Chapter Text
“V! Grenade!”
The merc barely managed to duck away behind one of the many burned out cars left behind in the abandoned parking lot – just in time, because said grenade went up with an ear-shattering explosion.
“Shit, that was close, way too close!”, V groaned, reloading her rifle with steady hands while you emerged from your hiding spot, firing a salve of ammo straight into the group of nearing Scavs. The same Scavs you had just tried to ambush several minutes ago – needless to say the ambush didn’t quite go as planned. Instead of trying to take them out quietly, V had gone blasting in, guns galore, and you just followed suit, admittedly a little pissed off since you had tried to approach the whole situation in a way that would have spared the two of you wasting bullets. While V had always been very keen on shooting her way through her enemies without a thought, you had decided to test the waters of netrunning – and you stuck with frying your opponents brains ever since. That didn’t mean you didn’t enjoy a little gunfire from time to time, but your strength lay in power cuts, short circuits and cyberware malfunctions with a little bit of occasional contagion sprinkled on top.
Nevertheless, the bullets you shot hit their targets, Scavengers dropping like flies left and right while their blood dyed the chapped parking lot concrete crimson red.
“Great aim!”, V shouted before coming out of cover to throw a counter-grenade right into the mob; and although it didn’t hit all of its targets, those who fell victim to the explosion got ripped to shreds while their screams pierced your ears. Limbs came off , hitting the ground with dull thuds, guts splattered on the ground, and once more you were thankful for your strong stomach.
The remaining few Scavengers realized you had drastically depleted their numbers and tried to make a run for it – but that was not happening with you. You had promised Regina to take out every single one of them so naturally you wouldn’t stop until the last one collapsed in front of your very feet.
It was not like the Scavs deserved to live anyway, but V and you had been tasked with erasing this specific group of Scavengers from Night City´s map. If you stop now to think to yourself, ‘yeah, good riddance, Scavengers are fucked-up bastards’, this faction was a whole new type of fucked-up bastard. They were notorious for slaughtering their victims like animals, hanging them upside down to bleed out before cutting out their preys chrome. Scavs weren’t exactly known for their generosity, nor their hospitality, but these guys took brutality to a different level. You´d never forget the sight of dozens of hung up bodies when V and you had taken up the Scavengers’ trail for the first time, discovering one of their sick and twisted warehouses on your way here.
It was not surprising Regina Jones wanted them gone, wanting you to ambush them while they met with one of their clients to sell the implants they so willingly murdered for.
“And while you´re at it”, Regina had told you, “Take out their client as well. The world´ll stay shitty but at least we´ll have a few less a-holes to worry about.”
So V and you did what she wanted, no questions asked. Night City gangs were ruthless, but there was a special place in hell reserved for Scavengers.
“Well, that´d be all!”, V exclaimed, bringing your attention away from your gloomy thoughts while she holstered her rifle. “Sorry for bargin’ in ‘thout tellin’ you though.”
You were just about to answer her when noticing the tiny red dot on V´s chest, slowly, steadily making its way up to her head.
“Sniper!”
You took straight for your friend, tackling her down to the ground. Not a second too early as well when a bullet hit the concrete right where V had stood a moment ago. You spun your head, spotting the last man standing on a nearby roof, and it only took you one heartbeat to fry his circuits with an impulse of your thoughts. His jerky scream reached you before losing balance, tilting over before falling to his certain death.
“Holy fuck, how did I not see him?”, V groaned as you helped each other stand again.
“Maybe you´re getting old”, you just shrugged, grabbing your rifle and emptying your magazine. V let out a very exaggerated gasp. “Says the one that´s actually a year older than me!”
“Oh, shut up. Maybe I would’ve spotted him beforehand if you had actually let me check the sitch, but nooo, little Valerie needed to prove she´s got Johnny's balls of steel now”, you rolled your eyes at her before looking away. Truth was, you had already forgiven her and didn’t want her to see your mouth corners twitching upwards.
“Aw ‘cmon. I´ll buy you a Broseph after Regina sends us the money, maybe that´ll fix your broken ego.” You could hear the smile in V´s voice. It was impossible for the two of you to be mad at each other for long.
“Now that sounds like a fine deal for me.” You finally looked at your friend, giving her a playful nudge. “And then we can think about how we spend the rest of the money. Think rent’s overdue.”
That was another thing. Many mercs in Night City preferred to work on their own, but not V and you. Every fixer in the district knew you only existed as a double. It´s always been like this, ever since the two of you met as snotty brats on the streets of Heywood over a decade ago. And you had stuck together from that first day onward.
You had been there with V every chapter of your life. You had watched each other grow up, you went through your first armed robbery together, took care of each others broken hearts and even went to Atlanta together when shit hit the fan in Night City.
And even though you had returned to NC two years later with nothing but empty promises and the shambles of your lives scattered in your hands, you had never abandoned each other. You loved V like a sister, and in return, V would catch a bullet for you if you asked her to.
It was also no wonder you blamed yourself for the Konpeki Plaza heist going horribly wrong a few weeks ago. That was the one mission you hadn’t accompanied V in. Dex DeShawn had made it very clear from the start he didn’t give two shits about the rules V and you had established, and so it was her and Jackie who took on new identities to steal a prototype relic from no one else but Yorinobu Arasaka.
And now, she was stuck with a faded rockerboy living in her head and had maybe weeks to live if she didn’t find a way to get rid of the biochip without flatlining.
But V wasn’t giving up, still chasing promising leads to a cure – all you could do was to accompany her and hope she wouldn’t die before finding what she was searching for.
“Alright then, Broseph it is”, you sighed, “Now let’s get the fuck out of here before they send reinforcements.”
“Couldn’t agree more.”
V gave you a pat on the back before the two of you made your exit, leaving the parking lot. The afternoon sun was slowly sinking deeper, casting eery lengthened shadows over the surrounding buildings as you walked back to your car.
That was, until V stopped in her tracks.
“V, what´s--”
You turned around, only catching the blueish glow of her irises indicating she got a call on the holo.
“What the--” V widened her eyes and you tensed up. Usually the fixers gave you a call after you got your work done, but the expression on the mercs face already told you this couldn’t be Regina telling her you did a good job.
“Uh… loud and clear, whoever you are.”
You almost played with the thought of just patching into her holo, especially now after being able to watch V’s expression change from confused to downright incredulous.
“What´s going on?”, you mouthed, but she raised her hand slightly, silently telling you to stop talking. You sighed, crossing your arms.
“Oh, very funny. This a prank? If so, not in the mood.”
Silence again, indicating the caller was talking to her. With every passing second you grew more and more impatient.
“Dogtown? Part of Pacifica, run by ex-military soldiers, flourishing black market? That kinda Dogtown?”
Now you were the one to look a little disbelieving. “Dogtown?”, you muttered. What the hell would V want there? Even you knew no Night Citizen would go there unless they wanted to go completely off radar to sit out the trouble they caused.
“Well shit, not exactly thrilled to go there. That zone’s a no-no.”
V had started walking towards the car again and you followed suit. When you threw yourself into the passenger seat V was still listening to the mystery caller while taking the wheel.
“No, I´m not alone. Friend´s with me. … No, not happenin’. Where I go, she follows, simple as that.”
You shot her a questioning gaze. What kind of shady deal was she striking now?
Moments later, her eyes returned to their normal colour and V started the engine before looking at you.
“I have no fuckin’ idea”, she said, as if she already knew what you were about to ask.
“Who was that?” You rose your eyebrow.
“Chick named So Mi, told me to call her Songbird. Said she can help me. With the relic’n all. Also said to meet her at the Dogtown main gate.”
“Dude. You know Dogtown is off limits? Even for people like us?”, you asked, turning in your seat to face her while she drove off. “Could’ve also just been a fuckin’ prank call.”
“While knowin’ I got a malfunctioning relic stuck in my skull? Not like I broadcasted it out into the world I carry Johnny Silverhand around in my brain”, V answered, her tone turning grim while she focused on the road ahead.
“So what, you´re really driving us to... Dogtown of all places? To meet with this Songbird person?”, you asked, still not convinced. This stunk. Hard.
“Originally she told me to come alone. Then I told her it´s either with you or not at all.” “Aw, I´m flattered.” “Yeah, Wasn’t too happy ‘bout it but agreed in the end.”
You let out a heavy sigh.
“I have no idea what you just got us into V, but if this is a fucking prank I´ll shoot her for wasting our time. And then I´ll turn this fuckin’ car around and drive us home.”
“And that´s why you’re my best choom.”
You exhaled quietly, resting back into the passenger seat while crossing your arms. “Man. And here I was, looking forward to my well deserved after-work ale.”
The merc chuckled, turning up the radio. It seemed quite fitting the first song that played was “Never Fade Away” by Samurai. And while you quietly starteed to hum along, you pressed the window regulator, your hair getting tangled up by the breeze in an instant.
Dogtown.
This better be worth it.