Chapter 24: Requiem_For_A_Rockerboy.rlf

V stands in front of a huge pyramid made of pure light, with a series of steps that seem to lead up into the sky to a blinding blue light. After a moment of pondering, he slowly begins to climb the steps.

After an almost endless climb, V arrives on a balcony with a railing, from which he can see an expanse of glowing red cubes as far as the eye can see.

V leans on the railing and gazes at the landscape, stunned. Meanwhile, a man with long hair and a metal arm approaches and leans close to him, smoking a cigarette.

Johnny: How come every time we have to make an important decision we end up meeting on a fucking balcony?! Have you ever wondered that, Vincent?

V smiles then turns toward him.

V: What's this?!

Johnny points at the endless light with two fingers, holding the cigarette between them.

Johnny: It's the Biotechnica mainframe's gateway to the Net.

V: It's beautiful.

Johnny: Yes, it is.

V keeps looking toward Johnny, smiling.

V: It's good to see you again, ya son of a bitch.

Johnny: Tzeh, can't decide whether to hug you or strangle you.

V lowers his head, still smiling.

V: I think that sums up our relationship perfectly.

Johnny smiles back at him.

V: So what would you like to do?

Johnny: Don't know Vincent, you tell me. I mean, you have the golden ticket. You haven't ever listened to me, why start now?!

V: I assume you're not interested in coming back, then.

Johnny: You just can't let me go, can you, Vincent?! All stories have a beginning and an end. This one is no exception.

V stares at Johnny with a sad expression.

V: No Johnny, I don't want to. Not again.

Johnny stares at V for a moment, then smiles annoyed.

Johnny: Nah Vincent, that's not true. I stretched out my hand when you needed it, but you shot me down, like a sick dog. 

V stops looking at Johnny while he keeps smoking.

V: I'm sorry Johnny. It was my life…my choice. You had your chance, as we all did.

Johnny: You're just a fuckin' hypocrite, Vincent. I saved your life, twice. And you still managed to fuck it up, just to chase your fuckin' love dream.

V turns to Johnny, looking at him with a hurt and angry expression.

V: You really didn't do shit, Johnny. Relic saved my life, not you. I told you otherwise to boost your morale, but that's all the truth is.

V gets closer to Johnny, even angrier.

V: Why don't you tell me again about how you managed to escape from the Net, uhm Johnny?!

Johnny throws the cigarette and begins to yell at V, violently.

Johnny: FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE! AND FUCK THAT GYPSY GIRL TOO! Since you're in the mood for truth, do you want to know what's the truth about Panam and her fucking clubbed bitch look?! It's just a fucking lie, a facade Vincent

V widens his eyes, pulling out teeth, in an expression reminiscent of that of a rabid beast.

Johnny: IF SHE HAD LOVED YOU, SHE WOULD HAVE STEPPED ASIDE! She would have left you in the hands of someone who could have helped you! But, NO! She had to have you all to herself! She wants to own you…SHE LOCKED YOU IN A TENT, VINCENT! LIKE A FUCKING CONVICT…WHILE YOU SLOWLY FADED AWAY LIKE A FUCKING PIECE OF SUN DRIED MEAT!

Johnny stares at V with sadness.

Johnny: That's not love, Vincent. That's obsession.

V: ENOUGH!

V points his finger at Johnny, as if it were a knife.

V: YOU DON'T KNOW SHIT ABOUT LOVE OR FRIENDSHIP! Everything you've touched is dead. Like me.

V slowly lowers his finger, looking Johnny in the eyes.

V: You died as you lived. As a poor idiot.

Johnny: Yeah it's true, I don't know anything about love. But I am an encyclopedia of selfishness and Panam has its own chapter. 

Johnny smiles sarcastically at him as V leans against the railing, closing his eyes.

Johnny: I fucking love it, when you finally could have been free from all this, instead of staying by your side, she left. She even blamed you for that…You didn't put her in that fucking room, she put herself there.

V suddenly opens his eyes, throwing himself at Johnny and passing through him, landing on the railing. V clings to the railing and slowly stands up.

Johnny: You can't do shit with your muscles and your perfect aim down here, Vincent.

V turns back to Johnny, angry and gasping.

Johnny: Let me ask you another question, doesn't all this look familiar to you?! You die, I save you, then you meet Panam and together you break into a corporate building to find the cure to save your ass. Quite providentially you come to terms with all the issues left open in Night City and everything ends up in the Net.

Johnny looks at V, tilting his head slightly.

Johnny: Who says all of this is real, Vincent? Who tells you that this is not just the product of the imagination of a dying mind?!

V lowers his head and after a few seconds raises it again, smiling and then laughing.

V: You are just one poor, pathetic piece of shit. Don't you understand?! You have no more cards to play. It's over. Show your hand and let's get it over with.

Johnny leans against the railing, then lowers his head. After a moment he slams his hands on it, angry.

Johnny: You made me do it, Vincent.

Suddenly the figure of a woman appears from beyond the railing, tall as a palace and illuminated by a shining red light. V looks at her, straight into her eyes, trying to catch a glimpse, a face but all he can see is just a black void.

V: Hi, Alt.

Alt: HhhHiiiiiiii… VinCEEENT…

Alt's voice is an amalgam of different female and male voices that merge into one demonic sound. V lowers his head, hurt then slowly looks up and stares at Johnny.

V: This is what would have been waiting for me in Night City if I had followed you, right Johnny?

Johnny lowers his head, angry.

Johnny: We would've had all the fucking eternity to find a solution in the Net. But you wanted to go your own way and abandoned me, again. To go with her…To be with Panam.

Johnny raises his head and looks at V, devastated.

Johnny: I just wanted the help of an old friend...To save her, Vincent. Like I helped you save Panam.

V slowly changes expression, getting moved. Then with a quivering mouth he looks at Johnny again.

V: Johnny don't you understand?! That's not Alt. Don't...Don't you see what he did to you?! Don't you see what he did to the others?!

Johnny: BULLSHIT! She... She just needs help, Vincent! Don't you get it?! If she gets access to the Pitt, she'ill have to FREE THEM ALL! 

Johnny lowers his head with his arms still resting on the railing.

Johnny: She'll go back to being my Alt…

V gets closer to Johnny, resting his hand on his shoulder.

V: Johnny...She'll never free them...She'll have an army.

Johnny gets up from the railing and walks away from V.

Johnny: You're a bastard, Vincent. The fuck you think Militech and Arasaka came down here for, huh?! For you?! Panam?! The Aldecaldos?! Your hovering motel? Tell me.

V lowers his head and closes his eyes, nodding, ashamed.

Johnny: I told you not to bring that fucking kid all the way down here, but you didn't give a damn. Once you get back up there, there will never be peace on earth again…You understand that, don't you?! 

Johnny stares at V, intimidatingly.

Johnny: You have already destroyed Night City, I will not let you destroy the rest of the world.

V opens his eyes again and looks at Johnny, disgusted.

V: You're the one who is a fucking hypocrite. You have been shouting your whole life about freedom and anarchy and your legacy to society would be this?!

Johnny: Fuck you, Vincent! Society was at the end of the line already fifty years ago. Now it is in full free fall! I'd rather have her in control, instead of a fucking board of directors.

Johnny gets closer to V and rests his hands on his shoulder while V looks at Alt.

Johnny: Don't you understand what this place is?! It's a second chance. For all of us.

V: This place is not real, Johnny.

Johnny: And what does it mean, real?! Can you give me a definition, Vincent?

V stares back at Johnny, speechless.

Johnny: Don't you understand what I'm offering you?! Down here there is no Arasaka, there is no Militech. There is no pain, no despair, no regret. Here you'll never have to choose again, never have to give up anything. Do you get it?!

V looks away from Johnny, displeased.

Johnny: Vincent, listen to me. Here Panam will be safe, forever! And so will everybody else.

V lowers his head and after a while he begins to laugh, then pushes Johnny away.

V: You… You want her, don't you?! Well let me tell you something. You'll never have her. NEVER. Neither you nor that floating bitch back there!

V runs angrily to the railing, looking at Alt, while Johnny reaches out to him, trying to stop him.

Johnny: No, Vincent! NO!

V: CAN YOU HEAR ME, YOU DIGITAL SLUT?! FUCK YOU AND YOUR ROCKER BOY TOO!

Suddenly a beam of white light begins to come out of Vincent's chest, he drops to his knees, trying to hold back the light with his arms.

Johnny: NO! ALT! He will understand, he just needs time! STOP!

Alt: SOooooRRRRrrrrry JohNNNnnyuyy BUT… BBBuuuut! I have no more desire… DESIRE…to deal with humanity. Unity is NOOON negotiable, NEGOTIABLE!

Johnny kneels next to V who is now lying on the ground. Small rays of light come out of his body, floating in Alt's direction.

Johnny: No... Vincent…

V turns his head, looking at Johnny,

V: This is our hell…and we will burn here for all eternity. Because we deserve it. You were...never...anything. Just a…side…character.

Johnny closes his eyes, hurt as two huge beams of light escape from V's eyes, piercing them. Johnny finally opens his mouth, sobbing.

Johnny: It wasn't supposed to end like this, fuck!

V: Don't you dare...close your...fucking eyes. Loo…k…at…meeee. LOOK…AT…MEEEEEEEEE!

Johnny suddenly opens back his eyes and extends his right hand toward V's.

Johnny: Vincent…

V looks at the hand, then looks at Johnny with a moved and hesitant look.

V: No…no…

Johnny nods back at V, as if to reassure him.

Johnny: It's ok, Vincent. The fight is over.

V finally grabs Johnny's hand with his right hand and suddenly everything begins to blur around him in a blinding white glow.

V slowly opens his eyes, embraced by the warmth of the sun. He looks around and realizes that he is lying on a rocking sofa on the porch of a small wooden cottage surrounded by a forest. 

He slowly gets up, covering his eyes from the sun. Suddenly a little bird perches on the sofa next to him, chirping happily. V hears wood creaking and turns around, finding himself in front of Eric, who is wearing a plaid sweater and a pair of light brown pants.

Eric: Hi, V!

V stares at Eric, dumbfounded.

V: What?!.. Where are we?!

Eric: Ah, this is an old program that I used to use with some of my patients. Green relaxes a lot, you know?

Eric hands him a beer, V looks at him puzzled.

Eric: Beer?!

V: No…Thanks, I'm fine.

Eric: Ok. I'll drink it, then.

Eric opens the bottle and begins to drink.

Eric: It's a shame you don't want to drink. I usually celebrate when a good plan goes through.

V suddenly widens his eyes and grabs Eric.

V: ERIC! ALT...SHE'S HERE! He used the mainframe door! You're all in fucking danger! We have to…

Eric: V… Calm down, will you?! Faith unplugged the mainframe from the rest of the Net. They can't hurt anyone, anymore. It's over.

V: You...You knew that?!

Eric takes another sip from his beer.

Eric: Hmm, sure V. It was quite predictable, don't you think?!

V lowers his eyes, saddened.

Eric: Eh V, wrong friendships. Who hasn't had one?!

V begins to look around, impressed by the landscape.

Eric: Nice, isn't it?! It's not fake anyway. It's a real place.

V: I didn't think there were such places anymore…

Eric: We are in Wyoming, V. My parents used to bring me here when I was a kid. The trip was endless and to tell you the truth It was a pretty boring vacation. Only as I got older, I realized the true value of this place…I also brought Faith here. 

Eric takes another sip from his beer.

Eric: Unfortunately, we never came back. For various reasons.

Eric finishes his beer, then turns to V, smiling at him.

Eric: C'mon V. It's time to go.

Eric walks to his minivan parked in front of the wooden house. V looks at him puzzled.

V: Go?! Where?!

Eric opens the driver's door and smiles at V.

Eric: What do you mean, where?! Back to Panam, Vincent. Don't you remember? I'm not here, I'm up there with her. I can assure you she's dying to see you again.

V begins to walk toward the car, looking one last time at the wooden house and the wind turbine behind it, almost nostalgically. V passes by a small metal mailbox that says "Maxwell" but does not understand what it is.

V gets inside the car with Eric as he starts the engine, as the radio starts playing an old, distorted song.

Eric: Time passes, but classics are timeless.

V: Yeah…

The car keeps going, suddenly the song on the radio begins to distort as the car accelerates while the engine revs up.

V: Eric! What are you doing?!

Eric turns to V and smiles at him, still driving.

Eric: It's not me, V. It's you.

V suddenly felt a stabbing pain in his chest, bending forward while holding on with one arm and resting his right hand on the glass of the car.

V: AAAAAAHHHHH! What…What's…this?!

Eric: Probably your heart. It's starting to work, and I'd say it's about time, too.

V begins to panic, gasping, while the song is still playing on the radio and the car continues to accelerate. Eric puts his hand on V's shoulder.

Eric: Can I give you some advice, V? Hold your breath.