Chapter 2 "Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound"

After spending her entire life in the smog-choked alleys of Night City, V had yet to get used to the harsh scenery of the American badlands. While more than 90% of the NUSA population lived in the megacities that dotted the scarred landscape of North America, most of the country looked exactly like the scene outside the car window. A desolate, blank canvas, left bare and abandoned by the Collapse. To lifelong Nomads like Mitch or Panam, the badlands were merely a fact of life. Something neither of them gave much thought to. Yet to a former corpo like V, the badlands were a place of unspeakable beauty.

She could look in almost any direction and see for miles at a time. There was no pollution marring the blue sky, no towering scrapers or trash barges to look past. To V it wasn't just an endless stretch of sand and heat, it was freedom in its purest form. Yet despite that, from where she sat in the backseat of Panam's ride listening to Mitch's ancient cowboy-folk-shit blasting on the radio, V felt anything but free.

"Can you at least turn that trash down?" V barked. Her boots were kicked up on the seat next to her while her thumb toyed with the chamber on her revolver.

Mitch shook his head and adjusted the volume up slightly, "You got no appreciation for the classics, V!"

Panam glanced over her shoulder and smirked at her friend, "Maybe you'd rather listen to some Samurai?"

"At least Johnny knew how to string together a song." V replied before plugging her ears, "You be the tiebreaker, Panam. Do we really gotta listen to this?"

"Sorry, V. I happen to like this song. Give it some time, you might just change your tune." Panam replied.

"Yeah, and Saburo Arasaka might crawl out of my ass tonight," V muttered while the ancient singer droned on about some gunslinger.

Mitch turned to the backseat with a warm smile on his face, "I figured a city girl like yourself would really wanna immerse yourself in the Nomad experience."

"I definitely feel immersed," V said flatly.

"Really though. You've been a part of the clan for months now. How's life in the badlands treating you?"

V returned the man's smile, "Honestly?"

Mitch nodded, "Hit me with it."

"Shitty musical tastes aside. Best months of my life. Been a preem ride so far." V said.

Mitch crossed his heart with his hand, "My God, the merc actually said something sincere. I think we might have broken her, Panam."

V rolled her eyes and returned the man's playful tone, "You're just threatened by me because you're scared that baby of yours is gonna love her Aunt V more than her cowboy pa."

Mitch threw his head back in laughter, "You might be right about that. Hell, I gave my old man so much crap. Figure I'm owed a little in return."

V saw Panam's eyes catch her own in the mirror, "What about you, V? You never do talk about your family. Outside of the clan I mean." She asked.

The merc suddenly grew more serious. V leaned back into her seat and returned her gaze to the window, "Nothing to talk about." She answered.

"I'm sure little V gave her father hell." Mitch prodded her. "Come on, what's he like?"

"Dunno." V shrugged, "Never met the man."

Mitch's face turned sour. He nervously rubbed the back of his neck when he spoke, "Shit, sorry, V. I didn't mean to, ya know."

"Nothing to be sorry about. Parents wanted nothing to do with me so I never wanted anything to do with them. Don't talk about 'em because I never really think about 'em."

An awkward silence followed her words before the driver responded with a firm but comforting voice, "Well like or not you got family now." Panam said.

V grinned at her in the cabin mirror and nodded. Another pregnant pause fell between the trio, only filled by the noise of Mitch's cowboy ballad. The merc looked back out the window to where the early morning sun crested over a dune in the distance.

"Heads up!" Panam suddenly called out. "Raffen on the horizon.'

V turned forward and peered through the windshield. Perhaps a few miles out she spied the silhouette of dozens of cars and figures forming a makeshift barricade along the road. Behind that gathering of shivs stood a wall decorated with an improvised coil of barbed wire along its top. Even in the early morning, the shivs were burning large bonfires by the entrance to the barricade. Thick trails of smoke stretched high above the flames and acted as a sort of marker for the packs of Raffen Shiv who roamed the badlands outside the city limits.

"They look like fun." V mused, her fingers instinctively pulled towards the grip of her iron.

"Carol and the baby need these meds." Mitch reminded them. "I'm not happy about making a deal with 'em. But we do what we need to for the family."

V tossed up one hand, "No arguments here, Mitch. We still clear on the deets, Panam?"

Panam nodded, "Uh-huh. We go in, don't make a scene. Hear whatever offer he has for us and get out. If things go south well...we raided Arasaka tower together did we not?" V wanted to laugh but a painful cough stole it from her. The merc braced herself on the car door and hacked into the palm of her hand. "V?!" Panam nearly swerved the car off the road when she whipped around to check on her.

"It's fine. Some sand in my throat is all." V waved her off.

"Nothing a stiff drink can't fix," Mitch added.

V nodded in agreement while she hurried to wipe the flecks of blood in her palm off on her pant leg. "Wouldn't object to negotiating a little bourbon with this deal." she mused.

Panam slowly pressed down on the brake as their ride pulled up to the checkpoint. V got her first good look at the shivs then. They were nothing like the Wraiths that prowled the borders of Night City. If anything they almost resembled Maelstrom. Most of their sun-roasted bodies were chromed out to the max. The ganger who signaled for Panam to stop the car with a raise of his hand was just short of full-borg. His arms sported the telltale marks of a mantis blade set while both his legs were coated in a rusted layer of metal.

The shiv came to a stop at the driver's side and knocked on the window with the knuckle of a metal fist. V let the chamber of her revolver slot back into place and filled her hand behind the cover of the front seats.

Panam rolled the window down and casually draped one arm over the steering wheel.

"Well ain't you a pretty thing." The shiv smiled a set of decaying teeth. His red optics flicked back to V's scowling face. "You ladies looking to have some fun in New Horizon? I might ditch the old man first. Then maybe we could show you a good time."

"Here to see your boss," Panam answered. "Is Hawk in?"

"Hawk's always in. It's his fucking city. But he doesn't sit down with random desert trash blowing through town."

"Then get him on the holo and tell him the Aldecaldos want to meet." Panam hissed.

The shiv chucked and draped his arms over the open window before leaning his head inside the car. "Aldecaldos ay? Heard most of you scurried back west."

"Heard wrong," Mitch said.

The shiv's optics snapped to the man, "Wasn't talking to you, meat!"

V felt her finger curl around the trigger of her iron. Her optics switched over to scan and she swept her gaze over the small army surrounding them. There were at least a dozen men, all of them chipped with implants a few cycles out of current-gen.

"Your boss is gonna want to speak with me. And you're really starting to piss me off." Panam clenched her teeth and didn't budge when the man moved even closer to her face.

"Maybe." The guard mused, "Or maybe you never even rolled into my checkpoint. The badlands are a big place. People go missing all the time-"

The guard froze when he felt the barrel of V's revolver press to his temple. V pulled back the hammer, "Get Hawk on the holo right now or your chooms are gonna be scooping your borg ass into a bucket."

The guard's red eyes flicked to the merc holding the gun, "You think you can take us all then?" He challenged her.

V shrugged, "Maybe. But you sure as hell won't be around to find out."

"Who do you think you are, scop-head?"

"Why don't you ask our friends at Arasaka?" V hissed and pressed the barrel down further, pinning the guard's head to the frame of the car window.

"Shit...you those Aldecaldos?" He raised his hands, "Why didn't you just say so?"

The guard's optics turned to a bright blue as he powered on his holo and made the call. "Hawk?" He greeted his boss on the other end, "Got some rollers at the gate. Want to set up a meet. Claim to be the Aldecaldos who went up against Arasaka."

V kept her gun raised, she watched as the guard's face grew paler and paler. "Y-Yeah, she's got red hair...n-no I didn't give her any shit." The man quickly waved his hand out the car window to the men behind him. "Open the fucking gate! Let 'em through!"

The men did as they were told and V carefully pulled her gun back. "Head to the center of the city. You'll find Hawk in his bar, the Chromed Talon...you can't miss it. Just follow the signs." The guard said.

Panam didn't wait for an apology. She palmed the guard's face and tossed him back out the window. He fell on his ass in the sand as his own men began to laugh at the sadistic fool.

"Quite the welcome mat," Mitch mumbled as Panam drove the car past the checkpoint. "Maybe we should have brought the Basilisk with us instead."

"Not sure about dropping Arasaka's name back there." Panam said, "Thought we agreed to keep that story close to the chest. The last thing we need is Arasaka picking up our trail."

V sighed and let her revolver slip back into the holster on her thigh, "You're right. Just slipped out."

"Well, it got him to shut up." Mitch came to her defense. "Maybe it's not so bad if we lean into our reputation. Hawk's clearly heard of us."

Panam shook her head, "Let me do the talking with Hawk."

"You got it, boss." Mitch agreed.

"This place already rubs me wrong," V said. She peered out the windshield at the reclaimed skeleton of Tucson Arizona. The rusted scrappers rose high above the desert sands but there were no bright lights or AV traffic to be seen. "I say we make our deal then delta."

"No argument here." Panam nodded.

They drove through a stretch of flatland while the buildings ahead of them grew larger. The closer they got, the more the so-called city of New Horizons came into view. V was sketchy on the details on what exactly had happened to the old city of Tucson after the collapse. She figured like many of the lesser cities of the old world, it had been abandoned in favor of the larger settlements the corps had decided to endorse. While cities like Nashville and New York still boomed under the new corpo rule of law, many more had fallen by the wayside in the decades since the collapse. New Horizon was a special case.

She had heard the story from Panam not long after their exodus from Night City. New Horizon had started like many settlements in the badlands, as a small nomad weigh station. A place where smuggler caravans could refuel, find company, and drink. As the years dragged on and more and more nomads passed through the fallen city's ruins, it grew in both scale and reputation. While it had traded ownership between the various clans over the years, it had recently become known as a sanctuary for Raffen Shiv after the last change in leadership. Yet despite this, New Horizon had still maintained a somewhat respectable reputation as a city by nomads and for nomads. It had been this reputation that spurred Panam's decision to delay their relocation to the Arizona capitol in Phoenix. It was much easier for their activity to go unnoticed if they kept their distance from any corp, let alone Arasaka.

V found herself fondly recalling her first few months with the Aldecaldos. Running cargo from small settlements she'd never heard of and protection for traveling caravans. Setting aside her nostalgia, she understood why Panam was eager to find a more permanent camp for the coming months. They'd burned through too many eddies after the gigs started to dry up. Yet still, V would miss the quiet life, and the months she'd spent with Judy. Before the relic had reared its ugly head once more.

When they finally passed the city's true threshold they saw their first glimpses of the citizens of New Horizon. V wasn't sure what to make of them. Most of them wore jackets just like she did, proudly displaying their clan's sigil. She wondered if Panam or Mitch could name all the clans by their patches alone. Despite her own newfound status as a nomad, V did not know much about the other clans. Though she could tell by the way Panam and Mitch stared in awe that seeing the different clans in such close proximity was not a common sight.

"Been here before?" V asked them while she admired the marketplace of tents and lean-tos outside the window.

Panam shook her head, "I was born in Washington. The clan mostly stayed on the coast as long as I've been around. But I always wondered what this place would be like."

"Too bad we couldn't see it before the Raffen got their stinking paws on it." Mitch playfully elbowed Panam, "Maybe it's time for another change in leadership, ay, Pan?"

"Waging war on the city is hardly laying low, Mitch," Panam replied with a smile. "Besides, I already have my hands full with one family."

Despite its modest skyline and questionable leadership, V couldn't deny the city was impressive. Unlike the trash-filled gutters and neon lights of Night City, everything in Horizon had a tactile feel to it. There wasn't an AV in sight. Every vehicle she saw in the streets sported large, sand dusted tires. There were no cops or trauma teams, no combat cabs or diners, yet it was still a city in its own right. She saw merchants selling arms under the cover of a large communal tent. A park with a stage at its center where a band strummed on acoustic guitars and played violins. There was of course plenty of chrome and tech on display, yet the outer city almost made V feel like she'd slipped back in time. Back to when life didn't revolve around gluing your optics to your holo and selling your soul to the corp machine.

However, as they pressed further and further into the heart of the city, the picture began to change. They followed hand-painted signs directing them to the Chromed Talon and each marker they left behind seemed to pull them deeper and deeper into Hawk's nest. The charming marketplaces and stalls gave way to brothels and ripper docs. The varied clan sigils V had seen on the citizens earlier slowly began to be replaced with one image. That of a large bird of prey gripping a snake in its metallic talon. Each of these Talon shivs resembled the welcoming party at the city's border. With implants upon implants and iron that could turn a man into meatloaf with one good blast.

They passed smoke-filled alleys where bodies sat neatly stacked before large fire pits and skezzed out idiots who laid out on the curb. They laid on their backs, their makeshift BD rigs nearly always in use with their pants around their ankles. The shadows of the inner city buildings grew longer and longer until the streets were covered in a false night lit only by red neon and the flaming barrels which marked their path. When they finally reached their destination, V felt as if she'd stepped back into Pacifica. Like the Combat Zone, New Horizon had an unmistakable edge of danger and unpredictability. As if every city block was just a moment away from erupting into a fight to the death.

As the Aldecaldos stepped out of Panam's car they were bathed in a warm blue light. The same light that was cast over the circular street corner they had pulled into. The neon glow came courtesy of the large sign hung overhead signaling they had arrived at their destination. The Chromed Talon looked like something out of Western Film from the old world, the kind that V had no doubt Mitch was all too familiar with. It was a two-story building, built in the shape of a shoebox. An upper balcony stretched out over the street and even from below V could see dozens of Raffen partying it up despite the early hour of the morning. Unlike most of the structures in New Horizon, the bar was not built inside the shell of the old buildings. Instead, the Chromed Talon had been built from scratch and slapped down in the center of the city.

The street resembled a culdesac one might find in Santo Domingo. A fleet of large-wheeled trucks sat parked outside the bar. Their drivers sat in the cabins of their rides, smoke billowing out of their open windows while they chewed on cigarettes and lost themselves in BDs. Every Nomad V laid eyes on sported the Talon patch on their shoulders and nearly all of them were kitted with BD sets. The ones that weren't were hard at work moving cargo from the backs of the trucks and into a nearby warehouse.

Before they could take three steps one of the Talons came up to them with a large hammer slung over his shoulder. His arms bulged with the kind of muscles that could only come from a cocktail of juice and synth hormones. The juicer pointed to the merc and spoke in an impossibly deep voice.

"You V?" He asked.

Panam and V shared a brief glance before she answered, "That's me. Here cause the Aldecaldos have business with Hawk." she gestured to Panam.

"Aledcaldos you said?" The talon repeated before looking Panam up and down in one sweeping glance,

"That's right," Panam confirmed.

The talon chewed on the inside of his cheek, "Uh-huh." he mumbled before pulling out his holo and pointing it at V. A tight beam of light shot forth from the device and began to scan over V's face.

"The hell is this?!" V cried as she raised her hand in front of her eyes.

The talon didn't answer, he simply moved the scanner to Mitch next and then finally to Panam. As soon as the scan finished his eyes turned bright blue as he opened his comm line. "Hey, Boss." He paused for the other end to speak, "Yeah it's them. Nah, Saul ain't with 'em."

The talon snapped his fingers and turned towards the bar, "You three follow me."

They stepped up the small concrete steps that led up the bar's entrance and moved through a set of wooden swing doors that promptly snapped shut behind them. Inside the music blared so loud that V could feel the beat thump in her chest. The bar patrons were spread out across the floor like human litter. Most of them laid limp in the booths with their rigs running XBDs full-time while their bodies wasted away. Others gathered around pool tables and the many poles where dancers moved to the deafening bass. The smell alone was enough to convince V that none of these people had left that hole in days. The Talon led them up a flight of creaking stairs, past a checkpoint of two women who stood with mantis blades at the ready.

Upstairs proved to be a different scene entirely. The disgusting mess of the lower bar turned over to something resembling a place V might actually wet her whistle at. The air was choked with a visible layer of cigarette smoke that set a moody haze over the dimly lit chamber. There were large circular couches occupied by Nomads wearing the sigils of the other nations proudly. Waiters rushed to their various tables, bringing bottles of liquor and freshly cooked meals. Many of these nomads were large, bearded men, their eyes hidden behind dark glasses or scanner kits. They carried themselves with an air of self-importance and when the trio of Aldecaldos stepped into their scene all eyes turned to them. The nomads studied Panam specifically, some of them with contempt on their old faces and others with uncertainty. V realized then she wasn't quite sure what reputation the Aldecaldos carried with the other nations and figured she was about to understand all too clearly.

"Which one of you is Hawk?" Panam broke the uneasy silence that had fallen across the crowd.

From across the bar, a figure moved in the shadows. The silhouette of a man who had to have weighed at least 300 pounds and stood almost 7 feet. Yet as he moved into the light his stature was hardly the most striking thing about him. The giant nomad's stomach was a mess of metal tubing that fed into a fishbowl like structure situated just under the man's ribs. Through the thick glass of the bowl V could see the man's shredded innards mixing in with a mess of chrome that was undoubtedly keeping the man alive. Yet the injury did not seem to slow the man down, nor did he seem to shy away from displaying it. In fact, he seemed to wear it as some disgusting badge of honor.

V didn't need to hear the nomad say his name to know that he was the man they'd come to see.

Hawk's clean-shaven face pulled into a sly smile of golden teeth, "The Aldecaldos finally grace my city with their presence. Now, this is truly a rare honor." He waved one metallic arm at the crowd of nomads who still studied them from their seats, "Get off your lazy asses and show them some damn respect." He ordered them.

The other nomads rose to their feet. Some of them tipped their drinks in Panam's direction and flashed hollow smiles.

"Forgive me, but other than the merc I don't know your names," Hawk said.

"She's not a merc." Panam replied, "V's with us." She gestured to the man at her side, "This is Mitch and I'm Panam."

Hawk's golden grin grew wider, "Don't mean to tell me this is Panam Palmer before me. Lee's little girl?!" He chuckled warmly and stepped closer, "Let me get a look at you, choom."

"You knew my father?" Panam asked.

Hawk bobbed his head from side to side, "Sure. Little Lee Palmer and his beloved Amida. Used to run freight from NC to Wash with your Mom and Pa." Hawk brought a large cigar to his lips, the embers burned bright orange as he took a long, thoughtful drag, "Heard they passed on a few years back. My condolences." He bowed his head. "Your father was an...opinionated man. But not a bad one."

Eager to shift the conversation elsewhere Pan turned her gaze to the rest of the room, "I recognize some faces in this crowd." Panam looked to the Nomads who still stood in mute study of the Aldecaldos. "Leaders of Snake and Jodes nations. Long as my eyes ain't playing tricks on me that is."

Hawk nodded with a trace of respect on his grizzled face, "Guiles Karr and Chief Jax. My esteemed guests of the evening." The two clan leaders turned away from the scene and signaled for the rest of their men to return to their seats. Hawk jerked his head in the direction of his corner booth and the Aldecaldos followed him to their seat.

"Seems all manner of folk are paying social calls this week. Though, I am surprised to not see the leader of your pack alongside you. Saul too chicken shit to face me then?"

Panam's brows knitted together, "Saul's dead. He left the family in my hands."

Hawk fell back into his seat and slammed his fist into the table, "Dead?! Well, I hope you caught the name of the scop who zero'd that coward. I'd love to buy that man a drink."

Panam clenched her fists and leaned over the table, "He wasn't a coward! Saul died fighting for the family."

"He was a corpo boot licker! Saul was so concerned with appeasing those bastards, he never managed to pull his head out of his ass." Hawk dismissed her with a wave of his hand. "Was a goddamn blessing I left the Aldecaldos long before that fool took over."

"Way I hear it you didn't exactly leave." Panam sneered, her eyes locked on Hawk's cold gaze.

The man let out a loud, bellowing laugh, "And what did you hear, girl?"

Panam crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat, "You were exiled."

"That all Saul told you? Nah, I got kicked out cause Saul didn't like how I dealt with his beloved corps. He figured we should sell our souls to Militech and 'Saka just so we'd have enough eddies for softer pillows. And considering I'm talking to the Nomads who gave the biggest F you to Arasaka in 50 fuckin' years, I'm betting you and Saul didn't see eye to eye either."

"Saul was right there with us inside that tower." V finally joined in. She could practically see steam shooting from Panam's ears and knew another push from Hawk would be enough to set her temper on a warpath.

"Arasaka flatlined him then? Ha!" Hawk chuckled even louder and slapped his hand on the table, "How's that for irony. Him and your old man Lee used to think they were invincible. Guess that's one theory marked bullshit."

Panam slammed her fist on to the table with enough force to spill vodka from the tops of the rattling glasses. "I don't want to hear another word about my father from you!" She shouted.

An uncomfortable silence fell upon the meeting. V and Mitch shared an uneasy look while Hawk studied the new head of the family with his cold optics. He leaned forward and crushed out his cigar on the table, "My apologies, Palmer. I won't waste your time digging up old grudges. That business with Arasaka tower, I'll be honest it's the only reason we're having this conversation. Whatever magic you worked inside that tower shook those corpo bastards to the core. I heard Hanako Arasaka wasn't much more than a smear of shit when they found her. And with old man Saburo also feeding the worms that idiot son of his has run the corp into the ground. In a few years time, I might be able to tell people I met the women who took down Arasaka for good."

Hawk uncorked the bottle of Vodka at the center of the table and began to pour glasses for all of them, "All that to say, I respect what you've done. Especially you, V." He handed her a glass first, "My little birds in Night City tell me the Afterlife never shuts up about you these days. Even heard you single-handedly wiped out those digi-pukes in Pacifica. Now that's the kind of a woman I'd love to have wearing a Talon on her shoulder."

"'Afraid I'm spoken for," V said as she accepted the glass.

"And you," Hawk handed a glass to Mitch, "Recognize your face but can't say more than that."

Mitch took the glass with his chromed hand and took a small sip, "All due respect, that's just fine by me."

Hawk chewed on the inside of his cheek as he slid Panam her glass from across the table. "Let's talk bizz then. You need something from me. So let's hear it."

Panam pushed her drink away to the center of the table, "Fuel for the caravan. Least enough gas to get us a few hundred. And medical supplies. Pain killers, disinfectants, surgical tools, anything you can scrape up."

Hawk hugged his drink close to his chest and stared up at the light bulb swinging overhead, "Oh is that all?" he chuckled, "Not exactly a small request."

"We have the eddies." V assured him.

"And what do I want with eddies?" Hawk replied sounding decidedly unimpressed. "I own this city. Don't need those rags."

"Then cut to the chase." Panam huffed, "You said it yourself, we know how to get a job done. So now it's your turn to share."

"I do have this one gig." Hawk cocked his head to one side and rolled his metal fingers on the table, "Imagine you ran across a few militech convoys on the journey from Night City."

"A few." Panam admitted, "Was where most of our fuel came from actually."

"There's a settlement on the other side of the mountains. Whole damn city secured under a giant dome. Far as I know it's a militech operation. Now my boys don't bother with the dome itself but on occasion, we have been known to jump their supply caravans. When the need arises that is or...hell, if I'm bored. Few weeks back we hit the jackpot. Convoy carrying an executive of all people and a whole mess of shards with the kind of data militech would rather stay buried. Now the intel don't mean jack shit to me but that executive we jumped? The slippery bastard managed to get away with some of his security detail. Man goes by the name Nathan Hopkins, apparently, he's some big to-do up in Wash. Ever since Hopkins has been raising hell on our borders, killing my men and sending spies into the city to recover what he lost. Now I'm willing to bet the reason militech hasn't started dropping bombs on the whole city yet is because that executive bastard is too scared to tell his bosses what he lost so he reckons he'll handle us on his own. But he's become a problem. Considering you lot are so gifted at fucking over the corps, figure this jobs perfect for you."

Panam shifted uncomfortably in her seat, "Rather not make an enemy of militech. That's a little more heat than we're looking for at the moment. I'm sure there's something else, something you need klepped?"

"Afraid that's my one and only offer for you, Aldecaldos." Hawk replied.

V didn't share Panam's reservations. She poked her finger at the ice cubes bobbing in her drink and rolled her shoulder, "Flatlining corpos is what I used to do for a living. And I was good at it. Even after I left 'Saka, took more than my fair share of hit gigs in NC. You want us to zero him?" V asked. "We'll need more deets than that. Give us the full spec."

Hawk grinned at her, "Hopkins is camped with some of his men about 40 miles outside city limits. Guess he prefers to get his hands dirty which, I can respect. I can zip you the coordinates plus everything we have on the target."

"How many men?" Mitch asked. "You'll have to forgive me, Hawk, but if you haven't been able to handle this yourself then there's something you're not saying."

"Few dozen armored gonks. Hardly a challenge for you I'm sure." Hawk said.

"A few dozen? That's a small army." Panam crossed her arms.

"That's the price, Palmer. Take it or leave it. Don't need all of 'em wiped. Just Hopkins."

Panam looked to Mitch, V didn't need to read their minds to know what they were thinking. A few dozen corpos weren't going to be a match for the Basilisk.

"If we're supposed to go against a militech army then I need half upfront." Panam did her best to sound hesitant.

"No dice. You folks came to me, remember?" Hawk crossed his chromed arms. His face pulled into a decidedly unimpressed expression.

"You got militech breathing down your neck for weeks and we're supposed to believe you've just been sitting here on your ass?" V challenged him. "We strike you as amateurs, Hawk? You've been throwing your boys at them the second they started on your turf and you're losing. If you could handle this yourself you would have. Half upfront is us being generous."

"Shit…" Hawk narrowed his eyes, "You even talk like those suit-fucks. Fine, won't pretend like I don't need this taken care of quick. Half the meds and half the fuel, I'll even throw in a transport for you. But that's the end of it, won't do this back and forth crap." He produced a chip from his pocket and slid it across the table towards Panam. "Slot this. Has everything we have on the camp, target deets and so on." Hawk raised his glass to them and grinned a golden smile, "Pleasure doing business with you, Aldecaldos. Good to see you ain't nearly as scop-brained as your predecessor. Daddy would be proud, Palmer."

"Mhm." Panam hummed as she accepted the chip and rose to her feet. V and Mitch were quick to follow her lead. "Just get-"

Her words were stolen by the retching cough behind her. Panam whirled around to see V hacking her lung into her hand, her legs wobbling under her.

"You sure your girl is up to the task?" Hawk asked.

"Just need some air." V wheezed between coughs.

She didn't wait for Panam to rush to her side. Didn't wait for her gasps for air to ruin a done deal. V hurried to the nearby staircase and left the nomads behind, her mouth buried in the bend of her elbow as she moved. V's knees buckled as soon as they reached the dancefloor. Her optics blurred blue, her head began to feel as if it was splitting open. Before she knew what was what she was outside, her knees pressing into the sand dusted concrete while she fought back the vomit creeping up her throat.

Her fingers made fists in the dirt while her head hung forward letting her red hair drape over her face. She tried to center herself, tried to picture Judy by her side, she even tried to imagine Johnny easing her through the pain once more. But it was no use. She was alone. Alone amongst a sea of chromed-out psychos who stared at her like she was their next meal while she fell to her ass beside an overflowing dumpster. Morbidly, she wondered if her spectators would actually eat her if she flatlined then and there.

V's trembling hand found Misty's pills where she always kept them. In the inside pocket of her Aldecaldo jacket. She unscrewed the bottle and dumped the pill out on her palm. For a moment she hesitated. It had been only three days since her last dose. For months she'd been getting by for weeks without the Omega Blockers but recently that time had been rapidly dwindling. She wondered how much time she had left before days would turn into hours. How much time she had left before her miracle cure finally failed her.

The merc tossed the pill down her throat and swallowed it down dry. It threatened to lurch back up but she fought it down while dragging her nails through the sand under her. She hadn't realized the woman was beside her until she felt Panam's hand on her back.

"V!" Panam cried out her name while her optics slowly came back into focus. "Can you hear me?"

"Uh-huh…"V grunted as the relic alert blipped off her heads up display, "Pills are working. It's okay….I'm-" She didn't let her finish.

"Don't you dare tell me you're fine," Panam surprised her by pulling her into a tight embrace, "Nearly gave me a heart attack."

The merc didn't bother to protest. She leaned into the hug and rested her head against Panam's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Pan...didn't want to fuck up the deal."

"You didn't. Mitch is finalizing the deets with them now. Just try and catch your breath." Panam let her grip loosen and when she pulled away V couldn't help but notice the blush covering her cheeks, "Guess it would help if I wasn't squeezing the life out of you, huh?"

V smirked and cleared her throat before spitting in the dirt beneath them. "You are surprisingly strong." she joked.

"We'll go through the meds once we're back at camp. Has to be something you can use in there."

"Not sure Biotechnica has anything for people with an immortality chip eating their brain." V grimaced and sat down on the dirt beside Panam. She pressed her back into the nearby dumpster and felt her heartbeat slowly begin to stabilize. The merc chewed on her lower lip and didn't face her friend when she spoke next.

"I'm scared, Panam. I know you think I've given up. But the truth is...I'm just being realistic. We followed up on every lead we had, reached out to every contact….I don't know if there's a fix for this. And even if there is, not sure I have the time left to find it."

Panam reached down and laced their fingers together. She felt the woman squeezed her hand in a comfortingly and shockingly fierce grip. "Look at me, V." she spoke in a strong, certain tone.

V looked up and saw the clear determination of her choom's face. "I promise you we're gonna fix this."

V shut her eyes, "Panam…"

"I promise," Panam repeated. "We do this gig, get enough fuel to leave and then that's it. No more distractions or jobs. We find a way."

"It's not fair," V whispered. "Everything you and the clan have done for me...I don't deserve it, Pan. I never should have dragged you into my mess. I can't keep doing it."

"What part of family don't you understand, V?" Panam challenged her.

The nomad rose to her feet and extended a hand to her friend. V accepted the offer and Panam hoisted her up before wrapping a supporting arm around her shoulders. "Come on...we'll even let you pick the music for the ride home."

----------

After a few hours and one quiet ride back to camp night had fallen on the badlands. The pills had worked their magic before V had to face Judy and her output suspected nothing. For once Panam didn't side-eye her when she played off her earlier episode and instead pulled her partner into a tight embrace.

With the night now well established V found herself in a scene that had become almost a daily routine in recent months. They sat in a circle around a healthy bonfire. Their butts planted in a mixture of makeshift stools and raggedy lawn furniture. A cold bottle of beer held firm in her left hand while her free arm was draped over Judy's shoulders. Across the blaze Cassidy plucked on an acoustic guitar, his lips pursing as he whistled a tune along with the melody.

"Your turn, Judy," Panam said with a smile before tossing her empty bottle behind her into the sand and fetching another from the nearby cooler.

"Alright, alright." Judy giggled and raised her hand, "I worked on the BD version of Corporate Wars 3." She lifted one finger, "I once swam with the last Great White shark not in captivity." A second finger rose, "And I have never kissed a boy."

"I call bullshit on the shark. Last one musta died when you were still in diapers." Mitch chimed in.

"Wasn't Corporate Wars 3 like the biggest BD of all time?" V asked. "Working on something like that would be nova!"

Judy waved her hand, "It was a bunch of overproduced scop. After one day I knew I'd never work with a studio again."

"I'm with Mitch." Panam said, "You've never seen a shark."

Judy's lips turned into a satisfied grin, "It's the last one! First kiss was with one Theo Briggs."

"Whoa whoa, who is this mystery boyfriend?!" V teased her while playfully elbowing her. "You gotta give me the full spec on my competition."

Judy threw her head back in laughter, "We were 11 years old! He lived on the same street as me back in Laguna Bend. Theo was the goalie for our hockey team and I got wrapped up in the heat of a big victory. One smooch and I knew it, we might have had the same jersey on but we definitely weren't playing for the same team. Poor little Theo spent the rest of the summer trying to woo me."

"Well, I can't blame the kid for trying," V said before taking a swig from her bottle.

"What about you, Panam?" Judy turned to the Nomad sitting across from her. "Nomad life seems like a preem setup for a romantic first kiss."

"Can't deny, that is a story I'd like to hear." V joined in.

Panam rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair, "I thought it was V's turn again?"

"Come on," V begged.

Cassidy flipped back the brim of his hat and kept strumming along, "Bet it was that Snake nation boy you used to fuss over up outside of Seattle."

"Ah!" V gasped, "Romance from a rival clan? The BD almost writes itself!"

"Nah!" Carol joined in from where she sat next to Mitch. She kept one hand on her pregnant belly, "My eddies are on Julius Caper. Everyone knew you two had crushes on each other."

"Wrong and wrong." Panam replied before screwing off the cap of her next beer, "My sixteenth birthday. Me and Scorpion went to the top of Cobra Canyon right at sunset, thought it would be like one of those storybooks pa always loved."

"Scorpion?" Mitch cried in disbelief, "No way! How did I never hear of this?!"

Panam chuckled, "It was...wet. And....awkward. We both agreed to never speak of it again."

"Mmm, sure your first kiss wasn't with Theo Briggs too?" Judy asked.

"Feels like forever since I've had to warn some poor boy about breaking your heart, Panam," Mitch observed.

"You meaning to light a fire under me, Mitch?" Panam challenged him, "I have a lot on my plates these days. Got no interest in complicating my life any further at the moment."

V raised her bottle up, "To Theo and Scorpion. And to keeping it simple."

The rest of the gang joined in on the toast, "Here here." Mitch agreed before drinking down his last swallow.

"So when am I gonna hear about this job?" Cassidy asked, "Still can't believe we're in bed with that rotten bastard Hawk."

"Can't argue with the payout though," Carol said before gesturing to the transport truck park on the other side of camp. Some of the clan was still unloading the medical supplies even after the sun had gone down.

"It's a simple enough gig." Panam waved them off.

"Simple when you have a tank that is." Mitch corrected her. "I still need to tighten a few screws before we dust off the Basilisk."

"Gives us time to scout out the camp then." Panam said before turning to the man holding the guitar, "How 'bout it old-timer? You up for a little field trip tomorrow while Mitch works his magic?"

Cassidy set his instrument aside and leaned it against the log he was perched on, "Sure you and V don't need this old cowboy slowing you down out there."

"V's got bizz tomorrow. Isn't that right V?" Panam turned to her.

V didn't have to think hard on her meaning. Panam was benching her and while a part of the merc wanted to protest, to tell Panam she'd never felt better. The rational part of her decaying mind told her she could do with taking it easy for a day.

"Mhm, that's right." V rubbed Judy's back, "Got a hot date."

"Well, then I better rest these old bones," Cassidy said before rising to his feet. "You kids better catch some shuteye too."

Mitch and Carol were quick to follow behind him leaving V alone at the campfire with just her partner and Panam. Judy leaned her head into V's shoulder and the couple watched the flames dance up into the desert night for a moment before V's attention shifted back to her choom.

"That stuff Hawk said about your parents. Seemed like it riled you up. Anything you wanna talk about?" V asked.

Panam shrugged, "Just a sore spot for me, V. Mom died when I was little and my father...early-onset dementia. He passed a few years before we met."

"Jesus, Panam." Judy gasped, "I'm sorry."

Panam nodded weakly, her thumbs scrapped at the label of her beer, "By the end of it....could hardly remember what he was like before. He was just a living ghost. Wasn't no way to live." Panam hung her head. "Seeing him disappear in front of me in slow motion like that....just don't like to think about it is all."

"I bet he'd be proud to know his daughter is leading the family." V said softly.

Panam cracked a sad smile, "Yeah…he would." The nomad rubbed the sand from her eye and scooped up Cassidy's guitar from where it laid beside her. Clearly eager to change the subject she offered the instrument to the merc. "Ya know for someone who had a rockerboy in their head I don't think I've ever heard you play, V."

V hesitantly accepted the guitar and held it out in front of her, "Johnny was the one who knew how to play." She reminded them.

"Yeah...but some of it must have rubbed off," Judy said.

V let the guitar notch into her arms and slid her fingers along the strings, "Was one song I learned. Back when I was still a gonk-brained teen. Don't know if I remember it all anymore."

"I'd like to hear it," Panam said softly.

Judy nodded, "Me too."

V played a shaky cord while she slid her fingers up the neck of the guitar and into position. She wasn't quite sure why but when she looked at the two women waiting to hear her sing she realized she was nervous. After everything she'd experienced in her life, the butterflies in her stomach couldn't help but make her laugh.

When she finally started to play she was shocked to see her fingers pick the melody back up. It must have been a decade since she last played the tune but the muscle memory couldn't be denied.

"Been wandering through this land." V's gruff voice cracked slightly as she began to sing, "Doing the best that I can. Trying to find...who I was meant to be." Her voice slowly grew stronger, "And the people that I see, they look as worried as me. And it looks like...they are wandering too."

Panam's fingers stopped clawing at the label of her beer as she listened. V plucked a sour note on the guitar but still, she played on.

"And I can't help but wonder where I'm bound...where I'm bound." V hung her head, "Can't help but wonder where I'm bound."

Judy swiped her colorful hair behind her ear and leaned back with a surprised expression on her pretty face. V couldn't help but admire the way the fire's warm light danced across her features and suddenly she found her singing voice soften into something resembling a real melody.

"I had a girl one time...she had lips like sherry wine. But she loved me, till my head went plumb insane. I was too blind to see, she was drifting away from me. And my good girl got off on a morning train."

V focused on the chorus once more. She was focused on the song and the look in Judy's eyes that she didn't notice the way Panam was looking at her from across the fire. She didn't notice the way Panam balled her fists up, the way her face twisted from sadness to confusion as an unmistakable longing began to take root in the nomad. As if V's butterflies were contagious Panam suddenly found them fluttering inside herself when V finally did catch her eye. The Nomad couldn't hold her gaze for longer than a second. Panam was quick to turn away and take a long chug from her beer while V continued her song.

"Had a choom back home, but he started out to roam. And I hear, he's out by frisco bay. But sometimes when I've had a few, his old voice comes ringing through. And I know, I'm gonna see him some ol' day…"

Panam was stirred from her conflicting feelings when she heard the panic in Judy's voice. "V, your nose!" she cried.

Panam looked up as the guitar fell from V's arms and landed in the sand with a dry thud. Blood trickled from V's nose, the merc reached up to her face as her eyes began to roll back in their sockets. As if someone hit a switch, the merc suddenly went limp. V fell backwards to the ground, her muscles convulsing wildly. Judy was already by her side, holding her shoulders down and crying out her name.

"Don't hold her down!" Panam cried, recalling the training the doctors once gave her about her father, "Roll her on her side!"

"What the fuck is happening?!" Judy cried, her mascara ran down her cheeks in thick trails of black as the tears poured from her eyes. "V!" She screamed.

Panam and Judy worked together to move V on to her side as she continued her spasms. "Keep her on her side!" Panam cried as she ran towards Hawk's cache of medical supplies on the other side of camp.

V could only stare straight forward, at Judy's terrified face as she screamed her name and pleaded with her to snap out of it. Then all at once, it stopped. V's body fell completely still and darkness overtook her.

--------------

Night City

"This is Jillian Jordon of N54 news coming to you live for a special report. Night City mayor Jefferson Peralez remains in critical but stable condition in the Corpo plaza med center this evening. Earlier this morning the mayor was a victim of an apparent cyberpsycho attack that claimed the lives of multiple militech and netwatch agents. Witnesses inside Militech tower remain tight-lipped about the incident but N54 sources tell us that Peralez's own bodyguard Randal Burke, a 54-year-old veteran of the Unification war has emerged as NCPD's primary suspect in the attack."

She muted the broadcast with a wave of her hand and an unenthused grunt. The old woman kicked her legs up on the nearby table and leaned her head back against the cushions of her couch while the screens next to her ran reports of her mercs on assignment out in the city.

For more than thirty years she'd called the same damn couch home. Drinking the same whiskey and dealing with the same solos as the eddies poured in. Sure, the names had changed as her hair slowly turned grey but their stories never did. Poor fools who thought they'd make something of themselves through a combination of spent shell casings and ass-kissing. With every passing day, Rogue found herself wishing more and more that their roles were reversed. That she was still the young edgerunner taking it to the corps and earning her own dirty money.

But recent events couldn't have made it more clear that her days of action were long behind her.

Rogue brought her glass to her lips and sipped on her smooth bourbon as she stared at the ceiling. She didn't realize the bartender was watching her until she heard her speak.

"I'm out for the evening, boss." Claire said. "Want a last drink before I call it?"

Rogue set her empty glass down on the table, "Have a goodnight, Claire." she replied knowing full well that Claire hadn't had a good night since her husband died.

As Claire turned to leave Rogue caught the eye of the one man still sitting at the bar. He wore a suit that probably cost more eddies than the average solo made in a year and made no effort to hide the focus of his attention. The man lifted his glass when he caught Rogue's gaze and tipped the drink in her direction. Before Claire turned to leave Rogue called out to her.

"Claire?" She said. The bartender turned to her with a smile on her lips, "The man at the bar. Who is he?" She asked.

Claire shrugged, "Corpo by the looks of 'em. Emmerick let him in a few hours ago. He's been nursing soda ever since. Likes to use pretty words but between you and me he gives me the creeps."

She watched him rise off his stool and straighten his tie, she didn't need to ask Claire to send him her way. It was clear he was already on his own path. Rogue crossed her arms over her chest and watched as Claire moved to the exit and the stranger walked right past her with a courteous bow. When at last he stood in her corner he unbuttoned his jacket and gestured to her couch.

"May I?" He asked. He spoke with an almost melodic southern accent.

Rogue shrugged and allowed the man to take his seat on the opposite end of her couch. He was a handsome man maybe twenty years her junior with dark brown hair pulled behind his ears and his facial hair styled into a carefully maintained handlebar mustache. He gently brushed the seat with his hand before sitting down and crossing his legs.

"You must be wondering what stranger dares sit at your corner. Please forgive me, I am nothing if not respectful of traditions." The man bowed his head, "The name is Simon Sinclair. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ms. Rogue."

"If you want my attention then you have two minutes." Rogue didn't let her curiosity show in her deadpan tone.

"All that I shall need my dear." Sinclair replied in an educated and attractive tone, "Like many others no doubt, I come to you today with business." The man's eyes glowed blue and suddenly the holodeck on the table between them lit up with a face Rogue recognized.

"You know her, yes?" Sinclair asked but Rogue figured he already knew the answer.

"Doesn't ring a bell." She lied.

"Come now. I'm told she and her compatriots are the talk of the Afterlife these days."

Rogue rolled her eyes, "Then ask around. Think I give two shits about every wannabe who rolls into my bar?"

"Please do not peg me for a fool, Ms. Rogue. I know V worked with you just as well as you know your old flame took up residence inside her head." Sinclair's eyes glowed as the image on the holodeck turned over to another face Rogue recognized. "I'm aware Ms. Panam was an associate of yours as well."

"So what, you some Arasaka goon? Corp's out looking to get even? That it?" Rogue asked.

"I suppose you could say I've come on behalf of Arasaka. Yet I assure you I carry no more love for them than you. I'm what you may call a solo. Though personally, I detest such labels. I am merely a man looking to make his way like any other."

"Well I have nothing for you and your two minutes are up." Rogue waved him away with a motion of her hand.

"If you're waiting to talk compensation I'm happy to do so. You and I both know you're no stranger to taking Arasaka's money." Sinclair smiled, "Depending on who you ask I also hear you're no stranger to dropping bombs on them. An interesting contradiction, I'm sure you'd agree."

Rogue leaned forward, locked her fingers together and stared straight into the man's glowing eyes, "You're beginning to piss me off. As I said before, got nothing for you. So delta or get wiped, your choice."

"I mean no offense." Sinclair tossed up one hand while his other slipped inside his suit jacket. Rogue found herself wishing she had iron in hand until Sinclair gently removed a stack of paper from his jacket.

"What's that?" She asked.

"A gift." Sinclair tossed the papers onto the table between them. Rogue realized they were photographs, images of a metallic body twisted into agonizing shapes, synth blood pouring from the one strip of flesh that still remained of the man the corpse once belonged to. "This is what's left of your old friend Adam Smasher."

Rogue pinched one of the pictures between her fingers and lifted the image up to her face. She found a sick sense of satisfaction mix with a dash of regret in her gut. Regret that it hadn't been her to finally pull Smasher's plug. Yet the thought that Johnny got to watch through V's eyes as Smasher finally got what was coming to him was still a welcome comfort.

"I figured you'd appreciate the beauty there." Sinclair rose to his feet.

"You seem to know a lot about me for someone I've never heard of. Not a quality I particularly admire." Rogue said.

Sinclair bowed his head, "In my younger days, I was a devoted follower of a mutual acquaintance."

"And who might that be?"

Sinclair smiled, "Morgan Blackhand."

"A student of Morgan's running with Arasaka? Sounds like you didn't learn a thing from him."

"On the contrary," Sinclair straightened his jacket, "He taught me everything I ever needed to know. Out of respect for him, I am willing to forget this conversation took place. But I will warn you, Arasaka and I share an intense interest in the merc. If V reaches out to you, if you even catch a whiff of her," Sinclair reached into his pocket and flicked his business card down on the table next to the pictures. "You'll call me."

"Thought this was supposed to be a threat." Rogue didn't even glance at the card.

"Something you should know about Morgan. He's very nostalgic in his old age, never shuts up about the old days when you get him lubricated enough. The stories I've heard about you, they're the kind that stay buried or they bury you. But I'll say this plain, if you become a problem for me it won't end well for you." Sinclair slipped both hands into his pocket and stepped backwards, "Send my best to your son, Ms. Rogue."

Rogue watched the man casually stroll out of the bar with her hatred clear on her weathered face. It was true she didn't know where V was, she hadn't seen the kid since their strange date at the drive-in. But wherever the merc was, Rogue hoped it was far away from Night City