Burning Dollars [Arc 9]

Three days later, Aimee returned to campus for a meeting with Luna, Saya, Hirogane, and the academy's dean, Armstrong. Luna had been asked to relay the circumstances around her rapes, and as Aimee sat down, she judged by Saya's expression Armstrong had dismissed most of it from lack of evidence.

"Ms. Yanaro, I'm going to have to ask you to heal his wounds." said Armstrong. "I understand you may have your issues with him, but he is a student -- he can't perform his duties without a medic."

Saya knew why he was asking her; Hirogane had also refused. "I refuse."

"Then I'm afraid I'll have no choice but to recommend your termination -- both for assaulting a student, and in refusing to perform your duties."

It irked Saya to hear this particular phrase 'have no choice'. She had once worked for a company who laid her off with similar verbiage & bullshit about the economy, and that they later posted record profits was something she did not ignore.

"Why the hell are you punishing her?" said Aimee. "What about him? He should be getting fucking expelled."

"On what evidence?" said Armstrong. "He'll be graduating in half a year, regardless -- I certainly doubt he'll do any more harm after this."

"That's not the point. What's the difference between him and every other shithead who-"

"-do you think his wounds reopening isn't punishment enough? I spoke with him this morning -- he had no idea why Ms. Yanaro suddenly attacked him, either."

"What, do you think Luna's lying?"

"It's ironic, really, that you've spent two years of presidency arguing every thief a martyr with me, and then ask me to punish a crime with no evidence. Have you even considered whether Luna wanted him to be attacked?"

Luna said nothing. A sense of guilt came over Saya and she did not like it.

"Regardless, if it was important to her, she should have come forward sooner. You can't expect this academy to operate on hearsay."

"Saya's always been a great assistant." said Hirogane. "I don't see how you're expecting me to deal with patients twenty four hours a day, either."

"She's only been your assistant for two years. I'm certain you had your methods before. Perhaps… well, you could ask whoever is hosting Blackburn for assistance." Armstrong shook his head and turned to Saya. "Regardless, Ms. Yanaro, if you are unwilling to perform your duties as a Urasaria medic -- for *all* students -- then I'm afraid we'll have to dismiss you, and remove your Revenant if you do not find other employment."

Saya frowned as Luna squeezed her hand. If this had been a mistake, it was better she stick to her beliefs rather than give in easily & without conviction. "I'll have other employment by January." (Aimee nodded.)

"Good. You have until the end of February, then."

It would be two years until Hirogane received another assistant. Once Saya left, Urasaria kept trying to give him another, and he usually sabotaged their chances of being hired so he could throw her termination up to his employer as an example of their poor judgment.

+++

[ARC 9: BITCH BETTER HAVE MY MONEY]

It was difficult to be allowed to repeat a year at Urasaria, but it had been granted to Jeanne partially due to Billy Watts. He was an incoming second-year who had been killed two weeks before the semester began, and had left an incoming first-year student with no mentor. There was a message there: someday Jeanne would reason it out.

Still, she got along well with Maria, and in some ways her purple-haired protege overwrote Jeanne's previous year with Kirihara. As they came to a hill in the middle of the hiking trail they were, well, hiking through, Maria turned to Jeanne and said: "You know, I read online hiking is nature's therapy, and I don't feel shit yet."

Jeanne shrugged as they descended. "Give it a bit longer. We've only been doing it a few weeks, right?"

"No, it's not that. I feel good - I mean, aside from this cramp I've got in my left leg, but it doesn't feel like therapy. I just don't feel shit. I like it."

Jeanne nodded: that, at least, was something she understood. "Oh. I get what you mean. Yeah, that's what I feel with it, too."

"Maybe they should call it nature's ignorance or something." Maria scratched her neck. "Well, whatever it is, it's relaxing. It's not nature's pleasure, either, since I saw that sign back there saying hiking was 'nature's pleasure', too. I mean, I can think of a few ways to have pleasure in nature, but hiking isn't one of them."

They eventually passed by a river, and Maria was reminded of a scene in the film 'O Brother, Where Art Thou', which featured three women sitting atop a river like this, their wet bodies a metaphor for the three Sirens. That, she felt, would certainly be one way to nature's pleasure.

"Did you ever do this with your old protege? Kirihara?"

"No, just you. I started doing it with Nuiko, last year, since she wanted to have some way to force me out of the house besides contracts."

"Oh, yeah? That's good. I mean, I just figured - sorry for bringing her up and all, but..."

"Nah, it's alright."

"But I was just about to say - with Kirihara, I mean - that the way you talk about her, I probably would've just taken her up some mountain and left her there."

Jeanne was concerned Maria had run in to her recently. "She hasn't threatened you or anything, has she?"

"No, she hasn't. I mean, sometimes I'll walk out of class and see her staring at me, but she's never approached me or anything. I'm sorry, I gotta sit down for a sec. How much longer?"

"A mile."

"You're not fucking with me, right? Because my - my dad used to take me out hiking, and he would always say i-it was just one more mile, even if it turned out to be ten. G-God, I hated that."

"No, I'm pretty sure it's just a mile left."

"I-I'll just rest when we get there, then. D-Do we still have any more Skittles?"

"Yeah, you can have the last bag. Here."

"Thanks. But yeah, with - with Kirihara, she stares at me sometimes, but she's never done anything to me. She just gives me the creeps. I still don't get what happened between you two. I mean, I know you told me about the comas and all that, but you didn't treat her any differently than me, did you?"

"No, I didn't. She's just always hated me for some reason. Even before I started having comas."

"Well, you mentioned that too, but..." Maria frowned. "It just doesn't make sense to me. There's always some reason somebody's the way they are, right? And even if she does hate you, why would she be wanting to get back at me? I wasn't even at Urasaria last year."

"I dunno, Maria. I just want you to avoid her." Jeanne felt she was sounding unempathetic, so said: "I know it sucks not knowing why she's like that or whatever she has wrong with her, but it's just not worth getting in to. Like, that's one of the things my therapist talks to me about, since she said people who deal with shitty people usually try to understand why they're so shitty, but it's just not useful. She said you can just recognize it's part of our gene pool and move away if you can."

"Gene pool? What's that?"

"Uh, like part of us. Like, there's Urasaria Kirihara, but there's also gas station Kiriharas or CEO Kiriharas, and in a hundred years, there'll still be Kiriharas."

"But why?"

"Because."

Maria pouted a bit. "I'm sorry, that just sounds silly. I mean, just people being innately shitty? Isn't that kinda like religion or something?"

"It's okay. And I guess so, but I dunno what else it would be, right? Like, I read something about how sometimes people who abuse were abused, too, but then who abused the person why abused them? And there's people who get abused and don't take it out on people, so...I mean. Do you get what I mean?"

"I guess so, Jeanne. I mean, I'm not saying it doesn't work for you, I just don't really get it. But I don't really get why people go to church and all that too, so, maybe something's wrong with me." Maria smiled.

"Yeah, I don't really get it either. Some of them actually think God created Revenants. I don't get it."

"Exactly! And you know, if you look up those poor countries down in Africa, every single one of them is religious. How does that make any sense? If I was going to church ten times a week and still living in some ghetto, I'd start worshipping the other guy."

"Maybe that's why, 'cuz it's so shitty down there. People in prison, too." Hearing some dirt rustle, Jeanne glanced back. "Ugh. I hope we don't have to kill a bear on the way back again."

+++

As Serena stepped out to the hallway the same morning, she heard an electric mixer stop in the kitchen, and paused as Mia begin speaking.

"...and for that, you at home would need to pour boiling water in to the batter to make sure it mixes. I use a cup, or, oh - about three scarabs." Mia laughed.

Serena held her hand over her mouth.

"Now, your oven should be preheated to 350 degrees, and bake for thirty minutes. But, of course..." Mia laughed. "If you have a Revenant like Worldwide, then instantly setting the internal temperature to 200 does the same. Isn't it nice being a student?"

Serena's lips clenched.

"Now, all that's left is the frosting we made earlier. You'll have to apply it manually, but I'm feeling a little tired. Worldwide, can you help me?" She laughed. "See? It's already done. And that will be all for today, from the world's fastest chef, myself, and my little scarab helpers."

Worldwide screeched.

Serena burst in to laughter, her hand trying to stifle her stomach as she hunched over - " - oh my f-fucking g-god -"

- she heard Mia pausing in the kitchen, and when her laughter exited her sleeve a minute later she saw Mia at the entrance to the hall. Her face was a little red. "...I-I thought you were staying at Yuruko's."

"No, u-um, I don't think we're ready for that yet." said Serena.

The truth was, she did think their relationship was at that point; but she also worried her past gender gave her a tendency to over-assume in to & pressure other women.

"...w-well." muttered Mia. "We have cake."

Serena nodded and the two stepped in to the kitchen. The world's fastest chef's chocolate cake was on the counter. Serena pulled out a glass from the cupboard, and as streams of fog started to fill it -

- Serena shrieked -

- Mia shrieked -

" - what the fuck!?" panted Serena, waving frantically her right arm -

- which had turned in to a pure-black tentacle, and as it tapped the glass -

" - what the fuck?!" shouted Serena -

" - I hope that's chocolate milk, Serena." muttered Mia, seeing it fill up with brown liquid as the tentacle disappeared.

"What, what the hell is that?" panted Serena, putting her right arm away like it was hexed.

"…let's go see Hirogane and Saya." said Mia, utterly clueless.

"Yeah." panted Serena, readying to rush out.

Mia stayed calm as they went outside. "Is it only when you summon Blackburn?"

"Um, maybe." winced Serena. "Blackburn." Her right arm turned tentacle. "I think so. I can keep it out, a-at least."

Mia nodded. "I'm sure it'll be alright, Serena." She watched as Serena's jacket slackened, then almost reached out to adjust it for her.

When they arrived at the infirmary, Mia waved Hirogane over as Serena sat on a bed. He came over with Pulse's tendril drawn and saw her new equipment. "I'm going to guess you're here for that."

"Yeah." winced Serena. "Um, that started happening when I summon Blackburn."

"…right. Saya, can you come over for a second?" (Saya walked over.) "We might have found my long-lost daughter."

"Uh, wouldn't that make Saya your daughter?"

Saya crouched down to examine it. "…it's not harmful to you, is it? How powerful is it?"

Serena checked by pulling out her cup with her left hand. Her new right tentacle gripped it and ripped the lid off, white suction cups forming to keep it held.

Saya smiled. "I assume it's a new form of Blackburn - something with more strength to it."

"Seems like it." said Hirogane. "Can take a look at your heart, not that you've been in here lately. Wouldn't have much to compare your colony to."

Serena nodded and Pulse touched her heart.

"Looks normal." said Hirogane, drawing the tendril out.

"Nothing to worry about." chimed Mia, clueless.

Serena's arm returned to normal, and both medics went off to other patients. "...man. Yuruko's going to make so many jokes about this."

"What?"

"Nothing."

Mia nodded, and they passed by Jeanne & Maria on the way out, who had claw marks on their shoulders.

++++++

For the following week, Jeanne & Maria were assigned to a small investigation a few hours away from Urasaria: Maria was in a funk and Jeanne could not tell why. She worried that she had pissed Maria off via something as insignificant as a wrong tone or irritating color of clothing, for Kirihara had this habit of small bitching, but after a few days of this, Jeanne decided to ask Maria upfront what was the matter.

"Alright, don't laugh at me. You know that tan chick in your year? She's in your year, isn't she? She's tan."

"Maria, do you have any idea how little that narrows it down?"

"She works out? God, I've just been thinking about her all day lately. And night, sometimes, too. We passed by her a few weeks ago and I told you I'd pay $100 to eat sushi off her abs?"

Jeanne tried to remember this, then realized she was talking about Sylvia. Hoping that Maria would never lay her pussy out this publicly again, she simply nodded and promised Maria that they would take a contract with Sylvia & her protege before the end of the year.

Still, with their investigation nearly at its end, Jeanne decided to call Mia & Serena for help on *this* investigation, and they arrived a little past noon that Sunday.

Now, when Mia knocked on the door to their hotel room, was told it was open, then entered it, she saw the following scene: Jeanne was laying on the couch and texting a message to Maria, who was sitting on the bed 15ft away.

"Hey, Mia." said Jeanne, glancing up. "Uh, this is Maria, my protege. Maria, this is Mia, and..."

Mia nodded. "It's nice to meet you, Maria. Do you already know Serena?"

Maria nodded. "Yeah, he's in my class."

"…er. Serena is female." said Mia.

"Yes." said Serena, trying a pitch higher on her voice.

"I- oh! I'm sorry, I didn't..."

Jeanne nodded. "Uh, let's just talk about what we need to do. We're investigating some... gang, or whatever, and they have a drug deal going down at some warehouse tonight. Or something."

"Or something?" said Mia.

"Yeah. I dunno what it actually is, exactly, but that's what the cops told us." Jeanne shrugged. "They just want us to kill everyone there, anyway."

Mia liked Jeanne, but the ex-stoner tended to match Serena's enthusiasm in investigation; Mia had spent the first three months of this year hoping some would rub off on her protege, but no matter.

As they sat around and generally bullshat while waiting for night, Serena still kept her voice higher and started wondering when she would finish saving her $50,000 to fix this. She often fixated on being misgendered and would employ numerous tactics to avoid it, ranging from the gaudy jewelry she wore in highschool, training her voice higher & speaking less, and sometimes even haircuts she did not even like, but looked more feminine.

The word obsessive may come to your mind for this behavior, but you have likely let a single negative comment hook on you as a fuzzy neetle hangs from your sweater, or how criticism of your work (whatever it may be) subsumes far more numerous positive feedback. Serena viewed these misgenderings as how incisively-spoken lies are often taken as truth of someone's real nature (no matter how false they may be), and all that has been wrought of her character thus far should explain why.

An hour before the deal was set to go down, they drove out to the abandoned warehouse and found a vantage point near the back balcony. Serena redid the windows with soundproof one-way glass, and they perched out of sight & sound with the ocean behind them. Some time later, they heard a car pull up and saw two men stepping inside.

"Uh, they said four people." muttered Jeanne. "Just gotta wait for the other guys to show up."

"God, these guys are so fucking stupid." said Maria. "They probably watch crime movies and think they're real. What's up with their tattoos? The eels?"

"I dunno, they look kinda cool."

"Yeah, but doesn't that make it way easier to identify them? It feels like every freak we deal with does some shit like this."

"Hey, we do that too." muttered Jeanne, tapping her 'DREAMER' badge and gesturing to Mia's 'SWARM' & mask. "That stuff makes us way more identifiable, but it makes us feel like legendary heroes or something. Even regular people do that kind of stuff."

"I guess." Maria leaned over to peek at Serena's badge. "Does, um, Serena - what's your rank?"

"#53." murmured Mia proudly.

"Fuck. That's even better than Kate."

Serena smiled.

Eventually, two more men came in to the warehouse. One set a briefcase down in the middle of the four, and in the next instant -

- Serena's window dissolved and the four kicked their way down, landing inside with a roll & their four foes thirty feet away -

- which was reduced to three as one caught an acid-vial to the eyes; his face melted away and the other three ran out the back door, one with the briefcase in hand as they burst outside. Mia complimented Serena as they ran in pursuit, who smiled.

"Aw, it's a lot funner when they resist." mumbled Maria, relevantly, as they ran out through the front doors; two of the men broke north and one kept east, hugging the warehouse as he turned to the corner. Mia instinctually knew his Revenant then and told Jeanne & Maria to chase after the two as her & Serena dealt with the one, and as they turned the corner after him -

- they saw him running past the shipping containers and to the ocean ahead, and as he took one leap in to the water & dove -

- Mia sighed as her & Serena ran up to the asphalt shore, watching him sink further in to the drink.

"Water Revenant." groaned Serena.

"If Worldwide dissolves it, it's easy. If Worldwide doesn't, it's awful." muttered Mia like a mantra -

- a wave hit the docks beside, and in the next instant -

- the ground shook like an earthquake had struck it, throwing the women off balance, unseen force staggering them off the side -

- and in to the ocean fell the women, clenching their eyes shut as they hit the surface; and as they felt another wave wash over them -

- they were thrown thirty feet deeper underwater, blinded by water all around -

" - Nnna!" hummed Mia, patting frantically Serena's face and eyes. A lensless set of ice goggles formed around their eyes -

- and streams of black fog filled the empty holes with perfect fits. The two opened their eyes with new sight, water all around, seafloor and foe two hundred feet below; with no time to waste, the women started to kick their way back up -

- but shrieked as they felt knives of water form in their nostrils and ears, worms of water burrowing and seeking their minds, and in the next instant -

" - Bnnnnn."

- streams of fog filled their ears and nostrils with steel, blocking the water's advance; but they couldn't stay underwater forever.

The women kicked desperately up, tip of the water above, and as they came within a dozen feet, a wave crashed overhead again -

- and blasted them down thirty feet again, vision starting to blacken as the shockwave knocked the air out of them - but the next scene was instant.

Serena's tentacle went to Mia's neck, tip dipping in to her veins -

- and renewed oxygen refilled her lungs. A second sweep to her own, and the punk nodded, infinite breath assured within the depths. Mia gestured to their foe two hundred feet below, and as she started swimming down -

" - mmm! Mmm!" hummed Serena, yanking the mentor back. Her fog filled her cup with paper -

- and the two stifled laughter as it turned waterlogged, dissolving in an instant. With a humming sigh, Serena shook her head, fog a wild flurry in her goggles, filling and half-filling with writing.

'Decompression kill us if too quick.'

Mia nodded, and another message was written.

'Make sure I don't come up? Stay back.'

Mia nodded. With no time to waste, the protégé flipped upsidedown and started swimming down, streams of black fog filling the water at her feet with wind, and in the next instant -

- she was blasted with the speed of water down, only a hundred vertical feet separating her and their foe now. His hands aimed high, and as they clapped together -

- a shockwave of water shot with the speed of sound towards her, a second and third blasting her with the speed of a hundred up, and as a set of ice scarab readied to freeze her ascent -

- the next scene was instant. Tendrils of black fog flew in to Serena's jacket and filled it with osmium, and the blue-platinum metal turned her dense -

- and she fell with the speed of metal down to the floor ahead of her foe, only a dozen feet away now. His hand swept back again, a second shockwave missing narrowly her neck - but few could match her in close quarters.

Her tentacle shot to his lips, left hand ripping his mouth open, and as the tendril shoved down his throat -

- his lungs filled with lead, leaving a smiling Serena as he fell dead, both metaphorical and literal. A second sweep of fog cleared her jacket, and Mia nodded above, starting slowly up to the surface.

A few minutes later, the two came up to the docks again, fire scarabs drying their flooded clothes and steel plugs gone. Mia checked her tablet, then rushed past the warehouse and in to the street, Serena following beside her.

"What's up?" panted Serena as they ran. "Something with, with Jeanne?"

"Her dot is blinking." muttered Mia, showing the screen to Serena. "It's not moving, either."

"Oh no." winced Serena.

"…er, she's probably alright, Serena. It doesn't blink if it doesn't detect a pulse."

Serena blinked, then nodded as she followed her mentor through another few streets. Eventually they passed a corner and came to Jeanne, who was shouting for them from the lamppost she was currently locked to; miniature bike locks locked her right fingers & hand to the pole. "I-I think the Revenant's gone, but-"

- Mia & Serena quickly came up, and streams of fog dissolved her prison. She turned further up the avenue, holding Dream's spraycan. "I- fuck, we were following the two guys who ran, but some third guy came out of nowhere and managed to take Maria and-"

"-are you hurt?" said Mia.

The three started running, streams of fog filling Jeanne's few wounds. "T-Thanks. N-No, I just - fuck, I-I think they went this way, but..."