A few mornings later, Mia woke up to Aimee sitting on their bed and smiled.

"Ramiel." said Aimee, relevantly. (Yuruko had suggested her codeword.)

Mia nodded and let Aimee lay down with her. "What time is it?"

"Still got two hours." said Aimee, kissing her cheek. "They said that China doesn't let them use the wall Revenant, though. Gonna have to take a private flight."

"Of course." muttered Mia.

The two cuddled for a while, and Aimee asked Mia if she was feeling hungry. Mia nodded and Aimee left to check everyone's codewords, and they went through Timepact's daily preparations once she came back. Saya checked every on-base employee's health, and as Matoi's host flu was flaring up again, ordered her distanced from the others. Aimee assigned her old squadron & Gamage & Charlotte groups for their next contracts, and Mia sat with Marisa while they ate breakfast from Luna. 

Marisa showed her a few lesbian-run magazines she'd bought recently, and joked it was the most use she'd gotten out of her sexuality in a while. Mia's first-year indifference with non-Urasaria lesbians had kept in to her fourth, but the subject didn't matter now - the company was what counted.

After they finished, Aimee & Mia stepped out to the hall leading to Timepact's dock. 

"Had Charlotte read Ryumi's profile." muttered Aimee as they walked. "Said there wasn't much besides a few tricks she used to do. Forming bubbles with her ice, some weak wind with hot and cold air, stuff like that."

Mia nodded. They had stopped a few lines in to her profile, and she would wait to read every incident herself, picking over them and figuring which were justifiable & not. Hopefully, they all were.

The two stepped out to Timepact's dock -

- and a familiar serpent rising out of the water.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" grunted Mia, palms readied like a gun.

Akira laughed as Mizuchi deposited him thirty feet away. "Daigo's likely shown, and you'll be dealing with him soon. I'll be acting as your and your medics' transportation."

"Been using someone from the government for months." said Aimee. "Works just fine."

"They rely on walls - something that won't be left standing after Absolute Hot. I saw Ryumi's attempt before I transported her back with FTL. With Mizuchi, Mia will form a puddle of water afterwards. I've thought of this scenario for five fucking years - I'm not going to accept not having a part in it succeeding."

Mia felt resentful for being forced to rely on him at all, but she knew he wouldn't leave unless she put another scar on him, and even then. "Fine." she said, hoping he would stay longer than necessary after.

"What Revenants did Ryumi have helping her?" said Aimee.

"The only two still alive are Mizuchi and Meteorology - and from what I've seen, Meteorology has a fuck-up for a host. Rita's spirit lives on."

"Do you stalk every student?" said Mia.

"Great writing requires great observation. When I was a teenager, I would sit in restaurants for hours, staring at people and wondering what their life was like. A woman eating alone became someone going through a divorce after a miscarriage, due to an abusive husband she cuckolded. It was far more interesting than whatever their actual life was, but art has a way of -"

" - I don't care."

" - illuminating reality."

Aimee glanced at Mia, who nodded.

"…fine." she said. "If you lay a single finger on anyone -"

" - I'm aware." he yawned. "I won't be living here. You'll summon me via a cross-shaped puddle of water, just as Ryumi did with Nikolai."

"And I need to ask you something." She frowned bitterly. "Why did the Eastern League want to kill you and Magnus?"

"...that's the first I've heard of it. It wouldn't surprise me. They were already planning to murder Ryumi - something they knew Magnus wouldn't have stood for, clearly - and they knew I wouldn't stand for them murdering Magnus."

"But FTL was non-lethal. How did Magnus murder the Eastern League by himself?"

"Is there something you're trying to divulge from me here?"

"I don't see how Scourge could have won against the other eighteen Revenants."

"What, do you think he had outside help?"

"I don't. The government asked me about it."

"I'll never understand why people prefer a complex explanation over a simple one." Akira laughed. "Crash's host allowed Magnus to see Ryumi before she died, and Magnus killed him before taking Worldwide. They were dead in one afternoon."

"And Ryumi destroyed Moscow attempting to achieve Absolute Hot."

"Correct. What a difficult thing to grasp. An entire country run by a class just as clueless as the people it claims to govern."

◆◆◆

China's representative, who likely hadn't seen a corpse in years, wore his badge more prominently than most Ningsing students. There was a message there; Mia had already reasoned it out.

"And only your agency knows about this?" he said, two sitting across in his office.

"And the government." said Aimee. "Obviously."

"Of course. We've already devised a preliminary plan - when he shows, we'll evacuate the area and tell them we're concerned over a possible criminal in the area. You would be surprised how much trust the public has in us to keep them informed. Precisely because we don't tolerate conspiracy theorists like your country does."

"I'm not trying to talk politics."

He shrugged. To him, there was no use to equality of speech for people with unequal knowledge. He considered Ningsing Academy's role in quelling unrest a necessary duty in a country with over a billion citizens.

"He nuked Los Angeles last time. Any plan for that?" said Aimee.

"It's a major concern of our's, but we doubt he'll attack first unless provoked. Evacuation is the best option, and we have measures in place for it - it's standard procedure in China. Japan has a similar system."

Mia frowned. She still hadn't come up with a counter against nuclear weapons. "And Absolute Hot will destroy whatever city we're fighting in."

"Precisely why we won't be using your Revenant."

"Excuse me?" said Aimee first.

"We already have a professional with a fire Revenant - there's no need for a young woman to be involved in this. He has over thirty years of experience - even with Queen of Scarabs' Revenant, Ms. Swarm only has four, yes? There's no need for her to risk herself -"

" - I can fucking handle it." said Mia.

"With no disrespect meant, this is not one of your local criminals that you've dealt with for the past four years. As your government puts it - this is an existential threat. Existential threats need to be dealt with by professionals who have a long experience of dealing with threats to national security."

"If he's as shitty as the people you sent to assassinate me, he's not going to have a chance." said Aimee. 

"Who?"

"The fucking Ningsing presidents you sent." said Mia. 

"Starting to wonder if I should've reported it." said Aimee.

He shrugged. "You overlooked on our behalf - we overlooked on your behalf." Catching Mia's expression: "It looks like you'll have a talk about that when we finish, won't you? Mad Dog, politics is seeing what you can get away with while serving your own interests. We overlook the ridiculous propaganda that comes out of your country because our economies depend on each other, and would prefer that to continue. In this case, I hope you'll overlook my comments, but allow us to deal with Daigo first."

"And when you fail?" said Mia. 

"Then you can say 'I told you so' to my golden corpse."

++++++

On the way over to a local chain restaurant, Aimee confessed to Mia about the Ningsing student she'd been blackmailed in to murdering four years back. Information like that might've ended their relationship back in its first year, but by now, Mia doubted there was anything that could change her opinion of her wife - probably not even if it'd been five students.

"We flew halfway across the world to eat the same food." muttered Mia, relevantly, working on her burger.

"Yep." Aimee winced. "There's, uh… lemme put it this way. There's a reason there was a line around the corner for this."

"It's that good?"

Aimee shook her head and Mia winced. "Yeah. Chain restaurants are uh, usually bit better for food safety."

"Hopefully." muttered Mia, scarab burrowing in to her meal.

"Guess we'll find out in a few hours." chimed Aimee as she started eating. "Can just get delivery until they find him, anyway."

"They're not going to succeed." muttered Mia. "Ryumi mentioned there weren't any other professionals with fire Revenants."

"Yeah, but she probably didn't know any of China's heroes. They're pretty locked off from the rest of the world. Got that, uh, Great Firewall or whatever on their internet - doesn't even let you use Google."

"Magnus wouldn't have let Ryumi risk herself if he thought there was another option."

"Probably tried to get her to swap Revenants so he could do it instead."

The two laughed, then felt a bit uncomfortable at ascribing any romance to him. Over the years, Mia's understanding (if not hesitant sympathy) of his motivations had foregrounded him to a single letter against the punctuation marks of other villains.

"…uh. Wanted to ask you, too." muttered Aimee. "Did you tell your parents about Daigo?"

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Mia's head shook. "No, it's… My mother already worries enough about me. There's no point to them knowing."

"Can just leave it to me if something happens. then." nodded Aimee. "Tell them you'll be coming home with one golden eye."

Mia laughed, but noticed Aimee pause for a few seconds. As long as she'd known Aimee, her teenage trauma had given her a persistent superstition in to adulthood of jinxing the good out of her life. "And a platinum ear."

"Might end up looking like that uh, dog I was telling you about."

"The one your neighbors had?"

"Yeah. Always felt that I was kinda like him, since he was… I mean, he was pretty ugly, and they didn't really treat him that well. First time I got my paycheck, I thought about going back and buying him, but…" Aimee sighed. "…last time I saw him was right before I left for Urasaria. Couldn't ever visit him after, since I would've had to stay with my parents, and…"

Mia rubbed her wife's shoulder. "You're better off without them."

Aimee nodded. Privately, she'd spent their first two years jealous that Mia had a family, but she rarely did now; it was a foolish thing to be envious over what she had no control over. Nor did she believe any ridiculousness about Timepact being a replacement, or any desire to see her parents again. Strong enough was this lack of desire that she always remembered the name of the conversion camp they'd sent her to, ensuring that time couldn't rough the edges off it.

Mia wiped her face as they finished. "I need to call Serena when we're back at our hotel."

"Sounds good." nodded Aimee. "Still need to uh, check Daigo's profile. Charlotte said she saved it to my laptop before we left."

Mia nodded, and read Daigo's profile later that night.

Most known for his nuking of Los Angeles in 1988, and the subsequent irradiation of California, it may come as some surprise that the government had been tracking Daigo Yashukure before then. His Revenant was not active at the time he became a person of interest, but he was often involved in radical environmentalist groups, and a few bombings of hydroelectric dams in the early 80s would later be traced back to him.

Yet, unlike many eco-terrorists of the time, he never seemed to care for animals. No evidence has ever been found linking him to the more typical targets for those types of groups - factory farming, animal cruelty or testing. He became known within these circles as someone exceptionally skilled at bomb-making, and infiltrating restricted areas, such as power plants, though, in truth, it was not so much skill that Daigo relied on as it was others' naivety. For example, the meltdown of a nuclear power plant near the Ohio River, in 1978, was later attributed to an employee who had allowed a man in to restricted areas, after the latter had "lost his keycard."

Given that this was the only sabotage of a nuclear power plant ever linked to Daigo, despite other opportunities, it was speculated he was not particularly anti-nuclear. It seemed that his alliance with ecological terrorism was a thing of mutual methods rather than goal, but what drove him beyond a general misanthropy was unknown to Codex. He never seemed to form connections with anyone, and his parents never spoke of his childhood, until their deaths in 1992, when a truck crashed in to their car, killing them on impact.

The driver was never found. Whether it was a federal agent silencing the Yashukure name, a begrieved seeking revenge on Daigo through his family, or, most likely, a drunk who had no idea who he had killed, is still unknown. 

But this all occured later. In the mid-80s, Daigo moved to Los Angeles. The government had, as with many actions of the type, known he was in the area and planning something beforehand, but with no contemporary evidence, it was thought better to allow him to go through with it to ensure his conviction. 

Here, Codex had made a note for Mia, reminding her that Urasaria students did not enjoy legal immunity until years after. 

But, a federal agent would later provide his organization faulty materials, modified by a Revenant to explode prematurely, and the 1987 bombing of several coal-powered plants never occurred - all but one of the men were found dead at his home. It remains unknown when his Revenant activated, or whether he had known of the sabotage. It seemed unlikely that a freshly awakened host could have endured a direct explosion, or that they would have gathered in one place. Additionally, his lack of loyalty to anyone but himself was well-known, with one prominent eco-terrorist, in exchange for a reduced sentence, later commenting that he never seemed to be "with the cause."

Whatever occured, the government was unaware of his Revenant, but, suspecting something was amiss, privately asked Urasaria's twenty students at the time to apprehend him - preferably, non-lethally, so that he might confess other possible co-conspirators. 

In 1990, Daigo finished codifying the beliefs that he had built over his first twenty-five years. He believed technology had regressed the human race to dependent rodents. It had given many unworthy the chance to live, and bred out the viciousness that had gotten mankind down from the trees, millions of years ago. He felt no guilt in murdering those who had devolved, and who let themselves be devolved, and he took it as an unfortunate fact that some of his Los Angeles victims had survived due to modern medicine.

Not that environmentalists enjoyed any special position in his head. Too often, he had found that their views were based in a shifting morality and not eternal ethics. Many of the men he once worked alongside would, years later, consider it a 'radical phase', or, even worse in Daigo's eyes, feel ashamed of it. He considered hesitation towards full dedication a primary failure of humanity.

After Los Angeles, he spent many years disguised and working with various terrorist groups. He did not think much of their many idiocies, particularly the religious, but found himself needing to believe that others still possessed the steel character that the Industrial Revolution had hammered out of those who needed it most. 

Not that he hadn't changed in 30 years; where he had gone wrong previously, he felt, was in applying misanthropy too evenly. Rare as humans he respected were, he knew that some still possessed the bifurcated passion for deviousness & brute violence that locused the first or second resurrected man the world had ever known.

A pity, he thought sometimes, wishing he could have seen his fingers turn her neck to gold before raping her.

◆◆◆

The two stayed in their hotel for the rest of the week, and Mia found that Rider was still as useful for passing the time as in her first year. 

Her mind foggy from lack of sleep, Mia waited outside of an airport's gate the following Monday, and smiled as she saw Yuruko stepping out behind Serena & Samuel. "Were you able to reschedule your exams?"

"Yep." chimed Serena.

"Either the world ends, or I just got a three month extension for free." winced Yuruko.

"There's always a good side to things." nodded Samuel.

"Uh, guessing Sylvia's not coming?" said Yuruko and Mia shook her head.

"I thought it would better to - because we have more experience fighting with you."

"Finally tore down the Great Wall of Maria, though." chimed Serena and Mia frowned.

"I don't want to joke about that." She sighed. "…I was very stressed that day."

Looking back on it, there'd been no reason but Daigo for her to let Maria provoke her like that. She hated Maria, but there wasn't any reason to make it mutual & push thorns in to their friendship. She took no pleasure that she'd warned Sylvia against that relationship.

"Haven't seen her around lately, at least." said Samuel. "Sylvia hasn't mentioned her."

"Maybe they broke up." said Serena and Mia's head shook.

"I spoke to her earlier - they're still together. She wasn't sure if she wanted to rejoin the Royal Four once this is over."

Samuel looked prickled. Mia had rarely seen him show anger: she heard it now. "She'd be making a mistake."

"I know, but I can't stop her from making that decision. She said she felt like she had to choose between us or Maria, and if she thinks Maria will change…" It annoyed Mia how Sylvia seemed to accept her fate. A woman always had a choice, no matter the conditions.

"…Kate, then?" said Samuel.

Yuruko avoided eye contact, but Mia knew she'd made her decision; she came along for Serena, not for her. Most likely she would spend post-graduation cooped up in Timepact's lab every day, only coming out to speak to her girlfriend or take samples from Mia. Yuruko had no need for social interaction, and to pressure her back - even among friends - wouldn't be right.

"Why did everyone else get a perfect squadron?" muttered Mia and the three laughed.

Samuel put his hand on her shoulder. "You've got me and Serena."

"Yeah." said Serena. "And Urasaria's #2 otaku."

Mia smiled. "I'll fill you all in, then."

◆◆◆

Two weeks later, Mia received a call from China's representative and her squadron followed her up to his office's door.

"Um, should we come in with you?" said Serena.

Mia's head shook. "I'll be cautious. Stay outside to keep watch."

She stepped inside and closed the door, sitting down across from him. A blank screen was on the wall. "What did you need to discuss?"

"We've finished our investigation in to Daigo." he said. "Your hypothesis was correct - we've tracked his location to a province far north of here. I won't bother naming it, as I doubt you could place it on a map regardless."

Mia frowned as he handed her a set of pictures. "He hasn't changed his face?"

"Presumably, he doesn't believe there's a need. It was difficult enough evacuating the area without alerting him." He turned to the screen. "However, I thought it would be useful for you to watch."

Mia kept her eyes on him as she turned. "You're certain it's him?"

"He has no birth certificate, no medical records, no matches for his face in our database, and his neighbors rarely see him leave his home. A few mentioned that he only had one eye until a few days ago, and security footage confirmed it." He shrugged. "He'll be dealt with in short order. Hosts are rarely apprehended alive in China."

"Or in America." frowned Mia.

"Precisely. Your government understands that, as far as hosts are concerned, a state's duty is to its citizens first and the law last." He leaned back. "But I will reiterate that I meant no disrespect by my earlier comments. We're both accomplished killers, and I understand how it can feel to… be passed over for a job you know you deserve."

The screen flashed on.

"Who's filming this?" said Mia.

"A particular host of our's. She's not in any danger, fortunately."

Mia watched a man wearing a tiger mask step up a dirt road with solar-paneled houses. In China's rural country, slow industrialization had allowed them to skip over the fossil fuels Western countries would spend trillions dismantling. Whether their speed in construction was from state involvement or Revenants was something argued by never certain.

She saw nothing which made Daigo's home look different from the couple dozen already evacuated, as he stopped and pointed towards it. A black sun appeared over Daigo's house, and Mia saw the other homes dripping as it shone, the feed blurring under the heat. The grass disappeared from the area in puffs of blue flame; solar panels melted and dripped off of their roofs.

"Zhurong." muttered the representative. "I remember when he bought that mask - and now, he isn't allowed to be seen without it."

Mia adjusted her beak as the black sun went supernova, and the shockwave left nothing but Daigo's home and molten metal for debris. His front door opened and he stepped out. He had chosen the appearance of a middle-aged man, one who hadn't shaved in a while. Mia kept her breath rigid as Daigo's Revenant formed, miles of black tendrils drooping out of his back and burrowing underground. From what she had read, these only modified non-biological materials.

One hundred feet separating the two, Daigo stepped out to the road, and the ground rumbled as puffs of blue flame erupted out of it. She stifled her grin to find Zhurong's fire was only blue, then frowned as she realized what it meant about his temperature, and in the next instant -

- one explosion of black tore an enormous hole out of the ground to Daigo's left; his step staggered for a second -

- just in time for a whip of black flame to wrap around his right arm and rip it clear off, disintegrating it without a single ash left; Mia saw Zhurong holding the other end and lashing out with a second sweep, and as Daigo raised his left hand to block it -

- any section of whip touching him disappeared as he let his legs steady, ground repairing itself as he began stepping towards Zhurong again. Bones & blood appeared and reformed his right arm, and in the next instant -

- all the ground disappeared from the area, and Mia thought of her ice as Zhurong fell -

- but a cloud of black flame caught him and kept him hovering above the lack of ground, dirt reappearing a second later. A pillar of black flame claimed Daigo's body, then dispersed as he walked out of it unharmed, Zhurong backing away with fifty feet separating them.

Out of her eyes' corners, Mia noticed the sunlight hitting the molten solar panels to the side; streaks of black flame stitched them together, and in the next instant -

- one ray of sun disintegrated Daigo's head without a single ash left, and he staggered back as another set of explosions went off underground -

- but Zhurong doubled over and Mia saw a jet of his bile hit the ground, gasping with sweat suddenly forming -

" - radiation." she muttered, watching him stagger back.

Another black sun appeared between & above the two, immense heat melting Daigo's flesh as it grew darker & darker. A whip of black flame appeared in Zhurong's hands and when he lashed out it shot in to the sun, and in the next instant -

- ten black whips burst out of the molten solar panels' stitches, gripping Daigo's arms & legs tight, skin melting between the fingers of flame. He staggered like a man in a ghastly nightmare towards Zhurong, his arms fell in to the dirt as 25ft separated them. Zhurong's grip tightened as the sun's heat grew; blood ran out of his eyes.

The ground between them disappeared for a second, and Mia saw the entire web of black tendrils underneath before it reappeared.

Daigo's skin turned to liquid, his bones falling to ash but reforming again. He lunged towards Zhurong with his head still gone, a one-fingered hand crept through his breath, his eyes turned to stone -

- and Zhurong turned in to a statue of stone, the two disappearing as the black sun went supernova.

Mia felt the dread rising in her but did not show it. "Where is he now? Daigo?"

"If he performed it right, Daigo should be in someone's oven in Bilibino. It's a small northeastern town in Russia - and fortunately, further away from China."

"He … what?" She realized it and her dread turned to rage. "This is why you wanted him to fight Daigo first."

He leaned back. "You were right, of course. I had hoped, a little, he could have dealt with Daigo, but we'll leave the rest to you and the Russians. It's out of our territory now."

"You're not a human. You're a fucking viper." she grunted, purple fists clenching. She could feel the heat rising in her scarabs.

"China has a population of 1.4 billion people. Russia, only 150 million or so. What you call snakelike behavior, I call pragmatic. Your government would do the same in -"

- she smashed him in the mouth and he fell off his chair, and if he didn't keep rolling her kick would've torn his spine in half. He hit the wall and laid out on his back, his chest heaving.

"I'm not the fucking government." she said. "When I entered Urasaria, I was an eighteen year old girl posting on fan forums and dreaming of having a Revenant. I've realized over four years that the worst scum I'll ever deal with aren't rapists or serial killers - it's evil people like you in untouchable positions."

He stared back. "G-Go ahead, then. I've done what I was meant to do."

"I'm not going to let you die a martyr. I'm going to give you something no one can remove." She yanked him up by his legs and he screamed, his hands clawing at her ankles. "Solar Beam."

An orange beam disintegrated his right leg without a single ash left and a scar formed over all of his body, and she threw him to the wall as he cursed in agony.