章 158: Kill My Lawyer, Too

The four met with the detective the following morning.

"His name is Vladimir Sheremet. Got the Sheremet part right, at least." he said, passing over his notes. "We tried to call him in, but he completely refused."

"He refused?" said Naomi.

"Completely, yes." he said, relevantly. "Told us if we wanted to waste his time then we could come down ourselves for it. No 'direct your calls to my lawyer' or anything like that. Strange, really."

Viktoria frowned. "He's resisting arrest, then."

"Well, not yet - but I doubt it would be a good idea to send any officers to arrest him, either. He very well might have a Revenant like you said."

"Only one way to find out." murmured Naomi.

"Correct. I'll give you his address."

"Olivia and I will go." said Viktoria.

"Yeah." muttered Olivia bitterly. "Maybe some Revenant will 'knock my pretty little head off' this time."

"…hm. It would be dangerous, you're correct. Natasha - come with me instead." said Viktoria, and walked out -

" - wait - fine, I'll come, just -"

" - Natasha!" said Viktoria's voice from the next room, and Natasha nervously followed.

Once they were outside, Viktoria laughed. "I couldn't resist."

"What was that about?" said Natasha, glancing back as they walked.

"Something she'll forget about by next month." she laughed. "Did you speak to Naomi?"

"…um, kinda." winced Natasha. "I just ... I just feel like she doesn't even get where I'm coming from. She says she wants to be my friend, but that doesn't - that doesn't help me with any of the stuff I was telling you about. I'm getting better, but it - it just doesn't feel like… I don't know. It just um, doesn't feel right for some reason. I-I really don't know what else I'm supposed to do."

"Did you tell her this?"

"Sorta." mumbled Natasha. "I'm - I'm trying everything, too."

Viktoria frowned. "Whatever you tell me, you need to tell her. You'll be fighting with her for the entire year - there's no use being secretive. You need to be honest with her even if she may get her feelings hurt."

"I guess." mumbled Natasha.

"You were able to talk to me about it. I'm a bit scarier than she is, yes?"

Natasha laughed. "Kinda. You actually kinda scared me with the mind-reading stuff."

"I wonder how long I could have kept you going with that. You may be a good fighter, but you're a little…" She tapped her skull and Natasha looked away. "…er."

"…um. That's kinda a soft spot for me, yeah."

"I'm… sorry."

"It's okay. Um. I used to get made fun of for that." she mumbled.

"Someone made fun of you for…?"

"My dad used to hate how much time I spend um, exercising and stuff."

"…ah." muttered Viktoria, thinking of her mother.

Somehow, Natasha felt she had disappointed her. A highschool memory of when she had dated an honors student came back in to her head - this had been soon after she bench pressed her first 200lbs. It worked her confidence up enough to get her through their first date, but no matter how much she read, she couldn't understand any of the literature that girl talked about or the stupid calculus she seemed to breeze through. She still didn't. She had no skill in studying, socializing, nor ignorance at her lack of depth.

A woman gave them a wide berth as she passed by, no doubt because of the Natural Disaster badge. Natasha smiled a little. Well, she didn't need to be a smart student. She just needed to brute-force her way to three-star by the end of the year. Like Viktoria had said, she had a good Revenant, and its snow formed in her palm until that Belarusian voice came.

"Well, you're a good fighter now, and you'll be a better one by the end of the year. Focus on that. If you're good at your job, then everything else will fall in to place."

"Yeah."

They walked up to Sheremet's street. His mansion was down the street with a wall & a gate, but the two could see the marble statue in front of the hedge maze three houses down.

"Stop." said Viktoria as they walked past a house that looked empty. "We'll be ambushing him from the roof - better safe than sorry. Stand still."

"Um, okay." nodded Natasha, letting one Otstoy tentacle grab her. Viktoria rushed in to the empty yard with her cargo & swung up to the roof, then leaped to the next house over, Natasha taut on her back like Olivia had been. A minute later, spring in her slime, she landed on the wall and leaped towards the roof of Sheremet's mansion, and as the two landed on the roof -

- it crumbled in an instant -

- and the two fell in to a room filled with black smoke, Otstoy's grip loosening once the two hit the floor; Natasha shot up coughing as the vapors sought her eyes -

" - M-Meteorology!" she shouted, gusts of wind trying to clear the fumes -

- and a concrete-fist smashed her nose in a burst of blood, staggering her back just in time for a concrete arm to grab her and throw her to the wall -

" - Otstoy!"

- but one tentacle of slime sent the arm of concrete flying up through the hole in the roof & above, black smoke chasing after it as it flew. Below, the Belarusian and disaster met up in the center of the room -

" - his Revenant." frowned Viktoria, watching the concrete suddenly start to drop above as black smoke dispersed out of it, then disappeared.

"I - o-okay -"

" - again!" shouted Viktoria, one slimehand grabbing Natasha as another tentacle yanked them up to the roof, and as the two turned their eyes to the front yard -

- they saw the black smoke reconstituting to a man they knew was their foe, running in the hedge maze 200ft below; no time to waste, Viktoria grabbed Natasha and threw a slimerope down the front of the mansion, then rappelled as fast as she could down -

" - Meteorology!" shouted Natasha as they descended; a geyser of lava burst out & towards the hedge maze -

of it -

- and set the whole mess of trimmed green alight; she winced a second later - " - um, property damage, s-"

" - it's fine." Viktoria laughed as the two landed and rushed up to the perimeter of the blazing mess, then ran around the corner, cutting on the right side with the green at their lefts. They heard him screaming in agony inside, and in the next instant -

- Viktoria shoved Natasha to the ground -

- just in time for a branch to pierce through her own left ear & out the other, head slimefying just in time to avoid lobotomization. Groaning as she staggered, another branch went right through her -

- and she shrieked in slime-agony as her slime-body started to melt, pieces of her turning to steam before they could hit the ground; a few puffs of snow hit her face to try to cool her -

" - I - fuck fuck shit -" winced Natasha, Viktoria still staggering ahead, right slimefoot melting to gas as she fell back to the ground -

- but the next scene was instant. A sheet of snow appeared below Viktoria, slimewoman flattening like a pancake as she hit it -

- and the reduced surface area let her cool off much quicker; she grunted as she stood and solidified, one snowboot replacing her gone-foot as the two stepped away from the blazing hedge maze, fires slightly dimmed, more branches shooting out but unable to reach them.

"P-Possession." grunted Viktoria. "The branches had your heat from the lava."

"Shouldn't it have something to do with gems?" winced Natasha, and in the next instant -

- Viktoria whispered something to Natasha. Nodding as she aimed her palms forward, two jets of lava shot out of her hands -

- and burnt a clear hole through three lines of hedges, black smoke that had been on the other end dispersing & fleeing right but out of their vision; no time to waste, the two swept inside and rushed in pursuit. The cloud of black smoke was fleeing up ahead, brambles growing to try to stop their step but unable to slow them.

"Be careful." muttered Viktoria, seeing it turn left past a corner ahead, and as the two came up -

- two sighs escaped them at the fork in the road, having not seen which path the black wisp chose; Viktoria gave Natasha another order, Otstoy's tentacle grabbing the top of one hedge -

- and a platform of snow formed underneath it for stabler footing, two sweeping up on to it with a better view of the hedge maze nearly burnt to ash now. Ahead, they saw his reconstituted body going left, and as he turned his eyes back -

- a superheated ball of slime burst through his chest & left a burning hole in his back; cursing as he staggered back, another projectile flew towards him -

- but in to black smoke he dispersed again, leaving two women sighing as they leaped back down to the ground. Jets of lava burnt through the rest of the hedge maze and reduced it to ash, superheated liquid disappearing once its purpose was done.

"Is - is he running away?" frowned Natasha, two stepping carefully back.

"No." muttered Viktoria, hands regenerating from the last volley, kicking her snowboot off for one made of slime. "If he wanted to, he would have fled sooner - he's fighting us to keep us from investigating his home."

"Okay." said Natasha, and in the next instant -

- the ground started shifting beneath their feet, dirt shaking and setting them off-balance; knowing he was there, Viktoria threw an Otstoy-punch in to the dirt -

- and a burst of blood & dirt answered; more smoke flew out of the ground and in to the dirt as it started to fall above them -

- but one gust of wind blasted the soil with the strength of a hundred away, more smoke chasing after it as it started to fall again -

- right in to a patch of melting snow. The black smoke flew in to it, and in the next instant -

- Natasha laughed as he reconstituted 80ft away with burns a first-year Mia would've been proud of all over his body; no time to waste, her & Viktoria started rushing towards him, but he cut left and started running towards the stairs to the mansion's front doors.

"I -" - Natasha laughed, the nerves dropping from her voice as they ran - " - I used some of my lava with it, so -"

" - when he possessed the snow - yes." nodded Viktoria quick, seeing him rush up to the top of the stairs before the mansion's front doors, one marble column at his left & one at his right - the two stopped at the base, 30ft separating them & him.

"What are you hiding?" grunted Viktoria, tapping her foot at the bottom step. "It's clear you don't want us inside of this house."

"It would have been much easier if it was only one of you." he grunted, fingers tapping the left column. "Money can wipe away one death, but two or four…"

In the next instant -

- the column detached and shot towards Viktoria -

- but one slimetentacle burst out of the ground behind him & smashed the other column in to chunks of rubble; sudden support lost, the marble awning started to collapse as Viktoria swept back -

- and Natasha's lava & snow gave the first column a winter coat as it flew uselessly past them, ensuring he couldn't repossess it as the rain of rubble buried him alive ahead; no time to waste, the two rushed up, slime tentacles forming out of Viktoria's back -

- but one marble uppercut from below split her in half and sent slimy pieces of her all over the rubble; beside, Natasha's lava blasted a hole in to the ground -

- and underneath one marble hook she dodged, black smoke she knew was underneath the ruins starting to shift -

- but the next scene was instant. A cyclone formed inside the hole -

- and she laughed as the wind sucked the smoke in like a poltergeist in a vacuum, black wisps struggling to break free as more lava dug its grave deeper and deeper. Once it was five feet under, Sheremet's body reformed and she saw him trying to pull himself up -

- just in time for a jet of lava to go through his neck & out the back in a burst of steaming blood; Natasha winced a second later as the life went out of his limbs, realizing Viktoria might've wanted him alive.

She rushed over to Viktoria's pieces, using her wind & all of her Revenant to put the Belarusian woman back together again.

"…g-good." winced Viktoria, slapping her face back on.

Natasha braced herself like she was benching. "Are you okay? I got him, but I accidentally killed him."

"It's alright." said Viktoria, holding her slimy hand up. "Search his home. I'll… find you."

"Okay." nodded Natasha, rushing inside the mansion. After a minute, Viktoria stood up, clutching her head as she checked his corpse.

'…odd.' She crouched down, checking for a gem. 'No gem, and…'

She turned his corpse over -

- and frowned as she saw his heart with a dozen pieces of marble impaled through it, Revenant damaged enough that it wasn't beating any more. 'He killed himself?'

She closed her eyes and waited until she heard Natasha calling for her, then went inside. Natasha had found a door in his bedroom that led to a room full of boxes & safes.

"...go ahead and open one." said Viktoria.

"Meteorology."

A gust of wind sliced through one safe, and out of the aperture fell a dozen diamond rings.

"…the merchandise." murmured Viktoria.

"He… said he moved all of the jewelry stuff off-site, so…"

"And now, it's here." Viktoria frowned as an Otstoy tentacle sliced a safe open. "We've either come to the end of our investigation, or the middle of it. It's possible he was merely a fence or holding it for someone else. He scarred his Revenant enough that I doubt any surgeon will be able to tell the ability for certain, yet he dropped no gemstone."

"What does that mean?" said Natasha.

Viktoria enjoyed the deference in her tone. "As I said - either the end of our investigation or the middle of it. If he could also give Revenants through these gemstones, it's enough motivation for him to keep these and to buy jewelry stores."

"…um. But why would, um… why would he buy stuff that his people or whatever are stealing from?"

"You mean why would he buy stores that his own men are stealing from? Simple: to intimidate him. If there's Revenants attacking your store every day, why bother keeping it and risking your life? And the man you and Naomi spoke with that first day indicates this. He sold his store - and all of his stock - to Sheremet, here. End of investigation."

"Or middle of it."

Viktoria laughed. "Precisely. I'll call Naomi and your little fan to come here."

She called Naomi & Natasha's little fan, and the two spoke while they waited for them to come by. Viktoria wasn't sure why she liked this woman. Perhaps she was vaguely lonesome and took Natasha's fitness as evidence of discipline Americans usually lacked, or it was that anyone would look good compared to Olivia and Naomi.

The two met up with the other pair, and Olivia stood straight once Viktoria finished relaying it.

"…uh. I'm sorry I acted like that." muttered Olivia. "You were right. I should have kept running."

"Good." said Viktoria. "I accept your apology."

'Seriously?' thought Olivia. 'Bitch.'

"Regardless, there's still the matter of the jewels." said Viktoria. "Olivia and I shall watch over here for tonight."

Naomi nodded. "Sounds good."

As much as Naomi didn't like admitting it, she had to say there was something useful about Viktoria's decisiveness. She saw her now as a woman who she'd likely be competing for presidency in her third year with, and she hoped she would lose whatever the hell made her dislike Naomi so goddamn much by then - yet compared to others in her class, she was perhaps the least outward in her dislike of Naomi. It might've been hiding something worse, but she'd learned from Julia that Serena's style of casting everyone under good or bad didn't suit her.