Don't Own Dxd or anything else Only The Oc

'thought'

"Speech"

"Powerful Creatures Speaking, like a dragon or a god"

"Text via book or newspaper... when those are around..."

I sit at my desk, boredly scrolling through the internet.

I sure hope someone comes in soon.

Next week they're going to shut off the power...

Honestly, I don't really even care what sort of job it is... I just want it to pay good-

The door creaks open with a jingle.

A frail looking man steps through the door. He looks around suspiciously, a small glint of disappointment appearing in his eyes as he looks over the nonmagical do-dads.

'hm?'

"A-Ah... is this that strange detective agency I've heard so much about?" The man questions. "I-I might have a job for you, if you interested."

"Sure. Go for it. What do you need." I lazily shrug.

"W-Well... recently a family friend has gone missing and I would like to know what happened to him..."

"Name, and general description?" I question, tapping away at my computer. Closing the game of Solitaire I was playing.

"Peter Hughs."

My eyes flick back to the man.

Oh?

Oh.

Well you cheeky little bastard. Alright, then.

With a few more taps I have pulled up the information I have on the missing person.

Or rather, a person who isn't officially 'missing' yet.

I've been meaning to take a closer look in a certain area... it seemed like the place this man was gravitating towards.

The timelines line up.

He typically visited the brothel there on this day like clockwork.

Surprising amount of missing people in this area it seems.

"Alright." I nod slowly. "I'm on the case."

I rise to my feet. "So. On the topic of payment."

"I can pay five thousand up front... please... find him." The old man whispers.

I'll probably need a little more protection for this job.

"Jackie!" I call out. "We're going out!"

The door swings open, eyes practically glittering. "On a date?!"

"..."

"..."

"No. We've got a job to do."

"Awww..." She pouts, trudging forwards, her shoes thudding on the floorboards.

There's a hint of blood lust as she bobs forwards, a sick grin on her face sort of in a 'HAH made you flinch' sort of way towards the old man.

She blinks at the lack of reaction, tilting her head.

"Oooooh~" she hums before continuing in a sing-songy tone. "Old man's got a seeeecret~"

"Leave the old guy alone, Jackie." I scoff as I grab one of two umbrellas. "As the leader of the Grigori, Azazel's already got too much to deal with. He doesn't need a psychopathic little girl bothering him."

"Mnnn! You're mean!" She pouts.

"Wait." The old man speaks, voice changing, now sounding deeper, more melodic and firmer.

His form seems to shift slightly, the illusion around him cracking.

Eventually a man is stood there, black hair, goatee, blonde bangs, even purplish red eyes.

His eyes narrow slightly as he looks over us. "How... did you figure it out?"

"Oooh! Ooh!" Jackie beams. "I know! I know!"

"Jackie?" I question.

"Scent! He didn't smell like anything!" She continues.

"Correct." I nod once. "That was just one part."

The man looks over his body.

"The way he carried himself, even without you trying to prank him, he's a good actor, definitely, but there was this underlying hint of danger. The way he walked was also quite particular. Sort of an... old habit he never managed to lose. It looked like any moment he would leap upwards; thus, it was fairly easy to deduce that he could fly. Next, I have figured out in the past that one Peter Hughs was a member of the Grigori."

"Ooooh he's that guy you had me follow that one time, right?" The girl gasps.

"Correct."

"I didn't kill him!" She beams.

"..."

"D-Did you?"

"No! If I did, why would I say that I didn't!" She protests, her bright green eyes widening slightly.

The one person I can't read. Simultaneously predictable, but somehow... SOMEHOW always knowing when you are trying to predict her, then she decides to toss in a curve ball.

I hum mutely, glancing back to Azazel. "Regardless, those clues and the fact that your old man appearance was so carefully hidden was enough to make me suspicious. Far too well hidden. Scent, appearance, magical energy, it's as if you weren't supposed to be here in London... then again, such a potent disguise would probably be quite an expensive and presumably kept top-secret."

"At that point, it was fairly safe to assume you were a cadre, then I applied rumors to sift out the unlikely ones... I've heard Kokabiel is a bit of a warmonger. Thus, I crossed him out, he would be unlikely to care for a random rogue exorcist human."

"Next... you aren't a woman, nor any subtle hints or ticks that you were disguising your gender- and believe me, I'm quite good at knowing someone is a woman- So Penemue is out."

"Sahariel and Tamiel both would be far too busy to deal with an unimportant mook, one being a researcher that you likely would be hard-pressed to drag out of the lab, and the other is the head of the business department."

"Satanael is assumed to be dead. Shemhazai is supposedly swamped with work that his chaotic and lazy boss won't do. So I was left with two real options. Baraqiel the holy lightning... or Azazel the watcher... and of the two, one just seemed like a much safer bet."

"..."

"Damn." He whistles. "Alright, that's pretty impressive. Want a job?"

"I've already got a job... two in fact." I deadpan. "Jackie, tell the fine man what you want to be when you grow up."

"Ooh! Ooh! I want to be a vampire! Or to have big brother put his hands around my neck like daddy did to mommy until she stopped struggling!"

"And why a vampire?" I ask.

"Hehe! I like blood! I want to taste it! I want to drink it!" A sick grin crosses her face, malice practically exploding from the girl. "I want to BATHE in it!"

"..."

"So. My jobs. One is my detective gig, and the other is making sure Jackie the Ripper doesn't fucking murder someone."

"Wh- oh... ohoho damn... you're related to HIM?!" Azazel asks.

"Father's side, regretfully. Aaron Kosminski at your service. Named after my ancestor, commonly known to all as Jack the Ripper."

"You know... thinking on it and knowing my luck, my mother was probably somewhat special as well. Probably Hitler's grand-niece or something." I note with a low hum. "Anyways, bye. I've got to go do this job you're hiring me to do. Jackie wave bye to the fallen angel."

"Bye Mr. Fallen Angel! Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?"

Azazel's eyebrow twitches slightly "Yeah. It did."

"Oh no!" The girl gasps.

"Jackie, you can't just ask people that... it's racist." I chastise.

"Racism is the LEAST of my problems!" The girl declares in a rare moment of clarity.

"..."

"Go grab Mr. Umbrella. It's raining." I sigh, palming at my face.

"Yippee! Hello again Mr. Umbrella! We're going on an adventure!"

"I pity you." The man snorts.

"Hey. What's life but suffering?" I question idly as I turn and walk out the door, followed by a skipping Jackie after she sticks her tongue out at the fallen.

Alright, this is mildly annoying.

I walk through the dreary streets, a white haired girl skipping behind me.

In her hands is a rolled up bag of fast food. In the other is her umbrella.

"Ooh! Ooh! Aaron can we sit down to eat! I'll give you my apple slices."

"No. You're going to eat those apple slices." I deadpan. "Eating nothing but chicken nuggets, fries, and burgers is going to kill you one day."

"But if we don't sit down soon, my chiccky nuggies are going to get cold! And- and- and- then I'll get MAD!"

I let out a long sigh as we eventually find a bench.

It's wet, but whatever.

I sit side by side with the girl as she forces me to hold both umbrellas, the little white haired psychopath nuzzling up to my side.

A gentle rain falls around us, raindrops cause puddles to ripple and splash, cars honk and beep in the distance, wind whips around us.

I've run into a slight roadblock.

No clues.

I've wandered the area, spoken to a few of the people around here.

Last sighting yesterday.

The person he regularly saw at said brothel is also missing.

Let's take a step back.

I close my eyes, ignoring my sister scarfing down her food.

What do the missing people have in common?

In the past eight weeks, supposedly twenty three people have gone missing in this general area.

Human Trafficking?

No.

Most of the targets have been men. It's not as likely.

Organ trafficking, then?

Possible. But unlikely. A startling eighty percent of the missing people have been homeless... and with this weather, I can guarantee that their sick organs wouldn't really be worth that much... at least not enough to be worth all of this.

What do all these people have in common?

What strings all of this together.

My eyes snap open.

'Perhaps?'

The days match up...

It has been raining on each and every day that a person has supposedly gone missing.

That is... a shoddy connection, admittedly, but it is somewhat of a lead.

A chicken nugget is pressed into my cheek.

"Hm?"

"Here!" The girl beams. "Payment for keeping me nice and dry!"

Nice and dry...

Hm.

The homeless population likely would be searching for some place to get out of the rain.

I allow her to feed me one chicken nugget.

Eugh. These were better when I was a child. Macdonalds has really gone downhill.

I gaze into a large storm drain opening, a low hum leaving my lips.

I hop up into it as Jackie follows close behind, a flowing current of rain, stick, and leaves passing through the center of the tunnel.

How interesting. It appears to be recently repaired, but there has been no maintenance recorded for this location.

Suspicious.

Jackie is now eerily quiet, eyes slitted and cat-like, even in the darkness.

Being descended from Jack the Ripper certainly has its advantages.

But mostly. It's disadvantages... like, all the way down.

On one side, you have heightened senses, and above average strength despite weighing like one hundred pounds soaking wet. The unnatural speed.

On the other, there's the bloodlust... the heightened senses... the bloodlust... the fact that I can't seem to put on any muscle despite how hard I work out, the bloodlust, the fact that I have to temper my emotions so I don't fly off the handle again which is technically bloodlust. The disgusting fact that I am drawn to the Guro tag in hentai websites, The fact that my body seems to want to lash out at anyone running nearby like some sort of predatory cat. The fact that we're a 'tainted bloodline' and most light or holy weapons scorch us like we're devils.

I had an opportunity to touch some shitty nameless holy sword once.

Fucker bit me.

Little bastard. I threw that little shit into a lake. Make that bitch the woman of the pool's problem.

Put that back where it belongs.

Anyways, such darkness is actually quite illuminated for freaks like us. Jackie's being so quiet because, well, she's hunting now.

She has swapped from bubbly weird murder girl to Saucy Jackie.

The storm drain seems to open up slightly. Jackie's smile growing slightly as we can both smell the scent of decay.

We step up, out of the large draining pipe and look around a large room.

It appears there's some sort of undercity to London. Interesting.

I get a small mirror from my shadow and peer around a corner carefully, spying an advanced camera sat up in the top corner of the hallway leading deeper into this area.

Night vision. Infared.

Why are you down here?

I can feel a slight draft, a breeze seems to blow down the drain pipe.

Ohoho... alright.

I grab a simple menu flier which I had dripped a little ink onto the corner off and toss it in front of me. Using my powers to whip it through the air as if it had gotten caught in a particularly rough breeze.

It flutters forwards, then as it covers the camera, Jackie and I rush forwards, pausing just past it as the paper falls away and lands on the ground.

'Alright, what do we have here?'

This place is mysteriously well-maintained.

Clearly there's a lot more going on here than meets the eye.

I peek the next corner as well.

Hoooh alright. What do we have here?

Another camera just above the door into the next room.

"so... what should we do? It'd be better if nobody knew we were-" I begin to whisper only to blink.

'how the hell did I get over here'.

I can feel Jackie on my back from behind, arms wrapped loosely around me.

My eyes flick back to the girl on my back.

Her sacred gear should be sealed still.

Mostly for my own safety.

If she goes coo-coo... I might have to use that method again.

Ugh.

Whatever. Just pray to whoever is listening that she doesn't go crazy.

We continue moving, the scent of death and decay growing more and more potent.

We eventually come to a large chamber with massive pits.

On the other side we can see two men tossing a limp and desiccated figure into the pit.

Well.

That was our man.

He looked a bit older than normal though... and by older I mean a wrinkly corpse.

No cameras either. Huh.

"Jackie." I whisper as I pull a folded butterfly knife from my sleeve. "I want some information. Do what you want with one, but keep the other alive... as silently as possible.

A mist seems to billow past me, the white fog creeping along the ground a bit like a wave of water.

The knife in my hand is gone.

Giving Jackie that knife is... well, sort of a gamble, but hey. If she can use me for macdonalds, I can make use of her talents.

Should probably see about re-hypnotizing her if she gets a bit too rambunctious with the stabbing. just as long as I don't touch her attraction to me... the last time I tried doing anything to fix that I made her worse. it took an entire month to convince her not try and de-clothe me in my sleep because it was more 'comfortable' to feel my beating heart against hers with as little in between as possible.

I still haven't managed to convince her to go back to her own bedroom...

"Huh? What's with all the- GRRK-"

"WH-"

A hand appears, clasping around the second man's mouth as the first man's head flips through the air, sailing into the pit.

I walk towards, taking a photo of the desiccated body, gazing down towards numerous pigs.

"MHHHM- MHHHNNHHH!" The living person's screams are muffled by Jackie's hand as she managed to wrangle him to the floor, knife gently pressing against his neck.

"Now now, Jackie." I whisper as I slowly walk over.

I crouched next to her. "So... Who are you? Oh, and don't make any loud noises or I'll let Jackie do eeeeverything she wants to you... and that's a threat."

"P-P-Please don't kill me." The man whimpers. "I-I'm sorry- I-I just did what I was told."

"Name please?" I question.

"H-Harry."

"..."

"Ah, so you must be Harry Pickle, then... let me ask you something Mr. Pickle. Do you think I was born yesterday? Hm. I suppose your name is unimportant. What are you doing here. What organization are you from."

"W-We are the new order. I-I was tasked with disposing of the bodies from the r-ritual."

"Explain the whole deal with your organization. Twenty words or less." I state.

"W-We- I-I-"

"Three down. Seventeen left." I note.

The man takes a few gasping breathes, seemingly trying to buy time.

"The Order believes that only the most virtuous citizens should live, by practicing our edicts we acquire merit which is converted to life."

"..."

That was twenty six.

But color me intrigued.

I gently stop Jackie for disemboweling this man for 'breaking the rules'. "Go on? A deeper explanation if you would."

"T-Through our ritual we take the lifespan of the unclean and grant it to the truly virtuous. To those who practice the four virtues gain merit."

"And said virtues are?"

"Moderation." The man whispers.

He's stalling for time.

"O-One must not fall to lust, indulgence, or emotion."

Damn. That's me and Jackie gone right off the bat.

OH. And I mean for the latter of the three. Not the first. I don't bang my sister you perverts.

"One must never fail to be Diligent and hard working."

"One must-"

Jackie seems to have gotten bored, and stabs him in the throat and throws him into the pit, kicking the headless body down as well.

We both stand on either side of the door, waiting silently, having heard the approach of two more people.

Two figures drag in a new desiccated body.

"Where did those two get off to-"

We strike, Jackie's target is dead instantly, body dumped into the pit with the pigs, but mine is pinned down, mouth covered, blade held inches from his neck.

"MHHHHH!" He screams like the last.

"So. This is how this is going to go... you... are going to tell us everything about this 'ritual' I've heard sooo much about... or I'll let the descendant of Jack the Ripper do whatever she wants with you."

"T-They used the relic."

"The relic?" I echo.

"A-A golden statue... with a gem on its face!" He whispers out. "It sucks years of life away from those who are unworthy and gifts it to those that are!"

"..."

I share a glance with Jackie.

She blinks owlishly.

"Well~ that's quite interesting. Is there anything else it can do besides stealing life?"

"I-It can cast a freezing spell! A-And then spontaneously combust something!"

What the fuck does that have to do with draining life?

Whatever. I'll figure that out when I get my hands on that relic.

"How many people are here?"

"O-One hundred or so?" He whispers.

"Who is your leader?" I demand.

"J-James... H-His name is James Mortuse."

"I see. And your goals?"

"To stop the world from falling into depravity... to allow our leader, the Great Gryphon to ascend to the throne."

A picture is being painted.

A relatively new organization... or one that has only just exploded in size.

They capture people they see as sinful. Prostitutes, Pimps- I was under the assumption that the last one was Jackie, honestly- and the homeless.

They then steal the remaining lifeforce of these people and give it to people who they think 'deserves' it.

James must be quite old. More than likely realizing- quite recently, in fact- the supernatural scope of things and wishes to make a difference. He is collecting a group of like-minded individuals to gain political power... or he is merely using these people to get placed in a position of power. He clearly has a lot of funding.

Old money?

Or perhaps donations from the rich of London who wish to be young yet again.

From what I have seen, these men hold no form of special trait. No enhanced strength, magical weapons.

This organization seems to be utterly mundane except for the artifact at it's center.

But that artifact... it could pose quite an issue.

Freezing and burning?

"Can the Idol do anything else?" I question.

"I-I-I Saw the mighty Gryphon summon gold with it once." The man stutters.

"How much gold?"

"H-He pointed out the golden idol to the sea and t-then he made a bunch of gold powder appear-"

Wait...

"How much gold?" I question, eyes narrowing slightly.

"A-About enough to fill a-a pint?"

That's about twenty pounds of gold...

Sea water contains about sixty five miligrams of gold in a ton... now, that might not seem like a lot, but a pool five feet wide, long, and deep holds nearly four tons of water.

Sixty five miligrams is worth about four and a half dollars. He'd need about one hundred and fifty times the area to generate that much gold. That... isn't that much water in the grand scheme. It'd only require about one hundred and forty thousand tons of water... the earth has around fourteen quintillion tons of water on it. It's a literal drop in the bucket.

Wait.

Wait wait wait.

My eyes flick around the wall as I stand up beginning to pace back and forth. Jackie stepping forwards and pressing the knife in her hand against the neck of the man, seemingly daring him to try and escape or make some sort of sound.

Let's think about this objectively.

The artifact can heat, freeze, steal life, give life, and summon gold after being pointed at the sea.

"You." I demand. "has your James ever cast a wind spell?"

"H-How did you know?!" The man whispers.

And that... Is game.

Well now.

This is something I really want my hands on.

The artifact is based around a sole concept...

Take and give... specifically in that order.

He can freeze something by taking all the heat out of an area or object.

But, with all that heat, he presumably has to discharge it, thus spontaneous combustion spell.

He can take the gold floating around in the sea water... and put the gold elsewhere.

He can take air, then create high blasts of air to knock people over.

He can take life... then give it to people he deems as worthy of it.

But this begs the question. Can the artifact hold more than one thing? Must it be discharged after every use?

Is this all it is capable of?

Could it be used for more than this?

This is quite interesting if I say so myself. "Jackie, release him."

The man shakes as the blade is pulled back, he stands up, body shaking as he looks around, the emerald green eyes of my psychopathic midget of a sister boring into his own.

He turns and begins running the way we entered.

"From this moral coil." I finish.

A sick grin spreads across the girl's lips as she lunges forwards.

There's a small spray of blood as he falls over... already dead before he hits the floor.

She's doing quite good. Killing them so quickly, that is.

Normally she'd drag it out, make it long and painful.

I turn, walking deeper inside, not all that worried about cameras.

He chose to run outwards... that means the closest camera or guard was likely the one out there... or, he was under the assumption that he would die faster if he tried going back in.

So. This corner here is the limit I can be careless.

I use a mirror to peer around the corner.

Once more. Empty.

It took a lot of careful maneuvering, but eventually we come to a large amphitheater-like room.

A man stands above hundreds of people, arms thrown out, a large scepter in hand which seems to carefully hold some sort of large golden statuette in its head in the vague shape of a man. Where its face would be is a large blue gemstone. "Rejoice, my followers. For the time of giving is at hand. Scribe. Who amongst us has gathered the most merit over this month. I shall reward them personally!"

My eyebrow twitches, hands shaking in irritation briefly.

He has neatly combed black hair light skin, piercing gray eyes and wears traditionally older clothing. A well pressed suit. A bit strange considering our location. Deep underground like rats.

He seems... Younger...

Younger?

That is... strange.

There's this sort of nagging feeling in the back of my head like I have seen this man before. That I have heard his voice before.

It... mildly irritates me, but... I don't think I have ever lain eyes on this person before.

How unusual-

Oh...

Ohohoho...

I see.

That is annoying.

"Wait..." The man speaks suddenly. "Those who are disposing of the trash have not yet reappeared... something is wrong."

I rise to my full height, waving Jackie to stay down as I strut into the room, adjusting my sleeves.

"It has been quite some time, Professor." I speak slowly as people begin roaring and shouting.

"Who... are you?" The man speaks slowly.

"Oh? I thought the answer to that question was quite... Elementary." I smirk.

Well. There's another Artifact for Aaron to grab.

His entire deal so far has been collecting artifacts of power from mystery games. The Golden Idol from Case of the Golden Idol, and the Baskerville Amulet from Sherlock Holmes and the hound of the Baskervilles.

What's next? Is he going to get the Memento Mortem from Obra Dinn?

Probably not.

He's already smart enough to determine who and what happened without being shown a still image of someone's last moments.