Well, sorry for the unscheduled intermission, but I'm back and so are our precious, morally ambiguous scientific duo. Hopefully this chapter answers some questions and possible raises some others…
As always, thanks for reading and sticking with this story!

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Nanami found herself grateful she hadn't made time to paint her nails as enamel nervously ground them to nubs. She wasn't a particularly high-strung person—or so she'd like to think—but now she found herself wound tight with a flurry of what-ifs, only pausing to crane her neck so the silo was in her line of site, hoping he'd walk through it soon. She wracked her brain for an instance, a mistake, really anything that might justify the bounty on her head.

Though she hadn't exactly been a law-abiding citizen given her history and her current entanglement with the yakuza, none of it seemed to make sense. None of her parent's "patients" were allowed to survive the tests and they chose them because they had little to no connections to the outside world, so that's a dead end. She tried to think to herself pragmatically, but found herself setting down her tea again, feeling the familiar guilt-induced nausea creeping in. As for the other obvious reason, those Okamura goons made it seem like they were looking for me in particular, like the Shie Hassakai were more of a roadblock than the actual target. So, I doubt it's a revenge/rival thing…

Just as she came up empty with answers, she heard the silo go off and felt a heavy weight lift from her shoulders as she saw the familiar golden tip of a beak part through the residual fog. Her gaze rose to meet eyes she now took comfort in but found herself alone. His brow was furrowed, as he looked downward pensively, his expression marked with genuine confusion. It seemed like he hadn't even noticed her standing there until he spoke, "Faust and Mephistopheles. What do you know about them?"

"Well hello to you too, glad to see you're unharmed and abrupt as ever."

"Nanami, it's important. What do you know?"

Seeing him opt out of their usual banter made her nervous. As he rarely asked about things without reason, she thought it best to indulge him, "They're from this old German folktale. Basically, Faust is a doctor and intellectual during the Middle Ages who's really dissatisfied with his work and life in general." She tried to remember the story as she could tell he was tense. Sensing this would be one of their longer talks, she walked over and began filling and heating the kettle on the stove. As she went to get the powder and whisk, she found he'd already retrieved it, watching her intently as he motioned her to continue through their task. Giving a small smile, the memory began to flow back as she spoke, "So keeps trying to seek out true happiness—which to him is ultimate knowledge—but he goes about it in some pretty shitty ways…"

Grabbing the kettle as it whistles, she slowly poured the water into the bowl as he began to stir," And then?"

"Well, what do objectively shitty deeds attract? Demons, of course. He had absolutely rancid vibes and that's where Mephistopheles comes in."

"Rancid vibes?"

"It's not a very happy story, I think I'm allowed to insert some colloquialisms for levity every now and then," she tutted.

"Fine, colloquialism granted. Continue."

"Thank you. Anyway, so Mephistopheles being the mischievous demon that he is offers him a deal or wager of sorts,"

"Is it a deal or a wager?"

"Depends on the version you read, but I guess it would be better described as a –"

"A pact?" He stopped stirring, and she found it hard to miss the emphasis he put on the fitting word, as though something she couldn't see was piecing together in his mind.

"Yeah… a pact. So, Mephistopheles offers Faust the opportunity to gain infinite knowledge and perform all these miracles using the power he gives him, but in return he has to give Mephistopheles his soul after a certain amount of time and he'll be damned afterwards—your pretty standard 'deal with the devil' fare, really."

Their tea now poured, Overhaul took an appraising sip, though it was obvious his mind was elsewhere mulling over what he just heard. Peering over her cup to look at him, she couldn't help but wonder what could have possibly happened with the Okamura that would have him asking for lessons on foreign folktales while lacking his usual air of arrogance. Whatever had happened hadn't left him with any visible injuries she could see, so it was safe to assume it was a success, but the look in his eyes made her almost certain this wasn't over. "Also, while we're on the very random subject, the name Faust is where the word 'Faustian' comes from, of course," she offered the leading bit of information hoping he'd open up without her having to ask too many questions and risk him shutting down.

"An overly ambitious person who surrenders morality to achieve power and success for a limited amount of time." He almost murmured to himself before turning back to her, "Where did you hear about this story?"

She never thought about it before, but upon realizing the answer, she wished she had, "My parents. They told me about it… not too long before the experiments began… What the hell happened tonight?"

"Hardly anything." He answered simply, though there was a twinge of epiphany in his voice.

"It couldn't be hardly anything. You—and I'm assuming because you're both very alive and not wounded right now—just came in after only a couple hours and ask me about some random story like the world depends on it, so I sincerely doubt that's true. It couldn't have been that easy."

"That's just it: it was that easy. Within an hour, we had…," he looked to her, still wary about being overly graphic about the casualties. Knowing her history made Nanami's sensitivity to death seem more warranted Though he couldn't particularly understand it himself, he reasoned it was only fair to reciprocate after all her efforts to respect his various triggers. Realizing he had subconsciously moved closer, he refocused, adjusting his posture as he continued, "We had dealt with their poor excuse for leadership and overtaken their organization. It was as though they gave themselves over to us. And then there was the phone call."

"The phone call?"

"Yes, as we were performing a very standard interrogation," At this Nanami rolled her eyes knowing very well most other people would agree neither the words standard nor interrogation would apply to whatever they had done tonight. Choosing to ignore her look of judgment he recalled the events, "A call came through for the former Okamura head. The man on the other end was this 'Dr. F' we had identified as the one who put forth the bounty on your head."

"Did you get to speak with him?" She blurted, eager to know whether she should be relieved or more on edge after tonight.

"Not in a way that would satisfy either of us. He had control of the conversation."

"Someone else had the run of the conversation while talking to you? Well look who's adding some comedic relief to their story now."

"What I mean to say is that he spoke to the Okamura head first and before he could speak back, he grew annoyed with him and told him to die. To which the head responded by keeling over before our eyes as if on command before Dr. F gave his request. Nothing that happened in that room was remotely 'comedic'."

A bit taken aback, she realized the gravity of what he'd explained," That sounds an awful lot like a manipulation or mind control quirk," she suggested gravely.

"That it does."

"… What was his request?"

"You and me. For brunch."

"Exsqueeze me?"

"Yes, as ridiculous as it sounds, that was his request. Had it been a command from him, I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to weigh options as I am now. He spoke as though he knew both of us. As though he'd made a pact."

"You're saying we might be… Mephistopheles?" She asked trying to follow where this analogy was headed.

"I'm not sure, but I sincerely doubt it. Though his voice sounded vaguely familiar, I've tempted and made deals with a decent amount of people, and none of them had a quirk as seemingly disgusting as this one."

"So… when is brunch?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Nu uh. Nope. Try again."

"Excuse me?" He responded to her sudden change in attitude, though if he was being honest with himself, it was perfectly on-brand for her.

"You heard me," She spoke crossing her arms, "None of that macho yakuza stuff. This guy, for all we know, has a mind control quirk and enough influence to orchestrate the neat dismantling of an organization you yourself had to spend weeks trying to strategize against. And from what you said, he did it just to get to us. It's almost a guarantee that any plan that involves us not playing into his hand in some way is going to backfire royally." Seeing his jaw tick in frustration, she moved a bit closer, placing a tentative hand on his arm as he relaxed a bit under her touch. "I know it probably seems like the go-to answer to sideline me in this, but I can't hide forever." At this he seriously considered how long it would take her to forgive him if he put her into a cozy little triple-deadbolted, soundproof bunker until Dr.F was dealt with, but decided it was probably best to let her continue. "Not to be too corny, but we're partners and judging by what you've told me, it's going to take both of us to figure out who the hell this guy is and how to get rid of him."

"You're prepared to get rid of him get rid of him?" He intoned with a bit of sarcasm, though he watched intently for her answer.

"I'm prepared to solve this problem with you, no matter what it takes. And whatever happened after that, we'll solve that too, but you know as well as I do, this will have to be done together. If there was a way to keep me out of it, you wouldn't have bothered talking to me about it in the first place."

Aware he'd been called out, an annoyed sigh escaped his lungs after a beat, "There are preparations that need to be made so we can plan safely. We'll begin tomorrow."

"You got it, partner." She winked, before taking his now-empty cup from him, ignoring his unveiled look of exasperation as she handed him his favorite gloves and retrieved a towel for dryer duty.

As they tidied up the kitchen together, she couldn't help but think about how Overhaul spoke about the head getting a call from Dr. F. The call that made such a powerful man do the unthinkable, and the call her parents received from an anonymous donor all those years ago before they traded their morality for knowledge.