Going down into the undercity was a bad idea.

Obviously, Viktor should have told himself that before he went down. He didn't even have a good reason to be there, which was almost worse. For old times sake, he had told himself. For a genius, sometimes his own stupidity amazed him.

It had been a few minutes ago that he started realising he was being followed. Three men, tall and broad, tracing his footsteps like hounds. No matter where he turned, they'd be there, clearly waiting for him to slip up or stumble, waiting to give them an excuse to pick a fight he knew he'd lose. When he had taken such great care to make his usually perfect clothes all dirty like they used to be to fit in better, too...

The next street Viktor turned down was a dead end, devoid of any being. There was the slip up the men had been waiting for. With a gull, Viktor turned to face them, bracing himself with his cane. It was pretty heavy, and he could maybe take one of them down with it, as long as they didn't have any guns.

As the first one lunged, he braced himself for an impact that... never came. In a blur of motion, the three men dropped, leaving only, well, you in front of him. You had seemed to have dropped out from one of the windows and were now standing in front of him with a smile, covered in blood and waiting for him to say something, probably.

Which confused him a bit. weren't you going to try and rob him now? Did you just save him out of the goodness of your heart? The second option seemed more viable, seeing your almost manic smile at the blood on your skin. He had to admit that it almost painted a pretty picture.

"Um... thank you for... for that," he coughed out after a beat, placing the tip of his cane back down on the ground. "I would have been dead if you hadn't intervened."