Stronger Than Fire

By: Aviantei

Chapter Fourteen

Arlie Nikita could take transcribing anything that came from the Intelligence Division if need be. It was boring, sometimes unnecessary. It wasn't like typing up their own reports was really that much of a hassle. But Arlie at least understood that it was work, and xe would do what needed be to make the whole department run smoother.

But when people from other divisions came waltzing into xir office, Arlie found that xe had more issues with that than anything else.

Todo Saburota had taken up residence in the guest chair in Arlie's office. Much like Shima, the man had been in a convenient position in the True Cross, plus had the right sort of mentality to be easily shifted across the loyalty barrier. The most notable distinction in this place was that Shima had returned to the Intelligence Division, while Todo had dropped off his initial intel and disappeared.

Making it look like xe was navigating his tablet in standard mode, Arlie navigated to Emília's database and pulled up Todo's file, skimming over the info as quick as xe could.

"So you've been looking into defense structures around major True Cross Order facilities," Arlie said, establishing the brief flicker of eye contact necessary to keep the conversation rolling. "Explain to me why that means that you need to utilize my services? Last I checked, you have all the expertise to process your own reports, or am I just overestimating you?"

"I received a notice that I was to report directly to the Intelligence Division in this case."

Arlie grimaced internally, keeping a straight face for Todo. The notice could have come from either Lucifer or Emília. If it were the latter, she could have at least had the decency to mention it. Xe would pursue the matter later, when professionalism was less of an issue. "Alright, then, as you can understand, I am rather busy. Would you mind telling me the necessary details?"

Todo only smiled. "My orders were to give as comprehensive a report as possible. Surely you understand the importance of this information," he said. Oh, he wanted a word battle? Fine, Arlie could handle that. Xe had never liked Todo much anyway.

"All information has importance," Arlie countered. "Putting priorities on information makes it difficult to actually analyze any of it." Emília had taught xem that from the start. She pounded it into the head of every Intelligence Division member; this was not a place to be biased. "If you want someone with far more time than I do, there are plenty of skilled members that can take down your account."

"Yes, but I recall that you're the best, right?" Arlie hated that xe couldn't tell whether or not it was flattery—it was true, after all. That was why Emília had given xem the position in the first place. "This also has a confidentiality order placed on it. Spreading the information unnecessarily could lead to…leaks."

"The higher-ups think that there's a spy here," Arlie deadpanned. Before Todo could open his mouth, xe continued. "Or several, yes, thank you. Todo, you do realize that this sort of behavior is to be expected, given the sort of operation we're running here. We do have precautions set up against these things, and I don't appreciate your insinuations, and I'm sure the Boss wouldn't either. Now, did you come to actually accomplish anything useful, or are you just trying to start a fight?'

Todo at least had the decency to appear shocked—whether it was real, Arlie doubted. "I only came to do as ordered, Nikita," he said, holding up his hands in front of his chest. "I do apologize if it seemed like I intended otherwise. I just think a certain sense of precaution is necessary, though I wish we didn't have to do things like doubt our own comrades. We are on the same side after all."

When it comes to you, I highly doubt that. But Arlie smiled, trying to replicate Emília's own cooperative expression. "Alright, then," xe said, actually pulling up his text application this time. "Why don't you go ahead and get started. I'd like to not be late for lunch."

"Well, at the very least, your pronunciation of English has improved. Your accent's way less obvious, but it's still there."

"Are you just saying that because you have an insane ear for any spoken language or because whoever I'm infiltrating will actually notice?" Renzo countered. Getting back into work had been easier than he thought, at least until Emília forcefully downloaded a language program onto his tablet. "Speaking of which, when am I going on another mission again?"

"Either until Har and Cy get bored of you or you can get through one full conversation not blending your r's and l's," Emília said. Both of those scenarios were unlikely, and Renzo wondered which one was more likely to take less than a year. "And I'm serious about this accent thing. It's one thing if your role is a foreigner. But if you have to blend in with native speakers, they'll notice, even if it's just their subconscious. I'd like nothing more than to ship you off somewhere and see what you can do, but I can't do that in good conscious if you don't have at least two languages solidly under your belt. Like I said, perfect your English and we'll see."

The application finally finished, Renzo opened it, toggling through the options. Obviously, major languages like English, Spanish, and both variations of Chinese were listed, then the list disintegrated into a collection of nationalities Renzo had hardly heard of, let alone pronounce. "So what am I supposed to do with this?" he asked. "Just play around and pick some stuff up?"

"Well, I don't expect you to be able to learn more than three or four languages at your age." Emília shrugged, then looked at him. "Come on, that's not an insult. The Japanese have the right idea teaching English from elementary school, but the older you get, the harder it is to learn a whole new language. I'd say pick another Asian language or Spanish, since it's a pretty good staple. If you really want your value to go up, pick yourself something obscure."

In either case, the options didn't sound too good. Sure, he got the whole point, but wasn't English the global language at this point? If he mastered that, he should be able to go anywhere. But Emília probably had a counter to that up her sleeve, too, so Renzo just let it be. "Okay, so what's your suggestion?"

Emília didn't even look up. "Think of this as another exercise in self-evaluation."

Renzo pouted. It almost felt like Emília was ignoring him, which he knew was ridiculous. He should be happy she still gave him this much of her time in the first place. But she was the Division Head, so her workload must've been pretty heavy… Sheesh, he was getting spoiled. But still, she had been the one to start this whole mess in the first place, so surely she took on some of the responsibility.

"Okay, but what do I get if I do a good job?" Renzo chanced, making sure to keep at least half of his tone joking in case Emília wasn't in the mood for his whims. She didn't look annoyed, so he kept going. "I mean, you took me out to dinner for being a good lab rat. Does the reward system continue?"

"That depends," Emília said. She sat aside her tablet, finally making eye contact. She looked playful, which alleviated several of Renzo's worries. "Normally, I'd say that making progress on yourself is enough of a reward, but I know you don't think that way." Renzo shrugged, showing off an apologetic grin. "So then if I give you an alternate reward, I'm sure it would increase your effort, right?"

Relaxing into his own seat, Renzo replied, "Aw, you know me so well."

"If that's the case, then I'm sure you'd enjoy extending your presence into my personal life." Renzo couldn't believe it was this easy; it was too good to be true. "Fine then. I personally don't like sit-down events, so if you plan to take me on a date, please just make it something active. Also, please don't think I'm going to take this too seriously. I'm really over the notion that all dates have to be something romantic."

He didn't care; he'd take it. "And what do I get if I can make you take it seriously?" Renzo added.

Emília only smirked. "I highly doubt that's possible."

Even with a lighthearted tone, they were pretty harmful words. Renzo had rebounded form worse, though, so taking the words with a grain of salt was pretty easy. Part of him knew the behavior was just a ploy to get himself through things, and the rest was just trying to deal with the fact that he still had this issue in the first place.

But I still…

"Then I'll just reserve the right to a big reward if I do," he said. "If you don't think it's possible, there's not much for you to lose, right?"

"I'm not so foolish to think that a statistical improbability is anything like an impossibility," Emília snapped. Renzo flinched back a little even though she was a ways across the room for him. Her expression lightened up pretty easily in comparison, letting Renzo drop his defenses again. "Besides, I'd say that if you could accomplish something like that, you'd deserve a pretty big reward. Though I do have limits, so don't go thinking you can cross whatever line you want."

Renzo grinned. So she's actually saying I do have a chance, even if it is a slim one. "I'd rather have those sorts of things done out of your own free will, thanks," he said. Whether or not that scored him any points was quickly interrupted by a knock on the door—following some rhythm Renzo couldn't identify.

Emília stood up, striding across the room. "You hungry, Kid? I think Arlie's ready to go to lunch."

Emília frowned, toying around with her fork. Arlie had hardly touched xir tray since sitting down, and the Kid was the only one in the triad to start to pick at their food, the occasional piece actually making it to the mouth. He had been listening the whole time, but apparently had run out of smart remarks after trying to score a date—while working nonetheless.

"It had to be an order from the higher-ups," she said, breaking the contemplative pause—silence wasn't really an option, even in the back corner of the cafeteria. "I never insisted on something like that, though there's probably a notice buried in my paperwork that I missed this morning."

Arlie frowned, more out of concern than annoyance. "Boss, if you want me to help with your load—"

Emília smacked xir arm to cut the comment off. "You were just complaining about not wanting to be a secretary. Don't go contradicting yourself." In this line of work, sticking through with your personal convictions was necessary, just so you didn't lose yourself in a role. Emília liked Arlie as was—no adjustments necessary. "I can handle the extra busywork, so you just take care of your role, okay?"

"Yeah, I know…"

Why did xe have to look so disheartened? Relaxing her tone, Emília have her third-in-command an accompanying smile. "I need you right where you are, Arlie. Don't forget that."

The reassurance managed to bring a smile to the bigender's face, and an assenting nod to boot. "You're right. Thank you for reminding me."

Emília waved the thanks off, glancing at the Kid. He had seemingly given up on eating, and was now openly staring. Once he caught on that she was returning the favor, he refocused his gaze onto his less than enthralling lunch tray. "Take this as a situation to be proud of, Arlie. Higher-ups recognizing your talent is never a bad thing." Unless they used it to corner you into the most boring job in existence, but Emília had been the one to agree, so it was really her own fault. "Still, what pisses me off the most is that they can't even tell me they think there's a spy in my division. Feh, I could rat out the seventy-some spies in the Illuminati from the True Cross alone if they were that concerned about it."

"You think there are that many?" the Kid asked, pausing halfway through bringing his pop can to his mouth.

Arlie, finally content enough to start on xir soup, swallowed before answering: "We know there are. Each potential member is checked through the Boss's files and analyzed by Personnel using a system she developed. Anyone that seems even relatively suspicious has a background check done by Micah, and if they're confirmed as a spy, they're allowed to infiltrate, but kept in a position where they won't be a threat and fed relatively useless information to keep their efforts in check."

Renzo's eyes sharpened quicker than Emília thought they would have. He was becoming more observant, that was for sure. Of course, he probably didn't notice it himself, but she could at least appreciate it. "You mentioned that name before. Who is that?" the Kid asked, directing his attention to both of them.

"The second-in-command," Emília answered, trying to throw their gazes off. Sure, it was one thing to be looked to for answers and approval, but she at least expected Arlie to act on xir own. "He has his own set of quirks, so you probably won't see him anytime soon. Just know that he puts as much work into things as I do."

Still feeling playful, Renzo smiled a little. "Which is to say without Nikita here we'd be sunk."

Okay, that was a good one. Not wanting to have an argument start over something as ridiculous as disrespect, Emília decided it was best to move on. "In any event, if they have some issue with our system, they should just tell us. Ugh, unless Miss Glasses is just trying to get under my skin…" Emília resisted the urge to grimace. That woman was the last person they needed on her bad side.

"I'll put in some official inquiries—polite documentation they can't argue with, Boss," Arlie quickly corrected. It was incredible how easily xe could come to solutions that Emília could agree with. Xe's always so willing to please… Before she had considered it annoying, but now she appreciated it a lot more than she could imagine. "If they need us to revise our system to keep them happy, the least they can do is not work around us."

"Wait," Renzo said. Emília finally picked up her sandwich and took a bite, signaling her intent to listen. "You heard this from Todo, right?" Efficient as always, Arlie nodded. "Then there's a chance he was just saying things from his own gut feeling—or just to stir up trouble."

Not bad. Really, she had made the best choice possible. "You worked with him to secure the Impure King's Left Eye," Emília said. "What was he like? Do you think that's something he would do, or are you just pulling theories out of your ass?"

The Kid deflated some, but didn't retract the theory. He must have had a pretty solid idea going on. "From what I saw, he's the type that's willing to do what it takes to get something done. But in that regard, he's also got a lot of frustration built up…there's a chance he might misplace that on others." That probably came from personal experience. "And beyond that, I guess it's more of a gut feeling than anything."

Personally, Emília agreed with that gut feeling, mostly because it was reinforced by her own gut feeling. "But we can't take any real course of action just based on a gut feeling," Arlie said.

"But we can investigate it to see if it's warranted," Emília said, feeling satisfied. She raised a hand, resting her cheek on it. "Nothing too drastic or we'll get called on for being suspicious, but we can ask the top brass what the deal is, plus keep an ear out for anything Todo does. Simple, little things that don't take up too much of our time but still get us somewhere."

"Work smarter, not harder," Arlie muttered, almost under xir breath. The Kid nodded blankly, back to the whole staring bit again. Arlie spoke up before Emília could take a jab: "What?"

"Nothing," Renzo said, sounding breathless. "You guys are just pretty cool. And also terrifying."

The words made Emília fell a bit prouder than she should have.

Mephisto twirled his umbrella as Takara Nemu approached, mostly waiting for something to do with his hands. The third party exorcist seemed as sleepy as usual, even though Mephisto could feel their contract wavering as easily as humans felt the breeze on their skin. He didn't feign any concern, not even trying to conceal his grin.

"My, my," he said, "it seems like my dear students just can't keep themselves healthy, now can they?"

"We're doing fine," Nemu said through his puppet. It would have sounded convincing, but Mephisto knew better. "Our state is unimportant right now. We were asked to tell you of the trouble that's been happening, though I'm certain you know already."

Mephisto snapped his fingers, summoning his favorite armchair and a beanbag on the side. He settled into his own seat, though Takara ignored the beanbag. Mephisto kept mobile by tapping his umbrella against the armrest. "Ah, yes, Patiti's trouble with their facilities lately." Even Angel had contacted him about the ordeal. If his contact with Patiti was speaking up about it, perhaps it was time to do something. "You do know forces are running low right now."

"They know," Nemu confirmed. "They still want action to show the trust in this partnership. And the Paladin has designated the task to you." That had such a nice ring to it. "The outbreak of attacks has decreased, but there was still a major information leak."

"And what about your own spies? Have they found anything useful?"

"What about Shima Renzo?"

Mephisto snickered. "In that case, assure the boy's father that we'll be making a move to show our attention very soon," he said.

Not missing a beat, the demon protecting Takara Nemu's body sighed. "You don't know how to take things straightforwardly, do you, Samael?"

Responsibility could manifest itself in many forms.

Most often, people would act in the interest of fulfilling the requirements of "Take responsibility for your own actions!" Just as often, people act in the interest of running away from their responsibility, not able to handle the burden. People who couldn't handle the weight of their own responsibilities could easily be defined as pathetic.

Negative responsibility manifested as guilt. That was an emotion you couldn't have in this sort of existence.

Positive responsibility manifested itself as pride. That was an emotion that could be dangerous in large amounts. That didn't stop her from feeling it, though. Slowly but surely, she was forming a real spy out of the Kid, someone that could observe and take critical action in a situation. For two short months, he had made great progress.

And I guided him.

That was partially because of me.

Sometimes, pride could give birth to attachment.

[Author's Notes]

Yooooo, it's been a hot minute since I updated. But we're back baby. Stronger Than Fire is back on the update rotation baby. Here we go again with some Illuminati nonsense. I've probably bitten off way more than I can chew with headcanons. Oh, well.

Thanks to JuliaDaria for all the reviews and the favorite on this fic. Your support is well noticed, and I do appreciate it. More chapters are working their way into published existence!

Welcome to "Todo is a fucking pain in the ass even when you're technically on the same side as him." Also Intelligence Division bonding. Nothing beings spies closer together than bitching about other spies, right?

Since STF is back in the fic rotation you can expect updates every couple of months now. Eventually, that gap will decrease as I work on finishing other fics, but hooray for semi-regular chapters! Please look forward to it,

-Avi

[07.15.2019]