Codex

Mia explained Akira's survival and Daigo to Codex, and he mused a long while, sitting across the desk.

"It would make sense." he muttered. "Revenant colonies are known to heal their hosts occasionally. She never wore the temperature recorder otherwise, as far as I'm aware."

"Can we finally get her profile unlocked?" sighed Aimee.

"If you stop sharing them with anyone who asks."

"She will." said Mia, slyly looking at her wife.

"I'm serious. It doesn't go beyond you two - and if Daigo, well, if Daigo does show up again - then with your agency. Nobody else."

"Fine." said Aimee, knowing she would keep doing so anyhow.

"As for Akira Kagume's survival, I doubt you have proof of that, but I'll take your word for it. Who was it that theorized Daigo returning?"

"Magnus." said Mia. "It's in the tapes."

"Did it mention any possible location he might return?"

"No." said Aimee. "Just said he might repair himself and come back."

"And this Absolute Hot you mentioned?"

"It's in the tapes." said Mia. "There's more information there from Magnus."

He sighed as he leaned back. "…you know, I interviewed him as well. Mind control Revenants are typically immediately classified as national-level threats for, well, obvious reasons. Those and existential are the profiles I write, and interns the locals."

"Was he open to interviews?" said Mia.

"You saw him last. But yes, he was. He was very forthcoming with whatever information I asked about, but he talked about himself, mostly. Him and his research. Those... conduits, you mentioned. It's a shame they dissolve like they do, and you destroyed the others. Not only the ability to host multiple Revenants, but the potential to give a woman without the correct genes the ability to do so."

Mia nodded. She started to think what she may have done without Worldwide, then felt uncomfortable at this mismatched life and stopped. She adjusted her scarf.

"I found it interesting that he never contacted us. He could have easily been pardoned for murdering the Eastern League. Instead he chose to give Worldwide to you and died alone. I found his attainment of knowledge with no thought for later reward rather odd, but I suppose the mind of a great scientist works at a different layer than that of the commoner." He laughed and shook his head.

"Just need to focus on this." muttered Aimee.

"I agree." said Mia, placing her hand on her wife's.

"…right, sorry. But I'll ask around about your theory, as well, absolute hot. I can't speak to the physics of that. I can't guarantee we won't be dealing with this - if it happens again - for a very long time."

"Or maybe never." muttered Aimee bitterly.

'Just going to worry about this for the rest of my life.'

"Or maybe never." nodded Mia, trying to cheer Aimee up.

"That would be preferable, yes, but…" He sighed. "…I'll direct this further up, and get back to you as soon as I have more answers. Did you have anything else to discuss?"

Mia paused. "…why did - the Eastern League requested that Magnus and Akira be killed. Why?"

"Nikolai sent it over, but told us he would handle it himself. We assumed it was an intra-agency matter and decided not to intervene, figuring they could deal with the two pissed off employees if they failed."

"You just accepted that?" said Aimee. "No arguing, asking him what it was about?"

"We're not superhuman, Mad Dog. I know the image we have is that we're a bunch of G-Men running around with secret codes, top secret information with expert skills and reflexes - and some of that's true - but we run on the same stuff as everybody else does. There's someone in my department that still doesn't have their proper security clearance, officially - because someone is too lazy to do it. The more we can offload on to other people, the better."

Mia frowned. Being the most mature one in the room was no longer based on her age - she was just as likely to be the most mature around a pack of octogenarians as she was children.

"Make sure you send this to someone who'll actually listen, then." she said, handing over the bag of tapes.