Birthstone

Viktoria woke up with a sapphire and a note on her lap. She didn't feel tired and she realized before she started reading it that she had fallen asleep in the middle of her shift.

'Dealing with Sheremet for me is why you both live this time. I'll be gone once you're outside of Birthstone's range.'

Her legs got up before her head did and she staggered back against the wall. Olivia was sleeping a few feet away from her, and a sapphire popped out the front of her skull once she woke up a few seconds later.

"Olivia - Revenant!" she shouted as Olivia stood, wincing as she pulled Baal's knife out -

" - I - huh -"

" - follow me!"

Viktoria rushed up to the back door and one Otstoy punch bashed it down to the ground. Half the safes in the room were gone and broken pieces of jewelry boxes were laying all over the floor.

"Someone stole it?" panted Olivia behind her and Viktoria grunted.

"…no. No, no - no, I - I - I didn't fucking realize - I thought he was only desensitized, not…" Viktoria grunted and kicked a hole in the wall that was gonna stay for a while. "I only thought he was desensitized from - I noticed it, I should have - I thought that… Dealing with Sheremet. They were working together from the start. Someone with a Revenant like that couldn't be satisfied only getting whatever jewels his, that random scum could find for him. He needed some rich benefactor, but - the suicide and - that his Revenant - of course, it was possession, there was no gem, and - stay - stay here to guard the rest." Her head shook rapidly. "It's - no, yes, stay here to guard the -"

" - er, can't we just call the cops?" winced Olivia.

Viktoria took her phone out and cursed when her grip snapped it in half. "I-"

"-I can - I'll, I'll just use mine, okay?"

- four slimetentacles formed from Viktoria's back as she started ripping the place apart, upending jewelry boxes and sweeping through broken glass.

"Can I call them?" said Olivia. "Or -"

" - get away from me - now. I'm not in the mood to deal with your - there has to be some fucking trace he left here!"

Otstoy's tentacles ripped apart through the place four at a time and Viktoria's expression was of a woman too shattered to even cry. She searched, she cursed. The one time she heard the front door close was when the three came back at night and she was sitting on a broken case of rings looking for where he might've scratched the safes when he took the gems out.

++++++

The four stepped past Urasaria's gate. Viktoria said nothing. She moved like a woman in a nightmare.

"…just some random host at the end of the day. Right?" said Olivia. "Somebody'll get him eventually."

"I'll report to President Swarm." said Viktoria, stepping ahead of the three. Natasha knew to say nothing.

"By yourself?" said Naomi after her.

If anything, Viktoria seemed to walk faster now.

"…man. I've never seen her like this." mumbled Olivia. "I mean, I've seen her like -that- before, it's just… different this time. Like, I remember when we were training the second week…"

"When she stomped out?"

"No, that was a different day, because I was talking to - do you know Jess?"

"No."

"She's a first-year - lemme show you a picture of us together…"

Their conversation faded from Natasha's ears, seeing only Viktoria entering President Swarm's office with the corners of her mouth held tight.

[END OF ARC: TEMPERATURE RISING]