Viper has been following Reborn.

They don't reply when Reborn asks them questions, and Reborn has yet to actually see them, so it must be one of those days. Viper likes being included but sometimes doesn't want to interact, and instead feels more comfortable watching people like watching one of their soap opera TV series.

Which is fine, whatever. Verde is watching anyway so one more set of eyes isn't too much of a problem. It is interesting that Viper doesn't want to interact, because Verde loves speaking up whenever he feels like someone is being an idiot and needs to be told they're wrong.

Maybe Reborn should ask if something weird is actually happening because Viper has been following him for a few days now. Or at least he thinks they are. Sometimes things will float over to him, sometimes Reborn can feel the Mist flames in the air.

Reborn first thought it was probably just a weird form of courting, but Viper does it to the others as well. Maybe it's just Viper, a hobby when the Mist isn't directing their various money-making schemes.

Oh well. Whatever makes the Mist happy. Reborn even lets Viper tag along to the meeting today.

And right now, Reborn has a gun under the chin of some small time, rising drug lord who's paying him a whole fuckton of cash for a pathetic hit, just so he can threaten others that he hired Reborn The Hitman.

The contract is on the table, full of loopholes and circular clauses and far too many liberties taken on how Reborn is going to do the hit. It was a nightmare to read through so Reborn gave up halfway and pulled a gun.

The leader is leaning back but keeping a calm head. He's going to be big in the future with his sense of business and a poker face like that, steady even under Reborn's not inconsiderable killing intent. But unfortunately, he's still far below Reborn's level, and the only good thing is the money.

"Do you even know who I am?" Reborn wonders. "Because the way you're treating me kind of makes it look like you have a death wish. I can do that too, for a price."

Sometimes people -the older Dons with unrivalled pride but a failing body- hire Reborn for a staged fight, an honourable death going up against one of the best hitmen. To prove they're still a threat to others, still worth the price of a contract even if they're far past their prime.

"You'll have to forgive me," the drug lord says. "I've never done this before."

"Oh, I can tell," Reborn muses. "Because you actually brought your men as muscle instead of advisors, as if they could stop me if I really wanted to kill you."

Three of the drug lord's men are standing behind their leader's armchair, and had barely managed to get half a step before Reborn was across the coffee table and kneeling on the couch over their boss, gun out and smirk playing across his lips.

They scowl at Reborn but have learned to not move after one tried to pull a gun too and Reborn's bullet sliced across the edge of his shoulder with a warning shot, tearing the suit but not even leaving a graze on the skin.

"Nice meeting you, I suppose," Reborn muses. "Call me again when you're in the big leagues."

"Reborn, this is getting ridiculous!" Viper bursts out, coming from out of nowhere. "How many times do I have to say it!?"

Absolutely everybody flinches because goddamned Mists and their illusions.

Viper grabs Reborn by the collar and shakes him. "What did I tell you about giving up easy contracts!?"

"Viper," Reborn tries.

Viper shoves him, putting ESPer powers into it and Reborn is launched across the room, hovers for a moment, and gets dumped onto the single-seater couch he was sitting on before.

"You!" Viper rages, turning on the drug lord Reborn was threatening. "I'm not wasting my hitman on this, so if you keep fucking around, I'm going to slap the bitch out of you myself."

"Viper, I was in the middle of a conversation," Reborn complains, scrambling back up and smoothing down his suit.

"You're an embarrassment to hitmen everywhere if you don't take a good hit when you see one," Viper fires back. "He's going to pay you a damned fortune for nothing. Sit down."

The right-hand man throws a punch at Viper but his hand unravels, skin and flesh and muscles and bone tearing apart in thick strips up his arm until he's a mess of meat on the floor.

Reborn sits down.

Viper waves a hand and the second man from the posse disappears while the last is eaten by the wall. "Fucking. Try me."

The drug lord stays incredibly calm despite it all. "Viper, the informant. I heard you were cosying up to a new team."

"I wouldn't say team," Viper muses. The wall that ate someone starts bleeding. "I have picked up some useful resources. If you want to hire my hitman, you go through me now."

"Um," Reborn begins.

Viper's head turns one-eighty degrees without the rest of their body moving. "He was going to cheat you, Reborn, and your first reaction was to shoot things and miss out on a contract. You know nothing about business."

"Yep," Reborn says, leaning back. "Okay."

Viper's head turns, still clockwise, a full three-sixty degrees. "So. About that contract."

The drug lord pauses a moment. "You killed three of my men and yet-"

The pile of meat strips on the floor reassembles, someone is spat out of a wall and the third one falls through the air to hit the ground with a groan. All three are dazed and confused but not hurt.

The drug lord is also a businessman and he understands that he could get, not only a hitman in line for the World's Greatest title, but also this Mist. Perhaps for a higher price but also with a much greater scope of abilities. The entire reason he wanted to hire Reborn was for the bragging rights anyway - adding the Mist gives him even more credibility.

"Alright," the drug lord says. "Let's negotiate."


"You can't keep doing that," Reborn says after they reach his house.

Viper has vanished but Reborn can feel them in the room.

"Viper," Reborn says, arms crossed, standing in front of the TV that had abruptly turned on, the same dumb soap opera that Viper likes playing. "I do appreciate the sentiment behind it, but we need to talk before you take over like that. Actually, don't ever take over like that because it makes me look weak."

"You're not," says a disembodied voice. "Everyone knows that, or they will soon enough. Why get upset about it?"

Reborn frowns. "Because appearances matter, you know that. Anyway, I don't like being carried around."

No reply.

"Viper?"

"I like doing it," the Mist says. "I like moving people around."

Reborn purses his lips. "Not in public."

"Can I...at home?" A vaguely Viper-shaped haze appears on the couch. It's not the real one, a distraction. Viper is nervous.

"At home," Reborn agrees. "And the other matter?"

"I got upset," Viper grumbles. The haze vanishes again and the real body settles in more comfortably. "So many wasted opportunities. You'd be the World's Greatest already if I was your manager."

"I don't need to take every job because I'm better than that," Reborn explains. "I have money and fame and skill. I earned the chance to turn down people who piss me off. I can kill people who want to contract me because others will still think it's worth the risk to hire me. You need to understand that being a hitman and being an information broker two very different things."

Viper huffs. "Whatever. I'll...I'll think about it."

Reborn huffs back but knows it's an agreement. He spreads his arms wide. "Carry me, steed."

There's a brief, disorientating moment and then Reborn is lying on the couch with shoes and jacket off, hat and gun holster on the coffee table well within reach.

Reborn rolls onto his side so he can watch TV too. "Don't do the 'shredded meat' thing again either, that was messed up."

"Skull told me to do that."

Reborn frowns. "Yeah, he would have, the freak."

"The wall thing was mine though."

"I liked that."

"Do you want to see what I can do with shadows?"


Reborn comes halfway down the stairs and frowns out over the living room. "Do you know where Viper went?"

"Somewhere around here," Colonnello says vaguely. "Why?"

Reborn throws his hands up. "We bonded and then Viper just ran away from me. I feel so used! We could have at least snuggled a bit while the bond settled."

"You can come snuggle with me," Colonnello offers.

Reborn goes to the living room and flops on top of Colonnello. Viper changes the channel a few more times until they find something they like, and drags a blanket over Reborn and Colonnello's laps.