Lia rarely had to be corrected on things, but this instance was different. When V told her about how full of fire Panam was, she surely thought her brother was joking. Her taking accurate shots with the fury of a woman possessed made her re-evaluate her original statement. Mitch, on the other hand, was someone who fit right into the small niche that V described him to be. ''Far be it from me to suggest otherwise, but was that much backup needed?''

Mitch chuckled, his voice coming in as clear as day through their shared holocall. ''One thing you should know about Panam if you're to be with us any amount of time is that she is determined above all else. If she wants something, by God, she'll find a way or make one.'' Lia watched as Mitch assisted the family in making sure their exit was secure after the ensuing battle that was over in a surprisingly quick fashion. ''That of course extends to V too, seeing as he's dead set on a mission to get that Relic out of his head before it kills him.''

Humming in quasi-confirmation, Lia materialized herself near the exit, seeing her brother talk to Saul and Cassidy about what he, Panam, and Mitch managed to find, as well as why they were late reporting back in before things took a turn for the worst. After all these years, she felt. . .a way she couldn't quite place the digital finger on. She knew the intent behind certain individual's actions, even more so amplified by the concept of family. But what she was able to feel and see as a construct were two vastly different things. ''And what now? All seems to be clear for the moment, so I fail to see any tangible reason to stay any longer than needed.''

''That's just it,'' Panam chimed in, a smirk on her face as she watched the fam salvage what they could, then feed it up the lift system they managed to improvise to get some of these gear to the surface. ''Family's all about assurance; even when you think the lot of you may not be seeing eye to eye, it's only for the moment until you can fix your differences.''

That statement in itself made her raise a brow. Though she wouldn't push it now, it was something she would want further clarification on once things managed to calm down.

''And that's when I made the decision to-'' V began to wrap up his report, only for Cassidy to butt in.

''From my understandin', stick another one of them engrams in your head? Won't that just worsen your condition?'' the cowboy had a hard time believing that V would just go ahead, and essentially go off the deep end again when his chance to have his old life back was more or less squandered. ''We can't ya having to do anything to put the clan at risk.''

V scratched the back of his head, feeling like a kid that had gotten detention in school and their parents came to hear their reasoning. Cass wasn't wrong, but he also didn't know what V hoped to gain by doing what he did. His sister, whom he thought long and dead, appeared before him when the world seemed to make its sole priority to fuck with V and those around him. Granted, it played out rather smoothly, but something in his heart told him that this was not one of the many situations one would find themselves in Night City with no way to get out of it. ''Might not mean a whole lot, but I actually meant to do this. But I'll try and be more careful.''

Feeling Cassidy's gaze of judgment linger upon him Saul took a sideways glance as he sighed and shrugged his shoulders, feeling that was the best answer he would get for the moment. ''Not trying to add to the fire, knowing how the last situation with the chip went, but just try and take it slow, kid. This isn't Night City anymore.''

''We both are aware, Saul.'' Panam jutted in, Lia nearly recoiling from the passion in her voice at just a regular talking cadence. ''If V's sister hadn't acted when she did, it would be hard to say if me and Mitch would even be alive at this point; pay no mind to Cassidy. He wasn't there.''

V wanted to disagree, but couldn't help but do the opposite when the chaos had passed. Having his sister put in his head after getting the thorn known as Johnny Silverhand out of his head was taking quite a step in the other direction, but he was essentially between a rock and a hard place with his family's lives put on the line. The only thing still gnawing at him that he would need to grow to be more accustomed to would be that he was part of that family; bearing part of the workload, and being one to be accounted for safe and sound.

''I assume this is one of the famous Aldecaldo spats I heard about from V?'' Lia asked Panam, who snorted, catching Saul off guard until she pointed at her ear to signal otherwise.

''Not the first, and certainly will not be the last,'' Panam shook her head in mirth. ''plenty more to come with the times.''

''I see.'' Lia hummed, turning her attention to V, who looked to be stuck in thought. She terminated her link to Panam and focused on her brother, taking care to not be too overbearing. The whole experience of integrating to this Relic, as damaged as it was, came with its own set of issues; processing lag, redundant OS checks, and intermittent quality drop with accessing data. Relatively simple issues that could be fixed, but Lia would grit her teeth and soldier on for the time being. ''So, brother; do you mind telling me what exactly led you to this point in time? What. . .happened?''

''Well, given you clipped the footnotes, the story as a whole is a bit crazy, not sure you'd actually want to hear it.'' V looked at his sister, noting the way her face contorted into a deadpan expression.

''V, I have been a construct for the last 12 years, or at least as long as I can remember if it's been longer than that. Time is of no consequence to me,'' Lia's eyes flashed blue for a moment before fading to normal. ''Plus I would like to hear what my brother has really been up to after we get out of this old facility first.''

''That begs the question; think Arasaka knows about what happened here?'' V's wary tone was not lost on Lia. The last thing any of them needed was for the megacorp to come down knocking with all of their fancy toys over some old shit they probably had no idea about. ''Can't be too careful.''

Lia hummed in agreement, anticipating that question. She would be a bit worried if he hadn't asked that question, in fact. ''With tech this old, and the fact the facility was essentially let to rot, I will not rule it out of the equation, but I already took the liberty of using a cloaking Daemon well before you arrived, that on top of The Aldecaldos priming on the place to be destroyed, it should still be active.''

''So even if I wanted something to worry about, there's not much,'' V replied, his tone more neutral than before.

''We do have a lot of catching up to, brother. I can tell that much. But, we should be focusing more on how your family and I can help you with this affliction of yours.''

That was all the news that V needed to hear. ''Where do we start?''

Night City, Afterlife. . .

Rouge, as usual, liked for things to be as much in control as they could possibly be. It was a way to ensure her own interests were protected and she remained the top fixer in Night City. All of that, combined with the expensive branches of her reach made for a seamless transition from day to day.

So one could imagine her surprise when she received a holo call from one Goro Takemura.

''I have been told you are the go-to fixer in this town.'' Takemura's voice was hushed. ''I have. . .a problem.''

Oh god, he sounded green. ''Correct; but what you were not told is my time is Eddies; and on top of that, sweetheart.'' Rogue took a sip of her drink, relishing the burn down her throat. ''I do meet in person.'' Takemura shuffled with something in the background of the call, making her almost want to hang up if he didn't hurry the hell up.

''It concerns Johhny Silverhand. . .and V.''

Rouge just barely missed ending the call. Things may have just gotten a tad more interesting. ''Best if we did meet in person.''