Stronger Than Fire

By: Aviantei

Chapter Eleven

The main Science Division was strikingly different from the one at Inari. The main hub was bustling with people, several important looking Illuminati members sporting lab coats leading their like-dressed kind in experiments that Renzo knew he wouldn't be able to keep straight. The activity level was almost overwhelming, and Renzo was convinced that Inari had truly been a dead husk in comparison to what the Illuminati was capable of.

Of course, he also knew that this was only a fraction of the Science Division's overall space—they took up the most square-kilometerage in the entire base, more than the Intelligence Division could ever dream of commandeering. Then again, Emília used the Science Division as her own personal pharmacy, so Renzo wouldn't doubt if she laid some form of mental claim to the place anyway.

"Come on, you'll have plenty of time to get bored of this place later," Emília said, striding past Renzo. Not wanting to get left behind in the mess of people, he followed close behind, nearly brushing against the end of her ponytail. Out of the corners of Renzo's eyes he could see several things happening—but they all passed by in blurs. After following after Emília so many times, he had thought he would get bored, but there was nothing that had yet to disinterest him in the view.

Emília's path went cut straight through the middle of the room and up stairs, circling around until Renzo wasn't sure which experiment room they had wandered into, but it was huge. On the opposite side of the room stood a black mass of metal and magic that Renzo had ever only seen in information reports he was analyzing.

An Artificial Gehenna Gate.

Emília continued her trek, but Renzo was stuck in the doorway, not sure of how to respond. He tried to convince himself it was just the hype, but he could have sworn that the atmosphere in the room was different.

This is something that should not exist…

"Pretty impressive, huh?" A scientist with wavy pigtails bordering the line between girl and woman appeared at Renzo's side, smiling. "It's the culmination of all our hard work—the newest version of the Artificial Gehenna Gates. We've had Tamers analyzing the summoning patterns that the Commander gave us like crazy, and we've been able to increase its capabilities tenfold! Of course, it's still in the testing stage mind you, and nowhere near the real Gehenna Gate, but you can't deny that it's progress."

Renzo wanted to object the idea of even working on such a thing, but he knew what it was for. If the worlds were to get any closer, they would have to be connected first. And if Satan wasn't the one to put together the Gate, this was the closest the Illuminati could get.

"I'm Harper Lucassen, by the way," the girl continued, extending a hand. "I'm part of the main team working on the applications phase for this big boy. Who are you?"

Renzo had a blink of hesitation that Emília would have caught onto in an instant. Harper only shook Renzo's hand as he extended it to meet hers. "Shima Renzo, part of the Intelligence Division," he introduced. Come to think of it, he wasn't quite sure was his own rank was, only what it should have been, but he was sure Emília's favor easily outranked that. "I'd love to spend all day talking about how you've got the triad of brains, beauty, and eternal youth on your side, but I'm sure you've heard all about that before. I'd hate to waste your valuable time when you could be working on something like that."

Despite Renzo's flippant attitude, Harper's cheeks immediately dusted pink, and she muttered, "Oh, hush, you." Renzo grinned a little—even with her words, the scientist looked rather pleased by the compliment. It was nice to have such a positive reaction—the perfect medium between Moriyama's innocent cluelessness and Emília's brazen acceptance. "So are you here to give us an update on the collection info?"

Renzo shook his head. "No, we're still gathering data," he reported, as some of the first new infiltrative teams had left this morning. "Actually, I'm here with—"

"Cy!" Emília's voice echoed in the room, easily filling up the space. What small discussion that had been going on between the Science Division members petered out, though some of them remained at work on consoles lining the wall. "I brought you a present!" Emília declared, and Renzo could tell by the jerk of her thumb that the present was him.

It was hard to see any detail from across the room, but a man with chestnut hair stepped forward, sweeping body language showing annoyance. "If it's not related to the Gates, I'm not interested," he declared, voice carrying equal measure. "We're busy! I don't know what you expected, since you're the one who brought back all that info!"

"Blah, blah, just look at this!" As if it were nothing to drag a man that towered over her in the height department across the room, Emília attached her hand to the man's lapels and escorted him to Renzo. "Behold, a natural Tamer of the Shima line, one with direct access to Yamantaka. That's Black Flames, you know. You can't tell me such a high affinity isn't worth your time."

"Ohmigosh," Harper breathed, hands snapping over her mouth. Seconds after, they were gripping onto Renzo's sleeve, the small girl almost hanging off of him. "You didn't tell me that you were that Intelligence member. Cy, we gotta!"

"Yamantaka, huh?" Cy muttered, looking over Renzo. It had been a while since he had been so obviously appraised, and Renzo stiffened a bit. "I'll admit, that's a pretty valuable catch. But you don't give things away for free, Lia. What's the trick?"

It took more than a few seconds for the name Lia to catch up with Renzo's brain, and he felt a pang of jealousy at the familiarity. Emília had always encouraged the use of –chan, so Renzo had concluded that he was special. But here was another guy on familiar terms with her. He knew it was stupid not to think that Emília didn't have other friends, but the attachment Renzo felt was a bit more than what should be normal for only knowing the woman hardly over a month.

It's just attachment because she was the one to reach out to me, that's all there is.

Emília dropped a casual hand onto Renzo's shoulder, breaking him out of his possibly impending internal monologue. "I'll admit, he's not perfect," she said, the words doing nothing for her subordinate's dwindling confidence. "But, he does have potential—a whole lot. The problem is that there's something wonky about his summoning. Any time he does it, the energy drain is far more severe than it should be. The Kid here passes out, regardless of the duration."

Cy's gaze only intensified. Renzo wondered if this is what it was like to get cornered by a female friend's boyfriend. "I see…" the man only mumbled, probably considering the options.

"I say we go for it," Harper piped in. "It's actually similar to our problem with the Gates—we don't know how to override the capacity without breaking the whole system down. The human body just cuts itself off to preserve its limits—falling unconscious. Machinery, on the other hand, especially in experimental situations, tends to have more…explosive results."

Renzo looked over the Artificial Gate again, imagining the damage stats that could come from the thing exploding, especially with its size. If that were to happen, he wouldn't even be comfortable being in the base, let alone the Science Department.

"You believe so?" Harper nodded. Cy looked as if he was considering the situation further. Renzo glanced to Emília, who didn't look worried in the slightest. "Very well," the man finally agreed, causing Harper to fist pump. Cy fully turned to Renzo, almost as if seeing him properly for the first time. "I am Cyneric Lucassen, Head of the Artificial Gehenna Gate Team. It's nice to meet you."

"We're called AGG for short!" Harper tossed her arms around Cyneric, rubbing her cheek against his arm in joy.

Renzo's immediate thought was that that had to be an alias—something he could have dug into if he really wanted to. Beyond that, though, he felt ridiculous for not realizing the connection—Harper and Cyneric's hair were the same shade, his waves coming out in the form of a tousled mess from his scalp. They had to be siblings at the very least.

"Shima Renzo," he responded to Emília's tightened grip on his shoulder. "Um, please take care of me, alright?"

"Ahh, this is gonna be the best!" Harper cheered, switching the target of her embrace off her supposed brother and onto Renzo. Hopefully, he glanced to Emília, only to find her amused. "We should run some preliminary observations, okay? Nothing too crazy, just checking you and your correlation with your familiar…" Harper removed one hand for the sake of cupping her mouth, amplifying her voice across the room: "Oi! One of you guys go grab a futon! We're gonna need it!"

Renzo looked back to Emília seeking guidance. Harper didn't release his arm, bouncing with excitement. Emília likewise kept her hand on his shoulder, leaning close to his ear. "You can stay here for the afternoon. Once your normal work hours are over, you can scamper out of here. I'll keep in contact with Cy and Har, and they'll let me know how things are going. Oh, but don't worry about them doing anything too weird."

Finally her voice dropped to a whisper. "I'll give you a standard examination later, okay?"

Stunned, Renzo could only get dragged across the room by Harper as Emília retreated with a small wave.

The text message he got from Emília told him to go to the Medical Department first thing in the morning, before even reporting to the Intelligence Division. The Lucassens had mentioned a standard physical yesterday, so Renzo figured that Emília had set him up an appointment. He really questioned the need since he knew Emília had all his True Cross Academy data, physical included, but a few months seemed to be enough of an excuse.

An older secretary directed him to which room to use, and he waited, staring at the walls. It was pretty much a standard infirmary and, if Renzo didn't know better, could be easily mistaken for one at True Cross Academy or the Cram School. On the ceiling, vague patterns of black speckles were present, giving him something to look at other than pure white.

He couldn't help but think of Emília's words from the previous afternoon. Would she really give him the examination? She had mentioned that she was qualified as a Doctor, but that was probably just in the Exorcist sense, she couldn't seriously…

Regardless, the image of Emília in a nurse's costume (probably borrowed from some picture book he had flipped through before) came to mind. She had joked about it before, too. He was probably just getting his hopes up; the mental imagery was really enough for him. He would have to control his thoughts before he got to work and Emília went about the process of reading his mind.

There wasn't time for that as Emília strode into the room. Her usual ponytail was absent, pulled up into a larger bun higher on her head, twin hairsticks rattling beads against each other. Other than that, she was dressed as usual, her first step of action to pinch the Renzo's cheek between her forefingers.

"You're not dreaming," she said, looking more amused by usual. "I just figured I'd go ahead and get that out of the way. But I'm sure you'd like to drag this out, and I'm okay with delaying heading back to the office. Just don't be too stubborn alright?"

Renzo could hardly process what she was saying. Again, Emília tugged on his cheek, letting him snap back into reality. "Alright," he said, not even attempting to hide how dazed he was. There wouldn't be any point, considering how jumbled his brain felt—under the assault of a hurricane and roller coaster's love child.

"Good." Patting his cheek lightly as if in apology, Emília moved across the room afterwards. "Height and weight first, then." Passing a countertop, she snatched up a clipboard, probably containing whatever data forms she needed. "You can talk about whatever you want, by the way. I'm kind of curious to how your first day with Cy and Har went."

Renzo dutifully slipped out of his shoes and put aside his jacket before standing on the scale. Emília adjusted the metal behind him to read his height, deftly scribbling out notes as needed. "They're interesting…" he said, only making Emília's smirk grow wider. "Sorry if I'm prying, but you three all know each other?"

Emília nodded, lightly pushing Renzo off the scale. "That's right. Clothes off." Renzo began to strip, trying not to feel subconscious. Unconcerned, Emília continued. "When I first came here, I brought a lot of my personal meds with me—just in case I needed to engineer anything. After the first year or so, though, my supply ran out, so that's when I first used the Science Division—I broke in, in fact."

Renzo could easily imagine that. It seemed her headstrong attitude had existed for quite some time. Producing a measuring tape, Emília sat about wrapping it around his chest, fingers brushing against his skin. "That was all and well until Cy found me. Back then, he was a real stuck-up workaholic, and threw a huge fit. Threatened to take me to the higher-ups and get sacked."

Cyneric was definitely eccentric, but Renzo couldn't think of him as stuck-up. Unlike Emília, other people seemed to properly develop with the passage of time. "But you weren't the Intelligence Head at the time," he realized. "It wouldn't be easy to just brush that off."

"No, but I had risen pretty high at that point." The tape measure jumped from place to place, this time settling around his legs. "I could have easily gone to the Boss and asked him to bail me out—I made sure I was valuable enough, so I'm sure he would have taken my side. But instead I told Cy to fuck off, that as an Illuminati member I had every right to use the facilities as I saw fit."

Standing up, Emília smiled, almost looking nostalgic. She pointed to the bed, and Renzo sat down again. "And he told me that I shouldn't be poking my nose into other departments' resources without asking. In reality, he was mad that I was using up rare ingredients that he had ordered himself. I was pretty much going through his personal stock before he could even touch it."

Whether or not she was testing him, Emília paused. Her hand wrapped around his arm, and it was completely different sensation than just her fingertips. Renzo swallowed and said, "Hardy's medical record said she had an unknown illness prior to enlistment. She was only able to join because she had recovered."

Curiosity had gotten the better of him, leaving Renzo to look up information on his new observation duo. At first, he had started with all of AGG, but eventually had settled for information on the Lucassens. The remaining unread files were still sitting on his tablet if he ever decided to look into it.

Emília tapped at Renzo's knee with a small hammer, checking his reflexes. The expected reaction sent his foot into the air, shortly followed by the second. "That's a bit of a lie—Cy fibbed and Har went through with it," Emília informed. "In actuality, Hardy was under a possession at the time that affected her health. But Cy didn't—still doesn't—have a Temptaint. He joined the Illuminati because he thought their resources had the cure. I struck a bargain to help him, but just ended up exorcising the demon instead. Har latched onto me in thanks, so we became friends. That's pretty much the gist of it."

"He doesn't have a Temptaint?" Renzo echoed. "Why? Even while working here, and on the Gates—"

Scribbling out her signature, Emília dropped the clipboard to her waist. "Well, that's really his business, so I won't talk about it," she said, the same finality in her voice as when she told Renzo they were mission partners. "But Hardy can see demons and the like just fine, so they work as a team. That's about all there is to it." She shrugged, then turned to the door. "Go ahead and get dressed. I'll drop this off at the Science Division and meet you at the office."

It had taken a few days for all the Cram School kids to get together in one giant block of free time, but it had been done. Yukio had insisted from the get-go that they not abandon their normal, everyday lives for this, and they had reluctantly agreed. It was something Yukio had learned on his own a while ago—that just because major things happened in the exorcism world, the ordinary world still moved on, even if it seemed to be at a distorted pace and lens.

Yukio had arranged things this morning, being forced to leave a voicemail, to which Sir Pheles had left another voicemail, inviting Yukio and his students to come to the Headmaster's office once Cram School had let out for the day.

So, that evening, Yukio steeled himself and knocked on the door, just knowing that this would probably turn more explosive than it needed to be by the time this whole thing was through.

"Welcome, everyone," Sir Pheles said, spreading out his arms as if he were about to hug his desk. "I've heard that you all have some concerns involving Shima-kun. I can assure you that he's doing just fine."

Yukio had expected Rin to be the one to snap first, or even Suguro. Instead, Kamiki strode forward, slamming her hand on Pheles's desk, nearly toppling several of his miniature figurines. "Well that's not vague or anything!" she shouted. "We're not here to play mind games, got it. We deserve to know what's going on, and in detail, not just whatever roundabout answer you've concocted to distract us!"

From somewhere behind Yukio, Konekomaru said, "Kamiki-san, please calm down…"

Mephisto didn't look perturbed—he only grinned, as if enjoying himself. Yukio knew this was probably the case, but he didn't like it. "Now, now, Kamiki-san, I'm sure we don't need to go this far," he said, holding up gloved hands in surrender. "I have every intention of sharing with you. Shima-kun is in perfectly good health, and has also infiltrated quite far—he's working directly with their Intelligence Head. Already he's managed to provide access to a vast amount of high quality information. He's far surpassed the quota we had considered he would reach."

"So then if he's passed his quota he could come home, then?" Konekomaru asked. Even Suguro looked surprised by the assumption, like they hadn't discussed the possibility before. "I mean, in theory at least?"

"While that could be true," Mephisto continued, folding his hands in his lap, "it is in the end Shima-kun's decision. He's well aware of the advantages and risks of his position. But it also stands to note that, were he to pull a disappearing act on the Illuminati, his notoriety would rise above what it already was after his open betrayal at the Festival. The more of a name he makes for himself in explosive acts like those…"

"…the more his value as a spy goes down," Suguro finished. It seemed as if he was growing angrier by each word from the Headmaster's mouth. "Well that's fine by me! He shouldn't go off running around like that anyways. Getting himself caught up in something so dangerous….he's gonna get it when he gets back…"

"But," Shiemi spoke up, timid. Her tone was closer to the hesitant girl Yukio had met for the first time instead of the clear one she had been using recently. "This is something that Shima-san chose on his own, right? We can't just take that away from him. And if this is a good opportunity…" Her eyes cast to the ground, Shiemi's hands balled into tight fists.

"And you honestly believe that?!" Kamiki spun around, her twin tails hitting against a desk lamp and almost colliding with the Headmaster's face. "Why would that lazy, girl-crazy Pink Head do something so dangerous? It's not like him at all!"

Looking at the others from Kyoto, Yukio could tell that they agreed. But it was hard to distinguish how much of that was anguish and how much was a desire to have their friend back, to be able to see with their own eyes instead of just trusting what they heard about his wellbeing.

"But what if it is?" Rin said. In direct opposition to Yukio's belief, he looked calm, even sounded it. "We can't say it's not what he wanted, right?" Collectively, they stared, though Yukio couldn't tell what they were thinking, either. "Shiemi's right. If it's something Shima chose, then we just can't take that away from him."

Kamiki let out a growl and stomped back across the room. "You weren't there," she said. "You didn't see him. You didn't see how he acted, so don't tell me that he would ever choose something like that!"

Yukio took a step forward. He didn't know what he was going to say, but someone needed to speak up before things got any worse. And he was the teacher after all—if he wasn't able to bring order, then what was the point—

"Everyone," Mephisto said, standing up but not stepping away from his desk. Kamiki and Rin's quibbling died down, and everyone focused their attention on the Headmaster. Yukio just felt sick. "I understand that this is a trying time. That being said, fighting amongst yourselves won't help you or Shima-kun. If you're all concerned about his wellbeing, I'll be sure to let him know when I contact him and pass his message onto you. If you wish for me to communicate anything to him, I'll be sure to do so as well."

The almost sour silence sweetened slightly into a more contemplative air. Just like that, the situation seemed to have stabled, even with several volatile elements active. Finally, Suguro spoke up, saying, "When's your next contact point? The exact date."

"At the moment, Shima-kun and I have agreed to speak at the end of the calendar month," Mephisto answered, dropping the answer much easily than Yukio had suspected. "That gives us approximately two and a half weeks until he and I speak again. Breaking this agreement for more frequent contact could easily compromise his actions, so I request that you be patient."

Yukio worried that everyone's patience had far run out. Again countering his expectations, Suguro nodded. "Fine."

Even Kamiki, who looked on the verge of delivering a scathing comment, stayed silent.

When there were no further signs of dissent, Mephisto nodded. "Then why don't you all head home for now?" he suggested. "I'll be sure to stop by the Cram School soon to collect your messages. You should all be working hard on studying for the Exorcist Exam as well. And I wish you all the best of luck." Slowing beginning to mumble amongst themselves, the students began to file out of the room, and Yukio went to fall into step behind them. "Okumura-sensei."

Yukio turned around. The door shut—whether or not one of the Cram School students closed it, Yukio had no idea. "Is there something you need, Sir Pheles?" he asked.

"I was just wondering how you were handling everything," Mephisto said. The man always had an air of knowing everything about him, but it just seemed worse now. "Are your eyes holding up? Do you need new glasses or anything? Shiro did leave quite the substantial funds behind for emergencies lying around."

Yukio took a few steps backward, feeling around for the doorknob. "I've been doing just fine." Getting a grip on what he was looking for, he turned the knob. "Now if you'll excuse me, I still have some lessons to prepare…"

Not waiting for a response, Yukio fled the room, wandering where the closest mirror was and if he would have the courage to look when he found one.

Paralyzation.

That's the sort of feeling it was. Something numbing that managed to make you more aware of every part of you in the process. It shouldn't have been possible, but that wasn't exactly relevant. It was that sort of logical yet illogical event.

The experience of fear.

And it could go deeper, could reach down into your core and rip everything out: your soul, not just other supposedly vital things like your heart or spine. The paralysis wouldn't just numb you; it would make you incapable of action in any format. There would be nothing you could do about it, just accept it. Accept it, and fall deeper, because struggling was no good.

Because there was no way to properly fight terror.

[NOTES] And now, we get to the Science Division. I wanted to create a different atmosphere than what Gedouin gives off at Inari, plus dig into the idea of the Artificial Gehenna Gates a bit more. Plus mess around a bit with the Yamantaka summoning. Hope it comes across as interesting.

But, yes, Harper and Cyneric. I have some fun things planned for them. Oh, I guess I'm doing that thing where I develop a bunch of OCs, huh? Oh well, at least the canon gang has a pretty consistent role this time around...

Anyway, this is the last guaranteed update for a while, though I do still have a pretty good chunk of updates written. We'll get back into it soon enough. Until then, I'd love to know what you guys think-keeps me on my toes.

[POST] 032316