A New Normal
Disclaimer: Characters and premise are the property of Kazue Kato. I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit fun.
Chapter Twenty: Individual Battles
The woman with the white striped hair strode into Lucifer's hospital room. Gedoin trotted in after her as soon as she stopped the pudgy man shoved his way in front of her. "Lucifier-sama," he panted. "I have miraculously secured my vital research subject! Soon I will have all the answers you require of me!"
Ignoring Gedoin, the woman gave her report over his ranting in a calm voice. "Commander, we have reports that Egyn, Amaimon, Okumura Rin, the fire demon Yamantaka and several humans have broken into the facility. Most likely their intention is the rescue of the traitor Shima Renzo."
Lucifer stood up and stretched. "Have you completed the traitor's treatments Dr. Gedoin?" he asked.
Gedoin glared venomously at the woman. "No thanks to her the preparations are complete, but I have yet to initiate the final stage."
"I believe my little brother could use an object lesson in what it means to go against Father or I," Lucifer said thoughtfully. "Have the traitor prepared for the final stage then brought to my audience room. Little brother has come this far, he should see his friend one last time before the traitor's soul is eradicated forever." Then his tone turned business-like, "Begin evacuating the base, use whatever resources you deem expandable to guide Okumura and the Hell Kings to me while minimizing their impact on the evacuation. Kill the other invaders if you can manage it, although it may be beyond your capability until I have dealt with their champions."
"I'll get right on it, sir" the woman replied with a respectful bow. She turned smartly on her heel and strode out.
"But-" Gedoin stammered, he looked between Lucifer and the woman. "My experiments. The old hag, 910, won't withstand transportation and her daughter isn't prepared yet. We could lose Inari back to Gehenna."
Lucifer looked down on the scientist calmly. "You have until I have finished educating my younger brother to transfer Inari to your new subject. If you need more time ensure that their arrival in my audience room is delayed. Do not fail me."
"Never! Thank you, thank you Lucifer-sama," Gedoin exclaimed then hurried after the woman. "You have to stall them!" he called after her. "I need more time to transfer Inari!"
"Damnit," Bon cursed as his bullet creased the side of a zombie's skull but didn't stop it. Before he could correct his aim Egyn raised one hand, a bead of water formed on the cusp of his finger, he flicked the water bead like a pea. It shot down the hall and smashed through the zombie's brain.
For the last twenty minutes the seven of them had been unsuccessfully searching the Inari Dream Town complex for an entrance to the basement where Yamantaka could sense Renzo was being held. While they searched a steady stream of zombies showed up to harass them.
"I thought Anubis was going to be an improvement over that toadying upstart Astaroth," Egyn said scornfully. "But it seems the old jackal can't control his kingdom."
Rin spotted another zombie creeping up behind them. With a defiant glance at Juuzo, he cast an arch of flames off Kurikara's blade. For several moments blue flames enveloped the zombie. Then the flames guttered and the creature started screaming, it's half-rotted vocal cords straining to express it's horror.
Juuzo slammed the butt of his staff into the pathetic creature's throat, snapping it's spine and killing it instantly. "You can't save everyone and you'll get people you could have saved killed if you insist on trying," he told Rin harshly.
"They didn't do anything to deserve this," Rin protested.
Bon bit his tongue and left Juuzo to explain without the pull of Rin's oath influencing whether or not he accepted the older exorcist's reasoning.
"Zombies are past saving, all we can do is lay them to rest," Juuzo said, his expression completely unyielding.
If anyone else was scanning the zombies' features, searching for pink hair, they didn't say it. Rin looked away his tail hung low, the tip twitching, radiating defensiveness.
"I haven't done much to earn your trust and then I tell you to take my word for it that we have to kill those people," Juuzo sighed. "I am sorry that this situation could put Izumo's younger sister at risk but she should have been upfront with us. If she'd come forward back in Delphi a different team could have been dispatched without casting any suspicion on her. But because she didn't trust us and tried to do everything on her own she put our mission to rescue Renzo at risk, I couldn't let that pass."
Amaimon spotted another zombie approaching and darted down the hall to rip it's head off. "I don't care if they're stupid humans, rebels against Anubis or Lucifer-ni's flunkies," he said. "I'm here to get Shiemi's knight back. They're in the way." Yamantaka and Egyn didn't say anything but their expressions showed they agreed with Amaimon and didn't see Rin's moral dilemma.
Relegated to the center of the formation because arias were practically useless against zombies, Konekomaru wondered if it would have been better if he'd simply told the others to go on without him back in Greece. Without him, Bon and Rin could have traveled faster and if he'd said he was unable to continue it would have given Izumo an excuse to opt out as his partner, without bringing up her sister. Both Juuzo and Bon were stronger arias than he was and had a second meister to fall back on. The only thing he'd contributed to the group had been the realization that Izumo was keeping things from them and that observation had left their team strained almost to the breaking point.
Beleaguered with uncertainty, Konekomaru didn't say anything but he wondered if Juuzo was right; if the zombies were truly past saving. He wondered if it might be possible to combine Rin's blue flames with Shiemi's healing abilities to restore the Illuminati's victims. He wondered if Juuzo had thought of the possibility when he saw Rin burn away the possession without killing the zombie; burdening themselves with dozens of half-cured, panic-stricken zombies would kill any chance they had of rescuing Renzo and there would be no guarantee that they were doing more than subjecting the victims to more suffering, a greater awareness of the horror that had been inflicted on them.
"Behind us," Konekomaru called, pointing out their most recent attacker for those more capable of dealing with it. He found himself staring at the zombie's face, wondering if they found Renzo among the zombie horde would they kill him immediately or grasp at any chance of saving him, even if the attempt would put him through hell. "I- I think that's the same one Amaimon tore the head off of earlier," Konekomaru said nervously as Bon's shot dropped their most recent attacker.
The group stopped and turned to stare at the creature. "Beheading should work on zombies," Juuzo said.
While they puzzled over it the bullet hole started to close over. "It's regenerating!" Bon exclaimed.
Yamantaka put his hand on the zombie's forehead, for a moment black flames covered it, then the zombie fell back like a puppet with the strings cut. "No longer," he said.
Juuzo blew out a deep breath. "Okay, regenerative zombies. Fire's the only way to get rid of them. Rin, can we count on you?"
Rin hesitated, hating the thought of writing anyone off, even a stranger. But Renzo was counting on them and Bon was counting on him… Before Rin could resolve the issue with himself the floor opened up beneath them dumping them into a half-dozen different funnels.
Gedoin beamed at Izumo as he escorted her to his lab. "I knew you were a good girl," he told her. "Coming back just when I need you." He reached out to pat her cheek.
Izumo cringed away from his touch. "I haven't even passed the Exorcist Exam yet, I'm not trained to summon Inari yet. I only came to warn you about the True Cross' invasion."
"Oh that doesn't matter anymore," Gedoin waved off Izumo's objections. "You're Tamamo's direct descendent, naturally compatible. We can skip most of the preparatory steps. Which is good, very good. Even with my immortal army doing the bulk of the work I doubt that useless pig woman will buy me much time."
The door to the lab slid open. Gedoin walked in still nattering on but Izumo froze. Framed in the open door, Renzo hung suspended from the ceiling. Just looking at him, sympathetic pains shot through Izumo's shoulders and her stomach twisted. Renzo's skin was mottled with bruises and the floor beneath him was spattered with his blood. At the sound of the door opening he'd raised his head a bit but his eyes were so glazed with agony that Izumo didn't think he was really seeing her, or anything. 'Your fault,' her conscious whispered. 'It'll be your fault if they don't rescue him.' Izumo found herself taking rapid, gasping breaths. The slow, steady drip of blood falling from Renzo's toes seemed strangely magnified.
For a moment Izumo was years in the past, witnessing the cruelties inflicted on her mother once again. 'For Tsukumo. I have no choice,' Izumo told herself. She bit her lip and walked past Renzo, into the lab.
"Ahh, they've already prepared the old hag- I mean your darling mother," Gedoin was saying. He gestured toward the back of the lab and Izumo saw her mother secured upright on a raised platform before a twisted mass of wires and pipes.
"Izumo-" the heavily bandaged woman breathed.
Looking at her probable future Izumo felt a cold shiver run down her spine. She glanced back at Renzo. 'Better me than Tsukumo,' she told herself. 'For Tsukumo's safety there's nothing I won't risk. It's far too late for second thoughts now.'
Izumo turned to Gedoin resolutely. "What do I have to do?" she asked.
Rin tumbled down into the dark.
After a long fall down a slick-walled chute he landed in an unlit chamber, the air felt cold and stagnant. Rin used his flames to illuminate his new surroundings. The room he found himself in was little more than a sealed metal box divided in half by a row of bars.
"Bon?" he called. His voice echoed back at him mockingly.
Rin's stomach twisted violently. Technically he hadn't broken his oath. Technically he'd done what he said he'd do. 'And we're all on the same side anyway,' Rin reminded himself. 'Koneko and Juuzo were just being paranoid. It wasn't like I betrayed Bon. It was Izumo, she wouldn't do anything to hurt Renzo. She just wanted to make sure her little sister was safe too. And Bon didn't really say anything about keeping Izumo locked up.'
Rin told himself that, but his stomach didn't settle. It felt like there was a chain wrapped around his gut pulling tighter and tighter with every breath. Even if he hadn't lied he'd deceived Bon when he slipped Izumo's ink-kit into her shoe and now their mission was going to hell and Rin knew it was his fault- Somehow.
The bond he shared with Bon was screaming that the other boy was NOT SAFE! And everything he'd told himself to justify, excuse pitting his loyalty to Izumo against the loyalty he owed Bon turned to ashes in his mouth. They were being attacked by zombies-not-ghouls, the Illuminati's innocent victims transformed into all but unkillable monsters, unkillable except by fire. Now they'd been separated. Bon was out there, alone, somewhere in the dark with the unkillable zombies. Rin collapsed to his knees and threw-up everything in his stomach.
He had deceived Bon and allowed Bon to be taken away and now Bon was in danger and Rin was failing to protect him. The oath that had been a comforting anchor, assuring him of his place in the world became something cutting and cruel.
He'd done what he'd said, but he'd deceived Bon and that was wrong, wrong wrong. He'd told himself nothing bad would happen; it was Izumo and Izumo would never hurt them. -Even if she'd said she'd do anything to protect her little sister- She was Izumo and he trusted her completely, just like he trusted Bon completely. Izumo would never do anything to hurt them, Koneko and Juuzo were being stupid and letting her escape didn't matter because Izumo was on their side so it wasn't like he was being disloyal to Bon. They were all on the same side. But everything was going wrong and it was his fault. He deceived Bon.
Rin's stomach had long since emptied itself but he couldn't stop dry heaving as his thought spiraled round and round. All of Mephisto's lessons on making promises that meant nothing crashed and burned against the fact that Rin didn't make promises he didn't intend to keep.
A hand reached out of the darkness and locked around Rin's ankle. "Hunngrry."
Eyes wide Konekomaru backed away from the horror that had stepped out of the shadows. It's overall shape was humanoid, but various parts of smaller, poorly merged bodies stuck out of it randomly.
Even before they'd realized the single zombies could regenerate their wounds it had been determined that Konekomaru was useless against them. Now he was alone against this massive, hideous chimera zombie, what chance did he have? Konekomaru's back hit the wall of the cell. There was no where left for him to run, no one to save him. His knees gave out and he started to slide down the wall.
'No,' Konekomaru told himself. 'No matter how out matched I am, I will not just lie down and die. I will not let myself be a burden.' He looked around the cell with a renewed determination.
Bon sighted down the barrel of his gun but hesitated at pulling the trigger. Even regenerative zombies were slowed down by a bullet to the brain and he trusted the Rin would find him soon, but where to aim? The chimera zombie he faced had a half-dozen partially merged heads in addition to the main one on top of it's neck and Bon didn't have an unlimited supply of bullets. He had to hold out until Rin found him. Besides Konekomaru was probably in worse trouble than he was. 'Rin should know that and prioritize accordingly,' Bon assured himself.
Then Bon scowled because the bond didn't work that way. He'd seen the strain it put on Rin to try to prioritize Izumo's secret over his need for answers. He had no doubt that, had he asked, Rin would have been forced to answer. And if Rin had to chose between Bon's safety and anyone else's the bond would force that choice as well. When the Myo'o Dharani High Council had proposed the oath Bon had objected to it on principle; it was wrong to ask Rin to give anyone that much control over him. Bon had worried about accepting the oath because of his quick temper and the ease with which the oath could be abused. But it was only now that really hit Bon how destructive the oath's skewing of Rin's priorities could be. Konekomaru could die because Rin wouldn't be able to make an objective judgement about which situation was more desparate. "As soon as this mission's over, Rin's learning how to mitigate the oath," Bon muttered to himself.
Bon fired a round through the chimera zombie's main head. The eyes on several of the other heads swiveled to look at him while the hole in the main head healed, the zombie didn't even miss a step. Bon looked worried. Then he exclaimed "I'm an idiot!" and dug a summoning circle out of a pocket on his ammo belt. "What am I? Some sort of princess waiting around to be rescued. Karura, could you provide some aid?"
The phoenix appeared in a burst of flames. "Karura en, Kashoku no In!" Bon commanded crossing his wrists in front of him. A burst of flames explode from Karura and incinerated the chimera zombie. "Thanks," Bon told his familiar. "Now Rin should be able to focus on rescuing people who actually need it. But, would you mind sticking around in case I run into another of those things?"
"Our long war with the Impure King is done, but I don't mind eradicating other agents of Rot," Karura replied. He flew up and wrapped his claws around the grating on the air vent into the cell. "I might even be able to help you out of this box… Although it is well built," the phoenix added after several moments of tugging.
"Ucchusma, I hope you weren't kidding about being less stingy with your help," Juuzo muttered. His eyes never left the monstrosity scuttling toward him on dozens of human arms like a giant centipede.
Juuzo steepled his hands, balancing his staff between his fingers and thumb as he began an invocation. Without breaking cadence he leapt out of the way of the chimera zombie's first lunge. Warm, red-gold flames erupted from his staff and Juuzo sighed in relief.
He twirled the staff around and struck the chimera with the burning end of his staff as it charged past. The creature screamed in fury. It reached for him with a multitude of hands. Juuzo planted the butt of his staff and used it to vault over the zombie, landing another fiery strike as he touched down. From there it was a race between the chimera zombie's powers of regeneration and Juuzo's ability to spread Ucchusma's flames. Before long the Myo'o Dharani exorcist stepped back from the zombie's smoldering ashes.
Then Juuzo wrapped his stole over his nose and mouth to help filter out the smoke choked air and stretched up to examine the trap door that had dumped him in the cell.
"Foolish cur!" Egyn declared. "Cower before your betters!" He stood firm and regal as the ten foot tall chimera zombie lumbered toward him.
The Water King reached up and laid his hands on the lumpy, imperfect blending of flesh then he made a pulling gesture. A mass of water extracted itself from the zombie leaving behind a desiccated husk. Egyn commanded the water he'd summoned from the zombie's tissues to wrap around him like a cloak. "Perhaps Anubis is not so negligent as as I believed," he commented.
Then he crouched in front of the weakly twitching husk and turned one of it's heads so that he could stare into it's eyes. "What are you, Abomination?" he asked it. "Your power is of the Kingdom of Rot but you are no demon."
Amaimon circled the chimera zombie that had been unfortunate enough to share his cell, examining it from all angles. Like a bug on a pin, the creature squirmed helplessly, impaled by a dozen different rock spires. The more it struggled the more it tore it's own flesh and the more firmly entangled it became as it's wounds grew into the very spires that were impaling it, binding it to them.
The creature whimpered pitifully but Amaimon had lost interest in it. He walked over to one of the wall and casually dug his clawed finger-tips into one of the metal seams then tore it open and let himself out of the cell. He glanced around and saw a number of other boxes, cells like the one he'd just escape with a giant maze of tubes leading from the upper levels to them.
He puzzled over the boxes, wondering if he could figure out which one held Egyn so he could continue the rescue of Shiemi's knight without his half-brother's unwelcome assistance.
Izumo bit her lip as the heavy stylized helmet Gedoin called the 'savior mask' was lowered over her eyes. "You're almost ready my dear," Gedoin chortled. "A fresh subject, I've waited so long." Izumo's skin crawled as he patted her shoulder with a proprietary air. Before Gedoin could start the procedure to transfer the nine-tails from her mother to Izumo the door to the lab slid open.
The woman with white striped hair walked in followed by two hulking guards. "Dr. Gedoin, is everything prepared for the Commander's object lesson?"
"Yes, yes," Gedoin replied impatiently. He grabbed up a small earpiece and all but threw it at the woman. "The mobile unit doesn't have any built in targeting, without intensive training all it can do is force him to eat the power of some random demon. But who care? Any demon should be good enough to redeem Lucifer-sama's promise. Now get out of my way, completing the transfer is crucial."
"The Commander has deemed the destruction of the traitor's soul to be important, you would do well to remember that," the woman stated severely.
Gedoin sneered at her, "That is the difference between you and I," he said. "You have no comprehension of what is truly critical to the future of the Illuminati. Once my experiments succeed I will have unlocked the secrets of life and death. I- I! will be the one to free Lucifer-sama from the limitations of his host form! And then I will have his undying gratitude. My experiments cannot be disturbed for the punishment of a worthless cretin like that one."
The woman turned her back on Gedoin. "Cut him down but be careful not to let him touch the floor," she told the two guards. "From everything we've observed Gaia won't aid him at this hour but that's no excuse for sloppiness. The Commander requires him in the audience chamber. Move quickly, Okumura will not be delayed for long by Gedoin's failures and the Commander wants him to witness the traitor's damnation."
One of the guards cut the rope holding Renzo suspended. Izumo bit her lip, holding back guilty tears as she did nothing while Renzo struggled weakly against the second guard. The large man subdued Renzo easily, and from his pained whimpers it seemed to Izumo that the only thing Renzo had accomplished by fighting was to hurt himself even more. She was almost grateful when they took Renzo away even if it meant the end of her brief reprieve.
Gedoin fiddled with a few last buttons on the fox helmet then stepped back. "We're ready my dear, call the fox into you."
Yamantaka stared at the towering chimera zombie as it shuffled toward him, completely unimpressed. He crouched and pressed his palms to the floor. Black flames raced across the room to envelop his adversary. After a few minutes the flames died away and an inanimate mass of ill-shapen flesh crashed to the floor.
Then he allowed the promise binding him to Renzo to fill his senses. Renzo was close and the distress filling the bond between them set Yamantaka shivering violently as the need to do anything to reach Renzo, to destroy whatever was hurting him, came into direct conflict with the knowledge that Yamantaka himself would be harming Renzo if he went berserk.
Helpless to do more Yamantaka clawed futilely at the wall closest to Renzo and howled his rage to the heavens.