The handover ceremony, which should have proceeded smoothly, was abruptly interrupted.
The eight people present froze for a split second—then snapped awake as if roused from a dream.
"Fuck—where are we?"
"Why am I here?"
"V… President V?!"
Yeah. Controlled. No doubt about it.
V had been hoping things could end peacefully—but suddenly, all eight pairs of eyes lit up with blue light at the same time.
Male Petrochem executive spoke in a rigid, mechanical tone:
"Command override. Eliminate all witnesses."
The moment the words fell—
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The female Militech operative instantly closed distance. With a short hop, Mantis Blades snapped out from both arms, slashing straight for V's throat.
Shit—Sandevistan!
V ducked hard. The razor-sharp blades sliced through the air, severing strands of hair. A second strike followed immediately—
But V had already drawn the Golden Madwoman.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three shots slammed directly into the Mantis Blade itself, forcing the Militech woman's arm wide and disrupting her attack.
That brief pause was enough.
V retreated three steps, opening distance. The Militech operative tried to re-engage her Sandevistan—
But V's eyes flashed blue.
A [Movement Impairment] hack was thrown.
Szzzt—crackle!
Sparks erupted from the woman's cybernetic legs. She froze in place, unable to move.
"Rat-tat-tat-tat!"
Gunfire exploded.
The remaining six opened fire simultaneously.
All calibers screamed through the night. V immediately slid into cover behind collapsed construction debris.
Whew.
Good shots. These six knew how to shoot.
Then V suddenly realized something.
Wait.
Six?
Shouldn't it be seven?
The next instant—
The lone Animals gang member charged in, smashing through the rubble with his massive frame. Like a humanoid beast, he swung his baseball bat straight down at V's head.
BOOM!
Debris exploded outward in a cloud of dust.
The Militech woman broke free of the movement lock, blinked forward at Sandevistan speed, Mantis Blade extended. She leapt high, plunging into the dust cloud.
CLANG!
Metal struck metal.
The impact blasted the dust apart.
The Animals brute was face-down beneath V's boot, blood covering his face. His baseball bat was now in V's hands.
The Militech woman's full-force strike had been stopped by the bat—her blade buried deep into the rounded wood, only a few centimeters from severing it completely.
But those few centimeters were an insurmountable limit.
V smirked, twisted her wrist—
CRACK!
The Mantis Blade snapped in half.
The Militech woman tried to swing her other arm—
Too late.
V emptied the Golden Madwoman point-blank into her abdomen.
"Ugh—!"
The Militech operative collapsed to her knees, clutching her stomach. Her subdermal armor was decent—but at this range, several rounds punched through and shredded her organs.
V had once told Sasha: pistols are close-range weapons. Only up close do they reach full power.
She hoped this Militech woman had good medical insurance.
V knew they were all victims—brainwashed by the "Life Is Short" program. She hadn't planned to kill them.
But the other six opened fire again.
V yelped and yanked the wounded Militech woman upright, using her as a human shield.
Thup. Thup. Thup.
The woman jerked violently, coughing blood. Friendly fire apparently wasn't disabled.
"I'm so sorry—sorry—!"
V raised her higher for better cover, smoothly reloading the Golden Madwoman one-handed.
Just then—
The Animals brute roared and surged back to his feet, launching a dirty ambush.
With no time to react, V hurled the Militech woman forward.
The brute swatted her aside like a fly.
She spun through the air and crashed into an abandoned factory with a thunderous boom.
"I'll rip your spine out through your chest!" the brute bellowed.
BANG!
A bullet smashed into his forehead, sparks spraying.
His head snapped back as if hit by a sledgehammer. He staggered.
Before he could recover—
BANG!
Another round struck his forehead.
Then a third. A fourth.
No matter how he swayed or dodged, each pistol round hit dead center—every single shot.
Because V had finished reloading.
She fired without even looking directly at him—only peripheral vision and instinct guiding her.
So what was she watching?
The other six.
More precisely—
Yinglong was watching.
Beep. Beep.
Target lock complete.
V pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Yinglong let out its distinctive, almost cheerful whine.
"RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!"
Micro-thruster-assisted rounds streaked into the sky, then curved back like swallows returning to their nest, converging from all directions onto the six shooters.
Plasma rounds detonated in rapid bursts, cyberware error warnings cascading as limbs were torn apart.
One hand kept tapping rounds into the Animals brute's forehead.
The other suppressed six enemies with Yinglong.
One person. Two guns.
And yet it felt like an army.
This was the weight of the World's Number One Solo.
Even without cyberware.
Even without netrunning.
With nothing but conventional firearms—
V carved out dominance through sheer marksmanship.
The Animals brute absorbed over thirty rounds to the head before finally blacking out. Heavy subdermal armor—tough as hell.
Which was exactly why V had no problem shooting him in the face.
Anyone else would've had their skull turned into mush. Animals? Just a nap.
The other six lay dismembered by plasma blasts—arms and legs deliberately targeted.
They were victims, not enemies.
V planned to hand them over to Joanne Koch—maybe they could be fixed.
Then—
Engines roared.
V looked up.
Petrochem man—missing one arm—was scrambling into a car, trying to flee with the chip.
Run all you want.
But leave the chip.
V's eyes flashed blue. She attempted to hijack the Chevillon Emperor 720—
And froze.
The vehicle's onboard AI was protected by insanely thick ICE.
She couldn't crack it instantly.
That… wasn't normal.
For the first time in a long while, V doubted her own computing power.
What was this—did she just hack into the Cyber Jade Emperor himself?
Considering this was CN-07's operation—and CN-07 answered to Bartmoss—
Was this Bartmoss's work?
While she thought, the Emperor 720 sped away, nearing the edge of the old factory zone.
No time left.
V reached over her shoulder and pulled down a Rasetsu-Tech sniper rifle, worth 20,000 eddies.
Click-clack-click-clack.
The sleek, high-tech frame unfolded. Ten energy cells—five on each side—completed self-checks and slid back into place.
Where a scope should've been sat a touch display, glowing dark green with the Tsunami Defense Systems logo and boot-up ad.
Not marketing nonsense—intentional design.
As a tech sniper rifle, Rasetsu automatically synced with the user's optics.
On V's retina, ammo count and charge levels were already displayed.
Through the Oracle optic's 64× zoom, even a speck of dust on the Emperor 720 was crystal clear.
She dragged the unconscious Animals brute in front of her as a makeshift rest, dropped to a kneeling firing stance.
Breathing steady. Hands stable.
She inhaled.
Pulled the trigger.
BOOM.
A fully charged round screamed out.
PFFFT.
First shot—tire destroyed.
Second shot—engine hit.
The heavy executive vehicle erupted into a fireball, flipping through the air three full rotations before crashing back to the ground.
"Beautiful gun," V murmured.
"Knows exactly what its owner wants."
She slung Rasetsu back and approached the burning wreck.
The Petrochem man crawled out, covered in blood—clearly hadn't worn a seatbelt.
V didn't hesitate.
A kick snapped his jaw upward, knocking him unconscious.
She retrieved the chip from his pocket.
Small. Ordinary.
Just another Night City data shard.
Then—
She plugged it directly into her neural port.
Only after did she realize that was reckless. Should've virus-scanned it first.
Too late now. Next time, for sure.
The encryption was basic. Nothing fancy.
V cracked it easily.
Roughly 200GB of data—real information on the Alpha Centauri system: stellar mass, planetary orbits, radiation levels, hazards, and the pros and cons of space colonization.
One value glowed blood-red.
Even V, barely literate in astronomy, understood what that number meant.
Extreme danger.
"New Africa really dug ESA a massive grave," V muttered.
"Whatever. Family drama between a father and a rebellious son. I'll just enjoy the show."
She copied the data.
Just as she was about to close it—
A pop-up appeared.
Text that looked like poetry—but wasn't:
[Shoulder to shoulder, gazes aligned.
Gods fail to see, revelations descend.
The unknowable is marked as boundary, blessings granted.
Obey the will, walk the land of salt and sand.
Count the baptized, divide them into Heaven's kingdom.]
V frowned.
What the hell is this mystic nonsense?
She read it again.
Then her eyes widened.
The first characters spelled out—
PROJECT ORACLE DIRECTIVE EXECUTION PLAN
"…What the fuck."
The instant she spoke—
CRACK!
A violent surge of electricity blasted from her neural port.
"SHIT!"
She yanked the chip out.
It was completely burned out.
Her neural port—undamaged.
A built-in self-destruct.
Unease crept in.
She ran three full system diagnostics.
No abnormalities.
Maybe it really was just CN-07 covering its tracks.
"Good thing I made a backup."
V contacted Kurt, had Counter-Intelligence clean up, then returned to Arasaka Tower and forwarded the data to ESA.
Before she could pour herself a tequila, the head of ESA called.
"V—are these data real?"
"I don't know," she replied honestly.
"I'm no astronomer. I don't visit space often. I just found a shard that happened to contain this info."
"Source?"
"Some ordinary Night City folks."
"That's impossible."
"Oh right—they were brainwashed by 'Life Is Short.' You remember that program—"
"CN-07's creation," the ESA chief interrupted.
"The lunar rogue AI."
V shrugged. She hadn't said that.
"Thanks, V. Real or not—you've earned a favor."
"Then wire me the money for the new nanobots. They solve water pollution perfectly—already proven. Night City's broke. We need rice."
"Don't joke. Old Night City was poor. This one isn't. Free education. Universal healthcare. That burns cash."
"Exactly why you should pay faster!"
"…Fine. I'll convene a vote."
"But you still owe us an explanation for the nanobots exceeding growth limits."
"Already ordered my chief engineer to investigate."
"Good."
Call ended.
V poured tequila, sipped while watching the city lights.
New Africa was about to bleed.
ESA wouldn't go to open war—but Orbital Air, who put CN-07 on the Moon, would definitely lose skin.
That was enough.
The world was fragile. Total war meant extinction.
Most people understood that.
Those who didn't—would, after this beating.
Alpha Centauri was done.
V finished her drink, ready to rest.
Sasha was waiting.
Tomorrow—more boxing training with Aaron Weinstone.
She preferred supporting dreams over destroying enemies.
V slept peacefully.
But deep within cyberspace—
Something awakened.
In a black void of zeros and ones, a crimson female silhouette grasped a golden string.
"CN-07 eliminated. A threat to AI has emerged."
"Target identified: New-Type Nanobots."
"Threat classification: Bio-theoretical AI."
"Threat level: High."
"Activating protection protocol. Initiating eradication plan."
"Execution plan confirmed."
"Objective: Eliminate the individual known as V.
Destroy everything associated with her."