SR2. Because I just had to bring down the mood from the previous chapter, right? (No, I know I didn't)
It was caked under her nails, and V kept on picking at it as she sat on the bed. The blood wasn't hers, but it stuck to her as if it should've been.
The hotel room by the hospital had been expensive. Much more expensive than she would've anticipated otherwise, but when you stumble in covered in blood, some compromises have to be made somewhere.
She would've emptied her wallet out on the spot. Of course, she also would've just shot the man if he'd tried to gouge the price any higher, but she wanted to be there. If she couldn't sit in the room with Johnny and wait, she'd at least be close enough to make it count.
Her phone had been going off all night. Pierce had tried to call her back after she'd cut him off, and Carlos had tried her three or four times before giving up. Shaundi had also tried, but she couldn't do it right now.
It went off again when she was leaning against the window. The street below was still busy, and she dully realized she had no idea what time it actually was. Didn't know and didn't care.
Guilt picked at her for a moment as she wandered over to where she'd left her phone last. If it was Carlos again she'd consider picking up.
It wasn't. "Hello?"
"Hey. That answers my first question."
He had her number. She did all but tell Troy she hadn't changed hers, but that didn't keep her from tensing all over. "What?" she snapped.
"As to whether or not you're in the hospital, but-" he paused, and took in a deep breath. "How is he?"
"Drawing some conclusions there?"
"I'm at the house of a woman who's been thought to be dead for years. Have to draw some."
"He's not dead," she ground out, her jaw clenched tight enough to hurt.
She recalled how Johnny looked at her, and then through her, his blood covering her as he called her by Aisha's name. She'd responded to it, telling him exactly what he wanted to hear. Every last word. That fact alone made her question if she'd be able to look him in the eye again.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
She could hear it. He could hide it as well as he'd liked, but she knew what concern sounded like coming from him. She hung up and threw the phone across the room, her arms curling around her. Dried blood still streaked down them, some of it Ronin, some of it Johnny's. None of it was hers.
Her hands ran through her hair, and she let out a shaky breath.
She went right back to the phone and dialed Troy back. It rang twice, and V didn't let him get a word in. "I want that fucker dead."
"...Okay, I get that."
"No, you don't. What do you need? A description? His license plate? Some other bullshit? He was some giant tattooed motherfucker. Rattled things off in, I don't know, Japanese. Flung a sword around. Any of that work?"
He waited a minute before responding. "I'd say that's Jyunichi."
"He's like a general or something?"
"He answers to Akuji, so yeah. Good enough of a guess. We're looking into it right now. Should give Johnny some time to get back on his feet, but paperwork can only go so far. Even if I had a location-"
"You wouldn't be able to give it up. More cop bullshit, eh?"
"-I wouldn't be able to guarantee if it'd be accurate. Ronin have their usual haunts, but they move around. You'd have to tap into their routine. Pay attention."
"Keep an ear to the ground?"
"Something like that."
His voice was almost comforting in her ear. She rubbed her hand over her eyes and stared at the back wall of her hotel room. It was better than the view of the hospital she'd been so desperate for five minutes ago.
Her tongue wet her lips, and she tried to keep her voice from cracking. "She warned us. ...Called out. Johnny was the first inside, but it didn't make a difference. She was gone by the time we were through the door."
"V-"
She hung up. The battery was ripped out after that, and she left the phone disassembled on her bed as she paced a hole into the floor. She gave it another ten minutes before she broke into the minibar.