#laswell offers him to break the law and he sits there after an hour of arguing with ppl about the field he studied for most of his life lik

[reds-skull]

Revenant Side Stories

Story V: Dr. Novikov

[Konchar] [Graves] [Gaz] [Price] [AO3]

Okay, I know I said Farah will be before this one, but I was feeling down this week and went "y'know what would make me feel better? Writing 3k words of what is basically glorified lore dump"

And it did make me feel a little better so here you go lol

His hurried footsteps echo in the empty hallway, papers almost falling out of his sweaty hands. It took countless days and nights to study the reports, countless more to decipher what they mean. Stanislav has never been more anxious for a meeting.

He has never been more excited.

Being assigned as head Spiritulogist of the SAS regiment was his greatest achievement, one he believed will be his biggest in his lifetime. These recent developments, however…

Stanislav refocuses on the door in front of him before his thoughts escape him once more. He pushes on the handle, entering the meeting room.

“Doctor Novikov, it is good to see you finally join us.”

Stanislav nods meekly at General Woods, “I apologize for being late, sir.” He drops the heavy stack of papers on the large table at the center of the room, adjusting the glasses on his nose bridge. A quick glance at his surroundings informs him that along with the General, several more high ranking officers were invited, along with CIA agent Kate Laswell, currently watching him from a video call.

The General lets out a breath, “no matter. I’m sure we’re all aware of the reason this meeting was called, but will you recap it for us, Doctor?”

“Of course.” Stanislav temps down an eager smile. He moves to the laptop controlling the projector, inserting his USB drive and opening four Revenant Personal Data Files.

“For those who are unfamiliar with my work, I am Doctor Stanislav Novikov, Spiritulogist consultant for the British Army, specialized in first class Reapers.”

He drags two of the files to the projector, “revenants of first class Reapers are of the rarest variety, and so my qualifications don’t apply to most currently serving in our ranks. It is for this reason I have been personally assigned to Taskforce 141.”

Stanislav motions to the first name on screen, “this is Sergeant John MacTavish, revenant of Destruction. As listed here, his abilities include explosion creation and immunity. Next is-”

“There’s another line here, redacted.” a man he’s unfamiliar with interjects, “why is that?”

Stanislav’s mouth clicks shut, before he continues. “Sergeant MacTavish’s Reaping has been redacted, and none of the people in this room have clearance to view that information.”

The man scoffs and shakes his head, muttering under his breath, “ridiculous…”

“Doctor, you may continue.” General Woods prompts.

He nods, moving the pointer to the other file, “this is Lieutenant Ghost, revenant of the Void. I am sure he needs no introductions, Limbo has been a subject of many of our previous meetings. That is not why we are here today.”

The files disappear from the screen, a set of mission reports replacing them, “a few weeks ago, I have received the reports from Taskforce’s 141 most recent mission, which will be referred to as the incident of Las Almas from here on.”

Agent Laswell shifts in her sit, leaning closer to the camera.

“I have read the reports. Initially, I believed them to be false, because what they described was, well… quite clearly impossible, according to all known Reaper laws.”

Stanislav couldn’t stop a small smile from pulling on his lips. That day, one that started like any other, ended up being one he’ll never forget. He didn’t sleep all night, reading the reports again and again, enough that he can still recite them from memory.

He clears his throat, motioning towards the first marked section, “according to Sergeant MacTavish and Lieutenant Ghost, following a situation where the Lieutenant was forced to use Limbo in MacTavish’s vicinity, their powers changed.”

Images of a revenant training field, from the Los Vaqueros base, cover the reports, “the photo in front of you was taken after the Lieutenant used Limbo for the first time after that ‘change’. Those black trails were pointing towards MacTavish, because, from Ghost’s brief explanation, the victims of Limbo were able to see the Sergeant.”

General Woods’ eyes narrow, “but that’s…”

“Impossible.” he confirms, “this, it appears, was only the beginning.”

Stanislav returns to the reports, “I unfortunately do not have clearance to know the exact details of the following events, but the Sergeant entered Limbo a second time. During that time, unlike the initial incident, MacTavish came into contact with the victims of Limbo. This…”

The projector switches to a photo of an arm, black marks wrapping around it. Fingerprints, MacTavish wrote. Stanislav had theories they were possibly markings of the Reaper of the Void, but seeing as the only revenant that belongs to it doesn’t have them, there is no possible way to confirm that.

“This was the result. Lieutenant Ghost is also recorded to have been ‘marked’, by white trails on his face. Additionally to those, the revenants’ powers were modified, with MacTavish’s fire changing colors to white in his left hand, and Ghost able to withstand fire in his right.”

He lets the weight of his words sink in. Major Clifford, a man responsible for a few, albeit of a lower class, revenant soldiers, asks, “so the two revenants swapped powers?”

“In layman’s terms… yes.”

The Major frowns, deep grooves etching into his skin. General Woods’ expression borders on stunned, but he motions for Stanislav to elaborate.

His hands start shaking unexpectedly, because what he’s about to say, what he’s about to voice for the first time since his discovery, practically discredits everything they ever knew about revenants and Reapers.

“The last change reported by the revenants during the Las Almas Incident, has occurred a few days before the report was sent to me. MacTavish and Ghost have claimed the Reaper of Destruction and the Reaper of the Void are no longer.” Stanislav adjusts his glasses again, nerves and adrenaline flowing freely through him, “their Reapers have merged, and have called themselves… Lumity.”

The room is quiet. For only a few moments.

“Merged?!” “That’s not- what about the other revenants of Destruction-?” “What the fuck did they do-?!”

“Gentlemen! I’m sure we have a lot of questions, but we will get no answers if we keep bickering among ourselves. Let the expert talk.” Laswell’s voice booms over the cacophony that erupted, silencing the bewildered men.

Stanislav nods in gratitude, “thank you, Miss Laswell. I understand the confusion, me and my colleagues have been working overtime trying to decipher this.”

“And? What have you found?”

“Not much.” he doesn’t pay mind to the displeased faces around him, “as you’ve said before, General Woods, these events seem to be impossible. Revenants’ powers do not change, Reapers do not change, and most certainly not to the extent described by the Sergeant and Lieutenant.”

“Do you know what could’ve caused this?” Laswell inquires.

Stanislav shakes his head jerkily, “I’ve investigated previous Reaper-revenant interactions, as well as our known models of Reaper Hierarchies, which are in simpler words Reaper-Reaper relationships, and not once, in any observation we have recorded as humans, have revenants been able to influence Reapers.”

Reaper-revenant relationships are often told to be ones of pawns and kings, though in Stanislav’s humble opinion, even that comparison doesn’t encapsulate the depth of those interactions. Humans, and revenants to a lesser extent, are nothing but ants for entities of an interdimensional scale. Since the founding of the Spiritulogy field, basic rules have been established.

Revenants cannot affect Reapers. Reapers are far, far more powerful than can be perceived by the human mind.

Reapers are eternal. They do not die, and it is extremely unlikely the human race have, or will, witness the birthing of a new Reaper in the time of their existence.

That last point has been debated, since the emergence of the revenant of the Void, but most experts, Stanislav included, believe Void was birthed (or the equivalent process of coming into existence for Reapers) millions of earth years ago.

So how come an ant raised and affected its master?

Stanislav’s eyes meet Miss Laswell’s, “do you understand the magnitude of this incident? This changes everything we know about revenants and Reapers.”

General Woods sighs, and removes his cap to scrub at his hair, “what this is, is a goddamn shitshow… what do you suggest we do with them, Doctor?”

“If it were in my hands, I would’ve chosen to examine them more closely, attempt to recreate the conditions that triggered these changes in the first place. If, perhaps, this new type of revenant-”

“What do you mean, new type of revenant?” the Major exclaims.

“Well,” he turns to face Major Clifford, “even calling them revenants would be technically wrong. Revenants are defined as being humans who, after dying, have met the entities we call Reapers, and are irreversibly altered by those Reapers, often gaining powers and markings that stay consistent through their entire life, until a few moments before their Final Death, where their Reaper will retract the ‘deal’ that granted them those powers. In reality, the Sergeant and Lieutenant are now a completely separate entity compared to a typical revenant-”

“Doctor Novikov, while I’m sure we all find this very interesting, I’d like you to stay on topic, please.”

“Ah- of course, my apologies, General.” Stanislav lets out a small, nervous laugh, “I understand you are not operating with a scientific standpoint in mind. From a… tactical standpoint, I recommend separating the two revenants until my associates and I can determine whether this new relationship is stable. Preventing more changes is the key here.”

“What do you need to be able to determine that?” Miss Laswell asks.

“I’d like to redo their revenant tests. We do not have methods to deal with these sorts of incidents, so I will treat them as newly Reaped.” They will need to rewrite their files, log the new Reaper into the system, along with the markings and powers that are attributed to it… tedious, but necessary processes. More than ever, Stanislav needs them, if only to cling onto a false sense of control.

The revenant tests are, in all cases but this one, a series of challenges of increasing difficulty, meant to find the limit of one's powers as soon as they recover from their Reaping. The majority of common, third class Reapers have standardized tests, but within Stanislav’s field he has had to build custom tests more than once.

Tests like these allowed revenants like Captain Price to discover the dependencies of his abilities on emotional connections, allowed Spiritulogists to record abilities with greater accuracy than ever before.

He’s been barred from examining a revenant only once - and it was none other than Sergeant MacTavish. As his file states, his powers are simply too dangerous to test. Stanislav may be only a scientist, but he’s been under military rules long enough to know when red tape starts entering his field of work. It frustrated him to no end when he was younger, but he has come to accept it.

“We will arrange for you and your team to be transported to the 141’s current base, Doctor. Do you need anything else?” General Woods asks.

Stanislav considers it for a moment, “I’d like access to the Verdansk Incident.”

Woods’ brows shoot up, “Doctor, you know I can’t grant you that.”

Stanislav sighs, turning around to pace around the room. “I understand the SAS’s needs to keep certain events classified, but if you want me to decipher the meaning of Lumity, I must have the full picture, of both revenants.”

Everyone in this room knows what makes Ghost exceptional among revenants, but the Sergeant is (or… was) a typical revenant of Destruction, albeit uniquely strong, on the surface.

“I can theorize for weeks how Lumity came to be, General, but if I don’t have the entire timeline of one half of it, those theories will stay just that-”

General Woods shakes his head, “we have regulations, if this incident falls into wrong hands, especially now-”

“I don’t need to know anything beyond the information pertaining to MacTavish’s Reaping, sir-”

“Doctor Novikov, that’s enough!” the General slams a fist onto the table, “you will not be granted access to the Verdansk Incident, and that is final!”

Stanislav exhales slowly, gaze glued to the General’s furious eyes, “...yes sir.”

Miss Laswell clears her throat, easing the tension in the room, “shall we move onto the second topic of this meeting, General?”

Woods blinks, leaning back in his chair, “yes.” He drags out a folder, and throws it on the large table. It slides a little, landing in front of Stanislav’s curious eyes. “What can you tell us about the Revenant of Fate, Doctor?”

His eyes flit between the General and the folder, hands hesitating as he flips it open. The face that greets him is not unfamiliar, Stanislav wrote this file himself after all.

“All I know about Vladimir Makarov is in this folder, sir.” he stares at the censored sections with distaste, “his Reaper is almost as mysterious as Void, it didn’t Reap revenants for over five hundred years before Makarov.” the mental image of the Reaper hierarchy model floats in his mind. “It didn’t need to - as what we categorize as the Reaper above all Reapers, the apex predator.”

“Does Fate have any relation to Void and Destruction?” Miss Laswell asks, expression serious.

“Yes and no.” Stanislav mentally tracks down the list, models Spiritulogists have worked over for decades, “Destruction belonged to a group of Reapers who we know to be older than the most. Those Reapers often work outside the hierarchy, as they were conceived before Fate enforced it. Void, on the other hand, as the newest Reaper to interact with humanity, has yet to prove its capabilities and be placed in the hierarchy. According to Ghost, it adhered to Fate regardless.”

None of this matters anymore, of course, as Destruction and Void have ceased to exist.

Major Clifford snorts, and rolls his eyes condescendingly, “what do we care which Reaper listens to which? I respect your research, Novikov, don’t get me wrong, but we requested intel on the revenant.”

Stanislav frowns. How can a Major be so ignorant of Reaper-revenant relationships? “I… I assume you are aware that Reapers are able to communicate with their revenants, correct?”

“Yes.” the Major huffs, a smirk on his lips.

“Then I believe you are able to deduce that a Reaper aligned with Fate could, hypothetically, command its revenant to submit to the revenant of Fate, regardless of their affiliation as humans?”

The smile falls from the Major’s face, “...are you implying our revenants, in the SAS, will betray their country for- for a bloody Reaper??”

“No.” Stanislav narrows his eyes, “I am telling you, sir, that Reapers do not care for human borders, they do not care for our conflicts, only their own. I am not warning you of deserters, I am warning you of interdimensional beings with the power to bring people back from the dead and grant them powers that biologically should be impossible for humans to have. Beings that are potentially on the cusp of conflict, that will drag revenants into it with no regard to their wants.”

Stanislav steps closer, hands gesturing to emphasise the weight of his words, “me and you, Major, as humans, will never be able to fully understand why Reapers do what they do. But this is what Spiritulogy is about - understanding what is beyond comprehension. And I do not like to brag, but as the head Spiritulogist of the SAS, and a man with almost three decades of experience in the field, I want to believe I have a better grasp of what certain signs mean.”

He stands in front of the Major, breath short and heavy, not with anger, but with a mixture of terror and delight, “Lumity is a sign of a change in Reaper-revenant interactions. No longer is this relationship a one-way street.”

Stanislav leans in, watching as finally, the Major understands what they’re facing, “none of us know how the Reapers will react to this. Their reaction can range from a slap on the wrist of Lumity, to the annihilation of the human race.”

“T-they-” the Major swallows nervously, “they wouldn’t just- destroy us like that… They don’t have the right-”

“Major, we both know this as humans” Stanislav straightens his back, readjusting his large, round glasses, “with enough power, rights do not matter.”

Revenants and humanity, out of innate, animalistic terror, have always followed Reapers’ commands. None has ever been strong enough to stand up and disobey.

The same can be said for Reapers, and Fate. Countless times, Stanislav has received reports of fearful revenants, telling him of terrible events foreseen by their Reapers. Reapers know when and how each of them will die. They can try and delay it, take one of the few other paths presented before them. You cannot surprise an entity with that kind of sense.

Both of these statements are false, now.

“T-thank you for your time, Doctor Novikov.” General Woods says shakily, “we will be in contact in the future. For now, you are all dismissed.”

While the rest of the men filtered out of the room, Stanislav collected his papers and files, deep in thought. A voice behind him brought him back to the present.

“Doctor Novikov.” Miss Laswell called, the room empty beside himself, “I’d like to have a word, if you have time.”

Stanislav taps the edges of the papers to line them up, and drops the neat stack beside him, “of course, what can I do for you, Miss Laswell?”

The CIA agent gives him a nod, “I believe we can do something for each other.”

He tilts his head inquisitively, and to his surprise, Laswell begins speaking in Russian, “you said you would need access to the Verdansk Incident to solidify your theories on the new Reaper, correct?”

Stanislav blinks rapidly, responding in his mother tongue as well, “ah, yes, but the General said…” his voice fades at Laswell’s expression.

“My work with the 141 often lands us outside the boundaries of red tape, Doctor. This current situation is no different, in my eyes.”

“You…”

“I have an offer.” Stanislav can hear Laswell’s keyboard clicking, “all I need is your word, that this will not leave the room.”

Stanislav feels a smile slowly spread on his lips. He may have accepted red tape as part of his job, but he would be a fool to miss an opportunity to cross it.

His research is more important than a few regulations. For the fate of humanity, of revenant kind.

“You have my promise, Miss Laswell.”