The Sun Reborn Ch. 21 (Cyberpunk 2077)

A/N: Panam sticks around and makes some moves.

-x-X-x-

“I’m not going anywhere.”

There’s a brief pause as V arches a brow in her direction and Panam realizes just how aggressive that sounded. She flushes slightly before crossing her arms over her chest and clearing her throat.

“You did me a solid here, V. You think I’m just gonna bail on you now? I’ll stick around and help you out here, and then we can go and return Rogue’s shit to her together. That way she can thank you for helping out personally.”

For a second, she half-expected him to shut her down and send her packing. Is she being too obvious in her snooping? Probably, but Panam has never really been much for subterfuge. In the end though, V just smiles.

“Alright. Sounds like a plan.”

He still helps load Rogue’s stuff into her truck first, before having her drive it outside the fortress. That way he can catalogue everything else easier without there being any confusion. Once that’s done, Panam comes back to find V is on the phone with Dakota Smith, aka the Mad Coyote. Hearing him talking to her causes Panam to blink.

She wasn’t sure why she was surprised that V had connections to the Aldecaldos, really. It made a lot of sense, given how comfortable he’d been with taking a job out in the Badlands.

Not that the Mad Coyote was someone Panam knew or had ever met. Dakota Smith was part of the Pomo Tribe of Aldecaldos, a different group entirely from Panam’s own clan. That said, she was also the eldest fixer out in the Badlands, and that came with a certain reputation.

Still, once V gets done sending their coordinates to Dakota so she could send some people out to start pricing shit and deciding what she might buy from him, Panam approaches him and clears his throat.

“… If you’re willing to sell to Aldecaldos, I know some nearby who might be in the market for some new wheels or guns.”

Or even just some of the Wraiths’ supplies, really. The clan could always use more of pretty much everything. Surviving in the Badlands wasn’t easy, after all.

V gives her an assessing look for a moment before gracing her with another smile.

“Sure. Send them a message.”

Panam bites her lower lip, trying not to let his easy confidence get to her. She knew now that he wasn’t just cocky or arrogant. His faith in his own abilities was well-earned and the proof of that was all around them. That said, Panam turns away and quickly shoots off a message to both Mitch and Scorpion, telling them where they can find her and to bring the biggest sets of wheels they can get their hands on along with as much eddies as they can possibly weasel out.

It says a lot about her friendship with the two men that they show up just on faith in her alone, no further questions asked, and without tattling on her to Saul. Technically Panam isn’t exiled from the clan. She left of her own volition before it got to that point. But if Saul ever heard she was still in touch with parts of the clan, even if they were her best mates, he might take that as an invitation to send her more sanctimonious messages trying to bring her back into the fold. Panam didn’t want that.

Regardless, Scorpion and Mitch pull up soon enough, only to gawk at the Raffen Shiv fortress that Panam is standing out in front of. They might have been a little bit more worried and cautious of approaching, but the Mad Coyote’s people had arrived first, all of their cars out front as they went around cataloging things for the old Fixer.

“Panam. What’s all this about? What’d you get yourself into?”

Panam huffs at Mitch’s concerned tone, even as the two of them share a hug.

“Nothing I couldn’t get myself out of, Mitch. Ran into a spot of trouble a few days back on a delivery I was doing for a Fixer in Night City. Lost my cargo, but the Fixer sent me a Solo to get it back. This is the result of that. Everything you see past the walls belongs to the Solo… but he can’t exactly carry it away by himself, so he’s in the market for buyers. It’s a fire sale.”

She can see both Mitch and Scorpion grow more excited at that. After all, a fire sale implied everything had to go… fast. As capable as V was, he couldn’t stay out here guarding all this shit forever. The moment he returned to Night City, vultures and scavengers would be all over this place, stripping it down for anything valuable.

Hell, if V hadn’t called Dakota, Panam might have just loaded up whatever she could in her truck to help him out… and then quietly tossed the detes of this place over to Mitch and Scorpion anyways so they could maybe get out here first. But it seemed V was smarter than that, and not just a stone-cold killer but also a consummate businessman.

“V! This is Mitch Anderson and this is Scorpion. Their eddies are just as good as the Mad Coyote’s, promise you.”

As she approaches, that introduction earns her no favors with Dakota Smith’s people. She gets more than a few nasty looks from the ones who were negotiating with V before she walked up. But V… V just grins wolfishly, and Panam knows he appreciates what she’s trying to do. Sure, she’s hoping to get some of the choicer stuff for her clan… but also, he can charge more eddies if there are multiple buyers at this fire sale. It’s a win-win.

The negotiations that follow are pretty fierce, but Panam has already done her part. She sits back and lets the sparks fly. All in all, Mitch and Scorpion aren’t the huge competition that Dakota’s people initially assume them to be. It’s a bit of a trap in that way, because whatever Mitch can offer for anything, the folks from the Mad Coyote can usually outbid him.

… However, by opening like she had, Panam had been tossing a secret message back to her boys as well. And needless to say, her boys understood the assignment perfectly. Shit, maybe Panam wasn’t so bad at this subterfuge crap after all…

By the time Dakota Smith’s people realize they’ve been had, it’s already too late. They manage to buy out a little more than half of the Wraith Fortress haul before their spending cash runs dry, but they probably could have gotten the entire amount for what they pay V if not for Mitch up-bidding them at every corner.

As they pack up their vehicles and leave with unhappy frowns on their faces, V turns to Panam’s boys with a smirk.

“What’s your actual spending cap?”

Mitch hesitates for a moment before glancing in Panam’s direction. She also hesitates, but in the end she gives Mitch a confident nod. She doesn’t think V will screw them over. She doesn’t think he can at this point, not with the other buyers tapped out.

Turning back to V, Mitch tells the truth… it’s about half of what the Fixer’s people had paid. And yet…

“Alright. For that much, everything left after I pick out a few pieces can be yours. You can do with the place what you want as well.”

Panam had half-expected something like that, but her eyes still widen in shock at the generosity. Mitch chokes on his own spit, but quickly nods and thrusts out his hand.

“D-Deal.”

If V notices the waver in Mitch’s voice, he doesn’t say anything, just smiling good-naturedly as he accepts the handshake. After that, he loads up a few guns and some components into his car before leaving the rest for Mitch and Scorpion. Mitch is already on the phone with the clan as Panam prepares to head back to Night City with V. She would have preferred to stick around and catch up with her boys for a bit longer, but she doesn’t want to be around when Saul and the others get there.

In the end… in the end, this is one of the biggest hauls that her clan will have gotten in months, maybe even years. Saul might bluster a bit about what kind of danger Mitch and Scorpion were putting themselves in, but once he found out how little they’d paid for all of this, even he would have to shut up accept the windfall for what it was.

Climbing into her truck, Panam looks over to see V doing the same with his car. They share a look and she’s quick to reach out and call him, connecting them both as they start the drive back to Night City.

“… Thanks V. For all of this.”

He chuckles in her ear, and she can practically hear him shaking his head.

“For what? Doing a gig and taking your friends’ eddies? Your standards are too low, Panam.”

That… tch, Panam is glad they’re in separate vehicles, because that comment makes her blush a little bit. Her standards were actually pretty damn high, or so she’d felt. Only, while she was always careful about who the hell she let into her bed and heart, there was no denying that she’d been way too lax about who she did business with. Nash had nearly ruined her life, and it was only thanks to V that she was once again sitting in the familiar driver’s seat of her beautiful Warhorse.

“You know it’s not just that though, V. You didn’t have to let my friends bid with eddies they didn’t really have.”

“I made more that way. It was a fire sale, Panam.”

She flushes. She knows that of course. But still…

“Damn it V. Just accept the gratitude, alright? I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, even if it was just a gig for you.”

He chuckles again, his voice warm as he responds.

“You’re welcome, darling.”

Her blush intensifies at the pet name, but for some reason she can’t bring herself to take V to task like she normally would with any other man who might get too familiar. For some reason… it felt right when it came from V. It felt good.

Huffing, Panam stays mostly quiet for the rest of the ride back into the City. But even that doesn’t feel as awkward as it should. Instead, it almost feels… companionable.

-x-X-x-

Rogue Amendiares isn’t surprised when she sees Panam making her way back over to her booth in the Afterlife. Even if it’d only been about half a day since the Nomad turned courier had last been in here to cry about losing the shipment, Rogue knew her type. She knew to expect Panam to come back in here over and over again until Rogue either threw her a bone or had her kicked out for good.

Damn it all, but Rogue did have a bleeding heart, didn’t she? It was Panam’s own damn fault that she let Nash steal the shipment and her ride out from under her. There were other Fixers who would have had the young woman shot and tossed in a ditch somewhere for failing to live up to her obligations.

But Rogue didn’t like to waste talent, and Panam had talent. Besides, there was still a chance that other woman might get the goods back. Nash had made it personal when he’d taken Panam’s wheels, after all.

Though… the relaxed smile on Panam’s face and the man walking up alongside her give Rogue pause. This wasn’t…

“Got your shipment back, Rogue. It’s in my truck just outside if you want to send your people to unload it.”

Rogue hides her surprise behind silence at that. She definitely wasn’t expecting Panam to get the goods back THAT fast. Still… a quick check of the Afterlife’s outside security cameras shows Panam’s ‘Warhorse’ is indeed out there… as is the car of the man next to her, a man that Rogue had been alerted to very recently.

With a flick of a thought, Rogue sends a message to some of her folks to go out and unload Panam’s truck. Then, she focuses back on the pair in front of her and speaks honestly, if a bit cautiously.

“I’m impressed, Panam. I wasn’t expecting you to solve the problem quite this swiftly.”

Panam smirks and then shoots a thumb over at the man by her side.

“Couldn’t have done it without V. Thanks for sending him my way, he was instrumental in taking down Nash and retrieving the goods. Whatever my word is worth, I can guarantee he’s one of the best damn solos in this city. ‘Course, you probably already know that.”

… What? Send him… her way? Rogue is still very careful not to give any of the surprise and confusion she’s currently feeling away on her face. Her eyes do move over to V though for a moment, even as he looks back at her. His gaze isn’t hostile, nor begging. He’s not asking her to keep his secret or anything like that. If anything, she’d call the expression on his face bland more than anything.

She didn’t like it. Looking back to Panam, Rogue shakes her head.

“I didn’t send him your way, Panam. I’ve never met this man before today.”

Sure, she could have played along. She could have lied, accepted the win, and let it slide. But while Rogue’s hatred for Arasaka might protect V from her selling his involvement in the Konpeki Plaza Incident off to them, she didn’t owe him anything else. She didn’t owe him anything at all, really.

To his credit, V doesn’t look particularly upset that she spilt the beans like she did. If anything, Panam is the one who has the harshest reaction. Her eyes widen, and then narrow, as though she’s trying to figure out what game Rogue is playing. When it finally dawns on the Nomad that there’s no game to be had here except for whichever one V must be playing with her, she finally whirls on the man.

“What the hell, V?!”

V just tilts his head to the side at that, smiling now.

“I never said Rogue sent me, Panam. I just never corrected you when you assumed she did.”

“That’s-! You-! Argh!”

With that, Panam whips around and begins stomping away. Rogue, amused as all hell, shoots her half of the eddies for the gig that she just completed. Even if the shipment was late, she’d still done the job, so some payment should be expected. Of course, Panam doesn’t even break her stride, she just shoots a middle finger over her shoulder back at Rogue before storming out of the Afterlife.

V still doesn’t look upset… in fact, if Rogue had to categorize the expression on his face, it would be one of fond exasperation. Still, he looks like he’s about to follow after Panam… until Rogue calls out to him.

“V.”

When he turns back and gives her a raised eyebrow, Rogue feels a strange sense of déjà vu. For just a moment… it’s like she’s looking right at Silverhand. Physically, V doesn’t look a thing like Johnny of course. Has both arms, a shaved head, and is a couple inches shorter. But the mannerisms… the cocky confidence as he looks Rogue’s way as though she’s going to have to really make it worth his time… that’s all Johnny.

For fuck’s sake, what was with this kid? Stomping down hard on the lump in her throat, Rogue smiles thinly and pats the couch next to her.

“Sit down. Stay a while. Let’s have a chat, you and I.”

-x-X-x-

A/N: To be clear, voting for Option 1 does not lock V out of the Panam Route or anything like that. In fact, there might be something to be said about giving Panam a little bit of time to cool off seeing how V hasn't done anything truly heinous to her.

I don't usually want to influence a vote unduly, but in this case I just wanted to point out that this isn't as simple of a choice as choosing Rogue or Panam. Because I know if people see it like that, they will of course overwhelmingly pick Panam lol.

It's okay if you still all do that, but I want it to be an informed decision :P