"Transponder One ready for link up," the voice was grainy as it came through the communication set Issei wore.
"Same here for Transponder Two."
The Longinus wielder pushed himself off, using his rolly chair to accelerate himself to the other end of the workbench. "Beaufort, how goes it on your end?"
"Fucking- Fucking amazing, sir. Dunno why I got stuck with the fun one," the pyrokinetic man grunted as he no-doubt scaled an impressive incline on the hills west of town. "You just love me that much, sir?"
That "sir" thing had quickly become his friend's favorite term to use when he was annoyed at Issei. He looked back at Ajax who was currently pouring over some note packets sent from on high. The armored man just gave a flimsy thumbs up which Issei interpreted as meaning "I don't give a shit". Wonderful.
"It's necessary, Beaufort. We're casting a dragnet here, but if Abella is above the uppermost transponder then she'll be invisible to the central beacon's scanners. I needed an area that was taller than the tallest building in Kuoh. And you looked like you could use some fresh air."
"W-Well," he grunted again. "Thanks for the opportunity, Da Vinci. I really am enjoying this rock climbing experience."
"Is Beaufort crying to himself again?"
"Yes. Yes he is."
"Oh fuck o-"
Issei cut the connection before the man could finish his tirade and leaned back in his office chair. The young tinker reached out for the cup of fresh coffee that laid near the edge of a pile of blueprints, servos, and fried circuits. He took a deep sip of the near-black liquid and enjoyed the hardy bitterness that warmed him up. Before him lay half a dozen screens suspended in the air, their semi-translucent surfaces flooded with endless streams of data. They surrounded the tinker in his workshop, casting an eerie blue glow over the disassembled machinery and pieces of technology he had scrapped and cannibalized.
The entire hub of magitech fed into a massive cylindrical device located a few dozen feet away. Fed by thick black chords and tubes that connected to ports along its side as LED lights twinkled and blinked on and off. The science behind even the most rudimentary aspects of his workstations would take two engineering degrees and a doctorate in theoretical physics to even slightly comprehend. And yet his mind swam through the sea of alien visions like they weren't even there. The background noise produced by his Longinus's endless calculations was little more than static at this point. Issei felt strangely calm, despite how close they were to avenging his friends.
Maybe it was because things hadn't quite set in for him yet. It had taken a long time to get to this point, but it would all be worth it soon enough. Nearly three months of work all to make sure his friends could rest in peace.
But then what? Did he really want to stay with these people? With the Hero Faction? In a sense, he felt indebted to them, and without them things would be incredibly harder. The resources and security they provided were invaluable to his research efforts. However, he felt unease in the bottom of his stomach.
Nights he'd spent awake, revisiting that fateful encounter at the mansion. The look on Hironori's face as he died.
At that moment, it felt so easy to pull the trigger. Him or them. But now, weeks after the fact, all he could feel was regret. Regret that was quickly forming a patchwork of similar emotions that connected to everything he seemed to do. Shame for lying to Irina, guilt for leading Rias and her friends on. All of it was gnawing at him, and all he could hope to do was bury it beneath piles of work and training. Issei angled his head upwards as his goggles synced up with the computer interface. He flicked a finger and the centermost screen changed its display to a rough outline of a humanoid, layered in piecemeal components of red and gold armor.
Power issues were nil at this point. Or, at least, to power the suit. The weapon's systems would be trickier, but he could cheat. Use the wasted energy from one system to supplement another, and do the same for the recipient for a tertiary system and so on. In short, make a loop of wasted energy feeding into itself. It wouldn't fully alleviate concerns, but it was a start. The bigger question was the integration of his current kit. Pocket dimension magic was apparently a pretty standard thing for most mages, but it was tricky to try and stabilize such a thing the way he wanted to.
If the pocket dimension crumbled in on itself or if the connection were interrupted it could spell disaster for any suit components relying on such things. He'd have to structure the micro-space so that it would be resistant to breaches.
With an irritated sigh, the inventor ran a hand through his greasy locks. He desperately needed a haircut. "Damn it, this totally sucks!"
"No one said hard living was easy," Ajax muttered as he switched to signing and dating a stack of forms. "We'll have a meeting regarding our up-and-coming strategy when the others get back. Do you think you'll be able to get your prototype up and running in time?"
"More or less. Field tests should greatly enhance the amount of progress I'm making, but it could be risky if things go wrong. I'm trying to take it carefully."
"Good. Beyond that, there are things that we need to discuss going forward. However, I think I can leave them until after we've killed this bitch," his boss sniffed.
Well, they could agree on that. Regardless of how he felt about everything else, Issei was sure he wanted to mount Abella's head on his wall. He'd shed no tears for her. There was a soft click followed by a much louder whirring sound as the transponder beacon lit up like a Christmas tree. The heroes stood and paced over to the large device which was already decoding the massive swathes of information pouring into its mainframe. Second-by-second, inch-by-inch it was honing in on any unique magical signatures. He projected that within the day they'd be able to narrow down which quadrant of town she was hiding in, and by tomorrow afternoon he expected to know which neighborhood the demoness had stowed away to.
"Damn fine work, son. You're making us all proud," Ajax patted him on the back. "Guess that's a Longinus for ya, it really doesn't hold back. Does it?"
"No it does not. If I'm being honest, it scares the crap out of me sometimes. I'm starting to think it might actually be messing with my head a little."
Ajax gave him a flat stare and shrugged. "Well, so long as it doesn't kill you. Or make you start tearing off your face. Sacred Gears are… weird. I mean, half of 'em seem to have some kind of supernatural beastie stored in their confines. Gotta wonder what Notorious G.O.D. was thinking when he came up with that idea."
Power issues, probably. The bane of all good inventors. A sufficiently strong magical entity could provide a living, reactive source of energy. So long as the soul and consciousness stayed "alive" - in a certain sense - it would provide fuel for the Sacred Gear's abilities. It did seem a little cruel to mash a thinking being into a simple tool to be wielded by random humans for all of eternity though. Then again, who could say what He was thinking?
It gave Issei something to think about though. If living spirits could be used for power sources, then maybe he should broaden his thinking. If he could use something as a fuel and hook it up to a hyper-efficient battery to recycle and reuse, then perhaps he could finally solve the power problems with his suit. But what did he have that could generate something like that? His soul was out of the question. Beyond the immeasurably dangerous risk that carried, if he started mucking about with his internals it was likely he might end up amputating the damn thing.
What else did that leave? Something natural… something that lived…
Issei was suddenly reminded of the day he got his Sacred Gear. How he had managed to beat back the encroaching knowledge that threatened to melt his brain. Boobs! Or, more specifically, his lust! Emotions could be a dynamic energy source and were limitless in terms of how much he could produce. His anger, his joy, and especially his desire to jam his face into a nice pair of sweater puppies would serve as fuel injections to the energy core. All he'd need to do from there was allow the engine to produce a baseline level of power and recycle the emotional energy he injected into it!
"Hello? Hello!? Da Vinci!?" Ajax snapped his fingers in front of the tinker's face. "Jesus man I thought you were having a stroke!"
"S-Sorry, boss. Just had a eureka moment."
"What in the hell is a 'eureka moment'?"
Issei shook his head. "Nevermind. I just… got a really good idea. I need to get working on it if I expect to be ready for this next phase of our operations!"
Before the armored man could protest or say otherwise, Issei was elbow deep in circuits and metal again. He'd made the chassis for much of his armored suit as well as the systems he could make at the time, which left most of the work to his new idea. His aura and soul were intertwined with his emotions, and as such they were visible reactions if you knew what to look for. All he had to do was take a little off the top.
Ajax watched his underling toil away at his workbench, blue and red sparks flying in all directions as the boy's face twisted into an expression of almost perverse glee. The older man swore that one day he'd find that kid humping his workbench. With an eye roll he turned around and left the inventor to his work. It was no use trying to talk to him when he was like this…
0-0-0-0
"Mark one prototype flight suit, test number one," Issei spoke clearly and loudly as the nearby camera recorded the entire thing. "Going to test the balance stabilizers and propulsion capabilities with a sustained hoverflight."
He glanced up into the eyes of his teammates who stood just outside the testing area. His gaze couldn't help but drift to the fire extinguisher sitting next to Castor's foot. The energy core wasn't yet complete, but hopefully this would show him any weaknesses in the design. The entire suit was colored in red and gold, completely covering him up to his neck. It wasn't really power armor, but calling it a simple bodysuit wasn't enough. Circuits and servos provided some added strength, but mostly so that the suit wasn't constantly pressing down his spine.
He likened it more to a power frame, wrapped and supplemented by the segmented armor plates surmounted on an underlying bodysuit. With the metamaterials he'd used to fashion this thing, he was confident he could survive at least one shot from Kiba's sword. Issei tapped a few keys on the wrist computer attached to his left hand and felt the suit begin to hum.
A second later, there was a sound like a pilot light turning on before a loud "whoosh" sound. Fiery orange light expelled from the bottom of his boots and the jetpack attached to his back. With careful slowness he regulated the power output so that it raised him up a foot from the floor. All the while, scrolling numbers and calculations crawled across the high tech visor that covers his eyes and ears.
"Energy levels holding steady, the core is expending power faster than calculated. It might be a small leak in its sub-processing unit. Make a note to check it out later on. Going to try and cross the length of the factory floor next. Begin image scrawl."
Here was the hard part. Quickly, images of the most beautiful babes in the skimpiest clothing he could find began to fill his HUD. He drank it in, having pulled some of the best images from Matsuda's private collection. Out of the corner of the eye, the tinkerer noted a sudden spike in the core's power. Good, it was at least able to react to his lust. Issei let the image scrawl go on for perhaps a bit more than he needed to, but, hey, he wanted to make sure he had it right. It was very important "testing", after all.
"Alright, let's see how this goes," he cracked his neck and leaned forward.
The suit suddenly accelerated him forward at a speed he hadn't expected. In a panic, he leaned back to try and halt his momentum but ended up overcorrecting and sent himself into a half-tumble. His world spun as the visor flashed out an alarm and he went spiralling around the room. He heard Ajax shout something, but it was drowned out over his own girlish scream as he flailed his arms outward. He felt the world lurch as he took a nose dive into the pavement and crashed in a heap.
Everything hurt. Everything hurt bad.
"Guhhhhhh."
"I got it," he heard a dry voice say before he was suddenly housed down by a chilling, fine powder courtesy of the fire extinguisher. "Please tell me someone recorded that."
"Confirmed." the computer chirped in response.
Issei sat up, dazed and scraped up but mostly okay. Thank God for his armor. At least he knew that worked. So, note to self: flight control systems are a little touchy. Man, it was going to take some time to get used to that. For now, better to install some more safety systems into this thing. Beaufort laughed at his misfortune as he walked off, content with having gotten back at Issei for his earlier assignment. The young inventor was hauled up by his boss who dusted him off.
"Think it'll be ready to go when we need it?" Ajax asked solemnly.
Issei hummed. "The systems are all there, they just need fine-tuning. The core - mostly - works as intended, so I think in the midst of a pitched battle I shouldn't need to worry about much."
After all, a pang of alarm or shock would provide a short-lived boost that could mean the difference between life and death. The bigger issue was making sure the excess energy could be expended without nuking the power core. Whatever, it was back to the workbench then! He would get this down even if he needed to spend double time in the lab. The transponder node was quickly narrowing down Abella's whereabouts. Even if they got her location by today, there wasn't much of a rush to get out there. Not when they still needed to discuss their strategy of how they wanted to approach it.
Issei thought that this would be a perfect time to reveal themselves. They could do so and cement themselves as an ally and a powerful one at that. If they played it right, he could even explain away his minor deception to Rias and Irina before it became anything too bad. Then they could have three different factions working in tandem to protect the town. It would help legitimize them in the eyes of the others and smooth out relations.
Besides, with everyone working together Abella wouldn't stand a chance. Issei clenched a victorious fist as the plan formulated in his mind. He could still come out of this as a hero in the eyes of Irina and the others!
With renewed vigor, he dove into his work again. That night, the sound of clanking and sparks flying never ceased for a single moment.
Even as morning came and he made some token effort to eat a provided meal of granola bars and black coffee, he continued. He cannibalized existing prototypes for completed parts, and, when those ran dry, began to fabricate his own metamaterials to make new parts as-needed. He worked like a machine, his mind shutting down except for the parts that governed his skill with machinery. At some point he dimly realized he was no longer writing in Japanese, but rather some bizarre shorthand that condensed an entire sentence into a few esoteric characters. It was more efficient, so he didn't complain and continued onwards.
He was just in the middle of reverse-engineering an earlier design he'd made hours prior so that the spurving bearings settled within the logarithmic casing could properly conduct the flow of aura through a perforated amulite wiring segment when a hand came down on his head. With a hiss of pain, Issei wheeled around to find Beaufort standing there with a cheeky grin on his face.
"Pardon me, I didn't know I was expected to entertain assholes today," Issei grumbled. "What was that for?"
"Because you haven't heard me calling your name for the past three minutes."
Oh… still, that was a dick move. Issei removed his welding goggles and tried to stand up only to find that he abruptly couldn't. His legs screamed in red hot protest as he very nearly tumbled to the floor had it not been for Beaufort suddenly steadying. What the hell was going on? His legs were in agony! With a groan, he rubbed his sore thigh and sat back down on his chair.
"Ah, what the shit?" he hissed through gritted teeth.
"Yeah, sitting in a chair for three days will do that to you," Beaufort snorted.
Three days!? No way had he been in his lab for three days! Issei turned to check the clock and realized with growing shock that it had been three days. Oh man, his parents were going to kill him when they found out! With a sigh, the rest of his senses came back to him. Holy hell, when was the last time he'd taken a shower? He smelled horrible! His head was swimming from a lack of proper food or water, and overall he felt pretty horrible.
"I'm… just gonna bring the guys down here. I don't think you're really fit to walk up the stairs."
The inventor gave a numb thumbs up as his partner went to go get the others. How had he not noticed three days go by? A part of him was unnerved by how far his Sacred Gear was let him go without proper care for himself. If someone hadn't broken him out of his reverie, would he have gone until he died? Castor, Pollux, and Ajax quickly descended the stairs and took up some seats surrounding the workshop.
Pollux made a face. "Issei, you smell rank."
"Yeah, it's been three days since I showered. What the hell guys, did no one think to wake me up!?"
"From the way you were going, I guessed that you could have handled a few days of prolonged work. Rest assured we would have snapped you out of it before anything could've happened. You were making good progress, and I need every advantage from my men that I can get," Ajax responded brusquely.
Issei still couldn't help but feel a bit betrayed. If it had been one day then he could've dealt with it, but three? He'd always known his manager to be a goal-oriented person, but that bordered on heartless. Castor coughed into his fist and Ajax seemed reminded of something. He leaned back in the chair and gave a pointed look at Issei.
"We're going to need to discuss our plan when it comes to this whole Abella thing. I know it's probably fruitless to try and keep you out of it, so I won't even try," he began.
"Damn right! I'm going to kick that bitch's demonic ovaries into her throat when I find her!" Issei replied with fervor. "But I've been thinking about it, and I've got an idea of how we should do it."
"Oh?"
"See, we've been hiding in the shadows because we worried about stepping on toes, right? But now that Irina knows about us and I'm friends with Rias's group, we have everything we need to make a proper debut! If we just help the others take care of Abella, then they have no reason to dislike us!" Issei proclaimed confidently. "We could make an alliance with each other and show ourselves properly."
Silence reigned around the assembled group. At first he merely thought they were contemplating the idea, but it quickly stretched into tense awkwardness. The furtive glances they sent between each other was making a pit open up in his stomach. Eventually, Ajax cleared his throat and nodded slowly.
"I see… it's not a bad plan, but…" he trailed off.
Pollux picked it up. "It doesn't really fit. Our plan was never really to show ourselves. That's not how we roll."
"What do you mean? We're heroes! Heroes don't just skulk around in the dark," Issei said, confused.
"This is different than that, Issei. You see, we're not exactly well-tolerated by the big wigs. Our existence is counter-intuitive to their designs. Devils, Fallen Angels, and even Angels. Something has to be wrong if the church is willing to work with devils, right?" Ajax said pointedly.
Issei's head was still swimming, and he struggled to put the words together in his mind. "But… no, that's different. Rias and her friends aren't like those evil devils. Hell, Kiba even has a Sacred Gear. I don't get what the big deal is."
"Everything is topsy-turvy, bro. All the people who were supposed to be protecting humanity are now working against them. Sure, the devil families like to pretend to be different but that's only on the surface dude. Our Sacred Gears? They like to ambush innocent people with them and basically trick or force them into being reincarnated as devils. Essentially forcing people to sell their souls," Beaufort explained with barely-restrained heat in his voice. "Believe me, I know."
The red haired man absently traced one of the scars on his face. No… that's wasn't- Rias wouldn't do that, would she? He had no reason to suspect that of them. But, who would know better? Damn it, he'd spent so much time buried elbow-deep in his tinkerings that he hadn't had time to really pay attention to anything. That's what he had come to rely on his team to do. Issei rubbed his head and grit his teeth as a headache began to bloom.
"Exposing ourselves would only be a disadvantage. If you think for one moment the devil king's sister wouldn't stab us in the back to elevate her position in her clan you have another thing coming. Demons are cutthroat by nature," Castor added.
Pollux nodded sagely in agreement. "By all accounts, if we went with your plan the church could use your connection to Irina to find out our secrets. They could take us down as a joint maneuver and strengthen their alliance. Our little espionage racket works both ways."
No, Irina wouldn't do that. She would never hurt him like that, and he'd never do that to her either! God, his head was pounding. It made it hard to think, even as his eyelids drooped in a desperate bid to get some sleep. He felt like his whole world was spinning around.
"And what do you think will happen when Rias finds out you lied to her? Do you think she's just going to be okay with you getting cozy with her servants? With finding out their abilities? Hell, she'll probably take you out first, if not out of spite then out of practicality. You know too much," Ajax pointed out. "And then of course there's Irina and Xenovia. Both of them are seasoned, hardboiled exorcists and can aside their feelings to complete their mission. I guarantee you that your friend's faith is stronger than her loyalty to you."
All their voices and doubts were swirling into one condensed wall of negativity. Everything they pointed out made him feel dumber, or less sure of himself. With his head throbbing and his body about to give in, he couldn't even think of one way to reasonably dispute them. How was he going to explain this to them? It was foolish to assume he could just say "hey, sorry for spying on you and your friends and using their data to produce weapons" and expect they would be okay with it. Even in his delirious state, he was sure they wouldn't just slaughter him outright, but what would happen after that? They could very well see this as an act of war, and then they'd all be in deep shit.
Fuck, he was too tired to argue about this right now. Maybe once he'd had some time to rest and recover, he could try again. For now, he was only going to make things worse. Issei raised a hand and silenced their arguments. "Alright, alright, just… gimme a bit to sort myself out and we can talk about this again. I'm not at all ready to have this conversation right now."
He saw Castor and Ajax share a look with one another before the latter nodded. Issei stood up on his feet, slowly this time, and held onto Beaufort for support. With his help, he managed to get his legs working just enough to start the walk back home. It took nearly twice the amount of time it should have, but eventually he opened up the door to his home and stumbled inside.
"I'm back," he nearly wheezed.
There was a beat of silence before the sound of hurried footsteps cut through the house. He barely saw what collided with him, but he could feel the arms wrap around him. Issei's eyes widened as his mom and dad threw him into a tight hug.
"There you are!" his father cried. "We were about to call the police!"
"I-I know your therapist said to give you space if y-you need i-it," his mother hiccupped, her cheeks stained with tears. "But this is too much! We thought you'd run away or something."
Oh…
His dad broke the hug enough to level a serious glare at him. "Boy, do you even know the amount of stress you put me through? I thought your mother was about to kill me!"
"I'm fine! I'm fine," he insisted as patted his mom on the back. "I was doing… a lot of stuff. Important stuff. Good stuff."
"Issei, I understand we all cope in our own ways but after you had gotten so much better I just thought- No, nevermind that. I'm sorry if we hadn't been paying enough attention to you, or if we somehow pushed you away.
Please, don't blame yourselves. I don't think I could handle it if you did, Issei's heart burned with guilt. Guilt about deceiving Rias, guilt for not saving his friends, guilt for not being better, or trying harder. He couldn't add this on as well.
His voice was tight as he spoke. "It's okay, I'm okay. I'm sorry for leaving like that, I was so caught up in what I was doing that I never even realized how much time had passed. I'm sorry for making you two worry so much."
"What were you doing!?" his mother nearly wailed.
Fuck, how did he explain it? He bit his lip as he searched for an idea, but the headache and fatigue wasn't helping him any.
"I was… hanging out with some friends. Doing some volunteer work. I thought that if I could give back to other people I could finally get over things," Not technically the truth, but it wasn't a lie either.
It didn't ease his shame.
"Well, I guess I can hardly fault you for that. What kind of father would I be if I didn't let you help out the folks who need it? And after I was so worried about you being obsessed with porn mags!" Issei's father laughed, but it felt almost forced.
His mother chuckled as well as she buried her face into his shoulder. They were too trusting, they loved him too much. Both of them couldn't imagine him doing anything suspicious, or bad, or dangerous. After a month of feeling sorry for himself and struggling with his depression, his parents were just happy to have their son back. And here he was, using that affection to cover his own tracks. He felt like the worst piece of shit in the world.
There was something to be said for sacrificing yourself as a hero. Issei knew that there were bigger things at stake than his own happiness. If he wanted to walk this difficult path, he needed to get used to giving things up for the greater good. But did being a hero truly mean feeling so miserable all the time? Everything he did didn't make him feel any better. It satisfied him, sure, but that was different. Completing his projects or getting better at training didn't ease the doubt in his mind.
If being a hero meant feeling this awful, maybe he wasn't cut out for it.
He was pulled along by his mother who remarked about his smell with a playful grin. His old man mentioned that they were going to celebrate with pizza for dinner and offered to take him out one of these weekends. All to just make him feel better when in reality he should've begged their forgiveness. This way of life felt more destructive than the habits he'd made when he was still struggling to understand Matsuda and Motohama's deaths. If he couldn't reconcile his feelings with his duty as a hero, the fallout would be ten times as worse as it would've been before.
His focus was too narrow. Too much of his time was spent letting other people dictate to him, or explain things. If he wanted to understand this whole supernatural world better, he needed to start investigating it for himself. Regardless of whether or not he managed to convince his team to accept his proposal or simply rely on Rias and Irina, one thing was for certain.
He couldn't go on like this...