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She panted as she slid down one of the glowing pillars, before her panting turned into a coughing fit. As her fit subsided, she wiped the now-typical splatter of blood off her hand, onto her coat, before she struggled to her feet and made her way towards the kneeling form of Smasher as he jolted and sparked. After stumbling her way up to Smasher, she drew the Malorian she usually kept locked up in her armory, not willing to risk any damage to one of the few surviving pieces of her father. Smasher followed the gun on its journey from the inside of her coat to pressing against what little flesh remained on his forehead, recognition and a little surprise were discernible despite the minimal expressible humanity left on his face. “D-dad sends his regards you-” she coughed, “-ugly fuck.” Through Smasher's half-century of mechanical inhumanity, V could see the last remnants of his human side come to the surreal realization - and through his inhumanity, she saw what little was left of his face twist into deeply human confusion and shock, before she squeezed the trigger. The boom of the Malorian drowned out her wheezing cough.
“Come on kid, we’re almost at the finish line here, it’d be embarrassing if you kicked it now,” came the ever-witty interjection from her ever-present companion. “T-thanks dad, encouraging as always,” she coughed out as she made her way to the last door separating her from the access point. She barely made it three steps into the room before she stumbled and collapsed on the cold metal floor, letting out coughs that sounded more like sobs. “You can’t fail now Val, you’re in the same goddamn room! Get up kiddo!” With what little strength she had left, V dragged herself across the catwalk leading to her end goal. Upon reaching it, she blindly slapped around on the pillar from her position on the ground till she found the link cable and pulled it with her as she half rolled, half crawled to the edge of the platform. “If things go wrong or if I don’t have another chance to say it, I love you dad.” V panted out as she jacked the link cable into the port on the side of her head, not expecting a reciprocation from her emotionally stunted father. However, as she lowered herself into the liquid surrounding the platform and began to drift off, she heard a soft, somber, “I love you too kid.”
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It had been difficult seeing Jackie again, knowing it hadn’t really been him, had only been a phantom, had been nothing less than crushing. Though being able to sit down next to her father and feel his shoulder under her head as she leaned on him had cheered her up, however marginally. After a moment of just enjoying being able to feel him, she cleared her throat and asked the dreaded question. “So, when do we start?” Johnny sighed, “It’s already been done kid, Alt’s already split us up.” V let out a quiet “Oh,” before she addressed the cyberspace around them, “So, Ms. Cunningham, what's next?” Like a genie called from a bottle, Alt appeared before them, “I am currently verifying the checksum and eliminating engram copy errors in the process.” V stiffened only for a moment before relaxing back against her father. “Right, I guess it makes sense you’d make me into a-”
“I’ve discovered something with my access to Arasaka systems that I suspect you’ll want to know”
V looked at her dad before looking back at Alt and gesturing for her to continue.
“Several levels below this one, there are cryogenic storage units, each containing a body. The third of which is identified as one Robert Linder.”
Both V and Johnny sat up in surprise. V practically beamed at her father, “I wonder why they’ve got that old relic lying around.” Johnny lightly smacked her on the back of the head before turning to Alt, “Don’t fuck with me Alt, are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“Yes, reinsertion of your engram should be relatively simple. The same can not be said for V.”
With that, any joy between the two evaporated.
“There is one aspect I failed to take into account. The body as a key factor in this transaction.” V tuned out the rest of what Alt said, only catching the part about her having six months to live unless she and Johnny found some other solution to her problem. V only really perceived bits and pieces of what was being said as she burrowed further into her dad’s arms as she hyperventilated.
Eventually she was shaken out of her stupor by her father; she was being held against his chest as they were perched on the edge of what she had heard Alt call “the well”. Then, falling out her mouth came a quiet, “I’m scared dad.” Johnny’s arms tightened around her, “Yeah it’s lookin’ pretty fuckin’ bleak kid, but there’s gotta be something out there that’ll help you. I don’t care if I have to kiss Hanako’s waxed porcelain ass to get it, we’ll find a fix.” V weakly chuckled, “I believe you dad.”