V opened her eyes. River was next to her, still sleeping. She could feel his breath against her bare skin, but she couldn't focus on that. A loud sound had woken her, but she couldn't remember what it was. Confused and slightly groggy, she sat up in bed.

Then the same sound. Now she knew what it was: Gunshots.

"River!" V called out while not-so-gently shaking him awake, before jumping out of the bed.

"… What?" he asked, half-asleep. More gunshots, and now he was instantly awake and aware. "What's happening?"

"Dunno, but get ready," V said. River nodded before also jumping out of bed.

V had barely finished putting on some trousers and a shirt before someone knocked on their door. "V! River!"

They both recognized Mitch's voice. "Come in!" V shouted.

The door was slammed open and Mitch almost stumbled inside, a look of concern and slight panic across his face. "We're being attacked!" he shouted.

"Figured as much," V replied while putting on her coat. "Who? Why?"

"Arasaka. Have no idea why," Mitch replied.

The answer made V freeze in her movements. "Arasaka's attacking us? In NUSA territory?"

"Certainly looks like it," Mitch replied. "Listen, Panam and the others have gathered at the center. Join her when you can."

"Sure, but you?"

"I'll go to the Basilisk. Even if I can't get it up and running, I'll make sure it doesn't fall into their hands!"

"Mitch, wait! We should-"

"Don't got time! Panam!" With that, he ran back out. By now the gunshots had more or less subsided, but V couldn't make out if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Regardless, they should leave before Arasaka were the ones knocking on their door.

"V!" River called out. He was ready to leave.

"Wait," V quickly told him. She then took out a gun, yanked off the silencer and threw it over to River. When he catched it, it took him a few seconds to recognize his former gun under the scope and all the modifications. "It's familiar to you," she explained.

"I have a gun, what about-"

"Don't worry. I have this," V reassured with a confident smile. With a few swift moves, she picked up the Malorian Arms 3516, spun it around her finger and holstered it in her belt. "Let's go!"

With a nod, River followed her outside and towards the center of the camp.

"V! River! Over here!" Panam called out when she saw the pair approaching. She was standing around with the remaining members of the Aldecaldos, as well as some other nomads V didn't recognize. Probably members of other families who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Mitch said Arasaka's knocking on our door," V said when they reached the group.

"Yeah," Panam confirmed. "They caught us off guard and have quickly swarmed most exits. Though from what I heard, it's mostly bots with only a few human soldiers throughout."

"I see. We know anything about why they're here?"

"No fucking idea. But we can worry about that later. They could be upon us any minute, so we need some kind of strategy to drive them off."

"Not likely," V suddenly objected.

"Why?"

"Remember HQ? Arasaka's ruthless, they won't retreat unless they're told to do so. Especially if they're primarily robots."

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

"Simple. We find their commanding officer and force them to order a retreat. I'll cause a thorough distraction, meanwhile everyone else will find that officer. You should be good at that with your rifle."

"And then what?"

"If you can't sort it out diplomatically, we'll be forced to use force."

"I see… Not like we've got much choice," Panam admitted with a sigh.

V was about to reply when another gunshot could be heard. It was close. Too close to discuss anything further. "Go," Panam ordered as she picked up her rifle. "Rest of you, scatter and find that officer. Holler when you do."

With a series of nods, the nomads scattered in all directions. V pulled out her gun, but as she was about to approach the location of the gunshot, a hand grabbed her wrist.

"I'm coming with," River stated.

"River, I can handle myself. I won't let you-"

"I wasn't asking."

"… Fine, just… stay behind me."

River nodded. With that settled, the pair quickly and quietly made their way towards the Arasaka squad.

Observing it through the scopes of their rifles, the Arasaka soldiers moved quickly and decisively through the nomad camp.

Turning a corner, they didn't find anyone. It had been deserted for a few minutes, but the biosignatures told them that the occupants had moved in this direction. So they continued on.

They couldn't be much further from the center. Once they reached it, their objective was to fan out and keep an eye on the entire camp until the others had found their target.

"Person located," one of the automatons announced over the comms.

Everyone in the squad swiftly moved towards it. Turning another corner, the found themselves in a square clearing, with campers on three of the four sides. The open side was behind them, and against the camper opposite them, leaned a figure. The squad quickly covered the entire length of the clearing, so the figure couldn't escape. Although it didn't look like they were trying to, as they just absentmindedly tapped the camper behind them.

For a few seconds, there was silence. No one in the squad moved, like they were either confused or hesitant.

"What, no greetings? No orders?" V asked, extending both her arms out to either side. While one was empty, the other had her trusty Malorian Arms.

"Silence," one of the robots said. It was an automated response; V had heard it many times before. "Comply or we will open fire."

"Comply? That's a little difficult when you haven't said anything."

"Silence."

V sighed, before she began to slowly walk towards them. "Silence, comply, you just want us to be good little boys and girls and take it, don't you?"

"Stop!" one of the human soldiers ordered as he aimed his gun at her.

While V stopped, it was only a few meters in front of them. And she didn't seem the least bit intimidated by their rifles.

From the inside of one of the campers, River carefully observed what was happening through the window. While he didn't like it, he'd had to agree that the best course of action would be for V to run the show and then he played support from here. But it was hard for him to focus on the plan right now, as he couldn't take his eyes off V. Something seemed odd about her. He could hear it. There was an immense hatred in the words she spoke to the Arasaka squad, and something like a feeling of superiority. Almost like she was enjoying this, on some subconscious level. And all of those, the superiority, the enjoyment, and most of all the hatred, they were all so unlike the V he knew… It was uncanny.

"Okay, listen here," V spoke like she was in complete control. "If you just turn around and scurry out of here now, I promise I won't chase. How's that sound?"

"We won't leave without our target."

"Oh. And who might that be?"

"Why should we tell you? Get out of here, or we will open fire."

For a second, V was confused. They had a target, but it wasn't her? She couldn't come up with anyone else that Arasaka would waste resources on right now, but they were treating her like just another nomad right now. Not that it wasn't working out in her advantage, but it was still odd.

"Okay then…" If they weren't gonna spill now, it didn't matter how much she asked. "Let's get this over with." Before the Arasaka soldiers could react, a thin, glowing wire extended from V's wrist. In one swift move, she moved the wire towards the front soldier and it quickly locked itself around their throat. And in another swift move, she pulled the soldier towards herself. Grabbing the wire around their throat, she used them as a human shield while aiming at the rest of the squad.

The human Arasaka soldiers hesitated, not wanting to shoot their comrade. And the mechanical soldiers quickly began firing. But because they were programmed to not hit allies, none of their shots connected.

In a quick series of seven shots, V hit the mechanical soldiers, who all fell limp with a small eruption of sparks. She then recalled the wire around the soldier's neck, placed a foot on their back and activated her reinforced tendon, which launched the soldier at two of his comrades. They collided, and V followed close behind, making sure to shoot the fourth human soldier between the eyes on the way.

It was only when the two pinned soldiers tried moving their comrade, that they noticed his slit throat. And before they could get him off, V placed a foot on him, pressing down harder on them.

"'Saka scum," she almost hissed before shooting them both in the head.

"Whew…" V sighed as she stepped back and holstered her gun. "It's safe now," she called out while stretching her arms behind her, like she had just finished exercising.

No one answered.

"River…?" V called out, now clearly nervous. But it was quickly cleared when he exited the camper he'd been hiding in. "Whew, there you are. Don't scare me… River?" He had a concerned expression on his face while looking at the phone in his hand.

"Got a call from this Panam of yours," he slowly said, like he himself was trying to figure it out.

"And?"

"They found the commander. But from the sound of what she said, he has some kind of elite soldiers in his squad. Something has gone down, but she was panicking, couldn't get the details straight."

"Fuck. Where are they?"

"Follow me," River said as he turned in the direction of the coordinates Panam had sent. He didn't wait for V; he knew she could keep up. After that display of hers, there was no doubt.

In all her life, as a nomad and during her stay in Night City, Panam could only recall one time she had experienced anything like this: The raid on Arasaka HQ. This feeling of surprise and intimidation, this intense fight-or-flight response, she had only experienced it when she and V had faced Adam Smasher. And she had thought that would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

But here she was, staring down two combatants who had triggered the same feeling in her.

At first, she had thought it was odd. The squad was concerningly small, just a commander, three bots behind him and then two figures in front of him: Both wore dark combat-suits that covered their entire bodies. They also didn't carry any guns, which had only enhanced her concern. A concern, which had been proven right the moment they'd opened fire on them.

The first to move was the slightly smaller of the two mystery-combatants. In one swift move, a pair of mantis blades had extended from his arms and blocked the path of every bullet that would've hit him or the commander. Then their thermal blades had lit up, causing a pattern along the upper body and head of the suit to light up in similar colors.

Their problems had already been big enough there, but then the other, slightly bigger, combatant had seen her. Not just seen her sniping position, but seen her. She could feel their piercing glare even through the scope. With an equally swift move, they had jumped onto another camper and begun approaching her. This combatant had also extended his weapons, but they weren't mantis-blades. Instead, they were like four smaller mantis-blades, two on either arm that extended down to the tips of their fingers. And then the electrical blades had activated, causing the blue currents to run from the blade and up along the suit in a similar pattern.

So now, here they were. Cassidy, Carol, and the nomad volunteers were busy dealing with the smaller combatant, while Panam had to focus on pinning down the bigger one, if she didn't want them to overrun her.

She fired again. The shot pierced the air in a split second, and whisked by the combatant's helmet, which was peeking out from the cover of a bulky ventilation-unit. They quickly retracted their head.

The commander and the three bots suddenly opened fire, forcing the nomads into cover. And then the smaller combatant set off in a sprint towards the nomads. Or not running, it was more like they phased through the air in a zigzag pattern. Not giving them any chance to react, they extended their glowing mantis-blades and lunged forward.

Cassidy barely managed to interrupt the blade's path with his gun, causing the metal-on-metal sound to echo.

"Cassidy!" Panam shouted. It was only a brief moment, but she took her eyes off the electrical combatant, and that was enough. With similar zigzag-phases, they began to close the distance.

"Shit," Panam exclaimed as she quickly shot at them. Contrary to what she expected, that caused the combatant to stop. They extended an arm and seemed to tense their muscles for a brief moment.

Then the bullet landed on the roof at the feet of the combatant. Like it'd hit a forcefield.

"What?"

"Focus, Panam," Carol called out. "We got this," she reassured before aiming her gun at the combatant at Cassidy's throat. She fired, forcing them to back off. Cassidy quickly followed it up with a similar move, forcing them to retreat at least a few steps back.

Meanwhile, Panam fired again. But once again, the bullet landed in front of the combatant. And before she could fire again, they closed the gap between them in a few short phases. They likewise lunged at her, and Panam blocked the blow with her gun.

"Please do us a favor, and fuck off," Panam said through gritted teeth. It took all her strength to keep just the combatant's right arm at bay.

"Not until we've found her," the combatant replied, to her surprise. From the voice, they were definitely Japanese.

Before she could ask anything else, the combatant extended the blades on his left hand and locked the barrel between them. A quick flick of the wrist, and it was cut in three pieces.

"Fuck."

Cassidy, Carol and the volunteers opened fire on the smaller combatant, but they covered their body by rapidly moving the mantis-blades, catching all the bullets.

"What the fuck?" Carol couldn't help but ask.

Completely silent, the combatant bent one knee and placed the other foot behind them, preparing another pounce like a predator in the wild. They raised their blades.

A gunshot. The sound of metal creaking.

Looking up, Cassidy found one of the mantis-blades had been severed at the base, likely by the shot of the new arrival.

"Guys!" V shouted as she jumped in from the space between two tents. River was close behind her.

"V!" Panam shouted. Everyone briefly paused to look at her, and a wave of relief went through the nomads. But strangest of all, the combatant in front of Panam turned away from her, seemingly disinterested. Instead, they turned towards V and jumped down onto the ground.

"There you are," Panam heard them mumble as they approached a cautious V and an even more cautious River, both with their guns aimed, but both waiting to see what would happen.

"What are you doing?" the smaller combatant asked. They were also Japanese, but they sounded a bit younger.

"That is her," the larger one of the two explained. Adding to the confusion, they retracted their blades and the blue currents ceased.

"Her? The biometrics don't-"

"You think I wouldn't be able to recognize her, Oda?" they almost hissed.

"Wait… Oda?" V replied, as it slowly dawned on her. She slowly raised her hand, like in a trance, signaling for the others to not shoot immediately.

The bigger combatant approached V in a calm manner. They only stopped two meters in front of her and stood there in silence.

River, mostly by instinct, raised his gun and aimed it at them. But V placed a hand on it and made him lower it. All without taking her eyes off the combatant.

"Is it you…?" she asked in a whisper.

Steam was released down along the spine, like the suit was depressurizing, as they reached up and removed their mask.

"It has been some time, kuso-ama," Takemura said.