Authors note: This chapter will reintroduce Johnny into the story as well as Alt, and the next two chapters or so will introduce the next villain that V and company will have to overcome; hope you enjoy.


The black abyss I found myself staring into was unsettling to say the least and differed from the time when Dex Deshawn shot and killed me. Looking around, there stood a single figure that I couldn't make heads or tails of, so my best bet was to get closer. Walking closer, the figure gradually started to take a familiar shape, one that I thought I'd never see again. The black abyss was soon replaced with my memory of the Aldecaldo camp, but empty apart from me and the phantom; it made me wonder if the relic was malfunctioning again.

"It's good to see you again V." The figure said as I sat down to take in my surroundings; I figured either I was one hundred percent dead or teetering between life and death.

"Johnny, never thought I'd see you again and how you are even here; last thing I remember was Alt separating us before I went back to my body." I said as Johnny sat next to me, as good as it was to see him again, I was still confused how he was even here.

"I'll be able to answer that." The figure said as it manifested itself into Alt Cunningham before she continued.

"I took a calculated risk by partitioning the biochip and creating a slot for both you and Johnny; it was then that I deactivated Johnny's partition so as to not overwrite your partition again." Alt explained as I took in the information and wondered what this would mean for me now.

"I don't understand; the biochip is the reason I'm even in this mess to begin with, and now I have Johnny's construct riding shotgun again. What's to say that the biochip won't allow him to finally take over, even against his will." I said as Johnny wasn't all too happy about it either; Alt had completely changed the plan without even letting us know, and it in of itself felt like a betrayal.

"V's right Alt; this was not the agreement that we had. You know, I was a hypocritical, egotistical, narcissistic asshole in life who shunned all those who cared for me, but V showed me that living that kind of life was not only wrong, but downright pathetic; however, even I would have never gone back on my word, and I never thought I'd live to see you go back on yours." Johnny said as he continued to get even more pissed off at this entire situation.

"If I can continue before V's ripperdoc fixes him up and he regains consciousness." Alt demanded and shut both me and Johnny up before continuing. "That was before I hacked into Arasaka's mainframe; there I found out that they had acquired information on Militech's experimental cloning program, at first I thought nothing of it but soon realized that there was more to it than I first thought. Browsing through the files that Arasaka had managed to klep from Militech, they explained that Militech's experimental cloning procedure was successful; however, it was missing one key ingredient." Alt finished as I soon realized what that ingredient must had been; a biochip with a person's engram on it.

"And how exactly do we convince Militech to clone V? Last I checked, V doesn't even have the money for this procedure, nor does he have the connections at Militech." Johnny said as I pondered over it; sure, Meredith Stout became their spokeswoman, but she cut off all contact with me not to long after I assisted her in proving her innocence.

"Johnny is right; there has to be another way." I said as Alt faced me before addressing that particular can of worms.

"Unfortunately, your body is too far gone to be saved at this point; however, the cloning procedure will in essence rebuild your body on a molecular level with your original DNA intact while maintaining the outer shell." Alt explained, but my confusion only worsened.

"What do you meanby keeping my outer shell; I thought cloning required a whole new body to be made." I said trying to piece this all together.

"Normally you'd be right, and that is what will happen in Johnny's case; however, the cloning process will amplify the biochips ability to change your DNA back to its original configuration; in a sense, you'll be completely rebuilt inside while maintaining your exterior. If that still confuses you, think of it like rebuilding the interior of a car; that's what is going to happen to you." Alt explained as I processed what she was saying, this sounded too good to be true, and I had my doubts; hell, even explaining this to Panam would cause her to tell me I've finally lost my mind. However, what got my attention the most was cloning Silverhand and giving him a second lease on life? I highly doubt Arasaka would like that, and thought it'd be awesome if we stormed Arasake tower for shits and giggles; they'd piss themselves.

"So, to get the gist of it; you're saying that this cloning procedure would rebuild both mine and Johnny's body and from there I'd be able to remove the biochip?" I asked as Alt confirmed that this was indeed the case.

"You still have not answered how we are going to manage to get that far Alt, and why would you even do this for me?" Johnny said as Alt turned back towards him

"You'll use me as bait; there is a rogue AI that is currently in charge of the cloning program who has been trying to assimilate me for the past sixty years. He knows about our connection V and will contact you soon under the guise of a scientist with a trade; you give them the biochip and you get a new body and Militech's records are wiped clean from the Aldecaldo raid." Alt said as both Johnny and I were uncomfortable with using Alt as bait; particularly if she was indeed assimilated than there would be very little we could do to stop the rogue AI threat to come.

"Johnny, what are your thoughts on this?" I asked as he looked me dead in the eye.

"A mixed bag V, on the one hand it'd be great to live again, but I don't want to put Alt in that kind of danger again. It's my fault that she died in the first place, and if anything happened a second time, I don't know what I'd do." He said before Alt cut in.

"And as I told you already, the Alt Cunningham that you knew is long gone; I am merely a reflection of her genius and nothing more, anyways, it's time for you to return to the land of the living. Goodbye V, and we will be in touch." Alt said and in a flash the scenery started to fade away and I started to come to.


As I came to, the first thing I had noticed was that I was back in the tent that Panam and I shared; however, the odd thing was that Vik was here as well. Sitting up in bed and letting my eyes adjust to the light, I noticed Misty was here as well and to my surprise, so was Judy. It was also at that point that Johnny materialized in front of me again, and took the surroundings in. Across from the tent, I could hear Panam arguing with Mitch over something, but I figured it would be wise not to eavesdrop onto her conversation.

"Surprised to see me V?" Vik asked with a chuckle and Misty moved towards me to check on my bandages.

"I am, why are you even here?" I asked as Misty spoke up.

"Panam called me over the holo after looking through your database; said that you were gravely injured, and that Vik was the only one who had the skills necessary to save your life." Misty said

"It was by pure coincidence that I was driving through Night City when Misty called me, so I picked her and Vik up and drove them here." Judy said as panam walked into the tent with Mitch in tow.

"Damn it V, don't you ever do something such a gonk thing again; you hear me!" Panam shouted before wrapping her arms around me in a tight hug, much to the amusement of Vik and Mitch, and the adoration of Judy and Misty.

"I was so worried about you." Panam whispered into my ear before she pulled back so that I could have a bit of space.

"How long was I out for?" I asked

"About a week and a half." Panam said and that completely took me by surprise, normally I'd only be out a day or two at most.

"Shit V, looks like that bullet did a number on you." Johnny said as he was leaning against the tent wall beside me.

"Guys, there's something that I need to tell you, and you may not like it." I said as Panam, Vik, Mitch, Judy, and Misty looked at me with confusion.

"What is it V?" Panam asked as everyone else waited for my answer.

"Johnny is back." Is all I said, with Panam, Vik, and Misty going white in the face and Judy confused by that.

"What? I thought we got rid of the bastard in Mikoshi." Panam yelled as she punched the tent wall that ironically Johnny was leaning against, at that point he decided that he'd be safer in my mind and dematerialized.

"Later V." Was all I heard Johnny say before he was gone.

"I did too, but apparently Alt changed the plan at the very last minute without even so much as letting Johnny and I know." I said as Panam started clenching her fists and was about ready to storm out before Vik asked a very important question.

"Are you still in danger of Johnny taking over" Vik asked me.

"No, his engram is partitioned from mine on the biochip; Vik, I need you to do a full diagnostic if that would be possible at all here." I said as Panam looked directly at me, unaware that I had an engram on the biochip as well.

"Why are you an engram V?" She asked me

"Part of Alt's original plan to separate me from Johnny, though from what she told me when I was unconscious; she quickly made a split-second decision and copied both engrams and partitioned them so as to not overwrite the other." I said as everyone pondered that over unsure what Alt's game was, and Panam was none too happy about how we were all duped by the AI.

"And why did she dupe us exactly?" Panam asked as she sat down next to me.

"She didn't exactly dupe us, but she sure as hell didn't tell me the entire story; though that may be because I was in a hurry to get out of Mikoshi before you and I were killed there as well Panam." I said as Panam squeezed my shoulder softy and mumbled something about how that would have been the end of Arasaka.

"So, what is the whole story then V." This time it was Judy who spoke up, and to my surprise, it appeared that Panam did not consider her a threat to our relationship which I was thankful for, if there was one thing I was surprised about; it was how protective Panam became of me, of our relationship, and she would do what was necessary to protect us. Funnily enough, I was the same way when it came to her and made a vow shortly after we became an item that I'd do everything in my power to protect her.

"Long story short, Militech has a cloning device that I will be able to slot into; though the process itself I am unsure of." I said as Panam just scoffed

"Sounds like someone's bullshitting you V." Panam said as she snorted which was not uncommon when she was in disbelief.

"I know, which is why I'm gonna send Vik the details that I got, and he can give us his opinion on it." I said as my optics illuminated with a crimson color, and Vik's illuminated with a deep blue color. Vik looked over the documents that I sent him, and as he read through it, he became intrigued at what Militech had managed to achieve.

"What do you think Vik, is it feasible to clone someone?" Mitch asked with a bit of skepticism betraying his otherwise calm and collected attitude.

"Judging from the information that I received, yes; however, I don't think you can just waltz right up there and say you wanna be cloned V." Vik said as he started running his diagnostic and to his surprise, he found both engrams living in perfect harmony on the biochip. Of course, this was temporary as the biochip was still killing me, but not to the extent it was a few months ago, and with luck it should keep me alive for at least a year.

"Do you even have a plan?" Judy asked me and I looked Panam directly in the eyes knowing full well she was not going to like this one bit.

"I do, but it is a pretty shitty plan. Long story short, there is a rogue AI that embedded itself into the cyberware of one of the higher ups in Militech and he knows my connection to Alt Cunningham and Johnny Silverhand, as well as the raid on Mikoshi. From what Alt said, he's gonna contact me to make a deal, though exactly what it is, I have no idea." I said as Panam and the rest pondered this; it also meant that we would need to go back to NC and there was no guarantee of even getting out again.


My grumbling stomach had cut the meeting short much to my irritation and Panam assisted me over to the cantina; I found myself propped up against her shoulder and it must had been a strange sight considering our height difference. Vik, Misty, and Judy were heading back to Night City to prepare for their part in the contingency plan should the main plan go to hell in a hand basket. As I sat down at the table, Panam went up to the counter to get food for the both of us and sat back down; she too was hungrier than usual. While Panam never ate like a bird and could put food away, she never ate nearly as much as I do, so I figured something must have been up, stress probably.

"What?" She asked as she took a drink of water that she grabbed.

"Nothing; just looks like you were starving." I said with a chuckle and earning a glare from her.

"Yeah, not entirely sure why either; I've been like this for a week now." She sarcastically replied and rolled her eyes at me, obviously annoyed that I was worried about some trivial issue.

"Do you think its stress?" I asked her as she looked at me contemplating it; normally, if she was stressed out, she would just go work on her truck, not bury her face in food.

"More than likely." She replied as I thought it over.

"You know, I could ring Vik up and ask him if he has any ideas." I said as Panam gave it a thought before pointing out the camp had its own ripper doc.

"You do remember we have a ripper doc in camp, right?" Panam continued as she looked at me as I placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, but I figured a second opinion wouldn't hurt, and you can always go to the camp ripper doc to confirm what Vik say." I said as Panam thought it over before agreeing.

"Sure, why not, and when he says its stress than we can figure something out to relieve it." Panam said as I finished my plate off, and we walked back to the tent and I called Vik.

"V, how's it going?" Vik asked as his holocall background was dark, no doubt being night where he was at.

"Vik, I've got a question to ask you, and was wondering if you may have an answer." I said as I also brought Panam into the holocall as well, much to Panam's displeasure and Vik's curiosity.

"Sure thing V, but is it about you, or Panam?" Vik asked; guess he saw right through it.

"Ugh, Panam this time; I promise." I said as Vik just laughed.

"So Panam, what seems to be the issue?" Vik asked her as she went into detail over her increased food and liquid consumption over the past two weeks.

"Interesting, and by chance have you had muscle fatigue and tenderness in certain areas of your body?" Vik asked as Panam thought it over and confirmed it, not really thinking about it at the time.

"V, do you think you can give Panam and I some privacy?" Vik asked much to my confusion, but I agreed and looked at Panam reassuringly.

"I trust him; he'll get to the bottom of it, I promise." I told her before exiting the tent as Panam started going through some of the symptoms that she had been having.


It was near dusk when I made my way towards the center of the camp and found a guitar that was just chilling by the log that was set up by campfire. Taking it, I figured it would be interesting to see if Johnny's skill with the guitar translated over to me as well, and I started plucking away at the strings, and to my amazement I was nearly as good as he was. Johnny materialized into existence and started stringing a guitar that somehow always managed to materialize with him as well and we started playing the notes to that stupid ass song "Pon Pon Shit" as well as "The Beast of Beauclair". It was interesting in a way, as Pon Pon Shit while being the stupidest song out there, sounded good on a guitar and Beast of Beauclair was in a league all its own. Within minutes I noticed that we had attracted the majority of the Aldecaldos who were now sitting by the campfire just listening as I played the guitar and Mitch was even there as well.

"Damn V, I had no idea you could play a guitar" Mitch said as he sat down next to me and to be frank neither did I.

"We're actually not bad together V; say, when I get my body back, you wanna reform Samurai and do concerts?" Johnny asked, though he was joking because Panam would kill me if I decided to follow a rockerboy to play gigs. As I continued stringing the guitar to the tune of songs that came to my mind, mainly songs made by Johnny himself I saw Panam approaching with a serene look on her face. Guess Vik must have had good news and she sat down next to me and just watched, and I continued to play. As I continued to play, I started playing my favorite song from Samurai called Pitching In and it reminded me that I know have friends who'd go to hell and back for me.

As I finished the song, all the Aldecaldos were applauding the song's stanza that I had just song; it must have had a resounding affect on them as they were now in spirits that I had not seen since before the Mikoshi raid. Panam herself was in awe as I never mentioned that I could either sing or play an instrument. I handed the guitar back to its owner who certainly had an act to follow up on, but from the look in his eyes, he looked like he was up to the challenge.

"So V, you got any other skills that you are good at should tell me about?" Panam asked as she looked me dead in the eye and I could see both the blush and smile forming on her face.

"Honestly, I never learned to play the guitar or how to sing; I was always good with mechanical and technical things." I said as Panam looked at me

"Bullshit, you can't just pick up a guitar one night and play it like that, and you can't just pick up singing overnight." Panam said as she lightly hit my shoulder.

"It's the honest truth Panam; guess it's something else I picked up from Johnny." I said as Johnny nodded in agreement; hell, he even song the verse from March of Cambreadth which sounded amazing to my ears.

"Alright V, I believe you, but can you do me a favor?" Panam asked me.

"Anything." I said before she smiled and had to stop herself from laughing.

"Go get a shower because you reek." She said and I had just remembered that it must have been weeks since I last showered.

"Your wish is my command." I said mockingly and headed off to where the shower trucks were set up, boy did I love combat showers.


After showering, I made my way back to the tent to find Panam was changing into her night gown, and a small smile gracing her lips. Whatever Vik must have told her had a profound impact on her seeing as not only was she at ease, but very happy too. Closing the flap to the tent and securing it, I snuck behind her and embraced her while kissing her neck.

"So, what did the doctor order?" I jokingly asked her as she turned around and wrapped her arms around me.

"Oh, nothing much; just to get more bed rest and eat healthier, oh, and to stay away from alcohol for the foreseeable future." She told me as I looked at the gorgeous women before me; hell, she even let her hair down and to my surprise, it flowed all the way down to her ass.

"Panam Palmer, staying away from beer; I think not." I joked as she hit me in the shoulder and laughed.

"Normally I'd agree, but the doctor had a pretty compelling argument, but I am beat; let's hit the hay." She said as she pulled me into the bedding, and she fell asleep quickly just leaving me with my thoughts. An interesting turn of events if I had to say so myself, though I feel like this was still too good to be true and wondered what the cost would be. Wrapping my arm around Panam's wait and laying a hand on her stomach, I started to doze off but with the strange sensation that her belly was harder than usual.


Post note 1: Oddly enough, this chapter was very easy to write and I hope you enjoyed it; I for one had a blast typing it up. As for Panam's health issue, I figured I would leave it somewhat vague and let you all do the guessing. Though I got a feeling that many will come to the same conclusion.

Note 2: I debated between two possible ways of bringing Johnny back, and felt that cloning would have been a more viable option to fully separate V and Johnny forever in the least intrusive way possible. It's also safe to say that cloning must had come a good ways in 2077 with the amount that corps would be willing to put into R&D.