The shower hummed as it started its flows, sending three jets of wonderful scented water down onto the floor, the splash almost hissing with the water pressure. It had been set to wash away the layers of the previous day and night. To remake the person anew.

Aoi Tsuki wandered in, feeling the warmth fall down around her. She felt like she could fall asleep in the stream; it had been a long week. One of hard work and hard celebration.

"C'mon Drausin!" a voice insisted from outside, "Take your damn clothes off and come on in. It's a shower, not a damn execution."

"But..." another replied, "Shouldn't we wait until..?"

"Blue is cool with it," the first voice insisted, before it called through the open bathroom door, "Ain't that right Blue?!"

Drausin was pretty shy for a rockerboy... but Aoi liked that she had at least considered her feelings instead of just busting in like he owned the place. Not that she minded. There was nothing to hide, not now, after all that had happened.

"No problem, Kerry-san!" Aoi called back jokingly, in her stage voice, "The water is divine Drausin-san, you have to try it!"

This had been the first time the Cutthroat rocker had stayed over at the villa, and Aoi was not lying; Kerry Eurodyne had the best shower in the country. Drausin had earned his place at the villa too, playing alongside Kerry during the surprise return of Samurai at

There were mumblings that she couldn't hear over the sound of the water, before Drausin wandered in sheepishly, nothing but a towel on. He stopped just short of the shower, his gaze raised to the ceiling.

Aoi looked at him directly, until his discipline broke and he glanced downwards to meet her eyes. She smiled and gestured for him to come in. He immediately returned his gaze to where it had been on the ceiling.

"Well, are you going to get in or what?" Kerry called, wandering in completely nude. He slapped the guy playfully on the ass as he passed, moving under the stream of water at the far end. Something I'm sure he would've objected to … if they hadn't spent multiple nights together already.

Drausin's face darkened at the cheeks, and finally he gave in. With a sigh, he tossed the towel around him aside and parked himself under the third jet of water, between Aoi and Kerry. They were arranged in a sort of triangle pattern now.

But Drausin still looked uncomfortable, tensing up slightly. That make Aoi unhappy.

"Kerry, you shouldn't tease him," she said, "He's clearly got a heart of gold, worrying about whether I would be embarrassed. Drausin, you're a gentleman."

The man visibly relaxed, standing down a bit from his bolt upright posture and his robotic movements to clean himself. Mission accomplished, Aoi smiled to herself.

"He's just so tease-able," Kerry joked back, "But I guess this is the first time you've both seen each other naked, ain't it? No need to be nervous, big guy, you wouldn't be here if you weren't welcome. I'm sure Blue likes the look of you as much as I do too!"

Aoi did like the look of Drausin. He had the friendliest face she had met before, though that's not what Kerry meant.

"If you say it's okay," he shrugged at last.

"Yeah, big guy, don't worry about it," Aoi said, "We're just three friends, enjoying each other's company."

"Friends with benefits," Kerry added, dunking his head in and out of the jet of water for a moment, "But she's right... maybe I should've thought about how you'd feel about it first."

She had hit a soft spot somehow. Time to lighten the load.

"Look at that, Drausin-san," Aoi said, "You made Kerry Eurodyne think twice. You should go to the screamsheets with that!"

"You really, really should not," Kerry replied, "Or else I go to them about Drausin of Cutthroat and Blue Moon of Us Cracks together in the shower."

Drausin snorted a single laugh, to the surprise of both Kerry and Aoi. "Our fans would lose their minds," he chuckled, "Might be fun."

Aoi beamed to herself, happy with her handiwork. Drausin was out of his shell.

"That's the spirit," Kerry said, "Gotta embrace life, roll with the punches, look for your own path. And you know who taught me that?" The one person that he always talked about after a few drinks, or when he was reminded of his own faults.

"Johnny Silverhand!" said Drausin and Aoi at the same time.

"Damn straight!" Kerry smiled, flicking water at them both with his hand, "You know the story by now." He was about to continue, but his eyes glowed blue; incoming call.

Kerry froze on the spot, like he had been turned to stone for a few seconds. Aoi glanced around Drausin to see what he was up to. "Gotta take this," he said, before leaving the shower at a quick pace, picking up a towel on the way out of the bathroom.

Must be another call from an exec, Aoi thought to herself, before resuming washing herself. Only corporate leadership was worth that sort of 'drop everything' response. She settled in and continued to enjoy the sensations, before noticing that Drausin was watching the door.

"Don't worry about it," Aoi said to him, "He gets calls like that sometimes. Always runs off to answer. It was at least once a week when we were on tour."

"If you say so," Drausin shrugged, pretending to look away from the door by turning his body away from it slightly. That was when she realised.

"Oh. My. God," she whispered to him, "You... and Kerry..."

"Don't tell him!" Drausin snapped back under his breath at once, "Don't think he likes me that way..."

Adorable, Aoi thought. This was a very interesting development. She grabbed his nearest hand, and held it in both of hers.

"Your secret is safe with me," she whispered, giving him a wink.

Drausin opened his mouth to speak, but Kerry burst back into the room at at sprint. Aoi felt her heart jump, as he slid on the wet floor, just barely able catch himself from falling on the glass panels that separated the shower from the rest of the room.

He smiled the widest, happiest smile she had seen on his face, ever.

"You'll never guess who's coming to town," he declared, "Shit is gonna go down."

Kerry had a legion of cleaners descend on the villa within fifteen minutes of getting dried and dressed.

The debris of the partying was cleared away, the windows and chrome shined up, the bedding gathered up to be sent to the laundry from the locations it had been dispersed to all over the property, and stains were exorcised with chemicals that were probably used by armies in foreign wars, judging by the smell.

Three hours later, having spent the time outside to let the workers do their business, Aoi re-entered the villa itself with Kerry and Drausin, to find it as clean as she had ever seen. She had been to the Eurodyne residence plenty of times, as the tour always came back to Night City for a few days before moving onto the next place. It usually looked like a mob had raged through it.

Now it looked clean enough to put up for sale.

"Huh, I don't think I've seen so clearly through the front windows in years," Kerry muttered, stopping to stare out at the Night City skyline, "Probably should've done this before."

That was an understatement, given the number of empty bottles and cans normally populating every flat surface.

"It would've been nice," Aoi agreed, getting a grin back for her trouble.

"Everything smells like lemon," Drausin remarked idly, his nose twisted slightly. The cleaners had nuked the place with the scent, it was true.

"We're going to have guests for a while," Kerry said, "The way it was before, they'd think we were pigs."

"What's this 'we' you're talking about?" Aoi giggled, "It's your place, remember?"

The rocker had the good grace to look ashamed, but only for a split second, before he tilted his head like he just remembered something.

"Like you didn't contribute to the mess," Kerry shot back, before his phone pinged.

He pulled it out quickly and checked it, before flipping it over in the air and catching it.

"They're on final approach now."

The scream of jet engines crept into the air through the open front door, drawing Kerry outside again, like he was hypnotised. How strange.

"Let's go," Aoi said to Drausin, "Wouldn't want to miss the grand entrance of the conquering hero, would we?"

The sleek jet black AV was already coming in to land just beyond the open gates, on the main road. An Excalibur AV no less, Aoi noted. Expensive. Too expensive. No way it belonged to who was coming, not even Kerry had one of his own after all. Her manager had rented one for the tour, but had complained about the cost.

The touchdown was smooth, and the air finally stilled as the engines went into standby mode. Aoi felt like fidgeting, but controlled herself. Truth be told, she was almost as happy as Kerry to meet the main guest coming.

The AV's side door opened, revealing two occupants in the two red-leather seats visible; neither of whom were who she expected.

The first to get out was the most stereotypical nomad she had ever seen. Cowboy hat, large bushy moustache, driving jacket, crash-straps, jeans and a revolver on his hip. He surveyed Aoi and the others from the bottom of the villa driveway with cool, experienced eyes, like he was assessing something, before his moustache twitched in a funny way. He pulled along a black plastic suitcase on wheels a little further, and waited for his companions.

Aoi hadn't expected to meet an Aldecaldo, not an original one, anyway. She wondered if he would answer her questions, or just dismiss her. He didn't look like an Us Cracks fan, that was for sure.

The second person to exit into the daylight was something else entirely.

Piercing dark eyes, all natural. Neck-length hair that went from green to purple, swept to the side, not natural. Cyberware interfaces just behind her visible temple, a grey tank top barely covering elaborate tattoos and black leather overalls with only a single shoulder strap done up. Aoi felt a flutter, as she took in the sight.

Was she an Aldecaldo too? It didn't seem like it.

The final occupant crouched out of the AV and revealed himself at last.

V.

The conqueror of Arasaka Tower, lover of the Queen of the Highway, slayer of Adam Smasher.

Of course, to Aoi, he was the guy who went out of his way to stop a murderous stalker when he easily could've turned a blind eye. Just how far out of his way it was became obvious when only days after he had helped with her problem, he had attacked Arasaka with the Aldecaldos in the most famous incident Night City had seen since forever.

He was dressed pretty casually too, black t-shirt, blue jeans, Samurai jacket thrown over his shoulder, gold-rimmed aviators... but he was still as scary looking as the last time she had seen him; enough cyberware to take on Arasaka, and it was all still there.

That was what had surprised her the first time they had met, Kerry waving a gun around. V had been the voice of reason, and it was his steering of that situation that had led to the all-America tour with Kerry, the collabs, the great press, the mountains of cash.

He pulled an even larger suitcase behind him, and rolled it along in front of him, casually walking up the driveway. His two companions looked at each other with hesitation about whether they should follow, and decided to stay put.

V walked in like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Kerry!" he called, raising a hand in greeting, "You're lookin' real good man!"

"V you maniac!" Kerry replied, strutting down towards him, "What the hell happened to you?"

"What d'you mean by that!" V asked, feigning insult, "I'm better than ever!"

"Looking like you got new work done, I mean," Kerry said, "Enough chrome to storm Arasaka Tower by yourself, never mind with your chooms."

Confused, Aoi tilted her head, as if that would let her get a better look at V. When had Kerry last seen V? He was just as chipped in as before. She wandered over closer...

"Ah, you know, had to get upgrades," V dismissed, drawing the rocker into a bearhug, "People were going to be gunnin' for me. What are you up to? What's Blue Moon doing here?"

V's gaze turned towards her. "Hey Blue, how you doin'?" he said, coming over, "Keeping safe I hope?"

Joy to see him coming over her, Aoi smiled and jumped up to hug around his neck. "I'm doing better than great!" she giggled, "Didn't think I'd see you again."

"Ah, had to get out of the place," V said, returning the hug and spinning her around a couple of times, before gingerly returning her to the ground, "You just get back from the Grand Slam North America tour with Kerry?"

"Just hanging around," Aoi replied happily, "It's nice to have some privacy. North Oak is surprisingly quiet."

"Taking my advice, very wisely," Kerry threw in, "Talking about some new material, solo stuff, real soulful."

In between the partying anyway, Aoi thought wistfully.

"Like that time on your yacht?" V smirked, "Remember how that ended?"

Kerry shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck, averting his gaze. "Yeah, still workin' on that," he said, "Finally got the time now. It's still top secret."

Aoi let V go and pointed to the last occupant of the villa. Drausin shuffled up, running his fingers through his short mohawk, with a small smile on his face.

V seemed to stare up at the man for a moment, like he didn't know who Drausin was. How strange, Aoi thought, hadn't they played together at the Samurai reunion? It was all over the screamsheets.

"Ah.. Drausin right? Cutthroat?" he said at last, offering his hand, "Sorry I didn't catch on straight away... I wasn't exactly myself the night we met."

Drausin bounced on his heel and took the offered hand. "So it's true?" he asked quickly, "You had the engram of Johnny Silverhand in your head that night? No wonder you were killing it!"

Aoi had heard the Silverhand Relic chip rumour and not believed it... You'd have to be crazy to attack Arasaka, sure, but that doesn't mean anyone who does it is possessed by the ghost of a dead rockerboy turned terrorist.

V and Kerry exchanged surprised looks. Kerry frowned slightly, as if to say not to get into it. Aoi wished he hadn't, this all sounded like something worth hearing.

"It's a long story," V replied, "Didn't think that particular rumour had gone around. I can still shred a guitar like Johnny, at least."

Not a denial, Aoi noted. He clearly didn't want to get into the details, so she decided not to pry.

"Gato..." Drausin said, pulling his leather jacket near the zipper.

"It was a lot less so when it was happening," V replied, "Shit almost killed me, but I'm sure everyone knows that by now."

That part was in every version of his story, that he had some deadly Arasaka tech in his head, counting him down to zero. All the more reason Aoi was touched by his willingness to take some of that remaining time to help her, though she had only found out after the news had broken about the Tower.

"Pretty much," she said, "So... who are your friends V?" She gestured to the two still standing at the end of the driveway.

V turned and grimaced at the sight of them. "What the hell are you two doin'?" he called, "Get up here. They're not royalty or somethin'!"

"We know that, you gonk!" the pretty girl with the tattoos called back, "But there are security bots over there, and we'd rather not be filled with holes!"

"They don't look cheap!" the cowboy agreed, "Wouldn't be friendly to blow them away."

Aoi looked for the bots, and found them standing with weapons just at the edge of the bushes near the gate. They were always there, and others like them were too wherever she went. She no longer paid them any attention, though they creeped her out a little when she had first joined Us Cracks.

"Good point," V called, before looking to Kerry again, "Can you get those two authorised for entry? I could hack them from here, but..."

"Ah, yeah, sure," Kerry said, "Should've thought of that after you called." His eyes glowed, gold this time, as he accessed his villa's subnet. When it was done, he gave a thumbs up to the other visitors.

They finally marched up. Aoi found her eyes drawn to the pretty girl, her augmented vision picking out the tattoos in particular. They were so random. She wanted to ask about their meanings.

The newcomers dumped their bags on the ground and looked to V. "Ah, right," he said, "Manners."

He pointed to the pretty girl. "Guys, this is Judy Alvarez, probably the best indy BD editor out there," he said, "Very close friend of mine. Kerry, already explained why she's here to you, but it's up to her if she wants to tell the rest of you."

"Hey Judy," Aoi said, with a wave, "I'm Blue Moon."

Judy seemed to hesitate. "Eh, hola?" she replied, recovering well, "Only way I wouldn't know who you were was if I lived under a rock. Good to meet ya." Oh, this was definitely going to be fun.

Drausin merely bowed slightly to Judy rather than saying anything, which earned him a cursory wave back. He was famous enough to be known too, just not on Aoi or Kerry's level... yet.

"And this is Cassidy Righter," V continued, "One of the best gunslingers the Aldecaldos has. Rode with him against Arasaka, and against the Wraiths more times than I can count now. Trust him with my life, which is why he's here."

"Howdy," Cassidy said, touching the edge of his hat.

Aoi snickered. She had never heard that said for real before. "Howdy," she said back. Cassidy took it in good humour. She decided he liked him.

"Guess I don't really need to introduce them," V said, "But this is Kerry Eurodyne, of Samurai and his own fame, Blue Moon of Us Cracks, and Drausin of Cutthroat. Basically, some of the biggest names in music goin'."

"Yeah, we know," Cassidy said gruffly, "Thanks for putting us up, Mr. Eurodyne. Can't say I've ever been in a place like this before, appreciate your help."

"Ahh think nothin' of it," Kerry replied, "Anything for V here."

"Can we go inside?" Judy said, nervously, "Sorry, I just haven't slept so well. If you've got a couch I can drop onto, that would be great."

They still hadn't talked about why they were there. Aoi knew it was going to be big.

"Sure Judy," Kerry said, leading the way, "Come into my humble abode."

They all followed along, Aoi making sure to fall in beside V as they did. This sudden visit was too interesting to let him out of sight.

"Jesus Kerry, how many people did you march in here to get the place this clean?" V said, head down, "The marble on the floor is like a mirror, I can see myself."

"Figured if you're gonna be staying here, might as well put in the effort," Kerry laughed, "Or buy the effort. Either way, you should make yourselves at home. Judy, never mind about couches, there's a bed up the stairs and to the right set up for you, beside the holo at the corner."

"Thanks," Judy said, with a yawn. She jogged up the stairs, Aoi watching her as she went. Yeah, this was going to be another fun week.

V stopped by the guitars on the wall, brushing his fingers off the strings of one of them. "First thing's first," he said, "Bring me to my babies."

Aoi snapped her head back around, away from the sight of Judy on the top floor. "Babies?" she asked.

Kerry rolled his eyes, and waved over his shoulder for them to come.

Aoi followed the others from behind, as the rockerboy took them into the garage area. The memories of what she, Kerry and Drausin had been up to there flooded back. It had been a lot of fun.

"There you are," V said, directing his voice at one of the cars, "They aren't complete wrecks, anyway." He went to the rougher looking car first, with the reinforced front and roof, and orange paint job. It was still dirty from when Kerry had taken them all out for a spin around the Badlands.

"Had the garage built out a bit to hold them while I was away," Kerry agreed, "Didn't feel right leaving them in storage, y'know? Though I've only been driving the Javelina."

"You did good," V sighed, still wandering, "We're going to need them."

"Got that feeling," Kerry agreed.

Aoi waited with anticipation for the why... Why had V returned? Why was he at the villa? Why was he in Night City at all? Curiosity began itching at her... until she couldn't take it any more.

"I have to ask, V," she said, "Why are you back in Night City? Shouldn't you be afraid of Arasaka?"

"Shouldn't ask questions that'll get you in danger, young lady," the cowboy said, "I'd hate to hear or see something happen to you."

Aoi shot him an appreciative look, but crossed her arms, insistent. She was who decided what was safe for her, not some old nomad.

"It's alright, Cassidy," V interrupted, "If she wants to know, I can tell her … vaguely."

Aoi thought about it for a moment. Should this be something she stayed out of? The beginnings of dissatisfaction with her current life had been growing. It was the whole reason she was hanging around with Kerry in the first place. He knew how to deal with that, in a particular way.

Maybe V's purpose was another, better way?

"I do want to know," Aoi said at last.

"I'm back for lots of stuff," V said, strolling over to his other care, the jet black curvy Rayfield, "To scroll a BD, to have another Samurai concert, to see some old friends, to make some eddies, to save my life so Panam doesn't have to watch me die slow and nasty..."

He stopped and turned back to the others, with a vicious grimace. "But mostly, I'm back to kick Arasaka in the balls and take their shit."

"Again," Kerry added.

"Holy shit," Drausin muttered, "You're crazy, Mr. V."

Aoi felt electrified, just knowing. This was the sort of thing that made you a legend. Us Cracks might be forgotten about in less than ten years, what then? She knew at once, she had to get involved... somehow. But it wasn't like she could just ask. She needed an in. She'd stick around to find one.

V held his arms out to either side of him, like he had been crucified. "Guilty," he said to Drausin, before dropping his arms, "And don't call me Mister. It's bad luck."

Continuing his walkabout, V circled, before stopping, noticing something about his car.

"Kerry, why are there a bunch of hand and ass prints all over my Caliburn?"