Flashes of pain surged through V's body, coming in highs and lows, his conscious mind fighting to stay aware. The sensation felt akin to Mikoshi, where the entire sum of his courage and skill to save himself was put in front for Alt and Johhny to witness; of all the times that he had dove into cyberspace, each experience brought with it its own set of challenges to navigate through, to be bogged down by sensory overload or feedback, not to become too immersed in the ones and zeros.
Also seeking out what he needed at the same time amplified it, as well.
His eyelids, having felt sewn on and pulled taut on his digitized self, only managed to open when V calmed the tidal wave motions threatening to knock him into a distant cyberspace sector. Unlike the bleak, and mind-numbing layout of Mikoshi, what V saw threw him more for a loop than meeting Silverhand for the first time.
''W-What. . .is this?'' V asked himself, the tone of his voice coming out garbled and broken, similar to radio static. V wasn't quite as good of a net runner as something of T-Bug or Alt, even he held a vague idea of the mountains of computations and data entry to create a digital subspace that with the level and precision of that of the real world, but this was trippy for tech seemingly dated from 2030. What seemed to be a small, familiar town, devoid of the design that was held with the dystopia of 2077, was simpler. Scarily so. Luscious grass and vibrant palm tree perfectly maintained streets, with the shrill chirping of birds in the distance.
Houses, more proportionally scaled to the space of the land plot and within the distance of each other looked nearly the same. On the curbs, lines of plain yellow and white trashcans as far down that V could naturally see were placed, lids down. Arfticfical as it was, the heat of the sun registered on V's clothes and body. ''Wait, what the hell? Is this real, or have I gone crazy?'' V brought his arm up, not seeing much out of the ordinary on his lightly sun-tanned skin. Huh, his voice sounded more clear. Though, his mind felt. . .muddy; unbalanced, and if a wall, or rather, a mental block was present.
A rumbling followed by a high-pitched whine from down the street roused V from his thoughts, a streak of bright red and yellow light climbing to the heavens before suddenly stopping, almost scanning in a way for something before V silently understood that he would probably be the object of its search. Taking careful strides towards the nearest tree he could, V crouched down and stayed as still as he could. Though holding breath was not something that one needed to do in cyberspace, V held his due to instinct. After a few moments of waiting, the same rumble and high-pitched sound filled the air before gradually going quiet. ''Hmm.'' V quietly hummed to himself, taking the chance to peek his head past the tree, only to see nothing but the sun.
'' . . .What are we looking at?'' a feminine voice sounded from behind V, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
''Jesus!'' V jerked away and turned towards the source, his eyes meeting the sight of a woman with a slightly darkened skin complexion, offset in nature by her long auburn hair that flowed down to the middle of her back and the yellow and tan harvest hat that equally matched her flowing sundress. The glint in her brown eyes told a story that the merc himself attempted to decipher in the few short microseconds to judge if she was a threat or not, only to fall short. Her mouth contorting in a snarky grin caused the three thin blue tattoo lines on her eyes and chin to scrunch up. The sight made V frown. ''Who the hell are you?''
The question made the woman, who V noted was taller than him by a whole head stare down at him even when he stood to full height and tilt her head as if he suffered a lapse in his memory. Did he truly not know, or was he just being cheeky to break the ice?
''Surely, you must jest?'' the woman's voice held a mature tone, sprinkled in with a hint of mirth; almost as if the encounter in itself was entirely a game on her terms and V was the poor sap to get coerced into playing a round. ''Look at me, and I do mean, look at me and tell me if my face fails to ring any bells for you.''
With the request given, V took another look at the woman in front of him, paying a very observant eye to her posture, feeling her aura of her, all while having to crane his head upwards to take in everything that he could. Though unable to pinpoint an exact understanding of what she meant, a feeling was cast inside of V that bore a similar nature to something in his past; a slight comforting, warm feeling that calmed him but also cast a wave of confusion. The shape and contour of her face reflected something in V. . .or rather V himself was reflected in her.
''You seem familiar. . .'' V said, seeing the smile on the woman's face turn into a frown before settling into a thin line. ''But I feel like you won't tell me who you are until I tell you something that you want to hear.''
''Correct,'' the woman hummed, gesturing for V to follow her into the house closest to them, the heat of the sun coating the pair in a thin sheen of sweat. His mind swam towards the source of light in the sky, but he was assured by his 'colleague' that it was nothing to worry about; which made him worry all the more. ''And while you may have questions to ask; if you can be a little patient, you can get your answers yourself,'' V stopped at the open door. ''Well, some of them.''
The mention of some of his questions being answered caused him to experience a whiplash effect, his anger began to flare. ''Wait, pump the brakes a minute; why are we here? Why am I here? Where's Panam and-FUCK! Panam!'' V shouted, cursing himself for letting himself be taken so easily and taken from his new family. ''Send me back!''
''Afraid not; at least, not as you are now. The three of them would prove too much for you.'' the woman said, fanning her hand in front of her face due to the heat.
''I don't give a damn! Send me back!'' V roared, closing his eyes and attempting to steel himself to try and force his way back to the real world. He couldn't spend another second here, not when his significant other and brother was left to the mercy of those cyber psychos. ''Panam needs me!''
Again, the woman shook her head, taking V by the hand inside the house, where furniture reminiscent of the households built circa 1960. Paying little mind to her, V briefly put his attention to brightly colored two-tone finishes and a wax shine on the floors so clear that V could see his reflection as he was brought to a small kitchen table and sat down as the woman took off her hat and sat down. With a thousand-yard stare and barely managing to hold himself together and muscle his way back through the net, the woman spoke again, in a much gentler tone. ''V, I know that you may be feeling a little overwhelmed, but I promise; if you can calm yourself for a moment, then things will be that much more clear.'' the woman chuckled softly. ''I even rendered this dataspace to be a bit more welcoming, but I can change it to something else if you would like. I would require a few minutes is all.''
Slamming his hand on the table, V growled once again, challenging the soft plea in her eyes with a conviction of his own. The woman looked back at him with a flat stare, the mirth in her eyes replaced by lackluster curiosity. ''I don't believe you. You haven't even told me who you are, so what the hell makes you think that I can trust you?''
''I managed to get you into the net by myself, did I not? And I could have, at any time done any number of things to hurt or kill you, yet I did not. Now, think V. Why would you think that would be? Why go to all of that trouble just to bring you here in front of me, just to stare at you?'' V slowly listened to the woman's words, regrettably (and silently) agreeing with her. But the question of why any of that was done had yet to be answered. ''I can tell that you still are unable to connect the dots fully, must be something going on in that head of yours, but I assure you, we do, in fact, know each other.''
Once again, V took a good, long look, performing the monumental task of actually focusing on his memory rather than his aggression in order to get this crazy lady who insisted that the pair knew each other to get her to send him back. The longer he looked into her eyes, the closer the feeling in the back of his mind came to the forefront, and the realization nearly sent him over the edge; it couldn't be. ''Little sis? L-Lia?'' V breathed out in a whisper, his mind and emotions branching off in all directions. A strong feeling of guilt overwhelmed V, and suddenly he understood her earlier statement of having some answers, but even more, questions began to surface on account of that. ''How are you here? Why? How-'' V was cut off by his sister snapping her fingers to stop him talking for the moment.
Smiling, Lia laid her hand on V's own, the gentle caressing of his hand and accurate sensation match to that of the real world unregistering to the merc who fought to make sense of what he was seeing. ''Apologies, brother. I had an idea of how jarring it would be if I just up and told you, so I figured this would have a greater sense of ease.'' Lia said, her tone flat as she prepared herself to be bombarded with more questions, and rightfully so following the last time that the two of them were ever face to face with the other. ''I promise I can answer you bulk of your questions when we get out of here and take care of our mutual problem, but I can answer two important ones.''
''You mean how you upped and disappeared for the past 12 years? We looked everywhere for you, Lia. I thought. . .'' V's words were caught in his throat, the repressed memories he had fought so hard to compartmentalize unraveling like a loose string in a pot.
''I died, and you would be right, depending on your perspective,'' Lia softly whispered, fidgeting with a bit of her hair and looking down at the floor at her shoes, the intense gaze on her brother's face that she knew was there doing little to make her feel any less bad. ''How I came to be here, in this sector of cyberspace is not yet 100% known, but I possess some clues and theories as to why.''
V snorted, his anger clouding the fact that he would have checked himself for sounding like a pig, but the sudden resurgence of Lia. ''Clues, or just your half-assed guesses? Or is this another one of your 'grand experiments' gone completely wrong?'' V's words appeared to hurt his sister, but only he would need to know for absolutely certain if she was the genuine article or if Arasaka managed to pull off another Silverhand, only for it to be able to change form and leech information. ''Tell me one thing only Lia herself would know about me.''
Taking his statement in with a grin, Lia sounded off without missing a beat. ''When the both of us were teenagers, you had the ever so brilliant idea to be a chemist at home to cure your boredom, so you decided to play war and create a mustard gas pellet gun, and it worked, only after you managed to test it out on a low-tier gang,'' Lia chuckled to herself for a moment, revealing in the chaos that day provided, from lying all the down to running from the police after pinning the blame on someone else. ''And if that failed to convince you, then I also know the reason why you refuse to go by a last name is because of your father.''
V paused his next sentence at the mention of his. . .father. Yea, this was his little sister alright, but so out of place in the middle of bumfuck nowhere in an Arasaka facility and into a reach of cyberspace that he had no idea that was possible only served to confuse V all the more. ''Fine, I'll bite; but why are you here? This can't be a coincidence with the time or place. What; did a bad deal with Arasaka to try and be the best net runner have you jumping in the stupid pool?'' V's comment for a split second brought him back to Panam on that day with the raid on the Militech Panzer and how he essentially used the same subtle dig.
Choosing not to let that deter her, Lia continued on by redirecting the conversation toward the true purpose of why she bothered with the process to bring V before her. She could sense his distress, his anger, fear, all of it concentrated towards these Aldecaldos that he found himself fond of, and even more of pure devotion and care for this Panam that he kept going on and on about. Lia would need to act fast. ''Regardless, V. It is good to see you after all this time; and here I was coming to terms with you essentially forgetting about me after things ended how they the last time we were face to face,'' Lia cradled and rubbed her face in her hands before balancing them on her and sighing. ''But to answer you; since that day; I have been here; in the net. Bouncing back and forth, going through the paces, and holding out hope.''
''Hope?'' V asked. ''For what?''
''To make things right, and to help you,'' Lia said, gesturing to her head. ''I took the liberty of doing a soft pull of your psyche, and while it confirmed a few of the things I knew to be the same due to a possible mutual friend,'' V's puzzled look was tempered by Lia raising a hand in having him wait until she was done. ''there were a few areas I needed to have you here and aware for if you wish to take the steps to live a normal life again.''