Chapter 20: Chapter 9: From_Dusk_Till_Dawn.rlf
V and Eric start walking up the stairs, toward the second floor. Suddenly two men appear from a door above them and start shooting. V pushes Eric toward the wall, dodging the stream of bullets, then rapidly shoots back, killing the two men on the spot.
Eric: Thanks…
V and Eric proceed to walk up, toward the twenty-third floor, killing some other goons in the process.
Eric: Fuck! I'm out of breath!
V: No time to rest.
Eric: V…I'm almost fifty. Could you just give me a break?!
Johnny: Sure, let grandpa rest.
V opens the door to the twenty-third floor. Suddenly a big hand grabs him by the neck, throwing him in a big hallway full of windows. V lands on one of them almost breaking it, cutting his forehead, then falling on the ground.
V: ARGH! FUUUCK!
Standing before him, a two meters giant wearing a black suit, with his big hands full or rings that could barely fit into his giant fingers. Eric quickly enters the hallway.
Eric: V!
The man walks back toward Eric, kicking him in the stomach and tossing him on the wall. Eric hits his head violently and falls on the ground.
V tries to stand up, but the guy grabs him by the neck, lifting in the air. He tries to grab the man's right hand with his robot arm, but with no luck.
Johnny: VEEEE!
V's eyes start turning red, while his sight gets blurred.
Johnny: Round two.
Johnny suddenly takes control, kicking the guy violently. He swings around gasping from hair, releasing him from his hold. Johnny stands up and punches him in the face a bunch of times.
Johnny: Go get some fresh air, pal.
Johnny kicks one last time the big guy in the back, throwing him out of the window. The man falls to his death screaming loudly, while Johnny gives his middle finger to him.
Johnny: Fuck you.
Johnny stands in front of the broken window, gazing at the sun, feeling the wind on his skin, closing his eyes just for a moment.
Johnny(Holo): Faith, how close am I?
Faith(Holo): Twenty meters in front of you, V.
Johnny starts walking slowly towards a big wooden door. A strange silence falls on the corridor, interrupted only by his steps, making a strange sound on the wet carpet.
V: JOHNNY! You must check on Eric!
Johnny: Oh for fuck's sake.
Johnny turns himself back to Eric and proceeds to knee near him, putting his hand on Eric's neck.
Johnny: Your new best friend is alive and well. He's just sleeping.
V: Johnny?
Johnny: Yeah?
V: I wanna do it.
Johnny gets his Malorian out and looks at it, seeing Deckard's face in the reflection.
V: Johnny?!
Johnny: Sorry V. Just give me a moment.
Johnny slowly walks back to the broken window, leaning out of it, holding himself with his left hands while looking at the city, smiling. Johnny closes his eyes feeling the wind and the warming hug of the sun for one last time, then gives control back to V.
V: Time put an end to this.
V turns around and slowly walks toward the big wooden door, he proceeds to open it. A big wooden studio welcomes him with nice furniture, with two big widows illuminating the whole room. A big wooden desk sits right in the middle room behind where Santiago sits, smoking a cigar.
Santiago: Hi, V.
V stands in front of Santiago silently, then proceeds to take Faith's knife out of the worn coat.
Santiago: You know what V?! I've never, ever seen a man like you in my entire life. Why are you doing this? Morality? Love? Those things don't matter jack shit and you know it.
V comes closer to Santiago, trembling in pure anger.
Santiago: What are you going to do anyway?! Kill me, take the lady and walk away into the sunset?! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO ARE YOU WORKING WITH?!
Santiago keeps looking at V with an expression that is a mix of anger and scare, V comes even closer to him.
Santiago: FUCK YOU, V!
Santiago attempts to draw his gun, V quickly cuts his hand off, with one clear swing, staining Santiago's white suit with blood. He then grabs him by the neck, lifting him up in the air and stubbing him multiple times in the chest, going deeper with every single swing. Finally V frees Santiago that falls on the desk holding his stomach in deep pain, vomiting blood.
V starts punching Santiago's face until it becomes just a mash of flesh, wires and blood, only his golden left eyes remain open, looking V in an ominous way. Suddenly the right one falls out of his face, like a ripe fruit, bouncing several times on the wooden floor.
V: You know what Santiago?! I don't need a contingency plan.
V grabs him up, with his left arm, looking at him in the eye.
V: I like to go straight to the heart of the problem.
V punches Santiago, piercing his chest, digging his heart right out of it. Santiago's lifeless body falls straight to the ground. He then lights up his right hand, letting Santiago's heart beat with a spark of electricity.
Johnny: V, you didn't disappoint me a bit. IT WAS FUCKING NOVA!
V(Holo): Faith… got the device.
Attached to Santiago's still beating heart, there is some kind of circuit with a transmitter.
Faith: Alright picking up the readings…
Eric arrives in the room limping, holding his chest with one arm.
Eric: Kind of an abused phrase I know, but I'm really too old for this shit.
Eric looks at V shocked, opening his mouth wide.
Eric: Jesus Christ…
Faith(Holo): Ok I'm in. You can destroy the device.
V looks at Eric and closes his robot arm, smashing the heart in a pile of red goo dripping between his fingers, staining his coat.
Faith(Holo): V, going through the security camera here, give me Panam's description.
V: Light brown skin, black hair and brown eyes. Probably wearing a red jacket.
Faith: Let me see…
V closes his eyes, frightened and begins to tremble.
Faith(Holo): FOUND HERE! Sixteenth floor!
V opens his eyes and starts running out of the room, toward the elevator at the end of the hallway.
Eric: Oh, V! C'mon!
Eric starts limping behind V, eventually they both arrive at the elevator. The doors close, while V starts shaking his hand nervously, the blood still dripping from his hands and coat. Suddenly they both hear gunshots, V gets his gun out while the elevator doors open.
Faith(Holo): Already thinned the crop for you.
V and Eric start walking into the long hallway full of doors, avoiding the pile of Santiago's dead men. V looks up and sees two turret guns mounted on the walls, with the barrel still smoking. The floor and walls are completely covered in blood.
V(Holo): Faith, which door?
Faith(Holo): Don't know, just got the camera id, hold on.
All the doors open at once, a crowd of women start running out of the rooms, some of them screaming and some tripping over Santiago's goons dead bodies. V and Eric start running toward the end of the hallway, dodging and pushing the girls.
Eric: Is she one of them?!
V: NO!
V finally stops in front of a closed door near the end of the hallway.
Eric: What about that one, V?!
Faith(Holo): Can't open it, it's jammed, let me try…
V punches the door and slides it open with his bare hands, revealing a small room illuminated by the orange lights of the sunset coming from a large window. The room is almost empty except for a camera, a terminal and a naked woman lying on the floor in a pool of blood.
V drops his gun and immediately runs toward the woman, sliding on the floor and grabbing her by the torso, hugging her.
V: Panam…
V delicately turns Panam's head to see her face, it's covered in bruises and blood, her lower lip is cut on the left side, her eyes are closed, the left one is swollen and covered by a big bruise. V's jaw starts shaking.
V: Pan… Pan…
V starts touching Panam everywhere, panicking and shaking.
Johnny: V…
V opens his mouth in horror, exploding in a violent crying.
V: NOOOOOOOOOO! Nooooooo…
V lies with Panam, holding her head close to his chest, showering her with tears. Eric kneels near him, putting his hand on his shoulder.
Eric: V, you have to…
V pushes Eric away, while he fights to get near Panam.
Eric: V, GODDAMIT, YOU'RE CHOKING HER!
V moves Panam's head away from his chest, still holding her with both hands. She suddenly moves her throat slightly, gasping for air. V looks at her with his eyes wide open.
Panam: You… you can…do… whatever you want… to me. He'll come and…tear you… apart.
V closes his eyes in pain, dropping one last tear, then leans gently Panam back on the floor covering her with his jacket. V gets up and covers his face with both of his hands.
Eric(Holo): Faith! We've done it! Can you hear me?!
Eric gets behind the terminal and looks in horror, becoming serious.
Eric: V… You have to see this.
V gets near Eric, still covering his face with one hand, holding himself to the desk with the other one.
Eric: They tried to… I…deleted all the messages.
V removes his hand from his face, revealing his eyes. They are completely drowned in blood, a small beacon of blue light are coming out of them, like the moon in the bottom of a pit. His face is marked by two red stripes coming down from his eyes and one from his nose.
Eric: Jesus, V…
V starts trashing the camera and the terminal, smashing them into bits of glass, metal and plastic, he then turns to Eric who puts his hands in front of him, using them as a shield, terrified.
Eric: V… please…
V suddenly falls to the ground, Eric kneels to help him.
Eric: V!
V: The message… When… When was it sent?
Eric: This morning… Why?!
The room's windows start shaking, Eric gets up and slowly walks toward them.
Eric: What's this sound?!
A big military helicopter appears outside the window, before Eric.
Johnny: Arasaka.