The underground clinic was quieter than Lena expected.
As Valerie helped her down the stairs, the noise of Night City gradually faded.
Cold metal walls replaced Misty’s warm decorations, while the hum of medical equipment filled the sterile air.
There were no tarot cards, crystals, or burning incense down here.
Nothing softened the reality of the work being performed.
People entered this clinic injured, broken, or desperate to replace another piece of themselves with machinery.
“Anyone here?” Valerie called.
“Coming.”
A man stepped out from behind a workbench.
He was no longer young.
Gray had begun spreading through his hair, and years of experience showed in the lines across his weathered face.
He wore simple clothes beneath a medical apron, but his eyes were exceptionally sharp.
One glance at Lena’s blood-soaked shoulder was enough.
“Tech weapon?”
“Nekomata,” Valerie answered.
The ripperdoc raised an eyebrow.
“You took a Nekomata round and walked down here yourself?
Either you’re exceptionally tough or exceptionally lucky.”
He gestured toward the medical chair.
“Sit.
Let me see it.”
Lena lowered herself into the chair.
“I’m Viktor Vektor,” he said.
“Most people call me Vik.”
“Lena Hale.”
Vik nodded and immediately began working.
A medical arm descended from the ceiling and positioned itself above Lena’s shoulder.
Blue scanning light moved across the injury, sending detailed images to a nearby display.
“The round passed through the muscle and struck the shoulder blade,” Vik said.
“Bone’s damaged but not fully fractured.”
He adjusted the medical arm.
“You’re lucky.
A normal person hit by a Nekomata would be inside a trauma unit—or a body bag.”
“Maybe I’m difficult to kill.”
Vik didn’t respond.
He studied the scan as the machine cleaned the wound.
Then his hands paused.
Lena’s body didn’t make sense.
The scanner detected the four Tier 2 implants she had chosen to make visible: Kiroshi optics, Self-ICE, skeletal reinforcement, and a Recoil Dampening System.
However, their integration signatures were abnormal.
There were no surgical scars around the reinforced sections of bone.
No standard neural-adaptation patterns surrounded the Self-ICE.
The interfaces looked functional, yet they hadn’t been installed through any procedure Vik recognized.
More troubling was Lena’s physical performance.
Her recovery rate and the structural resistance of her shoulder exceeded what her visible cyberware should have provided.
It was as though another system had absorbed part of the bullet’s force without physically existing inside her body.
Vik stared at the results for several seconds.
Then he closed the detailed scan.
Night City was built on secrets.
People concealed their names, histories, employers, and the origin of their chrome.
A good ripperdoc learned when curiosity became dangerous.
Vik returned his attention to the wound.
“You’re recovering faster than most mercs.”
Lena glanced at him.
“Is that a problem?”
“No.”
He gave her a faint smile.
“Just means you can take more punishment than I expected.”
The medical arm removed damaged tissue, applied a synthetic sealant, and began repairing the torn muscle.
“Still, don’t make a habit of stopping Tech rounds with your body.
Plenty of Night City legends thought they could survive one more bullet.”
Vik tightened the dressing.
“They usually died before anyone could tell them they were wrong.”
“I’ll remember that.”
Lena understood that he had noticed something unusual.
She also understood that he had chosen not to ask.
Several minutes later, Vik retracted the medical arm.
“That’s it.
Avoid heavy strain for the next few days.
The wound should close properly as long as you don’t tear it open again.”
Lena carefully moved her shoulder.
Pain remained, but it was far more manageable.
“Thank you, Vik.”
“Don’t mention it.
Jackie brought you here.
Footsteps sounded on the stairs.
Jackie entered with his usual grin, but the relief on his face was obvious when he saw Lena sitting upright.
“Everything good?”
“Much better,” Lena said.
“You weren’t exaggerating about Vik.”
“Of course not.”
Jackie patted the workbench.
“This man is one of the best ripperdocs in Night City.”
Vik gave him a flat look.
“Stop flattering me.”
Jackie coughed and looked away.
Valerie laughed softly.
Vik checked the treatment record.
“Fifty eddies.”
Lena blinked.
“That’s all?”
“I treated a gunshot wound.
I didn’t replace half your body.”
Vik removed his gloves.
“If you’re desperate to spend more, come back when you need proper cyberware.”
Valerie authorized the payment from her own account.
Vik’s terminal chimed.
“Received.
Keep the dressing clean and don’t take another contract until the wound stabilizes.”
Lena nodded.
Jackie leaned against the workbench.
“Speaking of contracts, what are you two planning next?”
“Find somewhere to stay,” Lena answered.
“After that, we start looking for work.”
Jackie’s expression became serious.
“Night City isn’t the Badlands.
The city has its own rules.
Without someone introducing you to fixers, you’ll spend weeks chasing garbage jobs—or walk straight into a trap.”
He looked between Lena and Valerie.
“So I’ve been thinking.”
Valerie crossed her arms.
“That sounds dangerous.”
“Very funny.”
Jackie stepped closer.
“The two of you need someone who knows the city.
Its streets, gangs, fixers, and which people shouldn’t be trusted.”
He shrugged.
“And I need partners who won’t stab me in the back the moment someone offers an extra hundred eddies.”
Lena studied him.
Jackie appeared reckless and loved exaggerating his own abilities, but he didn’t offer trust casually.
Once he considered someone family, however, that loyalty became absolute.
Their journey from the border checkpoint through the Arasaka ambush had been enough for him to decide.
Jackie extended his hand.
“What do you say?
From now on, we work together?”
Lena smiled and accepted it.
“Welcome to the crew.”
Jackie stared at her.
“That’s it?”
“What else were you expecting?”
“I prepared an entire speech.”
Valerie smirked.
“Save it.
Your speech probably wouldn’t convince you.”
Jackie touched his chest with mock offense.
“My natural charm did the work before I could speak.”
The three clasped hands, turning a chance smuggling job into the beginning of a real crew.
Vik watched them and shook his head.
“Don’t turn my clinic into your meeting place.”
“Relax,” Jackie said.
“When we become rich, you’ll be the first person I pay back.”
“I’ve heard that before.”
“This time I mean it.”
“I’ll believe it when the eddies arrive.”
They climbed the stairs and returned to Misty’s shop.
Warm light replaced the clinic’s cold glow.
Misty looked up from her tarot cards and immediately noticed Lena’s clean dressing.
“Vik treated it?”
“Yeah,” Lena said.
“Nothing permanently damaged.”
“You reached Night City for the first time, fought Arasaka, and still returned alive.
That’s fortunate.”
“Fortunate?” Valerie laughed.
“We almost got killed.”
“But you didn’t.”
Misty smiled gently.
“In Night City, survival is its own kind of luck.”
Jackie sighed.
“She’s speaking in riddles again.”
“It isn’t a riddle.”
Misty looked at Lena.
“You don’t have the eyes of someone seeing Night City for the first time.”
Lena’s heart tightened.
“What do you mean?”
“Most newcomers look frightened or overwhelmed.
Some become fascinated immediately.”
Misty tilted her head.
“But you look at the city as if you’re searching for something you already know.”
Lena kept her expression neutral.
“Maybe Night City simply feels familiar.”
Misty didn’t press her.
“Everyone has a story.
If you ever want to tell yours, I’ll listen.”
Lena looked at the woman she remembered from another life.
Misty was exactly as she had imagined—gentle without being weak and perceptive without being intrusive.
“Maybe someday.”
“No promise necessary.
Jackie’s friends are welcome here.”
Misty turned toward Valerie.
“That includes you.”
“Me?”
“You’ve been watching Lena since you entered.
Even while speaking, you keep checking whether her shoulder hurts.”
Valerie looked away.
“She’s family.
I’ve protected her since we were kids.”
Misty smiled but said nothing more.
Jackie clapped his hands.
“If we stay much longer, Misty’s going to reveal our entire future.”
“I can’t see the future that clearly.”
Misty turned over one of the cards.
“No one can.”
She looked at the three of them standing together.
“But right now, you look like you belong beside each other.”
Jackie grinned.
“That’s what I wanted to hear.”
After a brief farewell, the three left the shop.
Once the door closed, silence returned to Misty’s Esoterica.
Misty looked at the tarot card she had placed face down on the counter.
After a moment, she turned it over.
A radiant golden sun appeared.
The Sun.
Success.
Hope.
Light after darkness.
A path discovered by someone who had once been lost.
Misty studied the card.
“Jackie?
Valerie?”
Her thoughts returned to Lena’s strangely familiar gaze.
“Or perhaps you?”
Outside, Jackie started the Galena.
“First problem,” he announced.
“You two need somewhere to sleep.”
Valerie climbed into the car.
“Where are you taking us?”
“El Coyote Cojo.”
Lena recognized the name immediately.
It was the bar run by Jackie’s mother, Guadalupe Welles—and the place Jackie truly considered home.
“My mother’s a wonderful woman,” Jackie said as he pulled into traffic.
“You can stay there tonight.
Tomorrow, we’ll figure out everything else.”
He glanced at them through the mirror.
“It isn’t a luxury apartment, but it’s safe.”
After the day they had endured, safety was more than enough.