Chapter 77 – First Day Without V… I Miss Her

Wayne Tower, 44th floor.

The old butler pushed open the door to Room 4405 and led Leo inside.

The space was about 180 square meters, bright and spacious, with every possible amenity. It could easily rival the most luxurious presidential suite in a five-star hotel.

"All the living supplies are brand-new. If you're unsure, the storage room has unopened spares. The fridge is stocked—feel free to help yourself. And if you need anything, just ring the service bell.

Since your identity is rather… unusual, Master Wayne has instructed that no regular staff be allowed contact with you. If you need anything, just come to me."

Leo nodded.

"Got it. I'll make sure not to bother you after 9 PM."

Alfred smiled kindly.

"Thank you for considering an old man's needs. You've no idea—living with Master Wayne, I haven't had a normal sleep schedule in decades."

After a few more polite exchanges, Alfred left the room, handing Leo a special elevator key card.

Its uniqueness?
It only worked for floors 44 and 45—nowhere else.

Leo was essentially under house arrest, right beneath Batman's nose.

"Eh, fine. Paid jail time, I'll take it…"

He gave the place a once-over, and his prosthetic eye lit up—time for a deep scan.

Living room, workspace, bedroom, bathroom, walk-in closet, storage room—everywhere had surveillance equipment installed by Batman.

Honestly, if Leo had been a woman, he'd have every right to report Batman for illegal surveillance.

Worse yet, some of the cameras were wireless, others were on isolated networks. If not for his cutting-edge implant, he wouldn't have found half of them.

After half an hour, he shut off what he could, and blocked what he couldn't.
Finally, he had a private, surveillance-free zone.

"Damn Batman… I'll get you back for this someday."

Leo sat at the desk and booted up the computer—an ancient relic by his standards.

The familiar Windows logo appeared, and he felt a strange sense of nostalgia.

Outdated tech had its perks—he knew this OS inside and out.

Once Shironeko confirmed the system was clean, Leo connected his neural interface.

[I've detected 37 system backdoors planted by Batman. Theoretically, everything you do is backed up in his data center.]

"Figures. He probably didn't expect to bring me here himself."

[Correct. Based on the timestamps, these measures weren't specifically aimed at you—they're his default for everyone.]

"…Batman."

Leo had nothing more to say. Just one word: respect.

Batman really did treat everyone like a suspect.

[No worries. My hacking ability is superior. If needed, I could breach his entire network.]

"Don't. We're here to do business, not make enemies. As long as he doesn't get in our way, let's be good neighbors."

[Given Gotham's current instability, I completely agree.]

After some idle chatter, Shironeko converted the terminal into a temporary comms node.

[All set. I can now upload data from here to our core server, and have it relayed to Night City—network bridging complete.]

[Testing… success. Optimizing latency… done.]

Shironeko rattled off system logs like an emotionless AI—until, finally:

[By the way, I made a chat app for you all. Data is stored on the core server—safe and private. Want me to add your Immortals team members?]

"Of course! It's already 11 PM—I haven't even checked in yet."

In a flash, the left side of his prosthetic eye opened a chat interface.
Currently, it was just him and Shironeko.

[Hang on. They need to grant me access first. They don't trust me yet—and I can't exactly brute-force our own people. Try a group call?]

"On it."

BZZZ—BZZZ—

Ding—

V picked up instantly.

"Leo?"

Leo turned on his live avatar and grinned.

"Hey, V. Long time no see."

She breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's really you… I got a weird connection request and thought something went wrong. I almost traced it back to you."

"Not necessary. Everything's going surprisingly well."

Ding—

Sasha joined.
Her avatar was still the usual cartoon cat-girl.

"You scared me to death. If you didn't call soon, I was gonna start tracking you. Are you okay?"

Leo had to repeat his whole story again.

Ding—

Jack joined.

"Still bartending, sorry I'm late. How's it going over there?"

Leo: "…"

Saying the same thing three times was pure torture.

Once everyone heard he was fine, and Leo invited them to try the new app, they granted Shironeko access.

Leo decided to test the app further by hopping onto the new chatroom.

—
Shironeko: "Hi everyone, I'm Shironeko, a hacker. Since I'm working remotely, I can't meet you in person. Thanks for your patience."
V: "Hi."
Jack: "Hey there, girl."
Sasha: "Oh, you're the hacker I sparred with? We should go a few rounds sometime."
Shironeko: "Absolutely. Once things settle down, I'll be available."
Leo: "The app seems stable—it even has voice messages. Use it if you need anything, I'll reply when I can."
V: "Okay, so… what's going on there? Did you meet any big shots?"
Leo: "Sure did. Just as annoying as I imagined…"

They chatted excitedly for over half an hour, until Leo's eyelids started drooping.

Leo: "Let's talk more tomorrow. Long day—I'm wiped. Goodnight, everyone."

After some goodnights, he headed to the bathroom, took a quick shower, and collapsed into bed.

The comforter was feather-soft—he felt like he was floating on air.

He glanced out the window one last time and closed his eyes.

"Goodnight, Gotham. Goodnight, Bat-man."

But he didn't sleep well.

He kept waking up from nightmares—one moment Batman was standing at his window staring at him, the next, the Joker's mad laughter echoed in his ears.
Every time he opened his eyes, it was still the middle of the night.

He missed V.

Living under the same roof with her always made him feel safe.

Compared to this strange, alien Gotham… maybe Night City wasn't so bad after all.