Ms. V, a mercenary born in Night City. Though powerful, as someone from the city's underbelly, her life could only be described as average, but she did make quite a few friends.
Among them, the most important and familiar was naturally Jackie. They met during a carjacking job and quickly became as close as old friends.
Besides him, there was also the fixer, Padre; the ripperdoc, Viktor; and the kind and gentle Misty.
...
Unlike a normal fantasy, a flood of 'memories' surfaced in her mind, including incredibly detailed specifics of everyday life.
For a moment, V found herself sinking into it, as if she were witnessing the life of another self. It was so real that she almost forgot who she was.
Sitting beside her, Schwarzer sensed something was off. She turned her head to look at V and found her in a strange state, the aura around her constantly shifting.
David, sitting in the back seat, also noticed something was wrong and leaned forward with a start.
"What's wrong, Ms. V? Can you hear me? Hey? Ms. V? V!"
Seeing someone zone out while driving was enough to trigger his PTSD. He remembered the car crash a month ago; his mother had frozen up in fear and failed to brake in time, which led to the accident.
David's shouts finally brought V back to her senses. She dazedly gripped the steering wheel. The aerodyne had its own smart-driving system; never mind zoning out, she could have taken a nap without much issue.
But that was no excuse for her to be spacing out, and this state was far too strange.
She recalled everything she had been through, climbing from the bottom of the corporate ladder to her current position. There was nothing wrong with her own memories, but the recollections from just now... V felt as if there was another her.
It had all been too real, as if she had read the memories of another self, making it hard to distinguish reality for a moment.
Perhaps overuse of her Kerenzikov had affected her nerves, and combined with the mental shock from her encounter with the ninjas, her delusions were mixing with fragmented pieces of her own memories.
Such symptoms are common in mental illnesses like multiple personality disorder. V was well aware of this; fragmented information from daily life was being subconsciously integrated by her brain.
Her brain was deceiving her, rationalizing it. But no matter how detailed, these memories were ultimately false.
"Alright, don't worry. I just zoned out for a second. The aerodyne has a smart-driving program, so nothing would have happened."
V spoke to reassure David, motioning for him to sit back down. Then, after a moment's thought, she asked with feigned nonchalance.
"By the way, have you guys ever heard of a ripperdoc named Viktor?"
She had to find a way to convince herself, to understand that these memories cobbled together from fragmented information were different from reality and would shatter when confronted with the actual truth.
V had no desire to let psychiatric drugs affect her; she felt she could handle this minor issue on her own.
"Viktor? The one in Little China? I know a ripperdoc named Viktor over in the Watson District."
What? He actually exists?
Under V's astonished gaze, David answered quickly.
"Wait, hold on—" V stopped him from saying more. She recorded the memory that had surfaced in her mind to avoid any discrepancies, then continued her questions.
"What's this Doctor Viktor you mentioned like? And the location of his clinic, describe it in detail."
"Doctor Viktor, huh... probably a good guy? His clinic is in Little China, in Watson. The entrance is through the back door of a shop, it's pretty hidden."
David answered thoughtfully, then shared what he knew with V, even showing her some photos.
The photo showed a shop called "Misty's Esoterica." Passing through the shop's back door and heading to the basement led to Viktor's clinic.
The more V listened, the graver her expression became. Every single detail perfectly matched the memories in her head.
But! She was certain! Before this, she had never come across any information related to any Misty or any Viktor. None whatsoever!
"Damn it!" This was getting weird. V felt like she couldn't tell what was real anymore; she couldn't tell at all.
Was it because of the Kerenzikov? But she hadn't abused her cyberware. And there were no similar cases on record.
David watched V with concern. Her state had been off from the very beginning, but he didn't know what to do.
Both V and Schwarzer knew what the 'correct' choice was better than he did; they could handle everything themselves.
Sensing his unease, Lucy subconsciously took his hand.
V also realized her expression was too obvious. The anxiety she was radiating had spread to the others in the car. Faced with their concerned gazes, she didn't know what to do.
"Don't worry, I just thought of some unpleasant things. I can solve it myself."
She forced herself to control her emotions and said no more, clearly not intending to tell them about it.
However, she quietly exchanged a look with Schwarzer. That was the great thing about the cyber world; with their brain-computer interfaces, they could talk privately at any time.
'Talk alone later?'
'No problem.'
Schwarzer quickly agreed, and the car fell silent once more, with only the loud song playing on the radio filling the air.
David and the others didn't know what had happened, because even V herself didn't know. But 'someone' did.
'[Inquiry] What exactly is going on? The change in V, it's like she became a different person.'
Even if it was just for an instant, Schwarzer had caught the change in V. During that brief moment she was 'zoning out,' her entire aura had changed, as if a completely different person was sitting before her.
'It's possibility. Influence from another possibility.'
The System's voice had also grown serious. Some unforeseen change had occurred in this world.
'Cyberpunk 2077 is a game world. It has different quest lines and branches. Just as V has three different lifepaths, the one before us is Corpo V, but there are also the possibilities of Mercenary V and Nomad V.'
'Thus, a destiny with multiple branches and multiple endings has manifested as different parallel worlds, or rather, a multiverse.'
'What happened just now was that the V of another world resonated with Corpo V, causing the two worlds to connect for a brief instant. This can be called a miracle; traversing worlds, even parallel ones, is exceedingly difficult.'
So V really did receive the memories of another self? Schwarzer hadn't expected something like this, two parallel worlds interacting.
________________________________________
Get rewarded for helping with our community goals!
🎯 Reward for all: +1 bonus chapter at 50 Powerstones.
🚀 Tier Reward: Help us reach 20 members for +5 chapters on all stories!
👻 Join the crew by searching Ms. Medusa on (P). You know the spot! 😉