Chapter Text
Crackling. Iron taste. Double vision. Floating. Falling. A nothing. A nothing. A nothing. Mikoshi, Alt, done. Johnny? Fuck, Johnny... Keep fighting. Now V had to. “...go? V!? Please, tell me where to go! Fuck, V, wake up!” A voice cracked with wet, sobs creaking in the throat. Panam? “Vincent, please, please come back,” she begged and begged, hard won tears running down to drip from her nose. V felt his face twitch when one splashed onto his cheek.
“Kerry. Call-“ V choked on his own voice. His throat felt unused and overused at the same time, ice and fire. He couldn’t speak. But, the rest of his body worked. He flicked detes to Panam, pulled her down to him at the same time. Just a soft headbutt. More than a kiss, more than anything. A soft headbutt, held her there, “I’m V.” Get up.
Some kind of disconnect happened in V’s body as he stood. Mind didn’t connect properly, he fell back to his hands and knees. “We have got to go, V,” Panam spoke in distress, leaned down next to him.
“Not without Rogue and Saul. You can’t carry all a’ us,” he rasped back through his glass throat. “Just...” He leaned, and closed his eyes. Alarms blared, and moments dragged on, while V just breathed. Like that mysterious monk had taught him. Either it worked, or a placebo effect hit. Whatever it was, V took advantage of it.
He followed Panam back out to where all the bodies were. Adam Smasher was still dead. Rogue and Saul... V picked Saul up, and Panam managed Rogue. “Where do we...? Parking?”
“Yeah. I’m callin’ Del,” V answered Panam. They both made moves, like a literal fire bit at their asses and not just figurative fire. Chaos was still king, at least for a little. V called Delamain, and explained only to meet them as close to his loc-data as possible.
Weyland met them outside the second elevator, HMG in hand and several bullet-wounds in. “V! Ah- there you are. We are out?”
“Yep. Come with.”
“Good. The bomb is primed.”
“Fuckin’ nova. Panam, make sure everyone’s gone, now. Blow this fuckin’ place off the map, too. This time, no Nomads are gonna be pickin’ through radioactive rubble. Yorinobu can do that himself. Let’s delta the fuck outta here.” And with that, they piled into the last elevator to the parking garage. Panam’s eyes lit up as she spoke to Carol, a short conversation before the doors opened again.
V scanned as soon as he stepped out, and found three active roof turrets. “Down!” He rasped, as he crouched low with Saul over his shoulder and crept out. All three turrets turned friendly in moments, but V didn’t let his guard down. Could be anything out there. He looked back at Weyland, and nodded him forward. The big man stepped up with his HMG up, and V pulled his revolver. Panam held her pistol pointed to the ground. All three strode slowly, bodies facing different directions as they moved their small group out to the exit.
V and Panam heard the retinue ahead before they saw them. They ducked. Wise, considering the bright red of V’s hair. He meerkatted around a car, and found the Arasaka guards blocking the exit they needed. Roof turrets turned, portable ground turrets surveyed. “Twelve guards. Four turrets. Three of us. Real unfair, huh?”
“They really don’t stand a chance. Hack them out, V.”
“Can do, Pampam.” V said with a slight grin. Something felt off about it. It wasn’t harmful to him, no virus filtered through his system, but something was off. The turrets began firing on the guards, and Weyland joined them with words thrown at the Arasaka assholes in his Creole. V got a few headshots in, Panam aimed for grenades belts. If she didn’t hit explosives, she made a big enough mess of the bodies holding them they would’ve been hard to save.
Done and done, the three walked through the carnage. V reloaded around Saul’s body, and emptied the revolver into somehow still living guards as they passed. None of them needed a single chance to live, not while Panam and Weyland needed theirs. Delamain pulled up right out on the street at the end of the drive. “Weyland. You in passenger. Panam, you in back. Put Rogue behind me.” Saul went in the middle, V climbed into the driver’s seat. “Co-ords, Del. Take us there,” he breathed, before closing his eyes. As soon as they were far enough away from the Arasaka Tower compound, the explosion rocked the ground. “That’s for you, Johnny.”
Moments later, a chime rang through the car. Panam opened her eyes, unaware she’d passed out. The car had pulled up to a driveway with a massive gate across it, and Delamain dutifully informed the voice at the speaker that V was in the car. “Sure, and how would I fuckin’ know that? Why would I believe you? Hasn’t taken a single fuckin’ call in three days, now he’s magically here? Fuck off.” The voice answered. Panam shook V by his shoulder. He didn’t stir. “V, he- fuck.” He’d been bleeding. Panam was the only one awake. Blood had poured from V’s nose, ears, and mouth, and his shirt was soaked. She leaned out over Rogue’s body. “Hey! Is this Kerry? V is in this car, please let us in. He’s- fuck, he’s covered in blood. I can explain everything. Open the gate before he fucking dies!”
“What?”
“Open the fucking gate!”
“...there. Come in.”
“Thank you!” Panam yelled, and Delamain moved. Her yelling had woken Weyland. He didn’t ask questions yet, but he had his bearings. “Sir, I can help with those injuries, if you would like?” Delamain inquired. Weyland looked back at Panam. She gave a nod. “I’ll get this guy to help,” she said.
“Eh, yes please, Delamain. I would not like to die, just yet.” Panam slid out of the stationary car and ran around to the driver door, where V sat.
The occupant of the house, one named Kerry, walked out to where the car was, with his arrogance and annoyance in every step. That was, until he saw V truly there in the driver’s seat, with Panam pulling him out. He dropped the bottle of champaradise he’d been consoling himself with and ran the rest of the way with his silken kimono-style nightgown flying out behind him. The bottle smashed against the ground, pale golden liquid and shards of glass exploded dramatically. Kerry helped the mysterious woman with her hard eyes lift V and carry him inside the house.
Neither cared about the blood smearing across their clothes and skin. “Bathroom,” Kerry said as he led through the mess that was his home. “Panam,” she introduced herself on the way through the doors. “First aid kit?” Kerry ran off to find one. Panam began taking V’s clothes off, on the floor. Boots, socks, jacket, Kerry returned with the kit, and pulled V’s shirt off. His freckled, tattooed skin had light cuts across the arms and one along the chest, but that was all. Kerry... baffled. “What the fuck?”
“What?” Panam asked with her hands in the kit.
“He didn’t get shot?”
“No. Of course not. Why- did he not tell you where he was going?”
“...no.”
“Fucking idiot. Suppose he thought Rogue would live through it.”
“Fuck, that was her in the back? Fuck. Fuck. What the fuck happened?”
“We broke into Arasaka tow-“
“Johnny. So... why’s V like this, now?”
“I don’t know.” The strain finally showed in Panam’s voice. Kerry checked V’s pulse, and pressed a hand to his chest. “Heart’s still beatin’. Breathin’. Let’s get him in the water, then hit him with an airhypo. Fuckin’... why didn’t he tell me?” That was the last words said, until they got V up into bed. The bleeding had stopped, thank God.
Panam sat next to the bed, cross legged, and holding onto V’s hand. Kerry sat on his bed, on the other side of V, regretting every thought he’d been having about V’s whereabouts. V slept on. Kerry left the room to make some calls, first and foremost to Nancy. Panam called Carol. Kerry sat with his head in his hands. Panam stood by the massive, utterly defenceless and tactless windows. Not for long. She was too restless. She looked back at V, out completely on the bed. She should be doing something.
There was nothing more she could do. Not yet. So, she checked on the man they’d brought with them. Fine, resting, waiting to be picked up and taken home. “A ride, huh? Word gets out, we will be legends,” he lauded, pain shot through his voice. “Good luck to you and yours, Nomad. They will come for you, I hope you get out safe.”
“Thank you. You, too. You’ll need it, staying here.” Panam didn’t think he’d last out the night.
She hoped V would.
Kerry and Panam waited into the night. Weyland’s ride came, no one either Panam or Kerry knew, and they got him out quick. Nancy came for Rogue and told Kerry she’d be back during the day, probably not tomorrow. Dinner, ordered in, came to the gate. Only once they were eating did Kerry ask exactly what the fuck had just gone on. Panam explained what she could as best she could.”...so, I think that means Silverhand is gone. I don’t definitely know, of course, I barely understand what the hell Mikoshi was. And,” without asking, she turned the TV on. Several channels and all of it but the ads channel was Arasaka tower. “There’s this.” Kerry watched and read the scrolling text.
“What the fuck...”
“Yeah,” Panam sighed.
“And...”
““That’s for you, Johnny.””
“Fuck. I can’t... can’t believe this. Johnny’s gone, V’s still there?”
“He woke up and that’s what he said. “I’m V.”” Panam looked to her feet, fiddled with her own hands. “I’m still kind of processing it all myself. I didn’t know they were going to blow the tower. I just thought we were there for V, for Mikoshi. I don’t know what kind of explosive it was, either.”
“Yeah, knowin’ Johnny, he woulda suggested it. Keeping people like that is a supreme kinda fucked, and I know for fact Johnny despised the whole thing. And, Mikoshi? Alt? That’s... What happened there?”
“No idea. We’ll have to ask him. He jacked in and laid down in the water, and that was it.”
“Christ...” Kerry went off and paced. How could V not tell him? How could V not fucking tell him he was going? He could’ve done... something. Anything. Just like last time- thank fuck he got this one back. This one was upstairs in his bed, not in the grasp of those Arasaka motherfuckers.
The gate alarm sounded through the house. “Panam called,” a drawling voice followed. Kerry turned back to look over at the woman sitting with her head in her hands on his couch. “Yeah, that’s Cassidy. He’s come to get me and Saul out of your hair. He – V – explained about Hanako Arasaka, should be safe. For now.”
Kerry opened the gate. An unsuspecting car drove in, nothing like he expected from Nomads. But, as V had said many times, stop with the pre-learned judgements.
“If there’s any trouble, you have my contact now. Do not hesitate to call. The Aldecaldos are here for V, the only thing we want from him is his safety.” Panam hesitated between choosing doors. Kerry gestured to the one by the windows, and lounge, and followed her out. “Yeah. ‘Course. I’ll let you know when he wakes up. If.”
“If!” A laugh made of distress left Panam as she opened the door. “Sounds good. Hey- Cassidy. This car,” she told the older man in the cowboy hat, with her hand out to the Delamain's back passenger door. “How’s our boy, Pan?” He answered as he stepped around the Delamain with her.
“Heh, passed out! Maybe suffered a brain haemorrhage but who knows? Seems okay, otherwise. Got us out of that tower, down to this car.”
“Tough kid. You,” Cowboy pointed right at Kerry, “make sure he stays okay, rockerboy.”
“Do everything I can,” Kerry promised. “You guys need anything, ahh... y’know where I am.”
“Yeah, yeah. Thank you, Kerry. Just... let me know. About V. Please. Cassidy, help me with Saul.”
“On it, Chief.”
“How are we getting out of the city? There’ll be cops all over the roads.”
“We’re not takin’ the roads, girl.”
“Of course. I’m a little...” Panam excused herself. Cassidy closed the boot, and pulled Panam into a hug. One she needed. “Just keep it together a little longer, Pan. Mitch is alive, bastard survived the panzer alone.”
“Fuck, that’s great news. A bit of weight and worry gone.”
“Come on, lets get outta here.”
“Yeah.” Panam pulled away from the hug, and went back to Kerry. He stood with his arms crossed, watching the interaction. “I don’t know anything about you but that V told me to come here before he woke up properly. That tells me enough. So, I don’t know, be that person. If you do not, if something happens and you were involved, I will come back here, in a much less friendly way.”
“Anything happens to V, you won’t be comin’ back here to kill me, just to find bodies”
“Alright, time’s up!” Cassidy called over. “Goodbyes are done, Panam we gotta go, now.”
Panam and Kerry shared a look, an understanding over V, and she left. The car rumbled down the drive, and sped off into the night. Kerry went back into his house. Emptier than it had ever been, even with V there. Because V was there, some kinda way comatose, and not on the drums or picking away at a guitar or painting the walls with snakes and roses. “Fuck...” Kerry breathed into his hand.
The rest of the night passed with no sleep. Kerry wandered around his home as if he were a ghost in it. Everywhere but his bedroom. Not yet. Not there yet. TV didn’t help. Kerry looked at it, watched the news, but didn’t hear anything. Didn’t take a single thing in. Time passed. The sun began to rise. A cry of pain startled Kerry out of a daze. He ran. Upstairs, to V.
More blood had come from V, stained Kerry’s white sheets with crimson. V was curled up in a ball, facing the middle of the bed, clutching his head. “Hey, V,” Kerry spoke softly as he kneeled. “Hey. You awake?”
“I dunno. Am I?”
“I don’t think you’re dreamin’.”
“I’m in so much pain.”
“I have a ...stash.”
“Please.”
Fuck, it was hard seeing V like that. Kerry somehow found the way to his stash. He wouldn’t touch glitter, but pretty much everything else? Fair game for a good night. This time, for once, it was for pain relief, not emotional ignorance. Powder, pills, vials... pills. Of distilled oils, potent and fun for a light night, also great at dulling pain. Kerry sent a message to Panam, then took them to V, with a bottle of water. At least he was sitting up this time, back to the plants, and eyes closed.
V took the water, and the pills, and stayed sitting where he was. “Kinda ruined your bed.”
“I’ll buy another one,” Kerry dismissed, sitting down next to V.
“Am I... this real? Last thing I remember is lookin’ down at Adam Smasher.”
“All real.” A hesitant hand reached up to touch V, ever so lightly. Kerry’s thumb brushed over V’s chin and up his jaw. “V?” He asked. V grinned, eyes closed to the rosy morning outside.
"Yeah. V. Just V. We did it.”
“Just V?”
“Just V. I can... feel it. The absence. Like I’ve lost something, but can’t place what. Fuck,” the grin disappeared totally. V opened his eyes a sliver, only to fall into Kerry and Kerry’s arms. If all Kerry could do was hold him, that’s what he’d do. V leaned hard into him, curled up like a child needing comfort. His hands gripped into the neo-silk shrouding Kerry. V... sobbed.
“I killed Johnny.”
“No. The Arasakas did. You gave him his goodbyes. Johnny would never have given me his guitar if he thought there was any way he’d be back. You know what a selfish prick he was.”
“Was my choice in the end. Me or him. He didn’t even try fight me. We sat and talked, first time ever apart, two separate entities. I accused him of planning to... fuck, Kerry, I just don’ know. Said I woulda taken a bullet for Johnny if it came to that, but in the end- I mean, fuck, I was dead. It was the Relic that brought me back to life. I just don’t know how to fuckin’ feel. It hurts. Fuck it hurts. I dunno if it’s losin’ Johnny or whatever the fuck Alt did in my brain, but it all fuckin’ hurts.” Every second word rode out on a crack in V’s voice. The heart of him bared, showing the man he was beneath the volatility he wore so well.
“Johnny saw himself in you. He wanted to give you a second chance, V. You got more than what he ever did. He was beautiful and charismatic, that’s why he fit so well on you. You’re more that than he was, and you do it without trying.”
“I don’t believe that. Johnny was...”
“I know.”
“Ker, I wanna... I just wanna go back to sleep. My head- where’s all my stuff?”
“Bathroom.”
“My guns are safe?”
“The Malorians?”
“Yeah.”
“They’re there.”
“Good. I’m... need to help the ‘Caldos get the fuck outta NC, gotta get my place packed up and my cars stored. Get to Afterlife.”
“Are you fuckin’ kidding me right now, V?” Kerry wrapped a hand around V’s arm and jaw, and forced him to look up. “No. You’re not doin’ anything right now. You’re a goddamn mess. Blood everywhere, just pulled a Silverhand and nuked fuckin’ Arasaka, two people you took with you are dead-“
“More than two.”
“-and you fuckin’ might be, ‘f you get up and go right now!”
“Ker, I need to. Hanako Arasaka will only be able to stall so long. I need to get shit done, get myself situated, get your record and all the other important shit from my place, get into fuckin’ Afterlife. Rogue is dead, she’s fuckin’ gone, I have her... backlog? I dunno. Files fulla shit from her, musta transferred before she did die, ‘cause for some fuckin’ reason she trusted me even after tellin’ me she couldn’t give me any jobs because of the colossal fuck up with Dex. Kerry, baby, this is what it is to be an edgerunner. A solo. Fuckin’ everyone knows my name, and if they don’t, they’re gonna. I can’t take more time. I can’t yet. I gotta get shit done right now, or I won’t be able to get whatever Alt left me with looked at.”
“Fuckin’ Alt Cunningham...” Kerry shook his head away from V. “Never thought I’d hear that name again. She always left Johnny fucked up. More fucked up. She’s the reason he put that bomb into the tower in the first fuckin’ place. Ten years later. Now she’s fucked you.”
“I know. I remember. Johnny beat the shit outta the media that went with him, when he found her.”
“...you remember?”
“I’ve seen Johnny’s memories as much as he saw mine. I can remember them, still. Like they were my own.”
“Fuck... you sure he’s not still in there?”
“As I can be. We were inside Mikoshi. Disentangled. Now I feel wrong. Please, Ker, I need to go. Come with me if you want, but I have gotta get to my apartment, and Afterlife.” V looked up at Kerry, white eyes wide and pleading. Kerry exhaled. He was being the responsible, reasonable one for once. He hated it. To bad decisions...
“Fine. Okay. Get dressed, we’ll take my car. The one you pulled up in is covered in blood.”
“You’re doin’ a lot for me right now, Ker. I won’t forget.”
“V, you’re with me, huh?”
“...yeah?”
“Not a transaction. No countin’, remember?”
“Yeah. I remember. Take the second chance. Don’t fuckin' look back. Ker?”
“Yeah?”
V pulled him into a kiss as his answer. That’s all he needed to say.
Days and days passed. Rumours swirled. An echo of the last time Arasaka Tower went down. “I heard it was a merc.” “No, it was Militech again!” “You remember that pretty guy with the red deathhawk and all the gold piercings? Yeah, V. Heard it was him. People reckon he was a big Samurai fan.” “Apparently he knows the band. Wanted to be like Johnny Silverhand.” “I’m telling you, it was a military commando unit!” “Nah, my cousin worked there. Got out as soon as possible. Said the head of the pack was six foot, red haired, freckled. Like that solo edgerunner guy. The one that came back from the dead.”
The people knew in the way that mattered.
A living legend. Walked back into Afterlife days after the Fall, with a dare in his eyes and a pistol on his belt. Walked in alone. He took Rogue’s seat, and none argued. From there, he organised around the Aldecaldos escape from Night City. Rogue’s contacts came in very handy, even the resistant ones. Diverted flight plans, diverted patrol routes, a cache of explosives, maps, and fuckin’ money. The Aldecaldos, the Bright family, got it all.
Day 8, V drove out into the badlands to meet Panam and the rest, and personally escort them to their escape. Thankfully, some of his cars survived storage, including the Javelina he’d bought from Dakota – a heavily modded Quadra type-66. Mitch drove the car for him, while V sat with Panam in the basilisk, taking the gun while she took lead on the road. Raffen tried them, a rogue section of militech agents, but they were no match for the determination of Panam and V together.
When they finally came to the old smuggling tunnel struck from maps in recent years, V climbed over and through the cockpit and settled himself between Panam’s legs. They had an hour before everyone caught up, to take stock and organise, start setting charges. To say goodbye. “Panam,” V began. She touched his face, with her thumb over his lips. He could feel it in his own hand. “Don’t, V. Don’t. This is not goodbye.”
“No. Never. But you need to go, and not look back. Not yet. You’re an incredible woman, Pampam. Whatever happens after this... you made my life better. I miss you already.” V looked up at Panam. Her jaw tightened, her brows sloped up in the middle. V tilted his head into her touch, and kissed the palm of her hand. “Time for the ‘Caldos to delta. I’ll be here, you need anything at all from NC.”
“V, you need to come with us.” Panam’s hand slipped down to rest against V’s neck. Her other hand moved on her thigh. Unintentionally sending a thrill through V’s skin. He looked down with closed eyes, and shook his head. “I can’t, Panam.”
“Why not? We have people who can help-“
“I just can’t abandon everything here. I’d love to come with, you know how bad I wanna be out on the road again, but there is so much I have to do here. I got... hey, best thing I can do for the family is stay here. This is the best place for me to keep you safe. I got a network. You and I got open communication at all times. Get everyone out, Panam. Give Saul, Bobby, Teddy everyone else a proper send-off.” V looked up at Panam, and both of them felt the grief of the other. V’s head dropped against Panam’s chest. She grazed a hand across the shaved side of his head. V’s hand settled against her hip, and slowly slid up her body. “It’s not goodbye forever. Just for now. Who knows, maybe I’ll find a way to take ol’ Yori out? Give Night City a breather, give us some fuckin’ peace once I got the shit in my head sorted.”
“That’s a nice idea. I just... don’t want you to die, V. Not before your time. You’re adamant on staying here, okay. I can deal with that. Probably. Make sure you stay alive until I can come back. I won’t come back to ashes, you’ll make sure of that.”
“I’m not fuckin’ dyin’ until I say it’s time, Pam.” V stated with all the confidence of a man with money and pride and the world at his feet, and grinned his charming silver grin. Not a bigger lie had he ever told. Panam pulled him into a kiss, and their hearts raced together. Her hand ran down the middle of her own body, and V felt it against his skin. He fucking loved the basilisk.
The pair, linked, touched each other in that small space, touched themselves, watched each other, and struggled with clothes. V pulled Panam’s bodysuit off her arms and down to bare her chest, got right down and pulled her pants to her ankles so he could sit between her legs. Fingers inside her, mouth around a nipple, he felt what she felt and it was incredible. “V- V. Come on. Up, up, up,” she breathed with her chest heaving. Her fingers slipped the buttons on his pants apart, slipped under the waistband of his underwear, and wrapped around him. “Holy fuuuck,” they breathed in sync. Panam’s legs tensed around V, he rested a hand against her jaw and his head against her shoulder. Her nails scraped up his back. Nothing could compare.
Nothing could ever compare.
A slow tryst, as young Nomad lovers do, hot and bothered and cramped in together to steal a moment of privacy. V’s shoulders barely fit in the space, Panam’s legs were too long, but fuck if they would’ve had it any other way. Panam bit V’s thumb, and he wrapped his tongue around her fingers in his mouth. “Mm, hmm,” he breathed around her digits, with his hips grinding slow into her. She let him go, to hold a hand to the side of his face and bring him close. V stared into her big hazel-green eyes. “Panam,” dropped out on stuttered breath. “Vincent,” she answered, the same. I love you, but not said aloud.
Lightning cracked across the both of them. V almost passed out, with a pang of pain left over and jolted into action by the Relic still in his head. But, Jesus fuckin’ Christ it felt good. Panam’s arms wrapped tight around him, her legs squeezed his body, the sound in her throat cut off almost as soon as it started. V’s fingers dug into her hip, and he bit her shoulder hard enough to draw blood. The come down was almost as good as the ride up.
The pair had to sit in silence for a few minutes, breathing ragged and with smiles turning the corners of their mouths up. “Holy fuck, Pam. Holy fuck.” V breathed.
“You can say that again,” said Panam with a breathiness uncharacteristic in her normal voice.
“I’m ‘onna miss this thing.”
“Fuck you.”
“Not like it got me here all itself. If you weren’t here, Pam, baby...” He trailed, teasing her a little. He leaned back up a little, and looked into her dazed eyes. No doubt he wore the same look. Then, his gaze dropped to her chest. “Gonna miss that, too. Spectacular tits...” He breathed before planting kisses right between them. “Gonna suffer without ‘em.”
“You really know how to ruin a moment.” Panam said, pretending she wasn’t just as bad as him. “Stay here forever. Right here. That’d be...”
“Heavenly.”
“Sure, something like.” She still wouldn’t stop deflecting and downplaying, but they were linked. V could feel her. Her happiness and commingled despairing at the imminent departure. Both exacerbated by his own same feelings. “Hey,” he uttered at her, still between her legs with his hips pressing into her, “we’ll see each other again soon. I’m gonna make sure of it. Just bein’ with you, Panam... we don’t need the basilisk for me to like bein’ around you, you know that, right?”
“I do, yeah. I’m just... I don’t like leaving you here. It is safer for you if you come with us. I know I won’t change your mind, though. You’re as stubborn as Saul.”
“Stubborn as you, Pampam. That’s why we like each other.” V swiped his thumb across her cheek, and leaned into a kiss. She wiggled her hips against him, and – oh. Hearts raced and hands grazed over skin. V inhaled sharp between his teeth and Panam pulled his hair. “Fuck, Pam, fuck you, fuck you for doin’ this to me,” V growled against the crook of her neck. She laughed, and the breath caught in his throat. His legs tensed. She toyed with him, wiggled her hips, felt it all, and shared it. “Bite me, V.” She said, so he did.
No one was surprised to see the cockpit pop and V with no shirt on, helping Panam to her feet while he also helped her do her pants back up. He grinned, with his chromed teeth catching the light and glinting, as he looked up at Panam surveying the Brights. Carol bumped Cassidy with her elbow. Mitch just smiled at the Chief and her beau. “Alright! Round everyone up! Quick inventory, check-list, namecheck! Let’s go, Brights!” She cried out over the sound of the approaching sandstorm.
V collected his belongings from the basilisk and jumped down to his car, before bounding over to Mitch and wrapping him in a tight hug. “Keep her stupid ass in line, Mitch. Please. We all know what she’s like.”
“It’ll take more than me to do that, V, but I’ll try. You sure you’re gonna stay? We could always do with a guy like you around. We’ll always be happy to see you join us.”
“Yeah, Mitch. I got a lot of prior commitments I gotta see too, see through. Me here, you all... wherever you’re goin’, best way to keep you outta Arasaka talons. I got info feeds in Night City, from towers to slums. I’ll be able to tell you all every move Arasaka makes.”
“...fair enough. I hadn’t thought of it that way.”
“That’s why you got me, Mitch! Listen, I just want you all outta here. I don’t wanna lose another Bright to my incompetence. You all get out, so you can fuckin’ finally deal with some of your grief. I lost one person a couple months ago, and it still hurts to think about. This is all fresh, all ‘cause of me. No more.”
“V, it is not your fault. We knew what we were heading into. All of us.”
“Fuckin’ feels like it, Mitch.”
“It is not. No one here would ever put the blame on you.”
“Five minutes, everyone!” Panam and Carol called over the sand-roar. V and Mitch shared one more embrace, before he skipped around to Carol and Cassidy, then once more to Panam. They didn’t have any more words to say to each other. They just kissed. Aldecaldos climbed into cars and trucks, V and Panam kissed. Spits of sand hit the pair, they still kissed. V held Panam tight against him, with a hand on the back of her neck and an arm around her waist. She held him with her arms around his shoulders and neck.
Flecks of sand pelted them; and they finally parted. Panam with a tight jaw and sorrow in her eyes, but the stoic resolve of a leader. V, tense jawed as well, with snake eyes shining too bright. Aldecaldos lit up, and cars sped out through the tunnel. Panam stood on the front of the basilisk, one last look back at V, before she dropped in and lowered the door. V stood in the pulling gale, amongst the pelting, cutting sand, and watched as the panzer finally left, the tail of the family.
And there he stood, alone.
He couldn’t go back to Kerry like that. He just got in his car and drove away, listless and slow through the storm, fast enough he was far enough away that the blast from inside the old smuggling tunnel was nothing. He just sat in his car until the storm was done, then drove himself out to Judy's shack by the dam. Then the oil fields. A little time alone before venturing into the fray once more. Just to deal with that black dog on his heels, biting at the back of his legs and jumping to claw at his back. A little time.
During the several calls he had to make, V drove back into the city for food. Take-out, and set on the passenger seat in a warming container while he talked (yelled) down the call on his way to Kerry’s. Hopefully he’d be home. The gate opened for V’s car, and he slowly rolled up the drive with the growl of the Javelina loud. Kerry’s Aerondight sat where it normally did, and Kerry stood there in the window with a hand in his pocket and the other around a bottle of centzon.
V climbed out of his car with the food in his hand and a smile on his face. He waved to Kerry, jogged around to the door, took the food to the table, then fell into the slowly strolling rockstar with a tight hug. “You look like shit, V.” For the first words out of Kerry’s mouth, they were harsh ones. V looked at him, a little offended. “No, not like that. You look like you haven’t slept since you ruined my bed with all that blood.”
“Nearly haven’t.” V answered, dragging Kerry with him to the food.
“You here for the night, then?”
“If that’s alright? My places got forfeited, like I said. Not even the place I had in Corpo Plaza was spared. All gone. I’ll find another place and get outta your hair soon.”
“V, c’mon. That’s not what I was sayin’, you know it.”
“Yeah, but I know you like to have your space. A penthouse opened up recently.” V’s eyes glowed blue as he flicked the detes over to Kerry, while reaching for noodles. “Can you take a look for me tomorrow? I dunno if I’ll be able to get there. I trust your judgement,” he added as he fell into the lounge.
“Sure, yeah. I can do that.” The request seemed to trouble Kerry, and V looked over at him while he looked through the selection V had brought with him. V took the tequila for a mouthful. “Ker, if you can’t, just say so.”
“No, no. I can. I’m just... things people say they trust me with are not a lot. Prolly my fault, keepin’ almost everyone I meet at arm’s length as I do. I’ll go look for you. I’m happy to. Lemme take your car, though. I don’t wanna... my car attracts attention.”
“I know.”
“Don’t wanna attract attention to you.”
“Sure. The only time you like attention is when you’re on stage or it’s by me. Take my car, hell, wear my clothes if you wanna go low profile. I suggest one of my rally bolero jackets. Covers your throat,” V gestured to his throat, the same space Kerry’s chrome covered.
“So not my style. Might work. Except for the fact your arm’s as thick as my leg.”
“There’s straps and buckles to adjust.”
“You’re so funny, V.” Dry as the desert storm Kerry spoke. V laughed. They ate, with Kerry’s legs over V’s lap. He still thought about Panam, of course. It’d only been a few hours since she left. Hopefully they’d get back into signal range soon, and he’d find out how they were going. “I’m ‘onna go shower,” V finally said after a short while sitting silently while Kerry plucked at the strings of his guitar. He left Kerry on the lounge with a kiss to the side of his head, and stripped down on his way to the bathroom.
It only took Kerry 30 seconds longer than anticipated to join. V heard the doors open. He stood still with his face turned to the fall of water from above, feeling it still find out every single tiny scratch caused by the whipping sands earlier in the day. Kerry's hands slid around V’s waist from behind as he got under the water with him. V wrapped a hand around Kerry’s wrist, and held onto him. God, he was exhausted. Felt as bad as Kerry said he looked.
The bed had been draped in black since V was last there. And felt different. It’d definitely been replaced. V shuffled in under the blankets and sheets and watched over at the staircase for Kerry. He eventually ascended, with only a towel in his hand to dry his hair off with. V, mostly hidden, watched him. Though, the bright red hair made him quite visible amongst all the black. Kerry seemed... put out, though. He sat on his side of the bed, and didn’t really look at V as he got comfortable.
So, V shuffled over into him, and pulled him in against his body. No speaking, just a kiss to the back of his shoulder. Kerry didn’t really answer, in any way. Not for a bit. “You okay, V?” He asked eventually. V just nodded. His head was pressed against Kerry’s shoulder, no way he could misconstrue the answer. “Sent a lot of people I care about away today. ‘S all,” he added for clarity. “Don’t feel good. Nance got back to you ‘bout Rogue again?”
“Yeah. Funeral’s in a few days. Said you’re welcome to go. After havin’ you ‘round a bit, she thinks Rogue woulda been okay with it. I told her Johnny woulda wanted you there.”
“Johnny saw her die, too. I woulda been there on his behalf, anyway.”
“Fuck. He did?”
“Yeah. ‘S why I got his Malorian on that stand. Last bullet it fired was into Adam Smasher’s skull. Fucker got him and Rogue both.”
“Poetry in motion. So, you’re okay? I mean, otherwise.”
“Headache’s been kickin’ My ass since I shorted today, my emotions are a fuckin’ mess, but I’m alright. Alive, here, okay.” V’s hand moved from Kerry’s stomach to his chest, and flattened out. He felt the steady beat of Kerry’s heart, and felt Kerry’s body relax a little. “Good. Good, yeah... good. Go sleep, V. You need it. If you’re already gone by the time I wake up, I’ll text you when I’m on the way to that apartment.”
“Thanks, Ker. Dunno what I'd do without you here, honestly,” V yawned. It didn’t take him long to fall asleep. All night, he dreamed of driving and stars, Johnny in the distance, Panam, Kerry, and so, so many stars in an open night sky. The yearning to be back home, on the road, had filled him to the brim. Who was he without that? Vincent Voltaire, Night City Victor? V the Viper, with a quick draw from his hip? Volatile V, with a cannon for an arm? V, netrunner, edgerunner, solo stunner? Just another lost boy trying to make it big in the city of broken dreams.
Morning came. V ate cold leftovers – not fussy, used to eating anything, and would eat anything – then showered and dressed. Black hi-tops, cargo pants covered in a pattern of pale gold roses, and a loose singlet. His jacket waited for him downstairs. Before leaving, he stirred the snoring Kerry half awake, kissed him, and said, “call you soon. Might have something good happen today, at work.”
“Good. Stay safe. Keep my gun ready.”
“Archangel’s always ready. Quickest draw in NC.”
“That’s my man.” Kerry said with a sleepy smile and his eyes still closed. V pressed a kiss to his temple, and left. In Kerry’s Aerondight, as requested. Fancy ass car. An absolute mess inside. Smelt of cigarettes and spilt whiskey and Kerry’s cologne.
Meets with certain contacts went well. Only one shoot-out happened during the day, with a troupe of 6th Street gangers. A quick trigger finger and couple well placed short circuits, and V was outta there as fast as he went in, with a visit to the name who’d sent him that address. A bougie building with a slick façade, but V with his slicker smile and silver-tongue got let in. He’d known enough of them, he could pretend at being a high-end joytoy with as much ease as he could pretend to be a low level gangoon. Certainly, he had the looks to be a more than convincing joytoy. The nice clothes, syn-leather jacket, didn’t hurt him, either.
The sweet grin faded as the elevator doors closed, and V just waited. No need to do anything. The elevator stopped. He walked down to the room. Locked, of course. A voice inside... just one? Just one. V blocked the security cameras, found an access point in a storage room, and checked out the apartments in the building. The one next to his target? Empty. Perfect. He stepped back out, and forced that door open. There was always another way in.
Over the balcony, V stalled a camera before climbing over and slipping inside. The second camera he caused a glitch in. Anything recorded would just come up as broken data. The target walked around, on a call. V kept low and moved through the apartment in silence. Conveniently for him, the kitchen took up the front area, close to the entrance door. There he leaned, jacket off, revolver hanging from a finger, waiting to be noticed.
When it happened, it was slow. The contact, George something V couldn’t be bothered with anymore, walked into the open-plan eating area, still talking. An orange ball in hand – prop fruit – to fiddle with as he paced. V twirled the gun around his finger, and a slow grin shone nasty as George sputtered down the line, “I gotta call you back soon. Somethin’ just came up. V-v-Vee, heey, what’s goin’ on?” V slid the revolver away with deliberate movements before stepping out of the kitchen area.
“You know what is goin’ on, George. You know very well what the fuck is goin’ on,” answered V over his slow, steady gait. “Don’t bother callin’ Capitan. It’s already done.” A knife flashed out and into V’s hand, point flush against George’s cheek. “You tried to fuck me over. Who’s payin’ you? Hah, who’s payin’ you, already?”
“I- I- there’s a bounty on you!”
“Yeah, I fuckin’ know. Big one, huh?”
“Millions of eddies.”
“So that’s what who’s payin’? Tell me the truth now, George.” V’s cold glare and hard sneer sat harshly on his pretty, youthful, gold-glinting face. He was no Animal, but he cut an imposing figure. George’s eyes darted around the room, trying to form some kind of escape. V closed the space between them with a silent step forward. “Talk, George. Now. It could very well save what little life you have got.”
“It’s Arasaka. There’s a woman- Daphne. She got into contact with me, and a couple others. Said they’ll pay big for you, and for it to be done on the DL, untraceable back to them. Because you... you did the tower, right?”
“There we go. Was that so hard?” The blade of the knife slapped lightly against George’s face, and V smiled like all they’d been doing was playing a game. George breathed a sigh of relief. “However,” the young merc added, with an iron look, “there’s no way you’re gettin’ outta this free.”
With a swing of his fist, V slammed the butt of the knife-handle into the side of George’s head and sent him sprawling to the floor. He cried out in pain, clutching the side of his head. V stepped over him, and dropped down on top of him. “Yeah, I did ‘Saka tower, just like Johnny Silverhand did in 2023. That was fuckin’ me. Why would you fuck with the person who did that, huh?” There was no chance to answer V’s growled out question, with his hand tight around George’s haw and his fingers digging into the hollows of his cheeks. “Why would you ever think that’s a good fuckin’ idea? Gimme your tongue.”
“Wh- what?”
“You heard me.” The hand curled around George’s face dragged slowly to dip into his mouth, and pluck the tongue out. The way V leaned down, the eye-contact he held, it could have been intimate. George whimpered his fear. V held still for a moment, with a cruel grin across his lips. He didn’t cut particularly slowly, or particularly fast. The knife in his hand was delicately sharp, and he pushed it through the muscle with soft, “sh, sh, shh,” -ing under George’s muffled screaming.
George curled up into a ball on the floor, rolling around in spilt blood. V washed his hands and his knife at the sink. “Next time, maybe you’ll think twice about tryin’ to fuck with someone like me. I have dragged my own name back up outta the mud. Why do you think Arasaka wants it gone? Me, a merc, a solo, edgerunner, just some other guy. Arasaka, one of the most powerful corporations on fuckin’ earth. Do not fuck around where you are not even worth a footnote, George. Do not fuck around in the fuckin’ bullpen tryin’ to elevate your name without gettin’ your hands dirty. It will not work. Now you’ve learned. If there is a next time, I’m takin’ somethin’ else off you.”
V left out the front door, and locked it behind him.
Call: Kerry
Hey, Ker. So, good news, still alive.
Good to hear. I was just about to message you-
On the way to the apartment?
Yeah. Walkin’ in now. Looks nice...
I’ll be there in ten.
You sure?
Yeah. Why not?
You had stuff to do, that’s why not.
Got it done. Got some time before I gotta head to Afterlife. ‘Sides, if you like the place...
It’s got a hella good view, Vince. Christ. Wait ‘til you see it. I might have to get this place myself.
Ker, if I get the place, you’ll be there all the time anyway.
Heh, that’s true. ‘S got grass. Lap pool. Chopper pad. Inside’s nice, too.
Real grass?
Feels like it.
Ooh. Just hang there for a few, ‘kay?
Will do.
See you in a bit.
V broke a few road rules to get to the apartment building in less than ten minutes, but he got there with himself and Kerry’s car unscathed. He bounced on his toes all the way up, in the elevator, and took his jacket back off. The realtor greeted him with his arm holding the elevator door and too much smile. “Yeah, hi, how’s it goin’,” V answered, barely looking at him. He didn’t trust realtors. Kerry, he saw immediately, leaning over the banister of the top floor. He’d taken a pair of V’s sunglasses and a black and purple jacket. “How’s it look?” V called up.
“Bigger than your last apartment!”
“So, what you think? Should I?”
“I had a good look around...” Kerry answered. V lifted his hand up for the realtor, who held out the tablet. “seems all intact, real kitchen, nice bathroom... I say go for it, V. Doubt you’ll regret it.”
“Yeah? Alright then. Your fault if I do, Ker,” V called up at him with a grin. He pressed his hand to the screen, and the furnished apartment was his. The realtor bowed himself out with flourishing words and a toothy grin, and V locked the elevator behind him.
Kerry descended the staircase with all the grace and confidence V expected of him. A sort of aloof theatricality. V tossed his jacket onto the pristine lounge in the sunken sitting area and watched Kerry. It had been a good day. V felt good. Kerry tossed the jacket he wore over onto the lounge as well, before wrapping an arm around V’s waist. “So. You got a place again. That mean you’re gonna stop comin’ over to mine, messing it up?”
“Yeah, now you can come here and leave your shit everywhere. Hang on... ...half an hour, my stuff’s gonna be here, apparently. Huh. Preem.”
“Order a kit, yet?”
“I gotta consult with Denny on that. She’s the expert, there. You, Ker, are gonna get some guitars. Red. You know, already.”
“I can do that for you, V.”
“Come on, I wanna go outside,” V said, pulling Kerry along by his hand, with a grin on his freckled face.
“Spend your whole life out there, still can’t wait to get back out. I’ll never understand you, V,” Kerry told him as he followed. V looked back with a shrug.
Verdant grass met V’s cheek. He fell into it, and breathed it in. It all felt almost natural, smelt almost natural. It was certainly good enough. He laid on his stomach in the grass for a bit, just...relaxing. Feeling it. Hearing everything, as well as the lack of sound from street level. Only thing missing from that space was bugs. He rolled over and looked to the sky, with the pale moon still visible amongst all of that blue. Then he looked over at Kerry, who sat next to him, facing him, and with the heels of his boots digging into the dirt as he tore blades of grass away from the roots.
V ran his hand up over Kerry’s leg – or, up the boot lacing – before wrapping it around under his knee, both to pull himself up and pull Kerry closer. “C’mere, Ker.” V hummed. Kerry moved closer, with a spark in his eye and a small grin growing. V leaned in, making it look like he was leaning in for a kiss. Kerry was ready for it, V watched the way his lips parted and how his eyes dropped. “I think we should go out tonight. Dinner, maybe go find a decent club and, uh... see what the VIP section's like.”
“You ready to be seen out in public with me, V?” Kerry teased, with a bump of his button nose against the pointy tip of V’s. “Why wouldn’t I be? ‘S you who should be worried, Ker. I got a bounty on me...”
“You didn’t know?”
“Know what?”
“That’s why I liked you to begin with.”
“Fuck you,” V laughed.
"Might need to change your shirt, first. Got some blood. Yours?”
“Nah. Had to- I did get shot at today. Found the organiser of that little happenstance.”
“And? You can’t just say that and not tell me.”
“Cut his tongue out.”
“Fuck, V...”
“Ohh, Ker...” V caught Kerry’s eye properly, and tilted his head back to look his lover up and down. “That turn you on?”
“Yeah. A bit,” he answered with a breathless sort of laugh. V’s tongue grazed between his teeth. He moved up onto his knees, and wrapped his hand around under Kerry’s jaw. Kerry’s surprise came out in a soft gasp. V pushed him back, laid him back in the grass, and straddled him just the same as he did his victim earlier. The knife, he slipped out from the back of his belt, and dug it into the dirt with a single hard thrust down. “Put him down, just like this. On his back. A lot less nicely than I do you,” V explained, crouched over Kerry. Kerry’s hands inched slowly up V’s thighs. “Hadda threaten him a bit for a name. Then I held him, like this,” V hissed like the snakes he was compared to, like the slithering beast across his chest and arms. His hand wrapped around Kerry’s face, fingers pressing into the hollows of his cheeks. Gently, with V’s eyes soft and watching Kerry’s lips and his heart racing. “Made him give me his tongue, before I sliced it outta his mouth. He screamed. Blood covered us both.” V’s other hand crept up, and wrapped around Kerry’s throat. A sound caught there. V turned his eyes from Kerry’s lips to his eyes, that bright, smoke blue ringed with pale gold. He teased, leaning in to bump the tip of his nose against Kerry’s, to graze his lips against his cheek, the corner of his lips. Another moment passed. Kerry’s fingers dug into the meat of V’s thigh. V stood, and walked away.
He heard Kerry exhale shaking breaths, but just kept walking over to the kitchen. With water in his hand, he turned to lean against the bench and look out at Kerry. He sat there still, on the grass, with one leg bent up to lean on, and his head tilted forward as his intense gaze fixated on V. Kerry shook his head, and V read what he said off his lips more than he heard it. “I hate you.” V just grinned in reply.
V tried not to tease Kerry too much before the carrier dropped the crate filled with his things off, but he managed it. Mostly. The crate dropped on the parking pad and V pulled himself away from Kerry, his hand out from under Kerry’s shirt, his mouth away from Kerry’s neck. “Come on,” he managed, standing. “Fuck, V, you can’t do this to me,” Kerry complained.
“No, for real. I have something to show you. Come on!” V said with a bounce away. He tossed his top down onto the couch before he was too far away, then ran to the storage container. Biometrically locked, he pressed a hand to the door. It popped open. And everything looked to be there, not broken. A little jostled, but fine. He walked in and pushed a couple heavy crates out to make some room, and finally found his target.
A simple box, filled with records. He turned with it in hand, and took it over to his stash crates, where Kerry sat. A few seconds of flicking through, and V found what he wanted. Three records, sitting together. He pulled them out, and handed them to Kerry. “Chippin’ In,” he read off them, three times in a row. The first, Samurai’s. The second two had the same Kerry Eurodyne slipcase. Kerry looked over at V, with a question in the tilt of his brows. “Told you I was a fan, Ker.”
“What, you found it out in the badlands, Mr. Nomad?”
“Kinda. We got called in to move some stuff across country. You know me, I’m curious. Took a look. Found a bunch of different stuff, including music memorabilia. Covered in dust. Thought this’d do better in my collection. You can tell that’s my one and not the one you gave me because the scratches on the case. Sat in my car a while. With the rest of my stuff... yeah.”
“So,” Kerry hummed as he picked up Samurai’s slip, “which one’s your favourite?”
“C’mon, Ker, Samurai’s is a classic. Can’t go wrong there. But...” V answered with his fingers coming to rest on the top edge of Kerry’s record, ““Justice called, heavy violence, gonna boost and hit the street. Corpo plague in violent droves, made of greed, they’re packin’ heat. Cold chrome spittin’ molten lead, can’t be killed I’m already dead, stand, don’t feed the ghost within,” just kinda resonates with me. ‘Specially these days.”
“Vincent,” Kerry sighed through a smile. The records settled back into the box, with Kerry’s at the front.
“Hey, I didn’t think I’d ever see you in real life, let alone talk to you, so...”
“Funny how things work out. You’re surprisingly normal, for a fanboy.”
“I’m surprisingly normal for a guy who’s died before, I think.”
“Yeah, you got me there. You’re not gonna like, kill me in my sleep then wear my skin or anything, are you? If you got plans like that, it’s probably best we stop dating.”
“Thought about it, decided nah, that’s too cliché. I’m just gonna be with you, try make you happy. That’s all. Maybe kiss you again?” V leaned in and down, watching Kerry’s laugh until he could see it no more. Guilt settled in his stomach over Panam, but V couldn’t dream of a place in which he wasn’t with Kerry like this, too. It pained him as much as thinking about how few years he had left, according to Alt’s analysis. Kerry saw it in his eyes when he pulled away. “You alright, V?”
“Uh- yeah. Just... thinkin’, where I shouldn’t be. Should prolly get all this unpacked. Wouldn’t want the carrier to come back before it’s done.”
“V, what are you thinkin’ about?” Kerry asked to V’s back. V half turned, with a box filled with books up on his shoulder, and his hand around the neck of his guitar. “Dyin’.” He answered simply. Mikoshi pushed at the edges of all of his thoughts. He’d done well not to show it, he thought. Better to admit it sooner rather than later though, right? Kerry looked over at him with his brows drawn up. A small sigh exhaled through his nose, and he looked away. “Yeah, come on, let’s get all this into your house. Then we’re gonna go out, yeah. You ‘n me. See what trouble we can cause.” V gave a small smile back over to Kerry.
“I’ve seen your record, Ker. You’re a menace.”
“And what, you aren’t?”
“Absolutely am. And if I’m not by now, I gotta try harder.” V walked past Kerry, arms full and defenceless to the slap Kerry landed on his ass.
Sitting outside with the late afternoon sun and ordered in chilaquiles and tamales, V swore and threw his boots at the wall. Kerry just looked at him. “Night out’s cancelled. Fuckin’- this fuckin’ meet needs to happen, motherfuckers said it’s now or it’s off, yesterday they said it was gonna be next week. Two and a half hours, I gotta be at Afterlife.” V picked a tamale up as he stood, to pace through the grass. “Gimme a month and they’ll be workin’ to my fuckin’ schedule instead. Fuck...”
“’S alright, V. You got shit to do, I know-“
“No, it’s not al-fuckin’-right, Kerry. I told you I’m gonna take you out, now that’s just been ripped out from under me, ‘cause I cannot afford to turn this meet down. It’s been a fuckin’ week, shit’s not gonna be normal for a while, but fuck, man... feel like I haven’t stopped since I woke up in that fuckin’ puddle of blood, in your bed.” Agitation filtered over every movement V made, every step he took, even the way he bit into the tamale. One bite, then he made a face at it, and hurled it from the balcony. Kerry laughed. “What’d you do that for?”
“I gotta go see Mamá, get some real tamales. You’ll feel the same way after tryin’ one of them.” V strode around and dropped down behind Kerry to wrap around him and lean his head against his shoulder. “This is not what I had in mind this morning. Wanted to meet you here, keep you here, stay here all night doin’ nothin’.”
“Are you sayin’ you planned this, V? Entrapment, I can’t believe you.”
“Yep. Whole lot. All hinged on you sayin’ yes to comin’ here, but I did truly want your opinion on the place. I hadn’t been here yet, just looked at pictures in the office.”
“No, no, I kinda like it. So used to knowin’ exactly what’s coming, and you just surprise me every day.”
“Well... y’know,” V hummed as he pressed a kiss to the back of Kerry’s shoulder, “I like spending time with you, Ker. Just us, no chaos. The chaos is fun, but...”
“Had enough of that for a while, huh?”
“Oh, yeah. Keep that shit for work, keep you ‘n me for this. Uhm... what d’you think you’ll be doin’ tonight? You wanna stay here, or you gonna go home?”
“Gonna head to the studio, then, I dunno. Gotta re-record rhythm guitar on a couple songs, and I had an idea for the melody, the lead, on Up In Smoke.”
“You gotta let me hear ‘em, soon, Ker. ‘Specially that one.”
“No, not yet, not yet! They are not ready for you.”
“I bet they are, you’re just a perfectionist. I wanna hear ‘em raw demos.”
“Fuck, you’re sweet, sometimes.”
“So, you call me when you’re done, play me that over the holo, and let me know what you’re doin’, so I can share a fucking bed with you again.”
“You drive a hard bargain, V,” Kerry sighed as he leaned right back into V. V pressed a kiss to the side of his neck before laying back on the grass, and shifting to lay next to Kerry instead of under him. “And whatever your answer is, that’s the compromise I’m takin’.”
“You’re not so lenient with your clients, I hope.”
“Never. They get the full extent of my iron will,” said V with a laugh.
"I’m prolly gonna head up home. Start looking at guitars for you...”
“I’ll come up there when I’m done, then. I’ll take my car back?”
“Yeah, gimme mine back.”
“Too bad. I like driving that one. My Guinevere didn’t quite have the same charm.”
“Well, yeah, mine’s prettier.”
“Smells like you, too.”
“Ah, shut up, V.” With a flash of the rings on his fingers in the sun, Kerry pulled V down into a kiss.
“Hey,” V paused, kissed, paused again, “earlier? Joking about us, you said “if that’s so, maybe we should stop dating?” so, focusing in on that last bit...”
“If you got a question, V, spit it out.” A sly smile crossed pretty lips.
“You and I... are... what?”
“As serious as you want it to be. You’ve been sleepin’ at my house, snake-man. Sleepin’ with me. And always with the compliments...” and Kerry, underneath V, ran his hands down V’s sides to hook his fingers into the waistband of V’s pants, as if to drive that second point home.
“Yeah, nova, I, uh- just making sure. ‘Cause I’m me, and that’s usually a dealbreaker.”
“Fuck no. It’s you as you is why I like you. Look at you, the fuck would I say “hmm, nah,” about all this? You’re fuckin’ funny, you’re pretty, you love blowin’ shit up, you’ve repeatedly told corpo cunts all over Night City to suck your dick, and I like the way you look in these tight pants. Hell, you’re more of an anarchist in a month than I have been for the last ten fuckin’ years. You make me feel fuckin’ alive again, V. The fog has cleared, watch the burning sun blaze instead.”
“Well, fuck-“ V began before cutting himself off with a kiss to Kerry. “You,” kiss, “are,” kiss, “somethin’,” kiss, “else,” kiss, “Kerry Eurodyne.” Kiss, down on the collarbone, white tank top pushed aside. “Dunno if you still remember your dare to me, but I think I got a year for you.”
“I do, I remember. You got ten months left.”
“Easy.” V kissed his way along Kerry’s collarbone, with his hands slowly sliding up under his shirt.
In the grass, out in the golden sunlight slowly fading, V took his time with Kerry’s body. He kissed and kissed and kissed, bit his silver teeth into Kerry’s sunkissed skin, from jaw to hip. V sat up between Kerry’s legs, and brought Kerry up with him, only to touch his body more. A hand splayed out and pressed flat low on Kerry’s back, shiny teeth grazing the iliac crest. And Kerry, well...
Kerry just let himself be worshipped. It was nothing like fangirls and fanboys, nothing like the groupies, that followed him. He wasn’t fingertip-numbingly drunk. V wasn’t vying for attention. He wasn’t trying to use Kerry as a step up. It was honest, with feelings tangled into every touch. Real. He knew Kerry as a person, and wanted this. And that’s everything V wanted to show as he grazed his nails down Kerry’s back. You’re not Kerry Eurodyne, the Brand, with me. You’re Ker, we met through a mutual friend, and you play some wicked dirty guitar.
Food forgotten, clothes strewn haphazardly, V wrapped a hand around Kerry’s hip and his knees dug into the grass. He breathed in, Kerry, grass, dirt, filthy Night City air. And Kerry... he felt so good. He wrapped his arms around V, with one hand against the back of his head and the other digging into his back with those manicured nails threatening to break the skin.
Up in the shower, V found that Kerry did in fact scratch him hard enough to cut. Not only from Kerry saying, “ouch,” but also the stinging from the hot water. V hissed at it, and Kerry laughed. “You wanna leave bite marks all over me, V, you gotta be prepared for some payback,” Kerry said as he pushed V out of the way and took the water for himself. V turned on a dime and wrapped his arms around Kerry from behind. “When did I say I didn’t like it, huh?”
“You can handle what you dish out. Good to know.”
“And you’re covered in grass stains. All up your back.”
“Wash it off for me.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Oh, I like that.”
“The sir, or the half scrub/half back massage?”
“...both.”
“Good to know.” V grinned, with yet another kiss to the side of Kerry’s neck.
The pair shared the shower for a bit. It was only once V was half dressed, with one sock on, did he remember- “Ker, come here. Need your hand.”
“Help to get dressed? Not usually how I work-“
“No. Biometrics. So you can lock up when you leave. And come and go whenever you want.” Just as Judy did not so long ago to him, V held his hand against Kerry’s and his eyes lit up as the data was shared. “There ya go. Just don’t go throwin’ any wild parties here without me.”
“No, that’s what my house is for.”
“Sure is. Gotta finish getting dressed then delta. Didn’t realise how long I’d... spent on you. Prolly a good thing you got impatient,” V talked as he looked around for the rest of the clothes he’d pulled out, and buttoned his shirt up. “I coulda spent the whole night there. Do I need sunglasses? ...Nah. Yeah, fuck it. These ones,” he added, lifting Johnny’s out of his collection.
“They suit you.” Kerry half looked at V. V picked a jacket up for Kerry, plain black syn-leather with a collar that laid flat. There was a chill starting in the air. “I’ll call you when I got this shit done. Be a few hours, at least. If it’s longer, don’t wait up. You’ll just wake up to me cuddling into you in the morning.”
“Sure.”
“You look good in red. Gotta wonder how he was ever straight, lookin’ at you through these.”
“It was the hair. He liked ‘em with long hair, and I could just never let my hair grow out like that.”
“And for that, he let a good thing go to waste.” Kerry, you liar, V thought.
“Don’t let them make you stupid like he got.”
“He was in my brain and I never got that stupid, Ker. You’ll have me back soon.” Kerry’s silvery hair gleamed in the light, and V pushed a damp lock back into place. “Promise, I’ll be back,” he added, voice low and quiet, only enough to fill the sliver of space between them, before he pulled Kerry into a soft kiss.
Crackling. Iron taste. Double vision. Floating. Falling. A nothing. A nothing. A nothing. Mikoshi, Alt, done. Johnny? Fuck, Johnny... Keep fighting. Now V had to. “...go? V!? Please, tell me where to go! Fuck, V, wake up!” A voice cracked with wet, sobs creaking in the throat. Panam? “Vincent, please, please come back,” she begged and begged, hard won tears running down to drip from her nose. V felt his face twitch when one splashed onto his cheek.
“Kerry. Call-“ V choked on his own voice. His throat felt unused and overused at the same time, ice and fire. He couldn’t speak. But, the rest of his body worked. He flicked detes to Panam, pulled her down to him at the same time. Just a soft headbutt. More than a kiss, more than anything. A soft headbutt, held her there, “I’m V.” Get up.
Some kind of disconnect happened in V’s body as he stood. Mind didn’t connect properly, he fell back to his hands and knees. “We have got to go, V,” Panam spoke in distress, leaned down next to him.
“Not without Rogue and Saul. You can’t carry all a’ us,” he rasped back through his glass throat. “Just...” He leaned, and closed his eyes. Alarms blared, and moments dragged on, while V just breathed. Like that mysterious monk had taught him. Either it worked, or a placebo effect hit. Whatever it was, V took advantage of it.
He followed Panam back out to where all the bodies were. Adam Smasher was still dead. Rogue and Saul... V picked Saul up, and Panam managed Rogue. “Where do we...? Parking?”
“Yeah. I’m callin’ Del,” V answered Panam. They both made moves, like a literal fire bit at their asses and not just figurative fire. Chaos was still king, at least for a little. V called Delamain, and explained only to meet them as close to his loc-data as possible.
Weyland met them outside the second elevator, HMG in hand and several bullet-wounds in. “V! Ah- there you are. We are out?”
“Yep. Come with.”
“Good. The bomb is primed.”
“Fuckin’ nova. Panam, make sure everyone’s gone, now. Blow this fuckin’ place off the map, too. This time, no Nomads are gonna be pickin’ through radioactive rubble. Yorinobu can do that himself. Let’s delta the fuck outta here.” And with that, they piled into the last elevator to the parking garage. Panam’s eyes lit up as she spoke to Carol, a short conversation before the doors opened again.
V scanned as soon as he stepped out, and found three active roof turrets. “Down!” He rasped, as he crouched low with Saul over his shoulder and crept out. All three turrets turned friendly in moments, but V didn’t let his guard down. Could be anything out there. He looked back at Weyland, and nodded him forward. The big man stepped up with his HMG up, and V pulled his revolver. Panam held her pistol pointed to the ground. All three strode slowly, bodies facing different directions as they moved their small group out to the exit.
V and Panam heard the retinue ahead before they saw them. They ducked. Wise, considering the bright red of V’s hair. He meerkatted around a car, and found the Arasaka guards blocking the exit they needed. Roof turrets turned, portable ground turrets surveyed. “Twelve guards. Four turrets. Three of us. Real unfair, huh?”
“They really don’t stand a chance. Hack them out, V.”
“Can do, Pampam.” V said with a slight grin. Something felt off about it. It wasn’t harmful to him, no virus filtered through his system, but something was off. The turrets began firing on the guards, and Weyland joined them with words thrown at the Arasaka assholes in his Creole. V got a few headshots in, Panam aimed for grenades belts. If she didn’t hit explosives, she made a big enough mess of the bodies holding them they would’ve been hard to save.
Done and done, the three walked through the carnage. V reloaded around Saul’s body, and emptied the revolver into somehow still living guards as they passed. None of them needed a single chance to live, not while Panam and Weyland needed theirs. Delamain pulled up right out on the street at the end of the drive. “Weyland. You in passenger. Panam, you in back. Put Rogue behind me.” Saul went in the middle, V climbed into the driver’s seat. “Co-ords, Del. Take us there,” he breathed, before closing his eyes. As soon as they were far enough away from the Arasaka Tower compound, the explosion rocked the ground. “That’s for you, Johnny.”
Moments later, a chime rang through the car. Panam opened her eyes, unaware she’d passed out. The car had pulled up to a driveway with a massive gate across it, and Delamain dutifully informed the voice at the speaker that V was in the car. “Sure, and how would I fuckin’ know that? Why would I believe you? Hasn’t taken a single fuckin’ call in three days, now he’s magically here? Fuck off.” The voice answered. Panam shook V by his shoulder. He didn’t stir. “V, he- fuck.” He’d been bleeding. Panam was the only one awake. Blood had poured from V’s nose, ears, and mouth, and his shirt was soaked. She leaned out over Rogue’s body. “Hey! Is this Kerry? V is in this car, please let us in. He’s- fuck, he’s covered in blood. I can explain everything. Open the gate before he fucking dies!”
“What?”
“Open the fucking gate!”
“...there. Come in.”
“Thank you!” Panam yelled, and Delamain moved. Her yelling had woken Weyland. He didn’t ask questions yet, but he had his bearings. “Sir, I can help with those injuries, if you would like?” Delamain inquired. Weyland looked back at Panam. She gave a nod. “I’ll get this guy to help,” she said.
“Eh, yes please, Delamain. I would not like to die, just yet.” Panam slid out of the stationary car and ran around to the driver door, where V sat.
The occupant of the house, one named Kerry, walked out to where the car was, with his arrogance and annoyance in every step. That was, until he saw V truly there in the driver’s seat, with Panam pulling him out. He dropped the bottle of champaradise he’d been consoling himself with and ran the rest of the way with his silken kimono-style nightgown flying out behind him. The bottle smashed against the ground, pale golden liquid and shards of glass exploded dramatically. Kerry helped the mysterious woman with her hard eyes lift V and carry him inside the house.
Neither cared about the blood smearing across their clothes and skin. “Bathroom,” Kerry said as he led through the mess that was his home. “Panam,” she introduced herself on the way through the doors. “First aid kit?” Kerry ran off to find one. Panam began taking V’s clothes off, on the floor. Boots, socks, jacket, Kerry returned with the kit, and pulled V’s shirt off. His freckled, tattooed skin had light cuts across the arms and one along the chest, but that was all. Kerry... baffled. “What the fuck?”
“What?” Panam asked with her hands in the kit.
“He didn’t get shot?”
“No. Of course not. Why- did he not tell you where he was going?”
“...no.”
“Fucking idiot. Suppose he thought Rogue would live through it.”
“Fuck, that was her in the back? Fuck. Fuck. What the fuck happened?”
“We broke into Arasaka tow-“
“Johnny. So... why’s V like this, now?”
“I don’t know.” The strain finally showed in Panam’s voice. Kerry checked V’s pulse, and pressed a hand to his chest. “Heart’s still beatin’. Breathin’. Let’s get him in the water, then hit him with an airhypo. Fuckin’... why didn’t he tell me?” That was the last words said, until they got V up into bed. The bleeding had stopped, thank God.
Panam sat next to the bed, cross legged, and holding onto V’s hand. Kerry sat on his bed, on the other side of V, regretting every thought he’d been having about V’s whereabouts. V slept on. Kerry left the room to make some calls, first and foremost to Nancy. Panam called Carol. Kerry sat with his head in his hands. Panam stood by the massive, utterly defenceless and tactless windows. Not for long. She was too restless. She looked back at V, out completely on the bed. She should be doing something.
There was nothing more she could do. Not yet. So, she checked on the man they’d brought with them. Fine, resting, waiting to be picked up and taken home. “A ride, huh? Word gets out, we will be legends,” he lauded, pain shot through his voice. “Good luck to you and yours, Nomad. They will come for you, I hope you get out safe.”
“Thank you. You, too. You’ll need it, staying here.” Panam didn’t think he’d last out the night.
She hoped V would.
Kerry and Panam waited into the night. Weyland’s ride came, no one either Panam or Kerry knew, and they got him out quick. Nancy came for Rogue and told Kerry she’d be back during the day, probably not tomorrow. Dinner, ordered in, came to the gate. Only once they were eating did Kerry ask exactly what the fuck had just gone on. Panam explained what she could as best she could.”...so, I think that means Silverhand is gone. I don’t definitely know, of course, I barely understand what the hell Mikoshi was. And,” without asking, she turned the TV on. Several channels and all of it but the ads channel was Arasaka tower. “There’s this.” Kerry watched and read the scrolling text.
“What the fuck...”
“Yeah,” Panam sighed.
“And...”
““That’s for you, Johnny.””
“Fuck. I can’t... can’t believe this. Johnny’s gone, V’s still there?”
“He woke up and that’s what he said. “I’m V.”” Panam looked to her feet, fiddled with her own hands. “I’m still kind of processing it all myself. I didn’t know they were going to blow the tower. I just thought we were there for V, for Mikoshi. I don’t know what kind of explosive it was, either.”
“Yeah, knowin’ Johnny, he woulda suggested it. Keeping people like that is a supreme kinda fucked, and I know for fact Johnny despised the whole thing. And, Mikoshi? Alt? That’s... What happened there?”
“No idea. We’ll have to ask him. He jacked in and laid down in the water, and that was it.”
“Christ...” Kerry went off and paced. How could V not tell him? How could V not fucking tell him he was going? He could’ve done... something. Anything. Just like last time- thank fuck he got this one back. This one was upstairs in his bed, not in the grasp of those Arasaka motherfuckers.
The gate alarm sounded through the house. “Panam called,” a drawling voice followed. Kerry turned back to look over at the woman sitting with her head in her hands on his couch. “Yeah, that’s Cassidy. He’s come to get me and Saul out of your hair. He – V – explained about Hanako Arasaka, should be safe. For now.”
Kerry opened the gate. An unsuspecting car drove in, nothing like he expected from Nomads. But, as V had said many times, stop with the pre-learned judgements.
“If there’s any trouble, you have my contact now. Do not hesitate to call. The Aldecaldos are here for V, the only thing we want from him is his safety.” Panam hesitated between choosing doors. Kerry gestured to the one by the windows, and lounge, and followed her out. “Yeah. ‘Course. I’ll let you know when he wakes up. If.”
“If!” A laugh made of distress left Panam as she opened the door. “Sounds good. Hey- Cassidy. This car,” she told the older man in the cowboy hat, with her hand out to the Delamain's back passenger door. “How’s our boy, Pan?” He answered as he stepped around the Delamain with her.
“Heh, passed out! Maybe suffered a brain haemorrhage but who knows? Seems okay, otherwise. Got us out of that tower, down to this car.”
“Tough kid. You,” Cowboy pointed right at Kerry, “make sure he stays okay, rockerboy.”
“Do everything I can,” Kerry promised. “You guys need anything, ahh... y’know where I am.”
“Yeah, yeah. Thank you, Kerry. Just... let me know. About V. Please. Cassidy, help me with Saul.”
“On it, Chief.”
“How are we getting out of the city? There’ll be cops all over the roads.”
“We’re not takin’ the roads, girl.”
“Of course. I’m a little...” Panam excused herself. Cassidy closed the boot, and pulled Panam into a hug. One she needed. “Just keep it together a little longer, Pan. Mitch is alive, bastard survived the panzer alone.”
“Fuck, that’s great news. A bit of weight and worry gone.”
“Come on, lets get outta here.”
“Yeah.” Panam pulled away from the hug, and went back to Kerry. He stood with his arms crossed, watching the interaction. “I don’t know anything about you but that V told me to come here before he woke up properly. That tells me enough. So, I don’t know, be that person. If you do not, if something happens and you were involved, I will come back here, in a much less friendly way.”
“Anything happens to V, you won’t be comin’ back here to kill me, just to find bodies”
“Alright, time’s up!” Cassidy called over. “Goodbyes are done, Panam we gotta go, now.”
Panam and Kerry shared a look, an understanding over V, and she left. The car rumbled down the drive, and sped off into the night. Kerry went back into his house. Emptier than it had ever been, even with V there. Because V was there, some kinda way comatose, and not on the drums or picking away at a guitar or painting the walls with snakes and roses. “Fuck...” Kerry breathed into his hand.
The rest of the night passed with no sleep. Kerry wandered around his home as if he were a ghost in it. Everywhere but his bedroom. Not yet. Not there yet. TV didn’t help. Kerry looked at it, watched the news, but didn’t hear anything. Didn’t take a single thing in. Time passed. The sun began to rise. A cry of pain startled Kerry out of a daze. He ran. Upstairs, to V.
More blood had come from V, stained Kerry’s white sheets with crimson. V was curled up in a ball, facing the middle of the bed, clutching his head. “Hey, V,” Kerry spoke softly as he kneeled. “Hey. You awake?”
“I dunno. Am I?”
“I don’t think you’re dreamin’.”
“I’m in so much pain.”
“I have a ...stash.”
“Please.”
Fuck, it was hard seeing V like that. Kerry somehow found the way to his stash. He wouldn’t touch glitter, but pretty much everything else? Fair game for a good night. This time, for once, it was for pain relief, not emotional ignorance. Powder, pills, vials... pills. Of distilled oils, potent and fun for a light night, also great at dulling pain. Kerry sent a message to Panam, then took them to V, with a bottle of water. At least he was sitting up this time, back to the plants, and eyes closed.
V took the water, and the pills, and stayed sitting where he was. “Kinda ruined your bed.”
“I’ll buy another one,” Kerry dismissed, sitting down next to V.
“Am I... this real? Last thing I remember is lookin’ down at Adam Smasher.”
“All real.” A hesitant hand reached up to touch V, ever so lightly. Kerry’s thumb brushed over V’s chin and up his jaw. “V?” He asked. V grinned, eyes closed to the rosy morning outside.
"Yeah. V. Just V. We did it.”
“Just V?”
“Just V. I can... feel it. The absence. Like I’ve lost something, but can’t place what. Fuck,” the grin disappeared totally. V opened his eyes a sliver, only to fall into Kerry and Kerry’s arms. If all Kerry could do was hold him, that’s what he’d do. V leaned hard into him, curled up like a child needing comfort. His hands gripped into the neo-silk shrouding Kerry. V... sobbed.
“I killed Johnny.”
“No. The Arasakas did. You gave him his goodbyes. Johnny would never have given me his guitar if he thought there was any way he’d be back. You know what a selfish prick he was.”
“Was my choice in the end. Me or him. He didn’t even try fight me. We sat and talked, first time ever apart, two separate entities. I accused him of planning to... fuck, Kerry, I just don’ know. Said I woulda taken a bullet for Johnny if it came to that, but in the end- I mean, fuck, I was dead. It was the Relic that brought me back to life. I just don’t know how to fuckin’ feel. It hurts. Fuck it hurts. I dunno if it’s losin’ Johnny or whatever the fuck Alt did in my brain, but it all fuckin’ hurts.” Every second word rode out on a crack in V’s voice. The heart of him bared, showing the man he was beneath the volatility he wore so well.
“Johnny saw himself in you. He wanted to give you a second chance, V. You got more than what he ever did. He was beautiful and charismatic, that’s why he fit so well on you. You’re more that than he was, and you do it without trying.”
“I don’t believe that. Johnny was...”
“I know.”
“Ker, I wanna... I just wanna go back to sleep. My head- where’s all my stuff?”
“Bathroom.”
“My guns are safe?”
“The Malorians?”
“Yeah.”
“They’re there.”
“Good. I’m... need to help the ‘Caldos get the fuck outta NC, gotta get my place packed up and my cars stored. Get to Afterlife.”
“Are you fuckin’ kidding me right now, V?” Kerry wrapped a hand around V’s arm and jaw, and forced him to look up. “No. You’re not doin’ anything right now. You’re a goddamn mess. Blood everywhere, just pulled a Silverhand and nuked fuckin’ Arasaka, two people you took with you are dead-“
“More than two.”
“-and you fuckin’ might be, ‘f you get up and go right now!”
“Ker, I need to. Hanako Arasaka will only be able to stall so long. I need to get shit done, get myself situated, get your record and all the other important shit from my place, get into fuckin’ Afterlife. Rogue is dead, she’s fuckin’ gone, I have her... backlog? I dunno. Files fulla shit from her, musta transferred before she did die, ‘cause for some fuckin’ reason she trusted me even after tellin’ me she couldn’t give me any jobs because of the colossal fuck up with Dex. Kerry, baby, this is what it is to be an edgerunner. A solo. Fuckin’ everyone knows my name, and if they don’t, they’re gonna. I can’t take more time. I can’t yet. I gotta get shit done right now, or I won’t be able to get whatever Alt left me with looked at.”
“Fuckin’ Alt Cunningham...” Kerry shook his head away from V. “Never thought I’d hear that name again. She always left Johnny fucked up. More fucked up. She’s the reason he put that bomb into the tower in the first fuckin’ place. Ten years later. Now she’s fucked you.”
“I know. I remember. Johnny beat the shit outta the media that went with him, when he found her.”
“...you remember?”
“I’ve seen Johnny’s memories as much as he saw mine. I can remember them, still. Like they were my own.”
“Fuck... you sure he’s not still in there?”
“As I can be. We were inside Mikoshi. Disentangled. Now I feel wrong. Please, Ker, I need to go. Come with me if you want, but I have gotta get to my apartment, and Afterlife.” V looked up at Kerry, white eyes wide and pleading. Kerry exhaled. He was being the responsible, reasonable one for once. He hated it. To bad decisions...
“Fine. Okay. Get dressed, we’ll take my car. The one you pulled up in is covered in blood.”
“You’re doin’ a lot for me right now, Ker. I won’t forget.”
“V, you’re with me, huh?”
“...yeah?”
“Not a transaction. No countin’, remember?”
“Yeah. I remember. Take the second chance. Don’t fuckin' look back. Ker?”
“Yeah?”
V pulled him into a kiss as his answer. That’s all he needed to say.
Days and days passed. Rumours swirled. An echo of the last time Arasaka Tower went down. “I heard it was a merc.” “No, it was Militech again!” “You remember that pretty guy with the red deathhawk and all the gold piercings? Yeah, V. Heard it was him. People reckon he was a big Samurai fan.” “Apparently he knows the band. Wanted to be like Johnny Silverhand.” “I’m telling you, it was a military commando unit!” “Nah, my cousin worked there. Got out as soon as possible. Said the head of the pack was six foot, red haired, freckled. Like that solo edgerunner guy. The one that came back from the dead.”
The people knew in the way that mattered.
A living legend. Walked back into Afterlife days after the Fall, with a dare in his eyes and a pistol on his belt. Walked in alone. He took Rogue’s seat, and none argued. From there, he organised around the Aldecaldos escape from Night City. Rogue’s contacts came in very handy, even the resistant ones. Diverted flight plans, diverted patrol routes, a cache of explosives, maps, and fuckin’ money. The Aldecaldos, the Bright family, got it all.
Day 8, V drove out into the badlands to meet Panam and the rest, and personally escort them to their escape. Thankfully, some of his cars survived storage, including the Javelina he’d bought from Dakota – a heavily modded Quadra type-66. Mitch drove the car for him, while V sat with Panam in the basilisk, taking the gun while she took lead on the road. Raffen tried them, a rogue section of militech agents, but they were no match for the determination of Panam and V together.
When they finally came to the old smuggling tunnel struck from maps in recent years, V climbed over and through the cockpit and settled himself between Panam’s legs. They had an hour before everyone caught up, to take stock and organise, start setting charges. To say goodbye. “Panam,” V began. She touched his face, with her thumb over his lips. He could feel it in his own hand. “Don’t, V. Don’t. This is not goodbye.”
“No. Never. But you need to go, and not look back. Not yet. You’re an incredible woman, Pampam. Whatever happens after this... you made my life better. I miss you already.” V looked up at Panam. Her jaw tightened, her brows sloped up in the middle. V tilted his head into her touch, and kissed the palm of her hand. “Time for the ‘Caldos to delta. I’ll be here, you need anything at all from NC.”
“V, you need to come with us.” Panam’s hand slipped down to rest against V’s neck. Her other hand moved on her thigh. Unintentionally sending a thrill through V’s skin. He looked down with closed eyes, and shook his head. “I can’t, Panam.”
“Why not? We have people who can help-“
“I just can’t abandon everything here. I’d love to come with, you know how bad I wanna be out on the road again, but there is so much I have to do here. I got... hey, best thing I can do for the family is stay here. This is the best place for me to keep you safe. I got a network. You and I got open communication at all times. Get everyone out, Panam. Give Saul, Bobby, Teddy everyone else a proper send-off.” V looked up at Panam, and both of them felt the grief of the other. V’s head dropped against Panam’s chest. She grazed a hand across the shaved side of his head. V’s hand settled against her hip, and slowly slid up her body. “It’s not goodbye forever. Just for now. Who knows, maybe I’ll find a way to take ol’ Yori out? Give Night City a breather, give us some fuckin’ peace once I got the shit in my head sorted.”
“That’s a nice idea. I just... don’t want you to die, V. Not before your time. You’re adamant on staying here, okay. I can deal with that. Probably. Make sure you stay alive until I can come back. I won’t come back to ashes, you’ll make sure of that.”
“I’m not fuckin’ dyin’ until I say it’s time, Pam.” V stated with all the confidence of a man with money and pride and the world at his feet, and grinned his charming silver grin. Not a bigger lie had he ever told. Panam pulled him into a kiss, and their hearts raced together. Her hand ran down the middle of her own body, and V felt it against his skin. He fucking loved the basilisk.
The pair, linked, touched each other in that small space, touched themselves, watched each other, and struggled with clothes. V pulled Panam’s bodysuit off her arms and down to bare her chest, got right down and pulled her pants to her ankles so he could sit between her legs. Fingers inside her, mouth around a nipple, he felt what she felt and it was incredible. “V- V. Come on. Up, up, up,” she breathed with her chest heaving. Her fingers slipped the buttons on his pants apart, slipped under the waistband of his underwear, and wrapped around him. “Holy fuuuck,” they breathed in sync. Panam’s legs tensed around V, he rested a hand against her jaw and his head against her shoulder. Her nails scraped up his back. Nothing could compare.
Nothing could ever compare.
A slow tryst, as young Nomad lovers do, hot and bothered and cramped in together to steal a moment of privacy. V’s shoulders barely fit in the space, Panam’s legs were too long, but fuck if they would’ve had it any other way. Panam bit V’s thumb, and he wrapped his tongue around her fingers in his mouth. “Mm, hmm,” he breathed around her digits, with his hips grinding slow into her. She let him go, to hold a hand to the side of his face and bring him close. V stared into her big hazel-green eyes. “Panam,” dropped out on stuttered breath. “Vincent,” she answered, the same. I love you, but not said aloud.
Lightning cracked across the both of them. V almost passed out, with a pang of pain left over and jolted into action by the Relic still in his head. But, Jesus fuckin’ Christ it felt good. Panam’s arms wrapped tight around him, her legs squeezed his body, the sound in her throat cut off almost as soon as it started. V’s fingers dug into her hip, and he bit her shoulder hard enough to draw blood. The come down was almost as good as the ride up.
The pair had to sit in silence for a few minutes, breathing ragged and with smiles turning the corners of their mouths up. “Holy fuck, Pam. Holy fuck.” V breathed.
“You can say that again,” said Panam with a breathiness uncharacteristic in her normal voice.
“I’m ‘onna miss this thing.”
“Fuck you.”
“Not like it got me here all itself. If you weren’t here, Pam, baby...” He trailed, teasing her a little. He leaned back up a little, and looked into her dazed eyes. No doubt he wore the same look. Then, his gaze dropped to her chest. “Gonna miss that, too. Spectacular tits...” He breathed before planting kisses right between them. “Gonna suffer without ‘em.”
“You really know how to ruin a moment.” Panam said, pretending she wasn’t just as bad as him. “Stay here forever. Right here. That’d be...”
“Heavenly.”
“Sure, something like.” She still wouldn’t stop deflecting and downplaying, but they were linked. V could feel her. Her happiness and commingled despairing at the imminent departure. Both exacerbated by his own same feelings. “Hey,” he uttered at her, still between her legs with his hips pressing into her, “we’ll see each other again soon. I’m gonna make sure of it. Just bein’ with you, Panam... we don’t need the basilisk for me to like bein’ around you, you know that, right?”
“I do, yeah. I’m just... I don’t like leaving you here. It is safer for you if you come with us. I know I won’t change your mind, though. You’re as stubborn as Saul.”
“Stubborn as you, Pampam. That’s why we like each other.” V swiped his thumb across her cheek, and leaned into a kiss. She wiggled her hips against him, and – oh. Hearts raced and hands grazed over skin. V inhaled sharp between his teeth and Panam pulled his hair. “Fuck, Pam, fuck you, fuck you for doin’ this to me,” V growled against the crook of her neck. She laughed, and the breath caught in his throat. His legs tensed. She toyed with him, wiggled her hips, felt it all, and shared it. “Bite me, V.” She said, so he did.
No one was surprised to see the cockpit pop and V with no shirt on, helping Panam to her feet while he also helped her do her pants back up. He grinned, with his chromed teeth catching the light and glinting, as he looked up at Panam surveying the Brights. Carol bumped Cassidy with her elbow. Mitch just smiled at the Chief and her beau. “Alright! Round everyone up! Quick inventory, check-list, namecheck! Let’s go, Brights!” She cried out over the sound of the approaching sandstorm.
V collected his belongings from the basilisk and jumped down to his car, before bounding over to Mitch and wrapping him in a tight hug. “Keep her stupid ass in line, Mitch. Please. We all know what she’s like.”
“It’ll take more than me to do that, V, but I’ll try. You sure you’re gonna stay? We could always do with a guy like you around. We’ll always be happy to see you join us.”
“Yeah, Mitch. I got a lot of prior commitments I gotta see too, see through. Me here, you all... wherever you’re goin’, best way to keep you outta Arasaka talons. I got info feeds in Night City, from towers to slums. I’ll be able to tell you all every move Arasaka makes.”
“...fair enough. I hadn’t thought of it that way.”
“That’s why you got me, Mitch! Listen, I just want you all outta here. I don’t wanna lose another Bright to my incompetence. You all get out, so you can fuckin’ finally deal with some of your grief. I lost one person a couple months ago, and it still hurts to think about. This is all fresh, all ‘cause of me. No more.”
“V, it is not your fault. We knew what we were heading into. All of us.”
“Fuckin’ feels like it, Mitch.”
“It is not. No one here would ever put the blame on you.”
“Five minutes, everyone!” Panam and Carol called over the sand-roar. V and Mitch shared one more embrace, before he skipped around to Carol and Cassidy, then once more to Panam. They didn’t have any more words to say to each other. They just kissed. Aldecaldos climbed into cars and trucks, V and Panam kissed. Spits of sand hit the pair, they still kissed. V held Panam tight against him, with a hand on the back of her neck and an arm around her waist. She held him with her arms around his shoulders and neck.
Flecks of sand pelted them; and they finally parted. Panam with a tight jaw and sorrow in her eyes, but the stoic resolve of a leader. V, tense jawed as well, with snake eyes shining too bright. Aldecaldos lit up, and cars sped out through the tunnel. Panam stood on the front of the basilisk, one last look back at V, before she dropped in and lowered the door. V stood in the pulling gale, amongst the pelting, cutting sand, and watched as the panzer finally left, the tail of the family.
And there he stood, alone.
He couldn’t go back to Kerry like that. He just got in his car and drove away, listless and slow through the storm, fast enough he was far enough away that the blast from inside the old smuggling tunnel was nothing. He just sat in his car until the storm was done, then drove himself out to Judy's shack by the dam. Then the oil fields. A little time alone before venturing into the fray once more. Just to deal with that black dog on his heels, biting at the back of his legs and jumping to claw at his back. A little time.
During the several calls he had to make, V drove back into the city for food. Take-out, and set on the passenger seat in a warming container while he talked (yelled) down the call on his way to Kerry’s. Hopefully he’d be home. The gate opened for V’s car, and he slowly rolled up the drive with the growl of the Javelina loud. Kerry’s Aerondight sat where it normally did, and Kerry stood there in the window with a hand in his pocket and the other around a bottle of centzon.
V climbed out of his car with the food in his hand and a smile on his face. He waved to Kerry, jogged around to the door, took the food to the table, then fell into the slowly strolling rockstar with a tight hug. “You look like shit, V.” For the first words out of Kerry’s mouth, they were harsh ones. V looked at him, a little offended. “No, not like that. You look like you haven’t slept since you ruined my bed with all that blood.”
“Nearly haven’t.” V answered, dragging Kerry with him to the food.
“You here for the night, then?”
“If that’s alright? My places got forfeited, like I said. Not even the place I had in Corpo Plaza was spared. All gone. I’ll find another place and get outta your hair soon.”
“V, c’mon. That’s not what I was sayin’, you know it.”
“Yeah, but I know you like to have your space. A penthouse opened up recently.” V’s eyes glowed blue as he flicked the detes over to Kerry, while reaching for noodles. “Can you take a look for me tomorrow? I dunno if I’ll be able to get there. I trust your judgement,” he added as he fell into the lounge.
“Sure, yeah. I can do that.” The request seemed to trouble Kerry, and V looked over at him while he looked through the selection V had brought with him. V took the tequila for a mouthful. “Ker, if you can’t, just say so.”
“No, no. I can. I’m just... things people say they trust me with are not a lot. Prolly my fault, keepin’ almost everyone I meet at arm’s length as I do. I’ll go look for you. I’m happy to. Lemme take your car, though. I don’t wanna... my car attracts attention.”
“I know.”
“Don’t wanna attract attention to you.”
“Sure. The only time you like attention is when you’re on stage or it’s by me. Take my car, hell, wear my clothes if you wanna go low profile. I suggest one of my rally bolero jackets. Covers your throat,” V gestured to his throat, the same space Kerry’s chrome covered.
“So not my style. Might work. Except for the fact your arm’s as thick as my leg.”
“There’s straps and buckles to adjust.”
“You’re so funny, V.” Dry as the desert storm Kerry spoke. V laughed. They ate, with Kerry’s legs over V’s lap. He still thought about Panam, of course. It’d only been a few hours since she left. Hopefully they’d get back into signal range soon, and he’d find out how they were going. “I’m ‘onna go shower,” V finally said after a short while sitting silently while Kerry plucked at the strings of his guitar. He left Kerry on the lounge with a kiss to the side of his head, and stripped down on his way to the bathroom.
It only took Kerry 30 seconds longer than anticipated to join. V heard the doors open. He stood still with his face turned to the fall of water from above, feeling it still find out every single tiny scratch caused by the whipping sands earlier in the day. Kerry's hands slid around V’s waist from behind as he got under the water with him. V wrapped a hand around Kerry’s wrist, and held onto him. God, he was exhausted. Felt as bad as Kerry said he looked.
The bed had been draped in black since V was last there. And felt different. It’d definitely been replaced. V shuffled in under the blankets and sheets and watched over at the staircase for Kerry. He eventually ascended, with only a towel in his hand to dry his hair off with. V, mostly hidden, watched him. Though, the bright red hair made him quite visible amongst all the black. Kerry seemed... put out, though. He sat on his side of the bed, and didn’t really look at V as he got comfortable.
So, V shuffled over into him, and pulled him in against his body. No speaking, just a kiss to the back of his shoulder. Kerry didn’t really answer, in any way. Not for a bit. “You okay, V?” He asked eventually. V just nodded. His head was pressed against Kerry’s shoulder, no way he could misconstrue the answer. “Sent a lot of people I care about away today. ‘S all,” he added for clarity. “Don’t feel good. Nance got back to you ‘bout Rogue again?”
“Yeah. Funeral’s in a few days. Said you’re welcome to go. After havin’ you ‘round a bit, she thinks Rogue woulda been okay with it. I told her Johnny woulda wanted you there.”
“Johnny saw her die, too. I woulda been there on his behalf, anyway.”
“Fuck. He did?”
“Yeah. ‘S why I got his Malorian on that stand. Last bullet it fired was into Adam Smasher’s skull. Fucker got him and Rogue both.”
“Poetry in motion. So, you’re okay? I mean, otherwise.”
“Headache’s been kickin’ My ass since I shorted today, my emotions are a fuckin’ mess, but I’m alright. Alive, here, okay.” V’s hand moved from Kerry’s stomach to his chest, and flattened out. He felt the steady beat of Kerry’s heart, and felt Kerry’s body relax a little. “Good. Good, yeah... good. Go sleep, V. You need it. If you’re already gone by the time I wake up, I’ll text you when I’m on the way to that apartment.”
“Thanks, Ker. Dunno what I'd do without you here, honestly,” V yawned. It didn’t take him long to fall asleep. All night, he dreamed of driving and stars, Johnny in the distance, Panam, Kerry, and so, so many stars in an open night sky. The yearning to be back home, on the road, had filled him to the brim. Who was he without that? Vincent Voltaire, Night City Victor? V the Viper, with a quick draw from his hip? Volatile V, with a cannon for an arm? V, netrunner, edgerunner, solo stunner? Just another lost boy trying to make it big in the city of broken dreams.
Morning came. V ate cold leftovers – not fussy, used to eating anything, and would eat anything – then showered and dressed. Black hi-tops, cargo pants covered in a pattern of pale gold roses, and a loose singlet. His jacket waited for him downstairs. Before leaving, he stirred the snoring Kerry half awake, kissed him, and said, “call you soon. Might have something good happen today, at work.”
“Good. Stay safe. Keep my gun ready.”
“Archangel’s always ready. Quickest draw in NC.”
“That’s my man.” Kerry said with a sleepy smile and his eyes still closed. V pressed a kiss to his temple, and left. In Kerry’s Aerondight, as requested. Fancy ass car. An absolute mess inside. Smelt of cigarettes and spilt whiskey and Kerry’s cologne.
Meets with certain contacts went well. Only one shoot-out happened during the day, with a troupe of 6th Street gangers. A quick trigger finger and couple well placed short circuits, and V was outta there as fast as he went in, with a visit to the name who’d sent him that address. A bougie building with a slick façade, but V with his slicker smile and silver-tongue got let in. He’d known enough of them, he could pretend at being a high-end joytoy with as much ease as he could pretend to be a low level gangoon. Certainly, he had the looks to be a more than convincing joytoy. The nice clothes, syn-leather jacket, and experience in the work didn’t hurt him, either.
The sweet grin faded as the elevator doors closed, and V just waited. No need to do anything. The elevator stopped. He walked down to the room. Locked, of course. A voice inside... just one? He listendn without looking like he was, with boosted auditory capacity. Just one voice. V blocked the security cameras as he traipsed along, found an access point in a storage room, and checked out the apartments in the building. The one next to his target? Empty. Perfect. He stepped back out, and forced that door open. There was always another way in.
Over the balcony, V stalled a camera before climbing over and slipping inside. The second camera he caused a glitch in. Anything recording viewed on a comp would appear only as broken data streams. The target walked around, on a call. V kept low and moved through the apartment in silence. Conveniently for him, the kitchen took up the front area, close to the entrance door. There he leaned, jacket off, revolver hanging from a finger, waiting to be noticed.
When it happened, it was slow. The contact, George something V couldn’t be bothered with anymore, walked into the open-plan eating area, still talking. An orange ball in hand – prop fruit – to fiddle with as he paced. V twirled the gun around his finger, and a slow grin shone nasty as George sputtered down the line, “I gotta call you back soon. Somethin’ just came up. V-v-Vee, heey, what’s goin’ on?” V slid the revolver away with deliberate movements before stepping out of the kitchen area.
“You know what is goin’ on, George. You know very well what the fuck is goin’ on,” answered V over his slow, steady gait. “Don’t bother callin’ Capitan. It’s already done.” A knife flashed out and into V’s hand, point flush against George’s cheek. “You tried to fuck me over. Who’s payin’ you? Hah, who’s payin’ you, already?”
“I- I- there’s a bounty on you!”
“Yeah, I fuckin’ know. Big one, huh?”
“Millions of eddies.”
“So that’s what who’s payin’? Tell me the truth now, George.” V’s cold glare and hard sneer sat harshly on his pretty, youthful, gold-glinting face. He was no Animal, but he cut an imposing figure. Tall, broader than he’d ever been before. George’s eyes darted around the room, trying to form some kind of escape. V closed the space between them with a silent step forward. “Talk, George. Now. It could very well save what little life you have got.”
“It’s Arasaka. There’s a woman- Daphne. She got into contact with me, and a couple others. Said they’ll pay big for you, and for it to be done on the DL, untraceable back to them. Because you... you did the tower, right?”
“There we go. Was that so hard?” The blade of the knife slapped lightly against George’s face, and V smiled like all they’d been doing was playing a game. George breathed a sigh of relief. “However,” the young merc added, with iron in his gaze, “there’s no way you’re gettin’ outta this free.”
With a swing of his fist, V slammed the butt of the knife-handle into the side of George’s head and sent him sprawling to the floor. He cried out in pain, clutching the side of his head. V stepped over him, and dropped down on top of him. “Yeah, I did ‘Saka tower, just like Johnny Silverhand did in 2023. That was fuckin’ me. Why would you fuck with the person who did that, huh?” There was no chance to answer V’s growled out question, with his hand tight around George’s haw and his fingers digging into the hollows of his cheeks. “Why would you ever think that’s a good fuckin’ idea? Gimme your tongue.”
“Wh- what?”
“You heard me.” The hand curled around George’s face dragged slowly to dip into his mouth, and pluck the tongue out. The way V leaned down, the eye-contact he held, it could have been intimate. George whimpered his fear. V held still for a moment, with a cruel grin across his lips. He didn’t cut particularly slowly, or particularly fast. The knife in his hand was delicately sharp, and he pushed it through the muscle with soft, “sh, sh, shh,” -ing under George’s muffled screaming.
George curled up into a ball on the floor, rolling around in spilt blood. V washed his hands and his knife at the sink. “Next time, maybe you’ll think twice about tryin’ to fuck with someone like me. I have dragged my own name back up outta the mud. Why do you think Arasaka wants it gone? Me, a merc, a solo, edgerunner, just some other guy. Arasaka, one of the most powerful corporations on fuckin’ earth. Do not fuck around where you are not even worth a footnote, George. Do not fuck around in the fuckin’ bullpen tryin’ to elevate your name without gettin’ your hands dirty. It will not work. Now you’ve learned. If there is a next time, I’m takin’ somethin’ else off you.”
V left out the front door, and locked it behind him.
Call: Kerry
Hey, Ker. So, good news, still alive.
Good to hear. I was just about to message you-
On the way to the apartment?
Yeah. Walkin’ in now. Looks nice...
I’ll be there in ten.
You sure?
Yeah. Why not?
You had stuff to do, that’s why not.
Got it done. Got some time before I gotta head to Afterlife. ‘Sides, if you like the place...
It’s got a hella good view, Vince. Christ. Wait ‘til you see it. I might have to get this place myself.
Ker, if I get the place, you’ll be there all the time anyway.
Heh, that’s true. ‘S got grass. Lap pool. Chopper pad. Inside’s nice, too.
Real grass?
Feels like it.
Ooh. Just hang there for a few, ‘kay?
Will do.
See you in a bit.
V broke a few road rules to get to the apartment building in less than ten minutes, but he got there with himself and Kerry’s car unscathed. He bounced on his toes all the way up, in the elevator, and took his jacket back off. The realtor greeted him with his arm holding the elevator door and too much smile. “Yeah, hi, how’s it goin’,” V answered, barely looking at him. He didn’t trust realtors. Kerry, he saw immediately, leaning over the banister of the top floor. He’d taken a pair of V’s sunglasses and a black and purple jacket. “How’s it look?” V called up.
“Bigger than your last apartment!”
“So, what you think? Should I?”
“I had a good look around...” Kerry answered. V lifted his hand up for the realtor, who held out the tablet. “seems all intact, real kitchen, nice bathroom... I say go for it, V. Doubt you’ll regret it.”
“Yeah? Alright then. Your fault if I do, Ker,” V called up at him with a grin. He pressed his hand to the screen, and the furnished apartment was his. The realtor bowed himself out with flourishing words and a toothy grin, and V locked the elevator behind him.
Kerry descended the staircase with all the grace and confidence V expected of him. A sort of aloof theatricality. V tossed his jacket onto the pristine lounge in the sunken sitting area and watched Kerry. It had been a good day. V felt good. Kerry tossed the jacket he wore over onto the lounge as well, before wrapping an arm around V’s waist. “So. You got a place again. That mean you’re gonna stop comin’ over to mine, messin’ it up?”
“Yeah, now you can come here and leave your shit everywhere. Hang on... ...half an hour, my stuff’s gonna be here, apparently. Huh. Preem.”
“Order a kit, yet?”
“I gotta consult with Denny on that. She’s the expert, there. You, Ker, are gonna get some guitars. Red. You know, already.”
“I can do that for you, V.”
“Come on, I wanna go outside,” V said, pulling Kerry along by his hand, with a grin on his freckled face.
“Spend your whole life out there, still can’t wait to get back out. I’ll never understand you, V,” Kerry told him as he followed. V looked back with a shrug.
Verdant grass met V’s cheek. He fell into it, and breathed it in. It all felt almost natural, smelt almost natural. It was certainly good enough. He laid on his stomach in the grass for a bit, just...relaxing. Feeling it. Hearing everything, as well as the lack of sound from street level. Only thing missing from that space was bugs. He rolled over and looked to the sky, with the pale moon still visible amongst all of that blue. Then he looked over at Kerry, who sat next to him, facing him, and with the heels of his boots digging into the dirt as he tore blades of grass away from the roots.
V ran his hand up over Kerry’s leg – or, up the boot lacing – before wrapping it around under his knee, both to pull himself up and pull Kerry closer. “C’mere, Ker.” V hummed. Kerry moved closer, with a spark in his eye and a small grin growing. V leaned in, making it look like he was leaning in for a kiss. Kerry was ready for it, V watched the way his lips parted and how his eyes dropped. “I think we should go out tonight. Dinner, maybe go find a decent club and, uh... see what the VIP section's like.”
“You ready to be seen out in public with me, V?” Kerry teased, with a bump of his button nose against the pointy tip of V’s. “Why wouldn’t I be? ‘S you who should be worried, Ker. I got a bounty on me...”
“You didn’t know?”
“Know what?”
“That’s why I liked you to begin with.”
“Fuck you,” V laughed.
"Might need to change your shirt, first. Got some blood. Yours?”
“Nah. Had to- I did get shot at today. Found the organiser of that little happenstance.”
“And? You can’t just say that and not tell me.”
“Cut his tongue out.”
“Fuck, V...”
“Ohh, Ker...” V caught Kerry’s eye properly, and tilted his head back to look his lover up and down. “That turn you on?”
“Yeah. A bit,” he answered with a breathless sort of laugh. V’s tongue grazed between his teeth. He moved up onto his knees, and wrapped his hand around under Kerry’s jaw. Kerry’s surprise came out in a soft gasp. V pushed him back, laid him back in the grass, and straddled him just the same as he did his victim earlier. The knife, he slipped out from the back of his belt, and dug it into the dirt with a single hard thrust down. “Put him down, just like this. On his back. A lot less nicely than I do you,” V explained, crouched over Kerry. Kerry’s hands inched slowly up V’s thighs. “Hadda threaten him a bit for a name. Then I held him, like this,” V hissed like the snakes he was compared to, like the slithering beast across his chest and arms. His hand wrapped around Kerry’s face, fingers pressing into the hollows of his cheeks. Gently, with V’s eyes soft and watching Kerry’s lips and his heart racing. “Made him give me his tongue, ‘fore I sliced it outta his mouth. He screamed. Blood covered us both.” V’s other hand crept up, and wrapped around Kerry’s throat. A sound caught there. V turned his eyes from Kerry’s lips to his eyes, that bright, smoke blue ringed with pale gold. He teased, leaning in to bump the tip of his nose against Kerry’s, to graze his lips against his cheek, the corner of his lips. Another moment passed. Kerry’s fingers dug into the meat of V’s thigh. V stood, and walked away.
He heard Kerry exhale shaking breaths, but just kept walking over to the kitchen. With water in his hand, he turned to lean against the bench and look out at Kerry. He sat there still, on the grass, with one leg bent up to lean on, and his head tilted forward as his intense gaze fixated on V. Kerry shook his head, and V read what he said off his lips more than he heard it. “I hate you.” V just grinned in reply.
V tried not to tease Kerry too much before the carrier dropped the crate filled with his things off, but he managed it. Mostly. The crate dropped on the AV pad and V pulled himself away from Kerry, his hand out from under Kerry’s shirt, his mouth away from Kerry’s neck. “Come on,” he managed, standing. “Fuck, V, you can’t do this to me,” Kerry complained.
“No, for real. I have something to show you. Come on!” V said with a bounce away. He tossed his top down onto the couch before he was too far away, then ran to the storage container. Biometrically locked, he pressed a hand to the door. It popped open. And everything looked to be there, not broken. A little jostled, but fine. He walked in and pushed a couple heavy crates out to make some room, and finally found his target.
A simple box, filled with records. He turned with it in hand, and took it over to his stash crates, where Kerry sat. A few seconds of flicking through, and V found what he wanted. Three records, sitting together. He pulled them out, and handed them to Kerry. “Chippin’ In,” he read off them, three times in a row. The first, Samurai’s. The second two had the same Kerry Eurodyne slipcase. Kerry looked over at V, with a question in the tilt of his brows. “Told you I was a fan, Ker.”
“What, you found it out in the badlands, Mr. Nomad?”
“Kinda. We got called in to move some stuff across country. You know me, I’m curious. Took a look. Found a bunch of different stuff, including music memorabilia. Covered in dust. Thought this’d do better in my collection. You can tell that’s my one and not the one you gave me ‘cause the scratches on the case. Sat in my car a while. With the rest of my stuff... yeah.”
“So,” Kerry hummed as he picked up Samurai’s slip, “which one’s your favourite?”
“C’mon, Ker, Samurai’s is a classic. Can’t go wrong there. But...” V answered with his fingers coming to rest on the top edge of Kerry’s record, ““Justice called, heavy violence, gonna boost and hit the street. Corpo plague in violent droves, made of greed, they’re packin’ heat. Cold chrome spittin’ molten lead, can’t be killed I’m already dead, stand, don’t feed the ghost within,” just kinda resonates with me. ‘Specially these days.”
“Vince,” Kerry sighed through a smile. The records settled back into the box, with Kerry’s at the front.
“Hey, I didn’t think I’d ever see you in real life, let alone talk to you, so...”
“Funny how things work out. You’re surprisingly normal, for a fanboy.”
“I’m surprisingly normal for a guy who’s died before, I think.”
“Yeah, you got me there. You’re not gonna like, kill me in my sleep then wear my skin or anything, are you? If you got plans like that, it’s probably best we stop dating.”
“Thought about it, decided nah, that’s too cliché. I’m just gonna be with you, try make you happy. That’s all. Maybe kiss you again?” V leaned in and down, watching Kerry’s laugh until he could see it no more. Guilt settled in his stomach over Panam, but V couldn’t dream of a place in which he wasn’t with Kerry like this, too. It pained him as much as thinking about how few years he had left, according to Alt’s analysis. Kerry saw it in his eyes when he pulled away. “You alright, V?”
“Uh- yeah. Just... thinkin’, where I shouldn’t be. Should prolly get all this unpacked. Wouldn’t want the carrier to come back before it’s done.”
“V, what are you thinkin’ about?” Kerry asked to V’s back. V half turned, with a box filled with books up on his shoulder, and his hand around the neck of his guitar. “Dyin’.” He answered simply. Mikoshi pushed at the edges of all of his thoughts. He’d done well not to show it, he thought. Better to admit it sooner rather than later though, right? Kerry looked over at him with his brows drawn up. A small sigh exhaled through his nose, and he looked away. “Yeah, come on, let’s get all this into your house. Then we’re gonna go out, yeah. You ‘n me. See what trouble we can cause.” V gave a small smile back over to Kerry. “I’ve seen your record, Ker. You’re a menace.”
“And what, you aren’t?”
“Absolutely am. And if I’m not by now, I gotta try harder.” V walked past Kerry, arms full and defenceless to the slap Kerry landed on his ass.
Sitting outside with the late afternoon sun and ordered in chilaquiles and tamales, V swore and threw his boots at the wall. Kerry just looked at him. “Night out’s cancelled. Fuckin’- this fuckin’ meet needs to happen, motherfuckers said it’s now or it’s off, yesterday they said it was gonna be next week. Two and a half hours, I gotta be at Afterlife.” V picked a tamale up as he stood, to pace through the grass. “Gimme a month and they’ll be workin’ to my fuckin’ schedule instead. Fuck...”
“’S alright, V. You got shit to do, I know-“
“No, it’s not al-fuckin’-right, Kerry. I told you I’m gonna take you out, now that’s just been ripped out from under me, ‘cause I cannot afford to turn this meet down. It’s been a fuckin’ week, shit’s not gonna be normal for a while, but fuck, man... feel like I haven’t stopped since I woke up in that fuckin’ puddle of blood, in your bed.” Agitation filtered over every movement V made, every step he took, even the way he bit into the tamale. One bite, then he made a face at it, and hurled it from the balcony. Kerry laughed. “What’d you do that for?”
“I gotta go see Mamá, get some real tamales. You’ll feel the same way after tryin’ one of them.” V strode around and dropped down behind Kerry to wrap around him and lean his head against his shoulder. “This is not what I had in mind this morning. Wanted to meet you here, keep you here, stay here all night doin’ nothin’.”
“Are you sayin’ you planned this, V? Entrapment, I can’t believe you.”
“Yep. Whole lot. All hinged on you sayin’ yes to comin’ here, but I did truly want your opinion on the place. I hadn’t been here yet, just looked at pictures in the office.”
“No, no, I kinda like it. So used to knowin’ exactly what’s coming, and you just surprise me every day.”
“Well... y’know,” V hummed as he pressed a kiss to the back of Kerry’s shoulder, “I like spending time with you, Ker. Just us, no chaos. The chaos is fun, but...”
“Had enough of that for a while, huh?”
“Oh, yeah. Keep that shit for work, keep you ‘n me for this. Uhm... what d’you think you’ll be doin’ tonight? You wanna stay here, or you gonna go home?”
“Gonna head to the studio, then, I dunno. Gotta re-record rhythm guitar on a couple songs, and I had an idea for the melody, the lead, on Up In Smoke.”
“You gotta let me hear ‘em, soon, Ker. ‘Specially that one.”
“No, not yet, not yet! They are not ready for you.”
“I bet they are, you’re just a perfectionist. I wanna hear ‘em raw demos.”
“Fuck, you’re sweet, sometimes.”
“So, you call me when you’re done, play me that over the holo, and let me know what you’re doin’, so I can share a fucking bed with you again.”
“You drive a hard bargain, V,” Kerry sighed as he leaned right back into V. V pressed a kiss to the side of his neck before laying back on the grass, and shifting to lay next to Kerry instead of under him. “And whatever your answer is, that’s the compromise I’m takin’.”
“You’re not so lenient with your clients, I hope.”
“Never. They get the full extent of my iron will,” said V with a laugh.
"I’m prolly gonna head up home. Start looking at guitars for you...”
“I’ll come up there when I’m done, then. I’ll take my car back?”
“Yeah, gimme mine back.”
“Too bad. I like driving that one. My Guinevere didn’t quite have the same charm.”
“Well, yeah, mine’s prettier.”
“Smells like you, too.”
“Ah, shut up, V.” With a flash of the rings on his fingers in the sun, Kerry pulled V down into a kiss.
“Hey,” V paused, kissed, paused again, “earlier? Jokin’ about us, you said “if that’s so, maybe we should stop dating?” so, foc
usin’ in on that last bit...”
“If you got a question, V, spit it out.” A sly smile crossed pretty lips.
“You and I... are... what?”
“As serious as you want it to be. You’ve been sleepin’ at my house, snake-man. Sleepin’ with me. And always with the compliments...” and Kerry, underneath V, ran his hands down V’s sides to hook his fingers into the waistband of V’s pants, as if to drive that second point home.
“Yeah, nova, I, uh- just making sure. ‘Cause I’m me, and that’s usually a dealbreaker.”
“Fuck no. It’s you as you is why I like you. Look at you, the fuck would I say “hmm, nah,” about all this? You’re fuckin’ funny, you’re pretty, you love blowin’ shit up, you’ve repeatedly told corpo cunts all over Night City to suck your dick, and I like the way you look in these tight pants. Hell, you’re more of an anarchist in a month than I have been for the last ten fuckin’ years. You make me feel fuckin’ alive again, V. The fog has cleared, watch the burning sun blaze instead.”
“Well, fuck-“ V began before cutting himself off with a kiss to Kerry. “You,” kiss, “are,” kiss, “somethin’,” kiss, “else,” kiss, “Kerry Eurodyne.” Kiss, down on the collarbone, white tank top pushed aside. “Dunno if you still remember your dare to me, but I think I got a year for you.”
“I do, I remember. You got ten months left.”
“Easy.” V kissed his way along Kerry’s collarbone, with his hands slowly sliding up under his shirt.
In the grass, out in the golden sunlight slowly fading, V took his time with Kerry’s body. He kissed and kissed and kissed, bit his silver teeth into Kerry’s sunkissed skin, from jaw to hip. V sat up between Kerry’s legs, and brought Kerry up with him, only to touch his body more. A hand splayed out and pressed flat low on Kerry’s back, shiny teeth grazing the iliac crest. And Kerry, well...
Kerry just let himself be worshipped. It was nothing like fangirls and fanboys, nothing like the groupies, that followed him. He wasn’t fingertip-numbingly drunk. V wasn’t vying for attention. He wasn’t trying to use Kerry as a step up. It was honest, with feelings tangled into every touch. Real. He knew Kerry as a person, and wanted this. And that’s everything V wanted to show as he grazed his nails down Kerry’s back. You’re not Kerry Eurodyne, the Brand, with me. You’re Ker, we met through a mutual friend, and you play some wicked dirty guitar.
Food forgotten, clothes strewn haphazardly, V wrapped a hand around Kerry’s hip and his knees dug into the grass. He breathed in, Kerry, grass, dirt, filthy Night City air. And Kerry... he felt so good. He wrapped his arms around V, with one hand against the back of his head and the other digging into his back with those manicured nails threatening to break the skin.
Up in the shower, V found that Kerry did in fact scratch him hard enough to cut. Not only from Kerry saying, “ouch,” but also the stinging from the hot water. V hissed at it, and Kerry laughed. “You wanna leave bite marks all over me, V, you gotta be prepared for some payback,” Kerry said as he pushed V out of the way and took the water for himself. V turned on a dime and wrapped his arms around Kerry from behind. “When did I say I didn’t like it, huh?”
“You can handle what you dish out. Good to know.”
“And you’re covered in grass stains. All up your back.”
“Wash it off for me.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Oh, I like that.”
“The sir, or the half scrub/half back massage?”
“...both.”
“Good to know.” V grinned, with yet another kiss to the side of Kerry’s neck.
The pair shared the shower for a bit. It was only once V was half dressed, with one sock on, did he remember- “Ker, come here. Need your hand.”
“Help to get dressed? Not usually how I work-“
“No. Biometrics. So you can lock up when you leave. And come and go whenever you want.” Just as Judy did not so long ago to him, V held his hand against Kerry’s and his eyes lit up as the data was shared. “There ya go. Just don’t go throwin’ any wild parties here without me.”
“No, that’s what my house is for.”
“Sure is. Gotta finish getting dressed then delta. Didn’t realise how long I’d... spent on you. Prolly a good thing you got impatient,” V talked as he looked around for the rest of the clothes he’d pulled out, and buttoned his shirt up. “I coulda spent the whole night there. Do I need sunglasses? ...Nah. Yeah, fuck it. These ones,” he added, lifting Johnny’s out of his collection.
“They suit you.” Kerry half looked at V. V picked a jacket up for Kerry, plain black syn-leather with a collar that laid flat. There was a chill starting in the air. “I’ll call you when I got this shit done. Be a few hours, at least. If it’s longer, don’t wait up. You’ll just wake up to me cuddling into you in the morning.”
“Sure.”
“You look good in red. Gotta wonder how he was ever straight, lookin’ at you through these.”
“It was the hair. He liked ‘em with long hair, and I could just never let my hair grow out like that.”
“And for that, he let a good thing go to waste.” Kerry, you liar, V thought.
“Don’t let them make you stupid like he got.”
“He was in my brain and I never got that stupid, Ker. You’ll have me back soon.” Kerry’s silvery hair gleamed in the light, and V pushed a damp lock back into place. “Promise, I’ll be back,” he added, voice low and quiet, only enough to fill the sliver of space between them, before he pulled Kerry into a soft kiss.