Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

ACT 1

It was just another sunny day in Pacifica.

V, a late-time Afterlife mercenary who cheated death itself, was reading ‘Kim’ by one Rudyard Kipling, next to a book stand where she picked it up from. She wasn’t necessarily a lover of books, it was mostly something she picked up from her best friend Jackie Welles, his death still quite fresh in her memories. She read books only in her free time, granted she had barely any, since searching for a solution to her predicament was her utmost priority. However, this particular book in her hand got her attention, waking a weird sense of deja vu as she kept reading it page after page.

“Miss, if you’re planning to stand here and read the entire book, you gotta pay for it first”, the book stand owner tells her, who notices that she’s already read tens of pages, standing there in front of him for a solid thirty minutes.

Young mercenary brushes her red hair off, nodding to him, and both of their eyes light up with blue. Having bought the book, V walks then towards the Arch bike, a memento of Jackie. She took good care of it, making sure there’s never a single scratch, something she had promised to Mama Welles, Jackie’s mom.

As V approaches the bike, suddenly, her Kiroshi optics glitch in bright red, as if they are hacked, or as if someone is trying to connect to her. V experiences a slight headache for a second, which passes immediately as she hears a concerned voice in her head.

The voice doesn’t belong to the relentless rockerboy that has accompanied her for weeks at this point. No, it belongs to a mysterious woman, unknown, yet intriguing. Intriguing solely because this is the first time V has received a holo-call that went through the Relic of all things.

“V, can you hear me?” says the stranger on the other end of the line.

V raises an eyebrow, taking a moment to ponder over the fact that the mysterious woman indeed has connected to her through the Relic, her Kiroshi optics showing her a first-time seen message ‘Relic Packet 32’. “Uhh… loud and clear, whoever you are…” V carefully replies while climbing onto Jackie’s Arch.

“Good, it worked,” the woman’s voice on the other end is filled with relief. “My name is So Mi, just call me Songbird though,” the stranger proceeds. “I know who you are, your situation, your… problem. And… I think we can help each other.”

V frowns, her face morphing in confusion. She doesn’t know what to think of all of this yet, let alone what question to ask first. How specifically does the stranger know who she is? How does this Songbird know about her ailment? Is she watching her? Spying on her? It all might sound suspicious from the get go, yet it intrigues V nonetheless. NCPD’s got nothing on her ever since she started her mercwork, and almost no one, even her friends, knows about her ‘problem’. Whoever that hacker is, she must either have some serious connections or netrunning skills, the Relic hack being the proof of it.

“Wh— What is this about, who are you?” V asks, stuttering at first.

“I cannot explain everything now,” Songbird replies with a worried tone, something that V doesn’t fail to notice. “But I really do need your help. Please, find the right time when you’re alone and there are no distractions. Contact me via a message when you’re ready.”

“Oook…?”

A relieved tone on the other end of the line. “Thank you,” So Mi says. “I appreciate this, truly.”

The call ends, and V instantaneously snorts out loud. “I swear if this is just another attempt at a scam, I’m so fucking done…” she whispers to herself before starting up the bike she’s been already on and driving off into the city perimeter, straight to her Megabuilding apartment

As V arrived at her apartment, she first decided to take her sweet time to drop off whatever ‘baggage’ she was carrying. Said ‘baggage’ being: a recently purchased book; Johnny’s Malorian 3516 that she was carrying with her everywhere; Headhunter knife capable of cutting virtually anything due to its sharpness; and Errata, a lethal katana capable of burning one alive if they’re not careful. That was pretty much her entire arsenal at all times, as she never liked carrying more on her, preferring to be as lightweight as possible.

Netrunning was not V’s forte. In fact, she always wanted to learn how to netrun, yet she never got the chance to get to it. There were more serious problems that needed to be resolved, especially now, and wasting time to learn how to use a cyberdeck wasn’t something she had the luxury of doing. Hence, the Militech ‘Apogee’ sandevistan, a rare prototype that’s being sold only on the black market.

She wasn’t opposed to chroming up—whenever she had enough eddies to upgrade an implant or get a new one, she never hesitated in doing so. ‘Apogee’ sandevistan, subdermal armor, leeroy ligament system for legs, mantis blades for arms—only a small subset of what she carried underneath her synth-skin.

As V sits on her couch with a cup of coffee in her right hand, she finally decides to text the mysterious woman going by ‘Songbird’. ‘Ready to talk’ is all she sends, as she starts patiently waiting for a reply. Johnny Silverhand, her constant companion and ‘shareholder of her brain’, materializes soon after and sits next to her on the couch, pulling out his imaginary cigarette and starting smoking.

“What, got something to say?” V directs her gaze towards him.

The rockerboy takes a slow drag of his cig. “Nah, but be careful, we already had enough shit on our hands lately,” he replies.

To that V can only hum. She sips her coffee and continues patiently waiting for a phone call or at least any form of reply. She stares at the outside of her window, Night City teeming with life, as the sun slowly approaches the horizon, signifying that evening is soon to come.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, her Kiroshi optics start malfunctioning with a bright red color, a ridiculous headache overwhelming her. V’s body starts convulsing, she drops the coffee cup and it spills the liquid all over her couch and floor. V screams in agony, trying to suppress the sudden pool of pain by pressing her hands against her head, yet it doesn’t help. Johnny, meanwhile, seemingly experiences the same phantom pain, even though he is an engram, which makes the situation weirder than it already is.

“Nghhh, fucking… aughh,” he exclaims, trying to stand from the couch. He presses against the window of V’s apartment, all the while V, unable to sustain the pain and maintain a straight sitting position, drops with her whole body on the couch.

And then the light in her eyes completely dims.

‘Sync in progress’ is all she sees for a brief moment. The pain finally slowly goes away, and she starts seeing her surroundings again, the buzz in her ears becoming lower and lower. Amidst that, she barely overhears Johnny complaining about their experiences, comparing them to as if someone shoved his head in a vise or something.

“V, you’re gonna be okay,” a familiar female voice says, calm and tranquil, a voice V’s heard back then on the holo in Pacifica. She sees a beautiful Asian woman approach her slowly, seemingly of Korean descent, carefully sitting next to her and putting her hand on V’s left knee.

She’s wearing a tight unique netrunning suit with a gray denim jacket, covered with pins. On her left hip she has a cyberdeck with tons of stickers all over it. The look on her face is full of concern, empathy, and struggle. She seems to understand what V is going through. The netrunner calmly continues, “Breath deep, count to ten, recite a mantra. Whatever brings calm, helps you stabilize. Your nervous system took a big hit, broke down. Cold sweat, racing heart… it’ll pass.”

“What the fuck are you doing to me?” are the only words that V can let out of her, more so driven via pure instinct caused by the pain that still persists in her body rather than by anger or frustration.

“I am trying to help you, V…”

“Uh-huh, and how exactly?” V shakes her head, finally managing to sit up on her couch. She glances at Songbird next, noticing the netrunner’s hand on her knee. Seemingly intangible for some reason, or very lightweight.

“I know about the bomb ticking in your head. I am offloading and weakening the stress and overwrite of the Relic. It will slightly slow down the process, giving you more time,” Songbird explains, moving her hand away. She looks at Johnny then, who still is resting against the window, looking at the ceiling with his closed eyes, not before hearing V’s tired sigh.

“Right…”

“You’ll feel better any second now.”

“V, something stinks here,” Johnny finally exclaims, his voice heavy and full of suspicion. His image then blinks and appears a bit closer, standing in front of the couch where both V and Songbird are sitting. “I think she is fucking with the Relic and I’ve a feeling this ain’t gonna end well.”

He glances at Songbird, seeing she has a mischievous smirk on her face, looking directly at him. At first he doesn’t think much of it, thinking there is no way she can see him.

Turns out he’s wrong.

“How in the…” the rockerboy realizes that she does see him. Songbird carefully stands up from the couch, approaches him, and gently places her left hand on his right shoulder. Both V and Johnny can feel that touch, and they have no idea how to react to it just yet.

“No worries, Johnny. There is no harm in this…” the netrunner says with the same calm attitude.

“Nah, fuck off.”

“However, both me and you on the Relic’s cognitive protocol can trigger shocks for V, like you just saw now,” Songbird continues with her resonant voice, ignoring the rockerboy’s protests. “Gotta cut you off, for your safety, for V’s safety,” she tells him instead, as V’s optics start glitching, her body trembling and convulsing again. Johnny starts glitching himself, too, realizing that his connection to V weakens. He feels as if he is getting dragged deep underneath water.

“What the fuuuck…” is the last sentence he can say, voice full of shock, as he completely disappears.

V’s nervous system stabilizes at last. She feels peace, quietness and calmness inside, something she forgot she can actually experience ever since ‘the Relic incident’. Seems like what Songbird said initially was true—the Relic overload was partially offloaded from her.

Unless there is something else to it that she hasn’t realized yet.

“Had to mute him for now. He hears you fine, just can’t talk back,” Songbird disrupts the silence. V finally realizes that the woman in front of her is not real, at least not in the sense of being present in realspace. She looks slightly transparent, like a glitch in her optics, or a hologram projection. Or, maybe even a construct?

“Who the hell are you, Songbird? You look like a construct…” V carefully tries to touch the netrunner with her right hand, trying to see if she can feel her. As expected, her hand fazes right through her, confirming her suspicions.

“I am a netrunner, V,” the merc gets her answer almost immediately, as Songbird decides to sit on the couch next to her. “Hopped onto the Relic’s cognitive protocol to dial in. I can see and hear what you do, as well as materialize myself in your mind.”

V could see that the woman’s face carries a sense of worry, guilt, and a mix of other hidden inner emotions. Almost as if she is scared that V would abruptly tell her to go away, leaving her to her own fate.

“Netrunner, huh…” V hums, as she peers into the soul of the woman in front of her.

And then V decides to take a moment to fully analyze the purple haired woman’s looks, something she didn’t properly get a chance to do earlier. Songbird, to V, looked late twenties. She had violet bob-cut asymmetrical haircut, with its left strands tucked behind her left ear; her face had careful silver-lined EMP threading; she had perfect big orchid lips (something that took unnecessarily large amount of the merc’s attention), black eyebrows and makeup, a bit of freckles, and, most importantly, beautiful brown eyes full of emotion where one could drown in if not careful.

Yep, a netrunner alright, V notes. Especially with that tight netrunning suit.

“The best there is, at least in North America,” the older woman confirms. She adds, “I am an NUS intelligence analyst and currently the right hand of the President of the New United States of America, Rosalind Myers.”

V can only let out a chuckle with an amused and surprised tone. “Right hand of the President of the NUS itself? Fuck…”

The younger woman looks upon the netrunner. She can see that Songbird is not as amused as she is; in fact, she looks serious, with her eyes betraying tones of sadness that are nested deep within her, meaning that what she said is, in fact, not a lie.

And so, V frowns. “Uh, wait, you’re not joking?”

“Truth be told, I truly wish I was…”

With said words, Song So Mi slightly lowers her head. V sees how there’s only sadness in her. Her words carry more meaning than V gives them at first, and so she decides to be very careful going onwards with the questions, since she doesn’t know what game Songbird is playing just yet.

“So, what, am I in the NUS’s crosshair or something?” V decides to break tension in the room.

So Mi slightly shakes her head. “No, you’re not.”

“Then why contact me?” the merc asks, eyebrow raised. “You said we can help each other—what’s that mean?”

So Mi takes a deep breath, turning her gaze towards V. She can see that the merc’s expression is full of skepticism, distrust, yet she can still read concern there, too.

“I know your situation, V. I know that the Relic is slowly and painfully overtaking your mind.” 

V dryly snorts. “Never a dull moment with that one.”

So Mi lowers her gaze even more. “I… know what it feels like, V…”

“Huh?” the redhead frowns. “What do you mean?”

Songbird glances momentarily at V. “Because I am… going through something similar myself…” she slowly says with a strained voice, moving her eyes towards the window, looking at the darkened sky behind it.

“Meaning?”

“I am dying, V,” the purple haired woman bluntly admits. “Just like you. Except, my curse isn’t the Relic, but… the Blackwall…”

V expected many things, but not that one. The redhead wasn’t an expert netrunner, but even she knew what the Blackwall was, since she’s heard about it from the Voodoo Boys and Netwatch before. Even had to go past it once to lure Alt Cunningham and strike a deal with her to save her life.

Thus, hearing that the woman in front of her is suffering from the said AI and is dying just like she is, only raises more confusion and desire to seek answers. And so, V asks, “The Blackwall? How’s that?”

So Mi slightly shakes her head and looks at her shoes. “Being the best netrunner and being the right hand of the President only seems like something one may be proud of, but… it has its own nightmarish pitfalls. One of them being forced to breach and go beyond the ‘Wall for the sake of someone else’s ambitions…”

V frowns again, slowly coming to a realization. “Meaning, you’re being forced to go past it?”

“Yes… I am a weapon, V. A human weapon in the arsenal of Myers and the NUSA…”

Something tickles inside V. A feeling uncomfortable at its core, making her slightly shiver. She remembers her days at Arasaka, when she was in counterintel division—also used, only to get discarded when she was no longer of any.

Unfavorable memories. V looks at the netrunner, her gaze is full of empathy now, albeit still carrying caution and suspicion. If what the woman in front of her claims is true, then they almost mirror each other. Both dying, both being used, or, in V’s case, were used by the corporate overlords that see no human value in them.

Unless the older woman is lying. And all of this is a manipulation attempt to do something. Can’t confirm, can only suspect.

Songbird stands up from the couch and starts slowly walking around V’s apartment. The merc can see the ‘runner is troubled, she has a hard time talking about such a sensitive topic and finding the right words to do so. And, who wouldn’t? With a stranger at that. About sad and tragic experiences nonetheless.

“Tell me, V… Why’d you do the Konpeki Plaza heist? Honestly…” So Mi finally asks V after a few seconds of silence.

V looks up at her, eyebrow raised, indicating that she did not expect such a question. Hence, she asks back, “How’d you know?”

“You truly think I wouldn’t? Come on…”, Songbird smirks with sorrow, and then her tone and expression becomes serious again. “As to why it’s relevant… you might understand in a sec,” She pauses for a moment, and adds, “As long as you’re willing to talk about it…”

The merc wearily sighs. “Konpeki was… pure ambition,” she then coldly replies, resting against the back of her couch and looking at the ceiling above her. “Sometimes you hit a rut in life, wanna blaze your way out,” she proceeds. “Do something you’ll be remembered for,” she says. “Set my sights too high, I guess. It was the gateway to major leagues for me and my best friend… who…”

She then pauses, her expression now is bitter and full of remorse. The old wound tore wide open again, bleeding, metaphorically of course. Something she liked talking about with absolutely no one, something she tried to move on from for quite a while.

“Didn’t make it?” So Mi carefully finishes for her, glancing at the merc.

“He did not.”

Another moment of silence. Songbird comes back to the couch and sits next to V, albeit at a distance of a stretched arm, trying not to invade the merc’s privacy.

“Yeah, I know the feeling. Same story here…” the netrunner speaks, as her voice is amplified with sadness and regret.

V looks at her, seeing her inner struggle, too. “Care to share?” she asks.

“I once had ambitions, too. Just like you,” So Mi starts. “At around age 13 I got a beat-up old deck from an ol’ ripper, started diggling, and then barely left the Net since. And then, at 19, I made a mistake similar to yours…”

“Decided to mess with the corps, huh?” the merc guesses, moving her gaze back towards the ceiling.

“Yeah,” the netrunner nods. “Except it was Militech, not Arasaka,” she clarifies next. “President Myers was the CEO at the time. The word of the botched hit on Militech crossed the desk of one Solomon Reed, who then… pretty much blackmailed me into joining them…”

“Let me guess—join the party, or become a Netwatch trophy?”

“Specifically that.”

Songbird lets out a heavy sigh, reminiscing about her past. Her words resonate within V heavily, she has a weird sense of deja vu in her. Why is the netrunner’s story so familiar to her?

So Mi then rests her head in her hands, slightly shaking it and continuing, “That was the fuck up of my life. Ever since then, I worked at the FIA with Reed as my mentor and a few others. Served during the Unification War here, in NC, Dogtown to be precise. We got somewhat close, at least as much as the duty allowed. In the end, though, I was… I…”

A sob. A very suppressed, restrained one. So Mi tries her hardest not to give into emotions, yet V can see the turmoil raging inside her. The netrunner covers her face with her hands, trying not to show the mercenary her inner pain.

“Sorry, I’m just… Fuck…” the netrunner finally whispers. Her eyes are red, she can barely handle her emotions, her grip on them weakening with each passing second.

The merc then lifts her back up from the back of the couch, shifting a bit closer to So Mi. She fully turns her gaze towards the older woman, locking her hands in front of herself and slightly leaning towards the netrunner. “Hey, you contacted me asking for help. The least I can do here, now, is take some time and listen to the story of a stranger who appears to be in the same fucked up situation as I am. So, take your time…” she tries to assure her with as much compassion as she could possibly produce at that moment.

V knows she isn’t good at this kind of stuff—her conversation about Evelyn with Judy after the former’s death is proof of that. However, here and now she tries her hardest to provide as much emotional support as she can.

It does not take too long for So Mi to calm down, yet for the merc it sure feels like a few minutes have passed. “Thanks…” the netrunner finally says, her voice a whisper, as she slightly smiles and looks at the redhead woman next to her. “You don’t know how much this means to me. Having someone to… spill my soul to.”

“Well, if I gotta be honest, I am no expert in all this field of… psychology and mental support, I guess,” V sighs. “But, as I said, that’s the least I can do for now…” she then adds with a barely visible smile.  “So, you were saying?”

“I uhh… I was ordered by Myers… to put Reed down.”

“You were ordered to kill the guy who got you into this shit?” V asks with a surprised tone, eyebrow quirked.

“Not pull the trigger but… well, figuratively, I guess,” the netrunner confirms.

“What did you do?”

Songbird slightly shakes her head, closing her eyes. “It was his last day in NC and… he needed a way out of the city,” she tells V. “I guided him to the train that was leaving straight out of the city but… there were Arasaka agents, waiting for him. I then locked the doors of the train cab in which he was in with them and…”

She pauses, her face betraying her emotions again. It’s almost as if she is reliving those events in real time, that’s how much pain they were causing her. V understands that all too well, giving the netrunner in front of her time to recover and get her thoughts together.

“They… killed him?” the merc finally asks, voice barely above whisper, carefully attempting to continue the conversation.

“No,” So Mi shakes her head. “He survived. But this nightmare, I…”

V could see it clearly. The full truth behind her story. She could see that she was ordered to do so and it was a question of her life and duty against the life of her mentor and maybe-friend. Were those the consequences of her own actions? She doesn’t know.

“Well… Johnny’d be blunt, if not downright crude,” the redhead breathes out, trying to find words that could both sympathize and correctly judge the woman in front of her. “I’ll just say, betraying a friend? Nothing worse…”

“I regret it. I do, but… can’t turn back time…” So Mi’s voice is heavy, shaky and remorseful. “Maybe I coulda said no to the order, coulda warned him… At this point, I’d just rather forget…”

She turns her head away, afraid to show tears in her eyes that threaten to spill. V can see it and all she can do is just slightly shake her head, trying to comfort the netrunner with her words. “There is no escaping remorse, Songbird…” she says softly. “Sometimes, you leave whatever is broken of you, and walk away. Made my share of mistakes, too. Do I regret them? Yes. Do I obsess over them? Trying my best not to.”

Saying ‘no’ to a higher ranking corpo or government fucker, especially the one holding too much power, is like putting your mouth over the barrel of their gun. It was ‘her or him’ situation, V could see it. So Mi chose herself. She had no choice.

Because choosing to die isn’t one. Not when your life’s on the line.

Songbird, hearing V’s words, looks at the merc, finally showing a small bittersweet smile. She sees compassion and empathy in V’s eyes, which briefly brings calmness and peace to her heart. Her words are heard and understood, and that’s all she needs here, now.

“So what happened after?” V finally asks after a brief silence, attempting not to derive from their already ongoing conversation.

“The same year after the end of the war, I was tasked with breaching and weaponizing the Blackwall…” the netrunner pauses for a second. V can see that this is another topic that is painful for So Mi to talk about, so she tries not to interrupt. Song breathes in, continues, “Which I did, although it took a toll on my body. That led to them… forcing me to go through a required operation, where more than half my body was replaced with cybernetics.”

“Don’t see too much of them on you,” V raises her eyebrow, overlooking the netrunner top to bottom with her eyes again. Then again, So Mi’s projection was wearing a netrunner suit at the moment, so, if she had anything underneath, it was impossible to see anyway.

“Because this, what you see, is just a vestige of my past. I look… different, much different from how I appear to you,” Songbird then pauses again, turning her gaze from V to the window of her apartment, looking at the city behind it. “And, as you might have guessed, I don’t enjoy the new look.”

“So, they forcefully made you a cyborg?” V’s voice trembles, she can feel that different emotions start raging inside her, them being anger and frustration mixed with disgust.

V wasn’t really against the ‘chrome up’ movement, since she carried plenty of chrome herself. However, what she was against, though, was how some people, especially in the corporate and military world, were being stripped of their humanity and ‘clothed up’ in cyberware. Every time V installed a new implant, she felt a small part of herself die; it took a toll on her humanity. Hence, hearing So Mi’s words about being forced to become a cyborg heavily hit her, drawing out only more sympathy towards the netrunner.

Songbird closes her eyes, affirmatively nodding and continuing, “To survive the toll of the Blackwall, it was a must. If it wasn’t for it, I would have been long dead already.”

V quirks a brow. “So, you’ve been breaching the Blackwall for like 6-7 years at this point?”

“More or less,” the netrunner nods, her voice sadder with each word spoken. “Feels like eternity, really. Each breach takes a piece of me, I am losing myself, bits by bits… The emptiness grows, I feel it… fill it with memories, they keep taking them away… One day, there will be nothing left of me…”

So Mi’s voice was on the verge of breaking down again. V could feel it. The merc then remembers Johnny’s words the moment they sat down at Sunset Motel once, where he told her that the worst thing one could do to a human is change their identity, for them to never even know it.

“An algorithm lost and dreaming,” Song continues, her breath hitches, “the memories of a human… someone else. To exist like this… I can’t. I… I don’t want to…”

The final wall finally breaks and tears start spilling. So Mi grips her head, clenches her teeth, trying everything not to burst. V understands her all. Understands her a lot, yet stays silent and gives her time to calm down. So Mi sobs once, twice, wiping out her tears and glancing at the window of V’s apartment, unable to look in the mercenary’s eyes.

Once her breath finally stabilizes, she lets out a heavy sigh, closing her eyes. V shakes her head. “Guess I understand now what you meant by ‘I can relate to you’. Similar thing is happening with me, with the Relic,” V lets out a dry snort fueled by mental pain, turning her gaze towards the same window.

“I know, V. We both paid the price, but the price this big and fucked? It’s…” Songbird briefly pauses, resting her head in her hands again. “I am fucking scared, V. Scared that one day they will take all of me, scared that one day I will lose all the sense of who I am and who I was.”

“I understand,” the merc nods.

However, V also knows that they should, finally, shift the conversation back to its original point—the reason for the conversation itself. This wasn’t just a pointless soul-touching dilemma they were discussing; no, there was a reason for all this, and said reason was what bothered V, what she decided to try to get to. “Is that why you contacted me though? To seek mental support?” she carefully asks, trying not to sound pushy, sarcastic, or asshole-like. “Because there’s gotta be way more to it, all this heart-to-heart talk can’t be the only reason why you’re talking to me now.”

Another brief pause. So Mi gathers all her thoughts, wiping the remaining tears on her face, after which she turns and fully faces V, looking strictly into the mercenary’s eyes. “I uhh… I need your help, V.”

“Right…” V nods, her tone back to cautious, albeit, way less suspicious. She knows that the netrunner is ready to show all her cards, she is ready to go all-in, and their conversation is about to reach its core point. “What exactly do you want from me?”

“I need…” a small delay in So Mi’s words indicates her struggle, discomfort, “I need you to help me get what I’m after. A solution to my… predicament.”

“How specifically? And, what’s in it for me?”

The one million eurodollar question. V knows herself that the question is selfish. But she knows as well that trust from the get-go is a no-go. She knows that help from the get-go is a no-go. Altruism is okay and all, but she herself is on a timer, she cannot waste her time and risk her own life for the sake of someone else’s, especially someone she has just met.

Besides, for all she knows, this might just be a straight con.

“I can’t offer much, V,” So Mi shrugs, shaking her head and looking down. “I truly wish I could. Whatever’s that you’re asking, I just… I am under 24/7 surveillance, and cannot step foot outside the White House. Hell, this is why we’re talking through the Relic right now, because it’s untraceable…”

“Had a feeling you chose Relic not just for shits and giggles, guess I see why now,” V lets out a small chuckle full of irony, after which her gaze becomes serious again.

“I don’t even have money to offer you…” So Mi continues, closing her eyes and letting out a sad breath. “I guess I could maybe give you some preem netrunning soft, but I’m sure it’ll be useless to you,” she shakes her head. “Thus, I have… literally nothing. No one. I have fucking nothing…”

Well, this was just sad, V thinks. Is the netrunner trying to play on her empathy? Is that just an elaborate trick to do her bidding? V could not know, but, looking at the woman in front of her, she just couldn’t help but feel compassion towards her.

The merc closes her eyes and lowers her head. She’s gonna regret this, won’t she? “So, what, do I have to purchase a plane ticket to Washington and storm the House just to get you out of there?” V asks.

“No,” Songbird finally lets out a barely visible smile, somewhat amused by V’s choice of words. “All the roads lead to this city. Specifically Dogtown. Someone pulled out an obscure tech from the Project Cynosure bunker located deep beneath. That tech as of now is in Kurt Hansen’s hands. Meaning, to get my hands on it, I have no choice but to get to Night City.”

“Uh-huh, and that’s where I come in?”

“Exactly.”

No. This was a bad idea.

There were many thoughts in V’s head that all popped up in blazing speed. She could think of hundreds of reasons why this was a bad idea. This was incredibly risky and she had troubles caring at all about this stranger in front of her, but she also had troubles letting another person end up dying just like her.

That is, if she dies. V still had Mikoshi as an option, Alt agreed to help if V and Johnny find a way to get there. There was also a supposed deal with Hanako to be made, waiting. Finding Mikoshi was a problem of its own, but, say they find its access point in realspace—getting there might be a total clusterfuck, especially on their own. Help was needed, V concluded, that’s for sure.

And what would be a better help than the supposedly the ultimate netrunner alive?

“Okay… I might be able to help you,” the merc finally says after two minutes of deep thinking. She could see an immediate ocean of relief on the netrunner’s face, as if it was the best news she’s heard in her entire life.

“But?” So Mi cautiously replies, sensing a catch in V’s words.

“You help me with my problem afterwards.”

So Mi blinks, processing said request. “Do you have something in mind for how you can cure yourself?” she then asks.

There was a slight pause in their conversation. “In fact, I do,” V finally continues, leaning back on the couch. “It just so happens that you called me after my biz with the Voodoo Boys that, unfortunately for them, ended quite badly, but—I have a solution. It’s called Mikoshi. Don’t know if you know what it is, but—”

“I know what Mikoshi is,” Songbird clarifies, indirectly reminding the merc of her status as the NUS intelligence analyst.

“Good,” V nods. “I have a contact that’s willing to help me once I get there. Thus, if I manage to locate its access point, I’ll need your assistance getting to it.”

Another brief pause in the conversation. So Mi struggles at first, trying to mull over things in her head. A solid minute passes, before she answers, “I uhh… I agree, V.”

“If you’re the best netrunner the world’s ever seen, then having someone like you in the supporting role would significantly improve my chances in realspace,” V explains her reasoning. “But, that remains to be seen.”

So Mi raises an eyebrow. “Meaning?”

V stands from the couch, slowly walking towards the window and taking a full look at the city. It is finally evening.

“Meaning you have to give me time to think about all this. At least till tomorrow,” the merc replies, her thoughts weighing heavy on her. She then turns back to face So Mi, who still is projecting herself to be sitting on the couch. “You have a plan in mind, I suppose, on how you intend to cure yourself and escape the NUS?”

“I have an outline, but the major chunk of it depends on you. Hence… all this,” the netrunner waves her hand as a gesture of acknowledgement of everything she’s been talking about prior.

V affirmatively nods, continuing her train of thought out loud this time. “All the more reason to give me time to think about all this,” she notes. “Both you and I are dying, but I can’t just go around voluntarily doing public service. I mean, fuck, my life’s on the line, too. And this job isn’t something anyone would do for free either, not even for money. You know that as much. But if what you’re saying is true, and this isn’t some elaborate con you’re planning to involve me into, then, perhaps, it’s all the more reason we should probably stick together in this.”

“I promise you, all that I’ve told you right now is the truth,” So Mi stands from the couch, slowly walking towards V and stopping at a safe distance from her, looking directly into the merc’s eyes.

“Good,” V sighs, leaning against the window behind her while looking at Songbird. “I will message you tomorrow, once I clear my head. Today was a fucked up day anyway, and I really need a good sleep and put all my worries on the shelf for now.”

“Thank you, V, for… considering this,” the ‘runner replies, her voice betraying tones of hope in her. “You have no idea how relieved I am right now.”

“Right,” V breathes out, staring at the floor. She has no more words she can say to the netrunner, hence decides to ultimately conclude their conversation, “Anyway, see you, Songbird.”

A slight smile appears on So Mi’s face. She nods then and disappears, disconnecting from V’s Relic. The merc heavily sighs again, reminiscing about her past life, the life where nothing mattered at all, and so she proceeds to drop on her bed and drift into slumber.

She totally forgot about the spilled coffee and the cup just lying on the floor.

Chapter Text

“So, thoughts on… the whole sitch?”

V really needed advice from Johnny regarding the whole situation she was about to get herself into. With thoughts all over the place, the next day she first decided to take care of all her biz first. Only after she was done with all her tasks did she decide to sit on her couch and talk to the rockerboy in her head, trying to seek his ‘expert’ opinion.

“Dunno, V,” Johnny replies, taking a long drag of his cigarette, standing in front of the window of V’s apartment and looking at the city. “Whole thing stinks, yet the outcome—we might benefit from it all.” The rockerboy then turns to the merc, giving her a thoughtful glance, and sits on the couch. “Songbird, an S tier netrunner, hacks the Relic like it’s a SCSM, is the right hand of the goddamn President herself. Running away from said President, asking for help from a minor league merc who is dying, just like her,” he continues, exhaling smoke. “Saw weird shit in my days, this one doesn’t really surprise me, yet there is something that makes me keep my nose to the ground.”

“Did you just call me a minor league merc?” V frowns, feeling slightly offended by his statement.

“What, problems with hearing?”

V scoffs. “Anyway, I mean, have that feeling too, yes, but she seemed very desperate,” she crosses her arms. “Didn’t seem like she was lying or anything, not that I could see it.”

“She’s probably telling the truth,” Johnny agrees. “What bothers me is whether the whole thing is worth it though. What if she just bails after you help her escape? And never holds her end of the bargain? You’d be wasting time, and for what?”

His concerns are valid. V knows that no matter how honest Songbird seems to be, there is also a non-zero chance that she may not hold her end of the deal. What if, after she helps her, Songbird will vanish without a word? 

“Well, in that case, I’m just gonna find her on my own and bring her back to where she’s coming from. You know how you and I do this,” V sighs, albeit there’s a clear note of uncertainty and sarcasm in her voice.

She doesn’t truly believe in her own words; in fact, revenge isn’t something that she’s an active supporter of. V thinks of it as bad karma, that it’s gonna bite her in the ass in the end if she ever goes through with it.

“Yeah, go head straight into shit first, think about the consequences later. Really sounds like you, V,” Johnny shakes his head, sideways glancing at her.

His words, again, are true—biz with the Voodoo Boys and Takemura are proof of that, be it jacking in with your personal and accepting free ‘suicideware’, or agreeing to get to chat with the daughter of a recently deceased emperor of Arasaka himself and ending up kidnapping her.

Hence, V rolls her eyes, “C’mon, y’know what I meant…”

“Regardless,” the rockerboy takes a final dip at his cigarette, drops it on the floor and stomps it with his right foot, “If you seriously consider helping her, just fucking do it, I guess. My biased answer, of course, would be to go against the corps and government, but this isn’t your regular ‘burn corpo shit’ sitch. Unbiased though? I dunno, V. Just go with your gut, but make sure neither of us regrets it after all’s done.”

V nods, having no better words to say as a reply. Even though the situation is risky in itself (too risky one would say), the potential reward might outweigh the risk. Keyword might, as there’s no way to properly measure that. Having the best netrunner in the whole continent (maybe world?) help her breach into Mikoshi would make her raid as smooth as silk, making it feel like a walk in a park. V also couldn’t deny a newfound sentimental attachment to the netrunner, seeing as her life story in a way parallels her own. She felt bad for her, but she couldn’t let her emotions drive reason. Thus, with Johnny’s last words, she finally decides to text Songbird a simple message, reading, ‘Ok, I made my decision. Ready to chat.’

Unlike last time, V had to wait about an hour for Song So Mi to give her a call. And by call it meant materializing in front of her just like the last time. As soon as the netrunner starts appearing in V’s eyes, the merc expects another wave of pain coursing through her body. However, there is none. It surprises her and relieves her at the same time.

“Hey, V,” she hears an already familiar voice, a hint of worry in it.

V breathes in deep. “So, I thought about that deal of yours…”

“And?”

“I will help you,” V replies. “That is, if you help me afterwards, of course,” she adds.

“Thank you, V,” So Mi’s voice almost cracks with silent relief. “You have no idea how—”

“I haven’t finished yet,” the merc immediately interrupts her, taking a serious stance and crossing her arms. “First, I need to know your full plan of action. What do you plan to do, what do I have to do in said plan, how do you plan to escape the NUSA and get cured.”

“Okay. Okay, so…” the netrunner takes a moment to gather all her thoughts. “The cure that I’m after is in Kurt Hansen’s hands right now, the leader of Dogtown. I presume you know what Dogtown is, right?”

“Uh-huh, the no-man’s zone where you shoot first, ask questions later? That Dogtown?”

“Yes, that one.”

Dogtown. While working at Arasaka, V heard stories about that place. She’d never stepped foot there though, and why would she? To catch a random bullet shot not even at her?

The redhead scratches her nose. “Riiight… what else?”

“To get my hands on the cure I have to strike a deal with Hansen,” So Mi pauses, noticing how merc’s expression slowly changes to a concerned and highly cautious one.

V sighs and shakes her head. “This just keeps getting better and better, huh.”

“Doesn’t sound good already, I know, but there’s just no other way,” So Mi tries to explain herself.

V gives her a reassuring confirmation accompanied with a nod. “I get it. I do. And I am not judging you… yet …” she reveals a small smirk, something So Mi notices, which prompts her to lower her gaze. The redhead continues, “So, let me guess, Hansen’s asking something in return?”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

A deep breath from So Mi. “He wants Myers delivered to him.”

And that’s the bomb that hits the nail on the coffin, making V drop her head in her hands.

The plan’s fucked. Yet it seems so familiar. In fact, it just so happens that she and Takemura recently have kidnapped Hanako fucking Arasaka herself. And Hanako Arasaka is pretty much comparable to the President of the NUS. Thus, V retreats—yes, So Mi has her batshit crazy plan, but so had she just recently, what’s new? She’s gone through something similar herself already, so why not go through the same shit twice?

But then it hits her. “Wait, hold on. The President’s life for a cure? The fuck?” V asks with surprise and concern. “Don’t tell me you’re seriously considering this, right? The President sold to a crime lord? I mean, I understand from our convo yesterday that you detest the bitch, but, like…”

“No, I am not doing that, V,” Songbird immediately clarifies herself. “This is, in fact, where you come in. You’ll help me rescue her and then help me skip town.”

V sighs in relief, thinking that’s much better. If there was an actual trade then, who knows, maybe she would’ve reconsidered the decision to help the ‘runner.

The merc blinks. “Uh-huh. And how’ll that work, exactly?”

So Mi fully looks at V. “Me and Myers in a week from now will be traveling aboard Space Force One, right above Night City,” she starts explaining. “I will hijack the plane’s control systems, jam all communication channels. I will then board the plane safely in Dogtown, and then me and Myers will be escorted to Hansen by his people. Hansen claims that he needs Myers to tell her to get away from his land, that’s all, but I’m sure he might go as far as to try to kill her. Then, you’ll come in, and with my netrunning assistance you’ll free Myers and help her get a safe passage through Dogtown’s border. While you’re doing that, I’ll safely extract the cure I need and then run. Me and you will rendezvous right after.”

That was a little bit too much to process at first. V brushes her red hair off her eyes, covering her face with both hands and going over everything So Mi’s just told her in her head. The netrunner, seeing as the merc needs time to process everything, decides to give her the much required quietness that is interrupted only by the distant sound of cars outside the megabuilding.

“Sounds unnecessarily complicated. Is there really no other way to just… get the cure you need?” V finally raises her question after a few minutes of silence.

“If there was, I probably wouldn’t be speaking to you now and telling you about this batshit crazy plan,” So Mi sighs. “But it should work though,” she tries to assure the merc. “If everything goes as planned, there should be no drawbacks.”

“And what if Hansen will just straight shoot Myers in the head the moment he sees her?” V shoots immediately, giving a blank stare at the netrunner.

“He wouldn’t. For quite a long time he’s been doing favors to Myers, actually, after the Unification War. So it’s in his best interest to first try and negotiate with her a deal about Dogtown. Only if that fails he might… take other measures.”

This was a suicide.

Really, this was a fucking suicide.

There’s no way this would work, right?

It was a bold move, the one that not only risked the life of the President, with the risk of starting a military conflict, but also risked the lives of other people. Yet, V was no hypocrite—she did essentially the same when kidnapping Hanako or blowing up that power plant with Panam to get Hellman, releasing massive EMP emissions that caused severe and lethal implant failures to people (news confirmed it, and the merc only rolled her eyes back then). When you try to save yourself, someone else usually pays the price—that was the brutal fucking truth that V didn’t try to deny.

“Fine,” the merc finally breathes out after another two-minute pause. She made up her mind. She’ll help this woman in front of her. For the price, yes. But if she doesn’t, she thinks, it’s as if she would be betraying herself.

“That’s pretty much it,“ Songbird concludes, standing up from the couch and walking towards the window. Stopping in front of it and looking outside, she continues, “The whole plan outline. Myers cannot know any details about it. No one can, actually. Stays strictly ‘tween you and me. Me spilling all the detes to you is already risky as hell for me, but I trust you’ll keep your word.”

“Don’t worry. Consider this merc ethics,” V tries to assure her, resting against the back of her couch.

Song turns around and leans against the window, glancing at the merc. She’s a bit disturbed, finding it quite hard to trust V from the get-go, even though she really wants to. “Mercs can pick the highest bidder, you know,” she notes. “I hope that if there is a situation where Myers and the FIA offer you an alternative means of curing you in exchange for bringing me in, you wouldn’t… change your mind.”

“Well, first, there has to be at least a way for them to save me, you know, only if then,” V snorts, closing her eyes, not even believing that there is any other solution besides Mikoshi. If Mikoshi fails, she would be fucked, that’s for sure.

“Meaning you actually might consider that?”

There’s no reply. Simply because V doesn’t know how far she’s willing to go for survival—abide by her principles and whatever morals she has, or betray everyone and everything to see another day?

The merc opens her eyes, looking at So Mi. “I don’t have an answer for that,” she replies. “I’m sorry.”

Said words don’t bring any peace to So Mi. It only leaves another mark on her, a mark that says ‘trust no one’, something she learned in her time at the FIA. Is she making a mistake trusting her life to an outsider, to a mercenary, to a criminal she barely got to know? What if this all would lead to her ultimate demise?

So many doubts, all scratching her very soul and not giving her a single moment of peace. Peace that she’d been eager for ever since the first day she’d joined the NUSA. Peace that she forgot the feeling of. Peace that she felt back in her Brooklyn pad, where nothing mattered. Where she just… lived.

“When are we doing this?” V then asks.

Song glares at her. “In 7 days. Daytime.”

“I’ll mark it on my calendar then…” V sighs, opening her list of contacts. There’s one thing that she has to do now, a thing that she kept doing for the past two weeks repeatedly. 

“Meaning to say you have one?” So Mi raises her eyebrow, a surprised smile appearing on her face.

“What, you think someone like me can’t have one?” V sarcastically smirks, looking at the netrunner. “Look, see, I have a meeting with Hanako Arasaka at Embers in 4 days. Guess I have to postpone it, for the fifth time in two weeks. Bitch’s gonna keep waiting till I’m about to flatline, I guess.”

V’s last words actually make Song genuinely smile. Smiling is something she actually almost forgot how to do in the last 6 years. “Didn’t take you for one with time management skills,” she remarks, her voice slightly mischievous, trying to further reveal the merc’s softer, brighter side.

V chortles, waving her hand, “Hey c’mon, just because I have a schedule doesn’t mean that I’m always on time or always show up, y’know.”

“Uh-huh…” So Mi continues, her smile transforming into a small grin, “Try not to ‘not show up’ to our ‘appointment’ on purpose.”

“Don’t worry,” V decides to make her move in this new game they just started, “Even if I forget, you can just hack my Relic and set an alarm off in my head. Not like I can get rid of it, y’know.”

“Sounds like something you’re looking forward to.”

A pause. Just like, seems like the conversation’s over.

Until the netrunner speaks up once more, caution in her tone. “So… is it okay if we stay open comms then?” she asks. V glances at her, eyebrow raised, and So Mi clarifies, “Can I call you whenever you have time?”

V remains silent for a moment, unsure of the netrunner’s proposal. She doesn’t know what prompted her to ask said question, yet she herself is more inclined towards the ‘yes’ answer. More or less because her inner self finds So Mi unreasonably interesting, intriguing, and… hot.

“Eh, I mean, having one more person in my head that I can talk with doesn’t seem that bad, so you’re free to hack my coprocessors whenever, I guess,” V smirks, wondering if Johnny would approve of being permamuted if it comes down to it. Not like he’ll have a say in it anyway.

“If you say so,” So Mi smiles in return, crossing her arms.

Six days have passed since the conversation. So Mi was appearing from time to time, usually for an hour or two at most, chatting with V or remarking about what she was doing. V didn’t complain; in fact, gradually she became quite glad So Mi was reaching out to her—they had way more common ground than she ever expected them to have. Plus, it would sort of be a foundation for their trust in each other, building which usually takes a while. And the trust they needed, considering they were about to get involved in Song’s dangerous plan.

V was preparing for the upcoming day, knowing it’s gonna be a fun one. Saving the President of the NUS? Hell yeah! Helping a mysterious netrunner she recently got to know escape said President? Hell yeah! Potentially becoming an enemy of the country she’s not even a part of (since Night City is an independent state)? Why the hell not?

V was sitting in her armory room, preparing her Errata and Johnny’s Malorian for the upcoming mission, knowing she won’t get a chance to do so later because she most likely might get stuck in Dogtown for quite a while. What she didn’t expect though, is her new partner hacking her Relic again, materializing right beside her and unintentionally giving her a slight jumpscare.

“Nice iron,” Song remarks at V’s pistol, as the younger woman slightly jumps on her chair, instinctively grabbing her Headhunter knife right next to her and pulling it with lightning speed straight to the netrunner’s holographic neck, stopping it millimeters away from it. V’s face was a sign of fight or flight state; she never liked unexpected surprises and jumpscares.

So Mi briefly looks at V’s knife. “Careful with that, might unintentionally cut air ,” she says, a teasing smirk on her face. The merc’s reaction clearly entertained her.

V could not hold herself angry at the netrunner’s last sentence, letting out a small chuckle and trying her hardest to make it seem like she’s annoyed. “You know what you’re doing is equivalent to a privacy invasion, punishable by law?” she asks, putting her knife down, trying to ‘get payback’ at the netrunner. “I know that since I have more than fifty NCPD gigs under my belt.”

“All right, V-gilante,” So Mi deadpans, jumping back and sitting on V’s armory table, to the left of merc herself. V tries her best to hold herself, but, unable to resist, lets out a wide smile. Song’s pun definitely caught her off guard. She had to admit to herself that the netrunner somehow, inexplicably and surprisingly easily, is capable of breaching through her unemotional armor, something not many people can do. Which is even more surprising, considering they know each other only for like a week or so.

“Something you wanted? Or, lemme guess, the flight for tomorrow got delayed?” V sarcastically remarks, trying to hold her own in the game they’re playing, the game of who has who wrapped around their finger.

Unfortunately for V, So Mi is the winner the moment she deadpans, “Don’t tell me Hanako will agree to postpone her date with you for the sixth time.”

Realizing she lost badly, the merc lets out a sincere laugh, mixed with notes of insanity, shaking her head and trying her best not to look at the netrunner. The thought of texting Arasaka’s heiress six times in a row and telling her ‘hi, just to let you know, I won’t be able to make it this time, too, let’s postpone by 3 days again’ actually sounded ridiculous to her. It’s like scheduling a meeting with a president and postponing it. Only six times, not one.

It was soothing, this, being able to banter about literal stuff without worrying about the imposed death sentence that’s been given to both of them by fate. V could just be herself before the Heist—a minor league merc, as Johnny claims, who’s best friends with Jackie, spending hours on end chatting and laughing at El Coyote, showing the side of her that is buried deep within now. So Mi could just be herself before the FIA—a Brooklyn girl with warmth of home and friends surrounding her, showing the side of herself that is now locked with inner fear, doubt and guilt. Moments like these put all the worryness on the shelf, squeezing every last bit of joy and happiness possible in hope of bringing some meaning to their lives that are already full of pain, misery and disappointment.

“Please spare my sanity, don’t tell me that’s actually what you came to tell me,” V pleads her, voice full of irony though.

“Relax,” So Mi assures her, noting how the merc has given up on her and surrendered, which in turn made the netrunner smile, too. “I have… an extra gift for you. An advance, sort of.”

“Oh?”

“Your Relic is stuffed with clusters of corrupted data. I am dumping that, making room for something that’s actually gonna come in handy,” So Mi explains, slightly turning her head to the side and staring V directly in the eyes. The mercenary’s optics glitch a bit, no pain though, and she feels a brief, slightly pleasant impulse course through her going from her brain to other parts of her body.

“Such as?” V raises her question, unsure of what the ‘runner just did to her.

“Some preem Militech soft. It’s just lying around, gathering dust.”

V then goes through her BIOS firmware and sees how she has a new “vulnerability analytics” submenu. Something she didn’t have before. Something indeed handy, perhaps, worth checking out later on for sure.

“Wow… feel a… tinglin’ in my fingertips. Kinda nice, actually,” V notes, being really impressed with So Mi’s netrunning skills. At least there’s something actually useful that came out of the Relic, she thinks.

“Oh, it goes a lot further than tingling, trust me.” So Mi replies, having a smile on her face.

“Why do I get all the wrong meanings in that sentence?”

V knew exactly what she was doing saying those words. She could see the netrunner get flustered, just a little, which is what V wanted to see, a satisfied smirk appearing on her face. Now they were even for today, which is all she cared about.

“Now, listen, what I gave you is a skeleton-soft,” Songbird continues after a five second pause, trying to come back to their original topic. “But the firmware’s fancy, it’ll learn, grow with you. It’ll improve if you feed it data. Combat analyses, logs of legendary ops, shit that’d make the NCPD piss its boots. You’ll be able to find the Militech dataterms with compatible software all around Dogtown, as you get there.”

V nods, appreciating the gift the netrunner gave her. Implants are good and all, but having actual software and firmware upgrades were something she was eager to have as well.

There was still one thing left to discuss though.

“Speaking of, how will I get there? I don’t have a pass, I didn’t think of getting one and I don’t even know how to,” V asks, realizing that they never touched the subject of getting into Dogtown.

“It would be better if you don’t have one before this op, trust me.”

“Why?”

“In case someone starts digging, it would be highly suspicious that you acquired the pass literal days before the upcoming incident,” So Mi explains, jumping off the table and starting to walk around the armory, looking at V’s epic stash of weapons. V is slowly spinning in her chair along with her movements, since she knows that Songbird sees what she sees. Song continues, “Would make Myers and others think that it’s as if you knew something would happen. Trust me—years in the agency taught me that there are rarely any actual coincidences.”

“Guess you’re right,” V sighs, unable to disagree.

“Dogtown’s front gate at the EBM Petrochem Stadium has a few backdoors that you can exploit. I can guide you through the stadium once you’re there. You will get into Dogtown unnoticed, no questions asked,” So Mi continues, stopping next to the wall to the right of the entrance into the armory. The wall had tons of unique guns on it, mostly modified versions of existing guns that can be bought at almost any weapon vendor. She takes a close look at Psalm 11:6, wanting to touch it, except she realizes almost immediately that she won’t be able to since she is just a ghost in the merc’s head.

“Planning to tell Myers about me on the day of the crash?” V cautiously asks.

“I will have to, yes, with the premise of you saving her. Just—”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t talk much with her because you might unintentionally tell what’s not needed, got that,” V immediately interrupts So Mi, knowing what she was about to say. “Don’t worry, I can keep my mouth shut when needed.”

Johnny would definitely disagree with that statement, though. The merc can feel his disapproval with her entire body even as the rockerboy is currently muted.

A small smile appears on So Mi’s face, she looks at V and nods to her, saying, “I know. That’s why I trust you and no one else with this.”

But no matter how much they both tried to forget their worries and just talk and chat like normal people, the inner doubt and fear sooner or later always found a way to show themselves.

“You know, for a woman with serious trust issues you sure put a lot of faith in me,” V crosses her arms, looking closely at Songbird. Although the sentence carried an ominous undertone in it, Song could clearly identify in V’s voice that the merc didn’t mean it at all. More like stating it as a matter of fact, since V knew that Song spent half her life surrounded by people who live their lives soaked in half-truths.

“Not like I have much of a choice, V,” So Mi takes a deep breath, crossing her arms, too, and gazing at the floor beneath her. “Yeah, I’ve spent half my life around trained sociopaths who know way better than me how to manipulate to get what they need. It is incredibly hard for me to trust and not use anyone at this point.”

“Yet here you are…” V remarks, understanding Song’s position, silently appreciating her sincerity.

“Yet here I am…” So Mi sighs, leaning onto the wall stash and turning her gaze towards the ceiling. She didn’t like the situation she was about to get herself into, but she also knew that was her one and only option to both get her freedom and life back.

“Still doesn’t explain why trust me of all people, you know,” V tries to pursue the already started topic to its core point. “A merc with very questionable morals. Not scared at all I might just bail and leave you by yourself there?”

“I will admit—I am scared, yes. But, you are the only person who could possibly understand what I’m going through, V. I thought you figured that out already.”

That was true. V could relate to So Mi a lot. And vice versa.

Over the week they spent together talking about stuff, such as their lives, whatever memories So Mi had left, whatever funny stories V had under her belt, the merc truly has grown empathetic towards the netrunner. Two days ago, for example, V asked So Mi what exactly happens when one reaches beyond the Blackwall. Hearing the answer to be the loss of her memories and personality resonated within the younger woman, since that is pretty much what the Relic was doing to her—mixing her memories with Johnny’s, and she was pretty scared that one day she’d see his memories as her own, while her memories become part of his. It was a horrible feeling, a feeling that V wouldn’t want even her worst enemy to experience—loss of one’s identity, something Johnny heavily agreed with. The merc already felt a close sentimental attachment to the ‘runner—this just gave another reason she and Song should stick together and try to save each other.

“‘Sides, you openly questioning this somewhat brings calm to my heart. If you were to betray me, or had any plans, you wouldn’t be asking such questions,” So Mi shrugs, establishing an eye-to-eye contact with V.

“Reverse psychology on me, huh?” the merc sarcastically remarks, a constrained smirk on her face.

“More like knowing you, V,” a genuine warm smile appears on Songbird’s face, as she softens her gaze towards the younger woman.

“Uh-huh, now you’re gonna claim you know me,” V rolls her eyes but couldn’t hold to reveal a complement smile to the netrunner’s words. The tonal shift seemed quite natural to both of them, which they favored in respect to debates about loyalty and trust.

“I was monitoring you for quite a while. Know how you operate.”

“Spying on me, huh? Or stalking?”

“A bit of both, if it helps you sleep at night.”

V chuckles, shaking her head and looking at the floor. She can feel herself warm on the inside, something she hasn’t felt in ages. Netrunner’s words touch her very heart for a brief moment, and she feels different rising emotions inside her. She looks at So Mi, who is still smiling at her, and that smile makes V blink fast twice, turning away her gaze and wondering what the hell she is doing.

“Anyways, V, I have to go,” Song concludes, leaning off the wall. “I will contact you tomorrow, please be ready. And…” she pauses, feeling tension rise inside her again. “Thank you. Really, thank you. I cannot express how glad I am that you agreed to help me.”

“Better keep your end of the bargain, Song,” V suddenly replies, looking at the netrunner. “If we’re in this together, then we have to stay in this together.”

So Mi nods, giving away a sad smile.

“I will. I promise.”

Chapter Text

“So, Dogtown, huh. More like Dogshit town for all it seems like.”

Johnny just had to say it. V and him aren’t even inside the district yet, but, standing right outside it, next to the main entrance gate, gives off the weirdest vibes imaginable. Tons of smoke, hard-to-breathe air, strong smell of gunpowder. Voice of Kurt Hansen blasting through the megaphone doesn’t make it any better.

It was finally the day. The day the SF1 would land in Dogtown and President Rosalind Myers would be captured by Kurt Hansen and later saved by none other than V. It was daytime, afternoon to be precise, and the mercenary was already in front of the main gate, awaiting So Mi to contact her. She came prepared—fully stocked ammo for her Malorian, fully recharged and sharpened Errata, fully sharpened Headhunter, three EMP grenades and five boosters. She also made sure to get to Vik and check all her chrome, especially her mantis blades and sandevistan. Having those glitch and become broken would be really unfortunate if she would be in the middle of some shootout.

“True. Even though we aren’t even inside, the border looks fucking disgusting,” V replies to Johnny, analyzing her surroundings.

“Amen to that. Finger on the trig though, never know who has a stick up their ass,” Johnny agrees with V. “Might catch a bullet fired at you with no reason if you’re not careful.”

“I’m always careful.”

“Uh-huh, keep telling yourself that,” the rockerboy shakes his head. “Can name you a thousand and one instances where that statement of yours is worth shit.”

V rolls her eyes, not taking his words seriously. She then goes to one of the fences and leans on it, crossing her arms, looking around her and patiently waiting for Songbird to contact her.

It took about an hour for her to see the ‘Relic Packet 32’ message pop up in her Kiroshi display.

“Hey, V. See me alright?” the netrunner asks, taking a look at V’s surroundings, noticing she’s where she’s supposed to be.

“Hey, Song,” V puts on a small smile, nodding to her. “Yes, all’s crystal. Assuming you are on that plane, s’that right?”

“Yes. All is going according to plan,” So Mi confirms, looking closely at V. The merc could barely note concern and anxiety in her eyes. “Currently, me and Myers are on board Space Force One, we’re approaching Night City. Everyone on board already knows the situation, that the plane’s been ‘hacked’ and its trajectory is set towards Dogtown.”

“Did you tell her about me yet?” V asks.

“Not yet. Planning to do it in a moment. I need to make sure nothing looks suspicious and out of the ordinary, so that no one suspects anything.”

“Right, keep me posted then,” the mercenary concludes, leaning off the fence and looking in the direction of the main gate. There are a lot of BARGHEST soldiers there, several dozen to be precise; while she could technically tear through all of them, it would be quite exhausting and unnecessarily risky.

“I analyzed the stadium surroundings using the satellite images. There is an entrance that you can sneak past without anyone noticing,” So Mi points in the direction she’s talking about. “It’s in the backyard, behind the dumpsters.”

V glances where Songbird is pointing to. So Mi starts walking there, and she slowly following her. When they stop next to the dumpsters, the netrunner looks at V, crossing her arms. “Try to sneak in. I’ll try to be right beside you as much as possible. It’s slightly hard to concentrate on three or four things at once, I hope you understand.”

“Fuck, talk about multitasking, huh,” V snorts.

“My middle name,” So Mi lets out a small smirk. “What, mean to say you aren’t the one to focus on five things at once and be completely fine with that?”

“Can barely focus on one sometimes…” V sighs, starting to climb through the empty garbage dumpster.

It didn’t take even three minutes for V to sneak past all the guards and roll underneath the barely opened garage door. As she rolled under it, she made sure to close it, so that no one followed her.

“Great, now in you go,” Songbird compliments her. “Look for a Net access point. Jack in that, and I’ll be able to help you.”

V proceeds through the garage room, finding a hole in the wall. She then crawls through it, finding tons of metal plates covering a massive crater in the floor.

“You should be one level lower. Eyes peeled, look for a way down.”

And V does just that. She grabs one of the metal slabs on the floor and moves it to the side, jumping down the area beneath her. It is some sort of a maintenance zone, barely any light to recognize what’s around her.

“Now, look for a maintenance room. Bet anything you’ll find a power source inside,” So Mi instructs next.

V finds it and spots an inactive access point on the wall next to the window. “Got an access point, but no power,” she notes.

“Hm, see if you can restore it. It’s the only way I can be of any use to you.”

V goes further into the maintenance room. Following the wires and a narrow corridor, she finds a generator. It’s pretty badly beaten up, but there’s hope that it’s still in a working condition. The mercenary pushes the big red power button on it, hearing new sounds somewhere. She then also notices how a few lights light up.

“Turned something on,” she informs Songbird.

“Nice, V. Exactly what we need.”

As the redhead returns to the access point, she attempts to jack into it with her personal link again. This time, on the contrary, the access is granted to her. She then redirects it to the netrunner as requested.

“Okay, we’re up,” the merc remarks.

So Mi materializes next to her. “Perfect. Breaching systems now,” she replies, crossing her arms. “Hmm, ancient, no proto-ancient protocols, largely corrupted data…” she notes while being immersed in her hacking procedure. V could only have her eyes on the netrunner with a look that keeps becoming more and more impressed, awaiting the final outcome. Song clicks her tongue, “Gimme a sec, need to ping one of our sats. Let’s see which active Dogtown network links to this infrastructure. Aaaaand, puttin’ in a backdoor… Ready to roll.”

So Mi’s holographic projection disappears and reappears on top of a metal platform that suddenly starts moving, stopping right at the floor level. “Hop on the platform. I’ll guide you to the garage from there.”

The redhead couldn’t hide that she’s amazed and moved with what the ‘runner keeps pulling off time and time again. As she exits the control room and jumps on top of the platform where Song is at, she chuckles, “Heh, hang on. Ok, Relic hack first’s alright, then you slapped a muzzle on Johnny, then you even upgraded the Relic, and now you’re bringing some pile of scrap metal back to life? So you weren’t exaggerating when you said you’re the best, huh.”

“Guilty as charged,” So Mi sadly smiles, turning her gaze towards V. “Being an NUS intelligence analyst does come with a few good perks after all.”

“Such as?”

“Being trained under the best peeps in the biz, for once. Having virtually unlimited access to next-gen tech and cyberspace is the other.”

As the platform reaches its destination point, arriving right at the underground parking lot, V jumps off of it and starts moving through various darkened parking areas. There are tons of abandoned and seemingly broken cars, which one should expect considering how the stadium is just a shallow shell of what it once was.

“Okay, V, I just told Myers that I recruited you in the rescue op,” Songbird informs V after a minute of radio silence.

V’s curiosity gets a hold of it. “What’d she say?”

“Said she wishes you best of luck.”

“How ‘nice’ of her.”

Song doesn’t notice V’s sarcasm over the holo. Hence, she snorts, “Please, don’t take it to heart. Both you and I know that—”

“That was the sarcastic bit from my side, Song,” V immediately interrupts her. “What happened to Song So Mi ‘I know you, V’ I wonder?” she teases her, a satisfied smirk on her face.

“Seems like I have a few things left to learn about you after all,” she hears a sigh in return, but, judging from So Mi’s voice, V could tell she’s smiling at her words.

V proceeds to jump from platform to platform. Parkour is something she is very proficient at, however, deep darkness beneath her makes her shiver on the inside from time to time. Falling all the way down seems plausible, but avoidable.

“So…” the mercenary mysteriously says after finding her way to the other side of the lot. “Care to umm… spare some detes… about yourself?”

“Well, what do you wanna know? We talked about a lot already.”

“Anything, really. Like, how did you— What the?”

The catwalk that V just stepped onto was very unstable. The proof of that was the fact that it literally broke completely, falling down together with the merc on the platform below it.

“You alive?” Song asks with concern.

V slowly gets up. “Think so,” she breathes out, as she moves along the new platform she is on. There are a few more abandoned cars and vans, few of which had quite interesting notes in them, most likely belonging to their previous owners.

“By the way…” So Mi starts, “forgot to mention but… must’ve gotten old by now, haulin’ a faded rockerboy around. Strikes me as tiring.”

“Not a Silverhand fan, are you?” V chuckles, an ironic smile on her face. She remembers that even if Johnny is in the backseat right now, he can still hear both of them talking.

“Please. Samurai was done by their second album.”

Song’s deadpan response makes V internally laugh. She knows how fragile the rockerboy’s ego is and she really wishes she could see his reaction and response right now.

Sadly, she could not.

“Gonna hurt his feelings,” the merc smirks. “Especially when there’s a Samurai reunion coming up soon.”

She climbs onto the platform above her. She then notices a fuse box on the other end of it, and so she carefully goes in its direction. The moment she reaches it, she opens it and stares at its contents. She tweaks a few cables and adjusts the fuses, noticing how a platform to the left of her starts moving, allowing her to jump over to the other side.

“Hah, interesting approach. Had something else in mind, but… you do you,” So Mi remarks and V could almost hear that the netrunner is impressed with her tech skills, prompting her to smirk proudly.

After a couple of minutes, V was able to climb up more. Jumping from platform to platform was relatively a fun thing to do, she had to admit to herself, but very dangerous. One time she almost tripped over, almost falling into the abyss beneath her, saving herself last second by grappling to a nearby car. She was able to find one more fuse box on one of the upper levels, fixing it as well and powering up another moving platform. Jumping through it, she finally reached a maintenance ladder that led straight to the top of the parking lot.

“Mapped your position… Wow. Not bad at all,” So Mi notes with an impressed tone.

“So, back to our topic, y’know,” V continues while climbing up the ladder. “You mentioned you hit a Militech datafort and got caught, or something. Care to tell more?”

“Sure, yeah,” Song replies, gathering her thoughts and memories. “Militech datafort. Breached it via Militech’s Ankara base. Smooth as silk up to a point… Then Netwatch grabbed me. There I was, teetering on the edge. One wrong move and… well, you know.”

“Kinda like right now, huh?”

“No, V…” the netrunner refutes with sorrow, “Never been anything like right now.”

“I get that,” V understandably nods, finishing her climb. “Thought Arasaka would finish me off when I landed on that junkyard after taking a bullet to the brain. Well, Arasaka did show up, though to… well, save me.”

“Meaning?”

“Guy’s name’s Takemura,” the mercenary continues, carefully jumping to the next platform close to the parking wall. “Saburo Arasaka’s fucking bodyguard, imagine? He got accused of his murder, had to flee. Found me and the backstabbing motherfucker who shot me. He killed him, saved my ass by getting me to Viktor’s, my ripper.”

So Mi hums. “And, what happened after?”

“Well, long story short, he wanted me to assist him with getting Hanako Arasaka on board with us, revealing the truth about… Saburo’s ‘incident’. Everything went smoothly, up until the fucking parade.”

“Mm, where you kidnapped her with him,” Song grins.

V smiles, too. “Assembled a whole ass report about me I see.”

“Come on, V, it’s part of my job.”

The redhead can only shake her head at the netrunner’s words while approaching the end of the platform she’s on. In front of her is another maintenance ladder, granted it’s separated by five meters of void.

“Basically, yeah,” the merc confirms. “We kidnapped her, told her how it is, got her on board. She wants to meet with me, discuss her plan. Hence the whole… Mikoshi stuff.”

“And five Embers no-shows.”

“Alright, I’m done,” V rolls her eyes, unable to suppress her grin. So Mi’s snarky remark definitely caught her off-guard.

The merc makes a leap of faith and jumps to the ladder in front of her. She manages to grab onto it successfully, climbing all the way to the top and discovering a few containers with dirty clothes in them.

“Tell me something else about you, maybe? Like, any detes would be fine,” V carefully goes back to the original topic.

“Well, phoo…” So Mi dives deep into her thoughts. “I’m a Capricorn.”

V chuckles. “So, what… that makes you stubborn?” she asks with surprise. “Or you intimating you buy into that hippie dippie star scop?”

“Well, I am stubborn… Do I buy it? Dunno…” there’s a slight pause in Song’s words, as her voice becomes filled with sadness, “Had a good friend who did. No idea why it popped into my head now. Guess it meant something to me once…”

V for sure spots a sudden change in her tone, understanding that the topic the netrunner has touched is, perhaps, important to her. Hence, she proceeds, “Care to tell me about it?”

“Sure, some time. Promise.”

Right, it’s more important to focus on the current objective first. Having negative thoughts in their minds and reminiscing about the past will only slow them down and make them unfocused.

“Hmm…” V hums thoughtfully.

“What?”

“Is that the Blackwall side effect? Are you suddenly remembering something you forgot?”

So Mi breathes out. “I… not sure, V,” she replies. “There are so many things I just… don’t remember, don’t know about myself anymore.”

The redhead remains silent. She has no words for it, and they aren’t needed—she knows how it feels, losing who you are. Her empathy and compassion towards the older woman grows more and more, she becomes more attached to her, and she doesn’t know whether it’s a good thing or not.

The moment V is at the exit, Songbird appears in her vision. “Bright as a cityside metro, huh?” the netrunner says with a bit of enthusiasm, lighting up the red lights and revealing the way farther. “Reminds me of when I was starting out. I’d look for places like this… set up a power bypass, jack in, essentially steal my way onto the Net,” she proceeds, walking through the narrow corridor and leading V to another maintenance area, straight to the market. “Grabbed the riskiest gigs I could find, learning as I went—the hard way, usually. But sometimes, a few times… I really pulled off coups.”

“Anything I’d find on BBS gossip feeds?” the merc wonders.

“Hmm,” the older woman thinks, teleporting to the upper platform in front of V, to reach which the younger woman would have to use another ladder. “Biotechnica in sixty-three or four. Fermentation facility on Oregon, off the grid hack. Sound familiar?”

“No shit—Biotechnica?” V laughs, climbing up to Songbird. “Enough to even make Bartmoss blush.”

“That paranoid clown? Please,” So Mi scoffs. “Sure hope I don’t wind up packed in a fridge standing, psh, who-knows-where.”

“I happen to know where—garbage dump in the Badlands,” the merc chuckles, remembering how she and Johnny discovered the ‘coffin’ where Bartmoss was at, especially the rockerboy calling her a ‘box’ when she thought a cyberdeck was one.

“Elevator—hop in. I’ll do the rest.”

As soon as V crossed the large maintenance area, she approached a locked elevator that immediately got hacked by Songbird on the other end. Her next destination, according to the netrunner, was the black market.

“You’ll be in Dogtown in a minute. Try to steer clear of Hansen’s goons,” So Mi continues as soon as V enters the shaft.

V snorts. “Goons should be the ones avoiding me,” she menacingly remarks.

“You’re on Hansen’s turf now, don’t forget. They rule the roost,” Songbird warns calmly. She then explains, “Hansen was an officer, Militech. Tail end of the Unification War, his unit was tasked with taking Night City. They managed to secure a foothold in the southmost pocket and… stuck around. Refused to demobilize, lay down their weapons. Founded Dogtown instead.”

“Traded one conflict for another, basically,” V sighs as the netrunner remotely closes the elevator doors and makes it go upwards.

“Hot or cold—no better way to make a buck than war.”

“Yet here you are, making a deal with him. A dangerous one at that,” V crosses her arms.

So Mi shrugs off V’s words. “Got no choice, V,” she reminds her. “He has exactly what I need. And that’s that.”

“Seems like the cure you’re after is one in a million, huh,” V chuckles, shaking her head. The elevator is inbound to arrive and stop.

“It is.”

“What’s that cure exactly though?” the younger woman wonders. “Can it, potentially, help my case?”

Silence, in return, is what meets V. The elevator finally stops and she walks out into some backroom, the exit being blocked off with a gate that she would have to lift up herself. Which she does, granted the strength she possesses is enough to accomplish that.

“Song?” V finally calls for So Mi after thirty seconds of silence, starting to think that the netrunner didn’t hear her question. She’s already managed to lift the gate she got stuck at and go farther.

“No, V. It cannot.”

V clicks her tongue in understanding. She and Song have inherently different problems, the Relic and the Blackwall most likely affect one’s body very differently. Hence an obvious explanation as to why So Mi’s ‘cure’ won’t work on V—it’s like saying a cure for tuberculosis would work on someone who has cancer. Of course, the merc doesn’t know the nature of the cure the netrunner is after, more or less because the older woman deemed it irrelevant for their op, but that’s a whole other story.

“Up the stairs, through storage,” Songbird instructs. “You should pop into the market.”

The black market, Dogtown’s finest. Many people in Night City talk about this place, and V was always one of the people who over time kept learning more and more interesting facts about it. Tons of illegally sold iron, illegally sold cyberware, illegally sold pharmaceuticals. A perfect place to trade arms, make shady deals, buy or sell whatever you need—all out of the NCPD’s reach. Any gangster’s wet dream.

“Heard wild stories about this place,” V remarks as she walks down the stairs and starts walking in the left direction of the market, looking at different stands around her. “Among the vendors in Kabuki it’s a downright legend,” she continues, finding herself in front of a massive hole in the floor. She then takes the stairs down, ending up at an exhibition of different cars and some military tank models, all unfamiliar to her. “Seems the legend’s true.”

“Stalls here? Just the tip of the mammoth iceberg,” So Mi states. “Dive deeper and you’ll find truth that’s much darker, even downright disgusting. The heavy stuff, biggest deals, take place behind closed doors. Dogtown’s stadium is where the right buyers meet the right sellers.”

The Relic in V’s head starts fuzzing out, producing slight vibrations. She starts hearing a phantom sound at a distance, which drives her curiosity. She walks in that direction, the vibration in her head becoming stronger, the sound becoming louder. She can’t yet understand whether she hears it in her head or in realspace.

“Ey, ‘ey, wrong way!” Songbird suddenly tells her.

V shushes her instead. “Hold, my Relic’s acting up. Think I am drawn somewhere.”

She sees a yellow dataterm behind a construction stand. A dataterm with a Militech logo on it, with an old keypad, somewhat damaged display and a slot for personal link. She approaches it, noticing that the Relic in her head stops vibrating, the sound quiets down.

“Huh,” the mercenary notes, raising her eyebrow. “Could it be the ‘term you described I should be looking for?”

So Mi projects herself next to V, looking at the yellow terminal. “Yeah. Precisely that,” she nods, a smirk on her face. “Nice find.”

“Let’s see what we got here…” V hums, extending her personal link and jacking into the terminal.

The market was… something. Not Kabuki, that’s for sure. After visiting a few vendors, V knew that she most likely ain’t coming back there ever again. The amount of bad vibe the place had made her feel slightly uncomfortable—she felt as she was watched. Whatever vendor she visited, the mercenary felt like she was about to get a gun pointed at the back of her head.

She decided to stop at two vendors: the arms and the netrunning one. The first one because she more or less wanted to see if there was any preem illegal iron she could buy. Turns out, the owner somehow possessed Brick’s shotgun, the guy who was in charge of Maelstrom not so long ago.

The second stop was the netrunning stand, purely out of curiosity. Of course, V was no netrunner, yet for some reason she wanted to see what Dogtown had to offer when it came to the field completely alien to her. To her shock, the owner of the stand was just a child.

“You’re a netrunner? You’re just a kid,” she frowns, both surprised and confused.

“Really? What gave it away?” the kid sarcastically remarks. He then continues to slightly mock the merc, “Hey, everyone! Secret’s out! I’m just a kid!”

V does not take him seriously; instead, she chuckles, “You may be a li’l shit, but even so, hate to see a sharp brain like yours go to waste in Dogtown.”

“Rather be a kid genius in Dogtown than a big, dumb gonk like you.”

V had to admit that those words slightly hurt her. She frustratingly sighs, shaking her head, and leaves the stand, deciding not to reply anything back.

“Don’t worry, even if you’re not a ‘runner, your battle intelligence eclipses anyone’s in this entire city,” So Mi decides to compliment the merc, overhearing the conversation between the two. V lets out a genuine smile, very much appreciating Song’s words as she continues moving through different vendor stands.

As she is walking towards the center of the stadium, to the inside balcony to be precise, she keeps being tense, her eyes moving left and right, trying to spot any sort of danger around her. Who knows what psychopaths are luring around there—it’s black market in Dogtown of all places. ‘Dogtown’ and ‘black market’ shouldn’t be used by themselves, let alone together, especially to describe one’s innocence—no one was there.

“V, um, been meaning to ask… how bad is it for you?” Songbird finally materializes in front of her, leaning on the railing of the balcony that V’s just reached, notable concern in her voice and gaze.

The merc raises an eyebrow. “Why do you ask?”

“Just been on my mind since we talked for the first time… Maybe ‘cause I’ve had your biomon feed floating in front of my eyes all the time. Sorry,” So Mi lowers her eyes.

“My biomon? What, keeping an eye on my emotions or something?” V smiles with a slightly surprised look on her face, leaning against the railing, too.

Song momentarily smiles. “That too.”

“Don’t fret. Relic’ll do me in, sure, but not before I hold up my end of the deal and help you get out of Myers’s grip.”

“Ugh, not, uh, what I…” Song shakes her head. She sighs, “I just want things to work out for you, too. You’re also fighting for yourself, your life. Deserve another shot.”

Could tell from her gaze alone that she meant it. And so, V’s smile grows bigger, warmer. “Nice to hear. Hope you’re right.”

“Chin up. We’re in this together.”

V nods. “There is that.”

It didn’t take long for V to finally get off the balcony and proceed into further depth of the stadium. She ended up in some sort of maintenance area, teeming with crates and construction tools.

“All right. Time you got up on the roof,” the netrunner notes.

The merc frowns. “The hell for?” she asks, noticing an emergency exit door.

“For the view. And I’m not being coy here. I mean you’ll see where we land, literally.”

“Not being coy you say? Hmm…” V hums, voice full of satire, smirk on her face, as she opens the emergency door and finds herself outside the stadium indoors.

“Just get on the goddamn roof,” So Mi returns, trying her damndest to show that she’s slightly irritated at the merc’s snarky remark, yet miserably failing at doing so as her voice betrays her amused undertone.

The construction site that V entered looked quite abandoned. Tons of trash, tons of broken concrete that fell from the broken roof of the stadium, tons of construction tools just left as they are. The mercenary notices a ladder that leads to the upper level of the construction area, which she immediately uses to climb up.

“Take the elevator,” So Mi instructs, and the merc notices a shaft moving from the top of the stadium down to her level.

It didn’t reach V though.

“Shit! We blew a circuit, I’ve lost access,” Songbird frustratingly notes. The merc sees it herself, too, how the elevator gets suddenly stuck right in the middle, tons of sparks flying as a result of damaged circuitry.

“What now?”

“Try and restart the generator.”

V couldn’t help but spot sudden annoyance in Song’s voice. As she looks around herself, spots a fuse box managing the elevator, and walks towards it, she asks, “You upset or somethin’?”

“I detest wrinkles like this, when things don’t go as planned!” So Mi replies with notes of irritation.

The redhead opens the fusebox and looks at its internals. “Ah, forget about it. Junk upon junk here,” she casually notes, changing the fuse and noticing how the elevator starts moving down again, arriving at its destination.

The netrunner sighs, “Finally. Hop in, elevator’s roofbound.”

“When this is all over, I will meet you up with the Zen Master,” V chuckles as she steps into the shaft. She then presses the button on the e-pad to take her to the rooftop. “Teach you how to meditate. Granted I find him first—the guy has a talent for disappearing and never being seen again.”

The elevator was super slow. Almost the slowest elevator V had ever taken in her life. Was it because it was a construction site elevator or was it because it was old as hell? She couldn’t tell. She couldn’t care much either.

“FYI, we’re about to cross into Night City airspace,” So Mi informs V in about ten seconds of silence.

“Might be a bit of a shock—braced for it? And uh… whatever comes next?”

“Not sure one can ever be ready for an op like this,” worry and anxiety in Songbird’s tone is evident. “But, having you means my chances are looking up.”

The elevator stops and opens its doors to the roof of the stadium. It’s fractured everywhere, concrete plates threatening to fall any moment V steps on them. She could only pray that she wouldn’t end up falling five stories all the way down bottom. Carefully jumping from one plate to another, it takes her roughly two more minutes to be standing right at the topmost point, looking at Night City in the distance.

“You made it. Good,” So Mi materializes on a metal pipe in front of V, looking at the sky.

“What now?”

“The calm before the storm. See that…?” the netrunner points in the north-west direction from the merc. There, a small dot in the sky, becoming bigger and bigger with each passing second. Using Kiroshi zoom, V identifies an actual silhouette of a plane slowly approaching NC. “It’s us—Space Force One. We’re descending, in for a rough—” So Mi suddenly stops, turning around and looking behind V. Her expression suddenly lights up with horror. “Oh fuck…!”

V frowns. “What? What’s going on!?” she asks, confusion in her voice, not before seeing a literal SAM missile getting shot from behind her in the direction of the plane. It was all too quick to even react and properly analyze what’s happening. “What the hell!?”

The missile shot was very fast and precise. Both V and Songbird could see how SF1 ejects chaff and flares as a countermeasure, attempting to protect its passengers from a seemingly inevitable blast. As a result, the missile did change its trajectory slightly, exploding from colliding with chaff right behind the trail of SF1.

It wasn’t over, though. Second surface-to-air missile was launched right after.

“V, the President!” So Mi panically yells as she turns towards the merc. “You have to—”

Explosion. Bright light. Massive shockwave as a result, sound reaching V in mere seconds. Songbird’s projection disappears from the merc’s vision, leaving her all alone on top of the stadium.

“Song? Goddammit!” V’s voice overflows with worry, mouth open from shock. She then sees how SF1 is actually approaching not just Dogtown, but the stadium, and quite fast. So fast she has no time to leave the area. “Ho-oly shit, shit, shit! Fuck me! Gah!” is the only thing V manages to yell as the plane flies literal meters above her, crashing through a few concrete plates of the roof and subsequently destroying the platform V is standing on, knocking her down.

The merc gets up pretty fast, rubbing all the dust off of her while looking at SF1 that’s about to crash into one of the abandoned buildings of the district. She also barely notices how a lifepod gets ejected in the opposite direction of the plane, flying somewhere to the western side from V’s perspective. And, finally, the long-awaited crash followed by a massive series of explosions.

“Okay, okay, I got this,” V attempts to stabilize her breath. “Save the President… sure, no fucking problem,” she finishes as she starts running towards the tube slide that leads from the roof of the stadium down to the street level.

Chapter Text

“Wunnerful!”

There’s absolutely zero amusement in V’s voice as she slides down the tube from the rooftop of the stadium. Safety of both So Mi and Myers is her top priority, there’s not a second to spare. Getting to the crash site is a challenge of its own, though. No car, no bike, so she has to run all the way there. She spots how a dozen of BARGHEST heavy-armored vehicles are driving towards her destination, which can only mean one thing—she needs to hurry.

SF1 getting shot down led to property damage. Some of the streets that V is running along are covered with fire, regular bystanders are running in whatever direction they can see. No casualties, seemingly. In around two minutes she finally notices how a certain someone is trying to connect to her through the Relic.

“Ughh… Ok! I’m back!” So Mi huffs, reestablishing the Relic link.

“So Mi…” V’s voice is fueled with concern for the netrunner.

“And out—landed safely. Well, not really safely, but safely enough, I guess.”

“Shit, So Mi, I thought you might’ve… fuck…” V breathes out in relief, being glad that the netrunner lived.

“Yeah, yeah, not dying yet,” Song sighs, tired. “Otherwise how’re you gonna breach Mikoshi without me?”

V smiles at her remark, shaking her head.

“I made sure to get Myers to the safe room before I ejected,” Songbird informs V in a couple seconds. “Run to the wreckage V—save her!”

“Missiles, Song? They just shot you clean out of the fucking sky!” V’s asks with frustration and confusion now. She then adds as she continues running, “No, no fucking way!”

“I had no idea Hansen would be so fucked up in the head and backstab me literally last second. The deal was to land the plane safely, like I told you, yet he—”

“Motherfucker, can’t trust anyone in this city, huh,” V finishes for her, spotting from afar a restricted area where tons of people are gathering.

“V, you need to hurry!”

“Right. Got a plan for what to do next then? Now that the original has gone upside down.”

“Find Myers, get her to Liz Kress street,” Song instructs. “It’ll be the safest spot in Dogtown right now.”

“Right! And you? What about you?” V wonders with concern. She then overhears Kurt Hansen’s voice blasting through multiple megaphones and warning every citizen of Dogtown to stay away from the crash site, stating that it is now a restricted area.

A second pause. “I can’t go there, V. You know that,” So Mi replies. They need a new plan, she knows it, but, first and foremost, getting Myers to safety is a must.

“Okay, so we’ll rendezvous after I get Myers out, right?”

“Yes,” Song confirms, taking a deep breath and trying to calm down her nerves. “I will try to find a new nest, where I can hide from everyone, especially Hansen’s goons. I will try and assist you as much as possible. Godspeed, V!”

In about three minutes V finally reaches the restricted area. BARGHEST outposts and soldiers are standing all around the perimeter; she spots a few turrets, too, and a sniper. She notices a backdoor leading to the parking lot of the building to the left of her; reaching it, however, would require stealth and perhaps optical camo, which she doesn’t have, as there are three soldiers blocking the entrance leading to it. Could still try, though, using sandevistan to blitz through.

V crouches behind one of the vehicles next to her, looking at how a couple of BARGHEST guards are warning three civilians to turn around and walk away. “Focus now,” she hears Songbird’s calm and firm voice in her head. “You won’t pass this way without a fight. You’re capable, I know, but I’d rather not take any chances. So, stay low, go around?”

V thinks for a second. She spots how two more guards walk from the parking lot, and so she activates her sandevistan and rushes to it as quietly as possible. Vaulting over a railing, she runs to the second floor of the lot, careful not to get into anyone’s sight. She carefully avoids one guard, then the other one, walking onto a footbridge with a sniper and one more guard who, luckily for her, are looking in a completely different direction, allowing her to slip past them.

“Great, V. Now—scaffolding, scale it, go,” So Mi commands the moment V reaches the end and deactivates her sandevistan.

And V does precisely that. She swiftly air dashes to the scaffolding, climbing up, running all the way to the top until she meets another ladder that leads to the top of the crane. The merc looks up, eyeballing the approximate height of the crane arm, starting climbing the ladder. As soon as she enters the crane cab, the entire crash site is presented to her as if it’s in the palm of her hand.

Song materializes next to V. “Shit… Hansen’s people are there. Seems they’ve been given a job to finish,” she seethes leaning with her arm against the window of the cab. The entire scene is disastrous: tons of rumble, broken concrete, damaged buildings, fire literally everywhere. At the distance, a couple of hundred meters away, the ‘runner and the merc can spot the crashed aircraft itself.

“Be damned if I’ll let them,” V says. “Gotta hurry though.”

“Must be some way I could…” Songbird frowns, looking through the area and trying to find a workaround for the merc. She then realizes something. “Wait, I got it! The crane arm—hop on. I think I can boot it up. Not a second to spare now.”

V listens to her, exiting the operator’s cab and climbing up on top of the arm. She then crouch-sprints through it, while So Mi continues, “Across the roof. Wreck’s straight ahead.”

The merc reaches the end and jumps down onto the ground. Through smoke and firefight she notices five enemy guards, all focusing their fire on the NUSA combat drones, not noticing that the actual reaper is right behind them. V unsheathes her Errata, smoothly dashing towards her prey, eliminating them all one by one and not even giving a chance to react to what’s happening. 

“Ready steady. Enemy’s backup on its way,” Song informs her.

V sees new reinforcements arrive, so she starts running towards them. One of her enemies notices her running straight at him, getting her into his crosshair and starting to shoot. V reacts on time and blocks the two bullets fired at her with her katana, deflecting them back, landing them directly into her attacker’s limbs, staggering him and allowing her to leap towards him and plunge her blade directly into his chest.

She then pulls out Malorian 3516, slides behind the nearest cover and starts shooting at her other targets. Two of the four remaining foes drop dead almost instantly as five bullets land in different places; two others start immediately shooting in her direction, forcing her to fully hide behind cover. She patiently waits for their ammo to run out, forcing them to reload, after which she takes the opportunity and unloads her remaining ammo on them. After getting rid of opposition, she reloads her gun, full Johnny Silverhand style.

“V, hit the ground! It’s gonna explode!” Songbird warns V.

The building to the left of the merc collapses, damaging one of the cranes and causing it to start falling. She performs a quick double air dash in its direction, carrying on with a slide in order to outrun the falling metal, finishing it with a jump off the platform she’s been on, landing on the topmost level of the next building.

“Make for the wreck, and watch who you shoot or slice! We got NUS agents there, not bogeys,” V hears So Mi while looking at the situation in front of her.

NUS military drones, around five, fighting a little more than a dozen BARGHEST soldiers. The area around SF1 is burning, almost nothing one can step onto next to the aircraft. The President’s troops are on their last breath, V needs to hurry.

She hears two guards to the right. She immediately unsheathes her katana and prepares to ‘greet’ them with hot steel, and, as soon as they walk out, they immediately get cut and set on fire. V then rushes right into the middle of the battlefield. She does not waste time—she pops up one of the boosters she has, feeling how adrenaline starts coursing through her veins, immediately activates her sandevistan and unholsters her Headhunter. Katana in the right hand, knife in the left hand, she starts warping around her enemies, light and smooth, knocking them out one by one before they can even react to her.

The merc then realizes that someone’s trying to upload a short circuit onto her. She smirks, looking around her and noticing an enemy netrunner peeking from behind one of the crates. Her self-ICE activates, negating the quickhack, rendering her foe confused and terrified, and, in a second, she’s already standing behind him, with her blade impaling his chest.

“Get inside, quick,” So Mi commands right after V is done with all the enemies at the site. “Fuel tank is insulated, it won’t explode.”

The merc listens to her, running straight towards SF1. She enters it from one of its broken airlocks, seeing a total mess inside. All NUSA agents are dead, some are crushed by either debris or heavy aircraft chairs. She enters the main area, seeing a few lifeless bodies of BARGHEST soldiers and NUSA spec ops. Some died because of bullet wounds, some died because of grenade explosions and dismemberment. Total of about 9 NUSA operatives are dead.

“See anything?” Songbird asks.

“Whole lotta wrecked aircraft,” V replies, going further down the plane’s insides.

“Anyone alive?”

“Nobody jumping out to greet me,” the merc sighs, noticing a laptop on one of the tables. She then approaches it, opening it and seeing a few emails and files there which catch her immediate attention.

So Mi panics, “Shit. Are we too late?”

“Deep breaths,” V tries to calm her down whilst in the middle of reading one of the files in the laptop, titled ‘Konpeki Incident, Report No. 6.’ “Nothing’s for sure. Lemme scan around.”

“Keep moving back, you’ll see a safe room. I’ll pop the release on the door.”

The door entrance to the safe room gets unlocked, allowing the mercenary to get to it. However, she decides to finish reading the file first.

The file contained an analysis of what happened in Konpeki during the night Saburo died. It stated that it’s unclear what exactly transpired at Konpeki, yet all the evidence pointed to Yorinobu being the kin killer of Saburo. In addition, there was evidence of at least two local mercenaries witnessing the scene, who were hired to steal the Relic. In addition, the file contained a mini-report written by Songbird herself, who confirmed that the Relic contained Johnny Silverhand’s engram, with her speculating that Saburo, perhaps, confided something in him before the rockerboy got Soulkilled.

So that’s how the netrunner has found out about her, V concludes. Including the fact V carries the said stolen Relic in her.

Realizing that she should finally check the safe room, V slowly approaches the unlocked door with Malorian at hand, ready-to-shoot. She carefully grabs the door with her left arm, pushing it, and barely manages to react on time to someone suddenly trying to hit her in her face with an assault rifle. She blocks the hit at the last second, stopping the attacker, realizing it’s actually President Myers herself.

“Ugh!” Myers tries to hit V again.

The merc snarls, very annoyed, “Oh, for fucks sake!”

She grabs Myers’s right arm with her left, twisting it and pinning the President against the wall. “Agh! Let go!” Rosalind yells, feeling pain in her wrist.

The merc doesn’t listen to her, though, knowing well what the outcome would be if she does as instructed. “If I will, will you calm down?” she clenches her teeth instead, feeling more and more frustrated as her damsel in distress tries to cheese her way out of her grip.

“Depends, who you are?”

“Relax. Songbird’s sent me!”

“Ugh…” Myers slightly weakens her struggle. “And you are?”

“Name’s V,” the merc replies. The President finally lets go, much to V’s relief.

Myers huffs. “Apologies,” she says, looking at the mercenary in front of her. “I had to be sure it was really you,” she explains, analyzing the redhead’s looks.

“Right,” V nods. “Let’s delta before—‘

A massive explosion knocks them both off their feet, smashing them against the floor and rendering them temporarily stunned. V briefly contemplates her life choices, thinking whether she should use another booster shot; she decides not to, seething, “Fucking hell…” instead.

“Agh, dammit, they just won’t let up!” Myers yells, getting back on her feet along with V and running towards the hole in the plane, preparing to defend against the incoming forces of Kurt Hansen.

V takes a peek outside, analyzing the surroundings. She spots a battlemech, seven regular soldiers, one sniper, one heavy and two soldiers with shotguns. She grits her teeth in frustration, takes another booster shot, feeling an adrenaline wave engulf her, and finishes it by activating her sandevistan, third time this day. She then unsheathes her Errata, performs a series of dashes back to the platform where the battlemech is at, climbs on top of it, finds its weakspot through vulnerability analysis and sticks her second EMP grenade there. Jumping off of it, she does a long slide towards a couple of her enemies, slicing one and then the other, marking them dead.

The EMP grenade explodes, causing the battlemech to explode, too. Adrenaline kicks in hard—V tightly grips her katana with both hands and leaps toward a cluster of remaining enemies. She strikes each one of them with absurd strength, not giving any of them but one a chance to react; only one of the soldiers has a sandy, managing to block her strike with his rifle. That doesn’t save him though, as V pulls out her Headhunter, stabbing him in his left leg and causing him to cry out in pain, finishing it with a lightning fast slice against his throat.

She notices a sniper charging his tech sniper rifle at her, preparing to shoot. She pulls out her Malorian and tries to shoot him between the eyes, only to holster it back as she sees how Myers got him first. V deactivates her ‘Apogee’, taking a deep breath and looking around her. She notices that one of her victims has an EMP grenade attached to his belt, so she loots it and attaches it to her own one.

Job’s done. Hansen’s forces no more. V places all her equipment back where it belongs—knife and gun in their corresponding holsters, katana in scabbard behind her back. She then dashes back towards the aircraft the President is at, checking whether she’s still in one piece. She is, which gives her a slight relief. Now to see if Songbird is also in one piece…

“So Mi? Are you there?” V asks the moment the netrunner establishes a Relic-holo connection.

“V. How’s the sitch?” So Mi returns with concern.

V sighs in exhaustion. “We’re alive. Both of us,” she replies, trying to stabilize her own breath.

“Now listen, head for the vacant building on—”

“Elizabeth Kress, got it,” V interrupts her, coughing twice from the dust and smoke around her. “Gimme some credit,” she snorts.

“It’s the best place to lay low,” So Mi explains. “No heat signatures, so it’s empty, not a soul inside.”

“And Myers? What do I tell her if she asks about you?”

V was pretty glad that one of the features of the Relic was the fact that she could talk without voicing herself out loud. Meaning that no one could hear her conversation with So Mi, especially Madam President herself. Otherwise, if they talked using a regular holo, it would’ve been quite difficult to talk about such a private matter.

“Tell her that I am moving that way at the moment,” Song replies after five seconds of thinking. “Since I can’t show up to her anymore, we have to improvise later, somehow make it appear like I am MIA or KIA.”

“Think she’ll believe in that?” V frowns.

“Maybe not in the long run, but should be enough before getting her out of this hellhole,” the netrunner sighs, knowing that the President is pretty smart for her own age. “Now, get moving, V.”

“Got Songbird on comms,” the merc tells Myers, walking outside SF1 and looking at their surroundings. There’s still a heap of fire, tons of debris, tons of ruined platforms and broken concrete everywhere. “She's fine,” she continues. noticing an exit one level above them, starting to move towards it. “Found us a safehouse nearby, too.”

“Songbird…” Myers breathes out. “I’d started to worry. I suppose I forgot she always lands on her feet.”

As they carefully reach the upper level, a locked gate is presented before their eyes. V closes the distance, and starts lifting it up.

“This is some fucking nightmare,” the President shakes her head, looking at the wreck behind them. “My people, dead—all of them. Because of me.”

“Woah, last I checked, Kurt Hansen killed them, not you,” V immediately shoots back, remembering the two SAM missiles fired at the aircraft when she was on the roof of the stadium.

“Ehh, is that what you think?” Myers’s voice is full of struggle and frustration. V finally lifts up the gate, allowing them to enter a darkened area leading farther into the building, which seems to be an abandoned hotel slapped in the middle of Dogshit Town. “You have no idea how deep this goes. We were hacked. It means Hansen had help. From Washington. The NUS government is aware of the crash, no doubt. They’ll have sat-mapped it, seen us hit the ground in Dogtown. Unless…” Rosalind pauses, recreating all the recent events in her head. “Unless the plot goes deeper. Hansen’s spreading his agitprop lies as we speak, I’m sure of it. Our people will have an even harder time crossing the border.”

V just stares at her, not saying a word. Knows the truth though, cannot reveal it—can only stay silent and affirmatively nod to whatever Madam President tells her.

“I can’t trust a soul,” Myers heavily sighs, slowly putting her rifle against the wall and looking at the town through the windowless frame in front of them. “I just… Fuck. I don’t know what to do.”

“True, got no idea how deep this shit goes myself,” V lies. “Do know, though, that falling apart won’t help. Keep it together—only way you’ll survive.”

“I’m afraid yanking my emotional bootstraps won’t cut it,” Myers shakes her head, having her gaze fixed at Night City in the distance.

“Let’s give it a shot anyway. We stick to the plan—after that, guess we’ll see.”

“Wait a second! Dammit!” Myers scowls after a brief ten second pause, touching her neck. She then breaks an empty glass bottle on the ground, picking a sharp glass shard and handing it to V. “If Hansen’s got someone inside in Washington, that means I’m traceable, wherever, whenever. I have a subdermal tracker. It needs to go, ASAP. It’s near an artery that’s best not nicked. I’ll need your help,” she asks.

V knows that’s not true. Hansen’s got no one inside Washington. Or, maybe he does?

“Hmm… if you say so,” the merc takes the shard, gently touching the President's neck and cutting a thin line near her artery.

“Wait, is that?” Myers grabs V’s hand right when the merc is about to yank the tracker out of her. She notices something approaching them. “Drone! Finish up, quick!”

V rips it out almost instantly, allowing the President to grab it and throw it out of the window frame. They then both hide behind the wall, allowing the drone to scan the area they’re at. After about fifteen seconds, it finally leaves, not noticing them in the process.

“That was close,” Myers breathes out, wiping out her sweat.

V’s Kiroshi optics start slightly glitching again. ‘Relic Packet 32’ appears on the top-left, as Songbird connects back to her.

“V…? I’m here,” says So Mi, voice calmer and quieter than usual. Perhaps she is hiding somewhere?

“Right on time. You in one piece?” V replies back, a bit worried about the situation the netrunner is in. She couldn’t stop thinking where the older woman is currently at, and whether she’s actually safe.

“For now,” So Mi replies. “Can’t say I’ll stay that way,” she adds. Then, switches the topic, “You need to get to the top of the building. Talk later.”

“Got Songbird on comms,” the merc addresses Myers, looking at the end of the hallway. “Says we gotta climb higher.”

“Lead the way,” the President replies, picking up her rifle. “It’s your city, after all.”

Song then pops up once more. “Kurt’s hounds have caught your scent. You need to move,” she informs.

V gesticulates to Myers. “Delta time. Let’s go.”

The merc and the President start slowly walking along the corridor, approaching the room at the end that is supposed to have an elevator. To their unsurprise, it’s disabled—calling it results in no action whatsoever.

“Well, ask our guardian angel if she can get this elevator moving,” Myers tells V after a few unsuccessful attempts to get the shaft going.

V nods. “All’s ok at your end? Where are you operating from?” she asks the ‘runner while walking across the room, spotting a locked double-door that probably leads to a maintenance area.

Song sighs. “Well, not from a cool comfy ice bath. God knows what I’d give for that now,” she replies with tiredness. “I’m nearby though. Just had to find a new nest, or they would’ve found me.”

“Elevator could use a ‘runner’s touch, Song.”

“Already on it…”

V turns back towards the shaft, expecting it to start moving any second now. Unfortunately, it never happens.

“Uh-huh. Sorry, V. My magic’s no good there,” So Mi shakes her head, realizing the entire building has no power whatsoever. “What we need’s power. There’s a maintenance shaft with a fuse box nearby. Follow the scaffolding.”

“Says I need to turn the lights back on,” V tells Myers, approaching the locked double-door. “Might take a minute.”

“Fine. I’ll keep my head down,” the President replies, rifle ready and steady.

V approximates how difficult it would be to unlock the doors that lead to the maintenance area. The lock is jammed, meaning her tech skills are of no use there. Thus, bruteforce is needed. She rolls up the sleeves of her jacket, grabs both doors in front of her with her hands and then uses almost all of her strength to force them apart.

“Impressive chrome,” Myers notes. “I wouldn’t mind meeting your ripperdoc.”

V smirks, thinking about Vik and how much he’s done for her. She then continues walking across the new area she’s entered, going to the small balcony, spotting a distribution box on one of the walls

“So far she hasn’t figured yet,” V informs So Mi while opening the fuse box. “Doubt she suspects anything, too.”

“I took precautions when hacking the plane,” the netrunner assures her in return. “It would be near impossible to deduce it was me, even if analyzing the net traffic.”

The merc snorts. “Think she won’t try to put one and two together when she realizes you’re not coming back into her good graces?” she asks back with concern, internally pondering about the President’s deductive skills.

A two second pause from the older woman. “I mean, unless I am declared literally KIA, maybe. But I don’t think it’ll matter in the end, not if I’m outside her reach.”

V finally finishes replacing the fuses, reactivating the elevator. Closing the distribution box, she returns back to Myers, who is already standing in the elevator shaft.

“Do you think it’ll work? Lousy place to get stuck,” the President whispers, a bit skeptical about the way they’re going up.

V shrugs. “Just one way to find out,” she replies, pushing the button. The elevator doors close, and the shaft starts moving.

“What’s the probability a random passerby noticed a moving elevator in an abandoned hotel?”

The merc shrugs once more, not having an answer.

“Right,” Myers nods, “Leave the analytics to Songbird.” She then notices a few drones scanning the perimeter of the building in the distance. “The little fuckers are fidgety. And sharp sensors on those—if they’ve sensed us already, the place’ll be swarming in no time.”

V goes tense, seeing the drones, too. “Great reason to move on and keep moving.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“And mine,” Song suddenly says in V’s head. “Just stay calm and keep quiet.”

The elevator arrives, stopping at the topmost level. V and Myers exit it and carefully walk farther into the hallway, stopping at a glass double-door. V slowly opens it, only to get stopped by the President and being dragged behind the wall.

“Hold… drone, on your left,” Rosalind tells her, pointing with her left in the direction the drone is at. It flies past them, allowing them to quietly move forward.

“Remote-controlled,” So Mi informs V. “If I touch it, I give away your position.”

“Something best avoided,” V frowns, deciding that it’s best to crouch onward.

“Restaurant—subnet access point in there,” Song then says. “If you jack in, I can inject some fake hostile readings, send the drones chasing after geese.”

“Doable.”

Right before the entrance into the restaurant area, V spots a staircase to the right. Halfway through the stairs, there is a shutter, probably leading into a ventilation shaft. She carefully approaches it and lifts it up, confirming her thoughts. The merc waves Myers to get to her, climbing into it and crouching through.

“Oh. Good find,” So Mi notes a tad bit enthusiastically. “Building scans I’ve got didn’t show any other way.”

“Meaning you’re impressed?” V smirks, attempting to tease the netrunner.

“Dunno. Am I?”

The merc quietly chuckles, her smile growing bigger. “Just admit it, So Mi.”

“As much as I can ever be, V,” Song sighs, a complement warm smile on her face.

The ventilation shaft leads them straight through the restaurant, to a staircase that allows them to reach the ground level. V silently jumps down, noticing two guards chatting on the balcony to the left. She gives Myers a sign to stay quiet, and then starts slowly walking down the stairs.

“Perfect. Now, stairs to the parking lot—go. Your chariot awaits,” So Mi issues the next instruction, which leaves V with a surprised look.

“A car? Not exactly inconspicuous.”

“Best option you have. You’ll see.”

Taking a car would require her and Myers take down all the guards in the area, V thinks. Risky, a high chance of detection. The best way, instead, she concludes, would be to just leave this abandoned hotel through a back door and move on foot. Hence, she decides to not listen to Song and do things her own way.

At the exit there’s just one guard. V slowly crouches to him, grappling him by the neck and squeezing air out of his lungs. Once he’s down, V and Myers exit the building, unnoticed. The merc then looks around her, sees the direction where they have to go, and starts moving that way, slowly and carefully. Songbird notices that V doesn’t listen to her orders, yet decides not to say anything about it; instead, she trusts the merc, letting her do as she pleases, as long as she doesn’t get both herself and Myers killed.

“Detecting multiple patrol sigs, V. Stay on your toes,” So Mi says after three minutes of silence. V and Myers are already quite far away from the hotel they escaped, approaching Longshore Stacks. “We have a plan we need to stick to. Elizabeth Kress Street—that’s where you need to go. You’ll take old metro tunnels. Find the nearest station beneath an abandoned expo hall.”

“Copy that,” V nods.

“Brief Myers, can you? We should all be on the same page.”

“Songbird’s leading us to a metro tunnel,” the merc tells the President as they run across one of the streets. “Need to pass through an expo hall.”

“I think I know the one… good move,” Myers nods. “We’re exposed in the streets, just not where we wanna be.”

Passing through Longshore Stacks wasn’t bad. There were barely any patrol groups, hiding from which was relatively easy considering the abundance of parked cars and crates everywhere. Reaching the destination took them roughly ten-fifteen minutes. They spotted an outpost next to the garage entrance where they were headed to, so they had to go all the way around it, for safety reasons. As they entered the garage, Songbird hacked the gate and shut it flat.

“I have to say, I was skeptical of moving on foot. Yet so far… great work, V,” the netrunner compliments V, again, making the merc smirk in pride.

“Keep praising me and I might just get flattered,” V replies, looking around the garage she and Myers are in.

“Looks clear… finally. Nice change,” Rosalind sighs, spotting an elevator shaft at the opposite side of the garage and starts moving towards it. “Dogtown… What a joke. Did you all nuke this place?”

“You all?” the redhead chuckles, surprised at the President’s words. “First time I’m here.”

“Likewise,” Myers nods. “And, if I never make it back, it’ll be too soon.”

They both enter the elevator, taking one last look at the garage, ensuring no one followed them. V then presses the button that’ll take them to the upper level, the expo hall, closing the elevator’s doors in the process.

Chapter Text

The elevator finally arrives at the upper level, opening its doors and greeting V and Myers with a darkened view at the expo hall. Songbird hacks all the lights in the area, turning them on, fully revealing all the monuments and exhibits in front of them.

“Sheesh… looks like a kinda museum…” V rubs her shoulder, looking around.

“Hmm… the Museum of Wishful Thinking. Where the rich bought and sold so many unfulfilled dreams,” Myers replies without any hesitation, leaning on the railing in front of them.

“Uh-huh. Seen my fill of gonk-magnet ventures like this.”

“Huh, in a past life? What was it—real estate? Entertainment?”

The merc snorts. “Arasaka, actually,” she replies. “Research and development, broadly speaking. Specializing in… ‘data acquisition’.”

“Quaint name for corporate espionage,” Myers smirks.

V clicks her tongue. “Quaint indeed.”

“No need to delay,” the President stretches her arms, turns around and starts walking towards the staircase that leads to the lower level of the expo hall.

V follows Myers, slowly walking down the stairs. She spots a gigantic Militech logo on one of the walls, confirming that what Myers said is indeed true.

“So quiet I can hear my chrome creak…” Myers nervously says, looking at her sides.

As they walk around the gigantic statue, V spots a few computers, still in working condition. Despite her natural curiosity, the redhead forces herself not to look at their contents, knowing that they better not waste their time on such insignificant things.

“Feel free to ask her about those exhibits,” Songbird mysteriously says as she materializes in front of the merc. “Reeeally wonder what she’ll say.”

The netrunner walks towards the first exhibit, guiding V to follow her. She stops next to it, leaning on the stand and looking closely at V. The exhibit is a smaller model of a Militech HQ, a model of an office complex comprised of three buildings, making a Militech logo symbol. The merc turns it on, lighting it up.

“It was an urban renewal effort designed to curb Arasaka’s growing influence,” Myers says from a distance, crossing her arms and looking at the exhibit. “Militech backed most of the projects.”

“So Militech sank money into Dogtown, too?” V questions back, eyebrow raised.

“That’s not what it was called then, but yes.”

“On paper, urban renewal,” So Mi deadpans, shaking her head. “Under the cover, military infrastructure development. But abandon all hope of hearing a word of truth.”

V spots irritation in Song’s voice, realizing she’s showing her annoyance with Myers. About time, the merc thinks. She turns around then and walks up the stairs, stopping at the second exhibit, which was a miniature model of the Heavy Hearts club, a pyramid-shaped building.

“A bright future—with the right financing,” Myers chuckles, seeing as V activatesthe monument. “But wars scare off investors.”

“Wars don’t happen out of the blue,” So Mi replies, materializing next to V and crossing her arms. “This—no exception, orders were issued.” She then looks at Myers, sighs and rolls her eyes, “There’s the Rosalind Myers I know. Never a shadow of accountability.”

V smirks. “Trying to show me her true colors, don’t ya.”

“Trying to make her show her true colors,” Songbird corrects her, ‘teleporting’ to the third exhibit. V gets up the stairs, spotting the netrunner already sitting on the stand next to a mock-up of a tall building in the shape of a traditional coin, named ‘Eventide Resort & Spa’, a hotel from what it looks like. V turns it on as well, seeing it being lit up.

“A gilded monument to a certain someone’s bloated ego,” Myers notes.

That line makes Song laugh it off in satire, “Heh… takes one to know one…” as she turns her gaze towards V, a wide mischievous smile on her face.

V snorts, finding the netrunner’s words amusing yet again. She then glances at Song and…

Oh fuck.

That smile. That pure, sentimental, full of mischief and mystery at the same time. Something that unknowingly makes the merc’s heart race, as she takes a step close to the netrunner, trying to make it seem like she wants to take a better look at the monument. She then looks at So Mi’s eyes, getting pulled by them. And then there’s those lips, too.

V realizes herself, blinks once and averts her gaze. Those actions don’t go unspotted by Song, though. “You alright, V?” she quirks a brow.

“Wh— yeah, I’m fine. Why?” V tries her hardest to sound unsurprised and serious, miserably failing in doing so.

“Your pulse spiked. Something wrong?”

“Dunno, uh, I think… Relic’s… acting up?” V nervously shrugs, looking away at the distance. She cannot look at the netrunner anymore; an uncontrollable cesspool of different emotions engulfs her if she tries to. Doesn’t know why either.

“Hmm…” So Mi squints, disappearing from V’s vision.

She really needs to focus, V thinks to herself. This is not a good time to get into your world of desires and whatnot.

“Damn… there’s no way around this?” Myers asks, glancing at the locked door in front of them.

The merc approaches it, too, looking around for a keypad that might unlock it. There’s nothing though.

“Song, got a sitch. Can you jimmy the door?” V asks the netrunner in her head.

So Mi appears next to Myers. “Mmh, on it…” she nods, hands in front of her, trying to pull the doors apart from each other with her netrunning magic. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work, as she huffs, “Ugh, the lock jammed. Gotta brute force it, V.”

As the netrunner disappears, V takes hold on the doors and starts pulling them apart from each other with whatever force she has. It’s no easy task, but accomplishable—the lock on the doors breaks, allowing her to move them apart with less difficulty.

“All right!” Myers says with a slight enthusiasm, pulling up her rifle and looking around the new area they enter. “Huh. One of Hansen’s warehouses, it seems.”

“Head for the elevator, just across the room,” So Mi, meanwhile, tells V, which the merc forwards to the President.

V then spots a massive object right at the center of the room, covered with a huge blanket. On one of the benches, there is a shard containing a report about something called Chimera, where one of the BARGHEST operatives states that breaching its ICE is nigh impossible, would take months and a full netrunning crew and the best equipment to do so.

The merc hums, throws away the shard, and approaches the elevator. Tries to call it, getting an error in return.

“V… do you hear that?” Myers whispers, hiding behind the crates, getting her weapon ready. “Shit, bastards caught up to us again!”

“So Mi?” V asks the netrunner on call, hiding behind cover, too.

“Hey… bad news this time,” Songbird informs her. “Hansen’s dogs caught your scent, assault incoming. You probably got spotted outside. Either way—get ready.”

“What now!?” V asks back.

“Got a surprise for our guests. Making the final adjustments now…”

“Get ready, V!” Myers orders.

A series of explosions occur on the second floor. Hansen’s people start barging in through the destroyed door frames; some staying at the second level and getting their aim ready at their two targets, some jumping to the first level to back them into a corner.

“Keep ‘em busy for a sec. Need that,” is the last thing V hears from So Mi before she unsheathes her katana.

“Myers, we gotta engage ‘em. Song’s on the case,” the merc tells Rosalind as she takes one more booster shot and injects it into her veins.

Feeling the rise of adrenaline in her blood, she activates her sandevistan and dashes into a cesspool of incoming enemies. Backed by the President’s fire, she starts taking life after life, not sparing anyone on her way, feeling bloodlust in her.

It felt like the waves were endless at first. She kept spinning around, dashing like a madman, dodging and deflecting every bullet coming her way. In time, she overhears Songbird in her head, who informs her, “Almost done, V! Seventy percent.”

A bullet barely grazes V’s arm, making her even more rageful. She leaps towards her attacker, decapitating him, and then dashes all over the place, feeling how adrenaline starts running out, the effect of the booster dimming.

“Aaaand… done!” Songbird finally exclaims, and V notices how whatever’s under the gigantic blanket starts trembling.

“God almighty! It’s moving!” Myers yells at shock, seeing as how the blankets finally falls off, revealing a large hexapod robot, equipped with a dome-like turret capable of firing devastating energy beams.

BARGHEST soldiers start panicking, not understanding what’s going on and why the gigantic tank suddenly aims its turret at them. V deactivates her sandevistan, mouth open from shock at what she’s seeing.

“Meet the Chimera—a combat prototype from Militech’s stables,” she hears Songbird announce from a small megaphone on the robot, as a literal storm of bullets gets unleashed upon everyone who’s standing on the second level of the room.

“Holy, jolly shit!” V panics, getting to Myers and hiding behind cover.

Chimera then unleashes multiple rockets that clean up every single BARGHEST soldier on the first level, leaving a series of explosions and a massive amount of smoke and dust in the air. V and Myers cough, rubbing off small particles of concrete that covered both of them. The merc sheathes her Errata and carefully walks around the tank, checking whether there’s anyone left alive. No signs of life, which isn’t surprising at all.

“And… we’re clear,” So Mi announces with enthusiasm through Chimera. “I detect no more— oh… God…”

Her voice switches to a terrified one in an instant. She pauses, leaving V confused and concerned.

“What? ‘Oh God’ what?” the merc asks, carefully looking at Chimera.

The tank starts shaking, literally. Almost as if it’s under stress of some sort. It then starts uncontrollably moving left and right, knocking a few crates on its way, damaging one of the pillars holding the second floor.

“Chimera… argh… losing… control!” Song screams in V’s head, agony in her voice, horror, almost as if a super strong headache engulfs her.

“So Mi!?”

“They’re… here…” is the last thing the merc can hear. “V!!”

The netrunner’s voice is suddenly cut off and the robot falls down, V’s optic glitch with red and ‘Relic Packet 32’ message disappears. Small red electricity starts pulsing from the tank, she can see some sort of red mist covering it through her Kiroshi.

“Song? Song, what’s with you?” V’s concern and worry is overwhelming her. “So Mi, answer please!?”

“What the hell is going on, V!?” Myers yells, seeing Chimera rising and pointing its turret at them.

“I… I don’t know!” V yells in return, confusion and anxiety blended in her voice. The merc and the President then see how the red light on the turret starts lighting up, indicating that they are about to get showered with a bullet storm.

“It’s not looking good! Oh shit!”

They, indeed, get showered with a bullet storm. Chimera starts unleashing an endless barrage on them, making them run for whatever cover they can find.

“Son of a bitch went haywire!” V yells in frustration, slowly realizing that Song is no longer in control of the thing.

Then who is?

“For fuck’s sake, So Mi, slap a muzzle on that thing!” Rosalind screams back, running towards the gate that leads outside of the room. She then calls for V, waving her hand, “This way, quick!”

The merc listens to her command, waiting for Chimera to stop firing. Then, she runs immediately to Myers and helps her lift the gate up so that they both can slip past it. The moment they roll under it, though, Chimera suddenly bursts through it, knocking both of them out. The merc bumps her head against the floor, feeling a surge of pain in it as her optics starts glitching for a bit.

“On your feet! Run!” Myers says, helping her get up, as they both start running with whatever strength they got towards the end of the hallway. The tank behind them slowly chases them, unleashing another round of bullets, gladly all missing though. “Up here, escalator, go!” Rosalind commands again.

Once the duo runs up the escalator, Chimera unleashes a laser at them, which they barely manage to dodge. The merc gets up, running up the stairs next to the elevator shaft, presses the button that will get it to them.

“Fucking move, dammit!” she grits her teeth, continuously pressing the button. “There, got it! Elevator on the way! Stay low till it gets here!”

They hide behind the pillars, waiting. The tank, meanwhile, stops, unloading yet another storm of bullets. Pillars collapse like they’re nothing, leaving almost no room for safety. Gladly, the elevator is pretty quick to arrive, something to V’s relief.

“Myers, get in!” the merc yells, as she dashes towards it and rips apart its doors, waving the President with her left hand.

Rosalind rushes towards it, getting inside the shaft; however, right before V can enter it, too, another laser from Chimera gets released, damaging the elevator chain and causing the shaft to fall all the way down with Myers inside it. V falls over, looking behind her at the tank that keeps slowly approaching her. She then notices a gigantic lamp hanging right above the tank on its last remaining unstable cable.

“Wanna play rough? Gonna get rough!” she clenches her teeth, pulling out Johnny’s Malorian and aiming at it. She then shoots the cable, making the lamp fall on top of Chimera, slightly damaging its turret and causing it to start falling through the floors. Not before knocking V with it, though.

The mercenary can only let out a frustrating ‘fuck’ as she falls on top of the robot. She looks around her, trying to see what she can do, seeing a floor joist sticking out. She jumps to it, trying to grab onto it, but it’s not enough—she starts falling farther down with Chimera, hitting the floor beneath her with her back. She looks up, sees the tank is about to crush her with one of its ‘legs’, and so she rolls out of its way. The lamp she knocked off, then, falls on Chimera a second time, causing it to fall through multiple floors along with her yet again. As they both land at the bottommost level, V rolls over through the ground as a result of a fall impact and briefly loses her consciousness.

The merc opens her eyes in what feels like eternity and takes a deep, heavy breath, as if she was deprived of oxygen for years. The vision in her eyes is blurry, fuzzy, she is unable to determine what’s in front of her and where she is.

She sees Myers rush towards her out of nowhere.

“V! You’re not dying on me today,” the President says, crouching next to the merc and firmly slapping V’s face in order to bring some sense into her.

V frowns, making a weak attempt at covering her face. “Nope… Guess not…” the merc coughs, slowly getting up on her feet.

“Right. Good,” Myers nods.

V shakes her head, looking at the lying Chimera in front of them. “I take it out?”

“The fall did. About time we caught a break.”

“Ugh… can’t stay here.”

Myers raises an eyebrow. “Are you mobile?”

V nods, checking her equipment. She sees Johnny’s 3516 on the floor a few meters away, so she slowly walks towards it and picks it up. As she puts it back in her holster, she realizes that the tank is not dead yet—in fact, it slowly starts moving.

“Motherfucker!” Myers screams as Chimera stands on its feet and starts aiming at them. “Will you just die!?”

V slightly tilts her head, her expression is full of blazing rage. She unsheathes her katana, gripping it as hard as she can, ripping remaining boosters off her belt.

“Myers, hide,” she angrily commands to the President. “I’ll deal with this fucker myself…”

Myers wants to protest, but, seeing V’s face, decides not to, running towards one of the crates instead.

“I’m gonna fucking destroy you,” the merc says through her teeth. She takes off Johnny’s Samurai jacket, throwing it in the corner, injecting all the remaining boosters at once, without thinking, getting a triple-shot of adrenaline flowing through her.

Her vision suddenly lights up with yellow, her peripheral one gets blurry; a devilish, even maniacal smirk appears on her face. She sees through her Kiroshi how So Mi’s Militech soft marks all the vulnerable spots on the tank, something she briefly praises the netrunner for. She awaits for Chimera to start unleashing a storm of bullets, after which she immediately activates her sandevistan.

V makes a swift double dash to one of its reinforced legs, performing a strong slice at its ‘vulnerability’, right at its exposed circuitry. The damage causes the leg to explode, damaging its internal circuitry, and making the reinforced armor fall off. Evil grin on her face, V does the exact same thing to its five other legs, rendering Chimera completely immobile. She realizes that the tank is about to release a poison gas, so she backflips on the second floor. The moment it does so, V rushes through the entire second level, staying away from an endless storm of bullets. She then performs an air dash, landing on top of Chimera and plunging her Errata right into another “vulnerability”, which is its motion sensors. Another strike against heat sensors, another against sound sensors.

Suddenly, she feels like she’s losing control over herself. She lets out an ominous, almost hysterical laugh, feeling fury overwhelming her, like she’s drowning in it, like she’s going… No, she’s not, V immediately thinks to herself. She’s not. V closes her eyes shut for a moment, forcefully suppressing her laughter and briefly questioning what’s gotten into her. She opens her eyes and the yellow blur is now gone.

V grits her teeth in frustration. She then air dashes away just in time as Chimera launches a few rockets at her. She realizes that the toxic waste dissipated, allowing her to jump off on the first floor again. It’s then that she sees a couple of repair drones that Chimera releases that start fixing the damage she inflicted to it.

“Oh no you don’t,” the merc seethes as she takes Johnny’s Malorian and puts one droid in her crosshair, releasing three precise shots into it. She then does the same to the second droid, reloading the gun right after.

V waits. As the tank starts unleashing another beam of energy around it, she backflips over the laser, softly landing on her feat. She leaps on top of Chimera again, damaging all the vulnerabilities. It starts crumbling, its turret is heavily damaged, rocket launchers destroyed. V’s anger, despite adrenaline slowly leaving her, is still raging inside her—tiredness is not an option, she feels a second wind flowing through her. As she finishes off the last remaining control sensor on the tank, it finally crumbles, leaving its core wide open.

The merc dashes on top of Chimera, opening the latch that protects the core. She then cuts it out with her Errata, using the fact that the katana is extremely hot, capable of melting thin metal. Ripping the core out, she takes her last EMP grenade and drops it directly into the mainframe circuitry, dashing away with the core in her hand. The grenade explodes, completely destroying Chimera’s engine and killing the “spider” once and for all.

V deactivates her sandevistan and coughs. She feels a thin trail of blood coming out of her nose. She had her sandy active for a solid couple of minutes, the toll on her body is about to make itself clear any second now. And, it does—V can feel her legs shaking, she collapses on her knees, dropping her Errata, heavily breathing. Ears start ringing, she feels as if her head is on fire. She wipes away the blood, coughing twice.

“Jesus,” Myers lets out, seeing as the fight is over. She walks towards the merc, seeing her catching her breath, and asks, “You all right, V?”

“Give me a sec,” the merc whispers, coughing again. She slowly gets up then, legs and arms still shaking, putting back her weapons.

“Nicely done! Ever considered joining MaxTac?” the President compliments her.

V negatively shakes her head. “Let’s uh… phew… get moving… can’t stay here at all. There has to be an exit here, somewhere,” V exhales. She then slowly walks towards Johnny’s jacket, picking it up and putting it back on.

Meanwhile, Myers is looking for a way out, which she does find by opening one of the locked crates on the first floor. “Good stuff!” she says, waving V to come to her. “I just hope this won’t be a dead end.”

“Songbird said to keep to the tunnels all the way to Elizabeth Kress Street,” V replies, voice hoarse.

“Mh. Any chatter from her?”

The merc sighs. “Zero. Dead quiet.”

“Still? Not good.”

As they reach the other side of the crate, they realize that it’s locked. They note, however, that there’s a hatch on top of it, which they can open and use to climb out. Finishing that, they move on, noting a standalone metro cabin which they have to go through.

“Hold up, V. Let’s pause. Think for a sec,” Myers says as they enter the coupe.

“What’s eating ‘ya?” V turns around, dropping on a free seat.

“I don’t like this,” the President shakes her head, anxiety in her voice. “Can you try calling So Mi again?”

“Okay. Gonna give it a shot.”

V pauses for a second, realizing that she herself never called So Mi before. It was always the netrunner who called her through the Relic. Could she do the same, though? As she thinks about it, ‘Relic Packet 32’ message appears in her Kiroshi display. Interesting, she thinks, so she just has to think of calling So Mi in order to actually call her through the Relic.

“So Mi, can you read me?” V asks in her thoughts, clear worry in her tone. “Starting to worry us, especially me…” she lets out a sigh fueled with relief, thinking that Songbird can hear her. However, after ten seconds of silence, she realizes that it’s not true. “Song, are you there?”

“No answer, huh?” Johnny asks in return, materializing on a seat next to her. “Guess you got me and only me then.”

“You all right?” she immediately asks him, remembering that he was muted all these hours.

Johnny glances at her. “Me? Should worry about Songbird, not me,” he deadpans, pulling out his imaginary cigarette and lighting it up.

“So? Did you reach her?” Myers asks V after a minute of silence, not knowing that the redhead has a conversation with her imaginary friend right now.

V breathes out in frustration, “Nothing, no response.”

“Shit…” Myers curses, looking at the floor beneath her and crossing her arms. “What happened back there, with So Mi?”

“Be really careful with the words you choose next,” Johnny warns V before the merc can even open her mouth.

V thinks. “Tough to say… all happened in a blink,” she replies, trying to remember all the events. “Know one thing for sure—she was terrified. Like she had her worst fears boxed up, and… that box popped open.”

“Couldn’ta said it better,” Johnny nods, taking a dip of his cigarette.

A wave of realization hits V—Song probably used the Blackwall. She remembers that So Mi’s an expert in that field, and that hacking such a bot with an iceberg of ICE (pun intended) is not something to sneeze at; perhaps she used the Blackwall to penetrate through it and take control of it, but then… lost it? Somehow?

“I’m not sure I understand…” Myers frowns with confusion.

“You ‘n’ me both,” V lies, trying not to look suspicious.

Rosalind hums. “So Mi’s had occasional… off moments lately. Temporary slumps,” she notes, mystery in her voice, something that catches V’s attention. “But I’m sure she’s headed where we’re headed, the same destination she gave us. It’s the reasonable thing to do.”

“Riiight, reasonable,” Johnny lets out a snort full of irony. “Girl’s gonna have a helluva hangover… if she wakes up.”

V squints, glancing at him. “Unamused as fuck, Johnny.”

“Bein’ dead serious,” the rockerboy takes another dip at his cig. “Felt myself like I was drowning, trying to swim up, all for nothing. And then, when she started to lose control of the mech, the water turned into a fucking boiling tar.”

“Seems like the whole sitch spiraled outta control,” V shakes her head, closing her eyes. She doesn’t even realize that Myers already exited the cabin, waiting for her outside right now.

“Amen to that.”

“Let’s just hope she’s actually doing all right and will contact us later,” V finishes, her voice slightly trembling. The entire plan went to shit, nothing went even remotely close to what she and Song spoke of.

“I mean, could’ve actually been just a straight overload,” Johnny shrugs, trying to cool down the merc’s nerves a bit. “Seen ‘runners caught in those. Shit’s ugly. Even the best ones make mistakes.”

“So? Can we move on?” V finally overhears Myers, ‘waking up’ from her thoughts and conversation with a ghost in her head. She exits the cabin and continues to walk with Rosalind farther into the underground tunnel system.

“Ok, this is us, eighth,” V whispers as the elevator doors open. They both walk out, carefully approaching the door of an abandoned apartment at the end of the hallway. The apartment that Songbird instructed the two to hide in.

“I’ll cover you,” Myers tells V, preparing her rifle. “On three. One… two…”

V kicks the door with her leg, allowing Myers to take point. V follows her, Malorian at hand, looking around through the darkness.

“Pitch fucking black,” Myers frowns, moving towards the balcony. “Where are you, So Mi?”

V remembers So Mi telling her how she cannot come back to Myers, that they’ll need to rendezvous later. Granted, if she’s still capable of doing so. Hence, she, personally, shouldn’t expect the netrunner to show up here.

“Guess we’ll have to sit tight,” Myers says, putting her assault rifle against the wall and leaning on the table with dirty clothes on it, looking for a good outfit set. “Though I assume we’d rather not sit in the dark. Power would be useful, we could also get radio up and running…”

“What, can’t miss our daily dose of fearmongerin’?” V chuckles.

“We need to know the situation on the ground. Oughta change out of this mess. High time. Have a look around. I’ll join you in a minute”

V walks deeper into the darkened apartment, trying to see if there’s anything of any use.

“Check this, V—attempt at postmodern art,” Johnny immediately appears next to a generator that V notices. She walks towards it, analyzing its components.

“More like a home-cooked generator,” she replies, trying to see whether it even works. “Maybe we kick-start it, literally?”

“Uh-huh.”

The woman attempts to turn on the switch, but, to no surprise, nothing happens—no power, no electricity. Like, what else did she expect, honestly?

“Old Thorton engine, pretty run down,” she sighs, “A little bit of CHOOH left too… If the fuel’s not degraded, it could actually run. Buuut can’t start it. Not without a power source.”

“Sure. But seeing as we got a lull in the lead pouring down on us, high time we get to discuss the whole situation,” Johnny nods, sitting on the table next to the generator and looking at the merc. “What’s our next move?”

“Ughh… now, really?” V cringes a bit, sideways glancing at him.

“Then when, V?”

“Tomorrow, Johnny.”

“Just be careful when talking to Myers,” he ‘gives up’ on her, knowing her stubbornness. “Since you’re pretending you got no clue she’s the real traitor in all this.”

“Yeah, I know,” V rolls her eyes.

“And Songbird, what are you gonna do with her?”

The merc thinks. “Well, guess we just wait till morning and see if she makes contact with us,” she concludes.

“Don’t think she just bailed, seeing the opportunity?” Johnny crosses his arms. “What if she already got her hands on that cure she’s chasing, and is riding off into the sunset?”

V negatively shakes her head. “Saw herself that she lost control and probably dropped unconscious,” she refutes his claim, recalling the events. “I mean, do you really think she would suddenly do a 180 and try to kill me and Myers there with a fucking tank? There are way better ways to do that, y’know,” she continues. She had no doubt about the netrunner’s intentions.

“Sure. Just be careful not to step into any other shit, our lives are on the line here, too, y’know.”

“C’mon, let’s get this power sitch sorted,” V waves her hand, going back into the living room of the apartment, trying to find a suitable battery replacement.

Roughly two hours have passed since V and Myers arrived at the apartment. The merc managed to fix the generator, getting the power running, while the President changed her outfit, throwing away her presidential one in the corner. She couldn’t wear it at all in Dogtown, not without a risk of being immediately identified.

They were both sitting and listening to the radio. Meaning, Myers was listening to it, with a beer in her right hand, while V was deep in her thoughts. A lot of shit happened today. SF1 crash, presidential rescue op, Chimera battle, So Mi disappearing. Last one especially wasn’t leaving her mind for quite a while, as she couldn’t stop wondering where she was.

“Hear that? Footsteps,” Myers suddenly whispers, as she drags V behind the table. The door opens, and two uninvited guests enter the apartment.

“‘S our lucky day, choomba. A penthouse with a view of a ci-tay,” one of them enthusiastically says, who happens to be a black man with a steel leg, while the other man appears to be a big and tough looking nomad.

“All lights that work. This doesn’t feel right…” the nomad replies, very suspicious of the environment they just entered.

“V… we need to eliminate them,” Myers whispers to the merc next to her, preparing her rifle at hand.

V frowns, thinking. “Hold. Let’s see what they want, first,” she replies.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Rosalind rolls her eyes, unamused by the merc’s response, after which she stands up and points her gun at the uninvited guests. “Weapons, now! I won’t say again!”

“What the fuck!?” the black guy raises his gun, surprised at the two suddenly popping from behind the table. The nomad aims his shotgun, while V pulls out Johnny’s Malorian. A two on two situation, truly. “Yo-yo-yo, chill! Jus’ lookin’ for a place to hole up for the night.”

“This one’s taken. Clearly,” Myers cuts him off.

V, in the meantime, performs a scan of the two individuals. It shows that the black guy’s name is Jacob, while the nomad’s name is Taylor.

Jacob smirks, realizing something. “So I see… This the, uh, presidential suite?”

“Shit…” Rosalind clenches her teeth.

“Word is they a bounty on the head of Rosalind Myers. What we gonna do ‘bout that?”

“C’mon, guys,” V interrupts them, trying to deescalate the situation. “We don’t want any problem. Let’s figure something out.”

“Iron in my face says otherwise,” Jacob says back.

“This ‘iron’ will stay silent as long as you do,” Myers shoots back, shifting her glance between Taylor and Jacob.

“Now tha’ss an idea… But our silence ain’t come cheap, yeah?”

“Whoa, pump the brakes, man,” Taylor attempts to cut off his friend, yet fails in doing so.

“Not now, Tay. I’m negotiating”

“Do you remember negotiating with Hansen? What happened?”

Jacob scoffs. “Not. Now.”

“Live to see another day. Always something,” the merc says, slightly lowering her iron.

Taylor snorts. “In Dogtown? Oh boy, lucky me…” he deadpans, shaking his head.

“Who said anything about Dogtown?” Myers mysteriously asks, getting their full attention. “Scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours. I have the power to get you out of here. Give you a new city, a new identity. Chance to start over.”

V quirks a brow, noticing something suspicious in her voice. Doesn’t seem like the Rosalind Myers So Mi’s told her about. What’s she playing, the merc briefly asks herself.

“Mhm…” Jacob squints, looking closely at the President. “Aaand what’s that s’pose to look like, exactly?”

“There’s enough space for four. It should be easy to stay out of each other’s way. But if any uninvited guests arrive, we’ll be counting on you to stand with us.”

A pause in the conversation. Two ‘guests’ are thinking it over, taking a bit longer than expected, making the tension rise even higher.

“Seriously, what’s there to consider?” V questions them with a slightly surprised tone, getting a bit tired of all this charade.

Jacob raises his hand. “Chill. Y’know, jus’ weighing the potential pros and cons…” he replies nonchalantly.

Which prompts Taylor to angrily half-whisper back at him, “Can you weigh ‘em any fucking slower?!”

Few seconds pass. “You got a deal, Madame Prez,” Jacob finally agrees. “Aaand, want me a Rayfield!”

“Jesus Christ,” Taylor almost slaps his forehead at his friend’s statement.

The deal was done. Hands were shaken. Or, well, “shaken”, at least by Dogtown standards. Myers went on to sit on a mattress next to a balcony, while V decided to take one more walk around the apartment and chat with Jacob and Taylor. She learned from Jacob about special airdrops that get delivered in Dogtown in Hansen’s hands, the airdrops that one can just yoink right under his nose. Granted, there might be consequences, of course.

“Looking for someone,” V approaches Taylor, who’s standing next to the door frame of one of the rooms. “Asian-American woman, about thirty. Seen anyone like that?”

“It doesn’t ring a bell,” he shrugs, then chuckles, “But shit, you can’t ask her to meet at a bar like a normal choom?”

V blushes a little, knowing what he means. Yes, perhaps she should, one day, maybe, she thinks to herself. Definitely won’t be a bad idea. Fuck, here she goes again at it, she keeps thinking.

It’s then that she decides it’s high time she joined Myers at the balcony.

“Finally,” the president sighs, seeing as the merc approaches her. “My legs are killing me. C’mon, take a breather.”

V sits on the mattress next to Myers, looking at Dogtown in the distance. Night City could also be seen from where they’re sitting. The time is probably midnight, maybe about 1 or 2 am. Still, the place does give off bad vibes to V, making her think that it’s not really comfortable to stay here.

“Still nothing from So Mi?” Rosalind suddenly asks her, slight concern in her voice.

V shakes her head. “Radio silence,” she replies.

“She’s never gone dark this long,” Myers hums, looking at the city behind the window frame. “Troubling, to say the least.”

The merc glances at her. “So… what if Songbird doesn’t show?” she carefully asks.

“We need to wait, that's all we can do for now. If she doesn’t show, well… Then… we’ll have one other option to consider. But let’s table it till morning. We should get some rest.”

Chapter Text

The next morning didn’t start well for V. First thing she noted—sudden headache out of nowhere and feeling nauseous. Vision’s all fuzzy, ears’re ringing. 

“She’s on the balcony,” she hears Taylor say, who’s sitting on the chair and looking at his iron.

She doesn’t care, though. Instead, she goes to the bathroom, only to find her stomach literally denying her - she rushes towards the toilet, barely holding herself and feeling sick, puking into it the moment she reaches it.

She feels horrible. Seems like the strain on her body decided to show itself only after a nap, when all her systems were relaxed. If only she had immunoblockers right now, or a booster or two. Could it be the sandevistan overuse? Or is it something else?

She doesn’t know. She notices she has a message then. Opening it up, she reads, “V, it’s So Mi. Are you alive? Please tell me you are.”

The merc blinks. Her heart flutters, she feels a wave of relief wash over her. The netrunner is alive. Thank fuck to that. And she, first and foremost, is worried about V’s safety, not even the President’s, making V, for some reason, warm on the inside.

V text back, “I am, So Mi. Myers, too. We’re in the hideout you’ve led us to. I was worried about you. What happened, where are you? Are you safe?”

No response. She waits two minutes—still nothing.

Feeling slightly better, she opens the sink and realizes that there’s no water. She shakes her head, cursing Dogtown, wiping her mouth with whatever cloth she can find and then going to the balcony to Myers, who’s leaning against it, looking at the district. It is early morning and raining outside.

“She’s not here,” the President keeps smoking. “Means she’s not coming.”

V omits the fact she’s received a message from the netrunner. Have to play around it for now, pretend she’s missing. Which she technically is, since she hasn’t replied yet.

“So Mi could be dead already. We’re wasting time,” V tells Myers, trying to make the President lean towards the KIA opinion.

However, that doesn’t work, sadly for her, as Rosalind replies, “You’re wrong.”

A small pause. Rain sounds are soothing and calming.

“I know her, she’s a friend,” Myers continues. V internally scoffs, finding her words ridiculous. “I’m not ready to count her out, let alone sign a death certificate,” Rosalind continues, tossing away her cigarette. “I need to find her. You don’t leave your people behind enemy lines.”

“Cadets still buying into that fairytale bullshit?” Johnny materializes next to the President, leaning against the wall.

“Whatever happened, we have to help her,” Myers finishes, glancing at the merc.

V thinks. “Listen, know we had a calm night, but you gotta leave Dogtown,” she then says, remembering her deal with Songbird about getting the President out and away.

“How? In a car trunk, fingers crossed?” Rosalind shrugs off. “Hansen’s waiting for that sort of desperate attempt.”

“‘K, gotta be a way, lemme think… Know my share of fixers. Bet we could get one to—”

“Out of the question,” Myers immediately stops V. “They’ll hand me over to the highest bidder.”

The younger woman couldn’t argue with that. “Gotta find So Mi myself then, sounds like. On my own,” V concludes, hoping that Myers agrees to her suggestion.

Unfortunately, she does not. “Not entirely. I have just the person to help. Solomon Reed is the name,” Myers fully turns towards V, taking a deep breath. That name immediately pops up in V’s recent memory—So Mi mentioned he was her mentor, one she had to betray as a result of an order from Myers herself. Rosalind continues, “Seven years ago he headed up our intelligence efforts in Night City. He and So Mi were a team. With the conflict over, he went into hibernation. So he’s out there, somewhere. Reed’s a man of principle. He can’t be swayed, can’t be bribed. If there’s anyone we can trust now, it’s him.”

The redhead suppresses her desire to call out Myers and her bullshit omission of info. Instead, she notes, crossing her arms, “I see. So then?”

“Activating a sleeper agent is no simple matter,” Rosalind replies. “You’ll need a dog whistle.”

V frowns, puzzled. “A what now?”

“Don’t tell him I called it that,” Myers immediately says, shifting her gaze back at the city district. “It’s a signal only Reed will hear—it’ll be tricky.”

“Huh,” Johnny looks at the President, thinking that something fucky is bound to happen.

Myers continues, “There was a secret comms channel, accessed only from a Capitan Caliente nearby. The FIA used it before the war. The access code was… Zero, nine, three, one.”

“Sounds way overcomplicated,” V sighs. “Gotta be an easier way.”

“We’ll call the FIA secret agent hotline and dial his extension… No, this is the only way,” Myers shakes her head.

“Mhm,” V hums. “So what’ll happen next?” she asks.

“Reed will need to screen you. You’ll show him this,” the President replies, taking an NUSA token and gently placing it on the railing next to V. “It means you work for us. A file will be created for you in the FIA database.”

Both V and Johnny get stunned. “What the…?” the rockerboy teleports and appears next to the merc, looking at the coin.

“Wait, back up…” V blinks fast, confused at what is happening. “Telling me I’m a special agent now?”

“That’s right,” Myers nods. “Would taking the oath make it feel more real?”

V glares at Johnny. “Yeah, naaah, let’s skip the formal thing,” the merc slightly cringes, taking the coin and looking closely at it. She then puts it inside the left pocket of her pants, watching how Myers is left puzzled by her actions.

“Is there a problem?” the President carefully asks.

The redhead shrugs. “It’s just a big commitment, you know? Can’t swear to something I don’t believe in.”

She knew she wasn’t a citizen of the NUSA. She was a citizen of Night City, so she had no obligation to the authoritarian, downright fascist government that elected the same two Presidents over the last sixty years or so.

“It’s your choice. I understand this was sudden,” Rosalind nods, dropping the topic. “Good luck out there, V. And don’t let the bastards nab you.”

A notification pops up in V’s Kiroshi display—‘FIA profile created’. Things got even messier, she thinks to herself. How’s she gonna play this 4D game of chess now?

As Myers walks off the balcony and goes into one of the rooms with an office table and a chair, V decides to check up her gear. She realizes, again, that she has no boosters and grenades, her ammo is also running low. Seems like she might have to go on a shopping spree today.

The redhead then checks her messages once again. She sees an unread one, from So Mi. It reads, “I’m sorry about Chimera, truly. Not something I intended, I swear. I got found by Hansen’s people, I’m in his den now, held as a ‘prisoner’. Don’t tell Myers. I need your help.”

V clenches her teeth, thoughts flying by her head. She texts back, “Okay. What’s the plan? Can you call me?”

No reply for a while, once again.

“How’d you and So Mi meet, by the way?” the merc decides to ask Myers right before leaving the apartment.

“Well, she broke into my house,” Myers replies, a small smile on her face. She is sitting in a small room, at the desk, with her notes and todo list at hand.

V blinks. “Sorry, what?”

“By which I mean Militech data fortress,” the President continues. “We mapped her signal at the very last second. They should’ve flatlined her, but… You don’t kill talented teenagers when they do stupid things. You recruit them. Give kids like her a chance to make history. Reed understood that best of all. And, of course, he was right.”

The redhead scratches her nose. She could say so many things about all this. How full of bullshit Myers is, especially. And how So Mi wasn’t recruited, but blackmailed instead, with the lives of her friends hanging above her head.

She breathes in. “I see,” she says. “Well, off I go then,” she finishes, walking back to the apartment entrance.

V checks her messages. So Mi replied. She texted, “I can’t call, V. I’m under surveillance. The Relic link is broken, so I can’t use it either.”

The redhead hums. She replies back, “Myers told me to contact Reed, your mentor. Says he’s the only one right now who can get her outta Dogtown safely.”

She waits for Songbird’s reply. She gets it quite fast this time. It reads, “Good. Do that, but walk away right after, please. We don’t want them to be on our trail. I will contact you later and tell you the new plan. And… thank you, V.”

V smiles.

The merc remembers then that she has to find Capitan Caliente somewhere in Dogtown. Not knowing where to look for it, she decides to ask Taylor. The only reply she gets, though, is the fact that the place closed down and that the owner chose the rope. Nice. Another ‘happy’ ending in Night City, who would’ve thunk.

As V walks out of the apartment and enters the elevator, Johnny materializes next to her, leaning against one of the walls of the shaft.

“Hey, made the right call not taking that fascist-ass oath.”

“Oh yeah?” V smirks.

“Some causes are worth pledging your life to, V,” he explains, shaking his head. “This ain’t one of them.”

V sighs, rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Fuck the system, fuck Arasaka, fuck the NUSA…”

“Jesus Christ, V. This ain’t some teenage anarchist bootcamp,” the rockerboy, slightly annoyed, immediately interrupts the merc as she presses the elevator button that’ll take them to the street level. “Know I was once a corpo-jarhead, right? Practically dove into a uniform head first. They had a real hard-on for the oath. ‘Repeat after me…’ blah-di-fucking-blah. But… can’t remember what I solemnly pledged to do.”

“Sure you wanna talk about this?”

“Gotta hand it to ya, V. Wiser than I was back in the day,” he nods, leaning off the wall. “Although, now that we’re at it, how about we have a little chat about our next move?”

“What’re you thinking?”

The elevator arrives at the first floor, opening its doors. Johnny immediately teleports and sits in one of the two chairs that are conveniently waiting for the two of them at the lobby of the building. He gestures to V, inviting her to sit right next to him.

“Sure you wanna do this?” he asks the merc back as she sits right beside him.

V rubs her eyes, lowering her head. “I…” she starts, and then sighs. “Fuck, do you really have to make me doubt all this?”

“I’m making sure you don’t regret it later.”

A silent pause from the redhead. “We made a deal,” she replies calmly and quietly. “I help her, she helps me. Mikoshi won’t reach itself.”

She knows this isn’t everything, though. Deep down, a part of her starts caring about the netrunner, now that they’re split apart. She could’ve just left her, sure, but So Mi herself texted her just now and asked for help. Seems like their deal is still valid, so, perhaps, she gotta keep going.

Johnny exhales smoke. “Sure. Just keep a low profile,” he states.

The merc spent quite a while in Longshore Stacks stocking up all her equipment, mainly ammo and boosters. The place looked acceptable, and even had a tree in the middle of it that served as the local columbarium. She even got a call from none other than Mr. Hands himself, who even arranged a permanent pass from her in and out of the district. Once it was all done, she headed straight to Capitan Caliente, which happened to be located next to the Heavy Hearts.

“Ah, Capitan Caliente,” Johnny sighs, materializing in V’s vision and taking a seat on one of the stools the moment she entered the abandoned diner. “Guy clearly went down with this place. Stash house, by the looks of it.”

The place definitely looks abandoned. She wonders when was the last time anyone’s been here at all. Tons of dust and dirt everywhere. She sees a door next to one of the generators, leading into a narrow hallway. Once she enters it, a cabinet that is blocking some cables takes her attention. That doesn’t seem right, V thinks, moving the obstacle out of her way and finding an old analog phone attached to a wall.

“Antique, junky variety,” she notes, pretty impressed. “Wonder if it even works.”

Johnny materializes next to her, leaning on the wall, as she enters the code that Myers has told her back on the balcony—0931. The phone starts ringing, she picks up the handle, hearing a sound coming from there. She hums, unsure what to do with it. Johnny sees her puzzled face, smirks, and shows her that she needs to hold it against her ear. V’s face is full of surprise, something that gives the rockerboy a daily dose of entertainment.

“Ah, c’mon. Answer,” V sighs, patiently waiting for someone to pick up the call.

“I’ll have a double-cheeseburger while you’re at it,” Johnny tells her, crossing his arms and smiling at her.

After roughly thirty more seconds the sound stops. Seems like someone finally picked the line.

“Uh, anyone there?” V carefully asks, unsure what to expect. “Hello…?”

No reply. Only silence.

“Fossil’s prolly busted,” she tells Johnny in her head, checking whether the handle in her hand is actually in working condition.

The rockerboy shrugs. “Or you flubbed the number.”

“The fuck do we do now?”

After five more seconds, she finally hears more than just silence.

“Who is this?” a rough male voice on the other end of the line comes straight out of the phone handle. V blinks, looking at Johnny, thinking of the best way to start the conversation.

“Doesn’t matter who I am. Matters who sent me,” she tries to keep her cool, remembering her corpo days back at Arasaka. Johnny nods to her, giving her a thumbs up.

Another five second pause.

“Andrew Jackson. Basketball court. Daytime, note it,” the stranger on the phone says, hanging up right after. V puts the phone handle back, shaking her head with a bit of frustration.

“Not exactly loquacious, our man of mystery…” Johnny remarks.

V sighs. Replies with a simple, “Could just prefer text. Damn sure I do.”

“Gonna be a game to remember,” Johnny says impassively, walking around the basketball court in front of V, where the merc is sitting at one of the front rows.

After her spy conversation with Reed over the analog line V decided to straight go to the meetup point, arriving slightly earlier than the requested time. Then again, “daytime” can probably mean anywhere between noon and evening, no?

“Johnny Silverhand… basketball fan? That’s new,” V sarcastically grins, amused by his statement.

He waves it off. “You know what I mean,” he crosses his arms and looks at the ongoing basketball game. “Another game’s starting. One where your head’s the fucking ball.”

The redhead sighs, tired. “Cut to the chase, Johnny.”

“You’re up against seasoned players, whereas you… just stumbled onto the court,” the rockerboy starts explaining while slowly walking in circles on the court. “These’re trained sociopaths. Pretend to be your friends while they fucking ain’t.”

“Songbird, too?” V quirks a brow, seeing an implication in his sentence.

Johnny goes silent for a moment. “Dunno about her. Unlike you, I don’t trust her much,” he states, and once V opens her mouth to say something back, he continues, “But at least she tries to ditch the system,” he adds. “But Myers and this Reed guy—definitely are. So go out and play. Just don’t get played.”

“Thinking about Myers? Whole politician stuff?”

“Worse. Armed Forces,” Silverhand corrects her. “Saying ‘no’ to high-ranking cunts’s like putting your mouth over the barrel of their gun. Songbird already told you how she was forced to sell Reed out. No choice in the matter.”

“Yeah, and now it seems like he’s gonna come back to all this,” the merc shakes her head in disappointment. “Already answered the call—just needs to show up on Myers’ doorstep next.” She pauses for a second, and then adds, “Also, think you’re forgetting something—I never took that oath.”

“And rightly fucking so,” he commends her. “‘S bad enough we’re dealing with them right now.”

“The moment we resolve the Myers sitch, we delta and look for Song, stick to her plan,” V continues her trail of thoughts, looking at the NUSA token in her right hand.

Johnny hums, taking her word for it.

“Don’t turn around. Eyes on the court,” the merc suddenly hears a raspy male voice behind her, feeling a cold iron barrel pushed against her right side at waist level. She frustratingly sighs, trying to keep calm. The man continues, “Hands. What’re you holding?”

“Johnny…?” she asks the rockerboy in her head who’s standing right in front of her. “Who the hell’s breathing down my neck?”

“How the fuck should I know? Only see what you see,” he deadpans back.

“I see you’re holding something. Show me,” the man behind her requests.

V’s eyes move around the court. “Like to know who I’m talking to,” she tries.

“Old line, there, choom. You know who I am,” the stranger says. “Now hands, show me.”

Well this is frustrating as fuck, the redhead thinks.

V carefully raises her right arm, showing the coin in her fingers. “Got this token. Mean anything to you?” she asks, deciding it’s best to just play the spy game by his rules.

The interrogator behind her nods. “It does. But I need to make sure.”

“Keeps his cards close, this one,” Johnny shakes his head.

“Who sent you?” the man behind her questions her again.

V waits a second. “American Shorthair.”

The stranger hums, understanding her. “Is she safe?”

“Hard to say, the more our time you waste here,” the redhead snarkily replies.

That quirkiness seemed to get to him. “Were you followed? Did you even bother to check?”

“What, afraid someone’s gonna snipe you? Puh-lease…”

“Fine. It’ll have to do,” the stranger gets up. “Black Thorton Merrimac. In the street, front seat.”

“Is that it? Interrogation over?” V asks back with boredom. She looks behind her, seeing how he’s already gone.

Johnny remarks with irony, “So fast? I was started to get used to it.”

“Let’s see what he has in store for us,” the redhead gets up, walking towards the destination given to her.

Several hours had passed ever since she found black Thorton, opened its passenger door and planted her ass inside. She was getting bored. Where the fuck was that guy?

Finally, someone approaches the car and looks around. She sees a tall muscular black man with a black coat looking around, gun close, seemingly checking for any tail. He then finally opens the front driver's door and sits inside the car besides V.

“Before we go… Apologies for the precautions,” he tells the merc. “I only ever risk so much. Sometimes it’s just safer to shove the barrel of a Malorian between a choom’s ribs, even if he is on your side,” he explains. A second pause, and he continues, “It’s nothing personal. No hard feelings, I hope.”

“Mhm,” V hums, skeptically looking at him. “Haven’t introduced yourself, by the way.”

“Solomon Reed, FIA.”

“V.”

“I know,” Reed nods. He presses a button next, “I scanned your profile. Paints an interesting picture.”

A holographic projection pops in front of them, showing FIA data he combed on V. The merc could see her full first name there (Valerie), her date of birth (10/12/2053), her occupation (freelance mercenary). V can only shake her head at it, slightly annoyed.

“Arasaka counterintelligence,” Reed continues, “Terminated for undisclosed reasons. Now—a freelance merc, working for the FIA as of last night,” he closes the holo projection, glancing at the woman sitting right beside him. “One thing that eludes me—what drove you into this?”

The redhead averts her gaze. “Testing waters, I believe,” she answers. “A one-time job.”

Sol hums. “So I see.” A two second pause, and he asks, “So… is she safe?”

V knows he asks about Myers. There’s no way he knows about Songbird, and she sure as hell won’t be the one telling him about the netrunner. Thus, she replies, deadpan-like, “Told you already—less so, the longer we dawdle.”

“I agree completely,” he nods, sideways glancing at the merc. “Address, please.”

“Abandoned building on Kress Street. Eighth floor.”

Sol starts driving, regularly checking the rearview mirrors, thinking the merc after all might’ve actually caught a tail when getting to their meetup point.

“You left her alone… in Dogtown?” he finally asks.

V quirks a brow, confused. “Was I supposed to drag her along while cruising around?”

“Hm. Actually…”

“Look, place seemed plenty safe to me,” V tries to convince him.

“Safe? A derelict building in Dogtown? Just listen to how that sounds,” Reed shakes his head at her words. He feels his phone ringing. “Hold up, I need to take this,” he says as he picks it up. “Why’re you calling me on my day off? Last I heard, you’re the manager… Ask Bob, he owes me a favor anyway. Yeah, well, tough nuts. You’ll have to manage without me,” he finishes, putting his phone back and noticing a puzzled look on V’s face. Sol then explains, “Boss man, I work the door at a club - selection, y’know—bouncing…”

“Can think of one thing we have in common - both got potential we’re wasting,” the merc lets out a small chuckle.

Reed almost snarls. “Being on Arasaka’s payroll is realizing one’s potential?”

“And crawling back to the NUSA’s payroll after seven years certainly is?” V immediately shoots back a counter-response, pointing out the irony in his statement.

Reed does not have a reply to that at first. The statement is kind of strong. “Different things, kid,” he finally says after a few seconds of silence. He then chuckles, unamused, switching the topic, “Heh, this is not how I imagined spending my day off.”

“Saving the President…? Great action-BD shit right there, amirite?” V sarcastically notes, fully understanding what he means by that.

“Yeah, sure, I guess so. Does Myers still smoke?”

“Had a ciggie on the balcony this morning. Why do you ask?”

“Hmm… When things start to spiral outta control, she’s likely to light up. It’s high time we help her out.”

The redhead remains silent. Could say a lot about his patronizing attitude, but it’s better to just get this shit done.

However, she really, really wants to know one thing.

“So, Myers said you were ordered to lay low for seven years… why not just quit this shit? Why come back?” she carefully asks, trying not to sound suspicious.

Reed remains silent for a moment. “Doing this for my country. No matter the past, even deep wounds eventually heal,” he finally replies.

That answer does not satisfy V at all, but she lets it slide for now, deciding to focus on their current objective.

It took them five minutes to arrive at their destination, which is the abandoned building on Liz Kress street. As they arrive and exit the car, Reed nods to her, pulling his gun out, saying, “Lead the way.”

They enter the lobby, where there’s three civilians talking about stuff. They wait for the elevator to arrive, which initially was one level lower, and, as it opens the doors, they enter the shaft and press the button that’ll take them all the way up.

“Honestly? This is not inspiring confidence,” Reed sighs, preparing for the worst.

“Relax, she ain’t alone,” V tries her best to keep it cool. “Made some new chooms. Locals. Introductions were a little dicey, but she turned on the charm. Probably has her Dogtown campaign staff by now.”

“This keeps getting worse and worse…” Reed growls.

As the elevator arrives, they exit the shaft. V spots nothing suspicious; nothing’s changed since she’s left.

“If anyone had tried to extract her forcibly, this whole level’d be in shambles. No way she would’ve gone quietly,” Reed whispers as they approach the apartment door. “Take point.”

V knocks on the door four times. “Open up. It’s me,” she says firmly.

“Yeah, yeah, comin’,” she hears Jacob yell from the inside, who opens the door right after. Reed immediately points his gun at him.

“Don’t move a muscle,” Sol orders him, grabbing his shotgun and dropping it on the floor. Both Taylor and Jacob raise their arms above their head, looking with surprise at Reed and V who’s just standing nonchalantly behind him. “Where is she?”

“That’s enough, gentlemen!” he hears Myers as she walks out. “Put your tools away, gents. Compare length and girth when I’m not around.”

V really, really wanted to facepalm at the President’s last statement, yet forced herself not to.

“You the boss,” Jacob replies, crossing his arms. Reed lowers his gun, taking a look around the apartment, trying to find anything suspicious there.

“Are you sure?” he finally asks her. She nods. He finally holsters his gun, turning around and facing her. “Mh. You remembered my number.”

“Some numbers you never forget,” Myers breathes out, feeling the tension rise in the room.

Sol walks towards her, stopping at a distance of a stretched arm and crossing his arms. He deadpans, “Level with me, Rosalind. You never intended to call that line.”

“Well, I found myself in Night City with a bounty on my head… So it seemed the right moment to reach out, have a tete-a-tete, reset an old friendship.”

“I’d offer to sit down and chat over coffee, but the clock’s ticking. I need to arrange a passage for you to Washington.”

“No, Reed,” Myers refutes, shaking her head. “We need to talk first. All three of us.”

She then walks into a room at the right corner of the apartment, Reed following her. V apologizes to Jacob and Taylor for her ‘friend’, and decides to follow the President.

“You’ve seen the news?” Myers asks Reed as soon as they’re all in the room.

Reed nods. “Uh-huh. Hansen’s spinwork never fails to amuse.”

“He’s not acting purely on his own initiative. Someone from our camp’s propping him up,” Myers continues, leaning against the table in the room.

“So… an inside job. It’s plausible. I see why you reached out.”

“This shit runs deeper, Reed. I wasn’t alone on that flight. Songbird was on board, too.”

“So Mi…?” Reed raises his eyes, staring at Myers. Hearing the name of his protege perhaps feels like salt on a fresh wound. “I had a bad feeling about this. But now… now I see why…” he shakes his head, making a brief pause. “Where is she now?”

The President gestures to the merc. “V was the last person to talk to her.”

Hearing her name, V blinks.

“Most likely scenario—got caught in some ICE on the combat bot when she hacked it,” she replies after a brief pause, settling on a half-truth. Of course, she omits the fact the netrunner has already contacted her with a request of further help. She adds then, “One little mishack, happens even to the best. But… no way to know for sure.”

“Mhm. Unfortunately, we need hard evidence, not speculation,” Myers grimly replies, watching how Reed approaches the window frame. She fully turns towards him. “Reed, I need not to remind you what this means for the NUS’s national security. Besides… She’s your prodigy, Sol. You taught her all your tricks, hell, even ‘recruited’ her,” she continues, using air quotes when saying the word ‘recruited’, something that catches V’s attention and makes the merc internally laugh, blessed in irony. “Only lead we have for now is her connection with V. You two have to find her. Together.”

V remembers So Mi’s message and request to walk away, not partner with them. She gathers herself.

“I already died for the cause once. Not enough?” Reed deadpans, keeping his gaze on Dogtown beyond the window frame.

Silence enters the room. The merc decides to remain quiet, not interfering in the ongoing ramble between the two. Myers, meanwhile, lowers her gaze. She sighs in a few, replying, “I know there’s bad blood between us, Reed. And I’m sorry. For those seven years. Is that enough… to get us a fresh start?”

“I’m here, I’ll help,” he keeps his harsh deadpan tone, finally turning around to face the President and the merc. “But I’m doing this for So Mi… and my country. Call me naive if you like.”

Naive is not the right word, V thinks. More like blind as fuck. Or delusional.

“And you, V,” Reed proceeds, glancing at the redhead, “All this fails to explain why you are here in the first place. I don’t know how much they’re paying, but you better ask yourself—is it worth it?”

V gives him a blank stare. “No. It’s not.”

“Listen close, V,” Myers peers right into the merc’s eyes. “I’m only gonna say this once. I know Songbird promised you something for this rescue op. Now, I don’t know what it is, but I can assure you that I’ll use any and all NUS assets to fulfill that promise and more. Consider it my contribution to your deal.” Her voice then changes to a more ominous one, “Walk out of here—and the deal’s null and void—understood?”

A part of V sideshifts. Her corpo nature resurfaces, trying to drive her reason. The offer is intriguing—perhaps a potential help with the Relic? The NUSA and the FIA are big, and the President herself is offering it. Unlimited resources at her disposal, and all for bringing a rogue netrunner back.

But she would have to betray the one who’s like her. Fuck. Can she do that? She already has been through a lot with her. Somewhat cares about her, too. And they’re so similar…

She breathes in deep. She remembers what Songbird has told her—how Sol’s and Myers’ promises didn’t help her. Won’t help V, either. A solid half a minute passes, before the redhead looks at Myers, coldly replying, “You left Reed for dead here for 7 years. If that’s how you operate—hard pass from me. You’re just saying what I want to hear, that’s all there is to it.”

Reed averts his gaze at her words. Myers negatively shakes her head, “I owe you my life. And I pay my debts. Name the price—and it’ll be yours.”

The merc hesitates. Should she reveal about the Relic? Should she lay out her terms on the table? It may compromise the situation she’s in, though. Can accidentally slip the fact that So Mi is the traitor. Should think carefully about that.

Soulkiller is her solution. Means it’s either Alt or Arasaka with Hanako at the helm. From what she knows, there’s no other way to help her. There’s no shot Myers and her FIA rippers would be able to extract the biochip, considering even its creator, Anders Hellman, has no idea how to do it safely, without flatlining her in the process.

And so, V states with finality, “No. Made my decision. I walk.”

Myers lowers her gaze, trying to hide her disappointment and frustration. “I see. Well, we’ll manage without you.”

“Hmm,” Sol grunts, not liking how the situation got resolved.

“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” Rosalind says at last to the merc, as the redhead exits the room and goes back to Jacob and Tyler.

After saying off her goodbyes to Jacob and Taylor, V decides that it’s about time she leaves this building once and for all. The first part of her mission is accomplished, that being saving the President; now, the second part, a more difficult, perhaps, is to be done, which is finding and saving Songbird.

“Almost fucked that up badly,” Johnny notes, materializing next to her when she’s riding the elevator shaft down to the street level.

V raises an eyebrow. “Huh? All went smoothly, no?”

“I mean the fact you actually considered siding with that piece of shit and betraying your netrunning friend.”

The merc lowers her gaze. “Guilty as charged, I suppose,” she answers honestly.

The rockerboy understands her, but decides not to judge. Makes sense for survival instincts to take over and all that. Instead, he asks, “So what’s our plan now?”

“Gotta text So Mi. Tell her Myers is with Reed. See what plan she comes up with next,” V crosses her arms, glancing at the elevator floor beneath her.

“FIA will be on her ass, too,” Johnny remarks, reminding her that Reed will be searching for his dear ol’ lil’ student, too. “Granted, they have no clue where to look for her, since their one and only clue literally just walked out while showing them the middle finger.”

“True, gotta be careful next few days around here, not stumble on any of the sleeper agents and all,” V nods, as the elevator finally stops and opens its doors.

“Think they’ll be watching you closely?” the rockerboy asks her.

She bites her lip, thinking that it’s in fact a possibility. “They might, hence gotta be real careful, keep the lowest profile possible,” V finishes as she realizes that yet another headache hits her out of nowhere. Not as serious as the previous one, but still noticeable. What’s going on with her? Maybe her chrome is damaged or something? Should probably visit Vik as soon as she gets a chance.

She opens up her holo and sends So Mi a message, “Myers is with Reed. They’re out and away. Let me know once you come up with something.”

It is night outside. She is tired and wants nothing more but to get some good sleep.

Chapter Text

It’s been exactly two days since V walked away from Myers and Reed. Three days since So Mi’d vanished. V thought it might be a good idea to make new contacts that might help when it comes to finding the netrunner, and what would be a better way of doing that than doing some gigs for the charismatic and mysterious fixer like Mr. Hands and gaining his long-term trust?

The day after she texted Songbird about successfully getting Reed to Myers and walking away from the whole sitch, she received a message from the netrunner. It read, “Glad to hear that. Listen, the Relic link got severed and we need to restore it. Find netrunning gear, preferably in Dogtown, that could help reestablish it. It’s the only way I can talk to you, transfer some stuff, and lay out the detes without fear of being traced. And don’t worry about the Blackwall—I’ll make sure you don’t get hurt.”

V replied then with, “Gonna hold you to that :) As for the gear—might take a while. Will let you know once I come up with something.”

And so it was now.

“Fucking hell, these Voodoos just keep surprising me more and more,” V’s annoyance overflows her as she finishes dealing with the last Voodoy Boy in the room she’s in.

She’s currently doing one of Hands’ gigs. She’s tasked with eliminating Milko Alexis, a Voodoo Boy netrunner who was blackmailing Indira Barazza, V’s client. The gangster made her client an offer she couldn’t refuse—either she cooperates with him or dies. The client, of course, decided to take the third route—call Mr. Hands and hire a professional mercenary who’s up for the task.

Said mercenary proceeds through the hideout, finding a security room with a computer on a table. As per usual, her curiosity takes over—she really needs to check whether it has any interesting emails or files there. There’s just one—a conversation between two Voodoos, Islande and Sylvie, about something. V leans in front of the monitor, reads its contents.

Islande texted first, “Tell me, do we wear bellbottom jeans and flowers in our hair? Then why do we act like a fucking hippie commune? I heard Slider gave you access to our storage space in Eventide.”

To which Sylvie replied, “Chill. It’s a gesture of trust. Keeping our appearances, yeah? One VDB for all, all for one etc. I have another question—why are we all Voodoo Boys and not Voodoo Girls, hm?”

Another message from Islande, “Don’t change the subject. Tell your LH chooms we may share storage, but if they want to borrow anything, they ask first. If Slider actually trusts you, he’s either blind or stupid.”

Concluding with Sylvie texting, “I mean… he is blind tho xD”

Slider at Eventide. V turns her attention towards a storage room key on the right side of the table. The merc then remembers that Eventide is a coin-shaped structure she’s seen back in expo hall, meaning that Slider guy has his hideout there. “Interesting,” she says out loud now, leaning off the table and picking up the access card. She assumes that this Slider is the leader of another faction of Voodoo Boys, perhaps a netrunner, too, considering he’s the main subject of the discussion she’s just read; something to keep in mind for a bit later. She then picks up Johnny’s Malorian in her right hand, proceeding to track down her target and finish this gig once and for all.

Unexpectedly, the gig turned out to be with a twist. There was an undercover NetWatch agent, Alan Noel, who infiltrated the Voodoo Boy group, trying to expose the main perpetrator of the ransom and blackmail. He needed Milko, her target, alive, which, of course, collided with what she was hired to do.

“Know someone who goes by Slider?” V suddenly asks the NetWatch agent, Malorian’s still in her right hand and ready.

Alan quirks a brow. “Yes. Just another scumbag of this whole web of dirt eaters.”

“Tell me about him,” the redhead requests.

The agent shuffles. “He is just a renegade Voodoo Boy, deriving from Pacifica under the command of one Maman Brigitte, someone you should know well.”

“He a netrunner?” V questions.

“Yes. The man is blind, literally. Sits on the netrunning chair twenty-four seven. One of the best of their gang. Has an illegal daemon mill there.”

The merc hums. “Need to strike a deal with him. Can you arrange that?”

Noel crosses his arms, shaking his head. “These never make a deal with outsiders. The best I can do is tell you where he’s hiding.”

“Already know,” the redhead stops him. “Eventide, ‘s’that right?”

The NetWatch agent nods.

V gestures at Milko next. “If I leave—can you provide protection to my client?”

“That’s what I planned to do, actually,” Noel notes.

The redhead snorts. “Couldn’t have said that from the start?”

She left then, giving Alan a chance to do his work. If he fucked it up, he’d be the first on her shitlist. Of course, he did not disappoint—he called his people at Netwatch and they put guards and security around V’s client, something that made Mr. Hands happy as well, since it uplifted his standing with his corporate employers.

As V was climbing and jumping across the bumps in the ground, after leaving the hideout she was at prior, with her new destination being ‘absolutely nothing’, she noticed a weird group of three people, seemingly scavengers, doing something suspicious. They had a mini-camp around what looked like a blastpod. Could it be the one So Mi used?

She decided not to waste time and swiftly eliminated all of them with precise strikes of her Errata. She didn’t kill them though—only dealt enough wounds to put them down for a time. She closed the distance on the blastpod, confirming that it indeed belonged to Space Force One.

“Well, well, well…” Johnny says, voice full of intrigue, as he sits right next to it. “A used-up blastpod in the middle of fucking Dogtown. Looks like our Songbird had a rough-ish landing.”

“Yeah, but she walked it off, so it’s fine,” V replies back, trying to hide her worry, picking up one of the chairs at the mini-camp and sitting on it.

Johnny takes another cigarette, lights it up and takes a dip. “Hmm. Curiouser and curiouser…”

“See that?” V points to a bucket to the right of her; her scanner gives her that it’s full of vomit, blood and partially undigested food, “Hers, hundred percent.”

“Or one of those gonks you just knocked out cold,” Johnny sarcastically chuckles, shaking his head.

V texted the netrunner herself then, saying, “Found your blastpod btw. And a bucket full of blood. Sure you’re alright?”

She received her reply a moment after. So Mi wrote, “Had to tweak the trajectory, otherwise I would’ve turned mush. Still, nice of you to worry.”

The redhead smiled. She messaged, “Found someone who should have the netrunning gear we need. Might have to use bruteforce tho.”

Another delay. Song replied, “Nice, V. Keep me posted.”

“Seems like I’m visiting Eventide today,” the merc notes to the rockerboy, glancing at him.

He doesn’t reply at first. Tosses his cig and remarks, “Planning to just grab their gear and use it?”

V shrugs. “Why not?”

She gets a new message then. Thinks it’s Songbird at first, turns out it’s Reed instead. He texts, “V, in case you wanted to know, got the passage arranged for Myers out of Dogtown. We’re on our way. Already eastbound. No major hiccups. The President wishes you the best of luck in whatever is that you pursue, as do I.”

The redhead hums to herself. Messages, “Nova. Any word from Jacob and Taylor, by the way?”

A brief delay in response. Reed replies, “They’ve been taken care of. No need to worry about them anymore.”

“Motherfucker…” V scoffs, as she slowly realizes the true meaning behind Reed’s text. To say that she’s shocked? Well, not really.

“Taken care of, hah!” Johnny does not hide his ironic laugh, shaking his head. “How nice of them to gift their two new chooms free graves and coffins and candles.”

The mercenary can only sigh. Not much she can do anymore. Seems like the two chill guys she met in Dogtown met their unfortunate fate. Guess that’s what you get when you meet the President herself—a free ticket to the afterlife. Not the club, though.

Sure, there is a slight benefit of the doubt that can be given to Reed, yet the way he phrased his message… Especially coming from a trained federal agent.

Johnny gets up. “So, we’re gonna hit that place? Eventide?”

V gets up, too, glancing one last time at the SF1 blastpod. “Yeah. Let’s see what that gives us. Though, should probably go to Stacks first and get a bit more ammo and boosters, just in case.”

“See that tree there?” Johnny asks V as she exits the medical shop at Stacks. She bought yet another four boosters, feeling slightly addicted to the adrenaline they give her.

“No columbarium in Dogtown, last I checked,” V replies, slowly walking towards it as she sees the rockerboy already teleported there, looking at different photos. “People gotta have some place to pay their respects.”

“Problem with that is, the dead don’t give a fuck about flowers and lit candles… they’re fucking dead,” a frustration is clear in Johnny’s voice.

V sighs, wondering where this is going. “Someone woke up in a grumpy mood today?”

The rockerboy shakes his head, taking a seat next to the tree. “No. Was just thinking about Songbird and Reed…”

A raised eyebrow from the redhead. “Huh?”

“Both got fucked and paid the price that doesn’t fit their crimes,” he explains. “The girl breached a corp data fortress and was stripped of half her life, all her friends, almost all her memories, body, humanity and sanity.” Johnny takes a brief pause, lighting up his cigarette. “And Reed? Loyal to a fault, a perfect soldier thrown into a pit full of vipers, literally paid with his life… Guess that’s the gratitude you get for staying true to your ideals and principles.”

“True,” V nods, taking a serious stance and crossing her arms, remembering her own days back at Arasaka. “Was kinda shocked when he agreed to help Myers after what she’s done to him. If it were me, I woulda just not picked up that call.”

“Seven years, V. Seven years of freedom. And for what? Just to crawl back there at the first phone call?”

“His entire life is built around the NUSA. Without it, he’s fucking nothing,” the merc sighs. “Take it from him and he’s literally a dead shell of a man.”

“They betray him and he goes back. Either blind or naive or both,” the rockerboy tosses his cig. Then asks, “Think. How many times are you willing to get burned before you stop trusting someone?”

V just shakes her head, understanding his point.

“Replace ‘someone’ with a ‘country’. Or ‘corp’,” Johnny finally stands, anger and disappointment flowing through him. “How many times you gotta take a bullet for these motherfuckers in the name of empty promises? Chew on that when you look at Reed, if you see him ever again that is.”

“Hence So Mi snapped, could no longer bear losing herself,” the merc notes. Adds then, “Hmm… reminds you of a certain someone, doesn’t it?” she quirks a brow, seeing even more similarity between So Mi and herself.

“Your situation, while being similar, is still different,” Johnny deflects, only partially agreeing. “At least in this case you’re not fighting alone, V. And, most importantly, you have freedom.”

V remains silent. She knows he’s right.

They both remained silent for a while after that. They not often had conversations like these, but when they had, they both appreciated them—being able to talk soul-to-soul about that type of stuff. First about Mikoshi, then about Arasaka’s experiments on human psyches, then about their friendship at the oil fields. Now this.

V couldn’t stop thinking about So Mi. Her tears when she was confessing to V about her situation when the merc first met her. Her guilt when she revealed she was ordered to put Reed down. Her mentioning the fact that they stripped her of half her body and replaced it with cyberware in order for her to be a better tool for breaching the Blackwall. And then Chimera…

V closes her eyes, taking a deep breath. Seems like she can no longer deny that she cares about the netrunner. Or, is it just pity and some resemblance of sympathy? She couldn’t tell.

Arasaka, the NUSA, all in the same—take people under their wings, feed promises, ruin lives, dispose when no longer of any use. Counterintel, the FIA, all in the same—sacrifice most of your life to fulfill ambitions of people who don’t give a fuck about you, who see you only as a tool, as a means to an end. At moments like these V really questions herself whether Johnny was right all along dropping that nuke on AHQ. Maybe she could follow in his steps and do the same later on, but on White House or something?

“Let’s keep going,” V rubs her shoulder, shaking off her thoughts and noticing that it’s almost close to night time. “Can’t waste much time.”

Johnny nods. “Let’s do.”

At around ten in the evening, the mercenary was standing in front of a large building shaped like a traditional coin. The building was heavily damaged, signs of being abandoned. Pretty much like almost everything in this district, with the exception of Heavy Hearts, maybe.

“Seems like this is the place,” V takes a deep breath.

“Finger on the trig, V,” Johnny materializes in front of the door, and so the merc immediately pulls out his Malorian 3516. “Seems they have a lookout everywhere, doubt they’ll play nice and just let us in.”

Before she enters, the redhead makes sure to send So Mi a text, reading, “Song, about to see if I can get some netrunning setup going.”

She gets a reply almost immediately. Songbird messages, “Got it.”

As V enters the building, she spots two VDB guards and a camera right above them. Seemingly no other backdoors, maybe through ventilation shafts perhaps?

“You look like bad news,” a Voodoo Girl immediately snarls seeing an outsider who casually walks into their territory. “Turn around and crawl back to the hole you came from.”

“Looking for a netrunner,” V tries to keep her cool.

“Not a kind of service we provide, patnè. So kindly fuck the fuck off, eh?”

“Know Slider’s inside, I just wanna talk—tell him,” the merc continues, trying not to pay attention to the rudeness thrown at her. V looks to the right right of her, spotting a few vents. Seems like there is another way in, after all.

“What part of ‘fuck off’ did you not understand?” the Voodoo points her rifle at the mercenary, trying to scare her off. “Are you deaf or just fucking stupid!?”

“Let’s ditch this shit, V, and find another way in,” Johnny materializes next to V, waving her in the door’s direction. “No need to confront these fucks.”

“Hmph…” V menacingly glares at the guards, turns around and goes back to the entrance of the building.

She then spots a few construction boards that lead to the level above her. Climbing through them, she ends up in a backroom, which in turn gives her a way into the ventilation shaft she’s spotted earlier. “Gotta be a nice day,” she smirks, crouching through the vent.

While moving through it, she barely spots a trap on her way. Disarming it and reaching the end of the shaft, she ends up in one of the rooms on the second floor of the large area where the VDBs have their daemon mill. Whatever they’re doing there, the mercenary definitely is not interested in. She spots a large entrance leading deeper into a darkened hallway on the first level; waits until no one looks in her direction, and silently jumps off the platform she’s on. She then quietly crouch-sprints past all the other guards and sneaks into the hallway.

She sees a gate, locked, blocking her way farther into the hallway. Two cameras start scanning her—no alarms raised though. Almost as if someone is expecting her, waiting for her, curious about her business here. V raises the gate with her arms like it’s nothing, proceeding all the way till she reaches a large room full of netrunning gear and setup.

“What is this stink…?” she hears a faint and ominous voice as she walks down the hallway. “Ah, a walking corpse, risen from the grave. Seeking a new one.”

“Don’t scare me off that easily, Slider,” V deadpans as she enters the room and sees the netrunner sitting on a netrunning chair. Well, ‘wheelchair’. He is, indeed, blind, his lifeless white eyes are the proof of that. He looks in her direction and V spots a few cameras all around the room. Perhaps that’s how he can see her, through cyberspace.

“Huh. You are de one who brought death to Maman Brigitte,” he calmly notes. “Will dat be your gift for me, too?”

V moves her eyes around, analyzing all the setup Slider has—tons of monitors, servers, several computers, and an additional netrunning chair in the opposite corner. Should do the trick, hence, she states firmly, “Hear to make a deal, nothing more.”

“A deal? Let me guess…” Slider smiles, yet his expression shows no amusement whatsoever. “An empty promise and a bullet to de brain when you decide I am of no use to you—dat kind of deal? If one party is backed into a corner, it is not negotiation, it is extortion.”

“Do I look like a corpo or fed to you?” V sarcastically eyes him, a bit offended by his choice of words.

A pause. “Hmm… you do not.”

“Right, meaning if I say I am here to make a deal, then it’s a fucking deal,” the merc affirms, sounding slightly intimidating. “Unless you find a way to screw me over or try to flatline me like Pacifica VDBs did, of course.”

Slider stares at her with his lifeless eyes for about ten seconds. V turns her gaze somewhere else, unable to look back at him, feeling uncomfortable. “Go on,” he waves his hand, curious about what she has to offer him.

“Need high quality netrunning setup. The best there is. Street says you have it.”

“Hmm…” the Voodoo Boy hums. “And what do I get in return for dis?”

The redhead looks back at him. She shrugs, “You tell me. Need someone offed? Something stolen? That’s what I do best.”

Slider thinks. “What do you need de gear for?”

“Need to contact someone,” V replies. “Heard of the SF1 crash?” she asks. When the man nods, she continues, “A woman was on board. A netrunner. Need to get in touch with her.”

“And dis woman—is she from de FIA?” Slider questions, gesturing with his hand.

“Why’s it matter?”

“Because if she is, then she can pay for dis service for you.”

The redhead thinks for a second. “Let’s say she is.”

“I believe we may have a deal den,” the Voodoo Boy smirks. “If your friend agrees to give me what I want.”

The merc raises an eyebrow. “And what would that be?”

“I need to be gone from de FIA database.”

V snorts. “What, they’re on your ass, huh?”

Slider shuffles in his chair a bit. “Fuckers don’t let me breathe recently.”

A pause then. The merc thinks of her options. “Hold on,” she then tells him, opening her holo.

She texts Songbird right away, “So Mi, got the guy who has the gear. He’s wanted by the FIA tho. Any way you can nuke his profile?”

A brief delay before she gets her reply. “What’s his name?”

V messages, “Wilky ‘Slider’ LaGuerre. A renegade Voodoo Boy.”

Another momentary delay. She gets her answer, “Done.”

“Done,” V says out loud, informing Slider.

The Voodoo Boy frowns, not expecting that. He then links to cyberspace, wanting to check whether what the redhead has said is true or not.

Turns out, she’s not lying. And so, he replies, gesturing to the netrunning chair in the opposite corner, “Take a seat. All yours.”

V turns around and does just that. Before she connects the jack to her neural port, though, she texts Songbird, “All’s ready. What’s next?”

A few seconds pass. Song replies, “Need NetIndex and routing address so that I can connect with you.”

The merc has no idea what any of that means, since she’s no netrunner. And so, she asks Slider just that, who immediately gives her all the information she needs displayed on the monitors. The redhead immediately messages said info to So Mi, waiting for her reply.

Suddenly, monitors start glitching. Both Slider and V look around, not understanding what’s going on. A progress bar shows up in the merc’s optics. Once it gets filled, her entire vision lights up with red. It surely feels like time slowed down to point zero, even sandevistan couldn’t compare. Neural sensors start overheating, as do all the servers and computers in the room. Sparks started flying out of all of them, signs of breaking and falling apart.

“What de hell are you doi—?” Slider attempts to ask the redhead, but then the time stops completely.

V clenched her teeth in pain. She’s seeing red. And blurry, too.

“V, are you okay?” she hears a familiar voice. Once the merc looks up, she sees the female netrunner in front of her, leaning towards her, looking with concern.

The redhead breathes out. “Yeah… sorta,” she replies. “Should be asking you, y’know,” she adds, a small smile on her face, revealing her own concern and worry towards the Asian woman.

So Mi smiles with sadness. “I… I’m fine. For now,” she nods. She glances at the merc’s surroundings next. “That thing… it almost fried my brain,” she continues, recalling recent events from Chimera. “I had to look for help… beyond the Blackwall.”

V’s optics glitch, she temporarily gets ‘pulled back’ into real space, and Songbird disappears. She gets a small seizure, feeling the toll finally kicking in. Slider, meanwhile, keeps looking around in panic, not knowing what to expect next.

“Listen, V. Don’t have much time,” So Mi suddenly reappears in front of V, way closer this time. “I still can’t reestablish the Relic link, but this’ll do. Hansen’s people tracked me down after I rezzed the Chimera. I’ve been… detained. I’m not in any danger. Not as long as I behave, do what I’m told. I need your help.”

V nods. “Okay. What’s on me?”

Another seizure. This time, it hits both women.

The netrunner grabs her head, feeling how it becomes more and more painful to maintain connection. The same can be said about the merc, who squeezes her fists in pain, hard. And so, So Mi heavily breathes in, “Black Sapphire, V. Hansen’s hosting a huge shindig here in two days. Crash it on the sly, I’ll find you. I have something for you, something I gotta give in person.”

“Wh— What’s this Sapphire? And how do I get there?” V asks, a bit confused.

“Here,” Song replies, as another progress bar pops up in V’s optics, indicating data transfer. “Everything you need to get to me,” she explains, and the progress bar completes. The netrunner then looks somewhere behind the merc, her eyes go wide open as if she sees something coming at her. So Mi gently places her left hand on V’s shoulder, her eyes expressing gratitude towards the younger woman, “And thank you again, for helping me, V…”

She gets cut off, connection gets lost, Songbird disappears. V feels an immense headache and how all the circuits in her brain are about to melt.

“Shit, shit, shit!” V yells, grabs the cable attached to her personal port, and yanks it out. Steam is rolling out of her and all the servers, signs of overheating everywhere.

She gets up, coughing, trying to get back to her senses. This was too much. A couple more seconds, and her brain would’ve been a hot soup from all the Blackwall stuff. Really makes the merc wonder how the netrunner manages to breach it and weaponize it for seven years in a row.

“Fuck! Putain de mèd! Dis I do not believe…” Slider breathes out, looking at where the mercenary is sitting in front of him. “You out of your mind coming to me with dis shit?”

V glances back at him. She almost forgot the Voodoo Boy was in the room with her all this time.

“What, y’mean the Blackwall?” she takes a guess. “Well, welcome to the club.”

Slider snarls, very annoyed, “E fout. Do you know what it is you brought me?”

V stretches her arms. “Enlighten,” she deadpans.

Slider heavily sighs, shaking his head. The ignorance of the merc definitely brings him no joy.

“How to explain to layman…” he starts, trying to pick the right words. “De Net has layers, various vectors for translocation. But dere is one t’ing dat must not be touched—de Blackwall. De woman—she is walking, ticking bom, megatons. She go boom… everybody fucked in de ass. Every last one,” he takes a breather, seeing through his cameras that the merc’s expression is still unchanged and not concerned a bit. “Miray nwa a. It is a dam dat protects us, de civilized world, from the strange bèts of the cyber wilderness. If your two-legged bomb crack de dam down de middle, it will unleash a flood, wipe us off de map just like Haiti…”

“Um, think you’re overreacting, choom,” V cringes a bit, not taking his words seriously.

“You do not understand,” he shoots back at her, his voice is fueled with even more annoyance and frustration. “You can be de chief of NCPD, a corpo CEO or even de fucking president herself… To de AIs past the Blackwall, you are no more dan a cockroach, a ravèt. A fragment of outdated code with no meaning. Dis why Netwatch flatline any who put integrity of Blackwall at risk. Dis no laughing matter, my friend. It is a concern for de safety of all.”

The redhead rolls her eyes. “Suuure,” she trails. “Anyway, see ya,” she waves him off, walking towards the exit.

She didn’t want to show concern about it. She knew what Songbird’s doing was dangerous as fuck, but she had almost no choice in the matter—she wanted to survive, get away from them all, and never use the Blackwall again. Never be a weapon again.

And V was willing to help her do just that.

Chapter Text

Getting out of Slider’s hideout wasn’t that difficult. She used precisely the same route she’d used to reach the Voodoo Boy netrunner, meaning the ventilation shafts. Testing her luck wasn’t something she was eager to do, as well as engage in unnecessary fights—the faster she ditched the place, the better.

“Fuck. So Mi looked sick, almost like… like our link was hurting her,” V tells Johnny as she exits Eventide and sits on the nearest bench. The rockerboy materializes right next to her, sitting and smoking his imaginary cigarette.

“Surprised? Why? Saw yourself how all the Slider’s equipment lit up like a fucking Christmas tree,” he questions her in return, glancing at the center of Dogtown. It’s almost midnight (11:35 to be precise), the Moon fully visible and lighting up the streets of the district. So Mi has said that the ‘shindig’ will take place in two days, meaning the moment the clock hits twelve it’s gonna become tomorrow. Thus, she has one and a half days to figure stuff out.

“Fuck…” the merc frustratingly shakes her head, biting her lip. “Now I gotta figure out how to get into that Black Sapphire or whatever.”

The rockerboy glances at her momentarily. “Data from the girl—what’s on it?” he questions.

V realizes she’s completely forgotten about that. The netrunner did give her something while they’d been connected. She pulls up the files she has, and finds the one Songbird has transferred, labeled ‘Black Sapphire’. Seems like exactly what she needs.

The merc opens it. The text reads, “V, find the attachments I’ve prepped for you. Use them to get into the Black Sapphire. The security is air-tight, but I can hack the subnet to help you get inside. There’s something that I have for you, something I need to give you in-person. It’s very important. I can also reestablish our Relic bond in person, in case I fail with the netrunning setup you find. Once you’re there, I will find you.”

The file also contains blueprints of the entire building, with all the security systems, outposts, and even tunnels and elevators labeled. The building is the taller of the two skyscrapers in Dogtown, a would-be hotel that ended up to be a failed multi billion eddie investment, Kurt Hansen’s fortress smack in the middle of Pacifica. In addition, the file has a small subtext attached to it that states that the ‘shindig’ tomorrow will have a concert performed by none other than Lizzy Wizzy, where the most influential people of NC are invited.

V glances at the middle of the district, spotting two gigantic skyscrapers, just as the data states. Looks like a megatower, for all it’s worth, though perhaps way more luxurious on the inside. Actually, scratch that—looks more like the infamous Konpeki Plaza. That fucking place is chasing the mercenary everywhere, even in her dreams at this point.

Holo-call opened, the redhead tries to dial the netrunner via the Relic, to see whether their Relic bond is still severed. Turns out it is—she gets absolutely nothing except static in return. Seems like they’ll have to reestablish it in person, just like Song has explained in the file itself. While pondering about that, she texts the netrunner herself, typing, “Let me call my contacts, see if they can get me into the Sapphire without unnecessary fights. Will let you know tomorrow.”

It doesn’t take long for her to get the reply, where Songbird texts, “Okay. Keep me posted.”

First contact of interest—the main fixer of the district, illusory Mr. Hands himself. The merc stands up, walks downstairs to the road level, and dials his number, despite the fact it’s almost midnight. Still, he picks up the call quite quickly, which makes the redhead wonder whether he sleeps at all.

“Hands, need a favor,” she immediately queries as soon as she sees the connection established.

“Straight to biz. I like that,” he notes with his usual formal tone.

“Aiming to go to an upcoming shindig at the Black Sapphire. Know any way in?”

Mr. Hands hums. “Lusting to dance with the devil?” he asks, eyebrow raised. “V… the place is inaccessible and treacherous—in equal parts. You cannot simply walk in uninvited, as opposed to, say… Konpeki Plaza.”

He just had to fucking say it, V angrily thinks. Again. How often does everyone have to bring this shit up to her? First Judy, then Rogue, then Takemura, now him. There were a few more instances, but one thing remained the same—the criticism. The fact that she ‘fucked up’, going as far as accusing her of getting her entire crew killed there. The only person she knows who never brought up Konpeki as a means of ridiculing her is, perhaps, So Mi herself, who instead empathized with the merc by telling her about her own fuckup, that being Militech datafort raid.

And so, V simply sighs, tired. “Surely there’s some way in,” she ponders as she approaches Jackie’s bike. She ensures all her equipment is still intact before getting onto it.

“Hmm… I’ll need to twist an arm or a leg. Thanks to you, I've got a veritable buffet of limbs to choose from.”

“So, doable, ya think?” the merc tries not to indulge into false hopes. She turns on the ignition on her bike and looks behind her, checking if there are any cars coming her way.

“You helped to solidify my position in Dogtown. I’m happy to return the favor,” the fixer explains. “We’ll conclude this in person. I’ll need some hours. Meet me at the Heavy Hearts.”

“Thanks, Hands.”

Second contact of interest—the main star of the upcoming show, Lizzy Wizzy. Should check and see whether she can arrange a pass for V under the premise of seeing her concert. The moment V dials her number, though, she gets sent to voicemail, so she simply asks Lizzy to give her a call back as soon as she can.

Once that’s done, the merc feels another headache, a strong one, similar to the one she’s had back on the balcony with Myers. She jumps off her bike and rushes towards the first bush she can find, feeling that she’s about to collapse, leaning over it and vomiting. She tries to hold herself yet cannot—ears ring again, fuzz in her very brain. Most importantly, pain in the back, where her sandevistan is at, as well as stomach; even heart burns. One may think she has a Relic malfunction, yet she doesn’t, which is even weirder. She feels her limbs numb for a while, barely capable of taking her back to the bike.

“You really need to go see Viktor’s,” Johnny notes as he materializes next to the merc who lets out a frustrating sigh. She just nods, agreeing with him.

“Say, what do you know about the Black Sapphire?” V asks, her eyes moving between the TV monitor and the blonde bartender behind the station.

“Black Sapphire? Kurt Hansen’s bastion that’s also a resort for the millionaires?” Daphne, the bartender, quirks an eyebrow, smiling. “The place is home for BARGHEST. Their HQ essentially.”

The merc hums, lowering her eyes and looking at the liquor in the glass she is holding. Daphne glances at her, asking, “Why? Wanted a tour there or something?”

“No,” V shakes her head. “Just heard Hansen’s throwing a party there tomorrow. Was wondering what’s that about, and who’s invited or not.”

The bartender remains silent. In a minute, once it hits roughly 3:30 in the night, V receives the message from her fixer, telling her to come to the Heavy Hearts and attaching the access code to the elevator that’ll bring her up to the private rooms where he resides. Not wasting any time, she immediately downs the rest of her drink.

“Gotta go, thanks for the chit chat,” the merc states, as both hers and the bartender’s eyes light up with blue, with the redhead paying for all the drinks she’s downed in the span of a couple of hours.

“See ya later, honeybunch. Enjoy the rest of your night,” Daphne smiles at her, as V exits the Moth and starts going down the stairs.

Before V walks out, though, she stops right at the exit and looks around. She has a feeling that someone’s watching her. No one suspicious is at the bar, though. So, what’s up with her instincts? No cameras, either. Probably a byproduct of drinking too much, she concludes.

In less than ten minutes she was already right at the entrance of the pyramid-shaped building, walking right past the security guard who was warning her how this is a nice place, got our eyes everywhere. The first floor of the Heavy Hearts had a large club, a very good one at that. Reminded her of Lizzie’s, but a bit more luxurious. There had to be at least one or two things that were actually good in this dogshit district after all, V thought to herself as she entered the elevator that’d bring her up to the office of the mysterious fixer.

“Ah, if it isn’t V…” she gets greeted by a seemingly elderly man in a red corporate suit the moment she enters the designated office on the third floor. Looks like corpo himself, the merc thinks; if she hadn’t known he’s a fixer she definitely would’ve thought he’s some Petrochem representative. “V, my favorite merc. Splendid,” he spreads his arms as a form of greeting, a smile on his face that makes V unintentionally smirk back. His attitude, even outside the holocall, is still the same—same voice full of mystery and unknown, same manners. Mr. Hands continues, “What you completed for me… significantly shifted the playing field vis-a-vis Hansen. Excellent work, precisely as requested.”

“C’mon, Hands—flattery, really? Seems a little beneath you,” V squints, trying to understand whether he actually means it or not.

“An overused tactic, agreed—unnecessary,” he nods, yet his expression remains stoic. “No, V, this is strictly business. For those who do their work well, praise is a mere restating of the facts.”

They then talked about Dogtown and the jobs V had completed for the fixer, with the man explaining how it helped him advance and strengthen his position on the chessboard of major players involved in the district’s politics. Mr. Hands invited her to take a tea break, both taking a seat on his couch and discussing how Dogtown came to be due to the Unification War of 2069-2070. Finally, as the merc reminded him about why she’s there, the fixer gave her a shard. Said chip contained the Black Sapphire blueprints, with all the vulnerabilities highlighted.

She picks the shard and takes a brief look at it. She remembers that So Mi already gave her precisely that, a few hours earlier. Thus, she sighs, chuckles, shakes her head, and remarks with irony, “Was counting on more than hotel blueprints. Since I already have them.”

“Already have?” the fixer quirks a brow, trying to suppress his surprise. “Well, in that case, I have no doubt an industrious individual like yourself will make the best of them.”

Well, that was pointless, V thought at that moment. Mr. Hands informed her then that there were new assignments and jobs waiting for her, which he hoped she’d accept. After bidding goodbyes, the redhead went home, back to her megabuilding apartment, and decided to spend the rest of the day taking a huge nap, something she’d been deprived of for quite a while.

As the merc woke up after twelve hours of sleep, she went through the same routine that she always went through—shower, order food, while food was being delivered restock ammo, sharpen her katana and knife, check her schedule, take delivered food, eat it, and suit up for the day. All in all, it took her approximately an hour or so.

It’s then that she finally received a call from Lizzy Wizzy, something she’s been hoping to get.

“V? How are you? Saw you called,” the singer starts, as the holo-feed shows her applying makeup.

“Hey, Lizzy. Same old,” the redhead responds, smirking. “Listen, need your help this time.”

Lizzy nods, not taking her eyes off the mirror she’s sitting in front of. “Uh-huh.”

“Black Sapphire in Dogtown—I know you have a gig there tomorrow. Need a ticket. Or an invite. Anything.”

“What for?”

The redhead shuffles, not knowing whether she should go for the truth, or the half-truth. She sighs, and replies as it is, “Need to get there and meet someone. That’s the only way. Thought you could help.”

“V, deary, Kurt Hansen decides who comes and who doesn’t,” the pop-star shrugs, applying lipstick in the meantime.

V clicks her tongue. “So, now way you can help me?”

Lizzy thinks. Looks at the ceiling for a brief moment, then finally glances at the holo-feed. “Tell ya what—you can come as my bodyguard, security. I have Avi coming with me, but I can fire him in a second.”

“Woah, woah, woah,” the merc stammers, “No need to fire him. Just have me replace him for this one night. ‘S that cool?”

“Cool,” Lizzy smiles. “Come pick me up tomorrow afternoon, I’ll flick you the address. Just be sure to be dressed accordingly, not in your… dirt rags.”

The call ends, as the singer doesn’t even let the merc protest and ask what’s wrong with her usual outfit. Well, at least she has an easy way in now—can just walk through the front doors with the pop-star herself.

It is then that the redhead decided to go and check her chrome at Vik’s. Heading up to Misty’s, she exchanged a few words with the woman and proceeded straight to her friend’s clinic. As soon as she met Viktor she told him about her sudden periods of pain in all the different places in her body, not related to the Relic in any way. He only gestured to her to sit on the chair, promising to take a look at her here and now.

“Well, all good?” V questions Viktor after he thoroughly scans her systems, seeing as he stares at his monitor for quite a while. Something’s up on his mind, she can see that, but doesn’t know yet what though.

“Hmm…” he hums, taking a few more seconds to analyze V’s systems. He then turns towards her, the look on his face is not filled with confidence.

“Uh, is everything okay?” the merc quirks a brow, shifting in her seat.

“Your immune system is in shambles. How many times have you used sandevistan in the last three-four days?”

“Wha— I don’t know?” V chuckles, surprised at her question. “Didn’t count, why would I?”

“This is serious, V,” Viktor’s gaze is serious and stoic, slight concern in his eyes. “Answer the question.”

“Let’s see…” V looks at the ceiling with a thoughtful glance, trying to recite the recent events. “Five there, two more there, four, another two… about seventeen I think.”

“Hmm…” Viktor hums, trying to find a catch there. “Seems standard. Okay, another question then—any chance you… overused it beyond its standard limits?”

“Yeah, once or twice I think. Used for two minutes non-stop,” V frowns, remembering her fight against Chimera where she had no choice but to keep her nervous system boosted to its absolute limits.

“Two minutes!?” Viktor’s eyes shot wide open, thinking he misheard the merc.

“Yeah, why?”

“V… do you know how dangerous it is to overclock your implants?”

Silence. V shrugs, clearly not knowing and not really being interested in knowing.

“You can use as much cyberware and implants as you want, but there is one thing that should never be done—overclocking. When you overuse an implant without giving it time to cool down, you overheat it, damage both the implant, immune and nervous systems, risk losing control and…” he pauses then, not knowing what to say next. The ripper sighs, giving her a tired and worried glance, “It’s important you get that. One minute of sandevistan at most, then let it cool down for at least an hour or two if it comes to that. Otherwise, it won’t end well.”

“Sheesh, making it sound like I’m about to go cyberpsycho,” V nervously chuckles, yet the ripper’s expression doesn’t change. “I don’t even have that much chrome, you know.”

“Chrome is not the issue, V,” he objects, shaking his head. “It’s what you do to yourself. You are putting too much stress on your own body, breaking it from the inside. Add all the daily mental stress you go through and—”

“Chill, I ain’t going psycho.”

“Had any blackouts yet? Or felt like you weren’t in control of yourself?”

Another vision of Chimera pops up in the merc’s head. When she out of rage injected three booster shots at once. When she laughed crazy, uncontrollably. Hysterically. When her vision became sun-yellow.

“No,” she lies. “Nothing.”

“Be careful, V,” Viktor finishes, standing up from his chair. “Try to go lower on cyberware usage. Chroming up isn’t the only way to lose yourself. Also, try to go lower on boosters.”

The redhead doesn’t have anything to reply. Instead, she simply thanks him, gets up, and goes for the exit, mulling over his words in her head. Yeah, in a life or death situation, she sure does need to overclock her implants at times—better that than be dead, right? Can’t just worry about miniscule things like that when your life’s on the line.

The moment she exits, she remembers that she’s gotta text So Mi to keep her updated about the changes in the plan. She messages, “Found a way into the Sapphire, no hacks needed. See you there.”

The reply is almost instant. “Nice, V. Don’t forget to stay careful, okay?”

A warm smile makes its way onto the redhead’s face.

The next day, the moment V woke up at around eleven in the morning, she checked whether all her stuff was operational, which included the formal outfit for the shindig (which she grabbed at Jinguji, picking a typical black and white corporate outfit suitable for a bodyguard), Johnny’s Malorian and Headhunter. Her mantis blades served as replacement for Errata, thinking it would be enough in case a fight transpired or she and Lizzy got jumped. After getting some food and going over it, she checked the address where Lizzy wanted her to pick her up.

The address was Downtown, a studio next to the N54 HQ, home for luxurious and expensive corporate pads. Thinking about what car to take, she texted Lizzy, “I’m ready. I have multiple cars to pick you up with. Sending you the list. Pick one.”

It took about an hour for the singer to reply. The message read, “Do you have a bike? I want a bike.”

V blinked. She couldn’t read the pop-star, but if that was her choice, she had to oblige. And so, she replied, “Yes. ARCH. Very comfy. Will be there in two hours.”

Lizzy replied with a simple, “Preem! See ya <3”

Jackie’s ARCH came in clutch, as always. It looked good, in prime condition, something that should have the singer satisfied. Once she got onto it and started it up, she drove onto the streets, setting her destination towards the south.

Arrival time: one past noon. The redhead had to wait two whole hours for the singer to show up out of the doors of a luxurious corporate apartment complex, which almost made her drop dead from boredom. However, once Lizzy (with her bodyguard) showed up in a silver, quite revealing dress, all the boredom left the merc.

She looked stunning. Like a true idol for many, with her shiny metallic skin reflecting the sun rays, with her purple hair tucked in a ponytail, stylized accordingly. And the makeup, too. “V!” the singer exclaims, approaching the bike, “I hope you’re excited as I am!”

V just stares at her. Lizzy, without saying anything else, climbs onto the bike, right behind her, and then stretches her arms. Her bodyguard, Avi, crosses his arms, and tells the merc, “Please deliver her back here after the concert. We have a flight scheduled soon after.” He glances at the pop-star for a second, and then adds, “And, please be careful.”

“Don’t wooorry, Avi,” Lizzy laughs, “V is the toughest out there. Isn’t that right, V?”

“Uh-huh,” the merc deadpans, still processing everything in her head.

The man leaves, leaving the two. “Avi’s my new bodyguard,” the pop-singer explains then. “The best I’ve ever had, if a little too… overprotective.”

“Why does that sound so familiar I wonder.”

V then feels Lizzy wrap her arms around her waist, pressing her front against her back. “So, we going?” Lizzy asks.

The merc kick starts the engine and revs it. She drives off onto a street packed with traffic, keeping up regular speed… for now. It’s then that she decides to query, “So, how ya holdin’ up? Last we saw each other was… y’know…”

A memory of her encountering the singer with her dead ex-boyfriend in the No-Tell Motel resurfaces momentarily. How the pop-star has tasked her with disposing of his body in the nearest garbage dump, and the merc doing precisely so. Lizzy hums, and answers in a second, “I’mmm… doing great. Really inspired lately. Never felt better.” Two second pause, as she seemingly thinks of something, and adds next, “Yeah… Never felt better.”

“Hope it stays that way.”

“Can you speed up?” Lizzy suddenly asks. “Really want to feel the wind blow.”

V does precisely as requested, increasing the speed by a half.

They had to stop at the Dogtown main gate, first. The guards there were quite surprised to find out that Lizzy Wizzy had arrived on a bike of all things. They let them through without much trouble, and the merc parked next to the Black Sapphire in roughly ten minutes, helping the singer to get off the bike.

As they approach the main entrance of the would-be hotel, V sees how it’s packed with security. Good thing she has an easy way in. “Hold up there,” one of the BARGHEST people says, scans showing his name being Jago. He looks at his datapad, scrolls through it, and looks at the duo. “Lizzy Wizzy? It’s a pleasure to have you here.”

“My, thank you,” the pop-star replies, smiling.

Jago then glances at the redhead. “And you are?”

“This is my bodyguard, V,” Lizzy replies for the merc, gently placing her hand on V’s shoulder and lightly squeezing it. The redhead just stands, feeling a bit tense.

The man nods. “Okay. In you go.”

The duo walks into the main hall, and the first thing they spot is an abundance of turrets, cameras, outposts, and guards everywhere. Even two minotaurs, the ones Arasaka usually has. V’s eyes move left and right, as she analyzes her surroundings, memorizing them instantly, just in case something goes not as planned. The moment they approach the elevator and step inside it, the redhead presses the button that’ll take them all the way to the upper level.

“My, you look a little pale, V,” Lizzy remarks, walking closer to the redhead.

The merc blinks. “Huh?”

“Pale. Like you remembered something.”

V sniffs, scratching her nose. “Just a lil’ ol’ déjà vu. With a different hotel, though.”

“Is that related to why you’re here?”

Perhaps, the merc wants to say. Instead, she replies, “Don’t worry about it. I’m gonna be fine. And thanks for helping me get in, by the way.”

“As long as you’re on the team LizWiz, that’s all that matters,” Lizzy jokes, glancing at the transparent doors of the elevator that reveal the insides of the Black Sapphire.

Chapter Text

The elevator stops. The doors open. V and Lizzy walk out of it, and they are presented with a view of the evening sky, with the beautiful luxurious environment and purple smoke coming out somewhere from the center.

“Gotta hand it to Hansen, V… Party’s hoppin’, has a sense of grandeur. Didn’t have shit like this in my day…” Johnny notes as he’s leaning on a railing with his back, glancing at multiple groups of people laughing and chatting about something. “Now hop on over there and help me out—managed to forget what real champagne tastes like.”

Drinking might be nice, V thinks to herself. Forget all the worries and just drop there. Unfortunately, she has a job to do—find So Mi, and also keep Lizzy safe until the end of this shitshow.

As she and the singer enter the party, a wide view is presented in front of them. Everyone is dressed in a fancy outfit, be it a nice-looking dress, or a typical corporate outfit (just like V’s). Everyone’s chatting, talking, engaged in a group of three or four. Fitting in the masses probably won’t be that hard, finding someone to discuss local politics or recent industry trends.

Everyone was there—Gillean Jordan from N54, Arif Iqbal from WNS, Josh Kavorkin from ‘Your Business Is My Business’, even Ruth Dzeng from Info Flash. Among the crowd V could also spot Weldon Holt, a candidate for mayor of Night City, as well as various mobsters, corpos, even investors. Even Tiger Claws, among which she noticed Maiko Maeda, a recently appointed manager at Clouds, thanks to V, of course. At times it felt like if not for the merc herself, the entire city would be going to shit. Be it helping Judy with Clouds, Panam with the Basilisk, River with his nephew, Peralez family with their security and entire mind control thing. What would they all do without her? It’s gonna be pretty painful if they all forgot about all the good things she’d done for them if, say, she suddenly disappeared for a year or two.

The moment V and Lizzy stop at the bar, the merc looks around. “Is it okay if I take a look around? Need to find someone.”

“Sure,” the pop-star replies. “Concert’s only in like…” she checks the time, “In 40 minutes.”

V nods. She then goes on an exploration adventure around the whole area, trying to see whether she can spot the netrunner in the crowd. And downing multiple drinks along the way, of course.

A few moments later, she spots Kurt Hansen himself, sitting in one of the spots in the company of the NCPD commissioner. So much for the badges are not welcome in Dogtown propaganda.

“So, Kurt Hansen, duke of Dogtown, in the flesh,” Johnny comments, materializing next to the Colonel as V keeps her gaze on him. “More mutt than alpha hound, looks like.”

There are no objections from the redhead. She agrees with the rockerboy one hundred percent. Motherfucker couldn’t even dress properly for his own party. Guess that’s what you have for owning a chunk of NC and solely ruling it, deciding what goes in there.

She decides to check the second floor next. No signs of Songbird there, either. The only person of interest she manages to find is Mr. Hands, who acknowledges her, but also tells that they’re better not seen together, for safety reasons.

“So, managed to find whoever you’ve been looking for?” Lizzy asks the moment V completes the full circle and walks back to the bar.

The redhead shakes her head. “No. Maybe she’ll show up later.”

“Adventurous,” the pop-star remarks. “Who is she? The one you’re waiting.”

“A Korean woman. Late twenties or early thirties,” V sighs. “Need to talk to her. It’s… really important.”

“Life or death?”

The merc is silent. “Maybe. Yeah,” she takes a glass of tequila and downs it in one go.

Downing another drink, she finally receives a message. “Look up. On the mezzanine.”

She looks up and… sees a ceiling above her. Ah, right, she is sitting under the mezzanine itself, hence she cannot see the ‘runner.

The merc starts going up the stairs and looks around. Multiple guests are standing and talking to each other in groups of two or three, but there, near the railing, leaning on it and looking around the first floor area, is her. Searching for her, having no idea she is right there, behind.

V doesn’t even notice how chromed her back is. The only thing she looks at is how beautiful that dress of hers is.

The merc slowly approaches her from behind. She gently and carefully touches the netrunner’s right shoulder, smirking, “Looking for someone?”

Song turns around, looking at her. A barely visible smile on her face, expressing a million words.

“V. It’s good you’re here,” So Mi says, leaning on the railing with her back, supporting herself with the left arm. She notices that the merc has her gaze literally fixed on her, probing her to continue, “Not what you expected, huh? Is that the haircut?”

V is out of words. Her self-control is in shambles, her mouth is dry, heart starts racing. She takes a breath, opening her mouth to speak something and then closes it immediately, as if her vocal cords got hacked and shut off. She keeps looking in those brown eyes, drowning in them, as if she’s pulled under water, suffocating. She looks at her dress, her body shape, her exposed thigh. She thought Lizzy looked pretty, but this…

Yeah. She needs a drink.

Now.

“One sec,” V says, almost choking on her words, leaving the woman in front of her confused, as she starts running down the stairs to the closest bartender. The first drink stand she finds is right where Reverend Colver sits at, the televangelist warning about the Relic on TV.

The stand is clearly visible from the mezzanine, too, allowing So Mi to see all the actions the merc takes. She can see how the younger woman approaches the bartender, taking a seat on one of the available stools, and in a second she gets a glass cup in front of her, filled with whiskey. She downs it immediately, asking for a second shot, downing it, too. V finally stands up, going back to the netrunner.

“Dress looks good on you,” she says nonchalantly to So Mi the moment she reaches her and leans on the bar table next to them with her right arm. Her vision’s a bit fuzzy, alcohol in her blood taking its effect. Yet she still has her gaze fixed on the netrunner only, unable to take her eyes off of her.

“Thank you,” Song smiles at her words, looking down, hiding her glance. The merc does see her cheeks becoming a shade of red, is she blushing? Or, is it the lighting in the area? “Suppose that’s why you needed those two drinks,” So Mi remarks, finally looking in the eyes of the redhead, spotting softness in them, gentleness. Softness towards her.

“In all honesty though, you are… so much more chromed than the Relic version,” V finally replies after five seconds of tense silence, moving her gaze towards the netrunners arms and shoulder pads. She remembers now how chromed her back is, a shining and ‘proud’ Militech logo indicating who this body belongs to. Disgusting, yet gorgeous. Nightmarish, yet beautiful in its own way. “I mean, I know you said before that you look different in person, but this—”

“I never wanted this, V,” So Mi sighs, her voice suddenly fueled with sadness, bitterness, remorse. She takes a deep breath, turning her gaze somewhere to the left, “The Relic me is just a vestige of the past, from the time I wasn’t…” her breath hitches, she closes her eyes. Stays like that for three seconds, letting the time fly by, gathering her thoughts. Opens them, looking at the merc, “See, the Blackwall… it’s hard to explain. Each connection, penetration comes at a price.”

“That price being yourself, I know.”

How high must one’s humanity be to be able to bear this weight and not lose yourself for multiple years in a row?

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I think you look just as gorgeous as your past self. If not better,” V lets out a warm half-smile, so warm that the netrunner almost could feel it physically.

Sure, Song cannot feel the smile, yet she can feel her words. Words that mean it. Words that caress her very heart, that make her feel human. Not a tool. Not a weapon.

“Can’t say it does, but… thank you,” So Mi smiles back, lowering her gaze again. She can feel warmth on her cheeks, she is definitely red now, like V’s hair. When was the last time someone appreciated who she is? When was the last time she had someone who was worried about her, ready to dive deep just for her?

Seven years ago. Or, maybe even thirteen.

“It’s so good you’re here,” the netrunner sighs, her smile transforming into a thin line that expresses worryness and uncertainty. “Don’t know what I’d do without you, V. Really.”

“Well… we made a deal, didn’t we?” V smiles warmly. She has her eyes peering at the netrunner’s brown ones, unable to shift them yet again. “Couldn’t just abandon you in this shithole,” she pauses, thinking whether she should tell it as it is that she did consider leaving at some point, or even swapping to Myers’ side. The redhead decides to omit that, continuing instead, gaze gentle and comforting, “I will admit though—I was worried. Too much, even.”

So Mi sighs, closing her eyes, feeling guilt creeping in. “You… shouldn’t have had to.”

The netrunner feels a tender and gentle touch on her left cheek. She feels V’s fingers, soft, lenient, slowly caressing her cheek and moving her gaze to meet the merc’s one. She opens her eyes, eyes that are met with a look full of confidence, empathy, assurance.

“Hey,” the merc says, voice quiet and soothing, further smoothening her caress. “Not leaving you, not going anywhere.”

V didn’t even know herself what possessed her to do that. She just felt like it was the right thing to do, to comfort the purple haired woman like that. And she also, deep down, really wanted to feel her, too. That smooth, beautiful, and warm skin of hers.

“Was pretty worried after our last convo, y’know,” V then says and pulls her hand back, awkwardly staring somewhere to the left. “Which ended… quite troubling, to say the least,” she continues, remembering how the Blackwall hurt both her and the ‘runner.

The netrunner takes a deep breath, not knowing which words to pick. “I ran out of time,” she finally says, looking at the ceiling and leaning back against the railing. “To… to properly explain everything, to get you to know me. All this, it’s… it’s too much.”

“See no problem in that. We’ll have more time later.”

A pause. Even though the entire area is filled with voices and conversations between different people and music, the ambience between the two women feels silent and quiet. As if they have a sound block on the environment around them. V can see the struggle in So Mi’s face, how she wants to say something yet cannot. How she wants to let it all out yet tries her damndest not to.

How she is, perhaps, still hiding something.

“Something wrong?” V carefully asks her, trying to look her in the eyes. The netrunner looks further down, shaking her head. “So Mi, just tell me. Here for you,” the merc presses, her concern rising further in her voice.

Song shakes her head, sadness and disappointment never leaving her. “You said Reed came back to serve Myers. And…”

“Reminded you of the clusterfuck from seven years back?”

The netrunner swallows and nods. “V, I’ve made so many mistakes. Too many to count. I don’t want to make another one. Between us this time.”

“So Mi, we all make mistakes,” V assures her, taking a small step closer. “No one, nobody is perfect. Guilt sucks, there’s no escaping remorse. This whole Reed sitch? Can’t cling onto it your whole life. Sometimes you just take what’s left of you, and just… walk away.”

“I just…” the netrunner pauses, words and thoughts all over the place, “I thought if I could control the future I’d feel safe, always… But… guess I should’ve looked to the past. To lessons about loss, repeated, repeated…” Song’s voice becomes sadder and sadder, her tone becoming grim. “Maybe then… maybe…” she stutters as her eyes fill up with tears. Tears that threaten to spill and unravel her inner turmoil.

“Just don’t give up on me. Just don’t, So Mi,” V slightly tilts her head, putting a strong emphasis on the last sentence.

“I don’t know how, never knew…” So Mi lets out a dry chuckle, a chuckle pumped with grief and sorrow. “Look… look where it’s gotten me. A weapon…” she sobs, clenching her teeth hard. “Just another weapon…”

And there it goes. A tear spilling down the netrunner’s cheek. Reflecting light in itself, making itself clearly visible to the younger woman, softening her gaze and shattering her heart.

It’s after hearing those words that V, without second thought, leans closer to So Mi, gently wrapping her hands around the netrunner, pulling her into a tender hug. She can feel how Song also carefully wraps her arms behind her back, her grip is weak, as if she’s scared. Of V? Of herself? Who knows. What matters is that she needs this moment. Another tear spills, a heavier one; they both close their eyes, embracing the moment.

“You’re not a weapon, So Mi,” V whispers. “Not to me.”

And here it is. The merc can feel how the netrunner’s grip tightens hard, how Song nuzzles into her shoulder, how she lets out a heavy sob. How her body trembles. How she cries. All that she accumulated in the last seven, hell, thirteen years, pops open, released like a flood.

V doesn’t stop her. Just lets the time pass. Ten seconds, thirty, a minute. They don’t care. They don’t care if anyone’s watching them. They don’t care if both their lives are slowly running out. All they care about is sharing this moment. Two sailors on the same boat that has its destination set to oblivion. Two people who understand each other more than anyone else in this forsaken world. Two people whose bond has already become so strong they no longer need words to express themselves to one another. A byproduct of the Relic? A byproduct of their empathy towards each other? It doesn’t matter. What matters is that it’s real.

V then realizes herself, as does So Mi. They finally disengage, pull back, yet stay close to each other. V’s heart is racing, beating fast, breath’s a bit unstable. The merc can see how, despite still struggling, the netrunner feels calmer. Way calmer, no more storms raging inside. She needed that. And V gave it to her, out of her heart.

“Thank you,” Song whispers, wiping away her tears and adjusting her makeup so that it doesn’t look broken and loose.

“Come on. Let’s get you outta here,” V says after a ten second pause, finally managing to glance at something else besides the netrunner’s eyes. She briefly looks at the first level, checking if anyone’s staring at them. Seems like no one—everyone’s invested in whatever business they have here.

The older woman shakes her head. “That’s… not happening, V.”

“It is,” V chuckles, looking at her with a surprised smile. “I can get us outta here, both of us. Just trust me.”

“Not the point,” Song objects, finally getting a full grip on her thoughts and her inner turmoil. She takes a deep breath, leaning against the railing behind her, continuing, “I still don’t have the cure, V. Hansen’s got the tech, and I gotta wait to get my hands on it. I run now, I die. That’s why I need you here.”

Right, how could she forget, the merc thinks to herself. The most important detail.

Thus, the merc nods, letting the netrunner continue. “Someone pulled the tech I’m after out of a bunker under Dogtown,” she explains. “Tech that can cure me from all the Blackwall infection and repair my neural connections. I need to klep it. Only way I see of doing that now is to stay close, play the prisoner.”

“Right…”

“We’ll wait for an opportunity and pounce,” Song says as she leans off the railing and slowly walks to the left of the merc, putting her hands on her hips. “I’ll be on the inside, ask for your help when the time’s right. I can flee once I have that tech.”

“Sure hope this won’t end up like SF1 stuff,” V snorts, glancing at So Mi and noticing how they are being approached by a certain someone.

That someone being Kurt Hansen, a glass of champagne in his right hand.

“Ah, So Mi,” he enthusiastically says, handing that glass to the netrunner, which she accepts with a fake smile. “Care to introduce your friend? It’s not often I’m simply not familiar with guests attending my own party. And I never forget a face,” he continues, staring directly at the mercenary and extending his right hand to her for a handshake. “Kurt Hansen.”

“Name’s V,” she replies back, accepting his handshake and putting on a smirk with her next words being, “Lizzy Wizzy’s bodyguard. And So Mi’s plus one.”

She could spot how Song’s smile briefly transforms from a fake one to a real one and then back to a fake one. The merc’s words definitely got to her. She could also barely spot how the ‘runner drops something in her glass, can’t see what though.

“Really…? Never would’ve guessed,” Hansen takes a stoic stance, crossing his arms behind his back and thoughtfully shifting his glance from the netrunner to the merc and back. Glance that is full of suspicion and skepticism towards the merc and her words. “In any case, enjoy your evening,” he continues, fully turning towards So Mi. “Well… I need to grab you, darling. I’ve a couple of NC politicos here who’re dying to meet you. And if we’re to keep hungry rats from devouring Dogtown, we really do need to feed them the occasional scraps,” he finishes, giving V an ominous look, something she decides to ignore.

“I’m all yours, Kurt,” Songbird replies, downing the rest of her drink and placing the glass on the bar table behind the younger woman. “See you soon, V,” she smiles one last time at the merc as she turns around and walks off down the mezzanine with the Colonel.

V keeps her glance on So Mi up until she is out of her vision. She then closes her eyes, taking a deep breath and thinking what to do next.

To her surprise, the moment she opens her eyes, a holo-projection of the netrunner is sitting on the railing in front of her, legs crossed, a mischievous smile on her face. The same mischievous smile she had back at the expo hall. The merc then also notes that ‘Relic Packet 32’ message is displayed in her top-left Kiroshi display, something she hasn’t noticed up until now.

“And here I thought you left me on my lonesome,” V sarcastically smirks, feeling warmth inside her at the sight of the ‘runner. She’s actually praising the Relic right now, something she hasn’t done in her entire life. At least one more good thing came out of it besides the Militech software that Song herself gave her.

So Mi smiles back, lowering her gaze, replying, “Reestablished our link from that… moment we shared.”

“Could hug you again, if you want, just dunno if you’d feel it.”

It was genuine. Sarcastic, yes, but still, she meant it.

“Doubt I would,” Song chuckles, looking in the merc’s eyes. V sees her glance, that same glance that makes her feel her own heartbeat rise again, jumping all over the place. She forgets how to breathe for a moment, only focusing on those perfect orchid lips. Lips she’s drawn to…

Dammit.

“So, what was that?” V finally ‘wakes up’, shifting her gaze around the area. “This surprisingly friendly attitude with that shitbag?” she clarifies.

“Yes. Gilded cage and a charade, V. Textbook example,” Song explains, jumping off the railing. “Doing what I need to to survive, to get what I want. I’m lettin’ Hansen show me off like his personal trophy.”

Suddenly, they both hear someone’s voice from behind the merc. “V!” Lizzy exclaims, putting her hand on the merc’s shoulder, prompting her to look at her. “Finally! Could’ve told me where you were off to!”

V blinks. So Mi does, too, looking at the two. “Sorry,” the merc shrugs. “Kinda… forgot.”

“Uh-huh,” the pop-star doesn’t believe her. “I have a concert in five.”

“You need my help?”

“No,” Lizzy takes her hand off. “Stay here, watch the show.”

The singer and the merc look at each other, still and silent. Lizzy reaches out and adjusts some of V’s hair that’s in her eyes, carefully so. So Mi shuffles uncomfortably, not knowing why, averting her gaze. The pop-star laughs quietly and then goes downstairs, leaving the redhead by her lonesome with a ghost in her head.

“Thought it was a joke when you said you’re her bodyguard,” So Mi remarks, her gaze still lingering somewhere else other than V.

“Yeah,” V mumbles. “Weird, eh?”

“And… there’s anything else… ‘tween you two?”

The merc frowns, glancing at Song. “Huh?”

“Nothing.”

“That jealousy I hear?” V smirks widely, revealing her teeth.

So Mi looks at her, stammering, “Wh— No? Couldn’t care less if you’re dating someone or not.”

“Mhm,” the merc leans on the table next to her. She then chuckles, shaking her head, “No. There’s nothing between me and Lizzy. She actually did me a huge favor letting me be her bodyguard for tonight. And she’s… never mind.”

Songbird hums, but replies nothing. Just crosses her arms and looks at the floor, shuffling her feet.

“So, your cure—how do we get it?” the merc sighs, remembering what they were talking about before Hansen showed up.

“I need the neural matrix—secret tech that incorporates AIs from beyond the Blackwall.”

“Fucking what now?” V nervously chuckles.

“Sounds scary, but trust me—it’s safe,” So Mi reassures her, putting her hands on her hips. “Said matrix is nested in a mainframe Hansen pulled out of a bunker. The mainframe’s secured, but Hansen lacks the key—that’s the problem.”

The redhead quirks a brow in confusion. “Neural matrix? What is it, exactly?”

“I’ll tell you later. We don’t have the time now.”

“Why not?” V blinks. “Having all detes from the get-go might be useful, y’know.”

“I might be talking to you, but in the flesh I’m with Hansen,” So Mi sighs in return, briefly glancing at the first floor behind her. “I’ll need to focus, play nice in a minute or he’ll suspect something’s up.”

V forms a wide smirk on her face, remembering something Song has told her at the Dogtown gate. “What happened to Song ‘Multitasking Is My Middle Name’ So Mi I wonder?” she grins, teasing the netrunner.

She really wanted to do that, badly. And the end result is more than satisfactory for her, as So Mi can only close her eyes, smiling and shaking her head in return. “Hate it when you tease me like this,” Song replies back, unable to display any sort of irritation or annoyance at her words.

“Do you now?”

Another five second pause. Tension rises, exponentially with each second. They can only look at each other, just like that, in silence, no word spoken, the netrunner’s breath heavy as the merc’s breath’s nonexistent, slowed to a stop point.

They really both need to focus.

“So what’s your plan?” V finally asks, blinking away her thoughts.

“Hansen needs me and a duo of ‘runners who worked on this tech in the past,” Song starts explaining, slowly walking left and right. “They actually grabbed access codes they’re willing to unload for a price. Classic black market shit. They’re bringing access, I’m bringing know-how about how to pull matrix and data off the mainframe. We’re to work side-by-side. Giving us a chance.”

“Right,” V affirms. “And what’s on me to do?”

So Mi takes a deep breath.

“When the ‘runners show up for the meet with Hansen, I’ll extract the matrix. The meeting will be at the stadium, meaning shitton security and armed forces. Now, I could override the entire stadium and recalibrate its defenses, but it would take a lot out of me to breach all its ICE. Thus, I wrote a daemon that can open a backdoor for me. You’ll sneak in, jack it into the stadium’s mainframe, allowing me to easily cut through.”

The merc ponders about her plan for a second. “Okay,” she then nods. “Sure.”

“Champagne glass over there. Has a shard with my malware. Take it,” So Mi points at the glass she put on the bar table a few minutes ago. V picks it up, taking out the aforementioned chip. The moment she wants to slot it in her head, though, Song immediately stops her, “Do not. It has malware, I just told you.”

V clicks her tongue, and hides the shard in her pocket instead. Truly a box.

Lights suddenly dim. It seems like Lizzy’s show is about to start.

“Really need to go now, V,” Song takes a final look at the mercenary. “I’ll contact you later, explain more in detail. I’m counting on you. And thank you, again,” she smiles, disappearing from the merc’s vision.

“Your body can be chrome… But your heart never changes. It wants what it wants.”

Lizzy’s words resonate in V’s head, as she remembers her first meeting with the pop-star. She lets out a heavy sigh, unable to put the netrunner out of her mind.

“Fuck…” the merc says outloud to herself, shaking her head and closing her eyes.

“V!” Lizzy approaches the merc who’s sitting at the bar, taking a seat right next to her. “How was it?”

“Concert was nova,” the redhead replies as it is, smiling. “Haven’t seen anything like that.”

The show was, indeed, gorgeous, but it made V think of something. The similarities. At first, Lizzy, who was performing on stage, had bright long wings around her, symbolically representing Songbird. Then, she fell, and a wolf wrapped in chains was chasing her, and the merc couldn’t stop wondering if it somehow implied Reed caging So Mi. Then, there was the spider, webbing and trapping Songbird, just like Myers did prior. Finally, the stars, with Lizzy-Songbird flying up high.

Chasing freedom maybe? Maybe, maybe not. After all, this was just a pure coincidence, nothing more.

“You know, of all places, never would’ve thought you would perform in Dogtown,” V remarks, looking at the singer. The merc has a glass of whiskey at hand, but only a small amount—she’s at work as a bodyguard after all.

“Hah, yeah… I might be a bit out of place, but I get around…” the pop-star replies, smiling. “And Dogtown, well… it always gets my blood coursing…”

“Guess that explains the bike choice. Headset’s nova by the way.”

“Like it? Here,” Lizzy takes off her headset, ‘Amikiri Sound Cutter’ carved onto it. “It’s yours, then.”

V blinks. “For real?”

“Sure, got loads of ‘em. You’ll look like you’re on team LizWiz. It’s liable to take you places… I want you to have it.”

The redhead takes it, putting it on her head. She probably looks insanely stupid right now, but she can’t be bothered to give a shit about anyone’s opinions.

“Wow. Thanks, Lizzy,” she smiles back. It is then that she realizes that they both are approached by an already familiar someone.

“The show was spectacular,” Kurt Hansen tells Lizzy, smiling. “I appreciate you being here.”

“Thank you,” the pop-star smiles back, nodding.

Hansen then glances at the mercenary. Lizzy notices, and introduces her to him, “This is V, by the way. My bodyguard. The best of the best.”

“Is that so?” Kurt puts his hands behind his back. “For a moment there, I was quite skeptical.”

“V is somewhat shy at times,” the singer touches the merc’s shoulder with her finger, pressing lightly. “But she is nice. And dangerous.”

“Well, pleasure meeting you,” Hansen nods. “I’ll leave you both to it then.”

He walks off, leaving the duo sitting at the bar. A few peeps then approach, asking Lizzy for an autograph, something she gives without much hesitation. In the meantime, V downs the rest of her drink, trying to have no thoughts in her head for the rest of the day.

“Okay, V, we can leave,” the pop-singer tells her after roughly thirty minutes pass. “You can take me back.”

They both get up. Just as V starts walking towards the stairs that lead outside the area, she looks around and sees So Mi, sitting with a glass of champagne at the same place where Hansen’s been the first time she’s seen him. The Colonel is not next to her, though; his secretary, Jago, is, though, leaning against a bar table. The netrunner notices her, slightly nodding, and V smiles.

It’s night outside. Moon shining and illuminating the streets. It’s time to go home.

Chapter Text

So Mi had her escape in plans for a long time. Half a year, to be precise.

It all started way back, actually. When she realized she started forgetting bits after bits of her memory. Her precious ones, too, the one she cherished. At first, it seemed nothing extraordinary—everyone forgets something as time goes, right?

Well, this was beyond a simple coincidence. She found herself losing her habits, too. She found herself getting isolated more and more, depressed and fatigued.

It was then that she realized she had to do a proper scan of herself, see what’s wrong. And the results weren’t what she expected. She had a sickness, but not just any kind—corrosion of her body, down to her DNA, overwriting all of her, rewiring synapses in her brain. Her memories, altered or erased, blurred with reality, yet not affecting her ability to netrun.

And then there were whispers. Terrifying, ominous ones. She felt like she had someone behind her back, only to find no one there once she turned around.

Her personal therapist did a full evaluation of her. Found something weird in Song’s pattern, reported it to Myers herself, advising to put the netrunner off duty.

Yet the President never did. While Songbird’s condition became worse and worse by the day.

In time, she realized everything. How she would die there, caged, chained, wired to a netrunning chair, until there’s nothing left of her, until life got snuffed out of her. Used as a weapon, a tool for reaching beyond the Blackwall, all to pursue something that had lost all meaning to her. It was either she took matters into her own hands, or continued to serve until there was nothing left of the Brooklyn girl who enjoyed Saturday hangovers with her friends.

It was either she tried and got out, escaped, or… or ended the pain.

But everyone has the right to freedom and survival. Everyone has the right to fight for what’s theirs. And her memories and personality—they were hers. Not Myers’. Not Reed’s. Not the FIA’s. Not anyone else’s.

She knew the FIA would not be able to help her, even if they tried. The fact that they didn’t even try was enough, too. In fact, there was no regular treatment that could fix her—if there was someone who knew how to, they would be somewhere from beyond, somewhere past the Blackwall.

Like a rogue AI.

She researched, and researched. Found something—project Cynosure, buried deep, with sectors all over the NUS and Free States, including in Night City of all places, where she was posted during the Unification War. She researched deeper, and realized there was something else—a mainframe, encrypted and hardcoded, a storage for a neural matrix, said matrix being a small container housing a literal rogue AI in it, trapped in its boundary.

That was it. Her chance. If she could get her hands on it, if she could process it, issue commands to it, and prime it to fix her, she could salvage her life, and whatever remained of her. Problem was—how would she get it? And who would perform the treatment?

No regular ripper knew this tech. It was alien to them. It was something only top neurosurgeons and megacorporations were familiar with. Besides, getting to it was another problem, considering she was under constant surveillance, unable to walk freely by her lonesome even in broad daylight, with security and bodyguards constantly accompanying her.

The neural matrix was in the Cynosure mainframe, which was in a bunker underneath Dogtown, whose ruler was Kurt Hansen. She knew him from when she was posted there, so reaching him, in secret, wasn’t difficult. However, what she didn’t expect was him requesting Myers delivered to him in exchange for access to the tech she needed.

No matter how much she despised and disliked the President, she couldn’t just trade lives. That’s not who she was. She wasn’t a cold blooded killer like Reed tried to mold her into, and she wasn’t going to have blood on her hands. She was gonna try to escape with the least collateral, risking as little lives as possible, since she wasn’t worth more than them. No one, in fact, was.

Hence, she could try and dupe Hansen by getting someone who could help her get Myers away from him. She needed someone who wouldn’t backstab her, wouldn’t refuse to help her at the last second, and wouldn’t sell her down the line after it was all over. She needed someone reliable, strong, and competent, too. But she also had to have the highest leverage on said person, since if Myers and the FIA tried to get them on their side and turn them against her, she had to ensure the chance of that happening was minimal. The highest leverage was a must. And it’s then when she heard about the Konpeki Plaza incident that ended with Saburo Arasaka’s death.

She looked deeper, as requested by the FIA, and purely due to her own interest. The FIA figured out that there were two mercenaries on site, identities of who remained unknown. Songbird knew, though. Jackie Welles and V. The former died, the latter died and literally came back to life, with the Relic now slowly and painfully overwriting her mind.

That was her chance. She could use said mercenary to save Myers and get her away from Hansen’s wrath. V was competent, seemed to aspire to become an NC legend, and, due to the Relic, her abilities were incomputable. Yet, what leverage could she have on them?

Promise to help them was the most obvious choice. If she promised to cure them, if she promised to save them, it was her ultimate leverage. Tell a bit of half-truths there and there, omit a few details there and there, and voila—V is hers.

Problem was: V suffered from essentially the same predicament as Songbird herself. Mind overwrite. The neural matrix could save them both, yet there was one big but in all this. The neural matrix could only be used once.

It was the nature of the AI that was the reason for it. It relied on continuous evolution to exist, and thus, once the commands were issued, it would’ve disintegrated, leaving no traces of itself left. In addition, it could not be cloned—a rogue AI of such complexity required immeasurable computing power to process it, first of all, and then, on top of it, because of its nature of continuous evolution, one couldn’t just copy-paste it like, say, an engram.

So she had to lie to V. Lie to them that she could save them both. And save only herself, despite how morally fucked that would be.

But V was just a criminal, too. A thief, a kidnapper, a robber, a killer, a terrorist at the end of the day. Why should she care? Why should she worry about betraying this random NC merc? She would’ve done the same in her shoes, So Mi tried to gaslight herself. No one in NC was innocent, everyone had bones in their closets. Everyone had something to hide. She could do it. She could trick V, and no one would be the wiser.

Yet, at the last second, she refused to go through with it. Instead, she decided to approach V a bit differently. She decided not to lie that she could save them both.

But lie that the cure she’s after couldn’t save V.

She had to. She had to lie that the neural matrix could not save V. Otherwise, if V knew everything from the start, there’s no way she wouldn’t have betrayed the netrunner. They both couldn’t care less about one another, and no one could be trusted, no matter how nice they seemingly looked. No matter how good their intentions looked. No matter how many ‘trust me’s they could give.

She decided to approach the merc carefully. Dealing with peeps like this, when she didn’t have much to offer them—the only way of doing that was to spill her story. Add some sobs there and there, spill some tears—all intentionally, of course. Show how vulnerable she was. Intentionally, too.

Manipulate. Manipulate with fakeness. Manipulate to get what she wanted, what she needed. She needed V to believe her, to believe how dire her situation was, how inescapable it was—hack her Relic, appear fragile, downright pathetic, cry and sob in misery. The FIA playbook 101, something she learned from Alex, her partner back in the day—when you want to get something, show how much you need it. Give people what they want to hear, what they want to see.

When their conversation almost ended back then, in V’s apartment, Song decided to ask whether they could stay open comms and whether she could chat with the merc over the next week. Another manipulation attempt—since she didn’t have good leverage anymore in terms of reward (she had no idea whether the Mikoshi promise was enough), the next best leverage was making the merc care about her. The more V cared about her, the harder it would be to betray the netrunner, sell her back to the FIA.

It did pay off. Problem was, So Mi started caring about V, too. And she didn’t know whether it was a good or a bad thing.

The next day after the Sapphire party, while waiting for So Mi to contact her, V decided to drive around Dogtown and see what’s happening. She, unsurprisingly, found three increased organized crime activities, all in different locations. One in Longshore Stacks, next to the abandoned building on Liz Kress street, teeming with Hansen’s soldiers; one in Luxor Heights, a bit close to where Slider resides, led by the Voodoo Boys, of course; last one in Terra Cognita, organized by scavengers. Being the V-gilante she is, V rushed through all of them, eliminating all resistance along the way. One good thing that came out of it was the fact that in each crime zone she discovered old Militech dataterms, the ones So Mi talked about before, the ones that had cool and fancy software that her Relic could eat up. As a result, her BIOS got updated to support some new mechanics related to optical camo. Not bad, but she didn’t have one; probably about time to install it and make good use of it.

As soon as she dealt with all the organized crime activities, she headed straight to the Moth to chill and relax a bit. Daphne, the bartender and seemingly the owner of the place, already saw V as a regular and thus greeted her with a smile and an already prepared glass of Centzon tequila. Something the merc was pretty glad to drink the moment she took a seat at the bar.

“How’s life?” Daphne smiles while wiping one of the glasses with a towel.

“Eh, moving slowly,” the merc downs her drink.

The bartender nods, wiping the table with a towel. “Anything new on your horizon?”

Horizon? Speaking of…

“Hold up, need to answer a call,” V raises her hand the moment she sees the familiar ‘Relic Packet 32’ message pop up on screen.

Songbird calls, finally. The merc has been waiting to hear her voice the whole day, for no known reason whatsoever. Or, perhaps known, but barely admittable.

“V, heads up—I can’t talk long, but two things, quickly,” So Mi immediately informs V the moment the call goes through. “First—good news. I managed to upgrade your Relic’s firmware. You’ll see what I mean in a minute. Don’t worry—completely painless.”

V can feel a familiar impulse course through her body, a little tingling in her fingertips. She opens up her BIOS firmware again and sees how she now has upgrades for her mantis blades of all things.

What in the actual fuck? Who is this netrunner, and how many more tricks does she have up her sleeve?

“Relic upgraded? How’d you manage it?” the merc is unable to hold her surprised and impressed tone. So Mi just keeps amazing her more and more ever since they first met each other. And she is all up for it. “No easy feat, I guess, tweaking tech that advanced,” the merc continues, letting out a small chuckle.

“Hm, let’s say I’ve had extra time on my hands, more than I expected…”

The worryness in the netrunner’s tone doesn’t go by unnoticed. “Don’t worry. I’m getting you outta there,” the younger woman says, her voice soft, carrying concern in it.

“I know.”

“‘First—good news,’ you said… So, there’s a second thing?” V carefully asks while giving Daphne a sign to refill her glass with tequila.

“Right, it’s… super important,” Song strains. “Feel like I owe you this. And we can go over the plan in detail.”

“Okay.”

“I’m sending you coordinates. Come after dark, we should be able to talk freely,” So Mi continues as V’s Kiroshi optics start displaying a progress bar accompanied with ‘Transferring Coordinates’ text. As soon as the transfer completes, the netrunner finishes the call, disconnecting, “Okay. Need to delta. But see you soon.”

The merc checks the location. Seems to be somewhere next to Eventide, Slider’s hideout.

“Alright, I’m done,” she then informs the bartender.

Daphne raises an eyebrow. “Done with what?”

“The call. Told you I needed to talk to someone.”

“I suppose your call consisted of two minutes of silence, did I get that right?”

Fuck. V completely forgot that there’s absolutely no sign when she’s talking to So Mi. Just like talking to Johnny. Usually, when one makes a holo-call, their eyes light up orange. In the Relic-holo case, there’s nothing. Even more than that, V doesn’t even have to speak out loud unlike in a regular holo-call. She kinda messed up on that one; hopefully, this Daphne doesn’t think she’s schizo or something.

“Never mind,” the merc shakes her head, downing her drink and turning her gaze away to look outside the window.

She doesn’t spot the weird and suspicious look the bartender gives her, though. A look full of skepticism, confusion… mystery.

At around eleven in the night V’s reached the destination Songbird told her about. It is some sort of balcony at Luxor Heights, one of the only places where there’s any vegetation left.

“Well… here we are,” she immediately hears a familiar and soul-warming voice that belongs to the netrunner who’s leaning against a fence. “You and me, face to face.”

V looks around, putting hands on her hips. “This spot—didn’t pick it at random, I guess,” she sighs.

“Guessed right. Wanted to show you something… Means a lot to me, y’know,” Song answers, smiling. “Come over here,” she nods in the direction of a small valley and starts walking down a half-beaten path, straight to the bushes. V follows her, not asking a question in return. The netrunner leads the merc right past them, revealing a beautiful underpass area. There are couches, chairs, grill stands and more. A perfect place to hang out with your chooms, talk about life and stuff.

So Mi teleports and sits on one of the sofa chairs, flicking her fingers and lighting up the different LED lights that are spread out across the overpass above them. The area gets lit up with a soft ambient red, soothing red.

“So, what’s so special about this place?” V finally asks as she takes a seat across So Mi and looks directly in her eyes.

“Lived just two blocks off… while I was here in NC on assignment,” the netrunner replies while looking at the murals on the wall behind V. Technically, of course, she cannot see them, since she needs the merc to look at them; however, she knows they are there, a bit remembering how they look like. She then draws her knees up, hugging them with her arms and continuing, “Locals come here after sunset. Fire up grills, crack open beers, talk about nothing in particular. I’d swing by here come evening sometimes. All of it, every inch is special. Reminds me of Brooklyn—actually from there.”

V leans all the way back against the couch, crossing both her arms and legs. “Wouldn’t mind hearing about it—Brooklyn.”

“Mmm… got this memory…” Song looks up, gazing at the overpass above them, a reminiscing smile appearing on her face. “It was the night before I raided a Militech datafort. I’m sitting out on my fire escape. Just lit a J. Down on the street, I see a party starting. There’s playful screams, laughter… someone’s blasting funk from their stoop. I hear Willie, too—sells the best scopdogs around. He’s shittalking one of his chooms. And there’s bonfire smoke in the air… Safe, familiar.”

“Were they celebrating something?”

“Yeah. A Thursday,” So Mi glances at V, slightly adjusting her position.

They pause for a bit, diving deep into their thoughts. Song—in her thoughts about her memories. V—in her thoughts about Song and what she has just shared with her.

“Yearning to go back,” V finally points out, grasping the importance of this place as a memento of Song’s past. Past she’s missing.

The netrunner shakes her head, lowering her gaze. “Can’t rewind the clock, V. By the time you realize you miss something, it’s usually too late.”

Another pause, filled with tension. V can see that Song wants to ask her something but cannot start the actual conversation. So, she decides to do that for her, asking, “So, what is it you wanted to talk about?”

So Mi gets up from her sofa chair and sits to the right of the merc. She takes a deep breath and looks at her, keeping a safe distance. “V, please be honest with me…”

“Yeah?”

“Are you doing all this… as an FIA operative?”

“Huh?” V raises an eyebrow, a chuckle escaping her mouth.

“I’ve seen your FIA profile. It was created the day after SF1 crashed,” So Mi explains, trying to hide her nervousness.

Ah yes. The shortest FIA career ever, as Johnny likes to say.

“Ah, that shit,” V takes a deep breath, internally laughing at the final outcome of her being an agent. “No, So Mi. I left them literally the very same day.”

“That so?”

“Not before meeting Reed, I guess,” the merc shrugs, keeping her voice filled with amusement, trying to show the netrunner she has nothing to worry about. “Told you, I had to find him so that he could exfil Myers out of Dogtown. After that, Myers told me and Reed that we gotta find you.”

“And you said ‘no’ to her?” So Mi questions back.

V pauses. So Mi asked to be truthful, thus, perhaps, she should be as straightforward as she can be. “Well, she tried to make a deal with me, you know,” V answers. “Said she’d use any and all the assets she has to fulfill said deal, granted I find you and bring you to her. Told me to tell whatever I want.”

The netrunner lowers her gaze. “I see…”

“But, after thinking about it… I told her to go fuck herself. And just walked away as you asked,” V finishes her story, looking at So Mi. The netrunner has a barely visible smile on her face, her face lights up with relief.

“I appreciate it, V,” Song gazes at the merc’s eyes. She then averts her gaze, and adds, “There’s… something I gotta tell you, too.”

“I’m listening.”

“I’ll be blunt, but… well, I did manipulate you via emotional strings at times, when we first met each other.”

V snorts, shaking her head, but her smile doesn’t go anywhere. “Tried to have me care for you, didn’t you?”

“Yes. So that you don’t turn against me.”

“Well, you succeeded. Congrats.”

“This feels wrong, V.”

“Hey,” V looks closely at the netrunner, gaze full of understanding and softness. “You did what you had to. I know it. I would’ve done way worse in your shoes, y’know. But caring about you, caring for you—not something I would ever hold against you.”

So Mi remains silent, not knowing what else to say. She does feel a bit guilty. Maybe that’s a good thing, too. V, meanwhile, looks at Dogtown in the distance, bites her lip, and asks, “Is that all? Or… something else you wanted to share?”

“Here.”

A notification pops up in V’s optics, she receives a file. “Don’t open it, please,” Song pleads, and the merc looks at her, a bit confused. The netrunner shuffles, and adds, “Read it if… if I die or if I can’t be saved anymore.”

“So Mi…”

“Please,” Song looks at her, reaching out for V’s hand. It is then that they both realize that they feel each other. They feel warmth of both of their hands, transferring heat between each other, despite the netrunner being holographic. They both look at the place where their hands overlap, yet don’t say anything just yet. Instead, So Mi asks once more, “Promise you’ll open it only if I die or can’t be saved.”

The merc opens her mouth, only to close it right after. She hesitates. A few seconds pass, before she fully takes So Mi’s hand and holds it, nodding, “I promise.”

And the older woman smiles. For a brief moment, they look at each other like that, unable to disengage. V’s eyes drift a few times to look at the netrunner’s lips, feeling a phantom pull once again, and, for a moment, it seemed like Song wanted it, too. Or, maybe, it was V’s delusion?

So Mi averts her gaze then to look at the city. “Let’s… Let’s go over the plan, shall we?”

The merc turns away her head, too, nodding awkwardly, “Yeah. Let’s do it.”

Song pulls herself together, shuffling. “So, the VIPs will be there tomorrow, one of them will join me to extract the matrix, another will stay with Hansen. Once I extract it, I’ll hack the stadium defenses, turn them hostile against Hansen’s guards.”

“Right,” V affirms. “And that’s where I come in with that shard of yours?”

“Yes. I’ll guide you to the stadium mainframe all the way from the underground parking lot. You’ll slot it in, and then we’ll rendezvous somewhere in the middle.”

“Hansen won’t suspect anything?”

“I’ll let him know that I need a few minutes by my lonesome,” the netrunner explains. “Then, I’ll hack the doors, lock them, and slide into the maintenance area where they’re working on a Chimera prototype so that Hansen’s people don’t catch up to me.”

“Just don’t hack one more of those, I don’t need you flatlining there a second time,” the mercenary remarks, smirking.

“I won’t,” Song smiles back. “Only bots and turrets, something with low ICE and easy to control. You and I then will run to the sewers once we meet,” she finishes, leaning against the back of the couch, like V does.

The redhead tilts her head. “Do we need a car to drive to some hideout?”

“Yeah. We’ll need transport to get outta there afterwards. I was about to arrange two cars for you and me, so that—”

“No need to,” V doesn’t even let her finish, “Gonna arrange a ride myself. Know a perfect hideout, too.”

So Mi quirks a brow. “One ride or two?”

“One. I’m not letting you outta my sight ever again after we escape. Not until I get you cured at least,” V replies without hesitation, smiling.

“But V, what if—”

“Don’t worry. Just trust me, okay?”

The netrunner averts her gaze at her words. There is a moment of silence between the two after that. V is silent more or less because she is waiting for the netrunner to reply with something. Song, on the other hand…

“Something wrong?” V can see concern on So Mi’s face, but the older woman simply shakes her head.

“No, it’s just…” the netrunner starts, taking a deep breath and looking up at the overpass above them. “I know Myers is not stupid enough to think I’m actually KIA. I’m convinced she knows I’m the one who sabotaged SF1. Means she thinks it was my plan to disappear all along.”

“You think she knows you’re with Hansen?” V raises an eyebrow, confusion and skepticism in her voice. “Meaning Reed and other FIA agents might be watching closely? Even me?”

“We shouldn’t take it out as a possibility,” So Mi bites her lip, and glances at the merc next. “But yes. I’ve known Myers long enough to know that she won’t make it easy for me to escape till the very end,” she adds, closing her eyes and feeling fear, again, engulfing her. So difficult not to worry about your next day when your own life and survival are at stake.

V knows that all too well and, hence, comforts the ‘runner, saying “Well, I can guarantee you that they ain’t tracking us to where we’re headed.”

So Mi smiles, feeling oddly safe next to the merc. Safe, again. The fact that the younger woman cares about her so much unironically both rips her heart apart and gives her the peace she’s always striving to get.

“All right,” Song accepts. “We’ll follow your escape route after the stadium then.”

“What’s after that, by the way? Never mentioned how or where you’re gonna get cured,” V carefully asks, not wanting to pressure Song. She knows that the netrunner already has enough stuff on her hands. Thus, if she doesn’t want to talk about it just yet, then it’s all fine.

So Mi hesitates to answer at first, but does it anyway in a few seconds. “You’ll help me skip town,” she answers, “I already cut a deal with a black clinic far, far from Night City. There, the rippers can access the matrix and use an algorithm to create a prototype of my cure. They’ll need me present to run their tests. The moment they’re finished, we can proceed with helping you.”

For a moment, V wants to ask how long exactly would the treatment take, yet restrains herself. Not a good time to ask. Definitely not a good time.

“Hope this works out for you,” the redhead murmurs instead, adding gentleness and softness to her tone, actually meaning it. She really does want it to work out for the netrunner. She wants it, a lot.

Still, though. The survival instinct does slightly kick in V, urging her to ask at least one question regarding her own situation. If Songbird is already proficient enough with the Relic, being able to upgrade it not once, but twice, then, perhaps, she might be able to get something else out of it.

“Can I ask you to do something in advance for me? Help-wise?” she wonders, leaning off the couch.

The netrunner immediately nods. “Sure, what is it?”

“Got the Relic 2.0 blueprints from its creator, Anders Hellman,” V explains, pulling up the data file with the information she’s talking about. Maybe Alt could have some use of them, but, seeing as So Mi got a hang of it, maybe she can pull something up, too. The merc continues, “They are kinda useless to me since I’m no expert in this tech. Maybe you can figure something out, find some way to get it the fuck out of my head or something? Maybe Mikoshi won’t be needed after all?”

“Send through. I’ll take a look,” Song instantly agrees. V proceeds to transfer her the blueprints and all the documentation regarding the biochip.

“Nova,” the redhead smirks. “Thanks, So Mi.”

“No, thank you, V. Truly.”

With those said words, So Mi slowly and gently puts her left hand over V’s that is currently resting on the merc’s right lap. The younger woman feels the touch, she does, just like a few minutes ago, something both of them ignored at the time. Now, though, she can actually concentrate on the netrunner’s hand, its warmth. As if she is there, right next to her.

“How the hell am I feeling a hologram’s hand right now?” V chortles, her smile transforming into a wide grin full of amazement and amusement.

“It’s really interesting,” So Mi notes, lowering her gaze to look at the place where their hands overlap. She becomes just as intrigued as the merc is at the moment. “Maybe our bond became much stronger, to the point my projection actually stimulates senses in you,” she guesses, slightly frowning, but smiling in return.

“And do you feel it?” V carefully asks, staring right into Song’s brown eyes, feeling how she drowns yet again in them, being pulled towards them. Pulled towards her.

“I… I think I do, actually,” the older woman notes. And she does—right now, So Mi is in her ‘prison cell’ in the Black Sapphire, lying on her bed, ‘talking’ to V. Yet she can also feel the sensation on her left palm right now, she can feel V’s hand, knuckles, fingers, all of it. “Which is even more curious,” she adds, gazing back in the merc’s eyes.

“Meaning that hug I offered you at the Sapphire would’ve worked?” V teases her with a smirk, getting even a wider and more beaming smile out of So Mi.

“Mmm… perhaps yes, perhaps no…”

The redhead breathes in, and looks at the city. She then senses the netrunner slowly and carefully rest her head on her shoulder, tenderly and gently, and she feels it. The comfort, the closeness, the intimacy. So Mi sighs, tiredly, looking at the district, too.

“Will you stay with me?” V asks, holding Songbird’s hand in her own.

And So Mi smiles back. “Of course,” she whispers.

They sit like that for some time. No matter how long, no matter what inner worries they have. They are close, so close to each other, yet so far apart. But it doesn’t matter. What matters is that they’re not alone.

They have each other now. Two sides of the same coin.

Birds with broken wings.

Chapter Text

What is she doing?

She didn’t know. She was drawn to her, and she couldn’t help herself. Yet, at the same time, she was afraid. Tried not to get attached as much as possible, but failed in doing so. She was already too deep into this.

“Will you stay with me?”

She wanted more. More of her. Yet it all felt wrong. Not just because she had to keep this whole deal professional-only, but because she was dying herself, too. If one of them died—another would get hurt. And she didn’t want her to get hurt. Not after everything that happened to her. Not after how much she’d suffered.

The next day, the first thing the merc did was dial a certain contact of hers and ask to be her driver for today. Done with that, at around 16:00, she finished dressing up and assembling all her equipment, part of which was a pack of ten boosters, the record breaking amount. It’s then that she decided to check her unread messages, one of which was from Songbird herself, reading, “V, heads up—the VIPs arrive at 19:30, stat. Be near the stadium at 19:00, so that I can guide you to the stadium mainframe.”

V texted then, “Got it. Don’t worry, don’t stress, we’ll make it through.”

Five minutes passed before the redhead got her reply, “I know. I will contact you exactly when they arrive.”

The plan was simple: drive into the stadium underground parking lot via a fake ID that So Mi had created for V, navigate the maintenance area with her support to the elevator that leads to the vendor level, sneak to the stadium subnet mainframe, slot in the shard with a daemon supplied by Song, and then cut the way straight to the netrunner. All the while the netrunner would extract the neural matrix she’s after, use the malware to override the stadium and its defenses, and cut her own path to the merc. Seemed plausible, but anything could go wrong, so they had to be careful.

The stadium partially would be on lockdown, Songbird informed V. As she explained, Hansen suspected that after the fiasco with Myers the FIA might be onto him, so he authorized only the most trustworthy people to be in the stadium today. The moment Song would override stadium defenses, all of them should be evacuated anyway, unless BARGHEST does something stupid.

When the clock ticked 17:20, V exited her apartment and went to grab Jackie’s Arch. Her equipment was a bit extended today: Errata, Johnny’s Malorian, Headhunter and Blue Fang knives, 3 EMP grenades and a 10-booster pack. Yeah, she’d have a preem time pumping all that adrenaline into her blood if shit went sideways. Surely Vik wouldn’t get mad when he heard about her newfound addiction.

She actually considered taking a second katana with her—Scalpel. The merc had a good experience in double-wielding swords; slicing everyone on her way with two lethal objects in her hands might give her another extra advantage. In the end, she decided not to, simply because it’s way easier to deflect bullets with one katana at hand than two.

At 19:00 she was right where she needed to be, sitting on her bike and waiting for the netrunner to give her a call. She noticed an exclusive Quadra Sport R-7 ‘Charon’ pull up right into the underground parking lot. Preem wheels, V briefly thought to herself, turning her gaze away.

At 19:20, she got a Relic holo-call and heard an all too familiar voice.

“V, you ready?” So Mi asks, albeit a bit nervous.

The merc nods. “As I can ever be,” she turns on the ignition on her bike and starts driving inside the lot.

“Okay, remember—don’t talk at the entrance gate. Just let them scan you and they should let you in without a problem,” Song continues as the redhead already pulls up to the gate the ‘runner’s just spoken off. V only affirmatively hums in return, focusing on the security guards in front of her.

A camera at the patrol post starts scanning her and her bike. In five seconds, the gate opens, allowing her to drive in, which she does, parking at one of the free spots.

“Okay I’m in,” V informs the older woman in her head as she turns off the ignition and gets off Jackie’s Arch.

“Now, the maintenance room. Look around and you’ll spot two gates. I will open one of them for you. Just don’t let anyone see you.”

She spots the gates Song has mentioned and walks towards them, stopping before them and looking around her. Seems like no one has eyes on her. She crouches, waiting for the netrunner to do her thing. One of the gates opens then, allowing the merc to come through into the maintenance area. There are two guards and two droids, so she carefully sneaks past them the moment she sees the guards not looking in her direction.

“Song, elevator please?” V asks as soon as she reaches and enters the shaft. The doors get hacked and closed, and the elevator starts moving up to the stadium main level.

The moment the redhead exits the shaft, So Mi gives further instructions, “Go right. There will be a door leading to the sewers. Go all the way to the back of the hallway, there’ll be a door on the left. There should be the subnet mainframe behind it. Also, make sure ahead of time that the way towards the sewers isn’t blocked.”

V does precisely that. She carefully walks right, finding a locked double-door that gets remotely opened by the netrunner. She passes through and notices a few crates blocking the entrance towards the sewer tunnel, which she moves with her strength right away. When finished with that, she goes all the way to the back and spots another set of locked doors which Song unlocks for her.

“I see the mainframe,” V observes, crouching in the meantime. “As well as a few guards.”

“Neutralize them, but don’t slot the shard in yet,” Songbird inquires.

“Got it.”

V takes both of her knives. She aims one and throws it precisely in one guard’s head, followed by another one. The two remaining guards get alerted, but can’t do anything as the redhead dashes towards them with an active sandevistan and immediately takes their heads off in a fraction of a second.

“Done and done. See the access point,” she informs, glancing at the corresponding shard slot.

“Perfect,” the netrunner states. “I’ll tell you when I’m ready. Sit and wait, don’t do anything.”

Once 19:40 hits, So Mi realizes that the French netrunner twins have finally arrived to meet with Hansen. Song herself is finishing working on the mainframe, taking last preparation steps. She’s also all this time connected to V via the Relic, through holo only, though, since appearing to the merc as a hologram takes concentration and more energy. And she really needs to focus on what’s in front of her right now.

Relic-holo is a special type of holo because it allows her to see and hear what V does. However, in this case, she decided it’s not a good idea to have another subscreen in her optics display, considering she needs to focus only on what’s in front of her.

It’s time. Preparations are finished and the mainframe is ready to go. The netrunner confirms one last time that the environment in the lab is almost the same as in the original Cynosure bunker. After that, she walks up the stairs to meet the VIPs and Hansen himself.

“Ah, So Mi,” the Colonel says the moment he sees her walk in. The trio are definitely celebrating the upcoming deal success, which can be seen by the open liquor bottle in front of them.

“We can begin. The mainframe is ready,” Songbird immediately informs, not wasting any time. She crosses her arms, awaiting for one of the twins to follow her.

“Shall we?” Aurore, the redhead sister of the two, smiles, standing up and approaching Song. Aymeric, her brother, meanwhile, stands up and walks with Hansen to the window that overviews the lab itself.

Song and Aurore walk downstairs next. The Asian netrunner remains silent for a while, feeling tense on the inside. As soon as they two finally approach the mainframe, So Mi activates the mechanical arms that’ll hold the capsule. Once they extend and grapple it, the laser apparatus starts dismantling it, revealing the core of the mainframe.

“I managed to simulate the mainframe’s native environment—the bunker,” Song informs Aurore, as the arms rotate the capsule, unlocking it. “It’ll be ready for the access codes in a moment.”

The moment the capsule’s shell gets dismantled, the arms push two parts of the capsule apart, revealing the core. On top of it, a smaller capsule, insulated and protected, containing the cure the netrunner is after.

And so, they begin. They approach the mainframe, connecting to it—Aurore with her personal link, So Mi remotely. Connection stabilizes, and Songbird actuates the mainframe. The smaller insulated capsule gets unlocked, revealing the neural matrix, spinning in its supports. To get it, though, they still need the access codes and then a proper lock combination to remove all the safety. One fuckup and the matrix self-destructs, hence Songbird has to be very careful.

Just a little more. The neural matrix finally gets pulled out of the mainframe in a protected mini-capsule. “Okay, your turn,” So Mi tells Aurore. “It’s ready for the access codes.”

“Here goes,” the French twin grins, entering a code combination on a keypad.

Song can feel sweat on her forehead now. She’s so close, yet so nervous; she needs not to fuck it all up at the last step. She rotates the insulation capsule multiple times, entering a secondary key combination that she’s researched and figured out on her own. Finally, it gets unlocked, and it slowly releases the neural matrix. She stops breathing for a moment, reaching out for it with her left hand, gently and carefully taking it, like a priceless possession.

She then taps a mini-compartment on her left side at the waist level. The moment it fully opens, she carefully puts the neural matrix inside it, closing it back. “All’s done,” she looks at the French netrunner, nodding. “You can go upstairs. Tell Kurt I’ll be there shortly.”

“Of course,” Aurore winks at her, something So Mi doesn’t even notice since she has way more serious things to worry about. One of which is hacking the stadium.

As Aurore goes upstairs, Song’s contacts the merc. “I have the neural matrix, V,” she informs. “Slot in the daemon shard. Now.”

A brief delay. “You got it,” she hears, and then, in a second, the lights go off.

Song’s eyes start glowing red. She starts reaching past the Wall, diving deeper into the subnet of the stadium, and getting access to literally everything in the area. Walls of stadium ICE break apart due to her daemon, allowing her to cut through them like butter.

In the midst of darkness, she faintly hears Hansen’s concerned and confused voice on the upper level, as he asks, “What’s happening?”

Sparks start flying, monitors glitch, everything vibrates. She breaches each and every single door, locking them; each and every single turret, targeting them at BARGHEST soldiers; each and every single mech, making them hostile against Hansen’s guards.

Just as she thought everything’s under control, suddenly, an alarm goes off. Red emergency lights turn on everywhere, a broadcast starts blasting through megaphones. “Intruder alert, everyone in their position!” So Mi hears Murphy, one of Hansen’s right-hand henchmen, announce through speakers.

So Mi quirks a brow. “V, what’s going on?”

“Little busy here, Song, focus!” V answers with strain, sounds of flying bullets in the background.

Shit. The merc got spotted. Not good.

Meanwhile, Hansen yells back on the balcony, “Put the stadium on lockdown! Fuck, get Sapphire for support! Must be the fucking FIA!”

Song turns around and sees the Colonel leave the area. She instantly warns the redhead, “V, Hansen’s coming for you!”

“Song, focus!” the merc commands her in return. “Do your thing!”

The netrunner does precisely so. In a few, the stadium’s defenses are completely overridden. She just needs to press one final button. “It’s done,” she affirms over the Relic-holo. “Stadium defenses breached, hostile and online…”

She pushes the ‘trigger.’ Everything gets overloaded, most of the stuff explodes, the Cynosure mainframe itself shatters, and the Blackwall residue that’s only visible to the netrunner and the merc appears on everything connected to the stadium subnet.

The merc witnesses the events in the stadium first hand—all the turrets, mechs and droids get activated, blasting and shooting at BARGHEST soldiers; many vending machines explode, the majority of electricity gets cut off as the result of overloaded circuitries; and more. The stadium, just as Song has foretold, turns into a complete chaos, Hansen’s guards panicking and running around like headless chickens, getting caught in the endless crossfire. A couple dozen civilians that have been allowed per Hansen’s admission either manage to escape, or, unfortunately, get caught in the equipment overload and the same crossfire, resulting in about ten casualties. V herself hides all the way at the stadium entrance, peeking from time to time to witness the total clusterfuck in the distance.

Songbird sighs, feeling a slight headache. She looks around, seeing the results of her hacking. Stretching out, she walks towards the gate that leads into a maintenance area where works on Chimera prototypes are happening, finding a gun lying on one of the crates. While she doesn’t technically need it since she can hack whoever and whatever she wants, it still might be a useful failsafe.

All she needs now is to cut her way to V. Hopefully, the merc can assist her with that.

The moment V slotted the shard in, she realized she was fucked. Of course BARGHEST would immediately rush and see what’s happening to the stadium mainframe. Once they did that, they barely managed to inform Murphy about it, before getting killed by the lethal mercenary. An emergency alert got raised then, with tens of soldiers coming her way; an announcement about her presence blasted through megaphones everywhere, too.

She couldn’t really cut her way towards Song anymore, barely holding off the approaching forces. However, the moment So Mi turned the whole stadium hostile, V could only hide behind some vendor stands and observe the chaos. It was too fucking dangerous to be anywhere, she could hear screams, panic, terror in her foes. Most civilians managed to get evacuated, thankfully.

She didn’t have to wait long because four guests decided to come through and personally greet her. One of them was Kurt Hansen himself, accompanied by three heavy guards with machine guns.

“Kill this bitch!” the Colonel immediately commands the moment they walk in and see the redhead intruder.

Not hesitating, V immediately injects one of the boosters, feeling a rush of adrenaline, finishing it with activating her sandevistan. She rushes with her katana towards one heavy unit, performing a series of fast strikes against his body, instantly killing him, and doing the same to the second and third ones. Kurt, however, has his own sandy, which he activates in time in response to her.

The merc grits her teeth and dashes around him, managing to knock both guns out of his hands. The Colonel then grabs the machete that’s been on his back, and goes on a clean one-versus-one against her, trying to cut one or two of her limbs, failing to do so as the redhead is too quick and precise.

But then something happens. A Relic malfunction. Right at the worst time.

“Fuck, not now!” V screams, feeling how her head’s about to explode. She instinctively grabs it with her left arm, trying to stay in control and awake, but then she feels how something sharp stabs her right leg. “Aaugh!” she yells in agony, seeing as a knife is literally plunged into her right thigh. It was thrown by Kurt right at her while she was distracted with the biochip.

V falls on her left knee, dropping her katana and clenching her teeth, scowling in pain. Meanwhile, Hansen quickly approaches her, grabbing her by the neck and lifting up, literally ripping his own knife out of her and attempting to stab her in the neck. The merc barely manages to block the strike with her own right arm, allowing the knife to stab through it. Since her arm is a mantis blade, not organic, at least she doesn’t feel too much pain there, courtesy of it being mostly chrome. What she doesn’t expect, though, is that the stab actually damages the circuitry of her mantis blade, rendering it pretty much useless.

She grabs him by the neck with her left arm in return, striking him and pushing him away from her. Her thigh is bloody, her right arm is emitting sparks flying out of it. V then releases her left mantis blade, leaps towards the Colonel and attempts to strike him, but the pain from the Relic makes it way, way harder. In return, it allows Hansen to literally stop her arm mid-strike, grabbing it hard. He punches V with his right knee, making her release all the air in her lungs, after which he grapples her mantis blade hard and breaks its blade apart from its mount point with his cyberarms.

V is stunned, looking at her broken mantis blade. Meanwhile, Kurt jumps onto her, slamming her against one of the walls. The merc lets out a raspy cough full of pain, trying to get out of his grasp.

“I knew you were full of shit when you said you were her bodyguard, cunt,” he seethes in her face, getting his knife and stabbing the merc into her left shoulder. V lets out another painful scream, her vision is blurred with blue and red lines, it’s getting harder and harder to concentrate on the fight. But then, Hansen rips the knife out and stabs her once more, this time in her left hip, causing yet another enormous wave of pain to engulf her.

The redhead swallows. She instantly tunes her pain editor to the maximum, shutting down all pain receptors from sending signals to her brain. She concentrates, rips one EMP grenade out and explodes it right into both of their faces, knocking them both out.

Her vision gets rebooted. Steam and smoke are coming out of her, her implants are glitching. She gets up, takes her poisonous Blue Fang out, and rushes to Hansen with her active sandevistan, stabbing him in his knee. Hansen cries out in pain, tries to counterstrike her but fails. V then takes three boosters and immediately injects them…

Seeing yellow.

Soaked yellow. Some of her vision gets blurred, as she feels a new wave of strength, rage; fury overwhelms her. She reactivates her sandevistan and leaps at immense speed towards Kurt, literally slamming him against a concrete wall and choking him by the neck. He looks into her eyes, those wild, wrathful… crazy, possessed. V lets out an uncontrolled maniacal laugh, throwing the man into one of the soda machines, leaping right towards him and punching him with all her force into his jaw, breaking it. Almost breaking her fist, too, just from how powerful her strike is. She then punches him again full force right into his nose, breaking it, too. Another punch into his left temple, causing his vision to go almost black. Another, another, another punch, all at immense speed under sandy effects. V loses all the remaining sense of control as she keeps hysterically laughing into his face, beating it into an unrecognizable mess, driven solely by her instinct right until her fury and adrenaline run out.

V takes a step back, slightly regaining control of herself. She heavily sighs and looks at the man kneeling in front of her. His face is a bloody punching bag, beaten into the state where he’s no longer Kurt Hansen. She picks up his Fang that’s lying on the ground to the right of her.

“Ekh-khe-khe…” he faintly coughs, his voice trembling, “F-fuck… is this it…?”

“Dogtown alpha hound, my ass…” V scowls, plunging his own knife into his neck and taking his life, once and for all.

With said words, she rips his knife out and finishes it with a kick to his head with her left leg, causing him to ragdoll along the ground. Deactivates her sandevistan next, which is bound to overheat, and looks at her wounds. Adrenaline effects are still somewhat intact, blocking the pain. Pain editor keeps emitting warnings, blood loss imminent.

“V, where are you? Need help here!” she suddenly hears Song’s voice over the Relic-holo, voice that carries a slight panic and worry in it.

Shit, she completely forgot about the netrunner.

V immediately dashes around, picking up all her weapons. The toll on her body makes itself clear quite soon, not allowing her to perform at her fullest. Realizing that she has no choice, and that she has to help Songbird no matter the cost, the merc grips her Errata, overclocks her sandevistan, takes two more booster shots and feels how she actually loses grip on reality this time, a black empty void filling her vision.

What actually happens is as follows—she immediately rushes towards the hallway, jumping to the nearest Hansen’s goon her eyes can spot. Her vision, even though darkened, is filled with yellow blur yet again, her inner world overflowing with fury. Adrenaline makes her forget all the sense of pain and physical exhaustion, not allowing overclocked sandevistan to take its toll on her. Not yet, at least. She takes one life after another, doing it at immense speed, feeling blood covering both her katana and her hands, her face, too, giving her a sense of… pleasure?

Not a good sign. Definitely not a good sign, that.

She lets out a laugh. Yet again. Doesn’t know why, can’t control it. Can’t be bothered to control it. She is furious at everything around her, her primary goal—eliminate everything and everyone on her way and reach the netrunner before her strength runs out. She leaps towards the sniper on the second floor, remorselessly chopping off his head with a creepy smile on her face, dashing towards another prey with a hysterical laughter that sends shivers down one’s spine. Another soldier down, another, another. She quickly loses the count of how many lives she takes along the way, stopping only when she can no longer see and sense around her.

Her vision becomes a bit better, she somewhat regains control. She hears a noise.

“V?” a concerned voice comes from behind her.

The merc turns around, her katana still gripped hard. She sees So Mi, carefully standing from behind the cover, gun in hand. Seems like she has managed to cut her way through some of Hansen’s forces, but not all, which is why she so desperately needed the merc’s help.

The redhead’s vision finally becomes static, the yellow blur goes away, yet the darkness doesn’t. Meaning she’s out of time, soon. Pain editor can hide her body damage only for so long.

“Oh… hey…” V’s words barely escape her mouth as she looks at the netrunner. Song’s eyes are lit up with red color, she’s still linked to the Net. V can finally feel adrenaline leaving her body, pain returning despite her pain editor tuned to the fullest, as she almost collapses on the floor, dropping her weapon and clenching her teeth.

“Oh, God, what happened?” So Mi immediately rushes and kneels right next to V, placing her left hand on the redhead’s right shoulder. “Are you okay, can you walk?” the netrunner asks once more, drowning in her worry about the younger woman. She’s never seen her in such a state. Never imagined she’d ever see her in such a state.

“M— Maybe…” V momentarily closes her eyes, trying to get up. She barely manages to do so, taking a deep breath. She gazes at the netrunner then. “Are you okay?” she quirks a brow.

Songbird just stares with concern. “I’ll manage, don’t worry.”

V heavily sighs, feeling as her consciousness starts slipping away yet again. They slowly start moving towards the stadium entrance, where V has fought Hansen, both having their guns at hand, alert and ready for any opposition to show itself.

“You killed Hansen?” So Mi notes as they enter the area. The late Colonel is lying dead right in front of them. His face is an unrecognizable bloody pancake.

The merc shrugs. “Yeah… kinda.”

“We have to move. Reinforcements are on their way. Come on, this way.”

Song points to the door where V initially came from. The merc nods, starting limping towards it while holding her bleeding stomach. So Mi herself feels a headache, the Blackwall taking its effect, making it somewhat harder to breathe. They walk through the door, passing past the elevator V has recently used.

Spotting a maintenance tunnel (opened earlier by V), they slowly proceed through the shaft, encountering a couple workers along the way. Scared as hell, they promise them they see nothing. The two just keep going onwards, ignoring them, finally reaching a ladder that leads to the sewers themselves.

Song climbs down, waiting for V. The merc carefully steps onto it, trying to climb down, but her hurt leg betrays her, slipping off and causing her to fall all the way down. So Mi barely manages to stop her from hitting the floor with her head. She then sees that the redhead is no longer able to get up.

“V, come on, final stretch,” So Mi softly says, seeing as the merc’s eyelids grow heavier with each passing second, threatening to close and not reopen again. She kneels by her, feeling the heavy breath of the younger woman. The breath that is strained, done with difficulty.

“Just… give me… a sec…” V mumbles, almost falling into the abyss. The netrunner extends her hand, helping her get up. The merc growls in pain, supporting herself against the wall, slowly walking down.

As they both do that, they spot a few drones on the way. So Mi quickly uploads short circuit quickhacks onto all of them, exploding their circuitry. The duo goes all the way to the end of the sewer tunnel, finding a couple of dead scavenger corpses along the way.

“The car, V. Did you arrange it?” Song asks, not keeping her eye off the merc.

“Yeah…” V whispers, barely holding onto reality and slowly following her. “Thornton… there… a nomad, Panam…” she continues, feeling more and more how her last conscious remains drift off into a dreaming state.

“Hey, stay awake, please,” So Mi gently shakes the younger woman’s shoulder, trying to keep her afloat during the finish line.

As they reach the end of the pipe, they are met with a closed grate. So Mi tries to open it, yet it’s not budging. Seems like it’s jammed, needs a strong kick to open it. V raises her hand then, and performs a leg kick of her own, breaking the lock, kicking the grate open, and falling on her back at the same time from losing her balance.

“Can you jump down on your own?” So Mi asks with concern, helping the redhead get up once more.

V nods. She approaches the slide and jumps down, yet her legs betray her once again, unable to hold her, making her splatter all over dirt and mud. Song carefully slides, too, but the impact force is too strong—she lands on her legs and her knees right after, feeling her ankle slightly crack, as if she broke it. She didn’t, though, yet it still hurts like hell, making her grit her teeth in pain.

And then she realizes V lost her consciousness.

“V? Shit, shit, shit…” the older woman seethes, wrapping the merc’s arm around her neck and picking her up with a grunt. She leans V against her and slowly limps towards the end of the homeless camp, all eyes are on them. She sees a car. A weaponized ‘Warhorse’ Thornton, a woman standing next to it, leaning against its driver’s door. Seems to be a nomad.

Said nomad, the moment the two appear in her vision, immediately rushes towards them.

“V?! What happened?” she immediately asks, voice full of worry, almost yelling with concern.

“You Panam?” So Mi questions her back, ensuring she’s the one the merc’s talked about.

“Yes. Fuck, let me help,” Panam replies as she puts V’s left hand around her neck and then walks her with Songbird straight to her car. “Let’s put her in the back seat,” she continues as she opens the rear door. Song lets go of the redhead and lets the nomad carefully do just that. V is still unconscious, unaware of the whole situation.

So Mi, meanwhile, leans on the front passenger door, trying to catch her breath and suppress the headache and the pain in her hurt ankle. She shakes it off, clenching and unclenching her fists, trying to catch her breath, too. It is difficult.

“Are you okay?” Panam concerns her the moment she’s done with V. Only now the nomad can take a full look at the unfamiliar face in front of her, a literal half-cyborg in her eyes, back full of cybernetics. A friend that V mentioned to her over the call last night.

“Yeah, just… need a breather,” So Mi shakes her head.

“No time to delay, get in,” Panam states, opening the other rear door for the netrunner. Song takes another deep breath and climbs in the rear passenger seat, right next to V. “Alright, let’s move,” the nomad finishes as she gets in her driver’s seat and turns on the ignition. She then starts driving away from the homeless camp and the stadium, the destination being her home Aldecaldo camp.

Song takes a look at V to the right of her. The younger woman is ‘sleeping,’ heavily breathing from time to time. So Mi’s gaze is filled with worry for her, no worry left for herself; they made it, yes, but at what cost? She can still see the wounds in at least three places, blood and mud everywhere; she looks at the merc’s arms and notices they are damaged and even have a stab in one place. She then reaches for the merc’s left hand, gently holding it in her right one, caressing it with her thumb, not letting go. As if trying to tell V on a mental level, through her subconscious, that she’s here for her. Briefly wonders what the merc is dreaming of right now, whether it’s a peaceful slumber or a nightmare. She hopes it’s the former one. Prays it’s the former one. And then, So Mi feels how her own eyes betray her, too, how her eyelids grow heavy.

She closes them, finally giving into her own dreams.

Chapter Text

V opens her eyes. A bright light immediately hits her, constricting her pupils. Her vision is blurry at first, she can only see a tent above her. She lowers her gaze, being met with a smile. A smile she saw in her dream.

“Morning,” So Mi whispers, seeing as the merc is finally awake.

So far the best morning in quite a while, V has to admit to herself. Even though she’s literally bound to a medbed right now.

As soon as the trio arrived at the Aldecaldo camp, Panam made sure to yell with all her lungs capacity to seek help from Mitch and Cassidy. After that she ran immediately to their local ripperdoc, Hutch Splinder, commanding him to immediately prepare two chairs. Meanwhile, the two nomads rushed to Panam’s Thornton, opening the passenger doors and discovering their half-dead favorite merc along with an unfamiliar cyborg-woman. Not asking any further questions, two of them carefully grabbed V, carrying her straight to the ripper, with So Mi limping after them.

V was treated first because of how badly she was beaten. As soon as she was half-way patched up, Song was next. Gladly, she didn’t have any wounds, but the toll the Blackwall did on her was slightly noticeable—she was exhausted and needed a strong amount of both immunosuppressants and neurostabilizers. Little did the ripper know that while it would temporarily remove all her pain, in the long run the pathogen in her brain would still win.

They arrived late at night. While V was out, So Mi met Panam and Saul, two leaders of the Bright family, who assured her they’re safe here. The netrunner then spent the next few hours by the merc’s bed, waiting for her to wake up.

And she did.

“Hey…” V murmurs, her eyes still half-open and adjusting to the lighting. “You all right?”

Song just smiles at her words. “Yeah,” she whispers back, giving a slight nod.

V’s lips quirk up, forming a small smirk. “You got it?” she asks, eyebrow raised.

So Mi taps on her left side, slightly above waist level. A small compartment opens, revealing a small cylindrical shaped capsule with a yellow glow inside. The neural matrix. She carefully pulls it out, extending it to the merc. V slowly reaches out for it with her left hand. Takes it and brings it closer to her eyes, taking a thorough look at it; a look filled with curiosity, puzzlement.

“So much trouble for such a little thing, huh,” V attempts at a chuckle, feeling slight pain in her lower stomach. She takes one last glance at it and hands it back to Song, smiling, happy that the older woman has a chance to live.

So Mi puts the neural matrix back inside her ‘locker,’ closing it. She gently takes V’s hand, squeezing it a bit. V can sense it, the seemingly cold metal that are Song’s fingers that actually feels warm, imbued with heat of her very heart. “Thank you,” So Mi whispers, her eyes expressing gratitude a million times bigger than her words.

They gaze at each other. Stargaze, their eyes being their stars. They don’t know how much time passes, but they stop only the moment Panam walks in.

“Finally,” the nomad sighs. “Jesus, what the fuck, V? When you told me you needed a driver you did not mention you also will need a goddamn hospital treatment.”

“Nice to see you, too, Panam,” the merc simply smirks back.

“Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m fine,” V breathes out. She spots bandages around her wounded parts. “It seems,” she continues, checking out her right thigh and arms.

“Good,” Panam nods. “When we arrived you were on the brink of flatlining. Lost so much blood. Had to scrape it off my Thornton,” she jokes, smiling.

V plays accordingly, snorting, “What, not gonna leave even a drop as a memento?”

“Oh, trust me, the Basilisk is more than enough already.”

The merc takes a look at So Mi who’s just sitting silently, amused at them bantering. V smirks at her, slightly shaking her hand she’s still holding, making Song blush a little, pulling out an even wider smile of her.

Panam notices the two sharing a moment. Hard not to spot, actually. The way V looks at So Mi is something she’s never seen her do before, either. The woman she knows is usually stoic. Usually having this inner worry inside her, inner fear, deeply rooted in her heart. Of course, Panam knows now why, because of the Relic. Yet here, she’s beaming with like… happiness? Not for herself, even. “Anyway, I am going to leave you two for a while. We will be at the campfire if you want to join,” she finishes as she walks off the tent.

V gives Panam a quiet nod. Then, “Your friends are interesting,” So Mi remarks.

V chuckles. “Like them?” she asks.

“Got to chat a bit after they pumped me with neurostabilizers,” the netrunner shrugs, slightly swaying her head left and right. “Feel much better now, but still can feel the Blackwall taking its effect,” her tone becomes a bit sadder. A bit grim, to be precise. “Soon, simple meds won’t have any effect on me.”

V gently squeezes her hand, comforting her.  “It’ll be over soon,” she whispers. So Mi hums, closes her eyes.

V sees uncertainty in her expression. Something’s bothering her, that’s clear.

“You okay?” she asks carefully.

“Yeah, just was… thinking.”

“What’s eating ya?”

A pause. A brief one, So Mi’s heartbeat rises. “Nothing. Just… never mind.”

The redhead wants to insist, somewhat press the netrunner to tell her what’s up, but they are interrupted once more, his time by the ripperdoc Hutch himself.

“Good morning,” he says as he walks in, looking at his datapad.

“Hey, doc. All good?” V moves her gaze from the ‘runner towards him. The two women disengage their holding hands, So Mi slightly moving to the side, allowing the doc to come closer.

“Try to get up.”

V slowly lifts herself up, feeling phantom pain in her shoulder. Puts away her blanket, seeing herself being half-naked, wearing her bra, underwear and a few bandages. Sits on the bed, puts her feet on the floor. Tries to get up, but then feels how her right thigh is making it all the more difficult to do so. She can finally see the full results of her treatment.

“Patched you up. Vitals stable,” the doc proceeds, taking a quick glance at the merc. “Should be like new in a few days or so. Saul and Panam took the courtesy of covering your tabs.”

“Thanks, doc,” she coughs, taking a look at her arms.

“Your mantis blades, though. I put in replacement blades but your model seems unique. You’ll need to find a new set if you want them fully restored.”

He is right though—V’s mantis blades are special toxic ones, red colored, soaked in the world's deadliest and fastest toxins. She specifically requested Vik to make an order for those a few weeks back; seems like she’ll need to put up a new order, yet again.

“Not to worry about that,” V shrugs. “I barely use them anyways,” she states, putting her right hand over her hurt shoulder and massaging it a bit, trying to feel it.

The doc nods, doing a last thorough check through his datapad and leaving the tent. V notices her clothes lying on a chair, her weapons next to it, too. Walks towards them, notices So Mi, still sitting, staring at her. Staring at her body features—those strong, perfect, toned muscles. Unable to shift her gaze.

“Like the style I’m rocking?” Song hears the merc smirking, causing her to look her in the eyes, eyes full of tease, mischief. So Mi flusters immediately, trying to reply with something, but stutters, forcing away her gaze, getting a chuckle out of V.

V carefully puts on Johnny’s shirt first, adjusting the dog tags. The pants next. Shoes, finishing it off by taking her jacket, noticing in the process a few holes in her clothes that are a result of multiple stabs. She’ll have to patch them up later. Puts on her scabbard with Errata in it on her back, puts on her holster with Johnny’s Malorian in it. Decides not to put on her jacket, though, since it seems pretty hot out there. Tries walking outside, feels her right leg betraying her. So Mi doesn’t hesitate—immediately gets up from her chair, quickly coming closer to her and wrapping her left arm around V’s right one, holding onto it, supporting her. A feeling so alien to V, yet so comforting, so heartwarming. So needed.

They slowly walk through the camp. Some Aldecaldos greet V, remembering what she did for them, for their clan. So Mi can’t help but notice how much the merc’s appreciated here. Wonders briefly how it feels to be appreciated. Something she lacks for at least seven years at this point, feeling empty on the inside. She remembers almost instantly that she actually knows the feeling—V’s here for her, cherishes her. And it calms her heart down, yet again.

Song also notices that all the people around her glance at her, too. Specifically at her back. Making her uncomfortable on the inside, feeling like an outcast. V notices that, too, and so she extends Johnny’s replica jacket to her, smiling. “Here,” she says.

So Mi accepts, putting it on. “Thank you,” replies softly.

“You alright?” V asks, slight concern in her voice, seeing as the netrunner is in a sort of blank, thoughtless state.

“Yeah,” So Mi pauses, moving her gaze around. “Don’t remember when was the last time I’ve been surrounded by… people,” she explains, trying to remember her past. Her fragmented past.

“Not used to it?” V quirks a brow, understanding her. The netrunner did indeed spend her last years surrounded mostly by the sterile Washington walls. Almost no social life, no personal life. Only duty, not even for her own ambitions, but for someone else’s. Serving to something that lost all meaning to her. “Don’t worry. They’re all chill,” the merc assures. Song just nods.

In two minutes they approach the campfire that Panam’s mentioned about. There’re about fifteen nomads gathered around it, chatting, laughing, talking about literal stuff. “V, hey! Finally!” one of them exclaims, a veteran, another good acquaintance of V.

“Hey, Mitch,” the merc replies to him, shaking his hand. “How’s things?”

“Eh, same old,” the nomad shrugs it off, letting out a small chuckle. “I see you find new adventures as always,” he notes, grinning.

“Yeah, well, life’s too boring without ‘em.”

“C’mon, take a seat.”

The two women do exactly that. They find one of the available couches around the campfire and take a seat there, sitting close to each other, too close even, almost having their shoulders touch. The atmosphere is very soothing for Song—a guitar playing, people talking about life, sun blazing her skin. Light Badlands wind in her face. A woman that cares about her by her side.

All that makes her feel… home.

“Beer?” Mitch walks towards the pair with two drinks in his hands.

“Nah, I’m good for now,” V shakes her head.

So Mi thinks. “I take one,” she replies. The nomad extends a bottle to her, which she accepts with a smile.

“Name’s Mitch, by the way,” he says, putting the second bottle on a table next to them.

“Songbird.”

“Nice meeting you, Songbird. Make yourself at home here. V’s friends are our friends.”

With said words, the nomad walks away, taking a seat on the opposite side of the campfire. Song tries the beer he gave her—Calavera Feliz, just one gulp. She almost forgot the feeling of a regular alcoholic beverage at this point.

“Sure you can drink?” V quirks a brow, a teasing smile on her face. “Oh wait, Sapphire…” she suddenly remembers the netrunner drinking champagne at Hansen’s fortress.

So Mi smirks at her words, slightly bumping her shoulder with her own. Plays back with, “What’s next you gonna ask? ‘Sure you can smoke?’”

“Well, even if you asked for one, I have no cigs,” the merc tilts her head, looking at the fire cracking. “Literally just to piss Johnny off,” she adds after, chuckling.

“Nice relationship you two have.”

“Eh, it’s more of a one-sided one,” V sarcastically waves it off. “Still, too bad you two’ll never talk,” she remembers that both So Mi and Johnny cannot be at the same time on the biochip protocol; risk of shock and perhaps death for V.

The redhead looks Song in the eyes. Gets stuck in them, again. Unable to drift her gaze anywhere else. She looks at all her features, her EMP threading, her lips…

Her lips.

V closes her eyes, taking a deep breath through her nose and forcing her gaze away. Shit, what is she even doing?

Her actions don’t go unnoticed for Song, though. The netrunner knows her. Knows she struggles with something. Doesn’t know what specifically, but there is this internal fear in V’s eyes, showing itself wide open.

For now, she’ll let it slide, though.

In a second they both see someone approach them. “Hey, V. Doing alright?” a tall muscular man asks, stopping by the couch. It’s Saul, the leader of Aldecaldos. “Got here pretty beat up. Got us all worried here,” he states, crossing his arms.

The two slightly pull away from each other. So Mi glances somewhere to the side, thinking about her stuff. V, on the other hand, smirks back at the nomad, replying, “Hey, Saul. I’m fine.” Saul nods, V continues, “Thanks for the help. And the shelter.”

“Don’t worry. Need anything—ask whenever,” he firmly puts his hand on V’s healthy shoulder, nodding again. He then walks away, leaving the two to their lonesome.

Well, ‘lonesome.’ The duo still sits in the midst of the campfire and a group of nomads who barely pay any attention to them.

An awkward silence. V closes her eyes, not knowing what she should do. On one hand, she needs to focus on saving her life, having her deal with the netrunner quid pro quo only. On the other hand, she can’t stop thinking about her day by day. She keeps falling into that abyss, and she doesn’t really wanna crawl out of it. Just wants to succumb to it instead.

“Did you do them a favor or something that they consider you like one of them?” So Mi finally asks, breaking the silence, glancing at V sideways.

“Eh, helped them a few times,” the merc replies, brushing sand off her shoulder. “Including stealing a literal tank from a Militech convoy.”

So Mi smirks at her words, finding a pattern in them. “See you have an in on the whole convoy stuff. First Kang Tao, then Militech. What’s next, MaxTac?” she teases the mercenary, grinning.

“Mmm… depends on who they be transporting,” V gives her a quick glance, smiling in return. Sees how Song’s face becomes pale, her gaze lowered. “Something I said?” the merc immediately wonders, slight concern in her tone.

“No, it’s nothing,” the netrunner moves her eyes around, sinking in her thoughts. V still finds something strange in them, wants to ask again, but the rockerboy materializes in front of her, taking her full attention.

“What’s up? Haven’t seen you in a while,” V looks at him, raising her eyebrow, awaiting some snarky remark from him.

Johnny crosses his arms. “Forgot what day today is?” he challenges her memory. V looks up, frowning, trying to remember. “How responsible,” the rockerboy sighs, slight disappointment in his voice.

V opens up her calendar. Eyes go wide open when she finds out.

“Ah, right, your Samurai reunion,” she realizes, biting her lip. “Hmm…” she hums, seeing as the gig is scheduled for around 20:00 today.

“Surely you won’t miss it, right,” Johnny takes out his cigarette, lighting it up. Already knows the answer. but also knows there’s one unexpected variable in it.

V shrugs. “Know how important it is for you, so, yeah, means I have to go,” she sighs, wondering if another pseudoendotrizine pill would be the end of her. Prays it won’t be. Looks at So Mi afterwards, who has her gaze fixed at Night City in the distance. “Though…” V thinks, realizing that if she’d have to go today to the city then Song’d be left by herself here. Unless…

“Invite her over. Chance like that—one in a million,” the rockerboy already knows what the merc’s thinking of, offering her a solution to her problem.

V briefly looks at him, weighing his words. “You sure we won’t get traced in the city? Especially at a party like this?” she asks him back. She and So Mi already have their suspicions that the FIA might be onto them, and going back to NC might not be ideal. Then again, V only has one apartment registered on her name in NC database, which is her megabuilding one; she also has about two or three more all around the city (Judy’s den included). No one knows about those since she rents them under a different name.

Her response clearly amuses Johnny, making him snort in irony. “Who are you kidding, V? Acting like it’s a Black Sapphire shindig we’re going to.”

He’s right, V knows it. Nancy did tell the mercenary that only regular folk around Red Dirt would gather, whoever comes first pretty much. Only, perhaps, closest friends of Samurai members know about the concert, like Rogue, for example, who actually learned it from Kerry. The bar isn’t even that popular, chances they would be traced there are minimal. Especially since no one knows V replaces Silverhand.

V looks at So Mi, gently nudging her, taking her attention. “So uh… today there’s this Samurai reunion…” the merc cautiously explains, trailing her thoughts. “Wanna come and see?” she quirks a brow, praying internally the ‘runner agrees.

So Mi chuckles, wondering if the merc’s joking or not. “Samurai reunion? Did Johnny resurrect?” she questions back, unable to hold her grin.

“Actually he’s gonna take over for that one. Just for one gig,” V explains, smiling, sideways glancing at Johnny who keeps smoking, listening to their conversation.

Song thinks. Thoughts fly through her head, similar to the ones the merc’s had just a moment ago. She briefly wonders if it’s indeed a good idea for her to go to NC with V. Maybe staying here, in the Badlands, is better for now? She really wants to spend more time with V, though. Like, she really wants to. While there are almost no doubts she’s still on the FIA’s hook, there are also no doubts that they have no idea where she’s at and where to look for her. And that drives her next pair of sentences. “Hmm… sure,” she nods, seeing V beam on the outside. “Not like I have anything else better to do for the next few days.”

The last pair of words makes the merc remember something, something different this time, unrelated to the concert. “Wait…” she pauses, gathering her thoughts. “Never mentioned where your clinic’s at and when you’re heading there.”

Song tenses up. A reminder of her upcoming trip doesn’t really bring her joy, in all fairness. “It’s on the Moon. Tycho colony,” she answers, lowering her gaze. “Got a flight there in 6 days.”

“The Moon? Fuck…” V chuckles, both amused and surprised at her answer. “Quite a coup, eh?”

So Mi sighs. “Well, it’s my last resort,” she states with sorrow, slightly tilting her head to the side. “They got literally the best rippers out there, so it’s my best chance to get cured. And I got offered refuge there.”

“And I got offered refuge there.”

V frowns for a moment. Weightens said sentence. If Song’s offered refuge there, does that mean she’s staying there forever? Meaning she’s not coming back? What about the help with Mikoshi then? Unless she comes back for a while, helps her, and then she goes back to the Moon, maybe? Maybe that’s what she has in plans?

Her survival instinct kicks in. She wants to ask when’s the ‘runner coming back, when’s the ‘runner gonna help her with her problem, if she’s going to help her with her problem. She wants to, but forcefully suppresses that urge. Only closes her eyes, thinking she’ll have time, a bit later. Right now, though, she just wants to focus on Song herself, not on her own problems. She just wants to focus on them, and nothing more.

“Bring a souvenir on the way back, maybe?” is the only thing V asks.

She gets a nod in return and a smile. That is more than enough for her for now.

V sneezes, covering her mouth with her right hand. It’s then when she notices blood on it that came out of her nose. She can taste it in her mouth, too, similar to when she has Relic attacks, yet… this hits differently. She can also feel a small headache, barely noticeable for now.

Hopefully it won’t become any stronger.

In a moment, a sun-yellow blur hits her, sending a painful impulse across her entire body, spasming all the muscles for just a second. She almost gasps because of how sudden it is, but still holds herself, not wanting to raise any suspicion in the netrunner’s eyes. The blur leaves her in just a moment, restoring her vision to its proper state.

Fuck. She overclocked her systems yesterday again, didn’t she? She doesn’t really remember but she almost temporarily went psycho yet again, barely managing to sustain control. The wave of realization hits her as she can only hope she won’t puke all over the concert stage if the toll hits her. Last time she had a similar situation it took half a day for the late effects to kick in. Who knows how much it’ll take now?

Thankfully, V had one of her cars stored at the Aldecaldos camp, just in case, the car being Quadra Type-66 ‘Hoon’ that she randomly found while chasing one of rogue Delamains. This proved to be a fine case. The car was weaponized, armored to its core, meaning in case any gang decides to attack them—good fucking luck. Besides, it brings calm to V’s heart that the netrunner would be safe while being in such a beauty, if shit goes sideways that is.

At around 18:30 V and So Mi already sat in the merc’s armored vehicle and pulled off into their road adventure to Night City. The netrunner liked the car a lot. Very comfy on the inside, she told the younger woman once she got in. At around 19:30, approximately half an hour before the concert itself, they both arrived at Red Dirt, the bar where the concert was supposed to take place.

They both agreed that Song shouldn’t really speak with anyone. The less anyone knows about her the better. Decided that she shouldn’t even speak to Samurai group members themselves, just in case. Hence, the moment they arrived, they walked in the bar separately, five minutes apart. V first, Song next, walking up to the second floor and taking a seat with a clear view of the concert stage. She was still wearing Johnny’s replica jacket, as well as his glasses, hiding all of her chrome and her identity.

V chatted with Denny and Nancy, first, who told her that Kerry was taking last preparation steps. Once the clock hit, Johnny teleported next to the merc, taking her full attention.

“Pill time. Just be discreet,” he states as he teleports again, this time next to the bathroom door.

The redhead walks towards him, asking, “And if I start puking the blood again?”

“Don’t go making a scene,” the rockerboy rolls his eyes, crossing his arms. He really doesn’t want her to change her mind at the last second. “This is Kerry’s big night,” he explains as the merc opens the door to the restroom.

“I got a feeling Nancy doesn’t think I can keep up with ‘em.”

Johnny shrugs. “Well, she’s right,” he replies, pointing out the obvious. Even though V somewhat can play a guitar, there’s no way she stands anywhere near to anyone from Samurai. To be fair, nowhere near close to any professional guitar player if it comes to this.

V hesitates a few seconds but then decides to walk into the restroom cabin, firmly locking it. She then takes a pill container out of her right pocket and takes a blue pill out of it.

“Ready to thrash?” Johnny materializes next to her, crossing his arms, waiting to gain control.

V sighs. Contemplates one last time before saying, “Have fun.”

She takes the pill. In about fifteen seconds, she starts coughing, feeling how she’s zoning out, how her vision is being replaced with nothing but darkness. Which can’t be said about the rockerboy, who instead feels like he’s gaining more and more control in the physical world.

“Let’s motor,” Johnny finally says as he walks out, looking at his “silver arm”. He then proceeds to go back to the band, Kerry already standing there and chatting with the rest.

The whole concert lasted an hour or two. A lot of people gathered, the entire first floor was crowded, nowhere to step onto. Second floor was pretty crowded, too, although no one dared to sit next to So Mi, allowing her to enjoy the view and the music without any disturbances. Samurai were rocking hard, they went all out—it’s like all their pent up frustration, anger, rage, that were accumulating for the last fifty years, were released all at once into their microphones and instruments. And the crowd felt it. ‘A Like Supreme’ first, ‘Chippin’ In’ second, and more, finishing off with ‘Blistering Love’ and ‘Never Fade Away’.

After all’s done, Johnny decided to take his ten minutes to chat with Kerry about the whole thing. His friend never felt better in the last fifty years, saying it’s almost as if he just woke up from a long hibernation. Two rockerboys at last shook their hands, leaving each other to their own biz, with Kerry telling Johnny to tell V that he’d keep in touch with her in case he needed something. He also left ‘V’ a present—his revolver, ‘Archangel’, the one he tried to shoot Silverhand with the moment he barged into his mansion.

It’s then when Johnny decided that it’s about time he headed upstairs to check on a certain netrunner and asked what she thought about everything. They never got to chat before, so that might be a good opportunity.

“So, how’s the gig?” he immediately asks Song as he takes a seat to the opposite side of the bar table she’s at.

So Mi knows that it’s not V who’s in control right now. How does she know? Simple—just from the way ‘V’ walks, talks, behaves. She knows the merc so well at this point that she would recognize when she’s not herself any time now. But it doesn’t matter to her right now. Getting a chance to talk to Mr. Rockstar himself is, perhaps, not something she’ll have an opportunity to do any time soon. If ever. “It was great. I enjoyed it. Music’s fire,” she simply replies, putting on a smile. She did enjoy it. Not the most favorite type of music she usually listens to, but it’s up there, definitely.

“Uh-huh,” Johnny nods nonchalantly, smirking. “And what happened to ‘Samurai was done by their second album’?”

Song can only shrug in her defense, “I still stand by it.”

And on that note their conversation is over. Like, literally over. They both don’t know what they can even chat about; here’s that awkward silence when two friends of the same person meet each other. All too familiar to many.

“Well, guess I gotta give V control back,” the rockerboy finally sighs after a half a minute pause, taking a pill container and preparing to get the omega blocker out of it.

Songbird stops him, though, a bit to his surprise. “Wait, hold on. Wanted to… ask something,” she says in return, slightly stuttering on her way.

‘V’ quirks a brow. “Go ahead,” the rockerboy nods, glancing at her. He slowly starts raising his ‘mental shield,’ suspecting there’s some sort of revelation bound to happen.

“You know V and uh… how stubborn she is sometimes,” So Mi starts, her voice descending into sadness as she lowers her gaze. “She doesn’t want to talk about it, but maybe you will. How bad is it for her?”

The Relic. The curse. The one V’s mentioned only twice or three times at most to Song, yet the one the netrunner witnessed first hand already. Technically, now, too, though different in some way. And, of course, the merc only dispersed her concern, waving it off with ‘I’ll be fine.’ Which doesn’t bring any sort of peace to So Mi. And there’s a very good reason why.

“Well, since she took another pseudoendotrizine pill, I’d assume she has maybe a month tops,” Johnny replies, taking a thoughtful stance and crossing his arms. He doesn’t actually know the precise answer, but four to six weeks at most seems very accurate, considering Relic attacks started happening with a higher frequency recently.

Song can only further lower her gaze, unable to meet the rockeryboy’s one. “I see,” she whispers.

An answer that bothers Johnny. He asks, “Something you gotta say? Can tell something’s on your tongue.”

“No, it’s just…” So Mi trails, shaking her head slightly. “I do care about her… worried for her.”

“Then tell her that.”

Even though Johnny sounds deadpan at the moment, his words carry a lot of meaning in it. A lot of value in them, truthful and helpful.

“Think she knows that already. Maybe,” So Mi sighs, wondering to herself whether she actually should follow his advice. She’s not good at that stuff at all, never said anything like that to anyone in her life, at least for a good while. Sure, maybe she said those words to someone in her previous life before, but that’s just it—it’s a fragment, a shattered fragment of her memory that she no longer possesses.

Johnny takes a deep breath, putting both his arms on the table and locking his hands. “One thing I learned in my life and being in V’s life is that sometimes words have to be said out loud, heard out loud,” he stops momentarily, remembering what V feels on the inside. What her inner fear is, what her deepest desire is. “And to V… it would mean the whole world. Much more than help with fucking Mikoshi or anything,” he continues. The rockerboy then decides to go all in, telling the netrunner how it is, “The gonk cares about you. Fuck, maybe more than about herself at this point. You care about her? Show that,” he finishes, opening the container pill and taking a red omega blocker, but not taking it yet. Just holding in his hand.

So Mi knows V cares. A lot. Ever since that night in Dogtown, the balcony that the netrunner showed her, it became pretty obvious to all the parties. V never was good in any romance stuff; whatever previous relationships she had were just a fling to her, a temporary one, lasting a few weeks, maybe two months tops. They all never felt real. But with Song, on the other hand… She could just be herself.

“Tell you something,” Johnny pauses for a second, looking at the pill in his hand. “Back when V first got the Relic, she went to a place called Clouds. A doll-house. Short story—for intel on someone. And there she talked to pretty much her own ‘subconsciousness’ or whatever,” he explains, pausing once again. And then he reveals the harsh truth, saying, “Her deepest desire—for someone to hold her hand and tell her it’s all gonna be okay. If you care about her—think you can do that?”

Song lowers her gaze again, feeling her heart being slowly torn apart. To think that V could care about her so much, when all the merc herself wants is to hear just such simple words as it all will be alright. She wonders whether it’s actually now about the deal they’ve made or about So Mi herself that V’s helping her. Can be both, yes, but…

Still. It bothers her. A lot.

Song can only nod to Johnny’s words, showing she understands. Understands what she needs to do.

“High time,” the rockerboy finishes as he takes the omega blocker.

In about ten seconds the real V lets out a tough cough accompanied with blood leaving her mouth. No, there’s no way she’ll be able to handle another swap with Johnny. Not even mentioning her recent periodic immune system breakdowns.

“Ugh…” she grits her teeth, wiping out her mouth.

So Mi can only put on a weak smile that doesn’t hide her worry for the merc. “Welcome back,” she says.

V nods, still trying to get a grip on sudden reality. “How was the concert?”

“Preem,” Song replies, her smile widening. “Recorded for you. Gonna send in a bit.”

“Huh, thanks,” the merc nods again, shaking her head. Her vision finally stabilizes, she can clearly see her surroundings, the headache from pills and the Relic is seemingly gone.

Johnny doesn’t hesitate to materialize next to the two, standing with his arms crossed, his eyes expressing concern for his friend. “V, how you feeling?” he asks.

“Don’t think I can handle one more…”

“And you won’t have to,” the rockerboy interrupts her mid-sentence. “This is my last request. In fact, start regretting I even got you to agree to all this,” he sighs, shaking his hand.

V internally chuckles. “Well, knew it was important to you,” she shrugs, glancing at him.

“It is. But not more important than you. Kerry’s got a life, and you soon won’t if we don’t hurry,” he firmly notes. The merc doesn’t have a reply to that. He then notices that the two women have their gazes locked, prompting him to finish with, “Well, gonna leave you two for now,” and then disappearing.

“Talked to Johnny?” Song immediately asks V as soon as she notices that V has her gaze on her.

The merc raises an eyebrow, slightly surprised and amazed, “Could hear him?”

“Not as long as I’m connected. Just your body language, y’know,” So Mi explains, smiling.

V smirks, impressed by her observation skills. “Ah, well, yeah. Buuut he left for now,” she sighs, crossing her arms.

“Seems like you got a hang of it. Talking to yourself, I mean.”

“Ah, well, what else is new,” the merc waves it off, chuckling at the netrunner’s remark. “Night City will drive you to do not just that sometimes,” she shakes her head, remembering how many cyberpsychos she encountered and took down. Almost all experienced traumatic events that Night City sent on them.

So Mi grins at her words, understanding the merc fully well. “Seem to handle it just fine,” her eyes flicker a bit, something that doesn’t go unnoticed for V.

“Hmm,” the younger woman hums, peering in Song’s eyes with curiosity. “Well, glad you enjoyed the concert,” she puts on a playful smile. “Johnny can be an asshole sometimes, but I can’t deny that when it comes to guitar there’s no one better than him.”

“Well, he can play the guitar alright, but the way you handle a sword…” Song mischievously smiles, sending to the merc a wave of deja vu from the expo hall. That same smile but now in realspace. “Gotta teach me one day.”

“Mhm,” V plays along, remembering something downright mind-blowing. “As long as you teach me your netrunning magic. I mean, hacking Orbital Air security while simultaneously painting your nails? What the fuck?” her face lights up with amazement and admiration for the ‘runner.

So Mi grins, surprised the younger woman knows about her feats. “Did Myers tell you that?” she wonders, which V confirms.

“Uh-huh. As well as the fact that she witnessed that with her own eyes.”

“Riiight, so that impresses you, but my Biotechnica hack when I was young doesn’t?”

Song’s tease gets literally deflected backwards, as the merc leans in, smiling, putting her hands locked on the table, gaze full of mystery, and whispers, “All of you impresses me.”

The netrunner can feel herself hot and blushing at her words, heart literally melting. V thought that only So Mi can stir up a hurricane of emotions inside her, yet she doesn’t realize that she unintentionally can do the same to Song.

Perhaps this is So Mi’s turn now.

She slightly leans in towards the merc, gently reaching out with her left hand for the scar on V’s face, the scar left from the bullet shot by none other than Dex DeShawn. She slowly traces its outline, looking closely in the merc’s eyes. V almost doesn’t breathe; tries to feel Song’s metal fingers, cold, yet soothing and comforting.

“Hurts?” So Mi whispers to her, carefully observing V’s reaction.

V slightly shakes her head. “No,” whispers back. “Not anymore…”

Song’s touch transforms into a gentle caress, her fingers tracing the outline of V’s face, her chin, her lips. Her free hand reaches out for V’s that is resting on top of the table, taking it, holding it. Their eyes don’t move, still fixed at each other.

“Don’t worry… it’ll be alright…” So Mi tells her, voice soft, almost mute. She can see how V’s eyes flicker, how they become more reflective with each passing second. Those tears in her eyes, coming into existence. “It all will be alright…” she says, seeing as the merc’s emotional barrier crumbles, shatters into thousands of pieces, like a broken glass fallen on a floor.

She can see how V closes her eyes. How a small tear, unintentional or not, sheds from her eye. How the merc leans in her caress, wanting more, wanting to feel more. How V puts her free hand over Song’s, making the netrunner’s hand fully cup her cheek now.

Repeating what happened in the Black Sapphire. Except it’s reversed now.

Never in her life could Song imagine that V can actually be this vulnerable. That she can actually show and reveal her true self, buried deep underneath. How much V needed that. How long she was waiting for that. For someone to do that. So Mi didn’t fully grasp the validity of Johnny’s words up until now. Up until she sees it herself, how the woman, the strongest woman she knows, becomes so vulnerable to her touch. So afraid and scared of what fate has in store for her. Afraid that at the end she’ll be gone and won't be remembered, like she never mattered…

V opens her eyes. They look at each other, their eyes both flaming with passion and empathy. So Mi slowly brings V’s other hand closer to her, to her lips, pressing a soft, softest possible kiss to the back of her hand.

She could see the merc’s eyes flicker a bit at her actions. How her frame shudders, how she briefly closes her eyes, reopening them again after a five second pause, almost as if trying to hold on to the feeling of Song’s lips. They stay like that for a while, looking at each other, drowning in each other more and more.

“You hungry?” V finally asks, voice barely above whisper, making So Mi’s smile wider, beamer.

“Mm… a bit, yeah,” the netrunner replies, seeing as how V puts her hand that’s been on her cheek down, still holding it, though.

“There’s a very good ramen shop next to my Japantown pad,” V slightly tilts her head. “Can guarantee it’ll ma—”

“Let’s go,” So Mi interrupts the merc, her voice passionate and a bit out of breath as she stands up and drags V along with her downstairs, holding her hand.

Chapter Text

“Okay, this ramen is actually the best one so far,” So Mi tells V as they’re sitting at the table counter. The merc just came back from the market with tons of food that she purchased from the ramen shop she and Elizabeth Peralez once met at. It didn’t take long for the two women to then immediately get seated at the table with the food and drinks in front of them.

The moment they left Red Dirt they immediately went for V’s Japantown pad. Parked at the entrance, V led Song to the fifth floor, where her apartment was. Both women really liked the vibe there, it was soothing, that; reminded So Mi of her Brooklyn pad, too, because of how simplistic it was, the sounds of cars and life happening outside.

Telling Song to make herself comfortable and make herself feel at home, V immediately rushed for the Cherry Blossom market that was pretty close to where she lived. While the merc was gone, Song took her time to take a shower, get rid of her dirty top and picked one of the tank tops that V had in her wardrobe. To her surprise, everything fit her quite well; it seemed like their body shapes were quite similar, too. Made her wonder what other things were similar between them, considering the list was already pretty big.

It took the merc about half an hour to come back with all the stuff, which included two bowls of ramen, two bowls of wontons, four burritos and a few cans of Nicola. Also, her favorite Centzon tequila, which she contemplated drinking at first, deciding to keep it for later.

And here they are now, enjoying it.

“Told ya,” V smiles as she takes a sip of Nicola. “Just wait till I bring Bill’s hotdogs tomorrow, you’ll feel like you never left Brooklyn,” she continues, watching how So Mi hungrily bites a wonton and fills her mouth with noodles. “What type of food do you eat at the FIA anyways?”

The netrunner shrugs. “They don’t recommend me eating anything unhealthy, mostly because I am a full ‘borg,” she replies as she swallows the rest of wonton in her left hand, chewing it along the way. “So, same shit for almost seven years on end.”

“Well, my food mostly consists of whatever junk I can find on the streets,” V sighs, taking a bite at her burrito. “That and sometimes I just order food if I don’t feel like going anywhere.”

“Such as?” So Mi curiously looks at her.

The merc tilts her head a bit. “Usually pizza. Sometimes burritos.”

“Well, I’ll take your word for it about those hotdogs,” Song smiles back while mixing the noodles, preparing them for immediate consumption. “You know the owner?” she wonders, prompting V to laugh, remembering how she met Bill and his partner Charlie for the first time.

“Yeah, long story.”

“We in a hurry?”

“Well, his wife hired me to save his and his partner’s asses once,” V begins to explain as she takes another bite at her burrito. “Those two gonks were doing some shady biz for one of Hansen’s henchmen, Dodger,” she continues after swallowing her food. “Those two idiots, I think, had to deliver drugs and some guy swallowed all of them, seven ounces I think. And they panicked and… pulled a surgeon on him.”

“What!?” So Mi almost spits out her noodles, chuckling in disbelief and amusement.

“Yeah, same, I was so fucking stupified then,” V shakes her head with a smile on her face. “Had to pull them out. Bill later just said fuck it and opened a hotdog stand. Gives me discounts now,” she finishes, seeing as Song got entertained with her story. “Seems like being a cook suits him better than being a cop.”

A small pause. They eat in silence for a moment.

“By the way, checked the Relic blueprints you gave me,” Song shifts their conversation as she reaches out for another wonton. “Sorry, can’t really do anything there,” her voice saddens a bit, a glint of sorrow in her eyes. She silently lowers her head and keeps chewing on her food.

“It’s okay, So Mi. Didn’t have my hopes up with that one, so no surprise there,” the redhead takes another sip of her drink. “Just hope Mikoshi’ll work,” she adds with a glimmer of despair.

“Plan to have Soulkiller used on you?”

The merc turns her head, looking at Songbird. So Mi keeps stirring noodles in her ramen; can spot she’s concerned about something, though. “Yeah?” V quirks a brow, “Both Hanako and Alt claim it’s how I can be split from Johnny or whatever.”

“Alt? Alt Cunningham?” So Mi’s eyes flick at the younger woman momentarily, settling back on her food in an instant.

“Yeah. You know her?”

“Of course I know her. Creator of Soulkiller, the best netrunner in Night City back in the day.”

“No, I mean, have you met her?” the redhead clarifies.

“Alive? No,” So Mi deadpans, shaking her head, and smiles. V smiles at her pun, too. Song continues, “Beyond the Blackwall? Sure. An AI that uses her engrammatic data.”

The merc clicks her tongue. “Guessing you know she is the contact I’ve mentioned. The one that can help me with the Relic once I reach Mikoshi.”

“Figured it out the day we met,” the netrunner admits, putting a weak, small smile on her face. “Starting from the fact you’ve visited the Voodoo Boys, broken through the Blackwall to find something. Or someone. Then the fact Alt used to be Johnny’s ex. She’s also the one who created Soulkiller; is an extremely powerful AI herself. And so on.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’ve been stalking me, I get it,” V chuckles, smirking (So Mi does, too). “Anyway, yes—she’ll use Soulkiller once I jack into Mikoshi. That’s the plan at least.”

Songbird’s silent. V looks at her quietly, too, but she can’t be tricked—there’s something bothering the older woman, she can tell. So, she slightly nudges her, slowly and gently caressing her back, “Something wrong?”

It takes a moment before the netrunner adjusts her hair, shifting in her seat. She asks back, “You’re not scared?”

The merc blinks again. “Of what?”

“Soulkiller is not a joke, V,” So Mi puts away her chopsticks, dropping her head in her hands. “It kills. Quite literally.”

“That I know.”

“But…” Song continues, raising her head and staring at the ceiling, her gaze thoughtful, “Arasaka has a commercial one stored in Mikoshi itself. That one doesn’t kill. You outta tell Alt to use specifically that one. You should be fine then.”

The merc silently stares at the floor. She scratches her nose, her eyes move around rapidly as she remembers something. “Alt told me something, back in cyberspace when me and Johnny met her.” She pauses for a second, getting Songbird’s full attention, and then proceeds, “She told me that my neural engrams, consciousness or whatever, will be recorded as data. The rest will cease to exist. She said…” a weary sigh, “She said my soul would cease to exist. Hence Soulkiller’s named like that.”

“Bullshit.”

V raises an eyebrow. “Huh?”

“Soulkiller’s just a magic trick, V,” So Mi explains, looking at the younger woman. “An engram—no more complex than an interactive hologram, something pretending to be a person. Just a bundle of memories, personality, traits, habits,” she states.

Johnny materializes next to them for a second, taking the redhead’s attention (the only one who sees him). He shakes his head, puts up his right hand and yaps with it, imitating Songbird. V snorts, and Song immediately notices, scoffs, and adds, “Sorry, Johnny, that’s just the truth. Take it or leave it.”

“Don’t let her talk your ears bloody,” the rockerboy tells the merc, smirking, and disappears.

V glances back at the netrunner. “Forget him. Go on.”

Songbird taps the table a couple times with her metallic digits, “What Alt will do, I suspect, is create your engram. Pull Johnny out of the Relic, put your engram back onto it. This should stop the Relic overwrite process, rendering it idle, according to the blueprints you’ve given me. Your mind in your brain will match construct data on the biochip, hence it’ll stop.”

The food is getting colder. She reaches for another wonton, taking a bite. The redhead thinks over what she’s just said, processing the info. “So, I’ll still remain the same, right?” V ponders. “Still being me? Not a copy, not an engram or anything?”

“Well, here’s the thing,” Song finishes her wonton, swallows it next. “The Relic, the ‘Secure Your Soul’ program is advertised as immortality. Well, that’s a bunch of bullshit,” she firmly states. “You get a new body, new brain—it won’t be you anymore. It would be someone else, a copy of you.”

“Right,” V nods, following her.

“With you it will be different,” So Mi continues. “Your body will remain the same. Hence you will be you, still.”

The merc frowns. “What about this whole engram thing? The fact I, or my consciousness, will be digitized and then uploaded back?”

“Your consciousness won’t be uploaded anywhere,” the netrunner clarifies. “Consciousness—a pattern of brain waves, your neural structures and clusters, chemical reactions. The Relic just rewires those when installing an engram, which is a blueprint for one’s personality, memories and more. Consider it a… super advanced way of brainwashing someone.”

A brief moment of silence, as the younger woman needs to digest said info. She swallows, scratches her head, and comments, “This is so complicated.”

“Just trust me that it still will be you once it’s over,” So Mi gently puts her hand over V’s, softly gazing at the merc. “Right now, we need to hurry to get you there. That is our chief concern.”

“Why that?”

Songbird breathes in with her nose. “I checked the blueprints, V. The Relic doesn’t just rewire your neural pathways—it also reconstructs your DNA on a molecular level. To make it fit Johnny and his engram.”

V rapidly moves her eyes around, trying to follow. “What’s it mean for me?”

“If we let the biochip progress too far, your body may start seeing you as an intruder, may start rejecting you and your mind. But I dunno how long it’ll take for that to happen.”

“What if it already did?”

So Mi negatively shakes her head. “No, no way. I was linked to you recently, saw your scans. You’re good for now.”

“Okay,” the redhead nods. “Guess we outta hurry. For both you with your cure, and me with Mikoshi.”

V lets out a cough then, covering her mouth with her left hand. Her vision, just for a second, darkens, an already familiar yellow blur covering her peripheral vision. She looks at her hand, noticing blood on it. Hides it from So Mi then by keeping her hand in a fist.

For fuck’s sake, not again.

She thinks about how to change the direction of their conversation. Takes another bite at her burrito, noticing that it’s a bit cold already. “Fuck, burrito’s cold,” she remarks the obvious out loud, looking at it. She then looks at So Mi, a teasing smirk on her face, asking, “Mind heating it up for me?”

Song raises her eyebrow. “Mmm, you have a microwave here?”

“Yeah. Sitting in front of me.”

So Mi facepalms, wanting to show herself being offended, yet she’s unable to hold a grin at the merc’s words, going for the easy route of laughing instead. V chuckles as well, satisfied with both her joke and the netrunner’s reaction, seeing as Song glances at her, smiling.

V looks at So Mi’s eyes. She notices that they’re slightly red, traces of blackness around them. Is it tiredness or the Blackwall? Suppose it’s the latter one, considering the netrunner doesn’t really show any signs of true exhaustion. She slowly reaches out for her left eye, gently touching the black tint around it, immense concern in V’s eyes.

“You feeling alright?” she wonders, slightly frowning.

So Mi can only shake her head, waving it off. “I can start feeling faint pain in the waist area, but it’s fine for now,” she replies as she delves back into her food. V can only nod, lowering her gaze, taking another sip of Nicola next to her. So Mi adds in a few seconds, “Also, I think breathing hitches from time to time, becomes heavy.”

“Should probably stop projecting yourself in my mind from now on,” V suggests with concern, and Song nods. Indeed, it takes quite a toll to project via the Relic; Relic-holo is not that taxing in comparison. “One Song is more than enough for me,” she smirks, seeing how pinkness appears on So Mi’s cheeks.

Oh, the irony.

A sudden yellow filter hits V’s vision again, full force this time, that transforms immediately into red one. She feels blood trailing down her lips, the source being her nose. In a moment, her spine arches hard, gets paralyzed because of immense pain in her back, her head, her heart. Almost as if she got short circuited. She feels herself immobilized, all strength in her entire body leaving her in an instant, making her collapse on the floor, falling from her stool. She grits her teeth in pain, unable to concentrate on anything, her vision becoming black any second now.

“V? V, are you okay?” she can faintly hear Song’s panicked voice as her eyes close, unable to perceive reality.

“V? V, can you hear me?”

She opens her eyes, meeting the beautiful, deep brown ones. Brown ones that are full of concern and worry for her.

“Ugh… what… happened?” V slightly frowns, finding herself on her bed, Song sitting next to her.

“You collapsed spitting blood,” So Mi replies, gently caressing the merc’s cheek, trying to give her much needed comfort. “Were out for two hours. Thought of getting a ripper here at this point.”

V sighs. Tries to remember. Sighs again, understanding what’s probably happened and what’s been the reason for that.

“Is that the Relic?” Song concerns again, feeling V lean into her caress and close her eyes.

“No…” the merc replies, slightly shaking her head. “Late effects of… uh… overclocking my systems, I guess.”

“What do you mean?”

V tries to sit up, still feeling a slight headache. No more blood in her nose, though; it seems like So Mi took care of her while she was unconscious.

“Back on the stadium, I had to overclock my systems and overdose myself with boosters after the Relic attack,” she explains, gazing at Song’s eyes that get filled with even more worry. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have survived. Those late effects, I guess, are what you’ve seen just now. My immune and nervous system literally denying me for some time.”

“Yeah, you… lost control of yourself back then… I saw it,” Song replies, lowering her gaze. A memory of the merc completely losing it at the stadium, laughing like a maniac pops up, an ominous feeling and aura bursting out of her. “And also the ripper at the camp said the same, that your immune system has been in shambles recently,” she adds, her voice becoming sadder.

“Fuck, he said that, too?” V rolls her eyes, slightly frustrated at the prognosis given to her. “First Vik, now him,” she sighs, looking at the ceiling above.

“Just… promise me… uh…” Song stutters, remembering V’s joke about a MaxTac convoy. Back then she already knew that V has her first symptoms, getting deeper into them would not end well at all. And she really doesn’t want V to end up there.

V gently takes her hand, a warm smile on her face. “I won’t. I promise,” she lets out a small laugh, trying not to make the situation more serious than it should be. So Mi slowly pulls V’s hand she’s holding to her lips, again, planting yet another gentle kiss on its back, making V’s ears a shade of red, like her hair.

“Guess I… I will leave you to it,” Song looks at the merc once more, putting her hand on the bed. “I can take your couch, yeah?”

“No, I will,” V immediately tries to get up but feels a headache strike through her, causing her to clench her teeth in pain, half-closing her eyes.

“V, you’re in no good condition,” So Mi protests, looking in her eyes. She can see that the mercenary definitely does not want her to sleep on an uncomfortable piece of furniture, and there’s no way she can persuade her otherwise.

“And you’re in no better condition, either,” V shoots back, tilting her head.

No, there’s no way they were about to fight for the couch, right? Then what are they supposed to do? Unless, of course, there is another, more subtle way to resolve the conflict…

“May I?” So Mi gestures with her eyes to the right of V, carefully that, not wanting to breach any boundaries.

“Please.”

An answer that satisfies both of them at the moment. V turns to lie on her back, hands locked at her waist level, prompting Song to slowly climb to her right side, closer to the wall. Song pauses for a second, hesitates, feeling slight worry and fight-or-flight activate within her. She never felt, never been so close to someone in quite a while. Lots of years have passed since the last time she remembers a similar moment, if ever remembers. She finally crawls to the right side of V, falling on her left side to face V and resting her head against one of the four pillows. The ‘runner keeps her hands in fists, trying not to accidentally run them over the merc’s hard-toned body and thus breach their boundaries.

V turns her head to look at Song, while still lying on her back, her gaze immediately becoming much softer at the sight of So Mi being so vulnerable next to her. The netrunner is still a bit tense, something the merc decides to take care of, offering her right hand. Song takes it with her own one, holding it, feeling a sense of comfort. A warm half-smile appears on her face as she closes her eyes in an attempt to finally catch a break after a long day.

V keeps looking at her, though. She doesn’t know for how long, maybe for a solid five or ten minutes, watching Song falling asleep, breathing static, calm. She looks at her shoulder pads, a bit exposed because the tank top So Mi wears doesn’t cover them. She looks at her arms, too, only partially covered with what’s not even synth-skin, but more like a plastic attempt at skin, probably not even sensitive to touch. A bit of sorrow flickers in the merc’s eyes as she wonders how it truly feels to know half of your body is fully gone and there’s no coming back to how you were prior. Wonders if one day she’ll follow So Mi in her steps…

No, she won’t. She… she made a promise to her today, right? That she will never, ever lose herself.

So Mi falls asleep in a few. Her breath, hot and tranquil, for the first time in forever, tickling V’s neck a bit because of how close they are lying together. No nightmares for today. V watches her, eyes half-open, succumbing to her own imminent dreams; they flicker for a second, reflecting the sleeping woman in her arms. She wants to touch and feel more of her, like her skin, hair, her cheek. Feel and taste those lips…

Fuck, what am I doing?

A thought so simple, yet having no real answer, flies through V’s head, exasperation in her own inner voice. She shouldn’t be doing this. She should not. Not until this is all over. She will hurt her. She will, unintentionally, break her heart.

If she dies.

But she wants her, too. Wants her badly.

V can only let out a sigh, notes of frustration in it. Was it just pure fear? Cowardice? Naivety? Protectiveness? Maybe she just can’t accept that good things can happen in her life anymore. Ever since that haunting Konpeki Plaza heist, her entire life went downward spiral. Nothing good came out of it except constant backstabbing, betrayals, failures. Failures to save her own life. She could help others, like Judy, Panam, River, Kerry, get their happy endings, but not her own. Sometimes she wonders whether happy endings are just not for people like her and Johnny…

Maybe it’s not too late, yet.

Yet.

“Don’t worry… it’ll be alright…”

She tries to get rid of her thoughts, tries to push them away from her mind. Focusing only on the woman in her arms.

“It all will be alright…”

If only life was that simple. If only both of them were not on a timer. If only both of them…

Could have a second chance.

So Mi wakes up first, her eyes trying to adjust to the dark ambient lighting in the room. It seems to be the earliest morning, around five, perhaps. Her entire body, her legs feel a bit heavy and limp from a deep sleep, a sleep she hasn’t gotten in ages. Mind still foggy, she exhales a deep sigh with a small note of frustration at the fact she woke up. She definitely would want to take a few extra hours of sleep, considering there is no need to rush anywhere anymore.

She feels her nose a bit tingling, nuzzling against something soft. She blinks again, noticing it’s red hair. Not hers, that. Blinks once more, realizing she’s almost lying on top of someone. Silent ambience is interrupted with a calm, tranquil, subtle snore and the netrunner’s heartbeat starts racing a bit at the realization.

It’s V. Still lying on her back.

Song closes her eyes, a smile on her face. There’s no room for fear with V being next to her. She’s safe.

Feels safe, too.

She gently wraps her arm around V’s waist, nuzzling against her shoulder. Doesn’t really know why she’s doing that, but it feels right… feels good.

She half-opens her right eye. Sees V smile.

She’s awake. Of course she is.

“I know you’re awake, V…” the netrunner mysteriously trails, getting a grin out of the merc. What’s better than an early morning tease?

“Wow, what gave that away?” V sarcastically and playfully asks her back, turning to the side to face her. She opens her eyes, meeting So Mi’s ones.

“Your vitals.”

V quirks a brow, unable to believe what she’s hearing. “The fuck?”

“Kidding…” the netrunner retreats. “Or not?” she smirks.

“Jesus, Song, if you’re—”

“I’m not,” So Mi chuckles, amused with V’s reaction. She won the game and feels pretty satisfied with the outcome. V doesn’t complain, though. She knows the ‘runner can have her wrapped around her finger whenever she feels like. Resisting is pointless.

Truth be told, not like she wants to resist anyways.

Their eyes meet each other again. Stay locked like that, for quite a while. They are actually so close they can feel each other’s breath, hot, static. Actually, V’s one is less static, a bit more erratic. She’s so drawn towards the netrunner, her eyes are bursting with inner flame and desire. Tries her hardest to resist, but it gets more difficult with each second.

“Fuck,” V thinks to herself, unable to be frustrated anymore, falling back to closing her eyes instead. Feels immediately how much easier it is, seeing only void, nothingness. Senses how she falls asleep yet again, welcoming the peaceful darkness with her wide-spread arms.

She feels cold and burning, yet soothing and comforting, metal hand cup her cheek. She hears how So Mi shuffles a bit, so that she can gently press her forehead against the merc’s. And she does.

V’s eyes finally open again, half-open because her mind is already half-split between reality and dream-state. Looks at Song’s eyes, seeing concern in them.

Concern.

“What’s wrong?” she hears her whisper, voice a bit shaky.

V breathes out with her nose, feeling how the thumb of So Mi’s hand is softly caressing her cheek. “It’s nothing, So Mi,” she whispers back, her heart aches because of how much of a lie that statement is. Deep down it all hurts. Agonizing pain is ripping her on the inside.

“V, please,” Song almost begs for an answer, unable to keep seeing the mercenary like this. She knows; no, she feels via their bond that V’s struggling hard with something. And it doesn’t let her keep sleeping quietly now.

The netrunner’s mouth slightly opens with a slight shock as she sees yet another thin trail of blood coming off V’s nose. She gently wipes it away with her thumb, sensing how the merc’s head is spasming. Spasming in pain, headache taking its grip on her. V knows that her nose is bleeding, accompanied with a yellow blur in her eyes that lasts for about five seconds, but decides to do nothing about it. Too tired to do anything about it. She just wants to sleep more, forget.

“Just tired, So Mi,” Song finally hears V reply, a sweet half-truth that is, one of those that she usually heard Reed feed everyone with, something she can detect immediately. She just hums in return, accepting V’s reply.

They stay like that, eyes closed, falling back asleep. In a minute, So Mi can feel how V wraps her arm around her waist, pulling her closer in their embrace, their bodies almost touching, fusing. Song smiles, feeling the warmth of the younger woman.

“Could help, y’know,” she tells V, getting a small surprised chuckle out of the merc.

“How?”

In a moment, V can feel how someone wraps their arms from behind her, pressing their body against her back.

Oh fuck.

“Better?” Relic Song whispers in the merc’s ear, sending a pleasurable shiver down her entire body. A perk of their bond being so strong now that the holographic touch is indistinguishable from a real one.

V lets out a passionate sigh. “Thought I told you no more projections?” she smiles back.

“Just this once. I promise,” Relic Song whispers to her, nuzzling her nose against V’s neck.

All answers can come later. They will have time.

So Mi knows they will.

Those were the best four days in So Mi’s life. At least compared to whatever days she still held in her memory.

Being with V felt… oddly peaceful, normal. Not because it wasn’t something she expected it to feel like; no, she knew fully well that being with the merc is the most wonderful experience in her life so far. The reason why it felt peaceful and normal, perhaps, was because she completely forgot how it’s like to feel that way. A feeling forgotten, alien now; reawakened by the one who cares about her the most.

She didn’t leave V’s apartment, though, both agreeing that it’s for the best until her flight was scheduled. They both had this weird feeling that they still might be traceable. Because of that, V herself was only leaving the apartment at most once a day and only to go to Cherry Blossom Market to get food for the two.

What both women didn’t expect, though, was for So Mi’s condition to become worse and worse by the day. The Blackwall damage finally was showing its effects; usually, the FIA treated her immediately to suppress all the noticeable symptoms after her dives; this time, though, there was nothing. V suggested maybe to get Song to Vik, but the netrunner refused, explaining that no regular ripper would help her at this point. The FIA had been using some special meds on her; plus, her chrome was unique, tier 5, not something a regular street doc could easily tune or fix. Hence, the only thing she could do was wait for her space flight.

Soon, Song started hearing whispers in her head, especially while sleeping. Whispers that transformed her dreams into nightmares. She screamed from time to time in her sleep, prompting V to wake up and calm her down, comforting and embracing her, sharing half of So Mi’s pain with her. The merc’s heart could only bear so much seeing the woman she cares for fade away with each passing day, like a flower losing its petals.

It fucking hurt. The only thing she could do for Song, though, was hold her in her arms while sleeping. Not leaving her side.

When there were just two days left, V finally decided to fulfill the promise of getting Bill’s best hotdogs for So Mi. As expected, the netrunner literally was beaming with joy when eating them. Something that made V smile, of course, making them both forget for just a moment about all their troubles and such.

That is, until she got a holo-call. She looked at the name and…

“Fuck…” she breathes out, her gaze full of uncertainty and confusion. Notes of fear, too.

Song looks at her, asking, “What?”

“It’s Reed,” V replies, standing up from her stool. “Hold on.”

V walks off into her armory, needing complete and utter silence. She closes the door on her way in, sitting on the chair and picking up the call. She’s greeted with a five second silence at first.

“Reed?” she finally decides to ask, trying not to sound suspicious or nervous or anything.

“Let’s meet up,” the agent immediately replies back, his voice stoic and full of confidence. That confidence doesn’t inspire confidence in the merc, though.

V quirks a brow. “Huh? Why?” she asks.

“Have some questions for you regarding the day SF1 crashed.”

“What questions?”

“Let’s meet up,” Reed continues to insist. The merc just bites her lip, slowly realizing where all this is going. “Not on the holo,” he adds. “Tomorrow, daytime.”

“Oookay?” the merc trails off, finally agreeing with his suggestion. Straight on denying it would probably lead to a worse outcome. “Where?”

“Corpo Plaza. Sending you the coordinates.”

And on that, the call ends. As V reads the message with coordinates, she just sits for about thirty more seconds in full silence, completely baffled, speechless. Shocked. Corpo Plaza? Near her own pad? What the fuck? Coincidence?

No. No way.

“So Mi, pack your things, now,” she immediately tells the netrunner as soon as she walks out of the armory. “Calling Panam. You’re staying in the Aldecaldos camp till your scheduled flight,” she trails off as she already scrolls down through her contacts to find her nomad friend’s number.

Song raises an eyebrow, finishing chewing on her hotdog. “Why, what happened?” she wonders, her voice concerned, albeit having an idea of what’s to come.

“Reed asked me to meet him. At Corpo Plaza.”

“So?”

A pause. V looks at her, her lip trembles. “The place where he wants to meet is a restaurant. That’s very close to one of my pads.”

“Fuck,” So Mi breathes out, lowering her gaze.

“Meaning there’s a chance that the FIA might already know where all my pads are at. Don’t know how. Better for you to hide outside the city,” V finishes, as Panam finally picks up her call.

“V?” the nomad asks, but is immediately interrupted by the merc.

“Panam? Can you come to Japantown? Need you to pick up Songbird. Life or death situation, need to do it now. Got it?” the merc tries to stay firm and collected but can’t help but feel nervousness creeping in inside. If the FIA knows where she lives, they might be minutes already from this pad. If not already here. Unless Reed does not know and this is just a scare tactic? Shit.

“Uhh… okay, V,” Panam hesitates at first, but, seeing as V’s expression immediately changes to a frustrated one, she immediately backs off and agrees. “Be there in less than thirty.”

“Preem. Be waiting,” the merc finishes as she hangs up the call.

Chapter Text

“What are you gonna do?”

The redhead glances at Johnny, who’s standing behind her, smoking his cig. She’s standing in front of a sink with a mirror, having just finished washing her face.

She raises an eyebrow, and asks back, “What do you mean?”

“Are you gonna go and meet Reed?”

She doesn’t know yet. On one hand, this might be a trap. On the other hand, if she doesn’t go, then she might be exposing So Mi to danger, giving the FIA a hint that she’s secretly backing her up.

Before Panam had arrived, the merc and the netrunner agreed to have their meeting point for the flight day behind N54 HQ building, a perfect place close to the spaceport where they wouldn’t get traced. They thought about multiple spots, actually, but ultimately agreed that the N54 HQ backalley was the best one.

After Panam had arrived, V and So Mi used a back route of the building to get So Mi in the nomad’s Thornton. Just in case V’s apartment had been secretly observed or monitored. They also made sure to pick a new set of clean clothes for Song, so that her back wasn’t exposed for the public all the time. The merc left her Samurai replica jacket with her, too, since she seemingly liked it, how comfortable it felt. As that’s done, V packed up her iron, preparing for the upcoming meeting and a potential showoff.

The merc sighs. “If he actually wants to ask only a question or two, it wouldn’t hurt,” she finally replies after a thoughtful five seconds.

The rockerboy exhales smoke, glaring at her. “And if he knows?”

No answer from the merc for a while. She clicks her tongue, staring at her mirror reflection, thinking about pros and cons. “Not going is more risky,” she concludes. “If they think I’m helping So Mi, not showing up would just confirm their suspicions. By showing up, I at least could try to act clueless and see what they’re planning to do, where they’re at.”

She’s conflicted. Very much so. It’s a fifty-fifty situation, the one similar from her counterintel days. Logical choice would be to just not go, not show up, but it carried its own risks.

She settled on going.

Before she did that, though, both her and So Mi agreed to establish a Relic-holo connection the moment the merc met with Reed. Both knowing what her old mentor and the FIA were up to would be way better than only V being there and then retelling everything to So Mi. They also both agreed that V shouldn’t try coming up with imaginary scenarios of what she’d been doing in Dogtown; just straight up deny any involvement anywhere and say she’d been in NC doing gigs. Not like the FIA could confirm that specifically.

The restaurant was pretty crowded. Good, at least no shootout would be necessary in case shit went sideways. She spotted her man of interest sitting at one of the tables, approached him and stood to the opposite side of the table.

“V. It’s good to see you,” Reed immediately says the moment the merc appears in front of him.

“Hey, Reed,” V replies back nonchalantly, trying her best to hide any sense of nervousness or discomfort away. “Something the matter?”

“Take a seat,” he waves his hand, inviting her to join him at the table.

The merc does precisely that. She then proceeds to Relic-holo Song herself, so that she can see and listen to the whole conversation of theirs. So Mi connects to her in two seconds, but chooses not to materialize since that’ll only make her condition worse.

“Can’t believe he’s here,” Song says in V’s head, voice full of sorrow and regret, as she sees her mentor through the younger woman’s optics. “To think he’d just… come back… after what me and Myers did to him.”

“Hey, not your fault,” V immediately tells her, no hesitation in her inner voice. “Just because Myers gave you no choice doesn’t mean it’s all on you—”

“I’ll get straight to biz,” Reed speaks up firmly then, interrupting the conversation of the two women in V’s head. “You probably already know why I called you here.”

V just shrugs, replying, “No, not really.”

“You do know, V,” the FIA agent presses her, closely observing her eye and muscle movement, as if trying to detect whether she’s lying or being nervous about the whole upcoming interrogation. “I am here about Songbird.”

“Mhm. And?” V deadpans, staring him right in the eyes, not breaking the contact. Both her and the netrunner already know the direction in which the conversation is going, there’s no room for doubt anymore.

Reed crosses his arms. Stares at V for a solid five seconds. “We know she staged the crash landing of SF1. We know she got prisoned under Kurt Hansen after,” he pauses again, looking to the side now. “We know you helped her escape. We know you’re hiding her.”

To think it’d come to this.

“Uh-huh,” V hums nonchalantly. “And why would I do that?”

“We’ve gathered all the intel on you,” the agent immediately replies, piercing the merc with his eyes yet again. “Including what Songbird’s gathered before she’s gone MIA. You have an Arasaka Relic in your head that’s overwriting your psyche, devouring your brain.”

“Pft…” V snorts, frustrated at his words. “Came prepped, huh?”

She averts her gaze. Coughs a few times then, covering her mouth with her hand, realizing there’s blood all over it right after. The FIA agent notices it, too, and once their eyes lock, no words are needed anymore to understand each other. Reed knows. V knows. No point in denying it anymore.

“Just play along, V,” So Mi tells in her head. “Don’t let him intimidate you.”

The redhead sighs. “When’d you find out?” she questions Reed.

“First sign was the mysterious deal you’ve made with Songbird. Then, you just walk away, never stating what it was, not agreeing to Myers’ offer. Started seeing the pieces falling into place since then,” he casually explains, putting his hands on the table and slightly leaning towards her. “We had one eye on you since then, ‘thout you even realizing it.”

V bites her lip, moving her eyes away once more. “Slider, huh?”

“We paid him a visit, yes. We pressed him, squeezed him for info. He told us everything he knew about you, including how you showed up, uninvited, and demanded tech to contact a certain netrunner. Things couldn’t be clearer since then,” Reed states, leaning back against the chair.

“I suppose you know about the Blackwall then, don’t you?” the redhead quirks a brow, sideways glancing at him. “How Myers forced So Mi to breach it, pushed her off the goddamn cliff?”

“All authorizations, mission orders came directly from Myers. I know that,” the FIA agent nods, his tone still stoic. “It doesn’t change anything, though,” he adds.

V scoffs, blinking a few times, stupefied at his response. She snorts, shaking her head, “Song mentioned her Militech datafort raid. How you swooped in, prevented her brain from frying.” A small pause, and she can see Reed’s face morphs in distress, he averts his gaze, unable to stare at her anymore. And then she presses him, “But then you fucking billed her for it, in small print. No way, no day she could pay it off.”

He crosses his arms, looking down. “I gave her a choice. The FIA or a NetWatch interrogation chamber.”

“Some fucking choice. More like blackmail,” the redhead corrects him. “Locked her in a cage for a shit-stained decade.”

“You really mixed that up. You’re not slaving just ‘cause you have a duty. And… So Mi swore an oath.” Reed protests, grasping for straws to try to defend himself. “And then decided to cast it aside,” he continues, glancing at V momentarily. “Betraying herself, betraying us. There’s a price on that, she’s gotta pay it.”

“Do you even hear yourself?”

He shakes his head, looking to the side. “Songbird is a traitor, and she has to answer for treason. It’s as simple as that.”

A weary sigh from the merc, as she has nothing else to say. Nothing else to say simply because of how self-absorbed the man in front of her is in his sense of duty, this unshakable sense of duty that his superiors don’t value whatsoever. And his delusion, too. She shrugs, her lips a thin line, her voice monotone, “Is that why I’m here? So that you could appeal to my sense of justice or something? Sorry, but I don’t see it.”

“Do you think Songbird trusts you?”

V blinks in surprise. “Huh?”

“Do you think she trusts you?” Reed asks once more, more persistent this time.

Hesitancy. The redhead doesn’t think much of his question first, but then recalls her first meeting with V, followed by the couch talk in Dogtown, at the place that reminded Songbird of home. During their first meeting, it seemed like Song went all in, emplaced her full trust in her, only to later admit how she actually manipulated V into helping her by trying to get the merc attached to her. She didn’t trust V at first. That much was obvious.

Question is—does she now? When they were observing Dogtown together, and fully revealed themselves to each other, it seemed like there were no more secrets. So Mi even entrusted V with a hideout, the driver, and let V take her out to places, whether it was the Samurai reunion concert, or her own place in Japantown.

She sniffles. Looks at the ‘Relic Packet 32’ message that’s still in her optics—Songbird is completely silent, and V really wants her to say something, anything. She looks back at him next. “Yeah,” she finally replies. “Why?”

Reed straightens his composure. “Did she tell you that the neural matrix she was after can save your life?”

It’s as if she got hit with a hammer against her skull just now. She blinks a few times in confusion, processing word by word of his, asking back, “What?”

“We searched and observed. Interrogated a few peeps that couldn’t keep their mouths shut,” Reed explains, staring directly in V’s eyes. “Project Cynosure, you know it—the same one where Hansen pulled some obscure tech out of. The tech, access to which, So Mi’s exchanged the President’s life for.”

“I know what it is,” V scoffs. “But, what do you mean it can save my life? So Mi told me it can’t.”

“Still think she trusts you?”

The merc shakes her head, “I’m just making sure I’m not falling for a trick of yours. How do I know this isn’t an attempt at a con?”

“Cynosure’s our tech. We had our people look into it, into the nature of what Songbird’s after. The AI on the neural matrix—it can cure you from the Relic. Fix you up. It can save your life.”

She doesn’t know what to say. She’s lost. Her focus shifts between the ‘Relic Packet 32’ notification in her top left corner and the FIA agent sitting in front of her. She has a mix of emotions stir inside her, ranging from doubt and distrust to frustration and anger. If what Reed is saying is true, then…

“She would’ve told me,” the merc frowns.

“Well, ask her yourself,” the FIA agent challenges her. “How come she’s out to save only herself, and not you. Maybe that’s how she feels about you, what she thinks of you.”

No words, no thoughts pop inside her head. The redhead doesn’t know what to say, what to reply, what to ask. Reed succeeded—he managed to plant a heavy seed of doubt in her. She recalls her conversations with the netrunner, the one back at the stadium and back at the Black Sapphire. At the stadium, the parking lot, V asked her whether the cure Song’s after could save her, and she got a negative answer. Then, at the Black Sapphire, So Mi explained how the neural matrix she’s after housed a rogue AI that could be issued commands to execute a specific task, said task being curing So Mi herself.

She didn’t give it much of a thought back then. She does now. And the conclusion drawn is downright uncanny and disturbing, in a sense that Songbird could save her all this time, yet decided not to. Why, what for? Did the netrunner just not want to cure her? Was this just a betrayal in her eyes?

V forcefully pushes all her negativity away. He breathes in hard with her nose, sterning herself. “You’re a lousy salesman, Reed,” she deadpans. “‘S there a point to all this? You haven’t mentioned yet what you’re offering. If there’s anything to offer to begin with.”

“If you willingly hand Songbird over to us, we’ll have you undergo life-saving surgery at the FIA clinic, the NUSA specialists are top of the game,” the man answers, trying to sound as persuasive as possible.

A frown from the redhead. “So, what, gonna use the cure So Mi has? On both of us?”

“That’s precisely the goal. To save both you and her.”

No reply for a while. She needs to mull over it first. On one hand, if what he’s saying is true, she can end her terminal illness once and for all, get cured, and get this entire suffering and struggle over with. On the other hand…

“And what’ll happen to her after that?” she gives him an ominous glare, knowing the answer already.

Said question wasn’t necessary. And Reed proves it by simply stating, “She’ll have to atone. She will go to a government clinic, and then where she belongs: back to the FIA.”

“Where Myers’ll force her beyond the Blackwall once more, right? And keep the cycle rolling?”

“We’ll ensure she gets the best care possible. We won’t repeat the same mistakes again.”

This is absurd.

The merc sighs, not knowing what to do. She glances at the top left corner of her HUD, seeing how the netrunner is still connected and can hear everything. She’s silent most of this conversation, ever since Reed’s brought up the cure. If she’s silent, that means the FIA agent is right, and is, in fact, not lying.

But that’s conversation for later.

Reed gets up, adjusting his coat. “Think about what she offered you. Think about what she didn’t tell you. Think about who she betrayed and stepped over,” he tells the merc. Then adds, “Do you truly think you’re standing to gain something from helping her?” Finally, he finishes, before walking away and leaving the redhead by her lonesome, “I advise you to think wisely, V. If you agree to the offer, let me know. If you don’t—then face the consequences.”

“Well, go on,” So Mi prompts the merc, giving her a blank stare, slightly tilting her head. “Know you have something to say. So, say it.”

They were back in V’s megabuilding H10 pad, with the merc relentlessly pacing around it. Her thoughts were all over the place, and the netrunner was still connected to the Relic, not knowing how to properly start the conversation, as her projection was sitting on V’s couch, observing the redhead’s movements. Song, in time, finally decided to address the massive elephant in the room, and something was telling her that the conversation wouldn’t go smoothly whatsoever.

V stops, putting hands on her hips and glancing at the netrunner. “What Reed said—is it the truth?” she asks calmly. “That the neural matrix can save me?”

Songbird lowers her gaze. “Yes.”

“Why’d you lie to me?”

“I had my reasons.”

V scoffs, shaking her head in disbelief, as her annoyance rises exponentially in a fraction of a second. “What reasons, So Mi?” she asks, both confused and disappointed. “If it can save me, and you outright refused to tell me that, what— what the fuck? Why not cure me then?”

So Mi sighs, sadly looking somewhere to the side. “V, it’s complicated…”

“Complicated how?” the redhead exclaims, spreading her arms, her voice rising. “Because I’m just a criminal? Some random NC merc to use? You paid for your treatment, and who the fuck cares about me, right?”

Song gets up now at the merc’s heated statements. “No, it’s not that!” she shoots back.

“Then what?” V asks, pressing further. “Lemme guess, the Mikoshi help also isn’t real, and just a bunch of empty promises you fed me to keep me by your side?”

“The neural matrix—the cure—can only be used once.”

The merc stops and blinks, looking at So Mi. “What?”

“It houses a captive AI from beyond the Blackwall that relies on continuous evolution to exist,” the ‘runner explains. “Once I free it, I end the process. It’ll then execute my commands and disintegrate. Irretrievably.”

The younger woman is stunned. She is lost in the world of half-truths and lies by omission. She’s been in counterintel, involved in different kinds of mess, but this whole FIA shit—it’s something else. The world of spies is a different kind of league, and she’s dealing with two here: first one a professional liar who’d do virtually anything to survive, remain herself, including deceiving the one she cares for, while the second one is a professional liar who’s taught the former one, except is ten times better and never fesses up to any of his deceptions.

Shit. This is so fucked.

“If I use it, it can’t save you,” So Mi adds in a moment, notes of sadness and regret in her voice. “It’s as simple as that.”

The redhead’s not buying it just yet, insisting, “But Reed said—”

“Reed either doesn’t know that detail, or intentionally omitted to get you on board, lied to you.”

“Well, you lied, too!” V exclaims, her frustration’s still there.

Songbird doesn’t know what to reply at first. She gets up, crosses her arms, and walks towards the window, stopping in front of it and looking at the city, all the while the merc’s staring at her back. “I never promised you the cure, V,” So Mi responds, shaking her head. “I never lied to you about it. But… I also couldn’t trust you not to betray me if you ever found out. How was I supposed to know your greed won’t get the better of you?”

“Greed?” the redhead’s eyes shoot wide open. “Seriously, So Mi? Survival’s greed now?”

“You know what I mean.”

“This isn’t even about that, though!” V scoffs. She then walks closer towards the netrunner, gently touches her shoulder and turns her around (perk of them feeling Song’s projection), making them face each other. “I thought we trusted each other?” the merc probes, voice low, searching So Mi’s eyes. “Had our backs, and now what? If you keep speaking in half-truths, if you keep yourself constrained from me, then what do we even have?”

The purple haired woman looks back at her, her lips part. “Open the file I sent you when we were observing Dogtown together.”

V’s confused. “What?”

“Do it. Read it.”

Blank stare from V for a while. She sighs in a few, takes a few steps back from the netrunner and opens her directory in her optics. She scrolls through her files, and finds the one that Song has sent to her a while back. Opening it, she realizes that it’s actually a video recording. In it, So Mi is sitting on a chair, head lowered, her eyes and face expressing sorrow in them. That’s already enough to have the merc’s heart squeeze, shatter.

“If you’re watching this, you know how our story ended,” So Mi states in the recording, pausing for a while. She takes a deep breath then, looks at the camera, “Either I’m dead, or I’m too far gone. Pick one.”

Another moment of hesitation. V just silently watches, all the while the Relic projection of the older woman takes a seat back at the couch, waiting for the recording in V’s optics to finish playing.

The recording keeps playing. “Maybe I should’ve told you this earlier. Maybe not,” the netrunner notes there, wearily sighing. “I guess I couldn’t trust myself enough to trust you. I’m sorry.”

Song shakes her head. A deep breath. “The neural matrix, the one I was after—it can cure you.”

Could scream with all your longs at how desperate she looked there. V couldn’t mutter a single word, as her heart shattered in millions of pieces from watching this. “Please, V—take it, use it. It’ll work,” So Mi says in the recording. “Don’t let it go to waste,” she adds. “I want you to live, too. I…”

Her breath hitches, and she averts her gaze. “I just wish things would’ve ended differently.”

The recording ends. V is left speechless for quite a while, not knowing what to say, not knowing what to think. A massive wave of realization hit her hard, stunned her hard, prompting her to take a seat on her bed, not knowing what to do.

The Relic projection of the netrunner sees it. She lowers her head, staring at her shoes. “I’m sorry, V,” her voice is fueled by remorse and sadness. “Yes, I couldn’t trust you,” she admits bluntly, “It’s difficult for me, and I hope you understand. And it’s not just a you issue. It’s my fault, too,” she tries to explain, shuffling a bit and glancing at the merc, their eyes locking onto each other. “I wish the matrix could save us both, but it can’t,” Song adds. “If I had all the time in the world, if I weren’t dying from the Blackwall—I would’ve tried making a new one for you, would’ve spent months linked to the Wall doing that. I swear. But I don’t have time, don’t have enough strength. And I didn’t want to drag you into this mess with a false promise,” she finishes, closing her eyes and lowering her head once more. “I just hope you understand.”

Silence. The two don’t got anything else to say to each other. Maybe there’s no need to say anything at all. V does understand. She does, indeed, but that does not mean she’s not upset at how Song has handled the situation, how she couldn’t fully trust her. Of course, she did tell the truth from the start, about herself, about her situation, and more, but the real nature of the cure—well…

And V couldn’t blame her. If So Mi had told her from the start the real truth about the cure, how it’s one dose, one instance, and could save either of them—she would’ve betrayed her. More than likely, she would’ve. Because it’s only now, now that she’s grown to care about the netrunner, does she have a hard time and is conflicted about all of it. Choose survival, or the one you’ve grown to care for?

“And Mikoshi—our deal still stands?” V finally asks, voice barely above a whisper. “Didn’t lie to me about it?”

“No,” Song replies. “I’ll try my best to help you. I promise.”

V tries to believe her. Her survival instincts shred her to pieces on the inside, whispering to just end all of it now, take what’s hers, what she desires, and never look back. Yet she can’t do it.

“Sorry, I need time to process all this,” the redhead whispers, dropping her head in her hands.

So Mi nods, sadness in her eyes. “Okay,” she whispers back, her voice a soft caress against V’s heart and soul. “I understand.”

The netrunner disconnects then, leaving the merc by her lonesome, the ‘Relic Packet 32’ message disappearing from V’s optics feed. V sighs, deeply, tiredly, and fully lies on her bed, staring at the ceiling.

What a day.

Chapter Text

Why can’t life just be simple? Why her? Why all of this, now?

Many questions, no answers. As always. Even if a single answer’s found, multiple other questions pop up immediately. Like a goddamn hydra when one slices one of its heads off. V prefers to just not think in these moments, but that’s not something that’s easy to do. No matter how hard you try to delve into thoughtless, some downright irritating question flies through your head sooner or later.

“Don’t tell me you’re considering Reed’s offer.”

The rockerboy’s firm voice wakes her up from her thoughts, making her glance at him, full of confusion and misunderstanding, as if trying to comprehend whether he’s really just said that.

“Talk about something else please?” she attempts to derail the convo, only to get stopped right away.

“Answer me.”

She sighs. “I… I won’t do it to her,” she closes her eyes, breathing in deep with her nose.

It’s late evening already, another day’s passed since her conversation with Reed. Today’s the day So Mi has to go to the Moon. Sure as shit something fucking horrible’ll happen along the way, whether it’s the FIA getting on their asses, or Orbital Air security deciding it might be a good idea to check on them in the midst of the crowd.

“And even if it might be a new lease on life, how the fuck am I supposed to trust them?” the merc questions, staring at the ceiling. “The NUSA is the same as any corporation out there, same as Arasaka,” she adds after a five second pause.

Johnny lights up his cigarette, sitting on the couch and shaking his head. “Finally something’s changed in your head. Can say I’m slightly proud of you,” he states, a small smirk on his face as he sideways glances at his friend.

His response doesn’t bring much joy to the merc, though. No, in fact, only makes her more tense if anything.

“What about Mikoshi?” the rockerboy then asks.

V gives him a confused gaze. “What about it?”

“Sure you wanna involve her in all this?”

A blink from the redhead. “What do you mean?”

A small pause as Johnny takes a long dip at his cig, exhaling all the smoke in a few seconds. “Well, now that you two are close and all, sure you wanna put her life at risk after she’s fixed?” he finally asks, exchanging glances with her. “Blasting into Mikoshi if we find its access point definitely won’t be a walk in a park,” he proceeds, taking another drag at his cig.

Hesitation is immediate in both V’s eyes and heart. His concern is valid—can she actually drag Song into her problem after all they’ve been through? Her caring about the netrunner hasn’t been in the initial plan and the deal they’ve made; it’s been purely transactional at first. Can she put her life at risk yet again? What if it ends up bad?

“I mean… she could remotely assist us,” V slightly tilts her head to the side, biting her lip. “Seen yourself how she hacked the Dogtown stadium. Could do the same there,” she tries persuade both the rockerboy and herself.

“And she used the Blackwall. Think it’s a good idea to use the Blackwall once again after she’s fixed? It would put her all the way back at square one, like nothing’s changed. Nullifying the cure. She gets treated—she’s no longer a WMD, no more Blackwall tricks.”

V’s stare is blank, directed back at the ceiling. “She can still hack using me as a neural bridge. Lots of netrunners do that, y’know.”

Can tell she doesn’t believe in her own words. So Mi herself promised to try her best to help V, but, at this point, the redhead’s been losing all her hope. She just wants all the pain to end. She just wants it all to stop.

Johnny sees her inner struggle. He sighs, tossing his cig away. “Fine, just remember that if you help her, her life’s heavy on you. Especially with the whole FIA bullshit,” he finishes, disappearing.

V shakes her head, closing her eyes yet again, unable to disagree with him. She slowly starts losing hope at this point by the day. Can she really go through this? What if Mikoshi ends up a bust? What if Alt doesn’t hold her end of the deal and has secret intentions she and Johnny have no idea about? What if Mikoshi is so far away, like in orbit, that she just won’t be able to make it there on time?

She couldn’t contemplate her life for long, as she gets a message. It’s from the netrunner, and it reads, “V, my flight is today’s night. If you haven’t changed your mind about helping me, I’ll be at the back alley by the N54 News HQ. If not, then I understand, and I’m sorry. For everything.”

The redhead breathes in deep. She gets up.

Footsteps. Someone’s outside. So Mi reaches for the pistol next to her, gripping it hard and pointing at the back doors of the van. They open.

“Fuck, you look pretty um…” V’s eyes go over Song from top to bottom the moment she climbs inside, seeing how the netrunner’s leaning against the back of the driver’s seat, holding her stomach with her right hand, eyes half-closed, breathing heavily. A horrible look would be an understatement here.

“V…? Ngh,” So Mi struggles to say anything, feeling pain everywhere. “Senses are going. Seeing… dark spots. It’s ha-ard to breathe.”

V doesn’t miss a beat. “Wanna help—tell me how,” she gently putting her left hand on Song’s right knee, comforting her.

Songbird smiles weakly. “You came after all,” she whispers, her eyes locking with the redhead’s.

The merc can’t help but smile back. “Your plan worked,” she states. So Mi quirks a brow, and the younger woman adds, “Your plan to make me care for you I mean.”

Song’s lips part. “V, I…”

The redhead doesn’t let her say anything, as she gets closer and wraps her arms around So Mi, holding her close to her. So Mi is speechless at first, but closes her eyes next and embraces V, too, nuzzling against her shoulder, tears forming in her eyes.

“It’s okay, So Mi,” V whispers, gently stroking the netrunner’s back, burying her nose in the older woman’s purple hair. “Not leaving you. Won’t.”

They stay like that for a while, embracing each other, clinging onto each other. Could stay eternity of time like that, together, but they can’t. Both their lives are running out, and all they can spare is a few minutes of silence, feeling the warmth of one another. It’s soothing, calming. Can almost hear the heartbeat of both of them, unified and static.

The moment they disengage, V glances at the netrunner’s eyes, eyes that are dangerously close. Just like her lips. The merc smiles, and so does So Mi, her eyes shining with gratitude.

“Thank you,” Song whispers. V gives her a small nod filled with understanding and pulls back. “Hh, let’s roll,” the older woman’s eyes light up with blue as she takes the remote control of the van.

The netrunner’s face doesn’t let the merc sit quietly. “Don’t look so hot. Think you’ll manage?” she asks with genuine concern, looking at the black tint around the older woman’s eyes.

“That’ll depend heavily… on you,” So Mi takes another deep breath. “Black clinic—it’s on the Moon. Have a shuttle prepped and waiting.”

V quirks a brow, “I assume I’ll somehow have to sneak you into it?”

“Yeah,” So Mi nods. “Once I reach the clinic, they’re going to extract the AI from the neural matrix, create a prototype cure for me,” she explains, seeing the merc’s face morph with more concern and confusion. She adds, “I’ll contact you, the moment I’m treated. I promise.”

A brief pause, as the redhead just stares at her, thinking over her words. “Seriously, there’s no place on Earth where they could help you?” she inquires in a moment.

“Maybe there is, but I would’ve come straight from the operating table to the interrogation room in Washington.”

“And when are you gonna contact me?”

Said question isn’t filled with demand. Rather concern, concern that Song might be in such a state that treating her would take months on end. Something, of course, that doesn’t suit V, sure, since she still has her Mikoshi problem. The merc tries to let it go, ignore her own problem for now, yet her survival instincts kick in once more.

“A week. Two at most. I hope,” Song replies in two seconds.

V just nods, thinking she might have a month left before she croaks. Just needs to reschedule her appointment at Embers for the seventh time. “Well, be awaiting word,” she sighs in return.

“So, spaceflight means spaceport—NCX. It’s where we’re heading,” So Mi looks at V. “Now, I can’t just stride in. I’d draw attention from who knows who in my condition. So you’ll stride in. Then head to the Tycho Terminal, find a side door to open for me,” she explains, nodding in the direction of one of her laptops where she has an Orbital Air ticket open for the show.

The merc frowns. “What about spaceport security?”

“Tycho Terminal’s been renovated, so not many bodies, lots of cover…” Song lowers her gaze and tightens her grip on her stomach, feeling pain becoming a bit more intense. “Also minimal security, probably. Can’t ignore that factor.”

Things couldn’t be clearer. This just might work, V thinks to herself. “Think I can manage. You use the time well, to rest,” she puts her left hand on So Mi’s right knee, gently caressing it.

“I’ll try. But let me know if you need me to link up, hit the net.”

They keep driving in silence for a solid thirty seconds, Song staring somewhere at the van roof while V’s unable to shift her worried gaze from the netrunner’s eyes. The van makes a turn, taking them both to a long speedway.

“All this shit’s… too much,” So Mi suddenly notes, remorse in her voice yet again. Remorse that shatters V’s heart because she can feel it, too, because of their bond’s nature. “Damn, V… I’ve wronged so many, hurt so many… Can’t help wondering if it’s even avoidable. You know… hurting others?”

A tough question. Could probably say yes, it’s possible, that is if one isolates themselves from absolutely everyone and has zero people that are close to them. But that’s not how people work. The sheer need for communication, support, engagement is what makes one human. One can lose their mind being absolutely alone, and V doubts she’d ever be able to do that herself. Which is what drives her simple answer, “Think not, no way.”

“With you on that,” So Mi nods.

The van suddenly stops as an immense headache and stomachache hits the older woman, making her quiver in pain, grit her teeth. Her eyes are no longer lit up with blue, showing she’s no longer in remote control of the vehicle. “Booster, V! I…” So Mi barely lets out, whimpering in pain.

V doesn’t hesitate, immediately taking a booster that lies next to them, injecting it in Song’s organic leg. Well, organic —a tad bit reinforced, of course, to accommodate for the weight of her upper body. Titanium bones that is, but the flesh is still there, sensitive to touch. “Relax. All good,” V keeps her voice low, soothing, gentle, comforting.

So Mi’s eyes close on their own. “V,” she moans, her moan filled with grief, breaking V’s heart yet again.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t wanna die,” So Mi whispers, shaking her head. “Can’t help but regret… I just…” she stutters, feeling how difficult it is to pull the words out of herself. “Help me… ditch this town.”

She feels how the merc’s left hand gently cups her cheek, caressing her face with its thumb. She leans into it, wanting more of that soothing touch. “Meds are kicking in. You’re all right,” she hears the merc whisper back. She opens her eyes, gazing at V, seeing how her eyes express understanding.

Song wants more of that touch, but suppresses herself, knowing they gotta move. “We shouldn’t linger,” she notes. “Grab the wheel—could you?”

V can no longer just sit here and do nothing. “Lemme scan you,” she extends her personal link, “Need to know how you’re doing, the state you’re in.”

The merc jacks in the netrunner’s neural port, starting up diagnostics. Both their eyes light up with orange, a few seconds pass before V can finally get proper results. Results that only make her worry about So Mi’s condition more and more, shattering all her beliefs that the netrunner is still in a somewhat manageable condition to walk around and hack stuff.

“Hm… shit. This isn’t right,” V frowns, checking the results. All the systems in So Mi are failing, the “disease” is spreading too fast. “Degen’s fast. Too fast for any known pathogen. Metastases spreading straight from the brain…”

“Yeah, I know, V,” Songbird weakly nods. “All the more reason we hurry.”

V can only sigh at this point, jacking out of So Mi’s neural port. Nothing much she can do—she’s no ripper and even regular rippers won’t do much at this point, as So Mi claims. The netrunner’s neural system is in shambles, just like V’s, except much, much worse by this point.

“Said Tycho Terminal is closed for refurbishment. Sure you can fly out of there in spite?” V quirks a brow, finally putting two and two together in her head after the netrunner mentioned that the terminal’s closed.

“Got a ticket… from someone who follows their own rules.”

V snorts in amusement. “You’ve had shit luck with partners lately.”

“Till you came along… working out better than I’ve ever imagined…” the purple haired woman smiles in return.

And V warmly smiles, too, unable to disagree with her. “Try ‘n’ rest up,” she tells her, nodding.

The merc climbs to the driver’s seat, restarting the engine. Starts driving right away, cautious, slow, unable to put on hold her concern about the netrunner. Regularly checks all the mirrors to see if they have a tail or if anyone suspicious is following them. Seems like no one, so far, which is good. One less thing to worry about for now.

In about five minutes she hears Song’s voice behind her, telling, “Steel yourself. We’ll be pulling in.”

“Thinking back to that first contact you made? We’ve come a long way…” V lets out a dry chuckle, shaking her head.

So Mi hums. “Haven’t quite reached its end yet.”

In one more minute V pulls up the van to the main gate, stopping at a parking spot. So Mi slowly and carefully climbs onto the passenger seat, still holding on to her hurting stomach. Can she even eat anything at this point?

“Obviously, you can’t be packing when you go in,” the netrunner explains, lowering her gaze and heavily breathing. “Standard spaceport security. Leave your iron with me. I’ll have it when we meet up again.”

V takes off her scabbard with two katanas in it, takes off her holster with Malorian in it, puts all of it in a bag that Song gives her. She’s brought Scalpel and Tsumetogi this time with her, deciding to dual wield in any and all fights. “I sure as shit hope I don’t run flat into some FIA snoop,” the merc remarks, shaking her head, feeling a sense of deja vu right now. Seems like the infamous Arasaka hotel still chases her, even to the fucking spaceport.

“They’re agents of a foreign government operating in the Free City—illegally,” So Mi explains, looking at V. “Have to behave like puppybots set to easy obedience mode,” she adds,  moving her gaze towards the main entrance of the spaceport, seeing how some people walk in and some people walk out of it. “So again—Tycho Terminal—get there unnoticed by anyone who matters. Eyes peeled for Orbital Air guards especially. We can’t know what they’ll be watching for.”

“Join up soon.”

V opens the door, leaving the van, closing it right after. Looks around, checking the environment for any potential threats. She has a feeling someone’s watching her, them, hundred percent, but there’s not much she can do. She needs to hurry then.

“Hey, V?”

The merc blinks,  turns towards the driver’s window and sees So Mi already sitting there, window lowered, looking at her.

“Yeah?” V raises an eyebrow.

Song puts on a weak smile, simply saying, “Good luck.”

“Hey, Song—chin up. I’ll manage. We’ll manage.”

So Mi nods, establishing Relic-holo with the merc. She can now hear and see what V does, so she can assist her if trouble comes up. Not wasting any second, she starts driving off into the distance, parking herself next to the underground garage.

“Okay, on the port’s Net. Aim to steer ya clear of bogeys, ‘ganic and cyber,” Song tells the merc, putting the van to a full stop and turning off the ignition. She’s not focusing on V at the moment, she needs to make sure she’s parked non-suspiciously, so that no one sniffs around her.

She checks V’s optics to see if she’s inside the spaceport already, but sees her own face instead. Turns left, sees the redhead right outside the window.

“Not that way! Main entrance!” the netrunner almost yells through the window, so that V can hear her. She’s somewhat stupefied at the fact the mercenary has actually followed her all the way here.

The younger woman doesn’t move, though, showing a sign that Song has to lower her window. Which she does.

“Forgot to leave my ‘nades,” the merc casually tells her, handing over three EMPs. So Mi just scoffs, amazed at the mercenary, taking them and putting them in her bag.

V leaves, Song continues monitoring her actions through V’s optics, a perk of the Relic connection. She sees her enter the spaceport through the main entrance, finally. Sees her go past the Orbital Air employees that welcome her, sees her go farther into the hallway and stop at the stairs.

There’s a broadcast for N54 News with Gillean Jordan and one of the Orbital Air representatives taking place on the left stairs. V tries to listen in at first, hearing that they are talking about the ongoing renovations inside the Tycho Terminal, saying how flights to the Moon won’t come around any time soon. She then takes the right stairs, going upstairs, to the second level.

In a moment, So Mi sees V finally reaching the security gate, standing in front of one of the Orbital Air officers. The man greets her, saying, “Welcome to Night City International and Translunar, your getaway to the world and the stars. I need to temporarily power down any unauthorized implants. Personal link in the panel, please.”

“Wait, unauthorized implants? Specifically?” V quirks a brow at his statement, realizing her mantis blades might get disabled, leaving no weapons at hand whatsoever, something she never likes.

The OA guard simply replies, arms crossed behind his back, “A detailed schedule was in the spaceport terms and conditions you acknowledged when you purchased your ticket.”

“V!” Song almost jumps in her seat, praying that the merc doesn’t push any further.

“Right, ‘course,” V nods the moment she hears the netrunner complaining, jacking in the port with her personal link. She’s slightly nervous about her combat implants being shut off, but there’s not much she can do right now.

“Be chill, draw no attention,” So Mi instructs in her head.

In about ten seconds, all the combat implants in V are powered down. No more sandevistan, no more mantis blades. For quite a while.

“Implant power-down complete,” the officer looks at his monitor and then at the mercenary. “For biometric ID authentication, please look at the camera.”

Songbird immediately shifts in her seat, gritting her teeth. “Wait! Don’t yet!” she warns the younger woman, connecting to the local net via V’s personal link and starting creating a fake profile for her. “Buy me some time,” she requests. “Need to link your metrics to a fake profile.”

V thinks what to do. Simply standing and not saying anything in front of the guard definitely will make her look suspicious, hence she has to try something. Ask something gonk, like what camera she has to look at? Might work, sure, but she has another idea instead.

“You look a bit tense, officer,” V remarks nonchalantly, putting on a small fake smile. “How about a joke?”

The guard looks at her slightly perplexed, not understanding. “Hm?” he hums, frowning, but it’s too late.

“Okay, so,” V starts, smirking. “Why’d the rockerboy’s output kick him out of the apartment?” she pauses for a while, letting the question sink in, as well as seeing how the profile creation progress is more than halfway through already. She laughs right after, “‘Cause he wasn’t chippin’ in. Hahaaa!”

So Mi actually facepalms upon hearing that, closing her eyes. “Jesus Christ, V…” she heavily sighs, unable to hold her grin that’s full of surprise and amusement, but not at the joke, but at the merc herself. “That the best you can come up with?” she wonders, teasingly so, but V just rolls her eyes.

The guard is unimpressed, though. “Look at the camera please,” he instructs again, his gaze stoic and unshaken.

In three seconds, the profile’s finally linked. “All set. Go ahead, do it,” Song tells V. The redhead woman does precisely that, glancing at the camera in the top left corner that starts scanning her. In a few seconds, her profile gets displayed on the guard’s monitor.

He glances at it. “Scan’s all good,” he nods, and V jacks out and hides her personal link. The guard adds, firmly, “Orbital Air thanks you for your cooperation and your patronage.”

“Okay, now you need to let me in,” the netrunner says right after, praying that V will keep going smoothly and won’t do anything stupid. “Tycho Terminal—go… and draw absolutely no eyes.”

The merc couldn’t even walk five meters without getting into another situation.

“V? Is that you?” So Mi can see through V’s eyes how a blonde OA worker notices the merc, waving with her hand. “Cynthia. Pepe’s wife?”

“Hey,” V acknowledges back, albeit lacking enthusiasm. Getting into unnecessary confrontations is the least of her priorities right now, especially when her name’s being yelled out loud for the public, but, seeing a familiar figure that’s actually working at this place, makes her think whether she can get some valuable information after all. Hence, she asks, “Aren’t you supposed to work at… uh…”

Her memory betrays her. She doesn’t remember where Cynthia works at.

“That’s my second job,” the blonde woman replies after a couple seconds.

“Right,” V nods, looking around. Sees one pair of eyes on her, eyes that momentarily light up with blue and turn around. V frowns, finding that weird, but decides to come back to her ongoing conversation. “Say, you won’t know how I can get inside the Tycho Terminal?”

So Mi ponders to herself what the hell is V doing, seeing her mercenary engage into a pointless conversation and wasting time.

“You can’t,” Cynthia replies, shrugging. “Renovations’ve been a shitshow lately. The whole place is on lockdown. Some peeps tried to break in there through restrooms, imagine?” she explains, letting out a chuckle. She then notices how a few of her coworkers have eyes on her, prompting her to discontinue their conversation and go back to her duties, saying, “Oh, well, gotta get back to work. See you.”

V nods, quietly continuing along the way. Hopefully she won’t bump into any other people she knows. Especially people that know her.

“Sheesh, look at these sheep,” Johnny suddenly materializes, leaning on the railing, observing the entire area and the crowd. “Baaa-baaa,” he imitates a sheep sound, making V chuckle in puzzlement.

“Pf, what about ‘em?” V quirks a brow, stops, and crosses her arms.

“Firefight could break out any sec, and they’re none the wiser,” the rockerboy explains, turning towards the merc. “Think—you standing there, imagining the preem boobs they’re gonna glue on you out in orbit. Next thing you know, the panicked herd’s trampling you.”

V squints at him, noticing something strange in his words. “Same thought you had at Arasaka Tower as you pulled the pin on the bomb?” her voice suddenly becomes serious. She very much doesn’t like the idea of a mass shooting in this place, and his words drifting into negativity don’t make it any better.

The rockerboy growls. “Careful, I can sting, too.”

Okay, maybe she did slightly go overboard with that statement. “Got some work to finish. C’mon,” V changes subject, continuing her walk across the second level of the area.

There is one specific person that catches her attention. Said person’s eyes light up with blue the moment he sees her, prompting her to note that to So Mi on comms. “Not liking this,” V moves her eyes around, trying to act collected. “Saw two peeps already who… took a photo of me, I think? Or scanned me?” she remarks, wondering which is true.

“Just don’t pay attention to them,” Song firmly replies. “You have a task—focus.”

“Got it.”

In about a minute she’s standing at the opposite side of the entire terminal, looking at the battle mechs that Orbital Air has. A few tech engineers working on them, fixing, seemingly. Look old as hell.

“OA fucking needs better tech,” the mercenary remarks to the netrunner who can also see the bots through her optics. “That and better techies.”

“Beastbots like this in a crowd? Peeps’d panic, carnage virtually guaranteed,” Song casually explains as she continues to monitor the local net traffic.

The merc goes to the end of the hallway where the mechs are at, spotting a locked shaft there. The shaft might lead inside the Tycho Terminal, she guesses, noting that the terminal’s located beneath her. Maybe it’s her way in. She looks around her, seeing a few Orbital Air guards and Orbital Air techies doing their daily tasks, in close proximity to her that is. She has to wait until they all don’t pay attention to her, so she decides to go back and lean on one of the railings, observing the first floor.

She tries to feel her sandevistan and her mantis blades, sending a signal to them. As expected, she gets no response except for a ‘WARNING: CYBERWARE DISABLED’ message. V sighs, momentarily closing her eyes, looking back at the hallway where the mechs are at, seeing how the tech workers are finally leaving. Now she just needs for the two guards to change their position and then she can proceed.

She sneezes, covering her mouth. Looks at her hand, already expecting blood in it. And she’s correct—it’s there. She sighs, cursing her body limits inside her head, wishing she’s visited Vik earlier today before the whole op. If she gets another seizure or, even worse, a knockdown, like a few days back in her Japantown pad, So Mi can say bye-bye to her trip to the Moon.

“Motherfucker… I got FIA agents on the OA net. They’ve breached,” Song suddenly informs her, noticing suspicious activity in the local net.

“Detection by Orbital security means a brawl, I say,” V turns her gaze around, checking if anyone has their eyes on her.

“No chance of detection,” Song objects, knowing the secrecy and professionalism of the FIA. “Our people are the best. Invisible to me too if I didn’t know what to look for,” she adds while checking her rearview mirrors, trying to see what’s going on at the NCX entrance. Seems like no one’s acknowledged her being parked just yet, which is good.

“Our people? Huh.”

Song grins, yet again unable to hold herself at the merc’s tease. She really wants to show herself being a bit irritated and annoyed, but just cannot do it. She has a super soft spot for her, after all. “Just hurry the hell up,” is the only thing she manages to reply, trying to patiently wait for V to slide inside the terminal.

Finally, in two more minutes, the guards change their positions, walking downstairs. V takes one more look around, noticing that no one’s paying attention to her, and then goes into the hallway, towards the shaft. The shaft’s grate is locked hard; she needs a bit of time to unlock it with her tech skills.

As Songbird watches V’s tech magic through the merc’s optics, she notices something else. She can see in the mirrors of the van how OA guards start walking in her van’s direction, which prompts her to get out of it and hide behind the nearest corner. As expected, they approach the vehicle and start looking around it, knocking at the back door, seeing if anyone’s inside. This is bad. She no longer can wait for V and has to move, she can’t be spotted around here at all.

She notices a ladder that leads all the way to the roof, blocked by a locked emergency exit door. She hacks it by accessing the OA net again, unlocking it, then rushes through pain towards it and starts climbing. The ladder takes her to the roof, the lower level though; she hides behind one of the solar panels, hoping that no one’s spotted her and no one would try to look for her here.

“Tycho Terminal now,” she hears V then, who’s managed to unlock the grate, crawl through the shaft and jump into the maintenance area. “Where do I go for that side or back door?”

“Minor clusterfuck,” So Mi replies, driving concern in V. “Forget back and side doors. We need a new plan.”

“What the hell’s up, Song?”

“I had to skedaddle,” Song starts explaining, checking the local net once again to see if they have any orders to look for someone that matches her description. Indeed, there is one—Korean American descent, woman, around thirty, heavily chipped, accomplice of some terrorist woman that matches V’s description. Seems like the FIA has filed an anonymous suspect report in a desperate attempt to get the OA to catch them. And so, the netrunner sighs, “Orbital security started sniffing around the van,” she finishes, noticing how the rain becomes stronger, quickly turning her hair wet.

V just grits her teeth in frustration. “Goddamnit…” she seethes through them while looking around herself, trying to spot anyone in the close proximity.

So Mi finds the blueprints of the spaceport covered deep in the subnet. Looks for all the possible routes. Sees that there’s one—technically the merc can reach the upper levels and somehow pull her all the way up. That’s their only way for now. “Got it,” she tells V, “Let’s try the roof. Construction site elevator—find it.”

“Roger that,” V nods as she quietly crouch-sprints past a few security guards, straight into the renovations area of Tycho Terminal.

The ‘runner doesn’t have to wait long. In about ten minutes she finally hears a familiar voice. “Okay, roof. What, where now?” the redhead asks, looking around, spotting three OA guards in her view. She has to eliminate them quickly and quietly, no alarm raised.

“Now we get creative,” Song replies, looking up. Rain’s pouring over her, gladly V’s jacket is covering all her chrome at the moment. Then again, her chrome is waterproof anyway, otherwise she would’ve been electrocuted a hundred times while taking showers.

Her answer doesn’t really satisfy the merc, though. “Need detes,” the younger woman asks back as soon as she finishes taking down the last guard in her view, rendering him unconscious.

“I managed to reach the roof—lower bit, though. Need your help to climb higher and join you.”

“Shape you’re in, can’t possibly hope to walk a high-wire.”

The netrunner looks above her once more. “It’s a hundred twenty, thirty feet. Doable,” she nervously remarks.

In about a minute Song hears something that the merc unintentionally says out loud, which is, “No way this’ll hold the weight.”

So Mi rolls her eyes, letting out a perplexed chuckle. “I can hear you. You know that, right?” she scoffs, while V on the other hand just bites her lip, realizing what she’s just said.

In about another minute, she hears from the merc again. “There you are!” V yells, making So Mi look all the way up. She can see her—a small figure looking down on her, red hair, a smirk on her face as she zooms in with her optics. In a few seconds, the merc exclaims, “So Mi! Got an idea!” as she breaks emergency glass, takes firehose and throws all the way down, gripping it tightly and waiting for Song to grapple it. “Catch, Song! Lemme know when you’re ready,” she yells, getting her feet pinned against the railing, having it as a counter-support for the netrunner’s weight.

So Mi grapples the hose hard. “Got it!”

“Grip it tight!”

Pulling up So Mi was not easy. Not because of her weight, but because V’s combat implants were deactivated, meaning muscle boosters, too. Hence, she had to rely on her regular strength, which was barely enough to get the netrunner to the rooftop. Gladly, no Relic malfunctions this time; seems like the recent ones were quite enough for now.

Song reaches the top with V’s help, climbing over the railing with the bag full of V’s weapons, throwing both herself and the bag on the catwalk they’re on. Both are quite tired—V because of the ‘exercise’ she had to perform just now, while Song because of the Blackwall toll that’s showing itself more and more.

“Thanks. Your weapons,” So Mi sighs, shaking her head and catching her breath.

V slowly gets up, feeling her strength coming back. Takes the bag, opens it, finds her scabbard with two katanas in it, her holster with Malorian, and a few EMP grenades. “No gun, no fun,” she enthusiastically remarks while putting back on all of her equipment. “Can you reactivate my implants, pretty please?”

So Mi nods, standing up and leaning against the railing. Her eyes glow orange for a second, and quite soon V feels how all her cyberware is responsive yet again.

“Thank you,” the merc smirks, checking her mantis blades. Both are in working condition. Good.

“Shh! Hold up,” Song suddenly raises her hand, stopping her.

“What is it?”

“Catching a radio sig. Shit… encrypted channel,” Songbird shakes her head, taking a deep breath and walking across the catwalk, back to where V’s come from.

The redhead follows her. “Can you breach, listen in?” she asks, looking around them, trying to see whether there are any other guards that might be looking for them.

“Giving it a shot.”

So Mi has no success at first. They have to move on, though, no time to waste. If something nasty is brewing, they gotta delta as soon as possible; the FIA already knows V is on site and she, perhaps, is also near the spaceport.

“By the way, great work downstairs,” the netrunner remarks while walking through the rooftop, towards the maintenance area. “Fled through like a super-spy ghost. Full pro.”

V hums. “Had pro support,” she smiles back, trying to give some credit to the netrunner, too. However, she still couldn’t shake off that gut feeling that she might’ve been spotted, specifically by the two people that took a photo or scan of her the moment she passed through the gate. Little does she know that Songbird already knows fully well that she, indeed, got traced. The netrunner just decides not to say anything in regard to that.

But little do both of them know what is yet to come.

Chapter Text

The two women proceed through the maintenance rooftop area, their destination being an elevator that would lead them back to the main airport lounge area. To reach it, though, they have to go through a large area full of helipad landing zones, obscured by a gate that needs to be unlocked.

“Thisaway,” So Mi tells the mercenary the moment they reach it. She then hacks it and lifts up. “Oh shit,” she then frowns the moment she finishes decrypting the radio frequency, “Sig’s… an NUS comms frequency,” she remarks.

V glances at her. “Myers?”

“Incoming… in forty-five secs, no more,” So Mi nods. “Fuck, she’s on board. In here—quick!” she points at a maintenance shaft that’s obscured by a locked grate. She leans against a railing next, catching her breath, while the redhead lifts up the grate.

They both hear helicopter sounds, approaching quite quickly in their direction. V glances at the sky, seeing a few combat choppers coming their way. She curses under her breath, glances and the netrunner and commands, waving her hand, “So Mi, get inside!”

The netrunner obliges, slowly crouching inside the shaft. V follows her, shutting the grate close, looking through the vents and seeing how the helicopters start landing at the designated helipads. Seems like they, indeed, were onto them this whole time. Reed was right all along. His threats weren’t just an elaborate scare tactic, they are going all in.

Now the question is—how are they gonna approach the whole situation? They cannot just storm the entire spaceport, can they?

“Got control of the fan,” Song states. “Grab one of the blades. I’ll squeeze through.”

V nods, approaching the slowed propeller. “NUS combat choppers buzzing the Free City of NC,” she notes, stopping it with both of her hands, allowing Song to squeeze past it. “Shit’s heating up,” she adds, squeezing through the opening herself, following So Mi deeper into the shaft.

“NCX is not technically part of NC,” Song explains while crouching. “Exterritorial, neutral zone. This is Myers basically blowing off international laws and agreements.”

As they keep crouching to one of the grate openings, they see through it certain two figures. Figures all too familiar to both of them.

“Shit!” So Mi grits her teeth, clenching her fists.

It’s Myers and Reed. Her President and her mentor that she hasn’t seen in about seven years. Oh the irony that he comes back to the person that’s given an order to put him down, and now he’s chasing the person who pulled the trigger.

“Madam President,” Reed greets the woman in her typical presidential outfit.

Myers nods, “Special Agent Reed.”

“We’ve confirmed V’s presence here at NCX,” the man immediately informs her as they both start walking through the area while their troops are accompanying them.

Song bites her lower lip. “FIA must’ve been on you since you jacked into the security gate,” she remarks, realizing they’ve been fucked the moment the merc’s stepped through the front door. She then notices how a few Black Ops operatives start approaching the shaft where they’re at. “Move, go! They’re gonna spot us,” she commands V, immediately crouching farther into the shaft, the merc following her, disappearing out of vision of the soldiers.

They both crouch until they see both Reed and Myers stop, turning towards each other and continuing their conversation.

“And Song So Mi?” the President crosses her arms, peering into the eyes of the FIA agent.

“She is most likely waiting somewhere, concealed,” he replies.

That answer doesn’t satisfy Rosalind. “‘Most likely’ just doesn’t cut it,” she objects, prompting him to lower his gaze. “Does Orbital Air know the stakes?”

“They triggered the alarm but failed to find V.”

“And our agents?”

“Cover’s been blown on a handful. OA won’t get a word out of them, I guarantee it. Those still undercover are looking for Songbird,” Reed tries to assure her, but that’s not what concerns Madam President the most.

Myers lowers her gaze, walking around in a small circle, immersing in her thoughts. The agent’s response is not satisfactory, not at all. Songbird fleeing is a national security risk, the one she cannot allow. Plus, she’s the most useful asset in her arsenal, her property, her weapon of mass destruction.

Her weapon of mass destruction… that’s assisted by another weapon of mass destruction. The kind that is a borderline cyberpsycho and has a raw potential of soloing a megacorp just by walking through its front door while dying of stage 5 brain cancer. Such a combination is so dangerous that underestimating them only a fool would do. The President herself knows what both V and Songbird are capable of. Sending all her forces is the only way to deal with this situation.

“We’ll talk about operational errors later,” Myers finally states. “Can’t believe you actually thought that V would even consider your offer,” she scoffs, fully turning around and walking farther into the area. “Hence I decided for you and brought support.”

“I have everything under control,” Reed tries to protest, but to no avail.

“No, Sol. You lost control, way back,” Rosalind firmly replies, not wanting to hear his excuses. “It’s time you acknowledged that.”

So Mi snorts. “Ah, Rosalind Myers, her true face. Fuck the one on her billboards,” she snarls, seeing how the President finally takes off her ‘mask’.

The netrunner and the merc crouch through the shaft, reaching yet another fan. Song hacks it, slowing down. V grabs it, stops it, allowing both So Mi and herself to squeeze through it and follow Reed and Myers along the way. They stop the moment the other two stop, and continue to secretly observe the conversation.

“I know you care about the girl, like her,” Myers tells Reed, turning around and facing him. “You recruited her, trained her. I get that you want to protect her. But she is no longer the person you know. And your duty, first and foremost, is to your country,” Rosalind states, pressuring the agent with finality in her voice.

“Mm, ‘recruited’,” V scoffs, prompting Song to look at her. “More like blackmailed. Slimy fuckers.”

So Mi is silent, only lowers her gaze. Reed, meanwhile, can only sigh with slight exasperation in return, covering his face with his right hand. A pause between him and Myers, a tense one. “Songbird’s made her choice,” he finally nods, looking at the President, “Now she needs to learn what the consequences are.”

“There’s one more thing, Sol,” Myers resumes. “The project she was part of… stays well under wraps, none of it leaks.”

Shit, Song thinks. This might end up worse than she initially imagined. Hearing the President say that means one and only one thing—no risks. “This is bad. Really bad,” she shakes her head, raising more concern in V in return, since the merc doesn’t really understand what the conversation’s about right now.

Myers keeps drilling the FIA agent with her glare. “If our little bird lands in the wrong hands… I don’t want to think what will happen.”

Reed nods again, putting hands on his waist, “All that—we’re the only ones privy.”

“It would destroy the NUS. It’s not a risk I’m willing to take.”

Another pause. “We’re on the same page,” Sol averts his gaze, his voice strained, a bit conflicted. “No risks. That’s how it’ll be.”

So Mi’s eyes are full of disappointment, nervousness and frustration. “D’you hear that?” she whispers to V, shaking her head.

“Just so you know, this isn’t any easier for me, Reed,” Myers continues spewing her bullshit, knowing she can drill any idea into Sol’s skull considering how much loyalty and duty mean to him. “I liked the girl, trusted her,” she states, “But with some choices, there’s no way back.”

“Choices…?” he glances at her, “Yours or hers?”

“Say again?”

Myers, despite being shorter than the FIA agent, almost towers over him after that phrase, her gaze literally threatening to burn him. Reed can only look away, unable to meet her glare. “You heard me. But no matter,” Sol retreats instantly, not wanting to further escalate the situation. “I know what I have to do and I’ll do it.”

“I authorize you to take any and all necessary action. Just try not to shoot her in the head,” Rosalind finishes, walking away with a few soldiers-bodyguards.

Song shakes her head once more. “Might’ve expected as much,” she whispers, wondering for a moment what would the President do to her once she captures her. Probably would strip her of her arms and legs, leaving just head floating, attached to wires and cables. What a sad and miserable existence that would be.

A Black Ops operative approaches Reed, who’s in charge of the whole operation now. “What’re our orders, Sir?” the soldier asks him, awaiting commands.

The agent sighs, shaking his head. “You heard her,” he dryly replies, walking away from the area they’re at.

“Yes, Sir!”

The two women in the maintenance shaft are left by themselves, thinking about what to do next. The newfound situation they’ve got themselves into is not good.

“We are fucked…” So Mi tells the merc in desperation, “Every which way possible.”

V doesn’t know herself what they should do next. Getting Song out of this shit is their main priority. The President just proved herself a war criminal, if she starts a shootout right now and the public finds out, that won’t end well for her. At least one good thing that comes out of this.

And so, she frowns, “Myers is desperate. Desperate peeps make mistakes. She’s a step, maybe two, from sparking the next war. A war she can’t win, even with Militech piling on forces and arms. The NUSA will wind up in everyone’s sights—Orbital Air’s, that of any corp pulling strings in NC.”

Song wants to believe V. She wants to. Yet, “What’s it matter, really? Could both be dead and gone in moments.”

V almost scowls in her response, not liking the fact that the netrunner is seemingly abandoning hope. “You are boarding that fucking shuttle. Promise you that,” she seethes through her teeth, putting her hand on Song’s shoulder, firmly reassuring her. So Mi’s eyes flicker in the darkness, she’s both impressed and amazed by V’s dedication and fearlessness. Feels a bit calmer with said words of hers.

“Let’s ghost,” Song finally tells her, leading the merc to the end of the maintenance shaft.

They reach the elevator in about two minutes, carefully sneaking past all the Black Ops soldiers. The elevator is supposed to take them down to the main lounge, from which they can go back to the Tycho Terminal.

“Civilians are being evacuated,” So Mi remarks the moment they walk into the elevator, noticing a spaceport-wide warning issued throughout the OA net.

“Uh-huh,” V nods, pressing the button, locking the doors. “Prepping to blow in here with all they got.”

So Mi feels her body weakening more and more. She leans against the wall of the shaft, taking a deep breath and looking at the merc. “Okay, back to the terminal now.”

“Put you on that shuttle—is all we need to do. And that’ll be that,” V gently puts her hand on Song’s shoulder, comforting her a bit, noticing how the netrunner is holding onto her stomach, stomach that’s most likely hurting.

“Train ride to the launchpad, that’s all,” So Mi breathes out, closing her eyes for a moment. “Just need to blast through the Tycho Terminal first.”

In about half a minute, as the elevator is about to reach its destination, the two women hear screams and panic, a shootout taking place. Horror insinuates in the crowd, everyone’s running for their lives as the presidential troops shoot on sight literally everyone they encounter.

“Myers’ assault team. Shitshow starting,” Song notes, looking at the door that is bound to open any minute. “NUSA versus Orbital Air—hope the fuckers bleed each other out,” she adds, reestablishing the Relic-holo connection with V. She can now see and hear what the younger woman can.

The moment the merc hears the gun shots, she immediately unsheathes both of her katanas—Scalpel and Tsumetogi, charging them up and seeing electric pulses flowing through them. Takes a samurai stance, standing in front of So Mi, preparing to defend her from any incoming threat.

The moment the shaft stops, she turns around, facing Song. “When we move through, hide behind me and only me. I’ll deflect any and all bullets,” she tells her as she takes one booster shot from her belt and injects it into herself, feeling adrenaline take its effect. “When in open areas, hide where there’s the most cover, so that I can deal with those fuckers.”

Song nods and swallows. “Got it.”

“Stay in the elevator till I’m finished,” the merc finishes, dashing outside, closing the doors behind her.

In a second, So Mi can already hear even bigger screams and panic outside. She can see and hear through V’s optics how one of the Black Ops operatives identifies the merc, yelling to his comrades, only to immediately drop dead. The merc activates her sandevistan, dashing around and slicing everything on her way while dual wielding katanas, making her twice as lethal as she usually is. It’s a bit hard to keep up with her, watching through her eyes how she blitzes across everyone. Song wishes she could be of any better assistance rather than being a sad damsel in distress, but the Blackwall, unfortunately, doesn’t allow for that. Can only sit like a duck and wait for V to deal with everyone, praying she doesn’t catch a stray bullet in her head.

She doesn’t know how long the fight’s lasted. She kind of has lost the count of how many people V’s sliced and stabbed along the way, how many lives she’s taken or rendered unconscious, immobile. The merc even blitzes through a few OA battle mechs, literally ripping them apart with a few swift slices of her electrically charged blades, exploding all their circuitry and engines.

In about ten more minutes, the gun shots get silenced. She looks through V’s optics, seeing how V deactivates her sandevistan and rushes towards the elevator she’s in. The redhead opens the door, looks at her with worry. Blood is all over her face and clothes, not belonging to her, though.

“All clear. Let’s go,” V rushes her, helping Song get up on her feet. The two then proceed through the area, straight to the Tycho Terminal.

Along the way So Mi could only see tons of bodies piled up against one another, sparks flying everywhere, even fire and stuff. Ridiculous amount of bullet holes in the walls, broken glass, a mess overall. Could also spot quite a lot of civilian bodies there, poor bastards who never got the chance to evacuate before the mass shooting started. Is this really how Myers intends to play?

“Behind me, now!” Song’s thoughts get immediately interrupted as V literally stands in front of her, both katanas ready at hand.

Two Black Ops operatives that have appeared out of nowhere start blasting barrages of bullets at the two. The merc fires up her sandevistan, deflecting every bullet with an expert precision with both of her blades, redirecting most of them in the direction they are fired from. As a result, the enemies essentially commit suicide that way, getting killed with their own bullets.

“You okay? Got hit?” V immediately turns around towards the netrunner, looking at So Mi with a concerned gaze, hoping she hasn’t missed a bullet pass herself.

So Mi nods. “I’m all good,” she puts on a weak smile at V’s worryness. Seeing the merc deflect all the bullets like a ninja unironically makes her blood pumping, which speaks volumes about how much she admires the younger woman.

They carefully proceed through an area already familiar to the merc, encountering a few other soldiers from both the NUSA and OA security. The merc doesn’t hesitate to deal with them; Song tries her best to stay behind her back, almost brushing against it, since the closer she is, the less chance she gets hit. V primarily uses bullet deflection because she can’t just dash around and leave the netrunner behind her on her lonesome. The redhead’s focus is so strong right now, her accuracy is close to a perfect hundred, mostly because it’s not just her life on the line—So Mi’s life is literally hanging right behind her.

“Not quite done yet. Don’t get killed,” So Mi whispers the moment they reach the actual renovations room, almost pleading to the merc to be careful. They see how a literal shootout is happening there, around forty or even fifty people in the room exchanging shots from both sides.

“Stay here,” V instructs Songbird, grabbing another booster and injecting it in her arm, feeling another rush of adrenaline. “I’ll deal with all of them.”

Song stays crouched behind some containers, listening to the gunfire, screams and panic everywhere. A few Black Ops soldiers yell at each other, ordering, begging each other to kill that bitch that’s dashing all around and spinning like a literal fan, slicing everything on her way with two katanas at hand. Soon, V can feel how her sandevistan starts slowly overheating, which isn’t good. She has to turn it off and rely on her regular instincts, boosting herself beyond her limits is not an option, considering they’re still quite far from the shuttle. So Mi peeks around every fifteen seconds or so, noticing how the amount of enemies decreases and decreases. She can feel pain in her stomach and her waist level rising, it’s getting harder to concentrate. What would she have done without V?

Finally, the last remaining shot is fired. So Mi peeks from her cover, noticing the merc air dashing towards her, helping her get up with her right hand.

“That was too close,” Song remarks, noticing the results of the battle around them. “Shit.”

She gets up with V’s help, leaning against her right shoulder, and V slightly trembles. Song notices that it has blood on it and…

Shit. She did catch a bullet in her right shoulder.

“You hurt?” So Mi’s eyes drown in concern, but V just negatively shakes her head, trying to catch her breath. The netrunner gently touches the fresh wound, something that V closes her eyes at. Song feels so bad about this. About V risking her life for her right now.

They both go for the elevator next that’ll take them to the departures floor. V can’t help but notice that Song feels way worse by the minute. Poor girl can’t even hold her head straight.

Elevator stops, opens the doors. V carefully starts walking out with her katanas at hand, but gets instantly dragged back inside by So Mi, who warns, “Heads up!”

They both see a combat chopper fly past them, searching the floor beforehand. “Motherfucker…” V snarls at it, teeth clenched. “Hair’s breadth, that. Doubt they spotted us.”

“V, if that chopper gets a lock on us, we’ll be as good as dead,” Song breathes out, feeling more and more nervous about the situation they’re in.

“Do our damndest to avoid it, then.”

They walk through the hallway, stopping at a corner. A door in front of them, leading to a duty free store.

“No peeps?” Song questions the suspicious quietness. “Take point.”

V nods, carefully opening the door and going straight inside the store. Sees an absolute mess, a few OA employees literally murdered in cold blood, a few dead Black Ops operatives, too. No signs of life.

“All clear!” the merc yells to the netrunner after making sure that even the bar’s backroom is empty.

So Mi doesn’t hesitate to follow her, trusting her with her heart. “Ugh, head’s spinning, hang for a sec…” she mumbles, spotting a few chairs that she can sit on, but V has another idea in mind.

“Come in here,” the younger woman waves to the ‘runner, pointing at the bar’s backroom, where there are a few comfy couches that she can lie on if she wants to.

Song does precisely that. Enters the room, carefully taking a seat on a couch and lying on it, resting her head and her entire body. V sits beside her, putting her weapons against the wall nearby, gently and slowly stroking So Mi’s lap.

“Could take a look at your chrome,” the merc offers, getting a weak chuckle out of Song.

“Is that even safe?” Songbird quirks a brow, but it’s already late as V’s full of confidence and already extends her personal link, reaching for the netrunner’s neural port.

“Most of your subassemblies—I’m familiar,” V replies, jacking in her personal. Her and Song’s eyes start glowing orange as she goes through her firmware. “Could run auto diagnostics, grant you access to your BIOS,” she continues, finishing the procedure. She jacks out, hiding her link, taking one of So Mi’s hands in her own.

“Got a readout,” So Mi remarks. “I can overclock the compensators. Hope they can take it,” her eyes stop glowing. A brief pause between the two, the merc attempting her best to comfort the netrunner by being by her side. The netrunner lowers her gaze, “It was gonna be different, all this. Smoother.” She sighs then, “Buuut… the goal’s what counts, right? Not far off…”

V suddenly remembers something. A question that she’s been wanting to ask yet never got a chance to. “Uh, one thing, thing you forgot to tell me—who got you this flight?”

Song’s silent for a second. “I can’t tell you, V. I’m sorry.”

The younger woman frowns. “Why?”

“They asked me to keep it secret,” the netrunner answers, lowering her gaze more. “But, don’t worry about it. I know what I’m doing.”

“Is it the Blackwall? That‘s the issue?”

“Mh, and other things. Rather not talk about it,” So Mi closes her eyes, slightly shaking her head. “Just… don’t judge me, ‘kay…?”

V gently squeezes Song’s hand a bit, looking at her with understanding. “So Mi, I get it, even get why. You’re managing famously.”

“For an extreme egotist?”

The merc sighs. “Forget about it, ‘kay?” whispers back. So Mi looks in her eyes, seeing how there is, indeed, no room for judgment. Only room for empathy and compassion. Which warms and melts her heart.

“Let’s get our shit together, c’mon,” Songbird momentarily closes her eyes again, feeling a bit more strength in her. “Help me up, can you?” she asks the merc, looking at her. The redhead stands up, extending her hand. Song takes it, gets pulled up towards V. Seems like the merc slightly overestimates her weight, since the force she applies when pulling the netrunner literally makes her softly bump into her, getting a small huff along the way.

V clumsily apologizes and looks her in the eyes, seeing how they have even more black tint around them. V frowns, her gaze in an instant being immersed with concern for her. She briefly wonders how much time she’s got, how much life she’s got left. They both pull away from each other then, V leading Song outside the room. “Back at Arasaka, around the water cooler, there was talk about secret corp clinics in orbit,” V states, looking around for any hidden threats.

“Illegal labs producing prototype weapons, experimental alt meds…” So Mi confirms V’s rumors, following her towards the exit of the backroom. The two women then walk towards the gate that separates them from the departure area. “If laws prevent you from doing something on Earth, you pursue it in outer space.”

“Sure as shit hope the black clinic you’re going to ain’t Arasaka’s one,” V glances at the netrunner, slightly bothered, knowing fully well how corpos operate. And Arasaka’s not a deal-honoring type.

“It’s not,” So Mi shakes her head, giving a bit of a relief to V. “A much, much better alternative.”

The netrunner walks to the gate, leaning against the wall and catching her breath. She puts her left hand on her stomach again, feeling pain in it, albeit a bit weaker than before, thanks to V being a tech expert and giving her access to her BIOS.

V smirks. “Hm. Looking a little better,” she notes, having a warm smile on her face.

Song scoffs in surprise. “Ya mean that?” she asks back, not really believing in her words.

The merc’s smile becomes bigger. She cups So Mi’s right cheek with her left hand. “I do,” she whispers, actually meaning it.

Song closes her eyes, trying to hold on the touch. Doesn’t want V to let go, but she has to. They can’t stop now, not here especially.

As if they’re gonna make this easy for them.

The moment V lifts up the gate and both she and So Mi cross over, the combat chopper appears out of nowhere, spotting them and starting unloading all its guns on them. The two women immediately hide behind whatever cover they can find, waiting for the chopper to overheat its guns and go for reload, allowing them to run further into the area.

V tries deflecting a few bullets back at the chopper. Unfortunately, it doesn’t give a shit about them, no damage whatsoever. Meaning Johnny’s Malorian, perhaps, also won’t do anything to it. The amount of armor that thing carries probably topples even Chimera, in all fairness. Those are elite special Black Ops combat helicopters after all, they have to be able to sustain ridiculous amounts of damage before they go down.

Just a chopper isn’t enough, though, as a few Black Ops operatives run into them, unloading all they have onto them. Thankfully, V is fast enough to immobilize all of them, allowing herself and Song to finally reach the overpass that leads straight to the main train platform of the terminal.

“Fuuuck,” So Mi breathes out, feeling her head spinning. “You alive?”

“Think so…” the merc replies, stretching her arms and clenching her teeth at the pain in her wounded shoulder.

Songbird notices that that’s not the only wound the younger woman has, though.

“Oh, God,” the netrunner says, noting how V has a fresh bullet wound a little above her left knee. A bullet from one of chopper’s guns. “You’re hurt,” she says again, worryness in her eyes. She wants to reach out for the merc but the younger woman carefully stops her, just nodding in return.

“So Mi, don’t worry. I’m fine,” V tries to assure her. “We have to move, now.”

So Mi swallows, nodding. “Hopping the train, now. Straight to the launchpad.”

In a minute they’re already standing at the gate entrance of the train platform. Dead bodies greet them, ragdolled all over the place. Everything’s quiet, the ambience is being interrupted with occasional sounds of radio that plays somewhere at some bar.

“Control Tower now, V. I’ll bring a train in,” Song instructs V, pointing at the big tower with bulletproof glass in the middle of the zone. “Take point. You never know.”

Of course there would be an ambush. Why would they even try to think there wouldn’t be one?

“Watch out!” So Mi immediately yells to V over the Relic-holo the moment both women get blinded by a sudden explosion of the flashbangs.

“Shit! Trap!” V curses everything around her, especially Myers, immediately deflecting several bullets that fly in her direction. “Get outta sight!” she commands So Mi, air dashing straight to the first enemy she sees.

Song does precisely that, hiding behind one of the pillars, not daring to even peek and check on what’s happening around her. She can only pray that the merc is capable of handling all the enemies out there. And those aren’t your regular everyday thugs one can encounter on the streets of Night City; no, those are elite professional trained soldiers, comparable, rivaling, if not outright better than even Arasaka’s and Militech’s best and strongest. They have the best military implants there are, optical camos, sandevistans, kerenzikovs, and more.

V could already feel the limits of her body. Her sandevistan could last only so long at this point. She has to pop open two more boosters along the way, feeling her vision slowly giving into yellow blur once again. She tries her damndest to control herself this time, not giving into her demonic hidden self.

She takes one life after another, not sparing anyone around her. Finally, in about four minutes, Song hears an exhausted voice, saying, “Last one! All clear! Did ya get hit?”

“I’m okay, okay,” So Mi shakes her head, getting out of her cover and doing her best to walk as fast as possible towards V, who’s waiting for her at the entrance of the tower on the second level. “Flight control tower. Heading there. Got a train to bring into the station.”

“What now?” V immediately asks the netrunner the moment they are both inside the control station.

Song, not wasting time, immediately hooks herself to the OA net. “I’ll fire up the control panel, bring the train in,” she replies, feeling her heart beating so fast it’s about to jump out of her chest. Even though she’s not fighting alongside the merc, she can feel the adrenaline flowing through V’s body, thanks to both their Relic bond and her fight-or-flight instincts.

“Whaddaya want me to do?” V breathes in.

“Watch my comfort zone, keep it clear.”

“Of Myers’ minions? Sure,” the merc nods, noticing how a few Black Ops operatives already rush to the second floor where they’re at.

So Mi glances at V, almost mentally telling her to stay safe. “Let’s do this,” she breathes out, getting a firm hum out of V.

“Good luck, Song,” the merc says as she rushes outside the tower, Song closing the gate right behind her.

This was a fucking nightmare.

The amount of troops in black peeling onto the train platform was in the dozens range, close to a hundred, perhaps. Shots were fired everywhere, trying to get the dual-wielding samurai that keeps air dashing all over the place, spinning around everyone gracefully like a fan, like a propeller, all at immense speeds under her active sandevistan. As the time went on, V quickly lost count of how many bodies she’d already dropped; she could feel both mental and physical exhaustion taking a toll on her, prompting her to take one more booster along the way. Vulnerabilities for each enemy got marked in her optics for all enemies, at an increasing rate that is, perk of Songbird’s Relic upgrades, something V was actually eternally grateful for right now. She sliced every single one of them, releasing powerful EMP blasts left and right, knocking out and stunning all the foes she encountered. At this rate, if So Mi didn’t rush the train, things would go bad. Really bad.

It took about three minutes for the netrunner to finally get the train going because of how slow the OA net was at the moment. And then it took about one more minute for the same combat chopper to appear and start blasting the control tower where Song was at.

“V!” she screams in panic the moment a rocket hits the glass, leaving a crack in it and knocking her away from the panel.

The merc could see it clearly from where she’s standing, feeling rage engulfing her at the thought that Song might’ve gotten hurt. “Fucking A! Song?!” she yells, immediately rushing towards her, ignoring everyone on her way, dashing through and in between all of her enemies.

She finally slides underneath the tower gate that gets shut immediately by Song. “Ugh…! Shit!” the netrunner cries out, feeling how her legs hurt from the explosion damage. Thankfully, she doesn’t have any real wounds, her luck is pretty high, one must say.

V immediately kneels next to her, placing her hand on So Mi’s knee, asking with infinite concern, “You all right?”

“Had a little luck. Can’t last long,” Song replies, shaking her head. Her hair’s a mess, most of it is gathered on the left side, exposing all her chrome on the right side. The merc can spot fear in her eyes, fear and bottomless anxiety at whatever’s happening around them. “We’re fucked, you know! I have to drop past the Wall, no other way,” So Mi finally says as another rocket hits the tower, cracking the bulletproof windows even more. They are running out of time.

V, without hesitation, puts her left hand on So Mi’s shoulder, firmly replying, “Neural bridge, let’s go! I’ll be your back-up.”

Song hesitates just for a second, looking in the merc’s eyes. She sees that they don’t lack any confidence. Slightly nodding, she tilts her head and allows V’s personal link to be connected to her neural port. “Always can use a… proxy,” the netrunner breathes out, gently taking V’s hand. “Ready for this?”

“Fire it up.”

So Mi takes one last breath. Connects to the tower’s terminal with her personal, plunging deep into the Net, reaching the Blackwall in a matter of seconds.

Drops past it.

V could feel it. All of it. An innate power surging through her, literally ripping her from the inside, making her feel like all her implants and circuitry are melting. Her vision gets distorted, she helps So Mi stand up, and looks at a dozen of Black Ops operatives trying to break through the window that’s about to crack. She looks at the chopper, flying in front of the tower, preparing to unload another storm of bullets.

She grits her teeth so hard they are about to crack. Closes her eyes, clenches her fist in front of her. Focuses all her energy on a single release.

Unleashing a red pulse that strikes at lightning speed everything on its way. Jumping from one poor Black Ops soldier to another, melting, burning, vaporizing their frontal cortices and their synapses, killing them in an instant. Reaching the helicopter itself, exploding all its engines, all its guns. The chopper spins around, uncontrollably, hitting the tower and releasing one final explosion, knocking both women unconscious.

V doesn’t know how much time has passed. It feels like eternity. She can feel her body being literally torn to shreds. How in the fuck can Song handle this shit alone when the merc can barely be connected to it as a proxy? She finally opens her eyes, gasping for air, seeing destruction around her.

“Song! You okay?!” V’s breathing is an erratic mess, she tries to get back to her senses, senses that are all over the place. Releasing the Blackwall pulse has fucked up her mind so hard she starts seeing yellow again. She looks at the ‘runner, barely conscious, barely mobile. “Lemme help. Lean on me. Got a train to catch,” her voice cracks, she stands up, gently pulling Song with her, wrapping her right arm around her neck, starting to move out of the tower they’re at.

“Fuck, that hurts,” So Mi whispers in pain, feeling her last strength leaving her, abandoning her.

“It’s gotta, I know, So Mi. But you killed it. Saved our asses,” V desperately gasps for fresh air as they walk outside and see a couple of Black Ops operatives rush towards them. V clenches her teeth again, closing her fist, releasing yet another pulse of red energy at them, literally blowing their brains off.

“V! Y’hear that…?” Song notes, her mind lingering between reality and cyberspace. She can hear whispers in her head, not knowing what they mean.

But V… V is beside her. Meaning it’s all okay.

“It’s the Blackwall,” the merc replies, carrying her to the lower level. “No fear, Song. Right here with you.”

So Mi was in a state of catatonia. Not knowing what’s real right now and what’s not. “A world entirely new…” she whispers, trying to get her mind straight. “Hidden meanings…” she continues, slowly opening her eyes, her vision blurred. “Hidden harmonies…”

V’s mind, though, can handle only so much. With another Blackwall pulse release, she can feel her last conscious remains abandoning her, giving into darkness, a literal blackout. She can feel everything crumble around her, get distorted, her legs moving and carrying both her and Song on pure subconscious instinct towards the train that just arrived.

V’s mind is in shambles. She’s so detached from reality. And Song can feel that. She can hear that, even see that, too. That uncontrollable, hysterical, demonic and downright menacing laughter escaping the merc’s mouth. How she unleashes yet another pulse of red electricity, not knowing what’s going on anymore, falling deeper into the abyss. So Mi’s heart burns, burns with pain for her. She’s sharing all the toll, offloading it onto herself. So that Song can survive, live.

V’s in the void. She looks around, sees nothing. Hears nothing. Feels nothing. A dry chuckle escapes her as she wonders whether this is it, the end. She wonders how come So Mi can handle this and she can’t. Even as a mere proxy, that.

She knows the answer, though. Because no matter how hard she tries to cling onto her humanity, Song’s humanity is far, far higher. No matter how hard she tries to persuade herself and feed herself lies that she’ll never give into her darkest fears, she still does.

But she can’t just stop now. Can’t give up until that fucking shuttle gets sent into orbit.

She regains her vision. She sees how they’re entering the train, vaguely hears her own laughter, unable to suppress it. She forcefully closes her mouth shut, stopping it, gently placing Song on one of the rows, dropping right on the opposite of her row. Jacks out of So Mi’s neural port, feeling how the yellow blur and distortion in her eyes are slowly leaving her, how she finally regains control.

Never again. She probably will die next time, even as a proxy. There’s no way any human can handle this shit. It’s too much.

She gently takes So Mi’s hand, caressing it with her thumb. “Launchpad soon… finally,” she whispers, feeling her legs jelly. She doesn’t remember when’s been the last time she felt that exhausted. “Phew… Still with me, holding up?”

“The… The Moon…” Song just shakes her head, barely opening her eyes. “I have to…”

“We’re going there,” the redhead gently squeezes Song’s hand. “Just hold—” she blinks, noticing something. She sees the netrunner, sitting in the opposite row. She has a laptop in front of her on a table, she’s wearing a familiar netrunning suit, except her haircut is different—it has an undercut, hair’s aligned left, mirroring the merc’s. The netrunner is So Mi herself, a bit holographic, but it’s not the real Song projecting herself.

No, it’s something entirely different.

“I wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for you,” V hears Reed’s voice echo, as if it’s coming from a headpiece, an earplug.

“What the—” the redhead trails, glancing at Songbird next to her. She’s shaking. As if she’s going into shock.

“Don’t let go of her,” Johnny suddenly materializes, standing next to them. “She’s drowning.”

“Shit, shit, shit,” V seethes, softly shaking the netrunner’s knee. “So Mi, So Mi… Hold onto me, okay? Just hold onto me.”

Suddenly, they hear another voice echo, this time different. “Open the door to the cab for them,” Myers instructs the netrunner, and V looks at holographic Song.

She gets it now. It’s a memory. A memory of Myers giving an order to Songbird to neutralize Reed. She’s got a rough idea of why she’s seeing it now: the Relic. Their bond, them being linked and So Mi drowning in the Blackwall, with V being able to literally take a peek inside her mind.

The merc looks at the netrunner from the memory. She’s hesitating. The President’s given her a direct order, and she’s hesitating.

“Agent Songbird, follow the order,” Myers commands with finality and firmness, her tone’s downright threatening, menacing. So Mi’s fingers are shaking, but, in a second, she presses the button. A glimpse of tears in her eyes flickers.

“So Mi, I think we might be compromised,” Reed’s voice is heard once more. “So Mi?”

The holographic netrunner quietly stares at the screen, fear and panic in her gaze. A few shots can be heard then, somewhere in the background—Arasaka agents have come for Reed, gunning him down.

Then silence. “Good job,” Myers notes. “There was no other way out.”

“Is that it, Madam President?” So Mi asks back, her voice dead, devoid of emotion.

“Take a break,” a hint of a smile in Rosalind’s tone. She adds, “You deserve it,” before disconnecting, leaving the netrunner by herself.

V and Johnny stare at Song. The netrunner takes an earplug out of her ear, squeezing it, and putting both her hands on the table. Her lips part, her pupils shrink. She swallows.

It’s then that she immediately starts typing something on her laptop. A few seconds pass, and she puts the earpiece back, stating in panic, “Reed, can you hear me?” Her voice is trembling, her hands are shaking. “You must not die! I called for help. Trauma is on its way. Hold on, everything will be fine, it all will be alright!”

The FIA agent in the background is grunting. Can hear he’s choking on his blood or something. So Mi, meanwhile, is in tears. Both the one in the memory, and the real one, sitting right in front of the merc. The memory fades away, leaving them alone with each other.

“Hey…” the redhead takes a seat right next to So Mi, gently wrapping her arms around her, “So Mi, we’re almost there. You’re going to the Moon, they’ll cure you. You’ll see,” V whispers, softly kissing Song’s forehead. A low hum escapes the netrunner, and V continues, “You summoned Trauma for Reed. You broke the order,” she states. “Just let go of your past, So Mi. You don’t have to torture yourself with these nightmares, please.”

Breathing is heavy, Song murmurs something. V gently strokes her hair, hugging her closely. “I won’t let you down. I will not let you down, So Mi,” the merc almost cries out, planting another soft kiss on the netrunner’s forehead. “Just promise to stay with me, okay?”

“I’ll… try,” Songbird whispers back, her voice barely audible and fragile.

V smiles, holding her even closer. A tear trails down So Mi’s cheek, she can see it, so she carefully wipes it. They stay like that until the train arrives and stops near the second platform.

“Rest, So Mi,” V sighs, and Song finally drifts into a dream. A peaceful dream, no room left for nightmares anymore. Because she’s safe next to her. Always will be. “It all will be alright,” V whispers, putting Song’s hand back on her lap.

The doors open. There’s only a complete silence that’s amplified by the quiet ambience of the rain hum outside. V takes her ten seconds to breathe in deep. They almost made it.

She gets up, standing close to So Mi. The netrunner is in a deep slumber, unshakable, seemingly peaceful, since she knows she has someone close to her. Someone who went all this way just for her.

Someone who’ll never leave her.

“Time to finish this,” V tells herself as she gently picks up the netrunner in her arms and slowly walks outside.

So Mi was dreaming.

Dreaming of V and Reed.

They are sitting at a local coffee shop in Brooklyn. Hot latte at hand, Song is enjoying the warm sunny day, sun rays lighting up her skin and sending a soothing sensation over her body. She is sipping her coffee, enjoying every bit of it, just as she still remembered back then.

V and Reed are playing chess in front of her, heavily immersed in their game which is already coming to its conclusion. V thinks carefully, trying to pick her next move. Does it in ten seconds, not even realizing that she blunders hard, getting a chuckle out of So Mi the moment she sees her move.

“It’s over, V,” Reed tells the merc, moving his queen, performing a checkmate that the younger woman doesn’t even see yet.

“No, Reed, wait!” V’s eyes shoot wide open as the realization hits her. She lost. Again.

Song just smiles at V pouting at her loss. Not every day’s a victory, but she’s getting better. The netrunner gently takes her hand, holds it, looking in her eyes, saying, “You’ll get him yet.”

Somewhere in the distance there’s a gunshot fired. Quiet, silenced. So Mi looks in the direction the sound is coming from, frowning, ever so slightly. She has a feeling, just for a moment, that something doesn’t feel right. That this doesn’t feel real. But that feeling goes away in an instant once V reciprocates her touch, holding her hand, smiling back.

It’s real. She thinks it’s real. And it will be real.

It is almost evening already. They’ve spent quite a while sitting here, playing chess, talking about literal stuff, listening to other people bantering about life. It is soothing, that, as if she’s never left this place. It feels right. Just right. But it’s evening, so perhaps it’s time to leave.

She glances at Reed, who’s looking at his watch, thinking it’s about time they go. The ‘runner then feels Reed reaching out for her shoulder, gently placing his hand on it, looking at her.

“Taking you home, So Mi,” he tells her, his voice firm, calm and tranquil, just as she remembers it. “Taking you home,” he states, taking his hand off of her, his eyes lighting up with orange, a sign of him making a holo call.

She smiles, believing him. Believing him because V is here, right next to her, not leaving her. She knows she’ll never leave her. She knows she’ll never abandon her.

It’s time to go home.

“Area secure for landing,” Reed tells over the holo while Song and V keep gazing at each other, holding hands, drowning in the eyes of each other. “No, you will not do that. We grab the girl and go.”

She can hear an AV land next to the cafe. An AV unmarked, but the one that invites all three of them into it. The merc nods to her, noting that it’s okay. Helps her get up, and whispers, “Never let go of me, So Mi. Never let go.”

So Mi opens her eyes. Half-opens at first, since she’s met with a blinding white light around her. She doesn’t remember what happened to her after she passed out on that train, either. She can hear different sounds around her, at first indistinguishable from one another, then a solid, firm voice next to her.

“So Mi? Can you hear me?”

She slowly moves her gaze towards its source. An unknown elderly man is standing next to her bed, dressed in white. His uniform indicates he is a doctor, or a ripper, a tablet in his hand all so much confirming that. Song hesitates to say anything at first, trying to remember what happened last before it all went dark.

“Wh— Where am I?” she finally manages to ask, taking a deep breath, feeling her lungs no longer denying her, allowing for all the air to be taken in.

“Tycho Colony. Welcome to Luna.”

The Blackwall. That train ride. That conversation. That regret. Those memories.

V.

“Where… where’s V…?” she breathes out, feeling her consciousness slipping away once again, her eye vision blurring as she yet again gives into her dreams.

The doctor quirks his brow, a bit confused at her words. “Who?” he cautiously asks, but gets no answer in return.

Song’s lips trail in a small, peaceful smile. “Valerie…” she whispers, falling back asleep.

END OF ACT 1

Chapter Text

ACT 2

NCX. Monorail. Tycho Terminal launchpad.

It’s night in Night City. No pun intended. Rain hum is the only thing that prevents the environment from being devoured by a complete and utter silence. The train doors open and the mercenary walks out with an unconscious, sleeping, dreaming netrunner in her arms. The merc is covered in bruises, a few wounds there and there. Her expression is tired, saddened, yet hopeful.

Fate had it in for them two.

V slowly walks into the observation deck, spotting the shuttle outside.

Walking onto the launchpad, she sees a figure walk out. An all too familiar figure.

“Fucking hell,” V breathes out, feeling her heart almost stop right then and there.

No. No. This cannot be happening. Not at the finish line.

The merc immediately crouches, gently and as fast as possible placing the netrunner on the ground, then reaching for her Malorian, all in an instant. The moment she gets up and points the gun at Reed, he already stands there, his own Pariah at hand, the redhead in his crosshair.

“Stop there!” he commands. “Lower your gun!”

“Hold on!” V grits her teeth. “Let’s talk. Like in Corpo Plaza.”

Her hands ever so slowly lower. The FIA agent gives her a suspicious glare, but lowers his gun too, nonetheless, still having it at around 45 degrees towards the merc.

“Well? What do you wanna do?” Reed asks, not moving his eyes away from V.

“Can’t let you take her. Won’t,” the merc states with firmness, not backing down.

“Look at ‘er, V!” the man briefly points his gun at Songbird, “Be serious. You wanna send ‘er to the Moon? Our neurosurgeons are her only chance.”

The redhead snorts and spits on the ground to the right of her, shaking her head. “I don’t have time to convince you,” she replies. “So Mi’s out of time. She sacrificed everything to reach the Moon. It’s her life, her decision. Who are we to question it?”

“They’re all just words, V. They don’t matter to me,” Reed nonchalantly claims. “And this isn’t just about Songbird. No, this is about her not sparking another war. I’m taking her to Washington. She’ll answer for treason, she has to.”

“Is that all you’re good at? Following orders, barking, wagging your tail?”

The FIA agent scoffs, “Don’t tell me you’re not in this because you’re seeking to get something out of helping her. You made a deal, this isn’t altruism, don’t lie to yourself at least.”

“I’m helping her because I care for her,” V immediately responds. “I owe her that.”

“No one owes her anything.”

The redhead coughs multiple times, covering her mouth with hand. Notices blood next, a sign of Relic malfunction. She sighs, “So, what, you gonna take her Myers? Myers who just shot up an entire spaceport to get her? No qualms whatsoever? The FIA won’t be funding a traitor to the state.”

“Neither Myers nor the NUSA will gain anything from So Mi’s death,” Reed objects. “I’ll get her to the FIA clinic and ensure Songbird gets the best care possible.”

“Myers will just throw her in jail, continue using her until there’s no life left in her,” the merc deadpans. “She won’t give a shit about what you want. She’ll cut you off immediately from her, send you off somewhere. And then you’re gonna regret it. Your entire life.”

“Myers might be ruthless, but she isn’t cruel.”

“Keep deluding yourself.”

A small pause, small delay between the two. They stand, rain pouring over them, and the unconscious netrunner lying in front of the redhead is slowly running out of time.

V shakes her head, sadness in her eyes. “You don’t know what So Mi’s done for you 7 years ago,” she states. Reed looks at her, confused, and the merc continues, “You know why you didn’t bleed out on the floor on the train to Washington?” she asks. “Someone summoned Trauma. That someone was So Mi,” she explains, and the FIA agent lowers his gaze, unable to look at her anymore. V finishes, “Myers condemned you to death and So Mi broke the order. She saved your life. Now you do the same for her.”

Reed has no words. He sighs, and looks somewhere in the distance. He is the most conflicted in forever, and the redhead sees it and gives him time. Time that they’re running short on.

The man briefly glances at her. “Think where she’ll go and what they’ll do with her if there is no and never has been any clinic.”

V gives him a blank glare. “Anything is better than the FIA clinic,” she replies. “If there’s even the last piece of So Mi to be saved, we must help her fight for it.”

The redhead could’ve ended it long ago. Activate her sandevistan, plant a bullet in his skull. Get Song to the shuttle. But she knew it wasn’t the right way. She didn’t give a shit about Reed, but Songbird did. So Mi wouldn’t want the blood of her mentor on her soulmate’s hands. She had to try.

“Take her wherever she wants,” Reed finally holsters his pistol, stepping aside.

V breathes out in relief, as she puts away her own gun. “Almost there, So Mi,” she then whispers to the sleeping netrunner, as she crouches and softly caresses Song’s face. She then gently picks her up in her arms, stands up, and slowly walks towards the shuttle, as the FIA agents keep gazing at the two, sadness in his eyes.

Walking inside, V carefully puts the netrunner in one of the seats. “All right, gently now,” the merc adjusts Song in her seat. She locks the belt around her waist, carefully lifting her head and leaning it against the seat. “Let’s see, what do we have here,” the redhead whispers, taking out the life support link and connecting it to the netrunner’s neural port. “Diagnostics: pressure, oxygen, infusion pump. Should be more than enough.” An AI embedded into the shuttle systems notifies that the life support gets activated, and the merc sees how the netrunner murmurs something in her sleep.

V smiles, breathes out in relief. “Get well, So Mi,” she gently cups Song’s face and softly kisses her forehead, trying to remember the sensation of her skin, trying to embed it in her memory. She then straightens, turns around and walks away, seeing how the shuttle doors get closed.

“V? You in there?”

The merc gasps, waking up to a blinding light. She coughs up blood, her head is spinning, she has blank spots in her vision. Her eyes adjust, rapidly moving around, and she realizes she’s in a familiar ripperdoc clinic.

“Come on, V. How are you feeling?” Vik concerns her, closely watching over her vitals on his monitor.

V slowly shifts in her seat, trying to feel her body. “Feeling… okayish, I guess?” she frowns, trying to feel her shoulders, her legs, her arms. She still has quite some difficulty adjusting to her current situation. “How did I get here?” she then adds, trying to get up.

The ripper glances at her for a second, his gaze full of disappointment. “Came here a few days back. All beat up and bruised. Were barely standing on your feet.”

The redhead nods and gets up. “Thanks for taking care of me.”

The man’s expression becomes sad then. “V, I won’t even ask what you were up to this time,” he lowers his gaze. “But I will warn you one last time…”

“Not another lecture, please, not now,” she angrily waves it off, rolling her eyes. She takes a deep breath, stretching her arms and legs. Seems like she got properly patched up when she was offline. Still a bit of pain there and there, but it’s manageable.

So Mi.

V blinks, remembering the launchpad encounter with Reed. How she put the netrunner on the shuttle and it took off. Has Songbird made it? Is she fine, is she all right?

Viktor gives her one last concerned and slightly disappointed glance before turning around and going back to sit at his usual spot. V picks up all her weapons, which the ripper’s been keeping for her in one of his lockers, slams the locker’s door and goes outside.

She checks today’s date. Seems like three days have passed since the NCX incident. She checks her missed calls and missed messages. Has six missed calls from Panam, one from Kerry, one from River. Has a few unread messages, mostly from fixers and Judy from Pittsburgh. Tries to see whether there’s something, anything from So Mi, but…

There is nothing.

Except…

One message does peak her interest. Unknown number. The contents of the message are vague, “Return to the place that reminds me of home and see what you find.” Not much, but it definitely seems like So Mi’s the sender. Who else would trick her into thinking it’s her and why? There’s zero reason. No one knows V, no one cares.

The contents of the message have coordinates that lead to Dogtown, to the balcony that’s dear to Song’s heart, to be precise. V replies to the message with, “So Mi? That you?” but immediately gets a notification that the message doesn’t get sent and the number’s no longer valid.

The merc hums. Weird. So Mi did say she’s going into some secret facility, secret contacts. Perhaps they really wish her to have contact to the minimum, to avoid getting traced?

It takes about an hour to drive to the location. “This is the place,” V whispers to herself the moment she reaches the familiar balcony. The balcony where So Mi and her sat at night once, embracing each other, gazing at the lunar sky. When they felt so close. When her heart melted.

It’s early afternoon. No one’s around there. The merc briefly wonders whether anyone at all comes here nowadays. She slowly walks around the perimeter, hoping that maybe, just maybe, Song herself shows up. Of course, that is a faint hope, considering the netrunner herself has told her that her treatment might take a week or two. Then what is it here that she wants V to find?

She suddenly spots something. A hermetic container, next to one of the couches. She approaches it slowly, carefully. Picks it up, opens it. Inspects what’s inside.

Lunar dust. A metal pin with ‘Tycho Base’ engraved on it. And an implant of unknown design and nature.

She made it.

It’s as if V gets dropped in an ocean full of relief. She lets out a shaky sigh, dropping on the couch next to her, feeling her legs shaking. A smile on her face, a genuine smile that So Mi actually made it out alive.

She inspects the gifts she’s got for the second time. The dust from the surface of the Moon itself feels kinda nice in her hands. She can definitely keep it in her pad, just like the metal pin that looks beautiful, shaped like a pentagon. A truly sentimental gift, the one she appreciates a lot.

Seems like she did bring some souvenirs to her, like promised.

She looks at the implant she’s got. Weird design, unfamiliar. Not like any she’s seen before. Should probably ask Viktor to inspect it, determine what it’s for. The merc wonders for a moment how did So Mi get her hands on such a unique thing. Can’t find an answer right now, not like it matters. What matters is that she’s there, probably about to get cured. Or is in the process of getting cured already.

V thinks for a second whether she should attempt at a Relic-holo. Decides to give it a shot. However, there’s nothing, no connection at all. Perhaps those are the limitations of a holo-call, considering the distance is super large between the merc and the netrunner. Maybe that’s why she received a weird cryptic message like this. Or maybe So Mi is getting treated already and cannot answer. It’s fine anyway.

So Mi, most likely, up there, requested her package to be delivered to this specific spot and a message to be sent to the mercenary. Reasons? Many. First and foremost, communications between Earth and Luna are probably not that simple via regular messages. Second, her messages might still be traceable by the NUSA, hence not even a note is embedded in the package, in case V doesn’t get to it first. Third, she most likely wanted V to know ahead of time that she’s fine, that she’s alive, so that the redhead doesn’t worry about her. So that she knows she made it, after all.

In about an hour or two, V is back at Vik’s place, showing him her newly acquired implant. The ripper carefully inspects it, checks its diagnostics and firmware, coming up with an interesting conclusion.

“Hmm, never seen anything like this before,” Vik thoughtfully hums, gently putting the implant on the table. “Firmware states it’s called ‘Quantum Tuner’, Rostović is the manufacturer, Militech firmware, though; it’s a highly secret and unique prototype,” he states, glancing at the merc.

A Militech secret prototype? V remembers that Song’s body is full of Militech implants. Does that mean that this implant has belonged to her? And now she’s sent it to V, so that the merc can have a piece of the netrunner in her? Literally?

“What does it do?” V cautiously asks the ripper, barely holding her smile.

“It should be installed in your frontal cortex. It links to all the cyberware in your system, tuning it and preventing it from overheating,” he explains, taking V’s full attention. “In simple terms, it solves the overclocking problem. There are limits, still, but it raises them significantly.”

“Overclocking problem? Like, with sandevistan?” V frowns.

Vik nods. V smirks, feeling very grateful to the netrunner on the inside right now. She didn’t expect such a gift. A surprise, for sure, but a welcome one.

“Where did you get this piece?” the ripper asks another question, prompting her to weigh her options. Should she tell the truth? Half-truth?

Half-truth it is. “Got it from someone…” V moves her gaze elsewhere. “Someone very important.”

“I see,” the man nods. “Want me to install it for you?”

“Sure.”

She has already once witnessed a guy named Hasan install a prototype eye cyberware implant in his body. Dangerous, that. She can only pray right now that So Mi’s implant is actually compatible with her body and doesn’t require any additional supporting cyberware. Hopefully it works.

In just two hours she’s already standing on her feet, thanking Vik yet again for everything. She also apologizes for her earlier behavior, stating that she’s felt too anxious about something. He, of course, understands all of it. He knows V’s life is very troublesome as of recently, especially with a ticking time bomb being in her head. Time bomb that is quickly running out of fuse.

V immediately decides to test the Quantum Tuner. She activates her sandevistan and starts running on foot all the way to her megabuilding pad, hermetic container with its contents at hand. Usually it takes about five minutes to reach it. The most she can pull out of sandevistan before it starts overheating is two minutes.

After two minutes of running nothing happens, though. No warnings, nothing. She doesn’t feel any strain even, like it affects her no longer.

Secret and unique prototype, indeed.

In five minutes of time relative to her she’s already inside her apartment, feeling a bit exhausted from running since she’s literally been on a medbed just hours ago. Five minutes relative to her, not the outside world, that is. She deactivates her sandevistan, still feeling absolutely fine, no signs of overheating, no need for overclocking. Absolutely stunned and amazed at that fact, she carefully puts the metal pin on her table and the container with lunar dust on one of her shelves above her bed.

She wonders for a moment whether there are actual limitations to how much the Tuner can cool down her cyberware implants. Technically, in time, it should overheat, too, and she doubts it can cool down itself. Better not to limit-test it, though, that is unless she wants to land up in an ICU again.

Now all she needs to do is wait for Song to come back. Storm Mikoshi. Get herself cured. And then it all will be over. They both can just live, never looking back.

She turns on the TV. There’s news about the NCX fiasco and about a terrorist attack from a few days back. Interestingly enough, Orbital Air CEO blames NightCorp for the attack, not the NUS. Weird.

V doesn’t give it too much thought, though. It’s all past now.

Days passed. Weeks passed. She was waiting.

There was nothing, though. No reply. No sign of contact. Nothing.

In four weeks V started feeling sick. The Relic damage was progressing more and more, her nervous system failing at an increasing rate. She had seven more Relic attacks in the span of the last two weeks, a record-breaking amount. She knew she couldn’t last long. She had to take matters into her own hands now. No matter how painful it was.

She started abandoning hope, thinking that she might be beyond saving, beyond salvation. She was doing less gigs by the day, spending more time in bed instead. She spent less time with her friends, barely visiting Aldecaldos, barely meeting up with Mama Welles at El Coyote. Did only a few favors for Kerry there and there, including making friends with Us Cracks, but that’s just it. The fire, the light in V’s eyes were dimming with each day.

Part of her was still hoping that So Mi was coming back any day now. Every single morning she immediately checked her messages, only to find that there was absolutely nothing from her netrunner. At first she was… getting upset. Upset, disappointed, frustrated. At times she was actually coming to a conclusion that Song just forgot about her, abandoned her. But that was just for very, very brief moments. In heart she believed So Mi would never leave her for dead.

As the time went on, she started to actually worry about her. Worry that something might’ve happened up there, like Reed had warned. Worry that maybe, just maybe, her operation was a failure. Or she got caged there. Or that she simply…

No, she couldn’t. V couldn’t accept that. Just could not. She forced herself to believe that maybe it takes a bit more time than expected to get cured, considering So Mi’s condition was absolutely horrendous by the time they’d reached the monorail. How could she be sure though?

If only she could go to the Moon and check on her. She couldn’t, though.

First, she was lacking time—as of now every single day of her could be her last one. She had a meeting with Hanako scheduled for tomorrow and she intended to go there no matter what. She didn’t have any other choice now. She had to learn from Hanako where Mikoshi was at.

Second, even if she had time to go to the Moon, she’d have to leave the city and search for a spaceport that had flights arranged there, since the NCX, especially after the shootout incident, still had Tycho Terminal on renovations.

Third, flight to the Moon was not cheap. Outside of her reach. A whooping 250,000 eurodollars in one direction, half a million in both. She barely had 100,000 as of now, meaning she couldn’t do shit. And had no time to do get more.

She has to do it by herself. Or beg someone else for help. Or go the Arasaka route.

Not many options. Not much time. It’s only her and Johnny.

Deep down she expected that. That in the end her deal with So Mi would be one-way transactional. It didn’t matter, though. She stopped caring about the transaction part a long time ago, helping Song out of pure care for her. Because she chose to help So Mi herself.

Hence she couldn’t be mad at her. Couldn’t bring herself to be mad at her. Only could become more and more worried with each passing day because she thought, no, she knew that the netrunner wouldn’t just forget her. She wouldn’t. And so, with those thoughts, on the next day she picked up all her iron and drove straight to Embers. A place where she had a scheduled meeting that was bound to happen for quite a while now.

“God, I feel sick. Don’t like this at all,” Johnny tells V the moment she enters the elevator that’ll take her all the way to the restaurant. “This porcelain bitch is the worst kind of news.”

V sighs, rolling her eyes. She doesn’t want another lecture from him, especially right now, hence she simply replies, “I know. I’ll be careful.”

“Not exactly one of your strong suits…” the rockerboy notes, being one hundred percent correct. “Listen, first sign of trouble, we delta,” he finishes, disappearing out of her vision.

The elevator stops. Its doors open. She’s greeted with a couple of security guards, dressed in white corporate outfits. One of them greets her, “Hanako-sama is waiting.”

Johnny materializes next to him, looking around the area through V’s eyes. “She emptied the place? Shit…” he remarks. Indeed, there’s only staff and the heiress herself, sitting and playing a piano.

Makes V wonder for just a second whether she’s been doing that every single time the merc’s been rescheduling their appointment. And she rescheduled it like six, seven, eight times? Lost track of it at this point.

“Excellent. You have come,” Hanako nods the moment she sees the mercenary approach her. She stops playing, slowly standing up from her chair, overlooking the redhead woman top to bottom. Her appearance is completely unprofessional, Samurai clothes that aren’t even washed properly. To think that she once has been an employee at Arasaka counterintel.

V’s gaze is nonchalant as it can ever be. Tired, too. “Let’s step to it then,” she replies, crossing her arms, looking at the window. It’s raining outside, a cliche of its own already.

“Before we discuss details, I feel I owe you an explanation,” Hanako continues, locking her hands in front of her. “I must tell you why I changed my mind and wish to help.”

V frowns. Well, this is unexpected. But why should she care?

“Weren’t sure of anything—if you could trust me, if Yorinobu’d killed your father,” the merc notes, looking at the older woman with confusion. “Now…?”

“I knew. From the start.”

No. No, this is getting bad. This won’t end well, just like Johnny’s predicted. She looks behind Hanako, spotting the rockerboy himself sitting on one of the chairs, arms and legs crossed, listening quietly to the conversation between the two. How amusing must that be.

“You… knew?” V raises her eyebrow, not knowing whether the heiress is joking or being dead serious. If she is, why the fuck all the charade prior, back at the hideout with Takemura?

Hanako’s stance is still unscathed, though. “All the board members knew,” she explains. “Not one soul even slightly interested in the matter believed in the poisoning. Details were disparate, inconsistent,” she adds.

V just had to know that shit’s would go sideways, as always. Her instincts back from corporate life are telling her to skip all the corpo-love-bombing and corpo-trust-bonding that have no real value behind them and go straight to biz.

“We were gonna talk biz, specifics?” the merc deadpans, not wanting to hear any other bullshit. She couldn’t care less, first of all; second, what’s it matter, really?

Hanako nods, not wanting to breach boundaries or argue with the redhead woman. “Let us do so,” she nods. “Did you bring Soulkiller, as we agreed you would?”

“Finger on the trigger,” Johnny immediately gets up from his chair, coming closer to the two. “Don’t say a word.”

V lets out a chuckle full of irony. What is this con tactic, she briefly wonders. “Take me for a fool, think I’d fall for that?” she asks the older woman. Then almost laughs in her face, “Got plans to walk outta here alive.”

Hanako does not hesitate to object to her statement. “Had I any ill intentions,” she calmly says, “I would have chosen a site far more discreet than this.”

V doesn’t buy it. This place is too discreet already, considering she ordered everyone checked out.

“We are here because I know how to save your life,” Hanako continues, finally getting the merc’s full attention. “I can lead you to Mikoshi.”

V immediately tenses on the inside. Looks at the rockerboy who’s standing next to them, arms crossed, expression stoic and unshaken. “Meaning? Mikoshi doesn’t exist in realspace,” V frowns, confused as to what the older woman means specifically. Is this about the access point then?

Hanako starts walking towards the bar, taking a seat. “Yet its access points do,” she replies. “And one is very near.”

“Where?”

“Here in Night City. Beneath Arasaka Tower.”

She should’ve known this. It’s been so fucking obvious from the start. The AHQ. Rebuilt and renowned. Night City, the place where everything converges, all the bad things, like it’s a fucking magnet for them. Good old Night City—most reliable of late capitalism’s human meat grinders, as Johnny likes to say.

He’s totally right, though. No denying that.

V wonders for a second why she has never asked Hellman about Mikoshi access points. Given the fact he worked for Arasaka and on the Relic, he had to have access to it. So he had to know. So this entire charade and ‘Meet Hanako at Embers’ would’ve been pointless then.

Johnny teleports behind the bar stand, placing both of his hands on the stand. “We oughta leave. Right now.”

V hesitates for just a moment. Curiosity, like always, takes over. She wonders what specifically Hanako wants from her, why is she entrusting her with such valuable information. She decides to ignore the rockerboy, slowly sitting on a stool next to the older woman.

“And you’ll help me in exchange for…?” V cautiously asks, raising an eyebrow.

Hanako takes a sip of her drink, gently placing it down. “My brother…” she simply replies.

“You catch a whiff of that?” Johnny asks the merc, piercing the ‘porcelain bitch’ with his eyes. “Smells like shit. Careful not to step in it,” he continues, disappearing and reappearing immediately with a cigarette in his hand, beginning to smoke it right away.

Hanako, meanwhile, adds, “He must be made to take responsibility for his deeds.”

V glances somewhere to the side. She doesn’t reply.

“Yorinobu—” Hanako starts, but gets immediately interrupted by one of her bodyguards who informs her that she’s expected at the residence, meaning they’re running out of time. She politely tells him that they’ll be done soon, looking back at the merc and continuing, “Yorinobu will soon call a meeting of the board. Representatives of all factions are expected to attend,” she says, gently tapping on the table with her fingers. “The perfect moment for them to learn the circumstances of my father’s death. I will get you into this meeting. And you will testify against my brother.”

V knows her testimony will be worth for shit. The heiress has another plan for her in mind, one hundred percent. “‘Testify…’ Listen, mind if I’m straight with you?” she frowns, not liking her proposition, but she gets immediately cut off by Hanako.

“Help me get rid of Yorinobu. I will help you get rid of the construct.”

V chuckles. Funny situation she’s in. Again. “Don’t like this at all,” she replies, shaking her head. “Sounds like you wanna use me.”

“No,” Hanako refutes. “I simply offer you an opportunity.”

V snorts, her tone full of irony, “Not the first to try.”

“But what if I am the last?” Hanako concerns her. V has nothing to reply. The older woman continues, “You cannot take that chance.”

“Let’s fly the fuck outta here,” Johnny has had enough of this crap, disappearing out of V’s vision. The merc doesn’t even realize that she’s about to collapse right here and now.

Hanako, meanwhile, notices something strange about the merc. “V? Do you feel alright?” she quirks a brow. V looks at her confused, not knowing what she means. “You’re bleeding,” the heiress explains, visually pointing at her own nose.

V wipes her nose with her right hand, seeing how she indeed has blood coming out. Her vision suddenly for a moment lights up with a red blur, meaning she’s running out of time. Fast. “Fuck…” she whispers, standing up from her stool.

“It seems you are running out of time,” Hanako spots the obvious, and V just rolls her eyes. “Don’t delay, make your decision.”

“Agh… I’ll think it over,” the merc seethes through her teeth, feeling her head buzzing, hurting. She rushes towards the elevator, Johnny already waiting right next to it.

“You could use some air. Right now,” he tells her, and she agrees with him, nodding and coughing out blood along the way, cursing fate itself.

‘Relic Malfunction Detected’

V curses under her breath, walking into the shaft and pressing the button multiple times that’ll take her to the first level. She can barely stand. Feels her own body denying her, her legs shaking. She leans on the elevator wall with her right hand, feeling how her left hand is suddenly moving without her control.

“I warned you,” the rockerboy tells her with frustration. She looks at him, seeing how he literally controls her left hand and makes the elevator stop.

“Wh— What’re you doing?” she barely manages to ask him before collapsing on the floor, not being able to stand anymore.

“Shit, we could be hours from it now, V,” he states, sitting on the floor to the opposite side of her. “And you can’t stand on your own two feet. While I’m good to go, body listens to me. See what I’m getting at?”

V takes a deep breath. “‘Course I can see. Want me to hand over the keys,” she grits her teeth in pain, feeling the headache only rising. “S— So Mi…”

“We can’t wait for Songbird any longer,” he teleports and crouches right in front of the merc’s face. “We have to take matters into our own hands. Now.”

“Uh-huh… in yours?”

“I wanna save your life,” he does not hesitate to reply, his voice firm and full of confidence. “Pop some pseudoendotrizine, scooch and lemme get behind the wheel. I’ll get us to fucking Mikoshi,” he finishes, standing up and lighting up his cigarette.

“Uh-huh. How, exactly?” V raises her eyebrow, still not fully believing in his resolve.

“Without that porcelain cunt’s help, that’s for damn sure.”

“Don’t stand a chance without help,” V seethes, but the rockerboy already has a reply for her.

“Right about that, but that’s why I’ll bring Rogue. She’s not rusted enough just yet. Plus, she owes me,” he explains, but that doesn’t instill confidence in the merc whatsoever.

V lets out a dry chuckle. “Maybe she’d have stuck her neck out for you half a century ago. But now? I don’t see it,” she tells him, but Johnny already has a ready-to-go reply for her.

“I’ll convince her,” he says. “After all, we know a thing or two about ops like this,” he continues, taking a dip at his cigarette. “We’ll blast our way into ‘Saka Tower just like we did back in the day. Then find the way inside Mikoshi. It’s our only chance.”

“Hanako’s offer is on the table.”

A pause. Johnny keeps smoking for about ten seconds, staring at V, bamboozled and speechless at her words. “I’m sorry, whose?”

“Oh, cut the crap! She actually has the power, could be our ticket,” the merc scoffs.

“Yeah, a one-way ticket to the city morgue. That ‘Saka cunt’s scrambled your circuits. Rogue and I will handle things. Just like we used to,” he keeps trying his best to convince his friend, genuinely so.

V finally attempts to get up, grunting, “Need more time, need to—”

“Don’t you get it?!” Johnny starts getting mad at his friend, at her lack of action and vision. “Time is something we are fresh out of!”

“Gotta stop you, dickhead. What’s your scheme?” V snarls back at him, still not fully accepting his help. “This is my body, I make the calls!”

“Not this time.”

V finally feels darkness in her eyes, black spots everywhere. Her head starts spinning, ears buzzing, her legs collapsing under her. “Agh, Johnny,” is the only thing she lets out before falling on the floor of the shaft.

“Jesus, look at you…” he says, seeing as she finally collapses unconscious. “Great! You checking out again?”

And then darkness. Again.

Chapter Text

“Wha…? Am I…? Dead?”

“Nah, it’s not what you think,” V faintly hears Johnny’s voice. “Not yet, anyway.”

Seems like she still has a few threads of life attached to her. That’s something for starters.

V opens her eyes. Sees red. Red lines in her optics everywhere, a sign that her life’s expiring. And there’s almost nothing left she can do.

“Easy there,” she hears a familiar voice, a voice belonging to Viktor. “Don’t move just yet,” he tells her, seeing that she’s finally awake.

She’s slowly regaining her senses. Slowly moves her head, her vision adjusting to the lighting around her. Looks at her friend. Three friends, actually—Viktor in front of her, Misty sitting on the stairs in the entrance, Johnny standing afar, next to the lockers, arms crossed. “Vik?” the merc whispers.

“You’re in pain, I know,” he nods. “Delirious when you arrived so I had to dose you with betahaloperidol,” he adds, looking at his monitors and the merc’s vitals. “But light oversensitivity is a good sign. Means your optic nerves aren’t damaged.”

The redhead swallows thickly. “How… How’d I get here?”

“Dragged yourself here, beat to hell and back,” the ripper explains, notes of frustration in his voice. “Gave Misty a helluva fright,” he gives her a strict glance, and then gazes back at her vitals. “Then you shoved my patient at the time off the table… And demanded you be treated immediately.”

V glances at the rockerboy, who just shrugs, replying, “Tell him it was your guardian angel.”

“Huh?” Vik turns his gaze towards the merc. Seems like what Johnny’s just said has been spoken out loud by V herself, too.

V attempts at a chuckle, trying to deescalate the situation. “I uh… wasn’t completely myself.”

“I know. And that’s a bit worrying,” the ripper sighs.

V breathes in. “So how bad we talking?” she looks at him, meeting his gaze. That concerned and worried gaze, full of disappointment, too. “That bad, huh?” she squints the moment he looks back at his monitors.

“All right, that should be a little better,” Vik states after a brief pause, finishing stabilizing V’s nervous system. “Try sitting up. Carefully,” he instructs, and V obliges.

“Okay, but don’t expect a miracle…”

With pain, gritted teeth, and a heavy grunt, she manages to sit up. Feels her body shaking a bit, but seems like she’s slowly regaining control. At least some parts of her body still respond to her commands.

“Heh… Another victory… for the history books,” she chuckles, but immediately sees that Vik’s gaze is unshaked, still stoic and concerned. Another ten second pause between the two, something that starts getting on V’s nerves. “If you got something to say, Vik, just say it,” she almost seethes through her teeth, mostly because the pain in her head makes it all so harder to stay cool and collected.

The ripper finally moves away his monitors, crossing his arms and looking her in the eyes. “How much longer is this going to go on?”

V almost snarls back because of how unexpected this question is. “You tell me.”

“Looking at you, not long at all,” he scoffs, shaking his head. “Next attack, you won’t be able to crawl back here,” he keeps telling her in her face. “You’ll flatline in some back alley.”

V rolls her eyes. Her annoyance meter starts overflowing.

Vik shakes his head again, looking down. “This is your last chance to take matters into your own hands, understand?”

V finally snaps. “‘Take matters into my own hands…’,” she mimics him, and then snarls, rudely so, “The fuck you think I’ve been doing?!”

“Well, whatever it is, it keeps landing you on my table.”

The redhead doesn’t reply. Just silently glares at him, full of exasperation and tiredness.

“Now, see that setup over there?” the ripper asks, pointing at the table behind him.

Johnny teleports there, looking at what’s on it. V looks at it too, nodding, “Yeah… What about it?”

“You’ll find the last dose of pseudoendotrizine there. A gift from Misty,” the ripper explains, walking around in a small line in front of the merc. “Wanna give in to the voices in your head? Go ahead. Take a puff, go silent, get out,” he continues, saying it almost with anger in his voice. “Or… find another way. End things on your own terms,” he adds, implying a Unity pistol lying on the table. “Got a little present from there, too. Blockers. Manage to walk those few yards to the table… the rest will be up to you, and you alone,” he finishes, uncrossing his arms and walking to his chair in the corner, with his boxing screen setup.

“Whatever you decide… let’s make sure to get outta here first.”

“Fucking scared me, know that?” Johnny gazes at the merc, his expression is full of concern. “Thought you were on your way out.”

After V had taken the pills and the gun, Misty offered the merc to go all the way to the rooftop of the building her shop’s at. Leading her there, she told her how she once led Jackie there, too, where he decided to change his life. He decided to become the legend in this city, inspiring V in some way later, too.

Misty then left V by her lonesome. With the rockerboy in her head, that is, sitting on one of two chairs and gazing at the city from atop.

“No, still here,” she faintly replies, taking a deep breath. She knew this moment would once come. And here it is. At last. Point of no return.

“For now,” Johnny nods. “Y’know, should call anyone you wanna say goodbye to.”

V frowns. “Worst case scenario—that what you expect?” she carefully asks him, but he negatively shakes his head.

“No, but whatever you decide, risk’s gonna be high. If things don’t go our way… Just fucking do it. Anyone you gotta talk to, now’s the time. Pills can wait.”

Does she want to unnecessarily worry anyone right now? Sounds selfish, that. But it’s also selfish not telling the truth how it is, right? Who should she even call right now? She doesn’t really have anyone close to her, someone who would understand what she’s going through.

Except one. Ultimately, just one person comes to mind. That person is being represented by the Moon shining its light upon her now.

“So Mi…” she whispers, closing her eyes. Johnny doesn’t reply, just nods again, fully understanding her.

She tries calling. No response. Has she expected a different outcome? Not at this point, no.

She leaves a voicemail instead. Trying to hold her tears, trying to stay strong.

She has to stay strong. That’s what she would’ve wanted, perhaps.

“Was good you at least tried,” the rockerboy quietly tells her, seeing how she’s on the verge of breakdown. “Wish I had a chance before I went down,” he lowers his gaze, feeling for his friend.

They stay in silence for quite a while. Maybe a minute or two, gazing at the city and the Moon.

“Come a long way to get here, haven’t we?” he finally tells her, shifting in his sitting position. “Just think—it all started in a fucking landfill.”

“Mhm,” V weakly smirks. “Then you tried to kill me,” she reminds him.

“See, exactly what I mean,” he adds, looking at her. “Tryna save your sorry hide now. You can let me do that,” he pauses, counting number of options V has on his fingers, “Or you can try Panam and her tarmac rats, but then their live’ll weigh heavy on your soul,” he continues, showing that it’s two options so far, “Or you take Arasaka’s ‘deal’, but then… you’ll have your own soul on your conscience,” he finishes, showing that she has total of three options to choose from.

V thinks. Closes her eyes again.

Asking Panam for help is a no-go. She will not endanger her life or any of the Aldecaldos. Not for a chance to see another day. Not after Jackie’s death, not after Dogtown events, not after the NCX. Not after everything she’s been through. She’ll be extremely selfish if she does that. Hence she won’t.

Asking Rogue for help is a no-go. She will not allow Johnny to guilt trip her to be involved in this mess. It is technically the same as asking Panam for help, except less lives are on the line. This will be wrong, wrong as hell, even if the fixer ‘owes’ the rockerboy. She cannot allow that. Hence she won’t.

Maybe Arasaka? Trusting them is stupid, but what other choice does she have? Put a bullet in her skull?

“Johnny, I know this sounds gonk, but…” she bites her lip, glancing at him, “Maybe Arasaka is worth the risk?”

He scoffs. “V, have you learned shit?”

She drops her head in hands, sighing. He knows why she considers it an option. Hence, he states, “I get it, you don’t wanna risk the lives of your friends, don’t wanna involve anyone in this. And you wanna have a chance to see her again,” he calmly states. “But they’re gonna shred me, V. And might take everything away from you, too.”

They’ve gone through so much shit by this point to ignore that. V knows it. It would be very wrong to do this to him. Surrendering him to his worst enemy and striking a deal with them.

She can’t do it.

“What options do I have then?” the merc sadly looks him in the eye, lost in her thoughts and fears.

“See, there’s this one choom who’s already dead,” the rockerboy looks at his shades. “And he’d be honored to join you on a wild, suicide run.”

With said words, he gets her full attention.

“You, me and Arasaka Tower,” he continues. “Kinda sounds like a Eurodyne lyric, I know, but trust me—we’ll go fucking nova.”

V frowns, confused. “This plan, what would it entail, exactly?” she ponders, already having a rough idea about what the rockerboy is implying.

“‘Plan?’ Well, might be how Rogue operates,” he replies, briefly looking at the city behind him and then turning back to face her. “I say you grab the hottest iron you can find, stride in the Tower’s front door and cut down your own path down to the lower levels,” he explains. “If Mikoshi’s deep underground like Hanako claims it is, you’ll just have to find the elevator.”

V thinks. Looks at the Moon one more time.

“You’re the strongest person I know, V.”

Fuck it, she thinks. Might as well go down that way. Not like she’s got anything to lose now, right?

“If I gotta die,” she starts, dryly chuckling, “Rather fall into my grave gun in hand and on fire. And not drag anyone down with me.”

Johnny nods, a satisfied smirk on his face. He stands up and approaches her, looks her in the eyes. “Huh,” he notes, “You just discovered what it takes to become a legend…” he extends his hand, V grabs it, feeling adrenaline kicking in her. He then finishes, pulling the merc up from her chair, “Grab your iron—let’s mobilize.”

“Welcome to Arasaka Tower.”

Motherfuckers don’t know what’s coming for them. Literal Death’s about to walk in their front door.

After leaving the rooftop, V and Johnny immediately rushed to the Afterlife, to get Nix’s help to reach Alt. He obliged, knowing V saved his life once. The merc and the rockerboy contacted the AI using his netrunning setup, got her on board and up to date. Their main goal: reach at least one of Mikoshi access points, slot her in, let her do the rest of the stuff (neutralize staff, security, etc.). To reach an access point, they’d need to get to the lower levels, meaning find an elevator, first.

Alt supplied them with a chip that would open a backdoor for her. After that, not wasting time any further, V climbed Jackie’s bike and drove to her apartment, to get all her gear. She grabbed the same that she used during the NCX heist: Johnny’s Malorian, Scalpel, Tsumetogi, 3 EMP grenades and 7 boosters. Her next destination was the AHQ. Carelessly parking right outside, she strode in through the front door, walking through the scanners nonchalantly and appearing at the very familiar entrance. Entrance she used in her past life for quite some time.

“Time to party like it’s 2023,” Johnny enthusiastically remarks the moment V walks through the last scanner, who unsheathes both her katanas and immediately leaps towards the first guard who barely manages to call for backup before flatlining on the ground.

“Weapons and hazardous materials are not allowed at the premises,” the AI embedded in the Tower’s systems finishes, but it’s too late—V’s already leaping around multiple guards, rendering some of them unconscious, some of them dead. Doesn’t even bother to activate her sandevistan for now, doesn’t even bother to use a booster to pump up her adrenaline.

She feels confident. So confident, her strength flows through her out of nowhere, even though the Relic is literally eating at her brain, leaving barely any life left in her.

“Careful, this is their house,” Johnny tells V the moment she’s finished with all the guards at the entrance. “Got a gameplan all polished and rehearsed.”

V nods, carefully proceeding towards the main lobby area with the elevators on both sides. Two mechs drop on the floor the moment she walks in. V smirks, activating her sandevistan, leaping towards the first one, two katanas in hand, towards the vulnerabilities that her optics identify, courtesy of Songbird’s upgrades. She swiftly slices at each vulnerability, EMP-ing them with electrically charged katanas, exploding the first mech and then doing the same to the second one.

She deactivates her sandevistan for a moment and takes a booster shot, feeling more adrenaline rush through her. “Before the first tower went up in smoke, labs were underground,” Johnny remarks, standing next to one of the exploded mechs. “Elevator’s what we want,” he adds. V looks around, seeing the elevators at the side she just came from. She walks towards it, seeing how the access pad is locked. “Shit, needs an access token,” Johnny points out, materializing next to the doors. “Need to find a guard with some chops, status. He’ll have our access token.”

The two then hear screams and commands shouted from behind. More guards and security incoming. V activates her sandevistan again, rushing through new waves of her enemies, spinning around like a fan, deflecting bullets time to time back at her attackers. A few enemies were wielding katanas, too, having their own sandevistans, but it didn’t matter—they were absolutely no match for the Reaper herself.

She looks around. “Heads up,” Johnny notes, noticing through V’s hearing how a few more waves descend via the stairs. V immediately rushes through them, feeling how she doesn’t have even slightest signs of exhaustion or the implant overheats. Booster’s doing its effect against exhaustion, So Mi’s Quantum Tuner doing its effect against overheating.

In a minute, she finally loots an elevator access card from one of the dead guards. “Access token,” she remarks, smirking. “Oughta get the elevator moving,” she rushes towards the shaft.

However, she’s greeted with three heavy units with machine guns, all walking out of different elevators at the side of the lobby she’s at. She immediately deflects all their bullets back at them, specifically in their vulnerabilities, crippling them and then slicing their heads off with precise strikes of her katanas. She takes a second booster shot after.

A lot more security walks out from everywhere, elevators included. She dashes through all of them, targeting all their vulnerabilities and releasing a shitton of EMP blasts as a result, every vulnerability popping up faster and faster as a result of the machine learning perk she got from Song, too. In about a minute, the entire lobby is cleared, about fifty dead or unconscious guards lying everywhere.

“Well?” she hears Johnny ask the moment she turns off her sandevistan. She air dashes towards the desired elevator, slapping the access token she looted prior against the keypad. Finally, she sees how it slowly approaches her level. “Starting to think this plan wasn’t batshit crazy after all,” the rockerboy enthusiastically says, impressed at their progress so far. He kind of expected them to get flatlined in the lobby, yet… here they are.

The elevator finally arrives and opens its doors. V walks in, presses the elevator button, closing the door and going downwards.

Johnny leans against the shaft’s wall. “‘Netrun operations control’—sounds like a good place to run a megafacility from,” he remarks.

V presses the button again, telling the elevator to go there. “We plug in your output there,” she tells him, “See how she settles in.”

“I’d expect a warm welcome down below if I were you.”

“Good,” the merc deadpans, gripping her katanas harder. “If we’re going out, it better be with fucking fireworks.”

“Gonna be an ambush, no doubt. Just focus—you’re better than them,” Johnny replies, his voice full of confidence in his friend. He knows they can do it.

Elevator doors open and V walks out, carefully so, katanas upfront. She can hear guards already yelling at each other somewhere in the hallway.

“Motherfuckers got no love for foreplay,” Johnny materializes next to a scanner, smoking his cigarette and shaking his head. “Brace yourself, V.”

V immediately air dashes through the scanners, slicing two guards at the end with a strike of her two katanas, slice per each guard. She then notices a turret aiming at her from the ceiling, blasting her with bullets which she immediately deflects back at it, destroying it.

“Just a single merc? Alone?” she hears a horrified scream somewhere down the hallway. She lets out an evil grin, injecting one more booster, third out of seven, activating her sandevistan and blitzing through the entire hallway, eliminating everyone on her way, no exception. Super slight yellow blur starts covering corners of her vision, but only just for a brief moment, which she braces off.

“Hey! Over there!” Johnny exclaims, standing at the balcony that stands as the observation point for what seems to be the main access point. V approaches him, looks where he’s looking at. “Ain’t no expert, but sure looks like the tower’s mainframe to me,” he notes, pointing at a square-shaped locked gate in the floor.

“Guess we just see what happens when we jack Alt in,” V nods, hearing a door opening somewhere behind her.

“Heads up!” Johnny immediately commands her, she hides behind the wall right after, waiting for her enemies.

“Don’t wanna die…!” she hears one of the guards shaking, trembling, scared. “Not here! Not like this!”

V dashes out, slicing his spine and then the spine of his comrade, rendering them unconscious before they can even react. She then goes through the door they’ve walked out from, jumps to the lower floor and sees an entire army of robots march on her, supported by a mech and a few guards.

V activates her sandevistan again, feeling how it gets cooled down by Quantum Tuner. Grabs EMP grenade, air dashes at the epicenter of the robot formation, leaves it there, dashes out. The explosion of electricity creates a series of EMP blasts, destroying everything on its way, leaving only a few guards and a very damaged mech for her to finish, which she doesn’t hesitate to do. She then rushes through the area, encountering a few more melee guards along the way, literally spinning around them like a propeller with her katanas being her blades.

She goes through a couple of doors and finds herself at the mainframe room. Another army of robots barges in, a few guards rushing with them. She pops up one more booster, feeling yellow blur hitting harder, but still being in full control. She then repeats exactly the same thing as literally a minute ago, air dashing towards them, exploding them all with her last EMP grenade, finishing the remaining guards with swift strikes and bullet deflection.

“All right… Not exactly seeing any slots…” Johnny materializes in the center of the room after V’s done. The merc approaches him, looking at the square-shaped locked gate below them.

“Mainframe’s under the floor, most likely,” she points at it, and Johnny nods. “Need to find a way to eject it.”

“Ah. Like a goddamn adventure game…”

The merc looks around. Sees a terminal room with computers in it.

“Term—hink you can use it?” Johnny asks, leaning against one of the windows.

V shrugs, walking towards him. “We’ll find out,” she replies, approaching the door that leads inside.

“Damn, could really use you right now, Songbird,” the rockerboy snorts, thinking how much easier the entire raid would’ve been if So Mi followed V all the way here. The merc agrees with him in her thoughts, but still thinks that they’re doing very, very well so far. Almost there.

She walks inside. Checks the computer, active.

“This is what we’re looking for?” Johnny materializes next to it. V checks the local network access, seeing how there’s indeed an option to enable the mainframe. She clicks it, hearing sound in the mainframe room, sound that most likely indicates they achieved what’s needed. “Okay… and…?” Johnny quirks a brow, looking at her.

She jumps out of the terminal room, looking around. Few more guards walk out, start shooting at her. She dashes around, deflecting their bullets, leaping towards them and eliminating one by one. She takes a breather right after, stretching out her arms and legs. Sees how the mainframe access point actually did pop up from the square-shaped hole in the center of the area.

“That’s the slot,” the rockerboy notes, standing next to it. “Let’s make Alt at home.”

V nods, approaching it. Takes out the shard out of her shard port that Alt has supplied them with prior. “Sure hope your ex output performs as advertised…” she mutters, slotting it in the mainframe.

“Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” Johnny exclaims, feeling immense satisfaction at the fact that they are at the finish line now.

“Security systems overridden. I am in control,” the merc and the rockerboy hear Alt in a second, announcing herself throughout the entire tower. They can see then how everyone in the room they’re in, dead or unconscious, get their synapses literally vaporized, reminding them of when Songbird and V have used the Blackwall together. “Threat from personnel neutralized. The path to Mikoshi lies open,” the AI states.

V realizes that Alt has done this to the entire tower, killing everyone in it. Meaning V, indirectly, is responsible for an entire massacre.

Time to play moral high ground has long passed, though. Years back. This isn’t new to her, hence almost no remorse is shown by her. She’s literally left a trail of corpses on her way here just now.

“C’mon, let’s go!” Johnny waves to the merc. V nods, walking towards the gate that leads to the Mikoshi access point area.

“Arasaka netrunners have stormed the tower’s systems,” Alt informs the moment V approaches the gate and starts to get scanned. “Stopping their advance is my priority. Continue on your way alone,” the gate opens and V and Johnny walk in further, stopped by the second gate. “I’ve cleared a path, but you must hurry. An elite security unit is following you,” she finishes, and then never gets heard again.

V gets scanned in front of the second gate. Await for it to get opened. Nothing happens, though.

“Alt? You here?!” Johnny yells through V’s head, but, of course, he can’t be heard.

“What’s with the door?” the redhead asks for him, looking around. She sighs, crouching. “Don’t strain yourself, now,” she deadpans, lifting the gate herself.

She and Johnny can hear something stomping from behind them. Someone slams through the previous gate, rushing towards her at immense speed. She rolls beneath the lifted gate, almost getting knocked out.

“Smasher!” Johnny exclaims right before she rolls over the floor.

The merc stands up, picking up her katanas and looking at her new opponent. The legend of NC itself. The guy Johnny wants dead.

“Interesting…” Smasher snarls, preparing his guns.

V takes a samurai stance, preparing for him to rush towards her. He does that immediately, attempting to strike her, but she parries him, slicing his steel leg. That barely does any damage, even though her katanas are literally electrically charged.

That would be problematic.

She air dashes back from his quake assault, dodging his strikes. Sees how a few vulnerabilities pop up around him in her optics, perk of the Relic upgrades from Songbird. She starts dashing around him, trying to slice them, barely managing to do so since the motherfucker, even though heavy and fully borged out, is quite fast, too.

She injects one more booster, feeling more adrenaline rushing through her. Vision gets even more blurred with sun-yellow, but her control over herself is still manageable, even though a literal evil devilish smirk appears on her face, excited about the challenge. She activates her sandevistan, blitzing past Smasher, attempting to strike him in the back, but he counters her with his sandevistan, catching her blade.

“A rudimentary implant,” Smasher mockingly remarks.

V laughs. “Oh yeah? Let’s see you keep up, motherfucker,” she seethes through her gritted teeth as they engage in a ‘dance’ of attacks and counterattacks, dashing all around the area.

No matter how hard Smasher tries to deal damage to her, she constantly manages to either dodge his attacks or parry them, counterattacking by targeting mostly his vulnerabilities. In a minute, she can see some damage start appearing on his metal body.

Smasher releases a massive missile barrage at her, attempting to blow her to pieces. The merc barely manages to escape all of them, air dashing all over the place, attempting to approach him at some angle. Finally, in one more minute, Smasher can feel how his sandevistan starts overheating, forcing him to turn it off.

Yet V still has her active.

“What’s wrong? Can’t keep up?” she snorts into his face, dodging his attack and blitzing behind him, slicing some exposed spots and electrocuting some of his systems. “How’s that for a rudimentary implant?” she mocks him back, sliding again right past him, slicing his leg and then arm, destroying even more of his exposed circuitry.

Smasher can only grunt in anger, feeling his system slowly collapsing due to immense damage endured. He decides to do something he never expected to do ever—call for backup.

In a few seconds, the area is blasted with an alarm sound. V can see how four snipers appear on the top level, how a few heavy units walk out from the first level carrying machine guns.

“Playing dirty now, are we?” she annoyingly grunts, leaping towards her enemies. She then notices how Smasher releases yet another barrage of missiles at her, prompting her to air dash all around again.

She feels her legs start getting exhausted. She can still use sandevistan without overclocking it, though. She pops up one more of the remaining two boosters, finally feeling yellow. Fury starts overwhelming her, she starts slowly losing control, a laughter escapes her mouth. 

Poor snipers can only hear maniacal laughter right before they collapse dead on the ground. V then jumps onto Smasher, spinning around him and slicing him with immense speed. He reactivates his sandevistan, engaging in another ‘dance’ with her, trying to get her. He tries his best to keep up with her, unloading all the guns he has, none of the bullets hitting her, some getting deflected back at him.

In two more minutes V actually starts feeling her head hot. Seems like Quantum Tuner planted in her frontal cortex is reaching its limits, unable to cool down the remaining implants. V breathes in deep, regaining full control from her Fury state, performing a series of slices on Smasher. The borg is heavily damaged already, most of his systems burning, he is grunting and heavily breathing, too. Both are reaching their limits.

She finally manages to completely destroy his operating system and rocket launchers, rendering his sandevistan useless, allowing her to deactivate hers. She actually briefly had to overclock hers because Quantum Tuner was unable to handle seven straight minutes of it being enabled.

V starts coughing blood. The Relic is getting to her, devouring her. She is running out of time.

She grits her teeth hard, her katanas hard, starts dashing around her foe again, targeting whatever leftover vulnerabilities he has left. Stamina is abandoning her with each passing second, she feels immense strain on her body. Finally, with a heavy breath, she lands a final strike, completely disabling his remaining implants and life support, prompting him to collapse on his knees.

“Johnny Silverhand sends his regards,” she deadpans at him, tilting her head to the side a bit, sheathing her katanas. Johnny materializes next to them, smoking his cigarette, looking at his almost dead enemy.

Smasher attempts at a frown. “Are you fucking with me now?” he asks her, perplexed.

“Hurry to Mikoshi before they launch another attack,” the merc suddenly hears Alt’s voice, something she hasn’t heard ever since her fight with Smasher has started.

“He’s got a point, V,” Johnny tells the merc, tossing away his cig. “Shut up and finish him, be done with it.”

V lets out a heavy sigh, feeling her legs betraying her. She’s got one booster left but she can’t risk it. Has to leave it for after Mikoshi. “Took down Johnny’s arch-enemy,” she smirks, satisfied with her skills and achievements. “Gotten good, I guess—damn, it feels nice.”

She then takes out Johnny’s Malorian and, without hesitation, takes a shot at Smasher’s skull.

He finally drops dead. Once and for all.

Seems like Songbird did help her after all. Not directly, but still—all the Relic upgrades and unique prototype cyberware, as well as belief in the fact that she’s special, the strongest person there was—all of it allowed her to reach her destination. And for that, V was still thankful to So Mi, out of her heart.

V coughs again, seeing her blood all over hands and floor. There is no time left.

She starts slowly limping towards the final area, seeing blue lines in her vision, distortion in her eyes. The Relic is just probably minutes away from completely killing her.

She falls down in front of the door. Manages to gather her remaining strength, pull herself back up and stand again, move forward. Opens the door, seeing the Mikoshi access point in the middle of the coolant pool.

“We saw this place in a dream,” Johnny notes, standing next to V. She falls one more time, briefly remembering a similar silhouette of the access point the first time she’s seen Johnny.

She can no longer get up.

“Find the access point in the center of the room. You must connect to it,” Alt further instructs the merc. “Then submerse yourself in coolant. I will be waiting.”

“C’mon, not much further to go,” Johnny tells V, teleporting in front of her, kneeling and motivating.

V starts pretty much crawling towards the access point, feeling her legs jelly. Fuck.

She still manages to get there. Johnny is already standing in front of the access point itself, looking at it. Gathers her last bits of strength, standing up and leaning against the access point.

“Don’t know how… but it worked,” she breathes out, jacking in the cable into her neural port.

She turns around, dropping on her knees. Crawls to the edge of the pool of coolant, slowly submerges herself into it. She sees Johnny kneeling at the end, looking at her, a proud smirk on his face.

“See ya on the other side,” he tells her as her system gets shut down. Blackness is all she sees.

She was grateful. To both Johnny and Songbird for giving her hope. She made it.

V opens her eyes. She is in the elevator, quite familiar at this point. That elevator she took all the way to the top of the building just a few hours ago. With Misty, that.

The elevator doors open and she is greeted with another familiar hallway. She sees a cat meowing on the stairs, waiting for her. Is it Nibbles? No, it doesn’t look like it. Or maybe it is. The cats look the same in Night City anyway.

She passes the cat, heading upstairs. Sees another cat, literally the same one. Okay, meaning this is not real, right? Of course it’s not—a vague memory of her jacking into Mikoshi pops up. She’s inside Mikoshi, yes. This is what it is, now it all comes clear. Her consciousness right now is split, half of it in realspace, half of it in cyberspace.

She heads outside. The rooftop. It is raining, the two chairs where she and Misty have sat before are empty now. V sees her pendant, a ‘lucky charm’ on the railing, carefully placed. The city below is completely empty, no one is there. The world feels empty, too, she can feel nothing. She picks up her pendant, looks up close at it, seeing how the world around her gets distorted.

Distorted with lines of cyberspace. Everything transforms around her, disappears, and everything gets filled with void. Yellow light and a pyramid-like structure in the distance, inviting her to come closer. A bridge she’s standing on, leading all the way there.

She starts walking towards it, hearing Alt’s resonant voice. “Let us go then, you and I,” the AI says, her voice being ambient, literally everywhere. “When the evening is spread out against the sky. Like a patient etherized upon a table.”

V sighs. What the fuck is she talking about? she asks herself in her thoughts, continuing walking towards the pyramid, closing the distance on it more and more.

Meanwhile, Alt continues, “Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets, the muttering retreats of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels and sawdust restaurants and oyster-shells, streets that follow like a tedious argument of insidious intent to lead to an overwhelming question…”

V moves her gaze around, not listening anymore.

“Oh, do not ask, ‘What is it?’ Let us go and make our visit,” the AI finally finishes, letting the quietness kick in once again.

After a minute of walking V ponders why the hell she got spawned so far from the pyramid. If it is Alt’s decision, then it is a stupid ass decision. Why not just appear right at the pyramid? Right at the top? Or anywhere close, near the stairs that she is about to approach?

She finally reaches the top by going upstairs. She sees her friend standing there at the edge, gazing into the abyss. Johnny. Also here, waiting for her.

V approaches him, a satisfying smile on her face. Gently grabs his shoulder, saying, “I did it, Johnny,” as he turns around, looking at her, his sunglasses hiding his eyes, proud and impressed. “Despite it all, somehow, I did it.”

The rockerboy nods. “Devised a solid plan and pulled it off. That’s you. Well done.”

V smirks, a tease already ready in her head. “I’m sorry,” she starts, “Not sure I quite caught that.”

“Then wash out your ears, you dumbass,” he scoffs back, shaking his head, unamused at her snarky remark.

He teleports and sits on one of the two benches that are standing to the opposite side of a table projection. V looks around herself, one more time, gazing at the yellow light in the distance. Yellow light that gives her hope. In a second, with one more heavy breath, she turns around and goes back to join the rockerboy, taking a seat to the opposite side of him.

She made it. Preem—that’s what counts.

Chapter Text

V opens her eyes. She’s greeted with a morning sky blazing through the windows of her penthouse. Sounds of radio are coming out, talking about the Crystal Palace. She looks at her pendant lying next to her bed, taking it immediately and putting it on, feeling her eyes finally adjusting to the lighting around her.

“Yeah, we… stick to the plan. Johnny, I’m sorry.”

That goddamn bullet that has changed her life. For the better or for the worse, though? For all she knows, the timer is still there. She’s just managed to buy some more sand for her hourglass. The question now is whether she can buy even more. Or whether that’s the final grain.

She sighs, slowly getting up. Checks her ‘fancy’ clothes lying around.

She needs a shower.

The merc opens the door that leads to her bathroom, enters it and immediately goes for the shower. Warm shower. Stays there for quite a while, feeling the water engulf her top to bottom, making her close her eyes.

“Don’t apologize. We knew all along this’s how it would play out.”

She coughs multiple times, covering her mouth with her right hand. Sees blood on it. Swears quietly, shaking her head and washing it off. Stays a couple more minutes before walking outside and checking herself in the mirror.

It’s been one month since Mikoshi and her all so successful raid on Arasaka Tower. One month since Arasaka has pretty much collapsed as a megacorp. One month since Johnny’s gone from her head. A bit more than two months since So Mi’s gone from her life.

Maybe… maybe it’s not over yet. If she pulls this gig off, that is.

“I mean, Jesus, I’m about to shred a comrade and a chunk of my own soul in one fucking go. You have no idea what that shit feels like.”

All her wounds are long healed. She’s got new cyberware, primarily optical camo, which will be needed for the upcoming op, as well as upgraded her legs from ligament ‘leeroy’ to charge jump ones.

However, something’s changed in her. Can’t tell when specifically the change has started, but people close to her have started realizing it a couple of days into her new life. She’s become more bitter, rageful. Her empathy—down significantly.

Her humanity—dropped, too.

She hears the voice of Alva, an embedded AI in her penthouse, greeting her, “Good morning, V. I trust you had a restful night.”

Restful? No. Can’t say that.

V hums in response to the AI. “You have no new messages,” Alva continues in her response. “You have one meeting planned for today. At the Afterlife. Delamain has confirmed a vehicle arrival at the arranged time.”

V goes back to her bed, picking up her clothes and putting them on. Her Samurai clothes are long left in the wardrobe, a relic of the past she tries not to cling onto.

“Hm. Sounds kinda familiar. We know that attitude… See, V? Staying with you whether you like it or not.”

V takes a deep breath, closing her eyes for just a moment. Opens them and starts going downstairs to make a coffee for herself.

How stupid could she be to think it all would work out? So Mi’d warned her. Her DNA, her body, the Relic had been overwriting it. She hesitated, took too long to get to Mikoshi, to use Soulkiller. And she paid the price. The price of six months being left until she fizzles out.

“I’ve noticed your calendar is empty for what remains of the month,” Alva notes again. “Would you like me to begin planning?”

There are no plans left. If this fails, there will be nothing. All or nothing.

“No, thanks,” V dryly replies, walking towards the coffee machine. “That’s as it should be,” she adds, preparing espresso for herself. She needs something strong right now. Sometimes to make her feel awake.

“Perfect. Have a nice day,” the AI leaves V alone with ‘Black Dog’ playing in the background.

The redhead tries the coffee. Black, like the heart of the merc, just like she likes it.

“For fuck’s sake, defend yourself. You’re not even trying!”

V gets a holo-call. She checks it out, sees it’s Bronson from the Afterlife. She doesn’t hesitate to pick it up, knowing it’s important.

“Ey, boss,” he greets her immediately.

V hums. “Hey. He there yet?” she asks back, heading for her armory.

“No’ yet. He’ll be on time, though,” Bronson tries to assure. “His people came to scan the place earlier. Check, make sure everything’s clean before he arrives,” the bouncer explains as V picks up her new jacket. The one she’s had prior, Johnny’s replica one, she’s left with So Mi, who’s taken it all the way to the Moon. Bronson chuckles, “Heh, thought we didn’t notice ‘em.”

“And the gear?” V quirks a brow while going through her computer emails.

“All set with the heat,” the bouncer confirms, nodding. “Rest, too—full tank, ready to launch.”

“Thanks. Be there soon,” V finishes the call, picking up her iron, consisting only of Blue Fang and Malorian 3516.

“Y’know, you taught me to let go sometimes, save my strength for one last big bang.”

V wearily sighs and walks back into the living area. She goes towards a small table in the middle, glancing at the metal pin on it. Takes it in her hands, takes a thorough look one more time. It’s a ritual at this point.

She gently places it back and walks outside, seeing how Delamain AV is already there, waiting for her. She’s greeted immediately with a familiar AI voice.

“Good morning, V,” Delamain greets her in his usual fashion. “Where shall we zip off to today?”

V climbs in, taking a glass of champagne. “The Afterlife, head over there,” she replies nonchalantly, tasting the liquid in the glass in her hand.

“Absolutely,” Delamain confirms, closing the doors and taking off.

Night City does indeed look beautiful from the sky. Too bad there aren’t too many places where one can observe its true beauty. The Black Sapphire has a good view of it, at the top that is.

“We’ll be taking those special air corridors,” the AI claims. “Excited as I am? So we should make good time.”

“Awesome,” V deadpans, no room left for enthusiasm in her voice.

“My, you look knackered,” Delamain notes, trying his best to express concern in his own artificial way. “Hard night?”

“Difficult few weeks.”

“Golly, I’m sorry to hear that. Your incursion into Arasaka Tower has given you all—respect, unlimited resources. Now for physical ailments… If it helps, I can offer additional services and spa treatments and whatnot. That may be just the thing for your current condition.”

Respect and unlimited resources…

Except they can’t buy more sand for her hourglass.

Ironic.

“How’s the sich in the city?” V suddenly asks, looking at the AHQ in the distance.

“Arasaka’s in a right pickle—an organizational shambles, its share price has tanked, public mistrust is at an all-time high… I could go on,” Delamain replies. V nods, letting him continue, “‘Secure Your Soul’ was to be a mammoth success for Arasaka. It turned into a mammoth curse. They lost all resources related to the program.”

“Mhm,” V hums, her voice dry, hoarse and has underlying mockery in it, “Promised the rich immortality, sold them on it. Actually collected engrams and knowledge. A bid for control, for power, I say,” she pauses for a second, looking at megabuilding H10 where she used to live prior. She then asks another question, “And the street? What’s the street saying?”

“Rumors abound, naturally,” the AI responds. “You’re onto something huge with someone even huger backing you, their resources yet more huge.” Another pause, V lets this information sink into her. Delamain proceeds, “Nothing much besides. Arasaka’s a mess, trying to rein in the chaos. At any rate you, the Afterlife, you’re safe… for some time anyways.”

“Goodbye, Valerie. And never stop fighting.”

V heavily sighs, trying to grasp for as much air as possible. Closes her eyes, unable to look at the city any longer. Decides to just wait for the AV to arrive at her destination.

It all started approximately a week ago. When she woke up and exited the shower, put on her clothes and went to get a cup of fresh coffee, trying to just let another day pass by quickly, so that she could give into her dreams once more. Praying that her next one would actually be nice, peaceful, not another miserable nightmare reminding her of all her failures.

She got a holo-call. Unknown number. Confusing at first, yet intriguing nonetheless. After a moment of hesitation, she finally picked it up.

“May I speak to V?” she hears a firm mysterious male voice on the other end. She’s never heard it before, but, from the way it sounds, it seems like this is most likely a business call.

V hums. “Yes? You’re speaking to her,” she confirms back, taking a sip of her coffee. The holo-call has no videoplayback, only audio.

“Good. I have a job for you,” the man continues, his voice still full of mystery. “The kind that you will not refuse.”

V frowns in both confusion, skepticism and wariness. Job she won’t refuse? Sounds like a bait type of job, to be fair. Or blackmail.

“Uh-huh, shouldn’t we start with introductions, maybe?” the merc wonders, not very much liking where this is going. She already had her fair share of conversations with unknown numbers, like back with Jefferson Peralez case, and this one doesn’t make her beam with joy either.

“My identity is of no importance. What matters is the reward that awaits you.”

Even more interesting and suspicious. An unknown contractor who doesn’t even contact her through a fixer. Straight through the holo-line. How did he get her phone number anyway? Got referred?

No, no way. After the Arasaka incident V’s changed her numbers, preferring to stay low and get the jobs solely from Rogue as her primary fixer. Over the past month she’s done only at most like fifteen gigs, courtesy of her mood being drowned in slick oil.

This client is the first one so far to contact her via her personal info. Something she tries to keep in secret, outside of public reach.

“Well, talk then, while I have time,” V sighs, leaning against the counter where her coffee machine stands. 

While I have time is a very disproportionate exaggeration. She has no plans neither for today, nor for tomorrow, except for lying on her bed and staring at the ceiling. Maybe she can visit one or two friends of hers, but she just doesn’t feel like going outside. Doesn’t feel like talking to anyone in general.

“I must warn you ahead of time that the job is not your regular kind, V,” the man proceeds, getting a thoughtful hum out of the merc.

“Just get to the point,” V takes another sip of her coffee, leaning off the counter and walking upstairs.

A pause. “Crystal Palace,” the man proceeds, “Ever heard of it, V?”

The casino for the rich and popular. The station orbiting around Earth, like a massive satellite. A place that won’t let anyone in without a special invitation. A place that’s also outside her reach, too. Quite expensive, even for a merc of her league.

“Mhm. Yes,” V hums, reaching a black couch on the second floor and dropping onto it, placing her coffee cup on a table.

“Need you to get there and download all the client data.”

V snorts in amusement. Is this guy serious? Or is this another attempt at a joke?

“Right, and how do you expect me to do this?” she wonders, unable to hold her disbelief.

The man’s unfazed by her reaction, though. “Leave that to me, I have all the necessary equipment ready and waiting already,” he replies nonchalantly.

V closes her eyes just for a second, thinking about the job. This is fucking stupid and nonsensical. And the fact that the man on the call doesn’t even want to let her know who he is is also suspicious as hell.

“You are out of your mind,” she concludes out loud. “Don’t think any amount of money can make me do that either,” she adds, taking her coffee and taking another sip of it.

“And if it’s an offer to treat your problem, V?”

V almost spits her coffee, both surprised and shocked at his question.

“Who are you?” she immediately questions as soon as she places her cup back on the table. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t just end the call now.”

“We know you’re on limited, borrowed time, V,” the mystery himself explains. “We know you’re dying from multiple sclerosis. We know you cannot afford it. We can help you with that.”

“Uh-huh, and how, exactly?” the redhead quirks a brow. “The treatment is expensive as hell, and has to be done every two weeks.”

“Do the job and we’ll have a contract waiting for you. The kind that will have you never worry about your death ever again.”

V snorts. “So, what, this some sort of test? Job interview? This Crystal Palace gig?”

“You need to prove you’re the best. Only the best get everything they want,” the man nonchalantly replies as is.

And here she thought this day would go as usual. This will be a disaster, won’t it? A suicide job? The one where there are no second chances? Plus a contract, which, perhaps, is a permanent position? Seems like the man himself is from some corporation, BioDyne, perhaps? Or some other?

Unless it’s all a massive haze.

V bites her lip. “Need to… need to think about it.”

“You have five days,” the man replies.

“Got it,” the merc nods, ending the call. She glances at the table with her coffee mug. The Tycho metal pin is as shiny as ever, reminding her of what she once had. She swallows, closing her eyes and breathing in.

In a couple of minutes, the AV finally arrives. Delamain opens its doors, wishing the merc best of luck, after which V proceeds to go for the elevator that would take her to the club below.

Bronson immediately greets her the moment the elevator shaft opens. “Boss,” he nods, his expression stoic and firm, betraying no fear.

“Hey,” V replies. “We good?”

“Perfect. Your box is ready and waiting,” he confirms, allowing V to walk inside.

She couldn’t walk long, though. She gets stopped by Rogue and Claire, observing her the moment she appears at the entrance.

“Well, what do we got here,” the fixer mysteriously says the moment the merc approaches them.

V puts on a very, very weak smile. “Hey,” she greets them, then immediately switches her expression to serious and biz-oriented. “Client here yet?”

“Mmm, yep. Lying in wait, by the booth,” Rogue hums, nodding left. V looks there, seeing a man standing, a corpo everyman for the ages. Expensive, understated suit, dark hair, blue eyes. “Sit down, let’s talk a minute,” the fixer gestures at a stool. “Before all that swallows you hole.”

“Get you something?” Claire asks V, smiling. The merc takes a seat at the bar, nodding, telling to give her her usual.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Rogue suddenly interrupts the redhead, taking their collective attention. “Unusual situation—you just can’t have the usual,” she explains. “Off into the wild blue today. And you’re well aware of the stakes.”

V sighs. “Sure, keep reminding me…” she deadpans, her tone slightly grim.

“Before any big op, and you know this, I’d oil the cogs with a little glass of tequila… Johnny’s preferred,” the fixer continues, ignoring the merc’s remark.

“We all got our rituals, charms, lucky underwear…” V attempts to continue for her, sarcastically that, but Rogue just shakes it off.

“Not talking about luck, talking about remembering,” Rogue corrects her. “Remembering Johnny… which is how I knew what this was all for. What I was doing in this mess.”

V almost rolls her eyes. She really doesn’t need to be reminded about her past right now. Not when she needs to keep her head cool. “Rogue…” she starts, but the fixer goes ahead of her.

“So you’re gonna honor the Afterlife tradition,” Rogue smiles. “Claire’s gonna mix you a house drink. You just name it.”

V thinks. She has a few options, but…

Maybe it’s about time to be truly selfish for once?

Maybe she finally deserves this, after dying. Two times.

“Isn’t it high time to have a V on the menu?” V raises an eyebrow. “Let’s drink to me. Could use it today.”

She knew this would get a surprised and weird reaction out of the fixer.

“Mh, gotta die to have a drink named after you at the Afterlife,” Rogue smirks back, trying to protest a bit. “You know the rules.”

V’s expression doesn’t change, though. “Agreed, and I do know the rules,” she nods, piercing the fixer with her eyes. “But I did die, Rogue. Not once even.”

Rogue looks at Claire, contemplating whether she should oblige with the merc’s request. Then again, V owns the place now, she’s the boss. Her choice. Hence, she simply and respectfully agrees, “You did. A living legend of the Afterlife—how about that. Somebody like this deserves something special, Claire.”

Claire mixes up the house special and gives it to V. Centzon tequila included.

“Drink, it’ll do you good,” Rogue tells the merc as the youngest woman consumes it in one go. “Break a leg, V. This heist—if anybody can pull it off, that person’s you,” she finishes as the merc gets up and goes for her booth.

The luck she needs, indeed. Failure’s not an option. Not when she’s so close.

“It appears that you, indeed, have a typical severe case of multiple sclerosis.”

V spent two weeks after Mikoshi going through almost every single medical company out there, trying to determine or find any potential cure for her slowly deteriorating nervous system. Almost every single surgeon or doctor she had visited couldn’t understand the reason as to what was happening to her. Even such a simple fact as it’s the Relic, choom was beyond any sort of comprehension. They just couldn’t fathom how a single biochip could irreversibly change one’s nervous system to accommodate a different personality. Nor could they come up with a solution on how to stop the process.

That was, until she went to BioDyne Systems. There, one of the top surgeons had agreed to look into her case, for quite a sum that is. After roughly two days of extreme and intense medical examinations, surgeon Robert Pierce came to a conclusion about what’s happening to V’s body.

“Just like that?” V quirks a brow, skeptic about the surgeon’s confidence.

Pierce gives her one of his datapads that contains the entire medical evaluation report. “Your immune system is making moves against your nervous system,” he replies, pointing out the comparison of snapshots of V’s nervous system with one day gap. “See that?” he points at red areas in the latter snapshot. “Those are the new areas where your nerve connections are broken. Just in the span of one day.”

V bites her lip and frowns. “So, what does that mean, exactly?” she asks, looking at him.

“Your immune system is attacking the myelin, which, in simple terms, is a protective layer that covers nerve fibers,” he explains. “All because the nanites from the Relic in your head have altered it enough to see the activity in your brain as foreign, alien to your body.”

“Well that shit’s been clear as sky,” the merc shrugs, remembering Alt’s words in Mikoshi, where the AI has told her that the body now belongs more to Johnny than to V herself. “But what does that mean in the long run for me?”

The surgeon scrolls through the datapad in V’s hands, showing her an approximate prognosis based on the evaluation results. “See this?” he asks. V nods, seeing a snapshot of her current nervous system, some red spots there and there indicating that her nervous system is pretty much broken there. “Now this,” he slides, showing another image, “Is what your nervous system would look like in four months.”

Almost the entirety of V’s spinal cord area is red, along with her brain. She just stares at it with a blank expression, slowly realizing what this means.

“Your organs will start failing one by one,” Pierce explains. “Then your spinal cord, bounding you to a wheelchair. And then, finally, your brain.”

V sighs in exasperation, giving him back his datapad. Another amazing set of news. Precisely what she needs to further stomp her mood.

“Any solution to this?” she glances at him, her eyes betraying underlying tones of fear deep inside her, fear of another upcoming death sentence, something not noticeable to the surgeon, though.

He nods, replying with confidence, “Lucky for you, a few months back our best engineers and scientists have come up with a potential, experimental solution to MS.” He pauses, scrolling through his own datapad now. “One can repair, or at least freeze the process using special nanites that we design in our lab.”

“How much?”

The surgeon opens the contract in his datapad, extending it to the merc. She looks at it and her jaw drops right then and there.

“Seven hundred fucking thousand a month?” she asks him, shocked, unable to glance away from the price tag in the contract. “For a bimonthly treatment? Is this a joke?” she looks at him after a brief silence, downright confused and perplexed.

He negatively shakes his head. Sighs, replying, “The technology is new and experimental. Very expensive, too, because of that.”

Nice. How is she supposed to collect such scratch? Sure, her Arasaka heist has brought her eddies, influence, and every top fixer in the city is laying out top tier jobs for her. But this insane amount, and per month that is? No, she isn’t that rich. Could afford a couple of months of treatment, but in the long run she would flatline. Not from multiple sclerosis, but from exhaustion itself.

Unless she goes and robs a bank, maybe?

“Thank you,” she says with finality in her tone, giving back the datapad. “I think this is way out of my price range,” she sighs, standing up. “Can’t afford it, but at least got to know my problem. So there’s that.”

The doctor nods with understanding. “If you change your mind, you know where to find us and who to contact,” he smiles, exchanging one last handshake, and then the merc leaves his medical office and the building itself.

She stops the moment she’s outside. Thinks about what she should be doing. If the price tag is way out of her reach, then, perhaps, she should seek some alternative methods of reaching it? But, what options does she have, if even top tier mercwork doesn’t allow for that? Submit herself to a corporation of some sort? Trade her freedom for another chance at life? That is, if there is any corporation dumb enough to give her a contract that would actually cover full costs of her treatment.

If only life was that simple.

Time to meet the client.

“V,” the man in a suit greets her like a true gentleman, scanners showing his name being ‘Mr. Blue Eyes’. Nothing more. No affiliation, no NCPD records, nothing. “I’ve long awaited this moment. To look the latest Afterlife legend in the eye. I must say, I’m moved.”

V quirks a brow, wondering for a moment whether this is flattery or an actual statement of a fact. Doesn’t seem like flattery, not that she can detect it in the way the man speaks. “Happy not to disappoint,” she replies, trying to reciprocate an act of politeness.

“Ladies first,” he nods, inviting her inside the booth.

V walks in, taking a seat where Rogue usually sits. Funny how just a month or so ago she has asked the fixer for some more gigs and got pretty much told to fuck off, with Rogue saying no one wants to work with someone of her league, someone who’s had one job and fucked it up spectacularly, getting her entire team killed. Yet now, here she is: sitting at her place, drinking her drinks. Can basically tell her to fuck off now.

“Talk to me,” the merc watches how Mr. Blue Eyes takes a seat, too, one leg on his other.

“Well, V… Mikoshi was quite the punch, you TKO’d Arasaka, in fact. Brought you eddies, influence around town.” he explains, his voice the most mysterious the merc has ever encountered so far. Something in the way he speaks is… curious, cunning, almost. He continues, “But not just that. It meant positive paralysis of Arasaka systems. A few additional hatches opened up, my people rushed in, grabbed what they could,” while V is slightly immersed in her thoughts.

A weapon so dangerous. One Song So Mi, now V. That’s what Myers told Reed back then at the NCX. A person with potential to solo a megacorp by walking through their front door.

Funny, all that. How So Mi is an equivalent of a net nuke. And how V is an equivalent of a real nuke.

“So it’s all systems go for the op,” V nods, trying to follow the man’s words.

“I have confirmed intel leaking out of Arasaka. The casino is currently testing a new security system. And it’s true—they will be shutting it down briefly today. I believe you’ll know how to use that moment.”

Point of no return. Too late to turn back now. Not with what’s at stake.

V tilts her head. “Having second doubts?” she challenges him back. “Hope that doesn’t mean you wanna drop out.”

Mr. Blue Eyes looks at her, very slight tones of amusement in his expression at the merc’s words. “Drop out? At this stage?” he quirks a brow. “No, it would make no sense, I’d take a hit. Speaking of which,” he slightly leans in, getting V’s full attention, “Nobody’s ever pulled off a stunt like this. Where I’m from, they’d say it’s straight impossible. They’d say you take too big a risk,” he explains. “Poetically speaking, flying towards the sun to burn up.”

V just stares. “They’d be dead wrong, all of them,” she deadpans, confidence overflowing within her.

Confidence that doesn’t go unnoticed, as the man remarks, “Self-confidence worthy of a legend. Or of someone risking it all.”

Risking it all. He’s not wrong. She has no one. The one person she’s been waiting has never come back for her.

“Hmm,” Mr. Blue Eyes hums, looking at V, analyzing her almost. “But I sense you know what it’s like to lose everything. To fight for one last breath. I see it in you.”