Knock knock knock!
"Hello! Is anyone available?"
Vito knocked on the clinic door and stepped inside to find two people who looked like scavs watching a Braindance.
"Hey, kid. You see the closed sign outside?"
Vito scratched his head and played it innocent.
"Oh, I saw it, sorry about that. I've just got sothing urgent. Is Mr. Dov around?"
The two watching the Braindance looked up.
"What do you want with Dov?"
Vito kept the act going.
"Janpeng sent to drop sothing off for Mr. Dov personally. Only problem is I can't quite rember the address, so I wasn't even sure this was the right place. What a headache."
One of the scavs stood up.
"The hell? People still forget addresses? What do you even have a neural interface for? Just give it to us, we'll handle it."
Vito pulled a face.
"Co on, no need to be rude. Janpeng said it has to go directly into Mr. Dov's hands. Who are you two? I don't recognise you."
The scav got more irritated.
"Are you deaf? I'm one of Dov's people. The boss is busy, just hand it over."
Vito seed to hesitate.
"It's just the two of you? Nobody else? I an, nobody I'd recognise? What if you're not actually with Mr. Dov?"
The scav raised his voice.
"You got a hearing problem? The boss is in surgery, it's just us two in here. Hand it over or I'll have him scoop your guts out and put them in a can."
Vito reached into his jacket, pulling sothing out slowly.
"Well then, that's a relief. Also, what are you screaming for? You planning a funeral?"
"The fuck did you just say?"
Bang!
Vito put a round through the scav's eye and dropped him, then fired three shots into the second scav's face before he could react. Once he was sure neither of them was getting up, Vito walked over to the first one with his Unity.
"I said, you planning a funeral?"
Bang!
The round scattered the scav's thoughts across the floor. Vito holstered the Unity, picked up a Guillotine SMG with an extended magazine, and walked toward the surgery room.
He kicked the door open.
"Which one of you is Dov?"
Two people inside. The one dressed like a ripperdoc instinctively glanced sideways at Dov, and that was the last thing he needed to do. Vito swept a full magazine into Dov before anyone moved.
"That answers that. Hope I got that right. And you are?"
The ripperdoc was shaking. "I'm Doug. This is my clinic."
Vito reloaded the Guillotine. "Okay, Doc Doug. What exactly were you and Dov doing in here?"
Doug swallowed. "There was a patient, a car accident, she had implants that needed to be recovered, Dov was handling the retrieval, so..."
Vito glanced at the surgery table. A red-haired woman was lying there unclothed, visibly injured but not yet opened up. They hadn't started.
"Is she dead?" Vito asked, gun still on Doug.
Doug raised both hands slowly.
"Not yet, but she will be. I was just about to..."
Vito smiled. "Relax, Doc. Take out Mr. Dov's eddies chip and hand it over. Slow. This Guillotine has a habit of going off."
Doug moved carefully, pulled out Dov's chip, and handed it over. He was hoping Vito was just a rc with a grudge against Dov and would take the money and go.
Vito kept going. "Now yours too. And leave yourself five eddies for so fried noodles."
Doug handed it over with about as much enthusiasm as a man paying for his own execution, hoping the whole ti that Vito would leave.
Vito put the Guillotine away. Doug exhaled.
Vito asked, almost casually, "Can she be saved?"
Doug's guard dropped a little. "She could be, but there's no point. Her son picked the budget package, and the company needs the implants back."
"Right."
Vito drew his Unity and shot Doug.
"Sorry, Doc Doug. I've been having a rough ti with ripperdocs who've forgotten what the job is supposed to be. You can ask Janpeng about it when you get where you're going."
He stood over the woman on the table for a mont. She looked young. Her son probably wasn't much older. Company repossessing implants. Another one like Fredo.
He found a few cloths to wrap around her, lifted her up, and muttered as he carried her out:
"You're in luck. That doc had decent money. If your luck holds a little longer and you make it to Viktor's, your kid still has a mother."
The woman made a few weak sounds. She wasn't fully under. Scavs never liked wasting their anesthetic.
Vito brought her to Viktor's clinic.
"Vik, ergency surgery. And use the anesthetic."
Viktor saw Vito co in carrying another bundle and assud he'd picked up more cyberware he wanted installed.
"Vito, this isn't a black-market clinic, I'm not doing scav work."
Vito shook his head. "Not asking you to pull eyes out of anyone. This is a car accident victim who nearly got harvested. Just help her."
Viktor took one look and imdiately had Vito set her down, getting to work.
Vito went next door to Misty's and sat down.
"Hi there. What's your na?"
"Just call Vito."
"Nice to et you, Vito. I'm Misty."
"I know. It does say Misty's on the door."
Misty passed him a cigarette. Vito took it without thinking. She said: "Little Fredo told about you. You're a good person, Vito. That's a rare thing to be in Night City."
Vito lit the cigarette off a candle and said: "People need sothing to hold onto to keep going. I've got to find ways to keep from turning into sothing I don't want to be."
They talked for about two hours. Late into the evening, Viktor called.
"Hey Vito, you can co over. Mrs. Martinez is awake."
Vito said goodnight to Misty and headed back to the clinic. He walked in grinning.
"Working miracles, Vik. She's up in two hours?"
Viktor shook his head with a smile. "I'm not that good. The other clinic had already stabilised her, those animals just changed their minds at the last minute, that's why she was so weak. Oh, and Vito, the nerve suppressor I gave you. Have you been taking it?"
Vito quickly pulled it out and took two hits. "Completely forgot after the cutscene ended. My bad."
Viktor didn't have ti to figure out what that ant.
"The patient wants to talk to you."
User Comments
0 comments from readers