9

Kerry grumbled at the sound of his phone ringing. The sun was just kissing the horizon and it was a number he didn't know.

"Hello?" He groaned.

"Kerry? It's Panam. I'm sorry it's so early." Her voice was hoarse and she sounded out of breath.

"Yeah, yeah it's Kerry. What's up?" Blinking away sleep, he hauled himself out of bed.

"There was an attack on our way to Tucson. V was right. They were after him."

His stomach flipped. "Who was-? Panam, is he alright?" Tears were building behind his eyes. He'd just gotten V back.

"I- I don't know. We crashed and I blacked out. We're trying to find him. But we've had no luck. Can't ping him, drones haven't seen anything."

"I wanna help. What do you need?" He croaked out, chest painfully tight.

"Nothing right now. Wanted to let you know. I'll let you know as soon as I know more. I'm so sorry, Kerry." She hung up.

The air was suddenly oppressive and Kerry fell forward onto his knees. His fingers curled into the plush rug, tears streaming down his face. A strange sound filled his ears. After a moment, he realized it was his own voice. Strangled sobs and screams of frustration, swear words in every language he knew.

He had no idea how long he was there but he finally managed to get his breathing under control. His knees protested as he pushed himself to his feet. Staggering to the bathroom, he leaned against the sink. His mind was racing, heart still pounding.

Pulling up his holo again, he called V's number and held his breath.

It rang and rang but he didn't hang up. Finally the call was answered.

"V! Jesus Christ, are you ok?"

There was no response.

"V?" Kerry's panic was quickly resurging. "Say something, please."

"Who is that?" A voice drifted through the phone. "Who?" There was a THUD and a grunt. "Answer, merc!"

Kerry fought the haze of rage trying to cloud his brain. He pinged the call and got a hit.

"Fuck. You." He heard V croak.

"Don't worry, V. Help is on the way!"

He forced himself to hang up and immediately sent the ping information to Panam before calling her.

"Kerry, what's this you sent me?" She didn't bother to greet him. "Is this about V?"

"Yeah, he's in trouble. Tried calling him, managed to ping him during the call. You gotta find him. Please."

"We're on it, Kerry. Don't worry. We think we figured out who was behind it too. We'll get him back."

"Thank you," Kerry hung up and felt tears prickling behind his eyes again. "Hang in there, V."

Another hard fist connected with V's face and he could feel blood dripping from his nose. The world was starting to get hazy.

"Stop! You'll damage his chrome! Then they won't want him. He's worth some serious eddies." The voice sounded far away. Rough hands shook him and the world came back into focus.

"He somehow managed to answer a phone call." One of the Raffen glared at him. "We think he may have called for help."

"You didn't block off his holo before you brought him in? You idiots!" The man in front of him grabbed his head and he felt someone connecting their personal link. His optics flickered as his brain was invaded. Thankfully, he'd installed some new blocking software that kept them from wreaking too much havok. But his holo and all its information was still easily accessible.

"Kerry Eurodyne?! That's who was on the phone!" They disconnected and V's head fell to his chest.

"The who isn't important. Just make sure he can't do it again." A door was opened somewhere to the right. "And clean him up. The buyers will be here any minute."

Several sets of footsteps made for the door and it closed with a soft click. V had to think fast, but with no weapons the odds were against him. Plus the injuries from the wreck weren't doing him any favors.

He hoped Panam was ok. The Raffen had come out of nowhere. Who knows how many Aldecaldos were killed this time.

Shaking his head, he did his best to focus on the task at hand. There was a surveillance camera blinking in the corner. In a matter of seconds, V hacked into it. He flipped through the feeds trying to orient himself. The Raffen were holding him at a gas station.

He saw a car pull in and a group of men get out. Instantly, V recognized them - Scavs.

The door to the room reopened and V quickly shut down his connection, pretending to be unconscious.

"Wake up, merc." The woman's voice was familiar but he couldn't quite place it. She shook his shoulder and he slowly looked up at her. Her dark eyes held no emotion as they looked him up and down yet her touch was soft, like that of a mother. She had a damp rag and wiped the blood off V's face and then left without another word.

Once he was alone again, he went back to hacking the building's systems. Every daemon in his arsenal was quickly unleashed. A total system breach, knocking out security and communication. But he still had eyes in the cameras, using them to wreak further havok. He hit one Raffen with a contagion and it quickly spread.

Unfortunately he still couldn't find his gear and no help was in sight. His hands were tightly bound behind him, securing him to the chair. Even with his augmented muscles, he couldn't break free.

For posterity, he tried to access his holo but found it blocked. He looked around the room for anything of use but there was nothing.

The door was suddenly thrown open and two of the Scavs walked in, guns in hand. Two more Raffen followed.

V's eyes landed on the gun in one of the Raffen's hands and rage bubbled inside of him. He was holding Archangel. A crooked smile crossed his lips when he noticed V's gaze.

"It's a nice gun. V, is it?" He said, leaning down to put his face even with V. "Friend said it was a gift to you. From your input."

V's heart skipped but he carefully kept his expression neutral. Very few people knew where he got that gun. Only five or six Aldecaldos at best and certainly no Raffen, until now.

"And that's who called you earlier too, wasn't it?" It wasn't a question, but a statement. He turned his attention to the Scavs. "This joytoy is Kerry Eurodyne's bitch. Use that information as you will. Got the eddies?"

One of the Scavs nodded and the Raffen's optics lit up.

"Pleasure doing business with you." As he turned back to V, another Raffen came sprinting to the door.

"They found us! They found us!" She screamed. A gunshot rang out from a distance and she fell forward.

The sound was unmistakable - Mitch's rifle. The Aldecaldos had arrived.

"Fuck!" The Raffen brandished Archangel and knocked V hard upside the head, rendering him unconscious.

Kerry paced the length of his living room again and again. It had been several hours since he'd heard anything from Panam. She'd said they found the place and were about to raid it. Then something about Scavs.

"Ugh! Fuck!" He thrashed at the air before finally throwing himself onto the couch. The sun was starting to dip behind the buildings, casting a long shadow over the mansion. But Kerry didn't bother to turn on the light. He just sat there, glowering into the growing darkness.

It had been a long time since he'd felt this helpless. Even when V was dying, he could at least offer some level of comfort.

At some point, Kerry fell asleep. It was restless. He was chasing V, but the other would always disappear just before he got to him.

The shrill ring of his holophone jolted him out of the nightmare. It was 3am but he quickly answered it.

"Kerry? It's Panam." She sounded frustrated and… afraid?

"And?"

"The Scavs got away with V but we're pretty sure we know where they're taking him. We're on our way to get him. And to give him Archangel back."

Kerry was quiet for a long time.

"Kerry?"

"How?" His voice was dangerously quiet and razor sharp. "How the fuck did they get away with him? WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP THEM?" Rage finally boiled over into borderline hysterics as he screamed into the phone. "FIND HIM AND BRING HIM HOME!"

Panam started to say something but he disconnected. From what he understood, it should have been a simple operation to get him out. And yet they'd fucked it up. V slipped through his fingers again.

He grabbed the nearest item he could, a large whiskey decanter, and whipped it across the room. It hit the window and the bottle shattered, its contents staining the rug a deep brown.

With a huff he went upstairs to his bedroom. Next to his bed was a bottle of sleeping pills. His hands were shaking as he tried to open it, finally succeeding. Not bothering to check the dosage, he dumped several into his palm and knocked them back with a large drink of whiskey from the bottle next to his bed.

For a moment, the room spun and Kerry fell back against the pillows. Then he slipped into quiet unconsciousness.

Cold. It was so cold. V tried to move but it was painful, like he was surrounded by tiny razor blades. Slowly, he pried his eyes open. He was in an ice bath, a wire connected to his personal link.

It was tough and took forever, but V finally hauled himself out of the tub and onto the hard ceramic floor. He ripped the cord out of his head and tried to stand. His legs were weak and he stumbled, nearly landing face first into another tub. Its occupant's cold, lifeless face stared up at him and he shuddered.

The sound of a distant door helped him focus his attention. Like it or not, there was nothing he could do for the others. He had to get out of here. First, he had to figure out where exactly here was.

Hypothermia had started to set in and he struggled to move. But he made it to the door. There was a small cabinet next to it and he was lucky enough to find a pair of pants and shirt. It wasn't much, but he already felt a bit warmer.

Suddenly footsteps could be heard just on the other side of the door.

"One of them went offline. Got to make sure it wasn't our golden boy." The voice was concerningly close.

V ducked behind the nearest cooler just as the door slid open. A lone Scav walked in and looked around. His eyes landed on the puddle of water outside of the tub that V had been in.

"Shit," he breathed and walked up to the tub. V moved quickly but silently, grabbing the Scav and snapping his neck.

He stripped the body of anything useful. While there wasn't a lot, he got two priceless items - a pistol and spare clip.

The door slid open with a hiss and he peaked out into the hall. There was a camera blinking and his optics lit up with a warning of unauthorized scanning. He quickly hacked it and took over the system. As he flipped through the different cameras, he counted the number of Scavs between him and freedom. Five.

He used the cameras to short circuit one. Four.

Shouting at the end of the hall caught V off guard and he got out of the system. There was a Scav coming towards him, SMG at the ready.

He crouched into the doorway and clicked the safety of the pistol off. Peeking out, he fired, hitting the man square in the chest. The machine gun clattered to the ground followed by the body. Three.

Moving as quickly as his body would allow, V made his way down the hall and into the next room. The gunshot had echoed through the whole building and now everyone was on high alert. He managed to remain undetected and found his way to a staircase.

Leaning against the railing, he hacked a man on the other side of the room. For a moment, nothing happened. But then a grenade went off. Pieces of the man went everywhere and the explosion ripped a hole in the wall. Two.

"Up here!" A man appeared at the bottom of the stairs but V was ready, firing off a quick shot. The assailant fell before they even saw him. One.

A sigh of relief escaped V's lips and he straightened slightly. He went to take a step but his vision suddenly distorted. He grasped wildly for the hand rail but something else grabbed him. A solid arm wrapped around his neck, the barrel of a gun pressed against his temple.

"Don't fucking move, V." They growled.

"Halson?" V choked out. A fellow Aldecaldo and Bob's only son.

The grip tightened and V started to see spots. "You killed my fucking dad, think I won't kill you?"

V was guided forward and down the stairs, Halson's grip loosening just enough for him to breathe.

"Let me go. I'm leaving the Aldecaldos," V panted.

The grip around his neck loosened a bit more and it was enough. V gave a sharp twist, his fist connecting with Halson's cheek. The other man grunted and stumbled back but quickly raised his gun again.

"Halson, listen to me. Your dad knew the risks. So did Ted. And Saul."

The tension in the air was sharper than a razor. Without warning, Halson turned the gun on himself.

"Shit! No-!" V reached for the other man but it was too late. His body crumpled to the ground, blood pooling around it.

For a long moment, he stood there in complete shock. At least he now knew the who and the why.

Turning away, he walked through the rest of the building. He found his clothes and changed out of the looted ones. The Aldecaldo jacket suddenly felt strange. The sleeves seemed too long and the leather felt stiff.

Before leaving, he found a terminal and jacked in to look at his system and unblock his holo. The system was more complicated than he had anticipated and soon gave up.

Stepping out the door and onto the street, V gasped. He was in Night City.