Some time near midnight, Iris was on the back of the Delinquentcycle and reading Amelie's tablet. "Revenant call." She handed it to Amelie, who moved at the speed of purpose.
They rode to the gated community from which the call had originated; another forest was nearby and homes were spread far enough for sizable backyards & trees. Amelie pulled up to the home of the call as Delinquent's suit shifting pink & black morphing metal receded over her, replacing her flesh, and Kairos latched upon Iris's back.
The home had been split completely in half, enough that they could see within; many entrails dripped from scattered corpses, their hairy hands gripping half-broken phones.
"Not another hair Revenant." muttered Iris, relevantly, as they stepped to the sidewalk; behind, she heard the bush of a tree across the road rustle, and in the next instant -
- a casing of lava swallowed Amelie & cooled into obsidian; a gust of wind launched Iris up as she felt something pass by below -
- and she shot back to the ground once it was gone, landing with a shockwave as the concrete reverted to past below. Amelie's obsidian cocoon was shattered, but she swept out unharmed but for a minute fracture in Delinquent's armor; both knew it was from the boundless weapon that had just swept by.
Amelie sighed; her voice was distorted through Delinquent's mask. "You know, the worst Revenants are usually during daylight, not near midnight."
She began sharpening her blades, and thin spikes coated her armor, intended to catch the weapon if it struck again; an unseen force tugged at her for a moment, yet she stiffened and her prehensile eyes gestured to the home: "There's - something tugging at-"
- another gust of wind launched Iris up 100ft, then down; as she landed, a shockwave not her own erupted as something heavy slammed into the road behind her, causing the asphalt to burst up like two mismatched seesaws; she had no choice but to launch both herself & Amelie back into the ruined home, landing in the midst of these corpses & hairs, the home repairing itself as Kairos' legs eternally weaved, standing within the kitchen & living room as Iris spoke: "Need to know the direction it's hitting from first. Gotta be careful."
Amelie nodded and continued sharpening her blades.
Iris glanced behind her; a glass door led to the backyard and she saw a tree vaguely sway; Kairos peered into its past and saw its rustle was of unnatural origin, and in the next less than an instant -
- Delinquent's dual blades shot ahead of her and blocked the weapon from smashing her skull in; Amelie swept ahead of Iris and a hook of wind kept the weapon trapped within Delinquent's yawning jaws, a struggle for exertion as Amelie pulled & it attempted to retract. They saw it now to be a full thick & knurled staff, many feet long & one foot thick; Delinquent's blades churned, and as Kairos' strand accelerated their drilling -
- the staff extended and smashed into Amelie's mask; the pain staggered her as the staff retracted back through the enormous hole it had made, and as Kairos decayed the back wall, they saw his figure only for a moment before it leapt to another tree in the distance.
In that moment they saw that he was not man but monkey; he stood upon two legs and wielded a boundless staff of retracting height & size, riding upon a cloud and his arms hairy like that of the lower primates; they realized the Revenant then.
"Sun Wukong." muttered Iris, relevantly. (Students study mythology.)
"Boundless staff. Trees. Speed." said Amelie. "Transformati-"
- several severed hands leaped upon Iris from behind, their bushy grips threatened her arm; she shouted for Kairos and accelerated the air into a superheated blast that consumed them -
- but their hairs transformed into metal and stabbed into her left arm, conducting her own heat ten-fold worse into her bloodstream; she grunted as she tried to tear them off, the temperature threatening to disintegrate her blood -
" - cool it!" shouted Amelie as her right arm morphed into a spear; the air chilled around it as she stabbed through Iris's arm, and as the hot & cold metal met at the center -
- the conductivity carried the heat out of Iris & into Delinquent, allowing Iris to rip herself free from the severed hands and blast them across the room with another guest of wind. Still she cursed as more hair crawled upon the walls, and still many disguised entrails ahead; the two backed away as the appendages advanced, wounded, still having to search for when the next boundless staff would-
"-behind!" shouted Iris, and the tree in the backyard reverted into a sapling; the two turned with the speed of light and saw the monkey king hitting the ground and momentarily stunned, yet his bushy feet brushed against the sapling and again it was regrown; before any counter could be had he was already upon the tree and gone to a new one.
"H-Had to keep scanning the leaves to know when the air would shift near it." she muttered. "Can't react when the branches shift. Hope he doesn't figure that out."
"I don't recall monkeys having a great sense of hearing."
More hairs shot through the walls of home, spewing clouds of acidic gas; soon the entrails joined in, and as Iris shouted for Kairos -
- an aura of wind coated her & Amelie as they huddled up closely; yet they could not be immune for long. Inch-by-inch, the pressure of the gas forced them back, a struggle of clean wind and poisonous gas smudging at the border of their auras, and as more hairy hands attempted to enter the homeland from the northern border -
- a twin sweep of Delinquent's chainsaws ensured isolationism would remain the policy in the land of lesbians, churning & ripping each zealous intruder to mangled meat. Still Iris maintained the border as Amelie slashed & smote through every invader, her weapons rapidly shifting so as to never be counterable; blunt or sharpened or projectile weaponry, all fell beneath that dervish, blood spurting and the laughter of these churning weapons nearly crowding out Iris's next shout to turn around -
- and as they did, they saw the monkey king land upon his tree in the backyard and make for a mighty leap off towards them -
- but the next scene was instant. The bark of the tree decayed and the sap within washed over him, delaying his kickoff by only a moment as he shot towards them at the speed of sound -
" - Kairos!" "Delinquent!"
Delinquent's right arm morphed into a long dual-prong with a bullet at the center; a bolt of green lightning magnetized one prong one way and the other another -
- and when the railgun fired it tore half of their opponent's face clear off his skull and sent him sailing in agony back the other way, smashing through the backfence and into another home beyond; but still the acidic menace threatened from behind, and they knew they would not catch up with him before he was standing again.
A swift wind pulled Iris & Amele into the kitchen at their right, and every cupboard door decayed as Iris searched through them, a heavy cloud of acidic gas still seeping in from the living room and threatening the airy border that still protected their lungs. Immense heat fizzed off Amelie's right arm, and blankets of snow covered it that instantly melted into water; still Iris searched as she tried to maintain both patterns of weather, Amelie a few cupboards away: "Here!"
Amelie passed her a tub of baking soda; tentatively, Iris threw it into the acidic cloud outside and accelerated its neutralization. The mist dissipated and they saw now a mighty clump of his hair coalesced in the middle of the living room 30ft ahead, and as Iris threw her hand out, she shouted for Kairos as a gust of wind shot out -
- but holes opened within the hair and dissipated the winds, keeping it there and free to continue its bilious spew.
"Railgun?" said Iris.
Sun Wukong would recover soon; they needed to deal with it quickly.
Amelie's mask shook. "My arm isn't cool yet, but that and your armor might -- let me try -"
Iris nodded, and as Amelie raised her railgun again -
- a shockwave emanated from the hair that staggered her aim; her left arm formed a spear and impaled into the ceiling for stability, but the hair mirrored her movement and shuddered the ceiling as well - "- god DAMNIT, I hate broad Revenants - they fucking counter every god damn thing that-"
"YOU WANT TO TRY COUNTERING ALL THIS?!" shouted Iris to the hair; she tried again to summon fearful presence Natasha had in another fight, and as she felt Meteorology's colony unfurl its strength to her -
- an earthquake shuddered through the house and the entire home began to crumble; geysers of lava spewed molten magma into the collapsing walls and disintegrated through every corpse true & false; electricity and tsunamis hit the lot with such frequency and severity that Amelie grabbed Iris for safety, her breath at her neck as the curling waves slammed repeatedly into their bushy foe ahead. Electrified tornados surrounded the home and a second earthquake struck the area, until Iris's focus blinked and she realized why Natasha had *ended* the fight with such; she was exhausted and could not long hold such.
Still the hair stood ahead, desperately morphing and unable to continue its assault as Iris panted, winced, leaned on Amelie, but smirked a little to herself. "D-Doesn't look like it noticed."
"Notice what?"
"I-I knew that wasn't going to kill it. Just needed a distraction while I sent some fissures through the ground below it, reverting the cracks fast enough that it wouldn't notice. Cracking the dirt to extend my wind, weakening it with water, t-toiling over it with lava, accelerating its erosion. There's a long drop down stored in time right there." She coughed. "Time to make a withdrawal."
Kairos' strands appeared below the hair, and before it could react, Iris launched herself towards it -
- and a 75ft hole opened up below the hair; as it fell Iris blasted herself down to follow it, constantly decaying & decaying as it fell deeper and deeper, unable to grab nor counter the immense pressure the accelerated air shoved at it from above, 500ft, 600ft, 700ft rapidly approaching below -
- and with a final gust of wind Iris blasted it 1000ft down; she launched herself up and was back at Amelie's side in what was formerly the home.
"Did you deal with it?"
"I delayed it, which is about the same when it comes to Revenants."
No ranged option left, they saw the trees in the distance shudder ahead; with a swift leap there was the monkey king ahead & 200ft ahead of them, hitting the ground rolling & rolling, his hair forming saplings that grew into mighty oaks -
- and two gusts of wind blasted Amelie & Iris opposite direction as the boundless staff slammed down between them; another wind drew them together again, and they turned to see him in the backyard growing yet another forest from his hairy arms. He leaped at speeds too fast for host eyes, far more potent in the shrubbery than he was on the ground.
Beside, Delinquent's prehensile eyes rapidly moved as Amelie spoke: "His movements are a blur, but I can sense he's building up speed."
Iris shouted for Kairos and hit a drought in the area; every tree went brittle, and the next tree he landed on collapsed & threw him to the ground; Amelie's railgun formed again and another accelerated bullet shot towards them -
- but he blocked with one hairy & magnetic arm, preventing it from reaching his body; before they could capitalize he was among the rejuvenated trees again, Amelie's right arm overheating as Iris's snow cooled it down once more, a constant shift in snow so that it was the lowest temperature it could be.
Iris hit another drought and concentrated it again; every tree he landed upon he fell from, yet he collapsed with such speed that shockwaves staggered their footing; there could not again be another accurate railgun shot under such conditions, yet he moved so swiftly they dared not approach -
" - Iris - sap and fire -"
" - again?" winced Iris; but under the whip of that voice she fell under orders. Kairos strand hung from every tree in the area and decayed their bark, revealing the flood of sap within, and as their foe was temporarily stuck upon one -
- Iris winced and blasted Amelie's overheating railgun with the appropriate lightning once more, sending a heavy fracture down it and ejecting an ocean of steam from it, and as the hyperheated bullet shot out -
- it was once again absorbed in that magnetic yet metal hair -
- setting the monkey king alight as fire rippled over his body; he screamed like a monkey in mortal agony as his own hair conducted the heat into himself, and Iris launched herself & Amelie forward to get 50ft within; his tree decayed as three bolts of green lightning blasted his left arm clear off, and as he shot weakly at them with the boundless staff in his right -
- the next scene was instant.
Delinquent's left arm formed a hook that impaled clear through the staff and yanked him into her; at her side, Iris threw an acorn she had picked up earlier into the ground, accelerating it into a mighty oak -
- and when Amelie swung him by his staff his body slammed with a sickening crunch into the tree, sap flooding over him and keeping his bruised body there, the immense heat trapping him further; a hook of wind curled Amelie around the back, and as a jet of lava cooled into an obsidian nail at the back of the tree -
- her two-armed hammer slammed the nail clear through the bark and out through his bare chest, and he evolved into a man as he fell rigid and dead there.
Iris smiled and admired their handiwork, until in her ear she heard the pained shout of Amelie: "HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT-"
She turned and realized she had paused the snow cooling Delinquent's immensely hot arms; before she could react Amelie shoved her to get her attention and the heat burnt Iris's left nipple clear off, snow rapidly forming as she gasped out: "I got it, I got it!"
Blankets of snow curled around Delinquent's overheating arms, which separated from its torso and fell into the dirt; its ice melted as Iris & Amelie ran out of the lot together and an avalanche of snow fell upon the detached limbs. Waves of water spread outward from that steaming pit, until there remained of the lot only a deep hot spring like an Icelandic dream.
Iris rubbed her (lack of) left nipple and winced, her clothes repairing over it. "God damn, you got me good."
"I had to get your attention somehow."
Iris shoved Amelie, who shoved her back (using her chest). Iris went chest-to-chest with her, puffing out as Amelie laughed.
Iris looked over the detached Delinquent arms in the pool. She accelerated the water's evaporation and watched as Amelie, still a Delinquent, walked over and the morphing metal returned home. "Didn't tell me about that ability."
"Perhaps I would have if you were there for it." she muttered.
Iris let it pass without comment for now. Amelie untransformed and walked over to her, a little closely. She let Iris check over her. "Still got a few wounds."
"We'll wait fifteen minutes."
They scanned.
[Sun Wukong: Based on Chinese mythology. Host possesses heightened speed and strength; a boundless staff of shifting mass & height; immense speed at tree-dancing; hair transformations.]
Afterwards Amelie drew a few Flickendecke patches out of her pocket, and Iris applied them onto her, a little sensually. She did the same for Iris, both caught in the serendip of their former patterns. She had fought a few other Revenants with Amelie in the interim. Occasionally Amelie would strike a pose for her. She still had nice, long legs, nice long legs.
"…ready to go?" muttered Amelie.
Iris pulled away. "Yes."
They returned to the home of the supposed lover, and Iris crouched down to focus in the driveway, using Kairos' cloud cover to shroud its web. After the mistress's death, she felt again the use of a Revenant.
She began to forward through the moment of death and after; she wished to find when the police has been notified and showed up, and soon they had, hours after the woman was killed. Nearer to herself, she grabbed the landline phone she had ripped out from inside the house, and Kairos' eyes peered into its innumerable states. "Time of death was 8:34pm."
"When was 911 called?" said Amelie.
"8:36pm." Iris looked up to the scene of frozen cop uniforms and a cop car. "…they arrived at 10:34pm."
"…and no ambulance. No crime scene. No investigation."
"We can check after what they did with the body. Wouldn't be surprised if they buried her themselves."
Amelie nodded and helped Iris up. "Are you alright for a second Timeline?"
"You think it's a coverup?"
"I don't see what else it could be, Iris. You mention a falsely accused man who still protests his innocence; it's certainly not beyond the police to forge documents, especially if it would be in protecting their own. He may be a lunatic who thinks there's a Jewish person behind every injustice, but... and the footage you mention, as well..."
"That's where I'm stuck." lied Iris. "Can't see how the police could get around Kairos' reverting the tapes back."
"It's possible that this Revenant..." Amelie frowned. "…I suppose it's possible it acts upon Timeline, in a way, or it... rewrites video. In a way, a Revenant like that may be very useful to the police; they could convict whoever they wish and seem to solve whatever crime they feel pressured to. And even if it is a host outside of the police, I don't understand why the police themselves would be trying to sabotage our investigation the way that they have."
Iris stared at Amelie for a while, then re-examined the scene. She realized what had occurred, yet she feared sharing it with Amelie for now. "…possibly. But, it's possible someone else is using the police host to have their rivals taken out. Makes more sense to me than a rogue police officer randomly killing an opthalmologist's mistress."
Amelie nodded. "Yes, I agree. We still haven't established motivation, but... I just find it all very suspicious, I suppose."
"Certainly is."