Author's Note :
…
Don't kill me?
I have no idea how to make legalese interesting to read, so we're just summarizing the end-results? Otherwise there'll be lots of talking in circles, pointless arguments, and dickering for really little reason that'll last for chapters.
…also, chapter 69. The chapter where Gedeon gets fucked. I didn't plan this, I swear.
Anyone believe me?
Russian Roulette : Second Chamber
Chapter 69
(Saturday the 6th of November, 1971. Wo Hop To Triad Teahouse/Dormitory, Mafia Land.)
"He's not here."
"Obviously." Sonya shot back at the not correct Storm from the right Triad, earning herself a small smirk from this Chinese man. "I need to talk to him. One is time-sensitive, we will lose the opportunity in a matter of days. The other topic I need to discuss with him can wait a few months, but not a whole lot longer."
Xiasheng, her once-upon-a-time previous sparring partner and still not the right Storm, just shrugged. "I will pass that along, Miss Bazanova… but the third Underworld Martial Arts Tournament is going on. They delayed it specifically for him due to whatever inevitable thing you two have going on, so for now Fon is a bit busy."
"That fucking battle-happy dork."
He smirked even more. "I will pass that along."
"Have him call me. I do not care when nor in what state he calls in, my time sensitive issue means I will make due as long as he can process the information and agree or refuse himself." Duyi would ensure it happened, if only so Sonya really would help his niece finally get her own first Guardian.
The brawler just shrugged, twisting so his knee came down more firmly in the middle of the back of the first ignorant asshole that tried to prevent her from getting inside their 'main' teahouse. "I will attempt to keep you apprised of when that might happen, but I cannot make any promises to be in time. If it is as urgent as you indicate, he may instead choose to call your personal line instead of your Lackey."
"Bjǫrn is a little… occupied right now. Getting him is a matter of chance and luck."
He huffed a small laugh. "I will pass this along, Miss Bazanova."
The five hours she spent knitting with little old Chinese grandmothers wasn't really a waste of time, she was productive and got included because people wanted her there. Alek got to hide from people close to her enough the dog might be getting over his anxiety about where she was at all times.
She also finally got the hang of knitting spider silk with their help too. Zhelan, a friend to the first granny of that gang that kind of forcibly adopted her, knew how to knit regular silk and gave her some pointers. She now had a nice little square, about the size of a palm, of Flame-resistant silk she knitted together herself.
The thief heaved a sigh and wondered if she went back to the little crafter's circle they had going on a couple streets away, would that strain that odd welcome that was equally as oddly charming?
"Thanks, Xiasheng. Speaking of battle-happy dorks… care to-"
"No." Interrupted the Storm pleasantly, bouncing a slight bit as his victim tried to escape the pin but he only succeeded in having the man's knee coming down yet again to drive all the air in his lungs out. "I fought you once, and once is enough. I like my dignity where it is, it is hard enough to keep it that way being an associate of Fon's."
"I kind of resent you for that opinion."
There was nothing she could do right now. Until the vory stopped nitpicking and decided either way, Sonya's presence at the inquiry would do no one any favors. Equally, until the possibility she might be needed for something at said inquiry… she had to remain nearby enough they could reach her within a decent time frame.
She wasn't even getting paid to waste her time. Stakes in the payoff once someone loses their properties or getting to punch people right off the island, sure.
"You seem to have a gentleman caller, Miss Bazanova." Xiasheng informed her pointedly, likely to keep the subject off maybe fighting her again. "Outside."
She looked, but… oh.
"Right. Have fun disciplining the idiot."
"I shall."
Sonya turned on a booted heel to go see what Dimitri wanted with her.
The Rain vor looked amused to be watching a tethered Alek suspiciously watching him on a semi-busy Chinatown section of Mafia Land. He only glanced to the side only briefly when she got let out of the teahouse to free her dog from the bench she had his leash pinned under. "Is there a reason you put his leash's free end under a solid stone bench?"
"Yes." Her dog could and would now break less sturdy things if he wanted to.
Like doors.
So many doors. Keeping her apartment door in one piece was kind of a major issue.
"What the fuck do you want, asshole?"
"I can't just come by to see an old friend?"
"Since when did we ever do something like that?"
"I remember a couple times when you thought Tatiana was being annoying, and you'd rather lay on the hood of whatever car I was working on instead of being subjected to her."
"Notably, my sister isn't annoying anymore and therefore whatever little use I had for you is now invalid."
Dimitri snorted, amused and not bothering to hide that. "Ouch. Fuck you too, bitch."
Sonya lightly brushed her knuckles against his very colorful bicep with a smirk. "No, seriously. What's got you all the way out here to see me?"
"Partially," he stressed more than a little wryly, tiling his head down the street to get them all moving on from the teahouse they were obviously being eavesdropped from, "the council's on break. Need to read over the legalese to see if they really have to hold Gedeon responsible for intentionally breaking it, then go back to arguing if we even care if this deathtrap wants his hide. Everyone not there to be part of the actual voting got cut loose for a bit. Probably for the rest of the day."
…this stupid shit might take longer than a week. Great. "Well. Welcome to Mafia Land?"
"You're a riot." The Rain deadpanned flatly. "Nothing to say for yourself?"
"Exactly what the fuck do you think I did that I would need to say anything?" She countered pointedly, gesturing off to the barely visible air/sea complex and the ocean beyond it… not that Russia was in that direction, probably. "I did nothing. I minded my own business, I stayed away. This is all on him, Dimitri."
He stopped wandering with her and planted both hands over his face with an aggravated groan, which Alek was not a fan of being done in her direction and let them know it with a low growl. "Fuck, woman. That's not what I meant. Tatiana bailed, with your foster father's permission. I bet you actual hard currencies that if I go back… I'll have maybe three or four Flame users left after this shit fest."
"…if?"
"I've kind of… defected too." Dimitri sheepishly allowed, dropping both hands with a shrug. "Superbi. Least we'll be neighbors again. Don Superbi's going to let me go back to being a mechanic."
Sonya stared at the vor, hard. "You. You're getting a job?"
"Fuck no." She earned herself a heavy scowl. "Why the hell would I want a job? No, I'm getting a roof over my head and food provided for guarding Silvino's wife and being her personal thug. Like fuck I'd ever accept a paycheck."
…Dimitri at least had Don Superbi's permission, so maybe that wouldn't end up a horrible clusterfuck itself. "He does know you're… uh, hmm… was it both of them you were-"
He slapped a hand over her mouth, glaring a fit to murder. "Not in public, Sonya."
The thief peeled his hand from her face, pinching the tip of his middle finger hard enough to make him cringe in pain. "I don't care, Dimitri. If you have their permission, so long as everyone's consenting to whatever the fuck you're doing, I don't need to care. You are doing this with the awareness of all parties, right? You're not going to make the fact I am your friend and their neighbor awkward, right?"
"It was her idea that he agreed to, and yes." Once she let him go for giving her a straight answer, the Rain cradled his 'wounded' hand to his stomach and basically pouted at her. "Fuck you, you violent bitch. You can't just say these kinds of things in public, it's indecent."
Rolling her eyes so hard she gave herself eyestrain, she started moving again which forced him too as well. Alek decided to take the lead, so now they were actually going somewhere rather than wandering the already packed streets. "You're such a prude it's hilarious."
"I'm not a prude, I just have a normal sense for public decency." He snapped back, forcing space in the pedestrians to keep up shoulder-to-shoulder with her.
Which he didn't get slugged in the face for because they took one look at him, glanced at her for half a moment, and rapidly decided not to fuck with them and yes they deserved space.
It was occasionally nice to have a reputation, she also kind of wanted to be there when the vor figured out walking with her got him more space than wandering around alone. "I've had two exes. Only one at a time. You've got… what? A ménage à trois going on? Sounds to me like you're a bit of a slut, Dimitri."
The man groaned out an unwilling laugh, unable to keep up his very convincing if utterly fake discomfort and irritability. "Fuck, Sonya. Shut up."
Alek barked at something, glancing back hopefully with mismatched eyes as he pulled just a little harder to indicate he really wanted them to stop at this little food cart thing. The same food cart they got lunch from yesterday, and the owner that was willing to slide him the mostly fat bits of lamb and pork he was cooking with.
She wasn't quite in the mood for more chuan'r, the Chinese barbeque skewers were a little spicier than she usually liked her food… but sure. She could eat, laugh at Dimitri since he kind of really didn't like any spicy foods, and her dog would get not-spicy treats.
Might as well. There wasn't anything else she had to do today.
"Cherep's still with me. You two can re-bond over his deathtrap motorcycles when you get there."
"Of course your brother is living with you." He jammed an elbow into her side, 'accidentally', and gave her a very wry little half-grimace as they came up to Alek's favorite food stall ever. "I might just do that."
The owner of this little food stall very obviously remembered her and the dog, gave the vor a less pleased suspicious eyeballing, and glanced at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Old childhood friend. Please do not poison him." The guy gave her a slightly gap-toothed grin, notably didn't promise shit, and got them both some lamb skewers from his grill in exchange for the emerald she pulled out of a pocket. "So, Dimitri, what did you mean by 'got anything to say for myself'?"
He suspiciously glanced from the sticks of food to the guy cooking even more, who didn't bother to hide the act of sliding Alek the cut off portions from his meat scrap bowl. "The fact you're out here instead of stuck in a stuffy grand hall type room with more egos and arrogance than some European nobleman's private parlor."
"Is there a point to me being there?"
"…not really, no."
"Since my Lackey is there, I'll know what I need to know when I need to know it. I don't have to be there."
That got her a significantly more serious look than before, apparently they were coming to the point he wanted to talk to her about. "I tried, Sonya."
"Tried what?"
"You set me up to have whatever position you should've gotten had you not been a girl." Dimitri confessed, just a touch bitterly. "I fucked it up."
Sonya nibbled her spicy lamb chunks as Alek wolfed down more sinewy meat shreds the cook couldn't use.
"I'm shit as a teacher, even before you got pulled back to cover for me I was at best a third-wheel in any Flame-centric issue. Most of us had to figure it out ourselves, some asshole Rain to talk to that couldn't have any better idea what to do about it was superfluous at best. Worse yet, once Gedeon took over the clan the fact you taught me made it… hard to keep the position and power you gave me. He rarely wanted to listen to me."
"Gedeon… no Mitya, hear me out." When he suspiciously closed his mouth, she continued pointedly but taking care to suppress anything smacking of dislike out of her tone. "Gedeon was already trained by old man Zolotov by the time we 'got' anything. He thought he already knew what he needed to know, because that was at least twenty or more years of his life by that point. Learning the ropes and getting the respect of the vory of the clan as it was. Then, surprise… there's these kids with the ability to set themselves on fire that come in a variety of flavors. That can't be treated as they would shestyorka or non-vory clansmen, because once we have Flames they start affecting our personalities. Making us more stubborn, willful, assholes than before with even more unbelievable and priceless abilities. Gedeon is perfectly fine as an old generation Pahkan. Unfortunately, that wasn't what the next generation… our generation, needed. We were doomed to fail before we could even start."
He didn't respond.
"We failed, because I had to put you in the position I was suited best to fill. For no fault of my own, just because I was a girl and you were a boy. You were a stop-gap method to 'save face', that shouldn't have been necessary to begin with." The fact she had no intentions whatsoever to remain in Moscow the rest of her life had a lot to do with it, sure… but not everything. "The Flame users I could leave you with when I split the Academy off, weren't the best either. They also were merely there to 'save face' with. You didn't have the tools, didn't have the people, didn't have shit in support. Mitya… this was always going to happen. I set you up to fail. The Zolotov Clan was built for thieves, and for thieves it's perfect. We're not just thieves. Old man Zolotov is to blame for all of this, and it's not even his fault either. He was just too old by the time we started to have taken us in hand and work us into his organization a proper way the older vory could understand, a way Gedeon could then understand."
Dimitri spun his grilled spicy lamb sticks in his hand idly. "He's still alive, old man Zolotov. He had an immediate stroke on the spot when the Mists stopped shoring up his health for him, so he's partially paralyzed now. But alive."
"Go talk to him about this, before you leave Moscow for the last time." Sonya advised him, starting all three of them back to walking aimlessly in the vague general direction of the 'main' street for the island. "He'll tell you the same shit, Mitya. He was too old when I started, then by the time he realized Gedeon wouldn't know what to do with us he was a breath away from retiring. After I taught you, got out of Soviet Union and took a good look around, then came back to take a good look at the clan and where we could even go from there? We were already fucked, and he had already run out of time."
"I'll take the suggestion under advisement." Huffed the vor dryly, taking a nice big bite out of one of his skewers.
Sonya counted to three slowly.
"…the fuck, woman!" Coughing and with one massive scowl, Dimitri spat out the spiced meat.
Alek ate it, off the dusty gritty road and half chewed as it was, then regarded the Rain contemplatively as a possible new food source.
"Do not give my dog spicy food." She warned him flatly, when it looked he might just give him the entire thing out of some twisted kind of revenge. "It's not good for him, and I will hurt you if he ends up with a stomach ache. Or worse."
Dimitri very irritably just shoved it on her instead with a sneer, and Alek turned big begging eyes on her next.
(ooo000ooo)
(Saturday the 6th of November, 1971 continued. Sonya & Tatiana's Apartment, Mafia Land.)
"…I do not believe I understand the haste. Or the point."
Sonya rolled her eyes at the far-off Storm, caught post-nightly rounds of martial arts to take fifteen minutes and waited for Mafia Land's operators to connect them for this. "Do you want a semi-insulting analogy, or for me to repeat myself?"
Alek shifted sleepily, jaw resting on her no longer broken thigh, and huffed out a tired sigh as Fon thought about it.
"I will deal with the insulting analogy."
"Several old, decrepit masters of Mingxia's favored way to battle are coming out of their little individual man-caves to convene and duke it out for who's got the better method. The subject of that conflict doesn't matter for the point I'd like her to be here, that it's for criminal interests is a footnote. What is important is that they'll be here, practicing the same exact art she wants to learn, and she could assist as a legal secretary for a closer than the usual chance to witness it. Maybe get a word or two with those old masters if chance allows for it."
"…aa. Yes, I understand." Notably not giving permission or anything else like that, the assassin continued in a more interested tone of voice. "Has it not already started? You specifically said to Xiasheng that this is a matter of days type of concern."
"That part is specifically only applicable to Russian syndicates." Kind of annoying she couldn't tell him exactly why and what for the 'lawyer heavy' event going on was all about… but Sonya was going to obey every little clause and catch the CEDEF wanted her to just for the chance to sock Gedeon in the fucking jaw again. "It doesn't matter if she misses it, while she's here we can give her the highlights and minutes for that part."
Reborn very quietly let himself into her apartment, which was pretty fucking impressive since she knew full well how hard it was to silently pick a lock. Especially the sisters' front apartment door lock.
They replaced that thing with a lock of their own choice, one that rattled significantly more than normal. With Adrik's alteration, it should've been loud while being forced open.
It had only caught that asshole once.
"Sonya, Mingxia chose to put you in charge of her education. This seems to fall within the subject. I appreciate a warning of what, where, and the risks thereof before it happens. I do not have any right to deny her in this subject."
"You're still her older brother. Whatever aims she also has, Mingxia will respect your opinion on the topic even still. It's not really necessary, sure. She and I will still like to have it, to hear any reasonable reservations you might have and try to accommodate them."
"…she will be assisting Bjǫrn, would she not? As long as she remains within his, or your, reach… I am content with that. Perhaps Viper could be brought in to guard against the unexpected? Or… Verde might be wise to have at hand as well?"
"All of them, got it."
If Viper wasn't already here to munch popcorn and watch the Zolotov Clan implode, Sonya was a duck. It was something that was part of Skull's past, the Mist was and would always be interested in at least keeping tabs on it. Verde might be mildly annoyed to be interrupted again, especially as he was pointedly reviewing everything she might have on their situation to see if he could figure out what she bargained away. He'd do it because she would ask him too, and probably just bring his work with him.
"That won't be too hard to do. I still do need to have a talk with you face-to-face, Fon, but that can wait for you to be done there."
The hitman that didn't bother to knock peered at her suspiciously from under the brim of his hat.
Sonya flatly ignored him because that wasn't any of his business.
"Appreciated." Allowed the assassin as a farewell, hanging up practically immediately which meant he probably had something Tournament-related or political to do for his Mountain Master pending.
Or he wanted to go to bed already, given the time difference between them right now.
Setting her own phone in its cradle, the thief regarded her 'guest' with polite if annoyed attention. "Reborn. Hello. Come in. I am not doing anything important anyway, apparently."
He sighed and addressed her in his native language. "I need a hug. Please."
Uh…
…she could do with a hug too, sure. Okay.
She picked off all the straggly strands of Alek's white underfur on her sleeping shorts and Verde's old shirt first, putting them on the quivering black nose of the source. Her dog snorted, swiping a paw over his snout to remove all the tickling strands, and waking up enough to get the idea she wanted to move him.
Alek yawned and stretched all four paws out first, just to show how little he thought of the suggestion, but slinked off their leather couch obediently and shook out his fur enthusiastically.
Reborn didn't even wait for her to brush off the material from the other strands of white fur that could be hiding in the creases. He plucked her up, stretched out his lanky form where they had been sitting, and put her right back down again on top of him.
"…I believed I asked you to not manhandle me."
"I asked." He shot back pointedly, wrapping his arms around the back of her lower waist to get his 'hug'. An arm eventually loosened to adjust his mind-reading blocking hat to sit better with his head propped up on the arm of the couch. "What the fuck is your brother?"
"Undead." Sonya admitted tiredly into his sternum, settling in for restless Sun hug therapy with a different Sun than usual. "Regeneration via Propagation on the cellular level. It's how we're going to replace Lando's leg, and Ganauche's eye. It's based on Tatiana's addition of Activation on top of Skull's Propagation, making what was false real quicker than natural regeneration."
"How much of him is fake at any one time? How much of you is fake right now?"
"Millions of individual cells make up any general section of the human body. With just broken bones and some ruptured organs? Skull's probably between two to fifteen percent Propagation right now. Depends on how bad the damage was, and what lingers on from his previous 'incidents' to this day. I'm not Propagating anything myself right now." She lifted her head slightly so Leon could crawl out of the hitman's suit unburdened, mildly amused the lizard decided this was a perfectly fine situation and explored her hair spread across his shoulder. "I'm… not nearly as good at it as he is. I've only successfully closed one injury with Voodoo, and I… couldn't get immediate medical assistance at the time. When I choose not to get it, I tend to… forget I'm injured. That's how Verde found out."
The arms around her waist, pointedly not any higher or lower and hands firmly tucked away from her, tightened. Compressing her into him. "How much can he sustain at once?"
"…we don't know. Skull's broken his neck, bitten off fingers, lost some, breaks his bones occasionally, can't bleed out, can't remain ravaged or broken or frostbitten. He just… doesn't regard injuries as permanent issues and losing limbs as crippling. It's painful, sure… but painful in a way he knows won't last long if he can just keep walking."
Then he made a career out of walking away from what would kill anyone else.
Reborn might be attempting to crush her into his ribcage… but to be honest Sonya wasn't exactly sure of that. Her understanding of force was about as wonky as Skull's understanding of physical injury. Thankfully she was already dressed for bed, he was some degrees hotter than her own sister could get to when Tatiana desperately needed a hug.
…overall, kind of cozy but a little warmer than usual.
"Do you want to tell me what upset your apple cart already, or are we going to avoid the subject entirely?"
It'd tell her how long this one 'hug' was going to be.
Tatiana, when she had really bad days at the hospital, could spend just hours laying on top of or next to Sonya because she found that soothing. If she could talk about it without violating patient privacy, it might not go on for more than an hour or two. If she couldn't… she'd try to go spend the night on her boyfriend instead.
Admittedly, she wasn't here enough for her sister to have done it more than a rare night or two when possible. Then again, you could say she did the same damn shit with Verde about once a month. Not just because she was moody but so her mood would remain stable, and so she could sleep easier.
Same shit, different flavor.
Reborn, having 'killed' himself off and come back under a different name with less than a handful of people that knew who he was anymore, had… no one to hug. Sonya wasn't sure what his self-care routine was when he had bad days, or even just wanted physical closeness…
…oh, never mind. Renato had been a womanizer of the highest degree, obviously he got his social skin-fix sleeping around a good chunk of the entire female population of the island. Reborn hadn't restarted his womanizer habits, or at least she hadn't heard if he had yet, which meant he might need a few adjustments.
"Irene isn't dead."
"Your… ex after Natalina, but before me?" Who he thought was dead. "How did you find out?"
"It's where Checkerface sent me and Verde. Her fucking backyard." Bland tone of voice did not match how much she was being squeezed right now, and she risked a look up to his face only to net herself jack shit.
Both editing out anything in his tone and keeping his features blank, the Italian regarded her back neutrally.
"Once upon a time, Irene was skilled enough to damn near give Natalina a run for her money. After she gave up on Ireland's situation and being part of the IRA, she somehow ended up here where we met. These days, Verde can keep her in place with little effort or interest in keeping her somewhere."
"…how? I mean, Verde's stubborn and I can see how he could keep someone in one location for a while, but… he's no actual threat to someone that stays out of his reach."
"I got one very good look around her place, once I realized she lived there. She's got nothing. Kitchen knives, gardening tools, nothing else. Irene didn't just leave me, she decided to stick her damn head into the sand and ignore there was anything more dangerous than wild animals running around. Whatever she did to fake her death was more than decent… but that was all that guarded her back."
Sonya thought about it, putting her head back down on his chest. "How did you two break up? You weren't all that sure when you told me about her, if she was dead or just gone… so obviously whatever she did wasn't nearly as comprehensive as what Viper did for you."
"She didn't. Irene just left me without a word." Reborn blew out a disgusted sounding sigh over her head. "I knew, at the time, she wanted out. Of the lifestyle, of this island, of everything. Irene asked me to go with her, I said no. That was the last time I saw her."
"…yeah, Irene's a bitch."
Suspiciously, he remained silent.
"No, she could've said goodbye at least. You did. Whatever she wanted, or how she got it, she could've ended things cleanly. She didn't. She's a bitch."
Additionally… they weren't any safer than the civilians were, criminals just knew better.
At the very least, Sonya would've expected someone like that to have something. Reasonable self-defense options, a solid pipeline of information coming in, hyper paranoia.
Not to let your skills go to the point Verde was enough to keep someone in place.
She doubted the man did more than just stand there. Admittedly the whole 'can't be harmed by force' thing was a stumbling block but stuck in a room with a semi-hostile Lightning… she would've just left out a window. That apparently didn't occur to this woman either.
"How long do you have?"
"I'm supposedly speaking with you for what reason that circus going on is all about. I've been brought on as part of the security effort with so many possible hostile Russians on the island. Someone has to ensure they don't get into something sensitive before they fuck off again. We've got about an hour or so." Reborn admitted instantly, meaning he wasn't here to be told how shit his ex-girlfriend's treatment of him was. Just the hug and an exasperated demand for how much of her brother was literally bullshit, apparently. "I can easily fucking guess who's going to be the problem issues. You did one hell of a number on your old Pahkan, little dragon lady."
"Gedeon is not my Pahkan. He never was."
He snorted, and she shifted to see where the hell Alek was at.
Leon and her dog were having a little mini meeting themselves. The chameleon eventually worked up from her hair to the brim of the Mafioso's hat, now nose-to-nose with a dog several thousand times her size with one weird little split toe foot perched on a canine nose.
Weirdly, the lizard didn't care that she was totally outweighed in the matchup. Also… Alek would chase everything down at least once. Mostly birds, whatever unlucky squirrels, yet for some reason not Reborn's shapeshifting chameleon. Not even a curious lick or three.
…huh.
It was nice they got along, presumably. She wondered how the hell that happened…
(Monday the 8th of November, 1971. Mafia Land.)
Aside Sunday, for Italian Catholic religious reasons, the vory were ready to make a determination first thing after the weekend. Sonya decided that since they were ready and everything, she should probably catch up with everything that had happened already.
This being a Mafia Land centric issue, all records and recordings would be destroyed post-incident aside a rough outline and generalized if dry list of results. All of Bjǫrn's notes, anything Mingxia wrote down for her own reasons or for the Lackey, everything had to be turned over and burned in front of an island security agent.
What they had was one Grekov Gang member, slightly bruised but that was it, that fingered his syndicate as the responsible party for the invasion still yet without a culprit for it. What Skull and Fon stumbled across, which explained a lot why they kept on running into that syndicate while trying to get out of St. Petersburg.
Said same man, a Grekov Gang shestyorka, knew the rules for vory and chose to uphold it even if he hadn't the jail time to earn the title yet. Even if he got kidnapped, he had been trying to do it to Skull first and held no hard feelings about it. When vor Arseniy got around to letting him out of the boot of a car, the guy followed their honor code and gave the full-fledged vor a heads up about what was happening and why as far as he knew.
Hence how her mother could give people a heads up about what was going on when she was still a Zolotov. Head of a Flame user's Academy wouldn't give her any leeway… the Mafia Home Tutor of Lady Fiorella, wife of Don Vongola who the CEDEF reported to?
Lisa was kind of in a hard spot right now, which gave the 'get out' order Arseniy gave Tatiana a whole lot more terrible weight. She wasn't a vor, which made the rules for what she's expected to do a lot to only slightly different than expectations for her lover or even just Dimitri.
Non-vory syndicate members were expected to support their specific group or whatever full-fledged vory around. End of story. Whatever the aim was, however they could, they were supporting the 'actual' criminals in Russian syndicates. From housing, feeding, and whatever else they could do.
…except, as a Mafia Home Tutor, Lisa was also expected to provide reasonable logistical support to her student and that syndicate she belonged to. Didn't matter who or where or the details thereof, whatever her foster mother had at hand that might help Fiorella's situation or standing was to be used for that aim. Her lover was obviously an asset she had use of, and what he knew or was informed of was included.
That what she learned which she used immediately, to the detriment of the man she 'supposedly' followed as vor Arseniy's main support structure and dependent, supposedly had 'little' to do with Sonya's status as her foster daughter. At least for the purpose of this hearing.
While most Russian vory were not impressed with Lisa's actions, there were still the rules the vory considered their code of ethics that exonerated her for the 'backstabbing' done. The same code that had a shestyorka telling a vor from a separate syndicate what was going on, also had a council of vory excusing the actions of an asset sounding an alarm so they could convene and get to the bottom of the situation that could ripple out into their own syndicates' relations with each other or Mafia Land itself.
That code changed and warped depending on needs or wants, but there were a couple widely accepted bits they all agreed on almost universally.
Ninety percent of the vory culture took place in jails. Their code of ethics and rules for vory got homogenized down to core basics, expanded upon need, and got reinforced in situations like this. No matter the specific homeplace of the vor in question, they spent most of their life in a cell swapping social values around while imprisoned and took that back out to whatever footholds they had and the people there waiting for them.
Russian criminals had to help other criminals, morally or by whatever resources they had. Mainly to avoid legal investigation by law enforcement, but also to protect each other from unreasonable threats to their work or lifestyles. When there was a situation, they all were expected to report it on up until a convocation of vory could take a look at what was going on and make a determination.
Gedeon was a Pahkan, sure. Sonya was a loose thief among many in the world, also true.
…said Pahkan violated a promise he gave Mafia Land, putting them all at risk for retribution or their aims for the island possibly being impacted. An entire island of criminals, bigger than the Zolotov clan counting even all the non-vory support staff it could claim. Mafia Land gave support and logistical help to everyone able to afford them, which significantly outweighed the reach of one single Russian clan of thieves and gave the island's personnel more influence in the balance.
There were contracts for holding syndicate presences on Mafia Land, when he became the Pahkan the rental agreements were updated as soon as realistically possible. Gedeon broke his word given in good faith by signing the dotted line, no matter the taunt or reason for his actions that was a condemning crime to the vory.
Using a scapegoat was so uninspired to have been a flimsy half-step in hiding what he did.
Worse yet… he got caught at it. Had no one told anyone else what was going on, fair enough. Who cares?
Gedeon got caught, they weren't going to lessen the consequences coming home to roost a damn bit.
The Grekov Gang controlled most of St. Petersburg, but Mafia Land didn't solely use them to get into and out of the Soviet Union. They apparently have been losing their control on what came into and out of the core of Soviet Russia for years now, and the aim to stop it or at least take control of what could get in or out of the heart of the Soviet Union was quaint. Impossible, but attempted by a branch of the syndicate with more hotheads and muscle than they had intelligence.
The decision of the council of vory obviously ended up being 'there is something wrong here, go right ahead'. Which meant the rest of the Soviet criminal syndicates would abide by whatever determination followed and help hold it up if need be.
Following the lead of their minor but honorable syndicate member giving them a tiny edge in respectability, the Pahkan of the Grekov Gang cut the entire section of his syndicate that stupid loose for putting the rest of them at risk. Now branded as idiots and having worked against their fellow vory, a whole lot of them probably wouldn't survive a whole lot longer if they got off the island at all. If his slightly beaten up shestyorka survived a whole year here while the gang was banned from Mafia Land, said old man would write everything else off as a loss and accept that as acceptable exchange to not fight the condemnation he couldn't anyway.
In other words, if they left him a possible way to come back afterwards… he wouldn't put up a fight. Obviously he knew what they had been up to, they used Grekov Gang resources and everything… but one single man's choice saved him so much face when the situation crumbled.
The council had spoken, the Grekov Gang Pahkan would unquestioningly allow his syndicate to lose a significant chunk of manpower in exchange for not preventing this situation from happening. With the year's ban from island services or Mafia Land itself, the forfeiture of all his held in trust properties on the island, the Grekov Gang lost a significant amount of their resources outside of St. Petersburg.
…and their revenue from helping the island land people and supplies well behind the Iron Curtain, which signified an additional dear chunk of their usual finances.
With the situation fully fleshed out, the 'he said she said' settled, and a wrong was proven enough… Mafia Land turned on the real orchestrator of the invasion that actually made alarming headway. To make a point to refine the general assumption about those stupid invasion attempts, you could try but they would have their pound of flesh in revenge when you failed.
Always. Trying to dodge getting your lumps would result in an even worse outcome.
While the vory wouldn't be ducking out here, they were taking a step back. To let Mafia Land press Gedeon for breaking faith and putting the lifestyles and livelihood of other criminals at unreasonable risk. That his chosen 'footpads' in this situation had more influence and strength than he did, and technically 'threatened' the information out of him, did not matter.
Obviously, the Zolotov clan lost their condo immediately. They violated the terms of their rental contract and it was clear to all parties, the property was forfeited to the wronged just to dig it in a little deeper.
Surprisingly, Sonya now owned a Mafia Land condo intended for three to ten permanent residents. Free of charge, an entire floor of a large building much nearer to the dead center to the artificial island's landmass, all to herself. She could remodel the entire thing, she probably would if she was going to live here, and the once-a-year maid deep clean could be opted out of if she'd rather hire her own housekeeper or take care of things herself.
The contract she signed for it stated she owned it rent free… if her syndicate members were allowed to come to Mafia Land. To work here without censure, or her preventing it for anything but 'emergency' reasons.
There were reams of small print legalese defining 'emergency', Mingxia had great fun translating it to simple concise concepts for her the night she arrived with Verde in tow. The written contracts the island gave out to be signed on could be requested in all languages, the girl got to do it in her native language instead of try struggling through Italian or English fine print.
Also, there was the terribly important do not betray Mafia Land interest's clause that had been violated now defined down to fine points in the condo's rental agreement for them. Willingly or accidentally Mafia Land business was to stay Mafia Land business, no excuses would be accepted and any infraction would be punished.
Same as her business contract, down to the exact wording. Nice to check and know fully, of course.
…she didn't have syndicate members or even a syndicate, but sure. Even if she did have a syndicate, Sonya wouldn't care what they did so long as they could contribute in some way. A broad how, where, and only limitedly restricted why would be up to them.
Well. Apparently she was moving. Again.
With Tatiana likely living in Italy with her fiancée or in Vongola held properties now… no matter where she worked?
'Nightshade' no longer had anything but the bare minimum to do for Mafia Land, for all the rights and benefits of being a contracted agent gave her.
Sonya was semi-certain the 'gift' was intended to ensure she remained an island agent. Without the need for residential space, since she owned something else that would work perfectly well, this would also free her up. To just take the terribly difficult and semi-impossible jobs people wanted 'Nightshade' to do for stupid amounts of money, instead of the busywork shit some other thief could handle.
That was just the opening salvo of what would happen regardless of the outcome of the rest of it. The obvious, the expected, consequences.
Now for the rest of it.
(Tuesday the 9th of November, 1971. CEDEF Armored Council Hall, Mafia Land.)
"You stole the information from us in the first place!"
"I discovered the information myself." Shot back Sonya in a bland tone, insolently reclining in a chair directly across from the Zolotov Pahkan. "What I could or could not do with that was excluded in how I was cut loose from the clan. So… fuck you and your opinions. Way too late, there."
Bjǫrn was utterly aware she picked her spot carefully and with full awareness Gedeon would fixate upon her and not the very indulgent shark lawyers they were 'working with' right now. The trio of unholy criminal lawyers Mafia Land dropped the responsibility of gutting the Zolotovs with knew the exact same thing.
The ghoulish old men indulged the thief he worked for her choice of seating explicitly for that same reason. The vory watching the proceedings were unimpressed to a man. While fault was found and they already had agreed it deserved recompensation, that didn't excuse the behavior of one of their own being 'embarrassing' or being hyper focused as it was. The Pahkan's own men weren't all that more comfortable with the straightforward and simple action that derailed practically everything before it could start.
No one, not even the Vongola Guardians and the CEDEF agents nor the clansmen here to be gutted, asked her to move.
He had to be the one to tell Mingxia that the tactic was probably highly unethical and something she might not be able to use a similar tactic in civilian courts so blatantly. Noah Ward was… expressionless, but there was a sympathetic tilt to his features as he lurked around as one of the two visible bodyguards the little Rain had. Verde was simply scornful of the same thing.
Who knew what Viper thought, even if they could see the Mist that Fon wished to guard his sister with overkill from the shadows. His former financial instructor was hard to read on a good day.
"You were a Zolotov at the time the discoveries came to light, your work or not." Gedeon insisted back, half fixated on Sonya because he was… disturbed and unbalanced to start with. "Your bullshit aside, it is ours in the first place."
One of the trio of ghouls, the thin Finnish man directly to Sonya's right who was nominated as the only lawyer to speak from this point on specifically because it wouldn't take a whole lot of attention away from the thief, sniffed in disgust. "You've lost any right to contest the business regardless of opinion on ownership. Back to the point, boy."
To say the Sun hadn't expected this outpouring of hostile consequences hammering into him… was underestimating everything.
Moscow wasn't a small town in a backwater nowhere. The city was dense, elaborate, a place one could lose pursuers or control the opinion of the locals for a certain benefit if you could pull that off. As the head of an inherited syndicate of no small section of said city, Gedeon had options and mitigations to pull forth when his decisions or actions didn't work out.
That was in Russia.
Outside of Soviet Russia, Gedeon and the Zolotov clan were less than anything of note.
Lisa had been the one to 'win' the clan property and standing in Mafia Land for them, the first of the Zolotovs to reach Mafia Land on her own merits back when the island had been brand new. When internal residences and space here wasn't at such a premium price, she got them a full condo floor because she could and it was available to her means. Then she gave it all up for her vor lover and went home to the clan, until Sonya decided to follow her foster mother's footsteps right on back out of the same situation.
As part of the second generation of the Zolotov clan, raised by that same woman who could swim in international waters and do it well enough for herself?
Sonya started out with a better standing and terms to her contractual work her mother proved they could be good for… but that was it. Mafia Land did not care what syndicate one originated from, what reputation they had or what work they were especially notable for. Who was who's kid, what the culture should say about them, anything not done by the criminal in question didn't matter here.
One's work would be proven by one's work on a multinational standard compared to all criminals. You could loan a kind of 's/he's good for it' for better contractual terms, to give them a tiny step up to start on… that was it. Everything else was earned by the individual in question or cold hard cash.
Gedeon, the now leader of the originating syndicate of both Lisa and Sonya, was wrong-footed by that complete indifference to him.
Taking over parts of Mafia Land was possible. The whole reason Ganauche the Ninth Generation Lightning Guardian from Vongola was presiding over the judgement going on was because that was possible. It happened recently enough to… 'encourage' the invasion attempts still.
Silently presiding, but the Lightning didn't have to do anything in this situation and he was amused as all hell to just simply watch it go on. He was here because it was a Mafia Land security issue, and he tended to butt in every time Bjǫrn had to talk to security here.
Failing to take over part or even the entire island happened. A year's ban was no real slap to the wrist for most that tried it, for most of them had no presence or property here at risk.
Normally, in Gedeon's previous experiences, his bad choices could be mitigated down to minor situations he could pay off or ignore. He and the Zolotovs controlled whole neighborhoods, had well established presences in his corner of Moscow. Making a minor show of 'giving in' to a few Grekov Gang members pressing him for information of non-Soviet Union interests should've put in enough leeway in the situation that most vory wouldn't care about the net result.
It was foreign.
That only a select part of the Grekov Gang even knew where the information came from, that they were either going to die on the invasion attempt or keep their traps shut if they survived, should've not gotten out and made his life hell.
Should've.
As far as Gedeon knew the situation and prospects, this shouldn't have come back to affect him regardless of what happened. Reacquiring a well-off business from another criminal or faction was a matter of fact affair that happened almost all the time elsewhere. It had been a simple choice to try for it, almost unsurprising for him to have attempted exactly that regardless of who owned it currently or why…
…except he failed to pull it off. That was the crux of the issue, almost eclipsing that he tried it at all or whom he ended up inconveniencing. He failed at the 'sure' gamble.
Had he just checked with the asset that earned the clan some property here, the lover of one of his own vory, he could've learned the drastic difference in what was and what he thought before making a poor choice. His father was still alive, available to discuss aspects of the clan he inherited and what the old man understood about the entity of Mafia Land and it's reach.
He hadn't.
The Sun made a poor choice based on a flawed understanding of what happened in a 'distant' island society, that he didn't care about getting because it didn't greatly impact his syndicate… as far as he knew it. Zolotovs didn't come here a lot, it was mainly a place to wait out some heat or stole the young Flame users moderately interested in hospital jobs before the Academy separated from his clan.
Mafia Land, and more importantly to his situation the vory as a whole, did not share his opinion.
Gedeon knew Mafia Land as an entity that could take his clansmen away from his enclave, that the entity butted in annoyingly in some situations because some of his people had contractual requirements to fill on top of their work for him.
Mafia Land had a single contract with the Pahkan of the Zolotov clan, otherwise the vor was a nonentity to them. A river trout among a sea of countless other fish.
The vory of Russia all had their own different and individual relationships with the island, the vory across the Soviet Union had equally different and possible relationships to consider too.
Sonya was Nightshade. Infamous thief, who worked for Mafia Land, was lucrative in multiple ways, had a near decade of fulfilled work contracts behind her.
She was a Cloud and a Storm, Flame users were valued more here. A society where they hadn't died out for a stretch of years than back in Moscow where they were only now coming back in respectable numbers. He was a Sun that didn't heal.
She was indulged and allowed to be 'wild' or ill mannered, not him.
She got the forfeited Zolotov assets, not Mafia Land reabsorbing it to distribute out to some other group or individual.
Bjǫrn had four days of sitting in this mostly empty room, with one single circular great table and the various seats portioned around it evenly. He now knew every gritty, uncomfortable, ugly factor involved in this situation.
Suddenly, and jarringly, Sonya suddenly switched languages and looked straight at the elderly Sovintnik with a whole different expression. "You know what has to be done now, right Gramps?"
Pytor regarded her with pointed disapproval from next to the suddenly highly suspicious Gedeon, and something very bitter crept into his stony expression.
"Look, I liked the old man too. I would've followed him, at least from here. Mostly." She shrugged indolently, straightening up slightly as to give the impression she was finally taking the situation seriously instead of an opportunity to taunt a man she hated. "The son's not measuring up to the father. Fine, it happens. He seems like kind of a shit vor too, but sure. Not my place to decide. You have better options. You have a vor who can salvage this, can manage what's going on, can save the clan the two of you built from the ground up. Cut out the cancer, grandfather, and let nature take its own course. He's got just as much of a claim as Gedeon has, since it's your daughter he's claimed as his woman."
…oh. Oh shit.
He glanced at her pointedly polite, non-judgmental expression aimed at the Sovintnik. All Mafia Land related agents were pointedly pretending they didn't understand the Russian, it wasn't English therefore it wasn't to be obviously 'important' in any way. Drastically differently, every vory had more intently interested attention aimed on her for this little interlude.
Mingxia wasn't quite as good at pretending innocence, so she kept her head down writing something out furiously on her little legal pad on his other side.
Even still, the Lackey was more than certain everyone understood the implications she was suggesting.
"You chose to not involve yourself in that kind of decision." Pytor reminded her just as pointedly, quietly much to the uncomprehending horror of his current Pahkan.
"I promised the old man I wouldn't take the clan over myself, by force or by anything else, when it came to the point Gedeon fucks up beyond what he can manage to handle. I'm not involving myself, I haven't until I had to be here as a part of Mafia Land's economy so insulted by it. I have removed myself as he wished me to, because I do respect him despite father and son's shared stupid sexism. That he didn't think of his own vor's claim instead? That's his fault." Sonya smirked across the table at him evilly, a more barring of the teeth than a polite or respectful expression. "I loathe Gedeon, grandfather… but I have no such problematic issues with my own parents. You can salvage this… or you can basically die with him. Pick, and let us get on with things."
One of the many elderly criminals in the room sighed out heavily, planting both hands a measure apart on the table as if to push himself up… yet he didn't get up. "May we break for the day? There has been… a possible development."
"What? Pytor, you-"
"Silence. Gedeon."
Not 'Pahkan', the vor's name only.
…fuck.
"Of course. We will reconvene tomorrow morning at nine, local time." Ganauche allowed as his role as in charge of the Mafia Land's stake in what the Zolotov clan would be giving up or paying back for both the trouble and invasion attempts they were at fault for. "Hopefully, we can then finally finish with little further trouble."
"Of course." Muttered the elderly Sovintnik sourly as he got up, physically muscling his already protesting 'leader' away from the table into the reach of his own vory.
"…how long were you planning this?" Inquired ghoul-lawyer number two, the slightly corpulent looking American man between the Finnish and Australian brought in to bleed all comers to satisfy Mafia Land's true owners.
"Two or three years, now." Sonya obligingly allowed smugly, inspecting her right hand nails just to run her thumbnail over the small chip missing in her middle. "I am the daughter of thieves, I will steal everything I want and give it to my parents. Even things most people do not believe can be stolen from them. I am a dutiful daughter, thank you."
"You, are a bloodthirsty petty bitch." Corrected the lawyer seated on her side the Lackey wasn't on. "I quite approve. Lovely gambit, my dear. The payoff will be beautiful… if it happens."
She sneered slightly as she dropped her arm again, and Bjǫrn winced.
Sonya had to use the clan basically being gutted to wrench it from Gedeon's hands, and what Arseniy might be left with would be a shallow mockery of what it once had been. He had full faith the vor could repair the damages, but his own son inheriting the syndicate would be getting only perhaps the same thing Gedeon had a full decade or more before such an event might be possible.
If.
The vory of the Zolotovs could choose to put someone else in the hot seat right now, if they decided to no longer follow Gedeon. Quite a lot of people had died in the invasion attempt, a separate syndicate got used and also butchered for this to come about.
It wasn't guaranteed, the situation forced before it could be realized in other ways.
"You knew this would happen?" Mingxia checked in her own native language, since she didn't speak anything but broken English and most of the conversation was going over her head until she could read the Lackey's notations on it. "…how?"
"I can only work with what other people give me." Allowed the thief quietly as others followed the Zolotov side of the situation abandoning the table for other aims or interests. "Gedeon… would not give me anything I could work with. Refused to change what he expected or thought. Would not look outside of Moscow, at anything outside the Soviet Union as anything important to keep in mind. So… I used that instead. It's a bit early, sure. Not a great situation to force it, too. If that idiot thought this would've ever worked… it needs to happen now rather than later. Valera doesn't deserve to take over the ruins of a syndicate when he's ready."
"Vor Arseniy doesn't believe it's his territory." Bjǫrn reminded his own lady with a grimace. "He might not put himself forward to claim the clan."
"Lisa knows better." She shrugged that off, a very sad smirk given to the both of them. "And while Arseniy might not for himself, he knows full well Valera will take whatever is there when he's old enough regardless of what's left or who 'owns' it. He'll do it because it's his son's territory, if not just to prevent more stupidity for the rest of his career."
"This situation might repeat."
"It can't. Gedeon was trained to be a Moscow Pahkan above all other concerns, to hold his local status and influence as what's important to preserve and grow. Lisa knows better, Arseniy just watched this whole shitshow go down. Two decades of difference, Valera won't be trained the same exact way or left to develop rock solid opinions that cannot change about things. If the Iron Curtain was impervious to travel or the spread of ideas and culture, Gedeon might've gotten away with his shit. It's not, he didn't. End of that story, time to start something new."
…this was the same woman that gave her mother an easily million or so euro Ming Dynasty vase to hold flowers in. That 'shopped' in museums for furniture or decorations.
That she saw arranging things so she could 'give' an entire established syndicate to her little brother?
Which wasn't hers, that she was asked to not take it over herself, and yet still get away with it?
Honestly, Bjǫrn wasn't all that surprised. "Well, the next few years are going to be a little awkward for you, Dama. Where, exactly, are you going to be holding family events like your sister's impending wedding or your Christmas celebrations?"
Sonya shrugged absently. "Who knows."
Ganauche the Lightning Guardian suddenly groaned, slamming his forehead on the table and revealing he had been eavesdropping on their little conversation. "Fuck, me. Did you have to do this shit now? Couldn't you have waited for after the wedding to rearrange the social structure of your homeland?"
Coyote Nougat the Storm Guardian came right back to his fellow's side, highly suspicious and eyeballing the remaining people at the table as if they had anything to do with his sudden distress.
…well, he was right in that obvious suspicion.
"I'll leave that for Tats, Ganauche the Defective." Shot back the Storm-Cloud blandly. "Yes, I just explained why. And I could've… I guess. Didn't. Deal with it."