he  liked  her. hell,  maybe  even  loved  her. she  was  his  girl,  riding  on  the  back  of  his  bike,  putting  stickers  on  the  paint  and  ripping  them  off  just  to  reveal  some  of  the  chrome  :  said  it  gave  the  bike  some  personality. she  wore  his  jacket,  wore  his  headband,  held  his  hand  while  he  dragged  her  to  whatever  show  that  had  been  playing  at  whatever  club  that  night. and  now?  nothing. he  had  died,  been  sent  to  the  net  prison  made  by  arasaka  in  the  basement  of  the  night  city  headquarters. he  had  no  way  to  contact  her,  no  way  to  see  if  sheâd  survived  the  night  city  bombing. he  lost  her,  completely.
          â vera,  you  must  take  me  for  a  fool  if  you  think  iâm  going  to  let  you  walk  away  from  me. â  he  steps  forward,  not  quite  ready  to  grab  her  arm  but  holding  his  hand  out  towards  her  anyway. â  look,  you  donât  have  to  like  me,  but  i  need  your  help. plus,  i⌠you  need  to  know  the  truth. about  us,  about  what  happened. â
ânah, know you ainât the fool here. i am. been nothinâ but a fuckinâ fool all these years.â itâs why only just recently she got out of prison. ended up in there because of a man in the first place. seems like nearly all the trouble sheâs gotten into over the years has been because of men, because of romance or lust. sheâs sick of that shit-- refuses to keep being somebodyâs fool. getting back into the mercenary world hasnât been easy, and sheâs beyond pissed that he ended up being the one who hired her. she was hoping this would be her big break through.
her lip quivers when he steps forward, though she doesnât move back. doesnât pull the knife out of her sleeve. fuck, fuck. does she still seriously have feelings for this scumbag? canât learn from her mistakes, seems like. âonly reason i have any interest in helpinâ you and stayinâ here is because youâre paying good eddies, and i need the boost in my reputation. what do you need my help for?â she ignores the part about the truth about them, because as far as she knows, he got bored and left her and thatâs that.Â