SR2 time, but early on in the Ronin missions this time around!

"I can't believe that worked," V said with a laugh, as all three of them looked at the money sitting on Aisha and Johnny's coffee table. "We were so fucking stupid about it, and still managed to rake in the cash."

"Which was why I came up with the other idea, but fuck it. There's no point in going to back to it now, is there?" Pierce asked.

Johnny cracked open his beer. "Fuck no."

Pierce's shoulders sank even lower. "Yeah, I figured as much."

"Eh, you'll get over it. Just think about all the ways we're going to spend this. All the random shit we'll be able to throw around," V said, spreading her hands wide. "It'll be magical."

"Might want to buy yourself a shirt first, boss."

V narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"You trying to summon Jesus or something?" Johnny asked, pointing at her ratty tank top. "Because there's Sloppy Seconds, and then there's what they toss out the back for the thrifty fuckers to sort through."

"It's not that bad-" He put a finger under one of her exposed bra straps and snapped it. "Ow! You asshole!"

"Just calling it like it is," Johnny said, putting his feet up on the table. She was half out of her seat, scowling, but he didn't even bat an eye.

"Johnny?"

Aisha's voice traveled over from the other room and V mouthed a warning at him. He winked in return, and she made a furious grab for the remote as Aisha entered the room.

"Any reason why it sounds like someone's-oh, you did not. You did not just throw that onto this table. Do I even want to know where this came from?"

V exchanged a look with Pierce. "Well..."

"We hit a Ronin casino and lightened their load. They won't miss it," Johnny told her with a shrug. Aisha gave him a look and he lowered his feet. "Eesh, they won't. Besides, they've been sitting pretty too long. What's wrong with shaking things up?"

"Nothing, as long as that shit doesn't come through our door! It's not staying."

"Wasn't planning on keeping it here-"

"Hey!" V had been flipping through the channels as a distraction, but a breaking news segment was a different thing entirely. "I think we're on the air!"

Jane Valderamma was speaking outside of the wrecked Ronin casino - a place that had been one of the nicest gambling joints that V had ever stepped into - and gestured towards the bulletridden doors. "The sudden robbery left many running for their lives as the criminals in question swept across the club. As to their intentions, we are just as uncertain, but maybe the Chief of Police can shed some light on this. Chief Bradshaw?"

Troy took a brief glance at the camera, a grimace fixed on his face, then looked back at Jane. "I'm afraid that I can't go over what is pure speculation right now. Details are coming in every minute, and until we're sure what's true, I can't give an official response."

"Can you comment on the 3rd Street Saints' involvement then?"

"Involvement? I don't see how they-"

"The camera feed from the casino places three members there, and it's clear who two of those members are."

Footage of the three of them opening fire on the slot machines came up, followed by Johnny's shotgun blast to a pool table and her attempt to use her bat to hit a pitched container of poker chips. The finger that she gave the cameras didn't help any and Johnny snickered when that panned by, the gesture blurred out just enough to pass on network TV. Pierce, on the other hand, had his back to the camera in every shot and groaned loudly when Jane ID-ed him as little more than their unknown accomplice.

Still, Troy remained set in his opinions, if not annoyed that he kept on having to repeat himself. "There are no clear answers yet, but-"

"But what about Ultor's response to this event? Concerns that police might not be taking this as a serious threat have been brought up."

"Everything is being taken into consideration right now, but we have to take things one step at a time. Careful planning and investigation are the key here, not a sudden and violent response."

Troy was sidestepping most of her questions like a pro. Why he would choose to do so when it came to them, however, still didn't make any fucking sense. None of it did.

Johnny hit her in the arm, and V turned to find him holding his fist out for her to bump. It took a second, but she gladly did so, bringing his grin back in full-force. "Think the Ronin know who we are now?"

"Without a doubt," she replied, grinning herself. "Now let's get this money out of here."

It didn't take long to scatter it all over the city. The pains that the Ronin had to have been going through to find it made her smile gleefully, and after talking with Pierce they considered doing it again once things calmed down just to fully get their point across.

Maybe with a little less firepower involved, but that was up in the air for now, much like her opinions involving Troy's response.

It frustrated her. Frustrated her and left her wondering just what his angle was. The cops weren't easing up on them any – she couldn't ever see him pulling a move like that – but the answer he'd tried to feed Jane wasn't going to fool anyone.

And it was still on her mind later when she was tagging the back of a building down the street from the police station.

Any artistic skill she'd had before being laid out was gone. She swung her arm out to try and add an embellishment, but the golden loop came off messy, leaving one wing lopsided. Blowing out a large cloud of smoke in irritation, she picked up a can of purple and tried to clear her head. No cops, no self-criticism, nothing.

She traveled another loop over the words to bring them out, and those turned out crooked too. Her paint-covered hand pushed her sunglasses up the bridge of her nose, and she admired how it looked even worse tinted in orange. "Crap. So much for that."

It had been quiet aside from her swearing and pacing, so when she heard footsteps, she did her best to stay occupied. This close to the station she half-expected it to be some hot-shot cop looking to collar any of the Saints' big names, but her guest didn't tell her to drop everything and get on the ground.

No, they let her keep on going, and that fact alone made her lines all the more uneven.

"Looks like shit, doesn't it? " she asked after counting to one-hundred. "Then again, I never was the one to do most of the tagging."

"Lin's forte, right?"

V lowered the can and didn't quite turn around. "Yeah. She'd do some of the most beautiful fuck yous on the planet, and I can't even find one anymore."

Troy kept his distance and she felt her face twitch as she tried to keep it blank. "There are a few left. She probably didn't want anyone to find those, but...they're there."

She turned a bit more and took in the uniform that poked out from under his coat. It didn't go at all with the expression currently on his face, and it made her want to bolt. "Really?"

"Really," he said. "It's been a while."

She didn't respond, just felt anger creep up inside of her as she clenched her teeth.

Troy sighed and it made her tense more. "I, uh, didn't think I'd ever catch you apart from Johnny. He's been keeping you close, eh?"

Her jaw was beginning to hurt. He either didn't notice, or didn't want to.

"V." His tone dropped, and it was like a kick to her insides. "I've been meaning to-"

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" She stared at him over the top of her sunglasses. "Thought I did, but I might've mistaken you for someone else."

It took a second, but the softness there left, leaving him neutral, controlled. She had wanted to see it go, but losing it only irritated her more. "Trick of the light. Fools a lot of people."

"Silly me. Should get my eyes checked."

"...V-"

"You going to arrest me, Officer? For destruction of public property or whatever the hell they're calling it now?" she asked, cutting in again. She dropped the spraypaint and turned around to put her hands behind her head. "Going to cuff me too? Might like that."

"You going to cut that shit out?" he snapped. "I'm trying to talk to you."

"About what?" she asked sharply, dropping her arms. She turned around and walked right up to him, her smile anything but friendly. "How I'm doing? How the gang's been? We can't exactly shoot the shit like we used to." His lips formed a thin line, but this wasn't good enough. She picked at the uniform hidden under his coat, flicking at one of the lapels. "Chief."

Troy flinched, but not as much as she expected him to. He also didn't pull a gun on her, or make any move to defend himself, so she knew he was on unsteady ground as much as she was. One of her hands balled into a fist, and she wanted to take a swing. Make him hurt, yell at him, do something. Just anything other than this.

"No, we can't, can we," he eventually said, his eyes never leaving hers. "Just a bit too complicated for that?"

"Why the fuck did you do it?"

He paused again and looked uncertain. "Do what?"

"Cover for us. Figured I'd ask since we're here and you haven't bothered to shove me against the wall yet."

The muscles in his jaw worked as he thought it over. "Is that how you took it?"

"No other way to. Unless you're trying to avoid all the paperwork that comes from acknowledging another gang-related fuck up. That would be a great thing to go over with your superiors. Who exactly do you answer to, anyway? I've heard some interesting things about Ultor floating around."

He chuckled, the sound coming off bitter in a way that she was all too familiar with, and she waited for him to leave. She still wondered why he hadn't yet. "They're pretty damn high up. Monroe was bad, but you don't want these guys to take notice."

"And that's what you're doing? Keeping them from noticing little old me?" He didn't answer, and she laughed. "Well, I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to do this. Do you really want to start this shit all over again?" he asked.

"I'm not starting anything. I don't see why that's so tough for you to understand." V grabbed the discarded can of spraypaint and laid a hand by her portrait. The image wasn't complete, but the word 'Saints' was lined bold in purple, impossible to ignore. "I'm finishing it. This is our city, remember?"

"...Our city?"

The words didn't sound right coming from him anymore, but she didn't bother to correct him. "Our city. I'm not stepping down from this, Troy. Not until the day I die."

His eyes didn't leave her face. "And you'd do that? Even after all the shit from before?"

The answer was on her lips before he'd finished talking. "Gladly."

That made him turn away and she saw actual anger cross his face then. Anger, and hurt. She was too confused by the combination to enjoy either. "Of course. Of fucking course."

He turned and left, leaving her staring at his back.

She didn't wait until he was out of sight to go back to tagging, the can shaking loudly in her hand. "Nice talk, Chief. You ever want to chat again, you know my number," she threw out, tossing the paint up in the air to catch it.

She sprayed two more haphazard streaks and stepped back to look at her work. Then she took another step forward to lean against the wall. It held her steady enough, but she couldn't keep from holding her hands to her eyes.