Another Choice
Part 3: Resurrection, Chapter 2
There was no time for first aid. Arasaka reinforcements were already moving in on their position. As gingerly as possible, the team loaded Johnny into the back of an Aldecaldo truck that was waiting for them in the new tunnel dug out by the SERC. Panam's plan had, surprisingly, gone well. The SERC broke through the ground precisely where Panam had directed it.
The truck took off back down the tunnel, heading for the entrance back in the desert. One of the Aldecaldos offered a detonator to Panam, who activated it once they'd made the first bend. An immense explosion echoed back from where they came. Panam had directed the rescue team to load the SERC with explosives, and to detonate when they were clear, hopefully collapsing the tunnel it had dug and covering their tracks. At least that was the idea.
V and Saul were working over Johnny, trying to keep him as stable as possible in the truck bed. He was unconscious, yet somehow still breathing. There were multiple bullet wounds on his arms and torso, which Saul was packing with gauze from his medpack. V was administering the airhypos and meds.
The whole ride, V was on autopilot. She kept thinking back to the moment that Johnny hurled her out that window. He probably saved her life, taking the bullets meant for her as he defended her escape. Yet another person she cared about, suffering because of her mistakes.
Mitch had reported in with Panam at some point, giving the status of their rag-tag group of soldiers. Their force of nomads and mercs had successfully defended against the Arasaka quick reaction force, but not without casualties. Approximately a third of their forces were either dead or injured. Even more souls that V led to their doom.
V had to keep telling herself this was for the best, that they wanted to help her. Every single one of her followers were volunteers, that much was proved the night before at the barbecue. And yet, their sacrifice continued to weigh heavily on her heart, amplified further by Johnny's condition.
Johnny had risked his own, new life to try and save hers. After waking up in Gallagher's body, he could've done whatever he wanted. Taken the new life, left the city, enjoyed his freedom. But instead, he had come to her first, to try and save her once again.
Her relationship with Johnny had always been push and pull, love and hate, both infuriating and a blessing. But as she stared down at his still face, she felt grief pull at her. Here was a man who had given everything for her, twice. Once in Cyberspace, and now here. At long last, she had what she had been searching for for months now. Another chance at life. But at what cost.
The dig site was in a much different state than they had left it. Burning wreckage was scattered everywhere, the front gate was lying in the dirt, and twisted hunks of metal that used to be vehicles peppered the area. The Basilisk was leaning heavily to one side, as one of its repulsor engines was damaged. V's forces had already cleared the area of the bodies, thankfully. The fallen Arasaka soldiers were laid out to the side of the tunnel, their weapons and armor already stripped and looted. The dead nomads and mercs were loaded into one of the black vans, while the other tended to the wounded.
V's forces were set to rendezvous back at the Aldecaldo camp. Johnny was loaded into Weyland's waiting AV at the dig site, which had been recalled once they found out it couldn't be used at the tower. Viktor and Joel were there immediately, performing trauma aid as the AV took off for the camp.
The ride back was silent. V and Judy rode with Panam and River. Even though the mission had been a success, and they'd achieved victory over Arasaka, no one in the car felt like celebrating. The shock from their miraculous escape was still wearing off, along with the jarring change V underwent. And the team was worried about Johnny.
The same couldn't be said about the rest of their forces. The other cars were racing, people were firing aimless shots into the air, there were cheers and calls. They'd fought a Megacorporation, and won. They deserved to let loose a bit.
The camp was bustling as everyone rode back in. The teams from the previous day returned to their positions, mechanics and Netrunners and gunsmiths and guards, all moving as one. But V could still feel the emptiness, that there were less here now than there had been the day before.
She first went to check on Johnny. Viktor was hard at work over the much larger man, his arms already covered in blood. Joel was in the next trailer over, tending to the other wounded. That alone was enough to settle her worries, knowing Johnny was still alive. She decided not to disturb them.
Steeling her heart, she went to help unload the casualty van. Weyland and Saul went as well. As the leaders, it was only right they laid their comrades to rest. There were eleven in total, every face familiar. V helped the others pull each one out, and carefully lay them down. She recognized Joe, the old merc who loved telling bawdy stories at The Afterlife. Cindy, the nomad who had recently started dating Hector. Cade, the kid who used to follow Rogue around like a puppy. V felt tears pool in her eyes as they unloaded Cassidy, the cowboy who loved playing the guitar. Saul's face had been set in a hard frown the whole time, but he had to excuse himself after Cassidy.
The final body made V's tears fall. It was the young merc who had shoved her out of the way of a tech rifle round in the tunnel, then died in her arms. If she hadn't, the round would've put her out of the mission, and probably killed her.
"What's her name?" she asked Weyland softly. Weyland shot a look at her, but it was hard to discern behind his sunglasses.
"Ava Badowski," he said. V only nodded, the name burning into her mind. She had once told Judy that she avoided the call of death through sheer blind luck, and the only time a person had saved her from it was when Judy had pulled her out of the ocean after her episode in the submerged church. Now, she would add Ava to that list.
Weyland had left to do the hard duty of calling the loved ones of the dead mercs. V stayed, staring at the line of bodies in the sand. She never even heard Judy come up behind her, jumping when she laid a hand on her shoulder.
"They loved you, Val," said Judy quietly. "They truly believed in you, and wanted your mission to succeed." V hung her head, and Judy embraced her tightly. "It isn't your fault," she whispered into V's ear. "It isn't your fault."
[-]
This is Arif Iqbal, reporting with WNS News, and our breaking story from Corpo Plaza.
Reports coming from Arasaka indicate that an unknown team of mercenaries broke into Arasaka Tower this morning. Arasaka believes it was an attempt on the CEO of Arasaka's life, Saburo Arasaka, possibly in retaliation to Militech's war declaration. During the raid, Hanako Arasaka, daughter of the CEO, was tragically killed. In addition, Yuna Arasaka, niece of the CEO and head of the Save Your Soul program, has been reported missing. Arasaka is offering a reward for her safe return.
We got an exclusive interview with Joseph Grand, CEO of Militech, just after the incident at the tower. We heard the following:
"Since the imposter Saburo Arasaka has refused to stand down, and continues to amass military forces, I have no choice but to declare total war on Arasaka Corp and its subsidiaries. I care little about this raid by mercenaries, as whatever they attempted obviously failed. Arasaka is a plague, and must be eradicated if there is to be peace once again."
Well, there you have it folks. We will be witnesses to the next great Corpo war, right here in Night City. Mayor Peralez has advised citizens to shelter in place, and to limit outside activity. Emergency lines have been established for any questions or needs you may have. Stay safe and stay smart out there. This is Arif Iqbal, signing off.
Many nomads were standing around the small radio in the Netrunner tent, listening intently to the news broadcast. Weyland had left with the remaining and fallen Afterlife mercs, needing to prepare the headquarters before there was fighting in the streets.
Panam pulled V and Judy away from the group as the broadcast ended, moving to the edge of the camp.
"Well, you heard 'em. We gotta stay low for a bit, 'specially you." Panam eyed V pointedly. "Arasaka is looking for you, probably knows what you did. We're not gonna let that happen. Just look what they did to Hanako."
V had noticed that in the broadcast as well. They hadn't killed Hanako, she'd stormed out when V had taken Yuna's body.
"She must've tried to kill him herself," V said, the pieces clicking in her mind.
"Yep. And they killed her for it. What's to say she didn't tell them all about you and the mission?" Panam pressed.
V bit her lip. She still hadn't told anyone else that Hanako had hired her to kill Saburo Arasaka, and give up her chance at living. Only Judy, Johnny, and Takemura knew. She would probably take the secret to her grave. But if Hanako had revealed the truth before she died, then V was in even more danger. Saburo wouldn't simply forget this slight against him.
"We need to leave," said V.
"Course we need to leave," Panam echoed. "But the trick is how. This camp was already set up as a temporary outpost. We were planning on moving out to Arizona in a month. Now, I think we'll wait until the city is in complete chaos, then book it for the border. Mitch knows this old smuggling tunnel, about ten miles out that should work. If we can avoid the drone patrols, we should make it. City's in lockdown, so we can't use the regular crossings. Gotta be quick and quiet about it."
Panam looked back and forth between V and Judy. "I'd wager you two wanna talk a bit. I'll go find Mitch and start on a plan."
She moved forward and pulled V into a hug. "Didn't have a chance to say it yet, but thank you for coming back to us."
With that, she walked back into the camp. V turned to Judy, who was smiling.
"Well, whaddo you think?" V asked. "Wanna run away with your crazy merc girlfriend with a bunch of dirty nomads?"
Judy grinned wider, and threw herself into V's arms.
"That's all I ever wanted," exclaimed Judy.
V laughed and instinctively pulled her into a kiss. Judy let out a surprised 'mmf', before returning it. They broke apart with a soft pop, and Judy's eyes were wide.
"Thought it would feel different, wrong," she said. "But somehow, it feels the same."
V smiled. "It's still me, Jude. And I'm never leaving you again."
Judy studied V's new face closely, for the first time. She looked completely different. Different face, eyes, hair, body. Judy couldn't help but think she kind of looked like Maiko when she was a Doll. But through it all, Judy could only see her V, shining from within. Alive and well.
"You better not," said Judy, kissing her merc again.
[-]
It was in the early hours of the morning that Johnny woke up. River, who had been assisting Viktor, had run off to grab V immediately.
Johnny lay in the old ripperdoc cot, Viktor beside him. Both were covered in blood and looked deathly exhausted. V took Viktor's place beside Johnny, the ripper being led away by River to get cleaned up and rest.
V looked over Viktor's hastily scrawled notes on the monitor, and her heart dropped. There was a collapsed lung, massive blood loss, a severe concussion, burst liver, and extensive internal trauma. Broken ribs, collarbone, arms, and pelvis. A fractured spine. Ailments that required a real ripper clinic, or a hospital. And even then, fixing the problems would only be made harder because of the titanium coated bones and implanted organs. A tear leaked from V's eye.
"Cryin' over me already, kid?" Johnny rasped out. "Don't."
"W-we can fix this, if we get you on an AV to the city now, we can-"
"You and I both know that isn't gonna happen," Johnny interrupted. "Heard the news, city's on lockdown. Probably out looking for us all by now."
"But Johnny, without the proper care you'll-"
"Fucking die, I know. And I really couldn't give a shit. V, look at me."
V forced herself to meet his gaze. His eyes were bloodshot and bruised.
"I wanted this. Just like all the other crazy fuckers who dove into that tower with you. I had my time fifty years ago. I didn't need more. When I went down that bridge with Alt, I was ready for the end. But fate threw my ass back here, 'cause I wasn't done just yet. I had to save the crazy merc who saved me. You let me live again, vicariously through you. I got to see Rogue, repent for what I'd done. I got to see Kerry, and the rest of the band. And I had a hell of an adventure with you, V. Nobody's meant to live twice, and I did it three fuckin' times. But this last time was just a means to an end. I was never supposed to be here, but I'm glad I was. Thank you, V."
"No, thank you Johnny," V choked out, her throat impossibly tight. "Thanks for bein' my best choom when Jackie was gone. You're a better person than you think you are. A true legend of Night City."
Johnny flinched as a spasm of pain twisted through his body. V knew the end was close.
"Gig's up for me, kid. Think it's high time I joined Rogue." He directed his gaze at the pistol on V's hip. Rogue's pistol. "Mind if I borrow that?"
V numbly handed over the gun. Johnny took it in his good hand, and raised it to his temple. V wanted to look away, but she couldn't. Tears were streaming freely down her face.
Johnny gave one more of his signature smirks, and winked at V. "Never stop fighting, Samurai."
In the distance, the sun rose over a city on fire. As the rays of light illuminated the desert, a single shot echoed across the sands, carrying with it the end of Johnny Silverhand.
