"I don't think she will be that shocked."

"You came back from the dead."

"Eh. If Vince McMahon faked his death, who is to say I didn't either." shrugged Becca "Besides, she works with sketchy people. She probably already knew."

"If you say so. Vince did blow himself up in national TV though."

After their little meeting last night at Lucy's apartment, they had decided to lay low for a bit, until they were contacted. A grace period that hadn't even lasted half a week. V would probably have chosen to do some small job, to make sure they worked well together, but Lucy wasn't in the mood and Becca didn't seem like she was about to try and convince her. So all they got was a good night's worth of rest, a bit of weapons maintenance, and takeout pizza. At least Becca and V did, back at V's place. Lucy had asked them to let her have the night for herself. Whatever she had been doing, it didn't look like the rest had been as fulfilling as it had for V.

And now, they were back in the Afterlife. The small request for information on a certain member of Arasaka had borne its fruits. Rogue had come through with the intel V needed. Or so she claimed.

"Becca?!" a loud voice came from behind the counter "Is that you?!"

"How many blue women do you know, Claire?" Rebecca rolled her eyes

"Shut up. I thought you had died!"

"How about one on the house to celebrate this occasion?"

Claire laughed, but shook her head. Becca groaned.

"Bunch of cheapskates. Where's Rogue, the usual?"

"She never leaves her snake den." said Lucy "Never has, never will."

"I always found her in that small private room as well. Guess old habits die hard."

"I'll say." mentioned Becca, now magically with a bottle of booze on her hand "Bitch is what, seventy? Eighty? She was a well known Solo back when my fucking grandparents were around."

"One selfish fucking woman if I've ever known one." Johny materialised out of thin air, as was tradition by that point, to complain "Probably the worst of my exes."

"Your fucking what."

"Hey, V, magicman over there speaking again?"

"Says Rogue is his ex."

"The fuck?"

"It'd be best if you two stopped behaving like children." groaned Lucy "We have info to gather." she said, storming her way through security. It wasn't long before V and Becca decided to follow her, for everyone's safety.

The small room was exactly the same as they all remembered from their past dealings with the fixer. The enormous guards on the sides of the entrance, the constant attention by Afterlife staff, Rogue's own calm demeanour, knowing she was in full control of everything around her…

"V, was it?" she said, not even bothering to look at him "What was it that you wanted again? Info on an Arasaka employee?"

"That's it. Got anything for me?"

"Yes. A bit too much, actually."

V raised an eyebrow. Rogue caught onto that.

"I got two different sources, both reliable, that point to different convoys the same day."

"Ugh, that's a bitch." said Becca "We are just three people, we can't exactly take on an armoured convoy on our own."

"My sources don't mention large amounts of security, so you'll encounter only whatever can fit into the vehicles themselves." Rogue stopped for a minute to stare at Becca and Lucy "I know your partner in crime is a goner, but I didn't expect you to find yourself a new crew this fast."

"Sue us." groaned Becca "We can't sit on our asses all day while other people get our shit done like you."

"Still the same insufferable little shit you've always been. I guess some things never change. I wasn't sure either you or Lucy had survived that night, but here you are."

Lucy frowned "Are you going to give us the info, or do you plan on ranting the entire night?"

Rogue sighed "How David managed to fall for you of all the women in Night City escapes my understanding. I'll chalk it to him needing someone in his life after losing his mother, but that's neither here nor there. You have my condolences. He was a good kid."

Lucy frowned even more, but didn't say anything.

"As for your man, two options. Either an aerial convoy escorted by Kang Tao, or a Biotechnica transport truck on route to Night City. Both will cross the badlands three days from now."

"Wait, Biotechnica and Kang Tao? What do those have to do with an Arasaka employee?"

"Hellman's the lead figure behind the Relic. He most likely decided to jump ship after Yorinobu stole it from Saburo. A week ago I got intel about him defecting to Kang Tao, and last night, word on some project that Biotechnica was working on that could use his expertise. I have no way of telling which is right, so you'll have to intercept both."

"And that she says, as if it was that simple…" groaned Becca

"I can't imagine the Biotechnica convoy having much security." Mentioned Lucy "But Kang Tao is gonna be a problem."

"That ain't the point." Shrugged Becca "The only difference is how much lead is needed in them before they croak. And our problem is that there are two groups, but barely three of us that can fight."

"Barely?" Lucy raised an eyebrow

"Yes, barely."

There was enough poison in her words for anyone to see Becca was mocking Lucy. Rogue sighed.

"Nothing makes a good drink go sour like two kids fighting over petty shit. Panam."

A young woman, probably around V's age, came from around the corner. Tan, dark hair… he recognised her in an instant. The owner of the car they had used back when Becca was chasing that dealer.

"This is the guy that got your ride back, but you already know that, don't you? Give them a hand on whatever they need. I'll consider it payment for the favour you owe me."

Panam seemed confused. "Is that it?"

"I need to track and possibly shoot down a Kang Tao transport, and a Biomechanica convoy. And I need someone who knows the place well for that."

"Shooting down a corpo transport is a bit unlike me." She shrugged "But knowing the place? Yeah, you came to the right girl."

Author's notes:

Been a while. Writers block does that to you. That, and my priorities shifting back to gaming for the past few months.

I apologize for the delay, but hey, enjoy!