Archive of Our Own

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One

Somewhere in Japantown
 V was fucked.The world phased in and out. Black around the edges and shot through with red. Distant neon flashed through the unreliable veil of her consciousness. The BioMon pulsed in her Kiroshi’s, a steady visual slowdown towards oblivion. V was certain nothing below her shoulder blades worked. She could move an arm, but that jagged, painful spike sticking out above her lungs was probably her ribs - and the soft hole that submitted to her finger was way too deep. Their netrunner had fried her cyberdeck, and her phone was in pieces, just like the skull of the ‘ganger who shot her. His buddies hadn’t liked that - so they shoved her bleeding meat in a bag and dumped her from the back of a van. The stench of rotten food clung to the back of her throat, and she pleaded with the last of her bodily responses.Please, don’t cough. If I cough it will hurt and I already hurt enough, Christ. She caught the distant sound of chatter in the streets, the scent of noodle stands, cherry blossom pink. The damp embrace of crimson-on-white cardboard. Japantown. Ironic. Her mind drifted back to Wakako’s gripe about trash that no one would take away. V would laugh if it wouldn’t hurt so much.How many days, how many weeks since the parade? Since it had all gone so badly wrong, and she’d all but stuck a finger up to Hanako Arasaka. V made a half-hearted attempt to crawl out of the dumpster, but it really didn’t seem to matter anymore.“Fuck me, you’re a mess,” Johnny blurred into existence in front of her, too rude to resolve. “Fuck. Worse than me after a few rounds with Adam Smasher.”“My body’s trashed. Wish I could say sorry for leaving you a bad lookin’ corpse, but I’m kinda not.” If she tried real hard, she could impose Johnny’s jagged ghost on the pile of garbage without having to open her eyes. “Finally, get my body to do with as you please.”“As I please, huh? Trust me, if circumstances were different...” Jesus, was that a flirt? While her organs spilled out all over the place? “But I got no designs on waking up, smellin’ of yesterday’s burritos and piss. We got stuff to do, V.”Misty had standing orders to look after Nibbles, so really wasn’t much else to hang on for. “Sorry, Johnny. Got no way to call for help. Gonna ride this one to the end.”“You ain’t never given up on shit in your life, come on.” Johnny sat on the edge of the dumpster; his feet placed squarely on plastic liners that were oozing fuck knows what. “Always knew this moment was comin'." She coughed, and it felt like her lungs dragged shards of broken glass behind them. Her chrome squeezed out the last of the good drugs and wrapped her in a cloud of sickly endorphins. 'It’s curtain up, whole new show, Johnny Silverhand lives again.”“Gotta say, V, I was expectin’ a blaze of glory. This looks more like drownin’ in a pool of someone else’s three-day-old puke.”“Could always… set fire to it.”For one tantalizing minute, she thought he was going to. But he lit a cigarette, and somehow, her nervous system found one in her pocket. She sparked up one-handed and just held it to her lips, letting the burning, bitter taste fill in for actual nicotine.“That shit’ll kill ya.”“What do I care? I’m five minutes from flatlinin’.” “Stupid-ass merc." He shook his head. "Shoulda seen this fuck-up on the radar a mile off. You’ve been screwed in the brain since your Arasaka friend got dead.”“You mean Goro? He wasn't a friend. Just shared some interests for a while, that’s all.” 
>Aren't you a little lonely?

>What would you say to... some company?

>You mean to say... what I think you are saying?

>V… This is perhaps not the best idea... I'm honored, but I have other... obligations in Japan.

>Under other circumstances... you understand, I hope. But thank you, your words mean a lot to me.
 “Coulda fooled me. I had to watch you moonin’ after the pretty-eyed attack dog.”An oily spit of rain pattered on V's eyelids. She felt the cold creep over her and shuddered weakly.“Johnny, please, it doesn’t matter now.” Even the ghost of the Rockerboy knew it was time to shut up. “V…”“Johnny… Don’t wanna be alone.” She took a long, ragged breath, and the cigarette dropped out of her fingers. She looked at the tangle of dark hair, the cool memory of Johnny’s cyberhand firm on her shoulder.“Am right here.” Sweet. The thumb of his ‘ganic hand brushed over her damp cheek. Funny how solid he suddenly seemed. *** The ghost in the window looked too much like a man for him to believe it was him reflected there. Briefly, he touched the glass, his fingers stiff without the support of fully active cyberware. The shade reached out to him, hungry and tired. Behind him – alien and familiar - a child begged for cigarettes and money in pidgin Japanese.Takemura Goro had neither cigarettes nor money - and moved on. A prostitute with ocean eyes and silver legs stepped out of a doorway to offer a good time. A scarred youth threatened violence. A noodle vendor made promises Goro might have trusted anywhere else. He ignored all of them but felt their eyes on him. Maybe they recognized him, and perhaps they did not - but survival instinct kicked him in the belly, and Goro pulled up the soft hood of his jacket to shield his face.
I must be a madman to come here again so soon. 
But, if Yorinobu’s purge of the pheasants was not yet complete, it was very nearly so. Not one of Goro’s contacts had responded in the last week. Driven by necessity, the disgraced bodyguard hunkered down on a bench and nursed a cup of the abomination this place called coffee. It was, at least, a lesser insult than the tea. Without resources and allies, Goro needed information above all.He turned his fifteenth – or was it sixteenth? - burner phone over in his hands. How V had mocked his ineptitude. All it took now was a glance at the device to find the keys. His thumb hesitated over her number. He had heard she was alive – and he was glad of it. But to draw her in again? No. A movement caught the corner of his eye, a skinny shape weaving and hunting among the shadows. Laser blue eyes peered at him out of the darkness. To see one cat walk this city was rare enough. To see a second, so far from the first, was almost unthinkable. 
How appropriate to glimpse again the Bakeneko.
Goro stood up and took a step toward the creature. The gray cat jumped onto the rusted fire escape and washed one dark-tinted paw. As Goro drew level with it, it moved further into the alleyway, onto a stack of crates. 
I am a foolish man, a ghost following a ghost.
It seemed the cat relished the attention as it padded softly along like a thief - but not my thief. He followed until it rounded a corner and vanished as if it had dissolved into the city’s fabric. Goro faced sacks of rubbish and an open-topped gomibako.
Why would the spirit, or even a cat, lead him here? 
He glanced behind him. No threat was near. Beneath his boots, the floor was sticky. Over the foul smell of abandoned waste, he scented blood. The liquid at his feet had a pink hue, passed on from the neon nakedness of the massage parlor. Instincts pulled his back straight, pulled back the hood for better visibility, and pulled his gun into his hand as he edged forward.There had been many corpses on his path to revenge. He did not expect to see this one here. “V.”Goro pressed his fingers lightly against her neck, below the jaw. The faintest throb of hope fluttered against his skin - no time to think. One last hypo - looted from the soldier that had taken Goro's last bullet. “Goro?” she blinked, "are you haunting me?”“Hush, V." He fumbled through his contact list. "Do not waste your breath on words." “Dyin’…”V’s hand wrapped around his shoulder as he lifted her out of the mess. She felt so heavy in his arms. So cold. The voice on the phone finally grumbled a name. Vector.“As are we all,” Goro said. “But it will not be today.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Two

V’s apartment, Megabuilding H10
V floated - adrift like the radio static between stations and the broken edges of Johnny’s prison. 
Throat full of smoke. Head full of adrenaline. Can’t leave him to die. He’s done for. Johnny’s hands. Hanako’s proxy. Sun-up over the desert. Blood. Vik’s voice: It’s bad, but it’s not complicated. Jackie’s grin. Rogue’s snarl. Vik, again: You’re still bad news, Takemura. Goro’s quiet admission: I am responsible for many things but not, I promise, for this. A sense of falling - the crisp bite of pain to remind her she was still alive - a warm cat on her feet to remind her she was… 
“Hey V, it’s about time you woke up.” The too-familiar drawl dragged her half-awake. “Leave me alone Johnny. I’m sleepin’.”“You’ve been sleepin’ for two days. And besides, your knight in shining shit won’t go away and it’s pissing me off.”“Huh?” V opened her eyes to the dreamcatcher's intricate – hypnotic - web and the dull colors of her bed. She pushed herself sitting with a grunt of pain – the skin on her chest felt taut and new, like plastic film over a package. Dizzy, she pressed her back to the wall.Johnny took up residence on the floor by the bed, glitching like a kaleidoscope. V searched her vision for RELIC MALFUNCTION, but it wasn’t there.“Whoa, take it easy kid, that’s a new spleen in there.” Viktor scooted away the cat and sat on the edge of the bed. “And if you tear those stitches, I’ll have to sew you up again, with my fingers barely recovered from last time.”“What happened?” V could feel the neat line: down her sternum across her stomach and coiling left. “How close was I?”“Put it this way; your tenant would have become your landlord if your friend had found you five minutes later.”“Goro’s not….” So, I wasn’t hallucinating. “Where is he, anyway? Did he delta?”"Like I'd be complaining if he had," Johnny huffed. “He’s outside,” Vik said, oblivious to Johnny’s presence. “But I don’t think talking right now is a great idea. I’ve got you on some pretty strong stuff.”I’ve got questions - like, how’d you find me, and I thought you were dead- don’t need holding back because I’m high. “Story of my life….” V shook the stiffness out of her neck, stretched her legs, and glared at Vik. “So, you lettin’ him in, or am I?” “I should know you’re not gonna listen to whatever I say.” V kinda adored his exasperated look. “You stay put. That’s a three grand spleen.”“I’ll treasure it. Thanks, Vik.”“V… If Goro Takemura shows up at my clinic with your flatlining corpus again, I’ll thank him for bringing you in. Then, I’m gonna break his kneecaps.”V stared in shock at Vik's back, the angles and lines of the room skewing left as he moved. Johnny switched positions to lounge in the middle of the room, one foot on her coffee table, both elbows on the couch.He gestured with a cigarette. “Hell, I'm here for that fight. Even put a couple of eddies on your ripper.” “Five minutes,” said Vik, at the door. Shoulda asked for some water, V thought. Got a real dry throat all of a sudden.Then Goro was there, a few feet from her bed. His eyes met hers for a second before he looked away like he was uncomfortable with how little she wore. V couldn’t tell if she ought to be amused or charmed but brushed her hand over the blanket and invited him to sit.He did, folding his hands into his lap as he looked at her with eyes that pierced. V wanted to wrap her arms around him, feel him there alive and close and maybe even rest her head on his shoulder… but this was Goro. Dutiful fucking Goro. She held back and forced herself not to gaze into the abyss. Sure, the hair was cute, and he was funny sometimes, and she’d caught herself watching him move, but… He’s not a friend.“I am glad to see you are very much cleaner,” Goro said, finally.V laughed. It hurt a fraction less than getting shot. “That is so not what I expected to hear.”“No?” V wondered if that whisper of a smile was only for her. She liked it. “Your ability to end up among refuse is unparalleled.” She sighed, the room swaying around her, and grateful she had propped her back so firmly against the wall. “All that effort climbing to the top of the shit pile, only to die on it. Learned that lesson.”“Next time, it will be your turn to extract me from the trash.”Next time sounded like a loaded thing. Like there was going to be a next time. V laughed. “I dunno, Goro. You seem really married to Arasaka.” A long pause and the air grew still and heavy between them. Shit, too far, V, too far. Suggesting his beloved ‘Saka is trash-not a good move.“Not wrong, though,” Johnny muttered, back to the bottom of the bed where he flipped Goro off. “Corpo scum for life.”Will you quit movin’, Johnny? You’re making me car sick. She’d gotten pretty good at juggling Johnny’s voice with the outside world but didn’t trust herself right now, not with him pinballing around her apartment.“And now you mock me again.” Goro’s back straightened, and he moved his feet. Yeah, she’d insulted him and wasn’t going to take it. “I am pleased you are recovering, but now I will go.” “Goro... wait. Ignore my gonk mouth." She dragged in a breath, surprised at how strongly this mattered through the haze. "I really thought I was gonna flatline in that dumpster. You saved my life, and that matters. Please stay.”“V.” She’d grabbed his hand without notice, and now his fingertips ghosted over hers. “I will stay. At least until your doctor chases me away like an old woman with a broom.”V smiled at the image, but it drowned in her sudden need to confess. “I thought you were dead. I wanted to go back for you, but…” she glanced sideways at Johnny who shrugged like he’d had no part in that.“Good,” Goro said. “You should not have risked your life for mine. For once you made a wise decision.”“Wisdom had nothing to do with it,” grumbled Johnny. He looked across at their hands and vanished with a snort of disgust.At least she and Goro were almost alone now. “How did you survive? Must have been a whole Corpo army after you.” “I intended to live only long enough to ensure Hanako-sama was in no immediate danger. Once I was assured of that,” Goro flexed his shoulder, and a shadow of pain crossed his face. “I fought my way out.”“You were hurt.” V rested her hand on his chest for three heartbeats. It would be simple to brush her thumb over the quiescent throat piece, back over his jaw, into his hair. “It was not easy, true.” Another three thuds beneath her touch, a privilege she dared not end until he ended it for her. He gently moved her palm away. “Since I have been here, nothing is.”Yeah, I forgot. Obligations. “How did you find me?”“I followed a Bakeneko.” V sighed, world blurring, and lay back on the pillow. Vik had probably been right. “I guess fate has a habit of fucking with us both, then.”Nibbles picked his moment to climb out of the laundry basket and purr around Goro’s legs. Had the man always looked quite so pale? “You okay, Goro?”Goro didn’t answer. “Or perhaps it was, as you said then, just a cat.”“Time’s up,” Vik called through the door. V was briefly fourteen again, kissing her girlfriend in the family camper. “Yeah, okay, Dad.”Goro looked puzzled for half a breath, then stood up. “Now I will go and leave you to rest.”“Hey Goro,” V said, because maybe she'd never see him again and she was resolved to that, but she didn’t have to like it. Goro paused halfway to the door. “Don’t be a stranger. Okay?”“I will try not to be.” Then Goro was gone, and V's world rumbled quietly with unspoken words.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Three

Arroyo, Overlooking Arasaka Industrial Park
 Takemura Goro was no stranger to either death or poverty, but something about the two-faced heart of Night City made him feel dirty. People here - left to their own devices - fought for the prettiest scraps and sucked from whichever tasteless teat best fed their most depraved dreams. They stumbled in wilful oblivion, incapable of respect, slowly dying under the meaningless yokes of ‘freedom’ and ‘money.’They had given up on anything better than themselves or in themselves, and he hated it.
Hate. I had forgotten how it felt, but I must keep my mind if I am to succeed.
Whispers on those same streets told him Hanako-sama was under ‘protective guard.’ A pheasant in a gilded cage, the virtual prisoner of a man steeped in patricide and dishonor. She would have a plan; of that, he was sure. Arasaka Hanako could wield her father’s virtuous ruthlessness behind her measured words. Goro’s place within those plans lay wholly at her discretion.His duty, however, lay with the dead. While either Goro or Yorinobu breathed, he could not leave Saburo unavenged, not even at the cost of crossing Hanako.
I am sorry, Hanako-sama, but I cannot stay away. 
A spasm across his fingers jarred him towards more practical concerns. He had been estranged too long; his fingers ached now… and he weakened by the day. It was one thing to take this path, knowing his life had been forfeited the moment his master died. Another to find that - yet again - he found himself unable to proceed alone.And you with your hands, skills, mind of a thief. Agreed. This we will do together.He glanced down at his phone, sure V could assist him and confident he could ensure she would. Ten days had passed since he’d felt V’s life slipping away a second time. She would be healed now, and even if she did not care for his reasons - she had her causes too.I should not hesitate. But it took far too many minutes for him to send a straightforward message.>The Fox returns to his vantage pointV replied too fast for his comfort. He let it rest unanswered until another message followed a few minutes later.>The ducks fly east at midnight>G, you know this stuff is wasted on me.>Just send deets like a normal person.With no one to see, he let himself smile at her impatience. It is not so bad to enjoy our interactions. We have so little time, after all, and so few opportunities to laugh.>I am at the place we saw the Bakeneko the first timeThis rooftop had been the ideal vantage point, chosen by his reconnaissance instinct and simple logic. Tonight, he could have chosen anywhere, but he’d come here, almost without a thought. 
Because it is deserted, and I need to give no detail which might compromise the location to our enemies. 
It was the reason he’d give to a superior officer, but it was a half-truth at best. Of all the places he’d come to associate with V, this one tugged him most. In memory of their differences, perhaps, or their similarities.
That day in Konpeki, we both have lost someone important. And we are not at peace with this, so we seek conflict, argue eagerly.
>How is the view?Goro leaned on the parapet and looked out over the city. Was he truly considering this… reckless… course of action? The cost if he should fail was not one he - perhaps even V - would live with for long.>Terrible.>I am greatly disturbed by how little>security has improved since our actions here.>Did you message me just to reminisce>or do you need something… more… from me?  He was convinced she chose those words - need and more - to toy with him. Perhaps he was guilty of the same. But it was play, and they both understood that. >The Fox seeks… advice.>Takemura Goro needs advice from a grubby little nomad merc? He had become accustomed to the casualness of her apartment as he waited for V to wake. But how strange and small it became- how intimate, once she looked at him. He remembered her eyes as he sat beside her, and the press of her hand on his chest. He’d left the touch as long as he dared.
To be polite. No other reason.
He had sworn his life to Arasaka, to Saburo Arasaka, and his duty was clear. He could not afford the luxury of a heart that flickered - however faintly - at such a touch from anyone, and much less hers. >I thought this time I would ask.>Rather than you offer it>whether I asked or not. >be there in 20 minutes.So, he had been right. V would come and hear him out. A sudden gust drove his hand to the wall for balance - a reminder of how far away he was from the ground and how keenly he felt the deactivation of his stabilization cyberware. The distance between the earth and here seemed greater than before.It had been too easy to share a little of himself that day and probe for the inner core of the thief in whom he had placed such trust. The reason for his choice tonight was suddenly stark. They had -connected- here, had they not? His homesick soul set on revenge, her rebel heart on burning down his world.
If they had only had more time, if only his oldest friend and oldest promise did not still lie 5,000 miles away if only… 
  Kuso! That foolish, stubborn, thief strode so recklessly into places she had no business. Why expect his heart to be the exception? ***
Sure as eddies burn, I didn’t expect to be up here again. 
V ducked as a drone shuttled past the roof, but it was duly intent on its business and paid her no heed. Ahead, the shoulders she dreamed about last night made a black shape against the city’s neon night.“Hi, Goro. How’s it hangin?”He turned to face her, but whatever he was about to say was stolen by the harsh beep of his phone. Good. There was no answer Goro could give to ‘how’s it hangin’ that wouldn’t make her want to die.“V. Please excuse me for a moment. I must take this privately."“Sure. It’s a big roof.” V watched Goro move as far from her as he could without losing line of sight. Then the bodyguard turned his back, and V leaned against the wall to spark up. 
Don’t trust him. War or not, plenty of people at ‘Saka want us gone. Maybe he’s callin’ in some help.
The thought was so much Silverhand, V double-checked the omega blockers to make sure she’d really taken the dose. She had.
Christ, my instincts’ startin’ to communicate in Johnny’s voice. 
That couldn’t be a good sign, but it wasn’t a bad call even if she’d prolly allow Goro close enough to shiv her without a second thought. Still alerted, her augments couldn’t help but pick up glitchy, one-sided snatches of the whispered Japanese.“Yes, I have been… away. A matter of giri.""Ah. I see.""I… Thank you for telling me….”The call sounded weirdly personal. It was hard to imagine Goro having a life - having obligations - beyond Arasaka. But he must have friends, perhaps family, that she would never know. “It is good to know it was peaceful.”V lowered her head, cheeks warm with guilt. Had someone died? Her chest suddenly burned, and she leaned over in pain, a drop of blood dark on her smart link. Someone’s definitely dying, an’ it’s me.Then Goro was back beside her, something - vulnerable - flickering in his face. A strand of his hair whipped across his eyes, and by the time he had swept it back into place, the look was gone.“Anything I should be worried about?” V asked.“No.” Kinda distant, that voice. “Nor will it require my attention any longer.”Whatever it was, Goro wanted to move on. V could get behind that sentiment. “I see what you mean about the security,” she said, looking out over the facility and the scurrying ants that seemed to populate it. “Looks pretty busy, though.”The way he said it seemed so calm, so matter of fact, V almost missed it. “Arasaka is preparing for a war.”“Shit." V felt the threat catch the back of her throat. She’d seen the mess from the last Corpo war. "Who with?""Itself."V sighed. Not so bad then, maybe? "Our little stunt shook ‘em up that bad?”"Perhaps." Goro's eyes were on her now and inescapable. “It has been a possibility since Yorinobu stole the Relic, but I did not predict it would escalate this fast or that I would be so far from it.""Fuck. First time I ever started a war." V sparked up another cigarette, ignoring the cough."Yorinobu started it. I should never have left Saburo’s side that night.”“Lot of things ‘bout that night I’d change too.” Miss you, Jackie. Bet you’d be pissin’ yourself laughing at me right now. “Can’t go back.”Goro acknowledged her with a nod, and she filled the uncomfortable silence, gesturing at the lights and threads of power beyond. “Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?”“It is. I intend to prevent Yorinobu from tearing Arasaka apart. I cannot do it alone."She took her time to process that because he cannot fuckin’ mean what it sounds like he means… can he? But his expression filled in the blanks. He does. He fuckin’ wants me to help him save ‘Saka. “I'm sorry, Goro, but collapsing Arasaka's no bad thing from where I’m stood. Did you not hear me the last time we were here?”"I heard you, V." His soft sigh was a slip - and to V it spoke of pain. "I don’t expect you to understand or care why it matters to me, but if I cannot end Yorinobu, any chance of resolving your problem ends too."That’s not what I heard. "Hanako contacted me- after the parade. She wants to meet and make an offer. I’m surprised you didn’t know."Goro’s forehead creased in thought. "I am no longer privy to the Arasaka family's decisions. Will you accept her help?""I haven't decided.”“Is your reticence because it is Arasaka that offers, or have you made peace with the demon in your head?”"It’s still killin’ me, but I don't like being used. More going on with this chip and Hanako than she'll tell me.""Hanako-sama will keep her word, but if you intend to accept, do it quickly. The hawks circle ever closer, and Hanako-sama’s hands will be tied soon - if not already.""Thanks for the advice, but didn't you ask me here for mine?""Ha, yes, I did. Yes. Regardless of your feelings towards my -employers- it seems again we share a common goal. We each possess skills -and resources- the other does not.”“That’s pretty much filed under ‘why should I hire a merc’?”“Not all mercenaries have proven themselves – as you have.” V took that as praise and her pleasure at hearing it was embarrassing. “V, I know that you must get inside Arasaka tower. As must I."Her face must have broadcast her disbelief louder than Radio PEBKAC because Goro answered one of her questions without V saying a word."It seems it is convenient for both Yorinobu and Hanako-sama to keep me in disgrace. I have no one else to ask.""I’m sorry, Goro.” She didn’t understand his loyalty to Arasaka, but -ever since we did our recon here- she figured she knew what it meant to him. “That’s gotta hurt.”V gently squeezed his shoulder. It was the first contact she’d made with him since he’d sat on her bed and the heat of him seeped up from her grasp. She kept it there until he looked uncomfortable."Thank you, V. Your words mean- a lot. But wounded pride is nothing compared to my true dishonor." He looked into the distance. “Otherwise, I would not ask a thief how she plans to break in, or how we might share such a mission."“Funny you should mention that,” said V. “I was just thinking about how to explain all of my plans involving Arasaka tower - to Arasaka’s most elite combat operative.”“For once I deserve your teasing. I ask too much.” His shoulders dipped, and he looked at the ground between them.V put her hand on his arm because it wasn’t personal. Not entirely personal, anyway. Maybe if he’d accepted my offer the night before the parade- I coulda burned this stupid attraction out of my system.Of course, she might have fallen in way deeper than she wanted, way her luck went. At least this way, V could pretend she’d stopped hopin’ Goro really had thought of becoming a nomad.“I want to trust you, Goro, an’ I really wanna know why Yorinobu fucked my life up. But Arasaka is your life. I stole their stuff, and I’ve got a grade A embarrassment to them living in my head. If ‘Saka calls you home… I got nothing, and we both know that.”“I understand," he turned away from her, and it hurt to disappoint him, even though it was plain why she needed to. "I will not detain you any longer, V. But I am glad you came.” Walk away, she urged herself. Stop trying. “Hey, I only said if I knew how to break into Arasaka tower, I wouldn't tell. What kinda gonk do you think I am? I didn’t say I wouldn’t try to help you.”“You mean this, V?” She nodded. “Lost my family, lost my clan, been an outsider more often than not. Guess I don’t like seein’ you feel the same.”Goro rewarded her with the ghost of a smile, and something melted inside her. “Then I must ask you to steal, yet again, something precious from Arasaka.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Four

Undisclosed location, 2 nights later
 “We lost ‘em.” V snatched a glance out of the broken window between breaths. “Prolly shouldn’t stay here long, though.”Beside her, Goro slid his jacket off and leaned against the wall. “We do not need long.” V hauled the hard case onto the remnants of a table and flicked the catches. The module lay inside, shrouded in EMP-proof Saka-branded gray. “You sure you wanna do this here?”She turned her head towards him, and half a dozen smart comments died before they could make it out of her throat.Fuck.Goro had already shed his shirt, filling her vision with toned shoulders and silver-flecked skin. Her eyes tracked down his throat onto the broad span of scar-adorned chest. A map of pain and duty, and she could spend all night reading it so look the fuck away before you do something stupid, V.Johnny retched in her ear. "Makin’ me wanna burn out my retinas."Didn’t need to hear his self-centered commentary either. Fuck off.“You don’t owe this guy jack-shit for savin’ your ass. Only thing he’s hard for is the bastard who stuck me in soul prison.”“V.” Goro’s rough voice cut through Johnny’s rant.“Huh? You say somethin?”“I said, ‘here will do.’” “Yeah.” But of course, Johnny didn’t shut up. "All you are to him is a ticket to Yorinobu. The only one-percent-decent cunt among the whole fetid family.”“Sorry, spaced out for a minute there.” You mean the one-percent-decent guy that hired Adam Smasher?Johnny sulked into the corner and glared at her like she’d pissed on his burrito. “Bitch.”V pushed the single battered chair out with her foot, just for something else to do, and reached into the Hardcase while Goro sat. Johnny had a fuckin’ point, but damn she wanted Goro, and there he was, half-naked and beautiful and needing her. But did he want her? She knew he'd never show it, even if he did. “Are you all right, V?” When had Goro's measured delivery started to be more than just words? No. “Why wouldn’t I be?”Goro caught her wrist, and her heart skittered. “I need you to be in control of yourself.”“I am.” She reclaimed her hand, stripped the wrapper from the module, and laid the cyberware out on top. “Look, I’m no ripper, Goro. Don’t want to screw this up.”“V. The module was designed to be field installed by operatives with no training. It is very nearly foolproof. Even you have nothing to fear.” She mock-scolded his jest with her eyes. It was easy for him to say foolproof ‘cause he wasn’t knee-deep in lust. “Okay. What do I do?”“There is a port beneath the skin, here.” He guided her finger to his shoulder and drew it down until it rested near his sternum. “You feel it?”Bone and chrome. “Yes.”“You will need this.” He pressed something into her hand. “Once you punch through the skin, this opens the port. You will then have three minutes to extract the unit, place the new one, and lock the port. That is all you need to do. Extract, replace, lock.”“I understand.” Her finger was reluctant to leave his heat - or the hints of gun oil and jasmine on his skin. “You ready?” He gripped the arms of the chair. “I am.”The surgical wound on his shoulder was still dark with healing. V splayed one hand against his chest, the thump of his heart resonating with the tremor in her arm. “Think this might hurt.”“Pain is the price of survival.” Goro closed his eyes. “Do it, V.”Blood welled up from his skin, hot over her fingers. Goro grunted, and she wanted to puke, but she jammed the key into the port. Turned it. A barely audible click, metal slid against metal, and Goro stopped breathing.Shit! Is this normal? Have I done something wrong? “You’ll never get a better opportunity,” Johnny drawled at her from the corner. “Think about it. I could name a dozen corps who’d pay over the odds to retro-engineer top-dollar ‘Saka tech. And that’s just off the top of my head.”“We’re preem Arasaka tech too, Johnny, ‘case you forgot.”Sure, she could kill Goro. Right here and now. By accident. No veins she could reach in his neck, so she fumbled for his wrist. The pulse was strong. Course it’s normal. Not gonna breathe while I mess with his trachea. V had wasted twenty-two seconds. She went back to Goro’s throat, her hands unsteady. “I could help you,” Johnny said, and tugged on her body. “Had my hands in a lot of fucked-up people. Experimental, military stuff.” Should have taken the Omega blockers before she’d started this. Only reason Johnny was awake was because she’d started to love their mission banter. “Not lettin’ you slit his throat with my meat, Silverhand.”She awkwardly pulled the Y-shaped block free of the flesh and chrome. I expected it to be heavier. One hundred seventeen seconds left. Extract - done. “Red wire or blue wire, V?”V didn’t have time for this. She put down the replacement module and swept her bloodied hand into her pocket for the pills.“Night, Johnny. Sleep tight.”"One last piece of advice ‘fore I go." 99 seconds.“Last thing I need here is advice from you.”“You’re gonna get it anyhow. I’ll make it simple, so even a merc can understand.” Johnny flickered over Goro’s shoulder, peering at her seriously over his shades. “Don’t fuck Saburo-fucking-Arasaka’s not-actually-very-good fucking bodyguard.”V dry swallowed. As the foul pill scraped down her throat, she planted her middle finger level with the rockerboy’s face, and Johnny pixelated into nothing.Sweet quiet descended, only to make her own thoughts loud. I cannot lose you, Goro. Not in such a stupid way. 
Sixty-two seconds. 
V wiped the sweat out of her eyes. The replacement tech refused to sit flush and slid out of her fingers every time she tried. 
Thirty seconds.
V took a deep breath, and the damn thing finally settled into place. 
Eight seconds.
Lock. ***The rise and fall of Goro's chest felt too much like relief and love and fear. So V thumped him - or would have if his fist hadn’t closed around hers before she landed the hit.“Coulda fuckin’ told me you’d stop breathing, you gonk.” Can’t afford to catch feelings. Not for you. “Nearly flatlined me.”The dry retort or frustrated comment she expected never came. Goro’s eyes flickered open, and there was something in them she didn’t understand.“V…” Gods help them both; his thumb brushed over her cheek and settled on her jaw.Need throbbed at the base of her spine and danced over her skin. She trembled, scared to meet his eyes, afraid of what it meant if simple touch was all it took. Fuck.His voice softened. “Forgive me. I have made a foolish mistake.”“No.” She looked at him. His hair was out of place, jaw tight, lips parted with unspoken… what? Permission? Need? She trailed her thumb over his mouth, biting her lip. “What happened to your other obligations?”“They - no longer apply.”The ghost of pain in his eyes shattered the last of V’s control. She dragged him against her - or maybe it was the other way round. It didn’t matter. His shoulders were solid beneath her hands as she claimed his mouth with a brutal kiss. He refused to give the same, tormenting her with his self-control until he’d dragged her onto his lap.Then he gave back; hands, tongue, lips…Her damn coat was in her way now, and she threw it aside. She nipped at his throat, desperate to purge the awful memory. Goro gasped - and the sound sank into her like a drug. It felt too damn right, the way heat spread through her back when he stroked her spine.V paused for a breath, flushed, and aching for him. "Fuck, Goro. Never thought we'd actually end up here."She rested her fingers on the line of his belt, expecting him to stop her. He did not. Instead, his fingers trailed down her arm, and traced the lines of metal in her skin. Fuck. That strangled sound of need was hers. She found the hard smoothness of his cock - made him rasp her name. His hand wrapped hers, and with a groan, he cradled her head against his chest.“V, tell me, what is it you need?”“Don’t wanna think, just wanna feel, please…."They had no room to move, so he dropped them both to the floor, and she wondered how fucking powerful he would be if he still had all his chrome. Enough to break her in more ways than his touch. Fuck, the way his breath caught when his hand dipped between her thighs, his eyes locked on hers. No, damn it. No. Don’t…think about it, don’t…  Think his pretty eyes landed him that gig?Goro must have sensed something was wrong. “I said once that sometimes I wish to become a nomad. With you, V, it almost seems possible.”V threw herself against his lips as if she could kiss away the sudden cold on the promise of a future. But the cursed logo, half-hidden beneath his hair, stole away a little more of her need and replaced it with something unnameable.“Stop, Goro.” His touch dropped away from her instantly, and she buried her forehead in her hands.“Are you okay? V?”
Her best mate dead in the Corpo war. Guards with Saka logos and shots and blood and cryin’ and a green world she’d never seen ‘cept in Johnny’s memories.
She shook her head. “I’m sorry- I don’t think I can do this. Whatever this is.”“Ah.” Goro lowered his eyes and humbly offered her the discarded shirt without another word.It hurt. Hurt so much that her eyes burned. She wiped a tear with the back of her hand and hoped he wouldn’t see while she moved away and found the rest of the things she’d so casually discarded. V had reached the stage of numbly checking over her bag before Goro - back in his clothes, standing with his hand on the table - finally spoke. “V. I do not like the thought of us parting with so much unsaid.”His disappointment rumbled behind a guarded expression. She owed him some honesty, at least. “I like you, Goro. When I thought you were dead, I kinda stopped caring about anythin’….” It was the first time she'd admitted it, even to herself. She bit her lip. “I guess I’m saying I really like you.” Goro brushed a twist of hair from her face. “It is the same for me.”V’s heart sang and broke at the same damn time. "This would be so much fucking easier for both of us if it wasn't.""I cannot easily forget the -feelings- I have for you."“And I can’t forget all the shit ‘Saka’s done or how much of it is in you, Goro.” V gripped his collar and swallowed back her tears, thumbing the logo. “Even if we both somehow got out of this alive, Arasaka’s always gonna come between us.”“I am sorry, V." There was no anger in his voice, only quiet resignation. "I cannot change the past or abandon what I believe in the present.”“Even if what you believe is wrong?” “Please do not ask this of me, V; you know I cannot give you the answer you hope for.”“I know Goro. I know.” V pressed her head against his chest and held on for a few last breaths. “I’m not gonna expect you to change; havin’ something’ that matters that much is so damn rare. But I’ve gotta hang on to what’s left of me too, harder ’n ever. So - I gotta say goodbye.”“I see you have more principles than I cared at the time to see, V." His arm rested on her shoulder. "I understand.” V had to go. Now. Before he looked at her and only made it more complicated. She stepped away from him, and Goro straightened, the softness in his face all but gone. But he dipped his head to her a little and whispered, “Thank you for everything you have done for me.”V picked up her bag and slung it onto her shoulder. “I’ll see ya around, Takemura-san.”She had nothing left to say.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Five

Northside Docks
 One too many footsteps, one too many sounds. Goro could not tell if he wanted to be killed, or to turn like an animal on whoever was stalking him. He led his shadow among the filthy cranes and containers of the waterside. To call the blue-green acid 'water' was a vile conceit. It was poison, like everything else.The memory of V's hair, iridescent as the toxic river and wild beneath his fingers, burned holes in his chest. He cursed it out of existence.Weary of his pursuer’s echoed footsteps, Goro called out, "I know you are there. What do you want?"“Put down your weapon, Takemura-san.”Ah. “Oda. I am surprised." V had left Oda broken. Goro did not put the gun down but took it from his hand and turned to face his former protégé. "I am glad to see you are back on your feet.” “Did you not think to check the module before placing it in your throat? It was too easy to find you.” Oda jerked his head and sneered.Goro had memories of the kind of -treatment- the younger man must have received. Was Oda’s twitchiness a side-effect or mere anger that he survived through an act of mercy?“Your soft thief has infected you with her weakness.”Anger, then. “Mind your words, Oda. Did it not occur to you that I sought this meeting? I knew you would lay out the shipment for me to take?” It was a lie, but it served a purpose. Let Oda think there is more standing at this rail than a shell. It will buy me... seconds.Oda glowered; his voice sounded less assured. “You scurry around like a street rat. Smell like one, too.”"If you do not grasp why, you may add that oversight to my list of failures as a teacher.” Oda should understand why Goro tolerated this, and it bit deep that Hanako’s-sama’s protector seemed oblivious. “I am where I am compelled to be for the sake of duty."“Or to avoid your shame at not only allowing Saburo-san to die, but publicly embarrassing the family?" Goro took a half step forward, already forming an ill-advised but instinctive fist. “And you? Where does your duty lie?” “In protecting Hanako-sama,” Oda said. Goro barely dodged in time – but he did it well. The younger man’s hand closed on empty air instead of Goro’s throat. Oda was undaunted. “You live only because Hanako-sama chooses it.”“Then do not provoke me, Oda-san, or I will leave you no choice but to kill me.” I could not hope to defeat Oda as I am. Goro’s eyes flicked along potential escape routes. “If you have something important to say, then say it. I do not have time for anything else.”Oda clenched his jaw. “Hanako-sama will speak to you at Embers. 9 PM. She gives her word that you will be safe … at least until your business with her is concluded. “I am honored, Oda-san. I will consider her gracious invitation.” Goro bowed, eyes never leaving Oda’s."Consider?!” Oda twitched again. “Do not push me further, Takemura-san. There will be no further opportunities to redeem yourself." Or to avenge Saboru. I must repay his trust. But I cannot let Oda see how weak I am. "I will do as my honor dictates." "You are a disgrace." Oda threw something at Goro’s feet. Goro waited for Oda to leave before picking it up and turning the sliver over in his hand, tracing his thumb over the circular design. A cred chip, locked to use at an Arasaka tailor. Oda's barbs almost had him hurl it into the fetid depths, but Goro slipped it into a pocket instead.He missed home so very much. * * *
Undisclosed location
 Goro stood in the shower, hair lank and barely wet. Does nothing in this forsaken city work?V was probably the best of it, and that thought only conjured pain. Ah. The thief may be a fool, but he had invited her in.Invited her respect, her need, the shudder of her body when his fingers found her core. The curve of her skilled hand around his cock, the sheer joy of finally having her in his arms where he knew they were both real and alive.His body betrayed him now - made him hard at the thought. His hand drifted down but he braced his palms against the dirty tiles instead. His body was as beneath consideration as V should have been. Cold water dripped for a second before running hot. How close we came… but the specter of visionless rebellion had always existed between them. No quantity of mutual respect could compensate. He was grateful V's final words reinforced their distance. The pain of her rejection still clawed at his dignity and raked through his shame.
Who am I, without Arasaka?
The desultory trickle the hotel dared call a shower finally took Goro's forbearance beyond the limit. The first strike was nothing, the heel of his hand against the ceramic, a tired emphasis for the curse that crossed his lips. By the fifth, his fingers bruised and bled against the shattered walls. Nothing. The answer was simple. Nothing.To lie with someone - with V of all the people who might rarely rouse that part of him - for no reason other than that he loved; this had been his mistake. Goro could not afford to lose his way again.
***

Embers Nightclub, Heywood
 Goro caught sight of himself among the glass behind the bar and ran his finger beneath the collar of his suit. Someone had been wise to give him the means to change his clothes while keeping him unarmed. Hanako-sama’s suggestion, or Oda’s?A holo-lamp cast luminous leaves against the walls and flecked Arasaka Hanako’s smooth skin with shards of white. The ceramic of the bowl in Goro’s hands, gold-rimmed and pale, glinted as he set it down.The Kamo Nanban tasted of home, and Hanako-sama had ordered Goro to eat, but the fully organic ingredients lay heavy in his stomach. The tea he continued to sip, the taste subtle and reassuring – but oddly unfamiliar.When did I become so uncomfortable in the light? “Tell me, Goro-san, where is your thief?” The Empress of Arasaka purred with calculated familiarity. Goro briefly studied the elegant lines of gold that traced down Hanako’s slender arms. So different to the chrome and aluminum and black on his – and on V’s- skin. “You and she continued your alliance, did you not?”Does Hanako-sama… know? As uncomfortable as his formal shoes, a shaft of guilt and shame and loss fell through him. Goro lowered his eyes.“We no longer share a purpose. I could not say.”"I am sad to hear this." Hanako deigned to put her hand on his forearm. It felt too much. "However misguided both of your actions, her death is another regrettable consequence of my brother’s treachery.""Do you wish me to find her, bring her to you?"Hanako shook her head. "She will find her way to us, one way or another.”Goro felt relief and said nothing. He did not want to think of V, much less to see her again – and to find her at Hanako’s request would have felt strangely like a betrayal. He was not sure of whom.“My father often spoke of your devotion. In my outrage at his death and your subsequent actions, I did his memory a great disservice.”Again, Goro stayed silent. The silk against his skin reminded him how lost he had been. The streets and struggle were fading away – another world he understood, but no longer belonged to.“I cannot forgive your dereliction, Takemura-san.” I fell so far. Shame folded his fingers into his lap, and his pose softened beneath her words. “Yet I will help you regain your honor."He leaned forward without thinking, attentive, hopeful. “Hanako-sama…”"I can prove Yorinobu’s lies even without the thief.”Had Goro wasted all the time he had lurked in the shadows or had his rashness nevertheless drawn Hanako’s eyes to the truth? “I am glad of this.”“The contract on your head will be lifted, freeing you from the suspicion of murder. I offer you a position within Arasaka- one in keeping with your rank- and your full complement of cyberware reactivated.”Goro was surprised how strongly he craved it but knew Hanako-sama must and would impose a steep price on his return. He waited for her to continue.“In exchange, you must work directly for me and give up all thought of killing my brother. You will never mention his involvement again.”Words of dissent formed on Goro's lips but faded into nothing as a minder whispered something in Hanako’s ear. Her nod was curt. “Yorinobu is on his way, and for the sake of my father's legacy, he and I must appear - united.”Hanako’s gaze fixed on Goro. A muscle twitched in his cheek. She was testing him, unpicking the depth of his duty beyond his devotion to Saburo.“Accept my offer, and your status will be restored if not your pride. Or do not and pursue what you wish alone. But think quickly, Takemura-san. I doubt I will have a chance to intercede for you again.”
To return to Arasaka- has always been inevitable. This is - who I am. 
Something inside kicked hard against that thought, but he buried the protest.“Yes, Hanako-sama. I accept.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Six

Watson Road Interchange
 Up here, on the bridge, the city lights made early morning of a night without a single star. And it was so far down, all too easy to let the wind suggest a one-way flight to oblivion.An already troubled heart fluttered in her ribs, and V gripped the handrail. Of all the people in Night City, she might value more than a casual fuck before dying; why had it been him?She thought she could handle this, but the ragged space in her chest begged to differ.Gotta stop thinking about it. But the urge to haul Goro into a kiss, drag her fingers over his shoulders, hear him goddamn whimper her name, haunted her as surely as the pain.Johnny appeared beside her and looked over the edge. “You thinkin’ of takin' the fast way down?"“Don’t, Johnny. I can hurt without doing something gonk brain terminal.”He turned away from the drop and leaned back to look at her. “Can’t believe you’re still cryin’ over a piece of Corpo scum.”Every time Johnny called Goro that, she wanted to smack the stupid ghost in the face with the nearest wall. “My feelings are none of your business. I walked away - that not good enough for you?”“Trust me; I’m fuckin’ overjoyed about it.” Johnny drew on his cigarette and let the air settle between them. “Except the bit where you keep on thinking about banging the guy. Get some other schmuck to nail you into your mental mattress an’ move on.”V laughed, half because Johnny made her laugh and half because otherwise, she’d cry. “Exactly the preem advice I expect from someone who only cares about the size of his dick.” “Fuck you, V.” He flipped both middle fingers at her, his cigarette hanging from his lips. She felt like Johnny was playin’ the same waiting game. A friend somewhere between genuine anger and banter. It could go either way.“Maybe I don’t want some random body.” Damn. Why am I admitting this shit? “Maybe I want to pretend there’s something - someone - on the other side of all this.”“Jeezus, just go get laid already.”“I know you're going to find this real hard to understand, but I kinda got Goro, you know? Same grief we couldn't grieve, the same loss of belonging."And why am I telling Johnny, for fuck’s sake? The single least likely not-quite-person on the planet to listen."Breakin’ my fuckin’ heart." Johnny's voice dripped with sarcasm as he leaned over the barrier to flick ash that would never reach the ground.“Can’t see how a man that smart misses so much bullshit right in front of him. But he believes in somethin’ other than eddies and fame. That’s more'n most of us gonks ever get.”“So go screw a sad nun if lonely and virtuous get you goin’. Hell, talk that ripper of yours into bed.""Ugh, no. Johnny just stop. I’m over that. The sign has it right.” V stopped to gesture at the jagged NO FUTURE scrawled - fuck knew how - on the towering struts of the southbound overpass. "I Could die the next time I cross the road, get flatlined by a random ‘ganger, or rot away under a bridge in fifty years. No point wantin’ anythin’ to last, might as well just get what I want.""I don' like where your head's goin'."V opened her messages and scrolled down to Goro’s number. She had her draft sitting there, unsent since she’d woken up with a tequila hangover and a split lip.>I got scared & lost the last good thing>I’ll maybe ever feel.>I guess I’m sayin’ if you wanted…>we could try again“Thought we were getting along fine, V.” Johnny took off his shades just to put them back on at her. “Even thought you’d seen sense, but no. You just wanna get right back into bed with everything I hate….”“Still my life, few more days yet. I hadn’t felt anythin’ worth a damn since Jackie died - until Goro. And nothin’ but pain since my principles got in the way.”Johnny almost backed her over the rail, his whole body tinted and sparking with his fury. “Did you fuckin’ forget? Corpomura was in Konpeki that night. Maybe he was the guy who pulled the trigger that wasted your best choom. Ever think of that?”V’s world gave way. Her hands hit the tarmac, blood flecking the dust, RELIC MALFUNCTION seared over her vision. Nerves screamed, but that was nothing to the dagger Johnny’d just lodged in her guts. “Don’t you dare use Jackie as a fucking weapon!” Her head was on fire, lungs useless in her chest. “You hear me, Johnny?”Gray and green raked through the air, and Johnny glared down at her. “Or what?”She had precious little energy, even less control. V hit send. “Fuck you.” “I shoulda killed you when I had the chance.” Johnny threw his hands up and stalked into nothing.V put her back to the concrete long enough to catch her breath through the coughs. The episode was way longer this time. She really didn’t have much time left. She stumbled to her feet and collapsed into the car, barely able to keep hold of the wheel. She honestly hadn’t expected a reply, so the soft beep of the message as she entered the outskirts of downtown surprised her. She waited a long time before she dared open it, long after she’d fed Nibbles, sold a bunch of useless junk, and tried to sleep.>We cannot.>Much as I wish it other, you were right.>I cannot be separated from Arasaka.>Take care, V.>If we meet again, I fear it will be the end for one of us.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Seven

Above Vik's Clinic, Little China
 Simple lettering, white on black, a billboard the size of a building.Secure your soul.Yeah. Right. V snorted, momentarily distracted by the gray cat that whirled around her legs. Then she turned her attention to Johnny.He looked thoughtful - like Vik’s seriousness had rubbed off. As I see it there won’t be a next time… it’s in your hands. Not mine, and not those of that - thing - in your head.“You know, you should call anyone you want to say goodbye to.” Johnny sat on the wall, one eye on the city and one on her.He thinks we're both gonna die. “Worst case scenario, that what you expect?”“No, but whatever you decide, the risk's gonna be high. If things don’t go our way….” 
You thinking of the consequences, Johnny. That’s a first. 
“Just fucking do it. Anyone you gotta talk to now is the time. Pills can wait.”“Who am I gonna call Johnny?” Someone I love, who might even love back? That’s what he means. Her mind flicked to Goro. A proper goodbye, last chance I… no. “Sure, pizza girl might be pissed at losin’ her tip - but that's not last farewell material.”“You thought about callin’ Corpomura, didn’t you? Fuck sake…”“It’s over and done. We were never gonna end up on the same side. You were right, okay? Just drop it."“I’m just warning you how it’s going to go down. Make sure you know what you’re letting yourself in for. We move on Mikoshi - Arasaka is gonna throw everything they got against us.”“I’m not expectin’ a play party, Johnny.” I’ll think about it when the time comes. Trust my instincts. Can’t rehearse it now. Not and keep breathing.“Those pretty eyes catch yours in the middle of a firefight - you sure you got what it takes to put a bullet in his brain?”“Shut up, Johnny, before I put one in ours.” Thought about that option, too, not the only one. Short of waving a banner, Vik’s gun had said as much. But she needed Johnny to show her a little faith here. “I’m gonna do what I have to.”“Hope so for your sake, V.”“You know, somethin’? Two of you -you an’ Goro- are way too alike.” She found it kinda funny, her brain building fragments of a cheap sitcom syndicated to her heart. “Shows how fucked up the whole damn thing is.”“Now I know you’ve lost your mind. Fucking alike! Fuck me.” Johnny muttered and rested his hands on the wall to look pensively out at the city. “Come a long way to get here, haven’t we? Just think, it all started in a fucking landfill...”“Mmm.” It’s been one hell of a ride, Johnny, can’t deny it. “Then you tried to kill me.”“See - exactly what I mean.” Johnny looked genuinely thoughtful when he faced her, eyes unhidden, hands draped loosely over his knees. It surprised her how open he looked. “Tryna save your sorry hide now.”V couldn’t help but smile, and for a second, Johnny returned it. Pair of them were really damn tired. “So, ya gonna hear me out on our last evening together or gripe about how all our remainin’ options are a bad idea?”“Why do I get the idea I’m not gonna like what you’re gonna say?” Johnny braced himself on the wall. “All right, I’ll hear ya.”“The values I choose and the choice I make, that’s what counts. Right?”“Damn straight.”“Fact is, both you and Goro claim more-or-less the identical thing. Like it’s the same fucking song with a different tune. Plunge headfirst into your principles - and don’t give a dick about who suffers the consequences on the way. So yeah, sorry Johnny, you an’ Goro are alike.” Johnny said nothing and stared at the lights, toying with the dog tags around his neck.“Not sayin’ I’m any better, but at least I wanna believe things can change without havin’ to screw everyone else over on the way.”The cat hopped onto V’s lap and kneaded at her legs. Johnny is my Bakeneko. Slowly turnin’ out everything inside me because he’s so damn sure he’s right; until I look like V, but all I am inside is angry rockerboy.V laughed.“Something funny?” Johnny had his arms folded and huffed.“Just thinking about somethin’ someone said.” Goro thought he had principles, but never noticed in the end, they had him from the inside out. “About cats that consume their owners.”“Not got much time left for thinkin’.”“Yeah, I know.” V stroked the cat and set it back down on the floor to scamper away. “Gotta get you out of my head ‘fore I flatline for real. What do you wanna do?”“It’s always been up to you, V. Try Panam and her tarmac rats, but then their lives will weigh heavy on your soul. Or you could take ‘Saka’s offer - an’ have your own soul on your conscience. Or… you can let me help ya.”
Nomads might kick me back but - least I’ll be ridin’ with family. ‘Saka… I already made that choice. An’ Johnny - he’s got a real deep score to settle with them. Deeper than mine. Never gonna be quite sure what he wants to do there.
“Gonna try an’ ask Panam for help…”
‘Cause even if I’m not sure I wanna come back, I have to get there first.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Eight

Arasaka Estate, North Oak
 Goro watched Westbrook give way to North Oak in thoughtful silence. Three days had passed since he had returned to Hanako-sama like a wayward child. Now he must begin to repay her favor.The car pulled up at the entrance to the Arasaka estate. The gates shone in the light, opulent gold on a hillside far removed from the city beyond. Goro knew such an overlook was no mere coincidence of land and space. Socially strategic; royalty dwelling apart and above. And currently, Hanako-sama’s gilded cage.Goro had done many such extractions and protections before Saburo-san chose him. If anything should set him on edge, it was Anders Helman’s jitters at the wheel. It should not be the pale gray cat grooming itself on the wall above the security camera.
Why did I even mention such a foolish thing to V. Bakeneko! Now I am reading too much into shadows.
Memories he had long neglected suddenly surged to the front of his mind.Little Goro’s feet muddy on rutted pavement. Precious noodles hot in his hands. Obaachan -mere bones beneath translucent skin- in a bamboo chair. Cat’s eyes, moon-bright in the darkness. Perhaps it is a Bakeneko, Goro-chan. Here to warn us. The sound of a military patrol in the adjacent road. The shame of his dirty feet.The gate slid open, and the movement of their vehicle jerked Goro from the unbidden memory. He let readiness and observation replace the past, sparing a glance again at the other prodigal traitor behind the wheel.The car was halted before it reached the distant house, and Goro took down the guard - a silent strike to the throat- before he even opened the door. Then he barked at Helman to bring the AV and sought cover.
Hellman is playing this too much like a fool for a man so smart.
Goro knew his duty – to retrieve Hanako-sama from her brother’s ‘protection’ -but doubt gnawed at him with shameful vigor. Knowledge was vital to successful action - without it, he could not predict the actions of an enemy, and he still knew so little about Hanako-sama’s plan.Goro cursed himself for almost issuing a command to V as if he’d expected her to be watching his back. But Yorinobu’s guards had been prepared poorly, and he had little need of thought, only instinct. His body and freshly restored cyberware responded with elegant speed, and not so much as a drop of dishonorable blood landed on the stark white of his suit. The garden was not so fortunate.Goro did not leave a mess as he immobilized the men within the house itself. Hanako-sama graciously thanked him before moving on.“My brother has called the board to meet. He does not intend me - or my evidence - to be there, but I am not deterred.”“Hanako-sama,” Goro said. “Forgive my bluntness, but it is better you send a proxy. I fear Yorinobu will act violently against you, and I have information that other -agents- could threaten Arasaka tower tonight. This can only lead to chaos….”He could not be sure -perhaps he had only seen what he expected in random drone reports from the Badlands- but he did not wish another oversight on his conscience.“Takemura-san.” Goro looked down, a sting in his chest from her tone. Quiet shame obscured the fear that ran beneath. “Focus on your duty and promise to me. There will be no chaos – if you are mindful of your place.”“Of course, Hanako-sama.”The rapid thwack of rotors signaled the approach of the AV. There was always the possibility of a sniper or a drone, and Goro escorted Hanako-sama out of the house and across the tiles by the pool to meet their transport on the grounds.One purpose - to shield his charge against any would-be assassin. Always at the proper distance – freeing him of breath-held hidden desires to touch and casual contact. Here his place was shaped only by the survival of Hanako-sama, what he might want or hope or deny lost in constant, attentive movement.Unexpected calmness found a toehold in him as he slipped – instinctive and comfortable- into the role of protector.
I have not known this… in too long.
The AV set down, and Goro stood watch as Hanako stepped gracefully into the rich, leather interior. As he turned to join her and Hellman within, he glimpsed a cat – perhaps the same cat – lazily stretched out near the edge of the pad.Goro kept his eyes on the cat as he got inside – as if he feared it would disappear and prove his foolishness right. The world lurched as the vehicle took off, and the cat -was gone.“What are you looking at?” Hellman demanded.Goro sat back in the seat. “Nothing. It is just a cat.”“I did not see it.” Hanako-sama looked out until Goro closed the door. “Ah! Did you think it was a Bakeneko? I did not take you for a superstitious man, Takemura-san.”“I am not.” Hanako-sama knows- many more things than I expected. “But I do not wish any more disasters to befall Arasaka-sama.”Her gilded eyes lit for a moment with a rare amusement. “And the return of the dead?”“To me,” Goro said and stared at his hands, flexing the joints as the helicopter climbed into the sky, “the dead are already close enough.” ***
Arasaka Tower, Corporate Plaza
 Here, in Saburo’s office – each Arasaka Tower graced with such a replica- Takemura Goro was home.He wished- if only for a few precious minutes – to pretend all was as it should be. The familiar desk still held him at a respectful distance – where Goro had stood so often, endlessly and gently attentive to the man who had chosen him. A fusion of wood and metal, tradition and modernity, and the hint of wax and lacquer.The smell caught in his throat.“Your disrespect tires me,” Goro whispered in Hellman’s ear as the scientist casually lent against the desk. It reassured Goro that it was still within his power to make this man tremble.Goro knew Saburo’s presence, its power barely lessened by Goro’s frequent exposure. And now he felt its absence like a crack in glass. Without that strength, how quickly Arasaka-sama might crumble and, in turn, take everything Goro knew.He could not imagine this place suiting Hanako, were her plan to take control of the Empire and assume her father’s crown. Who else could? Not Michiko and Goro could not let Yorinobu defile this seat.The chair would be forever empty. He must not let himself stumble into the pit such a thought lay out for him. Not so close to resolution.“Takemura-san…” Hanako’s voice held a hint of warning.“Hai.” He moved to join Hanako-sama and Hellman in Saburo’s private elevator. It offered privileged access to the deepest parts of Arasaka tower, and Goro had used it many times.Hanako raised her hand, and he halted in his tracks. “There is one last thing I must do before meeting with the board. Please ready your forces, then go to the 76th floor and await me there.”The sudden stab of emotional pain bit deep on the back of his service to Saburo. He is gone – and everything I have given is gone with him. Hanako-sama rewards my loyalty – but not with her trust.“As you wish, Hanako-sama.”The door slid closed, and Goro could not shake the detestable wish to question Hanako-sama’s plan. Of course, this is why she does not trust me.
Perhaps she wishes to speak with the netrunners – I will not think of V – and I have no business there.
But as Goro stared intently at the resolutely closed elevator doors, he could not forget the entrance to Mikoshi also lay in that direction.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Nine
 
Sub-basement – Netrunner Ops, Arasaka Tower
 “Agh…”Basement lights, blood in her eyes, glitch messages that flashed between RADIATION WARNING and RELIC MALFUNCTION. V’s world was shades of red and static. Pain seared through her knees where she’d fallen on the grille. “V!” Panam shouted behind her. Fury or concern, probably both.Running out of time. Can’t stop now. Her body rebelled, refusing to move until she bit her lip so hard the iron taste gave her back some sense of control.“It’s okay. I got it.”I left this too long, waited like a gonk. Her shoulders screamed as she hauled reluctant muscles onto the worn ladder. Then out, into a sub-basement proper, where sparks arced from robot arms in the edges of her vision.V knew she was meant to do something - but she sat against the doorway, losing her mind. I just need a minute to focus, that’s all. Maybe if I just lie here, I can go to sleep, and it’ll all be over.Panam broke through the fog. Thank fuck for Panam and her instructions. Take down the guards silently - orders, not requests.V was still choking a technician limp under her forearm when Saul reached a terminal. He grumbled something V missed as the body slumped to the floor.“The seismic vibrations triggered a lockdown.”V leaned heavily against the console. Lines and words danced on the screen, not staying still long enough for her to read them. Warnings, protocols, codes- they should all mean something, but V’s brain was full of kibble. She wanted to save her last stims for a fight – but she had to get this done before that could even matter.Focus. At least her glands were still talking to her.Shit. This terminal had no sockets. Just in case anyone ever gets in here and tries to upload their brain parasite's AI ex-girlfriend into the building's security system, I guess. “Gotta find an access slot.”Saul- so glad he’s here- took over the search and accidentally activated the camera feed from elsewhere in the building. Jungle. Executive meeting space. Floor 76.“Shit,” V groaned as color flooded her eyes. Green pixels resolved into a crystal sharp jungle and … “Saka board members? The place’s gonna be full of extra security. Fuck.”
Don’t be here, don’t be here, Goro…
Crack.V ducked- until she realized the shot came from the feed. The memory surged into her mind- barely days but achingly long ago. Arasaka is preparing for war. Saul found the location of an access port, but V was transfixed and slid her hand over the desk, searching for another camera view.Arasaka troops opening fire on the board, Hanako diving for cover, a blur of white - and that painful reminder of how Takemura Goro could steal her breath just by how he moved.Panam dragged her back to where they were. “Looks like they’ve got problems of their own; let’s go, V!”“Fuck,” V coughed blood into the palm of her hand. Sorry, Johnny. Not sure I could put a bullet in his head, not sure I could put a shot in a wall if I was leaning on it. Her fingers left a smear over the screen. “Hope you’re fuckin’ happy, Goro.”Panam and Saul looked at her, confused. Shit- forgot they don’t know. V staggered away from the console in the direction Saul suggested. Prolly a good thing they’ve got no idea.V clutched Alt’s program shard; grateful the access point was close. She dropped to her knees, and the port received it readily. But how long would it take?Alt’s disembodied voice chilled its way into V’s heart through the PA system, and a door slid aside with a hiss. “Your way lies open.”The door led them into netrunner ops, and something was wrong. The floor was sticky beneath her boots -more like walking across the dance level at Lizzie's than polished Corpo tile. V realized she was stepping in blood, then coughed on the taste of burned-out cyberware.The netrunners were all dead.“Seems your Alt takes no prisoners,” said Saul.This was the power of the woman… being… thing… she’d placed her trust in, sprayed out in crimson and bone. V threw up and pitched forward, jarring her shoulders.Alt was unmoved. “Security forces are heading towards you, V. Do not delay.” ***
Arasaka Yorinobu’s Office, Arasaka Tower

Kuso!
 To be so bold as to attack the board outright… no, this was not boldness …Yorinobu had taken leave of his senses completely.Goro reached the unlisted floor and snatched a clip from the last of the guards. Whatever proof Hanako-sama had in that black module had never seen the light of day. Yorinobu’s faction had slaughtered all but Hanako and Michiko.Hanako-sama’s demand that he retrieve Yorinobu unharmed raged against the calling of a more profound duty.Goro leaned his bloody shoulder against the doorway to Yorinobu’s office suite and locked it shut. Vast screens glowed with the faltering balance of Arasaka Yorinobu’s insurrection. Bright orange holos flickered in the corners of the room, casting patchy shadows onto the natural wood floor. But the man himself was wrapped in darkness and silk.And the traitor was alone, his back to the door. Confidence? Or foolishness? Goro could kill him from here, but the man would never know he was not beyond his father’s reach.“Where is your rabid dog, Yorinobu? Has Adam Smasher deserted you too?”“Takemura San.” Yorinobu’s voice was level- unwavering. He did not even turn to face Goro. “What do you want?”“It is not important what I want.”“Ah. No. Of course not.” Yorinobu looked up at the screens, swiping past cities with a wave of his hand. Signal lost, signal lost, signal lost. “You are here to dirty your hands for a dead man.”“For Arasaka Saburo. The father you killed.”“If you knew him as I did, you would understand.” Now Yorinobu turned round; gun tucked foolishly at his waist. “You are a pathetic, devoted fool like the rest of them.”Twin thoughts ran through Goro’s mind – to kill him then or agree. But he moved on the strength of emotion, and Yorinobu’s ribs cracked under the force. The traitor staggered backward, only for Goro to catch him by the throat and drive him into the wall. As the usurper clawed at Goro's hand, he realized he had broken his promise to Hanako.“Your father opened his arms to you, and you should have begged for forgiveness,” Goro snarled into the traitor’s ear. “Instead, you turned on him. Did you think you could get away with betraying your family, or are you a coward?”Fingers one inch to the left or right, Yorinobu would be dead. It should have been a sacred thing, his promise to Hanako- a matter of duty and honor. But as Yorinobu's pulse throbbed beneath his palm, Goro felt little of either guilt or shame.Yorinobu kicked at him, trying to speak. Somewhere inside Goro, an echo of V whispered Wanna hear what he’s gotta say. Why he fucked up my life.  Goro cast him onto the floor and kicked the gun aside with a curse.“I have never feared the consequences of my actions,” Yorinobu spluttered from his knees. “But you… Takemura… are condemned to live in fear. Of your failure, losing everything, and seeing the reality of your insignificance.”“You would talk to me of fear?” Goro slid his finger across his trigger, hand hard down on Yorinobu’s shoulder. Something he did not trust or understand held him back.“He knew very well how to cause terror – it was his one, true gift.” Yorinobu straightened his back and stared blankly at the screens. “And if you make the weak afraid, they will do anything to feel safe.”“I have had enough of you,” Goro whispered.Yorinobu scoffed. “Duty, dignity, honor – these things you live by? To my father, they are but meaningless symbols to be exploited. Mere flags that ripple in the wind of fear. Nothing more. I would have changed that.”Goro gestured at the screens. “Instead, you have lost everything. Wasted countless lives. All you have left is slander.” Saburo-san trusted me. Honored me. Goro clung to the belief. “You are a disgrace to the name Arasaka.”“Good,” Yorinobu said. “If my father valued his family, it was only because he saw us as a way to conquer the greatest fear of all.”Yorinobu reached for something. Goro rested the muzzle of the gun against the traitor’s cheek. “Don’t.”“I have, as you said, lost. I have only one bullet left.” Tension rippled across Yorinobu’s shoulders. “I do not intend it for you.”“To take your own life is an honor you do not deserve.”“Then why do you hesitate? We are both dead men who have yet to stop breathing.” Goro fired a single shot in a moment of perfect certainty.***There was no relief. No anger. Nothing but a tiredness that crept towards him surely as the blood seeping from Yorinobu’s body. Goro slumped onto the step, back pushed against the couch, gun held limp in his hand. He paid it no heed as it dropped onto the floor beside him.Hanako-sama screamed at him. “You fool, Takemura. You have no idea what you have done.”I know what I have done. Failed to protect Saburo, turned my back on Hanako-sama. Rejected V. Nursed suspicions I do not care to have proved. Goro switched off the comms patch and dropped it onto the soiled wooden floor, next to the gun. They would come for him soon enough and he would not survive long.
Let them come. I will not resist.
He had fulfilled his last duty; nothing remained.He pulled up his knees and leaned forward to rest his head on his arms, a hollow laugh lost in the space between as he thought of V.Ah, V. If we had been different- perhaps there would be less blood and fewer choices. But then you would not be the person I grew to -his mind stalled at the word - respect. Perhaps she would be less angry with him now. At least it had been possible – remote, but possible- for him to choose against the core of his duty. In the end he had not, but she’d made him understand the shapes of his choice.A flicker and one of the screens made him raise his head. Just enough to see it more clearly.“Kuso!”In his fire to find Yorinobu, he had not given enough attention to the low-priority warning. Or perhaps it had been a desperate hope he was wrong that V had not chosen this night to assault Mikoshi.But she was there, bleeding and stumbling. The screen glitched again and revealed the answer to a question he should not have forgotten so easily.
Where is your rabid dog…?
Adam Smasher was plowing his way down towards the basement.Something flared hot in Goro’s chest, intense against the absence of other feelings. He picked up his gun.He was doomed, but if it were within his power, he would not let V die too. ***
Sub-basement- Mikoshi Antechamber, Arasaka Tower

There had been another fight beyond Netrunner Ops – a mech cut off from the network – thus beyond Alt’s reach and a handful of Arasaka soldiers. Panam and Saul had escaped lightly, but V nursed a handful of painful wounds.The next room was the last she had to cross, but she didn’t know if she could make it even that far. V’s vision flickered in and out in time with her erratic heart. RELIC MALFUNCTION. Over and over. I just want it to stop. Too many people dead ‘cause of me.“Don’t let all this be for nothing.” If Saul meant to encourage her, it just encouraged her guilt.How had she managed to drag so many good people into this whole fucked scenario? She was a gonk-brained thief with a friend who wanted to be a legend - and she’d gone along for the ride out of loyalty and the challenge. Then Jackie died, and she ended up with Johnny fucking Silverhand in her head, and God, how she missed them both right now.Night City had been one fat pile of regret, drugs, and pain. But hey, she’d saved a few lives, taken down a bit of scum, and maybe even set a little bit of the city on fire. She even walked away from what could have been the stupidest relationship of her life. Guess she’d learned something, after all.Wish I could have done everythin’ with Goro just a bit different. Been a little braver, maybe. In a different life -one where Goro had more doubt and V had more certainty - they could have been so damn good. Never know… ‘Saka fuckin ruins everything. But this was the last shutter, and she wasn’t gonna quit yet. Gonna make it. No one else dyin’ for me today… The sound of hell roared up behind them and everything was too fast and too slow and red. Winded, V landed face-first on the floor, a shout behind her, a burst of gunfire.She lifted her head and turned with an effort, fumbling for her gun. It took her second for the horror to dawn. Adam Smasher, fuck. Johnny's hate reached from the depths and found V's in agreement.Saul skidded across the floor, weapon skittering out of reach.Shit, no. V tried to aim and fire, but the action jammed. V tried to clear it as Saul crawled forward, grabbed his gun, and brought it up to fire as the cyborg raised a monstrous foot …And pitched sideways.An unmistakable figure in white threw Smasher off balance and unloaded an entire clip into its head. Saul inched free. V’s incendiary finally clicked into place, and she fired in utter disbelief.The former bodyguard of Arasaka Saburo was suddenly right next to her, firing from cover. It had to be a trick. No way had he found his way home only to throw it away for three nomads and a terrorist’s ghost.“Do you plan just to sit there, V?” he asked, deadpan. A clip of AP landed near her feet. “Or shall we face the beast together?”Goro put out his hand, and she warily let him pull her to her feet.Maybe it was because Johnny was quiet, or Saul was alive, or that V was too damn tired, but she embraced the sweet moment of relief that came with the wrap of his hand around hers. She looked into his eyes, searching for an answer in the bright optics that lingered on hers- but a more immediate threat than how and why launched canon fire in their direction.V dodged but reeled from the glare. To her right, Panam struggled to get Saul on his feet. Smasher snarled something about weakness and turned towards them. To her left, Goro broke from her side to gain Smasher’s attention with a tirade of provocative Japanese.V stumbled towards her clanmates and grasped Panam’s shoulder.“Don’t know who’s gonna come back from here, so, just in case.….” Goro’s sudden appearance only made the outcome more uncertain, and V knew she had to say it now before it was too late. “… gotta say thank you for everythin’. You an’ the Aldecados. Now get Saul out of here and go.”“Not gonna just leave you.” Panam protested, but Saul understood the look in her eyes and nodded.“You’ve done all you can.” V hugged them both. “It’s up to me now.”Panam glared at V, then side-eyed Goro. “Do what ya gotta, V. We’ll be waiting.”V covered them until the shutter descended. Goro shouted a warning, and V ducked behind a server stack as a shower of grenades landed where she’d been standing.“You’d better not be fuckin with me, Goro,” she said as he joined her in cover.“I am not.”She drained her rounds into Smasher while Goro reloaded, then cast aside the shotgun in favor of a cutting edge.“Let’s do this, then.”She ramped up the very, very last of her boosts and stepped out to face the only thing between her and the door to Mikoshi.
Violence and fire and blood and a snatched, wordless caress and the sounds of impact and effort and pain and Johnny’s name on her lips as she finally puts Smasher down for good.
Then the floor came up to meet her. It was hard. And dark. And welcome***"V," Goro’s voice swum out of the darkness.” V, you are almost there. Do not give up.”She was eye level with Smasher’s twitching corpse. Goro lifted her dead weight and propped her up against something solid. Shafts of red and blue gleamed through coolant clouds beyond the glass - the Mikoshi access point.Goro turned her to look at him, his hand against her cheek. “You are awake, good.”“Heh… Goro…” it was hard to force out words. “You look like shit.”Splattered with blood, face peppered with cuts and powder residue, hair plastered with blood and sweat, breath too fast to not be covering pain. The black-red shard of endoskeleton and steadily growing crimson stain on his thigh looked terrible.“You-- are in no position to criticize.”V looked down at a body that felt too alien and distant to be hers. Guess he’s right. Fuck, what a mess. She leaned on his shoulder, barely able to feel the hesitant play of his fingers against the back of her neck.“Why’d you come an’….” V thought better of it. “Nah, don’ answer. I’m just glad you did.”“I wish there could have been an alternative to this chaos, V. But you must move before anyone else comes. Before it is too late.”“So tired.” Her eyelids were made of lead. “Don’t wanna screw it up.”“Can you stand?”V shook her head. It looks like I’m gonna finish this on my knees.Goro leaned over, pushed the glass door open, and guided her hands to the frame. She felt a kiss on her cheek. “I have faith in you, V.”V clutched the solid edge and found the strength to lurch towards the glow beyond. Going to fix this… gonna be okay…. She paused at the last and looked back at the man still standing by the door, framed by fire and smoke.“Thanks, Goro. ‘Nother life, we coulda been preem.”He bowed to her way deeper than she deserved. Behind him, distant gunfire and a shower of sparks erupted from a severed cable.“I will help your friends- the last favor I can give. But you must go now and finish what was started that night in Konpeki.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Ten

Mikoshi
 Mikoshi shifted in algorithm black and neuron green, casting cerebral orange shadows. It could have been Tom’s Diner, and V didn't know if she'd created it or only imagined structure on some random checksum scratches.Johnny flickered, somehow more real and less real now she felt him differently. The fingers that gripped her wrist across the not-table were solid; data wrapping data.“Now you wait one fuckin’ minute, V. That ain’t what we discussed.”“Back then, I figured on having working 'ganics to go back to. It’s an easy choice to make- body’s yours.”Emotions shifted beneath V’s surface; feelings pale this far removed from the contested body. V's rage at Alt's omission was fading like a forgotten habit. It was a just fact now – a radically curtailed lifespan because the Relic had so strongly overwritten the DNA and the consciousness - time – unknown.“Been in your head long enough to know that don’t sound like you at all. Not like you to pick the easy option.”“Can’t disagree, Johnny, but… I’m not even sure I exist anymore. Sure, I look like V to everyone else, then when I look in the mirror, it’s you lookin’ back. My eyes are already expectin’ to see your reflection."V rubbed her non-existent eyes. Might as well let the process run its course.The spectral algorithm of a cat wandered past the end of the table and took up residence somewhere over Johnny’s shoulder. It made her think of Nibbles – the real cat’s soft affection seemed far away, but not so far it spared her the flicker of worry. But Misty knew what to do if -when- V didn’t make it back.“So what? Thought you wanted a future? Gettin’ the fuck out of Night City. Runnin’ with your nomad buddies. If anyone’s earned that, it’s you.”“World needs Johnny Silverhand more’n another merc.”“Bullshit. I’ve got one fuckin’ trick, and that’s get angry an’ blow shit up, maybe insult ‘Saka on the side an’ talk about my dick. Seen how well that worked.” He folded away the aviators, as if he was done hiding. “Hell’s really buggin' you, V?”Johnny followed her gaze and turned to see where she was looking. The cat faded into nothing. “Fuck, is that what this is about? Takemura’s fuckin’ cat metaphors?”Was it? “Saw a whole bunch of cats when I jacked in.”“Cause you expected to,” Johnny pointed out.“Gotta admit it kinda makes sense, though. Old V never wanted to change anythin' but herself. I ended up somewhere between tryin' to change the world or burnin' it all down. That's all you, Johnny.Alt’s voice drifted around them. “Even I cannot sustain the integrity of your constructs for an indefinite time. You must make a decision.”V could imagine a hundred justifications for leaving with Alt that weren’t the real ones. She stood up, focus shifting to the bright rip in the Black Wall. “I’ll be there in a minute, Alt.”“No, she won’t,” Johnny said. A lattice of disrupted pixels faded into existence behind him and just as quickly flickered away. “V, I'm not lettin’ you do this."An erratic path of blocks stretched towards the light, and a grainy chasm beckoned her to brief mortality. Johnny stood in her way. She didn't think he could stop her, but she'd hear him out."Why?""One. Whatever I am, Silverhand's been dead since they sucked out his soul, not a spit from where your 'ganics are laying right now.” He gestured pointlessly into the void. “Life’s for the living, don’t hand the keys to your mortal coil to half a ghost.”“Johnny…” When did he get so giving? It doesn’t matter… nothing’s changed. She tried to step forward, but a hand was in her way.“Two. Throwing the rest of your life away ‘cause you contracted a dose of love for the wrong guy is a gonk move. I expected better of you."Loss, strong enough to break the barrier between body and mind, drowned her unawares. Goro's probably dead already. I didn’t see him expecting or wantin' to make it. Yeah. Goro's part of this because there's no ending for us that doesn't hurt. But it’s not just him."So? I don't wanna feel all the pain that's comin'. Don't mind wanting to make the world a bit better but tryin’ to change it, then failing? It hurts."“Leads me onto three.” Jonny held up three silver fingers for emphasis. “Sure, I changed you - good thing too ‘cause you needed a kick in the ass. But here's the news you missed. All that time I was ridin’ your neurons and stealing your body, you were breakin' into me too.”“Know how I know that? ‘Cause when he came after you, I was fucking happy to be wrong.”V reeled. “Huh?”“Yeah. You sit there a second or two an’ let that sink in. Saboru-fucking-Arasaka's bodyguard….""Fuck…" V's certainty uncoiled, shifting form, waiting to be recoded. It really hurts. "Guess I became your Bakeneko just as much as you were mine..."“Point is, no one’s taken’ over anythin’. Just changed.” Exasperated, Johnny shook his head. “We both know 'Saka's corrupt to the core. But if you can make me start to understand a man like that, then you can sure as hell hold out a bit of hope for him.""I don’t even know if he's alive.""But you are. Alive an’ free to do whatever the hell you want. Think I wanna spend my days grieving the fact I took that away?”“Johnny…” She’d already shifted, taken a step closer to the grainy route home without noticing.“Now, will you get gone already,” he said. He pushed her shoulder, nudging her in the direction of the well.V had lived a lot in her past few months of dying. Having a cause had been – good. Maybe it would be okay with the Aldecados.“All right, you stupid gonk. I’m leavin’.”“Good choice.”“Gonna miss you.”“Wish I could promise the same.” Johnny put out his arm, then, and clasped her elbow with cool fingers.V held on, not wanting to lose her friend until the last possible moment. She hadn’t realized how close she was to the edge until Johnny’s grip was all that was keeping her there.He grinned. “An’ remember, V. Sometimes a cat is just a cat.” V fell through darkness.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Eleven

Dam, Rancho Coronado
 The world phased in and out. Light around the edges and shot through with red. Distant voices - her name, a snatch of news: Arasaka crumbling, done all I can- it’s up to her, gonna cross the wall- you comin’ with? Dreams of the column of light and steps and a sudden wrenching sense of loss… The BioMon pulsed in her Kiroshi’s, a regular visual pulse, settling to normal. 
I’m alive.
“V?”That’s… that’s Mitch. Fuck. He made it. Fuck… “Hey…” “V's awake!”“Huh, hey, yeah…” Johnny, you…there? No. He’s not there. Gone. With Alt. V focused past the windows at the sea of faces. Gotta get out of this car. Find out where I am. "Out of my way!” No mistaking that strident voice, or the worried face that appeared, chin on hand, right next to her. “Caused me no end of trouble having to shift your unconscious ass around.”“How long was I out?” V had no idea; it could be days, could be years.“About 14 days, give or take.”“Ugh.” She wasn’t living life by sleeping for a fortnight.“You woke up for a day in the middle… don’t remember?” V shook her head.There was sand in the air, the fresh promise of open skies meeting the thick odor of landfill. There was a gulf somewhere in her stomach, silence in her head. V pushed against the door of the car, and Panam stepped back.Mitch rested his hand on the roof. “Take it easy.” V’s back was stiff, her shoulders ached, her knees reluctant – but she eased herself out, content to accept his help. Once she was upright, he patted her on the shoulder. “See you soon.” Mitch strode off through the small crowd - urging the onlookers to back up as he did. Panam muttered something about his unreasonable synapses.Whoa, dizzy. V leaned against the jeep, her back to the city. Panam leaned next to her, facing the glass spires and concrete blocks.“So how many passengers am I hauling, V?” Panam asked.V fished around in her mind. A few half-memories, a cat is just a cat. No other trace. “Pretty sure it’s just me, Panam.” It was the first time in forever that V wasn’t in real pain. She stretched and followed Panam’s gaze. Night City almost looks kinda manageable from here. “I’m glad you’re awake. Your doc told us to let you sleep it off, but you’ve got a couple of decisions to make and not a lot of time to make them.”“Huh. So, these decisions I gotta make…?” “We’re leaving the state. We still got ‘Saka on our tail. I need to know if you’re planning on coming with us. You were out of your tree when we asked.”V looked at the sprawl. “I am done with this place.” Had some good times, but mostly it hurt. And yeah, accordin' to Alt and half a conversation I’m still dyin’. “Vik tell you anything else?”“That the whole thing fucked your body up, and he can’t do anything else to help. That you know his number, so you’d better call him sometime.”V laughed. It was the first time in months it hadn’t hurt.Panam sighed. “I know some people in Arizona… find someone to fix you up.”V looked around at the assortment of too-few road-battered bikes and cars. “Panam, how many did we lose?”“We were lucky. People you know about already, plus Bea and Grant. Saul has taken everyone else ahead to the border. It could have been way worse if that ‘Saka guy hadn’t stuck his neck out for us.”Goro. Shit. That awful tugging pain swung out of the empty space. “Takemura… What happened to him?” “He was a mess when we found….”Panam was cut off by a plaintive meow issuing from the vehicle. Two baleful eyes glowered through the box behind the driver’s seat. V had to reach the cat more than breathe, lifting Nibbles out of his prison and cradling his soft skin like it was suddenly the most important thing in the world. Panam sneezed behind her and called the creature a little shit, but all the grief in the world welled up in V’s head. With a sniff, V put the cat back in the box. Not gonna cry yet… not with everyone watchin’.“It brings misfortune and can bring the dead back to life….” Goro said behind her.V’s heart fluttered crazily in her chest like she’d grabbed the wrong fucking wire. I don’t want to turn around. If I turn around, I’ll realize I’m wrong.But she couldn’t stare into the city forever, and she pivoted on her heel to learn she wasn’t wrong.It was him. He was alive. In the wrong clothes, a ragged scarf slung lazily around his neck, a little gaunter than she remembered - but his hair was as precise as ever. V wanted to grab him and hold him and never let go so long as she lived.“It is good to see you, V.”She wasn’t even sure if this was a good meeting or a bad one, but her feet did not let her stay still and she moved toward him. They met in the middle, an unknown distance filling the few inches between them.“Goro…” She looked up and searched his face with hope and fear, then reached out and pressed his cheek. “I thought… I was sure you would be dead if not right there, then after….”He caught her fingers and held their joined hands to his lips. “I am very much alive, V.”There was something unresolved in his eyes, a hesitance as he spoke, but the bright moons glinted at her, and everything else faded to the dull blur of a distant photograph. Finally, she threw her arms around him, falling into his scent and the warmth of his chest against her cheek.Goro stepped fully into the embrace, pulling her in and kissing her hair as she shook with relief and a thousand other emotions. She did not know how long they stood like that, all slow and cautious and breathing each other in, but it was long enough she could almost feel Panam’s impatience burning at the back of her neck.“Look, V, don’t wanna push, but there’s a storm coming in, and we need to be on the right side of it.” Panam beckoned one of the bikers and put her hand on the pillion. “I’m guessing you got things to say,” her eyes flicked hesitantly towards Goro as she threw the keys into V’s hand, “so meet us at the solar farm. But V… we can’t wait long.”“I’ll be there, Panam, thanks.” V watched the others leave, then took Goro’s hand and led him to the edge of the dam. He sat, framed by the city and the sky, one foot resting on his knee. “I had not dared to hope I would see you again.” He leaned forward, cupping her jaw and brushing a strand of hair.V hadn’t even realized he was walking with a stick until it knocked against the dam and broke the calm with a clatter. “What happened? How did you end up here?” She ran a hesitant finger over his scalp and stroked her thumb over his brow. He was really there… but for how long? “It is a long story, V, and we have little time to waste on what is done. Let it be enough to say that I am no longer in the employ of Arasaka and must fend for myself.” The look in his eyes was suddenly one of utter desolation, and she gripped his hand, feeling him tighten his hold. “Thought about stayin’ in Night City? Plenty of work there for someone with your skills.” Maybe she could tolerate it… for a little while… if he was there.“Yes. Perhaps there is a need for Hideshi Hino to make a return...” V shot him a look, and a sad smile crossed his lips. V knew he was covering for something. “No, V. There are too many bad memories, and I will be glad to see - how do you say - the back of it.”"Not all of my memories there are bad," she said, and his hand tightened on hers again. "But I don' think I'm gonna miss it much, either." Then the words spilled out because she'd never have the courage if she didn't say it now. "Goro, what are we going to do? About us? If you’re not with 'Saka anymore..." It was still too much to ask, to give actual voice to a dream.He was silent for an achingly long time. "Arasaka will not easily let go of my betrayal, nor can I so simply forget what I have done. Now I am certain you are safe – I will move on.”“Telling me this goodbye for real, Goro? After everything?" V swallowed hard. "Because 'Saka's comin' after you... and what... that might be too dangerous for me? Most gonk-brained thing you've ever said." Goro stood -unbalanced until he bent to retrieve the stick- his jaw tense. V caught his hand before he could leave and tugged him to face her. "I want you to come with me. With me an' the Aldecados. Said you’d thought about it.""True, it seemed so possible when I was with you." He briefly closed his eyes and smiled at a thought - too quickly losing the upturn of his lips before he looked at her. "But the desert is not a world I understand, and I would not be a welcome guest to many of those there.”"Won't be the first Corpo to make a home with the Nomads.” Come on, Goro, wake up. “So maybe it'll work out, maybe it won't, and it's not gonna be an easy ride. There's no easy for us, Goro, whatever we do. Hell, I don’t even know if I will live the year. But I want to be with you, not forever wonderin' if you're dead yet. Just…"Whatever else V might have said was lost in the firm press of Goro’s lips to hers and the soft-voiced words between the snatches of his kiss."See what you have done to me, thief? I will join you in this foolishness. Because I, too, wish to be with you."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Epilogue

Arizona
 A Nomad camp in exodus was hectic, and V was grateful she’d found a little spot on the mesa to catch a breath. The noise had drowned out the uncomfortable quiet in her head for a while, but now she sat with it and watched the sun give birth to more stars than she’d ever seen. Around the camp below, fires and lights flared in the darkness. Panam’s distinctive “For fuck’s sake, Saul…” carried up on the night air.“V,” Goro sat beside her. “I must return to Night City.”She snapped her head around, too confused for horror to sink in. “Huh?”“The food here, V- it is beneath contempt.”She thumped his arm. “Taste of freedom, Goro.”“I hate it.”She leaned against him with a laugh, and his arm wrapped her shoulders, drawing her in. “Maybe they just need someone to open a mobile noodle bar.”“I could not do this until they believe I will not poison them. It may take some time.”V hadn’t wanted to tell Panam who Goro had been, but Panam had tequila-bombed V expecting spicy deets, and it all spilled out. Fuck, Panam had said. We’re tellin’ Saul right now. It turned out that Saul already knew. V had no clue how. They held that detail back from everyone else – and between the fact, Goro’d saved Saul’s life and the truckloads of klepped ‘Saka tech, the rumbles stayed quiet.“We’ll get there.”“Hmmm.” Goro shrugged off his coat and laid it on the ground behind him, leaning back to gaze up into the night. “I do not know that I have ever seen a sky like this.”She propped herself up on her elbow beside him. His closeness sent a tingle over her skin, the one she’d kept buried since she’d walked away. This was the first time they’d been alone together, a properly not-on-the-verge-of-death alone since. The first time they’d ever been just them, if she counted Johnny as a third person.“Goro…” she let the name hang until he turned to face her. The ghost of pain haunted his eyes. “Hey, you okay?”“It is easy to become lost in it,” he said, but the way he said lost said more about his emotion than the Arizona sky.“Yeah,” V said. She wanted to touch him and ease the pain, but it felt too much like they’d both break if she did. “All that time on one track, chasin’ the thing we needed most – your duty, my life… Now the world’s too big, an’ there’s no map.”A vast space littered with unintended endings. V hadn’t even started to work through that shit, and the two of them were prolly going to be a mess forever. But she was alive, and so was Goro and fuck if she didn’t want to hold him more than she needed air right then. She needed more than to hold him.“There are better ways of getting lost, Goro.” She straddled him, the solidness of him a reassuring presence. His hands went to her hips, tension flaring between them and filling her chest with anticipation.“V…?” A mixture of hesitance and interest looked back at her. “It is not unwelcome, but….”“I want you,” V cupped his face and held him there as his eyes locked to hers. “Maybe I fuckin’ love you, who knows. I’m not gonna run this time.”“Nor will I.”Goro pulled her down, but she didn’t want his mouth, not yet, not while the almost unbearable want felt so good. She rested her cheek on the dark armor, unfasted the rough shirt, and followed her fingers with her lips. He tasted of salt and heat, and his heart thundered against her palm.She slid the fabric over his shoulders, kissing along the line where implant met skin. The clench of his fingers and his ragged sigh thrummed into her body as she sought out the logo at his neck. Somewhere between her hate of them and her reverence for him, she kissed the metal, breathing fast and light enough that her senses swam.“V, God, V.”His voice rumbled like a distant storm.Goro pulled her to his lips, goatee teasing against her skin, and now V kissed him like they’d never kiss again, and fuck, maybe that was true, and she wanted every damn part of him etched in her memory but especially the broken sound of her name on his lips.V found her way to his cock, and Goro fucking shook under her touch. For a second, she forgot how to breathe.“I must ask you… V. Do you really wish us to do this here?”“I’m done waitin, Goro.”He cradled her head and rolled her, pressing his palm to the middle of her chest and sitting back on his knees. V felt anchored on her back here between him and the ground.“Good.” His voice echoed through her damn soul.V watched muscle, bone, and lines of chrome move beneath his skin as he turned his focus on her and urged away her clothes, reducing her to a mess of need by the time she was naked.It had been too long since anyone had looked at her body at all, but no one had ever done it like Goro did now. He looked down at her with an adoration V had no idea how to understand, only feel.“So beautiful, V.”She lifted the heat of her body against him, urging him to kiss her again. He did but broke quickly from her lips. Slow and precise, his dark-lined hands worked over her shoulders, gentle as rain as he lowered his head to her breasts.V trembled; the tug of his lips on long-neglected nipples sent a desperate ache right to her core. His fingers drew invisible lines -sparks over her skin- down over her stomach and up her thighs until all V wanted to feel was something of him closing the last distance between them.His thumb brushed her clit, and V grabbed his shoulders, gasping into his chest.“Goro, don’t stop there.”He did not. Goro pressed lower, and V arched her hips against his hand. As she pushed at him, he withdrew, teasing her before he finally reached for the depths of her with his fingertips.She whimpered. This time, when she moved her hips, he put his hand behind her head and lay down, his chest warm and promising against hers. The weight of him was perfect. They stayed like that, kissing until they had no breath left, and V coaxed him to look her in the eyes.Wordlessly, Goro guided her fingers to his cock, and rocked against her. “This is what you want, V?”Intense heat blurred into the ache of need between her thighs, the pulse of arousal heavy and deep in her belly. V was so close already, and the thought of Goro inside her dragged her to the very edge. Affection tugged on her heart.“Yes.”Goro’s hand wrapped hers, pressing their linked fingers against the ground. She fought the urge to close her eyes- she needed to see him – and finally took him where she needed him to be.
Fuck… yes… there…
“Yes. V.”He nestled his head against her shoulder. Pleasure swirled through everything - the heat of Goro’s breath on her neck, the tickle of his hair on her cheek, the slow but accelerating movements of his body with hers. Warmth, pleasure, affection, connection, the thrust of his cock, the firm grip of his arms around her.“I am in love with you, V,” Goro whispered.V cried out an ecstatic sob, losing control of her unexpected, powerful release. Goro’s deep, guttural exclamation as her body dragged him with her for the ride was a sound she’d remember forever.***After, she laid her head on Goro’s chest while he idly played with her hair.“Fuck knows where we’re headed,” V said after a while, once uncertainty began to whisper at the edges of the quiet.She tipped her head to look at Goro, still not-quite-believing they were here. Memories of garbage and pain and Johnny and all the rest lined up for consideration, but she flicked them away. She’d nearly missed out on this...“Hmm?” Goro said and stroked gently over her shoulder. There was a spark of unexpected mischief in his eyes, making V wonder about essential questions like stamina and how long before someone came to check they weren’t dead.“Just thinkin’ aloud.” She grinned.She still had no idea where they were going, but she was glad she’d chosen to stay and find out.THE END