Trunk

"You Panam Palmer?" V asks as she steps into the bar at the Sunset Motel.

The subject, a busty-looking woman of Spanish descent with black hair and healthy brown skin, turns her head slightly at V while continuing to nurse her drink. "What of it? You another of Nash's 'gringos' that he owes money to? 'Cuz I ain't got nothing for you, bastard probably owes me twice he does you-"

"Rogue sent me." V interjects, causing the scowling woman's expression to drop even further.

"Of course she did. Well? I'm guessing she wants me to work for the 'favour' of telling me where my goddamn car is?"

V shrugs, "In a manner of speaking, she'll tell you where it is along with its cargo, and you'll help me take down an AV and capture a VIP. Seems a fair trade to me."

"Uh-uh, I ain't doing shit until I get my Thorton back. Not like I can take down an AV without my shit anyway."

"How'm I supposed to know you won't run off as soon as we get it? I'm not an idiot, Mercs, Solos especially don't hold their word unless it helps them."

"I'm not some two-bit scumbag, I say I'll do something, I stick with it. Half the reason I'm stuck like this is because I trusted too much, it was my partner who stole all my shit in the first place!" she jabs a finger at V, "So if we do this, we do it my way, Rogue can bitch all she wants but she can't make me do shit in that ivory fucking tomb of hers, got it?"

V frowns and leans her back against the bar, folding her arms and looking up in thought... Only to be interrupted as Johnny appears next to her, "Don't know about you but I trust her, an ass like that can't lie."

"Why am I not surprised you like her?"

Johnny smirks, "Well, minus the bitchy-facade she reminds me more of a lost teen... But hey, as a master of Asstronomy, she ain't lying.

V glances at Panam and can't help but notice her rear sticking over the stool she was sitting in, of course Johnny would notice that before anything else. "Fine, you're shit's in Rocky Ridge, but after we grab it we do what I came for."

Panam brightens, a smile twisting her lips as she downs the rest of her drink, "Sounds good to me, c'mon, let's go while we still got sunlight." she says, getting up and walking to the door.

"Hate to see her go but love watchin' her leave." Johnny can't help but remark at the girl with swaying hips, "If she weren't a desert hillbilly she'd be a shoo-in for a model."

"I've barely known you and I want to lobotomise myself already." V sighs and follows.

"Hey, no point ruining it for me, first thing I'm gonna do if we fail to fix this is flick the bean-"

"God, just shut up!"

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

*BOOOOM!*

*Bangbang!*

"You fucking bitch!" Nash roars from his hiding spot in the cave he and his Raffen buddies had been hold up in. The ambush in Rocky Ridge turned into some kinda revenge gig, and while V was sympathetic she wasn't about to risk her client running off and getting herself killed, especially when she already owed her.

There was no doubt in her mind that Panam would get flatlined, as even her Aldecaldo buddies had refused to help her... Going against an entire Reffen Shiv gang was just asking to die, or worse.

Thankfully, Panam wasn't completely outta her mind. As soon as they got her Thorton back she fixed its munition and aiming systems, allowing her to set that big ass turret on the roof on autopilot. That gave them around even odds, the two of them plus the terminator truck against the entire Raffen gang.

Unluckily for Nash and his goons, they'd been caught with their pants down, mid-refuelling from the large storage units they'd presumably stolen from a CHOOH2 production facility... These provided excellent targets, and basically turned half the gang to ash before the fighting even started.

"Hey Nash! Head's up!" Panam shouts, grabbing an oil can filled with gas and throwing it over where Nash was hiding.

*Bang!*

V nails it with Yorinobu's stolen pistol, causing fiery oil to rain down on the ganger, who stands, screams, and starts thrashing around like a humanoid bonfire.

"THAT'S WHAT YOU FUCKIN' GET! YOU TRAITOR PIECE OF SHIT!" Panam shouts as the man drops to his knees while looking in their direction... Well, 'looking' didn't really count considering how his eyes had melted.

V shrugs and puts a bullet between his eyes, ending his suffering, much to Panam's disappointment. "If you're gonna burn a man alive every time he betrays you, you might wanna stay outta Night City."

"Nah, I'll just stick Solo..." she glances at V, "Unless you wanna team up? I'd say we worked pretty well together, barring you staring at my ass... I'm straight, by the way."

V frowns, "I wasn't staring at your ass..."

"Hah, good one. So, what is it? You dude in a woman's body or a woman with a piece?"

"... I have no idea what you mean...?"

Panam shrugs, "You can try to hide it. But I know people like you in the Aldecaldo's, you walk like a dude, fight like a dude, stare at my ass like a dude... And yes, there's a difference, a lesbian would be more subtle about it, that or straight up when we first met."

"Fuck sake. I was born a girl and don't have a cock, if that's what you're asking. Can we just get back to my shit? Taking down an AV and capturing Hellman is more important than, whatever this is."

"Whatever, just curious... Come on, gotta drop off the cargo at Boz, then we can focus on your gig."