Disclaimer: The show Victorious its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.
Revenge of the wolf
Chapter 10 – All of me.
We continue the story of the events that left Jade shattered and defeated. Super long chapter today.
No One's POV.
Tori wasn't all that talkative on the way back to the hotel after the club. Jade however was too distracted with the details of what they were planning to do the next morning to really realize the tension between them had increased greatly.
In bed however, Tori curled up next to Jade and held her tightly: all without saying a word.
The next morning, they rose, got ready and headed out into an unseasonably cold morning. Again Tori was quiet and again Jade was too preoccupied to really notice.
Arriving at the front of the café, they found Julia speaking to Valentina about the fashionable and expensive fur lined parka she was wearing. Though it appeared, Valentina was bragging more than anything. It was something the rich, blond werewolf, did frequently.
"My word Julia, I'm so glad you love it, this has a sable lining, I only wear the finest furs and clothes, if you like this, I'll take you to St. Petersburg and we can do some serious shopping."
It was then they noticed Jade and Tori approaching.
"Hello Jade, Tori." Said Julia and Valentina in near unison, which elicited a laugh.
A quick round of hellos, was said in which Julia asked, "Where's Margo."
A knock from the window of the café could be heard and turning to look they could see Margo already seated at a window table. She smiled and quickly beckoned them in.
Coming inside, they walked to the table to find Margo had already ordered a round of beers.
"Good Morning, Sit everyone. This place serves some of the finest beers in Prague. I know it's a bit early, but we're on the hunt. " Margo said.
She then handed Jade a glass, looking eager to please. "Try this, it's called Kozel Cerney. It's a dark beer. A Kozel is a Czech favorite for many years."
Jade smiled graciously, accepted the glass and took a sip. "Not bad."
"You're a guest and the least I could do is show all of you a taste of our local culture. I bought each of you a different one. I hope you like my choices. Let's order and discuss our plan of attack."
"I found out what that substance was you found at the brothel was." AnnouncedJulia.
"what was it?" Asked Tori.
"It's called Wilner extract. It's a component in a extremely illegal, mind control spell. A person is gets a few doses to set the foundation. All is needed is a enchanted item on the person plus a few mafic words and presto. They're under control. It's not a permanent spell. A much longer ritual is needed for that. The brothel must have charged the buyers of these girls extra to maintain the enchantment. Kept them on the hook for more money."
Disgusting" Hissed, Valentina.
"Thank you Julia." Jade said. "Now lets get to planning our day"
The only person missing was Beck of course. He was busy filming on location nearby. They also left Beck out as he was only a human and didn't want him to get hurt. Beck had wished them well the night before and told the group that they could call if they needed something. In a continuation of the night before, Margo did her best to emulate and praise Jade and Valentina kept going on about her expensive wardrobe and newly built dacha in Siberia. She said she used it when she was hunting. None of this, that didn't help Tori's mood one bit.
One bit of news in the morning paper caught their attention. The continuing police investigation regarding the brothel and the people behind it had been stymied. The paper revealed, the building and land itself was registered to a holding company based locally. The holding company had no other assets and its address was a post office box. Even more notable was, that the Lawyer who handled affairs for both the land the brothel was on and the holding company, a person local police wanted to question, was missing. His office had been cleaned out and not so much as a scrap of paper left behind.
Jade read the headline again and shook her head. "Looks like Mr. Big is already starting to cover their tracks. I'm guessing the lawyer will probably turn up floating in the Vltava river or simply never be seen again."
Margo was the first to chime in, "We got them on edge and their desperate. They'll make a mistake and us with your guidance will win."
Under her breath, Tori muttered. "Stop kissing her ass. That ass and everything attached to it, is mine bitch."
The first thing they decided to do checked out was, Novak Construction. The outfit all the raw materials had been shipped to, that was to be used in the construction of the new drug lab. At the address listed for Novak construction, they found a small and mundane metal building in an industrial park on the south end of Prague. There was a small white panel van parked behind the building. They knocked on the door, but no one answered. Using a spell, Julia unlocked the door. The building which consisted of a storage area and a small office, was deserted. The storage area contained some construction equipment, but a close examination revealed none of it had been used in some time. The office which looked normal enough revealed no important papers of any kind.
"This is just a transit point." Jade said, rubbing her chin. "The raw materials get delivered here, someone signs for it, and then they take the panel van and take them to wherever they need to go. Most of this stuff is just for show, to make this place look like a legit construction company."
"Excellent guess." Remarked Julia, as looked about the office. "What now?"
"We go to the street where the drug lab is, hopefully we can find it." Jade then turned to Margo. "You had a contact that lived near there, did they have any idea."
Margo nodded eagerly. "Yes, they just emailed me. They noted that off all the buildings on that street, only one has a well maintained security fence and security cameras. The sign on the brick building, says it's a storage company. Other than that, they've got nothing."
"We'll start there then?"
"Glad to be of help. Perhaps, when this is done, you and Tori can be my guests at my apartment. It's tiny but cozy, It would be an honor to cook a traditional Czech meal for the queen of all werewolves and her mate."
"Well See." Said Tori, before Jade could respond.
"I'd like to take you both out to dinner at one of the finest restaurants in down." Valentina then added, not wanting to be left out.
"Well see!" Said Tori again, only she sounded more annoyed.
Jade, amused by the attention and Tori's jealousy merely chuckled and said. "Let's move out."
They arrived at the address for the building Margo mentioned and noted it indeed had a security fence and cameras. It was a 3 story brick building that once appeared to have been a factory. Standing there for a minute in the alley behind the building, Jade smelled the air for a moment. Then checking to see no one was watching, turned into a wolf and for several moments smelled the air.
Turning back, she nodded. "This is the place. My wolf sense of smell could detect the faint smell of chemicals. The kind used in a drug lab. I did some quick reading this morning on which chemicals were used in a drug lab, while Tori was getting ready. Ok, let's hit it."
"Jade, shouldn't we watch the place first? See who leaves or enters." Cautioned Tori.
"No Vega." Jade said dismissively," Mr. Big already knows someone is on to them. We need to move now or all we'll find is an empty building. So I see a back door and a camera above it, how do we get in without us being seen."
Julia who out of the corner of her eye, spotted the glare Tori gave Jade behind her back, responded. "I can take out that all there camera's from here. They'll think it was a technical fault." Julia felt that Jade shouldn't have dismissed Tori so quickly, but elected to stay out of it.
"Ok, you take out the cameras. Me, Tori, Valentina and Margo will turn into wolves and storm the place. You can follow up the rear."
Margo and Valentina, quickly went behind a dumpster, shed their clothes, turned into wolves and emerged.
Tori simply turned into a wolf, her magical pendant, making it not necessary to remove her clothes.
Appearing to concentrate, Julia pulled out a small white stone and said an incantation. A moment later a bolt of red light, shot from her hands towards the camera. Once the light hit the camera, it sparked for a moment then nothing. "All their security camera's just shorted out. It will look like a power surge. I'll cut a hole in the fence and you can go to work."
Julia then let out another spell which caused a 4 foot section of the fence to glow purple and melt into goo.
That done, the 3 wolves, Julia, plus Jade in her human form, charged and quickly reached the door. It was locked but using all her strength, which was considerable, Jade tore the door off its hinges. Beyond the door was a stairway leading down. Not hesitating, they rushed down it, the wolves following the ever increasing smell of chemicals.
They followed a long corridor with a door at the end. Sure this was the place, Jade transformed into a wolf and charged ahead, smashing through the door.
Inside, they found themselves at one end of a long rectangular room. There were 2 long tables full of chemical equipment running down either side with about 8 men in chemical suits performing various tasks
Seeing the wolves, the man nearest, grabbed an Uzi off a table and aimed it at Jade. Margo, who had followed up behind, leapt at the man. Before he had a chance to fire, Margo, savagely and efficiently ripped out his throat.
At the same time, the other 5 men all grabbed nearby guns and began to fire. One man who had a pistol, hit Tori, but the bullet, not being silver, made a wound which quickly healed. Jade in turn, shredded the man responsible in a matter of seconds. Valentina found one of her own and brought him down.
However in the melee, Julia spotted a large rotund man dash out of an office at the other end. He appeared to be making for an exit on the other side.
"Not so fast." Julia said as she pulled out a wand. With a quick word of power, a bolt of green energy, burst from the wand where hit the man, knocking him to the ground.
The action, though violent was over in less than a minute. All the men who had armed themselves now lay in pools of blood and the one man who tried to flee, laying on the floor stunned. Jade turned back into a human and smirked.
"Now that's the way to bust up a party."
She then turned to Tori who'd been shot. "Are you ok, Baby."
Tori turned into a human and nodded. "I'm fine. It was a normal bullet, it passed right though me and it's already healed."
Jade turned to Valentina and Margo, who were still in wolf form. "We're good. You can go back to where your clothes are and turn back. Come right back."
Julia, Tori and Jade walked to the far end of the room, to the office where the man had emerged from. It had a desk and papers which seemed detail financial transactions with various drug dealers in the area. Though of great use to the police, nothing in the papers revealed who was running the place.
Jade then turned to the man who was now just starting to wake up. She then gave him a swift kick in the ribs.
"Ok, Buster, spill you guts or have your guts spilled, your choice. Who do you work for?"
The man, who looked to be at least a 100 pounds overweight, started to freak out and tried to crawl away. Valentia, who with Margo had returned, immediately stepped on his hand, with the stiletto heel of her boot.
Valentina, grinding the heel into his hand just a bit harder, leaned in and said in a deadly serious voice. "Pay attention with the queen is speaking to you. My dear, now I've been told that people in this organization have a habit of killing themselves to avoid giving information. Fine, maybe you intend to do just that. But know this, if you do before you tell Jade what she wants to know. I'll find every single member of your family and eliminate them; one at a time. Not just your wife, I'm talking parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, 2nd cousins the works. I hunt and track and it's something I'm very good at, so don't think I won't be able to find and eliminate every single one of them."
The man, in accented English let out a cry of pain. "Ok, Ok….I don't know much, but I will tell you everything I know. Don't kill my family. I only run the lab. "
Jade smiled. "Finally someone who wants to cooperate. Who do you work for?"
"Ok, Ok…my boss is an Englishman his name is Mr. Simm. He collects the money, he runs the distribution network. He gets the orders from the person in charge. Whether it's directly or indirectly I don't know. They're referred to as, management."
"Do you know who that is? The person at the top. And you better not be lying. My associate Julia here can cast a truth spell. Do I need her to cast one? I won't be pleased if you turn out to be lying." Jade growled.
The man trembled visibly with fear. "I'm not lying, I swear to god. No. I only deal with Mr. Simm. He told me once that I don't need to know who's above him and that's that. People, who ask too many questions or displease management, have a habit of disappearing. I'm being honest. Please."
Jade who was an actress and a pretty good judge of when someone was either acting or lying to him was convinced he was telling the truth. "This Simm, where can we find him?"
"He owns and runs a Jazz club near the university. It's called Parkers. Named after Jazz musician, Charlie Parker. Right now, he's flying back from Pakistan where's he was meeting a prospective new supplier. But you'll find him there tonight. The place opens at 4 pm."
Jade who looked satisfied smirked. "Thank you. Oh and you don't tell the police or anyone else, anything about us. You heard a commotion, you came out everyone was dead. We were wearing masks and you didn't get a good look at anyone. If you do, I'll let Valentina loose on your family. Understand?"
"Yes…Yes…I will…I promise. Don't kill me." The man pleaded as a wet stain was beginning to form in the crotch of his pants.
"Now what do we do with him?" Asked Margo.
Valentina then took her heel off the man's hand and punched him in the head with enough force to knock him clean out. By now, they had all seen there was a lot more to the fashion conscious blond, than meets the eye. Then from her designer purse, she took out a pair of handcuffs and cuffed his arms around a metal pipe. She also gagged him with a silk scarf. "We leave him here until we meet this Simm. If he's telling the truth, we call the cops and tell them about the drug lab. They'll unlock and arrest him. If's he lying we have a further talk with him. Sound good?"
"Yeah." Replied Jade.
After taking a final look at the papers in the office, Jade was convinced they'd find no further information here. "Hey it's almost 1 o'clock, let's get some lunch."
"I know of several excellent places to eat nearby. I'd be happy to take you." An eager looking Margo said.
The group started to leave and as they did, Margo walked over to Valentina. "We're you serious about the man's family?"
Valentina shrugged, as she dispassionately surveyed the corpse of one of dead men. "He talked, so does it really matter?"
They left the lab and Margo guided them to a small but enchanting pub, which she said had a great menu. As soon as they sat down, Margo ran off to get everyone drinks, while Valentina and Jade talked.
It was then, Julia turned to a somewhat dour looking Tori. "This is none of my business, but I know you're not happy with the way things are going. Look at it this way. We finally have a lead…we're making some progress."
Tori remained quiet for a moment as she turned looked to Jade and then back to Julia. "That's what worries me."
"Tori are you…." Julia started to say, before Tori pleasantly cut her off.
"You're concern is greatly appreciated. But this is between Jade and I. I love her but…..it's not always easy."
"Nothing worthwhile is."
For the first time all day, Tori smiled. "I know."
Margo had promised them they'd have a fantastic lunch and her promise was well kept with several plates of delicious Czech food. For a time, things lightened up again as the group talked and joked about life and all that entailed.
They had time until the Jazz club opened, so Margo who was always eager to please offered to act as tour guide and show them some of the local sites. One suggestion she made, which Jade immediately jumped at was to visit the Museum of Medieval Torture.
So the group walked around saw the sites. Most of the time, Valentina and Julia talked of fashion and current events. Margo and Jade talked about Goth music and various aspect of Goth life and Tori followed behind, with a rather fake looking smile on her face. It annoyed her even more, that Jade didn't even bother to notice the smile was fake. However Tori did give some proper thought into how to approach sim. While Jade and co were occupied at one of the museums, she stopped at a bank to make some preparations for her plan.
4:00 O'clock rolled around and they found the Jazz club mentioned. It was a small basement club, decorated much in the style of a 1950's era Jazz club. Entering the place the heard the crisp sounds of Billie Holiday singing the Jazz standard, "All of me."
"Your goodbye
Left me with eyes that cry
How can I go on dear without you
You took the best
So why not take the rest
Baby, take all of me"
"I'm a goth and a serious one, but you've gotta love Billie Holiday. One of my favorites." Quipped Jade as they found a table in the already busy club.
As the group sat down, Margo quickly ran off to get some drinks. As they waited for her to return, they looked around for Mr. Simm.
After a few moments, they spotted a tall well-dressed man with thinning hair seeming to give orders to the bartender and waitress.
"That's must be Mr. Simm." Said Julia. "How do we approach this?"
Tori then spoke up, her voice forceful. She had an idea and Jade would listen. "I have an idea. One that doesn't include threatening to kill his entire family."
Jade nodded. "Ok. Tell us."
A few minutes later the waitress told Mr. Simm that a group at one of the tables wished to speak to them.
He quickly walked over to Jade and company with a smile. "Good evening. I hope you are enjoying my club. What can I do for you?"
Jade motioned for the man to sit. "We have some business we'd like to discuss."
Looking slightly puzzled, the man sat down. "What kind of business."
Tori smiled. "The drug business. "
Simm's mouth closed and his eyes immediately narrowed. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Yes you do. "
Simm started to get up, but Tori grabbed his wrist tightly and glared at him. "Sit!"
"What do you want?" Simm said, lowering his voice.
"You're drug lab on Hajek Street. We hit it a few hours ago." Tori then made a brief description of the lab and the man running it.
"We just wiped it out. You see, we're moving in. Let's just say we represent a certain Latin American cartel. We're expanding into Europe. Now we killed all the men but left your main guy alive. He may be of some use to us. Just so show you our reach. Now I realize you're part of a organization with a powerful individual at the top. I know you fear that person. Now I've heard good things about how you run things and we'd like to offer you a job. Plus a promotion, you'll be in charge of all operations in Central and southern Europe."
Simm's arua of suspicion quickly evaporated and was replaced by one of abject fear. "I can't."
Tori smiled. "Yes you can. As I said, you're afraid of someone. We're not. All you need to do is to point us in their direction and let me and my associates do the work. We're quite good at our jobs."
Simm began to tremble. "I'll be killed."
Tori's smiled vanished. "Not if you let us to our work. That is all we do. Perhaps you heard of the brothel and the white slavery ring that was smashed. Yet another demonstration of our reach. If you're of use to us, then you'll profit greatly. If you're not….then we'll kill you. We're taking apart your bosses network. You've seen what we can accomplish and we're just getting started. So would you like to join us."
After a moment where Tori remained quiet, she spoke again. "We gave a similar offer to Mrs. Janda yesterday. She did not accept, so my associate threw her off a building. I know you're afraid of your current employer. I also know you are very loyal. We appreciate loyalty above all else, that is why we are approaching you. We care for and protect our own. So that's my pitch. And money, you'll make considerably more with us." Tori then looked at her watch. " You have exactly 15 seconds to consider our offer."
Like the man in the drug lab, Simm started to tremble. It took him all of 5 seconds to comply.
"Fine….I'll accept."
Tori smiled and shook his hand. "Now who is the boss?"
"I don't know their identity. The person is always wearing a cloak and mask and has disguised voice. We always meet in out of the way places and their always alone. But I'm meeting them tomorrow morning."
"You are?" Tori said, with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, I met with a new supplier and the boss wants to know how things went. I'm also giving my quarterly status report. My boss is obsessed with details, a very hands on person. That's how we meet. I get a text saying when and were to meet. I got one yesterday. My boss, never uses the same cell phone twice."
"Good, were and when is this meeting taking place?"
"We're to meet at an old abandoned Russian military base just outside of town. It's called, Vildek army base. I'm to meet the boss in the motor pool building at 9:00 am sharp."
Tori smiled. "Good, you're not going. In fact I want you to take a small vacation. Until we clear things up. I hear Rio is lovely this time of year. "
Tori slid a piece of paper with the name of Luxury hotel in Cozumel, Mexico along with 20,000 dollars. "Your vacation is on us. Consider the cash a signing bonus. Fly out tomorrow morning and check in there tomorrow, your room is reserved and already paid for. One of my associates will meet you, show you a good time. His name is Ramone. Sort of a, welcome to the organization present. "
"Thank you." Simm said, visibly relieved
"Oh and one more thing….."
"What?"
Tori tilted her head and grinned, "If we've found out your lying or do something silly like inform your employer….I assure you…your death will be truly agonizing. That's if we let you die. There is no place on this planet, you'll be able to hide from us."
"I'm not lying…I swear."
"For your sake, I hope so. Now continue with your duties tonight as normal. If you boss contacts you…call me immediately. My number is on the sheet of paper with the hotel."
Simm got up and tried to smile. "I won't let you down."
Once Simm left and out of earshot, Jade turned to Tori. "You had to use 20,000 of our money to pull this off. You could have told me in advance."
Tori growled. "First of all, we're rich…second as far as telling you in advance. Don't even go there. "
Tori turned to Julia. "I had you cast a spell that would detect a lie on the seat he sat on. Did he lie?"
"No, if he had, he would have turned purple. The spell only detects lies."
"Good. " Jade said with a confident smirk. "Tomorrow we meet at 7 am at our hotel. Then go to that army base, take some time to scope it out then tear Mr. Big's guts out."
"I know of that base. The Russians were there until the 60's when they built a new one down the road. It's rather infamous for teenagers using it to party. A friend of my uncle, a werewolf like us, lives nearby. I'll call him tonight and see if he can keep an eye on it for us."
"Great." Jade said as she raised her glass for a toast. "To finding Mr. Big. "
The mood turned celebratory, with the exception of Tori, who was rather quiet. Her plan had worked, but, all too well. The best she hoped for was to meet, Simm's immediate superior, not Mr. Big. Mostly she believed what Jade did, that they had a huge stroke of luck. But another part of her, wasn't so sure.
The group stayed at the club, listening to Jazz and having drinks. Around 7:00 Pm, they went to dinner then went separate ways to meet at 7 am the next morning.
Julia as she lay in bed, wondered who Mr. Big was and how they were connected to that cult of evil wizards. Mr. Big was obviously a wizard and probably a powerful one. She was pretty powerful herself, but not knowing who she was going up against worried her.
The next morning she arrived at about 6:50 am to find, a somewhat perplexed looking Valentina waiting
"Valentina, what's wrong?"
The blonde held out a note. "This was left for us at the front desk."
"Julia, Valentina.
Margo arrived early and said there's activity at the base already at 600. Her father's friend told her that a limo has already shown up at 6:00 am. Then Simm called us to say the meeting has been moved up to 7:30. We had to rush out quickly so we would not miss the meeting. Jade says we'll be fine, we can handle anything. I'm not sure but Jade is my mate and my place is by her side, good or bad. Sorry we had to rush out without contacting you. If you like, follow along and wish us luck
Tori."
"Well that stinks. They throw a party and we miss it." Julia grumbled.
"And that's not the worst part. I had good news for Jade." Replied Valentina.
"What?"
Cautiously Valentina took Julia aside to isolated corner and began to speak. "I took the broken cell phone the other night. It was smashed beyond any hope but I have friends who have expertise in this sort of thing."
"Who?"
"The GRU, or in other words, Russian Military Intelligence."
Julia's jaw dropped. "What?"
"Myfather was in the GRU and to be honest, so am I. I'm a major in the Russian army. They know of my skills as hunter and tracker and once or twice a year I do jobs for them. The rest of the time, I do as I please."
"Like what?"
"Like last year a Russian military scientist defected to a terrorist group with a weaponized strain of Anthrax. I tracked him down, eliminated him and recovered the Anthrax. They were going to kill lord knows how many people with that. Once or twice a year I do a project for them. Finding people, dangerous people. Like a Greek crime lord who bombed a bus full of people, just to kill one witness. He also killed the entire family of a Russian military officer, who happened to be on the same bus. The associates of the crime lord think he was killed by a wild animal while hunting. He was killed by me, in wolf form."
"So you hunt people as well as animals. You're an assassin."
Valentina shrugged. "I prefer the term, pest control. "
"Are you here on some official capacity?"
"No, I was on vacation and thought, i could help."
"So how does this relate to the phone?"
"I've done a job for their cyberwarfare division and called in a favor. These are some of the top experts in the Russian army. I sent them the phone and they were able to recover 6 phone numbers from Mrs. Janda's smashed phone."
"Why not tell Jade this?"
"First, I'm not sure if Jade woud approve of my occasional Jobs, second it's top secret and third, the people I work with on occaision don't like being talked about. Plus I had no idea if they'd find anything, so no point in getting any hopes up."
Julia nodded at Valentina's logic. "Ok, I get it. The numbers?"
"Well 5 of the 6 are to burner cell phones and thus useless, but the last one, we hit pay dirt. It's a house in of town. Mrs. Janda called it 2 weeks ago and it was a 4 minute call."
"Who owns it?"
"Officially a holding company based in Australia. The house is the holding company's sole asset. How about you and I check it out? I tried to call Jade and Tori, but no answer. They must be in a area with limited coverage."
Julia nodded. "Why not, the others are chasing down Mr. Big, lets see where this leads."
Julia and Valentina, jumped into Valentina's car and found the house in question. The house was less than 5 minutes from the hotel. It was a typical looking, but very nice house in a quiet neighborhood. One feature they noted was a tall wooden fence that surrounded the back yard. They rang the bell, but no one answered. Not wanting to be seen, checking the place out, they drove around to the alley behind the house.
The back gate was locked but it was no problem. In the back yard, they saw only a few pieces of patio furniture and little else.
Julia looked in the window of the garage.
"Look."
Valentina peered in the window where they saw a brand new Ducati motorcycle. "That's a 15,000 dollar motorcycle. Someone's got some change to toss around"
Seeing nothing else to see in the back yard, they started to walk towards the back door. As they did, Julia noticed that Valentina started to walk slower and slower as she began to smell something.
Valentina, had begun to note the scent of the person who most likely lived there. The scent was everywhere. To her shock, the smell was very familiar.
"What's wrong?"
Valentina, a look of suspicion growing on her face, said. "I smell something."
"What do you smell?"
The blonde werewolf, quickly cursed something in Russian. "A RAT! We need to get in that house, now!"
Just who does Valentina smell, you'll find out next time.
Lyrics for All of me, are used without permission. It's also the chapter title.