"Reaver, come in!" Starr's voice rang out over the comms, her heart pounding in her chest as the AV ascended into the night sky. The sprawling glow of Night City stretched beneath them, but all Starr could think about was Reaver still in Neon Tower—alone, fighting off Arasaka's elite forces.
The comms buzzed with static, but no response.
"Reaver!" Starr tried again, her voice thick with desperation. The cold wind whipped through the open hatch of the AV, the engines roaring beneath her feet. She couldn't leave him behind, not after everything. Not after—
"Layne," Reaver's voice finally came through, broken and strained but alive. "Still here. A little… busy, though."
Relief washed over Starr, though the tension didn't leave her body. "Where are you? We're heading for the extraction point."
More static crackled before Reaver responded. "Still in the tower. Made it to the lower levels, but I've got Arasaka's finest breathing down my neck. It's getting real ugly, Starr."
"Hold on," Starr said, motioning to Vega and Nix, who were prepping Juno for the medbay on the AV. "We're coming to get you."
"Don't," Reaver replied, his voice ragged but resolute. "I'm not making it out clean. Too many of them. Get Juno out. Finish the job."
"That's not an option," Starr snapped, her grip tightening on the edge of the hatch. She wasn't going to abandon him, not after everything they'd been through. Reaver had fought too hard, bled too much alongside her, for her to just let him go.
Reaver's laugh came through the comms, faint but familiar. "Always stubborn, Layne. But this time… you've got to let me do this. You're almost out. Don't turn back now."
The silence in the AV was deafening. Vega and Nix both glanced at her, their expressions grim. Juno lay still, unconscious but alive, her frail body strapped to the medbed. The mission was complete—Juno was theirs, and Arasaka had lost. But none of that mattered if Reaver didn't make it out alive.
"Starr," Byte chimed in over the comms, her voice soft but urgent. "I'm tracking Reaver's position. He's surrounded. If you turn back now, you'll be walking into a trap. You'll lose everything."
Starr's chest tightened, her mind racing. She could feel the weight of the decision pressing down on her—stay on course and escape, or go back and try to save Reaver, risking everything they had fought for.
"You need to go," Reaver said, his voice weaker now. "Get out of here, Layne. It's been a hell of a ride. Don't let it end for nothing."
Starr felt her pulse quicken, her fingers trembling as she held the comm. She hated this. Hated the feeling of helplessness, hated the idea of leaving him behind. But deep down, she knew Reaver was right. Turning back now would jeopardize the entire mission. They had to get Juno out. They had to survive.
"Reaver…" Starr's voice faltered, but she forced herself to continue. "You'd better make it out of there."
Reaver chuckled softly, though the pain in his voice was evident. "I'll try. But if not… you owe me a drink on the other side."
Starr's eyes burned, though she blinked back the emotion threatening to spill over. She swallowed hard, taking a deep breath as she looked out over the city below. The lights of Neon Tower still loomed in the distance, but the AV was moving fast, taking them farther and farther from the danger.
"Goodbye, Reaver," Starr whispered, her voice barely audible over the wind.
The comms crackled once more, then went silent.
Scene: The Return to the City
The AV flew low over Night City, the once-bright neon lights now a blur of colors smeared by the heavy rain that had begun to fall. The chaos of the Juno extraction still lingered in the air, the tension between the team palpable as they processed what had just happened. Starr leaned back in her seat, her eyes staring blankly at the cityscape below, her mind lost in a storm of emotions.
Reaver was still out there, fighting for his life, while they were on their way to safety. It felt wrong. Every instinct in Starr's body screamed at her to turn around, to go back and pull him out. But she couldn't. Not now.
"You did the right thing," Vega said quietly, as though reading her mind. "Reaver knew what he was doing."
Starr didn't respond. She couldn't. Her mind was too full of everything that had just happened—the mission, the violence, the feeling of leaving Reaver behind. He had always been a wildcard, always dancing on the edge of death, but this time felt different. This time, it felt final.
Byte's voice cut through the silence. "I've set up a safehouse for us in the Badlands. We can lay low there until the heat dies down. Militech won't track us there."
"Good," Starr muttered, though the weight in her chest didn't lift.
Nix was busy checking Juno's vitals, his face tight with concentration. "She's stable for now, but we'll need to get her to a proper ripperdoc soon. Arasaka did a number on her. They didn't want her to leave that tower alive."
Starr glanced over at Juno's still form, the weight of the mission pressing down on her. Juno was the key to everything—the reason Militech and Arasaka had gone to war over her. And now, Starr had her. But it didn't feel like a victory. Not without Reaver.
"Starr," Byte said gently. "We need to focus. Militech and Arasaka are going to be scrambling after what we did. We need to keep moving. We need a plan."
Starr nodded slowly, pulling herself out of the haze of emotions. Byte was right. They couldn't stop now. They had won the battle, but the war was far from over. Arasaka would come for them, and Militech wasn't going to give up on Juno without a fight.
"What's our next move?" Vega asked, his eyes sharp as he looked to Starr for direction.
Starr took a deep breath, her mind settling into the familiar rhythm of survival. The grief and uncertainty could wait. Right now, they had to stay ahead of the storm.
"We lay low at the safehouse," Starr said, her voice firm but weary. "Get Juno stabilized. Then we figure out what the hell Arasaka was doing with her."
Nix nodded, his fingers tapping against the screen of his cyberdeck. "I can dig through her neural data once she's conscious. If she has what we think she has, we'll be able to bargain with Militech. Maybe even put Arasaka on the defensive."
Starr nodded, though her thoughts were still distant, still lingering on Reaver's last words. "Fine. But we don't make any moves until we know exactly what we're dealing with. No more surprises."
The team fell silent again, the hum of the AV's engines the only sound as they continued their journey into the Badlands. Outside, the rain continued to fall, the dark sky above them a storm of swirling clouds and lightning that mirrored the turmoil in Starr's heart.
She had made the choice. She had left Reaver behind. But whether she had done the right thing… only time would tell.