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corpocyborg · 9 months

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Secure Your Soul: A Cyberpunk 2077 Fanfiction

This fic was previously published under the title "Before the Event Horizon."

Summary: Six months ago, V's boss at Arasaka ordered her to assassinate his rival. Instead, with the reluctant but invaluable help of her old friend Jackie Welles, she pushed them both off their thrones and claimed one for herself. Now the new Director of Arasaka Counter Intel has a problem. She's uncovered information that indicates that Yorinobu Arasaka, the heir apparent to the Arasaka dynasty, is a traitor. But without solid proof, she's forced to take matters into her own hands.

CHAPTER TWO: PLAN A

[read on ao3]

Jenkins’ office was decorated in the same sleek, classic Arasaka design as the rest of NCHQ. The primary color scheme was, of course, red and black—“the color scheme of prosperity,” as most high-end clothing stores in Corpo Plaza called it. Textured black walls were lit up from underneath in red, and the mostly black furnishings also included several small potted saplings of the bioluminescent plant species Arasaka had had genetically modified to obtain its signature red glow. Best of all, the office had a perfect view of the koi fish holograms that circled outside the tower, though it was currently blocked by a large television screen showing the European Space Council’s meeting room. Jenkins stood in front, speaking on a handheld phone.

“Have a seat, V.” He briefly interrupted his call when he noticed her. “I’ll be right with you.”

V did so. She wished he hadn’t blocked the view—she’d have liked to have seen it one last time before she transferred to Spec Ops. She remembered appreciating that view on frequent occasions when she’d had to work directly with Jenkins late at night. When the sky turned black, the lights of the skyscrapers, the blur of the AVs zooming through the sky, and the koi fish with their endless circling created an intoxicating display. V’d often heard old people complain about light pollution in NC making it impossible to see the stars. She didn’t understand what their problem was. Mankind had learned to make their own light shows centuries ago.

V was pulled out of her reverie by the sound of screams and electrocution. She watched as the council members she’d spent all day learning about convulsed into violent spasms for several seconds, then finally went still. What a waste.

Jenkins directed the television to rise into the ceiling, and took his place at his desk. His phone began ringing even before he’d sat down. Jenkins made a show of taking his time to answer it.

“Director Abernathy,” he said when he finally picked up.

“I watched the vote. What the hell was that?” the Director’s voice was projected into the room.

“A deep clean. After the shit Frankfurt dumped on us. As we agreed, I got rid of the problem.”

“I told you to resolve the problem, not massacre the European Space Council. Do you understand what the cover up will cost?”

“We would’ve lost the license, now we gained a week. That’s a win.”

“Path of least resistance. Always. No nuance. Has ‘you’ written all over it.” As Abernathy spoke, Jenkins’ body language became increasingly irritable. He shuffled restlessly in his seat, and made a circular motion with his right hand as if rushing her to shut up already.

“We’re not done talking about this,” Abernathy said.

Jenkins waited for the tone that signified the end of the call. He spun in his chair so that he was facing away from V. “I hate that bitch. I always have.”

“This isn’t the first time the two of you have been in conflict with each other,” V observed.

“No. Not the first.” Jenkins stood up and walked over to the couch on the other side of the room. V followed. “Smeared me in front of Japanese execs, so she’d be the one promoted to Director of Spec Ops. What a cunt.”

Jenkins went over to the alcohol cabinet and poured himself a drink. Bourbon, V noted. His favorite. He turned away from the cabinet, drink in hand. “Now she’s holding a gun to my head to make sure I don’t try anything. But she won’t pull the trigger because she needs me. I do what she doesn’t have the guts to do.”

“Divide and conquer,” said V noncommittally. “Effective strategy.”

“Effective,” Jenkins scoffed at her word choice. It seemed he was starting to suspect she was holding back. “What would you do, if you were me?”

V considered her answer. There were several different ways she could craft her response. But since her time with Jenkins was nearing its end, she settled on the truth. “I’d adjust my methods in the future. I wouldn’t budge on the Space Council issue. There was no other solution, not that I could come up with in time, anyway. But I’d be more discreet from then on and try to limit any further cover up expenses.”

“So you’d take her complaints into consideration?” Jenkins asked. He took a sip of his bourbon.

“I would,” V confirmed. “No one ever made it far by living in an echo chamber.”

“No one ever made it far by acting like a doormat.”

“Also true.”

“Hmm. So they’re both true. Sounds like a really clever way of not actually saying anything. But it doesn’t matter anymore anyway. Come here. I want to show you something.” Jenkins stepped over to the couch, sat down, and pulled something out from under the table.

V moved closer. “A datashard? What is it?”

“Proof of my trust. Go on. Take it.”

She pulled the shard out of its case and hesitantly plugged it into the port on the side of her head. Her vision was flooded with data. All of it about Abernathy. Her stomach sank.

“It’s what I’ve collected over the past weeks,” Jenkins explained. “Biometrics. Trauma team card. Names of her closest associates. Driver. Chief of Security. Lover. Lover’s husband. Everything. Use it. Make sure Abernathy won’t be a problem anymore.”

V ripped the shard out of her head. “This is a huge gamble. If anyone finds out we even talked about this, it’ll be my head on the chopping block.“

“Maybe. But everyone knows you only made it to where you are because of me. So it’s not like they’d believe you weren’t involved anyway.”

Bastard, V thought. I should’ve cut your ripcord years ago. You’re dragging me down with you for no goddamn reason.

“Okay,” V said. “Understood.”

“Good.” Jenkins pulled a wad of cash out from under the table. “Take this too. Use this money only. Find the right people for the job. No corporate affiliation. And for the core task—use someone you know inside out. Are we clear?”

V’s indignation was roiling. She wanted to hit him. Scream at him, at least. She nodded. “Yes. We’re clear.”

“Good. In that case, I’ll await your report. And good luck with it.”

So that was that. V took one last glance out the window. With the sun finally fully set, the view tonight was much the same as it had been in her memories. She turned to go.

“I have my AV waiting outside. It’s yours to use,” Jenkins added. “And V? Don’t disappoint me.”

—

V walked back to her office in a slight daze and plopped down in front of her desk. Her monitors were in the same state she’d left them in. She stared at the bios of the European Space Council. After her constant rereading, every detail was still in her memory, from their birthdays to their children’s names. She wondered how long it would be before she forgot that information. She clicked the exit button.

“I need your stamp on something,” V’s subordinate, Harry Wickman, spoke up. He had the good grace not to acknowledge her condition the last time he'd seen her. She was grateful for that. "It’s possible one of our assets was exposed.”

V nearly jumped out of her chair at that. She rushed over to his side of the office. “Is it Frankfurt again?”

“No, different issue. Local. Our agent at Biotechnica—'' He started to explain, but V nudged him aside and pulled up the report on his computer. Then she activated her Sandevistan. It didn’t slow time, not truly, but it slowed down her perception of time enough to increase her speed and mental acuity. It proved invaluable in combat, and just as effective for speedreading. Within seconds, V had a full picture of the situation.

“Pull him out,” she told him. “But calmly, don’t raise any eyebrows. Otherwise they’ll catch on.”

“Jenkins will be livid,” Wickman warned.

“I’ll handle Jenkins.”

“Understood.” He turned away from her and returned to his work.

With that taken care of, V sat back at her own desk, feeling much more energized than before. Nothing quite as satisfying as a crisis averted. Now on to the next one. V steepled her fingers and leaned her forehead against them. Her next step had become clear. She’d promised Harry she’d handle Jenkins, and that was exactly what she’d do.

V rummaged around in the bottom drawer of her desk until she found a burner phone. With the secretive nature of many of her missions, she made sure to keep a few ready at all times. She grabbed her coat out of her locker, slipped the phone into one of the pockets, and headed down to the first floor of the tower, then out into the crisp night air.

—

When she’d put a sufficient amount of distance between herself and Arasaka Tower, she pulled the phone back out and dialed the number of Director Susan Abernathy. Not her office, but the personal line she’d found in the datashard. On the third ring, Abernathy answered.

“Who is this?” she asked suspiciously.

“Director Abernathy,” V began. “This is Valerie Locke. I work for Arasaka Counter Intel, under Arthur Jenkins. You may know me by my codename, V.”

“Yes, I believe Frank Nostra just mentioned you to me recently. Is this about transferring to Spec Ops?”

V felt a rush of gratitude towards Frank for holding up his end of the bargain. It might give her an edge in this conversation. “No, this is about a more serious matter, ma’am. Earlier this evening, Arthur Jenkins tried to recruit me into a plot to assassinate you."

For a while, there was silence on the other end.

"That idiot. I might've expected this from him. Always was reckless and insubordinate." Abernathy paused, and V heard the sound of papers being shuffled around. "Do you have any proof to back up these accusations?"

"Nothing concrete, unfortunately. I have a datashard of intel he's collected on you."

“I’ll be expecting you to hand that over.”

“Of course. When can we meet?”

"I’ll send someone to pick it up. Do you have a suitable location you can get to quickly?”

“Lizzie’s Bar,” V said instantly. “In Kabuki.” A dark and noisy location was better for discretion, an unexpected location even more so. Lizzie’s wasn’t exactly a hot spot for Arasaka employees; V herself only frequented the bar because it was a favorite of Jackie’s.

“Be there in an hour,” Abernathy said, and then the line went dead.

V smiled to herself. Normally she’d be concerned about whether her car could make it there on time, but luckily, Jenkins had given her access to his AV. Time to make good use of it.

#cyberpunk 2077 #corpo v #fanfiction #cyberpunk 2077 fanfiction #corpo lifepath #the corpo rat #corpocyborg #wip #secure your soul: a cyberpunk 2077 fanfiction #plan a #valerie locke #i finally gave her a real name!#it's inspired by peter wiggin's locke alter ego from ender's game #and by extension i suppose john locke #spotify

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ivegotrainbowsonmymind · 1 year

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hanablooms · 1 year

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A GLIMPSE IN THE LIFE OF-

Loid 'For The Mission' Forger!!

(aka Twilight)

☰ ☱ ☲ ☳☰ ☱ ☲ ☳☰ ☱ ☲ ☳☰ ☱ ☲ ☳☰ ☱ ☲ ☳☰ ☱

The life of a man being a dad having a precious little daughter he loves, cares about and is proud of, prodigy spy that's the most capable person ever, No. 1 at his organization, a respected psychiatrist among all people at an important hospital of the country, is relied on for the success of tons of missions with the responsibility of world peace on his shoulders and keeping his beloved important family happy is bound to be hard isn't it? Balancing every type of work he does already is hard as it is, he now needs to ensure the success of operation strix for the sake of world peace! He decided long ago that he won't have anything to do with ordinary happiness and won't come to love anyone in his life for the sake of his mission (creating a world where children don't have to cry) ever. For that, he will do whatever he deems necessary to achieve success! He WILL teach his beloved lil'daughter Anya stuff like 'saying thank you when receiving candy', 'eating every thing on her plate and not just nuts', 'not using her hand to eat', 'not letting out loud voice in art galleries' since he just HAS to, no- he NEEDS to! For operation strix! For the mission!! It's extremely crucial and important for it's success! For WORLD PEACE!

He needs to let her help him when she wants with whatever he does, he NEEDS to teach her how to cook, how to whip up eggs! Don't you get it? It's necessary. For the mission. For World Peace.

Getting seriously worried over her and hurrying to help her? Feeling the need to show immediate care?? Showing genuine worry and fear for her on his face if she's hurt or sick or in ANY kind of big pinch??? You don't know? He should look like a 'normal' dad under ANY circumstances, she SHOULD be okay and healthy and happy to be able to enter eden. It's all vital to the completion of his plan. This is his mission. He's taking it seriously. You don't get it. You don't see it. EVERYTHING I REPEAT, IS NECESSARY FOR HIS MISSION! HE IS WISE ENOUGH TO NEVER MAKE MISTAKES AND BE THE PERFECT DAD! FOR THE MISSION!! WHETHER IT INCLUDES--

IMMEDIATELY! AND! GENTLY WIPING HER LIL' NOSE WHEN IT BLEEDS WITH CONCERN!

BEING PROUD AND TOUCHED OVER HER CUTE LIL' 'HEART TOUCHING' 'HEART STABBING' EMOTIONAL APOLOGY! GETTING GENUINE TEARS AND SNOT OVER IT!!

NOT CHANGING THE ANSWERS ON HER EXAM SHEET CUZ SHE SCORED THE MARKS SHE SCORED AND BARELY PASSED, 'OUT OF HER OWN HUGE EFFORT!' SO IT MEANS A LOT! IT MEANS HE DOESN'T NEED TO TAMPER OVER IT TO MAKE IT A GOOD SCORE CUZ IT'S ALREADY WORTHY TO HIM! IT'S ALREADY AN IMPORTANT RESULT TO HIM! IT'S A PROOF OF ANYA'S EFFORT WHICH, HECK HE'S PROUD OVER! HE IS AND WILL BE! EMOTIONAL OVER IT!!

You guys just don't understand, do you?! It's all PART OF THE MISSION! IT'S ALL VERY IMPORTANT! for peace between east and west i.e., Westalis and Ostania i.e., FOR THE SAKE OF WORLD PEACE! FOR OPERATION STRIX! FOR PLAN A! FOR PLAN B!! IT'S FOR THE MISSION!!! For the success of it all and for everyone's happiness LOID 'FOR THE MISSION' FORGER will do his very best!! No matter what he has to do Or what it takes!!

☲ ☳☰ ☱ ☲ ☳☰ ☱ ☲ ☳☰ ☱ ☲ ☳☰ ☱ ☲ ☳☰ ☱ ☲

End of Article!! But there are tons more uncountable instances to support these efforts loid 'for the mission' forger makes! as this post was simply a GLIMPSE into his life so that's it for now and you guys can all figure the rest of his hard efforts like these, made here and there yourself! Hope you had fun with my long rant article haha! With that, as always!

Stay connected!✍🏻 Peace!!✌🏻 Uchuu~✨

Bye Bye~~~

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askdarlinwolf · 2 years

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quinn, you smarmy bastard, i know you’re in here you fuck! give me my fucking mate and friend back!

#plan a #lure them outside for an ambush

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msboutofcontext · 2 years

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#magic school bus #out of context #ms frizzle #wanda #tim #ralphie #eyeroll #plan a #plan b #so what's plan b #there aren't any good plan bs #if they were good they'd be plan as #outer space #star trek #asteroid #comet #Out of This World

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hoshi-kwon-soonyoung · 23 days

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LUCAS 루카스 'Renegade' MV (Plan A)

#LUCAS #루카스 #Renegade #LUCAS_Renegade #lucas wong #xuxi #wong xuxi #lucas gif #LUCAS RENEGADE MV #PLAN A #kpop #gif #SM #SM town

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movie--posters · 11 months

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#augusr diehl #michael aloni #plan a #wwii #movie poster #movie posters #film #films #sylvia hoeks

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one-boring-person · 2 years

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Makeshift Anaesthesia.

Max (Plan A) x gn!reader

Warnings: mention of death

Context: Max seeks comfort from the reader

Masterlist

Tagging: @echoe-l @creme-bruhlee @zemo-is-king

Like my work? Buy me a coffee! 😁

(I know this isn't Max but ah well😅)

I can feel my heart ache as I listen to the rough breathing of the man lying on the cot across from me, my eyes wide in the darkness as I find myself unable to sleep. Staring at the ceiling, I can't help but wish I could go over to him and comfort him, knowing that he is living through a pain I've never had to live through, suffering visibly with the agonising grief that haunts him like a cruel spectre. Of course, I don't do anything of the sort. It'd be cruel of me to do so, to try and take the place of his wife, the very person he is mourning so heart-breakingly. But still, the urge is there.

A sharp gasp signifies Max's harsh awakening from a fitful sleep, the cot creeping a little as he jerks to consciousness. Quickly, I turn my head towards the opposite wall of the tent, hoping he won't catch me listening, lightly closing my eyes to give the impression of being asleep. Ragged, panting breaths fill the small space, a soft sob biting at the back of his throat, my body itching to get up and go over to him, to pull him into my arms and reassure him. Not that I'd know how to reassure him.

Quiet descends on the room as his breathing evens out again, leaving us in relative silence.

Confusion and surprise fill me, however, as I hear the distinct sound of him climbing from the bed, his shadow falling across the thin stream of feeble light from the watery moon outside, appearing for all the world as if he is standing over me. I do my best to keep my eyes closed, hoping my curiosity doesn't get the better of me, my eyelids already flickering in an attempt to open and look up at the man standing in the tent. It's far harder for me to do this when I hear him crouch beside my own cot, the feeling of his gaze now weighing heavily on the back of my head.

After a long moment, a hand appears on my shoulder, ever so lightly shaking me awake. Opening my eyes, I wait for him to repeat the action before rolling onto my back and turning my head towards him, leaning up on my elbows in mock surprise.

"Max? What's wrong?" I ask tiredly, concern creeping into my voice.

In this light, he looks almost like a skeleton. It's harrowing to see how pronounced his bone structure is, the dark circles ringing his eyes, defined ridges making way for deep, sweeping valleys under his cheekbones all pulling at my heartstrings. It fills me with hate for the people who did this to him, even as I perceive the near-constant pain clouding the deep blue of his eyes, creases formed around them from his inhumane experiences.

Strands of long, chestnut hair fall into his gaunt face, nearly constantly dishevelled now with the lack of access to proper facilities. Even with all this, however, the man is undeniably handsome.

"I can't sleep…I, can I…" He bites his lip, looking away momentarily, "Can I sleep with you? I…I need to be close to someone."

I nod almost instantly, waiting for my lips to catch up with my head.

"Of course you can, Max." I give him a small smile, shuffling over on my cot as best I can, making space for him.

The request surprises me, but I don't dwell on it as he thanks me quietly and climbs into bed beside me, his tall frame easily dwarfing mine as I lie still. At this proximity, I can feel his warmth radiating through me, a strong smell that is indisputably his flooding my nostrils, sending a burning feeling of warmth and longing through me.

What else surprises me, however, is the moment I feel his arms wrap around my body and pull me into him. My eyes widen as Max moulds his body to mine, pressing his face into the crook of my neck, hands splayed on my torso to keep me close.

It doesn't take me long to relax into his hold, wrapping my own arm around his shoulders and placing my other hand gently on his head, sifting my fingers through his messy hair. A soft sigh warms my neck, tension visibly leaving his body as he also relaxes into my touch, seemingly leaning into it. I can imagine it's been a long time since he had any contact like this (hell, it's been a long time since I had any contact like this), so I do my best to make it worthwhile for him. Resting my head against his, I lie back on the pillow, feeling my eyes beginning to droop closed as Max's breathing starts to even out again, his weight reassuring and comforting against me.

As I finally fall back into a dreamless slumber, I feel Max pull me further into him, seeking out my company as much as he can.

Neither of us speak a word of it in the morning. Neither of us need to.

He comes back again the next night, holding me close again as he drifts off, finding solace with me in his arms. The next day, we pretend nothing happened again.

It becomes routine, and it makes me wonder if he has begun to replace the figurative emptiness inside him with the comfort I can provide by being someone to hold. It doesn't bother me if he has. If I'm his escape from reality, a makeshift anaesthesia as it were, I don't mind. As long as it helps, life will go on.

#break writes #august diehl #plan a #Max (Plan A) x reader #Max (Plan A) imagine

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