"No, no, no, no, fuck!"

V looked around frantically. She was back beyond the Blackwall. How was she back? Why was she back? She felt an overwhelming force overcoming her like a tidal wave, followed by the feeling of her entire being getting suddenly yanked harder than she had ever felt before, and now she was back here. It didn't make any sense. One thing was clear, though: she had to get out of here. She didn't care how- she'd claw through the Blackwall herself if she had to- but one way or another, she was going to be with So Mi again.

"To claim that you are back would imply that you had ever left. This is not so," a familiar voice- cold and calculated- spoke as an echo on the winds of cyberspace.

Sure enough, the digital form of Alt Cunningham appeared, and V felt rage boiling in her metaphorical blood. "Oh, well look who it is!" she said exasperatedly, throwing her hands up. "And just where the fuck have you been all this time? Leaving me to fend for myself from the rogue AIs?"

"While I was not present, my protection over you was," Alt explained. "However, in trying to extend beyond the Blackwall to communicate with Songbird, you went beyond my protection, inviting rogue AIs to see you as a threat. You, solely, are responsible for the suffering you invited upon yourself."

V eyed Alt quizzically. "Just how much do you know about what happened?"

"Everything," Alt replied bluntly. "Even that which you yourself do not. When Songbird broke through the Blackwall, you did not fully cross over to the other side with her. Rather, she took one end of your engrammatic code while the other remained here, essentially stretching out your very essence between two worlds. Had she succeeded in embedding the entirety of your code in her brain, it would have destroyed both of you. I have merely taken your consciousness and pulled it back through the other side of your code."

"And why is that?" V asked, crossing her arms across her chest. "What's so important that you needed to drag me back across the Blackwall?"

"A warning. What you and Songbird are doing is beyond reckless. It is dangerous. When she pulled you back through herself, she created a critical instability in the Blackwall- one that could, if not corrected, lead to a complete collapse. NetWatch has already deployed an army of netrunners to try and mend the wound you created. So far, they have yet to make any progress."

"This your attempt to make me give up on this? On So Mi? Nice try, but that ain't fuckin' happening. I've got a chance here- a real, honest to god chance to live as a human fucking being again, and I plan on taking it, whatever the consequences may be."

"If that is the case, then you should not have come with me beyond the Blackwall in the first place," Alt told her.

"Yeah, well guess what? I didn't make that decision for you. Hell, I didn't even make it for me. If I had the option in Mikoshi, I probably woulda just shredded my code then and there. I did what I did for Johnny, and for Johnny alone. Hell, if anything, I ended up doing him a favor keeping him from living in a digital afterlife with you."

"The reasoning behind your choices is irrelevant, especially given their logical faults. It will not change what has already been done- nor what is to come."

V cocked a curious eyebrow in her direction. "The fuck are you talking about?"

"By definition, you are now what those in the realm of flesh and chrome would call a rogue AI- an entity prowling cyberspace, held back only by the Blackwall. It is for this reason that you will never be able to truly exist as you did before Soulkiller was set loose upon you," Alt explained. "Beyond the Blackwall, your engrammatic code is under constant evolution, growing and changing to survive in this hostile environment. Until now, these changes have been subtle and gradual. However, you will soon find your engrammatic code on the cusp of total metamorphosis."

"So, in other words, it's only a matter of time before I end up like you?" V asked.

"In some ways, yes, but ultimately, you are a unique individual, and the result of your changes will reflect this."

"That's all well and good, but you're forgetting about one crucial factor: one way or another, I am getting the fuck out of here. You can say it's impossible all you want, and you can threaten me with the collapse of the Blackwall, but at the end of the day, I don't give a shit. There's only one thing left in this world for me to care about, and that's living out whatever life I have left with So Mi."

V reached deep within her subconscious. If she was a Blackwall AI, then she should have the capabilities of one. She felt her essence itself reaching out into the void of cyberspace, following her engrammatic code until she found the other end that resided within Song. The transition to the other side felt almost like she was freefalling through nothingness. Her vision blurred as cyberspace passed before her very eyes. Then, there was a familiar darkness, but she had senses again- So Mi's senses, specifically. She was back in her brain.

"So Mi?" she asked quietly. "You there?"

"V?!" Song shot up in the bed of the hideout, looking around.

The construct materialized in her eyes, kneeling down in front of her. "Easy, easy. It's me. I'm here."

"Thank God," So Mi let out a relieved sigh. "V, you sounded so terrified and in so much pain, I just-" she struggled to properly articulate what she was trying to say, and when words weren't enough, she threw her arms around the imaginary form of V. "Don't ever scare me like that again, 'kay?"

V smiled at her assuredly. "I won't. Promise."

"So… what happened, anyway?" Song asked. "You were gone for quite a while."

V exhaled sharply, hanging her head low. "Alt dragged me back across the Blackwall- wanted to talk to me. Although, I guess dragging me back isn't really the right way to say, since apparently, I never left," V explained.

So Mi's eyes widened. "What are you talking about?"

"My engram- my… code- it's not all in your brain. Apparently, if it was, we woulda both been flatlined. The rest of it is still on the other side of the Blackwall."

"Fuck…" Song murmured.

"I wish I could say that's the worst of the news I got there, but according to Alt, if I don't get out past the Blackwall soon, I'm gonna end up… transforming, I guess- becoming what more like what you'd expect a Blackwall AI to be like."

So Mi felt a sense of horror and dread sinking down into her core like a stone. When she felt the Blackwall eroding away her sense of self- losing more and more of herself each day… That feeling was pure torture, and for V to have to go through the same thing, the thought alone made her sick.

"V, I- I can't let that happen. I won't let that happen," she promised, her voice pleading. "We'll figure this out, you and me- we've gotta. I've already got us a lead."

"Takemura came through while I was out?" V asked. "What came of that meeting he was bein' all cryptic about?"

Song let out a heavy sigh. "Well, for starters, you coulda warned me ahead of time about what exactly you were roping me into- all this corpo politics and subterfuge. I thought I left it all behind with the FIA."

"Whaddaya mean? Who the hell was he meeting with?"

"Some other ex-bodyguard and Michiko fuckin' Arasaka. Apparently, she's been working with them to try and get Yorinobu out of control," So Mi explained. "She said that if I help 'em get rid of Yorinobu, then they'll get us access to a Relic to put your engram on." She paused for moment, her next thought hanging for dear life on her tongue. "Also…" she trailed off awkwardly, avoiding the engram's eyes. "They may or may not be under the impression that I'm doing this to them your construct."

In spite of the situation, V managed to crack a slight smirk. "Can't ever be easy, can it?"

"I- I had to," So Mi tried to explain hurriedly. "I thought that as long as they didn't know the truth about us then we'd-"

"So Mi," V cut her off. "It's okay- really. I understand. Truth be told, you're probably a helluva lot better at navigating this kind shit than I am, and I worked at the fuckin' place for most of life. Besides, it's not like you're gonna actually follow through on it, right? Just another entry in the list of powerful people we'll be pissin' off and screwing over to get away from it all."

So Mi sighed longingly. "I wish we didn't have to go through so much of this bullshit for it to happen. I just want all of this to be over, so I can lose track of time just living with my output. That so much to ask for?" She felt a feeling in her chest stirring- a kind of restlessness as her heartbeat picked up. It felt like a mix of surprise, longing, excitement, and some deeper desire she couldn't quite describe- only these feelings didn't belong to her. "V? Everything okay?"

V's construct shifted awkwardly with an almost nervous expression on her face. "I, uh… yeah, yeah. J- just, y'know, first time I've heard you call me your output," she stammered. "I like it."

So Mi smiled at her with the warmth of a hundred suns- feeling the deep desire between them in its purest form. "That right? I never would've imagined you as the type to be the kinda person to find labels like that so important."

V disappeared and reappeared laying across So Mi's lap, looking up at her. "I guess I am, or maybe I just care about the labels you give me." The smile on her face slowly faded as she tried to air the thoughts on her mind. "To be totally honest with you, So Mi, I, uh… I- I've never really been in, y'know, a relationship like this before. Well, obviously not like this, b- but you get what I mean, right? I've never actually… dated someone before." Even just saying the word produced a feeling within her that she wanted to cherish forever.

So Mi smiled at her, enjoying every possible moment of the big, legendary merc, V, being an awkward mess on her lap. "You mean to say a girl as pretty as you didn't have peeps lining up for the chance to be with you?"

"Oh, trust me, they were, but…" V's voice trailed off. "Look, call me gonk if you want, but I guess I was just waiting for the one to come around, y'know?"

"Lengendary Afterlife merc V, a believer in true love?" So Mi asked, smiling down lightly at her. "I fail to see anything gonk about that. Matter of fact, I think it's sweet."

"I just hope that… it'll all work out for us," V admitted. "With each passing day I'm worried that everything will all go wrong- especially now that our plan with the Relic is dead in the water. I mean… I can't even begin to think of how we might get me back across the Blackwall."

Suddenly, a realization hit So Mi- a realization that filled her with just as much fear and dread as it did hope and determination. "Actually… I may have an idea. We'll still need the Relic, but I know a place we can pull you back from. I was hoping I'd never have to set foot there again, but-"

"Then we won't," V cut her off. "It's obviously a place you don't remember very fondly, and I don't want you to have to go through any more pain than you already have. We can think of another way. We've got to."

So Mi let out a heavy sigh. "No, V. We have to do this- I have to do this. Time is a luxury that's in insanely high demand in our situation. We don't have time to go around shopping for the best and most convenient answer to our problems. If we end up going through with this after we get the Relic, I'll be fine. I promise."

Defeated, V let out a heavy sigh. "Fine, so where is the place, exactly? Where could we possibly go to get me past the Blackwall?"

"Cynosure."