Chapter Text
Judy, despite herself, checked her phone for any new messages for what had to be the 100th time that day. She couldn’t help it, she couldn’t stop from hoping against hope that V would reach out to her, return her many calls or messages that she had left over the last week. That was how long it had been since their night together, and she hadn’t heard anything from the merc since she had rushed out of that house. Judy hated herself for how she couldn’t stop waiting for V to contact her, it made her feel pathetic. But her heart just….. wouldn’t let the merc go. They hadn’t even known each other that long but so much about V had lured Judy in, and she was helpless to resist the pull of her.
Judy huffed and forced herself to focus on the BD she was working on, outright turning her phone off. Turning back to her computers, she finished her workday in a haze, one that had been hanging over her since that day at the lake. As she was leaving the building, the bodyguard Mox stopped her, “hey Jude, you okay?” she questioned with a look of concern. That was a look that Judy had become accustomed to since Evelyn’s passing. She had also become accustomed to faking it, giving people a mask that everything was fine, and she wasn’t falling apart on the inside. The one person she pulled back the curtain for was ghosting her like a coward.
Said mask slipped in place with a phony smile, but Judy had an inkling that Mox really was not buying it. But she let Judy go on with her business. She reached her van, climbed in and allowed her head to thump back against the headrest. She closed her eyes tightly as she fought against the urge to check her phone, but she knew that it was a futile battle. She whipped her phone out of her pocket, holding a small shimmer of hope despite knowing that nothing had changed.
The urge to fling the phone out the window nearly overcame her upon seeing that it was still radio silence from V. Instead, she started up her van began the drive home. For most of it, it was a run of the mill, a drive that she could have done in her sleep. When she was nearly home, she came to a red light and stopped. That was when everything went to hell. Someone rear ended her, and it wasn’t a small bump but one to do damage to her van. And before she could get her bearings, someone had yanked her door open and roughly pulled her out from the vehicle. Even more disoriented and unable to even think to defend herself, she was harshly thrown to the ground. Head already throbbing and ringing from the crash, she hit the ground hard and clutched her head.
Her sight was blurry as she looked up to see a gun pointed to her by a man adorned in Tyger Claws gear. Her heart lurched in her throat as fear paralyzed her. She was in no condition to defend herself, nor did she have the wherewithal to take on an armed opponent while being unarmed herself. The man came to stand over her, a sneer on his face, “we got you now, b-” He didn’t get to finish his sentence; a katana made its home in his torso. He was dead before he even hit the ground. Consciousness slipping away, the last thing Judy saw was a pair of dark brown eyes filled with worry.
She came to sometime later, a voice pulling her out of her “sleep”. When she opened her eyes, she saw an older man wearing sunglasses. She guessed he had to be a ripperdoc. She blinked once more, trying to force her eyes to get used to the light that permitted the room. Her eyes adjusted and she looked to the man fully, he gave her a small smile in return, “how ya feeling, Judy?”
Perturbed by the fact that he knew her name, she ignored his question for the moment in favor of trying to sit up. The man stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, “easy,” he said lowly. She heeded his advice and relaxed back into her seat. The mere movement of trying to get up made dizzy, sending the room spending.
It took Judy a moment to get her bearings before she focused back on the man once more, “where am I?” she asked, voice sounding like sandpaper, it felt like it too.
“You’re in Watson, your friend V brought you in,” the man explained, “I’m Vicktor Vector, her ripperdoc.”
Despite herself, despite the fact that she desperately wanted to be angry at V (she was) her heart lurched at the mention of her. It was also then when the memories of her attack came back to mind, she remembered seeing V kneeling over her, looking terrified. “Where is she?”
Viktor chuckled lightly at that, “waiting outside, I had to kick her out. She was hovering over my shoulder when I was working on you, kept asking if you were gonna be okay. I kept telling her that you were going to be fine, but she wouldn’t listen.” Judy processed that information and tried to ignore out how it warmed her insides that V was so worried about her. That asshole did not deserve her pining after her, damn it!
As though she could hear them talking about her, V chose that time to rush in, “is she okay Vik?” she asked. She came to a dead stop when she saw that Judy was awake. Judy’s eyes turned ice cold upon seeing the merc, her anger coming to the forefront and drowning out whatever fuzzy feelings she still had for V. They stared each other down for a moment, the tension so thick that it could be cut with a knife. Viktor looked between the two women and could see that they had some things to discuss and decided to make himself scarce from his own shop.
Once they were alone, V took a tentative step towards the other woman, “Judy-”
“Fuck you,” Judy barked, interrupting her. V visibly flinched and looked down at her shoes.
“I deserve that,” V said quietly. She then looked up to meet Judy’s eyes once more, but now there was a certain steel to her gaze. “I know that you are beyond pissed with me, but I need you to listen to me.”
Judy guffawed at that, crossed her arms over her chest, and looked away from the woman, “thanks for saving me but the last thing I want to ever do is talk to you, gonk.”
“Judy, please,” V begged as she came over and placed herself in the seat that Viktor had vacated. Judy reluctantly looked at her, seeing the desperation on her face.
“what could you possibly have to say that you didn’t for the past fucking week?” she asked harshly.
She saw V gulp, good, she thought. She wanted V to suffocate in guilt. “The Tyger Claws are after you, they were able to connect you to the Clouds incident,” V explained.
Judy was floored, her face blanching, “what?” she forced out.
V gave her a look of remorse, those big brown eyes so soft and emotive. Judy could feel herself melting at that look. “They put a hit on you, but don’t worry, I’m gonna take care of it,” V said with determination. Judy didn’t doubt her at all. “But” V continued, “you should come stay with me until I clear this up.”
That set the BD editor ablaze, “you must be out of your fucking mind, Valerie.” V's mouth fell open at the use of her full name but didn’t interrupt the tirade. “I will not be staying anywhere near you.”
V sighed as her shoulders sagged. She looked tired; Judy had an inkling that she had been working hard on sniffing out the Tyger Claws (on top of dealing with the relic). A sharp pang of guilt and sympathy ripped through her heart but Judy wasn’t going to let that deter her. “It’s not safe for you to be on your own, Judy. I bet they already ransacked your place,” V explained softly, eyes pleading.
Judy huffed seeing the logic in V's thinking. But there were still better alternatives than being stuck in a single room apartment with the merc, “fine, I won’t stay alone, I will crash with someone else.”
V blinked, looking skeptical, “like who?”
Judy racked her brain for an answer and said the first person that came to mind, “I’m sure Maiko wouldn’t mind letting me stay over". She didn’t expect that fire to light in V's eyes at the mention of Maiko, she also didn’t expect the near sneer that formed on the merc’s face.
“That is out of the question,” V rebutted fiercely.
Judy was taken aback. Who the hell did V think she was?! “I do not answer to you, V. We are not much to each other, as you have decided. Besides, Maiko has ties and connections that would go a long way in this situation.”
The merc looked stumped at that. She looked down at ground with a fierce frown on her face. Unbeknownst to Judy, despite that she had no right, V couldn’t help the outright jealousy boiling in her gut. Judy choosing Maiko over her cut through her in ways she hadn’t expected. She saw how Maiko looked at Judy and she thought about what that amount of time of them together could lead to. It was a rather stupid and irrational thought considering all things, but at that time, V couldn’t see that. There was also the notion of how much of a snake Maiko was, and V wouldn’t put it pass her to sell Judy out if she could gain from it. “V?” Judy questioned, bringing her back to earth.
V looked back up at her, gaze soft, “do you really trust her more than me?” she asked in a way made Judy's insides twist. The answer to that question was no, Judy didn’t trust anybody to get the job done over her, she was also well aware of Maiko’s two-sided tendencies. And it was with that, that Judy could feel herself giving in.
She sighed dejectedly, the will to argue leaving her, “V……”
The mercenary looked at her for a moment and smiled softly, and Judy knew that V knew, that she had won.