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Vi sits behind Vander’s statue, the first time she saw it she thought it had been a sick joke on Silco's part, she still feels it is. But he had said something about boosting up morale and earning people’s trust. Blaming Vander's death on the other Sheriff and then painting him as the hero. Vi wanted to puke at that.
Our presence with Silco had helped sell that story, the only thing we need to do is leave, go with Little Man and—
Shut up.
She knows, damn it, they only need to walk away and stop looking like they endorse Silco's actions. But what good would that make? Powder isn't going anywhere, if anything Vi would be leaving her behind for good if she left. People would only see Vander's prodigy fleeing and living her vulnerable little sister behind.
We have no sister, she is dead, fell down a well.
Shut up.
Vi scrapes the ground with her boot, she hears a scuffle a little bit down the street and sees four kids coming out of the alley. They freeze the moment they see her, but then, when she only blinks at them they turn to each other and laugh. They are a mess, with bruised skin, split lips, and bloody knuckles.
"Did you see me!? I was a flurry of blows."
"Shut up, you are far from being the new hound of the underground."
Vi winces at the name, looking down at her fists but keeping close attention on the kids.
"We still kicked ass, though, we got back our money and even got some food from those assholes!"
A small smile appears on Vi's face, it's rare these days, even with Powder trying to cheer her up with promises of new gauntlets or trips to the market with only the both of them.
She remembers saying something similar to Vander.
It feels like a lifetime ago.
For screen readers: Separator
"Vi I told you to wipe the tables, not to get blood all over them." Vander is behind the bar, putting bottles away and wiping the surface so they don't have to do much for opening later that day.
"It's not my fault that it won't stop coming out!" Vi pushes the back of her hand against her nose, leaning her head back in a useless attempt to stop the bleeding. Vander only sighs, taking a box from under the bar and walking to the table Vi was supposed to be cleaning.
"It wouldn't be coming out in the first place if you hadn't tried to fight a kid almost twice your size. How old was he? I'm not sure he could count as a kid anymore."
"Well, I still kicked ass and had him on the floor after three punches. Like you taught me!" Vander grabs Vi's chin, moving her face back when she gets too excited and forgets to keep it like that.
"I remember also teaching you not to block with your face. Your guard needs work kiddo." Vander finishes patching her nose, letting go once the blood stops.
"Hey! Show me again, that move you did when we trained last, I'll get it right this time."
"Fine, but you have to promise not to jump into a fight at the first opportunity you have. Be smart, choose your fights, don't let others choose them for you."
For screen readers: Separator
We still block with our faces and are lousy at choosing our fights.
Guess we are bad students.
Nah, we just hate doing what we are told.
"Hey, we are moving, stop pushing us around. We didn’t do nothing."
Looking up from her place against Vander's leg, Vi finds two enforcers roughing up the kids that had just come into a quiet place to lick their wounds and enjoy the spoils of their fight.
We should keep out of it.
Why?
Silco said next time he won't be able to stop them from dumping out dump ass in Stillwater.
Since when do we do what we are told?
Vi stands, rolling her shoulders and loosening her muscles, they are still warm from the training session with Sevika, and her shoulder smarts when she pulls a bit too much. But she will get to rest for a long time after this. Maybe enough time that Silco will leave her alone and she can disappear into the cracks.
If we get out at all.
That will be future Vi's problem.
"Hey, assholes! Why don't you pick on someone your size?"
Vi doesn't have the gauntlets with her, damn, her bandages could use a bit of tightening right now, she didn't even clean them up or put her hands on ice. She just left the Last Drop as if the devil himself had been on her ass until she ended up here and that had been more than a few hours ago.
"Stay out of it, trench scum, this is none of your business."
"You made it my business the moment you chose to harass them in front of me. Get lost."
"Or what, sump rat?"
Vi's fists fly so fast that by the time both Enforcers catch up one of them is already on the floor and the other is fighting for his life. Vi proceeds to release blow after blow until he lets go of his rifle. The weapon clattering uselessly on the ground, centimeters away from where the other one had fallen.
The kids are long gone now, and Vi could swear the jackass enforcer was crying, begging her to stop. But she couldn't. The more blood she sees spilled on the ground, mixed with dirt and sweat, the more hits she wants to keep throwing at them.
Make them bleed, make them pay, show them our pain, our fear, show them what happens when they mess with the hound of the underground.
Is this what they are now? Vander's legacy amounts to a broken teenager out for blood? Is that what the statue really means to Vi?
She scoffs at the thought, the statue is a sick joke, and she is tired of being part of that charade.
She is tired of burying that hatred she feels, she is tired of forcing smiles out of a broken heart that has nothing left to give, she is tired of the constant pain she feels in her chest—
Someone is shouting, shots are fired, but Vi doesn't care, she feels — she feels like shit, but the pain in her chest is out of her mind. Pushed back by the pain of the skin in her knuckles splitting with each punch, the screams from the asshole enforcers, the feeling that she is finally pushing back, that she is giving as good as she is taking, and damn if she is not taking some heavy shots. Her shoulder might now be dislocated and one of the bastards managed to grace her with one of the rifles before running out of ammo.
"Someone stop her! Help!"
"Please!"
No one comes to their aid, no one listens to their please, and when morning comes and Vi is still there, laying on the ground labored breathing and covered in blood —both hers and theirs— no one budges when asked what happened. That alongside Silco's pressure on Marcus' keeps her sentence short, or at least that's what Sevika says before she is taken to Stillwater. Silco doesn't have it in him to face her it seems because only Sevika is there, neither does Powder and Vi is hurt more by the realization she prefers it that way. Maybe this will finally mean she gets some freedom, some rest from those big blue eyes that cling to her as if Vi is the most precious thing in the world.
If we are that precious then why do we always come second? Why does she seem to always do what hurts us the most?
Beats me.
Vi isn't so sure if the reason she messed up those enforcers so much was for the kids they harassed, the release she hoped being put away would bring, or simply because she yearned for the feeling of her knuckles hitting something that was supposed to hit back.
We have time to figure it out, plenty of bodies to hit on Stillwater.
And no big blue eyes to look at us and make it hurt every time we look back.