Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Washington D.C., N.U.S.A, 2080.

It was a rainy day, and Valerie was still sleeping soundly in her own comfortable bed.

The alarm started bleeping loudly and she woke up, before heading to the bathroom, wearing only her birthday suit.

She hated that house, as it was cold and souless, looking like a Corpo office more than her own personal place.

However, her stuff were gone, like her previous life.

They were sold by the landlord of her previous apartment, to pay for a rent long overdue, so there was no way she would have seen them back.

Valerie looked into the electronic mirror.

Her blue eyes still had that "spark" that shown that she was a natural born killer.

Her dyed pink hairs regrowth back to her natural length.

Her chest was still the same, huge breasts that every other woman envied.

She grabbed a red lipstick and applied it to her lips until they became bright red.

Then she stared herself in the reflection for few minutes before, going to the wardrobe and put her working clothes, which consisted of an elegant jacket, a miniskirt and black high heels.

Then she headed to her garage and entered her car, a black Archer Quartz sedan.

V left the garage by driving the vehicle and heading towards her workplace.

In a few minutes she was out of her  suburb, and got stuck in traffic.

The time flowed slow, with V staring the rain drops on her windshield.

She was missing the company of a certain rockerstar with snark humor and terroristic tendencies, which used to hang out with her, almost 24/7.

But it was the price for living, albeit Valerie was now starting to regret it and pondering if has been a worthy choice.

After a long and boring ride, she reached her workplace, which was the FIA Administrative Building.

Valerie parked the sedan in the courtyard in front of the building and then walked towards the huge and modern building, entering in its hall, which was large and sterile-looking.

She walked up to the security gate, then greeted Bob, who was the security guard and who greeted her back.

After the security controls, she headed to her cubicle, ignoring the stares of her colleagues, who lusted after her.

Previously, in the good ol' days, she wouldn't have minded that, and maybe even try to go to bed with some of them, regardless of the gender.

But after her surgery, all she felt was depression and apathy.

Valerie eventually reached her cubicle, then she sat down and turned on her computer.

Her job mostly consisted of analytics and looking for intels about the various geopolitical situations about the world.

It wasn't much different from her former job as Counterintel at Arasaka, albeit with a lot less fieldwork.

However, it was still much more boring compared to her merc work back in Night City.

Sure it was much less stable and lived from gig to gig but was much more exciting.

Valerie missed her previous life.

Her trusty friend Jackie, which died in the heist that changed her life.

Her sensual ex-girlfriend Judy, which spent with her numerous passionate nights and showered her with love.

Panam, a energetic and rebellious Nomad of the Aldecados clan, which despite rejecting her flirting attempts, kept a strong and close relationship, loyal until the end.

Rivers, the charming yet cringe detective, who made Valerie feel like a real woman, even if he was bit clingy.

Kerry, the flamboyant rockstar, whose gigs gave her a rush of adrenaline and moments of fun, even if sadly he rejected her sexual advance due his preference for male company.

Valerie also missed all the other friends.

She missed also the action, the tension, the gunfights.

Despite the fact that Night City was also a crime-filled Corpo controlled cesspit, Valerie also missed that place.

In fact, even back then, Valerie loved some characterist of the city like the view or the vibrant diversity or how it felt so alive.

But Valerie really needed to focus on her work, especially as the situation was delicate.

Indeed, after Militec took over Night City after the Phantom Liberty incident, there was a huge tension around the globe.

As Arasaka and the other Japanese companies were ousted out of Night City, they merged together and formed a company called "Zaibatsu", which eventually took over the weak government of Japan, effectively becoming a Corpo with the resources of a country.

The worst part, is that they were still bitter about losing their authority over Night City, and claimed that it was their right to own that territory, with an hostile rhetoric which worsened as the talk between the NUSA and Night City for the reintegration into the NUSA were proceeding in the direction of the integration.

And to make everything even worse, apparently there was rumors of an alliance in the work between Zaibatsu Japan and the Soviet Union.

Despite this rumors and V's numerous reports, both of them were happily ignored by the higher ups, most of the time dismissed as "improbable for ideological clashes between the two countries".

This made her very frustrated, and each failed attempts made her feel more and more apaethic.

Why work if she was unappreciated?

She was typing relentlessly, as she heard a deep voice.

"Don't move!"

Valiere recognized that voice immediately.

"Reed?"

Then she heard a laughter and she turned around.

It a tall, dark and masculine individual of African descent with short hair, goatee with a connected mustache and visible cyberware in his temples, fingers and neck.

"Yes, there is a special request from the highest top... wants you personally."

"What is about?" asked Valerie back.

Reed's answer was short and straight to the point.

"Follow me."

Valerie sheepishly followed the African-American, until they reached the elevator.

They entered inside and after bit of awkward silence, Valerie asked.

"Heard about So Mi?"

Reed was silent a bit until he replied.

"She is apparently in a FIA black site in Lodz, Poland."

Valerie felt bit heartwarmed by the news.

She kept often contact with Misty, which moved to Białowiedza in Poland, working in the national park.

They got really close, especially when Valerie revealed her Polish descent to Misty.

Valerie asked Reed.

"You have any idea on her conditions?"

Reed shook his head.

"No, sadly this is above my pay grade."

Another awkward moment before V commented.

"Didn't saw you since the surgery. After Dogtown. Remember it?"

Reed sighed.

"Yes. That mission was... intense."

But didn't took much before they were overwhelmed by the sadness.

After all, her shared friend Alex died during the operation to try apprehend So Mi.

Then the two reached their desired floor.

They found themselves in a well decorated office, with a wooden mahogany desk in the middle, an aquarium with golden fishes, various awards and FIA distinctions on the walls and an amazing view of the Potomac.

But neither of them expected to find Rosalyn Myers.

She was wearing a formal ivory collarless jacket with gold accents and epaulettes on her shoulders.

She was standing near the director of the FIA, a man on his mid 50s, wearing a formal suite with a tie.

Myers smiled amicably at Valerie.

"It has been a long time."

Valerie asked.

"Why I was requested?"

Myers smiled.

"You will come with me. Going to the old Night City. You know the place better than any other agents."

Valerie asked a simple "why".

"You will be my close protection. After some relatively recent events, you are my most trustworthy agent."

Valerie tried to protest.

"But... my nerve system... I cannot bear any chrome anymore."

Myers smirked.

"You won't believe how fast is the medical science evolving. We might have found a solution to your problem."

Then she took a sip from a glass of whiskey which was set on the table.

"You might be back in action, just as you yearned."

Valerie was shocked.

"How did..."

Myers smirked.

"I know you will accept... V."

Chapter Text

V was staring herself in the mirror, still feeling immense pain.

As always, Myers kept her promise.

Expert FIA surgeons operated on her, replacing almost every body part with  "experimental enhanced organic protesis".

Apparently, it would have allowed her to be almost on same footing with borged up opponents.

It took few months to recover, but beside the pain everything was smooth.

It that moment, she was in the suite of the Deep Blue Plaza Hotel, an expensive and luxiourious 5 star hotel, located in the Downtown of Night City.

For V, however it was a nefarious place.

Despite the makeover and the name-change, it was the place where the heist that costed Jackie his life took place.

Back then it was called Kompeki Plaza Hotel, and had a more  Japanese style, which was changed for obvious reasons.

V washed her face to numb the pain and itchiness, then got out of the bathroom, finding herself in a huge and luxurious room suite, where everything was huge, from the TV to the couch and to the bed.

Myers was sitting on the couch, sipping some champagne and watching a report from N54 news.

The anchorwoman, a blonde woman with a pink dress named Gillean Jordan was presenting the news.

"Protests against the unification of Night City with the NUS are sparking all around the Free City, especially in the districts of Japantown and Heywood."

Images of people of likely Japanese descent were screaming and holding signs in both Japanese and English against the reunification.

An elder man shouted in Japanese, with subtitles appearing in the lower part of the screen.

"Moshi NUSA ga naitoshiti o senryō shitara, dainijisekaitaisen no toki mitai ni, oretachi o matomete kyōseishūyōsho okuri ni surudarou! Soshite, oretachi o uchikoroshite mizo ni suteru nda!"

"If the NUSA get Night City, they are gonna to round us up and sent up in internment camps, just like they did during WW2! Then they will shoot us and throw us in a ditch!"

V looked carefully.

While there were a few convinced idealists, they majority of the most vocals, looked extremely familiar to V.

Colorful appearances, bodies covered in tattoos, peculiar chrome.

Tyger Claws.

The rest of other people seemed coerced given their facial expressions.

V commented.

"Worried about the situation, Madame President?"

Myers smirked.

"Not at all. I will reunite America. No matter what it takes."

Indeed, as the 2⁰ President of the New United States of America, she was very keen on reuniting the country, which was balkanized and devastated by the civil wars that plagued the country.

She had also a past as a Marine, she knew how to fight, as V saw in Dogtown.

The President turned off the TV, then she commented.

"It reminds me of Dogtown... even if is totally the opposite."

V replied.

"How come? It looks nothing like it... no cockroaches crawling on the floor... no awful smell... no militia led by a psychopatic deserter to hunt us..."

Myers smirked.

"What I meant... we are sharing a room to sleep for the night, again, with you providing security."

V smirked.

"That's why I was chosen?"

Myers nodded.

"Yes, a trustful bodyguard."

 

Then surprisingly, she stripped, revealing a white underwear.

Despite her age, her body was smooth and very attractive with barely any wrinkles.

"My body needs to be guarded."

V was shocked and opened her mouth from the surprise.

"What the fuck?"

The President replied calmly.

"C'mon is clear that we both need a good fucking."

V stuttered, as she was surprised.

"I- I - I..."

Myers rolled her eyes.

"V... you don't have to hide. We know your sexual preferences. You prefer women. Judy Alvarez, Meredith Stout, Ruby Collins, Charlene Fox, Brittany Hayes..."

Then Myers said with a sensual voice.

"Fuck me. Is an Executive Order."

V bitten her lips.

She was getting horny, as it was a while since she had her last coitus.

She walked to Myers, and started kissing her passionately.

The two women were twisting each other's tongues in their mouth, with the President excitedly touching V's enormous breasts.

Then as V's hands started to squeeze the President's ass, the latter groped V's vagina and caressed it with her tumb.

The two women stopped kissing and V started to moan and remove her suit.

Then the two woman jumped on the huge white bed, with comfy memory foam mattress feeling like a cloud.

Myers took off her bra, showing her bare chest, which V started to lick, prefer kissing and sucking the nipples.

The President moaned, as she put her hand under V's skirt and inside her panties.

V stopped sucking and moaned loudly too.

Then both ladies took their underwear off, revealing their bare vaginas.

V had hers cleanly shaven, while the President had a little well-kept and trimmed bush.

Both ladies were now lustful and both bitten their lips.

Their fingers caressed each other's pussy, before penetrating and striking their clits and G point.

They were getting real wet and the moans were getting louder.

At a certain point, Myers told V.

"Stop."

V was surprised.

"What happened? Changed mind?"

But Myers' glance shown all her lust.

She grabbed a suitcase that was near the bed and ordered.

"Open it, V."

V complied and couldn't believe what she found.

"Sir John Phallusstiff!"

It was a pink penis-shaped vibrator.

She used it sometimes as an improvised melee weapon back in 2077, after an hot and intense night encounter with a woman called Meredith Stout.

She was working for Militec, and despite her cold heart, she was quite passionate in bed.

They met after she gave him a gig against the Maelstrom gang and she rewarded V with an intense domination session for a job well done.

As V was staring the sex toy, Myers snapped her back to reality and ordered.

"Stick it inside my ass!"

Myers lifted her legs, spread them and then she tried to widen up her anus.

V obeyed and filled the Presidential's anal cavity with the weapon/sex toy.

Myers moaned as V put Sir John Phallusstiff deeper into her.

She was really pleased about it and commented.

"Much better than my husband's flaccid and small cock."

V pushed deeper, as Myers grabbed her hairs and pushed the merc's face on the President's vagina.

The merc started to lick and twist her tongue inside Myers' pussy, with the latter moaning so loud that she almost deafened V.

V's tongue was licking up all of the President's vaginal fluids, as the latter encouraged her to keep going.

The merc's stamina was impressive, as she kept going on the Presidential's pussy for circa twenty minutes, striking the clit with a steady rhythm.

Then Myers glanced at V and ordered.

"On four legs, now!"

V complied, then she felt a huge cylindric object being inserted in her anus.

She was filled with pleasure, as the object vibrated.

It was clear that Myers put Sir John Phallusstiff inside V's ass.

It was pushed in and out, at a very fast rhythm.

V moaned loudly as Myers taunted her.

"Do you like it, huh? You are my bitch now!"

Honestly, V was more dominant in bed, but the pleasure she was feeling in that moment was immesurable, increasing as her anal hole was getting bigger.

After a while of pure intense pleasure, Myers grabbed V's hairs and removed the dildo from the merc's ass, then grabbed her hairs and locked her legs between V's legs.

Myers started to rub her vagina on V's pussy, which moaned as the two clits touched each other.

The two ladies also started to kiss on the lips, twisting their tongues and caressing each other's back as they were unleashing their passions.

They rubbed really fast, almost as their heartbeats.

After a while, both climaxed, exchanging all their fluids.

Then they laid next to each other, naked.

Myers complimented the merc.

"You are as good in bed as you are in the field."

V shrugged with a smirk.

"I am a jack of all trades."

Myers smiled.

"Well, you just got promoted from body guard to lover..."

The two ladies resumed kissing, until they fell asleep in each other's arms.

At least until an explosion woke them up, followed by another one.

Then by many more.

Chapter Text

The explosions were not stopping.

Even for such a violent place like Night City, it was very unusual.

Even the President was surprised.

Both her and V started to look outside the window, watching the skyline with the occasional explosions and gradually losing power.

Then suddenly, even the Deep Blue Plaza hotel was engulfed by darkness.

The sudden darkness took the two women by surprise, but wasn't enough to be an issue for them.

Myers had night vision Militec optics, while V's night vision was more organic.

The FIA surgeons replaced her eyes  with some genetically modified ones, which included a tapetum lucidum to guarantee an instant and clear night vision.

As the women's instincts took over, they immediately grabbed their weapons, before even thinking to grab their clothes.

V grabbed a customized Constitutional Arms Unity, modified with a suppressor and a laser aiming module and called "Her Majesty".

She got it from an old coworker of Reed back in Dogtown, four years before, during the mission to save So Mi.

That agent, which was named Alex, died by the hands of Kurt Hansen, leaving only that pistol as memento.

Meanwhile, Myers grabbed her personal marksman rifle, a Militec Hawk 2A.

Inspired by her personal Tsunami Kyubi, it was an American take on the Japanese design, with a smaller magazine with still held the same number of rounds thanks to the slightly smaller caliber, integrally suppressed barrel, smart scope integrated with Myers' personal link.

Something was off, and the women could feel it.

V's experience as a Corpo knew what was going to happen.

A Corpo strike team was about to come for them.

The two women started to get ready, aiming the weapon at the door, which was the only plausible entrance point.

And few minutes later, after some muffled voices talked behind the closed door, there was the loud sound of an explosion.

Few seconds later some men wearing what could be described as a tactical futuristic samurai armor, came from the newly made hole, holding their weapons in their hands.

But the head of one of them exploded as a bullet from Myers' Hawk 2A passed through his head.

Another one was quickly killed by V, which shot him using the Mozambique Drill, with two shot in the chest and two in the head.

The two remaining strike team member shot their guns, while V and Myers were trying to get back to cover behind the bed.

The bullets from the guns curved to try to hit the targets, albeit V lifted the bed and protected Myers.

As most of luxurious furniture in Night City, the bed was bulletproof.

V pushed it, as the strike team was getting closer, shooting against the bed.

Then the commandos tried to reload, which was the perfect opportunity for them to strike back, with V shooting the one on the left, while Myers shot the right one.

The assaulted collapsed upon being hit by the bullets.

Then after checking if everything was clear, V also checked the bodies.

They were an elite assassination team of Zaibatsu.

V checked their guns.

They were Zaibatsu TKI-20 Shingen MK VI.

It was a smart submachine gun, with a bullpup 50 rounds magazine that also acted as stock, smart scope to track 5 target at once and a white livery with the word "Zaibatsu" written in Kanji.

She remembered when she stole the prototype of the V version back in an Arasaka warehouse.

Sadly, the weapon was biometrically locked, so V couldn't grab it for herself.

President Myers meanwhile was on an holo with the Chief of her Security.

"Location is compromised, need extraction immediately."

From the other side, a manly voice replied.

"We are sending an AV but the situation is hot, unusual activity and possible heavy presence of AAs and SAMs. Please proceed to the LZ, ma'am."

Then V and the President just grabbed their tactical vests and started to head towards the LZ, which according to the protocol is was established to be on the roof.

Despite their lack of other clothes, both women were trying to proceed cautiously, with they guns ready to shoot.

As they exited the suite and headed to the stairs, painful memories were flooding V's thoughts.

Jackie's final moments, when they were trying to sneak out and escape from that place, after the heist had really gone sour.

V was aiming her pistol, as they proceeded upway.

The tension was increasing, as footstep noises and voices in Japanese indicated the presence of more strike teams.

Myers was a huge target.

If she died, the Unification Talks would be delayed or even cancelled.

She was the post powerful woman in North America but also the most vulnerable.

They quickly reached the rooftop.

The wind was strong and cold but was more chilling was the view.

What was once a bustling metropolis, full of lights during night time, it was now dark, beside the few lights provided by the explosions and the fires.

The two women were now waiting for the AV to come.

The expected ETA was 20 minutes.

It was too much long.

Myers laid in a prone position, aiming her Hawk 2A rifle, in case another strike team would reach them.

V was crunching, aiming with Her Majesty.

They were freezing, but thanks to the adrenaline, they didn't care.

If everything would have gone smooth, they both would have been out of there anyway in few.

It was a matter of which one would have come first, the Presidential AV or the strike team.

Of course the strike team was quicker.

Myers' reflexes were even more, as she shot the first Zaibatsu soldier in the head as soon she saw him.

V opened fire too, trying her best to keep the enemies at bay.

Both of the women had the vantage of the high ground, while the enemies could barely see them.

Both V and Myers kept suppressing fire.

What mattered was that neither of them was hit and that they resisted until the AV came.

The firefight was getting intense, and the ammunition were starting to get low.

V checked the magazine of her pistol.

She cussed as it was the last one.

V aimed being careful to at least hit her targets.

Then the slide locked back.

No more ammo.

Even Myers' Hawk 2A was running dry.

Then a familiar noise.

The AV finally came.

The vehicle landed and opened the doors, with two NUSA soldiers also opening fire on the Zaibatsu operatives with their Militec M179e Achilles.

A Constitutional Arms M2067 Defender was mounted on a monopod.

It was the M2067D variant, designed to be used on military AV and helicopters, featuring a shorter barrel and no stock.

V immediately manned it, cocked the charging handle and started to fire on the hostile operatives.

They were mowed down by the 6.56x62mm bullets, with the AV immediately taking off.

The AV however was flying too dangerously low.

When the situation was calmer, V remarked.

"We are gonna crash in one of those buildings if we fly so low."

The pilot replied.

"We can't. Intense presence of enemy SAMs. Looks like S-2000 Uslad."

V was surprised.

"The newest Soviet SAM? Here?"

The pilot replied.

"We are surprised as you are ma'am. We spotted few in the Badlands."

Meanwhile, V was still keeping her eyes peeled for any threat.

She noticed a man wearing a tracksuit, holding a cylindrical object.

It was suspicious but became a certain threat when the man aimed the object against them.

V aimed the machine gun and started to shoot.

The man went down before he could aim, but he still fired his missile launcher.

It was a Techtronika T-40 Uragan, which was a Soviet-made MANPAD.

The missile was strong enough to destroy an AV.

An alarm started to beep, and the pilot started to scream.

"We got multiple hostiles, with MANPADs! They got us in their sights!"

V fired the M2067D, trying to hit every enemy armed with the Uragan missiles.

They were about to fly over Pacifica now, and looked like everyone and their dog had a T-40 in their hands.

The AV was discharging its flare as much it could, while V kept firing.

The explosions were getting closer and closer.

Then a sudden shock.

They were hit and about to crash.

Chapter Text

V was stunned.

She tried to understand the situation, so she tried to look everywhere.

Apparently the AV was hit by a T40 Uragan missile, which made it crash.

V's professional insticts took over fast.

She checked if the President was alright, which she was, despite some bruises.

V asked, to check.

"Are you alright, ma'am?"

Myers replied with her martial energy.

"Yes, I am fine. Give me my rifle so I can fight this bastards."

V picked up the Hawk 2A from the floor and then handed it to the President, which reloaded the gun and chambered a round.

V grabbed her trusty Her Majesty pistol and racked the slide.

Then she said with determination.

"We will get you out of here."

One of the two NUSA soldiers then grabbed his M179e Achilles rifle then shouted.

"We will scout ahead and check if the area is secure."

But as soon he stepped out of the AV wreak, aiming his rifle in front of himself, his head became a red mist.

V crouched instinctively and shouted.

"Sniper!"

The surviving soldier shouted.

"We are pinned down!"

Myers asked.

"Can you locate the sniper?"

The soldier answered.

"Negative, ma'am."

"Any option?"

V checked if there was anything that they could use for the situation.

Food, alchohol, a first aid kit, handheld cameras, blood bags, Unity pistols, M179e Achilles rifles.

Everything seemed useless, until she saw two items that could been very useful.

A box of various grenades types and a Nokota NDI Osprey sniper rifle.

She grabbed some explosive and smoke grenades and then the rifle.

It was a huge high-caliber bullpup sniper rifle, which could even fire in a three-rounds burst.

It was devastating even of borged up targets, which made it perfect for agencies such as the FIA or the NUSA Special Forces.

Myers asked.

"What is your plan?"

V smirked.

"I will throw a smoke grenade for cover, then try to locate and neutralize him."

V pulled the pin and threw the grenade, which exploded in a cloud of smoke.

A loud shot, then V advanced in the smoke.

She ran, looking for cover, which she found behind a wreck of a Hella.

Another shot, this time closer, manage to pierce the metal of the wreck.

V tried to locate the sniper position.

It looked like it was coming from the abandoned Pistis Sophia Hotel.

It wasn't changed much in all those years.

It was the same dilapidated and ruined building, where one time V woke up dizzy after giving control of her body to Johnny's engram.

It was an important part of his life, after he left Arasaka's army, a place where he reflected about life.

But for her it was the moment when she felt closest to death.

V remember the broken promise she did to Johnny.

She lived, he didn't.

If his state could be called "life" to begin with.

Another shot put a stop to V's memory lane and put her back to reality.

Now she had to gain a visual on the target.

She tried to aim the Osprey but she couldn't find the sniper.

It was well positioned and hidden.

So now she had to try to reach him somehow.

V tried to call Myers, which replied immediately.

"I am pinned down!"

The President understood perfectly the situation.

She and the soldier threw a smoke grenade, moved to cover being a dumpster and a van wreck respectively and started to provide suppressive fire.

V then tried to rush towards the abandoned hotel, jumping on a wall and rushing to climb the stairs.

Meanwhile she was keeping her eyes peeled for any clue of the sniper presence.

The sniper seemed to also move, because each shot seemed to come from a different direction.

Myers and the soldier were trying to keep the enemy busy, by shooting in his general direction.

Another shot and she spotted the enemy sniper.

It was a man with a black fullbody suit and holding a Techtronika SPT32 Grad anti-materiel bolt-action rifle.

The rifle was a beast.

High caliber, made less than 300 exemplars for the Soviet KGB, with V sporadically spotting them in Night City.

The sniper was just prone on the bed of the same room where she woke up.

V had no time to switch to her pistol so she tried to shoot her Osprey, albeit the shot missed.

The sniper shouted.

"Chyort!"

Then he disappeared.

V knew that he wasn't teleporting away, so she started to swing her rifle like a club hoping to hit something.

But despite all the swinging, she didn't hit anything.

The sniper was equipped with an optical camo and likely with other cyberware such as maybe a Kerenzikov or a Sandevistan.

She peeled her eyes and looked for any clues of the sniper presence.

Myers and the NUSA soldier were still providing suppressive fire.

A plastic bag suddenly flew.

Was the wind, maybe?

Unlikely, as V didn't anything that could be compared even to a breeze.

V held her Osprey rifle and aimed near the bag.

A 3 rounds burst was fired.

A cloud of blood sprayed from the air, with the sniper appearing suddenly, missing some chunks of his torso.

V switched to her pistol, and checked the body.

She shot the sniper's head to be sure that he was dead, before removing his balaclava to check the face.

The dead man had blonde hairs and a scarred face with heavy Slavic and Mongolic features.

V grabbed her agent and took a photo.

He didn't looked like the average criminal or soldier.

Maybe a foreign agent or foreign special ops.

V called Myers on the coms, said that the threat was neutralized then looked back to where the AV crashed.

Now the main objective was to extract Myers out of Night City.

Given that they were in Pacifica, the easiest way would be from the border of South California.

V headed back to the place where Myers took cover, trying to plan the next steps.

Upon reaching the President, V said with a flat tone.

"We need to extract you, Madam."

Myers asked simply.

"Any plans?"

V replied.

"We head to the SoCal border."

The NUSA soldier pointed out.

"We need transport."

V shrugged.

"We are still in Night City. This will be the easiest part. Follow me."

After all, V was a Night City native, and she knew each district like her pockets.

"Get down!" she whispered, as she saw a group of armed men.

They were speaking in Russian, wearing black striped tracksuits and holographic masks.

They were Scavs, and they had a substantial presence in Pacifica and Downtown.

Something was off, however.

She noticed that they were also equipped with tactical vest, exoskeletons and military weapons.

They were guarding a Villefort Columbus V340-F Freight van, with the typical black paint-job of the Scavs.

They seemed at very unease.

Two of them were talking in a corner, while smoking a cigarette.

"Ne mogu poverit', chto my unichtozhili AV prezidenta NUSA!"

The translation implants of the three Americans started to decrypt what they were talking.

"Can't believe we took down the AV of the NUSA President!"

The other shrugged.

"Eto budet deystvitel'no tyazhelym udarom dlya «Yanki». Oni dazhe ne poymut, chto eto za udar."

"This will be a really hard shock for the Yankees. They won't know what it hit them."

Then the first Scav asked.

"A chto, yesli oni kakim-to obrazom vyzhili? Mozhet byt', s pomoshch'yu implanta «Vtoroye serdtse» ili chego-to v etom rode»"

"What if they survived somehow? Maybe with a Second Heart implant or something."

The second inhaled then replied.

«Nevozmozhno. Ikh, dolzhno byt', ubil «sovetnik» s Rodiny. Vy slyshali vystrely. Etot snayper ne mog promakhnut'sya. Stavlyu 5000 eddi, chto on prikonchil togo, kto vyzhil v katastrofe».

 

"Impossible. The "advisor" from the Motherland must have killed them. You heard the shots. That sniper can't have missed. I bet 5000 eddies that he nailed whoever survived the crash."

 

Then the first Russian asked again.

«Kto etot paren'? Chto on delayet?»

"Who is that guy? What he is doing?"

The second Russian sighed.

«Ya dumayu, chto on chekist, no eto ne moye delo...»

"I think he is a Chekysta but is not my business..."

The second Russian was getting irritated but the first didn't caught the memo.

"Pochemu my pomogayem kommunistam? Ne budet li plokho dlya nashego biznesa, yesli Nayt-Siti stanet takim, kak v Rossii? Nikakoy chastnoy sobstvennosti ili vozmozhnostey dlya biznesa."

"Why we are helping the Communists? Wouldn't be bad for our business if Night City became like in Russia? No private property or business opportunity."

The other Russian finally lost his patience.

"Poka oni nam platyat, tak chto mne vse ravno. Ya ispol'zuyu eti den'gi, chtoby ubrat'sya otsyuda, kogda upadut bomby. Kuplyu villu v Somali ili chto-to v etom rode. Mozhet byt', yesli Kreml' budet shchedrym, my poluchim kakiye-nibud' medali i pensiyu, no ne nadeytes' na eto. Mne vse ravno, chto budet s Nayt-Siti."

"For now they are paying us, so I don't care. I will use the money to get the fuck out of here when the bombs will fall. Get a villa in Somalia or something. Maybe if the Kremlin feel generous we get some medals and a pension too, but don't hope for it. I don't care what will happen to Night City."

The first Russian was about to ask another question but was stopped by his enraged choom.

«Zatknis'! Ne smey, blyad', zadavat' yeshche odin vopros. Ty slishkom mnogo ikh zadayesh'. Ty, idiot, ne vyzhil by ni v Moskve, ni v Minske, ni v Severozhope. Tebya by skhvatili i potashchili v GULAG».

"Shut up! Don't fucking dare ask another question. You ask too many of them. You idiot would have never survived in Moscow, Minsk or Severozhopa. They would have grabbed you and dragged you to a gulag."

Then the two Russian parted ways, with one of them headed in a secluded area, before he stopped and stopped in front of a corner.

He put his gun on the ground and then he opened his zipper.

A flow of urine came from his penis, and V took advantage to sneak on him.

As she got closer she reeked at the smell of urine and strong vodka.

When she reached him, she grabbed him before quickly snapping his neck.

Then with Her Majesty pistol she shot the other one in the back of his head, with the Russian dropping death like a ragdoll.

Now she had to find a way to reach the van to extract Myers.

She checked the area, advancing slowly and eliminating any Scav could.

V was trying to keep her cool, even as the situation was tense.

They could have realized that they chooms were slowly dying, one by one.

Now V was close to a construction scaffolding, almost close to the van.

She just had to reach it.

However, a voice sounded in her earpiece.

"Watch out V! Sniper on the scaffolding!"

V was now still.

Then a silenced shot and a metallic thud.

It was clear that it was Myers' shot.

Despite her age, her skills were still really good.

Then V rushed and entered in the van.

Inside of it there were few crates that were clearly containing weapons.

V ignited the van and started rushing, heading towards the place were Myers and the soldier were located.

 

As soon she reached them, V shouted.

"Inside, now."

Despite being the President, Myers obeyed the order, with the NUSA soldier following and covering her.

As soon both of them were on board, V started driving, drifting on the messy and littered roads of Pacifica.

They were even more clustered and ruined that three years prior.

Shots were fired, with some hitting the van.

Stealing the van made a rockus, which in turn seemed to have alerted all the Scavs in Pacifica.

However, looked like they were in every corner, shooting at them.

At one point, another Colombus van started to chase them too.

A Scav leaned from the window of the chasing van and shot at the van that V was driving.

The NUSA soldier was trying to keep them with his Achilles.

V was trying driving as fast he could but the van was still close to them.

Myers shouted.

"They are onto us!"

V screamed back.

"I am on it."

They finally took the highway and reached the Badlands.

Now they just needed to get to the border with South California.

Preferably in one piece.

Myers had an idea.

She started to open the crates, all of them marked as "Techtronika" in Cyrillic.

The first one contained a T-40 Uragan missile.

It would have been really useful but it would have killed everyone on board with the backblast.

Myers oened another.

F-GX Grenades.

Also too risky.

Then she opened another.

It was the right one.

It contained a Techtronika BMG-5000.

It was an heavy machinegun but luckily they didn't need to hold it.

Myers grabbed the gun, reloaded it, racked the charging handle, deployed the bipods, laid down and started to fire on the chasing van.

It was like it was raining lead.

The fire was loud and on the right side of the gun, the stell casings were flying, still hot.

The fire of the machine gun completely devastated the chasing van, especially when it hit the driver.

The van ended crashing on a boulder.

Myers then used her comms.

"This is President Myers. Reaching the SoCal border."

Then V kept driving.

In the rear view mirror, she could still see parts of the city, still engulfed by explosions.

Despite all the tensions, the rest of the drive was calm.

When they reached the border, they were simply let to go without any checks.

It was like the time when she had to deliver So Mi.

And like that time, there was a Zetatech Valgus with NUSA markings, waiting.

Chapter Text

V was aboard a Lockheed C-200 Universe cargo plane, which, was the largest STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing) jet in the world and one of the most popular fast cargo-lifters in military service, and used around the globe.

She was thinking on how the situation evolved after the Unification Talks failed.

Apparently, it became a clusterfuck.

Both the USSR and Japan allied together and organized a joint invasion of Night City in order to "protect" its citizens residing in the Free City.

It was all bullshit, as neither of the two countries cared much about their own countrymen, with one being a Communist authoritarian dictatorship, while the other a dictatorship under a corporation.

Despite being ideologically on the opposite sides, they put aside their differences in order to advance their interests.

It was likely that they just wanted to make sure that Night City stayed independent.

V looked the other soldiers sitting on the seats.

Some were sleeping, some were staring the emptiness, some were angry.

Not a single word.

The plane was about to land in few moments.

After a while, a sudden vibration, which meant that the plane was touching the ground.

As soon the plane stopped moving and the ramp was lowered, V and the soldiers got out of the plane.

They were now at the Edwards Aerospace Base in the sunny South California.

V looked around and saw lot of activity.

Lot of vehicles were moving around, and surprisingly for V there were a lot of vehicles that should have been in a museum.

She tried to identify the relatively old aircrafts, spotting some  AV-6s, Bell UH-9 helicopters, AV-8s, AH-99 attack helicopters, AV-9s,  McDonnell-Douglass F-33 Wasp fighter-jets, Overlord airships, Bell-Boeing Falcon-Bs helicopter, Boeing V-22 Ospreys VTOLs and even some A-01 Blitz ground attack jet.

V guessed that the best stuffs were already on the field, being unleashed against the invaders.

Then she saw another C-200 plane with Militec decals and a olive green/yellow paintjob, which was parked on the tarmac.

Quite a lot of Militec grunts were coming out of them.

V followed them, as part of the plan.

She joined the flow of young and likely inexperienced Militec soldiers as the headed towards a huge Militec Behemoth truck.

V did like the other grunts, entered from the back and sat on the bench inside.

As the truck departed, the truck was filled with 50 soldiers, which was an entire platoon.

Some were clearly anxious and nervously holding their Militec M251s Ajax rifles, while some others were more calm and were likely veteran of previous conflicts.

Some even watched V, as she kinda looked out of place, with a black combat suit instead of a Militec uniform.

However, V still inspired fear and her reputation still held a bit, so nobody bothered her.

The rumors of the most bloodthirsty merc of Night City were still going strong.

V's reputation was almost as strong as Morgan Blackhand's reputation.

She decided that was best to take some sleep.

After all, the transfer to the Militec FOB would have lasted another 3 hours, so she just closed her eyes.

After a dreamless sleep, the truck stopped and everybody got out.

V woke up too, finding herself in a Militec military base and after getting out, she headed towards an hangar marked "06".

A XT 451 Basilisk Block 77 hovertank was parked inside.

It was a huge machine weighting 102,956 kilos and armed mainly with a mili-40L 20mm recoilless autocannon and was also equipped with a CC04 Defense System,  reactive armor, a life support system that could last up to 4 hours, an autopilot mode and a passive IFF radar-base identification system like the basic version, with the Block 77 version being armed with a QianT twin-barrel 25mm autocannon, and a thermal missile launcher and two HATGM-Quad Optic and with Jumi5 duplex cyclone nitro injector.

Ironically it was probably inspired by the modified Basilisk used by the Aldecados Nomad clan.

Next to the tank, there was a Militec grunt with a green and yellow colored tanked uniform.

V got closer to him, he turned around and said.

"You must be the spook sent by Washington."

V nodded.

The Militec grunt knew that the less questions he made, the better it would be.

"Let's get on board."

The soldier climbed on the tank and entered from the hatch, with V doing the same.

As she was inside, she remembered that time when together with her Nomad friend Panam Palmer, they stole a Basilisk and then used to shoot up some Raffen Shiv.

She remembered even the neural connection between each other as they piloted the vehicle.

V started to feel what the soldier was feeling the sensations and the memories of the Militec soldier, alongside feeling the Basilisk becoming an extension of her body.

The soldier was called Milton Tecmay, born in Lickskillet, Madison County, Alabama, having a bit of a rough life with a deadbeat father and an alcoholic mother before enlisting in the NUSA Army and fighting in the Unification War before joining Militec.

Some of his memories were really revolting and spinechilling.

Meanwhile Milton shouted as V's memories flooded him.

"YOU FUCKING CYBERPSYCHO WHORE!"

V screamed back.

"What the fuck happened?"

Milton was furious.

"YOU WERE THE ONE THAT STOLE THE BASILISK WITH THE NOMAD BASTARDS AND KILLED THE SOLDIERS OF THE CONVOY!"

V calmly said.

"Was just business, you know... the Merc's life. Its a past life by now."

As more memories were flowing inside Milton's head, he was freaking out.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!? YOU WERE FUCKING SEEING JOHNNY FUCKING SILVERHAND AFTER GETTING A DAMN BIOCHIP IN YOUR HEAD? THATS SOME CRAZY CYBERSCHIZO SHIT!"

V cut it off.

"Lets just pilot the damn Basilisk and proceed with the mission."

The soldier stopped talking and then they drove the Basilisk tank out of the hangar and eventually the base, heading towards the border with Night City.

After an hour of driving in the scorching Mojave desert, they saw the huge wall that indicated the physical border which separated Night City from South California.

However, numerous cracks and holes were tattering the structure.

The tank was being driven at full speed towards the wall, with Milton checking if there was any opening.

A M-11 Schwartzkopf MBT passed in front of the Basilisk, with them following him.

The tanks found a huge hole in the wall and used it to enter in Night City.

Compared to the last time that V was there, extracting President Myers, the city was even in worse shape.

Numerous military vehicles were driving, flying and advancing towards the city that was now in ruins.

Beside the tanks and the aircrafts, V also saw some M-11 IFV, the M-50 Hellfire missile carrier and M-75 light battle tanks.

Some of them were now charred wrecks, sometime with still burning flames.

As the Basilisk drove in the badlands, V spotted a tank sporting a decal of Zaibatsu.

It was a Nebuto tank, which was a Japanese designed tank that ironically also used by Free States during the Unification War.

The enemy tank shot first but luckily the shot missed.

V aimed and shot a 25mm into the Nebuto, hitting in the tracks and immobilized it.

Then they circled it before shooting another shell at the side of the Nebuto destroying it, leaving only a flaming wreckage.

Around the battlefield, it was becoming more and more chaotic.

Numerous explosions by artillery, mortars, rockets and tank shells were sparking everywhere.

Milton kept driving the Basilisk as V kept shooting the enemy tanks.

Alongside the Nebuto tanks, they also spotted some Soviet T-77 tanks.

V alternated between the cannons and the missiles, to avoid being vulnerable as the autoloader was reloading the ammunitions.

A Zaibatsu Kutsu, an unlicensed clone of the Zetatec Valgus attack helicopter hovered nearby.

V shot a volley of EMP missiles, which shut down all the helicopter's electrical systems, making it fall down in the desert.

The aircraft crashed against a rock, with the impact killing the pilots and the passengers.

Night City now was really close, with only 1.5 miles until they reached the city proper.

In the skies, unidentified fighters were flying across the sky over Match 3.

They were likely Zaibatsu Z-77 Rezu or MiG-69 Fapper.

They dropped some missiles in the direction of Downtown and then numerous explosions followed.

V and Milton could now see Pacifica, and they spotted a Soviet Mil Mi-79 Hatchet, which was a design inspired by the Valgus with some elements of the Mi-24 Hind, heavily armored and capable of transporting troops.

It was opening the rear door, with the troops ready to rappel down.

V spot a 25mm into the helicopter, killing everyone aboard.

After the enemy helicopter's wreck fell on the ground, the Basilisk kept advancing to the objective, which was the Grand Imperial Mall, which according to intel was occupied by Soviet forces in Pacifica and used as their FOB.

Pacifica looked even worse now, which was impressive considering was a former battlezone.

Now most of the buildings were either ruined or totally rubble.

The streets were filled with Kaukaz Bratsk U4020 trucks and Kaukaz Volkhov armored vehicles.

Fighting was going on the streets between Soviet troops and what looked like 6th Street militiamen.

The GIM was still standing still, even if more dilapidated.

They kept going on, proceeding full throttle.

A Soviet soldier was shooting at the local insurgent, and had barely time to turn around as the Basilisk run him over.

They were now really close, as they almost reached the parking lot in front of the former mall.

There was a problem however.

The parking lot was more defended than foreseen.

Wrecks of cars and trucks were arraigned to make a makeshift barrier wall, and the whole area was defended by soldiers, turrents and  T-77 tanks.

V shoot a barrage of EMP missiles, with dehabilitied the enemy's electronics as soon as they hit, then followed by multiple missiles which breached the enemy lines.

Then some quick burst of 25mm to try to take out the enemy tanks.

As V was shooting, Milton tried to drive to avoid the shots of the Soviet tanks.

They were almost reaching the entrance of the mall, when V noticed a small object rolling near them.

It was a Zaibatsu EMP grenade.

V quickly disconnected from the tank's systems.

The EMP grenade exploded and released an electromagnetic impulse which fried the electric systems of the armored vehicle.

Unluckily Milton didn't managed and  his brain fried alongside the tank systems.

His death was comparable to a Netrunner that was badly disconnected from the Net.

Now the Basilisk was like a metal coffin and V was trapped inside.

After a while she begun to hear muffled shouting and metallic noises.

It sounded like they were trying to open the hatch with a crowbar.

Then suddenly the hatch briefly opened and V was hit in the head with a hard metallic object.

Chapter Text

V woke up with a intense pain in the hand and a migraine.

It too few minutes for her to regain her senses.

Her hands were tied against a metal chair.

Then she started look around.

She was in a small room facing , with a strong light coming from behind, facing a wall with two doors on the sides.

It looked weirdly familiar.

She looked the room more carefully and was shocked by what she saw.

Car batteries with cables attached, electrodes, jerry cans, plastic bags with fluids residuals on it, pliers, a bloodied knife and even a neural stimulator device.

It was a torture chamber.

A man entered in the room.

He was wearing an olive green uniform and a cap with the Soviet hammer and schyte insignia in the middle.

V checked the rank on his shoulder.

It was a Major.

He checked V quickly.

His face looked barely human, expressionless, with Slavic eyes giving him a vague impression that he was a person.

He moved in a martial way, looking even more artificial than a Robot R Mk. 2.

Then another man entered from the other door.

He was wearing the same uniform albeit with the ranks of Colonel.

He was a huge and muscled man, looking like a bodybuilder on steroids.

V wondered if maybe he was a fan of the Animals gang.

They would have definitely welcomed him among their ranks.

He walked towards V with a creepy smile.

His face looked completely organic.

Once he was uncomfortably close, he stopped and started to talk in Russian.

«Otlichnaya nakhodka. Ona pokhozha na agenta FIA».

"Nice catch. She looks like a FIA agent."

The Major replied.

«My proverili yeyo snaryazheniye. Besshumnyy pistolet, peredovyye instrumenty, khakerskoye sredstvo, nebol'shoy dron...»

"We checked her equipment. A silent pistol, advanced tools, an hacking agent, a small drone..."

Then he took a small object from his jacket pocket.

«... nebol'shaya moneta s markirovkoy FIA. Prakticheski podtverzhdayet eto».

"... a small coin with FIA markings. Pretty much confirms it."

The Colonel smiled and mormoured.

«Ya proslezhu, chtoby ona rasskazala vse, chto nam nuzhno znat', i chto zadumal Vashington».

"I will make sure she will tell what we need to know and what Washington is up to."

Then he ordered to the Major.

«Ostav'te nas nayedine i vklyuchite kakoy-nibud' „romanticheskiy“ fil'm. Ya khochu khorosho provesti s ney vremya».

"Give us some privacy and put some 'romantic' movie on. I want to have a good time with her."

The Major nodded, went behind V, activated a projector and then left the room.

The Colonel licked his lips and looked at V with lust.

Then he went towards the torture devices and spent some minutes choosing carefully.

Then he chose the plastic bag.

He grabbed it and headed back to V before putting V's head inside it.

The bag was clearly dirty with saliva from the Colonel's previous victims.

In few minutes V started to feel pain in her lungs, as they needed precious oxygen which was long gone in the bag.

Her face became purple and her mouth opened without making a sound.

V gasped and struggled for few minutes before fainting.

Everything became black.

However she woke up suddenly, awaken by a sudden flow of water in her mouth.

She opened her eyes but they were covered by a black cloth.

V couldn't breath and felt the sudden instinct to puke as more water flew.

It was like she was drowning.

She tried to resist, as she understood that he was trying to waterboard her.

After a while, the cloth was removed.

The Colonel laughed creepily and asked in an heavily accented English.

"Are you ready to talk, American capitalist whore?"

V looked at him with anger.

"Fuck you! I will not talk."

The Colonel shrugged.

"Guess I have to use another method."

He grabbed a car battery, took it near V then attached the cables on V's nipples.

As soon as the Colonel turned the device on, an electric shop entered inside V's body.

She felt a jolt of pain and started screaming loudly.

As she was suffering from the pain, the Colonel was discreetly caressing his own crotch, excitedly.

Then he turned the device off and asked.

"What's your name? Mine is Boris Zhivotnoyovic Malekhuy."

V spitted on the ground and said.

"Suck my dick."

The Colonel laughed and replied.

"I got a better idea. You suck mine."

Then open the zipper of his trouser and showed his genitals to V.

The penis was very small despite the erection and the testicles were deformed.

V looked it, thinking that looked like a clitoris, then she looked up until she stared Boris in the eyes.

Before looking however, she carefully checked if there was anything she could use against him.

She saw an holster with his sidearm inside.

It was a Techtronika RT-46 Burya, a 4 shot, single barreled, double-action revolver, outfitted with an electromagnetic barrel capable of firing charged rounds and fitted with a holographic iron sight.

It was powerful albeit really heavy and impractical.

The fact that apparently used it without requiring any chrome was impressive.

Then she spotted some syringes of steroids sticking out of his jacket pocket.

The Soviet grabbed his revolver and aimed it to V's head.

"No funny ideas."

V stared him in the eyes before opening her mouth and start sucking the Russian's penis.

The smell and taste was horrible, with the woman feeling like she was about to puke.

She twisted her tongue on the gland tip to increase the Colonel's pleasure.

The Colonel moaned and closed his eyes.

V meanwhile was working to get her hands free.

With some movements she managed too loosen her zipties a bit.

Now it was the perfect opportunity.

She bite the Colonel's dick, then with her teeth deep in the flash, she severed the member from its owner, which screamed loudly.

With a rapid movement, V grabbed one of the steroid syringe and pushed deep into the right eye of the Colonel until it started bleeding.

Then before he could point his weapon at the woman, she put her finger inside the wound, with the Colonel screaming from the suffering.

With the other hand V tried to disarm the Russian.

It was too strong however and was almost impossible to take his gun.

She pushed up to the Colonel's face, until it was with the barrel pointed under his chin.

Then she pressed the trigger and the Colonel's head blew up in a red mist.

V's hear begun to hear an annoying tintinnius, her heart started to beat fast and her brain was processing what happened.

Her torturer was dead, without his head and his manhood.

V started to plan about what to do.

She had to get a weapon and escape from the place.

She looked at the RT-46 Burya revolver but she quickly dismissed it as it was too impractical as a weapon and despite the FIA organic enhancements it was still risky to try to use the weapon without adequate chrome.

V chose instead to go towards the torture items and grabbed the bloodied knife.

Then she exited the room, finding herself in a cinema room.

V now remembered that the torture room was the place where she met the NetWatch agent Bryce Mosley and where he asked him to eliminate the Voodoo Boys gang.

Instead of the classic Western movie One Eyed Jacks , the screen now shown intense and gore-y snuff.

People getting ripped off by Scavs, mutilations, executions, random acts of violence.

Some scene even involved children.

It was really disgusting and horrid.

With the knife in her hand, she proceed towards the exit.

V reached the door, opened and saw the Major, who was standing still with his back towards the door.

The FIA agent quickly grabbed the Soviet and slit his throat swiftly, then she stabbed him multiple times until she was sure that he was dead.

The she grabbed his sidearm, which was a Techtronika Metel, a semi-automatic, magazine-fed revolver that held 8 rounds.

V checked throughly the body and found a shard.

She inserted it in her neck slot and read it.

It described where the armory was located and that some of V's equipment were stored there while waiting to be shipped to Moscow at the next service rotation.

V then walked in the corridor, holding the revolver and proceeding forward.

She opened a door and found herself in a big empty room, the same where she fought Matilda K. Rose, also known as Sasquatch back in 2077.

V was keeping her eyes peeled, finger on the trigger.

She was crouch walking, staying in the shadows to avoid the enemy soldiers.

V passed through a former Kayaban Food restaurant as she remembered that there was a deactivated escalators that led to the ground floor.

Despite the presence of crates and other military equipment such as radios, jammers and tactical laptops, the layout was still the same as she remembered.

She noticed a Soviet soldier patrolling the room, and she snuck up to him, before neutralizing him by slitting his throat.

After she dragged his body behind a crate, she proceeded towards the escalators.

According to the intel, the armory was located on the other side of the abandoned mall.

She saw a devastating 2S8 Liliya artillery cannon, which shot 305mm shell, in the middle of the abandoned mall, with a golden statue with three dolphins crumpled on its side..

However she couldn't do nothing as she didn't had any mean to deal with it, so she resumed her objective to get her equipment back.

V reached the room used as armory, which was located in a former sex shop and opened the shutters.

She saw a small container and opened it.

All her equipment was inside, from Her Majesty pistol to the drone.

Then she spotted few C4 charges, which she grabbed as she thought to use them against the artillery gun.

Her self imposed objective was now to destroy the massive cannon.

V sneaked up again, this time heading towards the Soviet ordnance.

As she avoided the Soviet troopers, she remembered when she snuck in the same place, working for the Voodoo Boys, trying to find who was trying to obstacle them.

It eventually turned out to be the NetWatch agent that V met at the Haton Theater, which explained what the Voodoo Boys were trying.

In the end, she chose to make a deal with the agent and eliminate the Voodoo Boys, as they were poking holes on the BlackWall which could have unleashed some really maleficent AIs and create a catastrophe.

V reached the cannon and set few charges on the side of the cannon, on the base and on a crate full of 305mm ammo.

But as she set up the detonator, she heard a shouting in Russian.

She has been discovered.

V grabbed her Matel revolver and shot the soldier, which fallen death.

Now it was a shooting, as every soldier was now alerted and firing.

V fired back with her Metel revolver.

She had to get far away from the cannon, so she advance cover by cover, shooting at the Soviet soldiers.

They were hiding behind the columns and the various crates, shooting with their Techtronika ShAK-12 assault rifles.

V was aiming for their heads, with the explosive rounds creating red myst on the impact.

V rushed over to what used to be a Triple Xtreme Epic Workout Center gym, slided and shot another soldier, hitting him in the genitals and making them explode.

Soviet soldiers were now coming in her direction, ready to surround her from all sides.

Then V grabbed the detonator and pressed the clacker.

An intense explosion engulfed the massive artillery cannon.

The shockwave was warmth and strong while the noise was really loud.

V's ears begun to ring.

The Soviet soldiers now were distracted and staggered.

V quickly turned this into an opportunity for neutralizing them.

She went after each one, shooting them and pulverize their body parts.

V looked back to check the situation.

The center of the mall was now engulfed with flame and the charred wreckage of the artillery in the middle.

She headed towards the main entrance of the mall, shooting every enemy soldiers in her way.

As soon as she got out, V saw the huge wall that formerly separated Night City from Dogtown.

She headed in that direction, crunch walking behind the car wrecks to avoid to be spotted by the patrols of infantry soldiers and armored vehicles.

As she was getting uphill and closer, she heard the noise of gunfire, which was getting louder and louder.

As she was now near, she saw the effects of the artillery and explosive on the wall, which was now devastated, full of holes and looked about to collapse at every moment, and also saw the unfinished buildings getting even more ruined.

V looked at what in the past used to be a border checkpoint between Dogtown and Night City.

The metallic shutters were now full of bullet holes and the same could be said for the concrete barriers that were used by some BARGHESTs as cover.

V hide herself behind a concrete barrier to observe the scene.

The BARGHESTs, which given their red uniform were clearly part of the Prevention Unit that acted as Dog Town's own law enforcement, were shooting with Nokota D5 Copperhead assault rifles at some Russian soldiers which were clearly attempting to assault and breach into Dog Town.

Despite being overwhelmed by the numbers, they were holding their positions pretty well.

V could feel their tension and stress even despite their red uniform covered them from head to toe.

She looked more carefully and also saw a pile of bodies of dead BARGHESTs, which clearly sacrificed their lives in the attempt to defend the border, hidden behind some sandbags.

Then suddenly, something happened.

The doors located at the sides of the metal shutters opened.

Usually they were used to keep in check the entries and exits of the small independent "country".

But this time, some people came from both of them.

They were wearing black jackets, donning chrome and their faces were obscured by an holographic mask.

Definitely Scavs from Dog Town.

They were also armed and pointed their guns to the BARGHESTs.

Before the BARGHEST soldiers could turn, they were shot in the back by the ruthless Scavs.

After the Scavs made sure that everyone was dead by shooting the dead bodies, one of them, which was a huge muscled man started shouting.

"Davai, davai, davai!"

The Soviets soldiers came from their positions and started advancing towards the border.

Then, few minutes after the first Soviet soldiers crossed the border, the shutters opened, allowing the entrance for the enemy vehicles such as APCs and IFBVs.

Now the enemy invaded Dog Town.

Chapter Text

V couldn't believe her own eyes.

The Soviet were marching into Dog Town like nothing happened.

For years, the NUSA or Night City authorities tried to find a way to annex Dog Town, albeit BARGHEST always put a fierce resistance.

Unexpectedly, V's ears started buzzing as she was receiving an holocall.

She replied, surprised by the person that contacted her.

"Mr. Hands?"

The man replied in his usual calm voice.

"Affirmative. I contact you specifically to require a favor, which given your situation would be wise to accept."

He took a breath and then he continued.

"I would require your assistance in helping me and another important individual to relocate out of Dog Town. Please expedite towards the Black Sapphire hotel, I am aware that you are nearby the Dog Town's border."

V was flabbergasted and before she could even ask how Mr. Hands knew where she was, he replied.

"As you are probably yearning for an answer to the question forming in your mind, I must inform you that is a requirement in my profession to acquire information through every source possible, and you can't even fathom the vastness of my connections. Now please, reach me swiftly."

As soon the conversation was over, V started thinking on how she could have crossed the border to reach Mr. Hands.

The traffic of vehicles towards Dog Town seemed to have momentarily stopped.

V then proceed towards the border, aiming the Her Majesty pistol.

The border was left unguarded so she took the occasion to infiltrate.

V passed through what once was a electronic gate which marked the entrance, before entering in a corridor where the scanning used to be done.

She remembered that it used to have visible traces of blood on the floor, which were still present, even if in a different manner.

Before it was usually old and dry blood, now it was fresh and wet.

She looked on the right side, where the control room was present.

The Border Control BARGHEST operators were all shot and dead on the floor, with the room being full of bullet holes and blood splatter.

She looked ahead and noticed that the scanner was clearly broken to sabotage.

V then spotted a Soviet soldier, which she shot in the head from behind, two times.

After passing through the open door under the scanner, she was officially in Dog Town.

If Pacifica was now a disaster, Dog Town was an absolute catastrophe.

The air was full of thick dust which hurt the lungs, the unfinished skyscrapers were either on fire or rubble, the roads were full of craters and the noises of firing, explosion and mortar whistling were incessant.

The road was now uphill, with numerous flaming wreckage of  Mahir Suprons and Thorton Colbys modified by BARGHEST to act as armored vehicles.
She walked upstairs, sneaking behind the wreckages.

V tried to reach a side passage under an archway.

She kept going uphill, stealthily shooting any enemy that could have spotted her.

She didn't bothered to hide the bodies, as the situation was a complete mess of bullets and explosions, with multiple deaths from both Soviet and BARGHEST sides.

As she saw two casinos in rubble, with the two lion statues being now barely recognizable she went left.

On the right, she could see the ruins of the pink colored Grand Azalea mall, while on the right side her objective, the Black Sapphire hotel, which was a huge black skyscraper with golden stripes.

The unfinished hotel consisting of five towers had an impressive height of about 1360 feet or 415 meters, distributed in 99 floors, with 2792 rooms available in total.

But in front of the hotel it was hell, as the BARGHEST were shooting intensively, trying to defend the Black Sapphire at all costs.

Some BARGHEST were even piloting Militec Minotaurs mechas armed with Mk. 31 HMGs, providing suppressive fire against the Soviet Techtronika Volkhov technically, armed with mounted Techtronika BMG-500 machine guns and general infantry.

V knew she had to hurry, as the Soviet reinforcement were about to come.

V activated the optical camo of her tactical suit and sneaked behind the BARGHEST soldiers.

She peeked quickly at the hall behind the huge doors.

It was even more heavily defended, with numerous crates acting as cover, numerous Aegis X2 turrets and an entire division of BARGHEST soldiers ready to fire at everyone that tried to came from the door.

The FIA operative concluded that entering from the main door was a suicide, thus not a valid option.

Then she remembered when she had to infiltrate the hotel to infiltrate a party hosted by the former BARGHEST leader Kurt Hansen in order to save So Mi.

She kept sneaking, hurrying before the effect would wore off until the recharge.

Luckily for her, not only was the side entrance was unguarded but she also managed to reach it before the optical camo effect ended.

She opened the door and entered inside, finding out a even worse interior that she remembered.

V turned right and saw a shadow.

She grabbed her knife and went closely, until she saw a man in a tactical suit, putting a breather on his face.

Before he could try to dive, V quickly grabbed him and slit his throat, before checking the body.

The man was equipped with a high tech suit and tactical gear, all clearly unmarked to avoid to disclose the country of origin of the man.

There was a big polymer bag on the man's back, closed with a zipper.

V opened it and saw a Techtronika VST-37 Pozhar mag-fed shotgun and numerous F-GX frag grenades and MOLODETS BioHaz grenades.

She put the grenades in her tactical bagpack and then she pushed the body in the water, after taking off its tactical rebreather and put on herself.

Then she dived in the murky water anf started swimming next to a pipe, following the red cables in the water.

V spotted a drain hole, which she opened previously, during her mission.

Something was off however.

The steel beams that fallen after she swam through the drainage were moved out next the entrance of the drain.

She realized that rubble has been removed.

She proceeded that way, looking carefully.

The she felt an hand grabbing her leg.

She turned around and saw a diver, dressed exactly like the man that she killed before the infiltration.

He was armed with a knife and had clearly hostile intention.

She swiftly kicked him in the face, staggering him for a bit.

Then she grabbed her own knife and aimed for the throat, slashing it and making the water brown.

As the attacker drowned in the dirty water and in his own blood, V pushed him away and started to proceed.

She swam, getting past through a red sliding door from a former train.

Numerous memories kept surfacing her mind as she swam towards the direction of her objective.

The memories were so vivid that she still knew where to go.

Then she climbed on submerged crates to get some air and check the direction to be sure before submerging herself again in the labyrinth of cables and trash until she reached a metallic scaffolding.

V tried to remember the directions, then she headed to a platform that used back then, climbing and getting dry again, then crawled under a semi open grated gate, before reaching a ladder, which led to a warehouse.

Then she headed to the elevator that she used the last time to reach the Floor 67, which was an unfinished floor used for maintenance.

After she reached it, V walked through a corridor and climbed a staircase, until she reached the place where she had to neutralize a sniper and take its Tsunami Rasetsu sniper rifle mounted on the sniper nest in order to provide cover for Reed.

All towers are connected via scaffolding and improvised bridges.

She headed on the left, climbing down the stairs then reaching an platform which connected to another tower.

Then another elevator to reach floor 99.

She remembered talking with Reed about So Mi, always in that same mission.

Then she reached a dirty room supposed to be the laundry room full of broken washing machines, where she put her emerald green party outfit before meeting the Cassel twins.

Before going outside, she gave a quick look at the mirror, which was now broken.

Now she was on top of the building was divided between the four towers, all connected by a terrace.

The area which before included a restaurant, AV landing pads, a club and a casino was now radically changed.

Now the place, instead of elegant decorations, was filled with crates, Aegis X2 turrets, surface to air missile launchers and BARGHEST snipers armed with Tsunami Nekomata sniper rifles.

A huge muscular man with gray hairs, cybernetic white eyes, wearing a black uniform was facing her.

It was familiar for her.

Charles Graham.

It was Jago Szabó's personal bodyguard and second in-command.

He seemed comfortable with V's presence.

"You must be V. Come, the boss is waiting."

The man escorted V towards the northern tower, the same one where the party has been held.

From the balconies, V could see the chaos that was unfolding in the streets of both Night City and Dog Town.

Charles took V to the area where the club/casino used to be.

Now it was basically used as a war room and as an arsenal.

V spotted two other familiar persons, in front of a table with a map of Dog Town open on it.

One of them, Jago Szabó was a sleek man with gray hairs and feminine facial features, wearing a black trench coat.

The other one was a peculiar man, wearing a red striped elegant Avante suit, with gray hair, with stylish mustache and a long beard.

Its real name was Wade Bleecker but was better know to V as "Mr. Hands" and was armed with a  Constitutional Arms Unity semiautomatic pistol.

Ironically it was the same place where they meet for the first time.

He was the first to comment.

"Colonel Jago, this is V. Seasoned merc with countless of gigs executed here and in Night City. The cream of the cream."

The other man looked V with curiosity.

"I feel like we met previously."

Mr. Hands chuckled, with a grin.

"It will sound far fetched but it had already happened."

Jago started thinking, before realizing.

"I think it must been thanks to you that I am in charge of Dog Town now.... Aguilar wasn't the real one."

Mr. Hands commented.

"Well, I might heard rumors that the real Aguilar is still searching for you."

Then he composed himself and started talking in a more serious tone.

"As you noticed the situation locally is quite complicated, which force us to relocate to a more stable location. Your task would be to provide additional protection for me and Yago while escorting us to a location suited for transfer safely with an AV."

V looked at him.

Mr. Hands reassured her.

"You don't have to worry about your assignments. Your employers will appreciate the collateral effects of this gig."

V replied.

"Like I have any other choice."

Mr. Hands added.

"Then, we should head swiftly to our destination, before the situation get even more danger..."

However, his sentence was interrupted by a loud explosion, coming from the staircase next to the elevator that was connected to the main hall.

BARGHEST soldiers started running towards the explosion and everyone started to be high alert.

A sudden burst of flame engulfed some of the BARGHEST soldiers, which were set ablaze.

Charles rushed towards the arsenal and grabbed a Militec Crusher mag-fed semiautomatic shotgun.

Meanwhile Jago grabbed a Szabó Arsenal SA-1 A, which was a modified local copy of the Militec M10AF Lexington machine-pistol.

After more and more BARGHEST tried unsuccessfully to rush against the enemy, some figures emerged from the stair case.

They were dressed exactly as the other two men in the infiltration point, albeit they were wearing tactical gas mask.

They were armed with Techtroniks VST-37 mag-fed shotguns.

One of them shouted in Russian.

«Brosayu biogranatu!»

"Throwing a bio-grenade!"

A green colored sphere was thrown by the enemy, landing near one of the BARGHEST sniper, which now tried to aim his Nekomata at them.

The sphere release a greenish cloud, which made the BARGHEST sniper cough before axphisiating.

The sphere release a greenish cloud, which made the BARGHEST sniper cough before axphisiating.

V shouted.

"Gas attack! We need gas masks now!"

The group hurried to the arsenal and grabbed the only four gas mask available.

Sadly for the other BARGHEST on the roof, there wasn't any more of them.

Most of them died either by the flames or by the exposure to the gas.

V also grabbed a grenade launcher from the arsenal, aimed in the direction of the enemied and then fired the two shots, before throwing the launcher away.

The explosion were loud and devastating.

Some of the enemies were killed by the explosion, others were still alive.

Then she grabbed her Metel and started shooting at the surviving enemies.

The bullets were exploding on the impact, wounding the commandos.

Charles headed to a cover and started firing his Crusher, while Jago and Mr. Hands tried to provide support by shooting their handguns.

After an intense firefight, the group successfully defeated the enemies.

While heading towards the staircase, V noticed a wounded enemy, which was missing both legs and an arm, trying to reach his Pozhar shotgun.

She rushed to him and pointed her Metel to his head, while with the other hand she removed his gas mask and balaclava.

He was a young blond man in his mid-20s and looked at her with a glance full of hatred.

V asked.

"Who are you? What is your objective?"

The man simply replied.

"Idi na kuj suka!"

That sentence didn't needed a translation, and V's answer was a pull on the trigger, which vaporized the man's head.

Mr. Hands commented.

"Spetnatz. Soviet special forces. Their mission was likely to eliminate or capture Jago in order to weaken BARGHEST and taking easier control of Dog Town."

V then grabbed one of the Techtronika VST-37 Pozhar shotguns laying around and checked the magazine

It wad loaded with Dragon Breath-type incendiary shells.

V then inserted the magazine into the shotgun's magwell, racked the weapon and exclaimed.

"Lets delta outta here."

Jago pointed at the staircase.

"Is the fastest and safest way out of here!"

V took the lead, and headed first alongside Charles.

They passed next to an elevator and started to climb down.

It would been 99 floors of stairs but was the best option, compared to the elevator.

If the power got cut they would end closed up inside a trap or possibly being ambushed in the hall.

V was now holding her newly-acquired shotgun, ready to fire at the slightest sign of Spetnaz presence, with Charles, Yago and Mr. Hands following.

The tension was high and the floors didn't seemed to end.

Luckily, everyone was in good shape, so the descent was proceeding smoothly.

It should likely have took half an hour to reach the hall.

After a while, V checked the number on the wall.

They reached the 52⁰ floor, which was circa almost half of the descent.

The group continued its descent, until V heard some noises and made a gesture to stop.

She listened carefully.

Footstep and the faint noise of Russian voices.

"Davai, davai, davai!"

V grabbed one of the F-GX grenades from her backpack and let it roll.

Then suddenly the voices shouted.

"CHYORT!"

Then the explosion.

V then rushed, jumped, did a small wall run and saw some other Spetnaz that survived the explosion.

As she was still in mid-air, she shot her weapon, which created a strong blaze with charred the enemy Spetnaz.

Charles reached her, shooting at any remaining Spetnaz either put to put them down or to be sure they were dead.

With the adrenaline flowing, V descended the floor with steadfast speed, holding her gun tightly.

Each floor they were passing meant that they were closer to getting out of there.

In circa six minutes, they reached the ground floor.

However, what they found was chilling and horrifying.

A thick gas was permeating over the hall, with the floor littered with the bodies of BARGHEST soldiers.

Now the control was taken over by gas mask-clad Spetnazs.

V looked around, to see if there was any way out.

Then she noticed that the Aegis X2 turrets were hacked.

They must had a Netrunner nearby.

V started crawl, looking carefully to find him.

She spotted her target, which was a Spetnaz Netrunner, recognizable by the use of a Netrunning suit instead of a tactical combat suit and was tinkering with some device.

V grabbed her knife then she got closer silently until she slit his throat.

Then, as the Netrunner dropped dead, she grabbed her agent, aimed at the Aegis X2 and hacked it.

The defence system was now under her control.

She aimed at one of the Spetnaz and started to fire.

The .50 bullets of the Militec Mk. 31 HMG machine gun shredded the body of the Soviet.

Charles started firing his Crusher at the Spetnaz that was closest to him, while Jago and Mr. Hands provided cover fire.

The Soviets, despite their rigorous training and experience were surprised and confused as the fire was coming from all directions.

The loud gunfire of the heavy machine gun was severing the Soviets limbs before killing them.

In few minutes, the whole hall was a blood bath full of corpses.

After the machine gun stopped firing, the hall was now encroached by a deafening silence.

V then headed towards the exit, with the group following her.

Chapter Text

Now, V and the group were outside.

It was the beginning of dusk and the already limited visibility was even worse now.

Everyone removed their gas masks, to prevent the thick dust from clogging the filters.

V whispered and asked Mr. Hands.

"Any detes on the EZ?"

Mr. Hands replied with a chuckle.

"The same place where you encountered your friend Reeds for the first time."

V nodded and started to look carefully to plan how to proceed.

On the right, which was the direction that she came from, was blocked by Techtronika Volkhovs and  Yakurichi-Ural BTR-15s, in addition of the heavy presence of Soviet infantry.

So she chose to go left, until they reached a round-about.

The group saw the Heavy Hearts club pyramid, heavily destroyed and now under Soviet control.

Mr. Hands was bit saddened to see the club in such state as despite being planned to be a temporary location for conducting his business, he grew fond of the place.

Then they turned towards the South and proceeded straight.

V saw an overheard passage that was now broken at the hal and the huge and devastated old Biotecnica building visible in the distance.

She heard frequent explosion in the direction of Terra Cognita, as it was the place were fighting was intensifying.

The road was littered with the dead bodies of BARGHEST soldiers, some even maimed and missing limbs.

She tighten the grip on her Pozhar shotgun, ready to shoot.

The group passed next to some destroyed BARGHEST Militec missiles carriers, armed with surface to air missiles.

The charred wrecks of the military vehicles were still burning.

The atmosphere was really eerie.

V spotted a familiar building, which was somewhat still intact.

It was the Heaven church, which also acted as a clinic.

She remembered the first time she visited the place.

Asked by a former Catholic priest called Odell Blanco

to help save a Ripperdoc called Anthony Anderson, after the church-clinic was overrun by the local branch of the Scav gangs.

Upon dealing with the Scavs and entering in Anderson's office, which was located in the church's basement,

V found out that the Ripperdoc has been taken hostage by a Serbian scav named  Nika Yankovich, with the motive being that her twin brother Gaspar disappeared upon ending up in the clinic.

But the worst thing is that apparently, the doctor took advantage of the situation and recycled the implants from Gaspar's body after intentionally killing him by overdose.

Then he told his conscience that since the Scav was a criminal and a drug addict, his life wasn't ad worth as the other people he would have saved.

But upon learning this fact, Nika became enraged and tried to shoot the Ripperdoc with a Darra Polytechnic DR-5 Nova revolver.

Unfortunately for her, V had faster reflexes and shot her six times with a Malorian Arms Overture revolver.

The blonde haired Scav woman died as the .42 caliber bullets passed through her body.

Following the incident, Anthony Anderson would resume his voluntary work at the clinic, helping the poor people of Dog Town with their medical needs and also offered his services to V.

As V was was paying a visit to the memory lane, the loud noise of an engine was coming closer.

A truck was coming, so the group looked for cover behind a concrete barrier.

As the dust settled a bit, V could see the vehicle that stopped near the church.

It looked like a SPK S9106 truck, a Serbian smaller copy of the Kaukaz Bratsk U4020.

Some soldier came out of the vehicle, talking in a Slavic language which was unfamiliar for the group.

One of them, with sounded like was shouting orders went to the back of the truck and opened the rear, before aiming with his weapon.

Some people, clearly unarmed sheepishly got out of the truck, with their hands in the air.

The soldier started to shout in English with an heavy Slavic accent.

"Move! Move! Move! Go to church!"

Then a man with dark skin got of the truck, albeit showing bit hesitation.

The soldier begun to be impatient.

"I said. Fucking move!"

The black man refused.

Then the soldier grabbed him and throw him in the ground.

"You not understand, you African monkey?"

The black man replied angrily, with an heavy Haitian Creole accent.

"I am not African, I am from Haiti, tet zozo!".

The soldier laughed.

"Never heard such country."

The Haitian man now got bit bolder.

"I am a gangsta of the Voodoo Boys. I am not scared of you. We will kill all of you."

The soldier shrugged.

"We will erase you, your stupid gang and all your race. We not scared of bunch of criminal monkeys. We deal worse in Albania and Bosnia."

Then he ordered angrily.

"Now, on knees you crnjo!"

Then the Voodoo Boys gangster shouted.

"NO!"

The soldier then aimed his rifle and the Haitian's legs exploded into a red mist.

The gangster was now crying, screaming, and trying to crawl away.

The soldier then put the rifle on his back and took a bladed weapon.

From the shape, it looked like it was a Rostović Kleaver.

Then he slowly advanced menacingly toward the Haitian, which started begging.

"No, no, no. Please!"

The soldier now grinned.

"Too late!"

He begun to swing his blade and slash the Haitian's arms.

Then as his victim was limb-less, he spat on him.

Now V and the others could see him clearly.

He had brown hair and hazel eyes, with facial hair that resembled a "scruffy" looking 5 o'clock and a scar running through his left brow.

He shouted to the other soldiers.

"Idemo!"

Then he headed towards the church, with the Haitian still screaming.

When the soldier was far enough, Mr. Hands looked at V and told.

"That individual we saw, is notorious in certain circles. Niko Belić. His professional life is quite interesting, major in the Serbian Army and full-time sadist. Fought in the Albanian and Bosnian insurgency for the Army, where he likely developed his tendencies and his knack for torture and war crimes against civilians. Wanted by ICC, with a conspicuous bounty over his head..."

A spark of passion appeared in V's eyes.

Mr. Hands commented.

"You considering going after him for the bounty?"

V looked carefully and replied.

"Maybe."

Mr. Hands giggled.

"You can't resist the thrill of a gig? Like in the good old Merc days?"

V replied.

"Consider it a target of opportunity."

Yago tried to protest due the dangerous situation but V's voice had more charisma.

"Stay here. I may also have a plan."

V grabbed the Her Majesty pistol and headed sneaking toward the church.

It was an imperative however that she needed to avoid to alert the enemies.

They were armed with Rostović Kolac was was a large caliber, semi-automatic, bullpup precision rifle, which shot  huge 22x126mm caliber bullets.

Since she was fully organic, it would been very devastating for her, despite the enhancements.

But maybe she could have got an hold on a pair of Kolacs and turn the cards on the table.

As she was close to the church, the smell was putrid and intense.

V turned her head and saw a ditch, full of maimed and naked bodies.

It was probably work of the Scavs, which reaped the chrome out of the victims.

V saw a familiar body of a man with gray hairs.

He was the Ripperdoc Anthony Anderson, and his body was in horrible conditions, being scarred and heavily maimed.

V wondered if was the work of the Serbians or the local Scavs.

She entered into the church and her blood chilled.

The interiors were totally devastated.

Blood was everywhere and the neon cross that was hanging on the wall in front of the altar was now shattered in pieces.

V crawled on the blood stained floor, heading her way towards the former office of the Ripperdoc.

She activated her suit optical camo, headed towards a door which she opened and then headed downstairs.

V now was sneaking in the corridor, relieving in her memories about the time when she shot Nika to death.

Suddenly, she heard a voice.

It was Niko Belić and he was singing "Karadžiću, vodi Srbe svoje"

"Od Bihaća do Petrovca sela, do Petrovca sela
Srpska zemlja napadnuta cela, napadnuta cela

Karadžiću vodi Srbe svoje, vodi Srbe svoje
Nek se vidi, nikog se ne boje, nikog se ne boje

Joj da vide hrvatske Ustaše, hrvatske Ustaše
Ne dirajte vi ognjište naše, vi ognjište naše

Karadžiću vodi Srbe svoje, vodi Srbe svoje

Nek se vidi, nikog se ne boje, nikog se ne boje

Iz Krajine krenuli su vuci, krenuli su vuci
Čuvajte se Ustaše i Turci, Ustaše i Turci

Karadžiću vodi Srbe svoje, vodi Srbe svoje
Nek se vidi, nikog se ne boje, nikog se ne boje

U odbrani svoga srpskog roda, svoga srpskog roda
Borimo se, draga nam sloboda, draga nam sloboda

Karadžiću vodi Srbe svoje, vodi Srbe svoje
Nek se vidi, nikog se ne boje, nikog se ne boje
Nek se vidi, nikog se ne boje, nikog se ne boje!"

As the Serbian soldier was singing, V headed towards Anderson's office, then she entered it.

For now, it looked untouched but probably was due the fact that the occupiers of the building moved recently.

V checked the room.

Apparently the Anderson's computer was still there.

V tried to hear where the singing came from.

Apparently, it was the same room where V found Gaspar's body and that door was connected to the computer.

She had an idea.

V grabbed a MOLODETZ BioHaz gas grenade from her backpack and pulled the pin.

She pressed a key to open up the room, threw the gas grenade there and before the Serbian had any idea of what was happening, she closed the door again.

As the gas was filling the room, Niko started coughing and banging on the metallic door.

The Serb started saying something unintelligible in Serbian but was hard to hear him.

V kept vigilant as Niko slowly asphyxiated.

Nobody was coming however, probably thinking that their officer was just having a good sadistic time.

When the Serbian stopped to make noise, V kept waiting a few moments, just to be sure he was dead, then she opened the door.

The FIA operative put her gas mask and then headed to the room, but she almost puked as she saw what Niko was doing.

He saw a dead and mutilated person, with clear sign of torture, tied up to a metallic chair.

V's felt guilty, even if she knew that the gas was a much less painful to die.

Next to the door, Niko's corpse was laying on the ground.

He was holding his bloodied up Kleaver, while he kept the rifle on his back with a sling.

V grabbed it and checked if was loaded, by racking the charging handle.

The weapon seemed to work perfectly.

Then she used her foot to turn the corpse on its back, grabbed her agent and took a photo, as was the evidence that she killed a notorious war criminal.

Now V started to go back to the group.

She saw a shadow coming from the stair so she readied her Kolac and as soon she saw the Serbian soldier, she pulled the trigger.

The enemy's head became red mist as the huge 22mm bullet passed through.

The shot likely alerted the other enemies, so V started to walk faster.

Another enemy came from the stairs but the former Merc's reflexes were quicker and she successfully shot him in the chest.

If V remembered correctly, she spotted six Serbian soldiers while sneaking.

She climbed the stairs and after activating her optical camo again, she opened the door and rushed to cover behind a crate.

Then she aimed through the sight of her Kolac and shot another Serbian, before ducking again.

As the Serbs were shooting, V grabbed a F-GX grenade and threw it.

The grenade exploded and V's ears begun to ring.

The Serbians were cussing albeit V couldn't understand a word.

As V was slowly regaining focus, she heard a familiar sound.

The automatic fire of a Militec Crusher shotgun.

It was Charles.

He was taking cover behind a crate and shooting.

The Serbians were surprised and started to shoot back.

V took advantage of the situation to shoot another Serb with her precision rifle.

The former Merc's aim was precise and she managed to take him down with only one shot.

Meanwhile Charles rushed and manage to headshot another enemy at point blank.

Another Serbian was now aiming at Charles but V eliminated him faster by shooting him in the head.

Now it seemed that all Serbian enemies were neutralized, with their body being severly maimed and an uneasy silence was now descended in the church.

Charles asked V.

"Everything is alright?"

V replied and asked back.

"I am fine. What about you? And where are Yago and Hands?"

Charles replied nonchalantly.

"They are fine, well hidden. I heard shooting and figured out you could use some help."

V nodded.

"Thanks. 'preciate it."

Then she grabbed a Kolac and some ammo from one of the Serbs and gave it to the BARGHEST Lieutenant.

Charles loaded the precision rifle then racked the charging handle and was ready to go.

Charles led V to the hiding place of Yago and Mrn. Hands.

As soon they reached it, V said in a calm tone.

"Let's get out of here."

The group now advanced towards the concrete stairs located next to the church.

They climbed the stairs, careful for any threats until they reached the top, and saw devastated ruined buildings.

They headed to the the right.

V saw a statue of a little girl playing with a ball,  now fallen in the ground and fragmented into pieces.

However, due its strategic location, the direction were the group was headed, was heavily defended by Soviet troops, with a road block made by few Techtronika Volkhovs.

V aimed her gun and said.

"Guess we don't have a choice."

She pulled the trigger and killed the gunner of one of the Volkhov.

Charles imitated her and took another gunner.

Yago grabbed a F-GX grenade and threw it, while Mr. Hand also provided fire from behind the cover of a column.

V and Charles led the advance, firing their Kolacs at every enemy they saw.

Then the turned down, as V saw the basketball court where she met Solomon Reeds for the first time.

As soon they reached the place, V called Reeds.

"Reeds, I need to extract some VIPs. Same location of our first date."

Solomon replied with a calm voice.

"Copy that. ETA in 15."

Now the former merc suddenly felt inundated by the memories of that encounter.

All the emotions were vivid, like her fear of dying and her desperation seeking a solution.

The promise to help So Mi and the last speech of Alex near the Memorial Tree.

But her nostalgia was suddenly interrupted by mass movements of enemy infantry and Volkhovs.

V and Charles soon went prone on the ground next to the ridge and aimed their precision rifles.

They aimed at the drivers, which crashed into the various obstacles as they were hit by the bullets.

V and Charles tried to alternate the shots, to make sure to provide cover as the other reloaded.

But despite its effective power, especially against the Soviet infantry, the round capacity was of only 6 rounds.

The enemy wave instead, was massive.

V had only 6 magazine left, and there was still ten minutes until the AV would come.

The former merc tried to prioritize the targets, like for example heavy gunners or any soldier with armed with surface to air missiles.

Tension was high, with everyone worried if the Soviets would manage to bring heavier equipment like the APCs, mortars or even artillery.

For now, the Kolacs were shooting, hitting as many targets as possible.

Then suddenly as V grabbed a magazine, she cussed.

It was the last one.

V took her a deep breath and focused more on the targets, managing to hit each one perfectly.

It was all thanks to her experience and the extra FIA training after the surgery.

Then, after the sixth shot, V pulled the trigger again.

No bang, only a click.

The dead man click.

Charles shot another burst of six rounds, then he shouted.

"I am dry!"

V sighed.

"Me too."

Yago was shocked.

"What? What we will do now?"

V grabbed her pistol and told.

"We are gonna still gonna hold this position up, until we are gonna get a lift."

She started shooting but the .45 pistol rounds weren't much effective against fully aware, armored and chromed soldiers.

Nevertheless she kept trying.

Charles switched to the Crusher shotgun, which sadly had the same effectiveness.

The enemies however, were getting closer and closer.

The German BARGHEST kept shooting alongside V but as he tried to grab a magazine, he realized that was now empty.

He used most of his ammo reserve during the fight at the Black Sapphire and an entire magazine at the Heaven church.

He cussed.

It was still five minutes before the AV would come, but it looked like the enemy was about to overrun them.

Charles tried to move to Jago to ask if he had some ammo, but as soon he changed stood up, he was hit by a burst of 12,7mm bullets in the back.

He suddenly found breathing to be troublemaking as he inhaling of air was painful.

Probably the bullets hit one of his lungs.

Charles started wheezing loudly.

V was worried.

It was unlikely that he would have survived, and he would likely die in the AV.

Nothing a Bounce Back could fix.

Charles noticed the glance in V's eyes, so he grabbed a F-GX grenade and smiled to Yago.

"It was an honor fighting for you."

Then he inhaled a Stamina Booster and he rushed towards the enemy wave.

The Soviet kept shooting him but he continued his heroic run.

As soon he reached the enemies, a loud explosion sparked.

The Soviets wave stopped for a while as they were shocked and confused.

Then suddenly, a Militec Manticore AV appeared, firing the two machine guns at the enemies.

As the vehicle landed, Mr. Hands, Yago and V got aboard, before departing directed to a Militec base in South California.

Chapter Text

V was laying on her bed back at the Militec FOB.

It has been two weeks already and finally her pain was getting less intense.

Her arms and shoulders were still covered in bruises, as the Rostović Kolac was a powerful gun and the recoil alone was harsh on her fully organic body, despite enhancements.

As she recovered, most the time she had been in the FOB, she spend watching TV, especially Network 54 News, to keep updated on the situation.

The anchorwoman Gillean Jordan, a blonde middle aged woman with intense blue eyes usually commented on the developments of the "Night City War".

Apparently despite the Soviets and some Serbian volunteer units had conquered Dog Town, they were now dealing with an insurgecy by former BARGHEST and armed locals, with dozens of Soviets losing their lives in ambushes or terror attacks daily.

The Badlands had become a frontline, with both sides exchanging artillery barrages every day.

In Night City proper, the situation was more complex.

The Zaibatsu forces were holding control of Westbrook, Oakwood, Downtown and the Western part of Watson, while the Soviets had the total control only of the Northeastern sector of Watson, as they were fighting against the NUSA in Pacifica and against the 6th Street Militia in Heywood, with the latter being uncontested in their home turf of Rancho Coronado in the Santo Domingo district, also thanks to the support of the NUSA.

V's stomach rumbled so she got out of bed, and got out of her room, which was spartan, with just a bed, a TV, a table where V put her tactical laptop and a corner with shower and toilet.

She walked through a long corridor, heading towards the mess hall.

V received an holo call, it was from Mr. Hands.

"V, I must inform you that an alias of Aguilar has entered the NUSA's territory few days ago. Proceed with EXTREME caution."

V thanked him and proceeded towards the mess hall.

Once she reached the mess hall, she noticed that the place was crowded with grunts, sitting on the metallic benches and eating over metallic tables.

The soldiers which were not eating, we lined up at the Spontaneous Craving Satisfaction Machines, also known as S.C.S.M.s for short, waiting for their turn to grab a meal.

As V waited, she smiled, as the machines always reminded her of Brendan; who was a very friendly S.C.S.M. which developed a bond with V and another girl named Theo thanks to the machine unexpected empathy and conversation skills.

After a while, it was finally V's turn and she checked the options.

There was a lot of food and beverage choices avaiable just in exchanges for some eddies, all from American brands : HawtDawg, HoloBytes, Moonchies, Orgiatic sauces, EEZYBEEF, Shwabshwab, SynthSnack, Slaughterhouse meat, Patriot Burgers, Tomato "Juice", ChroManticore, Spunky Monkey, Cirrus Cola, Soul Hiker, Soop, Cactus Juice.

She selected what looked liked like the most popular choice, and her favorite drink, a Spunky Monkey.

After she grabbed her meal, she headed towards a table but saw that few Militec grunts were feeling sick.

They started coughing and whining  a a severe burning sensation in the mouth and throat, with an intense pain when they tried to swallow.

Then some started to vomit intensively before falling in the ground, shouting from the pain of the abdominal cramps, with their throat and tongue starting to swell

Their breath became difficult before dying of  asphyxiation.

A loud alarm started to glare, with a female voice announcing.

"Emergency! Possible bio-hazard danger! Starting emergency protocol."

V was confused.

What happened?

A simple intestinal flu?

A chemical or biological attack from the Soviets or the Zaibatsu?

If yes, how they managed?

Maybe the intruder was still inside the base.

Everyone in the base was now in full alert.

Everyone grabbed their guns and started searching.

Most of them were armed with Militec M221 Saratoga submachine guns but some more experienced grunts were carrying M251s Ajax assault rifles.

V even saw an heavily armored soldier carring a Mk. 31 HMG machine gun.

V joined the patrols, grabbing her personal Unity in her hands.

As she kept her eyes peeled for anything unusual, her mind was wondering what would have caused the poisoning of the mess hall.

She kept walking for a while, as no sign of intrusion.

But after a bit, she spotted something unusual.

One of the Militec soldier had a Darra Polytechnic DR-5 Nova with brown grip in her holster.

V begun to follow the Militec soldier to see if she could discover anymore.

She checked more carefully and noticed a marking on the side of the gun.

The small wording at each side of the revolver read "morir envenenado," which is Spanish for "dying from poison".

It was very familiar and V knew she had seen it somewhere.

She started thinking, until she realized that she saw it three years prior, during a job for Mr. Hands, where he tasked V to help him with the power transition of Dog Town after Colonel Kurtz Hansen's death.

It was the "Manchinella", Aguilar Nubiola's personal customized gun.

It is named after the Manchineel, a highly toxic Caribbean plant which produces a fruit known as "manzanilla de la muerte.", which translated from  Spanish meant "little apple of death".

She was fond of using that poison, even loading it in the bullets of her revolver.

V kept following her until the latter realized something was wrong.

Now V could see if the Militec grunt was Aguilar in disguise or not.

As she turned her head, it was clear that was the real Aguilar.

She was a black skinned woman with black cybernetic eyes and hairs styled in short dreadlocks.

The woman even spoke in an heavy Cuban accent.

"What are you looking at?"

V had to improvise, but she had a great charisma and always the quick comebacks.

Her expression became flirty and replied.

"I was looking your fine ass."

Aguilar was surprised but curious.

"Do you like it?"

V then replied boldly.

"I would love to put my face between those sexy cheeks."

Aguilar started touching V on her hips, with the sexual tension growing, until they started kissing each other on the lips passionately and caressing each other's back.

However after few minutes, V pulled out and said excitingly.

"Let's go in my room so we get some privacy."

Then she grabbed Aguilar's hand and guided her to the room.

The two women were getting excited, and as soon V closed the door, they started making out more.

The Cuban woman started to caress V's vagina, and commented.

"Let's take those out, shall we?"

V bitten her lips.

"But you are so sexy with uniform!"

Aguilar teased V.

"You will like more what is under it."

Aquilar started moving sensually, then removing her military boots with kicks.

V was starting to get horny for real.

The Latina was now starting taking off her green-yellow hexagonal camouflage jacker, showing her chest, covered by a black bra, which was quickly removed.

V came and started to twist her tongue on the woman's nipple, which started to moan.

Aguilar started pet V's pink hairs, as the latter started to suck them.

Then V looked at the woman and pulled a bit with her own mouth, with Aguilar softly screaming.

Next, the Cuban looked at her with a grin and ordered.

"Strip, then we are gonna dance!"

The woman helped V unzip her tactical suit, revealing a pale naked body, which she loved.

Then, Aguilar unzipped her trousers and let them slide down, revealing black panties, which were also black and also ended up on the floor quickly.

At the sight of Aguilar's shaven pussy, she couldn't resist and pushed the woman to the bed.

V lifted Aguilar's legs and begun to lick the Latina's vagina.

The tongue in Aguilar's vagina twisted like it did in her mouth.

The Cuban moaned as V was eating her out.

The former Merc's tongue was now striking the clitoris, with a constant rhythm.

Aguilar's moans were getting louder and louder, until her fluids were flowing into V's mouth.

As her mouth got wet, V stopped to clean it.

Aguilar was not satisfied yet and said.

"Now I am gonna make your wish come true. Lay down on the bed."

V sheepishly did as requested, and Aguilar rewarded her by sitting on her face.

The FIA operative was enjoying it and grabbed the soft cheeks of the Latina in order to spread them.

With the face deep into her partner's behind, she started to lick inside the anus.

Aguilar moaned, and started to finger V's pussy.

They looked like they were synchronized, as the rhythm of the tongue and the finger was almost the same.

V was twisting her tongue like a swirl, enjoying the taste and getting pleased by her clit getting stroke.

It was orgasmic for the two women, with V started to squirt from her pussy.

Aguilar stood up and looked V.

"You alive?

V smiled.

"I need a breath but I would die happily between your cheeks."

Then Aguilar proposed.

"Let's take a pause before second round. Do you have anything to drink?"

V reluctantly shown her an hidden bottle of Champaradise that she kept for some "special occasion".

Then she grabbed two glasses and poured the drink.

Aguilar looked at her erotically then ordered.

"Close your eyes."

V did as the Cuban said and after few minutes, she felt the woman's lips kissing her.

"You can open now."
Then the Latina raised a toast.

"That was an hot and great dance."

Then she started to sip her drink.

V looked at the glass, she smiled and said.

"Every time someone in Havana lights a cigar..."

Aguilar was now alarmed.

The sentence normally should have ended with, "Aguilar extinguishes a life somewhere around the globe", but instead V threw the champagne on the Latina's with soon started to feel burning.

V quickly jumped on her, grabbed Aguilar's neck and twisted it, killing the famous assassin on the spot.

She couldn't admit it but V liked it a bit, as she loved to lick the pussy of beautiful women.

As V was regaining breath, she received an holo call from Mr. Hands, with his voice sounding like he was panting a little.

"V... I apologize for the disturb but I must congratulate with you for dealing with the Aguilar situation. I must admit that it was an unorthodox and unusual method, but given the outcome, it resulted effective."

The call closed.

Normally V would have been weirded out, but she was tired and sleepy, so she laid in her bed, without any clothes.

Chapter Text

It has been one week since the Aguilar incident and V had fully healed.

Her current assignment in Night City was to work alongside the 6th Street Militia, at the Rancho Coronado subdistrict.

It was very frustrating as they gleefully ignored every suggestion or training from V, despite of her respectable experience as a Corpo for Arasaka, freelance Merc and as of late even FIA agent.

They kept reminding her that they were also "veterans with military experience" and they knew what they were doing, ignoring that the actual military veterans of the organization being only an handful.

V remembered that prior to the assignment, Reeds confessed her that he found easier to work with illiterate rebels in rural Mozambique than to work with the 6th Street.

Now she understood why.

However, they gladly accepted the material support from the NUSA, especially in form of advanced armaments.

Ironically, just as V was thinking about this, Will Gunner; who was the current leader of the 6th Street Militia, informed her that a truck with supplies was coming.

He was a middle aged man with short brown hairs, wearing a pair of sun glasses with a orange lense and olive green military clothing, such a scarf and a tactical vest.

V stood up from the metallic chair that she was sitting and headed outside the room, which acted as Gunner's office.

In that moment, she was in a building with a lot of past history, as it was a former paint factory before being taken over by the Animals gang and transformed into a gym called Tripple Xtreme Epic Workout Center and in recent years, the 6th Street Militia reporpoused it into one of their bases, after dealing with the previous occupants.

V remembered the time when she fought against a female Animals member called Rhino, managing to defeat her with her own bare hands.

Now the vat that was used as "arena" back then, was now being used to store ammunition.

As V walked downstairs, a huge Militec Behemoth truck was parking outside the building.

Gunner was smiling, as V walked next to him.

They reached the truck and a Militec grunt got out of the vehicle and opened the rear, revealing its precious cargo.

The leader of the 6th Street Militia, entered inside, to check the delivery with his own eyes.

As soon him and V saw the contents, they were flabbergasted.

It was literally a truckload of guns, with a wide selection from handguns like the Constitutional Arms Unity, Militech M-10AF Lexington or the Militech M-76e Omaha, to Militech M221 Saratoga submachine guns, assault rifles such as the Militech M521s Ajax or the Nokota D5 Copperhead along its smaller smarter variant the Nokota D5 Sidewinder, while for the precision rifles there were the Midnight Arms SOR-33 and the Militech M179E Achilles,  Constitutional Arms M2038 Tactician and the Militech Crusher as shotgun options, and even two machine guns, one being a Constitutional Arms M2067 Defender and the other a Midnight Arms MA70 HB.

It was the gun nut's wet dream, and all paid by the courtesy of the taxpayers.

Soon enough, a lot of 6th Street militiamen were lined up, each one eager to grab a piece for themselves.

As the militia was celebrating the delivery of the new weaponry, a 6th Street grunt came panting and started to talking to Gunner.

"Commander! I have important intels!"

Gunner was bit annoyed by the lack of manners, discipline and salute from the subordinate but decided that if the intel were worth, he would have glossed over it.

"Talk, soldier!"

The 6th Street now properly saluted, put himself in position, then told.

"We discovered that Soviet convoy will come from Pacifica and pass through the Glen, heading to Watson."

Gunner got impatient.

"Why would important?"

The soldier replied.

"According to intel, is supposed to transport 'precious cargo'."

Gunner nodded and said.

"Dismissed."

Then Gunner and V started to walk back to the office.

He looked at V and commented, .

"You might be of help. Are you a good sharpshooter?"

V nodded.

"You should have seen when we stopped the MaxTac convoy."

Gunner smirked.

"Great. You might provide sniper cover as my men will try to intercept the convoy."

Gunner and V reached the office, then he looked at a map of Night City and said.

"Now we need to find a good sniping position to cover the area."

V replied calmly.

"I think I know the perfect place."
___

V was now prone, looking through the scope of a Nokota NDI Osprey sniper rifle, overlooking the bridge between Heywood and Pacifica.

Her current sniping nest was located in her former apartment at Los Lobos Street at the 12th floor.

The place was familiar for her, being one of the apartments that she rented during her last months in Night City.

However, it looked totally different since she left.

Before, it was well decorated with good furniture and even included amenities as a  pool table, a  Roach Race arcade cabinet and even a coffee machine.

But now, the place was a shadow of its former shell and had been completely looted by either the Soviets, the local gangs or both, as everything that hasn't been bolted down was stolen.

V was looking at the bridge between Heywood and Pacifica since hours, with nothing happening.

After a while, she saw movement, so she checked better.

They were four armed people, wearing gold crosses which were dangling from necklaces on bared chests, vests adorned with roses or Santa Rosa and tight pants sewed in order to emphasize the bulge, all with a Mexican-inspired style.

They were members of the Valentino gang.

V used the radio to contact Gunner.

"I have a visual. Four people. Valentinos."

Gunner asked.

"Any idea of their intentions?"

V checked more carefully, and they seemed to be headed towards a group of soldiers, wearing sand-colored uniform with a Soviet flag patch on the shoulders, which confirmed their nationality.

V updated the 6th Militia leader.

"They seems to be trying to ambush some Soviets."

Gunner replied.

"Copy that."

V asked.

"Can I provide sniper cover?"

Gunner replied.

"Negative. Can't risk the Commies to know and reroute the convoy. So until you get the signal, do not engage."

V grunted.

"Copy that."

The FIA agent could just watch the situation.

To her disappointment, the Valentinos were badly equipped, with the point man holding a Budget Arms Guillotine submachine guns, while the others three were armed with shotguns; one holding a Budget Arms Carnage, another one holding a Constitutional Arms M2038 Tactician with golden receiver and wooden stock, while the youngest of the group was holding just a Rostović DB-4 Igla double barreled shotgun.

The Soviets soldiers instead were equipped with ShAK-12 assault rifles and were wearing full combat gear.

The Valentino point man started firing his submachine gun and running towards the enemies.

His bullets were not effective and he was quickly gunned as the Guillottine jammed.

Following their leader's death, the other three Valentinos retreated to cover, before starting to fire their shotguns.

This tactic seemed more effective in keeping the Soviets at bay, with some shots even managing to kill a pair of Russians.

However, the Soviet greatly outnumbered the Latino gangster and soon begun to encircle them.

As soom the Soviet started shooting their rifles, the Valentinos were doomed.

As the Valentino with the M2038 peeked to try another shot, he was hit by a 12,7 bullet.

The Valentino with the Carnage got paralyzed by fear and was shot too.

The last one tried to shoot the Soviets, killing two of them, but as soon was time to reload, the soldier took advantage of it and killed him.

As the gangsters were dead, the Soviet called their command, and probably did a quick report.

Then, V had to wait more.

She received an holo call from Gunner.

"V, any trace of the convoy?"

The former merc replied.

"No activity since the shootout with the Valentinos."

Gunner asked.

"You intervened?"

V commented.

"No, but the Valentinos were slaughtered."

Gunner said in a flat tone.

"Sadly, it was a necessary sacrifice for a greater purpose. In the grand scheme of the things, they had to die."

Then radio silence, until V finally spotted a Kaukaz Bratsk U4020, followed by armored vehicles such Volkhovs and a BTR-15.

V contacted Gunner immediately.

"Convoy incoming on the bridge"

Gunner replied.

"Affirmative. Sending the strike teams right now! Shoot the truck's driver after he pass the bridge.

V readied her finger on the trigger, then waited patiently as the truck was advancing.

As soon as reached the district of Heywood, the former merc pulled the trigger of her weapon, firing a burst of three rounds.

The bullets passed through the windshield of the military truck and the head of its driver.

After few minutes of moving by inertia, the truck stopped in the middle of the Los Lobos Street.

The following vehicles stopped too, with the Soviet soldiers getting in high alert.

V heard a noise engine coming from the east, then she saw a brown Villefort Columbus V340-F Freight with 6th Streets decals, speeding towards the convoy.

The Soviet soldiers noticed it and tried to shoot to stop, even if was too late as the vehicle crashed against the BTR-15.

After the impact, the vehicle exploded in a huge fiery fireball.

The explosion was so strong that even V felt the shockwave, and as it destroyed the APC and one Volhov behind it, leaving an enormous crater.

As the Soviets were staggering from the detonation, multiple Thortnon Mackinaw MTL1 pickups painted in a camouflage pattern were heading towards the convoy.

They were transporting 6th Street Militia soldiers, armed to their teeth.

As soon, they reached the convoy, they got out of the vehicles and started firing.

Most of them were using the assault rifles, while being covered by two soldiers operating the machine guns.

The one with the M2067 Defender was positioned on the north road, while the one with the MA70 HB was positioned on the eastern road, both firing behind the cover of their MTL1s.

A 6th Street soldier was advancing carefully, using cover tactically and firing his Nokota D5 Sidewinder smart assault rifle, hitting its target effectively, while his teammates were firing with Ajaxs and Copperhead assault rifle to support him.

Now it was the Soviet that were getting slaughtered, with one of the last standing trying to contact the command and asking reinforcements, before getting its head hit by a bullet coming from one of the buildings.

Apparently Gunner ordered the deployment of two marksmen to provide additional sniper support,  one armed with the SOR-22 while the other with the Achilles.

The situation now looked calm, but only few minutes, as Soviet reinforcements were incoming from the North.

The 6th Street militiamen started firing at every enemy soldier they saw.

In few seconds, the crossroad became a literal battlefield.

The Soviets were swarming the place, coming either on foot or with Volkhovs.

The situation became chaotic and bullets started flying from both sides.

V started to fire too with the high caliber rounds dealing extreme damage on the soldiers.

The 6th Street militiamen were fighting in a more disciplined way that V could have thought, with fewer casualties compared to the Soviets.

Only the most reckless and careless of the6th Street ended dead, like one young soldier which tried to rush towards the enemy while dual-wielding a pair of M-10AF Lexington pistols, shot before he could hit anything.

Reinforcements from both the Soviets and the 6th Street, with the latter coming with their MTL1 pickups.

One unaware Soviet soldier even got run over by one of them, and before he could even get back on its feet, he was killed by a 6th Street which finished him with his M2038 shotgun.

The Soviets tried to look for cover, but it was difficult for them as they were exposed by all sides and each cover provided a clear shot for at least one of the snipers, V included.

After a while, a Spetnatz team joined the fight, probably to balance in favor of their comrades.

They were equipped with VST-37 Pozhar shotguns, just like the ones that V saw at the Black Sapphire and they seemed to have the same attitude towards using gas grenades as a dirty tactic to gain an advantage.

V made sure to target them as priority targets, even if the situation was getting more chaotic by the minute, with fires and smokes from the explosions.

The former merc kept shooting, even if the enemies seemed to multiply out of thin air.

She checked the magazine, realizing it was the last one, with 12 rounds remaining.

But the soldiers were many, more than just 12.

V looked carefully, to see the most dangerous ones, spotting a gunner holding a Techtronika BMG-500, which was neutralized as she pulled  the trigger.

Another enemy holding a Techtronika T-40 Uragan missile, another lethal shot.

The same destinity awaited another Soviet which tried to throw a grenade at one of the machine gunner.

Then she shot the driver of a Volkhov, which was coming from Pacifica as reinforcement.

The situation was tense, and the area was getting littered by corpses.

After shooting seven more targets, she checked the chamber.

Last bullet remaining.

But as she looked through the scope, V saw a familiar shape flying in the sky from Pacifica.

When it was closer, she could identify it as a Soviet Mil Mi-79 Hatchet attack helicopter.

There was nothing she could do until it was closer.

The helicopter was flying towards the battlefield, proceeding at a constant speed.

After a while, even the other 6th Street fighters  noticed the aircraft and unsuccessfully fired in its direction.

Meanwhile, V waited until it was even closer.

She focused on the rotor, as it was the weakest point of the helicopter.

The former merc took a really deep breath, then she aimed at the rotor and fired.

The blades of the Hatchet were now broken, and the Soviet helicopter fell and crashed into the garbage-filled Pacific Ocean.

Without any more ammunition for her sniper rifle, V had no other choice but grab her Militec Hercules 3AX belt-fed assault rifle and reach the battlefield.

As she was about to turn around, she heard an explosion behind her, coming from the elevator.

It was liked thanks to the mines that she set up in order to avoid any ambushed by the Soviets.

The only way out was now forward and down.

V  grabbed the edge of the window, then she carefully descended, thanks to excellent parkour skills that she learnt from the FIA training.

As she was on the ground, she readied her weapon and begun to aim at the Soviet soldiers.

The Hercules was a terrifying weapon to see in action.

The gun had a magazine of 90 rounds, which not only were homing and hit the target without missing, but the rounds were also filled with a special acid toxin that dissolved the target from inside, leaving only a puddle of acid goo.

It was a nasty weapon that violated quite some rules of the Geneva Conventions, but the Soviets were not keen on respecting them either.

But the effects that had on their morale were devastating, as they saw their comrades liquefy after being shot by a stone cold pink haired woman with super human reflexes.

After V eliminated a few, the rest had the common sense to just retreat back to North, to avoid the same undignified death.

Now, over the battlefield, there was the most total calm.

The 6th Street militiamen tried to search for the bodies of their comrades among the numerous Soviet corpses.

V meanwhile, was waiting for Gunner to come, which happened after twenty tedious minutes.

The leader of the 6th Street militia was enthusiastic to see how the ambush went smooth and with minimal casualties on his side.

He asked V.

"Checked the truck's cargo?"

She replied.

"No, we were all waiting you. You do the honors."

Gunner then grinned and headed towards the rear of the truck and opened it.

His enthusiasm dropped once he saw the content of the truck.

No crates of guns, missiles, or drones.

Definitely no top secrets Soviet wonder weapons.

The truck was transporting emaciated Valentinos, all tied up.

The smell of the prisoners was terrible as they were likely unkempt and possibly even abused.

Then Gunner saw someone familiar, the leader of the Valentinos Campo Orta, with his body clearly showing signs of violence and sickness.

He feebly tried to talk.

"Thank you... for freeing us..."

Gunner asked coldly.

"Why are you guys locked up?"

Orta replied.

"We rebelled... fought... for our neighborhood... our homes..."

V looked Gunner, who looked bit triggered by the answer, even if didn't wanted to explicitly show it.

Instead he commented.

"Yes, we are kicking the Commies' asses out of America!"

Then he grinned and said.

"I see you shivering, lemme give you somethin' to warm you up!"

Then he looked at a 6th Street soldier, which gave him a Budget Arm Crisp-er flamethrower.

V was shocked, she didn't expected that.

Neither did Orta which screamed.

"¡Pendejo! Don't do it!"

Gunner turned the flamethrower to set the prisoners on fire.

As the 6th Street militia started to shoot in the air and scream "America for the AMERICANS!", V watched horrified the flame consume the flesh of the burning Valentinos.

Chapter Text

It has been a month since "the Battle of Heywood" and after that event, V had various missions and assignments in Night City.

She was still remembering seeing the Valentinos being burnt alive and the call to Reeds that happened after.

V told that she couldn't help them anymore due moral reasons and it was her professionalism that made sure that she didn't choked Gunner immediately, stressing out that she didn't knew how she could resist.

She had STANDARDS.

It was night and V was heading towards the Zatatech Shop, which was Misty's Esoterica and chakra armonization shop back in 2077.

She climbed the stairs, where she was harassed by some thugs the last year and reached Urmland Street.

She entered the Zetatech shops, which was now completely looted, then went to the back alley that led to Viktor Vektor's ripperdoc clinic.

Then she used the elevator to the roof.

Once reached the floor, V walked in the corridor and climbed the stairs, before being outside again.

The view was spectacular yet depressing.

She saw damaged buildings belonging Militec on the left and a devastated Megabuilding on the right.

It was hard to believe that was the same place where three years prior, she sat on a plastic chair, called her friends and waited the FIA's AV, before falling asleep on flight and waking up two years after due a coma.

V tried to look at the plastic chair, which was surprisingly still there.

But what was unbelivable was the person who was sitting on it.

It was a young woman, in her late twenties, with short blonde hairs and wearing a tactical black suit.

She looked familiar to V but when she spoke, any doubts were gone.

"Hello V! Nice to see you here again! You managed to track the signal I sent."

V couldn't believe it.

"Misty? Is that you?"

The woman smirked.

"Yes, I am Misty, your old friend."

V asked.

"You work for the FIA too?"

Misty shook her head.

"Not exactly. I work for the Biuro Bezpieczeństwa Wywiadowczego, which translate as Bureau of Intelligence Security in Polish."

V commented.

"Wow, I could have never imagined you as a spy."

Misty laughed.

"That means I am pretty good at my job. The tarot cards? Just a bit of observation skills and psy ops mixed together. The supernatural and ghosts aren't real, V."

V was now shocked.

"How long you been in the game."

Misty became more serious.

"Sometimes before that fucking Konpeki Plaza job. The one where my poor Jackie died."

Then she took a deep breath.

"To he honest, after the heist, they asked me to keep an eye on you. To keep you alive. My bosses wanted a weapon to use against Arasaka."

V became enraged.

"So I was just a mission for you?"

Misty looked at V in the eyes and said.

"No. Our friendship was real 100% and so was my love for Jackie. They didn't exclude each other."

Another sighing.

"I was scared about you dying, your mind slowly replaced by Johnny."

Then she smiled.

"We will be really good friends even after this mission."

V then shrugged.

"After all, you stayed on my side after everyone... just moved on."

Misty smiled and then went to hug V.

V was surprised but accepted the hug gleefully.

"I might use the BBW's resources to track you down and figured you might have need a bit of comfort after all that mess."

V smiled and replied.

"Thank you, I really appreciated it."

Misty replied.

"Don't worry, you need it."

Then she looked at V with a smirk and commented.

"And thank you for ignoring that bitch Anako. If you accepted her offer, I would had to go back to my superiors in Warsaw."

V laughed.

"Fuck 'Saka. I didn't trusted her either."

Then they watched bit the skyline together, before the FIA agent asked.

"So what the objective?"

Misty then grabbed a photo and shown it V.

It was a bald man with a long brown beard, wearing a Soviet combat fatigue.

"Zalikhan Umarov. Born in a village somewhere in the North Caucasus. Joined the Soviet Army in his 20s, where he let out all his brutality. One of the worst war criminal in the world. The worst part, is that he got his hands on some BBW agents."

V commented.

"So you want my help to save them."

Misty nodded.

"Exactly."

V asked.

"Any idea where we can find them?"

Misty replied.

"An old abandoned factory in Northside. Definitely familiar for you."

V shrugged.

"Let's go then?"

Misty nodded and they begun to head towards the elevator.

As they were in the elevator, Misty grabbed a pistol from her holster.

It was Piłsudski Broni SCP-77 pistol fitted with a silencer, a Polish made handgun, based on the Constitutional Arms Unity and using 9x19mm Parabellum ammunition instead of the .45 caliber of the American original.

Misty racked the slide, ready for the mission, with V doing the same with the Her Majesty pistol.

The elevator reached the street level and now they had to reach their objective which was one kilometer and half away.

It wasn't that far, however the street were patrolled by Soviets and Japanese troops.

The duo walked through Urmland Street, heading North.

Night City was mostly deserted, as it was deep in the night and the occupiers strictly enforced the curfew, often by lethal means.

The two woman were sneaking, walking in the sub-district of Little China and going prone each time they saw a Makigai Tanishi T400 "Kuma" light pickup, to avoid being spotted.

After a while, V and Misty reached the plaza in front of the Megabuilding H10.

Since it was the only place wbere V really felt at home, she felt hit by the memories.

Coming home after an intense gig, take a shower, talk with Johnny or a date with Judy or Rivers.

It was her former life and V was sadden that it was all gone now.

Next to the Megabuilding, there was the building of the Night City Police Department.

The two woman look at the former police station, which now was likely used as a detention center and guarded by special Zaibatsu troops armed with Zaibatsu HJSH-18 Masamune assault rifles alongside a soldier manning a captured Militec Minotaur mech.

The previous occupants were likely exertiminated and executed a long time prior, with the surviving members of the NCPD having likely joined the various resistance movements or enrolled in Militec service.

It was better to completely avoid that place.

But before proceeding, Misty spotted a group of people, how clear Japanese descent and shown them to V.

They were laughing and harassing a civilian, which was crying and begging them to stop.

V easily recognized them by their Asian luminous tattoos known as "irezumi", fast customs street bikes such as ARCH Nazaré "Itsumade" and Yaiba Kusanagi "Mizuchi", and armed with old Arasaka weapons, katanas, and tantos.

They were Tyger Claws.

Misty whispered.

"Tyger Claws. They are a militia now. Doing Zaibatsu's dirty work."

V commented.

"I know. Dealt with them in a pair of missions. Additional muscles for Zaibatsu with none of the responsibilities."

As the gangsters were too many, the two women had no choice but try to avoid them.

They kept sneaking, until they saw the Night City  Medcenter, which now looked like a shadow of its former self.

Before the invasion, it was the best hospital in Watson, now it looked devastated.

The corpses of Trauma Team soldiers abandoned near the building, gave a clue on the state of the place.

Misty continued to lead, with them being half way to their objective.

After walking among the devastated roads and alleys, they reached another important landmark, the Kabuki market roundabout, with consisted of a small building surrounded by Chinese-style arch gates.

It was also considered "the border" between the Japanese and Soviet sector, with the subdistrict of Northside being under the control of the latter.

V saw the gate with the All Foods logo which consisted in a decapitated pig and ham.

However, the bridge was tightly controlled by a roadblock consisting by a Techtronika Volkhov and unit of Soviet soldiers.

V looked around, until she realized that they could have sneaked using the same canal where she met Meredith Stout for the first time, asking help with the recovery of a Militech MT0D12 "Flathead" drone.

The former Merc quietly chuckled inside.

Meredith was the usual Corpo, acting like an bossy bitch when she gave her the job, but in bed that quality was amazing, and V loved to be dominated by Meredith at the No-Tell Motel.

V led the way, descending in the dried up canal, crossing and then climbing the ladder on the other side.

As the other places in Night City under Soviet control, the place was in a worst derelict shape than before.

As the duo advanced towards the former factory, V noticed a pile of bodies next to the containers in the front of the factory.

They were missing a large chunks of their heads and in some cases even limbs.

From their leather clothes, she deducted that they belonged to the Maelstrom gang, which were the previous occupants of the factory.

V and Misty, checked the options for infiltration.

The garage entrance that V used last time was definitely not possible, so she had to think about something else.

The former Merc looked at the containers and noticed that they were stacked high and could been used to reach the roof.

She invited Misty to follow her, and they climbed up, carefully and silently in order to not be caught until they reached the abbatouir.

They check through the glass and saw the place crawling with Soviet soldiers.

After a careful examination of the patrols path, V  and Misty infiltrated the building from one of the broken window of the abbatouir.

The former food factory was now used as a military warehouse, with crates everywhere.

V's instincts were telling her that the hostages and their brutal torturer were likely in the same room where she met Dum Dum and Royce to discuss about the Flathead.

The two women, sneaked among the crates, to reach the elevator that led the former "office" of the Maelstroms.

As soon they reached the floor, they spotted two soldiers, but they shot both of them before they could spot V and Misty.

The room was eerie, it looked almost the same despite the years.

Even the couches were still in position, just more stained and worn out.

V remembered when the Maelstrom leader, a man named Royce, pointed a Militec M-10AF Lexington pistol to her head during the deal, as it was a tense moment.

The two women headed towards a room on the left.

They begun to hear a voice coming from the room.

"Gde bomby?"

"Where are the bombs?"

Then a bit of silence before the voice asked again.

"Gde spryatany bomby?"

"Where are the bombs hidden?"

Then he voice shouted impatiently.

"Yesli nikto iz vas ne zagovorit, ya otrublyu vam golovu!"

"If none of you talk I will cut your head off!"

Then the metallic sound, then grunts of effort before hearing noises of something soft falling on the ground.

A loud beep surprised both V and Misty.

They hear another door opening and closing.

V held her gun thigh, ready to fire and entered.

She was shocked by what she saw.

There were 4 hostages, everyone tied up.

One of them, however, had his head separated from the body with copious traces of blood next to it.

The other remaining hostages made a nod to indicate a door next to them.

The two women entered and saw Zalikhan Umarov kneeling on a patterned carpet, facing towards the southeast.

The women didn't know it, but the gesture that Umarov was doing wasn't well seen by his comrades, which saw it as a weird action accompanied by what for them was a weird chanting in a even weirder language.

Some of them hypothesized that was some form of religious ritual, but were vary of such discourses as religion was against the teaching of Marx, written two centuries before.

V noticed a bloodied Techtronika Razor next to him and she slowly got closer.

Umarov noticed V and tried to grab the weapon, angry to have been interrupted in such an important moment.

But his hand was severed by a swift movement from Misty, which was now holding a wz. 77 szabla, a modern version of the traditional Polish sword, designed to cut even the toughest chrome.

After cutting the hand of the Soviet, Misty muttered.

"Bij Bolszewika!"

V quickly grabbed the Razor, and with a swish, she hit the neck of Umarov.

Then she pushed slowly, until the head fell off.

Umarov fell lifeless next to the carpet, blood flowing copiously from the neck's stump.

The two woman went back to the hostages to free them up.

Misty introduced V to them and viceversa.

One of them, Marcin, was a middle aged man with  brown hairs styled in a bob cut and a mustache

Michał instead had short black hairs.
The last one, a man named Kacper was bald and wearing a netsuit.

Marcin looked the dead man and told Misty.

"On zabił Marek!"

"He killed Marek"

The woman replied.

"Teraz to skurwiel umarła. Jej trupa jest na tym pokój."

"Now he died. His corpse is in that room."

The she added.

"Teraz musziemy choć!

"Now we have to go!"

After getting out of the room, V looked the men a bit as they walked towards towards the corpses of the Soviet to grab their ShAK-12 rifles.

While the netrunner was totally new, Marcin and Michał looked a bit familiar, like she saw them somewhere.

But in that moment, V didn't recall where she saw them and they didn't recognized her either.

Maybe was just a deja vu.

V and Misty entered back to the elevator, followed by the surviving hostages.

Everyone readied their weapons, as a fight was about to come.

As soon they reached the ground floor, Kacper looked the Soviet soldiers and then used a quickhack.

Before the enemies could shoot, some kind of greenish liquid started to leak from their implant and they begun to feel sick.

Marcin and Michał started shooting their assault rifles, while V and Misty started to rush towards the enemies with their bladed weapons.

V swung her newly aquired Razor to cut the enemies, while Misty was slashing them with skill and speed.

It was hard to believe that Misty was 100% organic, meaning that her abilities were either natural or rigorously trained, without the help of chrome.

A Soviet soldier was about to shoot at V, but suddenly caught fire thanks to the Overheat quickhack from Kacper, with the woman quickly finishing him off with her blade as he screamed from pain.

Marcin and Michał kept shooting at the enemies, with also V and Misty switching to their sidearms, starting to advance towards the parking.

Then suddenly from the direction of the exit, came a wide group of enemy soldiers, with one of them manning a Techtronika BMG-500 machine gun.

The group rushed to cover behind a military crate as the Soviet gunner fired his weapon.

The enemies took the advantage to advance towards them, to encroach them.

However, unexpectedly the gunner begun to twitch and act weirdly.

As his comrades turned around to look at him, they were hit by the fire of the machine gun, inflicting horrible damages on their bodies before he was eventually shot dead by a pair of surviving soldiers.

As the Soviet forces were now severely weakened, the team fired back to neutralize them completely.

After they were all dead, Misty said.

"We have to reach our safehouse in the Kabuki Market!"

Then she headed first but as she tried to cross a corner, she was headbutted by a Soviet soldier with the stock of his rifle.

He aimed the gun at the woman, but before he could pull the trigger, he forcibly pointed it up, touching his jaw with the barrel before firing.

His head exploded in red pieces as the 12,7 millimeter bullet passed through his skull.

Misty looked at his team, and saw Kacper's eyes glowing blue, showing that he was the responsible for saving her.

V run to Misty, to help her stand up.

Then they started to run towards the garage open door to get outside.

As soon they were out of the former factory, they heard engines noises, from the Volkhovs of Soviet reinforcements.

They tried to cross the bridge to get back to the sub-district of Kabuki.

However, the enemy soldiers blocked them from both sides of the bridge.

The soldiers got out of their transports, weapons ready.

Then, Kacper's eyes become bright blue and the former All Foods factory was engulfed in a powerful explosion.

The Soviets got distracted so the Polish group opened fire to eliminate them.

Taking advantage of the situation, the group rushed towards Kabuki, heading to the Roundabout, which was relatively close to the destroyed former factory.

It was composed of central building shaped like a pagoda and a lower passage circling it.

Bridges extended the market outwards the central area,  going over the roundabout street with a lower pass connected the circling passage to another smaller section in the southwest.

The group headed to the lower pass, then walked until they saw a looted 2nd Amendement store.

Behind the store, almost hidden, there was industrial shutters with a codepad next to it.

Misty walked up to the codepad and inserted the code which was 605185.

Then they entered in a room full of server, with a screen on the wall and two couches.

V felt strangely connected to the place, despite never been there.

Then Misty rushed to the screen, turned it on then she inputted some commands, then headed to one of the servers, where she grabbed a shiny glass-looking object, which then showed to V, explaining.

"Is a Compact Disk or CD for short. It contains data about our agents who are working on Soviet activities, especially in the North American territory. The operation is called 'Project Red'."

V replied, chucking.

"So you guys are also using old tech like the FIA."

Misty smiled.

"Well, it has been proven that is hard to interce..."

Then Kacper shouted.

"Nasze systemy zostały zhakowane!"

"Our systems are being hacked!"

Chapter Text

V was looking the screen, which shown glitches and random numbers.

Kacper cussed.

"Kurwa! Oni są wprawny!"

"Fuck! They are pretty skilled!"

Misty asked.

"Co oni zrobił?"

"What are they doing?"

Kacper explained.

"Oni spróbuję datamining nasz system!"

"They are trying to datamine our system!"

Misty asked again.

"Mogesz zalokalisowanie oni?"

"Can you locate them?"

The netrunner started doing something that not even V understood, then he answered with a voice full of disbelief.

"Oni są... na góry."

"They are... upstairs."

Misty cussed.

"Kurwa, to nie możliwe!"

"Fuck, is not possible!"

V replied.

"Wait... if they are above us, they maybe are using Yoko's shop. She was a Netrunner, so her shop might have all the necessary equipment."

Misty looked at V.

"This means that we have to stop them."

V shook her head.

"I will go and deal with them."

After that, V and Misty headed outside, weapons ready.

They checked carefully to see if there was any usual presence, until they spotted a middle aged man, hanging around nearby.

He had black hairs, a thin mustache, olive skin and was dressed lightly, with just a tactical vest over some casual clothing.

However, he was far from harmless as he was armed, holding a Darra Polytechnic DR-5 Nova revolver in his hand.

Misty whispered.

"Look like someone from the RAW. Indian intelligence. Very dangerous. Be careful."

Suddenly, the man started to touch his stomach and grunted from pain, before heading downstairs.

He rushed behind some dumpster, then he pulled down his trousers

Both women were weirded out but V said.

"Hold on, I might have any idea!"

The FIA agent sneaked towards the Indian, as the latter was starting to defecate.

Liquid feces came from his anus, with loud and disgusting noises and falling on the ground.

V could sense the strong and intense smell of curry.

V reached him from behind and pointed her pistol to the squatting Indian and said.

"Drop your weapon or I will shoot."

The Indian replied.

"What? Who are you?"

V grunted angrily.

"Do it immediately or I will shoot your balls off!"

The Indian complied and dropped his revolver.

V then asked.

"Caught you with your pants down. What's your name?"

The Indian replied.

"Kevin..."

V grunted.

"Your real name, now!"

Kevin sighed.

"Is Pajeet."

V barked.

"Then tell me how many friends you got here and I am not gonna kill you."

Pajeet stuttered.

"Two people, in the Netrunner shop."

Suddenly, a static noise and a voice.

"Kevin, everything alright?"

Both Pajeet and Kevin were silent.

The voice was now worried.

"Kevin! Answer!"

Then Pajeet shouted.

"SEND BOB AND EUGENE!"

Pajeet tried to move to grab his weapon but V pulled the trigger and the .45 bullet hit the man's genitalia, which resulted in him screaming.

Then she quickly dashed to him, before grabbing him and snap his neck.

The body feel with the face straight in the diarrhea puddle.

Then an engine noise, with a black Mahir Supron FS-3 speeding towards the Kabuki Roundabout before drifting and stopping.

Two men came out the vehicle, dressed with tactical vest and armed with automatic firearms.

One of them had a black beard and was armed with a Darra Polytechnic DA8 Umbra assault rifle, while the other one sported a mustache and a Darra Polytechnic DS1 Pulsar submachine gun.

The two Indians then opened fire in V's direction, with the woman dodging and getting behind cover.

As she dived by the her side, she grabbed the Nova revolver, which luckily didn't got in contact with the liquid diarrhea which wasn't dirtied up the floor.

V aimed and shot with both guns, hitting the Indian gunners.

Then she put Her Majesty back to her holster and held the revolver, which despite being cheaper was more powerful.

Now she had to rush to Yoko's former shop and started to climb the stairs, then jumped to reach the uppermost floor, where it was located.

Holding the gun tightly, V opened the door.

It didn't changed much since the last time that she went there.

It was a small shop, with two Netrunning devices in the back, with the being currently used by a bald Indian man wearing a Netrunner suit.

V checked everything, to make sure that there were no ambushes or worse, hidden explosives.

She looked on her right, at the counter where Yoko used to work, with the absence of the woman feeling very jarring for V.

The FIA agent slowly headed towards the RAW Netrunner with the Nova in her hand.

Something was wrong, she could feel it.

Before she could get too close to the Netrunner,  V felt a blade on her neck and a barrel on the back of her head, then she heard an order in an heavy Indian accent.

"Drop your weapon!"

V hesitated and the order became louder.

"I SAID DROP YOUR WEAPON!"

The former merc complied, throwing the revolver on the ground.

The Indian voice barked again.

"Turn around."

V did so and

V asked him in a flat tone.

"What you do you want? If you wanted to kill me, you would have done it already."

The Indian man smirked.

"I suspect you are FIA?"

V smiled.

"Caught me red handed. So what are your plans?"

The Indian replied.

"I caught an American spy! And you will tell you everything we want to know."

V winked.

"I would rather die than tell you."

The Indian man growled.

"You will tell me, American whore! Because I say so!"

V asked annoyed.

The Indian said with lust.

"You are wholly organic. No wonder it was impossible to hack you. But is better, the touch of skin feels better than plastic or metal."

V just wanted him to stop so she asked.

"So, since you are gonna shoot me anyway, what is your plan?"

Just mere moments before V started to believe that he ignored her, he finally replied.

"When America will be finally on its knees, with Russia and Japan occuping the US, India will finally rise up! Together with them, we will destroy our enemies! India will be a superpower by 2090."

V wanted to roll her eyes.

But despite sounding like a madman, it actually made sense.

India had very friendly relationship with the Soviet Union since the latter helped India in the war against China in 1962, with the West being worried about the Cuban Missiles crisis.

V theorized that India was now an ally of the USSR and Zaibatsu, offering support in term of diplomacy and more.

The Indian man boasted.

"After you, I am gonna kill your Polish friends that hiding like rats downstairs..."

He could feel the man's bulge pressing against her.

Suddenly, a metallic noise interrupted him and the man got distracted.

She caught the opportunity to use the man's knife to stab his leg, making the man scream from pain.

She turned around and saw an Indian man on his mid 40s, with a receding hairline and a curly mustache, holding a Darra Polytechnic DR-12 Quasar and a knife.

Then she quickly attacked the man's leg with a leg sweep, before disarming the man by breaking his arm.

As the man realized what happened, he looked with desperation as V pulled the trigger to release a charged shot.

The point blank shot completely erased the Indian man's head.

V now rushed towards the Netrunner, hoping to still have time before he would breach the BBW system completely.

As soon as she reached him, she unplugged the cable that was connecting him.

As it was not disconnected properly, his body temperature risen up and his synapses and nervous system felt like burning.

The Netrunner died suffering with incredible pain.

As the man was now completely lifeless, V received an holocall.

It was Misty.

"The breach is contained. Good job, V!"

V smiled.

"Thanks! The bastards had..."

But before she could finish, some men wearing tactical uniform came from the door, pointing their weapons at her.

Chapter Text

One of the men started to shout.

"Hands in the air."

V complied, doing as ordered, looking carefully the men.

The two men on the sides were armed with a Kang Tao G-58 Dian submachine gun and a Kang Tao L-69 Zhuo shotgun respectively.

The other operator which looked like the leader of the group and was armed with a A-22 Choo pistol, commented in Chinese Mandarin.

“Mùbiāo bùzài zhèlǐ”

"The target is not here"

Another asked.

“Wǒmen gāi ná tā zěnme bàn?”

"What we do with her?"

The previous soldier replied.

“Wǒmen dāngdì de liánxì rén gàosù wǒmen bùyào hé zhège nǚrén jiāowǎng!”

"Our local contact is saying that to not engage with this woman!"

Then he shouted to V.

"Answer the call now!"

V was confused at first but after few minutes she received a call that she accepted.

A familiar voice answered, surprised to talk with her.

"V, what you are you doing here? I thought you left Night City forever!"

V chuckled.

"It is a long and complicated story, but let's say I am for business reasons."

Then she asked.

"Why are you helping the Chinese?"

Regina replied.

"Remember that three years ago you helped me retrieve a shard for the MSS? I still kept contact with them and with the war going on, they asked me a favor."

The she reassured V.

"And don't worry V, I am not betraying my country. The Chinese are our allies now. Let's say they are not happy with a Japanese-Soviet alliance right in their doorstep."

V replied with a flat "yeah".

Then Regina proposed.

"Hey V, since you are back in the game, what if I give you a gig?"

V accepted gladly.

"I am up for it! What is about?"

Of course, she would had to explain to Reed why she helped a team of a foreign intelligence agency but she considered also Regina to be a good old friend.

Regina explained.

"They were supposed to find and capture the target, a Netrunner."

V looked at the burned corpse of the Indian Netrunner.

"Uhhhh, I am sorry. Didn't knew was the HVT."

Regina shrugged.

"Ironically, the Indian wasn't the target. But the Chinese are grateful that you dealt with the problem."

V asked.

"Where is the target then?"

As the two women were talking, the leader of the group was jacked to the terminal on the desk.

After a while, he said in Chinese.

"Mùbiāo yīnggāi zài rìběn chéng de SoftSys!"

Regina translated.

"The target is in Japantown, in the SoftSys building."

V nodded.

"Copy that."

Regina added.

"By the way. I will introduce you the member of the team. The guy with the Gian is Yin, the guy with the Zhuo is Yang and finally there is Taijitu, commander of this squad."

The Chinese were now getting ready.

V said in a very authoritative tone.

"Let's delta outta here."

Before going out V  contacted Misty by a quick holocall and told her.

"Hey, Misty. I have to go to help a friend."

On the other side Misty nodded.

"I understand. Thanks again for the help and good look!"

The group started to proceed after exiting from the former shop.

V told.

"I lead the way, you follow. Understand?"

Taijitu nodded.

They were now heading towards the bridge that led to Japantown, guns ready to fire.

As soon they reached it, they noticed that a checkpoint was positioned at the bridge's entrance, controlled by heavily armed soldiers armed with BMG-500 machineguns and T-40 Uragan missiles, alongside a T-77 tank nearby.

For V it reminded her of that time when Watson had been under lockdown just before the Konpeki Plaza Heist.

Of course the bridge was not an option, but she knew a way.

V led the Chinese team up to a ladder than ended in the dirty and polluted river that divided the middle of the city.

As the river was still not patrolled much, this was the way that the team used to get to Japantown, swimming until they reached a ladder and climbed it up, reached the sub-district which was one of the most flashy sub-district of the city before the war.

Now, this was the hardest part.

V stopped the Chinese team and said.

"Watch out, snipers here. Eyes peeled on the buildings."

Indeed, differently from the other armies around the world, the Army of Zaibatsu was mostly composed by snipers.

Such doctrine was derived by the fact that everything in Japan was property of Zaibatsu, so even the country was managed like a Corpo, with a single bullet per target being considered the most efficient way.

V used the drone, launching it and the connecting to it to get a bird's eyes view.

In fact, from her agent, V could see numerous sniper prone on the rooftops, with she giving details to the Chinese in order to reach the objective, by taking advantage of blind spots.

V checked both the agent and her surroundings as she snuck among the modern buildings, which compared to Watson didn't displayed as much damage.

The group finally reached the sizeable office building located in front of the roundabout in Japantown, which was formerly owned by SoftSys. The skyscraper's entrance was found in front of a small park, accessed via stairs to the right of the doors, with another option being an open entrance further out in the park with a pagoda-style building in front of it.

V told the team to stop and look carefully, as the area was surely covered by snipers.

Indeed, by checking the surrounding rooftops, she spotted a Zaibatsu sniper holding a Zaibatsu Ashura sniper rifle.

However, in that moment V had no sniper rifle with her or any other weapon with a long range.

V looked, until she saw a soldier, patrolling with a Zaibatsu Kyubi in his hands.

She snuck up to him, with knife in her hand, until she reached him and slit his throat.

As the Japanese soldier fell on the ground, V grabbed his rifle, then she checked it.

Unlike its predecessor made by Tsunami, it was fitted with an integrated shot counter, which recorded all the datas for every shots such as position, time and target hit, as standard for Zaibatsu made firearms.

Of course beside the efficency reason, it was also due the fact that every soldier had to pay for its own ammunition which were reimbursed only if they successfully hit and neutralized the target.

V asked Taijitu if could hack the shot counting device, in order to not be localized while she used the weapon.

The Chinese operative used his Techie skill to deactivate the device before giving it back to V, which installed a Militech CQO Kanone MINI Mk. 72 scope on the top rail and a Militech CS-1 Taipan on the muzzle of barrel of the rifle.

Now the FIA agent looked back at the Zaibatsu sniper, aimed and fired, with the bullet passing through its head.

As the sniper was dead, the team begun the assault, throwing a Kang Tao recon grenade through the door and entered.

The device revealed the position of the enemies to the Chinese team.

The Japanese security detail, armed Zaibatsu TKI-20 Shingen Mark V submachine guns was now visibly outlined for their optics.

Yin pulled the trigger of his G-58 Dian firing 9.5mm guided smart rockets which started curving to hit the enemies.

Yang instead fired his L-69 Zhuo which also used 9.5mm guided smart rockets, with a powerful volley against closer enemies.

Taijitu was also firing his A-22 Choo from behind a corner, while V used her newly acquired Kyubi as marksman rifle to clear out the remaining enemies.

Yin and Yang led the way through the made of corridors, throwing recon grenades and shooting with their smart weapons.

The Japanese were falling as the Chinese team advanced.

V was impressed by their discipline and cold blood.

Soon they reached a door with a sign over it that read "Server Room" and Ying said.

“Mùbiāo yīnggāi jiù zài zhèlǐ!”

"The target should be here!"

Taijitu ordered.

“Wǒmen túpò ba!”

"Let's breach!"

Yin opened the door and threw a recon grenade, before he and Yang entered.

The guards, armed with Zaibatsu HJKE-11 Yukimura automatic pistols were neutralized before they could even react, with the 9.5mm rockets ending up in their skulls.

As soon they were neutralized, V checked the room.

It was full of servers, and in the middle there was a Netrunner connected to a Netrunning device.

Next to it, there was a table with a Zaibatsu Kappa on.

Taijitu shouted.

“Mùbiāo quèrèn!”

"Target confirmed!"

V got closer to check the person connected to the Net.

Her jaw dropped as she recognized who it was.

The Netrunner was Yoko Tsuru.

Chapter Text

V couldn't believe it, so she quickly called Regina.

"The target is Yoko?"

The Sino-American women sighed.

"Yes. She is working for Zaibatsu now."

For V it was difficult to accept the situation, so she asked.

"We need to zero her?"

Regina replied.

"No. We need to extract her. The Chinese will "take care" of her."

Taijitu meanwhile was grabbing the Kappa, as Yang was pointing his L-69 Zhao towards Yoko.

Taijitu shouted some orders and Ying came with a cooland syringe in his hand with was injected into Yoko's neck.

The woman woke up, and was disconnected from the device.

She couldn't believe that she was surrounded by soldiers aiming weapons at her.

The worst was seeing V, with the woman reacting furiously.

"V!? What the fuck are you doing here? You were gone three years ago!"

But V wasn't in the mood for these bullshits.

"You daring asking me? You sold out to Zaibatsu!"

The Netrunner grinned.

"You don't understand. They are building camps in the NUSA to imprison people like me!"

V shook her head.

"Nah, it can't be true."

Yoko shouted.

"They exist! Hidden from the public eye but they are real!"

Then she added.

"Zaibatsu will protect me... and paying me a lot of yens while I work for them."

V replied.

"Just shut up."

Yin injected a tranquilizer in her neck and Yoko collapsed.

Taijitou then ordered at V.

"You grab the target! We call extraction!"

V complied, lifting the woman to her shoulder and grabbing the Her Majesty pistol.

Taijitou now started to led the team to the extraction point.

Their weapon were ready, their fingers on the trigger.

Guards armed with TKI-20 Shingen were rushing towards them but the team was quicker and more lethal, leaving a trail of bodies as they were heading to the stairs.

As soon they reached it, they started to climbling it fast, as they wanted to reach the rooftop as fast as possible.

V's adrenaline made her heart pound fast.

She reached the door leading to the roof top, and she took a deep breath before opening the door.

As the door opened, V saw a Zaibatsu sniper and opened fire, hitting him in the head and killing him, then she shouted.

"Clear!"

V put Yoko's body on the floor then she said.

"What is the plan now?"

Taijitou started to talk in Chinese, as he was talking with his operational support.

“Wǒmen hái yào děng duōjiǔ cáinéng chèlí?”

"How much time we still have to wait for the extration?"

Then a brief moment of silence, before he said a single word.

“Míngbáile.”

"Understood."

Then he said to V.

"15 minutes."

Then they spotted a glint and realized that they were exposed.

V grabbed the former weapon of the sniper that she just killed; a Zaibatsu JSH-X12 Nobunaga.

It was a pretty conventional bolt-action sniper rifle but its 8.8mm ammuntion were pretty powerful.

As the team retreated to the safety of the staircase, V moved both Yoko and gave the sniper rifle to Taijitu to disactivate the shot counter.

As soon the device was turned off, V moved back to the roof, laid in a supine position and aimed through her scope.

However, all she saw was the landscape consisting of skyscrapers.

Taijitu came next to her, and scanned the area with his Kang Tao optical implants, then whispered.

"Building in the middle!"

V positioned the scope following Taijitu's indication, spotting a sniper holding Zaibatsu Ashura smart sniper rifle, which despite holding only one dart in the chamber was one of the most lethal weapons, as it was impossible to miss with it.

V aimed at the head as they taught her in the FIA, and took a deep breath.

She pulled the trigger and the sniper's head exploded.

Taijitu whispered again.

"Now on the right!"

Another sniper, this time armed with a Zaibatsu Nekomata, an electromagnetic railgun that fired a bullet made of tungsten that could easily pierce their cover, and which unfortunately was pointed at them.

V started sweating from the tension, and pulled the trigger.

The enemy shot passed above their heads, while V's shot was much more successful.

"More on the right!"

Another sniper, this one with a JSH-X12 Nobunaga like her.

Same procedure.

V did the same for another two snipers, until she realized that her 5 rounds magazine was empty.

She crawled up to the body of the sniper, to grab two spare magazines, before reloading.

It was risky, as they were heavily exposed with V almost shaking from the stress and having an hard effort to keep her cold blood.

Eventually she managed to enter the magazine into the magwell and load a round in the chamber.

As V continued to deal with the enemy Zaibatsu snipers, Yin and Yang were busy shooting the Zaibatsu guards that were trying to overrun them by climbing the stairs.

The situation was tense.

Another five dead enemy sniper, then V cussed.

Last magazine.

Then they saw a flying object heading towards them.

Taijitu recognized it as a Kang Tao Type 2077, Chinese copy of the Zetatech Surveyor aerodyne, which for the Chinese team, meant that they were about to finish the mission and get back home.

Assuming that everything went smooth.

As the AV was getting close, V spotted a Zaibatsu soldier holding a familiar shape and pointing it towards the aircraft.

It was a Zaibatsu EMF launcher, a weapon which was designed to deactivate enemy vehicles and if used on an aerodyne, it would have transformed from a lethal flying war machine to a metallic coffin crashing towards the ground.

V aimed at the rifle, headshotting the Zaibatsu soldier.

The Type 2077 was getting closer, but another soldier with another EMF launcher was ready to hit it.

V aimed and shot again.

Taijitu ordered the team to regroup on the rooftop, while V was dealing with the enemy, which seemed to have an unlimited supply of launchers.

Four shot gone.

Only one remaining.

The AV was seconds away, but there was one last soldier with the EMF launcher.

V aimed, but her hand was shaking.

But there was no time for hesitation so she pulled the trigger.

Surprisingly, the bullet didn't missed.

The soldier screamed from pain as the bullet hit and smashed his groin.

The weapon was fired but the missile was launched towards the road, hitting a convoy of Zaibatsu Tanishi "Kuma" which were patrolling the neighborhood.

The AV was now relatively safe and initiated the maneuvers.

When the areodyne opened the rear door, the Chinese entered the vehicle, carrying Yoko's unconscious body.

V stayed on the roof, watching the aircraft flying away.

Chapter Text

V was now in the hideout used by Regina, which was located in a old building formerly owned by Yaiba, close to Lizzie's bar.

It was a decrepit office, with two Aegis turrets and trash everywhere, looking even worse that three years prior.

She walked up to Regina, which stayed in her "office", which was a room with a medical chair in the middle and a huge glass window which shown the pitiful situation of the city.

Regina was an American woman of Chinese descent, with her most peculiar feature being a black eyepatch covering her right eye.

Her black hairs were styled in a ponytail, and in addition she sported a golden cross necklace on her neck.

The woman was wearing a body armor over a white shirt, black jeans as trousers and black boots on her feet.

The woman smiled.

"Thanks for the help with the MSS."

V shrugged.

"Just helping an old friend."

The Chinese woman added.

"And sorry for Yoko. I know she was a friend for you too."

V shrugged.

"More like an acquiescence but didn't expected to see her working for the enemy."

Regina tried to explain.

"Lately the atmosphere in Night City got tense for Asians in general but for the Japanese it was the worst. You know, the whole ordeal with Arasaka first and Zaibatsu then."

V asked.

"You had any problems?"

Regina shook her head.

"Not much, but I think is more thanks to my cred as a fixer than anything."

The Regina asked.

"I know you are definitely here for work but could you do a gig for me?"

V nodded.

"Sure, what is about?"

Regina told.

"Remember when you dealt with that Jotaro piece of shit?"
V nodded.

"Yes, he was a fucking sicko. I sliced him with a katana."

Regina replied.

"Well, he had a cousin living in Japan, who is even worse, a certain Noriaki Shobo."

V asked.

"Worse than Jotaro? Impossible!"

Regina replied.

"Compared to Noriaki, Jotaro had standards. All his victims were adults, while..."

V was disgusted.

"Ew, I get it. I will kill the bastard."

Regina said.

"Actually, I need him alive. He is the connection between the Tyger Claws and the Zaibatsu forces. Some of the officers are even his most loyal "customers"."

V nodded.

"Will try my best."

The former merc turned around before Regina told her.

"Wait, I forgot to give you something."

V returned to the fixer, which handed her a familiar pistol.

It was Skippy, a one of a kind version of the Arasaka HJKE-11 Yukimura, with a white color and a built-in AI.

V smiled.

"Long time I didn't see him."

Regina explained.

"I bought him at the audition where they sold your stuff. Wanted a small reminder of you. I also tweaked his personality to be... less annoying."

Suddenly, an hologram display an athropomized bullet with a smile and sunglasses appeared from the front of the gun, saying.

"Hey, what do you mean 'less annoying' I am not annoying!"

Regina said.

"You are."

V said too.

"You are not annoying but your jokes and manners are very cringe sometimes."

Skippy was confused but enthusiastic.

"Wait... V! Is a pleasure to see you after all these years!"

V smiled back.

"Same here, Skippy."

Skippy added.

"I promise I will behave better this time!"

V smiled.

"We will see."

Then she looked Regina and said.

"It was an happy reunion by should go now. Any idea where to find this Noriaki?"

Regina replied.

"You can find him at the Ho-oh club."

V thanked her, took the elevator, went outside, then turned right heading to Pinewood street.

Skippy asked.

"How is going, V? What you did all this time?"

V replied.

"Is complicated. Been in a coma for two years. Then worked a desk job in Langley."

Skippy joked.

"Langley? Are you a secret agent for the FIA?"

V smirked.

"Don't ask, don't tell."

Skippy replied.

"I will take it as a yes."

V remarked.

"Well, if you don't mind, I would rather you be silent while I work."

Skippy answered with a thumbs up gesture.

"Understood. Professional mode, activated."

With the smart pistol now silent, V resumed her mission, turning right again with the road on the side of a ruined slum.

She reached a broken elevator, carefully climbing down on the remaining structure, t'hen straight until reached the southern side of Allen Street, then left heading to the slums.

V spotted some Tyger Claws patrols armed with Arasaka Nowaki assault rifles.

V snuck among the alleys and avoiding the gangsters until she reached the Ho-oh.

It was well decorated with sophisticated patterns and various aquariums, in addition of numerous roulette and slot machines.

V activated her optical camo to sneak among the numerous gangsters present in the main hall, until she reached a private area with braindance stalls and scantily-dressed girls.
The poor women looked like were suffering, with visible traces of tears on their cheeks and were also probably coerced.

In addition, most of them appeared to be of Chinese descent.

The FIA agent headed upstairs, reaching the 1st floor, which hosted a dance area.

V peeked to check if the target was there, but she only saw more underclothed girls and lustful gangoons.

Some of the Tyger Claws grunts were even visibly masturbating while staring at women, who were either topless or outright naked.

The former merc then headed upstairs, reaching the uppermost floor, where she also killed Jotaro three years prior.

The place looked almost the same, with a make brain dance studio, numerous blood stains on the floor, a metal grate and bed, where a naked Chinese girl was screaming.

In front of her there was a Japanese man with long black hairs and beard, wearing a mixture of civilian clothes and tactical gear, arms covered in tattoos, and with his penis outside of his trousers.

As he got closer, the girl seemed to get more and more scared.

V hoped that young looking woman was over the 18 years of age.
The man was really close to his victim and too focused on her to notice V charging on him, until she was literally breathing on his neck.

Noriaki tried to grab his personal defence weapon, a luxurious Arasaka Senkoh LX 2079LE but the woman twisted his arm before he could do it, then pushed him against the grate and aimed Skippy at him.

V shouted.

"You are coming with me!"

Noriaki grinned.

"Fuck you!"

The Japanese man spat on the woman's face, and laughed.

As the woman moved her arm to try to clean her face from the saliva, a bullet was shot from Skippy, hitting Noriaki's fallous, making him scream painfully.

Skippy's hologram turned on and he said.

"I am sorry... no, actually I am not, you disgusting depraved sick fuck!"

Noriaki however was to busy groaning from the painful blood loss to notice that he was being humiliated and insulted by the AI of a gun.

V grunted.

"I have no time from this horseshit!"

She grabbed him and begun to carry him.

Suddenly, a gangoon armed with an old Arasaka Tamayura pistol stormed in the room.

Before V could even aim, Skippy fired itself and hit the Tyger Claw with a perfect headshot.

V exclaimed.

"Thanks Skippy!"

Skippy said.

"You welcome! Don't worry, keep carrying Noriaki's body, I will think about dealing with these Tyger Claws gangoons like the old times!"

V remarked.

"Remember that some of these gonks have their bodies pumped up with masking ink!"

Skippy added.

"Thank you! I will calculate the ballistic trajectory accordingly to take this fact in consideration!"

The girl dashed to her clothes and after wearing them in a rush, she escaped, shaking from fear.

 

As the girl run, V started to head downstairs, pointing out Skippy in front of her.

The former merc passed over Noriaki's bodyguard's dead body, hearing two goons coming up, with Arasaka Shigure submachine guns in their hands.

Skippy fired, killing the two gangsters immediately.

V rushed downstairs, with Noriaki's blood flowing on her shoulders, until she reached the "dancing area floor".

She aimed against the room, with Skippy firing a bursts, eliminating most of the Tyger Claws there.

The dancing girls panicked and rushed away, uncaring of their lack of proper clothing.

Skippy screamed.

"Reload!"

V instinctively complied, discharging the old magazine and inserting a new one.

As soon the weapon was loaded, Skippy fired again in the head of a Tyger Claw that was charging the woman while holding a katana.

It was now time to go downstairs, with V going as fast as she could.

"Let's go Skippy!"

The woman climbed downstairs again, ready to unleash hell on the gangsters.

Taking advantage of the corners and covers, V advance peeking only her hand holding Skippy and letting him do the hard work of killing the criminals.

In few minutes, the bar was getting devastated, with walls now covered in bullet holes and the floor with corpses and blood.

Even the aquarium were now dry, due all the water coming out from the holes.

V was rushing towards the exit, heart pounding due the adrenaline.

She reloaded one more time, to be sure to have enough ammo.

As soon she was outside, she spotted two Tyger Claws with Nowaki rifles neat a Mizutani Shion "Kyokotsu", heavily modified by the gang.

Before they had time to aim the weapons, V and Skippy made short work of them.

The woman reached the vehicle and put Noriaki in the truck.

Before closing him inside, she grabbed a coagulant and a towel to stop the bleeding.

After she was done, V got on the driver seat and started to go towards Regina's safehouse.

As soon they started moving, Skippy exclaimed joyfully.

"We are a great team!"

Chapter Text

V stared the ceiling of her room back at the Militec base.

After her shenigans with the Polish and the Chinese that happened the week prior, she was confined to the Militech base.

Apparently the FIA wasn't happy that one of her agents was lending an hand to foreign intelligence agencies without her superiors' approval, even if they were allies.

Men from the organization kept interrogating her daily, sometimes even scanning her brain activity, as they seemed vary of her, probably thinking she was a double or even triple agent.

Each time, V kept her version that she helped them due knowing the contacts personally and previously to her work for the FIA and that she trust them 100%.

She even told them about the gig that she did for the two agents of the Brazilian ABIN.
As one of the agents pointed out, that collaboration didn't count as V wasn't officially working for the FIA at the moment and their "operation" was not authorized by the Brazilian government.

The story continued until later of that very day, with a Militech grunt knocking on her room's door to inform her of a "special visit".

V got out of her bed, opened the door and followed the Militech soldier as routine.

V entered the interrogation room, expecting to talk again with some other FIA gonks.

However, the person sitting on the other side of the table in the middle of the room was not who she expected.

Solomon Reed was sitting on the chair, staring her before saying.

"Take a seat."

V complied and asked with a tone of disbelief.

"Reed? What you are doing here?"

He smiled and replied.

"I heard some birds telling me that you worked for foreign agencies."

V looked at him and told him in a serious tone.

"Listen, I did not betrayed the NUSA."

Reed shrugged.

"I know, and I already reassured our colleagues."

Then he smiled.

"I think you did a good job. Both the BBW  and the MSS seems to be more willing to cooperate with us right now."

Then he jokingly scolded her.

"Next time, remember that like any other NUSA's governmental organization we are still bound by too much bureaucratic tape."

After the joke, however his expression became serious again.

"The real reason I am here, is that there is a job for you."

V asked.

"What is about?"

Reed briefed her.

"We captured an high ranking officer and we tried interrogate him. However, during the brain scan, the encryption software of the chrome inside his brain fucked everything up. Now he is a vegetable."

V answered.

"So what do you want from me? To enter in his brain and get you datas?"

Reed nodded.

"Exactly.

V asked.

"How I am supposed to do that?"

The African-American replied.

"Don't worry, you will be supported by a team of experts. You will be in good hands."

The former merc nodded.

"Let's do it."

Reed stood up.

"Okay, follow me."

V stood up too, following the man out of the room, walking throught a corridor until they reached a door which Reed opened.

"Good luck, V."

The woman nodded.

"Thanks, Reed."

V's jaw dropped as she entered the room.

The two experts were really familiar faces, consisting of a woman and a man.

The woman was Judy Alvarez, a beautiful Latina with black hairs that was elegantly dressed with a black dress and high heels of the same color.

It was V's ex-girlfriend, who during V's coma moved to Pittsburg and married a woman named Bianca.

The other person was a man named River Ward, who was bald, sporting an eccentric brown fur coat alongside cyberware such as the right eye and the arm.

Former policemen and V's occasional fling, it was now wanted by the local police because he sold classified informations from the NCPD to Trauma Team in order to pay for his nephew's rehab.

Seeing them both in that place was really unexpected.

After an awkwardly long silence, Judy was the first to talk.

"So you weren't joking about being a FIA agent during one of our dates."

Despite her usual cold blood, V was extremely embarassed.

She tried to gather her courage and then answered.

"So you two are the experts?"

Judy nodded.

"Yes. Some gonks contacted me asking for my DB editing skills. Said that they knew how reel me in."

River added.

"Almost same. Someone told me that if I did a job for them, they would let me go with a clean slate back in NC."

Judy was feeling bit creeped up by the man.

V looked around the room, seeing a Japanese man laying unconscious on a medical bed, connected to some complex machinery.

She asked.

"What are we supposed to do?"

Judy explained, pointing up a medical chair and BD wreath.

"You lay and turn that thing on. We will support you from here."

V asked.

"Anything I should know?"

Judy nodded.

"Yes. Unlike a normal BD, it will be all in real time. No scrolling or reviewing. I will make sure that all the editable parameters will be filtered to levels tolerable by your brain."

Then V stared River.

"Wait, since when you are a BD expert?"

The former policeman answered.

"After the Peter Pan case and the problem with the NCPD, I started getting interested in BDs and how they could be used for forensic purposes. So I will analyze the datas and also lending an hand to your friend."

V was feeling hesitant but still walked up to the device, sat down and said.

"I am ready."

The woman activated the brain dance device, which flashed with a very intense light.

As soon the light dimmed, she found herself in what looked like rural Japan, with numerous pink flowered sakura trees.

Judy's voice resonated in V's mind.

"Now you are inside the gonk's dream, you will experience it in real time as I told you before."

V walked until he saw a small Japanese kid, wearing a red hat and jacket, with blue trousers and white shoes.

She thought.

"Who is this guy?"

River replied.

"Satoshi Tajiri of the Zaibatsu Military Navy. Assigned to the Kujira super aircraft carrier.
He is a Kaishō, which correspond to a Vice Admiral."

Judy added.

"And you are right in his childhood."

Close to the kid, there was a yellow bunny, doing small jumps.

V tried to get close to him, asking in Japanese.

"Yā, bōya! Hanashite mo ī ka na?"

"Hey, kid! Can I talk with you?"

Satoshi looked her in the eyes, silent.

V tried to ask more.

"Anata jishin no koto o oshiete itadakemasu ka?"

"Can you tell me about yourself?"

The kid replied, his words sounding like a mantra.

"Saikō ni naritai dare mo nashitoge rarenakatta, Ikitaitokoro wa doko e demo ikitai soshite koko de tomaru tsumori wanai!"

"I wanna be the very best, like no one ever was. I want to go wherever I want and not stop here."

V smiled.

"Sore wa ī seishindesu ne! Tonari ni suwatte mo yoroshīdeshou ka?"

"That's the good spirit! Mind if I sit next to you?"

Satoshi got immediately angry.

"Gaijin baita, watashi kara hanarero!"

"Go away from me, gaijin!"

The yellow bunny suddenly began to hiss before screaming.

Before V had time to react, the yellow bunny hit her with an electrical discharge, making her muscle twitch and fell to the ground.

After spasming for a bit, V stood up finding herself in a drainage channel, albeit without the foul odor.

She looked up, seeing Satoshi standing on a platform made of brick which was seemingly suspended in the air.

He was now slightly holder, in his teenage years circa, wearing a red hoodie and blue jeans.

He shouted.

"Shine, gaijin no kuzu!"

"Die, you foreign shit!"

Suddenly, a huge turtle-looking creature came out of the water, roaring before running towards V.

The woman jumped, with the animal running up a wall, crashing.

But the creature didn't gave up and tried to attack her again.

V dashed, her mind running to think of a quick solution to get out of that situation.

She saw a brick that was detached from the broken wall, so she grabbed it and threw it at the creature.

The creature was stunned for few seconds but nothing much more, and resume its aggression against V.

The woman prepared to dash again, avoiding the monster's attack.

V looked at Satoshi's platform, then at the creature, before a sudden idea came into his mind.

She rushed to grab a brick, then suddenly ran towards the creature and jumped on its back.

As the woman was on top of the creature, she used the height to jump towards Satoshi's platform.

The Japanese teen was surprised as V was using the brick to hit him on the head.

V experienced a white flash, before finding herself aboard a military ship, precisely on the main deck.

The woman looked around, seeing numerous Zaibatsu Z-77 Rezu fighter jets and Zaibatsu insignias.

The ship, which was a Kujira-class supercarrier possessed five runaways, which were distributed across three floors.

In front of V, there was Satoshi armed with a katana, and shouted.

"I will kill you!"

"Watashi wa anata o koroshimasu!"

V smirked and replied.

"Tatoe watashi ga gaijinda to shite mo, seiseidōdō to tatakau kikai o ataenakereba meiyo ni wa naranai."

"Even if I am a gaijin, it wouldn't be honorable if you didn't gave the chance for a fair fight."

Satoshi grunted and gave a katana to V.

Both of them got in position and the fight begun.

It was intense, with both V and Satoshi being able to parry each other's attacks.

Then they looked each other, silently agreeing for a moment of breath.

Staring at each other's eyes, they tried to see if the other lowered the guard.

Then, they run towards each other and stroke.

It seemed that nothing happened.

The world looked dimming and Judy screamed.

"What the fuck, V! Satoshi's vitals are dropping! Get the deets before he flatline!"

Satoshi was still looking at V, not realizing that he was bleeding.

It didn't touch much before he collapsed.

V kneeled to him and said.

"Meiyo aru shōri o osameta. Watashi no nozomi o kanaete kure."

"I defeated you honorably. You have to give me what I want."

The Japanese coughed.

"Hai, demo watashi no tame ni nanika shite itadakanakereba narimasen."

"Yes, but you have to do something for me."

V asked.

"Nandesuka?"

"What is?"

Satoshi replied.

"Genjitsu sekai de songen aru shi o ataete kudasai."

"Give me a dignified death in the real world."

V nodded.

"Watashi wa shimasu."

"I will."

Then she asked.

"Show me everything about the Kujira."

Satoshi took a wheeze and suddenly their moved across the various areas of the ship, such as the arsenal, the canteen, the cabins and even the command room, before returning to the deck where they fought.

Judy's voice resounded in V's head.

"Good job V. We got a full render and map of the Kujira now. I will disconnect you."

Another white flash, before V was back in the real world.

Judy smiled.

"Excellent job! Like always!"

River commented.

"That was nova!"

V smiled.

"Thanks."

She stood up, before heading towards Satoshi, whose vitals were dropping slowly.

The woman grabbed her knife from her hips sheat, then stabbed Satoshi in the stomach as she mumbled.

"I always keep my promises."

V watched Satoshi's dying and went the loud noise of the heartbeat monitor started buzzing, she headed back to her room.
___

V spent few minutes laying and staring the ceiling, until someone knocked.

She shouted, apaetically.

"Come in."

The door opened, revealing that Judy was behind it, smiling.

"Hey, V."

V replied coldly.

"Hi."

Judy asked, akwardly.

"So how is life going?"

V answered with a flat voice.

"Just busting my ass for the FIA."

Judy added.

"Hey, you are alive now. The construct in your head is gone. It won't kill you anymore. You can life freely now."

V mumbled.

"For what porpouse?"

Judy didn't knew what to answer, so the room fell into a deep silence.

It was only interrupted by V commenting.

"So how is married life?"

Judy smiled.

"Bianca is amazing! She is sweet, kind and fun!"

However, V noticed something about her expression which was off, so she asked.

"What's bugging you?"

Judy rolled her eyes.

"I guess I cannot keep anything hidden from you."

Then her smile became a frown.

"Actually... there is tension. Bianca is pressuring me into getting a contract for a soulless brain dance studio, even if is against my principles."

Then she said with her voice full of cringe.

"Also... sex with her ain't exciting no more. Feels bland.

The moment became even more embarrassing when the door opened and River entered nonchalantly.

He saw the women and apologizing.

"Sorry ladies. Hope to not have interrupted anything private."

Judy replied with irritation.

"You actually did. What you doing here?"

River replied with embarrassment.

"Actually... just wanted to talk with V. Privately."

V answer.

"What about?"

The former policeman was getting more and more shy.

"You were my output back... and our relation..."

Judy got angry and stared Judy.

"WHAT THE FUCK V!"

Judy and River looked at each other before lashing on V.

"You fucking cheated?"

Both of them looked at V with disgust.

The woman replied.

"To be honest, River, I gave you a chance 'cause I was moved by the kids and felt pity for you. Figure that a woman's touch might have helped you move on from that shit."

Still silent judgement from both Judy and River.

V sighed.

"Okay, I wanted some cock and to live my final moments to the fullest."

Judy commented.

"You are so selfish."

V became red from anger.

"Me? Selfish? You literally ran away and got a new life while I was in a fucking coma. Not a single worry that my surgery could have killed me!"

Judy looked at her, understanding that she got a good point.

The tension was clearly heavy.

River scratched the back of his neck, clearly out of his depth.

“Look, maybe… maybe we could just forget all this bad blood. Hell, maybe we could, I dunno, make it a threesome.”

The words dropped like a grenade.

V snapped her head toward him.

“What the fuck, River?”

Judy glared daggers, her voice sharp as a blade.
“You’re disgusting.”

Silence.

River raised his hands, stammering.
“Shit, I was joking, alright? Bad timing. Forget it.”

But Judy’s laugh cut him off, sharp, humorless.
“You know what?” She leaned back against the wall, eyes blazing with something between fury and resignation.

“Fuck it. Why not? Everything else in this fucked-up world is a mess. Might as well add one more mistake.”

River dropped his jaw.

Judy added.

"However, I don't want your limp dick in my pussy or any other hole."

V shrugged and started to strip, followed by the others.

As everyone's clothes were on the ground, V looked at Judy's body.

She was beautiful with perfectly round boobs and shaven vagina.

Her skin was still covered by tattoos, which consisted in a mixture of inspirational quotes, Mox logo, marine animals and roses.

There was even some unusual examples like a firetruck, which was related to an event in her childhood.

The most mysterious however, was the tattoo of a sperm coming out of a clam.

V had no idea of what it meant and was pretty confused given Judy's sexuality.

The Latina noticed V's glance and asked.

"I notice you liking what you seeing..."

V bitten her lips.

"You can bet it."

The two started to kiss passionately, with River getting aroused, with his penis growing thanks to his erection.

Judy pushed V on the bed, kissing the woman with passion and fingering her vagina.

The former merc moaned loudly, making River even hornier.

The former cop reached the two women and said.

"V, can I join?"

V started to laying, eating Judy's pussy as River started penetrating the former in her pussy.

V was feeling so alive.

Then after a while they continued with a, Deluxe 69 which constisted in the two women licking each's other pussies, while River fucked V in the ass, pounding hard and fast.

After a while, they tried a Doggy train, with V still getting ass fucked and licking Judy's pussy while the two were on four legs.

They kept going on for a while, enjoying it to the fullest.

For the final position, V sucked River's cock while Judy licked her pussy.

V twisted her tongue all over River's member, with the man moaning from the pleasure.

He screamed.

"I am coming!"

As he was saying that, he ejaculated all over V's face, covering her with his semen.

After everything, all of the three were exausted, with V commenting.

"It was a nice fucking."

Chapter Text

It has been few months since the threeway with Judy and River back at the military base.

This thought often recurred in V's mind.

In that moment however, she had to focus on the mission.

She was driving a Militec Hellhound six-wheeled armored personal carrier, on a road between the ruins of the place that used to be Downtown, heading towards Corpo Plaza.

She wasn't alone in the vehicle, as she was part of a five-persons team tasked with assaulting the new Zaibatsu HQ in Night City.

Three of them were on the back of the Hellhound, consisting of an average-looking brown haired soldier on his 30s and armed with a M251s Ajax assault rifle, a muscled African-American armed with a mag-fed Crusher shotgun and a sleek Korean-American armed with a M179e Achilles precision rifle.

In the seat next to her, the team leader was sitting with his M221 Saratoga submachine gun, with an harsh expression on his face and looking carefully what was happening outside.

Their codename were based in the weapons that they were carrying, so no risk in forgetting or confusing.

But beside knownig that they were veterans of the Unification Wars before joining Militech, she know nothing about them.

They were getting very close to their objective, now almost to the edge of the Heywood district.

Suddenly, Saratoga talked.

"Watch out, spook. Zulu patrols."

It was clearly indicating the presence of Zaibatsu "Kuma" 4x4s.

V readied the armaments of the vehicle, which consisted of machine guns on the front and missile launcher on the roof.

In addition they were protected against bullets and explosions by a CrystalDome system.

V started firing, with the two .50 caliber machinegun making short work of the Japanese vehicles until they exploded in a fierce fireball.

The Militec APC continued to advance, even by running over some Zaibatsu infantry soldiers.

In few minutes they were on what used to be the main highway of Night City.

V remember passing through that road countless times, especially when stealing cars for "El Capitan".

Now it was full of rubbles and missing parts, which rendered the drive much more difficult.

After a while, they finally reached the famous Corpo Plaza, now a shadow of its former self.

If she didn't knew any better she would thought to be in Pacifica or even Dogtown before the conflict.

Everyone kept their eyes peeled, but they were shocked when they saw what surprise was waiting for them.

It was a Zaibatsu Ashidakagumo spider tank, an updated take of an old Arasaka model.

It was absolutely lethal.

Saratoga contacted command.

"Here Demon-1. Requesting support, engaging with a Zulu spider tank."

The Militech dispacher replied.

"Copy that. Support is on the way, ETA 15 minutes."

V was pissed.

"15 MINUTES? YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!"

The spider tank was fitted with four machineguns on the top, Zaibatsu clones of the Militec Mk. 31 HMG, positioned to cover a 360⁰ field in order to not leave any blind spots.

The weapons started to fire and V started to drive in order to avoid them.

Some bullets hit the APC, which despite being heavily armored, it wouldn't had resisted too many rounds.

Luckily the roundabout was still quite serviceable.

V asked to Saratoga.

"Can we try hit it with a missile barrage?"

The Militech grunt replied.

"Yes. Activating missile systems."

Saratoga pressed some buttons on the dashboard, then they heard some beeping noises until a constant beep which signified a succesful lock on.

Upon pressing the firing button, a volley of missiles came from the launcher, flying towards their target before exploding.

However, despite the damage, the tank was still working, just as was designed.

V was still feeling tension, despite looking cold blooded.

Everyone knew that what they were trying to do was a suicide.

V made a maneuver to face the tank frontally, then she fired with the machineguns.

The .50 caliber bullets hit the tank hard, but as predicted they weren't doing much damage.

The weapons stopped firing, as the barrels were overheating and needed a relatively brief cooldown.

Then the spider tank lifted the front legs.

V knew what meant and ordered a missile barrage.

The tension was high as they started to see some red light, which indicated that the tank was about to use a powerful laser attack, which would have totally destroyed the Hellhound.

The lock-in beep and the fire happened just before V did a quick and risk manuveur to avoid the laser.

Saratoga scolded her.

"Listen, spook! You may have death wishes but we don't."

Crusher added.

"If I knew the spook was that reckless, I would have asked for a big fat risk bonus and getting even more eddies."

V got annoyed.

"Shut up, all of you! We are not in the clear yet!"

Saratoga added.

"As long you don't pull gonk shit like this, is fine."

V added.

"Let's try another barrage then."

However, small spider-shaped drones were coming out of of the bottom of tank.

V put the reverse gear and started to ride away from the bots, which were fitted with explosives.

She was going as fast she could.

After a bit, they felt a concussion.

It was from one of the spider which managed to reached the APC and explode.

Of course, given its small dimensions and the fact that was designed for anti-personell use, albeit the problem was that quite a number of them reached the vehicle and detonated.

Everybody was bit stunned, but alive.

After a bit, V regained her senses completely.

She tried to move the APC but no matter what she put as imput, nothing seemed to work.

But what the enemy spider tank was trying to do was even more terrifing.

It was slowly advancing towards them.

Everyone knew that it would have tried to unleash an EMP pulse in order to disable both the vehicle and their implants, before slowly crushing them with its legs.

But before the Ashidakagumo could reach them, it was destroyed by an intense ray which cut it in half.

V turned around, to see what attacked the Zaibatsu spider tank.

It was a Militech Chimera, fitted with a KL-274XYA flechette cannon, a PAN-12 Furia laser cannon, a GD27-Angstschema launcher with both surface-to-surface and surface-to-air capabilities, a combat gas atomizer, smoke screens, ERA armor and a sophisticated ICE cyberdefense system called TYA-12.

It was really a state-of-art weapon system, ongoing full production thanks to an executive order by President Myers after the events of Dogtown, when both her and V witnessed its capabilities with their own eyes.

V tried to restart the vehicle again, without any success.

Saratoga got annoyed and connected its own personal jack in the dashboard's port, commenting.

"Imma try reboot the system."

Every light turned on and so did the engine.

Crusher shouted.

"Fuck yeah!"

V resumed her driving, with their destination being really close, with the "Zaibatsu Tower" being clearly visible.

It less than five minutes, they were almost reaching their objective.

However, a loud bang happened and the engine was hit, with V losing control and crashing against a concrete barricade.

The team was concussed again, cussing as soon they realized that the CrystalDome sysyem was now broken.

Achilles said.

"According to my ballistic shard, the enemy is shooting a Rajetsu!"

V commented.

"If we get out, he is gonna zero us!"

Crushed asked.

"What if we fire a missile up his ass?"

V said.

"We are totally blind!"

Achilles said.

"Wait, my shard recorded the estimated position of the shooter! I can try aim the missiles manually."

V said.

"Ok. Come here."

The Korean-American soldier did as requested, wobbling among the seats to reach the port.

As the connection was established, he pressed some buttons.

Everyone heard the beepings which confirmed the lock-on, which prompted Achilles to fire.

After a minute they heard a loud explosion.

Ajax asked.

"What now?"

Saratoga said in a serious tone.

"We have to go in, no matter what!"

He looked Ajsx and ordered.

"Ajax, when I open the rear door, you throw the smoke grenade!"

Ajax replied.

"Copy, sir!"

Saratoga pushed a button and the rear door opened in a ramp, with Ajax complying with the order.

The smoke grenade started to emit smoke, with the team taking the opportunity to get out of the vehicle and move with the cover.

As the team was out of the Hellhound, they headed towards the Zaibatsu building, ready to assault it, weapons ready.

Once they were inside, they found themselves in a huge hall.

For V, it was very reminiscent of the hall of the Arasaka tower when she used to work there.

The walls were covered by numerous propagandistic holographic ads which depicted depicted the Zaibatsu special forces with captions such as "最善を尽くせば、あなたも彼のようになるでしょう", which translated as "if you do your best, you will be like him" or "財閥は献身に報いる", "Zaibatsu rewards dedication".

However, the team had more pressing concerns than to look at the advertisement, as the hall was crowded with Zaibatsu special forces armed with "HJSH-18" Masamune assault rifle and a captured Militech Centaur mech.

Crusher shouted.

"Throwing an incendiary!"

He grabbed a CHAR grenade and threw it against the mech, with the grenade exploding into a fireball which also engulfed some nearby soldiers, which started to painfully burn.

Everyone of the Militech team started to shoot, focusing first on the mech and once it was defeated on the rest of the enemy soldiers.

V meanwhile was sporting a very peculiar weapon, a Budget Arms Carnage painted in lime green with some pink details.

It was given to V by Regina after the "Noriaki gig", which obtained it after contacting Rogue, the latter having bought some of the most rare equipment that V left in her apartment during the coma.

It was a unique shotgun which the former merc found three years prior hidden in the bushes of the Corpo Plaza garden, apparently was named "Guts" and formely belonged to an Edgerunner called "Rebecca".

The four Militech grunts were bit weirded by the "unproffessional" look of the weapon initially but now that they were seeing its devastating effects in action, they were changing their mind.

With eight rounds of 8 gauge rounds, there was a reason that was V's favorite.

The recoil was very harsh but no enemy survived its might.

Achilles aimed carefully with his precision rifle, picking the enemies one by one, while Saratoga and Ajax shoot in bursts from cover.

Crusher was bit more reckless, as he was charging the enemies before eliminating them with his shotgun.

It was risky, but he had adeguate armor and chrome for this "tactic".

It was intense, but the Militech team prevailed.

Saratoga asked V.

"Where is the objective?"

The FIA agent replied.

"Almost the top floor. Gonna take the elevator."

The team complied and got into the elevator, until they reached the 12th floor.

As soon the elevator's doors opened, the team started to shoot, with V and Crusher taking point.

Their shotguns at point blank distance were absolutely lethal to the enemies.

The place was however a maze, with numerous corridors in a confusing layout, with also automated turrets deployed in the area as defences.

Achilles used a quick hack on one of them, taking control and shot the enemies.

The team kept pushing, moving across the maze of corridors until they reached the next elevator., which stopped at the 52nd floor, which had tiered walkways, polished reflective panels, and sight lines that ran the whole length of the floor. It smelled of ozone and old blood.

Saratoga froze, eyes skimming.

“Open space. Bad.”

“Zulu Marksmen.”

Achilles said softly, voice a knife. He peered through the scope of his precision rifle, the HUD of his optics overlay tracing threat vectors across balconies.

Red tags blinked into existence — four, maybe six — each one a tiny, patient predator half-inside a glass cubicle, half-hidden in corporate foliage.

They were spaced like a picket line across the atrium, each with the long, elegant silhouette of a sniper and the cold blink of electro-optic scopes.

V felt her pulse slow and sharpen.

Her grip tightened on Guts, the lime-and-pink shotgun suddenly absurd and intimate in her hands, as was a tool for close fights, not suited for long range shooting.

Crusher spat a curse and slammed a palm to the console.

“We can’t run that gauntlet.”

“No,” V said. “We make them come to us.”

Achilles flicked through the network map in a motion so small it was almost a ritual.

“Cameras are hardwired. Snipers are relaying targeting to small fire-control nodes. Hack the nodes, you blind them. I can do one, maybe two, if someone holds the line.”

Saratoga barked.

“We don’t have a line — we have a bowling lane. Ajax create smoke. Crusher draws fire. Someone else makes the hack stick.”

Crusher grinned in that way that meant he liked the stupid plan.

“I draw. You blind. V, you dance.”

They moved like a unit, but not clean: boots on polished metal, breath counts.

Ajax ripped a smoke grenade from his pack and lobbed it into the atrium just short of the first sniping position.

The smoke covered the snipers for the team, but was mutual.

Optical sensors spat alarms.

A red laser slashed across behind the smoke, a sniper’s beam hunting the team.

Two shots cracked.

One slammed into a display, embossing it with spiderweb heat. Another caught the edge of the elevator door and melted a ribbon of chrome.

Crusher leaped out, shotgun propped like a battering ram, and ran the open space as if it were a field and not a line of death.

The snipers tracked him, pull the triggers of their Kyubi rifles with a predatory calculation.

V’s heart was racing; Guts hated was best at point-blank.

Achilles dove into a service alcove, neural cable finding a maintenance port. His fingers danced.

He said with a professional tone.

“I’ve got one node.”

“But the rest are mesh-linked, someone’s running a neural feed to the scopes. This is sophisticated, augmented aiming, smart rounds.”

V muttered.

“Zaibatsu special projects.”

She remembered one of the special Arasaka project about optics training, aiming to obtain snipers who never blinked.

Probably Zaibatsu inherited it from Arasaka, and given that Zaibatsu merged both Arasaka and Kiroshi, the results were much better.

V’s jaw tightened and her fingers flexed around the shotgun.

Achilles hacked the first node. One marksmen ’s scope glitched, making firing blindly as his feed stuttered.

Crusher fell, grin gone, heart pounding as a round drilled into his thigh. He pushed on, dragging pain as fuel.

Saratoga and Ajax covered low corridors, pinging targets with automatic, forcing snipers to alter lines.

The team choreographed suppression: short, violent bursts of glue-fire that pinned heads down and forced micro-breaks in aim.

V moved like a shadow unpracticed in geometry.
She snuck around the reflective panels and used them at her advantage.

A marksman took her reflection for real and snapped off a round.

The bullet flew past her ear and ricocheted into a glass surface, transforming the shards into dangerous shrapnel.

She closed distance fast, as the shotgun’s was lethal up close, useless at range.
Another sniper had his optic feeding a targeting laser; Achilles just bought them time by killing a relay.
V kicked a maintenance hatch open, vaulted, and used the exposed service ducts to climb.

 

From above, she aimed it down a shaft and fired.
Eight ounces of 8-gauge thunder punched through thin maintenance metal and shredded a sniper’s camouflage.
The man never knew what hit him; his headphone was still keyed to command when V pulled the trigger again, the second blast sending his chest into the ducting in a slow, mechanical fashion.

There other three marksmen, with two of them falling thanks to the Militec team's combined fire.

However, a corporal in a high alcove, steel in his jaw and an old Arasaka badge sewn into the inside of his jacket, that had the kind of aim that didn’t require optics, just muscle memory that remembered how to turn a head into a target.

She dropped down into the open, grin half-razor. Crusher had bled hard but still breathed louder than the rest.

Achilles kept the net partly severed, sacrificing his line-of-sight hacks to bait the last man.

V charged like a freight engine fed on spite, shotgun upright.

Thanks to her enhanced reflexes, Guts was fired and the corporal died before he could press the trigger.

When it was over, the atrium fell into an eerie calmness.

The team regrouped on Crusher, with Saratoga asking.

"Crusher? Can you hear me soldier?"

Crusher nodded.

"Yes, I am fine. Just need a booster."

V grabbed a booster from her pouch and gave it to him.

Then he slowly, he got back on his feet.

Saratoga scolded him.

"Crusher, if you assure me that you cam continue, I expect you to work with maximum efficency."

Crusher nodded.

"I won't be a burden."

Then he smirked.

"Maybe I can ask the company some implants as compensation."

Saratoga didn't liked the joke.

"Move your ass to the elevator now."

Then the team proceeded, heading to another elevator.

They took it to reach the floor 86, doors sealed behind them, leaving the atrium’s smell of death.

Achilles ran a diagnostic on Crusher’s armor finding that the bullet in his thigh had missed the bone, and the medfoam already hardened like synthetic flesh.

V growled.

“No rest,”

She racked Guts' pump, chambering a fresh shell.

“Zaibatsu knows we’re here. Next floor’s not gonna play fair.”

The team advanced down the first corridor, which was narrow, sterile, lined with maintenance conduits.

Emergency lights flickered, strobing red across steel and a faint hum echoed through the walls, like the tower itself was listening.

Saratoga crouched, scanning a motion ping.

“Movement ahead. At least eight signatures. Fast.”

The hum grew louder.

Then the walls lit up with muzzle flashes.

Zaibatsu grunts armed with smart TKI-20 Shingen SMGs.

Bullets curved mid-flight, reacting to heat and motion tags, tracing sinuous arcs through the smoke.

The Militech squad dove behind the nearest cover as the air filled with ricochets that weren’t random.

Ajax shouted, voice half-drowned by the noise.

“Smart rounds! They’ll circle back if we don’t mask heat!”

Achilles already had his cyberdeck plugged into the corridor node.

“Gimme twenty seconds, I’ll spike their targeting link!”

V hissed

“Make it ten!"

She slid out, shotgun raised.

A hail of bullets twisted around her like angry hornets, two scraping her shoulder guard, one slamming into a wall beside her head.

She rolled, dropped to a knee, and fired Guts, which was roaring like a thunderclap and the blast tore through the first pair of Zaibatsu soldiers rounding the corner, their smart-SMGs spinning from their grips as molten pellets seared the air.

Crusher grinned through pain. “Time for the old Militech shuffle.”

He slammed a CHAR grenade into the floor ahead? it burst into a long, horizontal wall of flame that distorted the tracking sensors.

Smart rounds veered wildly, slamming into ceilings and each other.

Saratoga used the confusion to lean out and deliver clean three-round bursts into the smoke.

Ajax mirrored him on the right, their fire synchronized, efficient, brutal.

Achilles barked

“Feed cut!” Their smartlinks are dumb now, full manual!”

V took the opening. “Push!”

The team advanced through the corridor, with short rushes, cover to cover.

The Zaibatsu troops fell back, firing blind, their precision advantage gone.

When one of them tried to toss a microdrone for recon, Achilles hijacked it mid-air and sent it spinning back into its owner’s chest.

The explosion painted the corridor walls black.

The team reached a junction, with the hallway split left and right, both identical, dimly lit, and silent.

Saratoga muttered.

“It's a trap!”

Ajax sent a micro-cam rolling along the left corridor, but after ten meters circa, it was shredded by gunfire from automated turrets.

He commented.

“Left’s suicide.”

Crusher grunted, cocking his shotgun.

“Right it is!”

They pushed rightn as the corridor twisted, dipped, and narrowed until it barely fit them shoulder to shoulder.

Warning strobes flashed intermittently, something big was overloading the tower’s power grid.

Then, they saw some motion from the far end.

Zaibatsu reinforcements, heavier gear this time, consisting exoskeleton troopers wielding dual TKI-20 Shingen with overclocked servos.

The air shimmered with magnetic distortion from their armor.

Ajax yelled.

“Those things will shred us!”

Achilles grabbed a EMP grenade and said calmly.

“Not if they can’t see,”
After he threw it, the burst overloaded every optics and exoskeletons in range, blinding and paralyzing the enemies.

The Militech team advanced through the blindness.

Crusher’s shotgun barked, every blast echoing down the narrow hall like thunder trapped in a tin can.

Saratoga and Ajax laid suppressive fire, careful, disciplined.

V moved up behind Crusher, with her Guts thumping out eight rounds in a rhythm that matched her heartbeat.

Each recoil was a small earthquake.

After the shootout, only the Militech squad still stood. The corridor was a grave of smoke and shattered armor.

V asked.

“Status?”

Crusher laughed, limping but alive.

“Still pretty.”

Ajax reported.

“Running low on ammo.”

Achilles nodded at the flickering end of the corridor.

“Elevator’s ahead. Zaibatsu lockdown’s still cycling, but I can crack it before they re-route security.”

They formed up, weapons covering every angle.

Achilles’ fingers danced across the keypad, sparks jumping as he forced a manual override, with the doors slid open with a metallic sigh.

V looked back once more.

The corridor behind them was a wound in the tower, smoldering walls, flickering holo-ads showing broken faces whispering the Zaibatsu motto in Japanese : Zaibatsu rewards dedication.

She muttered, in a soft voice.

“Yeah, rewards it with a flatine.”

The elevator sealed shut and began to rise.

V commented.

"Should be the last floor."

Everyone checked their ammo, while the elevator was ascending.

Then a beep before the doors opened.

They reached floor 120.

The team rushed to their objective, which were Zaibatsu's main servers.

As soon as they reached the door, they put themselves in position.

Saratoga ordered.

"Achilles, open the door! Ajax throw a flashbang!"

Both soldiers obeyed and executed the orders with a professional attitude, with Ajax throwing the stun grenade as soon as Achilles hacked the door.

Ironically, for being Zaibatsu's core in Night City, the resistance was smaller than expected, consisting only of few Zaibatsu operators armed only with Zaibatsu JKE-12 Kenshin machine pistols, which were quickly decimated by the bullets of the Militec team.

Everyone of the Militec team shouted.

"Clear!"

V headed towards the main server in the room and connected her device.

The size of the total files was 2.2 Petabytes, which V's device downloaded in circa 16 seconds.

Achilles meanwhile, was jacked to another terminal.

"Neutralizing enemy turrets and anti-air defences!"

Saratoga put down his enormous backpack and took out, a weird black and yellow device with a radioactive symbol on it abd a keypad.

He put some code on it, set what looked like a timer then said.

"Neutron device activated. We better get our asses out of here ASAP!"

V remembered hearing about such devices.

Built as successors of nukes, they emitted a localized intense amount of neutron radiation, with the specs made according to the target.

Once activated they were lethal and killed everyone in the area but were dispersive enough that the area could be safe relatively quickly.

In addition, they left the infrastructure relatively quickly.

Saratoga's voice distracted her from her thoughts.

"Demon-1, requesting exfiltration!"

As the team leader was asking this, the Militech team was already on the move, heading towards the stairs to the rooftop.

Everyone ran as fast that could, to get out of that place before it would be annilahited.

As soon as they reached the roof, they looked for sign of hostile activity.

The wreck of thebRajetsu sniper nest that they destroyed before, was charred and barely recognizable.

Achilles readied his rifle, acting as a sniper.

In few minutes, a Militech Mayem helicopter was coming in their direction, getting close by the second.

V looked down.

The NUSA forces were outnumbering the Zaibatsu, in vehicles, air superiority and boots on the ground.

As the helicopter reached the team, they all gleefully jumped aboard.

As the were flying far away, V looked at the Zaibatsu tower in the distance.

Despite not being visible from that distance, the device was killing their occupants, silently and instantly.

Chapter Text

V was inside an aircraft, breathing slowly to calm down.

The suit that she was wearing felt claustrophobic, but it was absolutely necessary not only for her mission but for her survival too.

It was designed to protect the user from the harsh enviorenmental conditions, lack of oxygen and the falling speed.

Indeed, for her mission, she had to jump from the aircraft, which was a vehicle similar to the Space Force One used by Myers during the events of Dog Town, albeit with smaller dimension.

The aircraft was now flying in the low Earth atmosphere, over the Pacific Ocean.

V was nervous, as it was really risky and it was the first time for her.

She would have to do a SAHO jump, which meant that she basically had to jump from almost literal space, fall like a meteorite and open the parachute almost at the last moment.

It was possible, as was done since 68 years before, when an Austrian skydiver did it for the first time.

V checked the aircraft's position on a display in front of the exfiltration hatch.

The coordinates were 11.3733°N, 142.5917°E, which meant that she was over her objective.

The woman contacted her support team by holocall.

"Here Samurai. Beginning Operation Midway now."

The base replied coldly and professional.

"Copy that. Authorizing operation. Begin infiltration."

V opened the hatch, took a breath and jumped.

She started to free fall but didn't felt her speed, as was like V was falling in silence.

After circa 50 seconds V broke the sound barrier, and reached a speed of 833.9 miles per hourbor 1,342 kilometers per hour, which was a speed that was normally reached by fighter jets when not using the afterburners.

According to the estimate, she would have reached her objective in circa 5 minutes.

They felt like an eternity as adrenaline started pumping in her heart.

Then she saw it.

Luckily the parachute opened automatically by itself, with the woman having to activate only the optical camoflage in order to not be seen by enemy forces.

It was still a very fast descent but in a few minutes, it was enough to be not be fatal.

As she almost touched the ground, she put her feet and knees together, slightly bent, pulled both toggles down evenly to slow to a near stop.

V touched down softly on the balls of her feet, absorbing the impact with knees slightly bent, before instictively, taking a few running steps before stopping.

She checked her surroundings.

V was now aboard of the ZNS Kujira, precisely on the top deck.

It was exactly like in Satoshi's mind.

V saw some Zaibatsu Z-77 "Rezu" fighter jets parked on the runways.

Her secondary objective was to blow up some of the aircrafts, in order to disrupt Zaibatsu'a capacities as best they could.

However the area was patrolled by some Zaibatsu Suirikukidōdan armed with HJSH-18 Masamune assault rifle.

V grabbed the Her Majesty pistol from her left holster, then started to sneak among the various crates, platforms and even behind planes.

She advanced, carefully watching every move from the enemies and shooting them at the right moment with her silenced handgun.

As the patrols fell down, V rushed towards the first plane, then she grabbed a C4 charge from her backpack and hid it under the plane carriage, before heading to the next one.

Same procedure, acted with extreme caution and patience.

But V was a master of stealth, thanks to years of experiences as a merc in Night City.

She shot another two Suirikukidōdan as soon as the opportunity came.

Another dash, another charge set.

The tension was high, as despite her experience and skill, there was still room for the unexpected and the unforeseen.

As she prepared to reach the other Rezu, she noticed that the patrol was too big, with four people walking on the deck.

This time she opted to wait, hidden under the aircraft frame.

When the coast was clear, V dashed again and planted the C4.

Her heart almost stopped beating when she heard a voice saying.

"Nē, koko de nani o shite iru no?"

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

It was a mechanic, working to fix the plane, which spotted V during a control.

But before she could even reply he was grabbing a JKE-X2 Kenshin pistol from his holster, shouting.

"Hakai kōsaku-in!"

"Saboteur!"

V quickly grabbed his arm to keep the barrel away from her but the Japanese man managed to pull the trigger and shoot a burst.

The woman broke his arm and shot his head with her pistol but it was already too late.

Alarms were blaring loudly, and the Zaibatsu soldiers were shouting loudly, coming to her.

As she feared, the unforeseen came indeed.

V grabbed her Guts shotgun from the sling on her back and pumped the action.

She rolled to get away from the aircraft, then she shot in direction of the enemies.

But right now, it didn't matter if V hit them, she had only to get away from there, so she headed towards the control tower.

Every now and then, she shot back, to both keep her enemies at bay and to hopefully kill them by chance.

Her adrenaline made both her feet and heart run fast as a cheetah.

When she almost reached the tower, V slided towards a crate.

It provided her a cover against the flying bullets from the Suirikukidōdan's rifles, as she looked for an item in her backpack, a detonator to be precise.

As she found it, V immediately pressed the button, resulting in a huge explosion.

She resisted her urges to control the result and took advantage of the chaos to enter a door and run in the corridor.

The explosion would have probably kept her chaser busy for a bit, but that ship was huge and the crew numerous and armed to the teeth.

V checked the writings on the walls, seeing the kanji 管制塔, which transliterated as Kanseitō and meant "control tower".

It wasn't her ojective, so she headed in the other direction.

She walked in the corridors, shotgun in her hand, ready to fire at enemies.

V passed next to a wall with written, 食堂 or
Shokudō, which meant that she was heading towards the canteen.

In few minutes, she found herself in a huge mess hall, with tables and vending machines, not much different from the one in the Militech base.

On the other side, enemy Suirikukidōdan were shooting in her direction.

V started firing back with Guts, with the pellets being lethal against the soldiers, with loud noise slowly devastating their morale.

The merc moved from cover to cover, using the concealment also to reload the weapon.

Despite starting to get scared for each soldier that fell down, the Suirikukidōdan kept firing with discipline.

However, V was also getting closer, which made her shots even more lethal, with more and more soldiers dying from her shots.

After a few minutes, the last remaining Zaibatsu soldier was holding the rifle with shaking hands, anxious and vigilant to try stop the former merc.

He heard the mechanism of Guts' loading port click, as V was inserting the shells.

The Japanese slowly walked in that direction, rifle pointed in front of him.

A suddently a flash, then he felt nothing.

V shot him at almost point blank, wiping out his head.

The mess hall was now a mess of bodies and blood splattered everywhere, but she didn't cared and resumed to go ahead.

She was now in a corridor, passing close to a door with 武器庫 written on it or Buki-ko.

It meant that she passed by the armory, which wasn't her objective either.

She kept running.

One thing that was getting worrying was the presence of voices.

They were getting closer and louder.

She tried to turn back but the voices were coming from that direction too.

V saw an unmarked door on her side, which wasn't on map.

Written on it, the kanjis : 許可されていない人の立ち入りは禁止されています, reading "Kyoka sa rete inai hito no tachiiri wa kinshi sa rete imasu" which V translated as "Forbidden entrance to unauthorized people".

She had no idea on what was behind the door, but had no choice so she entered.

What she saw was bonechilling.

Numerous metallic bodies displayed behind plexiglass, with numerous organic heads over them.

In the middle of the room, a huge medical table.

She headed further, passing thought a door and entering a room with an open space that looked like an arena.

In the middle of the room, a mysterious huge figure was standing menacingly.

When V got closer she recognized him, and her spine chilled.

It was Adam Smasher, a legend.

Born in New York City, grew up in poverty and joined a gang during his childhood, before enlisting in the army and after being dishonorably discharged, ended up working as a merc, with one of the job almost killing him.

Only thanks to Arasaka, he survived with a full body conversion at the cost of essentially becoming a propery of the Corporation.

He had modified Dragoon cybernetic body and a bald head with two red optics.

He didn't wasted time, and quickly commented, almost surprised.

"You are a meat bag."

His tone felt like he was surprised, disappointed and disgusted, before he added with a touch of lust.

"But you do look like a cut of fuckable meat!"

V got furious.

"How about you go to fuck your chromed ass yourself?"

Adam laughed.

"Pathetic. I will slaughter you like a butcher do with a cow."

V had already her Guts shotgun in her hands and fired.

Despite being a powerful weapon, it looked like it didn't do much damage.

Adam Smasher instead was armed with a missile launcher and retractable arm cannon, making him a formidable foe.

He fired some missiles, with V shooting them down with her shotgun to prevent to be hit.

She rushed towards a pillar that would have acted as cover.

Adam taunted her.

"You spared Oda. So very... human! And disgusting. Mercy is disgusting."

V replied angrily.

"Can you shut up, fucking clanker? You are disgusting."

Adam laughed.

"You are just a pathetic meatbag, you cannot compare with me."

Then he prepared to fire with his arm cannon, with V dodging at the last moment.

Smasher teased her again.

"You are pretty good for a meat bag."

V answered with some 8 gauges pellets.

Adam's body was starting to look more and more damaged but he still kept up and running.

Suddenly, he jumped with the intent of crushing her with his immense weight.

V was holding her shotgun upwards, but she dodged, to avoid become flattened like a bloodied pancake.

The impact still created a shockwave, with disoriented V for a few.

Her vision became double and blurry.

She tried to shoot but missed all, due not being able to aim properly.

Then a sudden click.

The gun was empty, so she checked her pouches for more shells.

They were empty as she used all ammo.

She grabbed a Malorian Arms 3516 pistol from her right holster and checked the magazine, filled with explosive ammo.

Like Guts, it was another gift from Rogue, especially given how special was for her due being Johnny Silverhand's former pistol.

Chambered in .577 Nitro, it was a devastating weapon.

V peeked and fired some rounds against Adam.

Most missed, but some hit Adam's chest.

The recoil was intense for V's organic arm, making her scream from pain.

He laughed.

"A 3516? Seriously? Is a fucking joke?"

He stopped moving and stood in the middle of the arena, continued with his monologue.

"Reminds when a punk threatened me with one, before I blew his head off."

V was trying to resist from the intense pain.

Adam laughed.

"Come out, I got a proposal for you."

V asked.

"What is?"

Adam told.

"Come here and stop hiding like a coward. I will give you a chance."

V complied, even if every step and breathe felt painful.

Adam said.

"Pathetic, you cannot even stand on your feet."

V asked with determination.

"What the fuck you want."

Adam chuckled.

"I will grant you one shot, then squash you."

Then he added.

"You cannot even hold that gun straight. Look at your pathetic meaty hands shaking."

V aimed, even if she saw double and her hands were shaking too much.

Adam teased more.

"Pathetic meatbag."

V pulled the trigger, then an explosion.

Adam said.

"You mis..."

But before he had time to finish the sentence, he was already kneeling, as the explosion opened Adam's skull, showing a damaged and bloodied brain.

V then came towards him, pointing her gun on his head.

Adam teased her with a broken voice.

"Shoo... t... m...e."

V stared his red artificial eyes, for a while before putting her gun back in the holster.

Adam laughed.

"Pathetic. Show no mercy."

What V was about to do was even worse and unexpected.

She grabbed something from her backpack.

It was the Sir John Phallustiff vibrating dildo.

Even Adam was shocked.

"You have got to be kidding me..."

V swung the erotic toy, hitting the cyborg's brain with intensity, shattering it and killing him in the spot.

However, V felt sick.

Her vision became red for a few seconds, then coughed.

As her vision returned normal, she saw that she coughed blood.

As she looked Adam's lifeless body, she saw a familiar figure.

He was a man with long black hairs, wearing sunglasses, dog tags, a body armor with an upside patch of the flag of North California and brown leather trousers.

But what made him recognizable was his chromed metallic arm.

Johnny Silverhand.

He smiled and simply said.

"Thank you, Valerie."

V blinked, as she couldn't believe her own eyes.

However as soon she opened them back, her favorite rockstar and part-time terrorist was gone.

She wondered for a moment what happened.

Was a ghost? A residual of the engram in her head? Or simply the concussion?

She realized that it didn't mattered, as her heart warmed up, realizing a promise she made years ago.

The effects, were starting to get less intense, so V checked Adam's body.

She found a shard, which apparently would have granted her access to all the ship's locations.

Then V resumed to carry her mission.

She saw an indication in one of the walls, 甲板 which read as Kanpan.

Bingo, it was the bridge, her main objective.

She followed the indications, until she reached what it looked like a cross between a server room and a deck.

In the middle of the room stood the terminal of the central AI, which was called “Shogun OS”, which handled logistics, targeting, and media broadcasting in real-time.

With efficiency and control, it eliminated human error and ensures also brand narrative integrity.

There were also some officers too, but V took quick care of them by shooting her Malorian.

With some other painful steps, she headed to the terminal and started to hack it with her device.

In a few minutes, she knew the coordinates of the other ships of the Zaibatsu flottilla and had complete control on all the ship system.

V contacted her base again.

"Here Samurai. I got complete control of the objective."

The base replied.

"Copy that. Proceed with the elimination of the other secondary targets. We will ready the extraction for you."

As the communication closed, V imputted some commands.

Outside, some TKM-78 "Inkei" anti-ship missiles were coming out of the firing ports, headed towards the other ships of the Zaibatsu Navy that were nearby.

V panted heavily, tired and paining but satisfied to have finished her mission.

Chapter Text

Despite two months passed from Operation Midway, V was still feeling some residues of pain all over her body.

Indeed, after the mission, the woman spent some time in a FIA affilated hospital in order to recover.

V took a sip from a whiskey bottle in order to dull the pain a bit, feeling much better.

In that moment she was sitting on a couch in a corner of the Afterlife Club.

It was slightly different from what she remembered but still familiar.

From what she knew, it was renovated a bit following the liberation of Night City.

During the war it was briefly occupied by the Soviets, ironically using it as a morgue.

A voice scolded V.

"Already drinking without us?"

It was Claire Russel, a transwoman with red hairs, wearing two tone red-black tank top and blue overalls, who worked as barista in the club.

V replied.

"Sorry, needed a drink, pain is killing me."

She looked at Claire and asked.

"So when are the others coming?"

Claire shrugged and grinned.

"Maybe they are busy... doing something more important."

As she was saying this, two women came towards their table.

V smiled as she saw them, as they were Misty and Regina.

They greeted V with joy.

The former merc commented.

"Long time no see."

All the women sat down.

Claire asked them.

"Can I fetch you a drink?"

Regina refused but Misty didn't and ordered her drink.

"A Jackie Welles for me."

V stood silent as it reminded her of her long gone friend and Misty's former boyfriend.

The former merc remembered when Jackie told Claire the receipe for the drink.

Vodka on the rocks, some ginger beer, and lime (Oh, and let's not forget a splash of love).

It now sounded like a twisted and ironic warning of what was about to come.

Misty ordering that cocktail was probably a sign that she missed Jackie a lot and looked for anything to get him a bit closer, even in spirit.

She must have definitely noticed it, as she looked V in the eyes and said.

"I wish he was still here."

Then a breath.

"He died with a blaze of glory like he wanted. Get successful or die trying. This drink shows it."

V stood silent, watching the woman in the eyes.

Claire came with the drink, with Misty grabbing it and proposing a toast.

"To Jackie."

V grabbed the bottle of whiskey and repeated.

"To Jackie."

Regina and Claire watched silently out of respect.

Then a figure walked towards them, each step showing charisma and authority.

It was Rogue Amendiares, who was a woman with long gray hairs and wearing a yellow jacket with "Survive" written in white characters inside black rectangle and black jeans.

She was the owner of the Club and was followed by Emmerick Bronson, a huge muscled man with short hairs, wearing a brown jacket.

He was Rogue's bodyguard and a former member of the Animals gang.

Everyone looked her with respect, especially given that she was one of the most powerful fixers in the city.

She sat down, while her bodyguard kept standing behind her with her arm crossed.

The old woman smiled and commented.

"Nice to see you back here."

V smirked back.

"Can't believe how much I missed this place."

Rogue replied.

"Thank your employee for the irons, by the way."

V nodded then asked.

"No problem. How was life as an insurgent leader?"

The fixer shooked her head and replied.

"I am too old for that kind of bullshits. Months in a sewer, hiding like rats? I would rather die than to do it again."

She shrugged and told.

"Anyway... let's put that shit period behind and let's drink something strong."

A familiar feminine voice shouted.

"Hey wait for us!"

V looked and saw that both Judy and River were rushing towards them.

Emmerick turned and yelled.

"Hey, who the fuck are you?"

V reassured him.

"Relax, they are with me."

Judy nodded and panted.

"Sorry for lateness, there was a complication."

Rogue ordered with a soft voice.

"Sit down and relax."

Then she added.

"Guess, now we can finally get that drink."

She looked Claire and told.

"Go prepare that special surprise."

Claire stood up and nodded.

River looked her and said with a flirtatious tone.

"Hey, you are such a beautiful woman, can I get your contact?"

Judy gave him a small punch on the leg and grunted.

"You are insufferable."

Claire laughed it off, as she went to prepare the drink.

V asked.

"What is the big surprise?"

Rogue smirked, as Claire was coming with a few glasses.

The barista smiled.

"We decided to take an exception of the whole "you have to die before" cocktail rule, just for you."

V smirked, pointing out.

"Technically I died once. DeShawn killed me..."

Rogue shook her head.

"Well, you still walking, so you are not quite dead."

V nodded.

"Fair point."

Rogue raised a toast.

"For V. The most exceptional merc of Night City."

Everyone cheered then took a sip.

It was a mix of Spunky Monkey, vodka and Dickey Whiskey.

Judy's face betrayed her disgust.

Claire asked.

"You don't like it?"

She commented.

"It fits V... is bold."

Everyone laughed.

V smiled.

"Is so good, being together with everyone of my friends."

Suddenly, an expected meowing.

A furless sphinx cat slowly came towards the table.

Rogue joked.

"Now is everyone."

V smiled.

"Nibbles, I missed him."

The cat came to V's legs and purred, asking for cuddles.

As the former merc petted the feline's head, Rogue mentioned.

"I still keep your iguana too."

V asked.

"Is he alright?"

Rogue answered.

"Absolutely, just chill and enjoy life. What is his name."

V laughed.

"Guess."

Rogue replied.

"I have no clue."

V smiled.

"Johnny."

Rogue commented.

"Fits him. Is doing nothing all day except soaking in his own ego."

Then the evening proceeded normally, with the friends chatting, enjoying the drinks and having fun.

As the group was having another laugh, V raised her glass, slightly drunk but happy.

"I wish this moment would never finish."

Everyone agreed and more drinks were poured.

The time flew faster as the drinks were poured and drank, until almost everyone blacked out.
___

V woke up the following morning, with a beating headache and a strong hangover.

What awaken her was the beep from the holocall.

V answered with an annoyed voice.

"Who is here?"

A familiar male voice answered.

"V, you have to go back to Langley asap. You will be briefed about your next assignment."

V asked confused.

"Where you guys sending me this time?"

The male voice was getting exasperated.

"Japan. You going to the capital, Seburonomachi."

The FIA man probably realized that V heavily drank in the prior night, so he scolded her.

"Wake up, Samurai. We got a city to burn."