Cyberpunk - V Reborn - Chapter 3 - Vik.

[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]
Third Person POV

Watson, Nightcity.

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V felt strange amid the darkness, as if floating through space without stars or celestial bodies, just darkness around him. He felt a vision appearing at that moment, his entire past life seemed to replay like a film in front of him: his actions, the consequences, his relationships, his emotions. Everything began to rewind in his mind, like a tape replaying everything. He couldn't do anything about it and was feeling peculiarly frustrated.

"Johnny?!" He murmured, hoping to find the first person who would be there.

But there was no response from the darkness. "Johnny!?" he shouted once more.

"You better wake up, V." Johnny's voice emerged for the first time.

"Where are you?" He didn't stop asking.

Then there was finally a change in that space, as he felt someone approaching, he simply used his memory thinking it might be a threat and, even still awakening, quickly grabbed whoever had approached.

Then everything cleared up, he found himself in a dark place with some neon lights and a monitor next to him, seeing immediately that he was in a mechanic's, he moved his eyes and saw that he was grabbing Vik, while holding a surgical knife at his neck, while the man looked at him scared.

Everything seemed silent as V, or now, David Martinez, heard someone arriving at the place and getting startled by that scene while taking a deep breath.

David, looked around bewildered for half a second, while he calmly let go of Vik, "Sorry about that, man..." He said awkwardly.

Vik stepped back while breathing with some minimal difficulty and massaged his neck. "I can't say I'm happy about this..." He began with his accent. "But I'm also surprised, I used to be a heavyweight boxer, you have quick reflexes kid..." He said, although V already knew Vik's story, he nodded.

"I'm confused... what happened?" David asked with his young voice.

He looked and saw Misty who had arrived and was looking at him with attentive and scared eyes. She seemed to get even more scared seeing him up close. "You! I can see something in you... You should play poker later." She said.

"Sorry, I'm not very lucky with that kind of game." David responded, not wanting to see his future anymore, which was never good. He turned his gaze back to Vik waiting for an answer to his question.

"You were agitated and screaming for a Johnny, so I went to give you a sedative and you grabbed me." He said.

"Not that, before that." David asked, after all, he only remembers falling in the middle of the street, thinking he was going to die.

"Well, you were brought to me by a girl. It's been 2 days since you came and you've been in a coma since then. She asked me to remove your Sandevistan, and also to save your life." He spoke and V felt his back, sensing that there had been surgery.

Vik continued watching this, "As you can see, I removed it and put in a standard spine because she paid me and you would have died with that poorly installed equipment. Make sure you never show up in my mechanic's shop again, I don't know how you were still alive." He spoke and David just nodded before continuing.

"What was the model of the Sandevistan?" He asked.

"An Apogee, 2076, top of the line from Militech..." Vik responded, and David had to whistle at that.

"I was robbed with legendary equipment..." David commented, though he wondered how a kid like that managed to get such equipment.

"Anyway..." Vik continued. "You owe money to this contact," he said while showing a card.

"I will collect this money soon." The card read with a number.

"I understand..." David spoke, he was back to square one, with no equipment again and having to start all over. 'Alright, I can rise up faster than before.' He thought, at least he was alive this time, and was already planning his next steps.

But not before getting an answer that Vik might give him, "Can I ask a question..." He began while still sitting in the surgical chair. "Do you know someone named V?" He asked cautiously.

"V?" Vik raised an eyebrow. "What about him?" He said with a furrowed brow.

"Do you know where he is, I haven't heard from him again, I'm from Watson too..." David said, making up an excuse.

"Well... seems like you didn't hear..." Vik spoke more naturally, but there was a certain darkness in his voice. "He died in Atlanta a few months ago." He said, leaving David surprised by this.

"He died?!" He exclaimed louder than he intended. A hologram sound emerged next to him.

"Holy shit... This is getting weirder and weirder..." Johnny spoke for the first time after just hiding.

David ignored Johnny, still stunned and since no one else could see Johnny, they all just looked at him surprised by how he was dealing with the news.

"Yes... we received the news over a month ago... sad... I knew him well, he was someone who should have made it to the A series." Vik spoke in a melancholic tone.

'He made it, Vik, you can be sure of that!' David snapped out of his daze and responded to Vik with that thought, after all, he had become a legend in Nightcity.

His thought shifted to another person. "And Jackie Welles?" He quickly asked.

Vik looked at David for a moment and then shifted his gaze to Misty, who had been by his side the whole time and silent. "I think she can answer that..." He said.

Misty was a bit embarrassed but decided to answer, "I am getting to know Jack... Are you a friend of his?" She asked.

"Yes... No!" He answered, a bit tangled, after all, he was really happy that Jack was alive this time or at least he was still alive. But he couldn't say he knew him, after all, Jack would point his gun at him as soon as they talked, hoping that at least Jack would invite him to lunch afterward like in the old days.

"This guy is the one who helped you steal from Saburo's son?" Johnny asked, and David just nodded.

"Here are your medications, for healing." Vik handed some medications to V, who nodded, taking them. He started to try to stand up and saw that his spine was in good condition, managing to walk, though he could expect such work from Vik.

"Thank you, Vik," David spoke as Vik looked back at him. "By the way, how do you know me, after all? I've never treated you, I'm sure of that. Otherwise, you wouldn't be in this situation," he said, looking at him sharply at that moment.

David scratched his head a little before responding: "I heard you were a good mechanic," he commented.

"Well... that's strange... The girl told me that you were specifically looking for me when you were dying in the middle of the street, I doubt someone who's dying would call a mechanic they just heard about..." He said, looking at David with a suspicious gaze, after all, this kid was very strange, knowing not only about V, but also about the guy Misty was seeing.

However, in the end, he just sighed, putting it aside, and turned back to the boy, "Anyway, I'm glad I could help," he said as he sat down and turned on his TV with a boxing match happening at that moment.

"Do I owe you anything?" David asked as he was leaving.

"Well, not to me," he said, "but to the girl who brought you here," He said, pointing to the card still in David's hand. He looked at the card once more and nodded, unsure what to think about the person who had robbed and saved his life at the same time.

'I'll look into this later and find out who this person is.' David thought and turned back to Vik, saying goodbye.

"I'm heading out then, thanks for everything, Vik." he said, and Vik nodded.

"Can you take him out?" Vik spoke again to Misty, and Misty nodded, looking at David and waving for him to follow her. Both began to ascend the stairs, entering an alley behind Misty's shop and entering it from the back.

And the shop was filled with mystical items, which Misty uses for her sessions to look into the future through tarot cards.

"You know..." She began, leaning on the counter. "When I saw you, I realized there's something very strange about you." She said and continued, "It's weird, it's like you've been given a second chance... Like you have a chance to start over." She spoke confusedly and continued, "but not only that, it's like another person is sharing the same fate as you."

'A second... chance... I like to think of it that way...' David couldn't help but think about it as he considered what he had heard, and it wasn't the first time he was hearing the second part of her statement, after all, Misty had said the same thing to him in his past life.

He just shrugged, "I might have heard that before..." He merely commented.

"Are you sure you don't want to play a tarot card game?" She asked once again.

He just shook his head. "No, thanks. I'd rather not," he said sincerely, not wanting to engage in that anymore.

"Alright... Before I forget, I washed this for you." She said and picked up his jacket from behind the counter.

David nodded, taking his Jacket and putting it on, he was wearing just a medical bandage on his upper body with pants they had given him, so he was thankful he didn’t have to walk out shirtless on the streets after surgery.

"I'm going, goodbye." David said in the end, and Misty nodded.

"See you, David, take care." She said, and he left.

Johnny suddenly appeared with his usual holographic sound while leaning on a pillar near the store's exit and crossing his arms. "So, what's the plan?" he said.

"I'm not sure yet, just got more questions and no answers," he said, after all, everything was very strange. As he stepped out the door onto a street full of beggars.

"Your this-life self died, and now your future self entered this kid's body, I'm tied to you and I'm sure you don't have the biochip in your head, what a trip...." Johnny murmured walking alongside David.

David looked into his pocket and pulled out some cards from his pocket, there was the card of the mysterious woman who had brought him here, stolen his prosthesis, and still charged him what he thought was outrageous. "I'll look into this later," and he passed the card and looked at the one below, the card for his identity as David Martins. "Better see who this kid is then we'll act, after all, we're back here in Night City..." David spoke.

"The city that never sleeps!" Johnny commented beside him.

David nodded, after all, he was here again, ready to start over in a different time. "Whatever, Johnny, let's go to the A series again!" he said and started walking out of that busy street and onto the main ones, passing by various people while his yellow jacket swayed, following the streets of Night City.