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"Can't this thing go any faster, Mitch?"
"Not unless you installed wings an' forgot to tell me, V!" Mitch yelled right back to the man in the backseat, his own eyes on the road ahead.
"Uh... guys?" V was still learning some of the other Aldecaldo's names, but that was Ritch, if he was not mistaken. "Think the Raffen are comin' back for another shot!"
V risked a glance out the car's back windows and, sure enough, the man was right. Two vehicles, a truck and a van, were speeding down the road hot on their rubber heels.
Seconds later, V heard the telltale clanking of bullets hitting the frame of their ride. As for how good the armor was, he had no clue for this particular vehicle. Knowing that, he decided to assume it was crappy, just like their luck today.
"Oh, come on!" Mitch looked in his rear-view mirror. "Give it up, already!"
"Since when do Raffen give up?" Ritch checked the ammunition on his rifle before leaning out the window to return fire.
Something V would happily also be doing, if his hands weren't just the slightest bit preoccupied trying to stop the severe bleeding of one Panam Palmer.
Just a simple goods hand off mission, that's what it was supposed to be. Hell, V had done hundreds such missions back before leaving Night City. Then again, Night City hardly had a monopoly on situations turning to shit in the blink of an eye. That was more a universal thing.
When the Raffen ambush hit, targeting their client instead of them, ironically enough, the four had almost made their quiet escape. They were seconds from their ride when one of the Raffen scumbags spotted them. V dropped the man with a well-placed shot instantly, but he didn't see the second one off to the side, at least not in time.
It would be V bleeding out in the backseat of a car if Panam hadn't shoved him out of the way and took the bullet herself. Something incredibly like her, but also incredibly stupid.
Of course, they did have some medical supplies in their car, all of the Aldecaldo's vehicles did, but the one today was a little skimpier than usual. Something Mitch was probably going to be having heads roll over, later.
It was a single shot, but two holes, meaning a through and through shot. They wouldn't need to dig the bullet out, but that also meant two freely bleeding wounds instead of one. Using what they had, plus a booster, they'd managed to easily stop the blood flowing from the wound on her back, but that left the front one leaking like a faucet.
V managed to slow it, but the bleeding wasn't stopping. They needed to get Panam home, and fast.
Maybe it was the blood in the car, the seating position, or just a person dear to V's heart being the injured party. Whatever it was, V was flooded with memories of the last time someone who meant the world to him bled to death in the backseat of a car while he could do little but watch.
No, Panam wasn't Jackie. Her injury wasn't as severe, but it was in the same location. This time there was no Delamain with a medical scanner to tell him just how sever it was. Maybe it was every bit as… no! Panam was going to be fine, they just needed to get her back to their ripper at camp. He'd fix her right up in no time and she could be back to bossing everyone around, while telling V he was foolish to worry about her.
Yes, that was the lie V kept repeating within his own head.
A strange look crossed Panam's features, then. Whipping his head around, V saw the van had pulled up alongside them, its side door opening.
V had just enough time to see the Raffen pull the pin on the grenade.
Before V could even think to react, Panam did it for him. With a growl of exertion, she sat up, yanked V's pistol from his shoulder-holster, and fired a single round. V wasn't sure where she hit him, or if she did at all, but the end result was the same.
The Raffen stumbled back into the van, live grenade tumbling from his hand.
"Mitch!"
No telling if Mitch saw what was about to happen, or just simply heard something in V's voice. Either way, their driver veered hard away from the van just in time for the grenade to explode, turning the vehicle into a smoking wreck. A smoking wreck, that just so happened to veer off into the Raffen truck, taking both vehicles out of commission.
"Wahoo!" Ritch cheered from the front seat as he watched the explosive chain reaction. "That's how it's done!"
"How's…" Mitch started.
"Bad." V answered.
"Fine." Panam supplied her own answer at the same time.
Both met the other with a glare.
The rest of the ride back to their home camp was mercifully short and uneventful. Only once they'd gotten Panam to the capable hands of the resident ripperdoc did V dare to take a breath and try to calm down.
There was nothing V could do while the ripper did his work, so he sought out some water to clean the blood from his hands. As V watched the crimson fluid washing away, he felt his nausea climbing.
It wasn't just the blood, V had more than his fair experience being around it. He could say he was accustomed to the sticky and messy substance. Both his own and that of others, it was nothing special, after all.
But not this, this was Panam's blood all over his hands, staining his flesh. The thought alone almost made him throw up. Multiple times he felt the bile rising before being barely able to force it back down.
He could still see some traces of red, but V didn't know if that was blood residue or simply the result of scrubbing his hands raw. He hoped and prayed it was the latter.
With nothing else to do, V found himself pacing back and forth in front of the medical tent. Nerves going haywire with worry and fear.
"If you're plannin' on making a ditch, can you at least do it over there?" Mitch teased in an obvious attempt to divert V's attention. "Can always use a new latrine."
V almost told the man to screw off, but he bit his tongue hard to stop himself. It wouldn't be write for him to bite his head off just for talking to him.
"Been in tougher scrapes than this." Mitch dropped all pretenses of humor when he saw the dark look on V's face. "Death's gonna need a lot more than a bullet if it wants her."
"I know." V responded curtly, eyes glued to the tent.
"Not worryin' isn't in your nature." Mitch nodded, patting V on the shoulder. "You know, if it was you in there, she'd be here making the hole, instead."
"I know." V repeated before a sigh passed his lips.
Mitch was about to say something else before the resident ripper exited the tent. It took all of V's willpower not to rush him and demand answers.
"She'll be fine." The ripper started, and V instantly felt an enormous weight leave his shoulders. "Through an' through with a smaller caliber round. Missed anythin' vital."
V had to force down the memory of his luck at surviving a similar bullet.
"She said she wanted to see you." The ripper looked over at V before continuing, face scrunched up in confusion. "Something about needing to stop you before you wear a hole to the other side of the planet?"
Mitch looked on for a couple blinks before he burst into raucous laughter. "She has you figured out, V!"
"Har har." V fake laughed at his Aldecaldo brother before elbowing him in the ribs a little harder than necessary. Not that it slowed Mitch's cackle in the slightest, but the grunt he got out of it was worth it.
The ripper held the tent flap open for V to enter, but noticeably didn't follow him in. It was a good sign that the wound hadn't been as severe as V feared, despite his assurances. Not that it made him feel any better.
"There you are!" Panam greeted from where she lay on the ripperdoc chair. She attempted to sit up a little bit, but from the grimace of pain on her countenance, the act was a little too painful. "I was wondering if…"
"What were you thinking!" V blurted out, a tad bit more venomous than he wanted, but it was too late to back out now.
"Excuse me?"
"I said, what were you thinking?" V stood beside the bed, fixing the woman with a withering leer. Had it been anyone else, they'd have been shrinking before it, but Panam was not anyone else. "Do I need to spell it out for you?"
"He was going to shoot you!" Panam must have been expecting this. Her own voice rose a few points of volume. "What was I supposed to do? Watch? Maybe crack open a couple of cold ones while you took a bullet?"
"You were supposed to not get shot yourself!"
"It was you or me." Panam snapped. "I didn't think, didn't have to, I chose me. And you know what? I'd do it again. Happily!"
"How could you be so stupid!"
"I'm stupid?" Panam looked offended now. "What about last week?"
"Oh, no, you are not bringing that up, now!"
"Too late." Panam hissed, sitting up but not caring if it hurt. "Did you forget? You crashing because why?"
"That sniper had a bead on you!" V defended. "Two more seconds and you woulda' been dead."
"So your solution was to drive into the tower?" Panam gave him a blank stare. "You not only wrecked the truck, but if I hadn't dragged you out, you would've been crushed."
"We're not talking about me, here."
"We are when you're being a hypocritical moron!"
"You're one to talk!"
"Pot meet kettle!"
"Wanna compare stories?" V challenged dangerously. "Fine. How about last month?"
"That wasn't…" Panam knew exactly where he was going, but was unable to fully cut him off.
"So that wasn't you who rammed that Militech convoy with a tanker truck? Cause, Pan? It looked an awful lot like you in the driver seat."
"They were taking you away!" Panam was on her knees now, face to face with V, pain in her abdomen be damned. "To god knows where! I might never have seen you again!"
So it went, the two threw each other's previous mishaps in the others face, their respective tempers flaring to dangerous levels.
V's rage built to a fever pitch before he spoke without thinking.
"You're going to get killed, Jackie!"
Panam had a retort ready, but whatever it was died in her throat when her brain registered his words. V himself only realized what he'd said when he saw the look of shock on Panam's face.
As if reading his thoughts before he could even create them, Panam seized V's hand in hers. He was possessed with a sudden urge to bolt and run away as fast as he could, he might've tried if it wasn't for Panam's grip. Sure, he could easily yank it free, but he might accidentally pull her to the floor in the process, it was the last thing she needed with her injury.
An injury that V was only now remembering, much to his shame.
"Talk to me?" Panam almost pleaded, all traces of anger gone.
"It was just like that." V looked everywhere but directly at Panam. "Me and him, backseat of the car. Blood… everywhere. He died right there in my arms, and all I could do was watch."
V's gaze turned down at his hands, one still gripped tightly by Panam as if in fear he really would try to run. It was certainly a tempting option, still.
"It was days before I stopped seeing the blood on them." V spoke, his normally solid voice shaky as he recalled one of his absolute worst memories. "I washed and scrubbed until it hurt, then I kept goin'. I even considered chopping them off and getting new ones from Vik."
While Panam knew about Jackie's death on their botched heist, V had never told her the exact details. It was still a sore subject, and Panam knew better than to pry too hard.
"V?" Panam spoke gently, her second hand lifting to cup V's cheek. She didn't say it, but the request was clear.
Look at me.
V didn't want to, but he found himself following her pull to look Panam in the eye. Try as he might, when Panam gave him that look, it never failed to send his heart skipping more than a few beats.
Running her fingers over the stubble on his cheek for a few moments, Panam snaked her arms around him and pulled him close in a loving embrace.
"I'll try to be more careful in the future." Panam promised. "If you do the same, deal?"
"Deal."
It was a pity their moment didn't last long before it was broken by a gasp of agony that Panam tried, and failed, to stifle.
"You need to lay down." V implored, helping the woman back into a laying position. It was probably a miracle she hadn't reopened her wounds.
"Think I'll try catching some shut-eye." Panam made no more sounds, but V didn't miss the twitch of pain on her face. "Join me?"
"Your wish is my command, ma'am."
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Things had been awful quiet in the medical tent, a bit too quiet for Mitch's taste.
When the yelling started, and Mitch knew it was going to, most Aldecaldo had wisely cleared out. By now, most people among the family knew their fearless leader had been shot taking the hit for V, and everyone also knew a nasty argument was going to follow.
It wasn't that arguments among the two were common, in fact, Mitch had never seen a couple get along so swimmingly. It was almost worrying what was going behind the scenes, but Mitch trusted the pair to handle their own affairs. Now, when an argument did happen, wow, they were like the stuff of Nomad legends.
The scary ones.
Not just that, V and Panam's protectiveness of the other was every bit as terrifying. Which was why Mitch was expecting this particular debate to be particularly bad.
Mitch did have to admit it was ironic, getting angry because the other took the bullet for you. That being said, it wasn't like any of the Aldecaldos wouldn't do that for each other. But maybe it was different if said person was in love.
Not that V or Panam would ever admit that little nugget of information out loud, or to each other. Heh, they didn't need to, the whole family already knew with a single look at them.
Actually, that reminded Mitch that he needed to check in with the others about their betting pool. Dakota was already out, Carol in the same boat. Several of the others were running low on time, too. Only Mitch himself and Cassidy had put their money on the long game. The only question that remained was who would crack and confess first, V, or Panam?
Knowing those two gonks? They might dance around each other and play the game of an old married couple until they were grayer than Cassidy before they actually said the damn words.
"Kids these days." Mitch chuckled to himself with a shake of his head.
Okay, it had been long enough with silence in the medical tent. It was time to see what the end result of the age-old question of unstoppable object meeting its unmovable twin.
Moving as quietly as his body would allow, Mitch crept over to the tent and risked a look inside.
"Not in love my ass!" Mitch took in the scene and almost forgot he was supposed to be quiet.
Panam was out cold, with V beside her in a chair equally dead to the world. But that was nothing special, the two shared the same bunk and were always seen sitting closely together. Now, however, was like something out of some corny romance flick.
Panam lay in bed, V's head resting comfortably on her chest, the woman's fingers tangled in the short strands of the man's hair while her other hand's fingers were entwined with V's at her waist. V's spare arm wrapped around Panam's back in a loose embrace.
What really caught Mitch's eye was the overwhelming content and happy smile adorning Panam's lips. It was rare to see Panam smile like that, and it was always V who brought it out.
Oh, it would be oh so tempting to take a picture of this for later use. Blackmail, of course, but Mitch decided to let this one slide. After today, she deserved it.
Creeping closer, Mitch dug out a large blanket and draped it over the two before taking his leave. He'd have to make sure to tell the ripper and everyone else to keep out for a while so the two wouldn't be interrupted.
"Kids." Mitch smiled, taking one last look at the two before slipping back outside.