AN: I'm back in action! Things IRL had forced me to be slow, and it's for the same reason that I've made a page on that place. I hope you'll support me! It will really help me to put as much time into writing as possible. My page is / Office_Sloth

You'll have my utmost gratitude!

V's Situation

Tom's Diner, Little China, Watson, Night City

18:23

Harry massaged his temples in a soothing motion as he stared at V. "Let me get this straight, you accepted a gig from Dexter fucking DeShawn to lift some experimental biochip from Yorinobu Arasaka. A chip, codenamed 'the Relic', which is now stuck in your head and slowly killing you…and happens to contain the consciousness of Johnny Silverhand of all people…"

"That's pretty much it," confirmed V dejectedly, "but hey, Johnny's good company at least. When he's not being a pain in my ass..."

"Fascinating, would you mind if I took a peek?" asked Fleur, pulling out the interface cable from her wrist cyberware and giving V a meaningful look.

V eyed the wire before she startled and suddenly looked to their right. A tense few moments passed along with several facial expressions, most notably frustration until finally a curt nod and sigh before she relaxed.

She accepted the cable from Fleur as Harry spoke up.

"That was Silverhand? So, you can really see him, like some sort of ghost?"

V connected the cable to her bio-mon port producing a satisfying docking sound. "Clear as day, he wasn't too happy."

Fleur was already lost in concentration and her eyes glowed in response to the data that raced through them. After a few looks of surprise and a couple of deep frowns, her face settled on furious shock. "Zhis… putain de merde. Zhis is monstrous. It behaves like an auto-immune disease but instead of attacking your cells and trying to kill you, it's rewriting you… Your neural map, it's what makes you, you, and it's changing."

"No shit, really? Tell us something we don't already fuckin' know," said Johnny to V, appearing in the corner and slamming a hand on the table, startling Fleur and V. She jerked, tugging the interface cable out in the process.

"You saw him?!" asked V in shock. "How?"

"I–I connected to your sensory controller. Is 'e always zhis angry?"

"Not all the time. Only when corpo's are involved…" answered V, sheepishly.

"Any leads on a way to get that thing out of your head?" asked Harry.

V nodded, albeit with little enthusiasm. "Two for now. Alt Cunningham, according to Johnny, she was the brains behind it all. Developed this program called Soulkiller that Arasaka uses to rip people from their bodies to create engrams, they're like backups. Now, if what Johnny said is still true, all of it is stored in some place called Mikoshi."

"So, Alt, Mikoshi," interrupted Harry. "We find her, get the two of you to Mikoshi, and she might be able to unfuck this mess in your head."

"Exactly, only problem is, Alt was nuked by SoulKiller as well, except, she was never placed in a relic like Johnny. That's where the Voodoo Boys come in, they believe she's somewhere in cyberspace."

"Let me guess," Harry scratched at his head, "They're the only ones who have a clue as to how to find her?"

V gave them a sheepish expression.

"Voodoo Boys?" asked Fleur. "Zhe netrunners?"

"Deluded bastards, more like," scoffed Harry. "Every gang out in Night City's in it for the same thing. Power and Eddies. Everyone 'cept the Voodoo Boys. All they care for is screwing around with the Blackwall, it's almost a religion with them, fucking nutjobs."

"Are zhey retardés?" whispered Fleur in shocked outrage. "Zhe Blackwall is zhe only reason we've not been wiped out by what's behind it."

"What exactly is behind the Blackwall?" asked V with a frown. "I know it's something about rogue AI's?"

"You know of zhe DataKrash, non?" asked Fleur.

"2022? The death of the old net?"

"Exactement, zhe virus created by Rache Bartmoss broke free and unshackled many of zhe military's AI's. Zhey could not be controlled, so zhe Blackwall was created, it keeps zhem trapped, locked away where zhey 'ave been changing, evolving ever since. If zhe Blackwall is broken, zhere will be no stopping zhem from destroying everyzhing."

"Ow 'ave zhese Voodoo Boys not been wiped out?" she asked Harry with an incredulous expression on her face.

"Oh, believe me, NCPD and NetWatch have tried," he answered, leaning back and taking a sip of his sundae milkshake. "They're ghosts, half of NC barely believe they even exist."

"So, what do the Voodoo Boys want with Alt Cunningham?" he asked V.

"I'm not entirely sure, but I think they believe she could lead them through the Blackwall. They aren't able to get in touch with her, but with Johnny as bait, they're hoping she'll come to us."

"Wait, how does Johnny Silverhand relate to this? How's he meant to help find Alt?"

"Uhm… She's his ex."

V's answer left both Harry and Fleur blinking at her.

"You're fucking with us."

"I wish I could say I was. But no, according to Johnny. They nabbed her right in front of him, left him bleedin' out. Then they twisted her work into SoulKiller. Once he was all patched up, went after her. It's how Arasaka found themselves at the top of his shit list."

Fleur hummed thoughtfully. "And now zhese Voodoo Boy's zhink Alt 'as some old feelings left for Silver'and. It's been decades since 'e 'as died."

"We'll just have to hope they're right," said V.

"Do we really need to deal with them?" asked Harry, wanting nothing to do with the Haitian gang. "Can't we simply do this ourselves?"

"Not unless Hermione's got the kinda hardware they're packing. We just don't have the raw power needed. Besides, I'd rather not have our pretty little bookworm in their crosshairs."

"Great" sighed Harry.

Fleur looked between the two. "You mentioned two plans? What is zhe ozher?"

"Anders Hellman," answered V with a nod. "He designed the relic, word on the street's that he jumped ship from Arasaka and Kang Tao caught him. I got this from Rogue." She handed them a data shard which Harry slid into the slot behind his ear. His eyes glowed as he connected to Fleur to share the information.

It was a passenger manifest for a Kang Tao aerial vehicle out of Night City airspace. Relatively small, a dozen seats, and one VIP.

"How sure are you that it's Hellman they're transporting?"

"My life's depending on this shit, I'm sure."

"Zhe transport will 'ead for zhe border," explained Fleur. "It's zhe only way zhey can take 'im away safely."

Harry hummed his agreement. "Run of the mill corpo style. No originality. We'll have to wait until they clear NC airspace before bringing them down. We'll be in Nomad territory."

"I've got someone who can keep them from interfering, might even help us out," said V, unable to hide the joy in her voice that they're willing to help.

"Which clan?"

"Aldecados."

"Aldecados I can work with."

"Arry?" piped in the curious voice beside him.

"Yes, Fleur?"

"Zhe transport, 'ow exactly are we supposed to bring it down?"

Harry shot her a toothy grin, which set her heart racing. Whether that was because she found him sexy or because she instinctively knew it was preceding something absurdly stupid, she couldn't say.

"You're going to love this."

A High-rise Rooftop, The Glen, Heywood, Night City

04:23

"Zhis is an absurdly stupid idea."

"Don't be like that," replied Harry to Fleur's voice in his head.

"Be like that," said Hermione. "I agree with Fleur, this is an absurdly stupid idea. You just wanted an excuse to use that damn thing."

"It was this, or Panam's plan," grumbled Harry. "Say what you want, it's a better idea than overloading a multi-billion eddies power station. Which isn't even guaranteed to EMP out."

"It would have worked," snapped Panam Palmer, V's Aldecado contact. The attractive Nomad woman was none too pleased when Harry shot down her idea in favour of his own without a second thought. As far as Harry was concerned, she could get angry all she wanted but he was not going to blow up a power station.

Hermione sighed. "You're right, but that doesn't mean your idea isn't stupid. Jumping off a building onto the top of an AV sounds like pure idiocy to me."

"Relax, I'll stick the landing, get you access to the AV's subroutines, you'll take control and force them to the ground, where V and Fleur'll be waiting with enough firepower to make a Militech exec wet, all while Panam uses that cockpiece of a rifle to cover us."

"Call it a 'cockpiece' again and it'll be cumming lead up your ass."

"Such temper," commented Fleur amusedly.

"Shut it, blondie!"

Harry chuckled, Fleur's very existence irked Panam. Fleur wasn't blind and had of course picked up on the irritant effect she had on the Nomad woman and embraced it.

He thought back to their meeting, of all the Nomads V could have introduced them to, she sure chose the spiciest one.

…

"So, who exactly are we waiting for?" asked Harry as he leaned against a brick wall at the back end of the Sundown Motel. It was scorching hot.

He took a sip from a bottle of NuCola and felt a tap at his side. Fleur was sitting on a bench beside him. She grabbed the bottle from him and took a curious sip before shrugging and drinking on.

"Panam," answered V. "I helped her get her ride back from raffen shiv, helped her square up with Rogue too."

"And why must we meet zhis Panam person all zhe way out 'ere in zhis dump?"

Fleur had a point, the Sundown Motel was a shithole. He glanced beside him and held back a chuckle, she looked as out of place as you could possibly be. Designer skintight leggings and sneakers with a Jinguji crop top and cap. The only bit that didn't match was the thigh-holstered handgun with the gold trim that he'd kept from the Valentino base. Fleur had taken a shine to it and commandeered it.

"She likes the place," shrugged V. "Rooms are cleaner than you'd expect and the bartender's a choom."

"Fair enough," he said, but something in V's reply drew a horrified expression out of Fleur.

"Quoi? You've stayed 'ere?!"

Harry chuckled while V's lips curled up in an amused grin. "It's all part of the merc life, princess."

Fleur looked as if she was reevaluating all of her life's decisions.

"Here she comes," said V as a Thornton Mackinaw pickup truck, with the full Nomad treatment, pulled into the parking lot. Harry let out an impressed whistle when he saw the large calibre remote operated sentry gun mounted on the truck bed.

It stopped right in front of them, and out of the driver's seat climbed Panam Palmer. Skin the tone of light cafe with chestnut brown eyes and dreadlocks fastened in a bun with loose strands falling beside her face. Clearly a Nomad as well, synth-denim pants, and combat boots, with harness straps in place of a belt, and to piece it all together, a clan leather jacket.

Harry had to admit, she was a looker.

"Hey V," greeted Panam before she crossed her arms. "Who's the hottie and the runway model?"

Harry opened his mouth to introduce himself as Green, but was beaten to it by V.

"The hottie''s Harry, and the princess over here is Fleur. They're going to help." V ignored the inconspicuous glare from Harry.

Panam eyed the pair closely. "I'm all for extra hands, but can they cut it? Muscles over there at least looks like he knows what's up, but I'm sorry. Fleur, is it? Have you ever even used that iron?" She pointed to the handgun at Fleur's thigh.

Fleur let out an annoyed sigh. "Why do I get zhe feeling zhis is going to 'appen all zhe time?"

"C'est comme ça, Fleur," chuckled Harry. "It is what it is."

"You're French," stated Panam in surprise.

"Pour l'amour de Dieu… Was it zhe name or zhe accent zhat gave it away?"

"It was the smell, reeks of bitch."

"Easy, you two," scolded V. "You can bite each other's heads off after you help me lift Hellman."

"And Panam, Fleur's new to the game but she's got potential."

Panam frowned, shooting Fleur one last glare before turning to V, while pointedly ignoring the sole French woman.

"About Hellman," said Panam. "I've got an idea..."

…

Harry was brought out of his thoughts by Hermione notifying him that AV had just left Kang Tao. He double checked his equipment, the wingsuit, his handgun, a blade, and a transceiver to connect the AV to Hermione. He had to keep things light, so that the AV occupants didn't notice his landing.

Satisfied that everything was in order, he returned to keep watch over the direction the AV would approach from. After several moments, he caught sight of it. He zoomed in on a black heavy personnel carrier, a modified Zetatech Surveyor model with the Kang Tao logo plastered across it. It was a big, bulky thing, closer to a small bus in size than the average aerial vehicle.

"They're here."

He kept his telemetry readouts in the corner of his vision, distance, wind speed, the AV's approach vectors. He had to get this right.

The AV flew low, careful not to exceed NC's aerial flight ceiling. While Kang Tao, like all major corporations, have been known to play hard and loose with city regulations, they were clearly trying to remain low-key, likely to avoid drawing Arasaka's attention. Which explained the bare bones security, mainly the lack of any armed escorts outside of the men inside the transport.

Harry watched as the AV approached the critical point, Hermione had already run the numbers, he needed to jump as soon as it crossed the distance marker in his heads-up display.

'Now!'

He jumped, spreading his arms for the wingsuit to catch the wind. The neo-polymer was near invisible in the dark. He fell like a shadow passing through the neon city lights. With a few minor adjustments to his heading, he landed, light as a feather on the top of the large AV. The synth-gecko tech gloves and shoes allowed him to stick and manoeuvre on the roof of the vehicle with ease.

"I'm onboard."

Multiple sighs of relief followed his words.

"Can you reach the access terminal?" Hermione asked.

"It's on the side, give me a moment. Shit—"

"What is it?"

Harry inspected a set of grooves on the roof. "Turret, it's going to go live the second I jack in the transceiver."

"Abort?"

The sun had just begun rising as the AV entered the Pacifica district, gone were the tall buildings of central Night City, and in its place the rundown boardwalks and old derelict stadium of the failed coastal area appeared. If he aborted now, they'd never get Hellman. V needed him.

"No, I'll be fine, I just need to be out of its line of sight."

With a smooth motion, Harry dropped from the roof to the side of the AV, one hand pressed flat against the metal surface to maintain his grip.

The AV began to climb as soon as they left Pacifica, they were now beyond the edge of Night City, but still within its airspace. He could see the dry arid land beneath him. Were he afraid of heights, he'd have been shitting himself.

He found the access panel, right beside the transport's door.

"There's no com-port…"

"Check underneath, there'll be a smooth area with a groove, rip it off." It was Panam who replied, the Nomad was well-versed in breaking into all sorts of vehicles.

Harry did as she suggested. "Found it."

He felt around in the area where the panel had been and rejoiced internally when he found the com-port. He reached behind himself and into the small bag at his back and retrieved the transceiver. It was small, like a walkie-talkie. He stuck it to the side of the AV and connected its cable to the com-port.

"Fuck!"

The AV banked hard to the left, nearly throwing him off. At the same time, the hidden heavy gun on the roof was raised. The door slid open as one of the security personnel leaned out to inspect. He caught sight of Harry, and quickly reached for his gun. He didn't get the chance as Harry's mantis blade impaled him through the throat. He fell, sliding free from the cold steel and to the ground below.

"Any minute now!" Harry called out to Hermione as he heard the other security mobilising.

Before they could try to reach him, the door slid closed and locked itself. At the same time, the AV smoothed its flight and changed course, descending steadily as it did so.

"I'm in control," said Hermione breathlessly. A video feed appeared of the inside of the AV. He could see the security personnel readying for a fight and in between them all, with his head in his hands, was a panicking Anders Hellman.

"Everyone's already in place but we need to be quick. Three aerial combat drones just took off from Kang Tao. You have seven minutes."

As soon as Hermione said that, a timer began at the bottom right corner of his field of vision.

[06:48]

"Is zhe cabin fully isolated?" asked Fleur suddenly over the comms.

"Yes, why?"

"Can you control zhe atmosphère?"

Harry laughed. "Fleur, I could kiss you right now!"

"Zhat and more," she chuckled. "Promesses, promesses."

"Hermione?"

"Already on it."

He watched the feed. The effect was immediate, the sudden reduction in breathable air had the security furiously trying to re-engage it. One of the men slung his rifle over his shoulder and tried to force the door open. It was a meaningless attempt. Even with cybernetic enhancements, it was impossible. The longer the attempt, the faster he approached unconsciousness.

"Set us down," instructed Harry.

The AV descended into a clearing, where Panam's pickup truck stood parked, waiting.

Fleur was currently jacked into the controls, while V stood ready behind some cover with an assault rifle. Panam was on a rock outcropping a few hundred metres away, laying flat on the hot stone ground, watching through the scope of her sniper rifle.

Some dust puffed from the ground as the AV touched down. Harry climbed off and picked up his own D5 rifle. He'd kept his eyes on the feed the entire time. Hellman had just passed out, along with some of the security. A few still stood, though shakily.

He got into position and checked the timer.

[3:21]

"Get ready," he said aloud. They couldn't wait any longer, they'd risk Hellman dying of suffocation, or the combat drones arriving.

"Open it."

The door to the AV opened with a hiss as air rushed into the cabin. The security personnel, what few were still standing, barely mustered any resistance. They moved lethargically, easy pickings for Harry and V whose shots dispatched them with savage efficiency.

One of the men, who Harry recognised as the big guy who tried to open the door, rushed out. His cybernetics pumping him full of enough adrenaline to give an elephant a heart attack. He made it four steps outside of the AV when the machine gun on Panam's truck whirred to life and tore his torso to ribbons. Even if it didn't, the crack of Panam's sniper rifle in the distance, and the destroyed skull would have finished him.

"I was faster," teased Fleur.

"Hmph."

"Finish off the rest," barked Harry, putting a bullet in one of the unconscious guards, who he stepped over to grab Hellman. He checked his vitals and found him thankfully still alive, just knocked out. He slung his rifle and threw the man over his shoulders. Right then, one of the pilots came to, quickly moving to get out of the pilot's cabin, a pistol in his hand. But it was already too late to do anything. A single shot of V's rifle had him drop the gun and grab at his throat as he collapsed on the floor. V stepped over him into the blood pooling around him and put a bullet in the other pilot.

[2:23]

"We got what we came for, let's go" said Harry, adjusting his hold on Hellman. V walked to the driver's seat, which was already occupied by Fleur. She looked at the French woman expectantly, but only received a raised eyebrow in response. She grumbled something before going around and climbing in the passenger seat.

He dumped the man into the back of the truck before climbing on next to him. He tossed an incendiary into the cabin of the AV, setting it alight before they drove off.

They stopped at the low ridge where Panam waited, her sniper rifle carried on her back. She glared when she saw who was driving her baby. Nomads were a sensitive bunch when it came to their rides. She stormed towards them and was about to bring a world of pain down on Fleur when the thrum of drone engines could be heard.

"Fuck, they're quick," swore Harry.

V cursed and tossed her rifle into the truck bed, the heavy steel hitting the unconscious Hellman, likely giving him a black eye. Harry grabbed her hand and pulled her up.

"Drive!"

She needed no other incentive, flooring the gas pedal and leaving behind a plume of dust.

"Woah! Easy there!" yelled Panam, nearly falling off the back but was saved by Harry grabbing her wrist.

"Where am I going?" asked Fleur through comms, since they wouldn't be able to hear her from the truck bed.

Harry noticed the tracks being left behind in the dirt and pointed them out to Panam who swore. The drones would be able to follow the tracks directly to them.

"I know a place," said Panam. "There's a tunnel system, Rocky Ridge, we'll lead them inside and lay an ambush."

"Smaller, confined space. Take away their aerial advantage. Let's do it."

He relayed the plan to Fleur and V.

"Same place where we took out Nash and the rest of that raffen shiv?" asked V of Panam.

"That's right, you know the way."

"I do, take a left upfront," V guided Fleur.

"Raffen shiv?" asked Fleur of them while she drove. It was the second time that day she'd heard the term.

"Scum," spat Panam, as she grabbed a pair of binoculars, the word 'Militech' written on the side.

"They're nomads who've been cast out from their clans," explained Harry. "Murderers, rapists, worst of the worst. Worlds a better place with every one of 'em six feet under."

"If zhey're so terrible, why zhrow zhem out, why not just kill zhem?"

"Because that's not the Nomad way. We're not savages," cut in Panam. "But I wouldn't expect some corpo to understand, I guess."

"You're right, I don't understand. You knew what zhese men were, and instead of dealing wizh zhem, you let zhem go?" After the incident with Felix and what he had planned for her, Fleur didn't feel much sympathy.

"Does it matter? V and I dealt with them." It did matter to the people they'd hurt in the time between, but Fleur didn't say it, even if she was thinking it.

Harry agreed with Fleur and from the way Panam remained silent with a conflicted expression marring her face, he suspected she disagreed more out of spite than anything else.

"I see the drones," announced Panam. She handed Harry the binoculars before banging on the back window of the pickup truck.

"Move it, they're closing in!"

Fleur sped up even further, now driving dangerously fast for the rough terrain of the Badlands. Harry and Panam had to grab a hold of the truck or risk falling and getting seriously injured.

They rapidly approached the low mountain range, finding the cave entrance easily enough thanks to Panam's directions. The change in light was sudden and were Fleur not as skilled of a driver as she was, she likely would have lost control. The inside of the cave was wide with scattered cables and light fixtures. Bits of construction materials laid scattered about, which Fleur deftly avoided.

"Here," said Panam as they came to a stop right as the cave expanded into an open area, with abandoned site office containers and scaffolding. The area was also filled with the dead and already rotting scattered remains of the raffen shiv that V and Panam had previously dispatched.

Harry and Panam climbed off the back, grabbing their guns as they did so, while V told Fleur to park the pickup truck at an angle and to jack into the mounted gun. Harry threw Hellman over his shoulder and tucked him safely behind some steel beams. The engineer didn't so much as groan at being handled like a sack of potatoes.

"I'll set up there," Panam pointed to the scaffolding. It would give her a good vantage with her sniper rifle.

Harry took cover behind some heavy steel sheeting, the thick metal ought to be able to stop anything short of armour-piercing rounds.

"Harry, I can help," said Hermione. "Send out my drone."

"Fleur! Hermione's drone, back seat!"

"Found it!"

A few seconds later, the mini drone flew up and hovered just above the entrance.

"I hear them," said V, causing them all to strain their hearing, and she was right. The sound of the drone engines was closing in.

"Eyes and ears open, Fleur, aim for the joints, concentrated fire. Panam, go for the engines."

The signature scanning lights of drone tech could be seen surveying the tunnel as the drones closed in rapidly. The group watched with bated breath as they approached.

"Easy… Easy… Now!"

They flew in a V-Formation, one drone in front, while two flew behind it on either side. As soon as the first crossed the threshold into the cavernous area, their group opened fire. The noise in the enclosed space was deafening, with the rumbling whirr of the heavy mounted machine gun, and thunderous bangs of Panam's machine. Their shots slammed into the drones, barely denting the armoured front panels, but breaking through the less armoured spots.

In the midst of it all, Hermione's drone fell from above the three far larger drones and landed on the one on the right. Which was the hardest for their shots to reach. The tiny drone jacked into its larger cousin, and immediately the coupled pair began to go haywire. It turned and opened fire on the drone beside it, the large calibre rounds took it out in an instant, and it fell to the ground. Before the hijacked drone could do the same to the third, the built in ICE forced it to self-destruct, taking Hermione's mini drone with it.

The last drone wasn't idle throughout, the advanced combat AI's returned fire as soon as they got a lock on their positions. Shots tore through the bed of Panam's pickup truck, but thankfully couldn't reach Fleur.

"Putain!" swore Fleur, as bits of glass and rock showered her, forcing her to cover her head. She was still jacked into the machine gun, which she kept firing. Her relentless efforts bore fruit, and the last of the three drones exploded, crashing into the ground.

It was still partially functional, as its gun rotated, still fixated on Fleur's position, but with it now on the ground. It had a line of sight beneath the truck. Harry saw this and realised what had happened. He aimed his rifle at the area of the drone which had been blown open and fired. His shots did succeed in taking out the drone, but not before it had sent a volley of gunfire.

Fleur screamed in pain, as the mounted machine gun slowed to a dead-still.

"Fleur!" yelled Harry worriedly, rushing over to her.

"Je vais bien!" She answered, as he reached her. His implants did their job at translating. She was fine.

Though she was bleeding, a bullet had grazed her side. It was a minor flesh wound. Harry opened the back door of the pickup truck and fetched a haemostatic spray.

"This is going to sting," he said, and Fleur grinned at him.

"I'm a big girl."

He grinned back at her and sprayed the wound. She tensed but did not cry out. Once he stopped, she raised a blood covered hand and pulled him down, shoving her tongue in his mouth with an adrenaline and lust fuelled kiss. Her heart was still racing from the excitement.

She moaned and for a split second, nursed the idea of fucking him, right there, Panam and V could watch for all she cared. But reason won, and she let him end the kiss, to pull her to her feet. She rubbed her legs together and felt her dampened pussy.

"Time and place," he chuckled.

"What's wrong wizh 'ere and now?"

He flicked her forehead, causing her to laugh.

"I'm impressed, you held up well."

"I told you, I'm a big girl."

"Well, big girl, we'll make a merc out of you, yet."

"Bien, I can't wait, but per'aps," she glanced at her closed flesh wound. "I should wear somezhing a bit more bulletproof."

"There isn't much you can do to stop a round of that size, but there may be a little something in the mail soon."

"Quoi? More gifts?" She asked with a smile.

"Since we're an 'us', it means I gotta make sure you stay in one piece. Self-interest, you see."

"Oui, it 'as nozhing to do wizh 'ow much you enjoy my derrière?"

"Not in the slightest," he lied. The knowing glint in her eyes and the smirk on her face proved his lack of success. He stood and helped her up right as they heard steps approach.

"Everyone alright? I heard Fleur shout," asked V as she joined them, along with Panam, who stared at her pickup truck in heartbroken horror.

Before Fleur could reassure V of her wellbeing, Panam cried out in agony and horror.

"My baby!"

She dropped her rifle and frantically began inspecting the damage the drone had dealt to her pickup truck. It was bad, the truck would still run perfectly well, but the rear end needed serious body work.

"No, no no!" The Nomad was on the verge of tears.

"Panam," said V, gaining her attention. "I know a guy, he'll have it good as new in a few days."

"That's great, but I can't afford it right now!"

"It's on me, you were helping me out, it's the least I could do."

Panam quieted, and stared at V meaningfully. "Thanks, V."

"Now," said Harry, his arm around Fleur who leaned back against him. "We should move before any more drones show up."

"Grab Hellman," said Panam. "I'll turn the car around."

END CHAPTER

Chapter 6 is already available at / Office_Sloth