Maybe one day you'll taste the sun, feel its endless warmth. Maybe one day you'll feel free from the constraints of mortality. One day, the heavens'll greet you or hell will welcome you with open arms. Just know your legacy will carry on. As long as you make your presence count.
What if I don't wanna be remembered, Dex?
How foolish to live a life in the shadows of death and not feel compelled to bask in the limelight of riches and fame before shaking the cold hands of your demise.
Would....could I really make that much of a mark on N.C?
Tell ya what, you're askin the wrong choomba. Only one who can decide your fate is you. So what will you do? Be a pawn in the corpos sick little games or be a big dog and run this city your own damn self?!
I don't wanna run this city, Dex.
.
..
...
I wanna destroy it.
____________
Valarie's POV
"I'M GONNA RULE THIS CITY!!!" a younger voice of myself echoed in the darkness as I awoken. "FEAR ME, NIGHT CITTYYYYY!!!" Brushing myself off, I looked around the abyss of my mind. "When will this nightmare end?" I heard my voice boom in the emptiness. "Is this all a lie?" Broken glass scattered the ground as thick crimson splattered and was dragged further into the darkness. "You were supposed to be the one, now we're dying...." Following the trail of glass and fluids, I found a person with short, unevenly cut black hair laying in a pool of, what seemed like, their blood. Gasping and choking for air, the person thrashed about on the ground violently until they stopped suddenly, before taking a deep breath of air.
"Valarie....we....are dying.." the person coughed up more blood before seizing once more, almost like how I'd react to relic malfunctions. That voice was the same one echoing.
"Who are you and how did you get here?"
"My dear Valarie....I've been in your head for YEARS...cyberpyschosis isn't curable because the thing that has to die, is YOU!" I jumped back as I remembered Vaja imprisoning me in my mind. "Fuck....your siblings shot us-me-you, whatever....point is...we...are...dying." She coughed up more blood as she struggled to sit up to face me. "The relic's too far gone....there's no surviving this..."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk," I turned around to face the music as boot thumps echoed around us. "The famous V giving up so easily?" A grizzled Silverhand smiled, even as he glitched in and out. "The parasite's right, though. This body is expiring a helluva lot faster than before."
"I'm actualy glad to see you, Silverdick." I hugged him and actually felt him. His cold metallic hand, his muscular figure, the faint smell of alcohol and cigarette smoke, it truly was him. "How do I get outta this?"
"Arasaka," both Vaja and Silver answered. "Soulkiller."
"I was afraid of that..."
"You know the only way outta this is death. V." Vaja spoke.
"You underestimate the power of a Marksmyth." I knelt down to face Vaja. "I've overcome death before and I'll fucking do it again!" The darkness of the void I've been trapped in slowly disolved into a grey-ish hue.
"Face it V, we flew too close to the sun. It's over."
"It's over when I say it's over." I cracked my knuckles. "This body isn't gone just yet." I walked away and grabbed the only memory orb that wasn't destroyed. A fragile memory of me waking up from being Soulkilled many years ago. As I held the memory in my hand, the world around me grew lighter and lighter. "Remember the name Valarie when Night City comes crashing down."
_
I awaken gasping for air in a cold, empty room, laying in my own blood as the air felt thick and nauseating. Death was coming for me, but not without a fight.
"AHHHHHGGGHHHHH!" was the only noise escaping my lips as I flipped onto my stomach and tried to crawl to a safe haven.
"V?!" My brother spoke in shock.
"YOU'RE ALIVE?!" My sister asked.
"J.....just....g-gotta....g-get...to....S-s-saka.....I...can't....die like....this...." My head plopped back to the ground as the world spinned around me.
"WE'RE CALLIN THE OTHERS. DON'T FALL ASLEEP!! YOU CAN'T DIE ON US!!"
"Wouldn't....dream....of it." I spat out a bit of blood as my eyes fluttered closed.
_____
Tbug, you sure you wanna go through with this? I'm sure there are other merc gigs with less risk in it.
V, in my life I've risked everything to get where I'm at now. This is the city of chances but make no mistake. It's a far fall from the top and you won't survive the crash.
I pray that this'll be worth it.
It will be, trust in ya girl.
____________
Valkayrie's POV
AR-15's, check. A dozen droids armed and teeth laced with lethal neuro-toxins, check. Bulletproof armor, check. C-4, check. Sniper rifle, check. Ammo, check. Soulkiller shard, check. Things were finally looking up. As I checked off the list and had everything packed into a non-descript black van, I sat on the edge of my bed and looked out the window overlooking Night City.
"Soon, Night City will be ours." T-Bug smiled as she sat next to me.
"This merc, how much power does she hold? Would offing her really make that grand of a difference?"
"She off'ed you, remember? This isn't just your average pickpocketer, Valarie has a record." I nodded at her words. "Are you second guessing? You know if this backfires, we both get Soulkilled for good this time." I nodded.
"I'm not second guessing, T-Bug. I jjst want this to be as clean as possible." She nodded.
"Alright, well we should be heading out. Dawn'll come and we can't stay to be found out." I nodded in agreement.
________
Marksmyth, eh? Heard of that name before.
Ya don't say so?
A streetkid, uh goes by V, not much of a talker but one helluva fighter. Put all my eddies on her in that fight against Rhino and that made me fuckin rich! Haha, kid's young but man, whoever her ripperdoc is, I hope they know they've blessed her.
Said the kid goes by V? What does she look like?
Short, short curly locs, purple I think. Freckled skin, very tanned skin, she's a perfect 10! I think one of her eyes is cybernetic but both of her arms are chromed up and I think one of her legs too....can't say much about her outfit, just some slum rags to be honest-
Did she have any tattoos? Maybe like a '21' on her neck?
Kid, I don't know. I was payin attention to the way she knocked every fucker out who entered the ring.
Right, right....well, thanks for the info. I'll be sure to catch her next match! But, uh, what does the V stand for, if ya know by chance?
Valarie
Valarie Marksmyth, haven't heard that name in a few years......
You know her?
Like a sister, you could say.
___________
A quarter past dawn and black coffee stained my teeth. I'll never have a million eddie smile with yellowed teeth and blood splatered across my lips. Maybe I could fake it, been faking my whole life since I've stepped into this city. How vile, how cruel humans can be when money's involved. Maybe this Valarie person was right for wanting to rule Night City....maybe she had a good reason to off me.....
I was taken back to current reality as T-bug snapped her fingers at me.
"Now buggin out on me, are ya babe?"
"No. Just had my head in the clouds." She rolled her eyes at me and and hopped out the armored truck.
"Keep that pretty head of yours down to Earth, sweetheart. Don't got time to save your soul from a merc's hands....again."
"It won't happen again."
"We'll see." There was something about T-Bug's tone that made my blood boil but alas, I have a job to do. Eliminate V.
_________
Valarie? Promise me you'll never forget us?
I promise, Valk. Us Marksmyths have to stick together, ya know. We're all we have left.
Then why are you leaving?
Atlanta's no good for me. Can't stick around with bloodied hands in a place that hates me for who I am. I need a fresh start.
Where will you go?
Don't know, don't care.
What would Mom say about this?
....that...she's glad Dad's gone and I'm stickin up for myself finally.
Valarie....don't go.
Sorry sis, I gotta go before the cops find me. Take care of the gang for me, I'll be back soon, I promise.
If you're not back in two years, I'm coming after you.
Two years, huh. I can make do with that. Tell them...I'm sorry.
I will.
.
..
...
She never did come back.
____________
Judy's POV
_
The taste of bitter coffee mixed with rum will haunt my nightmares for weeks to come. Still I pressed on, staring at my computer screen, ripping apart the shard's coding bit by bit. There's so much knowledge, so much info on this tiny bit of metal. I gotta figure it out.
Rrrrrrriiiiiing
Rrrrriiiiiinnnngggg
Staring at my phone from across the room, I scoffed as I returned focus to the tech. Who would call at 3:12 am anyways? Not even a holocall? The phone vibrated on the countertop for a few moments before deafening silence filled the apartment once more. Exhaustion was starting to creep its way into my body as I practically rubbed my eyes raw from all the yawning. I could sleep a few hours and try this again in the daylight...
Rrrrriiinggg
Rrrriiiiiinnnnggg
The mixture of tiredness and frustration overwhelmed me as I grabbed my phone from the countertop.
"Hell do you want at this hour?!" I growled into the phone.
"Judy, Valarie was shot!" Vex spoke with pure panic in his voice. My blood turned colder than ice as I barely kept enough function to stand on my feet. "She's alive, barely, but alive-"
"Where is she?" Vex sighed and was silence for a moment.
"Reaper's Graveyard, I'll send the coords. It's my clan's land, just sah you're with me."
"Al-Alright. Meet you there in a bit." I hung up the phone and leaned into the kitchen sink, feeling nauseous. V....you can't die....please stay alive.
____
V, you're gonna get yourself killed out there.
Juds, baby, nothing can touch me. I am V, nothing'll kill me.
You say that now as I'm helping clean and bandage up your gunshot wounds but....what if one day you leave and don't come back?
Then I must've done something legendary and my name will be forever written in steel and screamed from every rooftop!
Valarie, I'm serious. I can't lose you too.
You won't mi amor. Nothing'll take me away from you, and I'll be damned if I don't fight until my dying breath.
______
Reaper's Graveyard wasn't a typical nomad clan's land. Your typical nomad would be a Badlands dweller, that's the go-to thought right? Well Vex wasn't a traditional nomad.
"Industrial Street...must be getting close." I parked my van outside a dirt road heading towards a rundown warehouse. From afar, the looks of it are less than ideal and certainly unhabitable but as I neared the metal building, it came alive. Lights flashed on of all colours; red, blue, violet, yellow, orange, green, and wrapped around the large cracked bricked towers that jetted out the ground, guarding the warehouse. The sound of electricity filled the air as the metal gates and barbed wiring atop it came alive. The barking and howling of guard dogs cut through the silence as murmurs of people also made the silence deplete. As I neared the red metal door of the warehouse, it felt like everyone was watching me. All eyes upon a stranger. I felt like my life has never been more at risk than now.
Knock
Knock
Knock
The sound of flesh against metal echoed as the door creaked open slightly to reveal a crimson glowing cybernetic eye staring me now in silence.
"I'm here to see Vex Marksmyth." I spoke calmly. The door creaked wide open to reveal a dark skinned, broad built man with burn scars all over his face and his left arm missing.
"Mr. Marksmyth is in Room 4X. Just down the hall, to the left." His voice was disceptionally high, occasionally cracking.
"Thank you." I took one last look outside behind me before heading down the hall. Do or die, I have to see V.
_____
Ever thought about going back home?
Promised my sister I'd go back. Never did.
Why not?
The daunting task of returning to Atlanta where I'm not wanted nor loved. Sure, the gangs took care of me and my siblings but all of those people are dead or locked up. Atlanta really doesn't have anything for me there....
What about your parents?
I......my mom, I don't know where she is....or even if she's alive.....
And your dad?
.
..
...
....I killed him.
.
..
...
He abused me and my siblings our entire lives....I wasn't gonna let him get away with it any longer.
.
..
...
If I may ask, what did he do?
He....look, he deserved his fate. I...I don't wanna talk about it.
Well, what do you wanna talk about?
Have I ever told you I'm a twin? Or that I have 8 otber sblings. Or that my youngest brother hotwired his first car at 7? Or that Valance is a literal walking, talking ghost? Or-
Sounds like you miss your siblings.
.
..
...
I do. But don't ever tell em that. Fuckers'll never let me live that down.
Well when was the last time you heard from any of them?
Uh, I'm 26 now so uh....maybe...like a decade?
_______
Room 4X.
I knocked three times on the door and waited anxiously. Was V dead? How is she? Question after question plagued my mind until the door opened-
-and it was her.
"Juds.....so glad y-you're here," she practically fell into my arms. She had a bullet wound in the center of her forehead, leaking blood pretty badly through her bandages and looked paler than I last recalled. "I...missed you." She wrapped her arms around me.
"What happened?!"
"I can explain," Vex spoke aloud as he stepped out the room. "I shot her." Before I could spat hatred and vile at him, Violet rushed out the room and stood between us.
"Judy, I know you wanna wrangle his throat out but we have bigger issues. Whatever's inside of V is killing her. We have to-"
"-take me to Saka HQ." V interjected. "Take me there so I....I can...get...rid..of this virus...." She coughed up a bit of blood into her hand, more than usual. "Just trust me?" There was a beat of silence before I nodded.
"Whatever I gotta do to save you, I'll do it." V smiled half heartedly before looking at her siblings.
"My end is near....I, I know I haven't been the greatest...sibling of all....time but, will you help me?"
"Of course," both Violet and Vex spoke.
"What do you need, V?" I asked. V looked off into the distance for a moment before answering.
"I need three things. A big ass gun, a bottle of gin and...," she grabbed the dogtags around her neck, "An old buddy of mine."
______
A/N: apologies for taking SO long with the update. Life kinda threw me into the deep end and I haven't felt like doing much of anything for a while. My grandmother passed, I got fired from my job, bills, bills, bills, no job wanted me, it was a whole circus. Now I'm doing somewhat better, at least Im employed now lol
That being said, Flatlined will be ending. Obviously not now, I have a few more chapters to go and I have so much background for these characters that'll probably not see the light of day [unless I make another book for the chaos siblings] but that being said, thank you all for enjoying my work. I appreciate yall so much and I hope I do this story justice with these next few chapters [i say few but like bare minimum 2 or 3 chapters plus an epilogue, I'm drag yall through hell so be prepared.
Once again, thank yall for reading.
Xoxo
-deadwords, the tired, sleep deprived, writing this at 1:38 am without proofreading or rereadimg anything, writer.