Tip: Keep an eye out for how the courier is described. Several hints have been dropped in previous chapters.
"Are you implying I have some kind of secret under-the-table stash I only offer to certain clients? Because that could get a man in trouble."
This is probably the first time I've ever wanted to be proven right and wrong at the same time. "Maybe some caps will clear things up." Six then showed NCR Sergeant Contreras fifty caps.
Contreras took the caps without batting an eye, possibly having done this dozens of times before. "Now you're talking my language. I do have an expanded inventory for people I can trust. If you're willing to do a little legwork for me, I could give you access to my stash and at a discount. Many of these items aren't available in the NCR, and you'll be hard-pressed to find them at a better price anywhere else."
If they can't jail that senator despite all that overwhelming evidence, they won't get this guy. There's no point in reporting him.
Two deliveries later, Contreras sent Six to Miguel's pawn shop to deliver a package to Price. Six walked up to the man in leather armor. "Have you seen a guy named Price around?"
"We work together. I'm handling his deliveries for the moment while he handles a business opportunity that came up."
Six stepped back and scanned the man from head to toe. "C'mon guy. You're no merchant. You've got Ranger all over you."
The man's eyes widened at the sudden deduction. "What?! How the hell did you figure that out?"
"The way you stand, your weapon, even your armor is fitted in a military fashion."
The man gave an irritated sigh before adjusting his stance and appearance. "Hell. Thought I'd done a better job than that. Well, if that's how it is, you can call me Ranger Keller. Price is in deep with the NCR for supplying drug ingredients to the local gangs. He's currently being held for questioning. What is your business with Price?"
"Nothing. I was just told he was a local merchant I should check out."
"All right, if you hear anything, report it to myself or Lt. Boyd immediately. We need to track down his source." Six quickly left the pawn shop and returned to Contreras to give him the news.
"Ah shit. Well, please tell me you didn't hand him the package."
Six pulled out the package from their duffle bag. "Nah, but he is definitely looking for you." Contreras let out a relieved sigh and put the package on a desk nearby. "Thank fuck. You're going to need to take him out. If McCarran hears I've been selling contraband, we're both dead."
There's something I want to test. Hopefully, I fail at what I'm about to try.
"He's looking to break up trafficking. Maybe there is money to be made here."
"That might just work. Tell him I'll cut him in on a bit of the profit and help him track down drug dealers if he'll give me a pass." Six nodded and headed back to the ranger.
"Contreras would like to work with you."
No shot this works.
Keller's eyebrow rose at the offer. "Really now? We had our suspicions about that man, but he's got so many shipments going so many different directions it's been hard to track. What exactly is his offer? Does he realize bribing a Ranger is a hanging offense?"
Good, now decline the offer and go arrest him.
"Leave him alone and he'll share contact information along with a cut of the profit."
"He has himself a deal. However, If he tries to run or he continues to deal strategic assets with enemies, he's a dead man. Tell Contreras I want my cut every week, new intel when I next see him, or he'll be facing a firing squad." With his business done, the ranger left the pawn shop. With a sigh, Six pulled out the NCR emergency radio[1], opened up a Nuka Cola bottle[2], poured a bit over it, threw the radio in a trash can, and left drinking what was left in the bottle.
Robert was snapped out of his recollecting of past events when a twig landed on his helmet, he looked up, saw a pigeon suddenly fly to him and land on his shoulder. "You all right?" The bird nodded and Robert began his trip to the warehouse Freed told him about. When the building got within sight Robert glanced around before entering and whispered to the bird.
"Get to a window where I can see you. Keep watch on both the inside and the exterior." The pigeon nodded and flew into the air.
Robert walked in, immediately saw S on a broken skylight at the opposite side of the building flapping its wings to get his attention. Robert gave a subtle nod and walked to where Freed and Valper were.
"Alright Valper, what're we doin' ?"
"About time you got here. This better be fun, old man. I'm tired of waiting around here doing nothing." Freed complained as he sat on an old rotten wooden crate, playing catch with his gun.
Valper turned from his desk, not removing his eyes from his book. "I've received intel that the church has sent in extra exorcists. The first few you encountered were most likely just meant for reconnaissance."
Perfect. I've been wanting to try out more of the equipment I've brought from my storage back at Big Mt on the supernatural.
"Finally! Hope they put up more of a fight."
"Tell us everythin' you know 'bout 'em."
"Unfortunately, there's not much to go on. We know for sure that they know fallen angels are involved in this."
"Devils won't work with fallen so the exorcists won't bother investigatin' the devils. Supernatural entities can sense each other so it'd make sense to keep a low profile, so they'll be looking for places that are hidden or rarely visited. Valper, your thoughts?"
"I know nothing of strategy, my input here wouldn't help. Just bring as many of them as you can alive. I need them for my research."
"Sure, but how are we supposed to transport 'em?" Asked Robert.
"Freed, give him the communicator." Freed dug into his pocket and tossed a ball small enough to fit in his ear. "Press onto it and it'll activate. This will allow you to contact each other and the fallen angels. They'll use teleportation magic to get them here." Valper then spun his chair back to his desk and began writing into a book.
"Freed, let's split up, we'll cover more ground. I'll cover the east side of town and you the west. Let's report our progress two hours from now. If one of us doesn't call in exactly two hours, something's gone wrong. If either of us is captured, forced to contact each other, we'll say the first letter of our names, we're making good progress, and ask how the other is doing as a signal."
Freed nodded his head dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, whatever." He then threw the door open and ran into the night.
Robert took a glance at his pip-boy and went off to the building where he fought that devil when he first arrived in Kuoh with S flying above him.
Roughly forty minutes later, they both arrived at the building. A quick glance through one of the windows revealed that nobody was there.
What a waste of time. This is a wake up call to get the transportalponder working or make some sort of intelligence network. Maybe set up a bunch of cameras? No there's no need, I have this communicator for a reason.
"Suit, any eyes on us?"
"There's an entity thats been consistently following you. They're to the northeast"
Robert walked inside to prevent whoever it was from watching him and waved at S to come down to him. After landing on his shoulder Robert whispered to S as quietly as possible. "I want you to look for the two exorcists from earlier. Only watch and listen to them. If they see you, leave and come back as another animal that fits this region, if you believe your cover's about to be blown leave immediately. Stay within the town, they won't leave it. When it's dawn, return to the hotel, avoid other supernatural entities if you can help it. Wait for me at the hotel room when you're done or when it's dawn." S turned into a crow and flew away.
Robert then activated the communicator he'd been given. "Fallen Angels, this is Robert, over."
"Have you found the exorcists human?"
Robert held back an annoyed sigh. I should've known they wouldn't know how to talk over the radio.
"Negative, but I've got a solution to locate all targets tonight. If you're in. Over."
"Alright, we'll give you ONE shot. What's the plan?"
"Send one person to these locations I'm about to name. If anybody sees the exorcists, they report it over the radio, teleport me there and I'll deal with 'em. Over."
Robert gave Judas addresses of where to send the fallen and after about fifteen minutes, they were all in place.
Now that I think about it, what do they need me for? The fallen angels can do this on their own. Are they trying to limit exposure? Makes sense. None of the devils knew prior to the exorcists telling them. Cou-
A fallen angel woman in revealing clothing flew down and teleported him to the location. "Human, we've spotted three exorcists. I'm sending someone to pick you up."
Shows they still don't trust me. After this hopefully that'll change. Real question is if I could be watched from another location like a magic camera similar to those floating eyes that the bad guy could see through in a Grognak comic. I need to read more of those magic books, maybe get some kind of magic specialist or something.
The two appeared on the rooftop of a small convenience store nearby. The fallen there pointed to where they were going and Robert climbed down and blended into the shadows.
"Suit, don't activate the stealth field until I tell ya."
"Awww. I was having so much fun with my new function too." The suit quietly whined and did as instructed.
Robert quickly and quietly approached them, pulling out the bowie knife, Blood Nap. The three entered the building, leaving the door behind them slightly open. Walking around the building, he found a back door exit, picked the lock, and entered in.
Walking inside he immediately heard their voices. "The moment that door opens, open fire, if it tries to rush us, I'll hold it off with my sword."
Good thing I didn't follow in immediately after. But how did they sense me? Better hearing? radar? Some magical infrared or night vision? It might be impossible to get a clean sneak attack on them meaning it'll be direct combat.
Robert dug into the duffle bag and pulled out four tomahawks[3, four glass vials with tape over them, labeled Tremble[4]. Pouring the contents over each tomahawk, Robert aimed, imagined the arc of travel, predicted the rotation, aimed for the torso, and threw the first. The moment it left his hand he reached for the others and threw.
The two men aiming their guns screamed in pain as they felt something dig deep into their back. The one holding the sword turned around, and pointed.
"It's there! Fire!" The men aimed their weapons but the second they aimed in the courier's direction their body began to shake. The third tomahawk flew straight to the one giving orders, but he dashed back, avoiding it.
"What's wrong with you two?! Fire!"
"M-m-my body won't stop shaking! My muscles are tensing up on their own!"
"The spasms make it impossible to aim! And I feel ugh…" The other clutched his head with his free hand. "I've got this strong headache. I can-" Robert then pulled out A Light Shining in The Darkness and shot him three times in the right arm, causing him to drop his gun and clutch his arm. The moment gunshots were heard, the one holding the sword dove to his right for cover. A second later, three more gunshots were heard, another scream, and the sound of a gun dropping to the floor.
"Switch to your swords!"
With some difficulty they both managed to unsheath their light straight sword and charged straight forward.
They're as relentless as legionnaires.
Robert drew out a sawn-off shotgun from his lower back, aimed at their legs and blasted a twelve gauge in the thighs of both of them. The one on the left fell forward, while the other crouched down, reversed gripped his sword, and threw it like a spear, the close range distance made it impossible to dodge without the help of Turbo. Robert leaned his head back in hopes of the sword only grazing.
The sword pierced the elite riot gear helmet, cutting through the flesh of the cheek, scraping the roof of the mouth, then out the back of the jaw, and then out the helmet of the helmet before coming to a stop with the sword stuck in his head. Robert stumbled back from the force, his back hitting the wall, falling to the ground, and slumped over.
The stealth suit immediately injected a stimpack. "Does that feel better?"
That's why she's my favorite. Always helpful.
The exorcist who threw the sword let out a relieved sigh and nervous chuckle. "Hah…haha…that was insane. Sir, I got him."
"Good work. Take off his helmet so we can see who he is."Said the leader, as he got up from his position and began walking to the two.
"Yes, sir." The exorcist reached for the helmet and the moment the hand touched the helmet, four rapid gunshots rang throughout the building. The exorcist was shot four times in his left forearm, Robert then pointed the gun at the other exorcist and fired three more shots at his left foot twice, fired the last shot at his shin, put the fully modded .45 pistol back in the duster's inside pocket, got up and began sprinting for cover.
The moment the first shot was fired, the leader of the group, drew out his pistol, sprinted back to where he was, peaked out from cover, fired at Robert, hitting him right in the left thigh twice, the torso once, the three shots missed, hitting the concrete wall.
Robert jumped, tucked, and rolled forward, barely avoiding the last three shots. He pulled out a Fire Bomb[5, threw it to where the gunfire originated from. The bottle hit the ground shattering, lighting the floor, a second later, the leader ran out from cover, shooting at Robert as he ran, in response Robert ran in his opposite direction his opponent was, threw the last tomahawk, landing it on his stomach, the exorcist quickly hid behind a wall for cover.
Not even a second later another fire bomb was thrown, lighting up more of the floor on fire, when the exorcist ran out, Robert immediately unholstered the Ranger Sequoia, aimed at his legs, and fan fired all five shots. The first hit his right shin, the second the right thigh, third and fourth missed, and the last pierced the lower stomach.
The exorcist lost his balance, falling into the fire. Robert ran over, picked him up, threw him over his shoulders, and ran out the front door. The moment they were out, he threw him on the ground, changed his grip to the barrel of the pistol, pistol whipped the exorcist in the jaw, rendering him unconscious, took off the clothing that was on fire, pulled out a bottle of water and poured it over him. He pulled out a set of zip ties then tied the exorcists hands and feet to prevent any escape.
Running back inside, he carried out the other two exorcists outside, knocked them out, zip tied them, and activated the communicator.
"I've got 'em. They're all alive. Ready for transport, over." After deactivating the communicator he injected them all with stimpack.
"We're sending you to the next area." The same scantily dressed female fallen angel showed up and teleported to the next location.
Now Robert was outside an abandoned elementary school. With him stood a red haired braided ponytail fallen angel, in a white long-sleeved shirt, black tie, and black pants. She pointed to the front entrance. "Three were spotted entering there. Capture them."
He nodded, pulled out a pair of thermal binoculars, and scanned the building.
Nobody's outside. I see a heat signature on the door handle, so they're definitely inside. They'll detect me if I get too close, it's best I scout from a distance, and try to spot them through a window.
Robert spent the next few minutes circling around the school trying to spot them through a window. After a few minutes, he spotted a humanoid heat signature walking on the second floor, and reloaded his guns before proceeding forward.
Robert looked around for a second entrance, eventually finding a door next to a dumpster. A quick lockpick later and he was inside. Crouching down, he flipped on the helmet's night vision, began ascending up the stairs, then halted at the sound of steel scraping against a sheath and a magazine being inserted into a gun. Peeking over the stairwell, he spotted two exorcists leaving the room, their backs to the other, each holding a pistol, facing down their side of the hallway, ready to fire on anything that moved.
I can't hit the guy facing the opposite way meaning I can only use a poisoned throwing weapon once while hidden since it'll alert the others. Wait, there's no need. They're lined up well enough for me to easily shoot their legs.
Robert aimed the modded .45 pistol at the right thigh, firing all seven rounds as fast as he could, five rounds to the thigh threw the exorcist's aim off but he returned fire the moment heard he heard gunshots, he aimed where he saw the muzzle flash but missed shot after shot, the other exorcist frantically spun around, firing with him he narrowly missing. When the fifth shot hit his thigh again he dropped to the ground. Robert dropped the gun, letting it fall to the ground, and drew A Light Shining in Darkness from his holster. By now two seconds have passed.
Robert aimed the modded .45 pistol at the right thigh of the other exorcist, firing all as fast as he could, causing him to roar in pain. Now three seconds had passed, the second exorcist finally spun around, returning fire with, as both sides began exchanging gunfire the third exorcist poked an arm out of the room, and aimed a flashlight down the hallway at their target.
"There he is! Cmon get up!"
"I- I can't! I can't even stand!
"And it's taking everything I've got just for me to keep standi-" Then he screamed in pain again, when he lost his balance and fell to the ground on his injured leg. So many shots to his leg had made him unable to stand.
Robert shot the remaining rounds into the wall, trying to hit the last exorcist through the wall, but missed each shot. He dropped the pistol, grabbed two fire bombs, ran down the hallway, and threw them inside.
The third exorcist ran out the room, his clothing on fire, charging straight towards Robert with nothing but a longsword and giving a loud battle cry. Robert drew the ranger sequoia, aimed for the torso, fan fired all five shots, creating bleeding out holes in the intestines, the stomach, and the liver, yet somehow, the man kept running. He swung his sword with all his strength at Robert's hand, landing a deep cut on his forearm. He drew back his sword to his hip, thrusted forward with the intent on piercing Robert's heart.
Robert stepped to his right and leaned out as far as he could, the sword instead cut into his left ribs, he unsheathed blood nap and landed a cut on the swordsman's hand. The exorcist went for a diagonal slash, intent on cutting from Robert's left shoulder to his hip. The moment he swung down, Robert took a step forward, hit the middle part of the sword, causing it to go above his head, closed the gap, and hit the man in the jaw as hard as he could with the end of the handle of the knife, knocking him out. He fell to the ground with an audible thud.
"Injecting stimpack."
Robert immediately took off the man's burning clothing, leaving him in nothing but his underwear, applied two stimpacks, and zip tied him.
"What the…why did you help him?"
Robert went to the other two, knocked them out, and zip tied them.
That was pretty fun. That last guy was something else. I'll see what I can do to make sure these guys survive whatever experiments Valper is going to do.
"This is Robert, I've captured all the exorcists. We're on the third floor. Over."
"We're on our way, human."
The three exorcists were picked up and teleported along with Robert back to the warehouse. "Good work, Robert. You brought back all of them alive. Unlike Freed, who killed all the ones he encountered."
Freed only laughed at the comment as he played catch with his gun.
"Valper, how's the progress on mass producin' holy bullets?"
"My progress came to a halt when I ran out of subjects a few weeks ago. These new ones for me might just be enough to achieve a breakthrough."
Best I keep an eye on 'em. If he tries to kill them, I'll discretely help them escape. It'll win me favor with the church.
"While you were gone, I received orders to start you on our main objective. Your next goal is to-"
"Wait a minute, before we continue, we need to discuss payment. I went the extra step to bring back the exorcists not only alive, but in good condition. If you want me to keep workin' for ya I need payment."
"Very well, what do you want? Know that there's a limit to what I can give both in terms of reward for the job you did and what I possess."
"Simple, I want a copy of all your research notes. Every book, scroll, tome, document, and anythin' else that can go in a printer."
Valper chuckled at the request. "I was expecting you to demand money or a weapon, not knowledge. I will agree to give you a copy of all research notes after we complete our next assignment."
"How about you give me only half the research notes now and the other half after I help with the next job? That way we both get what we want, and I'll have a reason to keep working for ya. I'll even give you the money ya need for the books if ya have to order copies."
"That's fine. Give me a moment and I'll make copies of my research notes. As for the books, I'll have my contacts to get a copy for me, they can bring it in by tomorrow or the day after." Half an hour later, Robert was given dozens of loose paper copies.
"That's half of everything excluding the books. The books will cost you one hundred two thousand and three hundred seventy seven yen."
Well shit. That's a little over half of all I've got from selling legion coins. I need some sort of income or reduce spending to zero.
Robert rummaged into his duffle bag, retrieving a stack of yen notes, and handed it over. "Alright, here ya go. Now what's the job you had for us?"
"You'll need to find those exorcists with the Holy swords, steal them, and bring them back to me."
"Is there a way for us to hold the swords without burning our hands?"
"You won't be able to. You lack the requirements to hold the sword without it burning you. Freed will carry them instead."
"No problem. Guessin' the fallen angels can't fan out and keep an eye out for 'em, like last time?"
"Correct, the exorcists are likely to detect the fallen angels. The church may know that a few fallen angels are involved but they cannot be allowed to know any more than that."
So that's even further evidence to what Dohnaseek said. I need to get to that meeting with the Exorcists and Gremory, reveal some intel, and overall build trust.
"Understood."
Robert walked back to the hotel, making sure no one followed him. When he got back he saw a crow fly to him and land on his shoulder. Then whispered to the stealth suit.
"Anything?"
"Nobody was spotted consistently following with my thermal, radar, or video instruments." The suit quietly reported.
"From now on, I want ya to only communicate to me through my helmet's built-in radio."
"Ok! Go talk to 8. He should be able to easily establish a consistent connection." The suit cheerfully replied.
"C'mon, let's get some sleep. We're gonna be busy for a while." After heading inside, checking the room for any new hidden cameras, Robert made a trip to Big Mt to take a nap after handing 8 the helmet and stealth suit. Returning to Kuoh at seven the next day.
Wish there was an implant that made me need to sleep less. The time zone difference and the work from last night is draining me.
When he arrived wearing the academy uniform imitation, holding an umbrella to cover his face, mask and glasses for good measure, he went straight to the ORC club room and knocked on the door. A minute later, Akeno answered the door. "Oh, Robert. What brings you here?"
"I've seen some individuals that might be from the church. They may be carryin' some special weapons. They're both female, wear a white robe, and one of their weapons was covered in a protective white cloth."
"Thanks for telling me Robert. I'll be sure to inform Rias."
"You're welcome. I'm going to go look for them, see what they're up to." As Robert left the school he saw said exorcists walking to the school gates. Robert approached them.
"Good Mornin'. I'm guessin' you're with the church?"
"Are you part of one of the peerages?"
Before Robert could answer, the other spoke up. "Use your senses Irina. This one's human." "Huh. You're right. I don't sense any type of magic coming from you either."
"The name's Robert House. I'm a neutral mercenary. Who are you two?" Irina glanced for confirmation at Xenovia to which she nodded.
"I'm Irina and my friend here is Xenovia. We are with the church. Are you associated with the devils?"
"In a way, yes. I recently traded healin' items to Miss Gremory and Miss Sitri but, I'm not currently contracted to work for 'em. I have no problem sellin' or tradin' with the church either if either of you are interested."
"We can't speak for the church but if you can show us proof of their effectiveness then we could include it in our report." Robert nodded, pulled out Blood-Nap, made a shallow cut across his entire left hand's palm.
"Now watch. You can inject it anywhere but it's most effective near the wound but to prove it can be done anywhere, I'll inject it in my other hand." True enough, the wound healed seconds later, both of their eyes widened at the immediate effects.
"Quite the sales pitch Robert but I'm going to have to stop you there. They're here to meet with someone." Interrupted Sona.
"Of course, of course. If it's fine with you two, mind I go with you? I might be able to give you intel that might help you."
Irina and Xenovia turned around, whispering to each other. A second later, they both nodded and were instructed to wait in the ORC clubroom.
"So now that you have proof, what do you think?"
Xenovia looked around the clubroom as she and Irina sat on the couch. "We'll be sure to inform the church about your offer. I can't guarantee it but, there's a good chance they'll be willing to work something out with you."
Robert made his tone sound as happy as possible given his expression couldn't be seen. "That's great to hear! Just one thing. These are difficult to produce, so tell them to come to a conclusion quickly before my supply runs low.."
"We'll be sure to. Who are these other customers?"
"Unfortunately, I can't tell you that Miss Xenovia. Customer confidentiality, ya see. What ya buy from me is and what ya do with it is your business."
"You sound more like a salesman than a mercenary for hire."
"Thank you, Miss Irina. I try to find other ways of makin' money since there are times where my services aren't in demand. If you or the church wants to contact me, here's the hotel I'm staying at and its number." Robert then wrote down the hotel's payphone number on two scraps of paper and handed it to the two.
Some time later, the front door opened and in walked the Rias Gremory and her peerage.
Rias sat down with her peerage standing behind her. "I wonder. Why would followers of God want to meet with a devil?"
The two exorcists shared a quick glance, nodded and Xenovia spoke first. "The catholic church has two of the remaining holy swords. The Protestants have another pair, as does the Orthodox church. The seventh and final blade was lost during the great war. Of those six remaining weapons, one from each christian sect was stolen. From what we understand, the thieves escaped to this very town."
Rias sighed in irritation. "My territory is always full of surprises. So who are these thieves?"
"The Grigori."
Everyone but Rias and Koneko gasped at the news, Rias widening her eyes in surprise but maintaining her composure and Koneko showing no reaction.
"We know who the culprit was. It's a man named Kokabiel, a leader of the Grigori. We've also sent several exorcists to this town, hoping to infiltrate their group and locate the Excaliburs. They were all murdered." Irina chimed in, with a frown at the loss of her fellow believers.
Xenovia's expression became irate before adding on to Irina's explanation. "Yesterday, when we met with Sona Sitri, we were ambushed, and in a few seconds, my Excalibur Destruction was stolen. That time however, we're unsure if it was a fallen angel."
Rias crossed her arms at the information. "What makes that time different?"
"There was no magic nor did any of us sense a fallen angel and there's this." Xenovia then revealed the flashbang Robert used the day he stole the Excalibur.
Damn it! I got careless again! No, calm down. They don't know it's me yet. But who else other than me uses man made weapons in combat? Oh, right.
"That confirms it then. Freed Selzen is involved in this." Robert confidently declared.
Irina tilted her head in confusion. "That stray exorcist? Why him?"
"Recently, Freed Selzen was workin' with a fallen angel here in Kuoh. When he was about to be defeated, he escaped by throwin' something to create a blindin' light to cover his escape. What your holdin' is a flashbang, it does the exact same thing. I imagine when you were ambushed, you were engulfed by a blindin' light. At the very least, you can rule out devils. No devil can hold a holy sword without burnin' themselves and I highly doubt a fallen angel would use a man made tool but that's just my thoughts."
Kiba tightened his fist to suppress his already boiling anger. "I think Robert's right. I recently encountered Freed here in Kuoh. When I fought him he used an Excalibur."
"Then if we can find Freed, he can lead us to who currently has the Excaliburs." Said Irina.
"Well, what would you like us to do?" Question Rias.
"Our request –or rather, our demand– is that none of the devils in this town interfere in our battles against the fallen angels responsible." Her emphasis on devils no doubt worsened the situation.
Rias raised an eyebrow in suspicion of Xenovia's tone. "Is that an accusation? Are you saying we'll side with the fallen angels and do something about the holy sword?"
Xenovia doubled down to her question. "Our superiors don't think outside the realm of possibility."
Somethin's off. It's in their interest for devils to not interfere,why try to piss them off like that? Then Rias slightly gives into her emotions and calls out what she thinks is an accusation. Maybe both are just bad at negotiations? Maybe Xenovia is tryin' to get a reaction to see if Rias is lying?
Issei and Asia grew suddenly gasped.
What's with 'em? Did the accusation surprise 'em?
Robert then looked at Rias. Her eye color had somehow changed from blue to red.
So she's pissed off. I'm guessin' magic can even effect your appearance based on your mood. But how'd they notice? They're standin' behind her. Maybe supernatural entities can detect some kind of spike in magical energy originatin' from another? But this is invaluable knowledge. Now I know at the very least devils may have a some sort of 'magical tell' that gives away their emotions.
"If that's true then we will completely annihilate you. Even if you are Lucifer's little sister."
Lucifer? The one who convinced a third of heaven to join him and rebel against god? I'm still unsure how true all this supernatural junk is. Most likely everything is symbolic. Bet that Lucifer guy just read got lucky and found a book that wasn't burned from the war and picked up the name.
"If you know me that well already, let me tell you this, There is no way I'd ever join with the fallen angels. I will never ally with any fallen angel. Never. In the name of the house of Gremory I swear I would never insult Lucifer with such treachery."
Xenovia smiled at her response and leaned back into the couch. "It's enough just to hear that. I was just relaying the thoughts of those at headquarters. I didn't think Lucifer's little sister would be so stupid."
"Then you also understand that I will not aid your side either?"
"Of course. We wouldn't have asked for your help. If a devil, especially the sister of Lucifer aided us, that would upset the power of the three factions." Rias let out a sigh and relaxed a bit.
"What about the remaining Excaliburs?"
"The last one is held by another Excalibur user as back up. They're to defend it with their life so it doesn't fall into the wrong hands."
Rias questioned the validity of their superior's plan. "So you two plan to fight against Kokabiel on your own? That has to sound reckless even to you."
"Yes. An army or even a noticeable amount of exorcists can't be sent here. It could restart hostilities which is the last thing anyone wants. Our orders are at the bare minimum to make sure the fallen cannot use the weapons. The church would rather they be destroyed than be used by the fallen angels."
Irina glanced at her watch, tapped Xenovia on the shoulder, tapped on her watch to which Xenovia nodded. "It's about time we leave."
"Oh? Won't you stay for a cup of tea?" Asked Akeno as she put down a tray on the table.
"That's not necessary." Xenovia declined with a wave of her hand.
"Maybe next time." Irina waved goodbye as they made for the door.
They halted when they saw Asia. "I thought I recognized you. You're the witch Asia Argento, right? I never would have expected to meet you here." Xenovia asked.
Hard to tell if she's subtly mocking her. Sometimes people just have that tone of voice or speech where it's unintentionally mocking.
"Um, I-uh…" Asia stammered, surprised at being spoken out of nowhere and most likely uncomfortable being called a witch.
"Don't worry, I won't tell any of our superiors that we saw you here. I'm sure former followers of the holy maiden would be shocked to learn about your current situation." Asia didn't respond to Irina's comment. Only looking down at the floor hoping they would lose interest in her and leave.
Should I interfere? I hate seeing that kid look like that. Then again, this is the perfect chance to at the very least make each group antagonize each other. Maybe even lead to a fight, where I can call in Freed. No, he won't come here even with backup. Too many enemies. Then again, Kokabiel wants war so it's still possible he'll come.
As Robert was lost in thought on what to do next the argument discussion began to intensify. "A former maiden, now a devil. How far they fall. Do you still have faith in our lord?"
"How could she, Xenovia? She's a devil." Irina askes with a puzzled look.
I can't steal it either since I'll be an obvious suspect. Even if I subtly tell them to leave, it could jeopardize my neutral merc facade. I hate it, but for now I'll stay quiet and observe.
"No, I can sense it off her, faith. I've got a sixth sense for these things. There are those who betray our lord only to feel overwhelming guilt about their actions and unable to let go of their devotion."
There it is again—someone having some kind of sixth sense. First Riser, now this exorcist. Yet Irina couldn't sense it. Is it genetic? A taught skill? I need to get my hands on some books exclusive to the Church, not just whatever Valper has.
It looked like Asia's eyes were beginning to watery. "I haven't abandoned him. I always believed…" She muttered while staring at the floor.
"I see. In that case, you won't mind if I cut you down here and now. I shall execute you here in the name of the lord. Sinful though you may be, he should forgive you if you are a pure spirit."
She sounds a bit like Joshua. Difference is he'd never go out of his way to kill someone who has no intention of harming others like Asia. Not to mention arrogant. She's lost her Excalibur. What's she gonna use instead?
Issei rushed to stand in front of Asia to shield her. "Don't touch her. If you come any closer, I won't hold back, you've no right to call her a witch." he declared resolutely.
Xenovia remained calm and gave a combative response. "The church has declared her as such. It only makes sense to call her a witch."
This'll lead to a fight. The real question is, should I stop them? Nah. I need to see how these exorcists fight. I'll step in if anyone's about to be killed.
Issei grit his teeth in anger. "Don't you dare say that! Not a single one of you did anything to help her when she needed it! None of you would even be her friend! How is that supposed to be in the name of good?!"
"Do you think a Holy Maiden needs friends? Her only concern should've been fulfilling her charitable duties. Anyone seeking friends is unfit to be a Holy Maiden. The love of the lord should be enough."
The two went back and forth arguing for about a minute or two. Robert was beginning to grow bored until Issei said something that got his attention.
"So if you try and lay a hand on her that means you'll be my enemy! I'll take you all down if I have to!"
Xenovia and Irina slightly shifted their stance, ready in case the situation escalated at any moment. "Is that a challenge to us–to the entire church? You've got some hard bark on you for a little guy."
"Issei, don't -"
Kiba interrupted, "Fine, I'll take you on."
Fifthteen minutes later Issei and Kiba were laid out on the ground clutching their injuries.
Robert looked at them with a mixture of pity, embarrassment, and shame.
Can't believe they went through all that training only to let their emotions get the best of them in combat. I imagine this is what it's like to be a parent, educating your kid only to fail miserably at the one thing you were teaching them.
Kiba had demanded to face off against Irina. He had no interest in fighting Xenovia since she had no Excalibur for him to destroy. She agreed and with that, Akeno formed a protective barrier around them as they began their fight behind the ORC clubroom.
Issei suggested to Xenovia that he had no interest in fighting since he had said all he wanted. Xenovia accepted but voiced disappointment in someone who would speak of defending their friends only to grow shy when it came time to do so. That easily got to him and he changed his mind. Issei initially attempted to perform his dress break technique on her but Xenovia was able to dodge every swing he made. As the fight progressed he adapted to her dodges, getting closer and closer, but made the dumb move of diving for her when he was certain he would get her. Xenovia simply dashed to her right and swung her light sword on his back midair and landed two deep cuts on him. Their fight was then called off as Issei couldn't continue.
Irina and Kiba had an intense duel ending with Irina landing a cut on Kiba's hand when he overreached. Kiba attempted to use various demon swords, such as a sword that spewed fire, another that froze anything it came into contact with, intending on ending the fight with a giant sword too heavy for him to use effectively. She won the sparring session by landing a deep cut on his hand when he swung the sword.
Kiba was so hellbent on trying to destroy her Excalibur that he threw strategy out the window. The thrust was over extended and Kiba should've known better than to let his emotion get the better of him.
Robert decided to stay behind to try to get more intel on the situation. The two were brought back inside and healed up by Asia. The moment Kiba was back to good condition he went for the door.
"Stop! Yuuto!" Kiba had stopped his hand from turning the doorknob when he heard her voice. "You're a knight of the Gremory household! I won't let you become a stray! You're staying right here!"
Kiba didn't turn around to face her. He kept his head down, seemingly staring at the door. "I only managed to survive because of my fallen comrades' sacrifice. I have to avenge them." Kiba then opened the door and left.
"What's he talking about Rias?" Asked Robert.
"Well, a long time ago, Kiba along with dozens of other children were part of the Holy Sword Project. The goal of the project was to make artificial holy sword wielders. The children were subjected to inhumane experiments day after day. The project was eventually scrapped since they failed to produce anybody capable of wielding one."
"Who was in charge of this project?"
"I only know that Valper Galilei was in charge of the project but I've heard that high ranking members of the church supported him and helped organize it."
Robert stood silent for a few moments before letting out a long sigh. "Before I go, here's my hotel's payphone number if you need to contact me. Have a nice day Miss Gremory."
"Oh, thank you. Here's my and Sona's home numbers in case you need to contact us."
After Robert left the academy grounds, went for an alley, opened up his duffle bag, let out a black snake, and showed it the map on his pip-boy. "Ok, we're goin' to go search for the exorcists. You look around on the west side of town and I'll look 'round east. If you find 'em, come find me quickly. If you find nothin' by dusk, just wait at the hotel for me." Robert set a marker for the abandoned church and when he looked up from the pip-boy he saw a crow flying west.
After a bus ride to a stop near the church, Robert looked inside and found nothing. They weren't here.
I should try the other churches. The only one's I know of are the ones me and Freed went to.
Robert spent the next three and a half hours waiting for a bus, going to a stop to the nearest church he knew of, walking there, looking for the exorcists, asking for anybody there if they'd seen them, and found nothing. The sun was due to set in about half an hour. As he waited by the bus stop a crow flew down and landed on his duffle bag.
"Any luck?" The bird nodded eagerly.
"Nice! Since this is important, think you can transform into a Devil or Fallen and take me there?" S shook its head and pointed a wing at the duffle bag.
"Right, the weight. There's me, the armor, and all this equipment I'm carrying. Well, if you've another way, do it. We need to get to them as fast as possible." S nodded and flew behind a building. When Robert got behind the building he saw a white horse with wings.
"What the? Whatever, we'll there's no time to lose. Let's be quick. The moment we land, turn into something inconspicuous." S nodded, raised its front legs, gave a proud neigh, flapped its wings hard, producing strong gusts of air, and took off high into the air.
About fifteen minutes later, S was beginning to approach an abandoned church. Unlike the other church Robert was familiar with, this one was made of concrete bricks, with broken glass windows near the ceiling of the interior. S gracefully and quietly landed on top of a convenience store nearby, then transformed back into a crow.
"Alright, now go check if they're still there." A few minutes later S returned and nodded.
Perfect. Now when I call Freed, the two sides will fight, if freed wins, I'll neutralize him, send him back to Big Mt, take the sword back to Valper, hopefully help those exorcists escape, get the research notes, capture Valper and take the rest of the Excaliburs.
But if the girls win, then I'll try to neutralize them if they're injured enough. If they're still in good condition, I might be able to pull the same trick again to steal the other Excalibur.
Robert activated the communicator Valper gave him. "Valper, Freed, I've located the two exorcists. They're at a church on the east side of town on Shirakawa Boulevard."
Freed immediately responded. "About time! I'm on my way!"
Freed then appeared out of a portal in the alley next to the church. After the fallen angel quickly glanced for any regular humans who may have witnessed the magic she closed the portal.
"I'm here in the alleyway next to the church hurry up or I'll start without ya!" Freed excitedly announced over the magic communication device.
Robert climbed down from the building and met up with him. "Ok, Freed, I know you're excited so you can go in there and go nuts. My job will be to look for the holy swords and klep 'em"
"Klep?"
"My bad choom- uh-um, nevermind, I meant steal. Anyway, if I don't find 'em I'll go help ya out."
"I like it. Simple, easy to remember." Freed then ran to the front door and kicked it open. He began running through the church, going down the stairs looking everywhere for someone to cut down."
"Suit, anybody nearby?" "Nuh-uh" Robert then got undressed, removing the stealth suit, hastily threw on a priest's uniform that he'd taken from one of the dead exorcists the day he helped take down Raynare. When he folded the suit, elite riot duster, removed the elite riot helmet and put them back in the duffle bag. The suit gave a quick goodbye as he left the duffle bag in the alleyway. "I'll miss you…"
C'mon, don't say that. Makes me feel bad. But I can't become over reliant on that stealth field and I need the exorcists to think I'm just another stray exorcist.
Robert threw on a Breathing mask[6] and the black wide brimmed hat stray exorcists often wore. Not even a second later, the sound of clashing swords rang from the church. Robert immediately ran inside to find the source. After a minute of running he found the three fighting. Freed was somehow moving at inhuman speed, constantly running circles around the two, landing several cuts on the two. Irina and Xenovia were only able to block the most telegraphed of attacks. It was clear that if something didn't change soon they would be dead.
"Irina! Buy me some time!"
"Got it!"
Irina's katana then morphed into a two handed spear.
Damn it. Looks like she had it on her this whole time.
"Peter, Basilius, Dionysius, and the Blessed Virgin Mary, please hear my prayers!" Xenovia then reached into the air, a magic circle then appeared next to her outstretched hand, she pushed her hand through, and began to unsheath a massive sword half her height.
"What the?! Durandal?!"
Fuck it! If Freed's so scared of that thing I need to act now! Who knows how powerful that sword is!
Robert rolled up his left arm, went to the aid tab on Pip-Boy, activated implant GRX[7] six times. Robert's reaction speed increased down to about a millisecond, his perception of his surrounds made everything appear slow, he dug through his pocket pulled out a container of jet[8, took a hit, quickly activated V.A.T.S[9] aimed the Ranger Sequoia at Irina's right hand and Xenovia's left calf. The concentrated fire on the two limbs increased the V.A.T.S accuracy to ninety percent landing both shots on Irina's hand and all three shots on Xenovia's leg.
In less than a second, five gunshots rang out, two large holes were put in Irina's hand and Xenovia had three holes put in her calf, forcing her to drop, rest on her right knee and lean on her sword
Robert covered his Pip-Boy and sprinted for the dropped spear. Right as Robert was about to pick it up, Xenovia swung her sword at him and he quickly stepped back, easily avoiding it.
Immediately after, Freed rushed to her with his immense speed and blocked her next attack.
"Freed, you traitor. I'll be sure to strike you down in the name of the Lord!"
Freed's expression grew more twisted and angry. "Don't say that bastard's name! I don't ever want to hear it again!" The two clashed swords, reaching a deadlock with each trying to overpower the other. Every time the two swords clashed Xenovia began to overwhelm Freed more and more.
Irina rushed to pick up the spear but Robert hit her straight in the jaw with the butt of the Ranger Sequoia, holstered the gun, unsheathed Blood Nap and back stepped out of the range of Irina's side kick to his stomach. Before she could pull back her leg he grabbed her leg and stabbed her right foot three times. Irina bit back a scream and responded by jumping off her left foot and doing a mid air roundhouse kick straight to Robert's head, he let go of her leg and ducked under it.
Now's my chance!
As Irina spun around from her midair kick, Robert ran to the spear again, but Irina twisted her body mid air so that her hands landed on the ground first, did a handstand before her legs could touch the ground, pushed off the ground going six feet or 183 centimeters into the air, twisted her body again as she flew towards him, and dive kicked him in the back with her left foot, causing him to stumble forward barely out of hands reach of the spear.
Irina landed on her left foot, and when Robert turned around, did a jumping knee to his head. Robert dashed to the side, ran to her and landed a powerful haymaker on her jaw. Causing her head to turn, lose balance, and fall on her rear.
I can feel the implant about to wear off! I need to grab the sword now!
Robert sprinted to the sword again but a swing from Durandal that forced him to dodge prevented him yet again and true enough, the effects of the implant had ended then and there.
Damn it! What's that idiot Freed doing?!
"Surrender. Your accomplice is too injured to help you. You're all alone." She tilted her head towards Freed who was clutching his stomach to stop the blood loss. His clothing had cuts all over with deep cuts pouring blood.
Robert raised his hands.
Don't get too comfortable. I've always got a back up plan.
"Smart move. Irina, go grab your Excalibur."
Robert was about to call for S to come in and assist but right before Irina even took a step, the sound of rapid footsteps rang for a split second, and Xenovia reacted just a moment too late. Freed had stabbed Xenovia through her stomach and out her back.
"Dumbass! What kinda idiot takes their eyes off their opponent?"
"Why won't-"
"I die? Stimpacks girl. They speed up the healing process. You can't kill me!"
Robert saw Irina's hand about to grip her Excalibur so he activated V.A.T.S and threw Blood Nap straight at her hand. The bowie knife hit its mark and she recoiled her hand from the pain. Freed then used his immense speed to home in on her, kick her in the stomach, raised his sword above his head, and stabbed Irina in her back and out through her stomach.
"Freed, take the Excalibur and get out of here! I'll call Valper to send someone to pick ya up!" Robert yelled through the mask's muffling of his voice.
Freed laughed at the sorry state of the two girls before running off. "See ya around you shitty exorcists!"
"Valper, Freed has Excalibur Mimic. Ready for extraction. Over." He whispered into the magic communicator.
Robert then sprinted out of the church, got his duffle bag, threw on the Steal Suit, Elite Riot Helmet, and its duster.
"Suit, anyone around?" "The buildings nearby are preventing a full radar scan of your surroundings. Thermal and video aren't detecting anything. Currently, no one is here."
Now I need to run back in and stop those girls from bleeding out.
When he finally got back two, they were on the ground with pools of blood growing around them. They looked like they were on the verge of losing consciousness.
"What in the goddamn?! What happened?! Don't worry girls, I'm here to help!"
Robert activated Implant GRX twice, pulled out a roll of gauze and began stuffing Xenovia's wounds with it until the bleeding stopped. Then pulled out a tourniquet and stopped the bleeding on her arms. When he finished he moved to Irina and did the same.
Now what? I can't use a stimpack yet since they need surgery for which I don't have the tools on me. I don't know anybody from the church outside of these two who I can contact. The devils obviously aren't gonna help. That only leaves…
Robert wrapped the remaining gauze around the eyes of both girls, pulled out the transportalponder.
Oh, I almost forgot!
Robert quickly ran and picked up the bullet casings. When done he called out to his familiar. "S, we're leaving!" A few seconds later, a crow landed on Robert's shoulder.
"Dala! I need you to perform emergency surgery on this girl! I'll take this one up to the Auto-Doc!" Without waiting for a response, he dropped the duffle bag to reduce weight, picked up Xenovia gently, placed her over their shoulders and took her up to the Auto-Doc.
"So how is she?"
"She's lost over one and a half liters of blood, her intestines are cut open in various areas, a few fractured ribs and her hands have two big holes in them, she's lucky there's no shrapnel. I'll have to replace the parts where her bones were with synthetic equivalents. If you'd gotten her here five minutes later, she'd be dead from blood loss. I should be done in about one to two hours."
"When you're done, keep her sedated, get a blood and hair sample, so we the Think Tank can examine her genome. I need to get her out of here quickly. Don't lobotomize her. I need as little evidence as possible of Big Mt to leak." Six then rushed back to Dala.
"Dala! What's her condition?"
"She'll survive. Projections state it'll take me around two hours to finish the surgery."
"That's fine. Just don't lobotomize her or the other one I brought in. Make sure you get any DNA and other samples you can get from her. When you're done, keep her sedated, I don't want her waking up here."
"Of course, my little teddy bear. I'm always happy to get a close look at the human body and this one is quite the specimen."
Right. She's one of the weirder ones. The others are just insane in some way. She's got an odd kink.
Six set a two hour timer and went to go read a few magic books to kill time.
A few hours later, both girls were the picture of health and laying on the cold steel floor. "Got the samples Dala?"
"Yes. You've given us quite a few…gifts these last few days. Bringing us something new, ready to be studied, dissected, and prodded almost every time you come here."
"I'm going to bring more samples here over time. I theorize these individuals have a certain gene they all share despite being different species. If I'm right, hopefully you can identify and isolate it. Then develop a retrovirus[10] to either replace or nullify it."
"AN INTERESTING IDEA, PARTNER. WE WOULD BE MOST EAGER TO MEET THESE SPECIES YOU SPEAK OF. UNTIL THEN, WE SHALL TOIL AWAY AT THE NEW CURIOSITIES YOU'VE BROUGHT US."
A few moments later, Robert, S, and the exorcists were back in the park in Kuoh. Robert pulled out a bottle of purified water and poured a bit over each of their faces.
Xenovia groggily awoke. "Huh? What…happened?"
In contrast, Irina jolted awake. She spun her head around looking for any hostilities.
"Easy, easy. You've been out for a couple of hours. It's me, Robert. We met yesterday. The neutral mercenary who sounded like a salesman? Sound familiar?"
Irina slowly sat up. "Ugh. I remember. What happened?"
"I found you two with several fatal injuries. You were bleeding out profusely. I did some first aid, injected you with the stimpacks, and brought you here."
Xenovia slowly stood up. "How did you find us?"
"I was eating at a restaurant nearby and when I left I saw Freed run out of that church and leave with a fallen angel. When I went inside I found you two on the brink of death. Stopped the bleeding, reattached any open internal wounds, injected a few stimpacks, and dragged you here in case he came back."
Irina nursed the back of her head. "Why here? My head feels terrible from laying down on this grass."
"Irina, where's your Excalibur?"
"I've got it right…" She then reached to her left arm to pull on the string she would have tied there but found nothing.
Irina's expression grew worried. "What do we do now?"
Xenovia stood silent. She felt any consolation from her wouldn't help. "Robert, are you available for hire?"
Robert did his best to keep his tone from changing out of the cool, calm, neutral voice he often spoke in. "Of course."
Remember when I said i'd upload on Halloween? Yeah me too. I'll do my best to get a chapter out once a month.
Drop a review. I like hearing feedback and want to know if anybody picked up on any references here.
[Links]
[1]Fallout wiki: NCR emergency radio
[2]Fallout wiki: Nuka Cola
[3]Fallout wiki: Tomahawk (Honest Hearts)
[4]Fallout wiki: Tremble
[5]Fallout wiki: Fire bomb
[6]Fallout wiki: Breathing mask
[7]Fallout wiki: Implant GRX
[8]Fallout wiki: Jet (Fallout: New Vegas)
[9]Fallout wiki: V.A.T.S.
[10]Youtube 5:13 video: Retrovirus Replication 3D Animation
[Summary: The virus enters a cell, turns its RNA into DNA, that DNA is then inserted into the host cell genome, The host cell unknowingly uses the viral DNA to produce new viruses, and the virus leaves the cell to infect others.]
[Note: Now imagine an engineered retrovirus that goes into someone with the 'magic gene' and alters or removes it. CRISPR is injected into someone by a syringe but what if the courier found another way?]