HANNA: I can’t find her! Neither on floor 83, nor on the neighbouring floors! They completely vanished once they entered the elevator!

RAHUL: Calm down. They have to be somewhere. We had the hurricane the whole week, but its letting up. If they live there, now’s the time they would show themselves.

HANNA: I already checked the resident contracts. Every single-mother with a child Lisas age has camera footage! I’m telling you, they do not live in that building!

RAHUL: Alright, that’s something. They will have left somehow. Maybe they camped out a bit in a camera blind spot?

HANNA: I’ll check the exits. Maybe the garage has something.

RAHUL: Alright, preem. Don’t worry Hanna. We’ll find your choom. I’ll ask my dad for some resources, you know you can rely on me.

HANNA: Yeah. Thanks. I’ll get to that footage. Talk later.

RAHUL: Don’t overwork yourself, we’ll make a happy ending. Talk later.

#---------------------

Lisa groggily came to. Stark, harsh sunlight streamed through her bedroom window, driving stinging fingers into her face. Usually Lisa would be out of bed by the time the sun sunk low enough to peak around the skyscraper on the other side of the street, but she didn’t have school anymore. There was nothing at the moment to drag her out of bed in the morning. Peaking through heavy eyelids she recognized the metal grates that passed for blinds in most buildings in night city. These particular blinds though were rusted in places and couldn’t open fully anymore. They had contacted the megabuilding manager to get somebody to fix them, but big fat mister Higgins cared just as much as Lisa about actually fixing them. There wasn’t anything to see out of the window of her room in megabuilding H2, so the blinds stayed broken.

Shadows flitted through the rays of light. AVs were busily making their way across the skyline, sometimes passing through just the right place to cast shadows into Lisas room. Right now, the light was falling through one of the rising advertisement holograms that lined most skyscrapers, making the harsh blinding fingers modulate in intensity. It was the perfect kind of annoying, acting like one of those alarm clocks that used light as the alarm. Lisa groaned and turned around, trying to hide beneath her blanket, but it wasn’t working. No matter how she turned or drew up the blanket, the pointy fingers of light kept stabbing her face. Lisa resigned herself to her fate.

While trying to get her eyes to clear up, she swung herself slowly from her bed, rising to a stand. Sleepiness made every movement feel like she was walking on clouds, the very air itself providing more buoyancy then usual. Everything felt floaty, making Lisa almost tumble. She was still so very tired, so she didn’t care that the light kept poking her eyes as she laid on her bed. …Just five more… minutes… Some time passed where Lisa drifted in and out of sleep, undeterred by the annoying rays. Eventually she heard the shuffling of footsteps. She knew these steady measured steps that made less sound than they should. Her mom had come to check on her. Lisa mumbled a bit when her mom came up next to her, appearing as an indistinct shadow. “… mom… I told you… my room…” Lisa could feel her mom smiling and reach down to pat her head, but Lisa brought up her hands to block her. “… mom… I’m to… old for that…” The expected hand never came and her raised hands did little to block out the light from the window. The footsteps moved over toward the window and the shadow leaned back against it. Lisa sighed and dropped her arms back down. Guess… it’s time to… get up.. With a sigh she swung her legs, once again, off of her bed.

And was confused when she was still lying on her bed afterward. Her sleep addled mind couldn’t make any sense of what had just happened. She tried again, tossing her blanket back, seeing her legs rise as she lifted them through the floaty air. She kept looking at them as her feet touched the textured ceramic of the floor. But just as she pushed off the bed, closely watching her legs, Lisa also saw the top of her blanket, still covering her body, while lying in bed. Both versions were overlapping, as if reality couldn’t decide what was real and had decided to just not care anymore. “…What the…” Lisa tried to blink to clear her vision and get a closer look, but the next moment she realized that she hadn’t even lifted her head to look down. She was still lying on her back, on her bed, covered by her blanket. Confusion steadily made way for alarm as Lisa reached up with her hands to lift her head, when the muscles in her neck didn’t work. She could feel them flex and tense and strain against the expected weight of her head, but was still facing the ceiling. With her hands she lifted her head and unexpectedly, she could feel her neck bend and also not bend, as her hands passed through where her brain should be. “… Am I not… awake...?” She tried lifting or turning her head again and still got both versions of reality. “…This is a… dream?” Slowly her sleep addled mind cleared up.

The light kept stabbing her eyes. “Ugh… I need to… wake up...” The shadow she thought was her mom was still standing at the window. Lisa paused a moment to take stock of everything, to try and determine what was real and what wasn’t. What was dream and what wasn’t. “It’s time. Come on, get up.” Lisa snapped her head to the side.

The headache from learning to shoot so many guns still ravaged her mind. The wind outside had let up significantly, no longer whipping the rain nearly parallel to the ground. The hurricane was now just some very heavy rain. The sounds of water smashing against the blinds had subsided, replaced by the indistinct splatter of rain against the pavement two stories down. Lisa was lying on her back on the couch in their living room, right where she crashed. It hadn’t been sunlight that bothered her. It was the ceiling light that was blinding her. Her mom was sitting on the floor, leaning back against the couch, doing something. With her head leaning to the side, Lisa was hit with a sudden bout of vertigo. From one moment to the next, her perspective shifted, and she was lying on the ceiling, before gravity returned to normal, but seemingly not stabilizing, as if gravity was a kid hovering its hand over a reverse button with a huge mischievous grin, just waiting to flip everything on its head again. Lisa managed to roll over far enough to not hit the couch with vomit as she hurled. Her mom wasn’t so lucky though. A bit splattered on her pants.

“Shit, Lisa!” Barbara jerked to the side, dropping whatever she was doing. Lisa was to preoccupied with heaving the little remains of her breakfast onto the floor, hoping the fucking kid rapidly smashing his reverse button as fast as he could wouldn’t actually make her stomach juices fly back at her. She felt a hand firmly placed on her back and another pulling some strand of her hair to the side. “Fuck! That’s it, we’re going to Vic!” Thankfully, other people’s reality wasn’t shifting. Her vomit stayed firmly on the floor, despite Lisas senses screaming at her to avoid the spot of nasty liquid on the ceiling. “Delamain, get me a cab to Vic’s clinic!” She heard her mom hurry out of the room. There was some rummaging, but Lisa was wrangling her stomach back under control and couldn’t care less. It took an enormous amount of concentration to convince herself that gravity was not changing rapidly, and the world was not spinning at high speeds. Taking shuddering breaths and coughing up the last bit of acids stuck in her throat, she managed, somehow.

Until her mom rushed into the room and broke her concentration. “Come on, I’ll carry you.” Her insides cramped up and tried desperately to push out anything, but she drew empty. Her mom was wrapping her in a blanket and pushed a large bag into her right and some tissues into her left hand. Working to get her body back under control wasn’t helped by her mom quickly picking her up. Lisa was absolutely miserable. Tears streaming down her face, breaths coming in wheezing gasps, broken up by trying to hit the bag clenched in her hand with any part of her that wanted out. Why am I trying to hit the bag? Do I want to reclaim this stuff later? Lisa drifted back into that dreamland were movement was fucky.

Reality got inconsistent. She heard her mom talking, to her and on the phone, but didn’t register any words and she was sure they had already entered the Delamain when they got in and the door closed again. Her headache wasn’t affected by any shaking her mom didn’t manage to mitigate, already to delirious to even notice. Eventually she felt her body stop moving. The world kept turning though. Her surroundings were dark with one light shining on her from above. Everything else was shrouded in darkness. She was lying on a ripper chair on an island of light in the middle of an all-consuming black void. She had a moment of clarity. Vic really needs to put more lights in his fucking garage… There was a rapid exchange between two voices that she knew but couldn’t place.

“Alright, what happened?”, “We went to the shooting range, Lisa learned to shoot anything she put her hands on in 10 mags. We went home, Lisa got a headache, but said the rapid learning was bound to have effects and to not worry. Three hours later she wakes up and hurls!” The second voice was slightly panicking. A shadow joined her on her island of light, moving a hand to her head and she was back in her dream, lying on her bed in the megabuilding. “…mom… I told… you I’m to old… for this…” The shadow went about its business undeterred. The warmth of its touch on her forehead stayed, even long after the shadow’s hand retreated. “She’s responsive but delirious…”, the shadow mumbled. It dabbed her right temple, the touch once again staying. “…Stop it… Just five more… minutes…” The shadow turned. “Anything else weird happen? What did she eat?”, “We had sandwiches for breakfast and skipped lunch.", “Better get an IV going. And the MRI.” The shadow was swallowed by the surrounding abyss. Lisas headache slowly disappeared as she drifted off. The light was still stinging, but she had enough experience with annoying lights by now that she managed to ignore it. A hand grabbed her left hand and squeezed. “Stay with me, Lisa, please.” The voice was trying to be calming, but was failing. The shaking was obvious. Lisa frowned. Just let me sleep…

“Alright, here we go.” The shadow returned, carving itself out of the absolute darkness. It had some sort of bag in its hand that it hung next to the light. It kept swinging a bit and Lisas eyes followed the movement for a moment, before she screwed her eyes shut as her insides started cramping again. “Hold still for a moment.” The shadow firmly held her forehead while pushing something to the sides of her neck, bellow her jawline. Almost immediately she felt reality decide on what was correct. No longer did she have to second guess every movement, unsure of what was dream and what wasn’t. Unfortunately, with surety in reality came the crushing headache and nausea. She tried turning to her side to relieve the overpowering cramps wracking her, but only managed to turn her head. Her retching and sputtering didn’t produce anything more than a bit of bile. “What happened?! Wasn’t she doing fine!?” The voice to her left held her hand more firmly. Lisa whimpered. “…Make it… Urk!”, she spit out a driblet of stomach acid. “Make it… stop…!” She shuddered. “Lisa! I’m here! You’ll be fine!” She recognized the voice. “…Mom…”

“No longer delirious… What the hell is going on…” She recognized that voice now too. It was Vic. “Lisa, can you understand me? Can you tell me how you are feeling?” What a fucking stupid question! Lisa tried to find something to focus on, something to ground herself, to fix gravity in place and stop the spinning. The light had worked before, but now the IV bag was ever so slightly swinging right next to it, making it useless. She wretched. “Lisa?” Vic was doing something behind her. She wanted to tell him her head hurt, that the world was spinning out of control and the shadows were drawing closer, but, with her stomach deciding her body had more important things to do, Lisa was unable to do anything else but try and purge her insides. Vic started mumbling again. “Alright MRI is… huh? Shit!” The scratching of wheels reverberated through the small garage as Vic wheeled himself somewhere. “Keep her awake, Barbara! We can’t have her drift off!” Lisas left hand was squeezed harder and her mom started talking to her, but Lisa was preoccupied.

Shortly after Vic wheeled himself back into the light cone. The light cone that, Lisa noticed, was shrinking fast. He held a syringe in his hands that he plunged into the IV drip bypass. The IV bag which had finally stopped swinging. Her headache was still going strong, but at least she could wrangle her sense of up and down back. Lisa calming and growing still wasn’t something her mom took well to. “Lisa? Hey, Lisa! Stay with me!” Her hand was shaken slightly, and a hand was placed on her shoulder. Lisa shut her eyes and groaned in response. Mom! Give me a break… She grabbed at the hand on her shoulder with her chrome arm. After some unsuccessful groping she managed to grab and squeeze it. Please be quiet… Lisa refocused on the light overhead.

Slowly she got her breathing back under control. Her stomach threatened to rampage a few times, but Lisa managed. After a few minutes she was even able to relax a little. Her mom stopped being vocal when Lisa started to return any squeezing her mom did with her metal hand. Eventually, things calmed down, with only the buzzing of the light overhead and an almost muted boxing match going on in the background. Lisas vision recovered and she was able to see past the curtain of darkness that had confined her to an island of light before. Her head still hurt though.  After another few minutes in silence, the ripper pushed another syringe into the IV before refocusing on some readouts. “Lisa?”, he asked. “You back with us?”. Lisa let him stew for a moment. “Yeah…” She supressed a stomach cramp.

“What the hell happened?”, the ripper asked. Lisa turned her head to look at him. He was looking at a screen with an intense frown of confusion. Tapping on the screen a few times he met her eyes. He wasn’t wearing his shades at the moment. His cyan eyes bored into her pink ones. Lisa was lost in thought, wondering how somebody could have a frown with so many different facets. Right now, there was confusion and bewilderment. Worry too. With a tiny movement of maybe a single facial muscle, the worry increased. Oops... She had taken too long to answer. Lisa broke eye contact and focused back on the IV bag, squinting against the harsh operating light. “I… speed-learned shooting using the doll chip.” Lisa couldn’t see Vic’s face, but she could imagine his frown turning into more of a contemplating one. She could hear him running a hand over his stubble, humming, and working his screens. “Well, from what I can see your brain indeed got a boost in plasticity…” His voice trailed off. “Used up all resources too. Got low on salts, sugars… Probably why you were delirious…” Lisa ignored the doc’s ramblings when her mom spoke up.

“Lisa.” She froze. Oh fuck! Shit! She knew that tone of voice. She turned her head to look at her mom, seeing her hard face set into an intense stare. Aww shit… Her headache was forgotten in a flash and her heart suddenly decided that her chest had become too small. “…yes, mom?”, Lisa answered in a small voice, trying to sink into the medical chair. Her instincts screamed at her to get away, to run, to hide, but she knew better than to try. Her eyes were trying to avoid her moms steel like gaze, but eventually she caved and locked eyes with her. Barbara bore into Lisa for what felt like an eternity. “You are going to tell me when you start feeling unwell and you won’t complain when I say you are going to a ripper.” It didn’t happen often that Lisa pissed off her mom. “…yes mom.” Simply because Barbara had the unique ability to get her survival instincts blaring at full tilt whenever she did. After another few tense seconds, where Lisa would have loved to be anywhere else on earth except in the focus of the predatory gaze of her mother, Barbara released her and broke eye contact. Thank fucking god… Lisa felt like she could breath again.

Barbara got up with a sigh, her eyes, still filled with that unknown intensity, turning towards Victor. “While I’m here, I need to talk with Miss Olszewski for a moment. Lisa will be fine for a few minutes, right?” The ripper looked up from Lisas readouts and met Barbaras gaze without problems. Maybe he was used to patients acting out, or maybe he was hardened from his days as a boxer. Fucking scary adults… “Yeah, she’s stable. I’ll need a moment to wrap my head around what’s going on, but if anything happens, I’m right here.” Victor gave her a reassuring smile. “Good. Good… Do you have a moment, Miss Olszewski?” Lisa jerked her head toward Victor’s desk, surprised that she had completely missed that Misty was here. “Please, call me Misty. Let’s step outside, we can talk in the shop.”, she said in her soft voice. The two women stepped out of the garage, but when her mom reached the door, she turned around. “Oh, and Lisa.” In a single moment, the intensity was back. “…yes?”, Barbara nailed her in place with her gaze once again. “No using the doll chip when I’m not there.” Lisa swallowed. “…yes.” The hint of a smile flew across her mom’s face. “Good.” Barbara left the garage. Lisa let her head fall back onto the medical chair and let out a long sigh. Her headache was back.

#---------------------------------

Barbara stepped out of the dark garage, following behind Misty. Standing at the bottom of the few steps leading from the back alley to the subterranean ripper/ man cave, Barbara relished the return of the overpowering sound of rain pounding on pavement. The smell of wet concrete blanketed the usual stench of exhaust gasses, unwashed human and old trash that usually lingers in these dark corners of night city. Barbara didn’t mind the rain quickly claiming her body as its own, allowing cold rivulets to attempt to wash away the horrors of the last half hour. Misty had quickly hurried back into her shop, fleeing from the rain, leaving Barbara alone for a moment. She took a deep breath. The sound of the rain faded into the background as the heavy pounding of her heart filled her ears. The first deep breath was quickly followed by more, her lungs working tirelessly to rip air away from between heavy raindrops. The tense moment of Lisa slowly drifting off on the medical chair in Victor’s clinic just now replayed in her mind. She shuddered and fought to control her ragged gasping, leaning her left shoulder against the concrete wall next to the doorway. She gripped her hands tightly together to stop them from shaking. Lisa, lying on the edge of the couch, wracked by cramps, trying to turn herself inside out. Her ears were ringing. Realizing at that moment, that something was terribly wrong. Tears glistened in her eyes as her legs threatened to fail her. Oh so terribly wrong… She was hyperventilating, her vision slowly encroached upon by darkness, hyper focusing on her cramped hands, desperately clinging to each other for support.

She caught herself from falling, left hand slamming against the concrete wall while her right kept her from falling onto the stairs. Water was running down the stairs, past her hand. Not here. Barbara took measured breaths, regardless of her body’s screaming need for oxygen. Not now! Slowly, her vision brightened again and her hearing returned. The rain had by now completely soaked her, but the wet chill was grounding. With each measured breath her pounding heart calmed a bit.

Once she trusted her shaky legs enough, Barbara stood. Still breathing deliberately, she raised her face toward the sky, allowing the rain to wash over her face. The wetness ran past her eyes and ears, past her chin and along her neck into her shirt. She hadn’t wasted any time dressing or putting on a jacket. She really was soaked down to her skin. …come on, time to keep going. Barbara lowered her head and huffed, slowly ascending the stairs. With quick steps she reached the back of Misty’s Esoterica, nearly bumping into Misty. “Oh, there you are. I was about to check on you.” Misty quickly retreated inside, allowing Barbara to step out of the rain. “Sorry, I needed a moment.”, Barbara answered. The two women stared at each other for a moment, Barbaras face seemingly chiselled from stone, with water clinging to every pore and hair. Misty’s face was blank, her eyes lingering longer on every detail, observing perhaps more then just reality, her slightly slumped posture conveying the weight of what her perception brought upon her. “Ah. Let me get you a towel.” Misty turned and rummaged in the alcove containing the comfy looking armchair used in her sessions.

Shortly afterward she produced a fluffy beige towel. “Thanks.” Barbara proceeded to wipe down her face. The towel was as soft as it looked and smelled of mild, inoffensive incense. Misty waited in silence, absentmindedly sorting some of the paraphernalia. Barbara moved on to rubbing her hair. “Alright, so I wanted to talk about the counselling I messaged you about.” Barbara found some wetness behind her left ear. “Ah, yes. The self-discovery meditation sessions for Lisa.” Barbara nodded.

Misty studied the wet woman. “I have a few shards that might be able to help her with her unique problem.” She fidgeted a bit. “Some sessions she can do on her own. Guided meditations can be a bit much for a beginner. They need a certain amount of… openness.” Barbara tried to get at least some of the water out of her shirt and pants. Dabbing or rubbing her clothes with the towel had little success. “And Lisa isn’t somebody to trust easy.” Barbara huffed a short laugh. She certainly got that right. “Yeah, that sounds about right.” A few moments passed in silence. “I might also have something for inner peace and focus.” Misty touched her left hand to her right elbow. Barbara slowed down her attempts at drying her sleeves and the two women once again met eyes.

A small frown flew across Barbaras face. What is she saying right now? Does she think she knows me well enough? We barely met… Barbara kept studying the smaller woman’s eyes. They did seem to take in more details and observe the world differently. And she did peg Lisa right. And they barely interacted… Barbara sighed. Fucking hell… “Sell me on the stuff for Lisa before you get into the next sales pitch, would you?” Misty’s face twitched with a smile. “Sure. So, considering how Lisas schizophrenia is rather… unique, I don’t really have something that perfectly fits, but as I said I do have the general meditations that are always good. You know, self exploration, self acceptance. I could also make something specifically for her, if she wants to get more into it.”

#-----------------------------------

DAD: How goes the project, son?

RAHUL: Not good, Hanna hit a snag. She can’t find them anywhere in the building.

DAD: That’s unfortunate. This would net you a lot of goodwill and influence, especially with Mr. and Mrs. Aoki.

RAHUL: I know. I’m not giving up yet though. Hanna’s proving to still be useful, it would be good to have her ow me. She’s a good netrunner.

DAD: I’m not so sure, son. It might be better to discard her afterwards. The Aoki’s favour would be worth more.

RAHUL: Well, I’m going to work towards both. Speaking of which, I need more resources. If the manual search doesn’t pan out, I plan to post a gig with a fixer.

DAD: Explain.

RAHUL: 1k for exact location and shadowing till pickup, double for capture and delivery, plus the fixers fee. Lisa was seen last in Watson, so I was going to send it to Regina first.

DAD: Alright. But the amount will be dependent on more solid info.

RAHUL: Preem.

DAD: None of that street talk with me, son.

RAHUL: Of course. Sorry. I will get Hanna to find a lead.

#---------------------------------------

Lisa listened to her heart slowly calming back down. Fuck, mom gets scarier every time. She sighed, once again squinting into the overhead light. Also, my head is suspiciously quiet… [Wonder how she does it. Maybe that’s the legendary killing intent?] Speak of the devil. Why so late? Lisa focused on the IV bag. Something was weird when she thought about Conny. Wait, aren’t you the reason why mom was pissed?! YOU started fucking with the doll chip! [What? Naww… Definitely not. That killing intent though, damn, huh? Talk about scary…] Conrad didn’t feel like a completely separate entity anymore, but more like Lisa was just thinking in a different tone of voice. What fucking killing intent!? And don’t change the subject! [Whaat? Nooo… Mom scary!] Fuck you, Conny! Lisa clicked her tongue. Victor looked up from the panels. “Everything alright kid?” Lisa sighed. “Except the fucking headache? Yeah, eeeverything’s juuuust preem.” Except for why it feels more like reading part of my own mind instead of having a conversation with Conny. [I know, right? Trippy…] Lisa nudged her chrome to give her her brain statistics.

Almost immediately that ghostly touch tickled her in the depths of her brain. Except this time, it scratched with sharp claw covered in what smelled like stale piss, causing Lisa to jerk forward, suppressing the need to hurl again. “Fuck! Kid, what happened!” Victor was over her in an instant. “Urgh… I checked my statistics…” Lisa swallowed a few deep breaths to to try and clear her nose of the disgusting phantom smell. Her headache had spiked, but was already receding. She swallowed the large amount of saliva her body had produced in preparation for emergency ejection protocols.

“Please Lisa. Enough stress for today, just lie down and rest.” The ripper let himself fall heavily on his stool. “Well, what do they say?”, he asked. Lisa let herself fall back on the medical chair. “72, 23 and 0.37” Vic stilled. “What was the mixing last time?” Lisa looked over and they met eyes. “0.21? Something like that.” The rippers perpetual frown was unreadable. He looked back towards his screens. “You feel any different?” Lisa turned back to the IV bag, following the line of liquid running downwards with her eyes. “Conny feels less like a separate entity and more like thinking in another voice.” She reached up to explore where the IV lead. Touching the valves right below her jawline felt weird. Nudging them felt even weirder, feeling them tug on her artery. Huh. This isn’t normal for IV’s, right? [No? Those are cartoid valves. They were part of your chrome loot box.] Lisa felt a shiver run down her spine and her heart skip a beat. [You didn’t notice them till now? Don’t worry, the IV right now is their only use-case.] Lisa let out a long breath. [How did you not notice them? Don’t they feel weird when you turn your neck or when you swallow?] Lisa snorted. You know exactly why. I haven’t looked at my neck since I got out of hell. And the gold inlay feels a lot worse when I turn my head… Lisa took another deep breath. You know what? 0.37 is fucking weird. I’m going to stop thinking with your voice.

Weirdly enough, Conny didn’t answer. The buzzing of the light continued and the boxing match was quietly reaching its climax; the commentator was working the screams of the crowd. Lisa stopped exploring her cartoid valves. A smile tugged on her lips. He really did shut up… Although this would be the perfect time for him to… [Yeeees? You called?] Lisa huffed and frowned. No. Shut up. Her forehead and right temple were itching. Reaching up while avoiding the IV lines, she found some electrodes sticking there. Huh. When did those… “Please leave those alone.” Lisa glanced over at Vic. The old man was fully absorbed in his readouts. He had procured his shades from somewhere. Lisa was overcome with an overwhelming urge to poke fun at him. “You know, with those sunglasses and no lights in the garage, you look really shady.” Victor looked at her. Why did I say that? He blinked rapidly before sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. His shades slid down his nose. “Look, Lisa. I don’t think you realize how serious this is.” Where did that urge come from? I usually don’t give any fucks. Vic pressed his right thumb and index finger together. “You were this close to maybe becoming a vegetable.” That would have been something Conny would do. Fuck, is 0.37 this bad? Vic pushed up his glasses. “I don’t appreciate people dying on my table, especially kids.” I need to find a way to push back the… wait, die? “What?” Lisa snapped her attention back onto Vic. His frown had gotten accusing. “Dying, Lisa. You were maybe 5 minutes away from going comatose and with what was going on in your head, I couldn’t tell you if, who, or what would have woken back up.” Lisa stared blankly at him. “I second your mom on this. Come to me whenever you even sneeze weirdly and don’t use the thing without supervision.” Lisa continued to stare blankly into his chastising frown.

They stared at each other for a while. Why do I care about his opinion? Lisa frowned. Vic’s chastising hit closer to home then she was used to. Wasn’t HE the one to push me to use the fucking thing?! “More ‘doctors orders’, huh.” She clenched her jaw. Vic narrowed his eyes, frown deepening in confusion. Lisa turned away, looking across the room, trying to make out what the boxing announcer was shouting about. It didn’t look like the same match as before, but it was entertainment. She heard the old ripperdoc sigh. “Look, Lisa. I didn’t…” She cut him off. “Yes, dad.” Lisa crossed her arms. No, I’m not fucking crying. Fuck him. Her eyes burned. Fuck Conny! I need to really get fucking rid of him. This sucks! Time moved on. Slow at first, but eventually, the silence between them settled. Despite the screen being far away, Lisa was able to more or less follow along with the match. Vic’s voice broke through the quiet room. “Good job facing your demons, but please make sure you don’t end up here every time you do.” Lisa scoffed. She was glad Vic’s opinion affected her about as much as a pebble tossed onto a sandbank. Thank fuck I’m myself again…

A few more minutes passed in silence. One of the boxers had been downed. The announcer was hyping up the crowd, counting down to a knockout. “How’s your headache going?”, Vic asked. Lisa sighed. “Fine. Almost gone.” Her headache had faded into a dull humm. Victor mumbled. “Good. Good…” He stood up and made his way into some dark corner of the garage. How does he… he’s still wearing his shades, isn’t he? Does he have night vision or something? When he returned a while later, he held a blue plastic jar in his hands, and coincidentally, Misty and Barbara returned at the same time. Why is mom soaked and Misty isn’t? “Ah. Perfect timing. I think I might have something that can work against whatever the doll chip did.” Vic held up the blue jar, pointedly ignoring how Barbaras shirt was clinging to her every curve, perfectly outlining significant amounts of muscle. “How did the talk go?” He gave Misty a knowing look. Barbara answered. “It went fine.” She made her way toward the middle of the room, while Misty stayed back, leaning against the desk with the boxing match. “Something you think might work, doesn’t sound very confident. Anything happen?” Barbara frowned with concern, crossing her arms. Victor made his way back to his stool to the right of Lisa. He sat. “Well, this isn’t exactly something taught in med-school. Or even theorised about. But! The hypohonthapryme that I used to get her cerebral hormones back on track worked wonders, so I’m hoping beta-blockers will do the same.” He unscrewed the jar and took out a blue capsule. “These aren’t as hard on your liver and should have the same effect.” Reaching behind the medical chair he produced a scalpel and halved the capsule.

The doc looked Lisa in the eyes. Lisa raised an eyebrow. “Should do about the same thing?” Victor stood up and made his way towards the sink near the door. After a moment he returned with a glass of water. Plopping down on his stool, he continued. “Should. Which is why we’ll test a half dose.” Lisa eyed the glass of water and the halved blue pill. [Ohh! Wait, those are the same pills! He’s not giving you the red ones? Just blue-pilling you?] What? [Oh, never mind. Useless reference.] Lisa sighed. She sat up in the medical chair and took the water and pill. “You sure you’re not using night city tap water to poison me?” She tossed the pill into the back of her mouth. Vic smiled. “Nah, the waters not that bad, but I do have a water filter. Can’t risk dirty water in a clinic.” Lisa downed the glass.

“So? What now? Can I take off the neck plugs?” She returned the glass and gestured towards the IV bag. The plugs were getting uncomfortable. Now that she knew they were there they felt weirdly unnerving. “Ah, yeah. Let me get those for you.” Vic leaned forward, while Lisa leaned her head backward. She felt a slight tugging, but a moment later Vic was already retreating. Way to fucking easy… [What, you don’t like having an easy access to the blood flow to and from your brain?] Uh, no? [Well, you know, I kind of appreciate them. They were pretty useful for…] Vic interrupted Lisas internal dialogue. “Keep the electrodes for now though. And please tell me immediately if anything,”, he stared at her with a serious look, “and I mean anything, changes. You start feeling lightheaded, your headache returns, slight nausea, anything with your vision, you speak up.” Lisa nodded her head. “Uh-huh.” Vic was unimpressed. When, a few moments later, he was still staring at her, she rolled her eyes. For fucks sake… “Yes, dad.” Vic sighed and turned away. Jeez, how does he want me to answer that… It’s like he doesn’t even think I’d be able to take care of myself… Barbara squinted her eyes in suspicion at the interaction, but didn’t comment. Lisa turned toward her mother. “So, what have you been up to?”

Her mom deflected, arms still crossed. “How are you feeling.” The softness in her voice belied her serious expression. “Preem.”, Lisa answered. They held gazes for a moment, before Lisa looked downward with an expression of guilt. “Normal.” Sorry I worried you… She glanced toward her mother, catching the backend of a relieved smile on her face. “We were talking about ways to treat schizophrenia besides medication.” Lisa took a moment to follow. What? Like, therapy and counselling?! You want me to… Before Lisa could complete her frown, her mom raised an eyebrow and Lisas heart skipped a beat when her eyes gained that intensity again. She sighed. “I see.” Her mom just smiled and uncrossed her arms.

“Alright, Lisa, I need you to stand up for a bit.” Victor stood from his stool and busied himself setting up tools on a stainless-steel tray. “What about the electrodes?”, Lisa asked. “You’ll tell me when somethings wrong?”, he shot back. Lisa squinted. “Yes?” The doc went toward the back. “Then its fine, take them off. I need the chair for another patient.” Oh, that’s why he’s shooing me off. Lisa peeled off the electrodes from her head and shimmied off the medical chair. She could hear Vic calling from the back. “Don’t run off please!” After an initial stumble, Lisa had no trouble standing and she and her mom went to join Misty to lean on Vic’s desk. Lisa positioned herself in a way so she could watch the boxing matches. “Who’s the patient?”, Misty asked, as Vic returned with two blood packs. The woman was weirdly antsy. “Jackie. Got clipped in the shoulder. V says it’s a clean hole, so probably FMJ and not hollow point.” Misty whispered under her breath. “I knew it.” She stood up and quickly busied herself. “I’ll clean the chair.” Lisa raised an eyebrow. Did I leave the chair that… oh. There was a bit of spittle and stomach juices. Lisa sniffed herself and recoiled slightly. Urgh. I need a shower. She watched Vic take down her IV and prepare a blood infusion, while Misty procured some cleaning detergent to wipe down the chair. The lining was made to clean easily, so after she finished, she rolled a few instruments and cabinets around and prepared some vials for an injection gun. Well, this is one way to kill time waiting for side effects… She turned back to the boxing match.

#--------------------------

The wait was… relatively long. There was some downtime during the boxing match, so Lisa went over towards the sink to try and wash up. She didn’t feel clean afterward, but it was nice to rinse her mouth and drink some more water, even if the IV had alleviated any dehydration. Misty and Victor had finished setting things up. Victor had opened up the garage door leading to the street. For the first time in what Lisa suspected was centuries, the ripper’s clinic was flushed with light, revealing boxes and cabinets filled with equipment and cyberwear. The light from the garage entrance left plenty of shadows for things to hide in. Imagine thousands of tiny little creatures scurry and hide in fear… Lisa snorted. Misty was anxiously waiting at the edge between the dry garage and the pouring rain with crossed arms, staring into the blankets of water working to swallow the world. The garage was filling with the mist laden air of the outside. Probably not that good for the equipment.

Eventually, an old beaten-up Hela pulled up. Its tires screeched and slipped on the wet pavement. Barbara got up from the desk with a sigh. “Bet they’ll need some help to lug the pile of muscles out of the car.”, she mumbled. V jumped out of the still running car and Victor and Misty helped him heave Jackie out of the passenger seat. He didn’t look to bad and could mostly move on his own. He wasn’t wearing his jacket and had strips of a t-shirt clamped down tightly over his left shoulder and armpit. Seeing V wasn’t wearing a shirt, it was probably his. The shirt was mostly soaked with blood. Barbara and Misty weren’t able to help move him, as V supported Jackie on his right side and they were unwilling to disturb his wound. Jackie was quickly deposited on the medical chair. He groaned.

There wasn’t much said, Vic quickly got to work, cutting away the shirt and using his tools to weave Jackie’s flesh back together. The garage door rumbled down, plunging the clinic back into darkness and keeping out the incessant wetness. V’s form was carved out from the darkness as he made his way to stand at Jackies side. His bare upper body was glistening from the rain, his chest rising and falling from his laboured breathing. There were a few blood splatters smeared across his lower arms and face, washed out by the rain. His hands were covered in blood. Cleaning the car will be a bitch… He watched Vic work for a while before turning towards the sink to wash his hands.

“Aah, those painkillers hit the spot..” Jackie heaved a relieved sigh. “Yeah, yeah, don’t get used to ‘em.”, Vic mumbled absentmindedly. Misty spoke up. “What did you get into this time, Jackie…” He shot her a disarming smile. “Just had a run in with some upstarts.” He winced as Vic worked on his wound. V returned from the sink. “Some punks had klepped some merch, somebody wanted it back. The punks didn’t like people messing up their bizz.” He shot Barbara a tired smile. “Hey girls. Nice seein’ ya.” Jackie perked up. “Oh! The nina’s here too!” He smiled at Lisa. “Its good seeing you!” Jackie looked pretty stupid, grinning like that, anemic, face white like a sheet and probably high on painkillers. What a gonk. Misty was fidgeting, worry clear on her face, V was looking haunted, having probably panicked as he bound his chooms wound. Lisa could imagine it quite well. Jackie peeking around a corner aiming his gun, but recoiling as he got shot, probably wearing his nice leather jacket.

Speaking of. “You got a hole in your jacket.” Jackie chuckled. “Yeah. Shame, I know.” V huffed. “Gonna have to get it fixed again.” Misty turned away and sighed. “Again.”, Lisa repeated. “You plan on there being a next time?”, “You don’t plan such things, nina…” Silence descended on the workshop. Vic was diligently working to fix Jackies shoulder. “That’s bullshit, Jackie.”, Lisa shot back. “You plan exactly for that. You make contingencies.” For all the good THAT did me… [You know, you don’t HAVE to pound Jackie for your own mistakes…] My own mistakes?! He got shot! You wear armour for that, I got FUCKING VANISHED! [You wear an iron for that.] Lisa frowned. Fuck you, Conny! An iron would have been everything I’d need? Wow look! A kid with a gun! What a wonderful deterrent! [Well alright, you would be a lot more dangerous now than back then, but…] “Lisa, I know it’s been a long day. How’s your headache doing?” The ripper interrupted her thoughts. He had finished up. Jackies shoulder was packed in neatly wrapped white bandages. Victor looked at her. “…fine. Headache’s gone.” Lisa turned back toward the boxing match leaning her ass against the edge of the desk. “Well, Jackie, you got lucky. Bullet didn’t hit anything major, went clean through, too. It did nick the artery, but V tied that down nicely.”

The ripper went off to wash his hands. “You know, the kid’s right though. I still have that subdermal armour waiting for you.” Jackie shimmied his way to the edge of the medical chair, carefully testing the wound. “Don’t move to much, you’re still on painkillers.”, Vic called over his shoulder over the sound of running water from the sink. Misty approached him, pulling his right hand away from his injured shoulder. “Why don’t you chip the subdermals. Next time, you would be just as easy to fix as your jacket.” They looked into each others eyes and Jackie wound with embarrassment. “Ah, well, Misty… You know how it is… I don’t… It wouldn’t feel the same…” Lisa scoffed. What. Is he afraid of getting subdermals? Afraid of going under the knife? Brave enough to get shot at, but scared that some kevlar and carbon nano plating under his skin makes him go psycho?!  “You know, the next time you get an artery nicked, it might not be your choice to get a new arm.”

“Lisa!”, Barbara snapped. She frowned in admonishment. “What!” You know I’m right! Lisa held her moms gaze. She dug her own steel fingers into the edge of the desk. The ripper clinic descended into silence. Vic continued washing his hands. Jackie and Misty were standing around rather awkwardly. Jackie’s face was unreadable, but he didn’t look happy. V sighed. “Jeez, those punks really were not worth the eddies…” He massaged his face with his hands. “I could really go for a drink now.” He looked at Vic who had turned around to face the room, wiping his hands with a towel. “You have some beer?” Lisa could see Jackie’s eyes light up. The hint of a smile tugged on Vic’s professional frown. “I sure do.” The ripper answered and turned to walk off into the darkness, before his face and upper body were illuminated by the light of a fridge. “Catch.” He tossed V a bottle of beer, before tossing one to Barbara as well. V’s beer fizzed as he popped the bottle cap on an edge of the medical chair. Barbara used her bare hands to give the cap a twist, opening the beer like you would a normal screw cap. Vic returned with two more beers and a bottle opener. He cracked one bottle and handed it to Misty. Jackie was perplexed. “Hey! There’s none for me?” He held out his right hand, treacherously empty. Vic leaned down behind the medical chair, before returning with an inhaler.

“You’ll get one when you’re not the reason you’re here.” He placed the inhaler into Jackies waiting hand and popped his own beer. Vic looked at Jackie with a smile. “You shouldn’t be drinking while on meds anyway.” The doc took a swig. Jackie just sighed, making V chuckle. Barbara smirked and glanced over towards Lisa, who shot her a mocking look back. Who would want a fucking beer? She turned back toward the only actual entertainment in the room, the TV with the boxing match.

#-----------------------------

Weirdly enough, beer seemed to be the perfect remedy for the grown ups stress. After finishing their first in silence, they slowly wound down. They even started making some small talk, telling stories about how they had been locked indoors because of the hurricane. V and Jackie telling a story how the drive to a gig was an adventure on its own, Misty commenting that, with people locked in their homes and bored, she had gotten a lot more requests for prerecorded sessions. Vic talked about the troubles of keeping all the water out of the garage and the small blockades he had put up to try and limit the small stream that was making its way down the steps from the back alley right through his clinic towards the garage door. Barbara just listened and didn’t share any stories. Nobody asked either. She made the conversation flow around and past her in a very natural way. Would have been really awkward if she did…

Lisa wasn’t so lucky though. Eventually, after maybe four beer, Vic remembered why they had come in. “So, Lisa. Notice anything different?” Lisa looked up from the boxing match and looked over. She answered in a bored voice. “No.” Vic got up and handed her the blue pill jar. “Good. Here. Take one if you do notice anything. For example, when you wake up puking.” He paused for a moment. “You know what? Take one before going to bed, just to be safe.” Lisa took the jar. “So you do give out candy when you’re done.” He rolled his eyes. “And only the bravest get the whole jar.”, the ripper snarked back. He studied her for a moment. “Come here next time you test things, just to be safe.” Lisa gave him a noncommittal “Uh-huh. Sure.”, and Vic went to finish his beer. Huh. Why did that work this time?

The question came from V. “So what have you been up to, pequena leona?” The grown ups looked at her, expectantly. Lisa sighed. “Wrote a deamon and learned to shoot.”, “Got to test the Kenshin?”, Jackie excitedly asked. “Yeah. And a Shigure. And a Saratoga. And a Copperhead. And an Achilles.” Jackie whistled. “That must have taken most of the week.” Lisa snorted. Victor had a really funny expression on his face, having probably realized how long she really took. Yeah, exactly, old man. It only took one morning. Jackie prodded further. “And? How was it? Which one felt best to you? Get any bullseyes?” Now it was Barbaras turn to make a funny expression.

Before Lisa could answer, Victor broke up the party. “Alright, come on. Its getting late and some of us have kids to put in bed.” Lisa started frowning, but then she noticed Vic was looking at Misty and Jackie. Misty smirked. “Come on, Jackie. It’s getting late, time for bed…” She ushered Jackie to stand. “Aww. Do I get a bedtime story?” He stood and placed the inhaler he had been playing with into his pocket. V finished his beer. “I don’t know, Jackie, only good boys get bedtime stories.” She looked towards V. “What do you think, V?” The man smirked. “Oh, I can tell him a good bedtime story. There’ll even be a princess.” He wriggled his eyebrows towards Misty. Lisa sighed and ignored the bantering. Throwing a last glance at the boxing match, she pushed off of the desk.

#---------------------------

Author comment:

Alright! I Live! And I’m once again at a point were I’ve been looking at this chapter for far to long. So I’m just gonna post it, because I won’t be finding anything to improve without having some distance. Speaking of distance; since its been a while since I wrote the first chapter, I reread the entire story and I must say… Chapter 1 and 2 are significantly different. And suddenly have a lot of rough edges that I previously hadn’t noticed. There are some wild leaps of logic in there. Just goes to show how much stepping back from something changes ones perspective. Maybe returning for a second look is something I’ll do eventually, though its not like It would need a complete rewrite… Probably something I should do if I wanted the story to get more readers, since there’s a drop of about 35% in views from the first to the second/third chapter at the time I’m writing this, but oh well. Might just be people taking a peek and not finding what they're looking for.

Anyway, I’ve added the slice-of-life tag. Yay. Also, I was wondering how approachable this story is for people with little to no prior knowledge. Should I add some kind of glossary basically containing any relevant codex entries from the game? One for the doll chip, night city, Misty, Vic, Arasaka, the Maelstrom, etc.? Or just point people towards the wiki and tell them to search themselves? Not like that could spoil the story.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading, and place your bets down in the comments for how many spelling mistakes/ grammatical errors/ wrongly used words will be found in this one. I’m betting 6 (and I promise I won’t edit this to be correct later :) )

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