[FINAL ARC: THREAT LEVEL EXISTENTIAL]
[May 10th, 2006]
Ryumi wanted to go out that evening. Her & Magnus hadn't been out on a date in months, as he'd been too caught up in his research recently. She felt he'd probably consider his whole life a failure if he never finished it, and though she understood Nikolai needed constant progress updates before he would trust him, she was about to go tell him to give her husband a vacation before he worked himself to death.
She sat outside of the restaurant. It was named Red Hill and had a Michelin star, and through the distorted glass she could see Magnus arguing with a much smaller man. He looked back at her, and she smiled as he pointed her out, then went back to speaking. By now, he was likely threatening to use Scourge, even if the government had told him to never use it on civilians, but she knew so long as he was her husband he wasn't in any danger.
Thankfully, he was coming out now, and smiling. "Got the reservations back. They said it'll be an hour wait. Can go walk around a bit."
Ryumi stood up and they walked down the street. "What was it this time?"
"The same thing. Some article written about a, a - Ryumi Egashira."
Ryumi laughed. "Was that what you were arguing about?"
"Well, I was about to threaten to use Scourge - but we left our badges in the car. I thought about saying - 'I could wipe all the French recipes out of your smarmy fucking head -' but I told them, well, they were mistaken. An unfortunate case of the same name."
Ryumi laughed. Back at Urasaria, he would've never acted mature like that. Many times her & Magnus had emptied a restaurant via Scourge and enjoyed free dinners past closing with glassy-eyed waiters & chefs.
"And with that interview with me getting published - well." he said. "Someone'll recognize me eventually."
"Eventually." Ryumi was never bothered by the press, but Magnus had a particular hatred of them that seemed to stem from some secret she didn't know, even now.
"You know, some reporter was going around at the last conference. Asking me - god, what was the - what was the stupid shit she was asking me about?"
She smiled. Her Magnus was back.
"Something about 'do you think we can only host one Revenant because people only have one soul?'" he said mockingly and Ryumi laughed. "I don't know where they get such vapid people. You know, I think most people are basically made up out of the same template. They don't do anything except what other people in their group do, they don't think anything except what other people in their group think, and even - even on the off-chance that they're even a bit self aware, they always couch it in that 'oh, I know, I hate those people like that, but I'm not like that'! All of the same scum. I'm sure that idiotic woman thinks she's better than 99% of journalists."
"Mmhm."
Ryumi leaned closer in to him. She knew he just needed some indication she was listening before he would go on another rant, and though most people found his misanthropy detestable, she found pleasure in a man who hated just about everyone but themselves.
"And the internet is growing, too. Now everyone can go off or on in to their little communities about it. Talk about souls and healing crystals and whatever other sort of charlatan bullshit they want to peddle. It'll replace religion eventually."
"Maybe they won't interview you ever again."
"They can go talk to Akira."
◆◆◆
[January 6th, 2022]
Mia returned to Urasaria, went to her office and made herself a glass of water. She set it on her desk and checked her tablet.
'…Sylvia. Sylvia Häger... Plasma.'
She tapped her name, and looked up to see a note rising out of her drink.
◆◆◆
They arrived at the familiar tower, and he was already at the front door. He still had a scar from the last Solar Beam.
"I don't know what I expected." Akira sighed. "Of course you'd bring your little butch wife -"
" - what the fuck do you want?" grunted her little butch wife, tendrils already taut.
"I asked for -her- - but I suppose now I'll have to tell both of you." His head shook as he opened the door, and he didn't wait for them as he walked inside. "Follow me."
They didn't.
"Come on!" shouted his voice from the hall a second later, and Revenants readied, the two followed him in to the tower and down the hall.
"Mia Schultz." he muttered as he came up to one door. "Have you ever wondered why Magnus didn't use Xenocyclin on Worldwide?"
"Because someone will kill me if he did." she droned, and he laughed.
"I'm touched you remember." He opened the door, and the three went inside to a room, full of shelves of tapes. "And you're already aware my name is Akira Kagume, former employee of the Eastern League -"
" - we know that already." said Aimee. "And the story you sent."
"The... story I sent?"
"The one about fucking a corpse." muttered Mia and he laughed.
"My prose was horrific, back them. Far too much description, not enough characterization, but there were some good parts to it. Great art always makes the viewer feel as if there's something more to it, even in descriptions as mundane as taking a carriage across the country or chopping vegetables. Yasujiro Ozū. Kafka, Metamorphosis. The final paragraph. For me, it was the description of the vocal cords being the hardest part of a corpse to destroy."
"Touching." muttered Mia. "Why did you call me here?"
"You know, Kafka only had one real story. The social outcast trying to fit in. Terribly overrated, but not as bad as Faulkner. There's a horrific artist that's only survived because -"
" - get to it or I'm putting another fucking scar on you."
Akira laughed. "You're more like Ryumi than you would have ever wanted to be. If you knew what she was like - I think you would've burnt that picture." His head shook as he went over to one tape, and set it in to a player nearby. "Here. Listen."
Even without the otherworldly tone, Mia still recognized his voice.
"November 9th, 2013. Ryumi still has not arrived back yet, though -"
- the sound of an unlocking door, the rushing of footsteps, the sweeping of arms.
" - hey!" answered a feminine. "Did we start already?"
"I did." laughed Magnus, and Mia heard again that joy. "I didn't think you'd be back so early."
"I thought I called you. Didn't you get it?"
"Must've been in the shower."
The rustling of chairs.
"Still. You have returned from Penfort, and…"
"…dealt with someone, there, yeah." Her words sent Mia frowning, her theory from years earlier confirmed. "Uh - I'll tell you more once we stop recording."
"Okay."
The sound of a kiss.
"What temperature do you think it was?"
Ryumi laughed. "Babe, I'm not gonna try to do it in an area with civilians. It'd melt the entire city."
"Could go out to a nuclear testing site. Akira'll transport us."
"For something that might not even work? C'mon." laughed Ryumi. "I get what you're saying, but..."
"We haven't said it on tape, you know." A pause. "Our concern is that Daigo - even if killed - may come back."
Mia and Aimee frowned.
"Certain abiotic conditions have been shown to sustain Viscera exspiravit colonies. These sometimes operate autonomously, under - not well-researched conditions, yet, but preliminary literature suggests it occurs, usually, if a host is not found for months after death."
"Those Revenants are a complete bitch to get rid of - they'll protect themselves if you try to remove them. Right?" said Ryumi, used to being her husband's translator.
"Right. Usually, they can't recreate their host, but if his Revenant is biological atomic manipulation… It's possible, and the best option would be to assume his Revenant may recreate itself. How long it would take depends on how much of the colony is left."
"And they'd just deflect any chemicals."
"Precisely. Traditional disposal - acid is impossible, for obvious reasons. Pasithea's ability was leaked last month. And so a sustained method is required."
"Like something really hot."
"But normal temperatures cannot destroy matter - only convert it."
"Even Sun Ray just disintegrates it, but it doesn't really destroy it."
"Normal temperatures. Dealing with Daigo however often would be tedious. As the saying goes - he only needs to get lucky once."
"Yeah, but you've always been my good luck charm."
"… y-yes. But - normal temperatures. Matter might react differently beyond the realm of known physics. Currently, the highest temperature theorized is…" Magnus sighed, and they spoke unified. "One four one six seven eight five seven one zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero Kelvin."
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
"Or 141,678,570,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000." said Ryumi, relevantly. "142 decillion."
"And subtract 273.15 for the temperature in Celsius. Double it for Fahrenheit, approximately. Your device is in Kelvin already, fortunately. I remember - they said in school we would be on the metric system by the time I was an adult."
"You've talked about that before." laughed Ryumi.
"That's because it was the first betrayal of my life." laughed Magnus. "The last time I used the imperial system - I think it was before we got married. Figuring out the height for the cake."
"And that was the last time you had a paper published. How's that conduit stuff going?"
"I've run in to some issues with the rate of formation of the Volgari - er, rather - the synthetic Volgari proteins. The closest I've gotten so far is using byproducts of organic Volgari proteins to complete the reaction, although…" He sighed. "Roman and Jerome don't enjoy having their hearts ripped out of their chests for research. They requested a month off, and I assume that'll turn in to a year. Unfortunately, those two are the best option. Unless some other set of Siamese twin hosts show in the…" He paused. "… this is irrelevant."
"I wonder sometimes how long I could keep you going."
Magnus laughed. "Probably a week. As for Daigo."
"Mmhm. There's no other professional fire Revenant out there."
"Nobody else with as much experience as you, at least. You've had Worldwide since birth."
"It's a part of me."
"It's a part of you."
Another kiss.
"You're really affectionate today, you know." said Ryumi.
"I haven't seen you in a month."
"Did you cry when I left this time too?"
"End recording."
Every word had pushed a strange dread on to Mia. She knew Aimee shared that same picture of the man now, felt the same love for Worldwide's host he had. They wondered if they wished he could've been prevented.
"I've already gone through the relevant tapes. Little of note. Romance ending in tragedy. But here - our descent in to darkness." said Akira, playing the next. "A week after Daigo sent Ryumi in to a coma."
"November 20th. 2013. Ryumi still has not recovered. My preliminary hypothesis - though they have not allowed me to examine her, is that Daigo has replaced some vital functions of her organs. The Eastern League is currently discussing my secondary plan, though it's unlikely it will be needed." He sighed, and the recording stopped.
"It was our plan." said Akira. "The short - the rest of the Eastern League's plan was to remove Ryumi's Revenant, find a protégé with a strong fascination with justice, and guide them gently for their training."
"What was - he said secondary. What was his primary plan?" said Mia.
"Most of Ryumi's organs and limbs were turned in to metal by Daigo, and Jakiro's Revenant could only return her to a half-lead woman. Magnus had some terribly complex plan to return her to normal, involving finding someone with a Revenant that could control metal and temporarily implanting it inside of her."
"Why?"
"Revenants can't harm their hosts." murmured Aimee. "Uh - why would that make her immune, though?"
"As is my understanding, a mix of chemicals conduits, and our local Siamese twin's Revenants - the one that allowed Revenants to combine." said Akira. "As for his secondary - our - plan, 'forcing them to become stronger or decimating a random city's population' didn't play with the other eighteen. They were always annoying to work with - unwilling and weak. I don't think they ever saw anything outside of the next months. They would allow a thousand to die rather than save one - but Magnus and I - and Ryumi - a million to save billions. If you're curious, by the way, it was the correct usage."
"The what?" said Aimee.
"Decimate? Kill every tenth?"
"So fucking tedious." sighed Mia, and Akira laughed.
"Our training regime would have involved putting a protégé in to deadly situations. I thought it may have been useful to hold their parents hostage and torture them until their child could use Worldwide's blue flames. But as you remember, I chose something different. Ryumi's contribution was more mindset - she was a misanthrope, and subsequently, wanted her successor to be. Schopenhauer, other philosophers and the like." He laughed at Mia's expression. "He told me. Rayaka was tracking you at that time, you know. I wish I had seen it myself. The last time I saw him - that I saw Magnus kill - it was with the Eastern League. I remember the women the best. I felt a sort of passion, a new strength, seeing them decapitated. It was by my hand, usually, then. Magnus allowed that. He allowed me alone with them. After, I would stand back like a fisher admiring his catch. They've all decomposed, now, but I remember I had them on my wall. Another tape, here."
"December 1st, 2013. The Eastern League has refused mine - and Ryumi's request - in the event that she…" A pause. "… No. I can't allow that possibility."
The tears started. "December 6-6th - 2-2013." The recording stopped.
"I don't need to hear the rest." murmured Mia.
"Suit yourself - but I thought you might enjoy these."
He went down the shelves, and the dates between the tapes widened.
"Here." said Akira, and placed one in.
The otherworldly tone returned.
"May 9th, 2015. Odilon has taken the offer, and Worldwide's fire remnant has been returned to me. The French are tedious."
"… wait." muttered Mia, and Akira pressed another one in.
"January 6th, 2016. Worldwide has killed Isabelle. I recovered the fire and ice remnants. The Dutch government has sent a professional hero to pursue me. Will need to hide again."
"These were other students?" said Mia, and Akira nodded.
"Correct. I'm sorry if you had a delusion of exclusivity. Another."
"December 29th, 2017. Milena attempted to bring her mentor with her for our final fight. I've used Scourge on her, reclaimed Worldwide's remnants, and dropped both of them in to the bottom of the ocean."
"Congratulations." droned Akira. "Given Scourge's global range, they were still alive until January 6th."
Mia sighed, and Akira pressed another in.
"And here - we come to you."
"August 1st, 2018. The fire remnant has been transferred to a woman named Mia Petra Schultz. 18 years old - Doppori dropped her off at Urasaria East. Rayaka has been given Mizuchi's conduit, on the condition that he lure - but not kill her. Tedious sycophant." He paused, and Mia read between the lines. "Kill when the business is finished."
"August 23rd, 2018. Mia and her mentor have tracked Doppori, and I've left enough evidence for the next part of the trail. I can tell she's frustrated by the fire remnant. She may fight harder for the ice. Will return with updated considerations."
"November 15th, 2018. Mia Schultz fought well, and I have given her the ice remnant."
"December 6th, 2018. Have killed Rayaka and given Mia the electric remnant. Akira now possesses Mizuchi." A pause. "This day reminds me of her."
"January 6th, 2019. Will kill Mia and retransfer Worldwide, or she will kill me and earn it. Akira knows his role in the event of the latter." A pause. "… Mia. If you have come this far to hear this - I know I chose correctly. I hope you one day have the love that Ryumi and I had. End recording."
"And so she did." muttered Akira, turning. "Peruse the tapes. I have no use for them."
"…this is what he entrusted you to do, then? To warn me about Daigo?"
"I had always envied Ryumi. The man knew I wouldn't resist carrying out a task useful to him."
"Why does Daigo matter to you?"
"You guys were perfectly okay slaughtering civilians before." said Aimee.
"As a farmer culls the weakest of his herd." yawned Akira. "Forgive the cliché. The men and women I chose - psychotic, with no regard for human life, willing to kill hundreds for no reason - but myself and Magnus - different. Individual. I remember the look of every head I've severed. That he let me sever. That I've humiliated."
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" muttered Aimee, and Akira laughed.
"I'm simply an accomplished killer, Aimee. As are you. There's a certain death look. The eyes - part of the muscle that holds them up is severed. So you have a sort of… They're unable to look up, and their eyes are permanently stuck at their lowest. It's something I find arousing. I had - after Ryumi's death. I had made the suggestion to Magnus that it might ease his pain. To use her. But as for the loss of life - you cannot tell me you've never thought about it."
"Of what? Killing civilians?" said Mia.
"Please. Your father robbed a bank, and you tell me you've never thought of the life you could have if he had succeeded? Those men in Japan? At this point, Worldwide would burn to a fine crisp any student that came after you. You might even be able to have a group of servants under threat of death."
"I would never - ever - harm innocent people."
"Besides Kirihara."
"She wasn't innocent."
"It's funny - you thought that the world was just, that there was some sense of absolute morality that you had to follow, and when you killed Kirihara, you realized what I already had. It's a mark of strength to change your moral code to whatever suits you. The only thing separating you from Ryumi or Magnus or myself is your motivation."
"You're disgusting." said Mia. "Magnus had a purpose beyond himself. You have nothing but your own selfishness."
"I doubt you would have such a rosy picture of him if you saw what he allowed me to do. The dog went off its leash when Ryumi died. Scourge was perfectly matched for that man."
She felt the heat rising in her face. "You're a pathetic sycophant just like Rayaka. I don't need moral lectures from someone whose one accomplishment is being a messenger for the only two people in the world who pretended to give a shit about him."
"You're trying to provoke me again. I already told you -"
"- I know you thought it would bother me that there were other students who hosted Worldwide before me - but I realized something. Isn't it funny that Magnus trusted four teenagers to carry this out before he ever thought of you?"
She saw his hands shake for a second.
He turned. "...if I have any other considerations, I'll bring you here via Mizuchi."
◆◆◆
Mia explained Akira's survival and Daigo to Codex, and he mused a long while, sitting across the desk.
"…it would make sense." he muttered. "Revenant colonies are known to heal their hosts occasionally. She never wore the temperature recorder otherwise, as far as I'm aware."
"Can we finally get her profile unlocked?" sighed Aimee.
"If you stop sharing them with anyone who asks."
"She will." said Mia, slyly looking at her wife.
"I'm serious. It doesn't go beyond you two - and if Daigo, well, if Daigo does show up again - then with your agency. Nobody else."
"Fine." said Aimee.
"As for Akira Kagume's survival, I doubt you have proof of that, but I'll take your word for it. Who was it that theorized Daigo returning?"
"Magnus." said Mia. "It's in the tapes."
"Did it mention any possible location he might return?"
"No." said Aimee. "Just said he might repair himself and come back."
"And this Absolute Hot you mentioned?"
"It's in the tapes." said Mia. "There's more information there from Magnus."
He sighed as he leaned back. "…you know, I interviewed him as well."
"You interviewed me." said Aimee and he nodded.
"I remember. I forgot to add that Worldwide had no Xenocyclin used on it for a few weeks - some intern was listening to the tapes and reminded me."
"You're the one who writes the profiles?" said Mia.
"For threat level national and higher, yes. I assume we have someone else who writes the local profiles. Maybe someone with less typos."
"…right." muttered Aimee. "Uh. You said you interviewed him? Magnus?"
"I did - but Swarm is the one who saw him last. I remember he was very open about himself, actually, which made it convenient for me - I could just ask him one or two questions and he would give me much more information than I even needed. He liked talking about himself, mostly. Him and his research."
"About his conduits?" said Mia, and he nodded.
"The - yes. His conduits. It's a shame they - well, that they dissolve like they do, and you destroyed all of the other ones. It might've been useful to reverse engineer that. Hosting multiple Revenants."
"Someone already tried it."
"There's plenty of people that have. Anyone that succeeded would become a billionaire overnight - they'd probably get to meet with the president, and every student would be required to host at least two or three Revenants. Of course, there'd be security issues, and…" His head shook. "…well. It's interesting he never went that route, honestly. He could've easily been pardoned for murdering the Eastern League."
"Minus Ryumi." said Mia hastily, then added: "And Akira."
"Minus Ryumi and Akira. Instead he chose to give Worldwide to you and died alone, and nobody remembers him but the three of us sitting here. I think that that's - well, that's what happens with eccentrics like that. Plenty of great artists die penniless, only appreciated after they couldn't care about enjoying it. I'm sure fifty or a hundred years from now, everyone will be wondering how no one could've noticed so and so's brilliance before they died. They might even think Magnus was good, you know."
Mia had no desire to argue. She had come to that he had some good and some bad to him, never feeling all comfortable that he could be fully evil.
"Maybe." muttered Aimee. "Just need to focus on this."
"I agree." said Mia, placing her hand on her wife's.
"…right." He paused. "Sorry. I was thinking about - about him being pardoned, but yes. I'll ask around about it as well - it's certainly a, a plausible theory. As for - what did you call it?"
"Absolute hot."
"Absolute hot. I can't speak to the physics of that. I can't guarantee we won't be dealing with this - if it happens again - for a very long time."
"Or maybe never." muttered Aimee bitterly.
'Just going to worry about this for the rest of my life.'
"Or maybe never." nodded Mia, trying to cheer Aimee up.
"That would be preferable, yes, but…" He sighed. "…I'll direct this further up, and get back to you as soon as I have more answers. Did you have anything else to discuss?"
Mia paused. "…why did - the Eastern League requested that Magnus and Akira be killed. Why?"
"Nikolai sent it over, but told us he would handle it himself. We assumed it was an interagency matter and decided not to intervene, figuring they could deal with the two pissed off employees if they failed."
"You just accepted that?" said Aimee. "No arguing, asking him what it was about?"
"We're not superhuman, Mad Dog. I know the image we have is that we're a bunch of G-Men running around with secret codes, top secret information with expert skills and reflexes - and some of that's true - but we run on the same stuff as everybody else does. There's someone in my department that still doesn't have their proper security clearance, officially - because someone is too lazy to do it. The more we can offload on to other people, the better."
Mia frowned. Being the most mature one in the room was no longer based on her age - she was just as likely to be the most mature around a pack of octogenarians as she was children.
"Make sure you send this to someone who'll actually listen, then." she said, handing over the bag of tapes.