Chapter Text
Li Mei stood at the ready with her blade. For the past year V had been training her as a formidable opponent in the arena of sword fighting. She had become his apprentice.
“You ready?”
Li nodded.
“Let’s begin then”
V lunged at his daughter with a fierce attack. Quickly she ducked beneath his blade and jumped back. It turned out she was actually his daughter. The Fixer had gone as far as doing a blood test to confirm it. However V still had no idea who her mother was. Li said he had a brief “romance” with her mother which resulted in the pregnancy. The problem was he couldn’t remember for the life of him who she was and he didn’t know if that was because he was a bit of a slut back in the day or if something else was going on. Realistically it could be either.
“You shall have to do better than that father”
V scoffed at his arrogant apprentice. Though he couldn’t deny she reminded him of himself at that age.
“Get ready”
Once again the Nomad sprung forward with a deadly slice. Li blocked the attack with her blade and attempted to counter it. In response V fell back on to defence and let his apprentice come to him. Li was surprisingly strong for her size. Her strikes could offset even the most experienced bladesmen. However for all she had in strength and speed she did not have much in wisdom. Lunging at her father with a powerful overhead slice she swung her blade. Stepping to the side V dodged the attack and decided to only use one hand angering Li. This was part of his plan. He knew his daughter would be offended by the fact her father found the battle so easy and her attacks would become sloppy. After she performed a diagonal slash V grabbed her wrists with his free hand and threw her across the garden. The fight was over.
“Was that good enough?”
V extended his hand to help his daughter up to which she begrudgingly accepted.
“That was a cheap move father”
The Nomad laughed.
“There’s no such thing as a fair fight Li”
“In a fight you can’t rely on your opponent to have any honour”
“If you do your dead”
Li thought on her fathers words and wasn’t sure she agreed.
“Well if that’s the case why don’t we just pull out a gun mid fight?”
V was caught off guard by the question. He wasn’t sure how to answer.
“I guess we act honourable but…don’t expect the same”
“If our opponents don’t have honour, why should we?”
“If we know they will fight dirty, why not just end the fight before it starts?”
The Fixer was not expecting to have a philosophical debate about the ethics of sword fighting.
“Li you’ll have to figure that out on your own”
“I’m gonna go get a drink”
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Slowly a Chevillon Thrax 388 Jefferson rolled up to the villa's gates. The tinted windows rapidly descended to allow the driver to use the intercom. Blackened robotic hands pushed the button down and a voice called out.
“Hello?”
“Good evening madam”
“Is your husband home?”
Panam didn’t reply.
“We’re old Chooms”
“I want to talk to him about a job”
The Queen Nomad was skeptical.
“What’s your name?”
“Bryce Mosley”
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V was shattered. He was ready for sleep's embrace. Once he finished his Nicola (not alcohol since he’d stopped drinking after Goro died) he’d go take a shower and put his head down. At least that was the plan.
“Vince?”
Panam called out to V from the other room.
“Yeh babe?”
“Do you know a Bryce Mosley?”
V’s heart sank.
“Why?”
“He’s here right now”
“Should I let him in?”
The Fixer couldn’t believe it. It’s like his past never stayed dead.
“Yeh…let him in”
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KNOCK! KNOCK!
Bryce waited.
“Hello V…”
Suddenly the Fixer grabbed Bryce and performed a drop throw on him. With a loud crash Mosley hit the floor. Next thing he knew V’s boot was on his throat.
“The fuck are you doin’ here?”
“Need…your…help”
“With what?”
“Got…a job”
“How’d you even find me?”
“Netwatch…can find…anyone”
Suddenly V could hear little footsteps coming down the stairs and removed his foot from Bryce’s throat.
“Daddy”
“Yeh Val?”
“I can’t sleep”
“Could you read me a story”
“Sure baby”
“I’ll be up in a couple minutes”
Luckily the small child hadn’t reached the bottom of the stairs and saw her father ready to murder someone. With a fast strike from his gorilla fists V knocked Bryce unconscious.
“Li, can you help me with something?”
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The Fixer made his way to little Valerie's bedroom and looked at her bookshelf.
“So whatcha wanna read baby?”
Val thought about the predicament for a second before deciding.
“Could you tell me a story about Uncle Jackie?”
V felt happy his daughter wanted to know about her Uncle Jack. It was important to the Nomad to keep his best friend's memory alive. God he missed him.
“Sure…any particular story you wanna hear?”
“Not really…you choose”
“Okay let me think”
Scouring his mind V tried to think of the right story. One that would be child appropriate and a good bed time story.
“Uhhh…how about…the time…your Dad and Uncle Jack…saved the Princess of Spain”
Valerie looked at her father with wide eyes.
“You met a princess?”
“Yep me and your Uncle Jack did”
“How?”
“Well back in the day when we were an unstoppable duo we got a special gig”
“Apparently the Princess of Spain had been visiting Night City…”
Fuck knows why.
“And some bad men had kidnapped her”
“Now for reasons I cannot explain we ended up as the Mercs Padre went with”
“What happened?”
“Well there we were, me and Jack…”
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Bryce awoke with a pounding in his head like no other. He was tied to a kitchen chair and being guarded by a teenage girl. Safe to say he was a little confused.
“Wha…why am i tied to a chair?”
Li was amused by the situation.
“Father said you were untrustworthy so he asked me to guard you until he came back”
“Great…”
Just as Bryce was about to complain, V walked back into the room.
“Could you untie me now?”
“Not yet”
“Answer my questions honestly and forthrightly and i might”
“Shoot”
“Firstly, what do you want from me?”
“Netwatch tasked me with tracking you down and hiring you”
“Why?”
“We have an important gig that we think needs your touch”
“I’m retired”
“I’m aware but…we can make it worth your while”
“Not interested”
“Well…you might be after i tell you the deets”
V sighed.
“Go ahead”
“The job involves your old friend Kaz”
V froze. That was a name he hadn’t heard in a long time.
“Kaz? Is he even still alive?”
“Yep alive and causing problems”
“He’s that much of a problem the Royal family is the client for the gig”
“Wait wait…the Royal family?”
“Yep the King of England himself wants you for the gig”
Shit. V truly had become a legend if the King of England wanted to hire him for a gig.
“Netwatch and the Royal family have been working closely to bring him to justice”
“The maniac wants to unleash a deadly rogue AI onto the world”
Sounded about right for the crazy bastard.
“So what exactly am I getting in return for this?”
“In exchange for you bringing Kaz in dead or alive…”
“WHAT THE FUCK?”
“WHY IS SOMEONE TIED TO OUR KITCHEN CHAIR?”
Suddenly Panam walked in on V’s impromptu interrogation session. She had gone to take a shower after opening the gate for Bryce and was unaware of what was happening downstairs.
“Father said he was untrustworthy and asked me to tie him up”
Panam just death stared V. Asking your daughter to tie your hostage to a chair was not the best look for a father.
“What the hell was I meant to do?”
“I had to tell Val a bedtime story”
Panam facepalmed.
“Maybe just ask Li to come and get me so we could keep him entertained?”
“Well…uhhhh…”
“Hell if he isn’t trustworthy why did you tell me to let him through the gate in the first place?”
“I uhhhh…”
The Queen Nomad waited for a response but none came.
“Could you just untie him please?”
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After untying Bryce and Panam apologizing for her husband and stepdaughters behaviour they returned to discussing biz.
“So uhhhh…what were we talking about?”
“Oh right”
“If you bring Kaz in dead or alive the King will reward you handsomely”
“For starters Netwatch will grant you immunity for any past crimes”
“Secondly we can grant you citizenship to any country of your choosing if you wish…”
So far the deal wasn’t sounding that good.
“Along with relocating your family to said country”
“You’re gonna have to do better than that Bryce”
Mosley smirked.
“Don’t worry there’s more”
“A luxury apartment in London will also be given to you and your family”
“Which will remain yours even after the mission”
“10 million eddies will also be transferred to your account after completion of said mission”
V scoffed.
“Does it look like I need any more eddies?”
“You need to do better if you want me out of retirement”
“I’m not done yet”
“Along with everything else so far the King will gift you a business of your choosing”
Huh that was an interesting one. V wondered what the limit would be to that. For example if the Fixer wanted Netwatch would the King just give it to him?
“And last but certainly not least…”
Great. Here comes the big reveal. Hopefully it wasn’t shit.
“The king will give you access to any secretive data you ask for within reason”
“You want to know your enemies deepest darkest secrets? You have it”
“You want blackmail on a politician? There you go”
That was actually a big deal. V would be the most powerful Fixer in the country with that kind of access to secretive info.
“Shit…Pan can you come with me”
“Gotta talk to the wife before making any decision…you understand Bryce”
The Netwatch agent smiled.
“Of course”
V got up and took his wife's hand. Li instinctively started following but V stopped her.
“Keep an eye on him Li”
“Uhhh…fine”
Li sat back down and pouted. How come she wasn’t allowed in the family discussion?
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“So what’cha think?”
“Should I do it or not?”
Panam didn’t like what she heard back there. She thought her husband was done with all that. He was retired. Why risk his life further? Why even consider the offer?
“I don’t like it Vince”
“He just wants to use you”
“Maybe but…it’s unfinished business”
The Queen Nomad was confused by what her husband meant.
“What do you mean?”
“Kaz…”
“He was a mentor to me back at Arasaka”
“We were Chooms”
“He was known for his brutal methods and his willingness to do whatever it took to succeed”
“But eventually his methods became too much even for Arasaka”
Panam was surprised. How far was too far for Arasaka?
“The Corp tasked me with eliminating him”
“Me and a hit squad went after him but…”
V paused. His words were stuck in his throat so Panam helped him.
“It didn’t go well?”
V nodded.
“I led my team straight into an ambush…i was the only survivor”
“Sometimes…I still see their faces y’know…when i close my eyes”
“The way they went…”
V shivered.
“It was a massacre"
Panam hugged her husband. Clearly he was still disturbed by what had happened.
“What happened to Kaz?”
“He escaped…we kept hunting him but…we didn’t catch him”
“Eventually we assumed he had died…until he resurfaced in Colombia as a revolutionary”
“A revolutionary?”
“Yeh…an Anti-Corpo type”
“His eyes were opened to the truth after he had been marked for death”
“However the ruthless streak didn’t go away”
“We sent some more people after him but it didn’t go well”
“He beat them to an inch of their life and then hung them by street lights for all to see”
“Jesus Vince…”
“The guy sounds like a psycho”
“Yeh he was…thats why i need to do this”
“Need to make things right…finish what i started all those years ago”
“If he’s trying to unleash a rogue AI from beyond the Blackwall…”
The couple stood in silence. They both knew what the consequences would be for that.
“I can’t let that happen”
Panam sighed.
“I know…do what you need to do babe”
“I’m with you…all the way”