#chapter 11 babeeey i hope you guys like this one!!

[ruvviks]

Chapter >> 11 [x] Characters >> Cato Wu (oc), Eddie Wolfe (oc), Lauren Dimas (oc), Mikhail Koshechkin (oc), Roksana Dobrynina (oc), Vincent Mayer (oc), Vitali Dobrynin (oc) Total >> 12.3k words Warnings >> Blood, death, injuries, manipulative behavior, obsessive behavior from one character to another, parents, violence

‘Good morning, miss. How can I help you?’

‘Vitali Dobrynin. His office, yes?’

‘It is. Would you like to-’

‘I am here to see him. I am here to see my brother.’

‘GET DOWN!’

A quiet scoff left Mikhail’s lips and he swiftly stepped aside, the nerf dart flying close by his head and bouncing off the wall behind him. Cato jogged up to him, mouthing a silent “sorry” and she quickly lowered through her knees to grab the dart from the floor, only to immediately run off again and take shelter behind a toppled over office chair.

The nerf gun war had been ongoing since noon, started by no one other than Vincent and Cato and others had soon joined the fray, a surprisingly large amount of nerf guns readily at their disposal. It was July- and far too hot outside to run around the parking lot of Vitali’s office building, which is why they had decided to turn the waiting hall right before his office into a battleground instead.

As much as Mikhail wanted to join them, he couldn’t. He knew Vitali would not mind if he were to take a break, but as Head of Security he still had his responsibilities; and with everyone else too preoccupied with attempting to avoid getting hit in the head by a dart it made sense he stayed at his post and kept an eye on incoming mercs and clients.

He swiftly dodged another incoming projectile and began wandering his way over to the entrance of the waiting hall, eyes slowly trailing the room as he walked. It was weirdly comforting, seeing his friends run after each other and yelling back and forth without any actual danger present; yet at the same time the visual of overturned tables and chairs, of Thibault frantically attempting to reload their gun, of Eddie pretending to be hit in the chest and dramatically dropping down on the floor, disappearing out of Mikhail’s peripheral vision-

He clenched his jaw and averted his gaze, sucking in a deep breath.

They were just playing. It was fine.

Time had passed. Rather quickly, too- Vincent’s birthday still felt like it had been only yesterday yet it had already been a month, and Mikhail was not entirely sure where all that time had gone. Though whether that was because it had been quiet at the office or because he had spent a significant amount of the time inside his own head, he didn’t know.

Matvey had not shown his face again, since his city-wide attack. His mercenaries had followed his order to pull back and most of the chaos they had left behind had been back under control that very same day. Of course the attack had left its damage- but by then, most of that had been repaired and long forgotten by the public, and despite the losses suffered by the mercenary network as a whole, it was still standing strong.

Death was not an unfamiliar concept to Night City, after all.

Some minor injuries aside, none of Vitali’s mercenaries had fallen during any of it. Mikhail was glad- he knew if that had happened Vitali would’ve never forgiven himself for it. The situation as it was had already caused him to take the blame, with the Council raising their eyebrows at his past connections with Arasaka and wondering if he was behind the attacks; yet it could have easily been significantly worse, and everyone had tried taking the situation as positively as they could.

Mikhail leaned against the wall, softly clicking his tongue as he watched Vitali leave his office and pause briefly, then smile the moment he realized what was going on and what his mercenaries were doing.

He was doing a lot better, by then; well aware of the fact he found himself in the eye of the storm, but he had gladly taken it.

If anyone was in desperate need of a breath of fresh air- even if it was just for a little while- it was Vitali.

The Council still had their doubts and suspicions, of course, but they had also mostly left Vitali alone- as far as Mikhail was concerned, at least. With the ongoing chaos in the rest of town they had been too preoccupied with trying to oversee the situation and Vitali’s attempt at damage control had proven sufficient for the time being; but Mikhail feared it would only be a matter of time before their luck would run out.

The longer Matvey would hide himself away, the more the other fixers would regain their grip on the situation; and then their attention would turn right back to Vitali.

A sudden dart hit Mikhail in his shoulder and he flinched, nearly doubling over entirely, the unexpected contact startling him. He absently ran his hand over his shirt where he’d been hit, blinking a few times as he waited for his heartbeat to settle down; and his gaze caught Vincent, who jogged up to him and quickly stuffed his nerf gun in his pocket.

‘You alright?’ he asked, slowly reaching out for Mikhail and placing a hand on his lower arm. ‘You look a bit pale.’

‘I do not tan easily,’ Mikhail joked, allowing Vincent to briefly take his hand and squeeze it softly. ‘No- it’s okay. It…startled me, that’s all.’

By then, Mikhail had mostly recovered from all that had happened, having had enough time to process it and let his body rest. Though he still struggled keeping his fight or flight response under control in moments of tension or surprise, and he only allowed those closest to him to initiate any sort of physical contact- and whenever he would hear someone yell a little too loud or a little too sudden, it would still cause him to freeze.

He crossed his arms in front of his chest as he watched Vincent run off again, gesturing at the others in an attempt to redirect their lines of fire elsewhere. Mikhail smiled softly- Vincent’s considerate attitude was hard to come by in Night City.

He let his gaze wander through the hall yet another time, eyes carefully scanning those present to see if anyone new had shown up in the meantime. He had only seen mercenaries of Vitali’s inner circle present thus far; which made sense with the amount of ongoing gigs that month, and the amount of paperwork that needed to be caught up on.

But right when his eyes moved over the entrance of the hall, someone entered.

Curiosity piqued, Mikhail slowly pushed himself away from the wall and straightened his back, his entire attention now focused on the woman who had walked in; not too tall but a stiff posture, head held high and shoulders pushed back- short, bleached hair, and big, brown eyes-

No.

Mikhail froze.

Why her?

Why now?

Roksana stopped in her tracks, head tilting slightly upon seeing the scene that was playing out in front of her and she clutched her jacket a little closer to her torso while her eyes slowly scanned the entire room. Vitali was no longer there; he had grabbed what he’d needed and had disappeared right back into his office and Mikhail wished he was in there with him in that moment, far away from the familiar face from his past-

And suddenly Roksana turned her head and made direct eye contact with him.

Blyat.

Mikhail’s heart skipped a beat and he watched realization rapidly wash over her face, accompanied by a bright smile he had not quite expected in that moment; part of him wanted to grab his gun and aim it in her direction, just in case, not wanting to take any risk-

But he couldn’t move. All his muscles were frozen, locking him in place.

He could still vividly remember going to Matvey’s mansion in North Oak with Huxley, Eddie and Shiro, the day after Vitali had encountered his mother there. He could still vividly remember walking into Roksana’s room, and could still vividly remember the pictures on the walls.

And he could still vividly remember Huxley calling his name, and showing him-

‘It is good seeing you, Misha.’

Mikhail blinked and frowned, eyes briefly searching- Roksana had walked closer and stood right in front of him now, having to look up in order to be able to maintain eye contact with him. He involuntarily took a step backwards and suppressed some tics, barely able to keep himself together.

She spoke English to him, not all that surprisingly. Mikhail knew the Dobrynin siblings had been forced to exclusively speak that language at home, unlike himself, who had been raised with a mix of mostly English and Polish and some Russian on the side.

Though much like Vitali- and unlike Daniil- she had held on to her accent, actively going against her mother’s wishes; an action of which Mikhail knew was a bold move, having witnessed the direct consequences of that with Vitali on more than one occasion.

He couldn’t help but wonder if Roksana had ever faced similar punishments.

‘What are you doing here?’ Mikhail finally asked, keeping his voice low as he briefly glanced into the rest of the room; no one else had noticed Roksana enter.

‘Here to see Vitali,’ she simply answered, the bright smile from earlier still lingering on her face to the point it became a little unnerving. ‘But I was not expecting to see you here. How have you been?’

Mikhail didn’t know how to answer.

The way she spoke to him was throwing him off; like they had known each other well at any point in their lives, as if Roksana was meeting up with an old friend rather than her brother’s friend. Sure, it lined up with what they knew about her- weirdly obsessed with Mikhail, still, after so many years- but that did not take away how uncomfortable it made him and a few quiet clicks left his mouth as he quickly averted his gaze.

‘Misha.’

Stop calling me that.

Roksana reached out to him- and Mikhail flinched, nearly jumping back while pulling his arms closer to himself to dodge Roksana’s hand. In the process he managed to hit his leg against a chair and a loud BANG nearly echoed through the hall, drawing the attention of the few mercs closest to them.

‘Everything alright over there?’ Eddie called, but Mikhail couldn’t answer him; the room around him was spinning and he could barely keep his balance, nausea bubbling up in his stomach and rapidly moving up through his chest to his throat-

Why now?

He knew exactly why.

The eye of the storm- it had to end somewhere. Matvey was not just going to let this go and Roksana showing up was too much of a coincidence to be completely unrelated to the rest of the circumstances. Strange, that he would send her straight into the lion’s den; but with the family being as fucked up as it was, Mikhail was barely surprised anymore.

‘I am not going to hurt you,’ Roksana spoke, a frown decorating her face as she once again stepped closer. ‘Are you alright? You don’t look too well.’

‘Stay away from me,’ Mikhail mumbled back in Russian and shook his head, eyes wandering back into the room and finding Eddie; they had walked a little closer and looked at him with worry in their eyes, and the second their gazes met they sped off in the direction of Vitali’s office.

Roksana scoffed and rolled her eyes, placing her hand on her hip as she shot him a glare.

It was funny, almost. How much she reminded him of a younger Vitali.

‘Come on- do you truly think I came here to kill people, dressed like this?’ she asked, gesturing at her attire. ‘Besides, if you had suspected something like that you would have taken out your weapon by now.’ A pause, and her eyes moved over the several holsters on Mikhail’s belt. ‘Any of them. Misha- please. I am here to talk. Can we at least attempt to stay civilized?’

‘You have some nerve, I’ll give you that,’ Mikhail spat back, barely listening to what she had to say. ‘What makes you think I trust you? You might not be here to kill people but that doesn’t mean your intentions are good-’

The words got caught in his throat when Roksana reached out for him a second time, her fingers briefly brushing past his hand now before he could pull away; she appeared almost annoyed at his attempts at avoiding her and scoffed again, tilting her chin up.

Always believing she could get anything she wanted- as if the whole world revolved around her, the main character, and everyone else was just a background character in her story. She had been like that as a child and Vitali had always jokingly said she would grow some brain cells one day-

But here she was, dressed up in the same attitude as she’d always been wearing and Mikhail had no idea what to do with that information.

‘Vitali is in his office,’ Mikhail finally managed to say, and he vaguely gestured at the other side of the hall. ‘No idea if he is busy, but- go ahead. Talk to him.’

‘In a minute.’

Please just go.

‘I just want to catch up!’ Roksana continued, another small smile taking shape on her face as she once more moved closer. ‘Please, Misha- We have not seen each other in years now, and I-’

‘Roksana!’

She stopped talking.

It was quiet in the hall, now. Everyone was frozen in place, heads turned to Vitali who had entered again and who was quickly making his way to Mikhail, a blank look on his face. Roksana turned to look as well- her eyes briefly widened upon spotting her brother and Mikhail could not help but notice she tightly clenched her jaw.

‘Vitali,’ she quietly responded, slowly taking some steps back when Vitali positioned himself between her and Mikhail, making sure he was entirely out of her reach. ‘We… We need to talk.’

‘We do, yes,’ he answered, briefly glancing over his shoulder; his gaze caught Mikhail’s and for a split second his features softened, right before he turned back to his sister and another shadow washed over his face. ‘In my office. I do not want to see you near Mikhail again.’

As if they were suddenly seventeen years old again and Vitali was scolding Roksana for entering his room without his permission. A curious feeling- Mikhail had experienced the same when Daniil had shown up, and when they had come face to face with Matvey.

And it was not a good feeling.

He watched with clenched fists as Vitali and Roksana slowly started making their way to his office, the both of them glancing back at him briefly- Mikhail merely averted his gaze in response, unable to look at either of them.

He was unsure if Vitali had anything to do with her sudden appearance. He acted strangely calm; but that could easily just be because he was used to it by now, rather than because he had called her himself or anything the like. So used to situation after situation happening that it barely drew a reaction out of him anymore, and Mikhail couldn’t help but think once again how Vitali was starting to remind him of-

‘You alright?’

Eddie’s voice was gentle and quiet, yet still managed to startle Mikhail a little and he defensively took a step back. He quickly scanned the rest of the room, half expecting everyone to still be staring at him- but they were not, all quietly mumbling to each other as they started to clean up the mess they’d made.

Only Vincent was looking in his direction, still, hands nervously clasped together in front of his torso. The moment their gazes met, he quickly looked away.

‘I don’t know,’ Mikhail finally managed to wring out of himself, voice strangled as he looked back at Eddie. The worried look in their eyes doubled instantly and a soft sigh left their chest, before they hesitantly reached out for him.

Mikhail stepped forward and allowed Eddie to hug him, dropping his head on their shoulder and weakly wrapping his own arms around their waist in return. He closed his eyes, focusing on Eddie’s hand reassuringly running over his back, and slowly felt his heartbeat settle down.

He wasn’t ready yet.

He wasn’t ready for everything to pick up where it left off, for Matvey to return, for the situation to escalate again. The eye of the storm- but Mikhail wished it would last just a little longer, give them just a little bit more time-

But it was already too late for that now.

Of course she was there.

Vitali was not surprised- from the moment he had learned his father was the Broker he had wondered about Roksana’s involvement in it all and he had known it would only be a matter of time before she would show.

But now that she was there, for some reason he had trouble believing he was awake.

It was all starting again. They’d had a brief moment of peace and Vitali had gotten comfortable- too comfortable, and now he found himself nervous and on edge as if he had entirely forgotten how to handle situations like these and needed to relearn from scratch.

He patiently waited at the door of his office and closed it behind him the moment Roksana had entered. She took a few slow steps further but then stopped, eyes trailing the walls of Vitali’s office as she carefully turned around and looked at him.

He didn’t know what to say.

Seeing Daniil all grown up had already hit him hard, but at least he had expected that; he had called his brother himself and despite the time that had passed, Daniil had still been easily recognizable to Vitali, the only vastly different thing about him being his height.

Roksana had changed. A lot.

Head held high, short and bleached hair- nothing at all like what it used to be. A face full of makeup, too, and she wore a red silk dress that Vitali knew Nadya would not approve of in the slightest.

But the expression on her face is what got to him the most. He had never realized she looked so similar to their mother.

Vitali hesitantly stepped closer and held out his arms, unsure what to expect- but it was as if Roksana had been waiting and she immediately closed the distance, crashing into his arms with so much force he almost got slammed into the door.

He tightly wrapped his arms around her and closed his eyes, feeling a sudden weight wash off his shoulders as he thankfully buried his face in his sister’s hair. A moment of weakness, perhaps- if she was there with bad intent he could be met with a knife to the stomach, possibly a mantis blade directly to the chest-

‘I’ve missed you,’ Roksana quietly said to him in Russian.

Vitali swallowed heavily, forcing the tears that were threatening to well up in his eyes back.

‘I’ve missed you too.’

So many years apart- a choice Vitali had made because he’d had to get out of there, but he had never meant for the loss of contact to happen as it did. Nadya’s choice, if he were to believe his father; it could very easily be a lie, or a half-lie, a careful maneuver around the truth for whatever purpose-

But Vitali still vividly remembered the look in Matvey’s eyes when he had spoken, and the sudden softness of his voice. Something had changed, in that moment- and Vitali knew his father had spoken the truth to him.

‘You’ve changed your hair,’ Vitali said, stating the obvious as he slowly let go of his sister and made his way to his desk to sit down.

‘I was sick and tired of it,’ Roksana answered and she straightened her back, running her hand over her dress to flatten out the fabric and she followed him, slowly lowering herself into the same chair Daniil had sat in some weeks earlier. ‘You, out of all people, should understand.’

Vitali lightly clenched his jaw, reaching out to grab a pen to spin between his fingers as his mind briefly wandered back to when he first cut his hair short; an impulsive decision, at an unfortunate time in his life, caused by-

‘I do,’ he cut his own thoughts off. ‘Did it help?’

Roksana briefly held his gaze, then averted her eyes and tilted her head up again, corner of her mouth slightly twitching up into a small smile.

‘Yes. Mother wasn’t happy, but- this isn’t about her.’

‘Good.’

Vitali did not even want to think about Nadya’s possible reaction to Roksana coming home with her hair done, but he knew their mother well enough to know it could not have been easy for his sister. In the brief silence between them, his gaze found Roksana’s again-

It had hurt her, one way or another. He could see it in her eyes.

‘I assume you’re aware of the situation we’ve found ourselves in,’ Vitali quietly said, quickly changing the subject and still speaking in Russian; a pleasant change of pace, and it felt good to finally be able to speak his mother tongue again with at least one of his family members.

‘I am,’ Roksana replied. She briefly paused and her eyes wandered off to the large window wall behind Vitali. ‘And I would like for it to end. It’s been going on for long enough, if you ask me.’

Vitali thought back to what Daniil had told him; how everything had started after Vitali had been fired, and his parents had lost their jobs as well as a result of it all; and that had happened several years ago at that point, meaning Matvey had had more than enough time to plan Vitali’s downfall.

So much time spent obsessing with his son- and for what?

‘He is not going to stop,’ Roksana continued, straightening her back as she sucked in a deep breath. ‘I’ve tried talking some sense into him, but- well, you know how stubborn he is. Truly believes he is going to achieve something with this that won’t end in blood. I don’t know what else he has planned, but he will strike again. And he won’t stop until he- until he feels like you have gotten what you deserve.’

‘So it truly is nothing more than revenge?’ Vitali asked. His heartbeat was speeding up again, the same anxiety filling his chest as weeks before; it had been nice to be free from it for a while, but of course that couldn’t last.

‘Are you really asking me that?’ Roksana smiled and scoffed, gesturing vaguely around the room. ‘This family- has anything ever been about something other than revenge?’

Daniil breaking his phone, and all the other things he used to do as a response to Vitali asking him for help; Roksana telling on them whenever she could even if the situation didn’t involve her, simply because she felt left out despite her young age being the sole reason for that, most of the time; Matvey refusing to help Nadya because she had yelled at him earlier that day, and Nadya refusing to make dinner because she felt like everyone was undeserving of it even though she was the one who had ruined the mood in the first place-

And even Vitali himself, with his clever ways of making Daniil pay for breaking his belongings and never helping him; and how he would just leave and go to Mikhail’s place whenever he pleased, to show his parents just how little he wanted to be around them-

‘I would like to help you.’

Roksana spoke quietly, a slight thrill to her voice as she switched back to English and leaned a little closer- and Vitali instinctively leaned closer as well. ‘He will not see that coming. He believes I am on his side- had maybe expected Danya to show, to help you- but that did not happen. If he finds out I am here with you, perhaps- perhaps that will give you enough leverage against him.’

‘And if not?’ Vitali asked.

Roksana hesitated.

And that was all he needed to know.

His sister was committed, confident in her own abilities and strongly convinced of her own beliefs; but the hesitance spilling from her lips and stiffening her shoulders did not suit her in the slightest, telling Vitali there was more to her story than she was willing to admit.

Sent by their father, perhaps? It wouldn’t surprise him. Perhaps Matvey too was running low on options by then and had resorted to grasping at straws to try and get his grip back on the situation.

But Vitali was not sure. All he had to go on was his intuition, a bad feeling deep down in his stomach, accompanied by the voice in his head continuously telling him things will take a turn for the worse; and the last thing he wanted, was to be the one to send Roksana away.

He couldn’t do that. What if his intuition was wrong? What kind of brother would he be, then?

‘At least I will have made the right decision,’ Roksana finally answered, slowly leaning back in her chair. ‘If he looks down the sight of his gun and sees his own children and even that won’t bring him to his senses, then perhaps he is too far gone to be saved.’

Vitali scoffed and straightened his back, gaze lowering to his desk. ‘I think we’re already far past that point.’

‘Not yet.’ Roksana paused, a light frown taking shape on her face.

‘He has forgotten you are his son, Vitali. We just need to make him remember that.’

Vitali wanted nothing more than to believe her; but something was holding him back. How could Matvey forget about something like that? Of course Roksana did not mean “forgetting” like that- he was simply choosing to forget about it, yet still- how could anyone push something like that so far underneath the surface it made them completely indifferent about the idea of ruining their own child’s life?

He clenched his jaw, mind wandering back to the last time he had seen his father. How he had spoken to him; how Viktor had been unable to remain quiet as well, and how everything about the situation had felt wrong, and-

Different.

But Vitali didn’t know what any of it meant.

‘So, what now?’ Roksana suddenly asked, giving Vitali an expectant look.

‘Very good question,’ he answered, slowly scanning her face and trying to come up with anything else to say.

He could send her away.

It would be very easy- what was she going to do about it? Her story sounded too good to be true and Vitali doubted she could just sneak away like she supposedly had without Matvey and Nadya noticing, even now that she was already a full-grown adult.

But sending her away like that would not do him any good.

The small chance she was telling the truth- if he were to send her away, she’d have no one to turn to. And all of that sounded just a little bit too familiar to Vitali.

‘You can stay,’ he continued, a heavy weight pressing down on his shoulders as he spoke. ‘I have some bedrooms in this building- you are allowed to sleep here for the time being, if you’d like. We wait until father makes his next move, and act accordingly. Yes?’

‘And in the meantime?’ Roksana asked.

‘You can help out around here. Business stalled since- well, all of this started happening. There are plenty of jobs that need to be done, we need supplies, we need clientele back. I’ll introduce you to Cato, she will stay with you through all of this. Until it is over. And then we will see what happens next.’

He feared he was making a mistake. But what else could he do?

‘Thank you,’ Roksana said, a small smile taking shape on her face. ‘You won’t regret this, I promise.’

Vitali wanted nothing more than to believe her.

But he truly did not know what to think anymore.

‘On your right!’

Vincent jumped out of the way upon hearing Cato yell, right in time to dodge an incoming attack. The Maelstromer stumbled forward, knocked off-balance by the sudden lack of a target in front of them and Vincent used that momentum to push them on the ground and slam their head into the asphalt, rendering them unconscious.

Only a few more left.

Breathe in, breathe out.

He deployed his mantis blades and ran for cover, pausing momentarily until the gunfire came to a brief halt- and he jumped right back in, slashing someone’s neck in the middle of their reload and using their body as partial cover while moving closer to his next target.

He went for a stab right between the ribs, but his blade got caught by another; the Maelstromer had mantis blades themself as well and violently pushed Vincent’s arms apart, leaving his torso exposed. A rush of panic caused his breath to get caught in his throat and he flinched-

But before the blades could get even near him, a gunshot echoed through the air and blood splattered onto Vincent’s face and the front of his t-shirt and jacket, and the Maelstromer dropped motionless to the ground.

Silence washed over the small parking lot and Vincent made direct eye contact with Roksana, dressed in similar combat gear as Mikhail and Cato, still holding her gun- which was now pointed directly at his chest. Her face was unreadable, a trait she shared with both her brother and her father, and she lightly clenched her jaw as she slowly lowered the weapon without saying a word.

‘Everyone still in one piece?’ Cato asked, reloading her rifle as she spun around in a circle, checking their surroundings. ‘Mish? Talk to me, baby.’

‘All limbs attached,’ Mikhail responded from behind a car, as he slowly got back up on his feet. ‘V?’

‘Peachy,’ Vincent said and gave him a thumbs up. His mantis blade was still deployed and he nearly cut himself with it.

‘Coast looks clear from my point of view,’ Lauren said through his earpiece. ‘Get the stash and delta. More of their chooms might be en route.’

‘Yes, ma’am,’ Cato replied. ‘Rox? You with us?’

Vincent glanced over his shoulder again, just in time to see Roksana shove her phone back in her back pocket and give Cato a single, solid nod. Once again, unreadable- hadn’t said much the entire gig so far, and judging by her demeanor that very moment Vincent doubted that was going to change.

They had been sent there by Vitali to pick up a stash that disappeared off his radar several months ago. Thus far they hadn’t found a moment to go look for it- and by then, Vitali feared it would no longer be around- but it was definitely worth a shot, considering the contents of the stash would hopefully get them enough eddies to stock up on supplies.

The brief ceasefire they’d had with Matvey had given them some time to get business back on track, but it had been a lot harder than any of them had anticipated. Many mercenaries- as well as clients- had decided to lie low for the time being, too paranoid about the whole Broker situation and Vitali’s possible involvement, which meant Vitali had gotten very few new gigs and very few mercs at his disposal to send out into the field.

In other words, Vincent had mostly focused on their backlog, like the other mercenaries who were still around. Not all the jobs could be finished as desired anymore because of the time that had passed, but he guessed it was better than nothing.

But it still meant they continued to run low on supplies. And especially if Matvey was now picking up where he had left off, that would not be good for them.

‘What are we looking for, exactly?’ Vincent asked, pushing a cart aside to get inside the garage.

‘Small package, or a box,’ Cato answered, swiftly following him and kicking up a stray basketball with her foot to toss it into the hoop attached to the wall. ‘Looks fancy, expensive. Probably has some diamonds superglued to it- and it’s heavy. ’s All I know.’

Vincent had no idea what was in it, and frankly, he did not care. Some of the gigs Vitali handed out looked shady on the surface, but Vincent knew his boyfriend well by then- and he knew he never just took a job from a client without a proper look into their business to see if they had any aces up their sleeve.

‘So this is what my brother makes you do every day?’ Roksana suddenly asked from right next to Vincent, startling him a little bit; he had not heard or seen her approach.

‘Well, usually, yeah,’ he slowly answered, briefly looking in her direction before quickly redirecting his attention to the lockers in front of him. ‘Office’s been in a tizzy lately because of your father, but- on any normal weekday we’re just doin’ gigs like these.’

‘Sounds boring.’ Roksana opened one of the lockers too and slowly let her gaze move through it, before closing it again and opening another. ‘I feel like there is a lot more you can do than retrieve little boxes for him, no?’

Vincent clenched his jaw and opened a locker with a bit more force than he had wanted and half of its contents came flying out; stacks of papers, books, nothing of real value and most importantly, none of it was what he was looking for, and he quietly cursed to himself as he tried to kick the mess underneath the lockers to get it out of the way.

‘To me it sounds like he is making you run all of his errands,’ Roksana continued. ‘A bit hypocritical if you ask me, truly. I thought he hated doing all our parents’ jobs for them when he was younger.’

Vitali barely talked about his past. Vincent had heard a story or two about Daniil refusing to help his brother whenever he needed help in the household, but that was about it; not that he minded, though. It was none of his business to begin with and Vitali probably wanted to leave most if not all of that in the past, where it belonged.

‘Clearly this is very different,’ Cato suddenly said from the other side of the garage, while rummaging through some toolboxes. ‘We’re on payroll. He pays us to “run his errands”. It’s jobs he takes from the client, then gives to us, we get the goods, deliver, get our eddies, everyone’s happy. It’s not like doing the fuckin’ dishes.’

‘Does he ever make you do the dishes at home, V?’ Lauren chimed in, causing Cato to snort.

‘I mean- I do the dishes with Misha, yeah,’ Vincent answered, unsure if she was expecting an actual answer or not. ‘Vito does the cooking, we clean the kitchen after. Seems fair.’

‘God, I love that.’ Cato paused and turned to look at Vincent, a big grin on her face. ‘Hearin’ about the boss doing regular human things. Is he a good cook? Or do I need to start looking for a better fixer?’

The banter continued going back and forth between Cato and Lauren for a bit, but Vincent was no longer listening, gaze drawn towards Mikhail; he was searching the garage in silence, back turned to all of them as he moved as quick as he could, clearly not interested in joining in on the conversation.

Vincent worried about him, still. His friend was doing a lot better than before- but he still froze up regularly and refused to get close to anyone, while Vincent knew he needed the comfort of other human beings around him.

And on gigs Mikhail moved quickly, resolutely. Not wanting to waste any time- like he had always done, in a way- though back then it had been a controlled and determined hurry whereas now Vincent could almost feel the panic and stress rushing through Mikhail’s system.

‘Surely there are more exciting things to do than look for supplies,’ Roksana calmly continued, unaware of Vincent being distracted from the conversation and deciding to ignore Cato and Lauren entirely. ‘This is Night City. You guys are mercenaries, yes? Should that not mean more than this?’

Vincent exhaled sharply and lowered his gaze, a sudden rush of adrenaline catching him off-guard as he suddenly found himself in the hallways of a luxurious corpo hotel, crouched behind a planter with a gun that did not belong to him clenched in his hand, his best friend sitting beside him with his hand pressed on his side while rapidly bleeding out-

‘And do you never feel underappreciated, then?’ A pause, as silence washed over the garage and Roksana looked between the three of them, putting her hands to her hips. ‘Clearly you are very capable individuals, able to do much more than this. Does he show you his gratitude? Ever?’

Vincent pushed his own thoughts aside and immediately glanced back at Mikhail, who had sucked in a sharp breath and had straightened his back upon hearing Roksana’s words.

A touchy topic, still.

Yes, Vitali showed them his gratitude; but in some cases in different ways than they would expect. Vincent vividly remembered Mikhail and Vitali’s fight at the very start of that year- he had heard the entire story later, since he had not been present at the time it had happened- how Mikhail had indeed felt underappreciated by Vitali, and how it’d later turned out he had merely been comparing himself to the mercenaries Vitali purposely treated differently and showed his gratitude to in a more direct way, because he believed they needed the extra encouragement-

Partially a misunderstanding, partially the circumstances piling up to the point of collapse. They had talked about it, moved on from it- but to hear it all brought up again in this context, by no one other than Vitali’s sister of all people-

‘A complicated man,’ Roksana continued, the words leaving her lips with a sigh. ‘He appears so indifferent to me, about things- I wonder what happened.’

‘A lot has happened since last time you saw him,’ Mikhail suddenly cut her off, a sharp edge to his voice Vincent hadn’t heard from him before. ‘Of course he shows his gratitude; and if he seems a little absent to you it might be because his own father wants to ruin his life, in case you had not heard.’

‘If anything it should be a wake-up call,’ Roksana simply replied, unbothered by his tone as she slowly walked closer to him. ‘For him to not become like that himself. But to me it seems like he is starting to mirror father- and mother too.’

‘Really? You have gathered all that information in only three days, now?’

‘Are you implying I am lying to you? He is my brother, Mikhail. I know my own family.’

How quick the mood had changed, suddenly- and Vincent wasn’t a fan of it. Roksana clearly was no longer simply trying to make conversation, and the more she spoke the more Vincent wanted her to stop.

It didn’t do him much, what she was saying; of course not, why would it? Simply trying to cause doubts where there were none in the first place, why would Vitali not appreciate the work they did for him?

Vincent was pulled out of his thoughts by Mikhail’s voice, louder than before and a little panicked. He looked up- just in time to see Cato push herself between her friend and Roksana, smacking her hand away and pointing a finger at her chest.

‘Thought I was clear at the debrief,’ she hissed. ‘Stay away from Misha. Won’t say it again.’

Another tense silence washed over the garage and Vincent quickly averted his gaze again, his desire to find that stupid fucking stash and getting the hell out of there growing with every passing second.

He was not entirely sure what Mikhail’s history with Roksana was. All he had heard was they’d found a picture of him in Roksana’s room back in the Dobrynin mansion in North Oak, and Roksana had supposedly been weirdly obsessed with him when they had been young. Either way, Vincent understood why Vitali wanted to keep his sister away from Mikhail, especially considering what happened- and could have happened- when Mikhail had still been in Ravager’s captivity-

‘Got the stash.’

Cato held a little box up in the air- coated with dark blue velvet, and Vincent could see the shimmer from a jewel even from a distance- and then quickly stuffed it in the pocket of her armor while beelining for the exit of the garage. Vincent followed suit, and briefly slowed his pace when he noticed the others moving as well so he could position himself between Mikhail and Roksana.

Mikhail briefly glanced at him as he passed him by, a thankful look in his eyes.

Not a word was spoken between any of them, on the way home. It was only a short ride; yet it felt like years to Vincent, the tension from in the garage seemingly multiplied- and it did not help that Roksana’s words were still bouncing around in his head.

No doubts, again. Not about Vitali at least- if anything, he was starting to doubt her.

Nobody had liked the fact she was going to stick around. But nobody had said anything about it, either; Vitali was their boss, and Roksana was his sister, and if he let her stay then it would surely be for good reasons.

Vincent hadn’t entirely understood why, though. Not at any point had he believed her intentions were good and if anything, everything that had just happened in the garage, proved that.

Upon arrival at Vitali’s office building, Cato handed Vincent the little box and he went inside before the others, who stuck around the parking lot for a little longer to catch up with some people there. Vincent absently greeted some mercs in the entrance hall and directly went upstairs- almost on autopilot, but with adrenaline running through his veins as if he had to hurry for whatever reason, wanting nothing more than to tell Vitali about what had happened as soon as he could.

The elevator slowly ascended and Vincent stood in silence the whole time, eyes glued to his own reflection in the mirror.

Out of everyone in the office, he had probably dealt with the situation best thus far; not surprisingly so, considering what had happened the year before with the Relic and Johnny Silverhand.

But he was starting to become tired now.

The constant worrying about whether or not Matvey was going to strike again- and now the constant worrying about Roksana and her motives, whether she would turn on them or not-

Vincent clenched his jaw tightly as he left the elevator, his heartbeat picking up from just thinking about it all. He wondered how Vitali still managed to keep himself together so well, considering the circumstances; if Vincent had been in his shoes, he would have probably left town several weeks ago.

‘We found the stash.’

Vincent had quietly entered Vitali’s office and slowly walked further inside, holding the little box tightly in both his hands. Vitali had not looked up from his work yet- reading glasses so low on his nose they nearly threatened to fall off, while he quickly skimmed through a page of his paperwork.

It was easy to forget sometimes, to Vincent; that Vitali was a fixer, running an entire business mostly by himself, on top of everything else that was going on in his life. Early in their relationship it had been the only thing on his mind, wondering if he was even allowed to have such feelings for Vitali in the first place, yet now he had to be periodically reminded of it through moments like the one they found themselves in in that very moment; a moment of peace, in which Vitali was merely focused on some boring paperwork instead of trying to keep his mercenaries alive.

‘That is good news. You can leave it on my desk.’

A little bit dismissive, but Vincent did not look too deep into it; Vitali was busy, by the looks of it deep in thought- the stack of documents on his desk was nearly as tall as his computer screen at that point.

But suddenly Roksana’s words rapidly flooded back into Vincent’s mind, and before he could turn around to walk back and leave, he stopped himself, and quietly cleared his throat.

Vitali finally looked up, adjusting his glasses in what looked like the last possible second and running a hand through his hair to push it out of his face. His eyes rapidly moved over Vincent’s features and he immediately seemed to realize what was wrong, and quickly put his pen down.

‘Did everything go alright?’ he asked, rising to his feet.

‘Decent enough, I s’pose,’ Vincent answered. ‘Minor bumps in the road, you know how it is with Maelstrom. It’s just- your sister.’

‘Is she not pulling her weight?’

‘She is! But- I dunno. Something’s off about her. The way she speaks. About us- about you. It doesn’t sit right with me.’

Vincent could not help but notice he picked his own words carefully. As if the conversation was like navigating through a minefield, as if one wrong step would cause an explosion, would make the situation worse; would cause Vitali to get angry with him.

Even though that had never happened before.

‘What did she talk about?’ Vitali quietly asked. He had moved around his desk in the meantime, but the mention of Roksana had caused him to stop and keep his distance; because it had been unexpected to him, perhaps, or merely just to keep it professional for now.

Sure, they were dating, but at the office he was still Vincent’s boss.

‘A lot of things,’ Vincent replied. ‘To me it sounded like she’s tryin’ to pit us up against you. Tried to make it sound like you’re making us run your errands like your parents used to do with you-’

Vitali leaned back against his desk and in the movement the back of his shoe collided with the wood a little bit harder than he had meant for, the sudden noise causing Vincent to stop talking and flinch a little. He stood unmoving for a moment, watching Vitali’s gaze fixate on nothing in particular somewhere behind Vincent, and then slowly walked a little closer.

‘You’re not,’ he slowly said, reaching out and placing a hand on Vitali’s arm which he had crossed in front of his chest. ‘I know it’s different. This is literally our job- you’re paying us. That’s why it doesn’t sit right with me. She’s clearly got her own agenda.’

He watched Vitali in silence for a moment, waiting for a response; but Vitali said nothing, facial expression unreadable, and he still refused to make eye contact with Vincent for whatever reason.

‘Hey.’

Vincent spoke softly, shuffling a little bit closer until Vitali finally looked at him again. Vincent slowly reached out- so as not to startle him- and carefully took the other man’s reading glasses off his nose and placed them on the desk behind him.

‘I love you,’ he said, reaching up again and cupping Vitali’s cheek; Vitali’s eyes fluttered shut and he slightly turned his head, to be able to kiss the palm of Vincent’s hand.

‘I love you, and- and I trust you. Not your sister. She just got here and I’m still not sure what her angle is exactly but from where I’m standing it looks like she’s trying to trick us into thinking you’re a bad person.’

‘What do you suggest I do?’

The question came so unexpectedly, Vincent froze.

Vitali’s eyes were still on him; he was waiting, patient as ever, a concerned frown decorating his brow. Their faces were only inches apart, by then- had this happened a little over a year earlier, Vincent would not have been able to focus on anything other than Vitali’s lips.

‘You’re askin’ me that?’ he finally managed to quietly say, thumb softly moving over Vitali’s cyberware. ‘I- I think you should do what feels right to you. She’s your sister, but if she’s only here to try and pit everyone up against each other then maybe she really shouldn’t be around. Especially not now. I can handle it, but- you know, ‘specially with the Council already doubting you, wondering if you’re with Arasaka, wondering if you’re behind the Broker’s attacks-’

‘You’re right,’ Vitali quietly cut him off and nodded, a shaky exhale leaving his lips and he closed his eyes. ‘You’re right. I- I should not have let her in here in the first place.’

‘It’s alright, I understand.’ Vincent paused, and bit the inside of his cheek. ‘It’s your sister. If it’d been Phoebe, or Riley- I would’ve probably done the same.’

It helped, putting it in perspective like that. He still did not entirely understand Vitali’s decision- mainly because of what had happened earlier that year, with Daniil- but Vincent did understand like no other that family made everything a lot more complicated than it seemed on a surface level.

He would let his own sisters stay, no questions asked. Even if he himself didn’t entirely understand his own decision.

Vitali hesitantly leaned in a little and Vincent immediately closed the distance between them, lips finding Vitali’s with ease- and he felt his boyfriend relax against him, hands sliding down his waist to his lower back to pull him even closer.

A much needed kiss, one that grew desperate within only seconds; Vincent draped his arms over Vitali’s shoulders and gasped when they suddenly turned around and he was pressed between the desk and Vitali’s body, hands tightly gripping his hips- thigh gently pushing itself between his legs.

‘We shouldn’t be doing this at work right now,’ Vincent mumbled into the kiss, lips curling up into a small smile when Vitali hummed in disagreement and let his hand move back and slip into the back pocket of Vincent’s pants.

‘Really? What is stopping you this time?’

‘Circumstances.’

‘Oh, I apologize, V. Do I need to remind you of what we did some weeks ago, right here where I am standing right now?’

‘You think I’ve already forgotten?’

A brief silence as Vincent wiggled his eyebrows at Vitali and leaned in again to give him another quick kiss. Vitali hummed softly in return and his grip on Vincent’s body tightened again- telling him he wasn’t going to just let him walk back out of the door any time soon.

‘Did you lock the door behind you?’ he quietly asked, leaving a trail of gentle kisses down Vincent’s cheek and jaw to his neck.

‘Mhm,’ Vincent answered and shivered when Vitali’s hand found its way into his t-shirt- it was a little cold.

A well-deserved distraction from everything that was going on- Vincent wasn’t complaining at all. He ran his hand through the back of Vitali’s hair and gripped it tightly when he felt Vitali’s teeth gently dig into his skin a little, and a shaky breath left his lips as Vitali pushed his thigh up a little before he moved his face closer to Vincent’s ear and spoke again-

‘Good.’

‘No one ever helps me in this household!’

‘I am at work. My break is in twenty minutes, I can-’

‘Never mind! I will do it myself now!’

Nadya stormed out of the room, loudly slamming the door shut behind her causing both Daniil and Roksana to flinch. They were sitting on the floor of the living room- Daniil was sick and was wrapped in a blanket, staring blankly ahead, and Roksana was sat next to him, trying to focus on a drawing she had still been working on some minutes earlier.

Vitali glared at the now closed door leading to the hallway, listening to their mother scream and curse at nobody in particular. He sat in the corner of the couch, as far away from his father as he could; he wanted nothing more than to disappear into the comfort and safety of his bedroom, but did not dare to get closer to Nadya during her infamous temper tantrums and wisely stayed put.

He was not even sure what she was angry about this time. Something about cleaning the kitchen, he assumed; he himself had been too busy with homework and laundry and taking care of Daniil to find a moment to do it earlier that day.

Matvey quietly mumbled something to himself in Russian before redirecting his attention to the laptop in his lap while adjusting his reading glasses and lightly shaking his head. Just this once, Vitali understood his father’s frustration; he was already busy with work, and could not split himself into two in order to also help Nadya out at that very moment.

Vitali clenched his jaw when he heard his mother slam yet another door and he slowly got up, his leg protesting with his every move. It was the first time that day he had actually been able to sit down to take a break from all his chores, but the way Nadya was acting just made him even more stressed and on edge than he had been before- and if cleaning up the kitchen for her would cause her to finally shut the fuck up, then he was willing to do that.

But before he could even walk past his siblings, the door to the living room suddenly flung open again and Nadya barged in, shooting him a glare before she stomped into the kitchen.

‘Anything I can do to help?’ Vitali calmly asked, but he couldn’t even finish his sentence.

‘I do not need your help.’

Then stop fucking complaining about it.

He almost said it out loud. Almost.

A sharp inhale, a shaky exhale. From the corner of his eye he could see Matvey briefly look up at him, and Vitali slightly tilted his head up as he forced the words to stay stuck in his throat, locked solidly behind his teeth, knowing if he were to say another word he would only end up making it worse.

Work on your self-control.

For a brief moment he simply stood there, watching Nadya in the kitchen- setting a stack of plates down with a lot more force than necessary, while angrily muttering to herself and forcefully turning on the tap- and then he slowly took a step back, and glanced down at his siblings.

Daniil had not moved since he’d sat down with his sister, clutching the edges of the blanket in white-knuckled fists and after short eye contact with Vitali he averted his gaze to the floor. Roksana had pulled up her legs in the meantime and she rested her chin on top, eyes glossy and staring straight at the drawing she’d been working on.

And it almost caused Vitali to open his mouth anyway.

Almost.

He slowly sat down on the floor next to his sister, shooting another glare into the kitchen when Nadya dropped a handful of cutlery in the sink loud enough for Roksana to flinch once more. He softly tapped her arm, and when both she and Daniil were looking at him he lifted up his hands.

After all those years, Nadya still refused to learn sign language for him. But everyone else knew it.

‘She is making this her own problem at this point,’ Vitali said, moving only his hands and lips while no actual sound left his mouth. ‘It’s not either of your fault. Yes?’

He paused, waiting until both of them nodded, then briefly glanced into the kitchen again- Nadya was not paying any attention to them, and Vitali’s lips curled up a little before redirecting his attention to his siblings.

‘How shocked do you think she will be when she finds out that there will be more dishes after dinner tonight?’

The tension in the living room instantly disappeared and Roksana immediately reached for her face to do a near-perfect impression of The Scream, causing Daniil to chuckle softly- which he quickly covered up with a soft cough.

‘She is going to explode,’ he replied, quickly coughing again when another chuckle threatened to leave his lips when Vitali started mimicking their mother forcefully throwing stuff into the sink.

‘A million little mother-pieces on the floor,’ Roksana added, lowering her legs again to give her hands more room to move. Vitali wiggled his eyebrows at her and could barely suppress a laugh.

‘Do you think she’ll want us to pick all those pieces up and put her in some soapy water in the sink as well?’

Both Daniil and Roksana quickly covered their faces, muffled giggling quickly filling the living room. Vitali grinned and briefly looked up again, to make sure their mother wasn’t looking at them-

But instead of being met with Nadya, he made direct eye contact with Matvey.

Vitali’s smile faded immediately and his heart skipped a beat, a rush of adrenaline nearly causing him to jump to his feet. Judging by the look on his father’s face he had seen everything- and Vitali instantly wished he hadn’t sat down and said anything at all and had just gone to his room like he had initially planned on doing-

But Matvey merely smiled at him, and went back to work as if nothing had happened.

And for a moment, Vitali could not do anything.

He sat there, unmoving, while Daniil and Roksana continued giggling and signing things at each other. Matvey was no longer paying attention to them, and even Nadya had gotten a bit quieter in the kitchen- almost on purpose, leaving Vitali all alone in a silent void of his own thoughts.

It was not fair.

Why couldn’t his father be like that all the time? Why only when it felt right to him, when Nadya had just finished chewing him out? A tiny act of revenge, almost- letting them talk shit instead of speaking up and defending their mother, like he would’ve usually done.

Vitali lowered his gaze and watched as Roksana happily picked up one of her pencils again and went back to coloring. Daniil briefly looked at him- and even though he was unable to hold his brother’s gaze, there was a small smile on his face again.

Family.

It was complicated.

Vitali didn’t know what to do with it anymore.

Vitali allowed some days to pass.

He was not sure why. In hindsight, it would have been better to confront Roksana the second he had learned about what she was saying about him; but something had stopped him from doing so.

Kindness? To give her a second chance?

Or just plain stupidity?

She had talked to others in those few days. He had not heard any of it- but he had felt people’s eyes on his back, and despite knowing they would not just turn on him like that it hadn’t felt right in the slightest and he wished, oh, he wished he had just-

But dwelling on it would not get him anywhere. Better late than never.

Vitali hurried through the hallways of his office building, barely able to keep his breathing stable while he searched for his sister. Vincent had given him a second heads up about her- had overheard yet another one of her conversations with a merc about Vitali and had wasted no time telling him about it, and Vitali truly wondered how Vincent had managed to not get pissed at him for waiting so long to take action.

He had not seen Mikhail most of the day thus far. He knew he was there- had left home around the same time as him, just in a separate car- but Vitali was starting to become worried, now that he couldn’t find Roksana anywhere either.

She had not been allowed to come near him during her stay there, but Vitali was unsure if she had listened to that at all- considering how little she used to listen to him when they’d been younger.

He finally arrived at weapon storage, the one place he hadn’t checked yet and he barged in without knocking. His eyes rapidly moved over the room- windows on his left with a table and some chairs, and lockers and stands lined against the wall on his right displaying weapons and ammunition- and found no one other than his best friend and sister.

Mikhail stood pressed against the wall, head snapping up the second Vitali entered. He looked terrified- and Roksana stood in front of him, not quite having reached him yet, and Vitali desperately hoped nothing had happened before he had entered.

‘Roksana, what are you doing?’

In one swift movement, she pulled a gun from the holster on her belt and aimed it in Vitali’s direction, swatting Mikhail’s hand away in the process to prevent him from grabbing it from her. She took a few steps closer to her brother, face unreadable; then steadied her hand with the other.

The temperature around them seemed to drop instantly and Vitali sucked in a shallow breath, gaze briefly finding Mikhail’s- he still stood pressed tightly against the wall as if afraid to move, shaking hand hovering mid-air but no longer attempting to reach for Roksana’s weapon.

Nothing about the situation frightened- or surprised, for that matter- Vitali anymore. It would have, had it happened a year or two earlier, perhaps; but by then he was so used to being held at gunpoint- by his own family, even- it no longer got the desired reaction out of him.

Sometimes it worked in his favor; acting nearly disinterested to the point his enemies would panic and lose focus. Yet he knew it was not always safe, well aware his reckless nonchalance could easily get him killed, with the right- well, wrong- person behind the trigger.

‘Put down the gun,’ he quietly said, continuing to speak in Russian and gently reaching a single hand closer to Roksana; but in response, she simply put a step forward and readjusted her aim, still wearing that same, calm expression on her face.

‘I’m not stupid.’

‘I know- but I’m not stupid either. You won’t use that. Father wants me alive for now.’

Bluff, perhaps. But Vitali simply went by what he knew, which is that Matvey had not wanted to kill him in any of their previous encounters- and just wanted to ruin his life instead, take everything away from him and leave him entirely to his own devices.

And it seemed to work. Roksana blinked a few times, her jaw painfully clenched as the gun swayed from the left to the right a little. Her finger loosened around the trigger- Vitali could step forward, dodge out of her line of fire and forcefully take the gun from her to stop her from firing it-

But it was not even necessary. Roksana lowered the gun before he could even finish his thought.

‘What are you doing, Roksana?’ Vitali asked, the words leaving his mouth with a big sigh of relief and he noticed that Mikhail too finally relaxed, closing his eyes and resting his head back against the wall. ‘Why did he send you? What are you doing here?’

‘To run his errands.’ Roksana scoffed and gestured around the room with her gun, before putting it back in its holster. ‘Sounds familiar to you?’

Exactly what Vitali had feared. He had to hand it to his father, it’d been a clever move; Vitali had always had a weakness for his baby sister.

‘He wants you to end up all by yourself,’ she continued, slowly wandering over to one of the windows to stare outside. It had started to rain, some minutes ago; the entire sky had turned a nasty, greenish gray within only a matter of time. ‘So- he sent me here, to take care of that.’

Vitali hadn’t expected anything else.

It made sense; the way she had spoken about him to others, the way she had tried to create an even bigger distance between him and his mercenaries; further the doubts people already had about him since the city-wide attacks Matvey had caused, or in some cases already since he had been brainwashed by Arasaka.

‘He severely underestimates us,’ Mikhail suddenly spoke up, pushing himself away from the wall and shooting Roksana a glare from between the loose strands of his hair covering his forehead.

‘Oh, I know.’ Roksana briefly glanced over her shoulder and shot him a sarcastic smile. ‘I’ve seen more than enough here. Knew after less than one day I would not be able to get anyone to turn on my brother.’

‘Then why did you stay?’

Vitali knew exactly why she had stayed.

Still obsessed with Mikhail, after all those years. Possibly a product of the fact she had been locked at home with barely anywhere to go, while Vitali had been able to visit Mikhail whenever he pleased; perhaps Mikhail resembled freedom to her, and many years later she was still chasing that high.

Or perhaps she truly believed he would be interested in her romantically.

Revenge. A funny thing.

Matvey pulling the strings from his throne, carefully orchestrating Vitali’s downfall; yet he had unknowingly surrounded himself with people carrying their own agenda. Dupoint- playing the game of chess with Vincent rather than Vitali, to get revenge for losing his job because of him. And now Roksana- ignoring her father’s command and sticking around for her own interest instead-

Either way, it didn’t matter. Vitali straightened his back and glanced at Mikhail again, who was no longer looking at either of them and instead focused on the floor underneath his feet, arms tightly crossed in front of his chest.

Vitali should’ve just sent her away when she had first walked in his office.

‘You need to get out of there,’ he quietly said, eyes still on Mikhail as he took a few steps closer to his sister and reached out to place a hesitant hand on her shoulder. ‘You said it yourself- he’s using you. You’re just a pawn for him to move around however he pleases, like he’s doing with everyone else around him!’

‘And where do I go?’ Roksana cut him off, and she turned around so suddenly it caused him to pull back his hand as if he had accidentally touched a burning hot stove.

‘I have no one left, Vito,’ she said, her voice barely stable now that her calm demeanor had finally dropped. ‘You left. Danya left. And now-? Now it’s just me with them!’

‘I had to get out of there,’ Vitali snapped back before he could stop the words from leaving his mouth. ‘Had I stayed any longer- who knows what would’ve happened-’

‘So instead you decide to cut us out of your life?’

‘I did not do that- mother did!’

He had not even realized he’d raised his voice.

Deafening silence washed over the room and a nearly pained exhale left Vitali’s chest as he stepped back and ran a hand through his hair. He was shaking- one of his fingers got tangled up in a knot and he ripped it loose by accident, the sudden sharp pain almost causing him to flinch.

‘I have nowhere to go,’ Roksana coldly said in English, crossing her arms defensively in front of her chest. ‘If I leave now I will lose everything. I cannot afford that.’

Vitali understood.

Of course he did.

When he had moved out, he had lost everything. His family. His best friend. His savings had run out and after getting fired at job after job after job because they’d offered him zero accommodations for his disabilities, he’d had to turn to sex work to be able to finish his education- and even that had been barely enough to live from.

For a little over four years he had been barely living, barely surviving- and he would not wish a life like that on his worst enemy, let alone his own sister.

‘Can you- stay out of this situation, at least?’ Vitali quietly asked, stumbling back until his back found the table, and he carefully sat himself down on top. ‘Make up a lie if you have to- tell him I threatened you, that it is not safe for you to come home now, then stay in a hotel until everything is back to normal-’

‘What?’

‘- But please, don’t get yourself involved even more in all of this. I don’t- I don’t want-’

His voice faltered.

He had begged Daniil to help him, and now he was begging for Roksana to leave. His head hurt- of course his brother hadn’t wanted to help him after so many years, and of course his sister hadn’t just shown up to do that either.

Nausea bubbled up in his stomach and he inhaled sharply, avoiding eye contact with Roksana when she turned to him and walked over. She reached out for him- and gently took his wrist, to get his attention again.

‘If I tell him that,’ Roksana said, gently squeezing Vitali’s wrist, ‘if I tell him you threatened my life. What will become of this city? What will become of you?’

Why do you care?

He didn’t ask it out loud.

‘I don’t care,’ he plainly answered, once again avoiding eye contact with her and instead glancing in Mikhail’s direction. ‘It can’t get much worse than it already is.’

It could easily get much, much worse, and he knew that. Worst case scenarios played out in his brain at almost every hour of the day, haunting him even in his sleep- but in that moment he truly did not care. If anything, Roksana telling Matvey such a thing would hopefully cause him to pick up the pace again, so they could simply just get it all over with.

‘I… I will figure something out,’ Roksana finally said, letting go of Vitali’s wrist and sucking in a deep breath. ‘But I am not throwing you to the wolves.’

Opinions and loyalties all over the place. Truly a daughter of her mother.

‘Why?’ Vitali asked, watching her walk back to the chair she had hung her jacket on.

‘Because you’re letting me walk away.’ Roksana grabbed her jacket and slowly put it on, her eyes finding Vitali’s and she shrugged. ‘Makes us even.’

Fair enough.

Vitali didn’t question it further.

Silence washed over the room while Roksana checked her reflection in the window and ran a hand through her hair, before turning back to look at Mikhail one more time. Vitali clenched his jaw and readied himself- but it was not necessary, as his sister visibly swallowed her words and turned away instead, to walk past him toward the door of the room.

‘Roksana.’

She stopped in her tracks, head tilting up toward the ceiling in exasperation before she glanced over her shoulder.

‘Do you know where mother is?’

The question had left Vitali’s lips before he could stop himself.

He noticed Mikhail shaking his head from the corner of his eye, but he paid him no mind; he knew very well he would have to come face to face with Nadya at some point anyway- and the sooner he would get that over with, the better.

‘Yes,’ Roksana slowly answered, one eyebrow raised as she slowly turned back around again. ‘Why?’

Vitali did not answer her.

She stared at him for a while, eyes slowly moving over his expression until she realized he was not going to speak- or perhaps she looked right through his blank stare and knew exactly why he was asking that of her. A scoff left her lips and she rolled her eyes, fixing her gaze on something on the ceiling and tightly clenching her jaw before shaking her head.

‘You are out of your fucking mind, you know that?’ she said. ‘Megabuilding H11, twentieth floor. Blue door at the end of the hallway.’

A safehouse.

Hidden away far from Night City, far from the rest of the world, waiting for it all to blow over- or a well-secured control room, from where she pulled on everyone’s strings, controlling the situation from the shadows-

Vitali shook the thoughts out of his head. Not the time for speculations.

‘If anything happens to her-’ Roksana suddenly said, taking a few rapid steps closer to her brother, but Vitali cut her off before she could finish her sentence.

‘I won’t hurt her,’ he said, ‘I’m not like that. You know that.’

Another silence as they stared at one another- and Roksana finally lowered her gaze with a single, sharp nod. A last glance into the room, and she turned around on her heels, making her way back to the door.

Another family member walking away from him. Vitali averted his gaze and looked out of the window instead, vision blurring slightly from involuntary tears.

He’d had hope again, for a moment. When Roksana had arrived, when she had hugged him in his office- just for a little while, he had truly believed that- that she-

‘I’ll see you around,’ he quietly said, glancing back at Roksana, who was about to close the door behind her. She scoffed softly and slightly turned her head, not even looking Vitali in the eyes as she spoke one last time-

‘Preferably not.’