Author's Note:

Hey, it's me again! I just wanted to give my thanks for incredibly encouraging feedback I've received for the start of this story, it's indescribably heartwarming to hear that you'd like to see this story continued! Every piece of feedback and criticism is greatly appreciated and helps me as a writer. Thank you so much for your support, and I hope you continue to enjoy Fading Sun!

FOURTH_TIMER: 4%

[IMAGE OF A HAND REACHING OUT TO THE SUN DISPLAYED]

CURRENT_STATUS: "I Know You See Me"

ENTRY_DATA:

Night City is full of surprises. Each day brings an equal chance of scoring big or getting flatlined, a living and breathing slot machine of a city.

But now, for the first time, the city is truly beginning to peel back its folds and reveal to you hints of what's really hiding underneath it all. The ever-watching eyes, essence, and presence of something different, something incomprehensible, something...more. You have no idea what lurks just beyond your understanding, but who knows, choom? Maybe one day, some day soon, you will.

Will you be ready when that day comes? For the sake of the new possibility you're reaching for, you'd better hope so.

"Just one."

No.

"Just one before we delta."

I said no.

V stood just beyond the threshold of the NCART metro station at Ellison Plaza, having taken a brief walk from the Afterlife, leaning against a cold, jagged wall and awaiting the right time to board a train that would take him as close to the city's outer borders as possible. With most roads revolving around and through the centre of the city closed, possibly for the next several days, there was little choice but to do so.

The mercenary gazed absent-mindedly at the flooding crowds of pedestrians sifting through the city streets in front of him, and the dark veil of night illuminated by the flashing headlights of passing vehicles, desperately attempting—in vain—to ignore the agitated phantom lingering at his right side.

"Need just one cig, V…get some smoke in your lungs and nicotine in your veins." Johnny persisted, his boot tapping impatiently on the pavement. "It's been ages…I'm starting to lose it."

Having endured Johnny's pleading and demanding for nearly an hour, V was emotionally exhausted, grimacing as he responded once more to the phantom with the voice of his inner thoughts.

I don't smoke.

"Then start." Johnny gruff voice continued to command.

V momentarily closed his eyes, embracing the cold wind of night brushing against his skin and through his hair, trying his best to prevent the rockerboy's incessant nagging from giving him a migraine.

When he opened his eyes again, the digital phantom was still standing right beside him, looming over him while awaiting V's surrender.

What about your own cigs you keep huffing and puffing? They don't do anything for you?

"You're even dumber than you look. They're not real, V. " Johnny snapped back with a venomous tone.

What even are they, then?

As V posed the question through his mind's thoughts, Johnny's expression coiled and twisted unnaturally, morphing into a mixed display of perplexion and contemplation as the phantom struggled to find the correct answer.

"They're…like the memory of cigarettes…" the rockerboy whispered, a lack of confidence in his understanding peering through his voice. "I still remember what they're like…and when I try to take a puff, I can almost taste it again…but it fucking escapes. It's like trying to eat or drink something while you're dreaming."

V shifted slightly—no longer leaning on a wall—as he watched the digital image of Johnny begin to restlessly pace back and forth before him, still struggling to grapple with the myriad of sensations, or lack thereof, of being a recorded construct.

"Only time I can feel something—anything…" Johnny continued, his confused expression contorting into one of enraged frustration, and his pacing growing faster and more frantic. "...is when you feel it. Otherwise, I'm reaching for something…that just isn't there."

The mercenary stared at Johnny wordlessly, then sighed and dug his hand into a pocket of his Samurai jacket, retrieving a sleek and gold plated cigarette case—one that once belonged to the late Evelynn Parker. The weight of the case felt far heavier than it truly was; every time V held it in his hands, gruesome and horrifying images of what happened to the woman flooded his mind and needed to be pushed back to the farthest corners. He had hoped that Judy would have taken the cigarette case from him, considering how much Evelynn had clearly meant to her, but it still remained in his possession—plaguing him.

Pressing his thumb against the side of the cigarette case, V watched it click open then took one of the remaining cigarettes inside, sliding the horrid thing between his lips and tasting its rough texture.

"V?" Johnny remarked as he watched his partner ignite the cigarette with a silver lighter.

Don't get used to this. I'm serious.

Johnny gazed with satisfaction as the mercenary took a deep, prolonged draw of the cigarette, filling his lungs with the deathly smoke, then gradually exhaling. Shifting around, the rockerboy attempted to subtly turn away and hide his pleased smile, though his hoarse voice still betrayed the extent of his appreciation.

"Thanks…V." he whispered.

As V lingered outside the station, time seemed to stretch and contort with each drag of his cigarette. Acrid smoke danced around him, mingling with the biting chill of the night air. With each exhale, tendrils of vapour dispersed into the bustling cityscape, the ebb and flow of pedestrian traffic continuing unabated, a relentless tide surging through the labyrinthine streets.

Citizens of all walks of life hurried past, their footsteps echoing against the pavement in a symphony of urgency. From weary commuters to restless revellers, there never seemed to be an end to them, nor the echoes of their voices.

Yet one pedestrian managed to capture a fragment of V's attention. A woman sat atop the stairs of the station's entrance, nearly curled into a fetal position, rocking back and forth, mumbling in almost indiscernible ramblings.

Her hair was a dark green, her poorly applied eyeshadow a bright pink, and she was dressed with streetwear in tatters and disarray. The heavy bags under her eyes and her uncontrollable shaking were clear to see, and the embers of a commotion began to spark as she reached out her pallid, frail arms to every person that passed by her.

"...in the age of his f-failure…he became l-lost in t-the…forest…!" she whimpered weakly as she attempted to grasp someone with her pale hands without standing up.

As the sickly woman continued, pedestrians hurried past, their faces etched with a mixture of discomfort and disdain as they veered wide of her outstretched hands. Murmurs of disapproval rippled through the crowd, a chorus of muttered grievances aimed at the unwanted interruption to their hurried lives.

Amidst the sea of indifferent faces, a posse of Valentinos swaggered by, their laughter echoing off the concrete's walls. With brazen disregard for the woman's suffering, they unleashed a barrage of taunts and insults in their native tongue, their words dripping with amusement and cruelty. Yet, despite their mockery, the woman remained undeterred, her resolve unshaken as she continued her disjointed ramblings.

"In the age of his failure, he became lost in the forest…in the age of his failure, he became lost in the forest! In the age of his failure, he became lost in the forest!" she wailed, her eyes darting around as if she expected someone to understand her nonsensical pleas.

"City's the same shithole it's always been." Johnny commented grimly, having observed the same scene as V, his disgust apparent. "Fucking sheep lying to themselves—pretending as if they aren't being shepherded. Don't even realise that they're marching to meet the same fate, not until they're the ones laying on the street, with broken bodies and crushed souls."

V nodded slowly, the voice of his thoughts trailing on instinctually.

She ain't going to get the help she needs…someone oughta set all these people straight someday…

"Someone oughta burn this fucking city to the ground." Johnny quickly corrected V, his arms folded and his voice a growling murmur. The phantom image delivered an exasperated sigh, then turned directly to the mercenary. "...but we've got our own problems. Isn't it time, V?"

Realising that Johnny was right and that time had slipped away faster than anticipated, V's sense of urgency surged to the forefront of his mind. With a determined grit, he straightened his jacket, the familiar weight of it a reassuring anchor, as he started his stride towards the metro station's entrance.

Yeah…time to go.

The train lurched forward with a metallic groan, its wheels protesting against the less than sturdy tracks as it embarked on its journey from Ellison Plaza. Inside the carriage, the faint hum of machinery filled the air, accompanied by the rhythmic vibrations that resonated through the floor beneath V's feet.

The mercenary endured the scents of sweat, synthetic fabric, and stale air wafting through the cramped confines of the carriage as he settled into his seat, sandwiched between two strangers. With a sigh, he turned his gaze towards the window, where the landscape of Night City unfolded behind the glass, a glimmering sea of neon lights and neon dreams filling most of the view. As Johnny shimmered into visibility, standing in the middle of the carriage, V's anxious thoughts posed a question.

So…you think they'll help us?

Johnny's voice was quiet as he answered, gazing at the same view of the city as the mercenary. "Which one?"

I dunno…Panam? River? Judy…? All of them, I guess.

"Panam will do it...and she fucking better. You didn't save that guy's life just to be told to eat shit." Johnny responded immediately, his voice oozing with confidence. "...what was his name again?"

Saul.

"Yeah, Saul…" the rockerboy muttered. "Eye for an eye, V…the chick understands that. Shit—I think she'd help you even if you hadn't done all that for her. She's got a couple of screws loose."

A slight smile crept along V's face as his thoughts gave an amused response.

Don't we all?

Johnny's lips curved into a fleeting smile in return, though it waned almost as swiftly as it appeared. "...that River guy might say yes too, after what you did for his nephew."

A pained grimace contorted V's face as memories of the harrowing ordeal with River and his nephew, Randy, galloped right to the front of his mind. Despite the relief of saving Randy's life, the lingering trauma of that hellish farm still gripped V's consciousness like a vice. It was yet another haunting and grim memory, out of many, that needed to be forced back into the dark recesses of V's mind for the sake of his sanity.

The mercenary groaned, then spoke again with his thoughts.

Huh, thought you'd be against bringing in a badge…was getting ready to have an argument about it with you.

"Nah…" Johnny sighed. "...the guy's barely a badge."

What…?

"I see him, V. I see his eyes. He's sick with all the twisted bureaucracy, the broken system, getting fucked sideways by those pricks. Took him too long…but he's getting there. He's on the edge of putting a torch to his whole career already—just needs one more push." Johnny elaborated, his voice knowing and ever so slightly graced with sympathy for the man.

Hm…and Judy?

"Forget that Techie." the rockerboy grumbled, rolling his eyes behind the shield of his dark shades.

Mhm, there it is.

"I'm serious."

I knew it. I fucking knew you'd have a problem with my picks for a crew. You always gotta find something to complain about, don't you?

"You don't need her. Want a Techie so damn much? Find a better one at the Afterlife." Johnny took a single step closer to the mercenary, remaining adamant in his rejection. "Don't get why you ever got involved with her in the first place. That whole thing with her and Clouds was one big fucking shitshow."

That's because she helped me, Johnny. She's gone through a lot of shit. Might've been even worse if I hadn't done anything.

"Ugh…" Johnny recoiled in palpable disgust as he averted his gaze from V, his head shaking in disapproval. "Don't get sentimental on me again, V. Can't even look at you when you're like this."

Ain't that what this is all about? Being sentimental? Finding chooms I can trust? Well—I trust Judy, so I'm gonna ask her. End of story.

"Fine—that chick's on her way out anyway, so good fucking luck." the rockerboy spat back in annoyance.

The jaded phantom was correct. The last time that V had spent time with Judy, it was during their venture underwater to reflect upon a sunken city, after which Judy had informed the merc that she was considering leaving Night City entirely. As far as V was aware, she had not taken that trip just yet, though it seemed only a matter of time.

He would have to ask for her help quickly, and she would undoubtedly be the most likely person out of the three to turn him down.

"In the age of his failure, h-he became lost in the forest…"

V's head turned on a swivel as he overheard those familiar words.

With a grating screech, the carriage door had slowly opened, admitting a shadowy figure inside. V's recognition dawned as the unwell woman from earlier stumbled into the carriage, her movements laboured and erratic. Clad in an oversized, tattered red hoodie, she shuffled with a peculiar gait, her feet dragging along the floor, her trembling form drawing uneasy glances from the other passengers. Murmurs and whispers rippled through the air as they observed her.

"Huh, it's her…" Johnny remarked quietly, his arms crossed.

Witnessing the woman again, V could not shake a strange, sinking feeling deep in his gut.

As she drew ever nearer, her unsteady walking captured the attention of one passenger in particular. Visibly agitated, he ceased scrolling on his phone and glared at her with impatience brewing in his expression. With a snarl of frustration, he failed to hold back his irritation any longer.

"Get lost, you dorphhead!" his words sliced through the air, laced with hostility.

As the man's words echoed inside the carriage, the woman's movements halted abruptly, her figure rigid and unmoving, like a marionette whose strings had been severed.

An eerie silence settled over the carriage, thick with tension, as everyone observed her erratic behaviour. Then, with a disconcerting slowness, her head began to tilt and pivot, defying the stillness of her body. Inch by inch, her gaze fixed upon the annoyed man, not an ounce left of emotion to be found on her pale face.

The woman's voice was a deathly whisper, one that now seemed to possess its own independent echo.

"L-L…Li…Lili…"

Her lips trembled as she battled internally, attempting to trap the words in her mouth, to simply no avail.

"Li…L-Lilith…Lilith…has concealed…the tenth circle…from the ancestors' eyes…she sees me…she…sees me."

"Huh? The hell's the matter with you, you gonk?" the man hissed with the same vitriol as before, though his voice sounded less confident.

"The…the…t-tenth…the…tenth…!" the sickly woman softly in desperation.

V's sense of unease increased as the woman abruptly lunged forward with startling agility, seizing the man's head in a vice-like grip, her fingers digging into his scalp with an almost inhuman strength. Panic infected the male passenger, his voice trembling with fear as he struggled fruitlessly against her.

"W-What the fuck?! What are you doing?! Let go of me!" he pleaded, his words tinged with regret as he frantically attempted to break free from her grasp.

"The tenth circle…the tenth circle…the tenth's circle…the tenth's circle…" the woman's high-pitched voice bellowed and chanted.

"I…said…let…go…of…m-!"

Before the passenger could finish his plea, the woman's voice became a deafening shriek.

"THE TENTH CIRCLE!"

The entire train descended into a sea of wails and screams as the woman crushed the man's head between her palms.

Blood immediately fired out of the passenger's crushed skull and poured down inside the carriage as heavy droplets, carrying minced and wet chunks of brain matter and bone with them, staining the white walls. Passengers leapt out of their seats and ran as fast as they could as they screamed uncontrollably, trampling over one another as they tried to claw their way into the next carriage.

The train trembled under the weight of the sudden chaos, its very structure quivering as panicked passengers scattered in a frantic bid to escape the unfolding nightmare. The once orderly carriage devolved into a scene of pandemonium, each jolt of the train only served to intensify the ensuing mayhem. V swiftly sprung from his seat, but unlike other passengers, kept his feet firmly planted where they were, wiping away the stray droplets of dark blood that had landed on his clothes.

Johnny stood shoulder to shoulder with the mercenary, his gaze fixed on the nightmare before them. His arms were unfolded, his stance resolute, a pillar of calm despite the gravity of the situation. His voice held steady, though it still carried with it a hint of concern.

"Cyberpsycho…" he remarked to V. "...looks like Regina still missed a few."

V reflected Johnny's stance, widening his own, readying himself for the inevitable.

"Fuck me…" he groaned in exasperation. "It just had to be today."

The mercenary and the digital phantom watched silently as the woman slowly retreated from the corpse at her feet.

Her hands trembled uncontrollably, the crimson stains of her victim painting a red dye on her quivering lips and pallid face. In a fleeting moment, her eyes seemed to clear, a flicker of realisation of what she had done passing through them. But as quickly as it came, it vanished, replaced by a chilling determination to maim and kill.

With a mechanical precision, she advanced, the grey gleam of her mantis blades slicing through the fabric of her sleeves. Each step echoed with a sickening squelch as she navigated the crimson pools of blood that pooled beneath her feet, her intent clear: to attack V without hesitation.

"Go on, scan her." Johnny commanded.

Though V knew the rockerboy wanted him to scan her to discover what cyberware she had, the mercenary opted to use his optics to cross-reference her face against available databases to find her name.

Despite the obstruction of fresh blood covering parts of her face, V's optics displayed rudimentary information regarding the woman, including a name.

"Nadya…Petrova?" V spoke the name he saw through his optics out loud. "Gonna need you to chill, choom…I know someone that can-"

Before V could utter another word, Nadya surged forward, her mantis blades carving fiery arcs across the carriage floor, sparks igniting in their wake. With lethal precision, she aimed the deadly blades at V's neck, lashing out violently without the slightest hint of inhibition.

Reacting on pure instinct, V barely managed to evade the lethal blades, grunting as he lunged backward, narrowly avoiding the razor-sharp edge. His movements were uncoordinated and frantic as he immediately lost his bearings and stumbled along the floor, scrambling to get back to his feet. The moment he did, Nadya lashed out once more, swinging her left mantis blade towards the mercenary's torso, missing but still carving out a small shred of fabric off of his shirt, and continuing its trajectory until it reached one of the carriage's windows and shattered the glass in a single thrust. Capitalising on the opening, V primed his cyberware, his powerful Gorilla Arms unfolding piece by piece and clicking into formation as it charged its immense kinetic energy, and fired a punch directly at Nadya's gut.

The female Cyberpsycho gasped the moment that V's fist connected, then screamed in pain as the sheer force of the punch swiftly carried her off her feet and through the air, landing painfully on the other side of the carriage, colliding with the walls and rows of seats in her descent. The speeding train rattled and shuddered under the immense force, yet the Cyberpsycho remained undeterred, already rising to her feet with an eerily unshakeable drive. V's gaze flickered down to the sheath and holster at his side, his mind racing as he assessed the situation and his options.

"What are you waiting for? Pull your iron." Johnny materialised beside V again, his voice urgent, his demeanour impatient.

"That ain't the plan, Johnny! We bring them back to Regina—that's always been the deal!" V hissed back, his eyes fixed unwaveringly on the woman.

Reclaiming her footing, Nadya charged once more with reckless abandon at the mercenary, her blades retracting into her mechanised arms as she threw a flurry of her own haymakers at V, her fists powering easily through multiple poles in the centre of the carriage and the walls. V expertly continued to weave around her vicious and animalistic attacks, watching her leave small craters in the walls every time she failed to hit him, her knuckles colliding instead with their surroundings and leaving permanent scars in the vehicle's interior. Even in the midst of her unhinged frenzy, however, Nadya moved with a calculated intent, her glowing eyes studying V as they engaged in their deadly brawl. With an incredibly quick and unexpected move, she lunged forward, trapping V's foot beneath hers, effectively immobilising him for a fleeting moment, and seized the opportunity, delivering a devastating punch to V's jaw, the force of it sending him right along the side of the carriage.

V growled with irritation, now the one sprawled on the cold floor of the carriage, battered and bruised. The image of Johnny coalesced once more, crouched down and kneeling, staring down at the fallen mercenary with a disapproving scowl etched on his face.

"Oh, V…this is hard to watch." the rockerboy provided his commentary.

"Fuck off, Johnny!" V snarled to the digital phantom.

Ignoring V's internal dialogue, Nadya came crashing down on top of him with her mantis blades. V deftly dodged the lethal blades yet again, their silver edges slicing through the floor of the carriage, exposing the wires and inner workings beneath. A tiny tuft of V's hair began to dance in the air around them, Nadya's blades managing to come just millimetres away from impaling the merc through his skull, sending him an extremely clear message.

While he was determined to incapacitate her without lethal force, like he had for many other Cyberpsychos in the past, he could not effort holding back any longer and risking his own neck.

V promptly raised his legs, primed with fortified and reinforced tendons, and kicked the woman off of him with terrible force. Thrown skyward by the force of the impact, Nadya crashed against the carriage's ceiling before plummeting back to the floor. Despite the brutal blow, she skillfully laned right back on her feet, her fury at the mercenary's resistance only intensifying. With lightning speed, she drew a sleek pistol, an M-10AF Lexington, its metallic shine a stark contrast against the dark, bloodied scene on the train. Murderous rage burning brightly in her eyes, she aimed the weapon at V, her finger poised to pull the trigger.

With a determined grunt, V braced himself, preparing to unleash his most potent cyberware.

"Ugh, fine…! Let's fucking do this!" he roared.

In the split second before Nadya could squeeze the trigger, V activated his Sandevistan.

Instantly, a surge of electricity travelled through V's neural pathways, igniting a shock that sizzled and ran up every inch of his spine.

The energy pulse crackled and electrified his innards, charging his muscles and sharpening his reflexes far beyond human limitations. The world around him faded into a colourless canvas as time slowed and reached a crawl, each moment stretching into an eternity.

Amidst the grayscale, V charged forward with full force, with each step he took causing a rainbow of afterimages to burst into existence and echo his every last movement, painting the air of the monochrome world with an array of vibrant colours and hues. The mercenary reached the Cyberpsycho from across the carriage in a mere fraction of a second, positioned himself behind her, and locked his arms around her neck in a chokehold.

Not a single bullet ever managed to leave the chamber of Nadya's gun.

Colour gradually poured back into the world as the flow of time returned to normal. V maintained his hold around the woman's neck, the strangulation causing her to drop her pistol and gurgle desperately for oxygen. She first attempted to scratch and claw at the arms around her neck, and when that failed, she raised one leg after the other to kick the mercenary behind her. Nothing managed to budge V or push him away, his grip was ironclad, his physical strength reinforced too heavily by his cybernetic implants.

"Go to sleep! Go…to…sleep!" V pleaded to the crazed woman, waiting for her to lose consciousness.

Nadya refused to relent, hissing and screeching like a cornered, rabid animal. She continued to struggle within the chokehold to no avail as the floor of the train rattled, wrestling to maintain consciousness with all of her strength.

"M-Mother…mother…!" she cried.

Johnny's digital form appeared in front of the suffocating woman, his holographic presence a witness to the horrid scene unfolding.

"This is even harder to watch…" he muttered to V, his voice heavy with disdain. "Put her out of her misery already."

"Working on it!" the mercenary barked back to his partner.

V's grip tightened around the Cyberpsycho's throat, the strain evident in the veins of his neck as he persisted to subdue her. With each passing moment, the woman's resistance seemed to wane, her body slumping backwards and growing limp in his arms.

But her eyes remained open, unyielding.

Even in her weakened state, Nadya's gaze bore into V's soul, a silent challenge raging in the depths of her eyes. Her lips moved, forming words that V couldn't hear over the chaos of the train car. It was a chant, or perhaps a prayer, uttered with a fervour that defied reason; it did not take very long for that voice to grow louder and louder, with a tone that began to haunt the mercenary as it became audible.

"L-L-Li…lith…m-mother…embrace me…in…your…circle…!"

The merc watched, completely perplexed, as Nadya's irises seemed to glow alight with an ethereal, purple hue while she spoke.

"I…can take it…I can take it…I can…take it…I can take…it…!"

In an instant, the air crackled with otherworldly energy, swirling threads of dark purple and crimson electricity arcing from different angles of the cramped confines of the train car. Nadya stood at the epicentre of the tempest, her form outlined in an ominous glow as the crackling energy enveloped her.

"I CAN TAKE IT!" she bellowed at the very top of her lungs.

But as the shadowy energy surged through her, it surged through V as well, a searing current that tore through his body like a wildfire. Agony ripped through his nerves, each jolt of electricity sending spasms wracking through his muscles. With a primal scream torn from his lips, he was hurled backward, his body slamming into the cold metal of the train car's wall.

"Argh…shit…!" he spat, kneeling on the ground as his body convulsed wildly.

V battled against the spasms to look up, only to see the digital form of Johnny flicker violently in and out of visibility, bearing the same pain that he was. Johnny stumbled across the carriage, nearly collapsing as he held his incorporeal head in his hands.

"J-Johnny?!" the merc gasped at the sight of his suffering partner, his voice carrying genuine concern.

"Oh…what the fuck…" the rockerboy grunted weakly, quickly fading in and out of existence before suddenly turning on his heel to look at V with a disturbed realisation. "This feeling…this fucking feeling…I've felt it before. V…this is-"

Just as Johnny's words hung in the charged air, Nadya's growl cut him off, commanding the attention of both V and the digital phantom. Her body seemed rejuvenated with newfound vitality, the crackling aura of purple and red electricity dancing around her in a deadly embrace. With an unsettling snarl, she coiled her muscles, preparing to spring into action once more.

Reacting quickly, V fought through the haze of pain and disorientation, climbing to his feet with a sense of awe mingling with apprehension. Never before had he encountered a Cyberpsycho with such unnatural strength and resilience. With a deep breath, he tried to calm his still quivering nerves, and steadily locked eyes with Nadya.

"Ugh…that's enough, choom! I'm ending this, now!" V announced with an indomitable will of his own.

The merc braced himself for another attack, his muscles tensing as he prepared to activate his Sandevistan once more.

But to his dismay, nothing happened.

A tidal wave of fear washed over him as he realised that the strange electrical shock from Nadya had done more than just inflict excruciating pain—it had somehow, against all reason, disabled a majority of his cyberware. With his heart racing a mile a minute and a droplet of sweat running down his chromed cheek, it had finally dawned on the mercenary how much in danger he truly was, suddenly saddled with an opponent whose capabilities were beyond his understanding.

With an unrelenting fury, the frenzied Cyberpsycho dashed forward, her movements accompanied by crackling sparks of dark electricity that dragged along the carriage floor. In a blur of motion, she closed the distance between them, and her hands furiously gripped the mercenary's shirt collar.

V could only stare blankly, with a foolishly dumbfounded expression on his face, and whisper.

"Oh…shi-"

Shards of broken glass surrounded V as Nadya shoved his head right out of the train's window.

Raging gusts of fresh, nightly air blasted in V's face and overwhelmed his senses as half of his body hung outside of the window of the speeding train. Uncontrollable fear struck him as he struggled to open his eyes against the endless torrent of cold wind, whipping through his hair and stinging his face with its unforgiving force. Despite his best efforts, he found it nearly impossible to pry his eyes open against the freezing onslaught, each gust threatening to tear him away from the safety of the carriage.

And though he managed to muster enough strength to finally open his eyes against the torrent of wind, the only sight that met him was a muddied blur of Night City rapidly whizzing past right below him, only serving to amplify his fear even further.

"Shit shit shit shit shit SHIT!" he screamed as loudly as his vocal cords would permit him, only for it all to be drowned out by the endless sea of devastating wind.

With a desperate grip on the arms that had seized him, V battled against the roaring breeze to shift his gaze to the right, where the dim outlines of the next metro station rapidly approached closer in his fading vision. The approaching structure spurred a stark realisation—if he didn't wrench himself back into the carriage at that very moment, he would lose something even worse than his balance.

He would lose his head.

"No no no no no no fuck fuck FUCK FUCK…!"

With a deafening screech, the grinding of metal against metal reverberated through the cramped confines of the train as it came to a sudden and violent halt at the metro station. The force of the abrupt stop was enough to send shockwaves rippling through the carriage, jolting the interior of the train like a thunderous earthquake.

Amidst the chaos, Nadya and V were flung backwards by the sheer inertia of the train's deceleration, their bodies careening back into the train and across the floor in a tangled heap of limbs. As they collided with the rough surface, the impact knocked the breath from their lungs, leaving them stunned and disoriented as a clamour of panicked screams swarmed around them.

The doors of the train swung open with a pneumatic hiss, flooding the carriage with fluorescent light from the station platform beyond. In the sudden illumination, the horrified passengers onboard clawed towards the exits, their movements disorganised and destructive as they shoved one another on the way out. V panted heavily, unable to immediately tear himself off of the ground, the sudden lack of his protective cyberware causing him to feel the full brunt of his painful fall, his body burning with severe soreness as the dizzying world spun around him.

Unfortunately, however, the impact did not keep the abnormal Cyberpsycho down.

With an unnerving swiftness, Nadya jumped back to her feet, her movements inhumanly fluid despite the fall she suffered. The metallic gleam of her cybernetic arms caught the flickering light of the carriage as she unfurled the silver blades concealed within for the final time, the crackling tendrils of purple and red electricity zipping along the surface of her skin.

V's heart hammered in his chest as he watched the blades cast a shadow of death over his head, Nadya holding her weapons high above as she prepared to deliver the mercenary's execution.

"I will…be your vessel." she uttered softly.

But a bone-chilling sound interrupted her.

A sudden cacophony of blaring sirens and blinding lights flooded the carriage. The deafening roar of an AV's engines shattered the murderous silence, drowning out all other noise with its overwhelming presence. Bright beams of light pierced through the windows, casting harsh shadows across the interior of the train as the vehicle hovered ominously right outside of the station.

V was shaken right down to his very soul as he recognized the unmistakable sound of MaxTac's arrival.

A bullet whizzed through the air in an instant, passing right above V's head, and struck Nadya in the shoulder. The woman opened her mouth to howl in unimaginable pain, but was not even given the luxury of that—a rain of bullets quickly following in its wake, ripping and tearing ferociously through the chrome and flesh of her body. A spray of crimson blood and metal pelted the floor around V as Nadya was taken apart by the bullets. Piece by piece.

Shredded and broken, the woman hung in the air for just a moment, before slumping onto the floor in front of the mercenary. Lifeless.

Reduced to a mangled scrap of blood, guts, and chrome, the woman's dead eyes rested squarely on V—and though the merc was convinced that the destruction had already ended her life, her mouth slowly opened one last time, gathering just enough strength to deliver her feeble, damaged voice.

"Ir..ina…I'm…s…so…rry…"

As V slowly got back on his feet, the doors to the train burst open with a horrid crash, a squad of MaxTac operatives flooding into the carriage, paying no mind to the thick, grimy pools of blood that jostled and splashed underneath their boots.

The MaxTac agents moved with precision and purpose, their sleek black armour gleaming in the harsh glare of the station lights. Each member of the squad was a picture of ruthless efficiency, their faces hidden behind green, tinted visors, their movements perfectly coordinated as a rehearsed routine, and their demeanour completely and utterly calm in the face of yet another rampaging Cyberpsycho. V panicked as he found himself caught in the midst of the advancing squad, their imposing figures towering over him like silent sentinels of death.

He had never been this close to them before in his life.

With no regard for his presence, they shoved him aside with brutal, uncaring force, sending him tumbling out of the train and to safety in a heap. As V struggled to rise, he stared in grim silence as the MaxTac operatives closed in on Nadya's lifeless body. Their weapons were drawn and ready, their expressions cold and impassive behind their visors. They moved with practised grace, forming a tight perimeter around the fallen Cyberpsycho, their guns trained unwaveringly on her still form. As the train's doors automatically began to close, shutting the squad of MaxTac and the deceased Nadya inside in privacy, V took cautious and slow steps away from the scene, backing away further into the station and the rest of the onlooking crowd.

Despite desperately wanting to know what on earth had just happened, he knew better than to ever get in MaxTac's way. There was no surer death sentence than that.

The digital form of Johnny returned to V's side, staring at the bloodstained windows of the train from a far distance.

"Fucking MaxTac…" he mumbled quietly.

V turned to look at his partner, feeling a small helping of relief enter his heart. "Johnny! You're alright…"

"Course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" Johnny responded in an emotionless, monotone voice.

"Well, I mean—that…thing back there…whatever the hell it was…looked like it messed you up too. I ain't sure…but I think it reached even the Relic…" V stumbled on his own words, still overwhelmed by the adrenaline coursing through his veins.

The rockerboy shook his head, too lost in contemplation to appreciate the mercenary's concern. "Shouldn't be worrying about me, V. You're the one who nearly got thrown out of a train."

"R-Right…" the merc sighed softly.

The mercenary's gaze lingered on Johnny's profile, tracing the contours of his expression as the rockerboy remained fixated on the train in silence. V furrowed his brow, a curiosity regarding what was going on in Johnny's mind beginning to eat away at him, and finally spoke up.

"Johnny…? You sure you're alright?" he asked.

The ghostly rockerboy did not skip a beat. "Stop talking to yourself out loud, dumbass."

V noticed that Johnny was right. He had been so rattled by everything that had happened, a horribly close brush with death, that he had forgotten to speak to Johnny internally rather than verbally. With a frustrated grumble, V pivoted to survey the crowd surrounding him, a sea of people gawking, whose hushed conversations buzzed with speculation regarding what might have happened aboard the accursed train.

"We're at Charter Hill." Johnny continued. "Roads aren't closed here, so…"

"...yeah, we can take our wheels from here." V finished the phantom's thought with an affirming nod.

With deliberate movements, V fished into the depths of his jacket pocket, retrieving the familiar weight of his car keys. Each contour and edge of the Porsche 911 Turbo's key fob was etched into his memory. By all means, the car was outdated and a vintage relic of the past, but the merc had never felt more at home behind the wheel of any other vehicle. Pocketing the keys, he stepped away from the turmoil of the crime scene, his stride purposeful as he waded through the bustling onlookers inside the station.

Though V tried his best to tear his gaze away from the chaos surrounding the train, he found himself drawn back to its battered exterior one last time. The memory of Nadya's relentless assault lingered in his mind like a haunting spectre, refusing to be ignored.

Never before had he encountered a Cyberpsycho so formidable, or able to leave such a lasting impression. Nadya's display of strength had defied expectations, leaving V grappling with questions that would linger around in his mind. The ominous surge of dark electricity that pulsed through her veins had been like nothing he had ever witnessed, its ability to shut down his cyberware perhaps only the start of what that strange energy might have been capable of.

As the bustling crowd shifted and closed in around him, obscuring his view of the train, V felt a shiver run down his spine. A fear he had not experienced before.

He could not shake the feeling that this was but a harbinger of something in the near future.

This was not the last time he would see that otherworldly power.