Doctor Castrofari gripped the table, trembling in anger as Delphus' vision of the battle faded from the center of the table. "Those incompetent…!" He hissed, only barely restraining his fury.
How had those idiots been defeated so easily? They had been fighting a single Blade! Yes, she was a rather infamous one—Castrofari might not have been the most up-to-date on events back on Mor Ardain, but Vasara and Tokiha had been active for a long time—but that was no excuse for the absolutely miserable showing they had displayed!
They had the woman outnumbered six-to-one, for the Architects sake! And she had been so hampered by keeping them away from subject 84 that even he could see when she was forcing herself to not follow up an attack for fear of leaving him unguarded!
It was hard not to. While they were fighting, Gavin, the useless lout, had managed to free his even more useless companion Norton from the ice sheet that damnable vigilante had trapped him in. It was obvious that Tokiha had noticed, but the woman had been unable to stop it while keeping the three Drivers away from the test subject.
His escape was a small mercy, all things considered. It was bad enough that subject 84 was in the hands of Tokiha, quite possibly one of the worst outcomes that could have occurred, but at least he only knew that the holding cells were adjacent to the sewers. If one of his worthless assistants had been captured, his involvement would have been revealed immediately!
But with the vigilante still in play, it would only be a temporary reprieve. Even hampered as she was, the mercenaries Lynette had hired failed to stop her. Rather than properly leverage their advantages to lock the Blade down, they had wailed on her ineffectively until more Drivers had arrived and they lost their numerical advantage.
Once that was gone, the mercenaries had been routed in mere minutes. By a trio of adolescent Drivers barely older than his test subjects, no less!
Now he needed to figure out a way to keep an infamous vigilante, possibly backed up by a group of tagalongs, away from his lab long enough to purge it of evidence. He didn't doubt that Tokiha would be able to locate the lab eventually—even if subject 84 didn't know exactly where the lab was located, his testimony would be enough for the vigilante to track his movements through the sewers.
They would need to do something to keep her from retracing the boy's path. Perhaps it would be possible to stall Tokiha for a few days if they introduced sufficient disruptions inside the sewers? Probably not collapsing the structure entirely—that would draw too much attention—but perhaps rearranging the grates within to lead her off in another direction? It wouldn't be a long-term solution, but it might keep her occupied long enough to figure out what to do about the lab.
Most likely, he would have to abandon the Titan entirely. That wasn't an ideal outcome—he had spent years building up his reputation to allow him access to the vast resources the academy provided—but Lindwurm would probably be willing to set up a new lab for him to continue his work, so long as he could provide results for them.
And it just so happened that he had close to a hundred Blade Eaters more or less ready to provide. That would be more than enough to prove that he was worth the investment.
Still, it would be better if he could recover Subject 84. Not only would it further delay the vigilante from locating his lab, but leaving a Blade Eater around and outside the safety of the ether suppression units within their cells meant that the child could be located with tracking Blades, and that could draw scrutiny from powers he would rather not be discovered by.
Lynette was certain that the Justiciars would still be searching for a Blade to replace Delphus, but he wasn't about to put his faith in that. If the Praetorium were to discover their work, based on Praetor Amalthus' own research, no less…
Best not to chance it.
He glanced over at the Indoline woman, gauging her reaction to the turn of events. It could be difficult at times; the woman rarely showed her emotions, preferring to wear a mask of genial politeness instead, but he had worked with her long enough to identify her emotional tells.
Not that it was required to read her at the moment. The woman was sitting much more stiffly than she had been before the fight. She still wore a small smile on her face, but compared to normal, it was forced. Her eyes seemed to be looking somewhere far away, no doubt as she mulled over the situation.
"Are there any more mercenaries in the city we can hire?" He asked the woman, already trying to think of how to handle the situation. Tokiha… was a problem that could be handled, but it would require a larger, more skilled force to do so, even if those Driver brats didn't get involved again.
"What?" She asked, snapping to attention. "My apologies, I…" The woman trailed off as she processed his question. "I'm not entirely certain. Delphus and I briefly traced the Drivers outside of the academy when we were searching for the team we ultimately dispatched…"
"See what you can scrounge up." He replied. It wasn't an order—the Indoline woman wasn't his subordinate—but his tone made it clear that he expected it to be done. "Once you have…" He let out a deep sigh. After their poor showing, he was loathe to rely further on the first team of mercenaries, but considering that Tadbir was not a place that had much work for their type, he suspected they would be short on options if he didn't. "…Please inform the Driver team that they will be receiving reinforcements." He asked through gritted teeth.
Lynette ever so slightly raised an eyebrow, staring at him with that annoying look that made it clear she completely understood his thought process. "If you are so concerned about manpower, perhaps you can dispatch some of the local guards?" She suggested. "You are in good standing with the academy, so surely if you accused the vigilante of a crime, there wouldn't be an abundance of questions?"
He pondered the idea for a moment. It could probably work, as long as he kept the story reasonable. Perhaps claim that the Blade had broken into his lab—the public one—and stolen a rare Core Crystal he was using for research? Considering his 'official' research was the study of Driver-Blade affinity, it was perfectly reasonable for him to have Core Crystals in his lab. He could use that as an explanation for subject 84's appearance, claiming the boy was the Blade he was studying...
Almost as soon as he considered the idea, he discarded it. "No, that would be too high a risk at this juncture." Castrofari said. "I could probably convince the guards long enough to begin searching for her, but I wouldn't be able to direct them without arousing suspicion, especially from the headmaster." He frowned. "That old codger would want proof that the vigilante was the culprit, and I do not believe I would be capable of fabricating evidence capable of standing up to scrutiny from him or his Blade in such a short time."
The Indoline woman made a sound of disappointment. "A shame." She replied. "I would have thought that your tenure would shield you from such troubles."
Castrofari waved her off dismissively. "This is not Indol, Lynette." He reminded her. "Even a position as tenured as mine does not have the authority to freely command the local guard without fear of reprisal. I am a researcher, not a public official. Should the mercenaries fail again, I may reconsider, but for now, I would prefer to avoid the scrutiny until I can ensure my ability to escape on short notice."
His research partner shook her head in a rather patronizing manner but didn't comment on the idea any further. "In that case, I believe Delphus and I should be able to locate at least a team or two of Drivers willing to not ask questions for the amount we can offer for their services." She said.
"Good." He concluded, getting up from his seat. "I will get in contact with Lindwurm and see if they can offer any support."
"I do not doubt they will." She agreed. "Considering how much noise Jakup makes about the money they have sunk into your operation whenever he comes around for an inspection, I suspect they will be eager to ensure we are not discovered before seeing a return on it."
"That part is obvious." Castrofari rolled his eyes. "My primary concern is whether or not they will have any useful assets within a day's travel of Tadbir." He explained. "They are due to pick up the first batch of Blade Eaters within the next few days, but unless they are being escorted by combatants, that will mean little."
Lynette scoffed. "Come now, doctor. You know as well as I do that those ruffians would never attempt to transport something that valuable without ample protection." The woman argued. "It would come as a surprise if they did not have at least a team of their own Drivers present to ensure their cargo does not become… restive, shall we say."
"You are probably correct." He allowed. Despite being on their payroll, Castrofari possessed only a superficial understanding of how the organization operated. However, even from what little he knew, the doctor held little doubt that they would allocate a reasonable amount of resources to protect their investment here.
Sending Drivers to oversee the delivery was all but a given—when dealing with cargo that possesses the powers of a Blade, even with minimal training to utilize them, Drivers would be necessary to keep them in line—but he suspected that they would not be alone. His brief stay at one of the organization's outposts during his recruitment had displayed that they also had a modest but disciplined force of conventional soldiers and Titan weapons.
"With luck, they will be able to move up the delivery. If they can arrive within the next day or so, we may actually be able to make it out of here with most of our resources intact." The doctor stated. He wasn't looking forward to the call—Jakup was insufferable under the best of circumstances; he didn't want to give the man reason to be worse—but it needed to be done and as soon as possible.
"In that case, I suppose we should assign your assistants to begin preparing our equipment for transport." The Indoline woman agreed, before amending. "Well, besides Norton and Gavin, at least. Have you already decided how you wish to punish them?"
A sadistic sneer crossed Castrofari's face at the reminder. "Oh yes, I have some ideas." He replied. "As much as Lindwurm will appreciate the Blade Eaters we have already produced, I suspect they would much rather be able to convert subjects already loyal to their cause rather than children in the long term." He cackled eagerly. "Since those two have clearly demonstrated how little use they are as assistants, perhaps they would better serve as a proof of concept that the procedure will work on adults as well?"
Lynette chuckled ominously at his excitement. "Well, if that is the case, please let me know if you require Delphus' assistance beforehand. I will have several more tasks for him once we have finished searching for potential reinforcements for the hired Drivers."
"Oh?" The doctor asked, shooting her a curious glance. "I was under the impression that the remaining test subjects have been suitably stored for the time being."
She nodded. "They have been. However, I wish to interrogate subject 91 about our escapee. I believe she may possess some insight into his character that may give us a better understanding of how much information he will be able to convey to the vigilante."
His eyes unfocused for a moment as he recalled the test subject's details. "91… The older girl, yes? Osirian, fourteen years of age?"
"Yes." Lynette confirmed. "I am aware that the personal details of the test subjects are beneath your interest, but according to the group that gathered them, the batch of test subjects from Osiris were all sourced from a single group." She paused, thinking back. "An… orphanage day group, if I remember correctly."
"I believe I recall some trivia regarding this being mentioned during the handover, yes." The doctor noted. He wasn't entirely sure how this was relevant, though.
The Indoline woman continued. "Considering the age disparity between herself and the rest of the batch, I suspect she was serving as a chaperone. It is my understanding that isn't uncommon—older children within orphanages being recruited to help manage the younger wards—but it should mean the girl possesses at least a basic understanding of subject 84."
Castrofari nodded idly, not really paying the woman much mind anymore. Personally, he didn't think knowing more about the escapee was useful—Tokiha would attempt to hunt them down regardless—but as long as she was keeping up with the emergency preparations, he had no reason to contest the idea. "If you believe that would be of use." He said dispassionately. "I have no need for the interrogation room at this time."
Lynette smiled, the tension mostly gone from her mask. "In that case, I suppose we should proceed to our tasks." She stated, before looking over at her Blade. "Now Delphus, if you would be so kind as to begin searching the Titan for Blades?"
As she began, Castrofari wandered out of the room and in the direction of the lab's communications equipment. Best to get his talk with Jakup over with as soon as possible.
By the time the party arrived at Rex's room in the Twin Tomes Inn, Tokiha and the boy were already waiting for them.
Despite having asked the vigilante to come to the room to speak with her in private about the nature of the boy she had rescued, her presence came as a surprise. Mostly because, while he had given her the room number, he had not given her the key.
And had they left the site of the battle before her.
She was sitting in a chair pulled up against the bed, still wearing her Blade outfit and mask. Rex was fairly confident that she would be keeping the mask on, seeing how she apparently went out of her way to avoid having information about her be known.
The fact that she was a Flesh Eater made that make a lot more sense. Considering what Nia had told him about how the Praetorium dealt with their kind, it was a reasonable means of keeping herself from being identified.
In the corner of his eye, he could see that Nia was a little… he wasn't sure, really. Wary? Uncomfortable? Jealous? It was hard to say. Regardless, Rex wasn't entirely sure the Gormotti girl trusted her yet.
Which was probably smart, to be fair. Despite her fairly positive reputation, they had only met her a short time ago, and circumstances hadn't yet given them the opportunity to determine how trustworthy she was. And despite the legitimate reasons for her to do so, the fact that she hid her face just made trusting her all the harder.
Personally, Rex was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. Despite how little they knew, despite the circumstances surrounding their meeting, he felt in his gut that she was an honorable woman. To him, it was hard not to see. From how easily the boy she had rescued had bonded to her, and the gentle way she treated him in return, made it hard to think she could be anything else.
Even now, most of the vigilante's attention was focused on the child lying on Rex's bed, stroking his hair in a calming manner. Despite the fact that they couldn't have entered the room more than a scant few minutes ago, the boy was already asleep, no doubt exhausted from his escape.
"I guess we're not asking him any questions right now." Nia stated rather plainly at the scene.
Tokiha shook her head. "No, I do not think that it is the best time for that." She confirmed. "Rescuing the other children is a priority, but so too is his health. We can use this time to make plans for what to do once he has awoken."
"Sounds like as good an idea as any." Rex agreed, slowly walking up to the bed. "Hopefully, he'll remember the way back."
He looked down at the child, a sad smile on his face. The boy was thin, painfully so considering his height, most likely courtesy of malnutrition during his capture. It was clear his captors hadn't treated him well; even beyond the obvious lack of food, he didn't look as if he had washed himself for weeks. Dirt and grime covered his dark skin and matted his fluffy hair, while what remained of his clothing was threadbare and tattered. Even his glasses, still mostly intact, were smudged and dirty. It was a wonder he could see through them.
In all honesty, even after Nia had declared the boy to be mostly healthy, if very underweight, it was hard to believe just from looking at him. But, as the girl had added darkly when her declaration had been questioned, he was probably only in so good a condition because of his Core Crystal.
That was the big Mammut in the room, the reason that Tokiha had even been willing to follow them back here instead of immediately seeking out Ciaran and Lyta for the next steps. The boy had claimed, and Nia had tentatively confirmed, that his Core Crystal was not a natural part of his body. Somebody had made him, and possibly was making the other missing children, into a Blade Eater.
But… Blade Eaters were supposed to be rare. Nobody knew exactly how they were made or who had the knowledge to make them (although they had a strong suspicion about the latter). Even Azurda, an ancient and well-traveled Titan skilled in Blade lore, had never encountered one before Rex's transformation, having only known about them by piecing together rumors over the centuries.
Yet somehow, someone was producing them here, out of children no less. As he looked down at the child, his chest gently rising and falling as he took what may well have been the first safe rest he had been allowed in weeks, Rex couldn't help but wonder… why?
Why use children? Wouldn't using adults be easier? And why kidnap them? Even at his age, Rex had met plenty of people who would have jumped at the chance to gain the sort of power he himself now possessed. Was it because the process was risky? That wouldn't be nearly as effective a deterrent as most people would think. Plenty of people would have gladly bore any risk involved for the potential benefits.
Try as he might, he couldn't think of an answer that came to anything other than sadism. Whoever had taken the boy and the others, did he specifically kidnap children for an actual reason, or was it just to watch them suffer?
But given the way the boy had chosen to describe the culprit, that his 'cruel smile' was apparently the feature that was most memorable to him? Rex suspected it was the latter.
Unknowing of the salvager's thoughts, Tokiha nodded in agreement. "Yes." She said, slowly pulling her hand away from the boy's head. "Even if he does not, it should be possible to trace his movements. But it will be far simpler if he can recall. Just giving an estimate of how long he was running for would narrow the search dramatically."
She stood up, brushing her hands across the half-skirt of her leotard to straighten it out. "But that can wait for later." The woman said, looking down at the party. Her gaze was intense as she shifted to a more serious topic. "Right now, I need information that only you can provide."
Azurda poked his head around Rex's shoulder. "Regarding the boy's Core Crystal, I assume?" The old Titan asked knowingly.
"Indeed." The vigilante replied. "You called him a Blade Eater, but… that is not something I have ever encountered before." She glanced back at the sleeping child, her eyes landing on the Core Crystal slowly rising and falling with his breathing. "If we are to stop the culprits responsible for the kidnappings and rescue the children, I need to know what they are doing to their victims."
The Titan crossed his arms. "That's a little complicated, I'm afraid." He said regretfully. "There is a large amount that we do not know about the process."
"Come on, Gramps." Rex chided. "She doesn't need the full backstory, just the basics." For someone who claimed to enjoy spreading the knowledge he accumulated, Azurda sure did like making it as complicated as possible sometimes.
"Well, you know how Flesh Eaters work, right?" He asked. Even as he said that, he realized just how dumb it must sound, and quickly amended, "B-because you are one, of course!"
Tokiha raised an eyebrow at the boy. "Yes, I have a reasonable understanding." She agreed. Reaching down, she grasped the metal plate covering her Core Crystal and pulled it away.
He had gotten a brief glimpse of her lance's weapon core during the aftermath of the fight, so he had a rough idea of what to expect. Despite that, the full view of her Core Crystal was interesting nonetheless.
It was an irregular hexagon, the faces of the gem angled to give it the rough shape of a heater shield. Like a normal Core Crystal, it glowed with a soft light blue, yet it was impossible not to notice the pair of bright red splotches marring the surface, one in the top left corner, the other in the bottom right. They were large, taking up almost a quarter of the core each, resulting in an almost checkered pattern.
Noticeably, the pattern was much different than that of Nia's core. He had only seen it a handful of times, and only clearly on that first day in Gormott when he had discovered her secret, but the bloodstains on hers were mostly blotches around the edges of the kite-shaped crystal.
Rex supposed it made sense. After all, their Core Crystals were different shapes; why should they stain in the same way?
"A-anyway." He continued after a moment of staring at the crystal. "Basically, think of Blade Eaters like… reverse Flesh Eaters. Humans that have gotten a Core Crystal somehow, rather than Blades that have gotten human cells."
The vigilante pondered the thought for a moment, returning the cover plate to its position over her Core Crystal. "I see." She said. "So, they are functionally similar?"
"As far as we can tell." Nia answered. "They're so rare that reliable information is sparse, but from what I've… heard," She worded delicately, giving Rex a quick glance. "There's no real difference between a Blade Eater and a good-quality Flesh Eater besides what they started as."
"Beyond how they're created, I suppose." The vigilante mused. "Despite the implications of the name, I cannot help but think the method of creating them isn't quite as… clear-cut as the more traditional means of creating a Flesh Eater."
A pained expression crossed Nia's face at the implication.
Rex, meanwhile, was silent for a moment as he thought back to the events in the dream of Elysium. "…We don't know the normal method." He confirmed after a moment, his voice low as he spoke. "I… there are probably a few ways of becoming one, but the only one I've heard of is… personal."
The vigilante looked between the two curiously but did not push. "I understand." She said softly, her eyes tracking down as she brushed a finger across the plate concealing her Core Crystal. "It is much the same for Flesh Eaters. There are a number of methods to create us, but… it is rare for the circumstances that require it to be kind ones."
She looked back at the child. "I cannot imagine it was any better for him." She shook her head. "Despite the sorrow involved, becoming a Flesh Eater was a path I chose to walk. For him, for the other children, to have something like this forced upon them…"
"Yeah." Nia whispered, clenching a hand over her Core Crystal.
Silence fell over the room, nobody quite sure what to say next. It felt incredibly unfair, what had been done to the boy.
After a moment, the vigilante shook her head, looking away from the bed. "If what you say about Blade Eaters is true, then we will need to put serious consideration into how the children are handled once they have been rescued."
"What mean?" Tora asked, tilting his head. "When rescue, won't littlepons be returned to homes? Tora not see why need be so complicated."
Nia shook her head. "It's not that simple anymore, Tora." The Gormotti girl pointed out. "If the kids are Blade Eaters now, there's more stuff that needs to be considered."
"Indeed, it is likely their very nature will be opposed by the Indoline Praetorium, to the same extent as that of a Flesh Eater." Dromarch spoke up. "Returning them to their homes under the present circumstances would only result in placing their families in danger."
"And it's not something that they can hide, either." Nia continued. "Sure, they can cover up their Core Crystals, but that will only work for so long at their ages. Flesh Eaters that aren't fully grown age slower than normal, and we're pretty sure that's the same for Blade Eaters too."
She gestured at the sleeping boy. "I mean, look at him. He's probably, what, seven or eight? In five years, kids that are his age now will be hitting puberty, but physically, he'll probably only be a year or so older than he is now. That's not something that can be easily ignored."
Rex frowned at the thought. "But we can't just not send them back, either. Most of the kids will have families waiting for them back home. Safety's all well and good, but we can't keep them from their families."
Tokiha nodded. "Indeed, it's quite the conundrum." The vigilante agreed. "And even if we could resolve the issue of obviously not aging at a normal rate, unless they are taught how to reign in their ether, it is likely they will be just as susceptible to ether-based tracking as a Flesh Eater."
"'Ether-based tracking?'" Nia asked, furrowing her brow. "What's that?"
This time, Poppi was the one to answer. "Is tracking of entities based on signature of emitted ether." The artificial Blade explained. "Poppi possess capability at short range. Used when first woke up. Does friend Nia not remember?"
Nia frowned at the memory. "Right. That." She said dourly. "Surely stuff like that isn't common, though, right?"
"Not particularly, from my experience." Tokiha agreed. "But the Indoline Praetorium makes frequent use of Blades with such capabilities for the purpose of hunting my kind."
"W-what?!" The Gormotti girl's eyes went wide. "T-they… but… what!?"
Rex shot the girl a concerned look. She had told him about her time running from the Praetorium, and while the girl had done her best to act as though it hadn't, it had been clear to him that she had been deeply scarred by it. The way she had described her increasingly desperate means of avoiding detection spoke clearly of how much it weighed on her even now.
Yet, if what Tokiha was saying was true, then that meant that everything she had done to throw them off—the disguises, the constant moving from place to place—had done nothing to help her evade them. That despite her best efforts, she was still in danger, and he might be as well.
Ignorant of Nia's reaction, the conversation continued around her. "I can't say I'm particularly surprised by that." Azurda said, rubbing his chin. "The Praetorium has a monopoly on the flow of Core Crystals. It wouldn't be particularly difficult for them to keep Blades with useful abilities for themselves."
Tokiha nodded. "That is exactly the case. During the first few years after I became a Flesh Eater, I had… several close encounters with Indoline forces attempting to apprehend me."
She shook her head sadly. "Eventually, I was taught how to control my ether signature sufficiently to evade their detection… I suspect I will need to pass that skill along if the children are to be truly safe once this affair has concluded."
Her words were enough to grab Nia's attention. "T-there's a way to hide from it?!" She asked, not even making a token attempt to hide her sudden desperation.
"There is." The vigilante confirmed, raising an eyebrow at the girl's sudden interest. "It is not… difficult to learn, per se, but the sort of ether manipulation involved is niche enough that the training can be troublesome due to the limited methods available."
She idly brushed a finger over the plate covering her Core Crystal. "However, I consider the effort worthwhile. There is a certain… piece of mind that I never felt before being rendered invisible to ether tracing techniques."
"Poppi not sure that true." The mechanical girl spoke up, staring at the vigilante with a look that, while not accusative, was definitely curious. "Poppi still able to register ether emissions from miss Perun without difficulty." She tilted her head. "Unless is not hiding right now?"
At the artificial Blade's words, Tokiha went dead still. Her eyes widened ever so slightly as they bore intently into the robot girl. "What did you just say?" She asked, a tinge of... not fear exactly, but definitely discomfort and more than a little concern, coloring her tone.
Rex did an immediate double-take, looking from Tokiha, to Poppi, and back. What was Poppi even saying?! Perun was Tokiha? That seemed absurd! Surely she couldn't be…
He looked a little closer, comparing some of the details. Okay, they had the same skin and hair color, although Tokiha's hair possessed a glow that Perun's lacked. The general shape of her face and… other features… were admittedly pretty close too. Even the voices were largely the same, though Tokiha's tone was pitched down in comparison to Perun's.
Physically, he could definitely see it.
But their personalities were completely opposite! Perun had been the very image of a demure, traditional Ardainian woman when they had met her, while Tokiha was a strong, assertive warrior easily capable of taking down teams of Drivers on her own!
But… even as he thought that, he realized that was the genius of her disguise. She could only do so much to alter her appearance, but by changing her behavior so much, it made it difficult to make the connection between the two.
"Wha… How did I not realize that?!" Nia sputtered, completely flabbergasted by the revelation.
"Poppi!" Tora chided. "Miss Perun obviously want keep secret! It rude to reveal! Even Tora not going to say!"
The artificial Blade hung her head. "Poppi sorry, Masterpon. Not realize want keep secret."
"Wait, you knew?!" Rex asked, looking down at the nopon in surprise.
"Of course Tora knew." The nopon replied, a look of genuine confusion on his face. "Coloration and proportions of Perun very distinct. Even with glowy hair and mask, not do anything to disguise shape of body. Tora think even tiny littlepon able to see through."
Nia frowned, crossing her arms. "Oh, so you think it's that simple, huh?" She asked, bristling at the implied slight. "If that's the case, how come nobody else noticed?"
Next to her, Dromarch coughed awkwardly. "Actually, my Lady…" The tiger spoke hesitantly.
His Driver looked down at him. "Wh-? No! There's no way you noticed too!" The girl insisted, taking a step back in shock.
"I am afraid so." He said regretfully. "If you recall, I utilize scent for identification as much as sight, and mistress Perun did nothing to alter that."
"I can't believe this." The Gormotti girl muttered, holding a hand to her head. "How was it that Rex and I were…" She trailed off, glancing desperately over at the salvager. "Next the old man's going to say he knew as well, isn't he?!"
An amused chuckle echoed from Rex's helmet as Azurda poked his head out. "If it makes you feel any better, young lady, I merely suspected they were the same person." The Titan consoled, a mischievous grin on his face nonetheless. "So the two of you are not entirely on your own."
While Nia despaired over apparently being one of only two people in their group not to see through the woman's disguise, Toki- Perun stood off to the side in a shocked silence. "This… has not gone how I anticipated it would." The woman admitted, mostly to herself.
The sound of her voice pulled the group's attention back to her. Rex, who was struggling to decide if he should be annoyed for not figuring it out or amused at Nia's reaction, stared up at the woman inquisitively. "Is it true, then?" He asked.
Perun stared at him for a moment before closing her eyes. "I would appreciate it if you kept this information to yourselves." She stated.
"Friend not worry!" Tora reassured, wrapping a wing around Poppi's shoulders. "Tora will make sure update databank of Poppi to include when not spill sneaky-secrets!"
"Maybe it will stick this time." Nia said with a sigh. More quietly, she added, "I don't want to have to pull her aside for another conversation like before…"
The vigilante looked over at the artificial Blade. "Out of curiosity, how long have you known?" She asked.
"Poppi discovered on ship to Tadbir." The mechanical girl replied. "Always read ether emissions, so when first met while talk with friends found that emission spectra of Perun consistent with-" She stopped abruptly, her eyes shifting to look at Nia in an exaggerated manner. "...Consistent with other instances of encounter with Flesh Eaters."
Nia slapped her palm against her face at the artificial Blade's obvious behavior, but it apparently went unseen by the vigilante.
Bowing deeply, Poppi continued to speak. "Poppi very sorry for reveal secret." She said in a contrite tone. "Not realize what reveal until already speak."
Perun closed her eyes, letting out a sigh. "I was aware this was a possibility the moment I agreed to meet your group here." The woman replied. "My disguise is intended to obscure my identity during short encounters from the shadows, not long interactions with those who are familiar with my civilian identity. Expecting it to deceive you would be folly."
She opened her eyes, taking a closer look at the details of the artificial Blade. As her gaze found the orange indicator light on her chest, designed to look like a Core Crystal, the woman's expression shifted to a frown. "Hmm…" She mused.
At the scrutiny, Poppi tilted her head in confusion. "Is something matter?" The artificial Blade asked.
The vigilante considered for a moment. "Not necessarily, but if you do not mind, I do have a question." She stated. "I do not wish to make presumptions, but have you and your Driver been to Mor Ardain recently, by any chance?"
Tora blinked at the question. "Mor Ardain? No, Tora not been in more than year." He denied. "Left before begin work on Poppi. Why friend ask?"
"It's… nothing important at the moment." The woman said, shaking her head. "Your… Blade?"
Poppi puffed out her chest. "Poppi is artificial Blade!" She announced proudly.
"…Right." Perun accepted. "She merely… reminds me of something."
Before Tora could ask for clarification, the woman turned her attention away from Poppi. "But that is an issue for another time." She said. "For the moment, we should discuss how we plan to handle this situation."
A hushed whisper ran through the children within her cell as the sound of rusted iron bars opening in the distance echoed down the corridor.
Almost on instinct, Etene reached out to the nearest child, whispering comforting words as she focused on desperately quashing her own growing fear. It was a familiar action—born of a lifetime serving as an assistant caretaker for the other children in her orphanage—that served to ground her in this place, almost giving it a sense of normalcy.
It was funny in a way; caretaking was a job she had never been interested in. As a younger child, before her parents had passed away when the Hiln Flu swept across Osiris, she had preferred to spend her time indulging in her arts. Drawing, painting, even a smidge of writing here and there.
But after her parents had died, she ended up in Miss Maia's orphanage. In the wake of the outbreak, so many children had been placed under the matron's care that Etene, as one of the oldest children in the orphanage, was pressed into becoming an assistant caretaker just to handle the numbers.
Even now, despite having had years to acclimate to her role, a part of her still resented the woman for it. She knew it wasn't fair—Miss Maia had essentially been forced to take in almost three times the number of children she had been caring for almost overnight; she needed the extra hands—but at the same time, Etene wished that the woman had chosen someone else.
Yet now, the job she had despised at the beginning was the only thing keeping her sane here. With the age gap between her, almost fifteen, and the younger children, ten at most, it was the most substantial interaction she had with her cellmates.
Down the hall, soft, barefoot steps could be heard approaching. Around her, she could feel the children in the cell tense as they recognized the sound: the Blade with the mind-altering incense.
She frowned at the realization. It was too early in the day for him to be here, wasn't it? Keeping time in a place like this was troublesome, but their captors acted on enough of a pattern that she had mapped out a reasonable schedule of the day.
In the 'morning', one of the younger men or women, generally only a few years older than herself, would deliver food. She didn't know any of their names—they had pointedly refused to respond whenever she attempted to engage with them—but she had only ever seen four: two Ardainian boys, an Ardainian girl, and a fourth boy she couldn't quite guess.
Before their captors had done… whatever it was that had left them all with a Core Crystal, that was the majority of their interaction. The only means of determining the passing of a day was when they were fed. On occasion, the Blade would come and use his monstrous power to drag an entire cell away, but it was infrequent enough that she didn't consider it a part of the schedule.
These days, however, timekeeping was much easier. They were still fed in the morning, but after a brief reprieve of probably no more than an hour or so, the Blade would return to take another group. These were only gone for a few hours at a time, with each group being cycled between, but it was hard to accurately guess how long each group was gone for, as hers was normally the first taken for the day.
And that was the strange part: as far as she knew, they should be done for the day. Her group had already returned from wherever they went while they were under that foul Blade's spell, and they hadn't taken any of the others. There should be no further reason for his presence.
So why was the Blade coming now? Was something new being thrown into the mix? Apparently there had been some sort of commotion while her group was under the Blade's spell, but she hadn't been able to learn what had happened. Did it have something to do with this?
The echoing slaps of bare flesh on the stone, stark in contrast to the tomb-like silence of the dungeon, grew closer as the thin, corpselike Blade walked into view. The children in her cell reeled back, still terrified of his appearance even after seeing him so many times. Etene, however, did not. While the Blade, and that awful power he possessed absolutely terrified her, his visage was nothing compared to what she had seen as a child during the outbreak.
It was hard to be afraid of someone who looked almost like a corpse when memories of the real thing haunted her dreams even years later.
Despite her outward bravery, the girl could still feel her throat tighten as the Blade came to a slow stop in front of her cell, the butt of his staff clacking against the stone floor with alarming finality. He stood still, eerily so, for a moment before his head slowly began to rotate in her direction.
Before encountering him, Etene never would have thought that a blank, veil-covered face could be so disconcerting. But there was something about being able to feel the stare coming from a featureless face that made her skin crawl.
Slowly, in a deliberate manner, the Blade raised his free hand, extending a bony, gnarled finger. His attention bored down on her, so it came as no surprise when that finger singled her out from the crowd.
"Girl." He rasped. "Step forward. You are… required."
"R-required for what?" She asked, her voice wavering slightly despite her best attempt to steady it.
The Blade did not answer her question, instead repeating his demand. "Step… forward." The raspiness became far more grave this time, as the Blade placed stronger emphasis on the words.
Etene realized that he was not going to entertain disobedience for long. She cast a quick look at the children around her, huddled behind the threadbare remains of her skirts, before taking a single hesitant step towards the door.
She stood there, her eyes locked on the Blade's forehead, where his Core Crystal illuminated the blank veil over his face. The girl was trying to look defiant, but deep down, she suspected that her fear was clearly visible to him.
"What now?" She asked, managing to avoid a waver this time.
He didn't respond, instead reaching up to the incense burner at the end of his staff. Even with her resolution to put on a brave front, the Osirian girl couldn't help but visibly flinch at the movement. She knew what it meant by now—that he was about to place her under his spell.
"My master… has questions." He spoke, scooping a handful of ashes from the burner. "And you… shall answer them."
With those words, he blew the ashes into her face, and in an instant, her resistance vanished in a puff of smoke. She blinked as the incense took effect, the tension bleeding out of her body. Why was she so on edge again?
The door of the cell slowly creaked open, and she walked out without a second thought. It was open, right? That meant she was supposed to leave.
"Follow." The Blade commanded, turning his back to her as he began walking down the corridor. She obeyed his command—of course she did. Why wouldn't she?—following him out of the dungeon and into the deeper areas of the structure.
As she walked, there was something bothering her. Sort of an itch, perhaps? As if she had forgotten something important. For the life of her, she couldn't imagine what it was and tried her best to put it out of mind. There would always be time to figure it out later.
It took only a few minutes to reach their destination, a small room with a table and two chairs. One of them was occupied by a matronly Indoline woman wearing a polite smile, who barely gave them so much as a nod of acknowledgement as she scanned over a sheet of paper. Without being ordered, Etene took a seat in the other chair, silently waiting to be told what to do.
She didn't need to wait long. Almost the moment she took a seat, the woman put the paper down and looked her directly in the eyes. "Subject 91." She addressed, looking directly at Etene, "I have some questions for you."
"Of course." Etene replied. It was strange that she was being called such a strange name, but it hardly mattered. After all, the nice lady had questions for her.
The Indoline woman pushed forward the sheet of paper she had been reading. It was a dossier of some sort, with another strange 'subject' name, like the one she had been addressed with. It had a picture accompanying it, a young Osirian boy she instantly recognized as another one of the children from her orphanage. "You will tell me everything you know about Subject 84." The woman commanded.
Without even a moment's hesitation, Etene began to speak. Once again, she felt that itch that something was wrong, like she shouldn't be talking to this woman, but as with before immediately suppressed it. All she was doing was obeying the nice lady; what was so wrong with that?
"So, what do you think?" Mikhail said as he and his Blade watched the guards scurry about on the ground beneath them, a thoroughly wrecked construction site.
Apparently, some sort of fight had broken out here earlier, and the local law enforcement had missed it entirely. Despite the battle having taken place in the uppermost tier of the city, within sight of the walls of the academy, despite the strict laws Tadbir had against unsanctioned combat outside of designated training areas, the guards had arrived too late.
Honestly, he would have found it hilarious had the guards been the only ones that missed the party. Unfortunately, Mikhail and his Blade had been in a lower tier of the city at the time and had only learned of the fight from the flurry of guards responding to the incident.
That said, he had a reasonable guess as to who some of the fighters had been. It was obviously a fight between Drivers, based on the elemental damage left over—patches of ice, charred dirt, and a shallow pool of water at the end of a suspiciously symmetrical alluvial trench. That last one in particular was familiar; one of Dromarch's favored Arts left similar patterns in the dirt.
No doubt the brats had gotten involved somehow. Really, the Blade Eater wasn't surprised. Even if it had been literal centuries since that time, he remembered the sorts of situations that Addam loved to drag the group into. From what he understood, that was just what hero-types like him did, and everything that he had learned about the new Aegis told him that the boy was cut from the same cloth.
Who they had been fighting, he couldn't even begin to guess. The only clues he had to go off of were the signs of elements the Aegis' party wasn't known to use, and those didn't exactly narrow things down. Fire and Ice were hardly uncommon elements—really, only Light and Dark were, and the later only just—which did nothing to narrow the possibilities down. Even excluding academy students, which he couldn't by sheer virtue of the battle having taken place just outside the walls, there were probably dozens of Blades with those elements in the city.
But it didn't really matter who they had been fighting in the end, because the thing he was most interested in was the entrance to the sewers on one side of the battlefield.
Cressidus grumbled, crossing his arms in a manner that clearly stated he was unimpressed. "I think that pipe's a little small for me." He observed.
"Really?" Mikhail replied, rolling his eyes at the burly Blade. "That's all you've got to say? After days of trying to figure out how to get under the academy, an opportunity gets dropped in our laps, and you want to critique the size?"
"It's not an opportunity if we can't fit in it." Cressidus pointed out. "I mean, 'great, we found that the sewers we already knew about still exist. Too bad the entrance is too small for even you to fit through it!'"
"You don't have to be so snippy, Cress." His Driver huffed, crossing his arms. "This is actually important, after all."
The burly Blade let out a snort. "Oh yeah? How'd you figure?"
With a long-suffering sigh, Mikhail pointed across the construction site at the semi-exposed brickwork. "Just take a look at the architecture of the sewer. That's not contemporary Tadbirian style; that's expansion-era Osirian."
"And?" Cressidus replied. "The Osirians were the ones that settled the place, and we're in the oldest part of the city. The infrastructure being in their style seems pretty reasonable to me."
Mikhail pinched his brow. "You're still not getting it." He groaned, holding a hand out. "Don't you see? The signals Obrona detected are somewhere under the academy."
He stacked his other hand on top of the first. "The academy is built on top of the ruins of the Osirian citadel that used to be the center of the city, back when it was a colony."
"Are you sure they didn't just rip the citadel out and use the stones to build the academy?" Cressidus asked, idly scratching his head. "Seems like that would be easier than quarrying new stone from another Titan and shipping it over here."
"They didn't." The Blade Eater confirmed. "Trust me, I worked on a couple of the ships transporting the stone back when I looked like a teenager."
"Really?" Cressidus asked, looking skeptically at his Driver. "I wouldn't have taken you for that kind of work."
Mikhail shrugged. "They paid well, and that was still important to me back then."
Shaking his head, he continued his explanation. "Anyway, that means there's still part of the Citadel under the academy. I don't know if the dungeons and such are still intact, but if they are, then they'd be the perfect place to hide a bunch of Flesh Eaters."
"…And if they're using Osirian-era construction as a base, then the old sewers will connect to it." The Blade concluded, finally piecing it together.
"Exactly." Mikhail confirmed. "So if we want to find our potential recruits, we've got to get into those sewers."
Cressidus nodded in understanding. "Okay, that makes sense." He acknowledged. "But… that still doesn't answer the question of how we get in." He pointed at the pipe, which seemed to be at the center of the battlefield. "Because, again, that thing's too small for either of us."
"We can find another." The Blade Eater dismissed, leaning back against the roof. "Worse comes to worst we can just make our own entrance."
His Blade scoffed, glaring at the brickwork of the exposed sewers. "And let me guess, you're going to have me do the smashing?"
"Of course." Mikhail nodded sagely. "You're far better built for it than I am."
Cressidus grumbled at the words. "Yeah, sure." He said, cracking his knuckles. "That's all anyone thinks I'm good for, isn't it?"
He coughed into his fists before speaking in a bad imitation of Akhos' voice. "Oh, Cressidus! If you would be so kind as to move this crate of medical supplies? I couldn't possibly force my dear sister to perform such grunt work!"
"Cress…" Mikhail pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance.
The Blade was not done, though. He spoke up again, imitating Malos now. "You damn brute, why'd you only take one? Turn around and grab both of those damn Armu and let's get the hell out of here."
"Okay, okay, I get it." Mikhail groaned. "You don't like being treated as the muscle."
Ignoring his Driver's plea, Cressidus continued. "You're coming with me, oaf." He said in a crude falsetto imitation of Patroka. "Killing a couple dozen Drivers while they were asleep in their bunks wasn't enough to sate my bloodlust. Maybe you'll give a better showing!"
Mikhail glared at him. "Now I know you're making these up." The Blade Eater stated, glaring at his Blade. "There's no way Patroka would ever want to spar with you when she has me instead." His expression faltered slightly, the man suddenly looked a little uncertain. "…Right?"
Cressidus stared him directly in the eyes, a severe look on his face as he held his gaze. After only a handful of breaths, a mirthful look crossed the Blade's face as he leaned back and belted out a loud, bellowing laugh.
"Architect, Mik!" He laughed, patting a trunk-like arm against his chest. "You're just too easy!"
Beside him, the Blade Eater sulked. "Let's just get out of here." He said, glaring down at the construction site. The sound of Cressidus' laughter had attracted the attention of some of the guards below. "We'll find a way in somewhere."
Still chuckling, the burly Blade leaned up, the roof tiles he had been resting on creaking in relief as his weight was removed. "Yes, let us find those recruits you've promised."
It wasn't until several hours later, well after the sun had set, that the boy finally awoke.
Despite everyone in the room keeping an eye on him, it was Poppi who first noticed the child beginning to wake. One moment the artificial Blade was standing quietly behind her creator, only to suddenly rotate her head to face the bed.
The boy hadn't even begun to stir yet when she did it, but Nia was willing to bet that she had felt some change in the boy's ether, or however it was that the mechanical girl perceived the world. For all that she seemed normal sometimes, it was easy to forget how exotic some of her sensory abilities were.
Most of the party began moving toward the bed the moment it became clear he was waking up, but were stopped by Azurda, who had by far the most experience dealing with children.
"We don't want to crowd him." The Titan explained, urging Rex in particular to stay back. "Perun should be fine, so long as she isn't hovering, but considering the situation he has been through, too many unfamiliar faces so close might distress him."
The woman did just that, taking the seat next to the bed again while the others backed off as much as they could in the cramped confines of the room.
As the boy stirred, Nia quietly observed his behavior. Out of everyone here, she probably had the least familiarity with children besides Poppi and maybe Tora. While she had helped take care of her sister pretty much from the day the girl had awoken her, Eirian had already been on the cusp of puberty at that point. The only time she had really interacted with children this young was when she had occasionally treated them for injuries during her flight from the Praetorium.
She was immediately struck by how familiar some of his movements were. The moment his eyes opened, he scanned around the room with a barely suppressed expression of panic, seeming to search for any immediate threats. It was only after he had looked that his face shifted to a look of confusion, only now realizing that he was in an unfamiliar place.
It was not all that far off from the way she had woken up every day for nearly four years, while she had been on the run from Indol. Particularly the final few months, after multiple run-ins with their apprehension squads had left her so paranoid that even Dromarch had given up on trying to calm her nerves.
That alone was enough to confirm in her mind that he was one of the kidnapped children, even discounting the rest of the circumstantial evidence. Whatever he had been through had been threatening enough that searching for danger was not only his first priority upon waking, but had been engrained enough that he did it automatically.
"Easy." Perun said calmly, placing a hand on the bed. "You're safe for the moment."
Nia wasn't sure if it was the result of the words themselves or the boy's mind finally catching up with the circumstances, but he seemed to calm down as the woman spoke. There was still visible tension in his shoulders as he cast another wary eye around, watching the rest of them standing a respectful distance from the bed, but the fear that had been present had largely vanished from his eyes.
"How are you feeling?" Nia asked. She had been fairly certain that he was healthy when she checked earlier, but with how underweight he was, he would be more susceptible to certain ailments, and she wasn't entirely certain how much of his condition his Core Crystal could offset. She knew firsthand that even Blade hybrids could get sick if pushed far enough.
"...'M fine." He muttered, looking down at his bare chest and the Core Crystal upon it. "'M hungry, though."
As Perun reached around to the table behind her, Nia winced at the realization that they had forgotten to do something about his clothes.
The Gormotti girl leaned over slightly, whispering into Tora's ear. "Hey, do you have a spare shirt?" She asked, looking at the oil-stained garment the nopon was wearing.
"Yes? Back in room. Why Nia-Nia ask?" Tora replied, scratching his head with a wing.
She subtly gestured at the boy lying in the bed. "The kid doesn't have one, and you're the closet to his size." The girl replied.
Tora tilted his head slightly, watching as the vigilante handed the boy a bowl of cold stew that they had saved for him. "Tora not understand problem." The nopon admitted. "Is not normal for littlepon no wear shirt?"
"Not for humans!" She hissed in annoyance. "I know nopon don't care one way or another about clothes, but humans don't have the benefit of fur, and seeing his Core Crystal seems to be bothering him."
And here Nia thought that Tora, being the one nopon she knew who actually wore proper clothing, would understand! But no, despite never being seen without his shirt and overalls, he was as oblivious as the rest of them!
Despite his confusion, the nopon was at least willing to listen. "Tora not really understand, but will do." He stated, turning toward the door. "Will warn, though; shirt not very clean, and still too-too big on littlepon."
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "It's hardly a permanent arrangement." She stated. "Just long enough to get him some actual clothes."
The nopon nodded. "Tora return in moment. Poppi, please come with. Not want go out on own, might be baddiepons about."
"Roger, Masterpon." Poppi replied, following after him.
Shaking her head, Nia turned her attention to the boy. He was currently scarfing down the stew at an alarming rate, as if he hadn't eaten in weeks. Which, now that she thought about it, might not be too far off from the truth.
Taking a half-step forward, she held out a hand to caution him. "Hold up there a moment." She warned. "Don't eat too fast! If you've been underfed, you'll need a bit of time to…!"
He turned to look at her, slightly confused as he held the now-empty bowl of food.
Nia blinked, her hand still held out, as she realized she had voiced her concerns a little too late. "...Never mind." She said, stepping back awkwardly.
Perun gave the girl an amused smile. "Do not worry." She reassured. "I requested that Rex only provide a small enough portion to not disturb his stomach, just in case."
"I was wondering about that." The salvager scratched the back of his head.
The boy looked between them, still holding tightly to the bowl. "...Can I have some more?" He asked in a small voice.
"Not right now, child." Azurda chuckled, sitting on the footboard of the bed. "Best to let your stomach settle first."
"...Okay." He replied, glancing between the Titan and the salvager standing behind him.
Beside him, Perun cleared her throat to draw his attention. "Now that you've eaten," she began, her tone of voice closer to her civilian guise than her vigilante persona. "Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?"
He looked at her, his eyes widening as if he were reminded of something. "A-are you here to rescue us?" The boy asked eagerly.
"We are." She confirmed, a reassuring smile on her face. "I came here specifically looking for children that were taken from Titans across Alrest."
Hope seemed to glimmer in his eyes as he began to tear up. "T-thank the Architect…" He sniffled, rubbing an arm across his face. "I-I didn't think I was going to find help."
Dromarch padded up to the vigilante, a box of tissues held in his mouth. "Do not worry, young man." The tiger reassured as Perun took the tissues from him and handed them to the boy. "We are all invested in seeing those miscreants brought to justice."
Nia couldn't help but wonder once again how the tiger was able to speak so articulately while holding something in his mouth. Despite having been his Driver for nearly six years, she had never discovered the answer.
"Yeah, there are plenty of us who are pretty eager to show them a thing or three." Rex promised, a dangerous note in his voice. It really didn't surprise her that he was the one of their group pushing the hardest to put the kidnappers down; with the number of children he was apparently used to dealing with, what those people were doing naturally hit him closest to home.
Perun nodded in agreement, giving the group a pleased smile. "And we're not even the only ones." She assured him. "I know it might be scary, but it would be a great help if you could tell us about your experience, ah…" She trailed off. "..."I seem to have forgotten to ask your name."
He looked up at her, his expression uncertain as he processed what she had said. At first, the boy looked nervous, but after a moment of consideration, he nodded in agreement.
"...Taion." He replied, clutching the sheets of the bed.
"I see." Perun replied gently. "Where are you from, Taion?"
"Osiris." The boy said, averting his eyes. "I'd never left it before they took us." he said quietly.
At the foot of the bed, Azurda nodded, arms crossed in front of him. "So, you were taken as a group?" The Titan asked.
"Yeah. Miss Maia, the orphanage matron, sent us all out to play with one of the older kids." He explained. "T-they had a Blade… she could make gas that put us to sleep…" Taion trailed off, squeezing his eyes closed.
Perun put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "If you're not comfortable talking about it, we can-"
"No." He rebutted, a severe look in his eyes. "I-I… You need to know this!" The boy insisted. "You're going to go save the others, right? T-then I need to tell you everything I can, or else…" He trailed off, tears running down his cheeks.
Well, nobody could accuse him of being a coward, Nia thought. She'd met plenty of adults who wouldn't have been able to force themselves to talk about something like this, even when it was as required as now.
In all honesty, she couldn't say with complete confidence that she would be among that number, and it kind of scared her to admit.
He took a deep breath before continuing. "Once we got to… wherever this is, they split us up and threw us in some kind of dungeon, like the ones out of a storybook." Taion explained. "They were filled with kids from a bunch of other Titans, too. I recognized some of them. There were a couple of Ardainians and Urayans in mine, plus a Gormotti and a, um… 'Tantalese', I think he said?"
"Well, that's a surprise." Azurda spoke up. "Tantal in the modern day is notoriously isolationist. I can't imagine the effort sneaking inside must have required."
Taion nodded slowly, not quite understanding the context. "I don't think there were more than two or three among all the kids." He noted. "But I don't know where the people outside my cell were from."
Behind them, the door to the room opened as Tora triumphantly returned. "Tora bring shirt!" He announced, rushing up to the bed.
He offered the grimy, oil-stained garment to the boy, who merely looked at it with a bit of surprise. "I… um…" Taion muttered, unsure of what to do.
"Put it on." Nia offered. "I noticed you seemed a bit leery about, well…" She tapped the armored band around her chest that concealed her own Core Crystal.
The boy looked at her, his eyes wide, before eagerly grabbing the shirt and slipping it on. If he was at all put off by the stains, he didn't say anything about it.
Rex shot her an approving stare before speaking up. "Not that we want to push you, but do you mind telling us about how that happened?" He asked, tapping his own chest in emphasis.
Taion looked at him, his face glum at the reminder. "Y-yeah." He muttered. "The men, they…" he trailed off. "A-after a while, a few days I think?" The boy pondered uncertainly. "We were taken to some kind of lab. T-they put me on a table, and then…"
He shrank in on himself, closing his eyes as he shivered at the memory. Although he didn't say what happened next, that was more than enough to tell Nia that it was bad. There had been some… questionable stuff involved in the preparation for her own transformation, but the process itself had ultimately been almost underwhelming in how benign it was. This, on the other hand, sounded like the kid had been straight-up experimented on.
"Please, do not force yourself to explain the details." Perun comforted him, running a hand through his hair. "After the lab, did they do anything else?"
"N-not to me." He insisted, his arms still shaking. "T-they left the kids in my cell to recover, but the ones in the others, who had been through the lab earlier than us, were dragged off somewhere every day."
One of Nia's eyebrows rose in curiosity. "Any idea where?" She asked.
"I-I dunno." Taion replied. "T-they… the others… they couldn't remember what happened while they were gone."
She inhaled sharply. That sounded extremely bad. "Nothing?" She asked for clarification. "Nothing at all?"
Taion shook his head. "No." He confirmed. "They all had bruises and stuff, though. Burns, too. One of the girls in one of the other cells thought they were ether burns."
"Ether…" Rex muttered, his brow furrowed in thought. "Those burns, they wouldn't happen to have been patterned, were they?" He idly scratched his arm, above where one of his ether lines ran.
Right, that would make sense… bruises and ether burns could be a couple different things, like testing how the children's bodies were adapting to the Core Crystal, but if they had the pattern of their ether lines burned into their skin, that meant they were using ether while they were gone.
And that implied they were being trained.
Slowly, Taion shook his head. "I never got to see." He denied hesitantly. "The cells were close enough that we could talk if we were loud enough, but the walls were covered in these weird devices that made it hard to see outside."
"'Weird devices'"? Nia asked. "What did they look like?"
He looked over at her. "They were like disks in the wall." Taion explained. "They had an ether light in the middle that kinda pulsed a bit." He held a hand to his temple. "…They kind of gave me a headache. I thought it was something from what they did to us at first, but it vanished once I left the cell…"
Nia frowned. "Those sound like ether inhibitors." She muttered. "They must not have wanted to run the risk of you using ether to escape."
"That makes sense." Azurda agreed. "Restricting ether is the easiest way to contain a Blade. Especially if the kidnappers are training the children to use ether, preventing them from using it while unsupervised is a logical precaution to take."
While they discussed that, Tora scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Tora wonder how baddiepons keep littlepons in line." He mused.
Rex shot the nopon a look. "What do you mean?" He asked.
"Taion say that baddiepons bring littlepons to lab as group, yes?" He said, tilting his head slightly. "How keep in line? Tora remember being much trouble for Dadapon and Grampypon to contain when work together, how keep many littlepons from running when not in cell?"
In the bed, Taion shifted uncomfortably. "T-they had a Blade." He explained. "It had some kind of power… It let it m-mess with our heads."
Perun gave his hand a comforting squeeze. "I understand this is difficult." She soothed. "But… how did his power work? Was it a glow of ether, or did it require some sort of catalyst?"
He began shivering again at the memory. "He… he had an incense burner." Taion explained. "He would use the ashes to make clouds of smoke that could control you and stuff." His eyes squeezed closed at the memory. "T-that's how he keeps the others from remembering what happened when they take them away for the day."
Beside him, Perun went rigid at the description of the ability. "Taion." She said, her voice far more serious all of a sudden. "This Blade… can you describe him?"
Taion nodded. "Yeah… He's tall and thin, almost like a corpse, but you can barely tell with the robe. He has this crooked staff with an incense burner on the end." The boy gripped the sheets of the bed. "That's what he uses to make the smoke."
If anything, his description only made her more tense. "His Core Crystal, it's set into his forehead, correct?" She tapped her tiara for emphasis. "Diamond-shaped, with a frame that makes it look like a burning brazier?"
"Y-yeah." He confirmed with a nod. "It's the only feature inside his hood you can see. The rest is covered by a veil."
Dromarch stared at the woman in concern. "Do you recognize this Blade, Lady Tokiha?" He asked.
The woman gritted her teeth. "I do." She replied. "I have never met him personally, but his description… it matches one of the Blades the Indoline Praetorium uses to track Flesh Eaters."
Nia's blood ran cold at the statement. She had already been rather… upset to learn that the Praetorium possessed that capability in the first place, but to learn that one of those Blades was here? That implied two things that were really bad for them: that Indol might have a hand in the kidnappings, and that they could trace the boy, and potentially her and Rex as well.
"We need to move." Perun said, standing up. "If that Blade is the one I think it is, we are not safe remaining here any longer."
Rex frowned but didn't disagree with her conclusion. "Where will we go, though?" He asked. "If they have a tracking Blade, nowhere will be safe!"
"No, it won't." The vigilante agreed. "But if we can find a defensive position to temporarily relocate to, I can see what I can do to prevent them from tracking Taion. Then we can plan our next steps."
Nia shot a worried look over at Rex, which the boy reciprocated. They knew perfectly well that hiding him would help to a degree, but as long as they were with him and Perun, the Blade would be able to track them as well.
Whatever the woman was going to do, she would need to include them as well if they were to remain safe. And the only way that would happen was if they revealed some secrets to her that they would rather avoid.
Author's Notes
I spent a very long time trying to figure out exactly how I wanted to handle the group figuring out Perun's identity. There were several possibilities that I considered, from her revealing it voluntarily, to the party not figuring it out during this arc at all.
In the end, however, I decided that an anticlimactic reveal was the most thematically appropriate way to go about it. The party has interacted enough with Perun in her civilian guise that a Blade outfit and a domino mask are too flimsy a disguise to fool them for long, and having them aware of her identity makes some of my future plans easier to implement without seeming contrived.
Still, I'm a little sad that it means I can't use one comedy scene intended for a later arc that would have required them to not know.