Cyberpunk 2077 - The Ballad of Lost Souls

V wakes up the next morning inside his tent. Doc Goodwill is checking on him, while Carol is playing with a tablet linked to his interface.

Goodwill: 'Morning V, finally awake.

V: Doc…What are you doin' here?!

Goodwill: My job. Head trauma, multiple lacerations including: face, shoulder, hands and torso… You know how to have fun, don't you?!

V: Thought day in the office, doc.

Goodwill smiles.

Goodwill: By the way I could spot Eric's work from a mile away. Thanks for bringing him here, it was good to talk with an old colleague.

V: What about Panam?! Is she alive?

Goodwill becomes serious and looks at Carol.

Goodwill: Yeah, she is fine but we'll talk about her later. For now, just lay down and rest.

Carol comes near V, holding a tablet.

Carol: V… I have to talk with you.

V: Don't say it. Am I dying?

Dakota looks down concerned.

V: Devastating news.

Carol hands the tablet over to V, the monitor show a bunch of blue and yellow lines on a charts

Carol: See these lines here?

V: Yeah.

Carol: They represent the amount of memory you consumed of this guy link. There is almost none left. I bought you some time. I upgraded your RAM and your link capacity, but I doubt It will help. Soon the stream of data will exceed the drive's capacity, it will overflow inside the RAM, becoming an unreadable mess.

V: Great, what about the other yellow lines over there?!

Carol: No idea. You tell me.

V: Can't you just… delete the other data?

Johnny: Like I will let you do that.

Carol: Impossible. It's like removing random chunks of data from a file, it will become unreadable. You will lose your mind, your memories and thoughts… There is also another thing.

V: What?!

Carol: This a scan of a healthy brain, mine to be precise. We took it yesterday when I connected to the Net. This is a scan of your brain.

V looks at the picture: Carol's brain is lightened up while V's is darker except in a bunch of spots.

Johnny: See?! Always knew you're not that smart.

V: What does this mean?!

Carol: Your… This guy's brain is completely toasted. All you have left are basic functions: walk, run, breath… stuff like that.

V: Damn Carol, go straight to the point!

Dakota: Synaptic exhaustion. Soon your brain will cease to function and you will fall into a coma. I'm… sorry.

V throws the tablet away and gets up from the bed.

V: Fuck this bullshit. I want to see her!

V gets out from his tent and walks straight to Panam's tent, Mitch and Cassidy are waiting outside of it along with Doc Goodwill.

V: Doc! Tell me… Is she ok?

Goodwill: Yeah, she will survive. They…broke her ribs, the eye's trauma is pretty bad. Don't know if she'll ever see from it again. 

Mitch crosses his arms looking down with a sad expression, trying to hold tears.

Goodwill: Now she's resting. I gave her something to clean her up, don't know what they injected her with, but it put her liver under a big load.

V: Thanks doc…

Goodwill turns around, while V puts his left hand over his shoulder.

V: Doc I'm sorry for… what happened back in the clinic. I…

Goodwill: V, don't worry the past is past.

Goodwill walks away, then V turns to Mitch.

Mitch: He lost his granddaughter four years ago. A cyberpsycho in Nix killed her, along with five other people.

V closes his eyes in shame.

V: How… How did you manage to find him?!

Mitch: I didn't. He came by himself… In my car.

Mitch walks away. V stands silently for a while then enters Panam's tent and sees her leaning on her bed with her eyes closed. The silence inside of the tent is broken periodically by a loud sound that comes out from a heart monitor attached to her. V grabs a chair and sits near to the bed.

V: Panam.

V's eyes begin to fill with tears.

V: I know that it will sound absurd but I'm Vincent. I can't even begin to describe you what happened but… I just want to say that I'm sorry… I'm sorry I did this to you.

V grabs Panam's hand. A single tear comes down from V's left eye.

V: I couldn't stand the pain. More than that I couldn't stand the fact that I was stuck in that fuckin' wheelchair. I was so blinded that I stopped seeing you and your pain… You're right Panam, I'm a selfish son of a bitch.

Panam starts holding V's hand, opening her mouth just slightly, enough to talk with a trembling voice.

Panam: I'm…The one who is sorry, V. I… I tried to come to terms with the idea of…Letting you go. But I just couldn't… I just can't.

Panam turns to V and opens both eyes. The left one is completely full of blood.

Panam: I see you, V.

V leaves Panam's hand and starts caressing her hairs, she closes back her eyes. V then gets up and walks outside the tent, where Eric is sitting on a chair just outside of it.

V: Eric?

Eric is watching a quotifax on a small tablet.

Tablet: And now our latest news: chaos and terror in the old city of Nix, where a group of nomads went on a blind rampage using a stolen military grade Militech tank, injuring several civilians and killing a dozen of MaxTac officers. The Vice Director of the Miltech operations Meredith Stout, refused to comment on the matter…

Eric closes the tablet, angry.

V: Eric?!

Eric: What?!

V: I want to talk with you.

Eric: About?

V: The plan. The Biotechnica's facility.

Eric looks at V straight into his eyes, enraged.

Eric: There is no plan.

V: What?!

Eric: You heard me.

V: But you said…

Eric gets up and gets closer to him.

Eric: I HAD a plan. A was a simple operation in a low security facility. Simple as that. Then the Arasaka came along, then the Militech and THEN YOUR STUPID FRIENDS WITH THAT FUCKING TANK!

V: My stupid friends saved your family and your sorry ass, have you already forgotten about that?! Beside, I don't get why you are so fucking angry.

Eric: Why?!… WHY?! Holy shit! You must be the stupidest son of a bitch I've ever met In my entire life! WE ARE FUCKING SCREWED, V! You and your friends are just a bunch of walking dead! Do you think that the corporations will just let you sunbathe in the middle of the desert?! They're probably already on their way, ready to stick their guns up our ass.

V: So now we have another reason to get inside that facility as fast as we can.

Eric grabs V by the shoulders.

Eric: V… Don't you get it?! The corporations TALK to each other! They EXCHANGE INFORMATION, OK?! By now they will have already strengthened the security of all the facilities in the area, including the Biotechnica one. AFTER THAT SHIT SHOW, YOU JUST NUKED OUR CHANCES TO GET IN!

V: We still have a tank and helicopter, plus a whole army of men.You shouldn't be that pessimistic.

Eric: A tank?! What tank?! The one you don't have any more ammo for? Please, V.

Eric turns away from him. V quickly grabs him by the shirt, almost lifting him into the air.

V: LOOK ASSHOLE, YOU WILL HELP ME OK?! I'M NOT ASKING!

Eric frees himself, pushing him away.

Eric: Or what?! All I can see is a desperate dying man with one arm…You are just the ghost of the Christmas past, V. I would feel sorry for you if I didn't find you pathetic. You know what I'm going to do?! Get the fuck out of here while my family is still alive, and you should too. 

Eric turns and walks away, looking one last time at him.

Eric: Good luck with Panam.

V: So this is what you are going to tell your son when he'll die between your arms?! That you just… gave up?!

Eric turns back and walks straight back to him.

Eric: Don't you ever… ever try to manipulate me, ok?! 'Cause you don't know SHIT about me.

Eric gets away, furious while V stands there for some time, then he slowly walks away and sits on a rock in the middle of the camp.

Johnny: V. We need to talk. Now.

V: The fuck you want from me, Johnny?!

Johnny: Reminding you that the time is almost over. We have to go.

V: Where?!

Johnny: Night City, V.

V suddenly stands up.

V: ENOUGH! ENOUGHHH! I can't take it anymore! All the problems in the world seem to weight on my fucking shoulders! Fuck Night City, fuck Alt and fuck you too!

Johnny: Know what?! Eric is right. You are fucking pathetic indeed.

V: WHY?! WHY?! Because I want to live?! Because I don't want to die alone, choking in my own blood like you?! Tell me.

Johnny: You can sugarcoat it as much as you want V, your time is over.

V: So I should sacrifice the little time I have left for… for what?! To be a hero?! To save the world?! Fuck it! You know what, Johnny? You are the one who is pathetic. You always need to be the main hero, be on stage. You just don't care how many people… how many lives you'll eventually destroy. Look what you did to me. You are just a talking tumor…a fucking desease.

Johnny: SO SUDDENLY IS MY FAULT, UHM?! Do you remember how I ended up in your head?! DO YOU?! Thought that the world was everything that ever mattered to you… Be somebody. Be remembered… And that's exactly what you got. Congratulations motherfucker.

V: You know why you came back to me?! 'Cause you're fucking alone, you always has been. Everyone remembers the legend but nobody remembers the man. I don't recall anyone crying on that tomb in the middle of nowhere.

Johnny: Want to talk about legacies, V?! Why don't you just look around?

V turns and sees Eric in the distance hugging Faith who is crying profusely, he turns again to his left and sees Doc Goodwill operating on an Aldecaldo laid over a metal table, covered in blood. Finally he turns to his right and sees Mitch, desperate, covering his face with both of his hands.

Johnny: Don't you see what you have done to these people?! How many of them are left since you have known them, uhm?!

V: I…

Johnny: Want to talk about Panam, V?! You think that she'll ever be the same?! She may still be alive, but a part of her died in that building in Nix and you know it.

V: I don't want to leave her again.

Johnny: V, I've already told you inside the Mikoshi, there is no happy ending for people like us. 

V sits back on the rock, holding his face with his left hand, trying to speak, almost crying.

V: Why…Why can't I tell her about this Johnny?

Johnny: Because she will follow you everywhere, even to hell itself, until there is nobody left to fight. She'll just wake up one day with no more friends, no more family, nothing. The fact that you are dying doesn't matter. The only possible ending for the both of you, is seeing the other one die. That's it.

V: It will break her Johnny.

Johnny: Yeah, maybe. Hopefully she'll start to use her head a bit more and become the leader these people deserve. With some luck they'll manage to cross the border and begin again.

V: But what about Eric? He said…

Johnny: HOLY SHIT! YOU ARE STILL TRUSTING THAT SLIMY ASSHOLE?! Damn, V! Can't you see It's just manipulating you?! Do you really believe that he would have risked it all, just for a good cause? He is scheming and planning behind your back…But you are just too blind to see it because all you seem to care about is Panam's ass.

V: FUCK YOU, JOHNNY!

Johnny: As you wish V, I'm not even mad. I'm just disappointed. I gave you the opportunity to correct your mistakes, but you just blew it up. You'ill always be remembered as the terrorist of the Arasaka Tower that doomed humanity. Mark my words: you'll regret this, big time. And when it will happen, there won't be Johnny boy to help you. 'Bye V.

V quickly stands up, panicking.

V: Johnny?! JOHNNY?!

V starts walking around nervously, when suddenly Mitch walks toward him.

Mitch: Hey, V!

V: Hi Mitch.

Mitch: Can you please come with me?

V: Sure.

Mitch and V start walking toward his tent where both the Basilisk and the Arasaka helicopter are parked.

Mitch: Worked all night long on that fucking helicopter along with Garry, the pilot was so fried that is practically melted with the sit and the console.

V: I'm sorry Mitch, but I don't see how I can help.

Mitch: I know, you can't. So just sit down.

V sits on a plastic chair inside the tent.

Mitch: We are going to do something for your arm: you look like a wasted mannequin…you're scaring everybody, V.

Mitch gets out an old, dusty black cyber arm and puts it on a table near him, along with a big drill.

Mitch: It's a little gift from the Unification War, it's a little bit old but, it will do… Now please stand still…

V: Uhm Mitch… maybe Goodwill should do it…

Mitch: Nah, he is still busy patching up some of the other guys. I'll do it.

Mitch starts disassembling V's sewered arm until one single metal rod remains exposed from his upper shoulder.

Mitch: Ok, we are almost done.

Mitch pushes with force the cyber arm inside the rod, V loses balance for a moment, he then proceeds to grab the big drill and tightens up some screws inside V's arms.

V: aaahhh… AHHHHH!

Mitch: C'mon V, don't be a baby.

V: Hold on…I've got a message on my interface.

Mitch: What does it say?

V: Missing driver.

Mitch: Well it should be expected. This thing is almost twenty years old, after all. You should be able to move it easily, but forget any fancy features.

V starts moving the arm, then the hand, closing and opening it.

Mitch: There you go. Wasn't that difficult, right?

V: Thanks Mitch.

Mitch: I've got one more thing for you.

Mitch turns to V holding his old Aldecaldos jacket, covered in dust. 

V: Miiiitchh! C'mon…

Mitch: Not gonna lie, I had some trouble digging it out. Still don't know what to make out of this whole thing.

V: Neither do I, Mitch. 

Mitch: Do me a favor, will you? Change your clothes. You look like a cheap private detective.

V changes his stained white shirt with a black one, then puts over it the Aldecaldos jacket, finally he changes his trousers for a pair of jeans.

Mitch: Now you look like one of us. Oh! I almost forgot, here.

Mitch hands to V a ruined phone.

Mitch: It's your old phone, somebody tried to reach you but I wasn't able to use it. Scan it, you should have all your data back.

V scans his old phone using his optics, a list of contacts and messages flashes before his eyes, then he gets up.

V: Thanks for everything, Mitch.

Mitch: Nothing, V. I'll never forget what you did for us and for Panam.

V looks away from Mitch, sad.

V: I did nothing Mitch. I dragged you all to hell with me.

Mitch puts his hand on V's shoulder.

Mitch: You know what, V?! We're all going die one day and that's a good thing. It gives a sense to our lives.

V smiles, then hugs him.

V: Thanks Mitch, you are a real friend.

Mitch: Now go, V.

V gets out of the tent, it's evening. The sun is starting to set, hidden between two big rocks behind the camp. Eric approaches V.

Eric: V… Can we talk for a minute?

V: No.

Eric: Look, V…

V: Seriously I don't get It why you are still here.

V raises his right arm.

V: As you can see somebody already gave me a hand. I don't need you anymore.

V turns back and starts to walk away.

Eric: I know how to save your life.

V turns back and walks near Eric, angry.

V: Now listen to me very carefully: I literally don't have time to waste with your bullshit, ok?! So you better start talking…Fast.

Eric: Come with me.

Eric and V start walking on a small hill where Eric's van is parked. Faith leans on the side of it, smoking a cigarette, she looks at V without saying anything. Eric opens the trunk revealing a small military suite attached with some kind of a cable connected to the floor of the car. 

V: That's what I think it is?!

V stretches his arm in the suitcase direction, Eric stops him, grabbing it.

Eric: Don't touch it. We are in the middle of the desert.

Eric quickly closes the trunk.

Eric: Got two. One for Max, one for you.

V: Where did you manage to find 'em?

Faith throws the cigarette into the sand and walks near V.

Faith: I'm still in contact with some old colleagues that changed teams. They owe me, big time. So they gave me these.

Eric: The facility. We called it "The Pit". We must head down two hundred feet below the surface, there we'll find what we're looking for.

V: Where is it?

Eric: Not far. One hour into the desert.

V: What are you goin' to do once we get inside?

Eric adjusts his glasses.

Eric: For Max is simple. I'll use a BD interface along with a modified sample of his DNA to transfer him inside a new body.

V: Is it going to be dangerous?

Eric: For him?! No. For you? Don't know. At this point God only knows what's happening inside your mind. I will connect you via Link to the Pit mainframe and you will decide.

V: Decide what?!

Eric: Who is going to live. You or Johnny or maybe… both.

V: Wait, Wha-What does it mean, both?!

Eric: Neural overimpression. I can theoretically fuse both of your minds into one…to be completely honest I don't know what is going to happen. The both of you will not know where one starts and the other one ends.

V: Sounds like some Frankenstein level shit to me, Eric.

Eric: I'm not saying you should do it. I'm only saying it's a possibility.

V: Let's meet back at the camp within an hour, we will discuss…

V suddenly stops and looks inside the car.

V: Wait a sec…Is there Max inside the car?!

Eric: Yeah, with air conditioning and everything…why?!

V: Why don't you just let him play with the others?

Eric looks down, concerned, crossing his arms.

Eric: He…Is not like the other kids.

V: Bullshit! They have seen weirder things than a kid in a wheelchair, trust me.

V gets near the right passenger door of the minivan, attempting to open it. Faith quickly blocks him, pushing him away.

Faith: I don't know what you are trying to do here. He has been stuck inside for nine years, he is risking his life just being in that car alone.

V: You know what, Faith?! Maybe he is sick, but you shouldn't treat him as if he were.

V pushes Faith away and opens the car door. Max is listening to a record player with a big pair of headphones.

V: Hey, Max! How are you doin'?

Max removes his headphones and looks at him.

Max: Mr V!

V: Want to come over? I'll show you around the camp.

Max: Dunno, mom will be upset.

V: I'll talk with her.

Max: Can I bring my guitar?

V: Sure, why not.

Max slowly grabs his guitar and stretches his right arm. V grabs him with both of his arms and puts him on his shoulders while Faith suddenly grabs his arm.

Faith: Just… Be careful.

V: Wanna stop me?! Shoot me then.