Born under a bad sign, been down since I begin to crawl.
V glared out his windshield at Panams truck, barely visible through the curtain of blowing sand and dust. They had been driving for hours trying to make it a small encampment the Nomads had settled years before, hopefully it was still there. It was supposedly a safe place for the convoy to set up camp for a few days, do some local trade, put their ears to the ground and figure out where they were going to find work after dumping their overflow tech at The Hub. Saul had already sent word ahead that the Bright family would be moving through the area and that they may disturb the local fauna a little bit.
So far though, they hadn't had a single encounter with any scavvers or Raffens. Hell they hadn't even seen a Militech or NUSA AV patrol. If V hadn't been on edge after the border, he certainly was now. He just felt it was very suspicious that the convoy hadn't run into any other souls. Panam had told him in the expansive wasteland encounters were quite minimal, it was only once a group settled an area and started working that the more dangerous traffic started showing up.
But the lack of anything was… unsettling. Coupled with the near constant pounding headaches that only seemed to be getting worse, he was losing his mind. There were times he could swear he heard his mothers voice. So he had decided to distract himself and then the others. Sometimes, unfortunately, that meant annoying someone.
V...
"I'm bored!"
Panam felt her eye twitch. Life on the road would be an adjustment for V, they had both known that going into this, but after two weeks of driving and a week of his incessant whining she was at a breaking point. The first week of driving had been blissful, V driving his own vehicle within the convoy or sometimes opting to keep her company. He had set the car into autopilot and tinkered with all manner of gadgets that needed repairing, but by the end of the week he had fixed all there was to fix. Never in his life had V had to deal with the monotony of week had been especially grueling as they encountered high wind speeds, blowing dust and low visibility.
Night City always had something going on, some gang holding up a joint, some bar throwing a ragin' party, some fixer fucking shit up for Corpos. Not so in the desert. He thought it would bring him peace, but all it did was give him time to brood. Time to worry about if Militech will come looking for him, that whatever his mother wants from him will be too much, that somehow all this good that he had managed to surround himself with will be targeted. That Panam and the family he now rode with would be put into danger because of him, danger easily avoided if he had just stayed behind.
"V, if you seriously don't shut the fuck up I'm going to shoot you and I won't miss." Bobby warned from the panzer that covered the convoys 6 o'clock.
"Pfft. I'd like to see you try." The merc scoffed.
"How about you suck my-"
"OK!" Panam shouted into the holo. Her eyes darted to her rear view camera, V was sitting in his seat glaring at his steering wheel. "This is an open channel gentlemen!"
"Bobby just ignore him, keep an eye out for scavs like you're supposed to be. And V.." Sauls voice ordered over the radio. "Grow up." The comms cut back to silence. Panam glanced at the view camera again, V was now glaring out the window. She sighed quietly and switched to a private channel.
"The supply depot is not far. We'll refuel, you can stretch your legs and maybe go looking for some trouble. It's just an hour away. Can you handle that?" her nerves were just as shot as the rest when it came to his complaints, but she could also see that he was still really bothered and not at all used to the method of travel.
"Yeah. Sorry." He rumbled back before clicking his holo off. She sighed sadly.
V swallowed hard and glared at his car dashboard, he knew Panam was probably watching him through her rear camera, so he tried to keep his face neutral though it probably fell more into the category of 'constipated'. He hadn't told her about the headaches. Yet, he reminded himself. He hadn't told her about the headaches yet. He thought perhaps they were just a remnant of his brain being molded and remolded over and again. But sometimes the pain behind his eyes was so sharp it was blinding. The mercenary knew he had to tell Panam, and soon, he just didn't want to think about how it would worry her.
My son...
Another sharp pain from within his skull made him wince, he turned his head to look out the window in an attempt to play off the sudden movement. The expression on her face, that he saw mirrored on one of her blacked out screens, showed she was not convinced. Shit. A flash in the sky caught his eye, he squinted into the distance. Through the blowing dust he could make out a vague shadow floating on the wind. What was that? A distraction!
Almost giddy V flipped his car into autopilot (accident avoidance) mode and quickly pulled off his restraints. He opened his window, stuck his head out and activated his cyberdeck. A drone! It was too far away to get the make, but it didn't look like the typical cobbled together machinery that Raffens or scavvers usually used. He frowned, and decided to PING it, it didn't look hostile, but better to be safe than sorry.
"What the hell is he doing?" Mitch questioned over the open channel. V ignored him, watching as his vision filled with the distant red silhouettes of possible enemies. Two drones, just hovering and watching, strange. But not as important as the three scavver vehicles he could see driving along their left side and another two on their right. The rigs were just far enough away that they couldn't be seen easily, but they could still follow the travelling family. They were just driving alongside them? How long had they been there? Why hadn't they done anything? I've got a bad feeling about this, he thought. Immediately he reached inside for his radio, and switched to a private channel with the Panzer.
"Sooo… Not to alarm you, but we've got a few new friends pulling up beside us. And an audience too."
"What?" Bobbys questioned in annoyance.
"Switch to thermal. You'll see 'em."
"What the shit? Why aren't they doin' anything?" Teddy asked now. "Come on, Bobby. Lets try and pull a sneaky on these three on the left."
"I dunno, I only just noticed them. Can you see tracks? How long have they been following us?"
"Negative choomba. Holoing Saul and Panam, be right back."
"I'm gonna get a better vantage point." He pocketed the radio.
Slowly, he pulled himself out of the window of the moving vehicle, he could hear someone shouting at him through the radio. Maybe he could incapacitate the drivers before… He needed a higher vantage point and fast. The merc steadied himself on the roof of his vehicle, he could see Marcus in the cabin of the sixteen wheeler semi-trailer behind him. His lips forming the unheard words, what the fuck. Ahead of him he could see Panams truck, with Panam herself sticking her head out of the window.
"What the fuck are you doing?!" She shouted at him.
"Just keep doing what you're doing. We got this!" He called back.
The Solo allowed himself a centering breath and took a running leap from the roof of his vehicle to the bed of her truck. He could hear her cursing after him, but he had already scrambled on her roof. The panzer sped passed them, the guns had powered on.
"3 boogies. Straight ahead.. We got this. Come on Teddy!" Bobby's voice called over the holo. "2 on the left side! 90 degrees."
BRRR!
V had never been on the outside of the panzer when the guns were truly running free, goddamn they were loud. The Scavvers didn't even attempt to steer away from the hail of molten lead. Their vehicles were chewed through easily, one exploded into a massive fireball that finally got the other vehicles to react, by attempting to plow into the convoy of Nomads. The turret on the roof beside him sprung to life.
"V! Don't get in the way!" Panam warned from within the metal Warhorse. V threw himself back into the bed of her truck, just in time to avoid the barrage of bullets she let loose into the tailing enemy vehicles on their right.
"Evasive manuevers!" Saul called over the open holo channel. Incredibly, as if they had all rehearsed it before, the Aldecaldos split in all directions. Some vehicles pulled hard left, others right, some turned completely around and sped back the way they had come. Saul, who had been heading the convoy gunned his truck to the left, he disappeared into a cloud of dust and smoke.
"V! Get in your freaking car!" Panam screamed over the holo.
"One second!" The merc called back. He leapt from her moving vehicle, to his hood right behind. Marcus still tailed him as well, the long-haul trailer was not exactly maneuverable at the best of times.
"SHIT!" Panam swerved hard to the left. One of the scavver rigs, burning and dropping pieces of it's guts, had tried to slam into her and missed. They hit Vs beloved Cthuthlu instead, launching the merc up and backwards. V twisted his body in the air, trying to see where the hell he was about to land. I really liked that car, he thought as he slammed into the long-haul windshield and rolled up and over the cabin. His hands scrambled to catch anything to keep him from being thrown from the sixteen wheeler.
"AHH!" He heard Marcus holler from inside. The cabin began to wobble dangerously, as the ripper swerved madly to avoid the wreckage that had been Vs Quadra Type-66.
"MARCUS!" V bellowed. "CUT THE SHIT!" he had just managed to get a decent grip when the ripper swerved again and nearly sent him to his second early grave. The large steel cargo bin holding all their very expensive ripper and Arasaka equipment tottered from side to side, pulling the cabin with it. "Arg!" Marcus, somehow, managed to right the truck and keep it on all it's wheels. V grumbled to himself and climbed carefully atop the shipping container. He sent out a PING.
Panam and the rest of the Nomads had disappeared, hopefully they were away safely. He could make out the shape of the panzer, Bobby and Teddy probably decided it was in their best interest to escort Marcus and all the goods. Their audience, the drones, had stayed with them it seemed. It almost looked like they were looking at him, watching him.
V...
"Oh shit!" A third drone had appeared, seemingly from nowhere, and flew at his head. V flattened himself on the roof of the moving vehicle. His cyberdeck turned off, the drones disappeared. Camouflage! That's advanced tech! V rolled back to his feet and reactivated his deck, the drone was circling back and had activated its speed booster.
"Teddy, Bobby!" he cried into his holo. "Can you see the drones!?"
"We got you V, just stay up there. Marcus kept her straight, that's good right there choom!" Teddy called backed.
"God-fucking-dammit" He cursed when none of his Daemons would upload. The merc loosed his monowire and snapped it threateningly at the camouflaged drone. The machinery darted beneath his whip and slammed itself into his chest, attempting to knock him from his perch. He fell flat on his back and began to slide toward the back end of the semi-trailer.
"Fucking shit!" V shouted. As the drone came back overhead V flicked the monowire. The flexible metal wire wrapped around the left lateral wing. The active camouflage on the drone flickered out. "Yes! Huh? No! No, no! Whoaa!" The flying machine rocketed away, still attached to Vs arm. The mercenary was lifted back to his feet before being yanked clear of the vehicle.
They jetted toward the ridge with its waiting mechanical brothers, Vs arm burning painfully. He was having flashbacks to the Smasher fight and cried out ferociously. At least his weight was slowing down the drone, and it was losing altitude fast. He gripped the wire in his left hand to take some pressure off the anchors within his cyberware implant and attempted to disengage and pull it free from the bot. The drone swerved to and fro and continued to lose altitude, completely unsteady with his additional weight, he braced to hit the ground.
"Gotcha!" He landed heavily on the panzer.
"Arg!" He tried to orient himself but the dust and wind made it impossible to open his eyes or hear anything. The other drones zipped toward them now.
CRACK!
The drone his monowire was wrapped around exploded, sniper fire, he'd know that sound anywhere. He thanked whatever higher power that existed for Panam Palmer and that sniper rifle of hers. He had no idea where she was, but it had to be close. He had just pulled himself free and disarmed the monowire when a second drone slammed into his knees sending him crashing to his back. V blinked dazedly up at the gloomy sky, completely winded.
Do not fear son…
Another drone, still in active camo, hovered his front of his face and without asking permission jacked into his neural port. The hatch above Teddy's seat swung open and the veteran pulled a handgun from its holster. Just as he squeezed the trigger, the first drone returned and electrocuted him with a tentacle-like cable. The soldier fell back into the tank unconscious.
"Teddy! AH!" Vs neural interface was spasming in his vision, multiple windows opened and layered over each other, files were being downloaded from his brain! He saw images of his childhood and his time in Atlanta, he saw Jackies lifeless body driving away with Delamain and Johnny Silverhand pushing him back into the well at Mikoshi. V didn't know why he was filled with a sudden dread, like these drones were looking for something very specific and he didn't want them to find it.
Then images of the Aldecaldos, more and more, and Panam and Saul and… There was a tittering going on in his head, a clicking sound akin to an insect. The drone seemed very interested in his memories with the Nomad group, far too interested. They wanted the 'caldos, and that was not okay with him.
Do not fight us...
"No!" They were digging deeper, it was getting painful. "No!" The clicking had gotten louder, he could feel a surge of energy coming on not unlike the Shock-n-Awe immune system upgrade he once had installed. Precious memories of Panam flashed before his eyes, Nash, the train heist, the basilisk. "NOOOO!" The drone exploded, his vision cleared.
An anger he had never known and a power that was at once terrifying but all too familiar followed through his veins. Destroy. Kill. No harm comes to my family. The third drone, where was it? There! Zipping away from it's ambush toward safety.
"Can't have that." He murmured softly to himself. Without thinking V looked down at the panzer and waved his hand forward.
"V? What the fuck? We need to get Teddy help." Bobby opened the hatch to his seat V, waved his hand dismissively and gestured to the drone. "I ain't doin' shi-"
V turned and glared at the disobedient soldier. Bobby started when he realised that Vs eyes had an intensely eerie glow to them, he could feel the mercenary. As if V was somehow connecting with the network shared between him, Teddy and the panzer. Slowly, Bobby felt a need to destroy the drone, it was dangerous, it must. Be. DESTROYED. The veterans eyes now matched the blue glow of his companion, he slipped back into his seat and closed the hatch.
Pleased V turned back to the fleeing drone. He lifted his chin and the panzer rocketed after it. The mercenary closed his eyes, but he saw what the panzer network saw, the drone was fast, but it wouldn't be fast enough. They were in range. He activated the gun, and took aim, he urged the vehicle faster still.
BOOM!
All at once it was over. The noise of the drones, the voices, the power surging through his veins. Gone. The panzer suffered a power surge and dropped out of the sky. It landed with a resounding crash. V fell from the vehicle and landed in a heap at its nose.
"What the FUCK?!" Bobby fumed. "What the hell was that!? How did you do that?!" The hatches both popped open, Bobby leaped from his seat and landed next to the mercenary. The veteran swayed dangerously, but he lifted V into a sitting position violently, slamming the back of Vs head into the Panzer. "You were in my head!" He pulled his gun out and pointed it at V. "HOW were you in my head?"
Pathetically the younger man lifted his head, and blinked blurrily before turning away and vomiting into the sand. His nose was bleeding, so were his ears. Bobby wanted to feel bad for the guy but he couldn't get the feeling out of his head. Like V had stuck his spidery fingers into the most intimate parts of Bobby's psyche, he saw the mercenary now and all he felt was terror and disgust. Without thinking he pulled back the hammer on his revolver.
"Bobby!" The roar of Panams warhorse broke whatever spell had taken over Bobby. He dropped the revolver and stumbled away from V before he too collapsed into a heap, unconscious. The chieftess exited her vehicle, already calling for backup. "Saul, Mitch. I'm gonna need some help."
If it wasn't for bad luck, you know I wouldn't have no luck at all.