Author's Note:

Phew, sorry for the wait with this one! I've been a bit busy with some things (like playing Cyberpunk haha), as well as learning how to write and convey scenes such as the ones featured in this chapter as I go along. Still, I pray it came out well, and as always I am open to, and greatly appreciate, feedback on how to improve!

Regardless, thank you for your patience, and I hope you enjoy!

FOURTH_TIMER: 12%

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

CURRENT_STATUS: "Roll The Bones"

ENTRY_DATA:

Taking down a squad of corpo grunts? Child's play—for you, anyway. But the real challenge starts now. The aftermath. The fallout. The everything that comes next.

If Misty's tarot can be believed, this is only the first step on a long and winding path—the Fool's journey. A path with too many players, a game with too many moving pieces. And in a game like this, someone's bound to be played for a fool. Just pray it's not you.

The bird is free...where will it fly to, now?

V blinked, his mind still struggling to grasp the figure before him. The digital projection of Songbird, translucent and flickering slightly, looked down at him with a mixture of warmth and intrigue. Though he could barely keep himself upright, he managed to pull his hand away from hers, feeling a strange sense of loss at the absence of her touch.

"Songbird…?" he murmured, his voice tinged with disbelief.

A soft chuckle escaped her. "Yes—though I wish I could say in the flesh." her lips curled into a gentle, slightly smug grin, one eyebrow raised as if amused by the entire ordeal.

V watched as she rose gracefully to her feet without him, her form shimmering in the smoky light. Placing her hands on her hips, she took in the wreckage surrounding them, observing the downed AV, the twisted shards of metal, and the billowing smoke rising from the sand.

"Hell of a job you've done here." she remarked dryly, her tone hovering between admiration and exasperation as she glanced down at him. "Though I imagine you weren't exactly hoping for things to get this…fiery."

V managed a weak laugh, despite the ache spreading through his limbs, but did not forget the most pressing question. "Sorry 'bout that, landing must've been rough for you…but…what is this?"

"What's what?"

"This." V repeated, his arm motioning towards the woman and her ethereal, flickering form. "This ain't no holocall…this is like—"

"-like Johnny Silverhand?" the smiling netrunner finished the merc's sentence for him before nodding in confirmation.

"Yeah…how?"

Songbird chuckled, leaning back slightly against a boulder despite her intangible state. "That EMP you set off? It hit hard enough to fry every lockdown in my system—scrambled my circuits, tripped the failsafes, and forced everything to reboot from scratch. Now every piece of cyberware Kang Tao disabled is back online. Guess you could say you nearly killed me…then jump-started me back to life."

"Shit—EMP hit you that bad?" V remarked in surprise. "Just how much cyberware are you packing…?"

"Enough to connect to the Relic, V. That's how I'm here."

"Of course the bitch left herself a backdoor…" Johnny growled, contempt dripping from his lips, his depleted patience finally causing him to break his silence. "Wanted to pop into the Relic any time she wanted, huh? Poke and prod the trapped soul inside like it's her science project from fucking grade school—is that it?"

Songbird, seemingly oblivious, continued to scan the wreckage with a calculating gaze. She did not flinch, did not even glance in Johnny's direction, as if another digital form was not standing right in front of her.

Johnny stopped in his tracks, glaring at her in observantly before he pivoted toward V. "She doesn't see me."

V frowned in confusion.

I…guess not.

The rockerboy grumbled at the merc's internal response and began pacing restlessly, circling Songbird like a prowling animal, puffing on his phantom cigarette between clipped sentences.

"So this is her—the netrunner that's better than Alt? What a fucking joke." he muttered as he studied the flickering form closely, absorbing every detail of the woman from every angle as she continued to stare off into the distance. "Pop the pill, V, just so that I can have a body to vomit with—give her a proper welcome."

We can't just—

"Ask her, V." Johnny snarled, his voice a venomous hiss that practically crackled in the air. "Ask how it felt making the Relic—how it felt putting a soul under lock and key."

His glitching form leaned in, his head tilting mere inches from Songbird's transparent figure, as if trying to bore a hole into her through sheer, unrelenting hatred. "Did this pampered corpo bitch enjoy her twenty minutes of playing god before Arasaka kicked her to the curb? Did she enjoy fucking around with the human soul?!" his words spilled out like fire, his digital form nearly trembling with rage. "Ask her, V!"

Johnny, calm the fuck down!

"Thought you had a backbone, kid. What—did it run off right when I need it?" Johnny barked, cutting V off as his intensity only seemed to grow. He paced in front of Songbird, his gestures sharp and furious. "I want an answer…I want a fucking answer!"

A soft but audible sigh cut through the tension like a knife.

Both men froze.

Songbird, who had been facing away, slowly turned her head toward Johnny, her movements stilted and unnatural, almost mechanical. Her eyes locked onto his, her expression calm but tinged with irritation. She stared at him, unflinching, her transparent form almost glowing against the haze of smoke and sand around them.

The silence was deafening as Johnny, his fury momentarily stalled, leaned back slightly in surprise. V's mouth hung open as he witnessed, for the very first time, someone staring directly at the phantom that had haunted him for so long.

"If you're that desperate for answers…" Songbird murmured, her voice smooth and unshakably calm. "...why don't you just ask me yourself?"

Her words dangled in the air, leaving the mercenary and the deceased rockerboy unable to respond immediately. Johnny's eyes widened, darted over to V for confirmation, then back to the netrunner. He stepped back slightly, his usually psychotic level of confidence crumbling in front of the woman. V watched, speechless, as the revelation finally settled over him.

She could see Johnny. She could hear him.

The girl's lips curved upward, not quite a smirk but close, a flicker of amusement playing on her face.

"Well?" she asked lightly, tilting her head ever so slightly as her gaze bore into Johnny. "Cat got your tongue? Thought you had all those questions for me—what's stopping you now?"

Johnny's jaw clenched, his fists tightening at his sides. "You...bitch…" he finally spat, his voice low but trembling with anger.

The playfulness drained from Songbird's expression quickly, her eyes narrowing, her tone hardening.

"Yeah…that's what I thought." she said, her voice now carrying a sharp edge. She took a step forward, her transparent form sifting as she closed the distance. "You're so used to stomping around in V's head with your big speeches and tough-guy act. All that bravado, all that bluster—because you only had a one-man audience."

She gestured toward V without even looking at him, her eyes still locked on Johnny. "Guess it's easy to be the loudest voice in the room when you're so alone, huh?"

Johnny's posture straightened, his shock giving way to a rekindled blaze of anger. His lips parted, a sharp retort brewing just on the tip of his tongue, but Songbird gave him no opportunity to unleash it.

"Don't bother." she said coldly, her voice calm yet carrying an undeniable weight. "As for your questions? They don't even deserve an answer." she crossed her arms, her eyes unwavering."Calling yourself a 'human soul'... that's cute."

Pure, unadulterated fury poured into the rockerboy's eyes as she continued.

"You're not some untouchable bastion of humanity trapped in silicon, Silverhand." she said, her tone cutting right through him. "You're code. Lines of it. Ones and zeroes, stitched together by engineers who knew just enough about your personality to replicate your tantrums and self-righteous bitching. That's all you are."

The virtual woman took yet another step forward, her boots making a convincing tapping sound on the sand, until she was mere inches away from Johnny once again.

"But that's a conversation for later." she whispered, her voice low and unwavering. "Right now, we need to focus—or we're dead. And you? You're only going to distract us. Distract him."

Johnny glared, gritting his teeth in seething despair, but he did not interrupt. Not yet.

"And, well, I think it's going to take a little while for you to cool down." Songbird said, lifting her hand and placing it firmly on his shoulder, an act that felt simultaneously dismissive and commanding. "So until then, consider yourself in timeout."

Johnny's eyes widened with indignation. "You fucking—!"

But before he could finally release a torrent of fury upon the netrunner, Songbird raised her other hand and snapped her fingers.

In an instant, Johnny's form blinked out of existence, his angry shout cutting off mid-sentence like a recording abruptly being paused.

V staggered to his feet, the lingering shakiness in his legs now replaced by urgency.

"J-Johnny…?"

The response was deafening silence. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, there was no snarky comeback, no growling retort, no whispered reminder that he was not alone in his own head.

"Johnny?!" V tried again, louder this time. Still, nothing.

He turned to Songbird, his face tightening into a mixture of worry and something concerningly close to hostility. "What the hell did you just do?"

The netrunner raised one hand in a calming gesture, her expression remaining unruffled.

"Relax, V." she said with a chuckle. "For now I've re-prioritized the Relic's neural interface to filter out certain—" she paused, catching herself mid-technical explanation, her lips twitching into a wry smile. "Well, I guess you can just say I pressed the mute button on him, that's all. He's still there."

Her words should have felt dismissive, but there was something about the certainty in her tone that anchored them.

V stood rigidly for a moment, his breathing heavy, trying to make sense of the sudden quiet. But then, sure enough, he felt it—a faint, indescribable sensation scratching at the back of his skull. A strange warmth. Johnny was not gone. He was indeed still there, somewhere, just silent. Like a radio signal the merc could not quite tune into but knew was still broadcasting.

"He ain't gonna like that." V groaned, his voice easing, though the tension in his shoulders still lingered.

"Mhm."

On unsteady legs, V trudged closer to her, his boots into the burning sand.

"Can't fucking believe you can actually hear him—see him…" he said, his tone rough, like he was trying to shake off disbelief. There was something else in his voice too, an unspoken emotion that crept through his words. It rolled over him, an unfamiliar feeling settling in his chest and spreading outward.

"You seem…relieved." Songbird observed, brushing her magenta-orange hair out of her face, as if she were truly there.

"Guess it's just…nice." V chuckled, the sound dry and humorless but real. He rubbed the back of his neck, his fingers brushing where the Relic hummed under his skin. "Makes me feel a little less like I'm going crazy, seeing someone experience him—experience Johnny. No one else has ever even come close."

His eyes locked with hers, his words coming slower, softer. "You're…the real deal."

Songbird shrugged, her grin turning faintly rueful. "Too bad he's such a prick." she said flippantly.

V hesitated, her words striking a nerve even though she really was not wrong; Johnny's ego and fiery temper were far from endearing qualities to most people. Yet, the merc still felt compelled to defend his friend.

"He ain't that bad." V said, almost begrudgingly. He folded his arms, his gaze drifting. "Or, I mean, he's gotten better. First impression was…yeah, awful. But over time? He's mellowed out a bit…and he's actually trying to help—help me live."

Songbird turned her gaze back to him, her expression shifting into something unreadable. She studied him for a moment, her piercing brown eyes narrowing slightly, the red shadow around them making her stare feel sharper than it had any right to be.

"You're…actually defending him." she said softly, more to herself than to V, the words carrying a quiet curiosity. "You're getting along…with the construct."

"Yeah." V admitted. "We've learned to see eye-to-eye...for the most part."

He glanced at her face, seeing the way her eyes stayed fixed on him like he was some creature to be analysed and studied. It was not subtle, and V felt a prick of irritation rise in his chest. He knew exactly what she must be thinking.

"And no—" he added with an annoyed grumble, "It ain't some symptom of…whatever's in my head. It's my choice, alright? So don't go pinning that on the Relic or Johnny."

Songbird blinked at him, but instead of responding to his grumble, she turned away, her gaze drifting toward the wreckage around them. A sigh escaped her, carrying with it something heavier than V's annoyance—regret.

"Well, guess I'm not much better at making first impressions." she lamented quietly. "Didn't plan on going off on him like that. I…don't know what came over me." she hesitated, running a hand through her hair again, her fingers trailing over the orange highlights like she was trying to ground herself.

"Johnny does deserve an apology—even if it does nothing to help. He's alive…and I trapped him inside a piece of plastic. Working on Arasaka's constructs opened my eyes, V—showed me that the line between code and the human soul is totally blurred. Hell…Rogue AIs were already proving that line didn't matter decades ago. This entire project…went so much further than I ever wanted to go. I have to tell Johnny how sorry I am, directly—and I will. Soon."

She sighed again, a weight pulling her shoulders down. "And I'm sorry to you too, V. I swear, I didn't have a choice. But…I'll make it right. I'll save you."

V frowned. "Wait—what do you mean, you didn't have a choice?"

But before he could press further, Songbird waved a hand dismissively, the faint digital flicker of her form catching his eye.

"Later, V." she said, her tone light but firm. "I can tell you all about my glittering career at Arasaka another time. But right now, I think we've got more important things to worry about."

She nodded toward the downed AV in the crater. "Besides…" she added with a faint, almost cheeky grin, "It's a conversation better had face-to-face, don't you think?"

V let out a small, breathy chuckle despite himself, shaking his head at her nonchalance. "Fair enough." he muttered, pulling his pistol from its holster.

He turned his focus to the smoking wreckage of the AV lying in the sand ahead, its frame a mess of twisted metal and scorched panels. Around it, Kang Tao operatives continued to march cautiously, combat drones humming menacingly as they patrolled the perimeter, their scanners sweeping over the desert sand for any sign of threats.

V and the digital image of Songbird stood side by side, and the woman turned her head slightly, her expression softening as she glanced at him.

"You sure you'll be alright?" she asked. "That netrunning attack you tanked wasn't exactly gentle."

V rolled his neck, wincing as a dull crack echoed from his stiff muscles. The sizzling pain still rippled faintly through his nerves, but he was not about to let it show. He took a breath, shaking off the lingering discomfort as best he could.

"I'll be fine." he replied, his voice steady. He pulled out his trusty 3516, checking the chamber before slamming in a fresh mag.

Songbird let out a small chuckle, a knowing smile gracing her lips.

"Sounds like I'm in good hands." she said, her tone light. "Still, I'll give you a hand from where I am—guidance, backup. Might as well."

V smirked, nodding in acknowledgment. "Sure, So Mi. Let's do it."

Her smile vanished instantly, replaced by a quiet yet firm resolve.

"Songbird." she corrected the merc, her voice colder than he had ever heard it before. "Just…Songbird."

Before V could question the sudden shift, her digital form flickered and started to dissolve, scattering into pixels in the wind as she advanced forward and faded out of sight.

"Uh, alright then…" he whispered to himself as he stepped forward, taken aback by the frigid coldness he could have sworn he suddenly heard in her tone.

The AV awaited. It was time to strike.

V crouched low, his body pressing against the jagged remains of a scorched AV panel. Smoke billowed around him, a thick veil that mixed with the faint glow of embers scattered across the crash site.

A sudden static crackle jolted him slightly. Then came Panam's voice, sharp and worried. "V! What the hell just happened?! One second we're talking, next I'm looking at a dead line."

He winced at the volume, instinctively lowering his head further as two Kang Tao soldiers marched past, their rifles sweeping the wreckage. Keeping his voice barely above a whisper, he responded.

"Had a run-in with a netrunner. Tried scrambling my brain." he paused, peeking around the edge of a twisted beam before continuing. "I'm fine now. Almost at the AV."

Panam's sigh of relief was audible, though her tone remained firm. "Shit, V. Don't scare me like that. I've got eyes on you—scope's locked in. If they make you, I'm ready to start firing."

"Got it—talk to you soon."

V leaned out from behind the crumpled sheet of burning metal, his gaze locking onto the smoldering wreck of the AV. Smoke rose in thick plumes, twisting into the night sky.

"That's where you are…so damn close."

"Yep." came a light-hearted voice in his head, startling him slightly. Songbird's tone carried an almost casual cheer. "I'm inside that broken heap of metal. Real cozy in here, actually. But…still wouldn't mind a rescue."

He could not see the digital form of the netrunner like before, but the levity in her voice and words was unexpected. V initially imagined he would be extracting a mewling, trembling corpo netrunner that had landed herself into a world of trouble—one that would be crying, bargaining, and begging for a rescue. Songbird turned out to be far from that. She seemingly took the entire situation, regardless of how dire it was, in stride.

V ducked further behind cover, gripping his pistol tightly as two Kang Tao operatives strolled dangerously close to his position. Their boots dragged across the sand, the muted sound of shifting rubble carried by the desert breeze.

The first operative, a wiry man with an anxious edge to his voice, scanned the horizon with a rifle clutched in his hands.

"I swear to god…" he muttered, "Backup better get here soon. We're sitting ducks out here…" his head swiveled around nervously as if expecting an ambush at any moment. "You…think this was Arasaka?"

The second operative, stockier and more composed but with an unmistakable haughtiness, snorted derisively.

"Of course, it was Arasaka, you fucking gonk. Who else?" he gestured toward the wreckage with a dismissive wave of his hand. "You think some two-bit nomad gang shot us outta the sky?"

The wiry man hesitated, lowering his voice as if speaking the corporation's name might summon them. "Fuck…is our cargo really that important…? It's just one chick."

The stocky one stopped, turning to glare at his companion. "She's a liability to Arasaka—a loose end. They'll flatline her, no matter how many bodies they have to drop."

The operatives stood with their backs turned, too engrossed in their conversation to notice the mercenary creeping closer. Silently, V shifted his weight, preparing to lunge. His fingers flexed, ready to take them both down silently, with his bare hands.

But just as he began to rise, Songbird's voice rang sharply in his head. "Stop! Get back!"

V froze mid-movement, her tone carrying enough urgency to make him pause. Quickly, he shuffled back into cover, his pulse quickening.

"What? What is it?" he whispered harshly.

"Look up." Songbird instructed, her voice tense.

V tilted his head cautiously, his eyes scanning the wreckage above. His breath hitched when he spotted it—the mounted turret atop the AV, its sleek frame a stark contrast to the battered metal around it. The turret's sensor array swiveled methodically, scanning the entire crater.

"Damn thing's still functional…" Songbird explained. "It almost tagged you just now."

V let out a slow, controlled exhale.

"Appreciate the heads-up." he whispered, pulling himself further into the shadows. "Feel like that thing would've torn through my plating…"

Songbird's voice was soft and nearly playful. "Well, I like my extraction teams in one piece, thanks."

V allowed himself a smirk, though his focus quickly returned to the immediate threat. The turret swept the area again, its faint hum audible even over the distant sounds of shifting metal and murmuring Kang Tao operatives.

Keeping his voice low, the merc murmured. "Think you could work some magic on it?"

Songbird was quiet for a moment, then spoke thoughtfully. "Maybe. See the rear of the AV?"

V shifted his position, peering carefully around his cover. Through the haze of smoke and the crumpled wreckage, he spotted what she meant—a small access panel, partially obscured by warped metal.

"Yeah, I see it."

"Good. Get to it and use your personal link. If I can piggyback off your connection, I should be able to hijack the turret's controls and shut it down." she instructed.

He nodded to himself. "Alright. Let's do it."

The plan was solid enough, but V's gut churned as he considered what it would take to reach the panel. His muscles still throbbed profusely from the attack he had just suffered, and he knew activating his Sandevistan now would only worsen the strain—to a degree that could jeopardise everything.

Still, there was no room for hesitation.

"Gotta make this quick…" he muttered, flexing his fingers as he braced himself. The familiar hum of his Sandevistan filled his ears, a sharp buzz that felt almost comforting despite the risk. With a quick inhale, he activated it.

Time crawled to a near-standstill. The world became a frozen painting—the flickering smoke hung motionless, and the turret's sensors moved at an agonizingly slow pace. V moved like a ghost, darting from one scrap of twisted metal to the next. Each step sent a jolt through his already weary body, but he gritted his teeth and pressed on.

His focus sharpened as he approached the rear of the AV, the access panel now within reach. He skidded to a stop behind a jagged piece of debris, deactivating the Sandevistan as soon as he could. Time snapped back to normal, the sudden rush of sound and movement hitting him like a wave.

"Made it." he whispered, leaning against the AV for a moment to catch his breath and recover from a pounding headache.

He then reached for the panel, flipping it open to reveal the interface beneath. A slot in his wrist opened, and the merc swiftly pulled his personal link out of his arm and pressed it into the panel's port until he heard a click.

"You're up, Songbird." he said firmly.

V's optics lit up with a cascade of codes and sequences, rows of data flashing across his vision as Songbird worked silently through his connection.

But just as connection was successfully established with the turret, Panam reconnected through a holocall, her voice coming out in a burst, sharp and panicked. "V, get down! Drone's on you!"

V's breath caught as he instinctively spun around, his heart sinking. Hovering just above him, its singular bright light burned like a spotlight, casting him in a stark white glow.

"Shit!" he hissed.

The drone's light intensified, and an ear-piercing alarm erupted from it, a blaring noise that shattered the tense stillness of the crash site. The sound reverberated off the wreckage, instantly drawing the attention of every Kang Tao operative in the area.

"Panam—!" V started, his voice tight with urgency.

Before he could say more, a sharp crack split the air, and a moment later the drone wavered in its hover. Sparks erupted from its frame as it careened to the ground, a plume of smoke rising where it hit.

Panam's voice followed the shot, brisk and clear. "You're welcome!"

V barely had time to exhale before the sound of shouting broke out around him. Kang Tao soldiers were converging on his position, their movements now coordinated and aggressive.

The air around him exploded into chaos as Songbird spoke from the Relic hastily.

"Okay, change of plans!" she declared. "I'm redirecting the turret's targeting system to focus on them instead of you—just watch out for friendly fire! This isn't the easiest thing to control…!"

As if on cue, the turret let out a deep, mechanical whirr. Its barrel shifted with a metallic groan, locking onto the nearest cluster of Kang Tao operatives. A barrage of gunfire erupted, heavy rounds tearing through the soldiers with brutal precision. The first explosion rocked the entire crater of sand, sending smoke and debris billowing into the air.

V grinned grimly, rolling behind a chunk of burning wreckage just as bullets ricocheted past him. He pulled his 3516 back out of its holster, and in his other hand, the sleek frame of the Errata shimmered with a burning light.

"Fucking nice, Songbird! I'll take it from here!"

With a steadying breath, he surged out of cover. His pistol roared as he fired off shots, each round finding its mark in the chaos, tearing through skulls and torsos without a trace of sympathy or mercy. The Kang Tao operatives scattered in disarray, their frantic shouts barely audible over the deafening roar of gunfire and explosions. Commands were barked into the void, desperate attempts to regain control, but the turret's relentless barrage pinned them down, cutting off any chance of regrouping. Amid the chaos, precision shots rang out—V's pistol claimed targets with ruthless efficiency, while Panam's sniper rounds from afar picked off the rest of them without a hint of hesitation or mercy.

The crash site had turned into a sea of flames—an arena for the mercenary to let completely loose in.

The job was supposed to be simple—just another operation. But nothing in Night City ever stayed simple.

Lina Wei Zhang winced as a series of blinding explosions tore through the night, each detonation carving jagged scars of light into the darkened sands. The deafening booms hit her hard, rattling her eardrums and leaving her head spinning. She stumbled, boots sinking into the dirt, before collapsing into the rough mix of sand and shattered metal.

Her mind reeled, struggling to process the sudden eruption of chaos. Fear tightened its grip around her chest as she tried to make sense of the swirling nightmare. This was not supposed to happen. None of this was supposed to happen.

Her heart pounded as she fought to steady herself, instinct kicking in. Lina had always thought herself prepared for the worst over her years of service—training, drills, simulations, even other onslaughts—but nothing had readied her for this. And as she pushed herself up just enough to peer through the haze of smoke and fire, a sickening realization clawed at her gut.

Whoever—or whatever—was out there was taking apart their forces with total ease. The intruder was a killing machine. Calculated. Precise. Relentless.

And terrifyingly unstoppable.

Lina's eyes locked onto one of the remaining robots, its mechanical frame charging forward through the choking cloud of smoke and flames. Its gunfire echoed through the chaos, the weapon's muzzle flashing as it sprayed bullets at the unseen threat.

But even as it cut through the smoke, it was already doomed.

The gunfire stopped abruptly. Lina's heart skipped a beat. Then, a small explosion tore through the air, a sharp pop followed by the sickening whine of metal being torn apart. Pieces of the robot—its arms, its legs—flew out from the smoky abyss, charred and shredded, landing in a twisted heap of sparking scrap just inches from Lina's feet. She flinched instinctively, her stomach churning.

Her throat went dry.

She quickly turned to one of the few operatives still alive nearby, huddled behind a half-collapsed structure and firing blindly into the smoke. His aim was erratic, desperation evident in his every movement.

She screamed out over the din of gunfire, her voice tight with fear, "Is it Arasaka?! Are they—?!"

The man barely spared her a glance, his face twisted with terror.

He shouted back. "No! It's just one guy... maybe a fucking cyberpsycho?! I don't know! He's... too fast! How the fuck is he doing that?!"

Lina's chest tightened. She could hear the desperation in his voice, the unmistakable crack in his composure. The confusion was palpable, but the terror—that was real. The operatives around her were no longer fighting for control; they were just trying to survive.

A cold sweat broke out on Lina's brow as she aimed her pistol back towards the clouds of smoke and fired, again and again, praying at least one would meet their mark. The deafening noise of gunfire filled the air, but even as the shots rang out, doubt gnawed at her.

There was no way. No way one person could do this. The other operative had to be mistaken. It could not just be a single person tearing through their squad like this. Not after they had come in with an AV, backup drones, and a small army of operatives. She fired again, blindly, in frustration.

But then—a flicker.

A shadow, so fast it could have been a flash of light, cut across her sights. The motion was so fluid, so unnervingly quick, that it did not even look like a man. It was more like a bullet—a streak of velocity cutting through the air—working seamlessly with the gunfire of the turret that had once been targeting her. The flashes of explosions followed a rhythmic pattern, and in that strange synchronization, Lina realised something horrible.

The turret was not just shooting at random. It was targeting her squad. Whoever this person was, they were using the turret, controlling it. Coordinating with it. Her pulse quickened.

Before she could react, the firing stopped. The ground fell silent. The smoke that had once swirled thick and heavy began to dissipate, drifting away in the soft desert breeze.

The sudden silence was unnerving—too quiet.

Lina took a hesitant step forward, her breath shallow, trying to listen for any sign of movement. Maybe it was just the smoke clearing, perhaps some operatives had still survived.

But as the last remnants of the smoke hung in the air, the horrible truth dawned on her. The figures of her comrades—those who had been alive moments ago—were gone. Not just scattered, but completely vanished. The distant hum of the turret had ceased.

Lina did not need to look to know.

She was the last one left.

A cold, sickening lump formed in her throat as she looked around the wreckage. The mangled pieces of robots, the scorched bodies of her team, all of it lying in the sand. She was alone now, surrounded by death.

Her breath hitched.

Crouching behind a jagged piece of twisted AV plating, her back was pressed against its hot surface. Her hands still trembled as she slid the magazine into her pistol and chambered a round. She peeked over the edge of her cover, aiming into the emptiness around her. Wreckage surrounded her—scorched metal, shattered weapons, and bodies strewn across the sand—but of the intruder, there was no sign.

She swept her pistol back and forth, her breathing quick and shallow. No movement. No sound. It was as though the storm of violence had evaporated in an instant.

Her jaw clenched, failing to understand what was happening.

She expected a squad of the absolute best: chrome-plated nightmares with nothing but blood and corporate orders running through their veins. That's what she had prepared herself for in a worst-case scenario for the transport. But this—this was something else entirely.

She gritted her teeth, forcing herself to steady her breathing. She would not lose herself to fear, she was far too experienced for that. She would finish the job. She would survive until reinforcement arrived, and continue the transport of—

Her chest seized with sudden realization. Her eyes widened as the pieces clicked together in her mind.

Songbird.

Lina's pulse raced as she turned her gaze toward the smoldering wreck of the AV, still tilted at an awkward angle where it had crashed into the sand. The cargo they had been ordered to protect, the asset that the entire mission had been revolving around.

It was a netrunner currently strapped in, locked up, and completely defenseless.

Lina gasped softly. If the intruder was not attacking her, then he must have gone inside the AV. For Songbird.

Her stomach dropped. She had seen what the attacker was capable of, what he'd done to her entire squad in moments. If he was inside that wreck, standing over Songbird, then—

Without another thought, Lina's legs moved on their own, propelling her across the sand with frantic urgency. Her heart hammered against her ribs, each beat driving her forward. She darted from cover to cover, her gaze turning to the horizon as she ran. Nothing. Just silence. Yet, she could not shake the feeling that eyes were still on her, that at any moment, something—or someone—would strike.

Finally, she reached the AV.

The once-sleek transport was a ruin, its frame warped and blackened. Smoke curled from gaping wounds in its sides, and sparks flickered from exposed wiring. Lina approached the nearest door, her shaking hand reaching for the panel. She tapped at it hurriedly, each beep of the keypad accompanied by a silent prayer.

The mechanism groaned, the door jerking as if reluctant to obey. A shower of sparks burst from the edges before it finally gave way, sliding open just enough for Lina to squeeze through. She ducked inside, the acrid stench of smoke and burning electronics filling her lungs. The cramped interior was dimly lit by emergency lights, casting large shadows on the walls. She kept her pistol raised, scanning the space for any sign of the intruder, but the corridor was empty.

The woman pushed forward, crouching slightly to avoid the low ceiling as she made her way deeper into the AV. The faint hum of damaged systems filled her ears, accompanied by the occasional pop of an overloaded circuit. She rounded a corner and found herself staring at the heavy, reinforced doors of the back compartment.

Songbird was behind those doors.

Lina hesitated, her fingers tightening around the grip of her pistol. Her heart thudded painfully, her mind racing. The girl did not deserve to die. Not after everything she had endured. Song So Mi still remained mostly a mystery to her, but whatever secrets she carried, whatever sins she had committed, Lina knew one thing for certain—she did not deserve to meet her end at the hands of a chromed up cyberpsycho.

With a determined breath, Lina stepped forward and entered a code into a panel beside the doors. The panel flickered, unresponsive at first, before the lights on it turned green with a faint beep. The mechanisms groaned as the doors prepared to slide apart.

But before they did, a man's voice emanated from behind her, inside the vehicle.

"Thanks, choom."

Lina did not think. She spun around, her reflexes acting on pure adrenaline.

Her finger squeezed the trigger, once, twice—the pistol kicking in her hands. The first shot rang out, followed by another a heartbeat later.

But the sound that followed was not the satisfying impact of a bullet finding its mark. Instead, she heard the sharp, metallic tink-tink of both rounds ricocheting harmlessly off of reinforced chrome. Her stomach dropped. Her eyes widened in horror as she registered what she had just shot at.

The man.

The attacker who had slaughtered her squad without mercy.

Her trembling hands tried to fire again, but all her gun offered was an empty, mocking click. She was out of bullets.

Lina froze, despair taking hold as her gaze locked on the figure standing before her. The faint, flickering light of the AV's sparking circuits illuminated him in disjointed flashes.

The man was taller than her, with a frame that seemed impossibly solid, his shoulders broad under a worn brown bomber jacket. A yellow T-shirt underneath had a crude, mocking smiley face logo that felt grotesquely out of place. His hair was cropped short, his face angular and sharp, and a piercing steel in his eyes. Every flicker of light that crossed his face showed just a bit more of him, but never enough to see him in full.

The man slowly raised his Malorian Arms pistol, aiming it squarely at her.

"Wait…" Lina croaked weakly in a plea for survival. "Wait, I can—!"

A final shot rang out from V's pistol.

The sharp crack echoed within the damaged AV, followed by the dull thud of a body collapsing to the floor. V did not spare the fallen Kang Tao operative a second glance. Her body lay crumpled where it had stood moments before, blood pooling around her lifeless frame and cracked skull.

He stepped over her, his boots heavy against the grating as he approached the compartment's slowly widening doors. The mechanisms hissed and groaned, their effort as laboured as his own breathing.

Holstering his gun, V took a moment to steady himself, his chest rising and falling as he surveyed the shadows ahead. He knew the job was not over yet. If anything, the hardest part was just beginning.

The doors finally parted with a strained clunk, revealing nothing but darkness beyond. V hesitated for a split second, then took a single step forward, crossing the threshold.

The shadows swallowed him whole. Inside the compartment, the dim lighting from the rest of the AV barely penetrated, leaving the space nearly pitch-black. Despite the suffocating gloom, V's optics quickly adjusted, just enough to make out the faint outline of a figure at the far end of the compartment.

A woman, strapped to a chair. Motionless.

Her head lolled slightly to one side, her body as still as the air around them. Wires snaked from the chair's frame, disappearing into the blackness, their faint hum the only sound breaking the silence.

V swallowed hard, then took another step closer, reaching a hand out toward her.

"Songbird…" his voice seeped through the dead air to the vague figure in front of him. "I'm here."

The words hung in the air, unanswered, as the darkness seemed to close in around them.