Santo Domingo, March 2076
V had stepped off the boat arriving from Atlanta along with a few others, duffel bag in hand and dressed in a more urban-style outfit. Santo Domingo was no Heywood, but as he stepped into the poor district he could tell he knew the sort of place it was. People needing to fend for themselves more often than not, gangs causing their fair share of trouble… it was the sort of place that put V down the path he ended up. Sure he got independence out of it but he lost good people too.
As he walked down the street attempting to find someone to give him a ride he noticed a truck zip past him, and inside through the back window he saw bulking figures and signs of large guns.
(Animals) V thought to himself as he remained looking at the large vehicle. And just seconds later they start shooting across the street at what seemed to be an Arasaka vehicle, but another car in between the Animals and their apparent target had gotten caught in the attack after a rocket was shot out. Recalling the first rule of Heywood V took to heart: "Never leave someone out to dry", he had decided it might've been best to take a look and make sure nobody in that civ car got killed, running over not long after the Animals took off while slinging the duffel bag across his shoulder.
The young streetkid had run up to find a figure who seemed barely conscious. Someone who seemed to be a woman somewhere in between her late 20s or early 30s in a bright yellow EMT jacket… and V needed a second to realize he'd seen that jacket around El Coyote, which immediately led him to want to help the woman out. Slipping the woman out of her jacket to check for any injuries, V caught that the left side of her black shirt had a big red splotch on it. Lucky for him he had an Airhypo tucked into his duffel bag in case of emergencies, and he injected it into her causing her to briefly gasp as she tried to get up only to be stopped by V "Hey, take it easy" and when he noticed a Trauma Team AV moving in towards a whole other injured person entirely, V started frantically looking around before noticing someone dressed like a Valentino in the distance "¡Oye! ¡Aqui! ¡Esta mujer necesita ayuda ahora!" Causing the man to turn and see the scene, running over to reveal himself as a more well-built individual with a bun and facial cyberware "Ah shit, what happened to her?" To which V responded "Caught in the middle of a bunch of Animals targeting someone, she needs to be looked at and it doesn't look like Trauma Team is gonna be much help"
The other man said after glancing to see Trauma Team members assisting an unconscious Corpo "I might know a ripper who can give her a look, but he's out in Watson and I don't have my own ride" to which V said "Then we klep one and get going" and he picks her up and they get moving, not realizing that just nearby an unconscious kid started coming to and was about to realize his mom had vanished, and his life was going to change big time.
A few hours later the two were over at a ripperdoc clinic in Watson, where Viktor Vektor was standing over the injured woman. She then started sitting up slowly as she came to "Ugh… w-wuh…" and then Viktor, or Vik as he preferred, spoke up "Hey, easy there. You were out for quite a bit, which quite frankly makes sense given how exhausted your body seems to be. You might wanna still give yourself a few before you do much"
The woman then groans a little before saying "What's going on? Where am I? Wh - oh my god where's - " and she gripped her side in pain from attempting to sit up too quickly, V coming over as she lied back down "You're still injured, you gotta rest. You're in a ripperdoc clinic, safe and sound" but she then spoke up with a concerned tone "Where's mi hijo? Was there a boy when you found me?" And V only responded with "Shit!" as he turned around and walked a couple steps away from the woman, knowing exactly what this was going to lead to. But before the panicked mother started pushing herself off of the chair the other man approached "Oye, espera un minuto. You're Gloria right? Mi mamá speaks pretty well of you… my choom here and I can go and take a look around, we'll find your boy and bring him here, and in the meantime you give yourself a break. Like my buddy Vik said, you're wiped… take an hour to rest, we'll be back with the chico" and he pats V on the back as Gloria spoke "Please find him, his name is David, I'll give anything I have for him to be safe" to which V interjected "You don't need to pay us anything, we'll get him back in one piece no questions asked. Is there anyone else in Santo he might go to?"
Gloria contemplated for a moment before she spoke up "I think there's a Ripper near our home he visits sometimes… we live in Megabuilding H8" to which V nodded and said "We're on it" and they step outside, the other man saying after the door shut behind him "How'd you manage to miss a kid in all that?"
V then responded with "I don't know, aside from Gloria all I saw was fire and debris from the blast. Her jacket made her stick out like a sore thumb" while internally grimacing at the fact that some kid probably thought he lost his mother. The other man then set a hand on his shoulder "Can't be helped now… c'mon, let's go find this kid" and V then said as the man started heading towards the stolen car "Hang on, what's your name choom? Why'd you help me?"
The man then looks over "Jackie Welles, and frankly I know what a man from Heywood sounds like. Wouldn't be much of a Welles if I didn't." To which V responded with his moniker "Makes sense... call me V."
Jackie then says "V? Hmm… think I heard Pepe mention you. You've got a hell of a rep back in Heywood choom" and V then said "Might have to earn it back, just got back from Atlanta after being gone for almost 2 years... but we can talk personal on the way to Santo, let's find us a kid" and he follows Jackie towards the car they klepted.
Author's Note: For anyone who checks out my story please just bear in mind that this is my first time ever publishing an official piece and I'm doing this on my own, so if it's a little incoherent feel free to say if it ever seems hard to understand and I will attempt to correct it or at least clarify on it. Thank you.