Chapter 4
"WAKE THE FUCK UP V".
He heard Mitch yell. Fuck, were they under attack? Raffen, robots, fucking what?
"Time for lunch." Mitch said with a smile. "You were fucking gonked out. Had to yell to get you up" Mitch hopped out of the tank, and he followed. The nomads were all in a circle around a fire, and around they had made a rough circle with their vehicles.
"Hey V. How was the ride?" Panam asked.
"Kid did good" chimed in Mitch.
V could tell Mitch didn't want Panam to know about his little nap, and he was ok with that. No reason to worry her. He grabbed a bowl of protein porridge and sat down next to Panam.
"I think that's Raffen on the horizon" Panam pointed east, and sure enough there was what looked like several cars and trailers, and they could make out the tiny dots of campfires in among them. "Let's finish up and head out". He choked down the last of his lunch and hopped in the basilisk.
"Ok, you rested and ready to roll?" Mitch asked.
"Preem"
"Alright, buckle up". V could hear the engines of the quadros, and the roar of Panam's truck, even inside the basilisk. Wouldn't be long now till the Raffen spotted them, if they hadn't already. He double checked his connection to the basilisk main cannon; Mitch was on artillery. Were the Raffen out here as bloodthirsty as the ones around Night City? Guess he was going to find out. He scanned the camp with the basilisk's viewfinder, looking for the telltale dust clouds of pursuing vehicles.
"They are not pursuing" he heard Panam yell over comms. She sounded relieved. "Only a few hours to the ripper now". "V we are going to make it!"
An explosion rocked the dust next to him. His stomach sank, and he frantically waited for the dust to clear. It looked like their caravan was intact. Guess these Raffen were the same as all the others. Fuck. He still didn't see any dust clouds or any pursuing vehicles. What the fuck was that explosion? No fucking way these gonks had cloaking tech, right? He flipped on the thermal vision and scanned the entire horizon. Still nothing. What the fuck?
"Look up V!". Dakota's voice came in over comms. He could hear Panam swearing in the background.
There was a fucking AV right above them, painted in wraith graffiti. It had a huge cannon mounted on one side, that thing was sure as fuck not factory issue. The cannon fired again, and another explosion shook the basilisk. This is why he didn't see any dust clouds on the ground when they passed the Raffen camp. Fuck.
"I guess we get to test that turret out sooner than we thought" Mitch yelled into comms.
He saw Panam's truck veer hard left, and lost track of it. The AV didn't change course. He saw the cannon fire again, and the entire tank shook. This time it was a direct hit on the basilisk. A few alarms went off, but Mitch didn't look worried.
"Armors holding" Mitch said. "But we can't take too many of those" Mitch was looking out the viewfinder at the AV now. "Come on girl, where are you?"
BOOOM! The tank shook violently. Now a lot of alarms were going off in the basilisk, and Mitch looked concerned.
"Hold on tight V!. We gotta take that thing out or we're flatlined" Mitch yelled into the tank. "See if you can get a shot". He was pulled sideways as Mitch cut hard left with the tank, and he spun the main cannon around.
He tried to get the basilisk's main cannon on the AV, but it was too high for the gun to hit. Fuck. He was considering hopping out of the hatch and taking shots at the AV with River's gun, but just then the AV lurched to one side and a huge hole appeared where the word 'WRAITH' used to be. A couple of seconds later, more holes appeared, and the AV started smoking, and he saw it losing altitude. He trained the main cannon on it now and fired. The AV exploded in a shower of metal and fire.
"Zeroed those fucks good" Panam said excitedly. "Nice shooting V".
"You too"
Mitch nodded at him. "Good work V. Don't see anything else, I think we scared em good. I bet they think twice before trying shit like that again."
"Looks all clear" he heard Panam on comms. "Just a few hours to the ripper, and I do not see anything on the horizon."
Mitch told war stories for the next few hours. Him and Scorpion had sure seen some shit. V thought they made Night City look tame. No wonder Mitch never got flustered. The sun started to set. Sunsets out here were beautiful, he hopped out of the hatch to take it all in. The way the dust caught the light and made the entire horizon reddish orange was something. Sure as fuck didn't get that back in NC.
He looked over at Panam's truck and saw she was watching him watch the sunset with a smile on her face.
"You miss this?" She yelled into the wind.
"More than I ever thought I would" He yelled back. It was the truth. He was never meant for city life.
Her smile widened. She was pointing up ahead now. He turned to look.
V saw what looked like an abandoned town on the horizon. A few shacks, and a huge warehouse. Nothing looked new or up to date though. The best ripper in the badlands lived here? What the fuck?
"Getting close". One of the Quadros came in over the radio.
"We'll check it out". The other one chimed in. He heard both engines rev up and then fade as the Quadros disappeared towards the horizon.
"How'd you find this guy?" V asked Mitch.
"Mutual connections. Good rippers 'r hard to come by out here. Don't worry, we did our homework. This guy has a lot of nomads vouching for him, he's gotten our people out of some real shit. Must be good if he can survive out here this long"
V nodded. "Yeah, guess so".
The roar of the Quadros came through the basilisk again. That was quick. These guys sure could move around the desert. One of them came in over comms. "Nothing. Looks deserted. Sure this is the place?"
Dakota's voice. "This is it. Should be a big warehouse."
The Quadro again. "Yeah, its empty. There are bodies. Fresh, maybe a day or two old. Gettin' dark though, couldn't see much. Maybe Raffen finally got him?"
Panam on the holo this time "Fuck V. Let us go check it out anyways. We came all this way. Maybe we can find something." He could hear the sadness and disappointment in her voice, almost like she didn't believe what she was saying. Shit. Is this what he was in for, for the next few months? Hope followed by disappointment? Disappointment he was used to, but the hope made it so much worse. He looked at River's gun again. Have to see how bad it gets without meds. Johnny'd understand. He'd given it a good shot, but at this rate he wouldn't even get to Phoenix, or if he did, he wouldn't know where he was. Guess Alt's 6-month estimate was on the high side.
He heard Mitch on the radio "We can't get back tonight. We got firepower, but we don't want to cross Raffen country in the dark. We scared em good, but if they had that AV who knows what they are packin'. Better sleep in the cars in case they show up and we gotta delta".
They pulled into the town. Mitch headed into the warehouse but came back quick. "Took a quick look but can't see shit in the dark. Lotta bodies though. Blood and chrome everywhere. Cars too, around back. Must have been quite the operation. Cryin' shame."
The nomads formed a circle with the vehicles again, near the ruined warehouse. It was pitch black except for the starlight. No fire this time - Panam didn't want to attract any attention. They sat in a circle in the dark, eating their porridge in silence. The mood was glum, disappointment thick was in the air. He scooched over next to Panam.
"It was a good plan". He put his arm around her. "Thanks for tryin'. Maybe we'll find something tomorrow."
"V…" Her voice cracked. She set her bowl down and buried her head in his shoulder. "I just..."
Fuck. He'd never seen her this bad. Not even when Saul got zeroed by Smasher.
"I just need you with me. I do not know what I would do without you. There has to be some way!" Her voice broke on that last sentence. He felt himself start to lose control too, his eyes were stinging.
"Panam…"He put his other arm around her in a full hug. The other nomads stared down at their bowls not saying anything. He put the thought of River's gun out of his head for good, he decided it was a moment of weakness. If he was going to check out, at least he'd be among family till the end. Better than alone in the gutter in Night City. He'd just kind of assumed that was how he'd end up.
She was sobbing loudly into his shoulder now. V looked around and he could see everyone's eyes were full of tears in the starlight, even the nomads he didn't know. Fuck, he had never seen Mitch show any emotions at all. Is this what Saul meant when he said they were family? It had been so long since anyone cared about him like this. Even a gonk like him knew this kind of family was rarer than real meat in Night City. His own vision blurred and stung with tears, and he lost it too. They held each other in silence for a while, both weeping quietly, not looking at each other. No one spoke for a long time.
"I need some space" Panam said suddenly and ran over to the basilisk.
"I…" but he couldn't think of anything to say.
"S'ok." Dakota spoke up. "Give her a minute. You know how she is. We got other leads V, don't worry. They can't all work out."
"Yeah, I know".
Mitch spoke up. "We still might find something in the mornin'. Maybe the Raffen didn't know what they got into."
V nodded, and they sat in silence awhile longer, looking at the stars.
Mitch broke the silence finally "You better go see how she's doin V."
He nodded, headed over to the basilisk, and found her sitting on the roof, looking at the sky. She looked over at him, tears still in her eyes.
"Remember that first night under the stars, when we stole this thing?" She pointed at the tank and wiped her eyes. "I thought we were going to be unstoppable. If you had told me then where we would be now, I would have thought you were crazy" She looked at the sky. "Can you still find Ursa Major?"
He pointed up. "Sure as shit. Looks like its leaking again".
She smiled through the tears. "Come sit with me?"
He hopped on the basilisk, slid over and put an arm around her. She turned and looked at the horizon.
"When did you know?" She asked, turning and looking him in the eye.
"Know what?" He didn't know what she was talking about.
"Know we'd end up here. Together."
"Fuck… Panam. I…" Now it was his turn to look out at the horizon.
"V... come on, this is important. I'm trying to have a fucking moment here with you". She said and gave him a little punch.
"After our first ride in this thing" He slapped the tank.
"V". She looked confused. "Can you fucking be serious?"
"I am." He started, but after seeing the puzzled look on her face, he clarified "No, not what happened in the tank. It was after we got back to camp, and I told you about everything. Johnny, how I was scared, dyin'. And you didn't question anything I said. - you told me not to worry, said you'd figure it out, we'd find a way out of this. Never had anybody give a shit about me like that, not even Jackie. Never thought anyone would. That's when I knew… at least I think so."
Their eyes met, and hers were full of tears again, "We WILL figure your head out". Her voice was shaky but didn't break.
He could feel his own tears welling up now, he desperately wanted what she said to be true. Fuck. Why did everything always have to be so hard?
"V" she said.
"Yeah?"
"Can we just stay here all night?"
"Sure can" he said, reaching into the basilisk and grabbing a thermal blanket and a couple pillows. They looked up at the stars for a long time in silence. She laid her head on his chest, and after awhile he felt her relax as she fell asleep. He looked back over at the camp, and down at her. This was preem. He finally felt some peace, this was better than the view from the top of Arasaka tower. He felt a warm sensation in his chest, he almost didn't recognize it, it had been so long. Was that – hope again? Real hope? Fuck.
