Hey howdy hey everyone, you may wonder why this next chapter has come so late compared to the last, and that's because I originally intended for this to be much longer than it is, but after alot of thought, I decided to cut down the second half of what I'd written and shelve it for the next chapter because it would be more fitting, plus I don't want these chapters to be THAT long yet. It will also help with the algorithm, so I can get the benefit of two of these chapters that would've been one, along with a whole load of other nonsense I don't need to tell you. Anyway, without further ado, here's the new chapter, City of Dreams!...and you should find this contains a little surprise that I may have mentioned in the last post...

11th of November, 2076

Well, today is the day. I was finally gonna visit Jackie's ripperdoc. I had spent the best part of two weeks with a ton of now-defunct cyberware thanks to being discharged from service to Arasaka. I still had all my own personal, non-company cybernetics which worked just fine, albeit not bolstered by an Arasaka operating system anymore. Among those, outside of obvious ones like my biomonitor, cybermodem, translator, etcetera, were of course my adrenaline booster- which was honestly installed so I could enhance my sexual performance...realise how I say enhance, not improve; my synaptic accelerator- which came in handy for sneaking out of bedrooms; lynx paws- which...also came in handy sneaking out of bedrooms; not to mention my contraceptive implants which no doubt have kept the kid factory closed for many, many years and...wow. Never realised just how much I installed for some sort of sexual purpose. I mean all this came in handy everywhere else but let's be honest, what's the main reason you'd install a mod to enhance your stamina? If you're not some Olympian gigaathlete, then I'm pretty sure you'd be thinking the same things I was thinking of. At least I didn't need Mr. Studd implants.

Hear that ladies? I don't need Mr. Studd. How many of your inputs can say that for themselves?

There's also my subdermal armour- which did actually originate from Arasaka, but it's nature meant it would still be very useful, although I had to return it to the company and the heat converter which stopped me being harmed by burns and actually healed my systems no longer functioned anymore. There was my monowire, although it could no longer charge. I also no longer had a limbic system enhancement, visual cortex support, Camillo RAM manager, enhanced blood pump (which caused my little fit of breathlessness back at Lizzie's on the fateful night), my cyberaudio, voice synthesiser, nasal implants, my radiation detector, motion detector, Kiroshi optics, sonar system, and my Kerenzikov. Oh yeah, also Optical Camouflage, otherwise known as my favourite piece of cyberware ever, that helped me out of so many tight spots on my numerous counterintel exploits. Damn, what I would give to be able to go invisible again, although, Arasaka always turned that mod off when I wasn't in deep cover somewhere in the world. Managed to use it once in a sexual situation though, and no, I wasn't being a creep, it was a fantasy that some French stock broker I forgot the name of always had to fuck someone invisible...I fulfilled her fantasy...

This is why the working class hates us.

Moving swiftly on...I was going to Jackie's ripper because I was gonna get all my company cyberware removed, and swapped for less expensive, lower quality chrome. I was as thrilled about it as an elk probably is to lose his antlers, but that said, it would be nice to get some shit that actually worked, finally.

The ripperdoc was in Little China in Watson, nearby that ghastly clumping of people living on top of one another that they call Megabuilding H10. At the front of house sat Misty's Esoterica and Chakra Harmonization, which was run by Jackie's output Misty. It was on a pedestrian area just opposite a strip club. Here, Jackie's girlfriend ran a...I really don't know what to describe this. I'm sure my Life Coach, if he still cared, would be happy to let me know exactly what went on in this kind of place, but it probably had something to do with harnessing the inner energies locked beneath you descended from your star sign or...whatever, to find peace with the universe? Yeah. No idea. And I don't have a problem with places like this, I truly respect her freedom to believe what she wishes. I myself believe in God, I was raised a Christian by my mother, but there's a reason I don't follow any particular set of rules other than my own, because when you complicate belief with set rules, you lose me a little.

"'Ey mamacita!" Jackie bellowed his greeting to his girlfriend as he entered through the door to Misty's...whatever it was. He strode through the shop towards her behind the counter as she reorganised some Zen stuff on her shelf behind said counter, with me tagging along quietly. It occurred to me that I'd never really met Misty before. Yes I'd spoken to her and met her but I'd never thought of her as any more than just another person in the long, long list of people I knew. Now, it was likely she'd be a big part of my life, at least for the time being.

"Hi, Jackie." She looked back at him, her mouth illuminating in a smile, if that was possible with the black lipstick she wore. She was about to look back at her shelf, then caught a glimpse that Jackie had brought little old me along with him, and I greeted her with a smile.

"Hey, name's V, Jackie ever tell you about me?" I asked, joking of course because we've met before, but we have communicated so little that this may as well be our first true meeting.

I didn't get the light chuckle I expected. "Oh." She said instead in a manner that I wanna say was sympathetic? She then turned her full attention toward me, turning away from her shelf. "I'm so sorry about what happened." She comforted. Yeah, it was sympathy I detected.

I extended my thanks for her kind words. "Thanks, but no need to apologise. It's all temporary." I assured. And it would be.

"Yeah, V's lookin' for a job in Militech now. Almost as if he ain't learned no lesson from Arasaka." Jackie commented in his cynical tone, which was somehow just as hearty and good-natured as how he told any joke. "But he's finally admitted he needs to scrap his old corp chrome. Gonna go to Viktor's and get him set. He's not takin' care o' anyone right now is he?" Jackie asked her.

"I don't think so." The blonde-dyed-haired spiritualist responded. "Think he stepped out for a moment though."

"Should have his work cut out for him. V's got everything from an enhanced blood pump to a limbic system enhancement to replace." Jackie smiled, leaning against the counter, folding his arms. "Even got an invisibility mod."

"Yeah, Optical Camo." I clarified.

"Wow, maybe the ghosts I've seen are all just Arasaka agents." Misty cracked a joke, and I actually laughed a little in response. I didn't think she had it in her. "Makes Halloween much less exciting for me." That reminded me of how I, for the first time in my life, didn't celebrate Halloween this year, and I don't take that holiday lightly- I go all in. I visit my usual ripperdoc- Garland Synova, a Russian immigrant who later served Militech in the Fourth Corporate War, and she gives me a makeover for the day. Last year, I had my arms grafted with skeletal-shaped body plating, and had retractable scissorhand claws fitted on the fingers. Had fang-like cyberteeth, and had my feet replaced with General Grievous-like...feet. Also had my eyes reddened so they could look more evil, and covered my face in a photon-tattoo of a skull which would fade in and out of opacity, making it look very ghostly. Then I wore a black, hooded and spiked leather jacket with black jeans, taking a scythe in a modern take on the Grim Reaper. My date at the time put in no effort and just dressed as a bunny girl. Safe to say I ditched her that night at the party for an Exotic who'd altered her skin to have light scales and gave herself techhair that behaved like snakes for her sexy Medusa (Or 'May Dusa' as she told me her legal name was) costume, and let me tell ya, something turned to stone that night...

"Hehe, yeah well, I sure wish I could turn invisible now. Can't even begin to imagine what I'd say if one of my friends saw me like this, down here with everyone else." I then quickly realised just how arrogant and offensive what I just said was, and I felt the need to deeply apologise for it. "Oh what I mean by everyone else..." That didn't help. "Damnit. I'm sorry, shouldn't have come out like that." I gave up, ready to accept anything that came my way.

"It's okay." Misty suppressed a laugh at my hopeless and over-thought way of apologising for my comment. "I've been called worse. You weren't technically calling me anything." She said. Thank goodness she was chill with that because I really dug myself a potentially deep hole. Maybe she is cool, in her own way. "But I should ask V, why is that such a problem? For your friends to see you like this?" That opened up alot of thoughts I had firing in my mind for the past two weeks.

I sighed. "It's just that all this...it isn't me. I was never taught to live like this, and aside from a few times on counterintel ops, I've never had to. Even then I've always lived with the knowledge that there's a comfy bed waiting for me back home. It's not that I'm embarrassed about this necessarily, but I'm embarrassed that I was never ready for it. And I'm barely getting by as it is." I opened up, not expecting to spill that many beans at once but, sometimes I just needed to vent, and I picked up on the fact that I was taking every opportunity I had to do it.

"Or perhaps this is the beginning of a new chapter in your story." She tried to offer me some hope, no doubt of this being an alignment in the stars signifying my rebirth. I however, was fully intent on this being just a little hiccup.

"Don't bother, babe, V doesn't believe in that." Jackie forewarned his girlfriend. And he was right. I didn't believe in it. Or maybe, I didn't want to.

It didn't stop her continuing her point. "This could be a sign of the Sun." As if already taking notice of how I hadn't a clue what she was talking about, she went on to elaborate. "In tarot, the Sun represents success...like making a miraculous comeback. Think of it as being reborn like the Phoenix- you experience a personal renaissance: a triumphant recovery from a setback, in your case, financial struggle. You surprise and surpass the competition. You come to understand the meaning of rebirth: you will never be defeated."

Evidently, I didn't give her the response she probably hoped for. "Uh-huh. Well my rebirth will be a new job, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm living the same life aside from that."

Jackie huffed. "Told you."

"We are all reborn in our own ways, V. But things are rarely ever the same after The Sun." Misty explained. I tried to stay respectful, because Misty was nice, but I don't know. I have a hard time with things like this.

"Well, maybe. We'll see I guess." I raised my tone of voice, not in a mean-spirited way but in a more upbeat way, wanting to make her feel like I wasn't trying to outright ignore her.

"I could give you a proper tarot reading to see if it is you know?" Misty offered.

"Nah that's ok, it's not really my thing." I responded as kindly as possible.

Misty nodded in response and then tipped her head in the direction of one of her shop's backdoors. "Come on, let's go see Vik." She said, walking Jackie and I through part of her store and pointing to a door right next to a shelf stacked with Maneki Neko cat figurines.

We walked through the door to another outside area, and Jackie led me through this back-alley down to where this Viktor Vector ran his practice. Before we went through his front door, Jackie stopped in front of it. "You sure you're ready to go in there mano? These common folk rippers don't smell like hospital wards. Don't want you throwin' up on Vik's operating table."

"Dude, c'mon, I'm not pathetic." I retaliated.

"You sure? Last night I heard you groaning in your sleep about not being able to take a bubble bath." He teased, smiling to himself.

"Ugh, let's just go." I said, pushing him lightly through the door as it slid open, which Jackie only took amusement from. I could see it in his face: "This little Corpo Rat V's thinks he's really pushin' me around, I could break him in two with just a single punch." I could hear him thinking.

The best Ripperdoc in Little China, as he was called, operated in a basement he rented out from Misty. Upon first entering, I caught a whiff of the smell of battery acid and other chemicals. This clinic had an 'office' desk with several documents, drawers, a computer, and interestingly, some old boxing trophies to the right, which overflowed from the actual trophy cabinet which was right next to a large row of lockers containing God-knows-what. To the far left sat the operating seat, which was surprisingly quite a good setup. Not as good as Garland's but, good enough, I suppose. The floor was made of hard tiles, some broken, others cracking. The left of the clinic extended into what appeared to be an empty driveway toward a gate, which I assumed led up to the street above so someone could drive in and get treated. There were a few car parts here and there, though most of them were stacked tyres. The place generally gave you a grey, 'garagey' feel. Only instead of motorcycles, cars and posters of hot women, it had cyberware fitting and retrofitting equipment, an operating theatre, and boxes no doubt filled with more spare parts for people than vehicles.

If Misty thought Viktor had stepped out, she was wrong, or at least, he'd certainly stepped back in because he was now operating on someone- a dark-skinned woman with orange-dyed hair who wore a blue sweater with white shorts and...legwarmers? Are those in fashion again? It didn't matter, she was just reading a magazine when we stepped in whilst Viktor put the finishing touches on dressing her leg wound. Viktor himself was a man who looked like an old school tough guy- he'd without a doubt been through some fistfights in his life. Like as if he was once a legend but now does something much more humble with his time. He had tinted glasses, ear piercings and tatoos on his arms of what I think are boxing heroes, though it was hard to make out in the dark when the only light around was focused on his operating theatre. Not to mention he had one of those crude and scary looking ripper-gauntlets on his left arm, didn't look as pristine as those I'd seen in others, but what can I expect, right?

As Jackie and I walked in, he heard our footsteps and, having just finished patching his patient up, slid back in his stool and stood up, walking up to the mountain of a man that was Jackie Welles, placing a quick, light and friendly punch to his gut, to which Jackie reacted to by feigning harm. Jackie then reached to Viktor's hand and the two clasped arms, pulling each other in for a bro hug. "Ah Jackie ya big lug, been a while!" He cheerfully greeted him.

"Only 'cause I don't let my chrome get fucked up all the time like Gloria here." Welles responded mid-hug, nodding his head at the patient in the seat, who I guess is Gloria.

"Uh-uh, no fair, not all of us are built like you." Gloria retaliated, though it wasn't serious. Guess they knew each other. Jackie and Viktor then parted from their embrace, and Viktor them turned to me.

"So, you must be V." Viktor smiled at me, extending his right hand to me for a handshake, which I reciprocated, but damn, he had a hell of a grip.

"One and only." I awkwardly replied, and quickly tried to move things on. "Must've heard I need new chrome, can I get an appointment after this one?" I asked him, tipping my head to Gloria, who waved at me with a nice smile, and I waved back.

"Yeah sure, today's been quiet. Gloria just walked in with a bullet wound, but I'm done now." He confirmed, then sat back in his stool to address her. "Now Gloria you should be fine in a few days, but I want you to take these if you get any pains, alright?" He told her, presenting a small pack of painkillers. "You're definitely gonna need to walk on those crutches though, 'less you want me to replace that leg of yours."

"As much as I hate that, you know how much I like my legs, Vik." She responded. Not sure if legwarmers were proof of that though.

"'Course. Jackie, can you just get those crutches from the closet for me please?"

Jackie simply nodded and went to retrieve them, returning with two crutches in hand whilst Viktor asked me to help Gloria to her feet so Jackie could put the crutches under her arms. When she was on her feet and on the crutches, Jackie accompanied her to the little elevator in Viktor's clinic which would take her up to the alley as she couldn't use the steps. When they were gone, Viktor looked at me and asked:

"Alright, what are we lookin' for today?"

My question on if Viktor could possibly jailbreak my company cybernetics and get them to work without authorisation wasn't met too well. Viktor said that as much as he wished he could do it for me, numerous rippers have gotten into heaps of trouble for jailbreaking cyberware. I guess it didn't matter if he could get it working or not- Arasaka expected me to return all their implants within the month, though I was willing to pay to keep the subdermal armour, Kiroshi Optics and enhanced blood pump, which they agreed to release from company control on the day that I returned the rest of the implants.

In spite of the disappointment, whilst I lay disassembled and in several different pieces on the operating bed, I learned that Viktor Vector was quite the interesting man- those boxing trophies were from his time as a heavyweight boxer in Watson, eventually boxing in the Watson Boxing Grand Prix, but he came in 2nd place in the finals. He later left that life behind, and now prefers the relatively straightforward life of a back-alley ripperdoc, but he continues to watch boxing matches avidly.

When we were finished, it was late at night. Clearly, I'd given the man his work cut out for him, and I took my first steps in my new body outfitted with old, cheap tech. Whilst I'd gotten rid of alot that I had to now return to Arasaka, I did get a Reflex Tuner, Titanium bones, a tyrosine injector and, as embarrassing as it is to say this...a Militech...Paraline operating system cyberdeck. Kill. Me. Now.

"How much?" I questioned the ripperdoc after he gave me the bill for his work. "I uh, don't think I can afford all that." I muttered, and as I did, Jackie, who had left to work at the bar, walked back in to check up on us.

"All what?" He asked, looking quite good having finally gotten a damn haircut like I suggested to him.

"Your friend can't pay." Viktor stated plainly, his hands resting on his desk as he looked over at Jackie.

"Oh don't worry Vik, I'm paying." Jackie assured, clearly not having seen the number.

"Jackie, it's 12,000 eddies." Said Viktor, disbelief in his eyes.

"What? V! What did you get? You were only supposed to get a new OS, maybe a cognitive implant or two but this?" Jackie yelped, and I looked down in some shame.

"Well actually, most of this is because of what I've had to do to remove his old chrome. That and repair what's been damaged. Namely his subdermal armour." Viktor cleared up, not helping my case.

"Yeah I may have skipped a few scheduled repair sessions with my company ripper." I admitted. My subdermals, cyberaudio and some other implants were extensively damaged from some harsh fistfights with Animals goons from early in October, when I got my cover blown whilst...undercover. My Life Coach advised me to instead do those damn exercises so my body would learn to cope with the pain and because I found myself so swamped with work that month I couldn't find the damn time to just get it all done and now, well. This was the result. Thanks guy who doesn't care anymore.

"Ay dios mio." Jackie cursed. "Look Vik, can I pay you in instalments instead?"

I then cut into the conversation with my own way of negotiation. Unlike Jackie, I learned to never jump to one specific option until the other party lays out some options for you. Then you have as much control over the deal as possible. "Surely we can come to some sort of arrangement, right?" A line I had used too many times back in my world, but it tended to open doors.

Viktor visibly considered it. "Alright. I'll level with ya. If you can come up with the funds to eventually pay all at once, or in installments, then that'll be a deal. I trust you Jackie, and by extension, I'm willing to trust you, V. But please, understand I need this payment as soon as possible."

Jackie then transferred Viktor about 2,500 Eurodollars, what he expected to be paying today as the first instalment.

I breathed a sigh of relief and jumped from the bed, though the fact I now needed to recover didn't help me. "Absolutely, I promise we'll get you paid back with interest as fast as possible. You have my word." I promised him, prompting a little laugh.

"Heh. Not sure how far that goes considering your type V." He smiled. "Go on, get outta here, and take these to make sure your body doesn't reject your new chrome." The man finished, handing me some pills.

"You won't regret this! I promise!" I said as I left with Jackie.

"We'll get you paid back?" Questioned Jackie as we exited Misty's Esoterica and made it out of the area.

"What? You said you were paying."

"That was before you cost me 12k. Look I don't know what, but you gotta pick up some more work, choom. Somehow, enough to pay off that debt."

"And that's exactly what I'll do Jackie, once I've got a new job an' I'm settled in. Trust me, once Militech gets back to my on my application, I'm done with all this and I'll be able to pay it."

"Oh yeah just like that huh? V, we can't wait that long to pay all that. Not fair on Viktor an' it ain't fair on me." He continued to argue, forcing me to come to a newer, more radical idea.

"Okay then..." I thought very carefully about my next words. On the one hand, I needed to pay. On the other, this was almost doomed to end badly for me. Nonetheless, I figured that I didn't have much else to lose. "What if I join you?"

"Join me? On what mano?" He asked, not quite getting what I was hinting at.

"I mean..." I sighed. "Join you on your merc work. Properly. I'll be your...partner...subcontractor? What's the term I should use here?"

"Well I'll be damned, Thought you were done with all that after the Crazy Train night."

"I got myself into this mess, and I'm gonna get out of it. So you know, maybe it's time I took a chapter out of the merc book. Doubt it'll be a good read but..."

"Hahaha! Finally, V. I can see it now bróder, this is the day you begin to forget about your old life, and make your new one." He congratulated, swinging his arm round my shoulder and using the knuckles of his other hand to ruffle my hair.

"Alright, alright let's not go that far." I said. "But when times get tough, it helps to have this as an option." I said as he let go of me and we began crossing the road, but just as I stepped out, I heard the screeching of tyres and the cruel chatter of gunshots to my left, and then, a huge monster of a vehicle that I think was a Nomad-modified Thorton Mackinaw came barrelling down at top speed down that road. I just managed to dive out of the way when it nearly hit me and I looked back at the two people inside- a man and a woman. The woman in the driver's seat. I watched as they and two customised Archer Hellas passed and yelled at her, though didn't expect her to hear me. "Learn how to drive, lady!" Earning the attention of everyone around before they just continued on with their nights.

"Lady?" Jackie cackled as he approached me on the other side of the road. "You call that a way to throw an insult?"

"Shut up." I requested, and we made a move on back to my car.

Panam Palmer's perspective

"Damnit Nash you idiot!" I huffed with burning vitriol, forced to make a sharp turn down the street and nearly hit some guy crossing the road in retaliation to the dimwitted actions of Nash Bane, who was, as misfortune had it, my 'partner'. I hated using that word to describe the gonk.

"Oh come on, Panam, we got the grenades secured perfectly tight- nothing's gonna set 'em off, promise." The bonehead tried to cool me off. It wasn't even just his nonchalance, but his genuine belief that he was right, when so many times his stupidity blew up in our faces. Only now, it really had the opportunity of doing so- we had just taken crates of rare Gash Antipersonnel Grenades that the Steel Dragons, one of the rival gangs to the Tyger Claws and sworn enemy of Arasaka, had managed to get their hands on. 'Our' fixer, Rogue Amendiares, didn't like that. She believed that Night City was best with the balance of power between gangs kept under control, her control. The Steel Dragons were not allowed to have this kind of gear, and likewise, neither were the Tyger Claws.

"You say that now, what happens when all your showboating sets off those 'nades, and several hundred lasers cut through everything in this truck?" I pointed out- the armoured bed cover shielding the crates had been blown off, and Nash had an infuriating habit of ignoring the fact that my Warhorse has a heavy machine gun on top of it to deal with threats. No, this guy had to make a big show of himself instead- he instead peered his torso out of my window, blasting away at the Dragons' Archers with his two RT-46 Buryas. In the process, some of the Dragons' bullets struck close to the crates, threatening to set them off now that they had switched tactics from simply killing us and reclaiming their prizes to simply making sure there was nothing to deliver to whoever we were delivering these to. Rogue's contact, in our case, and none of it would've happened had he just taken the gun on top and finished them off with its superior firepower. But no, as always, he had to showboat.

Nash merely grunted at my scolding, rolling his eyes as we turned around the bend, and made it away from the Megabuilding. Right now, I was just trying to lose those damned gangers. I had considered pulling one of those grenades and using it on them, but these things were far too dangerous to toss into the street- they fired high-intensity laser beams omnidirectionally when activated, and they'd surely cut through not only their cars, but also any pedestrians or other drivers unlucky enough to be caught by them. Checking behind us, we still hadn't lost two of them, but in a rare credit to Nash, he succeeded in popping one of their tires and had punched a great many holes in their windscreens and the hoods of their cars. I'd bet we could finish them off for good if only he took the machine gun instead.

It didn't take long for the police to respond, now that our chase was seriously endangering people. I heard two NCPD cruisers wailing, but to my luck, they seemed to be concentrating their attention on the Steel Dragons. But that's likely because of what they're driving- I have no doubt that they'll pull a roadblock of some sort to deal with the Warhorse, maybe even a Mech if we get close enough to some corporate property. However, if we didn't make too much noise and slipped away to the contact in North Oak, then maybe we'd be able to- what was Nash doing?

"Nash, please, for the love of God, please tell me you're not thinking of doing what I think you are." I pleaded as he began to jack himself into the port of my vehicle responsible for that gun.

"Said you wanted firepower..." He justified, an idiotic smirk growing on his face. Needless to say, Nash was your typical guy who adored things like explosions far too much for his own good, and heavy weapons were also on that list.

"That was before the NCPD got on our tails, now we have to slip away so we can-" I was cut off by the loud crackling of heavy gunfire.

"...never threaten a man with a good time!" Nash preached as he pumped rounds into the Steel Dragons' car still chasing us. I made another sharp turn, hoping to lose the heat by way of the bridges connecting Little China to the City Center. Within moments, the pursuer's car erupted in a bang, engulfed in flames as its engine combusted from the heavy peppering it was receiving from my gun. "You, are welcome." Nash irreverently boasted as he jacked out of the gun.

"Great, now we're going to have heat on us across these bridges, and probably on the other side of it too." I groaned, not even caring to get snappy with him at this point. "You couldn't have just shot out his tires instead? Caused him to spin out? Preoccupy the feds?"

"Now where's the fun in that?"

"Where's the fun in getting roadblocked and gunned down by a Mech on the other side of this bridge?" I shot back. Finally, he started to see my reasoning.

"Ugh. Point taken."

"You better hope they haven't predicted what I'm up to here." I checked behind us for a moment. "Ok, no cruisers following. Maybe we'll be lucky."

A few minutes or so later, we emerged on the other end of the bridge, but I kept close to the nearest truck, unwilling to be easily pointed out among all these cars around here. Eventually, I managed to evade enough heat to make the rest of the trip to The Glen in Heywood- where the badges really don't like to operate, relatively smooth. It helped that it was nighttime, and it also helped to have license number scramblers in moments like these, which prevented the NCPD from both visually and electronically tracking vehicles used in criminal activities. They worked by visually obscuring the license plate, and then screwing with the scanners they used. Unfortunately, my Warhorse has the disadvantage of being heavily modified and very distinct, so it would only be a matter of time before we'd be caught out. I wasn't however, ready to call in Rogue so she could get the heat off me through whatever bribing system she's got going- I wasn't ready to give her that kind of satisfaction. I was more than equipped to handle this.

As we drove through Heywood on our way to Charter Hill, a thought came to mind: what kind of message would a big Nomad truck with a gun on top send in North Oak, or worse yet, Japantown, where there are many more prying eyes. Of course, maybe I could fade into the hustle and bustle of the place, but I imagine the police will be much stricter and on the lookout for things out of place like the Warhorse than here in Heywood.

"What's with the slow pace, Palmer?" My...ugh...partner asked me, clearly bored.

"I think we need to wait it out for a little. The cops are going to be all over us in Westbrook."

"So...we drive quickly. What's so hard about that?"

"No, no, no. We need to lie low for a few hours, maybe until morning. Either that or we deliver the 'nades in a different vehicle." I explained, trying to get him to understand how important it was that we didn't get caught out.

"Gahhh..." He groaned. "Fine. But lemme call my buddy Jong. He's got a rig, it'll get us in just nicely." In spite of how much I hated him, I would be lying if I said Nash was totally without his uses.

"What kind can he hook us up with?" I asked him, not expecting something particularly suited to North Oak, but something that wouldn't draw suspicion.

"Chevillon Emperor. We'll slip past the feds just nicely in that." Wow. Wasn't actually expecting Nash to be this resourceful.

"Ok, good. We can work with that. Call him."

Nash's friend Jong arrived under the bridge where we were parked in surprisingly good time- within the hour, though that was still more than 20 minutes I had to spend sat, nothing to do with Nash Bane in the seat next to me. Not my idea of fun at all.

When he arrived, I found my expectations of him were greatly flawed- Jong was a Maelstrom. You can tell by the huge, ugly cyber-bug eyes he sported, and the way his wares looked like barbed wire and scrap metal roughly stitched into a person, or what was left of one.

"Bane, ma man!" The Maelstrom greeted with what sounded like chummy joy as he stepped off the Emperor 620 Ragnar, but it's always hard to tell with their heavily modified voices.

"Glad you could get here so quick Jong, how ya been?" Nash returned to his friend, the two throwing their arms around one another when they got close. I have to say, they looked real comfortable with each other, because interestingly, Nash was willing to visibly pat Jong on his shoulder four times in a rhythm, to which Jong nodded at him and mouthed an 'Ahhh' as if he had just been told the meaning of a joke and now understood it.

"Bad. Was balls deep in some real preem pussy before you called." Jong responded with a joking smile, though somehow I don't doubt that he was telling the truth. Didn't wanna know how he was getting that action though. One thing was clear, they were close. They broke up from their embrace, and he then looked to me. "You're Panam right?"

"Yeah, I am." I stepped forward to him, but I didn't really feel like shaking his hand or anything. "So, can we just take it? Or, are you going to drive us?"

"I'll drive ya. Go through North Oak alot, cops won't suspect a thing." He told me, his arms folded over his chest.

Nash was the one to react first. "Great. Panam, you go get yourself saddled in the Emperor, Jong and me'll load up the g-"

On that last, or, technically first syllable, I cut him off with a look so sharp it would've impaled him if looks could kill. No matter how uncharacteristically friendly he was, there was no way I would let a Maelstrom know that we're packing grenades that can each unleash laser hell when activated.

"The..uh..merchandise. Let's go, Jong." He salvaged, moving over to the back of my Warhorse and beckoning his friend over to help him out. Meanwhile, I opened up the Emperor's storage for them and took the left back passenger's seat, but then it hit me that Jong might just take a peek inside the crates, either by slyly opening one or with whatever optics he had installed. I then jumped out of the Emperor, proceeding to the Warhorse where I tried to take the crate he was carrying from him.

"On second thought Jong, you can go get the Emperor started, Nash and I will carry this stuff, don't need you doing labour and driving for us after all." I tried to cover. He insisted however, on the chivalrous option. If there was such a thing in this city, and kept a very tight grip on the box he was carrying.

"Naw. Really, it's no trouble. Literally, got so many augs it'll take alotta carryin' to bother me. 'Sides, I wanna help my buddy, and a buddy o' his, is a buddy o' mine." I really didn't like that he thought he and I were 'buddies', but whatever.

"No, no, I'll handle it. Nash's been telling me I need to be doing some more heavy lifting lately." I glanced at Nash as I said that, stressing those last few words to indicate to him that I wanted him to play along. I tugged at the crate harder, trying to wrestle it from him in the most friendly way possible.

"Well. Since you do look like you need the workout..." He said, only to feign concession and 'accidentally' toss the crate to the ground, cracking open the top. And it was too late for me to do anything, he had already seen what we were dealing in.

"You know." Jong started, and now I expected to hear something not so pleasant. "I just had a second thought of my own. I'll drive you two, on one...extra condition." Of course, there's always a condition. "I want a share of these 'nades. 'Least two boxes."

"Well, sorry but we have to deliver these to our fixer's people so, I'm afraid not. Could cut you in on our take though." I desperately tried to convince him. But he didn't speak that language clearly.

"Doesn't quite cut it the same way as lasers do." He replied, lightly slamming his metal arm on my Warhorse and over my head. "Now, you gimme some of those laser grenades, and I'll chauffeur you wherever you wanna go."

"And if I don't?" I asked.

"Oh I'll still let you have the Emperor. You can take it for any kinda spin you want but...that'd mean I remain here. With your big beauty of a Thorton Mackinaw. Heavy-set, armoured, armed. Take it from those Nomad customs, and your bolero jacket that you're an Aldecaldo. An' I know how much you like your offroad toys. I like 'em alot too, to play with them, that is. But I play pretty rough. Would be a shame if it broke down or, broke permanently as a result." He smiled, showing his ugly razor-sharp cyberteeth. It was clear I'd have to concede. He was playing off my weakness. Alot of Aldecaldos' weaknesses. Our vehicles. For many, especially me, our pride and glory.

I sighed deeply. "Fine. But you only get what's in that one crate you spilled. No more." I wasn't going to be shaken down that badly.

He grunted. "Deal." He then held his hand out to me, requesting a shake, which I agreed to. "Now let's go get your job done eh?"

We arrived in North Oak about 20 minutes later. Nash and I were in the back so when Jong drove through, nobody suspected anything different about his travels. Thankfully, he fulfilled his end of the deal, driving us to the meeting point without pulling any extra bullshit on us.

"So, what're you going to do with the 'nades?" Bane asked his friend as we began to come up to Rogue's driver.

"Can you at least not sell them? I don't need Rogue knowing there's Gash grenades flowing through the city she doesn't know about." I requested, hoping to appeal to Jong's sense of understanding of our situation.

"I was actually thinkin' of using 'em. Don't you worry missy, we'll know how to distribute this shit, it'll probably be a while til any of us even start using 'em." Jong replied. I gritted my teeth at 'missy', and almost spat the word back at him in disgust before I moved on.

"Good. I don't want this traced back."

When we stopped, Nash and I stepped off the Emperor and began unloading the crates into the driver's van. The driver asked me why we switched vehicles, and then after I answered, if the Maelstrom knew about the contents of those crates. I told him no, though I feared he could detect a lie in my voice. He then called Rogue, telling her that he had expected 12 crates. Because Jong found out, we only had 11, and Rogue wanted to deal with me herself.

"I'm told you only have 11 crates of the grenades, Palmer." She opened in that condescending, bitchy tone I hate, amplified by her use of my surname and not my first name. "My intel says there were twelve. Care to explain?"

"Your intel was wrong, hard as that may be to believe. There are only 11. Dragons have none of them. Your driver has all of them. Isn't that enough?" I admit, maybe it was unwise for me to snap like that, as it was a telltale sign of me not being totally forthright, or me being unable to admit I'm wrong.

"Mmm hmm. And you have a Maelstrom driver. Interesting. He didn't find out about them did he?"

"No. Told him they were just high-grade EMPs. Was totally on board with getting them out of the city. They're any Maelstrom's weakness." I lied, using a lesson Rogue taught me about those cyber-junkies: always threaten them with the fear of an EMP grenade. Scares the shit out of them more than I think an encounter with The Devil could. Maelstroms run on cheap, terribly implanted cyberware and each member, if not already, is on the cusp of cyberpsychosis. The threat of an EMP grenade is a catalyst in the unfinished reaction that is their crumbling mental state.

"Hm. You're learning." She mocked. "Alright Palmer. Would've been better without the chase in Watson...but it's nothing I can't clean up. Contract's closed. You and Nash should receive payment shortly." I simply nodded in response. "Oh, and by the way, if I hear about laser-armed Maelstrom anytime soon, you should hope it's because of another pair of mercs that failed to deal with Gash tech." With that, she hung up, and I resisted the urge to throw the driver's Agent phone to the ground.

Jong was happy to drive Nash and I back to Heywood to pick up the Warhorse, though Nash wanted to go for a drink with his pal, so they only dropped me off, leaving me alone in the Glen with my vehicle. I would've driven to my apartment in Santo Domingo if it weren't for the drive I didn't care to take at this late hour. I instead grabbed my blanket from the back, opting to wrap myself in it for the night to keep warm and sleep.

When that didn't work, I figured all the events of the night were playing too heavily on my brain for me to sleep without some help. I had no alcohol in the truck so I drove myself to the nearest bar, seeking to ease my mind into a state of drowsiness through drink. I drove the Warhorse towards El Coyote Cojo, the Mexican Chicano bar that everyone in Heywood seemed to adore. Turned out I'd never been, but then again, I don't have that much work in Heywood.

When I got there though, I was disappointed to find they had closed up for the night. I suppose it was well past 2am, but really? It's a bar! And don't these Valentinos love to party late? You'd think they're missing out on a load of business but, what could I do?

Instead, I drove myself to El Pinche Pollo, another bar that thankfully, did stay open late. After downing some Papa Garcin, I returned to the Warhorse, covered myself in a blanket, and found myself drifting off to sleep in minutes.

And there you have it folks, the first collision between V and Panam- our probably not-so-soon-to-be lovers. Not a meeting by any means, but I thought it'd be cool if the two of them cross paths in some way, plus the nature of it should be just another thing that teaches V the ways of the street- gunfights and high speed chases break out almost randomly, and he's gotta be ready to deal with that when it does. Hope you enjoyed this chapter here, don't be shy to drop some feedback and I will see you soon with the next chapter, City of Gang!

EDIT: Forgot to say this, but as you might notice, theres alot of references and terms I'm adopting from the wider Cyberpunk Lore, things you don't really get in the game. I'm gonna be doing this to make the universe here seem alot wider and so you can see more and more of the wackier things Cyberpunk has to offer that I never knew about before I took a deep dive into its wikia page for lore and research for this fic. I'll explain two of the things I've mentioned here for example- Exotics are people who get animal body parts or animal-like characteristics vat-grown and then biosculpted onto them in Cyberpunk lore, which means yes, catgirls exist in this universe. Secondly, whilst I explained the Steel Dragons gang through Panam, what I did not say is that they were actually founded by Yorinobu Arasaka back in his days of rebelling against Arasaka. He actually wanted to lead something of a revolution with the Dragons at his side, but eventually concluded that he could only change Arasaka from the inside which is when he was welcomed back into the family and the company. I know, I know, I was as surprised as you might be when I first read it, and it turns out Yorinobu has quite an interesting backstory, and I actually think I like him alot more as a character. Anyway, I'm gonna be introducing alot more stuff like this- everything from other lifestyles and whatnot to the more obscure gangs from the previous Cyberpunk RPGs, so get ready for a whole lotta cool stuff. Anyway, peace out!