The sun was at its highest point for the day, blanketing the Aldecaldos in an unrelenting heatwave. Though a common occurrence in the life of being a Nomad, it never took away from the power of the sun, or the complaints about it that would no doubt come. In the immediate area, the family has begun to settle in, seeing and hearing the change from Night City in a way that most would be unable to put a finger on unless they had experienced the topic. For others, the trek onto Arizona promised more than the sub-par gigs, midday mayhem, and of course, dealing with Raffen Shiv.
As the day carried on, Panam felt different. . . Never in her lifetime, did Panam ever think she would be. . .well, here. Then again, never implied past and future, so the meaning was only half lost on her. Before her life in Night City performing odd jobs, bouncing from shady motel to motel, or just sleeping in her truck when she really became desperate, any of these things brought her depression or a hangover.
Sometimes, both.
Now, however, it was wholly different, and it remained unclear whether that was truly a good thing or not. For all of the fire and defiance she held, when it came to Saul and his way of leading the clan, the two forces would collide no matter what. As she mulled over the reports from the few Aldecaldos put in charge of ensuring they had enough medical supplies to last their journey and beyond, Panam lazily rubbed her fingers together, her mind not fully present on the present task. Moreso, her mind branched off into different directions at once; food, water, security, their future planned routes, vehicle maintenance, and so much more that she was sure that her head would melt at any second. But, the more pressing, or important to her?
V. It had always been V ever since that first spark, back when her fate with The Aldecaldos were shakier than ever, when The Raffens doubled down on their bullshit, and when Panam herself was unsure of what she did and did not want out of life. At every turn, he offered aid, opinions and deadly precision when with a blade or gun. And even when it came to other matters less important, such as her feelings; he outperformed in every category. It was no secret around the camp that the recent influx of new equipment came from the back of V's connections, hard work, and perseverance to see her family, and soon his, to be in the best position to grow and keep the family going strong.
Yet, the one thing that Panam would forever struggle to understand was just how someone like V endured the kind of turmoil and soul-sucking depression of Night City day in and out, even with the passing of his best friend, Jackie after their jaunt for The Relic, he truly never let the city shake him. That kind of power, strength, or whatever V called it that kept him going was one hell of a crutch, so much so that Panam herself wished that she could siphon a portion of it to help her deal with her new job as the co-leader of The Aldecaldos. It would come to be handy in her own personal mission put slightly to the back burner that soon all of hers, and the clan's favors would possibly have to be cashed in on for the sake of giving V his life back, and even better than the one he had before meeting her.
Panam, at the very least, owed that to him after the amount of giving that he gave to her family. And now, he was family.
''And I intend to honor that commitment.'' Panam mulled over to herself each small cog in the plan, attempting to keep her emotion and logic on opposite sides of the issue, as to not let one rule more than the other. Blowing a sigh at the heat of Bell Mountain, Panam wiped her sleeve over her forehead, the heated leather of her jacket dragging across her skin like a patch of rough sandpaper, making her grimace. At times, she would have sat down and deeply pondered why the sun was so hot, but then that would be the same as asking why water is. . .well, wet. Not wearing your jacket all of the time was not a rule that was heavily enforced, and even less of one in concrete; just one of the things people came to understand after time and a little trial and error. The heat, however, was not one to care for the rules, and seeing as Panam was now one of the leaders of the clan, (and even before) she could bend the 'rules' a bit. ''Ahh,'' Panam sighed, slinging her jacket over her shoulder, kicking off from her place in front of the medical area to find Saul.
''Couldn't hold it another minute, could you?'' Mitch's voice sounded from her right, spotting the vet in a pair of shades, nursing a bottle of lemonade and taking refuge from the heat under a rather comfortable-looking umbrella, though frayed at the edges and covered in dust and god knew how many stains from coffee to possibly blood adoned its flaps. Panam wanted to sock the old man in the shoulder for lounging around, but she knew two things; Mitch would never break before doing his fair share of work, and the second was that his tone to all be in good faith and fun, something she was sure he and Scorpion picked up during his time in the military and with riding with the clan. Combining that with their dry wit and out-of-left-field, semi-drunken ramblings always seemed to make sense when sometime took their words and broke them down. ''Need any help?'' Mitch asked Panam as she took a seat across from him, laying the tablet on the sunbleached table by his drink. Did she need help?
No, not that Panam was particularly following; the scene around the pair was mostly that of relative control; everyone was settled in for the most part within the first 2 hours, any major business was immediately taken up with her or Saul, and that just left. . .nothing, really. Huh, this was something new; setup and dissemination of duties and responsibilities took way longer than this, even with everyone chipping in, but the energy in the air did seem different.
''No, everything is under control; just need to get these reports to Saul, and we should be good for now. Only other thing is trying to figure out what we can do for V,'' Panam's brow furrowed as her head dipped towards the ground. Whenever her thoughts about what V had to endure came to her mind, it never lessened the blow when hearing that someone that you loved and cared for only had at best, another 6 months to live. Her left hand gripped the material of her blue denim jeans, her knuckles nearly preparing to pop out of her hand. She wanted to shout to high heaven, personify all of hers, The Aldecaldos, and especially V's gripes and pain into one person, tie and quarter them, and then blast it into string synthbeef with a high-powered machine gun. That wasn't too much to ask for, was it? ''Do. . .you think-''
''-Yes,'' Mitch said plainly, a hint of mirth in his voice. How in the hell could he know? She didn't even finish talking. Looking at him to continue, his next words calmed her thoughts. ''We can and will do everything in our power to help V shake this condition of his. Between all of the favors we have stocked up, and our streak of relatively good fortune, I wouldn't worry much, unlike you, sister,'' Mitch said, downing the rest of his drink. Even though she was not directly staring at Mitch, Panam fidgeted a bit under his gaze, understanding that it was nothing more than for her to not only challenge the words she knew to be true, but to accept the finite tone of his voice.
''But I do worry too much, that's part of the problem I have right now, Mitch!'' Panam grunted to herself, not fully being able to internalize her 'feelings' the way most other people who were more put together than she was in so many other regards. It was never a good thing to compare, but when it came to her biggest issue that essentially led to her leaving the clan was because of her drive, her hunger to want more for the family that she cared so much for. As a child growing up in different places, learning the ways of the Aledcaldos, and finding some halfway decent way to cope with the childhood trauma that partially manifested itself by way of her personality all came full circle when she stopped to think about it. ''If not me, then who? If nobody fails to worry, then what true assurance is there? None, that's what. Just guesswork and luck.'' Panam raised her head to view Mitch taking off his shades, the thinly slit view of his eyes lighting before he moved his chair over some and gave his sister a bit of comfort. ''I could only just deal with this overwhelming feeling back in Night City, but now. . .feels different. I hate it.''
''Not saying that's a bad thing; that makes you Panam. If you, out of everyone wasn't worried about God knows what on any given day, then we probably wouldn't be nearly as far as we are now, and even more so with the addition of V,'' Mitch's smirk and tone was not lost on Panam as she cracked a small smile. Gonk, she thought, but she was still all the more grateful for his input and slight bit more care about her; it wasn't necessarily biased, he just cared more because of the deeper bond that she knew the pair of them held, as she never truly opened up to many people, even told those whom she told the bare minimum. ''Besides, who else here would have the fire to crack back at Saul and keep things around camp as lively as they've been up until now?''
Ignoring the implication that her expressing her disagreements to Saul about the multitude of issues that plagued the clan and the various different solutions was essentially dinner and a show for the rest of the clan when entertainment was in short supply, Panam held Mitch's question in her mind. "Truer words, Mitch. But dealing with the clan, any rival clans, Militech, and whatever else under the sun is all just par for the course; I'm used to it, but when it comes to V and his issues, it. . .hurts to me that I can do little at this time, and even leading with Saul feels as if I'm a placeholder, not truly doing anything.''
''You're doing more than you think, and I know V knows that, too. It's funny you say the way that you are; I talked to Cass and Carol about this a few hours ago,'' Mitch's words roused Panam's mind for the moment. Cass and Carol? What did those pair of dinosaurs have to say this time? ''Carol's under the impression, and I use impression lightly, that you and V are more of the same than either of you would like to admit.''
''Sounds about right about her.'' Panam responded.
''Meanwhile, Cass thinks that you're nothing more than two sides of the same coin, which I'm itching to agree more with seeing as you complement each other. You're fire and V's ice. You're always the first one to jump off the deep end and then worry that you didn't bring a lifejacket, while V is the one who made sure to bring one for you and himself, and that's only after he surveyed the situation enough to justify going to any further lengths should shit hit the proverbial fan.'' Mitch slowly stood up from his seat, his bones, and implants creaking and whining from all of his time sitting down and giving his sister a much-needed pep talk. Panam cast him with another look, seeing him gesture to his watch that some time must have passed since their conversation started. The sun long set, and the pair's perception droned out by their conversation. Saul probably would come looking for her to get those reports.
Ensuring he hammered the point home, Mitch sought to double down. ''Case in point; the Mikoshi raid. The first thing you did after hearing that he needed a way in urgently was to go and get him, at over 120 MPH, nonetheless. My point is if all of this feels like it makes even less sense than when you first started down this path, just keep going. Won't have to go at this alone, either of you.''
Her spirits being a tad bit more invigorated, Panam stood up alongside him, begruding herself to continue with the day. Just because she was going through a small internal crisis, did not mean that she could shrug off her new priorities.
BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ!
And her phone going off was definitely another thing to force her to focus on her tasks ahead. On the caller ID, it showed Marcus, from the 2nd patrol group to the west. Had he encountered something?
''Marcus, go ahead,'' Panam said, steeling her nerves as she marched over to Saul's area, nearly throwing the phone out of her grasp the second she heard the sounds that played out at her ear. It sounded like a demon from the depths of the underworld shrieking at the top of its lungs while accompanied by the distant whistling of the wind. She barely could make out the sounds of shouting in distance. Familiar shouting.
''Cyberpyscho! The son of a bitch is too quick! And V went-''
''-What about V?'' Panam asked, her mask starting to crack and her mind running on autopilot as she changed her course from Saul and into a full on sprint towards her Thorton and began mentally taking stock of all of her gear. Mitch called after her in the distance, but she heard next to nothing of it. ''Is he ok?'' Panam heard silence from him the more she ran. If V was hurt, and he did nothing to help or refused to say anything about the state of his condition, then she would have some choice words with Marcus when she came face to face with him, as well as V. ''Answer me! That's an order!'' Panam's voice and dead on sprint caught the attention of a few Aldecaldos who were too slow to react as she barrelled through them like a woman possessed.
She would have smirked if her emotions weren't running so high. The gonk couldn't just stay out of trouble.