The Last Drop was literally the last place that Vi had wanted to go back to. She dreaded it ever since Vanders death, and her last visit left her with one less tooth and some internal bleeding. Everything inside of her told her to turn the other way and keep as far from this place as possible.
She did not do that.
The area around The Last Drop was filled with this electric buzz of anxious energy that mixed with the ever present swirl of people bustling and music. This place had once been a safe haven for her, and after that had been the sign of dominance for Silco. Now it was neither of these things, even with Sevika running shop now. Pushing her way through the crowded streets of Zaun, Vi had started to draw a fair bit of attention. She could hear the whispers feel the anxious glares against her skin.
"That's Vander's girl. I heard she beat Sevika."
"Oh yeah? I heard she killed Silco, what's she doing down here?"
The eyes shifted to and around her like Shimmer addicts, but there was something more in their eyes than addiction and curiosity. It was fear. Here she was after taking on the new boss of the Undercity, and she's walking back for round two.
When she looked at them most had the common decency to shrink under her glare, but not all of them. Some of them stared back at her with a new kind of emotion that Vi almost didn't recognize. She'd not been looked at like that in a long while. Not since the days of running small time gigs with Mylo and Claggor. And Powder.
Admiration.
Cait had told her about the whispers down in the deeper wards of Zaun. The whispers of Vander's girl come crawling back from the dead to dismantle everything Silco had built up. A spirit of vengeance hell bent on toppling his Empire in the name of the deceased Hound of the Underworld.
First it was Sevika, then the Shimmer plants with Jaye, then Sevika again, and finally Silco. One by one these events painted a picture of Vi becoming more myth than person. More than a fuck up sister out of her depths. More than a frightened girl in over her head whose emotional maturity stunted almost a decade ago.
But here she was, sauntering her way back home. Here again in the heart of Zaun, and miraculously Jinx is nowhere to be seen. In their eyes she's making right almost a decade of wrongs. Sure, the Firelights spread this kind of hope too, but Vi was a ghost that came back. A ghost chasing ghosts.
Vi walks through the doors of The Last Drop with significantly less resistance than what she encountered previously. No more Chemguards to drag her knuckles against, which Vi wasn't sure was a good sign or not. The interior had mostly been patched up since her last visit. The tables were back in place, and the bar had been restocked.
Someone's blood still stained the floor but she had no way of knowing if that was hers or anyone else's. Just like last time though, the residence all stopped to stare as she entered.
Maybe this was the time she took everything from Sevika, and finally made Vander proud? No, not yet. Maybe one day, but Vander wouldn't be proud of her now. When Powder was good and safe, and as far from this city as possible, then maybe she could say he was proud.
The air in the bar is all but snuffed out as she saunters over to the bar. Vi kicks out one of the stools, and sits down. Her heavy gauntlets force the patrons next to her to shift to give her space.
As she sits the screech of stools scooting away from her fill the tiny bar. The music had stopped at some point.
With a thud she drops one of the gauntlets to the ground causing the drinks on the counter to shake. Unarmored hand now free she points at the nearest bar goer.
"What are you drinking?"
A scrawny man points to himself, and glances at the patrons around him. The man couldn't have been older than Vi by more than a few years, and he has the handsomeness of youth and naivety. He would be cute to someone else maybe.
All their eyes turn towards him awaiting his answer.
"Me?"
"I'm pointing at you, so yeah."
"Uh…"
He raises the glass towards her, and sloshes it around for a moment.
"Whiskey?"
Vi rolls her eyes, already turning her attention towards the bartender. "Fine, I'll have one of those."
The bartender nervously starts to pour a drink and slides it over to Vi. She takes a sip and her nose scrunches up at the taste. She runs her tongue over her teeth pushing through the taste.
"Not much of a drinker?" The bartender nervously chuckles to himself. The man drinking whiskey has already fled from the bar, and leaves Vi alone with the bartender. Most of the patrons have already started to inch towards the door.
"Not this. So, where's Sevika?"
The patrons that were inching towards the door come to a dead stop. They turn to lock eyes with the bartender who looks at them, and back at Vi, and back at them. "Uhh…"
"Let's start over, what's your name?"
"T-Thieram, it's Thieram."
"You don't look like a Thieram, dude."
"Yeah, I've gotten that before. You know my friends call me Ch-"
Vi reaches her hand back into the gauntlet, and lays it on the counter top. The glass smashes beneath her hand as she leans forward. She stands to give her every advantage she has in this situation; height not being one of them but it doesn't hurt to try.
"I bet, now I just really need to see Sevika. We're old friends, what do you say? Go get her?"
"Um, she's not here right now. She's out."
"Oh yeah? Doing what?"
Thieram starts to slide his body to the left, inch by inch, never breaking eye contact with Vi. "Oh, uh well that's above my paygrade. She's uh..well you can always wait..and..."
His hand slides under the table. His fingers slowly move closer to the red button that was installed long before Silco took ownership of the place.
"Thieram?"
The man jerks his attention back to Vi.
"You don't want to do that."
A new voice perks up behind Vi breaking her from the intense staring contest. A woman in her late forties at best, with reddish brown hair and a mask that covers her nose. "She's not here."
Caitlyns words ring inside of Vi's head "Silco may be gone, but Sevika and the Chem Barons are still here...for now. Maybe one of them know something."
"Thanks for the drink Thieram. So, where's Sevika?"
The Chem Baron closes the distance, and leans against the counter next to the Brawler.
"Out looking for Jinx last I heard. That's what you're doing here, right? Even with Silco gone, everyone's still after Jinx. My boy dies at the hands of some Councillor and Jinx is still on everyone's mind."
"Kids die all the time down here. That's shitty and all what happened but more will die cause of what Silco was doing. If you know where Powd- where Jinx is, you're gonna tell me."
The Chem Baron cracks a smile, as best as Vi can tell through the mask.
"You're sounding like a Piltie already bitch. Must help you sleep at night knowing you're keeping those rotters safe. Jinx is a mad dog that needs to go down; doesn't matter if it's from you or the new head honcho. Last we heard she was down in the lower levels, something about some bodies being torn up."
"I'm going to ignore the insult for the sake of your charming company. What do you mean torn up, like an explosion?"
"Like from an animal. Like I said, she's a mad dog."
"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the drink Thieram, tell Sevika I said 'hi' next time she comes in. Unless I see her first."
Gathering up her gauntlets Vi makes her way out of the now empty bar back into the streets of Zaun. Explosions and bullets? Yeah, that sounds like Jinx but she's no animal.
She hoped she wasn't at least.
Unbeknownst to Vi, somewhere in the deepest parts of Zaun a howl echoes through the city.
