"Everyone in one piece?"

V heard River's call over the roaring fire and breathed a quick sigh of relief. Judy was first to respond, noting she was mostly unharmed. Mona was second, though he seemed to be complaining about a singed tail.

"I'm good!" V called last. "I'm with Ishida!"

She glanced up at the clouds. They had an orange glow to them as the fire grew. Yet, Madarame's visage was nowhere in sight. For now, V pushed that concern to the back of her brain. Kimiko Ishida had gone completely catatonic and was laid in a curled up foetal position. A sorry sight to be sure, but urgency had no room for compassion. It didn't help that Pixie was also panicking.

"Go fucking help Mox and Badges, Pixie."

"Eek!" Pixie squealed at the sudden address. "B-but…"

"Just fucking do it!"

"Y-yes ma'am!" The Pixie's wings flapped in a flurry of movement before she dashed off to follow V's orders. For someone who called V a slave, she was certainly open to following the merc's orders.

Almost as soon as Pixie left, inky masses grew from the ground and formed humanoid figures much like the Archangel's pre-transformed state from earlier. The Merc gritted her teeth as she prepared for a fight.

The largest of the Greater Shadows lurched forward with unbalanced steps. It beelined for Kimiko with an otherworldly groan. "Oh no you fuckin' don't," V growled, springing to action. She drew her pistol and fired off a couple of shots. Each bullet struck the creature and managed to knock it completely off balance. Its form crumpled to the floor in a heap. Though the reprieve was only temporary as each of the shambling creatures began pulsing and undulating.

They were transforming.

Several pops of black tar shook the air as monsters arose from each one. Including the Shadow V knocked to the ground. None of them looked like Archangel. Though most were identical to one another.

All but one.

The others had taken a rather peculiar form. A red skinned, naked humanoid figure with defined muscles. Its head - however - was that of some kind of bird. Coupled with large bird wings spreading from its back. Seeing one was odd enough, but a whole group stood before her. Each one staring down at V.

They towered over her with at least a few feet on her.

Most people may have been intimidated. V grinned. She was not. After facing down Night City's Boogey-Man, it took something special to put the fear of god in her. That aside, something didn't sit right with her.

The only Shadow that had taken a different form had somehow slipped away and was nowhere in sight.

"You bird freaks want a piece? Come fuckin' take it!"

All at once, the creatures charged. A blur of feathers, skin and beaks.

A cacophony of screeches ensued as they swarmed V. She did her best to keep Kimiko covered and opened fire. Each bullet that made its mark seemed to hit with more force than normal as the screeches slowly turned from aggressive to fearful.

Even still, the relentless onslaught didn't let up.

The bird-men battered, pecked and slashed at V. She grunted and groaned but rolled with each blow. She couldn't let them get to Ishida. She was their only solid lead. "Didn't your moms teach you it's fucking rude to… ah!" A particularly brutal hit struck V across the jaw.

Blood and spittle sprayed from her mouth.

She held her ground.

She scowled and shot back with a combo of gunfire and punches. Seraph's phosphorus rounds made purchase and caused a flash fire of burning feathers. The swarm finally retreated. Though not completely.

V took the opportunity to catch her breath.

The sight of steam swirling from her breath alarmed her. Fire raged around them and yet V felt cold. A shiver ran down her chromed spine. A few of the bird-men had begun to circle V overhead. Each flap of their wings lowered the temperature further.

Frost began to form in the air. It spiralled and swelled with each passing moment.

"Fuck that," she muttered. Gunshots rang out and a few of the bird-men fell to the ground, dissolving into vapour. They were undeterred. The circling sped up. The frost cloud grew larger.

Without any further warning, the cloud slammed down against V with the weight and force of a freight train.

It knocked her to the ground next to Ishida.

Tiny shards of ice sliced at her exposed skin as the deluge of frost continued. Sheer cold took a hold of her senses and for a brief moment, she felt her heart stop.

Rime started to crust against her skin.

She felt it crawl over her clothes and take root. She was beginning to freeze over. It was painful.

But it wasn't the end.

Far from it.

The Sandevistan sparked to life sending V into overdrive. She felt her muscles tense, her adrenaline spike and most of all; the power build. With a warcry straight out of a fantasy BD, V broke free from her frozen carapace and leapt to her feet.

Crusted rime burst from her body is a shower of white powder.

With her implant still active, she threw her new jacket off, exposing her arms. With a lightning quick motion, monofilament wire coiled from her wrists and lashed in the air. The lines sparked with energy as they slashed through Shadows like impossibly thin razors. With each crack and slash, a bird-man fell.

To the outsider, the booming of each whiplash was fast enough to sound like an automatic rifle.

It was like a dreadful dance of death.

"Try that shit again," V bellowed and planted a boot into the face of a charging bird-man "I fucking dare you!"

Ishida was still completely out of action but was thankfully unscathed for now. A small relief, but now was not the time to dwell. V loaded a fresh magazine into Seraph and picked off the last few bird-men.

A strange feeling overcame the merc as the final bird-man fell. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and a scent of ozone drifted through the air.

Instincts screamed at her to move.

She listened. Grabbing Ishida and slinging the woman over her shoulder, V dashed away. Just in time as a blue sphere of chaotic energy burst out from where she had stood. The destructive force pulsed with a powerful shockwave that threatened to blow her off balance.

A crater was left where the explosion hit the ground. The cauterised earth crackled with blue embers giving off the same odour of ozone.

A new creature had entered the fray.

Or rather it had re-entered the fray. The largest Shadow that retreated earlier now loomed over the battlefield. Held aloft by forces unknown, at first it seemed like a meteor with a large crack running down its centre. The fissure hummed and glowed with the same blue energy.

Then a humanoid figure emerged from within like a bird hatching from an egg.

Its skin was an iridescent white with golden locks of hair dangling from the statuesque, humanoid head. A burnished gold type of headdress reflected the light of the surrounding fire. The creature then raised an arm. It held a firm grip on a gladiatorial sword and brandished it with threatening intent.

"Do all of you freaks like being naked… or… is it a culture thing?" V huffed and without skipping a beat, opened fire. She completely emptied Seraph's magazine into the floating entity and yet it didn't even flinch.

In fact, the opposite.

The creature was intentionally moving into the path of the bullets.

"What… the fuck…" the merc watched in horror as the rounds were completely absorbed. The already defined muscles of the creature flexed with raw power. Even growing as bullet after bullet was consumed. "Shit…"

Frantically looking around wasn't giving any results. There was no exit.

"Mox, Badges, Mona," she called into the void, "the fuck do we do!?"

Her only reply was the sound of gunfire and animalistic growling. With the occasional cursing and cat noises.

"Screw it. Let's go." A little rougher than she intended, V dropped Ishida to the ground, propped her against a tree and approached the towering celestial figure. Figuring her guns were useless, she holstered Seraph.

[Oh? You approach me?]

"So you speak!"

The creature was indeed speaking, but its mouth didn't move. Its expression remained solid as marble-like eyes stared down at her. [Most run in fear or bow in reverence. You are approaching me with no fear in your heart. Fascinating.]

"I can't kick your ass if I don't approach, asshole," V retorted with a snarl. A flash of polished black metal shimmered through the air as the merc drew one of the many knives she had bought from Iwai.

[I am Mithras.] The statement held a strange expectation behind it. Like V was supposed to know exactly who the creature was.

As one could expect, V had no clue.

And frankly didn't care.

"And I'm Morgan fucking Blackhand." With a burst of speed, V sprang into the conflict. A great leap threw her headlong towards her mark and she swung. Her blade clashed with Mithras' sword sending sparks flying.

Mithras' free hand gestured then thrusted forward. Ozone filled her nostrils once again as a powerful strike hit her in the side. The physical impact got absorbed by her sub-dermals. The following blast of chaotic energy wasn't.

She yelled in pain as the burning spiked through her body.

She held her ground, gritting her teeth.

Even when Mithras withdrew his fist and revealed the nasty burn on her side, she held her ground.

Gravity had begun to catch up to her and she began to fall. She found purchase on the meteor, planting her feet firmly on the rock. With a flick of her free wrist, a length of mono-wire zipped from its mounting and snaked around Mithras' waist.

Still, Mithras' expression didn't falter.

At this point, V could only assume it couldn't falter.

[You show admirable determination.] The creature made an audible exhale of amusement. Its arrogance was starting to get on Merc's nerves. [Perhaps you are the one to fell the false deity of this sacred place.]

False deity?

Was he talking about Madarame or Ishida? Or something else entirely?

The momentary lapse in her attention gave Mithras the opening it was looking for. It withdrew its blade and brought it down into V's shoulder. The celestial steel pierced through the sub-dermal armour with ease. Merc screeched in agony.

Not that it was the worst injury she had suffered.

Blood dripped down her arm as it fell limp. The blade must have caught something important. Thankfully the arm wasn't organic. A diagnostic read-out buzzed up on her Kiroshi's feed. A severed control circuit and a fried nerve regulator. Both incredibly expensive problems to have.

"Do you have any idea how fucking expensive this arm was!?"

She scowled, having dropped her knife. It was time to cut her losses and let go. She did just that and broke off the mono-wire.

Hitting the ground winded her slightly and she braced for a follow up attack.

Though none came.

Instead, Mithras lowered itself and placed the hilt of its sword against its chest. A salute? [You have proven your resolve a thousand fold. I must protect this sacred realm, yet it is invaded by the false deity.] The creature bowed its head in respect. This was certainly a development. [I wish to propose a deal.]

"Seriously… couldn't you have led with that?"

Mithras shook its head. For the first time, its expression shifted. Grinding stone and marble formed a solemn frown.

[Were it so easy.] V rolled her eyes at the cryptic nonsense. [I shall lend you my strength. In return you will vanquish the false deity.] From the sound of it, this was a similar situation to Pixie's initial offer. Only this time, the impending threat of a gruesome demise wasn't on the table. At least, not a threat anyone was telling her about.

The merc eyed Mithras, studying it.

It didn't seem to be lying. V didn't think it could even lie in the first place. It was a living statue, after all. One thing was pressing on her mind.

"By false deity, do you mean Old Man Cloudface?"

Mithras nodded.

In the distance, the sound of combat had begun to dim. So too was the fire cutting everyone off.

V tried moving her arm to no effect. She growled to herself. Throwing herself back into a melee would just cause more issues and V really didn't feel like getting stabbed or punched again. So, she thought about the proposal for a moment.

Ishida was a solid lead on this Madarame guy, but what was really pushing her to keep on this trail? Some small possibility it might help the kids? Or was it something deeper? She couldn't explain it but deep down in her gut, she felt she needed to keep going. Something within her was also screaming at her to accept.

With her uninjured shoulder sagging, V let out an exhausted sigh. "Fine. Whatever. But any weird fineprint only applies to me. Got it? Leave Mox and Badges out of Felix's bullshit."

[The pact is between the summoner and the shadow. That is all.]

With that, a familiar sensation bloomed in her chest. It radiated through her body as a strange sense of power built up inside her. It felt like a cauldron of water slowly beginning to boil. Each bubble was a surge of energy. She would be lying if she said it didn't feel good.

I am thou, thou art I.

Thou hast acquired a new vow.

It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity.

With the birth of the Sun Persona, thou hast attained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power.

The sensation faded and with it the growing sense of power. The water in the cauldron settled down once more. By now, that whole process was a familiar one yet it still sparked confusion. Who exactly was the voice? Why could only she hear it? Why did it always come with a feeling of progress?

The myriad of questions swirled around in V's head.

Questions she would likely not get the answers to any time soon.

Her vision clouded for a brief moment. She felt weak. V was heavily injured and needed to get back to Judy and the others.

"How the fuck do we fight weather anyway?"

[First, you need to regain your strength. Take your comrades and prepare yourselves.]

"Judy, I'm fine. Seriously."

Once everyone had safely regrouped, they agreed to leave the Seedling Palace for now. As such, the group now sat in a fast food joint. Big Bang Burger according to the garish signage out front. Ever since they left Mementos, Judy had not stopped fussing over V's wounds.

Morgana may have healed up the worst of it, but his powers didn't extend to her arm's circuitry.

For the time being, the merc had effectively lost the use of her right arm.

It was still only midday, so the kids were thankfully still in school. A small mercy. V couldn't help but shudder at the thought of them seeing her in such a state.

Though even that thought alone was enough to raise a question of why she cared so much.

Perhaps she had grown to develop a certain kinship with the kids and their struggles. Or perhaps latent maternal instincts were starting to awaken. V scoffed at that thought. She really was not the maternal type. That was more Judy's thing. As was evident when it came to their cat Nibbles.

V wasn't worried about that particular cat. Nibbles had grown up on the streets of Night City. She fended for herself better than even V.

"I should probably say sorry," River said after finishing off the last of his burger. It prompted a curious raised eyebrow from both of the girls. "It was my idea to check for Ishida's seedling palace." The man looked genuinely worried and apologetic. It completely stopped any urge V had to make snarky comments.

As much as the two liked jabbing at each other, there was still a deep friendship and mutual respect between them.

So when one of them was genuinely hurt, the other couldn't ignore it.

Even if River had seen V sustain much worse than this and come out the other end just fine.

Maybe that wasn't the sort of thing to be proud of.

V knew the two of them cared deeply about her and that her rashness and general impulsiveness wreaked havoc on their nerves.

Getting back on topic, V shook her head. "It was a good idea. We just got caught with our pants down." Judy agreed though still kept fussing. V winced and recoiled in pain as Judy accidentally pressed a little too hard. "Mona, what was that blue shit Mithras used, anyway?"

The cat poked out from his hiding spot and hummed for a moment. "Mithras holds affinity over… well… it can produce something similar to nuclear energy."

V's face was instantly covered in carbonated liquid as Judy sprayed her drink into a fine mist of lemonade sweetness.

"YOU MEAN THE FUCKER PUNCHED HER WITH A NUKE!?"

The sudden outburst understandably drew many pairs of staring eyes from around the restaurant. Chitter-chatter started almost immediately.

"I said something similar to it. Keep your voice down!" Mona hissed his agitation in an exaggerated whisper. Which seemed somewhat redundant considering only those who have been in the Metaverse could understand him.

"One millisec," V stared into nothingness as she ran another diagnostic. Her expression remained stoic for a moment before letting out a sigh. She didn't know if it was from exhaustion, relief or irritation. Perhaps it was all three. "No radiation exposure. Just the damaged circ's."

"That's no better, babe… the tech here ain't gonna do shit for your arm. We need to get you to a Ripper Doc."

"Tall order."

"Hey, I've been thinking," Mona spoke up once again. "You guys mentioned you entered Mementos and when you left, you came to our world, correct?" Each one of them nodded. "Before the others and I met you, we were having a pretty interesting conversation. We came up with the theory that there might be multiple Mementos'. Having the entire world's population linked to a single instance just doesn't make sense."

"Oh!" Perking up, Judy's metaphorical lightbulb blinked into existence. "You're suggesting that we might be able to get back to Night City if we enter a Mementos that's connected to it?"

With a strange look of pride, Mona nodded.

"It's just a theory, of course. We don't even know if multiple Mementos' exist yet. On top of that, you guys still don't have your own way of getting into the Metaverse."

What hope V had quickly deflated.

"We just need to get phones, right? Then this Meta-Nav thing will just show up. That's what you said." River had been in his own little thought train up until now. "I still think that's bullshit, but everything that's happened so far is bullshit. We're talking to a cat for christ sake…"

"Not a cat!"

"Right, right. Human in a cat's body." River waved a hand as if fanning a foul smell away. "Point still stands."

"Let's just go buy them already. Vik will fix me up."

Sure enough, as soon as the three bought and set up their own smartphones, the Meta-Nav appeared out of nowhere.

Convenient was a vast understatement.

"Ok, so… we just type in the location?" V asked with quick confirmation. Mona had taken to perching himself on the Merc's working shoulder as he hung out of her backpack. From his vantage, he directed her through the app.

The app buzzed. The three Night City dwellers gasped and a sudden rush of excitement washed over them.

Night City really did have a Mementos of its own.

With sudden urgency, V, Judy and River dashed off to a secluded alleyway and immediately hit enter on the nav. The familiar feeling of being squeezed tightened around V. She noted that Mona had started to protest, but was far too excited to care.

As her senses came back and the squeezing faded, there was one very obvious thing that held her attention.

And that was the impossibly large Megabuilding. Vastly taller than any in Night City but its architecture was identical. Painted on its side was a gargantuan, unfamiliar symbol of an eye. They stood at the foot of a large flight of stairs leading into the building's lobby. Around them looked like a nondescript Night City street. It melded aspects from nearly every district. From Watson to Pacifica. It felt like home.

Even if the sky was a swirling, ominous mess of black and red smog.

"I didn't agree to come with you!" Mona had ripped the group from their feelings of nostalgia. The sudden weight gain from his transformation had only now registered to V as her arm buckled. The resulting fall and subsequent sprawling out on the ground was enough to send Mona into a hissing mess.

"Our bad," River sheepishly chuckled. "What now? Do we just leave?"

Mona dragged himself up and brushed off a thick coating of grime. A mere second on the ground had completely caked him in otherworldly filth. He growled in displeasure. "Probably. This is completely new to me."

"I'm curious about that Megabuilding… but I'm also in dire need of a Ripper Doc."

Without wasting any more time, they hit the exit on the Nav. The squeezing came once more and left once more. By now it was almost routine.

However, instead of the pristine, bustling streets of Shibuya, they found themselves sitting on a public bench. The immediate stench of garbage, gasoline and bodily fluids hit the three like a freight train of senses. They were in Night City. A distant rhythmic thump of a gunfight confirmed as much.

"Fuckin' ay!" Judy lept from the bench. "We're back!"

"Thank god…" V nearly melted into the hard stone. "For a moment there, I was scared we'd wind up dead."

"This place is filthy! Ugh!" Mona's voice cracked. He had taken a single step and had already been smacked in the face by a stray fast food wrapper. Remnants of a month old mound of syn-cheese fell from his fur forcing the cat to dry heave.

It brought a smile to V's lips.

Never in a million years would she have guessed she'd feel nostalgic over trash.

"Yep. Welcome to the shit hole we call home." The merc let herself indulge in a laugh. Honestly, the sudden wave of relief had completely exhausted her.

Or maybe it was the repeated exposure to the Metaverse.

V cracked open an eye and watched as River studied the area around them. "Oh, we're in Watson."

"Yeah. Bradbury 'n Buran is just around the corner." Judy pointed down the street. They had landed almost exactly where they needed to be. At least that cut driving through midday traffic out of the equation. All that was left was to actually get up and walk.

And thus, they did.

Though it was barely a minute before their holos each reconnected to the system. All three of their feeds instantly flooded with message after message.

V, in particular, was hit hard.

"Fuck…" they each muttered in unison, to the complete confusion of Morgana.

Author's Notes

So the V Team finds their way home! As to clear things up with V Team's Persona usage, I'm stealing a few things from "Soul Hackers" and tweaking them a little. V, River and Judy have the ability to form contracts with Greater Shadows, allowing them to channel their power and issue them commands. These contracts always have a give-and-take aspect to them. "I'll help you if you help me." For Pixie, all she wanted was protection in exchange for keeping Metaverse shenanigans at bay. Now that Mithras has joined the team, Pixie can be placed in the care of Judy or River. More Shadows might decide to join, but I don't have any solid plans at the moment. Feel free to suggest potential recruits!