Rocky Ridge.

"Okay, we have arrived." Panam spoke on the halo as the two finally arrived to rocky ridge.

"Aint a damn soul in this weak ass town." Y/n comments  as he parks his bike.

"Well it wont take the raffens too long to get here,  we'll have to improvise." Panam says looking around the town. " we should scout first, to look for anything that might be useful."

"Aight." Y/n nodded as he headed off in his own direction scanning around.

Panam eyed y/n out of the corner of his eye, he had been taking this very casually , even know he had his hands tucked in his pockets as he scanned the area, she wonder what it was like when he was really in action, well thoughts for later.

For the next few minutes y/n continued to scan for anything useful, before deciding to end the scouting and wall back to panam.

Panam was stashing ammo from a gun that was lying around an abandoned store. "Well, found anything?" Panam said as she pocket some bullets.

Y/n shook his head. " this place is more dead than the xbox console, ain't shit here."

Panam held in a chuckle at the jab, she was a fellow gamer. " well, we'll make it work, the raffens will roll in after dusk, we will have a surprise ready for them, we just need to get some power flowing." Panam explained.

Y/n clapped his hands as he smirked through his mask. "Now you talking my language."

Panam smirked at the energy. " lets check the substation." Panam motioned for him to follow.

Y/n did and soon they made it to the substation, y/n saw her crouch and eye the dead generator, and y/n couldn't help but stare.

"Damn that shit fat.." y/n thought as he walked  up the stares and found some breakers, he then scanned them and of course they were dead.

"Got some breakers with no juice over here!." Y/n called out eying  the machinary.

"Not to worry, its an easy fix!" Panam responded back.

Y/n hopped over the ledge , his knees would have buckled if not for his light chrome enhancements. "Whats your plan anyway?." Y/n asked as he walked over and took another glance at panams ass before focusing on her.

Panam stood up and looked to him. "Well, the intersection is powered from the transformer substation ?" Panam asked  and y/n nodded. " the switch gear on the roof,we'll flip the switch there and everything will light up like Christmas , understood?"

"A good ole diversion to zero the bastard." Y/n said with a nod.

Panam smil nodded "Exactly,  first we don't know how many are coming, my thinking is it'll be a sizable crew, second we have to create an opening to get to my car, if they're bunched together we won't stand a chance."

Y/n chuckled. " wont stand a chance? bunched together is my kind of fight."  Y/n said eagerly .

"Is this bravery or stupidity?" Panam asked unimpressed.

"Whichever you prefer, raffen aint got shit on me, if you need em all dead you just gotta ask." Y/n said confidently.

Panam knows  y/n was more than just words by now, especially since mitch and scorpion knew who he was, but something about sending him off to fight on his own just rubbed her the wrong way, they were working together and she could handle her own. "No, We stick to the plan, so  don't do anything stupid, got it?" Panam said firmly.

Y/n shrugs. "Alright but im telling you, your car is as good as yours"

Panam wasnt one to endorse diving in head first into danger alone, if circumstances were different she would lean on the clan but she appreciated how confident and willing he was, she grew a small smile. "Well keep that energy, we have to start the control terminal below, the gear on the roof is a hunk of junk without it, we'll give it a boost with the car battery, wait for me by the substation while I bring the car around."Panam said while she jogged to the car.

"You got it." Y/n responded as head over to the station.

For the next 10 minutes, y/n and Panam began to fix the power situation, hooking up power cables to the car in order to power up the generator which lead to car dying but serving its purpose, , y/n then manually powered the building through the towns terminal system.

"Switch gears got power." Y/n said as he  finished active the power through the local network.

Music to panams ear."Prime, we'll have some fun at the intersection, let's get into position". She said through the halo.

Y/n then headed over to the breaks on the roof, and leaned against the railing. " and now the worst part of any gig , the waiting game." Y/n said shaking his head.

"Keep the whining to a minimum, as s soon as you see them you give us power." Panam responded on the halo.

"Got it, better have my back." Y/n said he eyed the road, waiting for raffen to show.

5 minutes passed, then 5 turned into 10, then 20....

"Okay well these guys clearly aren't coming now," y/n said as he fished for his phone and sat down.

"What are you doing?" Panam asked in confusion.

"What's it  look like, I'm playing a game." Y/n said as he played a game of angry birds on his phone.

"I need you focused, there no telling when they will show up." Panam shot back in annoyed.

"It's been 20 minutes , meaning this  not gonna be a quick wait, and I sure as hell ain't about to be board being a lookout." Y/n responded  as he shot a red bird that produced little results. " stupid bird." Y/n muttered as he continued playing.

"Ugh..." Panam groaned shaking her head.

About an hour  later y/n went through some other games and eventually got bored again, and  drew his collapsible short sword, twirling it in his hands a bit.

"What's the deal with the mask?" Panam asked suddenly.

"Now who's not focused."  Y/n joked as he kept playing with his sword.

"Shut up...so?" Panam asked genuinely curious to know.

"Heh..well it's like my trademark, you know it's the Raven when you see it." Y/n shrugged as he caught his blade.

"So you just decided, say , I'm going to put on a disposable mask even though I'm clearly not sick, for the sake of your brand?." Panam jabbed in amusement.

"Hey they were cheap, and  it wasn't a branding choice , the mask just came along after..." y/n trailed off as he was getting into more personal territory.

"After what?" Panam asked, wondering why he paused.

Y/n flipped his blade once more"Don't worry about it, point is, I like em, and I wish I was getting payed to wear it." Y/n joked playfully.

Panam noticed the deflection, Panam could see now the mask was tied to something to the past and while a small part of her felt a bit irritated at how guarded he is, the rest of her truly understood that he didn't owe her anything,   It would be easy to say they were just acquaintances  that were just handling business but unfortunately, he was on her good side now, which meant  she didn't want this to be just business, she could use a friend.

"Yell well nomads don't get paid to wear their colors so why  would they drop eddies for a mask I can spray pain in my garage." Panam joked.

"Hah! Aye That's some cold shit." Y/n  said with chuckled as he put away his blade.

"I'm just saying anyone can throw on a mask." Panam chucked.

"But anyone ain't me." Y/n said smirking under his mask.

"Oho my sincerest apologies oh great Raven, il remember that the next time  one of your kind takes a shit on my car." Panam jabbed in amusement.

"Pfft, what car? you got you got your shit stolen." Y/n jabbed back mirthfully.

"Oh you bitch!" Panam exclaimed with a laugh, which y/n matched.

" so how long have you used a rifle?"  Y/n asked curiously.

Panam from where she was seated eyed her rifle. " for as long as I can remember, started with a BB gun shooting cans." Panam said with a smile.

"Heh, that takes me back." Y/n chuckles as it was a pastime for nomads and a good way to get them into self defense early. "Nearly shot out my eye one time." Y/n joked.

" Hehe, well I hope it won't be an issue." Panam joked. " but yeah, just got really good at it, then Cassidy's teachings really took me to the next level."

"So I'm talking to a master sniper?" Y/n asked with a smile.

"Maybe not master, definitely better than you."  Panam said confidently.

"Aight then let's prove that."  Y/n said standing up and finding an empty can on the roof.

"What are you looking for?" Panam asked curiously.

"A moving target for you to hit." Y/n said picking up the can and walking over to the railing. " think fast!" Y/n said hurling the can in the air.

To his suprise it only took  Panam a couple seconds to aim and fire.

BANG! (CLANK!)

Y/n sees the can get spiked through the air to god knows where.

"Like I said." Panam said with a pleased smirk.

Y/n nodded with a smirk and began clapping . " Panam Palmer I was unfamiliar with your game." Y/n says impressed.

" glad I could clear any doubt." Panam sounded with a proud smirk. " what about you, you some kind of swordsman?" Panam asked curiously as she had seen the blades strapped to his person.

"Well im a flexible  guy, I'm good with any weapon."  Y/n said  then drew his sword a bit. " but ammunition runs out, so I really like closing the distance." Y/n said with a smirk. " especially when you got muthafuckas  with mantis blades running around." He said as he placed it back.

" that actually leads me to my next question, why the lack of cyberware?" Panam asked curiously.

"What you mean?" Y/n asked with a raised eyebrow.

" Exactly what it means, I know you used to be a nomad but you've been living in night city for a while now, figured you would have a good amount like Rebecca." Panam said as seeing someone in nightcity with cyberware was something preety common in their line of work, she never never saw a reason for it even after her situation with the clan as most of the work she did  didn't call for it, the minor implants she had were enough, but y/n was in a different situation, he lived deep in there.

"Well ain't nobody trying to lose their shit and get cyber psychosis, so I've kept my chrome to a minimum, unless there's a real reason to actually get something." Y/n explained.

"Did you get something after that run-in with Adam smasher?" Panam asked curiously.

"Nope just scars thankfully, I got a bit for a different injury tho." Y/n said glancing a bit at his right arm. " but aside from all that, something about smooth skin is better, so do me a favor and try not to get hurt yeah?" Y/n flirted playfully.

"Heh, smooth." Panam rolled her eyes but grew a small smirk. " and I don't plan on it." Panam said in a flirty tone of her own, she surprised herself with the response but a little harmless flirting never hurt anyone.

"In other news , these bitches still ain't here." Y/n groaned in annoyance eying the road, the sun had set but these raffen guys were still taking their sweet time.

"Hm..." Panam sounded in thought her eyes widened a bit as she saw a glint in the distance, could it be? " wait a sec.." Panam said as she aimed down the road through the scope of her rifle, she adjusted the zoom and lo and behold, a bunch of vehicles were closing in. " their on their way, they'll be here in the next few minutes." Panam said in a serious tone, getting ready for some action.

"Now we're fucking talking!" Y/n yelled eagerly clapping his hands as he got into position.

"Gonna make these fuckers pay..." Panam said eager to get some payback.

" and we're gonna have fun doing it." Y/n said with a smirk, as he drew his collapsible sword and held it in a reverse grip as the raffen were now visible to him, he was eager to see some action.

——

Boom!

Was originally playing to cover the battle but I saw an opportunity for some healthy conversation, which in game would be glossed over because game gotta game.

Let me know your thoughts!