The man was definitely acting suspiciously, V thought.

Oh, sure, he was doing something that was a bit under the table, and maybe he’d get in trouble if his superior caught him in the process, but ultimately it would be good money. Purchasing a product produced by the hospital, not anything different than a hundred other customers that came in and out on a daily basis. The fact that he was making this deal through the back loading docks notwithstanding.

Really, the Aldecados rather needed this implant, needed it right about now and as quick as possible- which is why he’d taken his Caliburn on this particular jaunt. Nothing said speed like accelerating past a hundred like most cars hit sixty. Still, though, despite the haste with which he wanted to complete the task, the behaviour of the doctor he was speaking to still stuck in his craw.

He took it all in in an instant, the twitchy fingers, the wandering eyes, the nervous shifting… V immediately resolved to check over the liver once it was in his hands. Regardless of his rep, regardless of the fact that he’d feel insulted as a professional, the Aldecados would be hurt greatly by a piece of defective or purposefully malicious product. He’d been through too much with them to let that happen.

“... It’s there?”

The doctor’s gaze flicked back to him, then away, to the entrance of the loading docks.

“Y-yeah. All there, all good.”

“Now, you understand that-”

“Yes! I-I know, I’ll get my money later, j-just…” 

he gestured wordlessly to the case in the car besides him. V sighed a deep, long-suffering sigh, and wondered how many people he’d have to shoot tonight before he could settle into his Caliburn’s comfortable synth-leather seats and deliver the much-needed organ. He opened the case, and nodded at the implant inside, tracing over its features, implants easily reading the barcode stamped on the side.

“Mark three. This must be worth a decent amount.”

The doctor’s hands twitched. “Y-yeah, just take it, please?”

That was almost pleading. Lazily, V looked at the doctor, then cocked his head slightly and nodded, grabbing that case’s handle. The doctor looked instantly relieved, edging away, then spinning and full-on sprinting as the sound of squealing tires echoed through the night. V, without turning around, already knowing what he’d see, just sighed again. When would these people learn to stop double-crossing him? How many of every single gang in this city would he have to put down hard until they stopped getting up and coming back for more?

“This is the NCPD! Hands on your head!”

V blinked, and actually turned, rather surprised and- yes, those were indeed NCPD cars, with officers climbing out of them, a variety of flak armour scattered amongst their ranks and armed with everything from pistols to assault rifles. He frowned: obviously, somebody had gotten their wires crossed if they were interfering with a deal HE was making. Ah, well, he could just talk his way past them, he guessed.

As he sauntered over, entirely nonchalant and rather relaxed, they only seemed to grow more unsettled. They repeated their demand that he put his hands on his head, but he didn’t even respond to it, just making sure to carefully move the medical case so it was behind his leg. Wouldn’t do for it to get damaged in a firefight, after all- he doubted that even he could find this very specific model with its very specific build anytime fast, and given the urgency with which they needed it, it wouldn’t do to have it damaged.

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He cast his gaze, calm and unhurried, over every one of them in turn, which seemed to make the barrels of their guns shake slightly for a reason that he couldn’t quite guess. In the middle of this standoff, however, his eyes alighted on one of them, and he actually smiled.

“Alec! Alec Baker, right?” The cop twitched visibly, clearly surprised to be addressed. “Been a while! A week, right? You and your partner were pinned down by those Tiger Claws, and I showed up just in time.”

He blinked, once, twice, and then V had to restrain a chuckle as the blood drained right out of his face.

“Oh fuck. V?”

“Guilty as charged.” He said, easily, amusement running under his words.

Alec, for his part, did the smart thing and lowered his weapon slightly, though the others were glancing at him in confusion and… apprehension. That put a little sour note in V’s amusement: had these clowns really not heard of him? Jesus, he guessed he was paying his rep guy too much. It was a good thing said rep guy didn’t exist, or V would have to dock his pay after this. Seriously, hypothetical rep guy, tut tut.

“Now… I’m a forgiving guy. And this is clearly a misunderstanding of some sort. AND, to top it all off, I have a friend who needs this implant rather badly and couldn’t pick it up himself.” He inclined his head to Alec, who was now mildly panicking. “I’m sure you understand.” Alec’s throat twitched in an obvious swallow. “So, I’m going to offer something that I don’t offer much of. You, fine specimens of law enforcement that you are, are most definitely rather desperately needed somewhere else, and thus you get in your vehicles and respond to the calls of those in need. I, on the other hand, have a short and amicable conversation with the good doctor over there-” he waved his other hand lazily in the direction of where said doctor was hiding, “- and, after leaving him alive and… mostly unharmed, I get in my own vehicle, make a delivery, and a family gets to not have a funeral. Does that sound like a good exchange to everybody?”

Some of the cops were nodding along now, fight or flight running across their faces, tinged with a desperate sort of recognition. However, most of the officers appeared to have neither recognized who he was or were willing to even consider his offer.

“Last chance,” one growled at him, racking his shotgun.

V sighed a third time. He had a tiny headache now, and he most definitely knew that Johnny was laughing at him.

Officer Alec Baker pointed his gun into the darkness.

It shook enough to rattle, even his prosthetic limb vibrating so much that he doubted he could’ve hit the broad side of a barn even if V hadn’t shut down his optics at some point in the fight. He couldn’t see, but he could hear the fact that the gunfire had stopped, and now there was just a lot of groaning and whimpers of pain around him.

So, when a hand gently grasped his gun and gave it a tug, he didn’t resist it. Just let the hand of the merc take the thing out of his grasp.

“Alec, Alec, Alec… what were you thinking?”

Alec pressed himself back against a crate, his eyes desperately searching the blackness. He winced, then, as quite suddenly, the Kiroshi emblem popped up and his eyes rebooted, revealing… nothing that he wouldn’t have expected.

V, unperturbed and still holding the handle of the case in his hand, tossed Alec’s pistol on a pile of weapons, each and every one possessing the shield of the NCPD somewhere on them. It clattered as it landed, and V turned back to him, frowning and shaking his head disapprovingly.

“Seriously. I’m pressed for time, you’re pressed for time, we both knew how this was going to play out- really, we could’ve just gone our separate ways, and it would have been fine. Another deal in Night City, and none of you would be wasting time in a hospital when you could be out there on the beat, fighting the good fight.” 

He said the last part somewhat sarcastically. God help him, Alec didn’t even have it in him to bristle at the implication.

“But no, we had to play punch-a-merc. Only, this time, the merc punches you.” V chuckled. “Very Russian of me, don’t you think?”

V sniffed, looking up at the holographic advertisement displays visible anywhere in the city. Alec, for his part, took the opportunity to glance around, swallowing in fear as he realized that every officer that had come was some level of down. Some were groaning, clutching limbs, some where trembling and patting at non-functional prosthetics, and the rest were completely insensate.

“So, here’s the deal. I let you sit here, and after I get on my merry way- because I’ve got better things to do than play with you- you can call help for your comrades.” V held up a hand, seemingly to placate him. “None dead, and no serious injuries, just a few broken bones and concussions here and there.”

Alec nodded desperately, bobbing his head up and down, and V smiled.

“Good! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a doctor to talk to.”

V walked off, humming a tune under his voice. Alec was just very, very glad he wasn’t that doctor.