Chapter 125

Panam

 

“Sure could use a rocket launcher right about now, don’t you think?” The girl teased with a big smile that did not fit the circumstances.

 

“Oh shut up.” She snapped and grumbled even if Motoko was right… Sorta.

 

Half way through the morning a group of Raffen Shiv had started trailing them. Panam had hoped with how dangerous her baby looked to the average gonk that it would keep them away, but as the first hour passed being trailed more Raffen had joined up shadowing their route.

 

Looking at the horizon she grimaced. She recognized the trap that was coming. It wouldn’t be long now.

 

Panam put the pedal down, hoping the terrain and her suspension would get them away.

 

It hadn’t.

 

“Want me to take the turret?” Motoko asked suddenly, as she took a hard turn around a bend on the mix of desert and hills they were running through.

 

“No. They aren’t in range. It would be a waste of ammunition.”

 

“If we don’t have a choice but to fight, then we should find a flat ground. I’ll be able to help more then.” Motoko offered and Panam rolled her eyes, hitting the gas again to try and get some speed on this old dirt path.

 

“They are faster than us. Flat means they catch up.” She snapped, eyes looking up into the cameras to see how close they were getting.

 

Closer now.

 

“Yeah, but I can’t shoot them like this. Get us flat. I’ll let them know we have some fangs.” Panam looked over at the girl and instantly turned back to the road.

 

That smile was a little too bloodthirsty for a teenager.

 

“Stupid idea… Fine.” She growled. It wasn’t like she had a better one. She jerked her wheel, starting to climb up the dirt hill, her truck roaring as she felt the tires spin but eventually she got the traction and she managed to ford sideways up the hill.

 

Then she hit the top of the hill, and it flattened out as she turned off. She wasn’t going in the right direction anymore, but at least this area was flatter. Old roads criss-crossed this region. Most didn’t go anywhere anymore, but she landed on top of one, the slightly bumpy road not something her warhorse gave a shit about.

 

She gunned it. And from behind she watched one two, three. Then another three vehicles all come roaring over the same edge.

 

Looks like now that she wasn’t on the rocky twisting lower road it was time.

 

“They are coming for us now.”

 

“Yeah, finally.” The girl said, suddenly pulling her seatbelt as she started pulling the entire belt out of the system. Then she stilled, grabbing her Nekomata and seemingly taking a moment to figure something out and then she wrapped the seatbelt around her shoulder.

 

“What are you?” Panam managed before Motoko flashed her a smiled and pushed open the passenger door. The flare of dust and grime was instant, and already making Panam want to kick the girl out the damn truck, but then she disappeared.

 

Panam’s jaw dropped, she looked over, seeing the girls chrome hand had grabbed onto the top door jam and remained latched onto the roof even if her hand was backwards.

 

“Motoko?” She asked as she heard the thump of the girl moving around on the roof of her baby.

 

“Scorpion what the fuck.” She hissed focusing back on the road now that her passenger could very easily be thrown off.

 

How was she even staying up there!?

 

A shot echoed from above and Panam felt her heart beating staccato actually picking up.

 

This kid…This kid was crazy! No wonder Scorpion liked her so much! Panam realized she had brought in someone truly out of their mind.

 

But she looked in her rear view. Where a Mizutani Shion with a hole in the Crystal Dome, was veering off, not quite losing control, but seemingly done with their pursuit.

 

Another shot and Panam watched another Raffen realize they might not have the range to hit us, but we could poke them just fine apparently.

 

The second car broke off, and then to her relief more and more cars broke, no more shots came. Instead a few moments after all of the Raffen broke off Motoko knocked on the roof and Panam realized that the passenger door being almost entirely closed had locked her out. Rolling her eyes, she let off the gas slowly, so the kid could get back inside without killing herself.

 

Reaching over once we slowed down to a more safe speed, she reached over and popped the passenger door open and managed to kick it all the way open, and then Motoko came rolling back inside. Face and hair covered in dust and grime from being up top, mouth closed, to hide the tooth filled smile she had before.

 

But the brat was still smirking.

 

“That was insane!”

 

“Eh. I’d give it like a solid eight on the cool shit I’ve done meter.” Was her reply. Panam looked over and then back to the road. She couldn’t help it. She snorted out an aborted laugh and just shook her head.

 

At least the insane kid was on her side.

 

—–

 

That night we were once again camping. Panam complaining about me jumping out of the cab had eventually died off and instead been replaced with a quiet sort of melancholy.

 

I was on the other hand pretty hyped up. The only thing that could have made that cooler was if I had my HMG. Nekomata was cool, but when it came to vehicle combat, stepping out with an HMG was on another level.

 

Despite the fire. Panam wasn’t cooking travel chili tonight. Just pulling out something prepackaged and eating it down once it was warmed on the fire.

 

Which meant I had to do the same with an XXL.

 

I sighed as I pulled the burrito off the pan and sniffed at it, nose crinkling at the rather unappetizing smell.

 

“Why bring so many if you don’t like them?” She asked and I just scoffed.

 

“My brother loves them, and we had a ton of them already. I didn’t have a lot of time to get food for the journey. Kinda glad I brought them. I would have brought a lot less food if I had to actually buy stuff, and I might be going hungry by now.”

 

“Nomad rules. Always bring way more food than you expect to eat.” She said before digging into the bag of steaming…

 

Nope. I don’t want to know.

 

That looked like bugs.

 

“Should get there sometimes tomorrow afternoon, unless we get chased again.”

 

“Think that’s going to happen?” I asked in turn, we hadn’t seen any sign of the Raffen once we sent them packing, but that didn’t mean everything.

 

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Maybe. They don’t like to go after difficult targets just like anyone but sometimes they might have to. Keep their group together, prove they are the strongest. That kind of shit.” Panam explained around a big crunchy bite of nope.

 

“Hmm.” I grumbled as I bit into my burrito. “I’ll keep watch tonight then. No, don’t argue with me. I can stay up for days at a time if I have to without any issue. Sleep well, and I’ll make sure we don’t get snuck up on.”

 

Panam bit into her… nope. Yeah bag of nope that’s all I was going to process from that.

 

“Fine.” She grumbled and I nodded. Not long after as she squirmed into the tent I settled on top of the trucks roof and kept an eye and ear out.

 

—–

 

We made much better time the next day. The roads were still more guidelines than anything, but more and more of the spider web of roads were actually semi still together giving us longer and longer stretches where the Warhorse could really let loose.

 

“We should be there before the sun sets. Unless we make camp early.” Panam offered but the way we were both checking the horizon had already confirmed what the plan would be.

 

Twice we had seen nomad or Raffen vehicles on the horizon.

 

They could be following us, and we weren’t going to let them ambush us if that was the case.

 

I was doubly glad that my stats let me go without boredom because there wasn’t much to look at. Trees sometimes. Dirt sometimes.

 

Playing Eye Spy while traveling would just start with brown on every question.

 

It was that bad. It was almost heartbreaking to see the world so devastated. Fucking Cyberpunk. Bio Plagues and shit ruining everything.

 

I sighed a bit but kept lookout. Nothing I could do about it.

 

“And there she is.” Panam muttered and I looked away from the horizon around us to see the beginnings of Seattle out in the distance.

 

It wasn’t quite as flashy and full of lights as Night City. No massive advertisements in the sky, but it was a city.

 

“Finally.” I muttered a little sullenly. I was so ready for a shower. I had dirt and dust in places I didn’t want to think about. Anakin had it right. Fuck sand.

 

“It’s not so bad. You can’t be a nomad without enjoying the camping life.”

 

“Well, it’s a good thing I don’t want to be a nomad then.” I grumbled at her, but I shook the irritation away. We weren’t out of danger yet. I pushed myself back into focus.

 

—–

 

“Yes we are here on business.” Panam repeated for the tenth time to the bored customs agent. We had been stopped on the highway into Seattle at a border checkpoint.

 

The fact the border was just a city border and yet was treated as important as a country border told me a lot about how Seattle saw itself within the ‘Free’ state.

 

I was bored. It wasn’t like I was the one in charge here. Looking around the dark barely air conditioned room, I noticed the most interesting thing was the flags painted on the wall.

 

First was the Pacific Northwest free state flag. It had faded over the years, but was still there.

 

Then in much fresher paint was the NUSA flag. Something they probably added after the Unification war ended.

 

Not that it had really done as it was stated. The Free States were still basically free just gave lip reading to the NUSA as their federal government.

 

And because of it Arasaka was back in Night City. Which had seceded from California entirely to become its own little city state.

 

As if Arasaka didn’t rule Night City.

 

I noted Panam adding some bills to her papers almost in aggravation and a moment later those bills were pocketed and we were sent on our way.

 

“Fucker.” She hissed as she finally climbed back into the Warhorse.

 

“Let’s be honest. A bribe was always going to be our path in.”

 

“Fucking bitch said the papers would get me in without trouble.” Panam argued as she slammed a fist into the steering wheel to let out some irritation before hitting the gas as we got the green light to leave the border and be allowed into Seattle.

 

Ice covered mountains, and large buildings. It was just like NC in a way. The same food, the same malaise.

 

I shrugged. Glad we were through, now we just had to drop off our delivery and our gig was complete.

 

“I’m going to find a motel to stay at.” Panam offered and I perked up instantly.

 

“Yes please!”

 

She laughed at me a bit as we drove in between the first of the big buildings. I could really use that shower.