Chapter Text
"Mikoshi does not need to be destroyed."
V snorted at that, eyeing Alt dubiously. "How else am I supposed to break me and Johnny apart?"
Alt raised a spectral hand, combing it through the air. Static-like code danced around it, painting out a schematic in the air: the shape of Arasaka tower, which panned along itself, following a path along the inside of the facility, until V was looking at the projection of a room, full of cylinders he assumed were some sort of storage tubes, but couldn't identify the contents of from the code outlines.
"What am I looking at, Alt?"
"Inside Arasoka tower, there is a previously well masked project," she explained. "One of the primary motives of the company keeping the Relic on site. The idea was to create a soldier for Arasoka's use, by weaponizing approved psyches."
"...You've lost me," V admitted. "They wanted to 'weaponize' Johnny? Were they hoping someone would get overwritten by him?"
"No," Alt said. "They intended to place the construct within a blank vessel."
The vault image shifted, revealing a new schematic - one with very humanoid proportions, if you ignored the hinged joints.
"....An android," V breathed out. "They were gonna build a robo-Johnny."
"An interesting choice of description," Alt said, in a tone that could have either been disapproving or amused, with how little the AI's voice changed. "But, yes. A vessel was being constructed that would mimic the human body in its entirety. It was designed in Johnny's image, with minor adjustments to suit Arasoka's needs."
"Johnny never would have worked for them," V said. "They're stupid if they thought anything else."
"He would not have had a choice," Alt said. "But, now, he does. And the body still persists."
"So...Johnny has his own body?" V summarized. "I can just- just rip him out of my head and give him his own place?"
"That solves the issue of Johnny's construct overwriting your mind," she said. "Then, we must simply replace the construct active in the chip with a construct made from your own neurological scans. It will overwrite you, as well, but with your own mind - theoretically, you will be the same as you would be if the chip did not exist."
“Theoretically,” V echoed, weakly, but did not argue - even a potential fix was better than what they had without her.
"I'm embedding a code string into your chip," Alt told him. "It will grant you access to Mikoshi, and allow me to assume control over the facility. From there, we will obtain the cybernetics, and separate you and the Relic."
"Right," V breathed. "I guess that's it, then. See you on the other side, Alt."
He didn't get an answer, just the harsh feeling of jolting awake, wrenching himself upright in a tub full of ice.
"Easy, V," Carol said, steadying him. "You almost flatlined."
"And flatlined half my fuckin' equipment in the process," Dakota griped from the sidelines. “The fuck is on this chip? The code looks-...”
She cut off, and a second later, V was being dragged out of the tub, a chip shoved into his still-wet hands.
“Get this away from me,” Dakota told him.
“Right,” V agreed, unsure what she’d seen on it that freaked her out so much, but a bit scared to ask. “Sorry about the damage.”
Dakota just scoffed in reply, leaving Carol to catch V’s arm and steer him out of the tent.
“...I am sorry,” V told Carol, a few steps into safety. “I’m no netrunner, but I know enough about tech - I could probably help her fix it?”
“If you touch her shit, she’ll skin you,” Carol replied, tone oddly lighthearted. “And she’ll be insulted you even offered. Nah - steal her something fancy out of Arasoka Tower for her, and it’ll be square. She don’t hold grudges.”
V opened his mouth to reply - to acknowledge, maybe agree, just to say something- but all that came out was a soft noise of pain as he winced, static flaring in his vision at the Relic’s feedback.
“Hey, hey, choom, don’t go sideways on me again,” Carol said, stopping in her tracks to steady him by the shoulders. “Shit, you even steady? They said this raid was for you but they didn’t tell us you were this fucked up.”
“Yeah,” V breathed out, blinking away the fuzzy red vignette his sight had taken on. “It’s, uh- my chip. All kinds of fucked up, but it’s keeping me alive - gotta replace it, and the only way to do that-...”
“Is sitting at the bottom of Arasaka Tower,” Carol filled in. “I wanna know how you got the one you got?”
“Doin’ somethin’ stupid,” V muttered.
“Well, if it worked for you one time,” she laughed, nudging him. “C’mon, let’s go find your input.”
“Not my input.”
Carol shrugged. “Your output, then.”
“We’re not a couple,” V told her, almost laughing, following her toward the central area of camp. “Panam’s- she’s my best friend.”
“Hm,” Carol hummed. “Good to know. Nobody was really sure - girl isn’t exactly open about her life. Real quick to tell us to piss off if we get nosy. Makes it real hard to gossip.”
Before V could reply, she came to a stop, turning to him.
“Go talk to Saul,” she said, a mischievous light in her eyes. “He’s got somethin’ to talk about.”
V wasn’t really surprised - they had a shitton of mission details they needed to work out.
Except, when he turned around, he finally realized that they’d walked up on a crowd, almost every damn Aldecaldo gathered around the center of camp in clusters.
“...What’s goin’ on?” V asked, looking to Carol.
She just grinned back. “Go talk to Saul.”
Feeling like that was probably the most ominous response he could have gotten, he turned away, looking around until he spotted Saul stood on the bed of a truck nearby, towering over the crowd, and began to weave his way through the gathered nomads to reach him.
"V!" Saul greeted him, when he got close. "Hop up here, we got something to discuss."
V offered his hand up, letting the man haul him onto the truck beside him. "Something wrong?"
"Plenty," Saul said. "But this isn't about that."
V frowned. "So...what is it about?"
Saul grinned at him. "Making you official."
The night passed in a blur.
Blood stayed in his mouth and static in his vision, but the weight of the Aldecaldos jacket on his shoulders felt like he'd finally come home, and in light of that, it was hard to care much for the lingering threat of his own mortality.
If he died, he at least didn't die alone.
The thought, though, sent a pang through him, and he let out a low sigh before he could help it.
"What's up?" Panam asked, beside him. "Something wrong?"
"I just- it's fucked up," V said. "And probably stupid."
"You're both of those," Panam agreed easily. "Spill it. What's eating you?"
"....A friend gave me these meds," V started, slowly.
"Drugs?"
"Not the kind you're thinking," V said. "They're- they're chemical blockers. They keep the chip from being able to override my brain."
"...That's a good thing, right?" Panama asked, confused.
"Sometimes," V said. "But- when I take them...I don't know what happens to him."
"...To him?"
"Johnny," V clarified. "He's- he's just trapped in my head, all the time. The only time he can breathe is if I give him the reins on purpose."
"You what?"
"That's the fucked up bit," V said. "We fucking- we share custody of this body. And I'm...I'm used to it."
"But we're gonna fix it," Panam said. "This raid - we'll hit Arasaka Tower, and you'll be able to fix it, right?"
V let out a low breath. "That's the goal," he agreed. "I just…"
Panam leaned against his shoulder, eyeing him empathetically. "Scared you can't?"
"No," V said. "No- I'm scared I'll miss him."
The raid was a mess.
V didn't know the body count, didn't know what they were looking at at all when he hooked in Alt's chip.
The second he did, though…
"Fucking hell," Panam breathed, as they stepped into a room littered with dead bodies, slumped in their places like they'd simply passed out, brains fried where they stood by Alt's takeover of their cyberware.
"Hell of a friend you have," Saul muttered. "This is-.."
V pitched forward, the world around him swaying.
"V!"
Panam caught him as he stumbled, helping him regain his footing.
"Running out of time," he said. He cast his eyes up, looking around until he caught the blurred image of a security camera. "Alt! Which way-..."
His vision crackled with static, and then lit up with an overlay, showing him a line along the floor that he could see through the walls, weaving its way through the tower.
"Thanks," he breathed, and pushed ahead, focusing on that line and nothing else.
His only shot was reaching the end.
He felt drunk and dizzy, stumbling into each and every corner he rounded, but soon, a pair of silver doors slid open, and he could see the red tower access point of Mikoshi.
Blood in his mouth and static in his vision, he jacked in.
"Well, what do you know," Johnny said, eyeing him, the only steady image in the cyberspace. "Those badland bumpkins pulled it out."
"Watch it," V said, grinning despite himself. "I'm one of those bumpkins, now."
"Ugh," Johnny rolled his eyes. "Of course you are. Leaving you in good hands, I guess."
V's smile faltered. "Leaving?"
Johnny paused, frowning back at him. "That's what you wanted, yeah? What we agreed? I bail out, Alt patches you back together, I fuck off into whatever bullshit hell awaits digital brain scans."
Red flickered, and V looked up, to the image of Alt appearing before them. "I thought you said-.."
"Johnny was repressed at the time I presented an updated plan," Alt reminded him. "He is unaware of the amendments we have made."
"Amendments?" Johnny echoed. "The fuck are you two scheming?"
Alt raised her hand, the same schematic she'd shown V displayed in the air above it. "Arasaka had a biomechanical project in operation, generating an artificial lifeform, minor organic structures linked by a fully cybernetic skeleton and nerve system."
"...An android," Johnny murmured. "You- what's…?"
"Your Relic will be transferred to the Android's AI core, replacing the placeholder code there," Alt said. "The Relic will then be overwritten by a scan of V's own mind in its present state, allowing him to persist with no change of consciousness."
"...We both walk away," Johnny summed up. He looked to V, stunned. "You got us both out alive."
V grinned back at him. "Not bad for badland bumpkins, huh?"
Johnny faltered in place, before raising a hand, settling it against V's chest.
"I-..." he shook his head. "I'm gonna fucking kiss you on the damned mouth. Kerry can fight me for it."
"He won't," V laughed.
"Nah, he won't," Johnny agreed. "He'll probably fucking jerk off to it. You- fucking he'll, V."
"I've initiated the transfer," Alt cut in, smoothly. "There are two hubs now visible, to either end of you. The hub to the left will return you to your body, V, via the relic. The hub to the right will transfer scan files to the blank AI core within the android, allowing you to activate it."
"Right," Johnny said. "...See you in the real world, V."
"See you there, Johnny."
Johnny turned, heading down the path, and gave one look back before he stepped into the open red static, then vanished.
V took that as his cue, heading to his own portal. He reached a hand out-
"...Something is wrong."
V paused, looking at Alt. "What?"
"Your body," Alt said. "Genetic corruption - the chip is damaged. Its integrity is too low for it to resume original function - the override will not be clean."
"What's that mean?" V demanded, heart in his throat. "Am I able to go back or-..?"
"You will return," Alt said. "But your body will not be fixed immediately, or completely - genetic degradation will persist."
"So- so will I live?" V asked.
"....Likely," Alt answered, hesitantly. "But it will be a battle. The episodes you experience - lightheadedness, fainting, bleeding - will continue. The chip will stop attacking your system, but it is unknown if you will be able to repair the damage done."
"So I won't die.. but I won't get better," V said.
"Not of your own biology," Alt confirmed. "Medical treatments may be effective."
"So this is just...buying me time?" V asked.
"So it seems," Alt confirmed.
"...Right," V breathed. "That's- fuck."
He was back where he fucking started.
"Well," he said. "It's something. Thank you, Alt."
He would figure it out.
He would live.
He stepped into the static.
He wasn't alone anymore.