All afternoon, V's stockpile of rubber bullets was completely used up between the two of them.
Her old gun jammed a few times midway, but she managed to fix it herself each time.
Besides the beginner mode where she announced the shot location beforehand, Leo also went through the normal mode with no prompts, and the hard mode with rapid firing.
"So it's settled then. Once I bring the goods back, we'll go meet this priest."
"To the Big Deal!"
Leo raised his glass and clinked it with the others.
What followed was the usual round of banter and chit-chat.
Everyone opened up a bit more, the mood grew more relaxed, and for the first time, they started to feel like a real team.
After lunch, Jackie and Sasha took their leave.
Leo saw them off downstairs. When he returned, he found V cleaning up the table.
She looked so much like the "lady of the house" at that moment—diligent and methodical.
He paused in the doorway and stared for a while… until V raised a fist and shot him a silent warning.
"What are you looking at? Get over here and help!"
Leo shrugged and obediently joined her to finish cleaning.
Once everything was tidied up, they shut the windows, drew the curtains, and began round two of dodge-the-bullet training.
Somewhere in the haze of dodging rubber rounds, Leo had a realization: this had gone beyond the so-called "four bonds of life and death"—they'd literally fired hundreds of rounds at each other. This was real, bullet-dodging camaraderie!
V later suggested trying a close-range, rapid-fire "hell mode" to increase the challenge, but Leo refused very firmly.
Even after just training in the three current modes all afternoon, he was dizzy and aching all over.
And worse, during "bullet time," he'd strained his muscles multiple times from overexertion—his back and waist were especially sore.
"Still got that Dose-1 MediStim? Use the full ampule this time…"
"Isn't that kind of… substance abuse?"
"MediStim is safe. Just use it."
Leo downed the dose in one go.
A cool sensation spread across his mouth and throat, quickly relieving his physical discomfort.
Honestly? After sweating buckets all day, his mental stress and anxiety had eased quite a bit.
"We'll train again tomorrow afternoon. Then the morning after that, you're coming with me to a weapons shop—I need to stock up on ammo."
Leo lay sprawled on the couch as he brought up the electronic keycard control interface for the apartment.
V, who had been quietly sipping water, suddenly received a notification.
[Your keycard (secondary) has been granted all access permissions except critical overrides. Please check your settings.]
"…What are you doing?"
After a moment of surprise, she turned to face Leo, a bit uncomfortable.
"Unlocking access for you. While I'm gone, feel free to use the place. If… ow—!"
Leo had been about to say something melancholy, but V jabbed him in the ribs hard before he could finish.
The pain instantly disrupted his brooding.
"Ow ow ow—what was that for!?"
V was visibly annoyed: "Stop saying unlucky things. I hate hearing that crap. Mercs like us do not talk about dying, ever. It's worse than saying, 'After this job, I'm retiring.' Total curse."
Leo clutched his side and sighed helplessly. "Fine, fine. You probably noticed anyway—I'm not scared. Just tense."
"Yeah."
V gave a simple reply.
She had seen his mindset shift over the past few days. He no longer looked like someone about to snap under pressure.
Still… a part of her felt frustrated.
She'd finally found a dependable employer—or maybe even a real teammate. And yet, all she'd done was take from him. That feeling of helplessness… sucked.
After a moment of silence, Leo tried again:
"While I'm gone, you guys can use this place as a base. We'll be running missions together later, so the more we talk and coordinate now, the less likely we are to screw up in the field."
"Relax. The three of us have been surviving in Night City longer than you've been alive. We know how to handle team dynamics."
"But aren't you a lone wolf?"
V gave a dismissive hum. "Yeah, but I've worked around plenty of merc squads. Plus, Jackie's got a great sense for group chemistry. He used to be a top dog in the Valentinos, remember?"
"True… Oh, and keep an eye on Sasha. From what I've gathered, she's trustworthy. But, you know—never hurts to be cautious."
"Leave it to me."
They sat on the couch, watching TV and chatting idly.
Outside, night had fallen. The occasional gunshot echoed in the breeze.
Night City—the city that only truly came alive after dark.
February 23rd. Morning.
On a whim, Leo called the whole crew over to his apartment for a small gathering.
The atmosphere was warm, even Sasha started talking more than usual.
They munched on snacks Leo bought while listening to him go over his travel plans.
"I'll still be able to message you guys once I'm back. Just shoot me a text—I'll reply when I can. Phone calls… might not be so convenient."
V and Jackie nodded.
Sasha, wide-eyed like a curious kitten, chimed in: "You sure about that? Night City's really far from your place."
Seeing the confusion on the others' faces, she kindly explained:
Ever since legendary hacker Bartmoss nuked the original internet, connecting to the "Old Net" had become a dangerous task—one rife with rogue AI attacks.
Most countries ran on their own local networks now—basically LANs. Only the upper elite or certain corporate drones had regular cross-network access.
V and Jackie, both more brawn than brain, nodded as if they understood. All they gathered was: connecting from Leo's homeland sounded hard.
But Leo had already discussed this with Pure White.
She'd confidently promised: by using a singularity-based internal server hub, she could act as a bridge between different networks and even different worlds.
All it took was a local server acting as a signal anchor.
In fact, the two computers in Leo's apartment had already been secretly upgraded to terminal nodes. They could even spoof his biosignature, fooling groups like Trauma Team into thinking he was still in Night City.
With that kind of backup, Leo had full confidence:
"No worries. I've got it all set. We'll be able to talk in real time, no matter where I am."
"Damn. That's some serious access."
Sasha gave him a long look, her curiosity toward this mysterious "fixer" growing stronger.
Given how thick the digital "firewalls" were between nations, Leo's claim was no small thing.
But Leo grinned and brushed past the topic: "Forget the network. Let's move on. Jackie, if I smuggle a batch of high-end liquor back from home, think we could work with the priest?"
Jackie looked surprised, then thought carefully:
"Smuggling fancy booze, huh… The product's fine—plenty of buyers in Night City. As for the priest… you mean Father Sebastian? He used to be the Valentinos' priest. Still has a lot of pull."
"Exactly. I need rich buyers, and selling expensive liquor has huge margins. There's no way the four of us can handle that kind of heat on our own. We need allies."
"Hmm…"
Jackie pondered.
V suddenly cut in: "Sebastián Ibarra—I actually know him pretty well. Back when I was green, he looked out for me. I'd say he's the most reliable fixer in Heywood. Better him than anyone else."
A few seconds later, Jackie nodded in agreement:
"Yeah, me and my mom go way back with him. Safer to partner up with him than with some shady corpo."
"Then it's settled. Once I've got the goods, we'll pay him a visit."
"To the Big Deal!"
Leo raised his glass again, and the team toasted.
Then more stories, more laughs—everyone slowly warming to one another.
After lunch, Jackie and Sasha took their leave.
Leo saw them off, returned to the apartment… and found V tidying up the table.
She looked, once again, like the queen of the house.
He paused to admire the view until she raised a silent, clenched fist.
"What're you gawking at? Help me clean up!"
Leo shrugged, walked over, and dutifully started scrubbing.
When everything was finally in order, they closed the windows, drew the curtains, and began their second round of bullet-dodging drills.
At some point in the blur of shots and sweat, Leo had another realization:
Forget brotherhood. This—firing hundreds of rounds at each other—was a bond forged in true life-and-death combat!
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