3

V's knees hurt from kneeling on the hard concrete as he watched Kurt through the scope of his sniper.

"Relax, Kurt. He's gonna know something's up if you're this tense." The two were linked via coms, allowing V to hear everything.

Kurt huffed, "easy for you to say, you're the one holding the gun. Just promise-" He cut himself off as a car pulled into the parking lot. The headlights cast a strange shadow over the fixer before turning off and plunging him back into semi-darkness.

"Yeah, yeah. Just need him to openly admit that he put the hit out, and a motive." V adjusted the scope and refocused it as a man got out of the car.

Kovachek was smaller than V had expected, standing only up to Kurt's chest. The details of his face were tough to make out. The only thing illuminating the men being the city lights reflecting off the water and a small street lamp in the parking lot.

"So?" Kovachek's voice was soft, almost inaudible through the specter software. Something about his tone set off alarm bells in V's head.

"That's the yacht." Kurt pointed towards the large vessel behind him.

The other man scoffed. "Do you think I'm stupid, Kurt?"

"Wha-"

"I know you didn't finish Eurodyne off. And I know that isn't his yacht. You think I don't know how incapable you are?"

Kurt just stood there in stunned silence.

"No, Kurt. I hired you to be a diversion. A distraction to lead Kerry's gonk input on a wild goose chase." Kovachek sneered and V could feel a sense of panic rising.

"His, his input? What?" Kurt shook his head as he tried to comprehend the words.

"Of course you wouldn't know. They've both worked quite hard to keep that little bit out of the media. I don't even think Kerry knows that I know. Let me guess, you've got a specter on you. And V is on the other end. The so-called Prince of The Afterlife." The words came out so matter-of-fact that it left Kurt and V both gaping. "Well, guess what, merc-boy, he's not safe at his mansion either."

Kurt opened his mouth to respond but the other man pulled out a pistol and fired, hitting him square in the chest. He gasped and staggered before Kovachek shoved him off the dock.

Another, much louder shot rang out and Kovachek's lifeless body splashed down into the inky black water. Before the echo had faded, V was dialing up his input.

No answer.

He tried to keep the rising panic in check as he tossed the rifle in the trunk and tried the call again.

"V?" Kerry's voice sounded a bit groggy.

V let out a sigh of relief but forced himself to stay focused. "You still at home?"

"Mhm. Why?" The rockerboy yawned.

"Good. I'm on my way back to your place. Things didn't go as planned. Like… at all."

"Alright." There was the sound of him getting up from wherever he had been laying. "Huh? V, a car just turned in the driveway, that you?"

"Shit, no. This is going to sound crazy, but close the gate. I'll hop the fence when I get back. I want you to hide in my office. The door is code locked and damn-near unhackable. Code is 7209 3681."

"V," his voice was short, clearly annoyed. "What is going on?"

"Kurt was a diversion to keep me busy. I'm guessing whoever Kovachek actually hired is the one who just pulled in."

"FUCK!" There was the sound of glass shattering. "V it's-"

The line went dead.

"Oh fuck!" V slammed on the accelerator and weaved through the traffic.

He didn't stop in front of the mansion's gate. Instead he pulled around to the side wall where someone had graffitied a large penis.

Clamoring up the rocks, V took in the scene in front of him. Several security bots had been reduced to smoking piles of metal and the large window under the car port was shattered. An unfamiliar car sat about halfway up the driveway.

He wanted to rush in and make sure Kerry was ok, but forced himself to take a few deep breaths. Recently, Kerry had given him access to the mansion's security system so he could recommend some upgrades to it. To his surprise the camera system was still working and he scanned through them.

Kerry was nowhere to be seen and V hoped it was because he was hiding in the office. Unfortunately, he couldn't find an assailant either. Whomever it was clearly knew where the cameras could and couldn't see.

"Well, shit." V sighed and slunk down off the rocks. He pulled Archangel from his hip and crept towards the mansion. As he approached the car, he looked more closely at it. To most, it would have gone unnoticed, but there was a small etching in the corner of the windshield. Militech. Of course Kovachek would contract it out to a corpo assassin.

Then it hit him - Militech was the company in charge of the mansion's security system. Why would they break the window when they could have just walked right in the front door? He shook his head to clear the questions. There would be plenty of time to speculate later.

He avoided the broken window and pushed the front door open. It was eerily quiet inside. Usually the TV or radio was on but V could practically hear his heartbeat echoing off the walls.

A shadow suddenly crossed over him and, before V could react, a knife was buried into his shoulder, his grip on Archangel loosened and the gun clattered to the floor.

"Arg!" He cried out and tried to punch his assailant but they were too quick. In the moment V had to regain his composure, he checked his wound and was relieved that the knife had missed any major arteries or veins. He pulled the knife out with a chock.

Doing his best to ignore the pain, he stooped to grab his gun just in time to avoid a punch. He took the opportunity to slam his uninjured shoulder into the attacker's chest. They staggered back and V finally got a chance to look at them.

The man looking back at him couldn't have been much older than V. He was dressed in a Militech ballistics vest but otherwise normal clothes. His dark eyes were laser focused on the mercenary, his hand reaching for the gun at his hip. V was too far away to stop him and dodged behind the couch just as they fired.

Unfortunately for V, the bullet tore through the fabric and into his side. He fired back, emptying the revolver. He heard the sound of the gun against the floor, followed by the thud of the body.

Clutching his side, he limped out from his failed cover. The bullet wound was bleeding profusely but the pain hadn't fully registered yet.

"Kerry!" He yelled as loud as he could. "Kerry!" He collapsed against the banister at the base of the stairs. "Fuck," he tried to keep his breathing steady. He had plenty of MaxDoc hypos in his stash - he just had to get there.

Slowly he made his way up the stairs, stopping every couple of steps to catch his breath. As he reached the landing, the pain in his side roared to life and the mercenary staggered forward onto his hands and knees.

"Kerry!" He tried to yell but it came out as a strangled croak. "Kerry, please. I need a MaxDoc." After another second without a response he tried to stand, but the pain was too intense. He crawled to his office door and punched in the code. It slid open and he gasped.

Two men dressed in the same manner as the one downstairs whipped around, guns at the ready. Kerry was bound at their feet, conscious and struggling against his restraints. But he froze when his eyes landed on V.

The rockerboy tried to say something that sounded like V, but it was muffled by the gag in his mouth.

The world was spinning and V collapsed fully onto the floor, his arms no longer able to support his weight.

"What have we got here?" One of the men approached him and kicked him in his injured side. Hard.

V sputtered as he was rolled over. Both men were looking down at him, their faces swimming. Kerry made a sound somewhere between anger and desperation as he trashed against the bindings.

He tried to think. He didn't have the strength to raise his gun. Hell, he didn't even know if he still had it. One thing he could do now that he was looking at them was hack them. It was tough, his mind was working slow but he managed to hit them both with a complete synapse burnout and they collapsed to the floor.

Despite the numbness spreading through his body, V grappled for his pocket knife.

"Ker, try. Try to scoot over. Hands."

The rockerboy obliged and V held the knife as steady as he could. Kerry sawed the wrist restraint against the knife and it finally came loose. He took the knife from V and cut his legs free before ripping the gag from his mouth.

"Fuck, V! Hold on! MaxDoc. Uh… Where?" His voice was shaking as he started rifling through drawers.

"There…" V tried to point at a drawer but his arm was trembling so bad he could hardly lift it.

"Ok. Ok. Yeah. Hang in there, V!" Kerry's voice drifted from somewhere far away. The light overhead was fuzzy, darkness creeping into the corners of his vision.

Was this... what it was like... to…?