Oh. My. God. I spent so long trying to upload this thing. I tried like, 3 or 4 different word processing programs before one would cooperate with me. And will it even be worth it? I don't know.

This is my first fanfiction (on this account anyway) and one of the very few Viktor/Mordecai fics on the site. I hope it is appreciated by someone. Sorry the first chapter is short and fast...

-Daft


There were many things that Mordecai Heller hated. Injuries on the job were fairly high on that list. He sat in the back seat of his establishment's 'company truck', pensive, and staring through the windshield, his countenance utterly perturbed. His eyes remained focused on a large figure standing on the river bank. Usually, when the Marigold gang intercepted a pick-up, it was relatively quick and easy. Tonight was different, and Mordecai was anxious. Tonight, the suppliers were late, and his former associates were not.

The truck was hidden in a thick mass of trees near the bank, but would have been obvious to anyone who passed had it not been so dark out. Serafine sat in the driver's seat, calculating. Nico occupied the passenger's seat tapping his foot and fiddling with something sticking out of his mouth. Serafine turned and spoke in a soft voice that Mordecai could barely understand. Not that he could ever understand them, anyway. "We kin wait til dey go en din go'en ay way." She suggested.

"Nah, we kin han' dem any day." Nico said, taking the object from his mouth.

"Asa say no fightin' wid'em."

"Ya, en we say we can' help it none, eh? Asa nev' know no differn'. Tree o' dem, tree o' us. We do 'um quick."

"Nah, Nico. Le's jes go bag af' dey leave."

"Look, de shipme' come! Dey here a'yeady, allons." Nico made to open his door but Serafine put a hand on his shoulder and looked ahead at the three men as they approached the boat. Mordecai was steadily growing more nervous as he realized this was actually happening. If he were honest, he much prefered Serafine's plan, as much as he detested her. "We wai' til dey done here. Den we go on bag tell Asa we done could'n get it."

Serafine squinted and looked harder and the group of men at the river bank. A man on the ship was looking straight at the vehicle. He pointed to it and the others turned. Nico saw this as well. One man drew a gun and started toward the truck. "Guess we doin' dis my way, cher." Nico opened his door and drew his gun, firing a couple shots not completely intended for a specific target. Serafine got out and did the same.

Mordecai took a deep breath and followed. He ran past the group of five, avoiding attention, and climbed onto the boat where he finally drew a pistol from his side. He heard shots ring out and a machine gun began to fire. Worry filled him for a moment but he pushed it down quickly. He hid around a corner and when a man came to the door Mordecai swung around and knocked him out. After all, this was also the supplier for Marigold, so killing them would be just a bit counterintuitive, Mordecai decided. He grabbed a crate full of whiskey and started out the other door. He stopped briefly when he saw an old man in a long jacket and sailors hat, who sat and simply waved him on, obviously having seen it all. Mordecai bowed his head in confirmation and slipped out the door. His eyes went to the largest member of the fighting party, who was now sheltered behind the other establishment's vehicle. Mordecai sighed in relief, though he of course would never admit such a thing, even to himself.

He now saw the one with the machine gun, a young man, laughing as he shot to hell everything in his path. Nico and Serafine continued firing shots from the cover of trees. The man behind the truck shouted at his associates. "You two, go! Naow!" Mordecai ducked with the crate as the two younger Lackadaisy employees ran toward the boat, the older man still behind their vehicle. The one with the machine gun backed up toward the boat, still shooting as the other did the same with his less-impressive weapon.

When they reached the other entrance of the boat, Mordecai slipped off of it and headed toward the Marigold truck. Another shot sounded and Mordecai stumbled, dropping the crate of whiskey. He looked up ahead of him where Nico stood looking at him with a shocked expression. "Mo chagren" He said and turned away, running to their vehicle. Shots from the Lackadaisy truck continued, aimed at the siblings. Mordecai looked down at his bloody coat, then back at the retreating pair. They meant to leave him. The truck started noisily and backed away as machine gun blasts started again from the departing boat. Once out of range of one another, all shooting ceased. Mordecai put a hand over his wound and winced as the pain finally reached his brain. He toppled over completely, groaning. He could hear the boat getting further away, carrying the two young Lackadaisies.

There remained only two on the river bank. Sand and rock shifted under the other's feet as he came closer and bent to retrieve Mordecai from the ground with a sound of strain. Mordecai was lifted and taken to the Lackadaisy truck and set inside. He opened one eye and watched the other man go to retrieve the box of alcohol. It's not that he wasn't grateful, it was just that he would have rather not have had to face this man.

Mordecai felt completely humiliated. Nico had shot him. Shot him. By accident! How incredibly, unbelievably, intolerably, simple minded and senseless does one have to be to shoot their own partner? Mordecai thought, far beyond irritated. Granted, it was only a wound in his side, and would not be fatal, but it still hurt! And on top of that, he had left him there! Mordecai felt for his gun but found that he must have dropped it with the crate. He sighed, defeated, and his eye began to twitch as the larger man made his way back to the truck, alcohol and pistol in hand. The man put the crate in the back of the truck and returned to the driver's side, with one bottle of Old Log Cabin whiskey in one hand, and Mordecai's abandoned gun in the other.

Mordecai looked at him reluctantly as he put the pistol under the driver's seat and looked back to Mordecai. "Hello... Viktor." He said with much strain, still clutching his side. Viktor looked at him, unamused and stoic, and did not reply, his singular left eye studying Mordecai for a moment. He set the bottle on the seat of the truck and hauled himself up in it, trying not to place the burden too heavily on his knees.

Once inside, Viktor motioned for Mordecai to take his hand away from the wound. Reluctantly, he did so, cringing, and began to unbutton his clothing. Three layers were removed before Mordecai exposed the hole in his side. It was not as serious as the thought it was. In fact, the bullet had not penetrated any organs, rather, it had gone straight through the muscle and fat- what little of that there was- of his left side, and, had it gone just two inches more to his left, would have missed him completely. He sat up in a start when he felt Viktor's hand on his skin. "Hold still." he said, Slovak accent thick in his words, and Mordecai braced himself.

The Old Log Cabin burned immensely as it was poured straight through the wound. Mordecai grit his teeth and groaned painfully as the alcohol went to work on his mangled flesh. Viktor smiled to himself, with some amount of ironic contempt, glad he could cause Mordecai just a little pain, as payback for what the younger had done to him just a couple years prior. His left knee a constant reminder of Mordecai's way of reasoning.

It was not a very large space, in the front of that old worn-out truck, but it was enough for Viktor to deal with, though he was in close proximity to his partner-turned- enemy, which made it somewhat uncomfortable to try and reach under the seat for what he was searching for. His face was nearly in the younger man's lap when he found a rag under the seat. He snached it up quickly and returned to a more comfortable position, and proceeded to press the scrap of cloth against Mordecai's injured side. Mordecai recoiled slightly at the pressure, still recovering from the burn of the alcohol, and hissed out a breath. Viktor looked up into his ex-partner's green eyes, which were somewhat squinted in discomfort.

He looked older now than he had before. Viktor guessed that he was only about 29 or 30, but his eyes had shadows underneath that added years to his appearance. "Hold there." Mordecai moved his hand on top of the elder man's to take over applying pressure. Viktor held his gaze just a little longer before turning in the driver's seat, capping the whiskey, and starting the engine. Mordecai looked away, his pride damaged, and took to staring out the window as Viktor drove them away. He didn't care where they were going at that point. He was just relieved that the tension was broken. Was there tension? Of course. There always had been.


Please tell me what you think! R&R gets more chapters~!