28/08/2077
Megabuilding Ten, Watson District
Night City, California
V and Meredith Stout
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V had stayed awake, since he had arrived at his apartment. Something about the feeling of imminent bloodshed felt heavy in his bones, boiled his blood and refused to let him sleep. On any other night, he would have taken the small bottle of Yamazaki Twenty-Five from his personal alcohol stash and drunk himself into oblivion so he could sleep through the adrenaline and the vivid dreams.

However, the more he thought of such a scenario, the worse he ended up riling himself up before he managed to calm himself down. He could only throw himself into a cold shower so many times before the water eventually found a chink in his sub-dermal armour and slipping into his wires. He didn't want to have to contend with water damage, as well as his own prior issues that he needed to deal with.

He could fuck himself up easily, and he knew it. The only thing stopping him was the hard case that remained under his computer desk, opened up with the Flathead roaming around of its own accord. He'd flipped the thing onto auto-mode, he couldn't help himself from tinkering with things, and he found that sometimes the Maelstromers actually were skilled techies when they weren't high from skeef and snorting motor-oil for fun.

Bunch of fucking cyberpsychos in the making, MaxTac is gonna have their work cut out for them when they turn. V thought to himself, finally picking himself up from the couch before he walked into his stash.

Turning from his arsenal of gear and weapons, V turned to the small apartment extension which he'd ordered. A full kitchen fitted, with some small wine and bourbon racks for his own personal collection. The best thing about living as somebody you weren't, was that people never questioned it. Ordering his extension as the veteran, Virgil McCall, the fitters even had the balls to give him a veteran's discount. If V wasn't so jaded, he would've considered his life as an easy one!

Going to his racks, he took the bottle of Yamazaki from the top shelf and took a tumbler before going back to fall on the black leather couch. The holo-presenter was giving off news as always, V couldn't harm himself more if he started watching the godawful remakes, reboots and series of holo-vision that felt like his brain was turning to mush. Filling half the glass, he placed the bottle on the glass table in front of him before he nursed the drink for a few minutes. It didn't take long for the nursing to stop, and V soon found himself going through the bourbon at an alarming pace. It was only two in the morning; he could pace himself a little at least until Meredith arrived.

"The bodies of five Militech personnel have been discovered around the Watson district of the city in the recent months. Two more bodies were found in the storm drain near the All-Foods production factory just yesterday evening, whilst the body of Draven O'Connor and two bodyguards were discovered only a month and a half ago. Mr. O'Connor was the head of Militech's Next-Generation Augmentations project, and has already been replaced by former Biotechnica Head of Production Stefan Verstappen." The news presenter announced.

V huffed, filling his glass again, tempering the temptation to drink immediately. "Well, rest in peace, you vapid, vacuous, piece of shit."

The news continued, running through statistics about the crime rate that was slowly starting to go back up again. MaxTac and Trauma Team had managed to slow it down, somewhat, but just like every other thing that existed in Night City, it always ran on one thing, and those were the pesky euro-dollars that everyone could get but nobody had enough of. It was going to be sooner or later that Trauma or MaxTac stopped having an effect and started only appearing for those who had money to offer.

He had revelled in his prediction that it was gonna be a foregone conclusion. If NCPD couldn't do their job, having one private medical company and a lethal task force with a big budget was a stop-gap to total collapse. V still had his Trauma Team card, but the last time he had checked, it was a privilege of being a Militech employee and he'd lost those privileges a long time ago.

"In other news, the Maximum Tactical Enforcement Unit for the Night City Police Department has performed a raid on the previously-mentioned All-Foods production factory this afternoon. Members of the notorious Maelstrom gang were eliminated with prejudice for the good of the city, with leaders Simon Royce being arrested and awaiting trial. As always, we thank those members of the MaxTac Unit and the NCPD for their honourable sacrifice in keeping our fair city safe."

V sighed aloud, bored out of his mind before he found his glass was still half-full, and found himself necking the contents of the glass almost immediately. The Flathead drone had soon crawled back into its casing, collapsing into itself before the whirring of its core turned off. Leaning into the leather, V had refused to sleep. The itching in his fingers refused to die away, and V soon stood up to look at himself in the mirror. The black tank top and the skinny jeans looked ragged and frayed like himself, dog tags dangling from his neck as V ruffled his hair back before turning on the tap on splashing the cold water in his face, towelling off before he heard the sliding of his door open up.

Meredith managed to slip through the door, closing and locking the door behind her before she dumped her handbag and suit jacket on the nearby chair and table. She herself hadn't changed since V had seen her that morning. Her eyes flickered around the apartment, which despite its small size, was not exactly much different from the one he had on Corpo Plaza. His sense of style, substance and taste hadn't changed at all.

She just wished he stopped dressing like he was from the street. She knew people who were like that, same age as them and they never changed. V was corpo, through and through. Just because he ditched Militech didn't mean he had stop acting like a proper human being.

"Got the drone?" She asked firmly, rolling up her sleeves before she took his seat on the couch. She'd already poured herself a glass of bourbon and took his glass by the time V had closed up the hard case. "Good, seems you're still somewhat effective without my constant advice on the holo."

V rolled his eyes. "Sure, not like I've been doing this longer than you've been in Militech, but that's all good. You come to shit on me on your high-horse in my own apartment or you want something else other than my drink?"

The finely-dressed lady kicked off her heels and curled herself up on the couch. Her eyes were closed as she savoured the taste of the Japanese alcohol before her eyes lingered on V. "Shame you had to live in a shit-hole like this, V. Could've gone anywhere but some megabuilding, never took you for some, hovel-living hermit. Half the people here look gonked out on skeef or worse."

V crossed his arms. "You know, you can just take the case and leave. I'd rather just stew for a bit instead of having you give me shit for how I'm living."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Meredith took V's comments on the chin. "You know, you look like you can barely get comfortable in your own hovel. You ever thought of just, you know, not doing anything for a day."

"No time for lying about, got shit to do. Bills to pay, people to work for."

Meredith nodded, unconvinced as V kicked off his shoes and took off his belt before he sat down on the couch next to Meredith as she slowly took small sips of the bourbon. V noticed the dark purple lipstick that was slicking the rim of his glass, eyelashes fluttering with every blink as she turned down the volume of the holo-presenter. V huddled closer towards the female corpo, arm sliding over her shoulder as she slowly leant her head against his shoulder. The silence was deafening, as for once, neither of them paid attention to the imposed quiet from the presenter or the lack of the hum-drum noise outside the window. All they could hear was the light bustle from outside the door into the interior of the megabuilding, and the occasional gust of wind from outside the window.

V listened closely as Meredith began to breathe slowly, exhaling loudly as he took the glass from her hand and placed it on the table. She wasn't asleep, she had her own place to do that, V could tell she was destressing. It was the corpo-rat's most essential tool in the life they lived, V did it himself still out of habit. Deep breaths as soon as they left the office, calming thoughts and collected emotions would lead to having something akin to a decent personal life instead of revolving around the company twenty-four-seven. He took a nearby fur pillow and replaced his shoulder with it, heading to the kitchen.

The ex-corpo was smart enough to catch on to what Meredith liked and disliked, and in his personal experience he knew she liked a good merlot from time to time when she got home or whenever they ended up meeting out of convenience. Europe, advancing far ahead than anywhere else, still clung to the old ways when it came to agriculture amongst other things. Italy, being the beautiful place that it was, in his opinion could have been the nicest place he'd been to. A few months back, he'd had the privilege of going to Tuscany and before he left, managed to get a bottle of Masseto from the Tuscan vineyard. A luxury for anyone else, V was not like regular people. He took it back for him when the occasion required and since the past month and a half had been hell, there was no better time.

He didn't doubt Meredith would be rather happy with his choice.

Taking the bottle as well as a wine glass, he'd soon joined her back on the couch. Pouring himself another glass of Yamazaki before pouring the Masseto, he gently nudged his former colleague from her happy place as he offered her the glass. She begrudgingly took the glass, holding the rim to her nose as she took a series of sniffs from the wine. Her eyes opened, looking suspiciously at V as he took the beginning sip of a new glass of bourbon.

"Where'd you get this?" Meredith asked, taking her first sip with caution as the merlot hit the taste buds on her tongue. "Is this… Masseto?"

"Possibly, depends. What do I get if I say yes?"

Meredith smirked after she took another sip, savouring the taste and smell of the cherry-mulberry notes in the wine. "You can have my undivided attention if you tell me how you got it."

"How about we do a deal?"

Meredith placed the glass down on the table, V following her gesture. "You don't think the deal we did yesterday morning was enough, have to keep feeding your ego after all this? God, you never change, Mr. V."

V smothered the laugh in his throat. "I will tell you how I got it, if you tell me what that tattoo is all about."

"Which one?"

"You know which one, the one behind your ear."

The Militech agent's eyes soon went stone-cold, and she soon crawled onto V's lap, leering over him again, with the half-cyborg male soon noticing that Meredith had unbuttoned the top half of her shirt whilst he'd retrieved the wine. He could just about the see the black leather underneath the silk-hybrid weave of the shirt, before she leaned down to start planting slow kisses along V's neck and jawline. V tried to adjust himself before she could start, but it was already too late for him to do so before she had begun. Her lips lingered on the stubble, lipstick beginning to smear the longer she let her lips drag against his skin. He could feel her move down, teeth slowly and gently beginning to dig into his neck with a tender tinge of saliva as her tongue began to leave its mark.

V bucked his hips, drawing Meredith from her actions as she glowered at V. She attempted to kiss him again, only for her to feel the coarse material of synth-skin on her chin and neck as he gripped her lightly stopping her from going further.

"Meredith…"

"V, I swear to god if you stop me, this isn't happening again."

"You said that after Port-au-Prince, and look at where we are now. We know this isn't stopping anytime soon, all I asked was a question." V interjected, with Stout staring at him, silent. "I got the Masseto from Vittorio Frescobaldi when I went to Tuscany a few months back. I heard you mention liking it in the office once or twice, so I brought some back…"

Meredith was silent.

"Come on, Stout. Implicit trust, you know I won't say shit if you tell me."

"Do I?"

V's hands began to wander, soon sliding up the nylon tights she wore before stopping at her hips. "Who am I gonna tell, Verstappen? Rasmussen? Corrin? Just chill, it's just me."

"You saying it's just me, is more than reason enough to worry." Meredith interrupted him, turning to her glass, drinking lightly as she rubbed her hips against V. "You were one of the most unpredictable agents I had the displeasure of having to work for, and that's saying a lot. You still are. Blackmailing a Militech supervisor, is very arrogant if I do say so."

"Had to get your attention somehow, didn't I?"

Meredith smirked as she finished off the glass, before planting a light kiss on V's lips. The taste of berries and the sweetness of the wine mixed with the smooth wooden taste of the bourbon, the taste lingering longer on V's tongue for longer than it ever should have. Meredith smiled. "Consider this as you having my undying attention."

V's hands wandered upwards, beginning to unbutton the rest of the shirt before Meredith shrugged the silk off from her shoulders. From what V could tell, she'd at least come prepared for what she wanted to do. Black lace bra, with leather straps riding over her shoulders before connecting to the small belt that was just visible from underneath the top of her skirt. V flicked the straps off her shoulders, Meredith letting out a small sigh as they fell off her shoulders, the bra hooked around her back which V ignored for now. His head leant forward, planting gentle kisses to exposed, pale skin around her breasts and her stomach.

He had to admit, she was an ideal partner. Lithe, but toned with muscle where it mattered. For somebody who was usually relegated to office work or supervision, she definitely had made sure she had the body of a field agent. She might not have been as fit as V wanted for somebody in his former team, but she was good enough. He didn't bother asking for more, she did enough to deserve him lavishing her with 'praise'. As he continued to kiss her, she slowly began to talk.

"Was in a band when I was… younger. Rich kid shit," she managed to gasp with lilted breaths. "I was with the drummer; thought we were meant to be. Was stupid enough to believe his bullshit. Broken heart, never again. There."

"See," V stopped between kisses. "That was all you had to say, how easy was that?"

Meredith almost immediately grabbed V by the hair, tufts of black held tight in her grasp as she pulled his head to look at her directly in the eyes. Her look was stone-cold as V looked into her emerald eyes. "Tell a fuckin' soul, and kiss your ass goodbye, asshole."

"Yes, Ma'am…" V tried to lower his head, but it was to no effect.

Meredith had yet to let go. "V, I'm serious. Don't say a word of this to anyone."

"I won't, I promise."

Meredith began to slump, lowering herself as she let go of V's hair. Her mane of blonde hair was immaculately styled, one which V himself could imagine letting his hands flitter through all night long, the same way she would grab and tug at his own. As Meredith went silent, V planted a slow kiss to her lips, eyes closed as her hands slowly placed themselves on his shoulders. With their lips locked together, the two of them began slowly vying for dominance over the other, V biting into Meredith's neck lightly as her nails began to dig into his shoulders. The large cyber-soldier soon picked her up, her legs wrapped around his hips as they soon moved to the bed.

Allowing her to slowly slip out of his grasp, they stood where V could easily push her onto the bed. Turning her around, V unhooked her bra before unzipping the skirt and pulling down the nylon tights to expose her bare skin to him and only him. Pale skin, untouched by all but him was revealed, with Meredith ripping his tank top from his chest before he took off his jeans. The two fervently kissed as they soon fell onto the bed, hands pawing at the other desperately after too much time away from each, more and more flesh being revealed to the other until both were only covered by the sheets of V's bed.

To V's surprise, Meredith hadn't immediately gone for what he expected. She usually was the one that wanted to dominate or be dominated by him, but was instead being slow and gentle. She planted gentle, light kisses to the scars of where V was so obviously sub-human, cold metal that tried to hide itself under a layer of skin that he could shed if wanted to look more like the monster he so obviously was to everyone else. Such a patch-job after so long looked inhuman, something he felt uncomfortable with, and something that Meredith had known and yet continued to linger on the fake skin as much as she would on the acres of skin near of his neck or chest.

His own hands wandered under the sheets, grabbing her lightly, grasping softly at her neck and at her breasts in a slow, undemanding manner as the two began to find themselves involved in something that they could almost call intimate between the two of them. For something that usually felt so cheap and illicit, V felt more wanted than ever that it almost made him strangely happy. He could feel Meredith's exalted breaths brush against him as she held both of V's hands from above him.

The two were almost in awe, that after almost two months of not meeting, they could finally say that something good had finally happened for them. When all was said and all was done, V swore he could have heard Meredith whisper something in her tranquil sleep.

"Don't leave, please…"