Chapter Text
Sevika growled, her eyes low and unblinking. The three ladies to her side exchanged gasps and whispers, giggling about the show they were about to watch. Without breaking the frigid gaze between herself and Vi, she gestured to the door with her empty beer bottle, and the girls rose instantly, excusing themselves from the room.
Vi’s hands clenched by her side, every fiber of her body rigid as she readied herself for a sudden shimmer-driven attack from the older woman in front of her. The beer bottles littered the small, antique coffee table in front of the sofa. These rooms were spacious by design, with plenty of plush chairs, swings and the like for the extravagant, large gatherings they typically held. Sevika’s large frame and intimidating personality made the room suddenly feel much smaller for Vi. She sat with her legs wide and back slouched forward slightly, similar to Vi’s own posture, but with an alluring dominance that commanded attention without her words. The expression across Sevika’s intense features was indecipherable to her. She looked angry but battered, eyes sunken in below her furrowed brows.
“Ugh…” Sevika ran her real hand through her hair, squeezing at the back of her neck, “Sit down, kid. I’m not in the fucking mood.”
Vi’s shoulders fall from her ears as she breathes out a small puff of air she didn’t realize she was holding in. Her bangles chimed as she strode to sit beside Sevika. She sunk into the upholstery beneath her, letting out the rest of her breath as she relaxed into the surface beneath her. The concept of existing next to the woman who stole her sister from her grasp stood hairs up on the back of her neck, but she was also just as reluctant to fight. Sevika extended her broad arm out in front of her, holding an elegantly long pipe, gilded in purple and gold. Vi shook her head, reckoning that whatever was in there was too strong for her.
“Take it,” Sevika urged again, “I’ve heard what you’ve been up to since Stillwater. You need it.”
After a pause Vi reluctantly accepted, holding it in her fingers and taking a long, deep breath. She felt the surge of relaxation flow down her veins, integrating itself into every fiber of her being. Pain evaporated from her body, and any negative thought present paled in comparison to how pretty the tapestry patterns moved in front of her, or how comfortable the cushions were beneath her. The room turned the most exquisite shade of purple, and she basked in the haze of it all. That is, before realizing what Sevika had said.
“How do you know what I’ve been up to?” Vi questioned, still staring at the moving patterns on the blankets in front of her, “Word travel that fast?”
“Unfortunately for you, yeah.” Sevika chuckled, opening up another beer from the sea of bottles on the table, “Heard you and your little Pilty girlfriend got in a little lover’s spat.”
“How the fuck do you even know that?” The laugh erupted from Vi as she pulled her hands to her face, “That happened like, an hour ago!”
“God you’re dumber than you look..” Sevika took a deep swig from her drink, “Information is money- especially about Jinx’s sister. And the people down here need all the money they can get.”
Vi, who was no stranger to the desperate citizens of the undercity, hummed in agreement. Vi had been lying, cheating and stealing since she could walk, and so had Powder. She could only imagine the lengths Powder would go to now, working for Silco and all. The word Jinx made her stomach do backflips and her teeth grind against eachother. Things had changed a lot since she was locked away, but she knew Powder. She picked absentmindedly at the almost-healed stab wound Sevika gave her last time they encountered eachother. The wound had purple veins branced outwards the rim of the soft, pink scar tissue from the Shimmer used in the cure. The skin was only slightly raised now, but when she ran her fingers over it she remembered the spurts of blood and scabs emanating from it the night Caitlyn healed it for her.
Forgetting she was even there, she jumped when she felt Sevika’s warm, rough hand slide across the purple fibres around her wound. Her face hardened as she recoiled from the older woman’s fingers, no doubt a reflex from the beatings she’s received in Stillwater.
“Out of the can for a week, and already on the purple stuff?” Sevika didn’t move despite Vi’s flinching, still running her fingers softly around the magenta perimeter of her scar. “Couldn’t cope, huh?”
“I used to heal the stab wound you gave me.” Vi spoke softly, through gritted teeth, “Remember?”
“Shimmer is shimmer, babe.” Sevika pulled the pipe from Vi’s hands, taking a long drag inwards and exhaling lavender smoke at her face. “You’re just as bad as the rest of us now.”
“I guess..” Vi leaned her head on the back of the sofa, staring upwards at the intricate paintings that decorated the ceiling. “Some of us have more arms, though.”
Vi was sure she’d get a grumble or huff from Sevika for that, but all that came from her throat was a gravelly chuckle. Whatever was in that pipe, it was doing a great job at making her more agreeable and less aggressive. The gears began to turn in Vi’s head, realizing she could use her dazed state to her benefit. Sevika’s mind was malleable, and with some.. distractions.. Vi was sure she could coax some information out of her.
“Silco pay for that one?” Vi ran her fingers across the smooth metal of the large arm next to her. “Looks.. fancy.”
“Works well too,” Sevika turned to look at Vi with low eyes, “For much more than collecting Silco’s dues and ordering a couple goons around.”
“Speaking of which..” Vi’s hand traced up the cold surface, gliding onto Sevika’s warm collarbone, “Silco isn’t the type to give nights off.. what are you doing here?”
After a long pause, Sevika responded.
“Being number two isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, kid.” Sevika sighed, using her metal hand to push her hair from her face in exasperation. She slid it up and around, setting it gently around Vi’s back. Smooth.
“Especially when you’re treated like number three.” Vi massaged at the back of Sevika’s tense neck, coaxing the smallest moan from her lips. She buried her face under her fake arm, trying not to give away her excitement that her plan was working, “I hear things about Silco and Pow-.. Jinx… too..” Calling Powder that almost made Vi throw up in the older woman’s lap, but she swallowed it back down and urged her body to let her keep going.
“She’s daddy’s little girl.” Sevika groaned, “That’s all he can see, at least.”
“Out of his one good eye, that is.” Vi pulled herself up and onto Sevika’s lap, straddling her. “You’re doing all the dirty work, and what does she get to do? Nothing useful, I bet.”
“The gadgets are handy, I guess.” Sevika commented absent-mindedly as Vi guided her real hand up to her breast. Her broad fingers curved around the shape, watching bumps rise on the younger womans skin from the gentle graze. The path of her hand left streaks in the velvet where she groped. “When she uses them like she’s supposed to.”
“What’s she supposed to do with them?” Vi questioned back, her real intentions still flying under Sevika’s radar. Although, the heat pooling in her abdomen had her feeling unsure about what her real intentions were at all.
“We take them on shipments to-“ Sevika’s sentence stopped abruptly, her jaw clenching. Her lowered gaze shifted from one of hunger to one of anger. “Why the fuck are you asking me that?”