Incense that smelled of rust

"V, Jackie, are you at the Afterlife? The client from our last job wants to meet us.

Good timing. I've got an idea. Let's meet there."

Jackie: "My house is right here. What do you think, hermano?"

V: "I'm at Jackie's place. Finally, some work. You spent all day at home, so I thought you were dead.

You should get out and go running or something. I'll show you how it's done."

Lier: "Running at night in Night City? Got too many bullets and too thick a skull? I rented some exercise equipment for my place."

V: "I can't stand how you've always thought of everything. I'll get you one of these days."

As Lier showered, he recalled a scene from an anime, then suddenly froze.

Right. Why did David and Lucy go running at night?

Maybe because they were poor.

The Afterlife was run by Jackie's mother, Mrs. Wells.

In a way, the Afterlife was Heywood's equivalent of the Afterlife nightclub-a gathering spot popular with the neighborhood's mercenaries, fixers, and gang members.

It was a little more laid-back, though. Plenty of people came just for a drink.

For the boys in the Valentinos, it might even count as a home.

The usually exuberant Spanish music had fallen silent. Around the little round tables and stools, the fan creaked as it turned.

Lier had barely arrived when he saw Jackie standing at the alley entrance. Jackie didn't say it outright, but he was clearly worried Lier might get robbed by thugs again.

"Hermano, how'd you sleep last night?"

"Pretty well. Practiced my skills a bit. If you ever get any Cyberware... never mind. I don't want to steal Vic's business."

"Haha, Vic's the best ripperdoc in the city. You'll have to work a lot harder to beat him."

They walked a few steps and saw V standing at the street corner, quietly gazing ahead.

Following her gaze, they could just make out an old woman murmuring to herself beside a flaming metal barrel against a wall.

Lier patted V. "What's on your mind?"

Watching the old woman's back, V murmured:

"I just think... she and her daughter had it so rough.

Her daughter died from a stray bullet in the street. Nobody remembered her at the funeral. All she left behind was her mother, mourning alone in a corner-and once her mother dies too, nobody will remember her at all.

Two nobodies, lost to time with no one to remember them."

The flames mingled with the metallic tang. This was the incense that sent her daughter off.

The old woman seemed to have been wandering the streets for a couple of days-apparently, scraping together their fee had exhausted all her savings.

It looked as though her life had reached its end.

"Come on. Let's hear what this mother has to say-and buy her a drink. I doubt she's had much of a chance to enjoy anything."

The girl killed by Sixth Street was named Amina. She had just turned twenty-two, was about to graduate, and had already secured an internship with Arasaka.

The position wasn't particularly good: assembly work in Orbital City, with perhaps only a few days a year to come home.

But at least it was a corporate job, and Orbital City had the advantage of being safe.

For the sake of that job, Melissa had taken out loan after loan, scrimping and saving to support Amina through fourteen full years of schooling. Her daughter had done her proud, too. At least she'd found a job.

Honestly, Lier could already picture the latter half of her life.

Fourteen years studying hard, forty years struggling to repay the loans. All told, an entire lifetime.

Fourteen-hour shifts on an assembly line, three hundred and sixty days a year. Even after decades, she might not have saved a hundred thousand eddies.

A dull, oppressive life-but some people could keep going on the strength of those beautiful first fourteen years.

Another humble child-perhaps she had never dreamed of burning this city down, but she still had family she loved, and family who loved her.

Perhaps later, she would have had a family of her own to love and be loved by. Nothing dazzling, but warm enough.

A two-euro bullet had put an end to that life.

Red-eyed, Melissa finished telling her daughter's story. It was such a short story, one that could be told in just a few words.

Yet Melissa remembered every detail: her child's first smile, her first steps, the first time she called her mommy, her first sulk, the first time she hugged her...

Perhaps to society, her child was nothing more than a scrap left over at the edges, but to her mother, she was a brilliant treasure.

"...Thank you for listening to all of that."

Lier raised his glass. "To... Amina. A good girl who worked hard."

"To Amina."

The three drained their glasses.

Melissa managed a weary smile and held out a watch to Lier. "I should go. I know you're busy, too. Just... take care of yourselves.

This was the first gift Amina gave me, an old-fashioned watch she repaired herself. I have no use for it anymore, though..."

Lier shook his head and accepted the watch. "We'll remember Amina."

The old woman nodded, satisfied, and left the Afterlife.

It was a relic from a bygone era, not some expensive timepiece, just an ordinary mechanical watch.

As ordinary as its owner, ticking along one step at a time.

Nearby, Mrs. Wells quietly wiped away her tears. Jackie saw it.

"People always say Night City burns people's dreams to ashes. But what it burns far more often are ordinary wishes like these. Toss them into the fire, and they barely even spark."

Lier put away the watch as he spoke, then said to Jackie, "Jackie, we can talk about work in a bit."

"Thanks, hermano. Nobody could see that and feel okay."

V poured herself another drink. "Suddenly, I think taking that guy out was a pretty good job, even if the pay was a little low-tell me, what did you do after you got home?"

"Tried out a few demons. Took his Cyberware apart-took them apart and put them back, then did it all again. Got some practice."

"You didn't give him any anesthetic, did you?"

"Obviously not. Do I look like a fucking idiot? Let's go over our funds first. I've got forty thousand eddies left. How much do you have?"

After paying his tuition and buying Cyberware, that was all Lier had left.

But he'd expected as much. Money came fast and went just as fast, especially for someone on the verge of death like him.

"Me? Four hundred thousand. Paid Vic back, paid the rent, and I'm planning to get myself some new arms. They haven't arrived yet, but I've already ordered them through Vic."

"Arms? Mantis Blades?"

"How'd you know?" V looked astonished. "I was going to whip them out someday and blow everyone away. Speaking of which, do you think I should get a Sandevistan?"

Cyberware could cause cyberpsychosis, and the Sandevistan was particularly notorious as a must-have for lunatics.

Unlike a passively triggered piece of Cyberware such as the Kerenzikov, the Sandevistan carried a far greater risk of cyberpsychosis than conventional Cyberware.

Lier considered it, then said, "If you're worried about it, don't get one."

Reality wasn't a game. Lier didn't think V, as she was now, could truly afford to install whatever Cyberware she wanted without consequence.

Besides, V wasn't working alone now.

"So, about the job. We..."

Bang!

Gunshots and screams rang out outside, instantly putting both of them on edge-

"Die, you Valentino morons!"

Sharp cracks rang out as several bullets struck V's back and ricocheted away-

"It's Sixth Street! Fuck!"