Cyberpunk: Archangel

Chapter 14: The Reunion

Night City, International and Translunar Spaceport, July 17, 2081

The space plane arrived back at the Night City spaceport with no interruptions. As the hatch to the outside world opened, Michael and Lucy stepped out. Lucy held her arm over her eyes as they adjusted to the sunlight. Standing in front of them was Falco, awaiting their arrival. "Well well well...." Falco said enthusiastically as he saw Lucy step out of the plane. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Falco...." Lucy replied as she smiled. "It has been a long time, hasn't it?"

"We gotta head to the Afterlife," Falco explained. "V's got something for both of you. We'll do some catching up on the drive there."

"V?" Lucy asked, clearly confused. "Fixer we've been working with."

Lucy's expression turned to that of concern, and she crossed her arms. "A Fixer, huh?" she asked, unamused. "If he's anything like Faraday...."

"Don't worry." Falco reassured her. "This guy's not like the other Fixers we've had to deal with in the past. You'll get it when you meet him."

"If you trust him, then I trust him." Lucy replied in a positive tone. The three walked to the exit of the Spaceport, and headed to the Afterlife.

The trio entered the Afterlife, which was unusually empty, aside from those who worked with Rogue. Michael walked over to Rogue and V, who were sitting down in the usual place, and talking. They turned their heads to look at Michael as they heard him stepping in. "Hey, Michael." V greeted in a casual manner. He turned to look at Lucy, and smirked. "And you must be Lucy," he said enthusiastically. "Falco's given you a good word, and I'm looking forward to working with you."

"I.... suppose so," Lucy replied quietly. V reached down, and pulled out another one of those gray suitcases. "My contacts reached back out to me, and they're planning on sending us some reinforcements for when we storm Eden." V explained. "They should be getting here by tomorrow. In the meantime, I got something I think you should have, Lucy. Consider it a token of good will."

V tapped a password into the number pad on the case and it popped open. Reaching inside, he pulled out an item that Michael wasn't entirely expecting; a neon yellow Emergency Medical Technician jacket. Painted on the back of the jacket was the same green "E" and "R" on the side of Falco's Devillon. As V took the jacket out, Lucy gasped, and her eyes grew wide. "Where...." She stuttered, as her eyes began to water. "Where the hell did you get that?"

"Back when I was a Merc, Falco gave it to me," V explained. "I accepted it, obviously, but it didn't feel right.... Like the jacket didn't belong to me. And now that you're here, I'm giving the jacket to you. I believe it should be yours to keep."

V reached out to hand the jacket to Lucy, and she took it out of his hands, gazing at the jacket longingly. She stayed silent for a moment, as a single tear flowed down her cheek. "Thank you, V...." she muttered, as she put the jacket on.

V closed the suitcase, and put it back where it was. He then reached over, and pulled out a second suitcase, this one looking a bit sturdier. "And now, another gift for you, Michael." V said, as he typed the password into the number pad, and the case let out a hiss of air as it slid open. V reached in, and pulled out some sort of device that Michael had never seen before. It almost looked like some sort of metal spine. "When I heard that Smasher went to Eden with the Possessed, I figured we'd need something to give us an edge," V explained. "This right here is a Militech Apogee Sandevistan, an expensive Military-Grade operating system. This one was once used by David Martinez, and later, used by me."

"Hot damn...." Michael muttered to himself as he walked closer to inspect the Cyberware. "This is some preem tech. How come you stopped using it yourself?"