Chapter 27

V's ever healing, third-degree burned, feet paced rapidly against cooled concrete surrounded by four walls of solid concrete. A metal door, six inches in thickness, was heavily locked with an array of deadbolts and latches. On the inside, the surface was smooth lacking any handles or locks keeping the man trapped inside, though there was a small window at the level of his eyes. Black shreds of clothing lay scattered, nearly to the point of confetti, around the floor but V paid no attention. Back and forth, back and forth, a little faster, a little slower, back and forth. V should have been feeling dizzy as he crossed from corners of the room without pause. In reality, he was beginning to feel the hints of vertigo but it had nothing to do with his pacing, he forgot his body was moving. How long had he been moving? Didn't matter. What day was it? Where was Evey?

Evey.

V froze in mid-stride at the thought and firmly pressed his palms over his ears to shield them as the echo of gunshots in the distance rang in his ears. The thundering echoes grew in volume until he sank to his knees as a demonic scream ripped from his lips. Her bloody face flashed but then it was gone. Screams. her screams...no...they were his own. Clamping his mouth shut. Her lifeless face flashed again but in another darkened corner of the room.

"Ha. Ha. Ha" A dark voice laughed.

V whipped his head in the direction of the sounds to see the assassin, codenamed V, stepping further into the square-shaped room. The man mirrored him in every way, aside from the face.

Unlike the mask, he typically wore this V wore no mask. Thin, porcelain lips, identical to the muted flesh of his face, were pulled into a cringing unnaturally high grin, with the corners of his mouth level with his nostrils. A groomed and evenly trimmed mustache sat above them yet seemed to melt with his upper lip as if they were a unit, while a small strip of hair sat below his lower lip. His eyes, almond shaped and pupil-less. The blackened orbs seemed to float in the sea of flawless white skin that surrounded them. Thin, arched brows sat high above them reaching into his bangs. Also unlike the mask, no pink stained his cheeks. He glided with equivalent grace as the man now kneeling crumpled in body and spirit, maybe more so since his feet hovered a few inches off the ground.

"Are you quite finished? Really, this is a bit embarrassing" The floating V sighed walking on air towards a chair that was too destroyed to sit on. He sighed once more.

"Get out. I want to be alone" The kneeling, maskless, V said in an attempt to sound demanding but only came across as broken and hopeless.

"Well, there's no chance of that"

The grin pulled higher.

"Then I will kill you"

The Cheshire grin fell slightly from the words as his head tilted. Anger fluttered across his features then morphed into a deadly playful expression.

"Will you? I seem to recall a few similar situations and yet, here I am"

Silver and golden orbs watered as fists slammed on the concrete over an over. Layers of Flesh ripped, blood painted concrete, as the gritty graveled texture embedded itself into his wounds. He ignored it all.

The floating V laughed once more until it sharply stopped and he was standing across the room.

"Get a hold of yourself"

Now he comfortably sat on an invisible chair cross-legged in a different location.

"She is only a distraction. She was warned. She chose to stay"

The bloody-fisted V flashed his eyes in the direction only to find empty space.

"It is fate" Thin lips whispered in his ear drawing his attention.

Across the room V grinned.

"Everything you touch dies. You bring death. No. We are death. Judge, jury and executioner"

This demented thought seemed to excite the animated V.

"We are not the same" V spat venomously. Palms pressed into the concrete pushing a shaky, naked, body to its feet.

Black orbs rolled in annoyance as his smile fell completely and drooped just as dramatically as his smile. "Why deny it? You are such a waste of a body" He spat with contemptment.

During the exchange, a naked V inched his way towards the pair of knives lying abandoned where he first threw them upon entering the room.

The Cheshire like V was no fool and had silently been watching V the entire time. He made no efforts to stop him and watched with new found joy as the naked, pathetic, version of himself scooped them up and flung them at a breakneck speed aimed at his throat and forehead. At the last possible moment, he bent backwards, pelvis bone jutting sickeningly forward at the awkward angle, as his head fell parallel to his ankles. In the blink of an eye he snapped back to a proper standing position. This did not discourage V as he ran for the grinning V prepared to beat him to a pulp. A fist connected with his right cheek but it was not nearly enough to keep him down. The grinning V put up no fight letting the blows land viciously one after another. Punch after punch.

Gordon flashed his most convincing smile masking his thoughts as he slid on a pair of oven mitts to pull a pizza out of the oven before sitting it on the stove to cool. Agatha and George sat at the kitchen table in silence. Agatha was completely consumed in her drawing as her little body hunched over, shielding herself from everything going on around her.

"My, that smells delicious" Gordon said with a smile turning his attention to Agatha and George, but neither acknowledged him. George sat twirling a butterfly knife with disturbingly good accuracy. His eyes void of emotion as he focused on a spot across from him spinning the knife.

Gordon frowned and crossed over to the refrigerator for drinks. Once the kids were eating Gordon went to check on V.

It seemed so long since V last asked Gordon to lock him in The Room. A gut-wrenching scream echoed just enough for Gordon's ears to pick up the sound as he drew closer to the metal door with a triple plated bullet proof glass at eye level. Peeking inside, he witnessed his dearest friend naked and viciously, repetitively, exchanging blows with a concrete wall. Punch after punch before a howl would rip from the man. He would have broken bones from this episode, that was for sure. Turning away unable to witness the sight any long he slouched against a wall with tears trailing down his cheeks, his breath stuttering.

"Oh Evey" Gordon sighed dishearted. "He needs you my dear" Gordon's voice whispered.

Placing a hand over his mouth he cried unashamed. It took some effort but soon Gordon found the strength to pull himself together, then he returned to watch the children. Neither Agatha nor George were in much of a talking mood and Gordon was silently thankful for it. He feared if the conversation strayed to the topics of Evelyn or V he might lose it, and the poor dears looked like they were barely holding themselves together as it was. Plus they were children. They shouldn't be exposed to so much pain and sadness.

Gordon returned to the living room of the underground home. Dirty dishes were piled neatly in the sink waiting to be washed, Agatha now sat in a corner in the living room continuing to draw in silence, George, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen. Gordon's frantic eyes danced over all the possibilities where George could be hiding but found nothing. His long strides crossed to the training room only to find it empty. Could he have left the Shadow Gallery? Dear Lord. Silently his quickened steps covered a majority of the Shadow Gallery while his heart felt as if it were going to burst from his very chest.

As he shoved his arms through the spaces in his trench coat he noticed V's bedroom door opened a crack. He was certain that the door had been closed. Agatha became anxious if she found the door open and Evey still lying in bed, so because of that, Gordon and George made sure to keep the door closed. Gordon inched closer to the door preparing to close it, eyes careful to avoid straying to his unconscious friend.

Evey laid tucked comfortably under the covers while being attached to a few pieces of vital medical equipment that V managed to commandeer over the years.

The sound of sniffling caught his attention, his eyes raised to find George sitting on the side of the bed next to Evey. George seemed indecisive if he wanted to hold Evey's hand, and with a heavy sigh of finality, he tucked his hands under his arms.

"Here you are. Do you have any idea the state you sent me into? I thought I was going to have to take to the streets" Gordon huffed as a wave of anger, that usually came when an emergency worked itself out in an unexpected way, washed over him.

George said nothing as he sniffed quickly and moved to sit in the chair by her bed.

Gordon sighed as he took a few steps inside the room to sit on the opposite side of the bed. Gently he took Evey's hand in his own with a melancholy smile. She was far from skin and bones though she was a tad more lean than before. Her beautiful hair was tossed carefully to the left side of her face with a side part while a large section of the right was shaved, bringing attention to the ghastly stitched scar from a deep bullet graze. A matching scar was located on her abdomen, however, out of the two that one had to be the worse. The wound on her abdomen was widened out of necessity as V manually extracted the fractured bullet.

"She won't be too happy to know how much we fussed over her when she awakens" Gordon said, attempting a humored chuckle.

Gordon's head lowered as doubt crept into the crevices of his mind but he shook his head, forcing the thoughts away. Yes. She would wake up, but when? Dear Lord what if she awoke after The Fifth. What if she awoke to find...

"Well come on. There's a sink of dishes calling our name, yeah"

Gordon dropped her hand, stood and hurried to the door. George glanced at Evey sadly before standing and following Gordon out of the room.

Days passed and it felt as if the inhabitants of the Shadow Gallery were stuck in a loop, or a repeat. Awaken, eat, pass the endless span of time with Gordon's banter and casual one sided conversations, try not to let their hopes raise too high about Evey's recovery, clean around the house, and at night Gordon would read the two youngsters something from V's collection until they fell asleep. Finally, he would check on V one last time before stumbling into the spare room exhausted. That night V had been sitting calmly in silent meditation in the middle of the room.