Panam's heart pounded in her chest as she drove her Thornton as fast as she could towards the watch site. She was hoping to reach V in time. Though he hadn't said it in so many words, the aftermath of the assault on Mikoshi was something taxing on all parties involved; especially for V after having to contend with Adam Smasher. He was nowhere near his 100%, and that in itself was something that Panam herself had yet to see. "Come on, girl! Just a little further!" Panam expertly weaved through anything that posed a threat to her mission with almost a second sense.
Mitch nearly crashed his Thornton Gecko as he trailed close behind with Cassidy in the passenger seat, checking over his Amnesty revolver and ensuring his hat stayed firmly on his head. "Slow down, kid; V'll be alright until we get there, but we should be fixing to be there in one piece," a crack of static came from the radio as the veteran finished keying the mic.
"Wishful thinking, Cass." Mitch yoked his wheel to the left, swiftly avoiding a raised slab of rock as he snickered to himself, being able to feel Panam's distress, wrapped up in anger and sent forward with annoyance at her significant other's current situation. "She's just going to "
"-V is in trouble, damn it! Stow whatever feelings about the road until we get there!" Panam chimed back in an instant, the fire in her voice louder than the roar of her engine as she kept her pedal to the floor, clearing the last small ridge that overlooked Marcus and Kim's area in the cover of night.
''Well that's one way to make an entrance,'' Mitched commented sarcastically, watching Panam's vehicle gain airtime before slamming back onto the ground, her anger somehow translating to skill as she drifted the truck in a circle, kicking up all manner of dirt, sand, and rock before engaging park and hopping out like a woman possessed towards the overwatch vehicle.
''If she went any faster, she would have missed them,'' Cass chuckled as the pair got out, surveying the immediate area, the only indication of a fight occurring being the heap of a cyberpyscho that sat on her knees with no face. Though the call from Marcus did raise a bit of an alarm regarding the cyberpyscho, Cass and Mitch were understandably a bit biased in their worry spilled nearly down the middle regarding V and the idea of Arasaka following them out of Night City. Given their exit from Night City in the way the group certainly was not one with finesse, it failed to lessen the metaphorical blow. Marcus and Kim watched as Panam marched over to V, and checked over him with a practiced grace, nodding to herself when nothing seemed too out of the ordinary.
WHAM!
''What was that for?'' V nursed the side of his gut that Panam managed to slug him in when he got lost in her eyes. Though Panam didn't hit as hard as he knew she could when mad, the pain was amplified by his earlier bout with the cyberpyscho. He tried to pull away from her, only for her to grab him in an airtight hug, pressing her lips to his forehead as she pulled him down towards her due to their slight difference. Mitch and Cass walked over, checking in on Marcus on Kim to get their side of the story. V looked over momentarily before Panam brought his head back to her eyes.
''For doing the exact opposite of what I told you, you gonk,'' Panam frowned, though her tone betrayed her. She was upset but grateful nonetheless that V wasn't alone. Planting a proper kiss on his lips, she pulled back, looking V in the eyes. ''When Saul sent you to do this, I didn't expect for you to get in actual trouble, I was joking; are you ok?'' Panam doubled checked over V, quirking her brow when he laughed at her question.
''Yea, it's all good. Was almost a bit of a close call at first, but luckily, Kim and Marcus came through, especially Marcus.'' V smirked, his tone suggesting to Panam that he would have done something even more brash had it not been for his intervening. Ever since she met him, Panam knew V had a bit of the hard-headed nature that came with the need to accomplish one's goals, she knew all herself too well, they both needed to be reminded more and more about not going to rush in head first, and without backup, not without the family. ''But we may have a problem if Arasaka is following us, or if that was just rotten luck.''
Mitch walked over, his lips contorted into a slight frown at the merc's words. ''I would be inclined to believe you, V, but can't be too careful.'' the sight of the rock formation caught the vet's eye. ''What's the deal with that?''
''Probably the fucker's hideyhole; it goes down further than you think; was planning to go and check it out before-''
''-Before Marcus convinced you not to,'' Panam said, teasing the merc as he tried to ignore her goating, but he grew to love it. ''Did you check for any more psychos in the area?''
''So, far, none besides the one. You thinking what I'm thinking?'' V asked, watching as Panam pulled away the merc, readjusting her jacket and sighing.
Panam and Mitch looked at each other, nodding. Panam turned to Cassidy, signaling him over from KIm and Marcus. V cocked his head to the side, wondering if the trio had the same thought or if he overestimated himself. The cowboy came over with a relaxed gait, folding his arms and listening for what was to come next. ''Cass, you stay here with Marcus and Kim. Mitch, V, and I will go down there and see what we can find; if we're not back up in an hour, signal for Saul to get a search party going,'' Panam turned her head towards the formation, her eyes narrowing at the sight of it as her mouth scrunched up some. ''We will try to be quick.''
''You sure, kid?'' Cassidy asked, not so much so doubting Panam's words as he liked to be sure if heading into the unknown with so few bodies would be a wise thing to do.
''Have some faith, Cass. I trust Panam,'' V chimed in, seeing the man look at him with a glare he couldn't quite place a word onto. Was it disbelief? Challenging? ''We can handle it.''
''On that we can agree, let's get ready.'' Panam walked back to her truck, Mitch and V following after.
V slowly lowered himself onto the cold, metallic ground, feeling the ground creak and groan at his touch, having to kneel some at the semi-collapsed space that once was a full-fledged elevator shaft, which was reduced to essentially a narrow chute where only one person at a time could shimmy through. A few feet ahead the small hallway began to widen in width and height as their headlamp lights revealed the sorry state of what looked to be an old, barren facility. Oxidized gunmetal grey floor and ceiling panels were coated with dirt and rust, causing the trio to don protective masking. The layout of the floor resembled an assembly line, robotic arms stopped in sequence, the crude creations of what looked to be dated cyberware parts in varying stages littering the conveyor belt until a slab of desert rock pierced through the midway point, the sheer size and stillness of the rock producing an eerie aura to the trio.
''Trippy.'' V heard Mitch's muffled voice call out as he crawled on his knees until he could stand, doing his best to resist the urge to give his lover's behind a squeeze as he held a front-row seat to her crawling through the narrow passageway in front of him, watching each subtle jiggle of her cheeks until she leaned back, using her hands to steady herself as she stood up, being careful to not let her shotgun hit anything. ''How long do you think it's been like this?''
''Judging from the ways those arms look, I would guess the early 2030s at least,'' Panam said, her voice equally muffled due to the filter on her mask. Scanning the room for anything useful, little was found as V came from behind, using his optics to Ping the area once again, confirming Panam's guess on the age of the equipment down here, and the overarching question asked on the surface of who or what attacked them. ''V; do you see anything?'' Panam asked, keeping her head on a swivel.
Scanning the area until he found a wall panel displaying information, he read it t to the pair. ''Arasaka Bell Mountain R&D facility. Established 2015.'' V walked around the leftmost side of the facility, following the conveyor belt up to a nearby catwalk that overlooked the site with an office attached to it. Mitch took his path down the middle, moving fallen metal slabs out of the way to look for any treasure. Walking up the stairs and prying the doors open, a cloud of dust flew into V's face, making the merc stand back before it cleared. Inside the horseshoe-shaped office stood a lone control panel the size of a windshield that dimly flashed with light, V looking over to activate the console, frowning when it required a passcode.
''Any luck?'' Panam followed soon after, pistol in one hand as the other swatted some of the dust off of her dreads; she would need to give them a deep cleaning after this. Regular dirt and sweat of the badlands and on the road were one thing, but age-old dust of 60 some years ago was a no-no. ''This place gives me the creeps, V.''
''Same here, something about this seems off; I'd be able to tell you more about this place from this console if I could get into this console, but it's passcode protected.'' V sighed, giving the console a small kick.
''Can't you just hack it?'' Panam walked over, viewing the console which had certainly seen better days. It was older tech, so hacking into it should be easier than the tech of 2077. It was a 5 digit passcode, it couldn't be too hard to figure out.
''Don't want to risk accidentally purging the system, maybe those papers can tell us something. You check, and I'll keep an eye out.'' V suggested, checking to see if any buttons would provide the pair with light.
''Great, make your chief do all the heavy lifting,'' Panam said sarcastically, cracking a smile through the mask. She stood over the desk, rummaging through the leaflets, doing her best to speed read through for any important information. Sales numbers, inventory amounts, projected layoff numbers, and power bills were front and center, Panam crumpling the worthless documents up and sending them overhead, not intending for them to hit V in the head, but chuckling nonetheless when he called out in mock pain. ''Great, nothing,'' Panam said with false enthusiasm, turning around to see V tinkering with the room controls, whatever he managed to do bringing light to the office and soon to the factory floor, Mitch turning his attention to the pair above. ''Well, at least we have light,'' Panam turned off her headlamp, V and Mitch doing the same.
''Hey, wait a minute, I think. . .this might be the code,'' V spied a chipped and folded sticky note on the wall near the light switch. On it, showed the code 54831. Panam was surprised. That easily? Keying the code into the console, it unlocked, sounding off a ding and the interface showing the layout of the factory and the varying departments. The one that stood out to the pair the most displayed the words: Testing Labs. Tapping into the folder, and allowing it to expand, it showed the layout of a room with a number of containment pods, with a flashing red bell icon in the top right corner displaying a message that repeated itself every few seconds.
Unauthorized Release. 16 21 1 12 9 20 25 Active.
''The hell that does mean?'' V looked on, the numbers making little sense to him. Nearby, towards their point of entry, a loud, mechanical crunch was heard, followed by a loud thud that shook the entire facility to its core. The console then displayed the following containers in the testing lab turning from green to red. ''Oh, shit, now what?'' V pinged the area underneath them, seeing the faint movments move rapidly towards their position.
''What the hell's going on?!' Mitch asked, his pistol at the ready.
''V?'' Panam followed his example. Pulling her close to him and bringing out his own weapon, V gave Panam a firm one-armed hug around her waist.
''Don't worry, it'll be okay.''