Vik reached Jackie first and laid out what happened to Rocky. Jackie hit the clinic when he got the call, but did not come alone. He brought Lucy. When Jackie heard Arasaka had taken Rocky, he told her immediately. Part of it was courtesy. Part of it was a bet that she might know something useful if she had been with Rocky earlier. The effect on Lucy was immediate. Minutes ago, she had been on the phone with Rocky; now he was in Arasaka's hands. Her worst fear had arrived on schedule, and it had chosen the person she cared about. Jackie talked her down on the line, then went to her apartment and brought her with him. She held it together because she had to. Venting could wait. Getting Rocky back could not. Together, they headed for the clinic and then on to Vik.
Inside the clinic, Rebecca looked up as they came in—three, not two—and blinked. Misty slipped in behind them; the rush on the stairs told her it mattered. "Lucy?" Rebecca said. "Rebecca?" Lucy answered. Each of them was surprised to see the other here.
Jackie broke the awkward pause. "Quick intro. I'm Jackie. We met at the Wild Wolf Bar. I'm L's buddy. This is Viktor—best ripperdoc in Watson. L used to assist him." He glanced at Rebecca, then nodded at Lucy. "This is Lucy. She's… L's friend. Met him on the last commission. Reliable netrunner."
Misty gave her name, warm and straightforward. With that, everyone at least knew who stood where.
Vik took it from there. "Rebecca brought the news. She saw Arasaka load L into a transport right outside his clinic. My read? They flagged him because of the serum he's been selling. If they want the formula, he should be safe for the moment. What happens after they get it—how they keep it from leaking—that's the part that worries me."
"Wait, what serum?" Rebecca asked. She realized she might be the only one in the room, besides Misty, who did not know.
"L's own drug," Jackie said. "Boosts the body a lot. He's been moving it to clinics around Night City. That's why Arasaka noticed." Rebecca nodded. She still did not know the details, but Vik's point was clear enough: Rocky was in danger.
As Vik finished, Rebecca caught the change in Lucy. The explanation hit her like a second blow. Lucy knew Arasaka's methods too well. If they took a formula from someone, they did not let that someone walk away.
Rebecca studied the fear and worry plain on Lucy's face and froze for a breath. She was not slow. From the moment Lucy stepped into the room, something felt off. Lucy and L only knew each other for days, but the alarm level was not "ordinary friend." Add a woman's intuition, and the picture came into focus.
"Lucy."
"Mm?"
"Do you like L?"
The question stopped Lucy cold. She half guessed why Rebecca was asking and nodded. No reason to lie, not after last night. "Yes."
They held each other's eyes. Lucy's stomach tightened; Rebecca spoke first and proved the guess right. "Me too. Let's go get him back."
Rebecca did not hedge or hide. She never did. If she was angry, she said it. If she was happy, you heard it. If she loved, she did not bury it. Maybe she did not expect Lucy to "steal the house" in a handful of days, and maybe sorting out who loved whom would sting later. None of that mattered next to one fact: they both wanted Rocky alive. Whatever argument might exist could wait until he was safe.
Lucy heard it and felt something complicated slip into place. She had not expected Rebecca to feel the same way. She did not even know what Rocky and Rebecca were to each other. Would that make her the intruder if they had already chosen each other? Between those questions and the clock, only the clock mattered. Like Rebecca, she pushed everything else aside.
"Okay," Lucy said, and nodded hard. They left the rest unsaid, an agreement sealed by urgency. If there were a "war between women," it would start after Rocky walked out of danger.
Jackie stared, wide-eyed. Vik chuckled under his breath at the heat of young blood, then sobered with the room as the moment passed.
"First step," Vik said, steady again. "We need to learn where Arasaka took him. Ideas?" He knew his own limits here, and he put the question on the table because the correct answer might not come from a ripperdoc's chair