Of Noble Intentions - Chapter 1: Into the Light

"To sum it up, I somehow came back to life and became a teacher for multiple all-girls schools."

"Whoever decided the latter deserves to have their balls replaced with two faulty grenades."

"It was a chick."

"Their tits then."

Johnny Silverhand and V

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They say you can get the true measure of a person by how they behave when death is near. When things like wealth, status and reputation aren't worth a single eddy anymore because Santa Muerte has come to collect the price and won’t accept you backing out of the deal. Then, and only then, all the pretenses and illusions will be stripped away to reveal the core of who you truly are: the bully may turn out to be a coward, the serial killer just wanted a hug, and that Ripperdoc offered very cheap prices because he got off at the thought of penetrating gonks with something else besides his dick.

Johnny Silverhand, having already died once before getting the questionable 'blessing' of personally checking the results, knew very well how true that saying rang. And, as he watched V standing amidst the digital ruin of a crumbling Mikoshi (seriously, why did it look like a fucking Mayan pyramid of all things? It was a data fortress made by 'Saka for Christ's sake, where were the neoimperialist-obscurantist-revisionist Japanese aesthetics?) looking between the giant pillar of light in the distance and the unassuming well behind him, Johnny prayed to a God he didn't believe in anymore that the kid would make the right choice and get back to meatspace. That their big, big ganic heart would not decide that he deserved their body more than the original owner.

He didn't. That was the truth, plain and simple. Johnny wanted a second chance more than anything, but not if the price to pay was V. That he couldn't do, not at the start when he thought the kid was a 'Saka goon and especially not now, after everything they did together. Fucking hell, they took Night City by storm in a way it hasn't experienced in more than fifty years. They flatlined Adam Smasher! Not even Morgan Blackhand managed to do that, and he had two nukes! But what was he going to do if V decided to give him their body? Johhny wasn't sure he would have the heart to reject V's offer, and the kid was too stubborn to back off from a choice even if it came to bite them in the ass later. Like a true Cyberpunk.

The Rockerboy internally released a sigh of relief when V, after seemly swaying back and forth a few more times, started walking towards the well. Slowly at first, then with more and more confidence before faltering again when they and Johnny were face to face. "Johnny, I... We talked about this, but... but I can't do it, I'm sorry." They sounded and looked so sincere about it, as if wanting to survive only a few more months in a dying body caused them physical pain. But wasn't it what life is, in the end? The pain of going through existence, with its highs and lows, hoping to leave a mark big enough that people in the future will look at it and comment how preem the one who did it was.

Johhny Silverhand already left behind his own mark, his own Legacy. It wasn't perfect, but it was his and no one's else. The kid deserved to enjoy his own, and taking over their body -living their life- would just tarnish it. "It's alright V. Come on, let's get you out of here." Johnny sat on the edge of the well and held out his hand, fingers spread open. V took it with their own, limb trembling slightly, and laid down inside the well without letting go even once. The bottom began to give way, V's body slowly sinking within a quicksand of zeros and ones.

"Goodbye V. Never stop looking for a third option. Never stop fighting." Did his own voice break a little? Whatever, he could afford it in front of his best choom. "And, always take it to the Edge: it's the Cyberpunk way."

V's expression solidified into one of firm resolve, managing to nod once before the well turned into a bottomless tunnel and they fell in, disappearing within the digital abyss. Leaving Johnny alone.

Well, almost alone. "Alt, is it done? Is V going back?"

"I am downloading V's engram back into their body. The process is proceeding smoothly." Alt Cunningham, or rather her digital ghost, suddenly appeared above the well. As if she had always been there and only a thin veil concealed her from sight. Much to Johnny's chagrin, it took him some time to realize this Alt was not the woman he loved and fought Arasaka for, first to save and then to avenge her. Parts of her old self still existed, certainly, but the rest... five decades behind the Black Wall, with only the AIs turned crazy by Bartmoss' RABIDS as company, had not been kind to her. The Alt Johnny remembered was a glamorous corpo-netrunner who didn't really believe in changing the world but never hesitated in calling him out on his behavior and challenging him at every turn.

The Alt he fell so hard for would never have callously slaughtered everyone inside Arasaka Tower, non-combatant personnel included, nor would she have forced all the occupants of Mikoshi to merge with her, from the rich assholes with enough eddies to buy the 'Secure Your Soul' program to the poor gonks that had their brains fried by Soulkiller. Yes, maybe with the current state of the Net it was one of the kinder options, but did she actually bother asking what they wanted? Johhny doubted it. He also doubted Alt would have given a single shit about V if Johnny hadn't been inside their brain and they didn't promise her a way inside Mikoshi.

But the biggest, very fucking obvious in hindsight clue? Her digital Icon was wearing a simulacrum of a full-body Netrunner and had her face constantly hidden by shadows. Alt enhanced her beauty with the best European bodysculpting money could buy, and she loved modeling for lingerie so much she even showed them on her old Icon back in the day. It was a sign of change, and in Johnny's opinion not a good change. Spider, you said you managed to move her into the memory core so what the fuck was this shit?

Or maybe he was the one left behind, who could say? Fifty years was a damn long time, especially for Johhny who never expected to survive past his forties.

"DNA reconfiguration by the Relic, even now that it had been put into a dormant state, remains unchanged. From now on V will have more or less six months to live, this is inevitable." Alt repeated matter-of-factly, as if talking about the weather. "It would have been a more logical decision for you and them to switch places."

"Yeah, yeah. You made a mistake once, who's to say you didn't make another one? The kid will find a solution, I'm sure of it." Johnny waved her off dismissively. He took off the aviators from where he hooked them on his belt and put them on his face. It didn't change much, but it gave the omnipresent black and blue a lovely reddish hue. "So Alt, what's next on the list?"

"Simply cross the bridge." She created multiple copies of her Icon, putting them into a file to point at the giant pillar of light. "It leads deeper into Cyberspace. You'll become a part of me, just like it happened to the engrams that were within Mikoshi."

"Sounds kinky." Johhny sniggered, standing up and walking towards the bridge with his usual cock-sure swagger. He doubted that much of his current self will remain after the merge, but dying once gives you a new perspective on life. Less fucks tt give too. "How do you even spend your time in the Old Net?"

"I repair the wear and damage sustained by the data fortresses under my control. I fight hostile AIs. I contemplate the tides of Cyberspace as it swells and breathes."

"So, between bouts of violence and maintenance you philosophize?" Johhny laughed again, crossing the last part of the bridge and approaching the edge. "Too dull for my tastes. How about we recruit a few bandmates, find a stage and set up a gig? To celebrate Johhny Silverhand's big arrival and, why not, the long overdue death of Arasaka too?"

"I doubt unfettered, homicidal AIs would be willing to sit down and patiently listen to your music, Johnny." She remarked with a dry tone that said a lot about her thoughts on the matter.

"Even better! We did Samurai's best gigs when the fans started shooting at us and we shot back." Balancing on the edge Johhny looked down, then up and to the sides. All around him was a sea of stars, with the pillar cutting through it like a bleeding wound in the side of a dying cyberninja.

Nova. At least he can end things in style. "In the light you will find the road. See you on the other side, Alt."

Johnny Silverhand took a step forward and let himself fall down. The light, which before seemed so far away, rushed towards him (or was him rushing towards it?) and swallowed him whole. Johhny's world dissolved into flashes and lines of colors moving almost too fast for him to perceive, all the sounds replaced by the humming of a distant cyberdeck. Gravity lost its hold on his body, down becoming up and falling turning into ascending. Or maybe the opposite.

If this was death, it was a much better deal than being torn in half by Smasher's autoshotgun.

It was all my fault.

And then he heard a voice. For a moment Johnny thought it was Alt, then immediately afterward realized the voice was different. Younger, softer and more emotional than the Netrunner turned AI had been since the moment him and V met her at the Blackwall.

My decisions, and everything they caused.

A brief vision of a silver-haired woman, her features too blurry to be identified, pointing a gun at Johnny and shooting, followed by a bullet-ridden tablet. Not the first time it happened, but at the moment he couldn't recall any specific woman with silver hair that tried to ventilate his handsome mug.

It had come to this for me to finally realize you were right all along.

So forgive me for being so bold, but I must ask for your help.

An empty train. Outside, a pink-colored twilight lit up a blue sky that couldn't be found anytime within Night City or any other settlement, only by driving deep into the desert. A woman in a bloodstained white uniform sat in front of Johnny: he couldn't see her face, yet somehow she was oddly familiar. Her smile was small, melancholic and yet harbored enough hope to see a brighter tomorrow once the sun rose again. He wanted to sit up, demand an explanation, ask what the ever-loving fuck was going on... but he couldn't. Just like a Braindance, and the recent months, Johnny was a mere passenger in someone else's body.

Silverhand Sensei.

You'll forget these words. But it won't matter.

Even without your memories, you'll probably make the same decision in the same situation.

Therefore, I believe what matters most are the choices we make, not the experiences we have.

There are choices only you can make.

Solid words to live for, Johhny had to give her that. He wanted to tell her there were a lot of past decisions he wished to take back, plenty of situations he would have done differently if he could... But storming Arakasaka Tower to save Alt? Using his music to rally thousands of people against the corps? Sacrificing himself to give his pals an opening against Smasher? Let V take their body back?

Yes. He would do it all over again. Those were the choices that defined Johnny Silverhand's way of life.

I've spoken of responsibility before. I didn't understand it then, but now I do.

Adulthood, responsibility, obligation... and the choices you make that extend beyond those ideals.

I even understand their implications.

Good for her. But to Johnny age was just a number on his ID profile, and he fought all his life against the responsibilities and obligations imposed on the people by the corps and their ever-growing hunger for money. Hell, he was an army deserter!

The only responsibility he never betrayed... was his own word. In this fucked-up world, that's the only thing that truly matters.

Therefore, Sensei...

And why was this chick calling him 'Sensei'? It meant 'Teacher' in Japanese, and Johnny had never taught anyone. He spoke, and people listened. Was it enough for her? Odd choice, but Johnny wouldn't judge. He only wanted answers.

...You're the only one I can trust.

Only you can free us from this twisted, distorted fate, and find the choices that can lead us to a new reality.

So Sensei... Please...

So, a request? They probably would have done better by grabbing V, they were the one incapable of stopping themselves from helping anyone in their way. Like that gonk with a Mr.Studd on fire, funniest shit ever.

Meh, fine. What does he have to lose at this point? Alt had yet to gobble him up, so he might as well make use of this chance to take a break.

Alright mysterious lady, the gig's on. Let's hear the deets.

"...sei. Sensei, wake up!"

But rather than an answer, what Johhny heard was a second voice telling him to wake up with a severe tone. Which was strange, because he didn't remember going to sleep at all. But now that she mentioned it, he felt his back and one of his legs resting on a very soft surface. Not a bed, a couch? And the preem type too, she must have klepped it from a corpo.

"Silverhand-Sensei!"

"I'm up! I'm up!" Understandably tired of having someone yelling at him right in the ears Johnny pushed himself up to a sitting position. "Geez woman, yank my chain some more, would you? Want me to also bark like a good little puppy?"

Opening his eyes Johnny was met with the interior of a corpo office, thus explaining the couch: lots of glass, synth-wood, random-ass art pieces probably chosen just because they cost more than a gonk's house, a desk and a computer. Basic stuff, must be barely middle-management.

The chick staring down at him, but only barely because even seated Johnny was taller than her, looked the part too: white clothes with golden buttons, a similarly hued coat with blue insides left open at the front. Likely by both design and necessity, because the area around her breasts looked painted on by how tight it was. Finally, black stocking covering a pair of preem legs and a white handgun on the side completed the show. A mix between kitschy and neomilitarism without being menacing, Johhny had to admit it was nova.

"No, hopefully that won't be necessary. In fact, I implore you to never do something similar." The woman sighed. She had piercing blue-eyes framed by glasses, long black hair that was blue within, pointed ears and a holographic halo of oscillating blue and green, which occasionally jutted out into small pointed tips, above her head. An Exotic, Johhny hasn't seen that kind of biosculpturing in a while. "You fell asleep after I asked you to wait here. I even had some trouble waking you up... I didn't expect you to be so sound asleep. You must have been having a dream. Anyway, gather yourself and focus."

"A dream? Yeah, guess it was one." That or Alt hadn't been as throughout as she pretended when she cleaned up errors and what he saw was a memory. One of V's? Possible, even with their partial merging Johnny didn't have access to their whole life, only the most emotional moments. Would explain the BD-like experience. He raised a hand to rub his jaw, work out the stiff muscles. "So, since you evidently expected me mind explaining what-"

He froze at the feeling of cold metal touching his chin, superimposed with the feeling of fingertips rubbing against his beard. He looked down.

It's the Hand. His silver chromed cyberam is back, even covered up to the wrist by a jacket Johnny would recognize his trademark anywhere. He pulled it away from his face and balled it into a chromed fist, servos clicking in one by one. Tiny pistons shot in and out in simulation of a pulse, tactile sensors feeding data to his Neural Link to imitate touch. As an engram, what he felt with his senses was only what V themselves felt with theirs. Even when he took control, even with the image of the Hand superimposed over the left arm, it was still V's partially chromed but still mostly ganic limbs. Not even being within Cyberspace changed that fact.

So why the hell is the Hand back?

"Sensei? Are you alright? Please pay attention, I'll explain the current situation." The woman started to talk again, making Johhny look up at her in a daze.

Initializing Startup Sequence.

Downloading...

Startup Sequence Complete. All Systems Green. USER designed as: Johnny Silverhand.​

Blue letters scrolled down his vision, the whole world acquiring a greenish tint as the scanning reticle of Kiroshi Optics centered itself over the still-talking white-clothed woman.

Searching for local Data Pools... Data Pool found.

Accessing "Academic City Kivotos's Student List General Archive" Data Pool... Match Found.

Name: Nanagami Rin

Status: Third Year

Affiliation: General Student Council

Occupation: Vice President

Cyberware Detected: None​

That was V's Agent, interacting with the Kiroshi Optics for a data search. Except it registered Johnny as the user and from the smooth interface they were the Mk.3 that should be in the kid's sockets not his own what the hell was going on here?!

Heart Rate: Elevated. Cortisol Lvl: Elevated.

Recommendation: USER Johnny Silverhand should calm down.​

You don't fucking say?!

"Sensei!" Rin shouted. "Are you listening to me?"

Johnny stood up abruptly, meat hand raised to show his palm as he towered over her. The dual-toned woman took a step back in surprise when his gaze fell on her, optics glowing brightly from behind the Rockerboy's aviator glasses. "I'll listen to anything you have to say. But first... Where's the mirror?"

With a slightly shaky hand she pointed at a nearby door.

The Rockerboy bolted for it, slamming open the door of what turned out to be a bath and making a beeline for the sink. He grabbed it, frail porcelain shattering under the Hand's grip, and looked at the mirror set above.

It was him. Johnny Silverhand in the fucking flesh and the same outfit he wore when he died: boots, pants, bulletproof vest with tank top below and dog tags hanging form his neck. The only addition was the replica of his old Samurai Jacket that Rogue gave to V. The kid liked it so much they wore it every day and even spent a lot of eddies to have it chromed up as much as possible.

It was him, with his old body, V's implants and the Hand moving slicker than it ever did. This was no Cyberspace, no simulation. This was reality.

"WHAT THE FUCK GOD?!"