding?" Johnny could tell she was debating on which option was best. "All you lose is the corpo lap dog. Who I'm pretty damn sure will try to fuck you over given the chance. Anytime you do deals with Arasaka or other corpos it feels like you're stepping in dog shit but really you've fallen into a cesspool. Our hiding will only be fucking him over and saving our tails for a few days. It'll be long and boring but we've done worse. Hell, the porcelain cunt might not even try to contact us again." Johnny looked at V as she nodded her head. "Okay, where too?" Her voice was a little shaky, Johnny could feel her starting to fight off a relic malfunction. He kept a close eye on V, she began to take a few steps away from the building they were meant to meet at, before hearing a loud explosion. The ground shook enough to knock her down. V had lost her concentration on keeping the malfunction away so that it overtook her. There wasn't much Johnny could do this time to help. All he could do was get V back onto her feet. He had grabbed hold of one of her hands, this time not glitching through. "Ready?" He asked V before heading out of town hand in hand. "Yeah..." V gave his hand a tight squeeze, he could tell she was making sure she could feel him. The two then began to run again. Johnny figured the motel in the middle of nowhere would be a good hideout for them again. V seemed to trust Johnny more as well which he was thankful for.

The first day Johnny let V sleep as much as she could. She needed rest and he didn't feel right making her stay up for a few days straight. He kept watch for them both thanks again to whatever strings Alt had pulled to keep things loaded in for him. He went back and forth from looking out and watching V sleep. Her breathing seemed to be normal every time he checked but how bad her seizures were getting was starting to scare Johnny again. Deep down he knew everything was going to be okay but he was still scared of running out of time. If things went as they did last time she was going to be getting a rude awakening by a doll sent by Hanako followed by another bad episode. But, that episode leads to him taking her to make his promise. Maybe this time they can have a different talk. Johnny started to think that over. I'll have her see the dog tags even though she already has them. This will be the real ones again. I ask about taking a bullet and explain myself more. She handled it well last time. He frowned being snapped out of his thoughts hearing V starting to stir in her sleep. "Johnny?" She said softly. "Yeah?" No reply. She was calling for him in her sleep. Johnny sat on the edge of her bed hoping it wouldn't wake her. He stayed next to V for a while, Johnny wasn't fully sure how much time had passed since they arrived.

Here and there he would see headlights pull in and out of the motel's parking lot. They never parked in front of V's room. People didn't seem to be staying the night either, probably stopping for a bathroom and coffee if they weren't staying in Night City. Headlights light the room up causing Johnny's heart to sink. He had a bad feeling that this wasn't someone they wanted to deal with. "V wake up," Johnny lightly touched her shoulder hoping it would be enough to wake her. V woke up startled but calmed down once she realized it was Johnny. "We might have company shortly." He warned her right as someone began to knock on the door of their room. "I have a message for V!" A woman's voice came from the other side of the door. Johnny motioned for V to be quiet as she got up. "Are you asleep? Time to wake up!" "Who's there?" V yelled back grabbing a hold of her gun. "I said who's there?!" "Do you really want to wake up the whole place? Come on I just want to talk. You're clearly in there," "Fine I'll let you in but if you do anything..." V then opened the door to let the woman in. "Ugh," The woman walked in smoking, she seemed to be annoyed by her job. "That on the wall? That blood?" She asked V getting a better look at the place. "Yeah, it's not mine," V told her trying to keep her distance. "So you were saying you had a message?" "Sittin' right here," The woman announced as she sat herself down at the run-down dining table. "It'll start soon." "What'll start?" She raised an eyebrow at the woman before sitting down at the table. "It's a doll." Johnny said as he leaned on the wall. He wasn't impressed and questioned what all Takemura ratted on V with her not showing. or a proxy. V stated as the woman changed her position before pushing the ashtray on the table away from her. "I must make one thing clear. I still think you are mad. -" "Still? What do you mean still?" V interrupted. "- But I can fool myself no longer. I believe what Takemura said about you. He did everything for this conversation to happen," She paused. "Yorinobu planted a tanto in the corporation's very heart. I must act while the wound is fresh, and you will help me. You are living proof of his crime and treason." "Yeah, I'm not helping you..." V shook her head. "Not after the shit you tried to sell me before." Johnny couldn't help but smile at V, he felt proud of her. "Excuse me?" The proxy blinked seeming startled. "Fuck. Off. I'm keeping your chip and getting a 2nd opinion." "You will regret this." Hanako hissed before leaving. "Well, I guess I will be off?" The doll sounded confused as she made her way to the door.

Johnny watched as V stood up, she walked over to the bed and sat down before putting her head in her hands. "I dunno why I said that." She mumbled as Johnny sat down next to her. "Well you did and I don't know why but, I can say I'm proud of you." He looked down at her as she removed her head from her hands. "Did I just fuck things up for us?" Johnny shook his head at her question. "We still have options." The two sat in silence, V was beating herself up over what happened. The longer the two sat together the calmer she started to become. "I'm ready to go now. They know we are here after all." V stood up, Johnny stood up as well before leading the way out of the room.

He stood waiting for V, Silverhand thinking she was right behind. How long she was taking started to worry him, it wasn't normal for her to be this slow. "What's up? Got a few more words 'bout the... the porcelain cunt?" Her words were starting to slur together before V started to have a coughing fit. "Shit, get ready." Johnny warned as he could see she was about to have a bad episode. It started first with coughing up way more blood than her last episode. Followed by V then dropping to the ground while trying to hold onto her head, Johnny's vision started to be affected by how badly the relic was acting up. "Johnny I'm dying..." V said softly as he bent over her trying to help keep her calm, it was clear they both were scared. "You ain't dyin' yet I got you!" V seemed to have blacked out and went into hiding in her head. Things were easy for Johnny to take over but he still needed to figure out how long she'd be gone. If it was an hour he wouldn't have to take the pills to stay in control and get her to another safe hiding place. Not wanting to take a chance he forced down one of the pills, Standing up he dusted V's body off. Unlike last time it felt like V's body wasn't fighting to stay in control and knew Johnny needed to help. Driving to the Pistis Sophia shouldn't be too hard. Johnny thought to himself, hoping he was still able to drive after all these years.

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The ocean air felt different, It wasn't delayed how Johnny was used to. The cold breeze, and the salt in the wind, all felt stronger. This slowly started to dull down as V slowly began to wake up. The more she took over the more things started to feel how they did the last time they visited Pacifica. These feelings slowly turned to his normal delayed senses again. "That smell's the sea breeze," Johnny smiled down at V hearing a grumble from her. "Get up. Pacific's beautiful this time of day." He stated before she struggled to stand up, and grabbing the balcony railing helped steady her. Silverhand looked back at the ocean, the sunset was beautiful. He couldn't remember the last time he was able to stop and just watch the white caps on the ocean coming in one after the other. Not worrying about loss of time. "Almost flatlined by that attack." "Almost." Johnny said softly in agreement. "You're right, hard to take my eyes off it… Are we in Pacifica? What's this building?" V struggled to ask causing Johnny to look at her again. "Old hotel - Pistis Sophia. We're her sole guests right now." He grinned as a confused eyebrow raised on V's face. "You took me here to see a sunset?" Johnny shook his head before pushing off of the railing. "No, Wanted to show you something, cmon." "Saw the Psedoendotrizine in your hand." V stated as Johnny made his way along the outdoor hallway, stopping from time to time to make sure V was still following and still alive. "Yeah well can't function in your body without it right?" he teased. The way he could feel her body wanting to give out worried him, he questioned how much time was left for her, was the damage from before still there as well? He could also feel V's heartbeat speed up and slow back down, Johnny wasn't sure what to think about it. "I almost got the impression your comatose self wanted to get rid of me, but didn't put up a fight." He smiled at her after watching V sit to take a break. "Did you want to pop the pill?" V asked sounding nervous about his answer but forcing herself to stand again. "If I wanted to take over I would have a lot sooner than now. Remember if I want your body I'll fucking take it?" Johnny couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, I believe you. You sure you're wanting to show me something and not here to -" "Thanks. There's a reason," He interrupted "No it's not to screw you even if you are my type," Johnny paused to look at her face which started to flush followed by her heart rate spiking again. "Plus that would just be some preem form of masturbation for you. Climb in that window," His teasing tone changed to be more dominant. Silverhand folded his arms over his chest before leaning on the wall next to said window. "You can manage that, I think" He added now starting to sound unsure. "- You… you said something different last time." V seemed stunned still by his flirting. "And you listened like a good girl then too." He teased causing V to blush more, it was clear she enjoyed it when he said things like this but tried her darnedest to hide it. V didn't say anything back before climbing into the hotel room's window.

"You wanted to know why I brought you here," Johnny leaned by a counter inside the motel room. "There's a hidey-hole where I stand. Open it, empty it." He watched as V made her way over to the spot. She sat down on the floor before trying to open up the hidey-hole. "Dog tags… These yours?" V asked pulling out the object she found before looking at them closer. Johnny sat himself down on a backwards chair that was already in front of V. "They were - belong to you now." He watched as she studied them harder now. "50 years back the Mexican conflict?" "When I was a young piss-brain, about your age, I enlisted with the corp army. Was in Mexico when I realized that no matter the conflict, corps always win. Ordinary people always lose." "That the things you used to sing about?" Johnny laughed hearing V ask this but nodded knowing she was trying again to hide that she knew his lyrics well. "But that was after deserting it first. Wound up here, locked in this room. Laid in bed staring at the ceiling fan for a good month." V looked down at the dog tags again before a small smile came over her face. "Sounds nice right about now. Laying down watching the fan until the end of time," a small blush came over her face. "Could even spend it with you laying there too." she mumbled, Johnny could tell she hoped he'd heard it but would ignore the last part. "It's why I brought you here," V looked up at Johnny again. "Wasting days, weeks - That's the step I wanted you to skip and not be like me." He watched as V was thinking of what to say next. "So why are you giving them to me?" She finally spoke up. "Imagine we're deployed together," He shifted in the chair to lean forward more. "Fighting in a war side by side… Would you take a bullet for me?" Johnny asked, he still knew her answer from before but knew he had to ask again. He hoped she wasn't able to read his emotions through his shades. "In a heartbeat" V stated faster than before. "Tags belonged to a man who sacrificed his life for mine back in Mexico. Been thinking about our predicament…" Johnny paused making sure to say just the right thing. "I wanna be clear - I will do you no wrong. When the time comes, it'll be my life for yours, I'll agree to get wiped. Tags are proof of my promise." "I'd do the same for you." V states as she puts the tags on. Johnny watched as her necklace changed back to her old bullet but the new tags stayed. He looked at his own, still her necklace. "Yeah thanks," He smiled at her. "You weren't curious about Hanako's offer were you?" Johnny asked as his smile changed to concern as he watched V shake her head while pushing herself off the ground to stand up. "Something in my gut said it's the worst thing I could do and would be throwing away you in more than one way. That's probably why I snapped at her proxy back there. I'll admit it I'm not too sure why I questioned if I messed up snapping at the proxy but I can say that's why I did." She then moved closer to him gently trying to grab his ganic hand. "I trust you, Johnny. You've saved my life more than once now." Silverhand looked down at their hands before gently rubbing his thumb over her hand. Johnny could have sworn he felt a small blush start to form and was thankful his glasses hid it.

"I have a request of you," He sighed. "Adam Smasher the fucker who got the better of me... whatever happens to me, I want him zeroed, gone, tossed in the wind as mulch." V couldn't help but laugh. "Let me guess you want Rogue there too?" She teased. "I do," Johnny moved to look V in the eyes. "I want her to be there with you. It's important to me and just as important for her." "So I got to tell Rogue everything?" V sounded nervous. "I think I better do that, handle it personally," Johnny watched V to see her reaction to this before giving her hand a small squeeze and letting go. "But that means you have to let me take control again." "Okay... I trust you," V said softly. Silverhand smiled at her before lightly placing both hands on her hips to test the waters. He wasn't sure where he was going with this but knew they both craved touch and somehow the teasing and flirting before the serious talk had gotten to him again. "Does me saying I trust you turn you on or something?" V asked starting to blush but not push his hands away. Johnny pulled V a little closer, moving them both so the chair wasn't between the two of them as he sat, she didn't fight him. His head was about the same level as her chest. "Is this okay?" He asked softly waiting for V to push away, but she didn't. "You've missed touch haven't you?" V asked sheepishly before pulling him into a hug, Johnny could tell she was worried about him glitching out of her grasp. The Rockerboy wished that he was real with how close V was to him, but with how far the relic had changed V's coding this felt as close to real as they could get. He rested his head gently on her chest waiting to be called a pervert. V began to turn even more red. "I hate to admit it but I do," He closed his eyes enjoying their embrace. "There a reason you've gotten so touchy lately?" V asked softly, Johnny could tell she was enjoying this. "You don't like me touching you?" He teased. "Have you looked at yourself in a mirror?" She teased back. "You are covered in dirt." "Suttle way of calling me a dirty old bastard. I mean we could go to your apartment and shower." Johnny smirked. "You'd love that wouldn't you." "That doesn't sound like a no to me." V laughed and shook her head. "Not happening..." The way she paused made Johnny think she was leaving something out, the blush growing on her face screamed it as well. "Offer still stands for another day then. Plus your other offer," Johnny grinned up at V before standing up. He attempted to give her a tight squeeze but glitched right through. "Seems like there's still some limitations for how we can touch." He sighed as their moment of closeness was ruined.

Johnny looked at V before heading over to the window. She stayed where she was for a bit before heading to Johnny. "You sure that you're okay with me talking to Rogue?" He asked reminding her of what they needed to do next. V nodded at him. "I said I trust you and I mean it. You wouldn't do anything too crazy." Her voice sounded nervous. Silverhand couldn't help but smile at her. "The worst thing I will do is probably drink. You'll be fine. It's not like I'll be joyriding as hard as last time." "What did you do?!" V raised an eyebrow at him. "You may see it as me fucking around, I was just getting the information we needed." He couldn't help but sound proud of himself. "Why am I not surprised knowing you," V shook her head trying not to laugh. "Promise that the worst you do is drink?" "I promise." Johnny smiled at her before V made her way outside the motel room. He followed her as V made her way to the railing again where she had woken up. "I want to watch the ocean a little more," She paused before adding. "With you before I let you take over." V said softly. The stars had begun to make their appearances. Johnny didn't mind taking a pause again to spend time with her like this. He knew just how much she loved to see the ocean, as well as how much she loved to be able to see the stars. Surprisingly Pacifica's light pollution wasn't as bad compared to other parts of Night City. It didn't hold up to being out in the Badlands but it still was good enough. Johnny loved watching V when she was enjoying the little things in life, he loved it more than he wanted to admit to. He still was confused about his feelings but Silverhand knew this was fear trying to stop him. His constant messing up good things in the past made him scared now. As he got lost in thought while watching V, Johnny somehow missed when she took her pill. The transition was more jarring than usual with his being distracted.

V had taken the pill to give Johnny control faster than he expected, but with her doing this before going to the Afterlife made it so he could go meet up with an old friend first. As he made his way to the Northside of Watson, Johnny tried to remember what all he could, aside from the heavy drinking and drugs used that night. Most of the heavy partying parts of the night he realized he could skip, the high of it all was fun but Johnny wanted to make things easier on V's body. Thankfully the important parts of the first go around he remembered. Silverhand shockingly remembered which Club Ruby would be at, which made things easier once he was done shooting the shit with Cassius Ryder. He then remembered the word Ruby wrote down for him, looks like the strip club didn't have to be a stop for the night after all. "Ebunike" should be enough for Rogue to find the info again Johnny thought. Walking into the Ripperdoc's clinic a grin came over Johnny's face. The man behind the counter greeted him, making it clear V had been there before. "I'd like to get some new ink. Also need pen and paper," Johnny explained as the two walked into the back room. "How about a heart that says V + Johnny in the center of it on my forearm right below my elbow ditch?" Cassius laughed at the idea. "Hey, kid whatever you'd like." He told Johnny handing him the paper, before setting things up and offering him a drink. The two chatted for a while as the tattoo was being done. Johnny explained what was going on even with how wild things sounded. Cassius was just happy to have some work and to catch up with his old friend. After paying for the tattoo and tipping Cassius, Johnny made his to the Afterlife.

Johnny found himself standing inside the entryway of the Afterlife for the second time. The only difference was he was a little more sober and with fresh new ink. He knew V was going to love and hate her new tattoo but also hoped it would cause River to back down some if he saw it. Silverhand was doing his best to ignore any texts V got from the guy that night. So far she'd received two from him, one checking in and the other inviting her over for family time. It was hard for Johnny not to get into a bit of a sour mood after reading the preview that had shown up. Walking over to the bar Claire happily greeted V. "Hey welcome back V. I take it you found the ripperdoc fine?" Claire asked before Johnny pointed to V's arm, before realizing what exactly she had said. "Yeah, thanks again for the help. Came back for another round and to visit with Rogue." Johnny sounded unsure about his words but the way Claire reacted made him realize he had said the right thing. "Well I hope it works out for you and your output," She laughed seeing the tattoo. "And I do believe she just became free. Want me to bring yours over to Rogue's booth?" Johnny nodded and thanked Claire before heading over to Rogue's booth. He was still trying to process why Claire was acting as if this was the first time. Maybe Alt had done something to make things go more smoothly. Silverhand thought to himself as his vision started to see red glitching. Once the glitching went away he moved to stand in the entryway of Rogue's booth.

Rogue raised an eyebrow seeing V at the Afterlife so late. Johnny grinned at her hoping that she could tell it was him. After all, no one smiled like the Rockerboy. Rogue then waved at Johnny to sit down. "I take it that smile isn't because you are here to ask for a job?" She sounded confused. "And what if I said that it was because I missed an old friend?" He asked before thanking Claire as she brought them both drinks. "What are you trying to say?" Rogue looked at him even more confused now. "You should know the smile," He paused watching Rogue investigate her drink before taking a sip. "And my drink order after all these years." "V are you high right now? The only other person I knew who ordered like… no," She shook her head in disbelief before downing her drink. "Is this some sick joke?" Johnny shook his head. "I can explain and prove it-" "You better!" Rogue snapped realizing V wasn't that cruel of a person, on top of the fact V suddenly could do a spot-on Johnny imitation. "- If you keep this up you'll get my southern blood going," Johnny couldn't help himself and repeat that line he said all those years ago when he was late to their heist. "So this body, her is named V but you already knew that. That heist she did for Dex went shit up all over the news. Was hired to klept a data shard that had me on it. That's what happened after Arasaka Tower. Put me on a shard, anyways something happened to make V put the chip in. She got shot in the head and I woke up. Kind of a reboot of her brain with an extra friend." Rogue was now glaring daggers at him. "And why pray tell are you here to visit me?" "Remembering Adam Smasher?" Johnny took a drink from his glass. "I want revenge on him and want you to be there," He then handed her the paper that he had written on earlier so he wouldn't forget Ebunike, he had gotten earlier in the evening back at Cassius' clinic. "Both as a friend and a fixer," He smiled at her. "You are the best after all." Silverhand couldn't help but laugh after finishing his drink and seeing his vision start to blur and glitch red again. V was a lighter drinker than Johnny realized, before Rogue could even answer he passed out.

[nercyar-ika]

Bad Habits: Chapter 08

Fandom: Cyberpunk 2077 Pairing: Johnny Silverhand/Fem!V Read on Ao3 - Master List Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

"We gotta prepare for the worst," Johnny warned V. "Something seems off about that call." "Yeah, I know." V groaned at Johnny trying not to worry. Once V was finished getting dressed she ran out of her apartment heading right for the elevator that leads to street level. Normally the wait was short for the elevator to arrive but today felt like forever. The doors opened and V walked into it before pressing the down button repeatedly. Thankfully V was the only one waiting. "Not sure that will make it faster but I like your spirit." Johnny laughed making himself known again. "I know I know but -" "It'll be fine. Yes, we need to prepare for the worst but it'll be fine." He interrupted "- I worry, but yeah you're right..." V sighed removing her finger from the button.

Before the doors could open up all the way, V squeezed herself through the gap. She then started to run again. It would be faster to drive or take the metro but V wasn't fully thinking. In the moment all she knew was to run. V pushed herself harder and harder not wanting to take a break.  Not knowing what to expect when she got to Judy's, V ran as fast as she could up the fire escape that led to the apartment. She could make out talking from the other side of the wall but was unable to understand it. With a shaky hand, V rang Judy's door before knocking a couple of times. "Hey Judy it's me!" V yelled a few seconds before the door opened. Judy seemed shaken up, her makeup had been smeared. "What's going on?" She asked walking into the apartment. "Where's Evelyn?" V added getting a sick feeling in her gut. "I think the people who Eve got work from just tried to get to her. I was able to scare them off but I don't think we're safe here..." Judy didn't answer the question before starting to explain even more. She then leads V into the kitchen to make them both some coffee hoping to calm down. "So they know she's still alive," V frowned unsure if that was even still a true statement. "Any idea who?" She asked right as the bathroom door opened. Evelyn stepped out, she was still in the sweatpants and tank top Judy let her borrow after saving her. "Yeah, I got an idea who." Evelyn stated making her way over to the two. "For a moment there I thought the doll offed herself." Johnny stated leaning out Judy's apartment window to smoke. What is wrong with you?!  V snapped at Johnny, who just laughed at her reaction. "Don't worry about it." He answered before V brought her attention back to Evelyn.

Judy handed Eve a cup before handing V one as well. "It was the Voodoo boys or someone they hired," Evelyn stated after taking a drink. "I was hired by them to get the chip. I don't know why they need it but I believe they are upset about me not giving them it. I feel like they sent someone to forcefully grab it thinking I was keeping it for myself to sell, but because it's in your head we just had to fight them. I'm sorry V… I owe you for saving me and I feel like I just put a hit on your head even if they dont fully know about you." Eve looked down at her cup. "No, it's alright. I want you both safe. Maybe they know a way to get the thing out of my head." V smiled at the two hoping to help Evelyn feel better about things. "That explains the one corrupted tape I was able to fix some of." Judy said softly more like she was thinking aloud. "That was probably when I made the deal." Judy nodded at Evelyn. "Do you want me to try and put a stop to them? I could crash on the floor here if you need a bodyguard or something." V offered trying to think about how to help them. "You don't have to go out of your way for us, but I do have a favour to ask," Judy did her best to smile at V, she looked and sounded nervous. "We need help with making sure the Voodoo boys don't find us," Judy looked down at her coffee. "We're moving either to Oregon or Washington. Anyplace up North is where I've always wanted to move and I feel it will be safer for Eve." Hearing this hurt V. She wasn't fully aware why it did but it did. Judy hadn't been her friend for very long at this point but deep down V felt she knew Judy way more than she did. Maybe it was because this was due over, which was V's only explanation. "If there is anything I can do, I will do it." V told the two causing Judy to smile at her. "I do have a few things I need to clean up with the Mox before leaving. I might have to ask a favour there too once I get more figured out. I just felt like you were the only one who could help us after this. Eve just happened to agree." Judy was starting to get emotional. "That does remind me V I owe you an apology and a thank you," Evelyn smiled at V. "I don't know how or even understand how but thank you for saving me." "Just had a weird gut feeling something was wrong and went where I thought I needed to." V told her before Johnny laughed. "Gut feeling? That's what you're going to call me?" He asked reminding V he was still in the room.

The three stayed and chatted for a while. Judy explained the plans she was trying to figure out for how the Mox could take over Clouds. She also explained that most of her BD work she could do remotely and never really thought about it until lately with helping Evelyn. To V it all sounded like a great opportunity and idea, she just hated knowing her friends would be moving away. Night City was never for Judy but she stayed. V felt selfish wishing she wouldn't move away, but V also didn't want to remind herself she was dying. Judy moving away would make things easier, even if it meant losing a friend like her.

After leaving Judy's apartment V called the only fixer she knew who had contact with all of Pasifica, Mr. Hands. He was a very secretive man but, he's the best fixer who knew how to get you into contact with who you needed to, both in Pacifica and Dog Town. Rogue may have been able to help out, but the way Mr. Hands knew that V had stepped into Pacifica the very first time said a lot to her. So she contacted him and explained how she needed contact with the Voodoo boys and had something they wanted. She didn't go into too much detail with the Fixer. He told V he'd see what he could do before ending the holocall. V did her best to keep busy for the next few days while waiting for Mr.Hands to get back to her.

One of those days Takemura had gotten into contact with V again. He asked her to meet with him that night by the Japantown docks. V found herself waiting for the man and someone he contacted who still worked with Arasaka. The two men talked and V just listened. She didn't want to get into the middle of their fighting but at the same time, V found herself not caring what happened. Maybe Johnny was rubbing off on her a little too much. The man Takemura had contacted wanted nothing to do with them and left after their chat was over. "Well... can't say we didn't try." V snarked at the older man, trying her best not to laugh. "We tried yes," Takemura nodded at V. "And obtained some useful information. What Oda said. They return to Tokyo after the parade... Do you not see? The parade it is our chance perhaps. If, somehow we can get Hanako-sama. We must do a proper reconnaissance. We'll need a precise map of Japantown." "I guess we could talk to Wakako for that," V stated not putting too much thought into it. "She runs a pachinko parlour on Jig-Jig Street." "We must pay this woman a visit." Takemura stated as he stepped into his Van. V made her way into the passenger seat. The drive to Wakako wasn't very long, just like their meeting with her wasn't very long either. Wakako did have the info for a map and the parade just like V thought she would. Takemura took the date once they were done talking to the fixer. He claimed he would look into it and do more calling around before getting back into contact with V.

The next day Mr.Hands finally called V back, he had the info for V which sounded more like a gig than getting help, but V knew she needed to accept it. Mr.Hands filled in all the details to V and off to Pacifica she went. The meeting spot was an old church building. It was run down and seemed to be from before the rebuild of Night City. Inside V was supposed to meet up with the person Mr.Hands was in contact with. V opened up the doors and walked inside. The building was crowded with patrons for whatever service was going on. Pushing her way through the sea of people, V looked around doing her best not to seem out of place. But she stuck out like a sore thumb which made it easier for the contact to find V. He pulled her to the side and explained how he was just the man in the middle and that she needed to meet up with someone else named Placide, who was at the local butcher's shop by the shopping center. After being told the address and what to do V left the building. Something about all of this felt off to V but she didn't know exactly how to put it. It could just be the paranoia kicking in. Heading to the stairs next to the chapel V found herself stopping after taking 2 steps down. Her head started to hurt as an old memory hit her. Closing her eyes V started to remember having a talk with Judy about the tapes she found on Evelyn. She remembered what was on both of the ones where Evelyn was talking to Brigitte, seemed like these were the same stairs Evelyn was watching her talk on the phone. "Hey…" Johnny's voice was clear. "Yeah?" V asked opening her eyes and looking at him. "You okay? I can feel that you're nervous." "Yeah yeah just fine… I guess I remembered something about Brigitte." She sounded unsure but Johnny reassured her she wasn't wrong. Mr.Hands had mentioned a name like that to V in their talking but she didn't think it was too important. V then began to walk again making her way to the butcher shop. Johnny stayed close to V as she walked, it was clear he was worried about her but V couldn't tell if it was because of her memory moment or what was about to happen to them.

Entering the butcher shop V was told to head to the back after a quick scan was done. Placide had been expecting her while working on butchering a chicken. He wasn't hard to find. "What do you want?" The man asked, in what V assumed was Haitian Creole. "I wanna talk to Brigitte." V stated. "But dey send you to me?" He asked now speaking English while sharpening his knife. "And you'll tell me more about the job?" V asked watching Placide chop off the head of the chicken. "Yes but not here. Follow me." He sounded almost annoyed by V's presence. Placide then wrapped up the chicken before hiding it in his jacket. V followed behind him closely as the two talked more on their way to another building. He explained how Pacifica was supposed to be its own city and a closed circle. They made a spot so Placide could point out the Grand Imperial Mall or GIM for short. The GIM was overrun by the Animals Gang according to him. Placide didn't go into much more detail than that before starting to walk again. As they entered a market area Placide was greeted by almost everyone they walked by before making another stop. This time he dropped off the chicken he had butchered to a woman working one of the market stalls. The woman kept telling him she couldn't accept the food but he wasn't going to take no as an answer. She then thanked him before Placide began to walk again "Let's go not far now," He told V once again leading the way to some stairs leading to what seemed to be run-down offices. "You deal with Animals before?" Placide asked breaking the silence. "Yeah, a couple of times here and there," V told him. "You want them gone from GIM?" She asked getting no answers yet. "Kinda weird for them to be here blocked off from their main group. Hell even badges don't come here anymore… How many are we talking about?" She asked hoping to get more answers. "Bout 30 or more," Placide said as he sat down behind a computer at a desk motioning for V to sit on the other side. "We talk here." "When do I see Brigitte anyways?" V asked starting to get frustrated but did what she was told and took a seat. "You do job. Dat is first." Placide began to type on his computer before reaching over the desk and yanking V's arm that had her personal link. He then forcefully plugged her in to do a scan. "Your chrome shamen - is it Viktor?" "This relevant or are you trying to scare me?" V asked raising an eyebrow. "I need you to be able. I need know," Placide demanded before his tone changed. "Dis chip - it has no signature. What is it?" "It's nothing don't worry about it. Plus it's broken anyway." "Mh how?" He asked sounding unimpressed. "I got a bullet to the brain. Hasn't worked since," Johnny gave V a thumbs up as he watched from behind Placide. "Once inside what do I do?" V asked knowing she had to do this gig now. Placide then showed V a picture of a van pulled from some of their security feeds. He explained how it showed up when the Animals did and that they wanted to know who or what was behind it. It was clear to V the Animals were just hired muscle and not behind it. Something in her gut said this had to deal with NetWatch but V didn't tell Placide this. Once finished talking Placide then synced up V with their subnet so he could have contact with her as well as see everything. He told her to meet with some of his people to get closer to the mall before releasing V to do the gig.

V was escorted to part of the GIM that seemed to be less guarded than other parts. She was able to sneak her way past all the groups of Animals. There was a larger room in the middle of the GIM where V could see the parked van. "Okay van is in sight," V whispered to Placide. After remote deactivating the turrets from around the room V snuck her way next to the Van. "At the van and no 'runner in sight." "No chatter." Placide snapped before telling V to jack into the van. Rolling her eyes V jacked in. "While I have you here might as well fill me in." V whispered as a map popped up for her. "Dataflow map of Pacifica... Dey hunt Agwe." "Wait who's they?" "NetWatch. Dey always out to fuck us." "Okay, so what's on me to do?" V asked realizing her gut was right about NetWatch. "You must reach de agent. easy now to find him. Look at de map. He is in cinema." "Step away now this isn't your fight" A new voice entered V's head causing Placide to curse. "Uuuh... What? Placide?" V sounded panicky now. "We are cut. Pushed out. The runner know you are here. Hunt him." "Okay, what do I do?" V asked while jacking out of the van. "I will tell you. De agentman tries to cut you off. De Animals be here soon." Placide stated before explaining to V where she needed to go now. The Runner from NetWatch kept closing doors in front of V.

Before long V found herself in the cinema theatre. The projector was on and showing a Western film. Placide began to explain that they needed the data before being cut off. Seemed like NetWatch was stopping their communications. V then made her way into the projector room for the theatre. "Whoa hey, easy!" The NetWatch agent yelled unsure if V was holding any weapons but making it clear he just wanted to talk. "What did you do?" V asked unsure if she should trust him. "Well, now we can talk in private. Just severed the connection to the rest of Pacifica. Gives us a little time." "I hate to say it and I'm sure this seems out of character for me but hear the guy out..." Johnny stood next to the NetWatch agent before turning to watch the movie. "I didn't come all this way to talk." V crossed her arms over her chest before tilting her head to the side. She was going to listen to Johnny but still knew she needed to intimidate the guy some. "Had a specter on you, didn't you? Saw and heard all you did? You followed his orders?" V nodded at his question. "No idea what the Voodoo Boys are paying you but our pockets are deeper. "Are you trying to buy me out?" V laughed. "Not at all! Consider it a counteroffer," He smirked. "Don't gamble your life away on the Boys. They aren't exactly known for their professional integrity." She nodded again "Yeah you are right there, but this isn't a money job for me. I just need an in to Maman Brigitte, Voodoo chefin." The NetWatch agent then explained to V about how Brigitte and her lapdog had been frozen in the subnet for a few days now. NetWatch had shrouded their subnet with ICE and the VDB was using V to free them. He continued to explain to V why she was brought in for a job even though she had just wanted contact information. She was being used for a job that should have flatlined her. V didn't question it with how this whole gig was making her feel. "Alright, how do you help me?" V groaned after being told more information than her head could handle at the moment. "I remove the virus they planted on you and then I'll remove Brigitte and her lapdog. They'll wake up like nothing happened. All you have to do is let us walk with the data." "Fine..." V stated before taking a chip from the man. A removing malware notice popped up for V "Oh and almost forgot," The agent smiled as his eyes began to glow. "Mercenary will be leaving and she's joined our team... Please be nice," His eyes stopped glowing right as the notice stopped for V. "Good luck! I have a feeling we'll be seeing each other." The agents smiled at V before letting her leave. "Lesser of the two evil," Johnny said as V left the projector room. She looked at him raising an eyebrow. "C'mon let's head back to Batty's and get this shit settled for good. Grumpy motherfucker... I hope he likes surprises." He said walking off leaving V alone with the agent.

Once V was outside she got a holocall from Placide again.  "What de fuck V? You are off net. I lose your eyes." He yelled. "Brigitte and the other guy are they back?" "Who told?" Placide paused. "Yes, Maman B is awake." "Perfect because I need to talk to her!" V did her best to sound cheery just to mess with Placide. "And what of NetWatch?" "Taken care of like you asked." "Look for my people out front." Placide told her before hanging up.

V made her way back by herself, after all that she didn't trust Placide's men. Johnny didn't say anything as V made her way back. This made her worry, with how much he loved to talk some days it felt like whenever he wouldn't comment on things something was on his mind. Johnny? No answer. V tried not to worry about Johnny as she made her way back to the Batty Hotel. Climbing up the stairs again V was greeted by a very pissed-off Placide. "What de fuck you do in de GIM? You were to hack de agent not cut deal wid him!" "How he gunna pull through?" V asked before getting lifted into the air by Placide. "Oh no foreplay?" She joked as he started to grip her neck and slammed her on the wall. "Best you worry about yourself not him!" Placide snapped "That him? That the scopsucker you sent into the mechdragon's den first?" V struggled to speak trying to get out of his grip. "Tell me what is going on or I break you open and see for myself!" "I fucking dare you." V snapped before giving the man a good punch which made him drop her. "Ase we must head under," A woman said breaking up the fight. "I do not know what NetWatch has planned but they are not done." She added before folding her arms over her chest and looking V over. "You worried about agents? Then shoot her in de head," Placide pointed to V. "I do not know what dey put in her. What corruption is in her system." "You don't know what is in there to begin with. How much it's worth." The two began to argue even more about V before Placide stormed off in a huff. "You must be Brigitte. Hard woman to find." V gave a sheepish smile at her. "You have something for me." She stated. "You know about the biochip, don't you?" V asked watching Brigitte look over the scans they had done of her earlier. "Yes, and we must check its conditions." Brigitte then walked over to a computer before talking with V more. She didn't give much details other than she worried about if it was truly broken. V explained that the chip was already broken before going to the GIM, trying not to laugh when Brigitte asked if it was for sale. She then explains how it wasn't for sale and no ripper could remove it without killing V.

After asking if they could help, Brigitte told V to follow her as she explained to V had to give them the data they wanted and then they could help her. To V this sounded too good to be true but she needed the help. Brigitte continued to explain where they were headed, and what it was for as they made their way to the Crypt. The Crypt was located in the basement of the church V originally had been told to meet at. There was an abandoned maglev system they had turned into their subnet. The maglev system crashed back when the net crashed after the war according to Brigitte. One of the many netrunners greeted Brigitte before informing her they were ready. "We take you into de cyberspace. No better place for you to interact with de construct." Brigitte told V as she began to work on one of the many computers around them. "Okay hang on... I want to know what you need Silverhand for first." V sounded unsure about asking for help now. "We wish to contact Alt Cunningham. We know she and Silverhand were close." "Alt?" Johnny sounded confused now making his presence known. Oh now you show up? V asked glaring right at him. Why do you sound surprised anyways? Johnny didn't answer her question. "The Relic which Arasaka held close. It is our only lead." Brigitte added. "Alt Cunningham yeah I've heard of her. V watched Johnny to see if he reacted more to this. "Oh? Where? From who?" Brigitte sounded surprised by V's statement, she turned around to look at her. "From Johnny?" V sounded confused by what she was saying, almost like she was doubting herself. "Really?" Brigitte lifted an eyebrow. "Alright V better tell her." Johnny sighed. About what? Us? She asked, Johnny nodded before lighting up. It was clear he was nervous. "Construct is active. It lets me and Johnny shoot the shit here and there," V folded her hands over her chest. "Why contact Alt anyways?" "We try to cut out a unique piece of Silverhand's engram from de biochip. Alt will know it. If something of de human is left after years beyond de blackwall, she will answer." Brigitte led V over to an ice bath used for netrunning. "Wait what you said nothing about breaking through the Blackwall." V followed her closely. "Well now you know," She stated matter-of-factly. "Here." Brigitte motioned for V to get in the tub. Johnny sat down on the side of it as V got in. Anything I should know first? V asked Johnny hoping his talking would distract her enough from the ice-cold water as she stepped in. "You've already heard part of what they will use to get Alt to come out. I won't lie and say I'm the hero. We need to find Alt and chat with her. I know you can do that," Johnny then placed a hand on top of V's. "I'll see you soon." Johnny's tone had softened, just above a whisper as she was plugged in and the world around her became code.

Everything turned to red and blue. V looked around trying to figure out where she was, the world around her was now made up of blue flickering pixels. There was no one else around except one red figure standing in the middle, Maman Brigitte. "Where are we?" V asked walking over to the woman. "This is our BBS, Data fortress," She held her arms insisting V look around. "Bridge to de deep Net." "It's so alive... so real. " V started to look around, taking it all in. "Cyberspace moves, breathes at all times. De interface will adjust ebb and flow of data to de capabilities of your brain. But you," Bridge paused. "You are an exceptional case." "So what now?" V asked trying to move things along "We can begin! All is ready. We enhanced your link to Silverhand's neural network for a short time. To grab de fragment. We must find the data on Alt. Alt alone. Dis should only take... "Brigitte?" V asked as the world around them started to go dark.

Time began to rewind. V knew she was watching Johnny's memories this time. She could make out bits and pieces of his past that had already shown up when V was rebooted. The talk before his death, Rogue dropping Johnny when losing her grip on him, Fighting Adam Smasher, Johnny's goodbye to Kerry. Then new to V memories began to play, The riots of 2013, Johnny being stabbed by what seemed to be Mantis blade, Johnny with a blonde woman who V assumed was a groupie, and Johnny waving his gun on stage at a concert. V's vision went back to cyberspace but Brigitte was still missing. There was a stage now in front of V that she slowly walked over to before standing behind the make. Something inside her told her to touch it. Her vision changed to being normal. V could see the blonde woman standing in the crowd as Johnny's memories of the concert began to play for her. She could tell he was surprised to see this woman but excited at the same time, the woman didn't seem to be enjoying her time there with her arms held over her chest. Parts of the memory seemed to fast forward, once it began to play again Johnny was waving his gun around yelling about how they would never fade away before turning to black as the gun fired. The memory then fast-worded again to how the show had ended, Kerry and Johnny were arguing again to no one's surprise. Kerry was angry about what Johnny had done on stage, He had every right to be upset with Johnny. But V could tell Johnny wasn't sorry about what he had done. Before the argument was finished Johnny pushed Kerry out of his way storming off into the dressing room. " - Go fuck yourself!" Johnny yelled before slamming the door. He turned around to find the Blonde woman from earlier sitting down. The Rockerboy seemed surprised to find her here, but this didn't stop him from turning to the counter next to him and looking at every pill bottle lying around. He needed something to make him feel good, some kind of high as his high from the concert began to leave. "Fuck..." Johnny sighed after downing some of the pills he found. "Is it the concert or Kerry?" The woman asked now standing next to him. "Said you weren't coming tonight. Not if I can help it." "Changed my mind lover," She smiled at him before removing his glasses. "Look at you... all hot and bothered." V knew this voice but couldn't think of why other than when she overheard Johnny's one memory that had her voice. This had to be Alt  V thought to herself realizing what she was about to be forced to watch, unable to skip over it. Johnny moved to pin Alt down on the counter. The two began to dry hump each other on the counter so Johnny could look at himself. Alt grabbed onto Johnny's face forcing him to look at her before smiling as she pushed him off of her with her foot. V tried her hardest not to pay attention to what came next, she worried that somehow seeing Johnny like this could get her worked up. It didn't help that V was slowly beginning to question her feelings for the man and knew this would boost his ego. After what felt like hours of passion, both love and hate, the two finally finished. V was relieved by this even if it did leave her with a bit of a problem she'd have to figure out later how to take care of without Johnny knowing. She watched as the two held hands before starting to argue. Alt stood up as she went to gather her clothes and Johnny let his ego get the better of him.

Johnny made his way over to the counter to look for pills again. He found an empty bottle and threw it. "See, I thought..." Alt said before joining him again now fully clothed. "That this meant something? That we're close? So close you can give me shit about everything I do?" Johnny asked her grabbing onto her head so they could look each other in the eyes. Alt didn't struggle before removing Johnny's hand and pushing him away. "Got quite the imagination, then" He snapped before she left the room. V watched as Johnny followed after her, he had given her enough space that Alt had a good head start. Alt seemed to be waiting behind the building in a back ally for someone when Silverhand caught up to her. "Where are you going?" He asked grabbing her arm and turning Alt around. Johnny sounded worried about her. "Got somewhere to be" Alt snapped at him before some drunk fans started to hassle the two. Playing it cool Johnny tried to invite her to Samuri's next show hoping their anger had blown over enough. "Let's get out of here." Alt whispered to him as the thugs came a little too close to them for comfort. Johnny pushed her behind himself trying to fill the gap between the group and Alt. "Fuck off!" He snapped at the group of drunks before pulling out his gun. Silverhand began firing before he could hear Alt screaming, one of them had gotten a hold of her and taken her into a van. Before Johnny knew it two mantis blades had stabbed into him from behind, and the group left him for dead. He could hear Alt screaming for him as the van left without a trace. The world turned black for a second before Johnny opened his eyes again to see a hairless cat next to him. The amount of blood made him pass out.

"Look," Johnny sounded like he was talking to someone else when V began to wake up. "All I want is your approval of this," V started to look around, her vision was still blurry. "Alt if I have to apologize I will." "The Alt you knew is gone, do I have to keep reminding you of this? They were not welcome here and I speed things up on V's end." The woman who was talking sounded confused by his questions. "What all did she see then?" Johnny then looked at V realizing she was awake. He then walked over to her to help her up off the ground, she let him. "She saw some of what needed to be seen and that triggered memories of the first time she met me," Alt announced as she watched the two closely. "V now understands why you know what you do." She added. "Where is every -" "They are dead." Alt interrupted not wanting to explain more about the Voodoo boys. "How did we even get this due over?" V asked looking at Alt hoping for an answer. "I found another option for you. Are you not happy?" She raised a digital eyebrow at them. "I made a dissection for us if you want to blame anyone it's me." Johnny told V. She turned to look at him unsure exactly how to react to this. Part of her said to be pissed off at him but another part of her said to hear him out maybe he was doing this out of a place of love not selfishness. But after all, V has seen she questioned if Johnny Silverhand even truly knew was love was. He clearly knew lust which can be mixed up with the feeling. Closing her eyes V tried to clear her mind, everything was starting to feel like it was moving too fast for her and no answers were truly given. "I will send V back so we can talk in private." Alt told Johnny. "No wait!" V yelled opening her eyes, but it was too late suddenly the world around her turned dark and all V could see was something red pushing her deeper into darkness.

Waking up in the ice bath V could tell something was very wrong. All the Netrunners had been fried except the port she had been plugged into. Johnny? V called out in her head but no answer. I guess he really is still with Alt somehow. She thought to herself slowly trying to sneak her way out of the Crypt. Most of the Voodoo boys knew something had happened by the amount of waiting for V. She could feel a relic malfunction was due any minute now, V didn't have much choice but to fight her way out. At the top of the stairs leading back into the church waited Placide. He was even more pissed off than before but his rage blinded him, the longer things took the worst V felt. The fight ended in V winning but she wasn't feeling like much of a winner as she stumbled out the front doors of the church. Instantly her holo began to ring, and with her vision blurring V wasn't able to read who it was. Right as she answered V couldn't hear who was on the other end, everything was being drowned out by the ringing in her ears. As the relic malfunctioned things turned dark again for V and she fell to the ground.

[nercyar-ika]

Bad Habits: Chapter 07

Fandom: Cyberpunk 2077 Pairing: Johnny Silverhand/Fem!V Read on Ao3 - Master List Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

This was the worst possible time that Johnny could have done something like this. He knew deep down it was exactly what V needed, They both longed for human touch. For Johnny, it had been 50-some years. Not counting the few times back at V's apartment, yes they hugged back in Alt's space but this was different. Johnny tried his hardest not to be selfish and hold onto her forever. After the last time they had managed to touch each other Johnny found himself trying to figure out how it worked. To him, it felt like he was toying with V's brain more than he cared to do, but knowing she needed to be comforted felt like an appropriate time. The relic was trying to malfunction again making things easier for Johnny. He wasn't sure if his doing this would make the relic malfunction worse.

"V," His voice was soft. "I need you to look at me." He then removed his chrome arm from around her, placing his hand under her chin, forcing her to turn and look at him. His grip was firm yet still gentle. V didn't fight him. "Johnny?" She asked sounding unsure about what was happening. "I need you to be harsh with this man. He's going to try and trick you. Just like any other corpo does when they get backed into a fucking corner. He will lie to you, just to save his own skin. You'll only have so much time before that lap dog is here and takes things over. If you have to slap him around do it. I'm not saying to torture him but be forceful. Understood?" V nodded at his question. Johnny released her face before pulling her closer into another embrace. This time he rested his head on top of hers, and Johnny could feel V embrace him back. He hoped doing this would help ground her enough to get the answers they both needed. Stepping back Silverhand released V from his grip before giving her a small head nod pointing in Hellman's direction. He hoped it was enough encouragement that she needed and helped to let her know to start this show. Johnny moved across the room to take his seat giving V the space she needed, but also to let her know he was still with her. He watched as V let out a deep breath before sitting down across from Hellman. V turned to look at Johnny one more time. "I'd say put your foot a little too close to his family jewels just to put a little fear in him. But he seems like the type who likes their balls crushed." He couldn't help but give her his famous smile as a small laugh escaped from V. "You sure you're not asking me to do that because you like watching me hurt people?" V smirked before placing her foot in between the other man's legs, resting it right on the chair but close enough she could do damage if needed.

"Hey!" V slapped Hellman's face trying to wake the suit back up. He awoke startled before taking in his surroundings, followed by looking down at her foot. "Hi, nice to see that you're awake now." "Where am I? What is this place?" Hellman asked now looking at V. "Motel in the middle of nowhere. I am just here to talk. I was going to try and tell you that earlier but you probably wouldn't have listened. Here's a little easier to talk." She gave a soft smile. "I want to talk to you about your little invention. A biochip you made for Arasaka. Ring any bells or did I hit your head too hard earlier?" Hellman shook his head at her. "I remember... let's get one thing straight first," V rolled her eyes at him knowing where this was going, Johnny couldn't help but laugh watching her work. He hated to admit it but she was great at what she did. "Yorinobu Arasaka didn't send you?" "No..." V rolled her eyes again. "This means you must have an offer for me. If your boss will pay more than Kang Tao, I believe we can talk." "That's cute but no. You misunderstand me, I've got no boss and no offer." "What do you want?" Hellman let out a sigh before shifting in his seat trying to move away from V's foot. "Your tech is trying to kill me. Pretty sure that's not what it was advertised to do. See I got Johnny Silverhand's construct stuck in my head, and I don't want it there." V's eyes darted to look at Johnny. "Silverhand? Construct? That's impossible. Where did you get this biochip?" Hellman's tone suddenly changed from confused to worried. "Klept it off Yorinobu Arasaka. Job for a client, but the client left me out to dry." "And you thought the best place for it was to put it in your own goddamn head?!" "Actually, wasn't the worst choice I made that day," V shrugged. "Construct rebooted me when I got a bullet to my own head. I also just so happened to wake up with a guest in my head," Hellman didn't say anything but it was clear he was thinking. Johnny stood up walking over to V to get a better reading on the man. "You have to remove the biochip from my system." "It's not that simple." "Look you made the damn thing, didn't you? So what's the damn problem?" Johnny smirked watching V move her foot closer causing Hellman to squirm. "If you're telling me the truth. You slotted in a new, experimental version of the biochip." "I know you can't just yank it out!" V snapped "Johnny already tried. My ripper said-" "You showed that to some fucking street doctor? Who else knows?!" Anders interrupted. "- I needed help. Or did you think the first thing that came to mind was downing a Kang Tao AV?" V closed her eyes and sighed trying to calm down. Johnny could feel how frustrated she was starting to get. "How is this one different than the prototype? Does it have a different engram or something? Something more..." "Aware?" Silverhand added hoping to help her find the right words. "Yeah, something more aware," Opening her eyes V looked at Johnny and then back to Hellman. "Aggressively aware." She added. "The biochip is what's unique, not Silverhand's engram. The previous version was only used to communicate with pre-saved engrams. This one was meant to install and activate the engram in a new body." "I guess I'm lucky. Congrats your tech works now get it out of me." "I would have to see it first." Hellman stated removing his personal link.

Johnny watched closely as V removed her foot. She leaned forward to make Hellman's scanning easier for the both of them. To him, the scan was going just as it did before. Nothing new. "Can't believe this suit might be able to help us." Silverhand added before Anders unlinked. "Oh, fuck..." Hellman sounded scared for V now. "Impressive?" V asked. "It's a pity I won't be able to examine it fully," He paused. "All I can do is recommend a clinic in Sweden. They'll help you through the terminal stages, and minimize pain." "What exactly is going on in my head?" V stood up not liking this answer. "You tell me what is it like to have two personalities? Because it's not like you're hearing voices. Both yours and Silverhand's simultaneously. " "I can hear him and speak with him." "Have you noticed the construct influencing or making your decisions?" This question caused V to punch him. Hellman then began to rant to V about how Johnny was a terrorist. Johnny couldn't help but tune out what was being said. Nothing was new and was what Johnny had done but how it was being told to V, Johnny didn't care for. "Well fuck me, who's messing with your head now?" Johnny groaned having enough of this. "At least Johnny never whored himself out like you." "Are you defending him? Or is that Johnny speaking now?" "Yeah, I'm defending him." V then gave the man another good punch. "Look I can help you if you come with me and Kang Tao!" "Nah not happening." V lifted her hand again. "If you think someone else can help you then I will give you the blueprints." Hellman finally lifted his hands getting ready to block another punch. "You got it with you?" V asked slightly lowering her hand. "He's got to. Gonk's useless without it." Johnny lights up trying to calm himself down feeling just as frustrated as V now.  Before Hellman could answer V Takemura entered the room startling Hellman. The two knew each other and Johnny knew this was the end of their talk. "Now give me the blueprints and I'll be done here," V held a hand out to Hellman who handed over a shard. "Thank you. Now you two have fun. See ya Takemura." She then left the motel room covering her mouth with a hand.

Johnny had already made his way down the stairs and stood in the motel parking lot by the time V was out of the room. The first thing he saw before realizing V was sick, was an ad for the relic. "See that? Fuck me, just look at that," He yelled up to V who was now throwing up over the motel's railing. Johnny looked up at her and cringed realizing the relic was acting up again. "Need me to hold your hair back?" He asked walking over to the stairs, V didn't answer but laughed slightly at his joke. Johnny could tell she was fighting to keep control. "I'm okay." V mumbled picking herself up after tripping on the last step. After making sure V was okay Johnny went to sit down on a bench nearby and folded his arms over his chest. Everything Hellman had said to V was now spinning around in Johnny's head, He was trying his best to hide he was still upset about it even with V sticking up for him the way she did. Closing his eyes he took a deep breath, then opened them hearing V sit down next to him. Surprisingly she sat down closer to him than Silverhand expected.

"Whatever you got to say - say it," He looked at V raising an eyebrow not sure where she was going with this. "I can tell something's bugging you. Maybe even eating at your code some." "Still trying to figure out how you're wired this whole time," Now it was V's turn to raise her eyebrow at him. "To know who I'm dealing with. At first, I thought you were just unlucky, this time still unlucky but watching you I think I finally figured out your problem. A kid from the Badlands family was your crutch and cushion." Johnny paused thinking about the next thing he was about to say. He knew that V was still on her way to being one of the best Mercs and knew he shouldn't just be a dick to her like the last time they had this talk. But in NC you're a nobody. Best you can do is steal from Scavs - the merc janitors. He then looked at V realizing they had both heard what he said the last time. You're a dick yaknow. And there was V from the past in their head as well. And you're a cunt. Maybe we'll fit together after all?  Johnny looked at V knowing she was going to question everything.

"Was that you remembering?" V finally broke the silence. Johnny nodded at her. "Seems like us being here triggered a memory. This is part of why I seem to know things," He added looking away from her. "No, I don't know what all you will remember." "I feel like you calling me a cunt was a weird way of flirting," V teased trying to lighten the mood. "You sure seem to know a lot about my past." "Well," Johnny scratched his face as a smile grew across his face. "Seen flashes of your past, just like you've seen mine. And now that the cat is out of the bag... this isn't the first time we've had this talk. No, it's not Groundhog Day." Johnny looked at V, she blinked at him. "Isn't that February 2?" She asked sounding unsure of herself. Johnny couldn't help but laugh. "You've never seen the movie? It's a classic." V shook her head at him. "Can I be honest with you?" V asked looking away now. Johnny could tell she was nervous about what she was going to say. "Honestly, I'm scared of the day I'll start seeing your memories as my own." She was trying her best to be vulnerable to him. "I won't let that happen..." Johnny paused and moved closer to V, before removing his shades. "Can you tell me what you want? What you really want?" V asked tilting her head to the side now looking at him again. A slight blush came over her face because of how close they were. Johnny looked at V's lips thinking about how to answer her question. He already knew his answer but his feelings were distracting him. Part of him longed to kiss V but Johnny knew now was the wrong time. He was able to fluster V and had seen some of her crushing on him memories but this V was different. She had her own feelings, which Johnny knew wouldn't be for him. "I want you to live V, Helping me settle my score with Arasaka is a bonus, but most of all I want you to live. That's it." He stated pushing back the thought of kissing her. "So revenge?" She asked sounding confused. Johnny shook his head even though he knew that was part of it. "Okay, I'll tell you why I wanna destroy Arasaka, but I'll only tell you once. Do you still want to hear it?" Johnny asked putting his shades back on. "Wouldn't this be the second time you tell me this?" V smirked. "I'm not fully sure I believe you about this being a 2nd time, that's almost less believable than you being on a chip in my head." Johnny watched V, he could tell she was trying to understand everything. "Okay, smartass do you want to hear it so you're gonk head can remember it this time?" He couldn't help himself and laughed. "All right." V answered him. "I saw corps strip farmers of water... and eventually of land. Saw them transform Night City into a machine fueled by people's crushed spirits, broken dreams and emptied pockets," Johnny stood up to start passing around. "Corps've long controlled our lives, taken lots... and now they're after our souls!" "Okay, you might be right." V chimed in. "V, I've declared war not 'cause capitalism's a thorn in my side or outta nostalgia for America gone by. This war's a people's war against a system that's spiralled outta our control. It's a war against the fucking forces of entropy, understood?!" Johnny then moved closer to V and leaned down in front of her. He did his best to make eye contact with her from behind his glasses. "Do whatever it takes to stop 'em, defeat 'em, gut 'em. If I gotta kill, I'll kill. If I need your body, I'll fucking take it!" He leaned back, realizing he had gotten a little too into his monologing once again. "Fucking hell..." Johnny sighed then looked back at V. "You still don't get it but you will one day,"  Silverhand saw a small smile on V's mouth before she stood up. "We should get you home to rest some after that episode." He added knowing V would try to keep running on empty.

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Once back at V's apartment, Johnny plopped down on the couch. Surprisingly, V went to lie down in her bed, her body was tired but her mind was running more than ever. Silverhand did his best to give her space and not be nosy as she tried to distract herself by looking over text messages she had gotten on the holo. A few from Judy just checked in and gave updates on Evelyn, who was doing surprisingly well after everything. A few from Panam asked about how the talk with Hellman went and even some from River. Johnny hated his messages the most. River was giving updates about Randy, followed by pretty lame flirting. He did his best to ignore V's replies hoping she wasn't falling for him. Johnny wanted V to be happy but thinking about her with River didn't feel right. Maybe it was just the jealousy kicking in. Trying to distract himself Johnny turned on the radio. At this point he didn't care what station it was on, he just needed some noise.

Closing his eyes Johnny lay down on the couch. He wasn't tired he just needed to think about what to do next. One of the only ways he knew how to contact Alt was by having V "help" the Voodoo Boys. It was a risky gig for her but she did it without getting into too much trouble. Johnny lay there for a while before a soft sound pulled him out of his thoughts. Opening his eyes he realized it was V humming along to the radio. One of her small quicks that he always found oddly cute. It was never hard to know which songs she loved on the radio because of how much she'd hum them. This time, it felt more special to Johnny. Never Fade Away had started to play and this was the first time he remembered her humming along. It was his song about Alt but now with V in his life, its meaning changed. Once the chorus began to play again Johnny found himself softly singing along. V's humming stopped making it clear she heard him before starting back up again. He couldn't help but smile to himself. Johnny focused on V's humming as it began to slowly get softer and softer by the time the song was over. To Johnny, it felt like his singing had become her lullaby. After a couple more songs played it looked like V had fallen asleep. Her movements had stopped after rolling onto her side with her back facing Johnny, followed by her breathing slowing down to a more even motion. Johnny was thankful for this, with how much V had been working it was hard to tell just how many days had passed for the two. Then again, Johnny just being on the chip concept of time seemed to be gone even worse.

Now was one of the few downtimes Johnny wished he could sleep as well. He wished that they could share her bed, even if they just lay there next to each other. With Johnny daydreaming he found himself accidentally stumbling into part of V's memories he didn't fully remember visiting before. He must have done so the first time and had forgotten. To Johnny, it felt like V had tried her hardest to hide all these memories from him. Most of these memories were happy ones back when V was a Bakker. Johnny then paused as he realized one of them was her listening to Samurai. He hadn't expected her to be a fan back when she was a kid, not once did V ever fangirl over Johnny or make him feel like she knew more than she was telling. Before long Johnny realized why V had been trying to hide these from him as well, as a kid she had gotten a celebrity crush on him. One that had gone away once V was older. Johnny couldn't help but laugh about what he had found. He also knew he could never tell V he found it. Silverhand stayed in this part of her mind to watch those memories for a while, enjoying seeing V so happy.

"Johnny?" V whispered just loud enough to snap him out of his thoughts. Johnny worried that he had been found out. "Yeah?" He asked sitting up enough to look in V's direction. Her back was still toward him. "Just making sure you're still there." Her voice was still soft, it sounded like she was scared to disturb him. "What do you mean? You're fucking stuck with me princess," Johnny laughed. He then stood up to teleport himself next to her bed, leaning on the wall by the vending machine. "Plus you'd have to take the pills Misty gave you to make me leave that easy," V didn't say anything back to Johnny which worried him. Something was on her mind and she wasn't saying it. "Did you have a nightmare or something? You didn't talk in your sleep so I assumed you were good." After he asked this question V rolled over to look at him. "Yeah probably was… I couldn't see you or feel you around. I'm not sure where I was but the place seemed to be only red and blue," V paused sounding confused. "I felt alone. It was almost like where I had met you but you weren't waiting for me." Once V described what she had seen he knew where her head had taken her. To see Alt, except Alt wasn't showing herself to V. "Like I said you can't lose me that easy," Johnny sat down on the edge of V's bed. He gave her a smile hoping it would cause some comfort. "Look I get it you want me out of your head but you're stuck with me for a while still," V sat up to get a better look at Johnny. "You should get some rest even if it's just laying there for now." Johnny added hoping to convince V to lay back down. She let out a sigh and did so. "Will you at least stay close?" "If that's what you want me to do," V nodded at him. "I'll just stay here then." Johnny wished he could lie down next to her, but after their embrace, he knew something like that would be pushing it. At this point, all Johnny could do was try to comfort her and do his best not to flirt. Johnny turned himself to look away from V before lit up, hoping it might take his mind off of thinking about her. Closing his eyes he took in a long drag trying to focus on the smoke. "Johnny?" V's voice was still soft again. "Yeah?" He moved to look down at her. "Thank you." Johnny couldn't help but laugh to himself hearing her say this. "You sure you're feeling okay? You've gotten a little clingy all of a sudden," He teased. "I'm not complaining because that means next you might ask me to lay with you." "…Maybe another night." V said softly as she rolled over to turn her back to him again. It was clear to Johnny, that she was trying to hide that she liked the idea. "Night V" He said softly before turning away again. "Good night Johnny." V replied before letting out a yawn.

The two stayed in silence the rest of the night. Johnny stayed put the whole time, sitting on the edge of V's bed like she had asked. Smoking most of the time and thinking about how V is going to get a call from Judy any day now asking to come over. He wasn't sure if Evelyn was staying with them this time or if things would happen like before. Silverhand also realized they needed Judy's help to get V interested in finding the Voodoo Boys. He didn't like the idea but they needed to make contact with Alt before Takemura contacted V again. It was hard for Johnny to figure out if he should just outright tell V or let things happen naturally. Once V woke up she moved to sit next to him. "Something on your mind?" V asked him before stretching. "Just thinking of what we do next." "I'm sure I'll get a call from a fixer after my shower and then we go from there." "No, I mean getting the chip taken care of." Johnny laughed. "Well shower first then we can figure out the day." V stood up and stretched again before making her way to the bathroom. Johnny let out a sigh before throwing himself backwards to lay on her bed. He listened to the shower water running hoping V wouldn't have another episode. Silverhand then began to hear a soft humming from in the bathroom coming from V. Once again she was humming Afterlife. Right as the shower water turned off Johnny heard V's holo start to ring. He didn't check who it was from but with how fast V picked up he knew it wasn't a fixer. Only listening to V's side of things he realized it was Judy. getting a bad feeling about it, Johnny moved to the bathroom entrance. He found V in just a towel there. "Yeah, I can be over in like 15," V stated trying to hide worry. "Is it Evelyn?" "Just come now please." Judy sounded panicked before hanging up. "Everything okay?" Johnny asked looking at V with a raised eyebrow. "I'm not sure… I just know Judy needs me to come over and it might be Evelyn." V told him before running over to her closet to try and change as fast as she could. "This doesn't sound good…" Johnny frowned unsure what to even say to V.

[nercyar-ika]

Bad Habits: Chapter 06

Fandom: Cyberpunk 2077 Pairing: Johnny Silverhand/Fem!V Read on Ao3 - Master List Previous Chapter - Next Chapter Warning: A small heads up I will be covering River's quests in this chapter! I will not be going into much detail on the Randy stuff. But figured give the warning just in case. So no need to skip over things

Time felt faster than it should have, V hadn't expected one thing after the next to happen all in the same day even if this was her new normal. To V, it all felt like a week had passed not just 36 hours. She had her first meeting with Elizabeth and Jefferson Peralez, followed by meeting River Ward. Johnny seemed to be more vocal while River was around, as they worked on the case of whether the Mayor passed away at home or was set up. Thankfully, V got all the answers that the Peralez needed to help out their investigation without telling them anything. Johnny had warned her not to do so because everything was messy. Part of her said to not listen to him and he was over-worrying, but the other part of V was saying to listen to Johnny. In some strange way, he did know more than she did when it came to palliations. Sometimes being a merc for hire did mean not having fully happy customers even if you give them what they need rather than what they want. The downside to learning all this was, that River now was forced into a very odd situation with his work.

After River confronted his coworker, he made his way over to the guardrail above the waterfront next to the chubby Buffalo parking lot. V followed him closely then hopped up to sit on the ledge. "So what now? You have a case and all the proof you need." V asked looking at River who was lost in thought. "I guess all I can do is turn him in and hope for the best. Something feels off about doing that," V nodded in agreement to his statement. "Thanks, V. I'm going to stay here and think things over for a while. Maybe I'll be able to find a better solution. But thank you for your help. " "Well, call if you need anything, alright?" She gave River a kind smile while hoping down. V then patted him on the shoulder before leaving him alone. He seemed like a nice guy who just wanted the best or what was right for everyone, but at the same time, V got an odd feeling that he wasn't sharing everything he needed to with her.

V had just about exited the parking lot before Johnny made himself known. He let out a loud sigh sounding discussed before speaking. "Goddammit... Wait a minute," She stopped to look at him. "Go back to him and ask for a fucking ride. I'll give you the address just somehow make him delta..." Is this another case of you remembering something that will happen like with Evelyn?" V asked raising an eyebrow. "Yes, now delta the fuck out." He sounded as if he couldn't believe what he was telling her. To V it almost felt out of character for Johnny but deep down, she was starting to get the feeling that he really did want what was best for everyone even if what he was right about was starting to make her feel ill. "Hey, River...," V gave a nervous laugh going back to where she had left him. She paused trying to think of how to word this best without seeming as if cyberpsychosis was beginning to take over her. "I hate to bug you right now, but it's clear you got a lot on your plate, the major, possible loss of job-" "If he doesn't agree tell him it's about his Nephew." Johnny added. "-But mind driving me someplace? I just got some gonk premonition or like insight that I feel will help another case you're working on." She smiled doing her best to not sound like she lost her marbles. V held her breath waiting for Ward's response to this, praying she didn't have to say the Nephew part that Johnny felt was best to add in now. "Get in the truck." River's voice sounded like he didn't believe V but was going to humour her. He didn't question her either.

Once they entered back into River's truck Johnny told V the address, who then gave it to River. The drive was a bit of a long one just out of town but, it made sense to River once he was told it. Once they arrived it was pretty clear something evil was going on at this farm. V did her best to disarm everything so River could follow her closely. The whole place seemed to be lined with more traps than anyone needed just to make sure no uninvited guests showed up, or to keep to local kids out. Making her way to the farmhouse V started to feel more and more sick. She did her best to push through what she was feeling not fully aware of what they would find. Once in the house, the two of them found more info on what was going on, followed by a way to safely get into the barn on the other side of the property. Heading back outside it didn't take very long for the two of them to break in and find who River was looking for. It turns out that the night before River had found out his nephew was missing and his disappearance lined up with some other cases of other missing teens. The man who was doing all of this had already been caught but the case had fallen to a dead end. Seems like V's tapeworm just saved a couple of kids before it was too late. River had no idea how she knew what she did but he wasn't going to question it. He had no idea how to thank V even if all she did was tell him where to go.

Once everything seemed to be over River offered to give V a ride home, she must have been looking pretty green in the face. V gladly accepted it not wanting to figure out how to get herself home, now that she was very aware of the sickness she had been pushing down. The two sat and talked before leaving, it was just to make sure V wouldn't get sick on the way to her apartment. But, for once small talk didn't feel like the worst thing in the world. To V it felt almost like they had known each other for years even if it was just a couple of hours now. "You sure that you don't have to go to the hospital right away for Randy?" V asked realizing she was making River wait. "You've probably wasted more time than you had planned making sure I wasn't going to be sick." He shook his head "It's not time wasted. Plus He's probably just asleep now and won't know I'm not there or Joss." V agreed, then told River she was good to go.

The rest of the trip back was quiet once River was finished making some calls to his family. V watched as the area changed from rural back into Night City. Closing her eyes V tried not to think about what she had seen within the past 24 hours. Sadly her memories said otherwise. Her mind started to play the first time she helped River, things felt darker than how they found everyone. It was the same farm and the same bad man, nothing had changed except the day they arrived. Maybe it felt worse because before they only could save Randy.

She had lost track of just how much time had truly passed thinking back on everything. V was way too lost in her mind that it took River touching her shoulder to snap her out of it. V flinched and moved closer to her door. "Hey... hey you're safe," River held his hands up hoping it would help V feel less startled. "Do you need me to walk you to your apartment? You got pretty lost in your head it seems." It was clear they had been parked outside of the megabuilding for some time now. "Hell no..." Johnny snapped wanting to be done with River as soon as they could, but V said otherwise. "Yeah, thanks that would be nice," She smiled at him before getting out of the vehicle. "Sorry 'bout that. Just triggered a memory but, I'll be fine. Don't want to dump all that on you also. Just was dissociating is all," V led the way while trying her best to explain she was fine without explaining too much to River. He didn't speak or question her, he just listened. It was clear to V he wanted to say something but kept it to himself. "Here's my place. Thanks again for the ride." V pointed to her apartment door before giving a smile to River. "Hopefully next time won't be as hard on you mentally. Thank you again, V for everything." River smiled before taking his leave.

V hadn't been in her apartment for very long before her holo rang. It was Rogue, looks like she got everything worked out on her end. "Going to answer that or make her wait a day?" Johnny asked trying to hint V needed a break. "Hello?" V answered ignoring Johnny. He couldn't help rolling his eyes at her before lighting up. "Meet me at the Afterlife, I'm done looking for what you wanted." Rogue stated before hanging up. She was always one to get her point across the fastest way she could.

V looked at Johnny waiting for his snarky comment but he said nothing. She then went into the bathroom to freshen up some and wash her face, doing her best to make sure she didn't look sick. Thankfully her skin looked her normal colouring and no longer a shade of green. With one last peak into the mirror, V blinked and instead of seeing herself looking back at her was Johnny. V made a small sound before looking into the living room to find Johnny just where she left him. Looking back into the mirror everything was fine and back to normal. Must have just been in my head. V thought to herself as she left the apartment. As she waited for the elevator Johnny looked at V. "You sure you're okay?" He asked raising an eyebrow clearly knowing that she yelped in the bathroom. "Just saw you in the mirror and not myself for a moment. It startled me okay." Johnny laughed but then went back to being quiet until they reached the Afterlife.

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 V's meeting with Rogue didn't long. Rogue was a master at keeping the briefing short and to the point. With everything she had told V about Hellman and who he seemed to be working for, V didn't feel all too worried. Somehow messing with Kang Tao felt easier than Arasaka. Rogue also gave V a contact to help her with her manhunt. Seemed to be the Nomad V had seen making a deal the day Jackie took V to the Afterlife. She wasn't hard to miss with how loud she gets when excited and almost seemed like that deal was going just a little too well for the Nomad. V figured winning the other's trust wouldn't be too hard both being parts of families even if V wasn't a Bakker anymore. Calling up the Nomad V learned her name was Panam Palmer. After the two meet up V learns more about why she isn't with her clan at the moment. Rogue had mentioned it but never went into details. Panam keeps having problems with the current leader, which V understands more than she wants to admit. They formed a plan and everything seemed to be going as planned. First, they would get Panam's wheels back and then play with Kang Tao.

The two managed to make it to Rocky Ridge in one piece. The car they borrowed didn't feel like there was much life left in her, once Panam parked it behind the power plant. Using the lemon of a car, V was able to jump-start the small town's power. Now they just needed to wait for the Raffen Shiv that had Panam's Thorton to show up. Right on queue a group of them with the Thorton showed up, V flipped on a switch lighting up the whole town. Somehow the two were able to take them all down without being noticed and got Panam's wheels back. The Nomad cooed and purred all over her baby once back in the driver's seat.

Panam explained to V they had one last thing to do before they could leave. She explained who Nash was and how he tricked her. Wanting to get revenge as well as get the job finally done Panam talked V into helping again. Retrieving the cargo was an easy job so how hard could helping her get revenge be?  V thought to herself knowing how revenge doesn't always help how you feel inside. Nash's hideout was easier to get into than it should have been. Not very hidden if you knew some of the Nomad tunnels, which Panam knew like the back of her hand. Once the two left after dealing with Nash, Panam called Rogue to yell at her and then to schedule where the meet-up would be. There was a motel not too far away, Panam knew the spot and off they went. On the way over the two bonded more. Talking felt like two best friends reconnecting after not talking in years. Time went by fast and so did the cargo deal once they arrived at the motel. No problems. No hiccups. Everything felt too good to be true but V wasn't going to question it. To celebrate Panam ordered a round of beers at the model's bar. They drank and chatted more before getting two rooms for the night. V's room wasn't the best but what could you expect from a place in the middle of nowhere that felt more like a place for anything but resting? Laying down on the bed wasn't the worst thing V had ever slept on, before long she was out like a light.

Waking up the next day V already found Johnny leaning on the wall next to the room's front window. His glasses were off for once and to V he looked lost in thought, unaware that she was even awake. She watched him light up and then fiddle with the window blinds. A loud yawn accidentally escaped V's mouth which caused Johnny to be aware of her now, but knowing him he probably could feel that V had woken up and just ignored her knowing she wasn't always a morning person. "How'd you sleep?" He asked turning to make eye contact with her, his voice was soft and low. "Preem... I guess," She laughed. Johnny nodded before turning to look out the window again. "Is it really that interesting outside?" V asked getting up to walk over and see what Johnny kept looking at. "Not sure, just thinkin'. I can't really see what's out there until you look... but sometimes I can," Johnny paused thinking about what he was about to say before shaking his head. "Nevermind it's not important" "It's just darkness for you then?" V looked at him raising an eyebrow trying to ignore what he almost told her. "If you can see it then so can I. Remember same head and body?" Johnny tilted his head to the side turning his gaze to V again. "You sure you slept alright? You have a habit of talking in your sleep ya know." "What did I even say?" V asked glaring at him before she made her way into the bathroom to freshen up the best she could in a motel this rundown. "Couldn't make out much but you seemed distressed," Johnny yelled from the other room not moving from his spot. "Called for me then calmed down-" "Wait did you watch me sleep?" She yelled sticking her head out of the bathroom to look at him. "- It's not like I got much else to do around here, but no I didn't fuckin' watch you sleep," He laughed. V made her way back over to Johnny. "Anything I should know before I go and get Hellman?" She watched Johnny closely trying to see if he was hiding something from her. "Just be careful when overloading those things. Could damage the chip." "Okay got it." V nodded as he disappeared. "Guess that's everything." She whispered to herself before going to find Panam again.

Heading outside V could see Panam working on her baby. A small smile came over her face seeing her new friend, V could tell she was happy to have her Thorton back. "Need a hand?" V asked making herself known before squatting down to see what Panam was working on. "I'm just checking the suspension. The hydraulics have to be in shipshape - we're in for a bumpy ride," Panam pushed herself out from under the truck and dusted herself off. "Did you sleep alright?" "I can't complain so preem I guess?" V stated sounding unsure about her answer. "What about you?" "I think you had nightmares last night. You screamed a few times. I think you called out for someone named Johnny too."  "Really?" V asked raising an eyebrow. "Don't worry, I'm accustomed to that sort of thing. When Mitch and Scorpion came back from the war, they tossed and turned night after night. For months it went on," Panam's voice was calm and soft showing she cared. "Whatever it is, it'll pass." She then gave V a soft smile before heading over to the workbench next to them.

Panam then explain what their plan was going to be. Things seemed easy enough and like nothing could go wrong. Once she mentioned the pulse causing problems to the AV V realized that's what Johnny was warning her about. Once finishing up their planning the two got into the Thorton, Panam drove them a little waze before stopping. "We've almost reached the dam. We'll make a quick stop here." Panam stated pulling over. "We need to calibrate you with the turret. I want you to be able to use the gun too. It should up our chances in general. Connect here," She then pointed out where V could install her personal link. "Just watch the jack it can be a little wiggly." "Wired in." V told her after linking in. "Wait a minute. Diagnostics first," V moved to look back at Panam as her vision changed seeing the diagnostics pop up. "Shit... It keeps giving me an error. Odd let me work around it." "And now, Panam. Here's Johnny! Out in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. Great work V." Johnny teased now showing up in the back seat of the truck. "Hey, uh I think your implant has a virus. The one in the nape of your neck." Panam sounded nervous. "Not a virus... It's just a bit it of malware you get used to it after a while. It wont hurt your system trust me." V let out a nervous laugh as the other raised her eyebrow. "Oh screw you." Johnny laughed. I'm sure that's exactly what you want to do. V smirked at him before being flipped off by Johnny. "Will it affect the calibration?" V asked turning to look at Panam again. "I guess we will find out." Panam answered giving a small shrug before finally getting things to work on her end. Once calibration and testing were over Panam began to drive again. "So where's this power station?" V asked. "You'll see in a moment," Panam almost sounded excited about what she was going to do next. "I know a spot. We'll have a decent view from there. I just want to be sure the area is clear." "Sabotage a corpo power station, jump a corpo transport, kidnap a corpo suit-" This a plug for the word corpo or you got a point? V did her best to not giggle at her dumb joke. "- Know what? You're starting to remind me of me... Fifty years back. Minus the charisma... and the impressive cock. Seems like we really do get along more than you thought." Johnny smiled seeming proud of her. You did not just say that about your cock... Before Johnny could respond to V Panam had parked again. "All clear it looks like. The area looks deserted and I see no patrols." She continued to explain what they were looking at and how they would overload the systems. "'Overload the system.' Yes, ma'am when do I start?" V asked sounding almost too excited about this. "Hmm. Maybe you should try calling me sir one of these times." Johnny purred stretching in his seat, placing both hands behind his head. "This shouldn't be too complicated right?" V asked doing her best to ignore Johnny. Panam shook her head. "Just turn everything up easy as that." "Crank it up to eleven. Got it." V smiled.

The two waited a few hours before the AV finally showed up. "One last time - We drive in, fuck up the system and get the hell out of there," Panam smiled at V going over the plan one last time before they broke in. "Hold on tight. This could get a little bumpy," She then began to speed up. The break-in went well even with the drones trying to crash their party. Once V shot all of them with the turret Panam crashed into the system room's door. "Find the controls! I'll connect the detonator. Quick, V!" She yelled out at V as the two jumped out of the truck. V did her best to run from one computer to the next, each time hacking them to overload them, but each time V was affected worse by them. She did her best to push through the pain and meet back up with Panam. "I think I got them all." V stated holding the spot on her neck where the relic sat. Her breathing was fast making Panam realize something was off with V. "Alright let's get out of here before it blows us up with it." She then backed up as fast as she could before driving away just as fast. Johnny showed up in the back seat again seeming nervous about how V was. "Tell her to delta the fuck out of here fast. This is what I tried to warn you about." I know I was being careful. "I know just delta out." V watched as Johnny began to glitch in and out of his spot until he fully went away. Johnny?! V yelled right before he showed back up, this time he was panting and seemed to be in pain. "Fucking hell... Okay, I'm fine... It's... it's okay, I'm fine... yeah I'm fine." It felt more like a statement to himself rather than letting V know he was truly fine and the same with the chip.

Panam drove a little bit longer before parking to get a better view of the AV in its path. All they had to do was press one button and then Hellman would be an easy target. V watched it awhile waiting for her queue to press the switch. Once given the go-ahead V pressed it, and everything felt as if it was going just as planned, but no blast happened. V pressed it again still nothing. Then a third time. Finally, something happened but it wasn't enough. The AV had started to shut down some and go off of its course but somehow it seemed to be fighting to stay in the air. Panam let out a sigh before hopping out of the driver's seat, she ran to the trunk pulling out their plan B. "THATS how you do it!" She yelled back to V after aiming her rocket launcher hitting the AV directly. "Hey, it's losing altitude!" V cheered as Panam joined her in the vehicle again. It felt a little too early to be celebrating everything, but V couldn't help herself being excited. To her, this felt like one step closer to being able to split Johnny from her head. "We got the bastards!" Panam cheered starting to race down from the cliff top they had rested on. Before V could comment on the AV the two heard other Nomad voices coming up on an open radio channel. Mitch and Scorpion, the two Panam held dearly. It was clear they saw the AV falling from the sky and were going to check it out. The amount of yelling and screaming Panam did over the radio telling them not to go didn't go through. Thanks to the blast they had done no one from the Aldecaldo's camp could hear Panam's warnings.

Knowing that Mitch and Scorpion were in trouble Panam sped up even more. She parked far enough away from the crash sight that they could get a good look at everything but it was clear things weren't looking good. More Nomads showed up with Mitch and Scorpion to investigate the crash. Most that had gone to investigate seemed to have been killed but some had been taken prisoner. Panam stayed at the truck while V made her way past all the guards, robots and drones. Opening the door to the AV V was greeted with a Mitch being held hostage. Without too much thought V shot the guard that was holding the older man. She knew she could have talked things out but they were short on time and Hellman wasn't there. Panam ran over and talked things over with Mitch, he explained what he knew and that Scorpion sadly was now dead. She didn't handle it very well but wanted to keep her word to V. After Mitch helped calm Panam they thought up a plan. The Nomad cars Kang Tao had stolen left a good amount of tracks for the two to follow, Mitch told V that they could borrow his and Scorpion's bikes to follow them. Kang Tao hadn't gone too far from the crash sight to make their new base. Once again V did what she did best sneaking in and taking care of the guards inside the building they had taken over.

Once inside V found a room upstairs that seemed out of place. Opening the door she was greeted by a man sitting in a chair. It was clear by his suit that she had found the man she was looking for. "Who sent you?" He demanded. "Hey, I just want to talk." V yelled back at him. "Who are you working for?" He snapped again causing V to roll her eyes at him and gave him a good punch to the face, knocking him out. With how the day was going V was tired of this wild goose chase and starting to feel emotions from Panam's loss, everything reminded V too much of Jackie and she knew she'd get emotional if things got brought up. "Pathetic rat's got nowhere left to scurry off to. Out of lifelines," Johnny smirked looking at V's handy work. "Seem to recall you were going to call Takemura when you got Hellman." She looked at Johnny raising an eyebrow. "Seriously no comment about how we shouldn't work with him?" Johnny shook his head. "This is about the only time he will be useful, make it fast Hellman might wake up soon." He warned before disappearing again. V throw the knocked-out corpo over her shoulder before heading outside. The parking lot was now full of Nomads, all seemed to be Aldecaldos. Mitch and Panam were talking next to the bikes they had borrowed. "This the guy you were going after?" Panam asked as V set Hellman on the ground. "Yeah, he's the one. Thank you for helping. I'm really sorry about your loss..." V did her best to hide she was a little emotional. Jackie hadn't passed that long ago so everything kept triggering those emotions she just wanted to hide forever. "You can keep the bike Scorpion would have wanted you to have it." Mitch chimed in right before another Man came over to fuss and Panam. His name was Saul and he seemed to be the leader of the Aldecaldos. Panam had talked to V about him, seemed he was a major part of why she was leaving the family yet everyone still acted as if she never left. Once V finished talking with them all she left with Hellman on the back of her new bike.

With how far out of Night City she was V knew of just the place to take him. Heading right back to the motel in the middle of nowhere. The ride gave her enough time to clear her head from emotions, but it also started to make V question what Johnny didn't say to her. Did he know about Scorpion's death? Why would he help V save all the other people yet not this one? The more she questioned it the more she got confused and angry. After checking into a room V sat the corpo man down in a chair waiting for him to wake up. She called up Takemura to explain what happened and where she was. "And now we wait." Johnny groaned flopping himself down on the bed just like a bored child. "Did you know about Scorpion?" V asked starring daggers Johnny's way. "What?" He sat up now resting on his elbows. "Did you know about Scorpion?" She repeated herself this time sounding more upset. Johnny didn't answer, it was clear to V he was trying to find the right words to say. "And what if I did?" "You should have warned me more… I even asked you." V's tone changed again she began to sound hurt. "V you can't save everyone. Sometimes things happen for a reason." Johnny sighed moving to sit up even more before lighting up. "I'm trying to keep YOU alive." V stomped over to the bed Johnny was sitting on. "Why do you want to save me so badly? I could have sworn you wanted me dead so you could keep my body." Johnny shook his head at her. "That's not even close to what I fucking want for you V," He frowned. "V where is this all coming from?" V didn't answer him instead turned around and kicked the other bed in the room. "Are you really upset over Scorpion or is this triggering your memories of Jackie?" His voice was soft, V didn't want to look at him realizing he was right. She lightly wrapped her arms around herself trying to comfort herself before Hellman woke up. V heard the mattress shift behind her before getting a weird feeling. She could feel someone standing behind her, the only other person there was Johnny but this felt different. He lightly touched her forearm causing V to shiver slightly from Johnny's chrome arm. She didn't pull away from his touch as he began to slowly pull her into a hug from behind, Silverhand did his best to pull her up to his chest and V didn't fight it. Tears silently began to fall from her eyes as her confused emotions began to escape. V didn't understand how Johnny was holding her, but at the same time, she didn't want to know. This made her feel safe and everything was going to be okay. Johnny lightly rubbed her arm with his ganic hand as the world around them felt as if it suddenly froze. "You can't get rid of me that easy." Johnny whispered to V now holding her tighter, doing all he could to make her feel safe.

[nercyar-ika]

Bad Habits: Chapter 05

Fandom: Cyberpunk 2077 Pairing: Johnny Silverhand/Fem!V Read on Ao3 - Master List Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

"Johnny?" Hearing V call his name, Silverhand knew not to respond. Every part of him was yelling that; for once he should go talk things over with V. She was angry and needed him, but like always Johnny did what he was best at. Hiding and pretending nothing is wrong. The Rockerboy found it humorous that he could do anything for what he believed in. Raid Arasaka? No problem, that came easy to him, he did it twice after all. Both times were for love, sending a message to Arasaka was just a bonus. But, having to talk to someone he loved? Johnny only knew how to hide. Communicating in relationships never seemed to be his strong point when things weren't going in his favour. Johnny knew how to say some great monologues that would always get people to listen. He also knew how to push others away that he cared for just as well. Pushed Rogue away, pushed Alt away and once again tried to push V away. This time he couldn't just hide with the Aldecados for a couple of years to try and forget about V. That only helped so much with getting past the loss of Alt. It also didn't help that he knew V would be easily welcomed into the family again. She was a Nomad at heart even after leaving the Bakkers. It was one of the reasons he found himself falling for her to begin with. Johnny was able to watch her get a new family one that he used to care for deeply. He never would admit it but it was true, the only thing he would admit to is hating being out in the Badlands. Too much sand and uneven ground always made travelling harsh. Seeing his V with the Aldecados always felt like she was part of the group back in 2013. Maybe things would have worked out better for them if V was born around the time Johnny was. But, in some twisted way, this felt as if fate had chosen for them to meet this way. Instead of the fabled red string of fate binding the two lovers together, it was more of a blue glitching feedback loop that sometimes would change to red. Johnny wouldn't admit it was possible fate, even if things did feel as if he was meant to fix everything. He only cared about making it so V would live. The first time he woke up in V's head Johnny knew he was getting a 2nd chance at righting so many wrongs. Waking up in her head this last time proved he couldn't mess up again. He never wanted to believe in fate but everything kept swaying him to believe in it.

"Asshole..." V grumbled under her breath causing Johnny to snap out of his thoughts moving his focus back to V. He wasn't going to show up just yet. Not too long after her outbursts V made her way into the bathroom to take a shower. Johnny waited until he could feel an odd rain-like feeling all over his body before going to stand by their apartment window to light up. He was finding himself having to get used to the 2nd hand feelings from V again. Smoking in the rain did feel fitting for his mood, but it was an odd feeling. Johnny once again found himself trying to figure out how he was even able to be in the living room with V in the bathroom. "Things have got to be loaded in from before" He mumbled now trying to focus on listening to V, hoping she wouldn't have an episode in there.

After a while, Johnny realized V wasn't coming out of the shower. He could still feel the water but knew something was off. Johnny wasn't able to keep track of time very well while being on the chip, but he knew V was taking longer than she normally would. Throwing his cigarette to the side, Johnny slowly made his way over to the vending machine next to the bathroom opening. Johnny was unsure what to do so he waited, he could hear V sharply exhale after some time. The sounds of water falling hide most sounds that could have been coming from her. Something inside of Johnny told him to check on her. "V?" He asked calmly moving to stand next to the bathroom sink. There was no answer but he was able to hear V shifting how she was sitting. Sounded like she was on the floor of the shower. "Look I promise I'm not trying to peek at you naked just want to make sure you're okay." Johnny moved so his back was to the shower hoping V would believe what he was saying. "Why now? Why show up now? I was calling for you earlier," V's sounded hurt but Johnny was still unsure if it was from his doing. "I don't understand. What all are you hiding from me?" Johnny wished he could give her all the answers but he also wished he could tell her lies about everything knowing that would make things easier. "I don't know," He moved to sit on the floor still facing away. "I'm about as lost as you are with most of this." Johnny wasn't lying, he didn't know everything or even how they managed to pull this off. Whatever strings Alt was pulling were affecting V. He did know about their past more than he was willing to admit to just yet but that was it. "If I find out you are lying..." "I just want to do what's best for you --" "How could you have known you said something different before? Back when we met at the diner," V interrupted "How did you know about Figures? Or even what happened at Clouds?" "-- I want to give you answers but I can't," Johnny paused to light up once again. "I know as much as you do, you won't buy it but that's all I fucking got."

Closing his eyes Silverhand tried to focus on his words, but everything seemed to dissolve into the darkness of his mind. His mind started to wander and remind him about past mistakes of poor communication again. "See, I thought..." He knew that voice. It wasn't V but for a split second, Johnny thought it was. "That this meant something? That we're close? So close you can give me shit about everything I do?" His own words filled his head not realizing V was able to hear it as well. "...I don't understand the question why are you changing the subject?" V asked but before Johnny could give an answer his voice filled their heads once more. "Got quite the imagination, then" It was a time that haunted Johnny still. He wished he could have been better but knew he couldn't change anything that was in the past.

Snapping out of his thoughts Johnny realized V asked him a question. ".... You heard that? Both sides?" "Was that a memory of yours?" V's voice was low, almost too quiet for Johnny to hear. He could feel that V was still dealing with her own emotions on top of now feeling nervous. He's shown her his venomous side more times than Silverhand had meant to. After sitting in silence Johnny finally broke the tension. "You weren't meant to hear that. I don't even know what triggered it," He lied hoping she wouldn't question it. "Look I've always been a problem, a jerk, an asshole whatever the hell you want to call me. -" "Pain in my ass," He couldn't help but laugh at V's interruption. " - Hey living in your head ain't always rainbows and sunshine but yes you're right. I hate to admit it but I royally fucked up that day. She's the best Netrunner out there." "What you're saying is if we can find this mystery person from your memory then we don't have to find Hellmen?" Johnny shook his head. "Still need him as a backup. Rogue can help, once you feel better let's head to the Afterlife," Pausing Johnny tried to read V's emotions, but he realized he never did find out why she was sitting on the floor of the shower, to begin with. It couldn't be because of her question. "Do you miss him?" He asked softly trying to see if there was any way Silverhand could comfort V. She didn't answer him right away but when V finally did Johnny could feel the heartbreak. "Yeah... it's hard getting past this," V's voice was shakey again. "You can only be strong for so long, ya know. Plus dealing with everything we learned from Judy. Even then I'm sure she'll give me more info on Evelyn. But yeah I miss Jackie. Why do you care all of a sudden?" "Lossing someone is hard. I get it," Johnny started to remember just how hard it was losing Alt, followed by his worries about losing V. "Should I leave you alone again?" "No, but let me get dried off and dressed alone." V didn't have to ask him twice before Johnny went into hiding providing V with the privacy she asked for.

Making sure he was out of view of the bathroom Johnny sat down in his normal spot on the couch. Johnny leaned forward to rest his arms on his knees before finishing his first cigarette to light up a second one. "Kind of surprised you didn't try to watch." V gave a soft laugh walking over to him. She then sat down on the coffee table in front of Johnny. He looked up from watching the embers glow and gave her a smirk. "Kinda hard not to be tempted. After all the hero does always look," She rolled her eyes at him. "Feeling any better at least?" V nodded as she watched Johnny start to bounce his leg. "You weren't supposed to see me like that," V sighed closing her eyes. "Does loss ever get easier?" "Only when you're the one who flatlined. Just don't come back like me," Johnny laughed slightly trying to lighten the mood. "Or you can become a cynical jerk like me," Taking his sunglasses off with his free hand Johnny moved to look at V. "I wish I could bring you comfort in with this. I almost wish I could tell you not to take that gig. Just to save you from all of that heartbreak. -" "But we'd have never met." V was confused by his statement. "- You don't need me." Even though Johnny believed what he was saying it still made his heart sink into the bottom of his chest. It was hard wanting to do the right thing for V but also wanting to be selfish. Alt had made it sound like they both could have bodies if they played their cards right. But Johnny wasn't even sure if V could love him like she seemed to before. "Johnny..." V's voice was soft, she sounded like his old V. "It feels like your heart broke when you said that." She sheepishly touched where his heart was. Johnny watched her hand as it rested on his tactical vest. He had expected it to go through his chest but somehow it didn't. "Don't worry about it." He gave her a soft smile and then tried to place his silver hand on top of her ganic one. His didn't go through hers. His blue glitches started to dance around the two hands. V's began to add red static. Together the two created a pattern only where they were touching. Johnny could have sworn he felt her as if they both were back with Alt. Something felt off to him, almost as if he was being hacked but that wasn't possible. "J-Johnny?" V's voice sounded slightly different even though it was still her. "Yeah?" He asked softly looking up to look her in the eyes. There was fear in them but that light from before had returned. V's cheeks had started to turn slightly red as well. She reminded him of when groupies noticed he was talking to them. Once Johnny caught onto things he couldn't help but say her name. "Valerie?" Her eyes grew bigger, followed by her turning to look away. V paused looking as if she was struggling to find the words to say. The red static started to die down the longer she took to find her words. Johnny's blue still going strong. "Help me remember," She turned her head to look at Johnny again as soon as V blinked the lights went out. "You." As soon as the last word left V's lips her hand slowly fell out of Johnny's. She looked like an episode was about to happen and there wasn't anything he could do to stop it. "I got you," Johnny whispered catching V before she fell back onto the table. He was glad that in times like this it was easier to move her even if how he did it made no sense at all. This seizure didn't seem to be too bad. Johnny moved V so she was lying on the couch. He moved her necklace away from her neck making sure it wouldn't choke her. With a single movement Johnny had managed to change he's to his dog tags, he looked down to see that his had changed as well. He tucked the pendent part into his vest and then just watched over V until her seizure finished. He wished he could hold her but feared that the small hand touching caused this, so he just sat next to her. I'm sorry Valerie... He thought to himself hoping V didn't hear it but at the same time hoping she did.

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After V was done resting from her episode she left the apartment following Johnny's lead to go talk with Rogue. Johnny's mind began to fill with more questions he knew he'd never get the answers to. How was it that they both could touch each other back in the apartment when normally only Johnny could really "touch" V. He stayed close behind her as V made her way to the Afterlife. The bar always reminded him back in the day going to Club Atlantic, but somehow Rogue managed to make this place better than their old hangout. She must have settled down from Solo work and become a Fixer of all things. Johnny wasn't sure when she would have done that. Once V made it to the bottom of the stairs leading to the Afterlife, she gave a quick head nod to the bouncer. He seemed to remember her from the last time V had come there. So just try to get Rogue to find info on Hellmen and then leave?  V asked making her way over to the bar. "Shouldn't be too hard. It'll be a good amount of Eddie's I'm sure." Johnny said as he looked around trying to get a good view of Rogue. She was sitting in her normal booth and still looking 50 years older than the last time they had seen each other except he looked the same as he did that night. His mind started to replay the date V had let the two of them go on. Johnny knew he'd have to do that again but this time instead of trying to make a move maybe he could get her advice about his complicated feelings for V. He knew breaking into Kerry's place now might not be a good idea but somehow he needed to get V to do that.

"Hey V how are you doing?" The bartender smiled motioning V to sit down. "Choom of mine earn a spot on the menu," She gave a sad smile. The lady nodded "That Chula bull with the bun? Yeah, was sorry to hear." Claire asked before taking a moment to think of his drink. "Vodka on the rocks, lime juice and ginger beer." "Don't forget the splash of love." "That's right and the drinks name..." "Jackie Welles." V added before stepping away from the bar.

Johnny watched as V made her way over to Rogue. He wasn't sure how the old Solo would react to her if she spotted V wearing his dog tags. Surprisingly Rogue welcomed V into her booth and ordered them a drink. Johnny planted himself on the back of the booth to listen to them better on everything. "I need some help..." V stated "You got some nerve asking for help from me kid after that last heist of yours," Rogue laughed before taking a sip of her drink. "But if you got the eddies I'll see what I can do," Without speaking V transfered the funds to Rogue which seemed to please the older woman. "Well, what do you need?" "Still the heartless bitch," Johnny laughed. "Always in it for the money." He could tell V was doing her best to ignore his commentary before she started to explain to Rogue who they were looking for. Rogue didn't ask any questions, her eyes began to glow as she looked over her contacts on Holo. Once the glow died down her eyes moved back to looking at V. "Give me a day or two and I'll contact you again. Shouldn't be too hard to find your missing person," Rogue stated motioning for V to leave. Before V had gotten too far away Rogue stopped her. "Wait I do have one question before you leave. Where did you find those tags from?" Johnny realized this was the best time to leave and so he did. He stayed out of V's sight only to hear where this was going. "What tags?" V asked looking down at her chest. "Oh, these? I guess I found them someplace. I don't remember where. They belong to someone you know?" "Yes, I used to know the poor bastard. If you don't plan on keeping them, I would gladly take them, or you could go to the Columbarium. It is just a headstone after all." Johnny watched as V looked them over. He could feel that some part of her knew she needed to save them. "Might go visit this Robert then. Thanks." V then waved goodbye to Rogue and made her way out of the Afterlife. Johnny cringed hearing that name but did his best to prepare for V's questions. Surprisingly she kept to herself, It was clear to him a lot was on her mind but V wasn't going to bring any of it up.

It didn't take long for them to arrive at the Columbarium, every minute felt like hours to Johnny. He watched as V carefully scanned each name closely. Then she found the name she was looking for. Johnny looked at his name and then at Alt's right next to his. V slowly ran her fingers over the stone wishing the name was engraved. "Robert... John... Linder." She whispered sounding like she was asking a question with each word, hoping none of the other visitors heard her speak. Johnny made himself known by leaning against the wall next to Alt's name. "He's someone from a different time." Johnny looked at V, he was thankful she couldn't see his eyes as clearly behind his shades. Silverhand knew if she could V would be able to see the hurt behind them. Time healed only so much after losing Alt, He had moved on but still regretted not saving her. Johnny figured out her death was his fault when trying to help V the first time. "I take it he was a choom of yours?" V looked at him still keeping her voice low. Johnny wasn't fully sure how to respond, so he nodded realizing she was giving him space to explain when he felt the time was right. Trying his best to collect his thoughts Johnny remembered he didn't explain to V about her now wearing dog tags "Somehow we switched necklaces when I helped you last." Silverhand pulled out the bullet necklace he had been hiding. "You can keep it," She gave a small smile. "Looks better on you anyways" Johnny nodded as he tucked it away again. "Same to you," He then watched V as her attention returned to the nameplate. He could tell she was thinking about something, it felt like V was trying to memorize every word and letter. Her eyes would dart between Robert and then to Alt. Once V had finished reading she sat down under the nameplate. Johnny watched her pull her legs to her chest it was clear she was starting to feel emotional again but he didn't know why. She didn't know it was his name but he also knew how smart she was. Silverhand kneeled next to her doing the best he could to show he was there for her but after the last time they had touched, he was scared to start another seizure. Johnny didn't fully believe he was the cause of it even though he knew it was because of the relic, but it still scared him. V didn't say anything so they just sat there in silence again. Today was a harsh reminder for them about how Nightcity eats people up. "Take all the time you need." Johnny said softly. Once again the two found themself in silence but Johnny didn't mind this time.

I feel like I've lost someone that I loved but I don't understand why. I know earlier I was missing Jackie but this is different. It's like I'm scared to lose someone who's already gone or scared someone won't come back. Even in her head, Johnny could hear the shakiness in V's voice as she held back her tears. Her feelings and words were extremely clear to Johnny but he knew he couldn't tell her. "Probably my emotions rubbing off on you again," He wasn't wrong it was hard to see Alt's name next to his own. "Those were some of my last words to her ya know," V moved to look at him again. He could tell she was surprised by him being vulnerable again. "I was hoping you'd hear that fucking interaction later but I guess my head needed to share early." I swear I'm not normally this emotional. "Just blame it on me." V gave a small laugh. It was easy for him to read how mixed her emotions had become. And Johnny knew he was letting his guard down too easily around V. He still loved her even if she didn't reciprocate them this time, but a small part of him knew she would. Even if it was just Silverhand being cocky as usual. Johnny focused on hiding his emotions, which helped V calm down. Standing up V dusted herself off, then checked her holo. Johnny stood as well, he did his best to give her space and not read V's messages. A few messages were asking her to help from other fixers and one from a mystery couple wanting to meet up and talk. Seeing the name attached to the message Johnny did his best not to grumble. It was those stupid politicians that would lead to V helping that pig River Ward. He hated how much that man's life affected V's even if Johnny knew saving Randy was something they should help with again. Then he remembered how much River flirted with V. It was clear Johnny was jealous now and they hadn't even met the guy again.

"Yeah I can meet you there in a bit... mhmm... okay understood... yeah see you." Hearing V talk snapped Johnny out of his thoughts. He realized she just got off the phone with the couple. "Dammit V..." Johnny grumbled. I'm sorry? V tilted her head to the side giving him a confused look. "Just don't get too carried away with gigs we need to meet with Rogue again soon." It was a good save Johnny thought, he didn't want to have to tell V to watch out for the pig that wanted to sleep with her from day one. He also knew that he was right about Rogue getting back to them soon as well. At least dealing with Panam and the Aldecados would be easier to deal with than River Ward. I'll make good time and we'll make some eddies win-win right? Plus it'll help us from being stuck in this depression loop. Johnny knew V was just putting on a brave face but he did agree with her. "Alright let's fucking do this then." And just like that V started to head to the meeting spot.

[nercyar-ika]

Bad Habits: Chapter 04

Fandom: Cyberpunk 2077 Pairing: Johnny Silverhand/Fem!V Read on Ao3 - Master List Previous Chapter - Next Chapter Warning: Mention of what happened to Evelyn in this chapter but not extreme details. I figured still give the warning just in case. details. I figured still give the warning just in case.

Trying to think fast, V gently laid Evelyn down on the floor of Judy's moving van. The crates for the portable BD editing equipment helped keep her in place. Thankfully Judy wasn't speeding or driving recklessly. Taking a deep breath V closed her eyes. Exhaling she opened the sliding door and then opened her eyes just as she stuck half of her body out the door. She did a quick scan of the Van following them. Followed by a quick scan of what Scav's were visible. Only two showed up on both scans. Shouldn't be too hard, V thought to herself pulling out a pistol Just gotta hit the front tires than the two Scavs. "Think that's the only group?" Johnny asked after watching V shoot out the two front tires. The Scav's vehicle started to spin as it lost control. The driver and passenger were still in perfect view. Pop... Pop... And just like that their problems seemed to be gone. V ignored Johnny doing her best to keep focused. Everything felt as if it was going way too well for them. V was good at her job but never this good. Doing a quick scan of everything around them again showed they were still very much in the clear, So V closed the sliding door beside her and moved to check on Evelyn. She was still asleep, still breathing. Letting out a relieved sigh V sat down on the floor. "You know where Misty's Esoteric is," It was more of a statement than a question. V moved so she could look at Judy. "There's a short alleyway next to it where the back entrance to her shop is. Vik's clinic is down some stairs. Might be faster and have fewer eyes on us than going straight to Misty's front entrance. That area tends to always have NCPD blockin' up some shop or patrolling. I doubt they would care about us but less risk ya know." She gave a soft smile to her hoping Judy could see it in the near mirror. "Yeah I think I know which spot you're talking about," Judy sounded a little more at ease. "Almost there shouldn't be too much longer."

Once Judy had parked V stepped out of the van to ensure they were safe. She did another quick scan making sure no one had followed them. Finding nothing out of the ordinary V popped her head back in to give Judy the all-clear. "I think we are good," V started to remove her jacket to place on top of Evelyn. She did the best she could to wrap it around her body before picking her up. "You get the doors and I'll be fine carrying her again." Judy gave a quick nod before leading the way.

Slowly they made their way down the stairway into Vik's clinic. Thankfully he didn't have anyone in his chair. It was always hard to know if he would be busy or not. It didn't take much time for him to notice the two walking in. "Go set her down on the chair. What's going on V?" He asked rushing over. "Not fully sure other than she was at a sketch ripper who sold her to the Scavs after not being able to fix somethin'" "She's got a doll implant that may have scrolled something before all of this." Judy added watching V lay Evelyn down. "Nice to see you got my gifts," Vik lightly chuckled recognizing the samurai jacket. "Any idea what work she may have been doing?" He was already starting to examine Evelyn while asking the two questions. Judy didn't say anything for a bit before remembering where Eve had been working. "Shit," She shook her head in disbelief. "I warned her but I think she was at Clouds. I left her cigarette clip on my desk at Lizzie's but it had Clouds club card in it." "Any idea as to why someone might do this to her? Scan already found a problem." Vik looked over at V having a feeling he knew where this was going. "She helped with Dex. Originally she's the one who did scrollin' for where we'd find the chip, but offered to cut him out of the deal." V did her best to explain without outright telling Judy about Johnny.

And just like that Johnny came back. He did his best to keep his distance but V knew he wouldn't be quiet for long. She looked over his way while Judy and Vik started to go over more about Evelyn being a Doll. "Meant to say it earlier but it's cute that you have samurai merch," He grinned, and V rolled her eyes. "Just trying to lighten the mood some. We might want to take a trip to Clouds once Judy is safe to leave the Doll here to rest." Why? V gave him a confused look hoping the others didn't see. "Not sure just feel like we need to... Maybe get some clues Vik can't give us." Johnny shrugged. V couldn't tell if he was being helpful or just wanting to see some tits.

"There's a few more tests I need to do before I can do much more to help her. She's stable so I wouldn't worry. Should be fine once I figure out what is wrong. Why don't you go visit Misty in the meantime," Vik said moving his stool over. It was clear Judy was starting to get even more worried about Eve. "Probably could give you a tea for relaxation while we wait." "Doesn't sound too bad." Judy lightly brushed her hand over Evelyn's hair before following V over to Misty's shop.

Misty was standing in the back doorway of her shop. V could tell she was debating on whether she should come down to help or not. "Vik said you might be able to help with a tea for relaxing?" V smiled at her. Misty gave a soft smile before nodding and welcoming the two in. "Pretty sure I know just the thing. Make yourself at home! Any friend of V's is a friend of mine and is always welcome. I'm Misty." Her smile warmed up more as she introduced herself to Judy. "Thank you. I'm not sure you'd call V and myself friends but I do owe her." Judy said softly before looking over to V. It was pretty clear on her face she hoped what she had said didn't offend her. "We only just meet really because of the job." V added helping Judy not feel so bad about her statement. "Oh so does that mean she knows about Johnny?" "Johnny?" Judy looked at V who was now standing like a deer in the headlights unsure what all she could say without coming off crazy. "He's a friend of mine..." It wasn't the best answer but it was one that Judy didn't question. "Oh~ I'm a friend?" Johnny cued teasing V as he made his way into the shop. Fuck you, Johnny. V did her best not to suddenly look annoyed. "If you keep this up you'll get my southern blood goin'." He laughed as he plopped himself down in the reclining chair Misty had for when she did Chakra work. Are you seriously doing this right now?  V looked back at Misty who seemed to be catching on that Johnny had made himself known after her question. Instead of Johnny responding to V he just laughed while lighting up. She could hear the sound of his lighter followed by the sound of his exhale. For some reason, everything Johnny did sounded louder and closer almost as if V herself was doing it but she wasn't. Red lights had flickered over V's optics, nothing seemed to be worrisome about it just a new version of floaters for her. Looking back at Johnny his relaxed sitting had shifted to more sitting up as if he knew more than she did, she froze.

V wasn't aware of how long she had stayed quiet because of her vision but had a good feeling it may have been a worrying amount of time now seeing Misty, Judy and even Johnny right in front of her. "Sorry..." She said softly trying to give a smile. "Still getting used to the new eyes I think, seems to have some bugs." "That's strange but it's okay you're still recovering. You've been still taking yours Omega Blockers when needed and what Vik gave you too?" Misty asked lightly rubbing V's shoulder trying to comfort her. V nodded her head even though they both knew she was letting Johnny stay active. "I'll have Vik take a look at stuff once we know Evelyn is okay." She stated trying to not worry Misty which seemed to be working as she started to smile.

"I hate to ask you this," Judy said breaking the silence that had fallen again. "Would you be willing to go to Clouds and see if they know of anything that happened or if Eve left any of her stuff there? If Misty is okay with it I'll stay with her while we wait on Evey. " She sounded scared but V knew this might help ease some of her worries. "Yeah of course I'll do that for you," V gave her a soft smile. "I'll call you when I'm on my way back here 'kay?" Judy nodded in agreement. "Thank you, V… I really owe you." "Nah you're good just let me know if we get any updates before I'm back." Judy then sent the address to Clouds over to V "Stay as long as you need to Judy. I could even do a card reading for you if you'd like while we wait. Oh and I'll start that tea as well!" Misty seemed extra happy to have company in her shop. V said her goodbyes to the two as she left the shop this time going out the front door.

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It didn't take V very long to make her way to Clouds. Something about the place didn't feel right to her. With the amount of Tyger Claws hanging around. It was feeling more as if they were running the building instead of just being there for the many stores and stalls below Clouds. V did her best to keep notes on all of them just to be safe. She'd had her runnins with them before and most knew of her because of Wakako being one of V's many fixers, but something just felt extremely strange to her. V walked over to the elevator doing her best not to be noticed. She pressed the button to call the elevator back down and then stepped inside the box as soon as the doors had opened. The elevator was empty thankfully but didn't feel that way with the blaring news, ads and now Johnny leaning against a wall in front of her. "Your plan is just walking right in and asking to get her stuff?" He asked outright in disbelief. "You sure you don't need to rest some before going?" "I'm fine." V snapped knowing he was probably why her vision was acting up earlier. "Look I'm not the reason you saw that." Johnny snapped back just as venomously as V. He was already good at reading her thoughts and body language V thought to herself realizing she really couldn't hide anything from him. "I'm fine really," This time V's tone was a little softer. "It'll be an easy in and out job even if they don't let me go right in." She said trying to reassure Johnny as he moved to lead the way. To V it felt like he knew where they were going. It felt odd that he'd knew that. Was Clouds even around 50 years ago?  V questioned without thinking Johnny would hear her "No I just had an idea of where it could be," He stated while pointing to the large neon lights that read 'Clouds'. "Hard to miss." Hearing that all V could do was roll her eyes at him as she opened the door to the doll house.

"Hello! Welcome to Clouds! Is this your first time visiting us or have you been before? I'm Cheri happy to help make your stay dreamy." "Uh... First time but I'm not here to see anyone." V was caught off guard by how fast she was greeted by the cheery receptionist. "Oh, That's strange. What brings you here then?" She raised a blue eyebrow at V. "I'm here to see if Evelyn Parker left her stuff here. I'm a friend of hers, said she left work early sick the other day not by her choice," V started to scan around unsure if the lady was buying this. "Probably just her jacket or something." "She did leave early but sadly she no longer works with us. I'll see if it's okay that you go up and get it. While you wait I could have you visit one of our many dolls to keep you company," She smiled brightly hoping to make a sale. "We'd just need you to plug in and give a safe word so we can figure out the best match." V could tell this wasn't going to go as originally planned. Debating about waiting out front or pretending to see a doll started to float through her mind. The little lie could be faster but would security have their eyes on her even more knowing about V asking around for Eve? Letting out a sigh "How does the doll thing work?" "Oh good! We will scan you, and then it will give a match, no pain at all," Cheri motioned to the personal link port. "Just connect in and we'll be good to go. I promise it's perfectly safe and all data we keep is encrypted so no need to worry about it," V ported in just trying to get this done as fast as she could. " Everything seems to be going good just need you to pick which doll you'd like. For some reason, two showed up," Cheri frowned slightly. Getting two dolls to show up seemed uncommon for them. Without putting much thought into it V picked one. "Alright and now your safe word?" Right as that question was asked Johnny showed up again standing behind the desk. "Johnny?" V questioned without realizing she was speaking aloud. "Funny safe word but you should be good to go. Please put your weapons in one of the lockers and enjoy your stay! If you get cleared to retrieve Evelyn's things it will auto-update on your end so no need to worry about that." "Thanks." V gave a half-hearted smile before glaring daggers at Johnny who had made his way to the chair next to the weapon lockers. "Would have thought you'd get more options than only two." With you in my head, it messed up things. Johnny put his hands behind his head to stretch out. "That should have given you more options princess." V went back to ignoring him as she put her weapons in the locker.

It shouldn't be too hard to figure out how to get past security in a place like this. V had broken into many places with even higher security.  Her eyes moved from box to box checking each of the numbers she has already forgotten the one Cheri had told her to go to. Here and there a security guard seemed to be standing watch. All their blind spots seemed to be covered by cameras but not very well. "Hey look over here," Johnny showed up for V standing next to a room that was taped closed. "Think this might be worth looking into." Maybe room 11 was Evelyn's?  V asked opening it up to find even more caution tape and what looked like filming equipment. Scanning the room V found a few spots of blood on the bed and along the wall. Moving over to the equipment V realized it wasn't for recording it was for recovering. Fiddling with the buttons on the device V was able to make it turn on and start to play a projection of Evelyn with a client. It seemed to be going fine before a spark shot out of Evelyn's head causing her to roll around on the bed in pain. She then moved off the bed and hit the wall that had blood on it. "Might have to tell Judy about this when we get back," V stated turning everything off and locking the room back up. No one had noticed what she had done surprisingly. Some security this place had. V couldn't help but roll her eyes at the thought. Shoving her hands into her pants pockets V started to look around doing her best not to seem lost but, also not to look out of place. V found herself heading down the hall of booths, quickly scanning each one. All seemed to be in use with only Evelyn's being out of order. Reaching the end there was a staircase that was marked to show where the VIP booths were. The bouncer seemed to have stepped away making it easier for V to slip her way in. At the top of the stairs V could see a staff-only door with no one watching it. Easy in-and-out job for sure.

Slipping her way past a few cameras V found what looked to be the locker room. V was able to find Eve's locker pretty fast after entering the room. Slowly V opened the door just in case something might be inside that she didn't want to see but all that was inside was Evelyn's purse and work schedule for the month. "Think that's everything?" V asked closing the door hoping Johnny might show up. "There's probably a make..." "You okay?" Johnny asked making himself known again. V didn't reply while closing her eyes. V found herself sitting in a place she didn't remember going to with Judy before "I found some scrolls on her, they were corrupted but I was able to fix some of the data..." Judy told V before pausing. "Woodman had his way with her before sending." She started to fade out for V.

"V? Hey" Johnny sounded a little more panicky this time. This caused V to open her eyes and look at him. "Yeah just had a weird optical glitch again I think," The look Johnny gave her was clear he didn't buy what she was saying. "Think we can find an office for a guy named Woodman?" He nodded his head realizing what may have just happened. "Yeah shouldn't be too hard. You sure you're okay?" "Yeah just fine now." Right as V reassured him about being okay she got a text from Judy.

Just dropped Eve at my place. You still at Clouds? We need to talk. - Judy Read

Yeah just about done here. Where should we meet? - V Sent

Be there in 5 - Judy Read

"Seems like she knows about what you just learned." Johnny stated leading the way back into the hall before disappearing. V took a deep breath trying to collect her thoughts. The memory that came over her wasn't her own but at the same time, it was. The feeling was like when she remembered Johnny's memories but this time she was herself. With how Johnny was reacting it was clear he knew what was up but wasn't going to say anything to V. Cursing under her breath V forced herself to make her way to Woodmen's office. It wasn't too hard to find, Johnny was leaning against the window of an office. V watched as he began to smoke. "That's the bastard, you should be able to do a couple of hacks on him without anyone seeing or noticing." Johnny motioned to the window and he was right. The blinds had been opened the wrong way, instead of keeping people's view out it was making it so they could peak in. Woodman was behind his desk and unable to tell who or what might be outside his office. Without overthinking it V sent a couple of deamons to Woodman before making her way back downstairs out and to the front desk of clouds. Silently she grabbed her weapons and left. By the time she had left Clouds V knew Woodman was gone for good. Her vision started to get weird again. V could feel that she was going to have a seizure and the way Johnny was starting to act she could tell he felt it too. "Here I got you," Johnny somehow was able to take over enough to help her sit down. "This was harder on you than I thought it would be. Just wait it out until Judy gets here okay?" V let out a soft mhmm and nodded at him. Everything felt weird and everything hurt. Johnny had gotten them sat down just in time. Thankfully it wasnt a full blown seizure, but it was enough to cause worry. Once everything seemed to stop V noticed Judy was standing in front of them. "Van's parked out front you okay? You didn't get into a fight did you?" She asked seeing V's bloody nose "I'm fine, just overdid it some but I'm good." Standing up V followed Judy. It was clear Judy wanted to say something but couldn't. Once they had made it to the van trauma team and NCPD showed up rushing into the building. V couldn't help but give a nervous laugh as Judy shot her a look of "what did you do."

The ride to Judy's was quiet. Leading the way up some stairs Judy showed V her apartment and then took her to her at-home office. Sitting down she let out a sigh. "She's asleep now and Vik fixed her up good. I don't know how to thank you for finding her or even knowing what to do. With her being a doll we did some digging and found some things," Judy paused to collect her thoughts. All of this reminded V of the memory she had back at Clouds. "Woodman her boss did things to her... I don't know if she has memories of it but he had his way with her." V knew she had to say something to help Judy feel better, she could tell Judy felt gross saying everything. "I offed him," V interrupted, "Don't ask me why I just did, say it was a gut feeling that the man needed it." Judy looked shocked at what V had just told her but what they had seen while leaving started to add up and it was clear by her face. "You didn't." "I did, sent over a few daemons their security is bad." "I guess they never changed it," Judy gave a small laugh. "I'll keep an eye on Evelyn, Shouldn't be too hard while she's healing. You don't have to worry about her for a while I'd say. Once shes better I feel like she can help you with whatever you needed her for." "Tell her you can help even if it's for an hour." Johnny stated sharply as he leaned against Judy's window, He'd been there the whole time but V was just now noticing his prescents. "If you need me to help watch her even if it's just for a short amount of time please let me know." She wasn't sure why she kept listening to Johnny like she was but V did as she was told. "Yeah of course, thank you again V. I'll let you go, you've looked half dead since I met up with you again," Judy moved to lightly touch V's shoulder and smiled. "I promise to be in touch. We can go over more details later." V smiled back and nodded. "Yeah I probably should rest still in recovery myself but this was important." And after saying that V left Judy's place to make her way back to her own apartment building. Once she had entered her room V did a quick look around to see if Johnny was going to show himself. "Johnny we need to talk." V snapped waiting for him to show his face. He didn't answer...

[nercyar-ika]

I totally forgot to open up my ask box.... oopies well it's open now!