Codename: Morgan

Sometime in the middle of May 2021, President Swarm was sitting in her office, reading a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke. It went:

'His vision, from the constantly passing bars,

has grown so weary that it cannot hold

anything else. It seems to him there are

a thousand bars; and behind the bars, no world.

As he paces in cramped circles, over and over,

the movement of his powerful soft strides

is like a ritual dance around a center

in which a mighty will stands paralyzed.

Only at times, the curtain of the pupils

lifts, quietly--. An image enters in,

rushes down through the tensed, arrested muscles,

plunges into the heart and is gone.'

Over the years, she had cultivated an interest in poetry and literature. A woman needed a balance of intellect & strong body, and along with her new presidency, Mia had a few weeks to sit in her office until training began.

She was interrupted by Hirogane knocking at her door.

A student had recently returned from an investigation some states over, and Hirogane had noticed something amiss with his bacterial while healing him. Mia pretended that she understood why this was important, until the federal agent Hirogane had called arrived and explained that this sudden weakening of a Revenant could be linked to Xenocyclin. He explained to Mia the facts of it from last chapter, and that its formula was known only to licensed Revenant researchers and fourth-year Phantasmology students -- of which Yuruko would soon be the only one.

After some discussion with Yuruko and her professor, it was concluded that the most likely cause of this localized damage to a colony was Xenocyclin synthesized by Morgan, said to be a 'deeply disturbed individual'.

Mia decided that due to the danger this investigation would pose to their Revenants, she would call Serena and Naomi back, excluding Samuel for this. (Naomi was disappointed.) Mia could permanently immolate their hearts to prevent Xenocyclin from affecting it directly, Yuruko knew the antidote and was authorized to explain to Serena how to create it, and Naomi could block any Xenocyclin-poisoned weapon with an Avalanche wall or arm. Samuel's Outcast was only ultra-defensive for himself.

Their investigation would be unknown to the local police, and they were authorized to use any method in apprehending Morgan: including torturing civilians for information. A federal transportation Revenant had similarly been authorized for Mia, that allowed them to travel through walls so as not to risk sleeping in the same city as Morgan.

"Serena, I need to speak with you." said Mia to her phone.

"This is Naomi."

Mia frowned. "Er, why do you have Serena's phone?"

"She kinda just shoved it towards me as soon as she saw someone calling her."

"Can't she just text me?" said Serena in the background.

After speaking with her three, Mia & Naomi (mostly those two -- Yuruko was studying, and Serena was Serena) decided on a few avenues for leads.

She called the student who had been attacked into her office. He had been on patrol when suddenly approached by a mute man, who seemed frantic to guide him somewhere, then was struck by a bullet that tore through most of his heart and struck the student as well. It dissolved upon embedding, so no ballistic markings could be found; no Revenant was on the man's corpse, either, though it was unknown if he could produce Volgari proteins.

For a reminder, Viscera exspiravit has infected every living human onwards from about 1972 or so -- it simply can't reproduce to the levels required for a Revenant without the presence of Volgari proteins, only producible by those with certain genetic mutations.

Once Serena & Naomi returned along with Kate & Julia, Mia decided that their first step of investigation should be to check for any security camera footage, and if necessary forward the man's face to any agency that might identify him. As usual, general badge-waving was enough to secure the footage of a few stores & bars near the shooting.

They watched the security footage together, back at Urasaria, though they quickly realized tracking who had fired the weapon would be futile. There had been a crowd on the streets, and as the man approached the student, a swarm of bats (Morgan's Revenant, Aegis) unburrowed from below carrying a firearm: they discharged it, and that was all, as an explosion had disintegrated the weapon with it. This was a constant difficulty of investigating Revenants; many a case has gone unsolved due to the non-necessity of close contact when it came to hosts & murder.

Yuruko's hands scrunched. "Um, she's gotta be using Xenocyclin, right? She has to be using chemicals a civilian can buy. I can try to figure out how she could make it."

Mia nodded, and with that Yuruko left to go home; she simply preferred to be out of the company of people. Later that night, she mentioned to Serena that if Morgan were conducting her experiments in a homemade lab, it should show up on any measure of power consumption.

A few days later, Mia received a call from a federal agency telling her that they had not yet found any leads on the mute man: she took this as a subtle admission of failure.

Yuruko soon finished her list of ways to synthesize Xenocyclin, along with chemicals that could commonly be bought online, and they decided to visit every post office in the area. The four tore through every package and letter they found, but found nothing suspicious. When asked by the head of the building how he would explain any of this to those expecting mail, Naomi was frustrated enough that she told him she would shove him in to a mailbox if he bitched again: how he would have fit is left to your imagination. Yuruko mumbled that they probably should've expected this, as the shelf life for most of these chemicals was 3-5 years: Morgan could have easily bought a stockpile during a time of less eyes.

They decided to follow up with her idea of checking the local electric company, and after more general badge-waving, Mia was told that they would re-check their records for any anomalous consumption and forward it to relevant agencies. Unbeknownst to them, this would prove futile, as Morgan's laboratory was a metal enclosure buried a hundred miles away & underground, and was powered by a complex system of circuits & Aegis-created-metal that allowed her to surreptitiously siphon off from residential areas: enough that only a few dollars would be added to their bills.

In the meantime, Mia was frustrated enough that she decided to call Kate into her office, gave her backups of all security footage that had accrued, and told her exactly what she needed her to do. Kate accepted this with no resistance: while she had become disillusioned with the police since last summer, she still always respected Urasaria's -- and subsequently Mia's -- authority. She asked Mia a few questions she hadn't thought of, and if she could see Mia's scarabs fire off a few handguns down at a local gun range.

Kate brought her collection of civilian firearms with her, and while testing a few rounds, Mia asked her why she owned so many guns despite being a host. Kate replied that she leaned libertarian, and that she found firearms useful for torturing information out of criminals by threatening to shoot off certain parts of their body. Mia hoped she would quickly forget Kate bluntly opining: "God made man, Sam Colt has made a few of them women."

"…alright. And why are you having me make Worldwide fire these?"

"I'm thinking swarm-like Revenants might have some distinguishing trail they leave -- maybe they always point a certain direction, relative to their host. Or your purple flames trail towards you."

She left with the promise she would update Mia on any evidence she found in the tapes. Whether Kate would have succeeded in this is an exercise to the reader, as Morgan never went out undisguised: but Kate, as already seen a summer ago, was something of a prodigy when it came to investigation. Had she needed to interrogate anyone, she had also developed an inflection where she could be someone's best friend while threatening to slit their neck: a voice like a collections agent.

Over the next few days, Mia received news from one of the federal agents that the electricity company had not found any anomalous consumption besides, perhaps, a few marijuana growers. This reminded Mia of Jeanne: not something she enjoyed remembering. Though it was said earlier that words can transport a feeling or person across time, life often triggers memories through the senses that have little to do with the bulk of who they concern: a security guard at a crossing may blow her nose in a way that brings you to your snot-nosed friend in the fourth grade, or a scent brings you to your grandparents' home, and the grandfather who gifted you a pet for your birthday that died months later.

This was what Morgan felt as she walked into her local cafe and saw a Phantasmology student studying on her laptop. She noticed her eyes were exhausted and her posture terrible: this was what usually distinguished Revenant research students from the others. She was reminded of her years at Urasaria, and of her professor, who made a habit of belittling her questions because she was female.

She approached Yuruko. "Excuse me, are you a Urasaria student? I-- I couldn't help but notice your badge."

Yuruko looked up, and her free hand scrunched. "Um, yes."

"I'm a writer, and I'm outlining my next novel about Urasaria students. Could I pick your brain a little?"

"…uh, okay."

Morgan pulled over a chair, close enough she could see Yuruko working on her flashcards. "You know, I've always wondered what it must be like as a student. So, I'm sorry. but let me get this out of the way -- have you ever... you know?"

"What?"

"Have you ever had to kill someone?"

"Yeah."

"What does it feel like? What do you feel, after?"

"Recoil." said Yuruko, relevantly.

Morgan laughed. "Dangerous. Is it exciting to work at Urasaria? I've always had such a fear of death, I couldn't imagine being so close to it so frequently."

"I don't really have one." said Yuruko. "I mean, not in the way people say they don't have one, I just don't really feel anything with it."

"Mm. Interesting. Was there any particular reason you decided to study Revenants?" Morgan glanced at Yuruko's flashcards. "I couldn't help but notice your notes."

"Uh, I was born with a Revenant, and I wanted to be a chemist." Yuruko shrugged. "I mean, my dad develops drugs at his job, but it wasn't really because of him. Maybe when I was a kid, but… um… and I don't really like hunting, either, but I didn't want to have my Revenant removed, so."

"Is that it?"

"Yeah. Why?"

Morgan nodded. "It's not an issue, but I'm glad you aren't giving me some answer like your friend's dying wish was for you to study Revenants, or your mother died to a host when you were a kid, so you vowed revenge or something like that. People love to come up with all sorts of cliched bullshit for things like that, or why others murder, rather than just listening to what they say and do. Most people usually aren't where they want to be, anyway."

"It'd be nice if my mom did die." muttered Yuruko. "…um. I like it now, though. Revenant research."

"It's an interesting field. Have you thought about what you'll do with it?"

"I don't know. There's an agency I'm gonna work for, but I don't know much else after that. I'm not like, gonna be an Einstein or anything like that."

"No, I agree most people run with whatever life requires out of them. I didn't ask about most people, however, I asked about you."

"…I was going to, uh, do… d-do experiments to confirm damage theory, I guess." Yuruko set her hands under the table.

"Is that as deep as you want to go with it?"

As Yuruko predicted, she hadn't asked what damage theory was. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's from the perspective of a civilian, but I think you should remember that there's seven other billion people -- there might even be ten, eventually, if the models are right -- who don't have a Revenant like you do. Even a small weakening of hosts would benefit the world much more, proportionally; even if your temptation is to side with your own. There was a quote I read once… somewhere. I don't remember where -- maybe it was on a library placard, or something like that. It said that to find results, you have to continually ask questions, and erode away everything that isn't satisfying." Morgan smiled, then wrote her address down on a napkin. "I really must get going. Thank you. I'm sure that'll all be very helpful. If you have any more ideas I could use, I'd love to hear them."

"Okay."

Morgan nodded, and as she began to leave, she turned to Yuruko. "By the way, one of your flashcards is wrong. The principle allotropes of elemental Visson are made up of B8 octahedra, not B4 tetrahedra. I made the same mistake."

She left, and as Serena came back from the restroom, pleased to no longer have any worry of being harassed in it, she asked Yuruko if the woman they were waiting for had shown up to work yet.

Fortunately, Mia was neither lazy nor stupid enough to step in to the apartment building directly, and paid off a few people to ensure the occupants of the units above & below would not be home at the time that she, Naomi, Serena, and Yuruko were standing in the unit of the apartment across the street, and one floor higher than their target.

Mia crouched down: she had chosen a room with no windows, and a fire scarab burnt a miniscule hole for her to see the apartment building below.

"Solar Beam." she muttered, aiming her hands at the hole; a blue beam burst out of her palms -

- and the scorching ray swept vertically through the other building, disintegrating every room it touched without a single ash left: she heard the other occupants screaming. and in the next instant -

- four bullets shot through the miniscule hole and in to the room; Mia swept back as they hit the wall and ricocheted -

- and one entered Serena's thigh; another hit Yuruko's leg -

- and Mia burst in to full purple flames just in time for one to strike Naomi -

- and the last disintegrated before it could hit her; Yuruko staggered back, clutching her leg with more pain than usual, speaking: "I-It's n-not Xenocyclin, X-x-Xenocyclin only works on the heart -"

" - B-Blackburn." winced Serena -

- and no streams of fog came. Naomi's Avalanche arm wilted back in to flesh, and as another four shots rose in the distance -

- Mia threw a set of ice scarabs to plug up the hole, already starting to crack as more metal projectiles struck it. She set a portion of her fire scarabs to keep herself permanently immolated purple. "Serena, what's wrong?"

Yuruko grabbed her bullet wound, still staggering in pain as she slumped against the wall. "I-I can't get Medicinal to f-fucking work, and -"

" - all of you need to run." said Mia, hearing another four shots erupt outside.

Naomi took a second to respond. "What if there's another Reven-"

"-there's clearly one *HERE!*"

Wincing slightly, Serena helped Yuruko up and they rushed out to the hall: Mia noticed they were much slower than usual. "I- stay in the same building. It's too risky to go outside."

"O-Okay." winced Serena, clutching her wound.

Mia heard her frozen barrier shatter, and she handed Serena a few ice & electrical scarabs: "Make sure not to crush them if you're not elementally immune."

Serena nodded, and Mia watched them run off far slower than usual. No time to waste, she rushed back in to the room as Worldwide's sword appeared in her hands, and when she swept it a wave of blue flame came out that disintegrated the outer wall without a single ash left, leaving her to view the roof of the apartment building 100ft away & eye-level. All she could see was a spot of light that looked like the sunlight hitting a lens, and she hit it with an orange Solar Beam that melted the metal cocoon it was into liquid -

- and out of it rose Morgan, Aegis's bats swarming her and ripping the molten liquid off of their mistress, repairing the rifle she was holding before it could melt.

"I thought that might happen." said Morgan. "But a lucky shot would have been boring. I hope you know I wasn't planning on hurting your friends."

Mia swept her palms forward, and a white beam burst out of her palms -

- but a swarm of Aegis's bats flew to block it, bursting in to metal and dulling the heated ray, no damage done but a melting metal wall.

"I wouldn't try your blue Solar Beam, either." said Morgan.

"What the hell are you after?" grunted Mia, sheathing her hands. "What the fuck did you do?!"

"It's a suppressant. Their Revenants will come back, within a few hours -- I haven't perfected it yet. They'll be alright if they don't run in to another host, and if they do, it wouldn't be anyone I know. Are you worried for them? Have you ever thought about how a civilian must live? Someone without a Revenant?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

[Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War - ZERO ~ VS ADFX-02 MORGAN.]

"Haven't you ever thought about how many civilians die a year to Revenants? You're an observant woman. You have to be. Have you ever seen a home burnt down by a host, or a man eating alone in the diner, who you wonder if he's a widower? You've watched a child running along the side of the road and it reminded you of seeing someone run like that to you as a student. Haven't you ever felt that, and wondered if there was another way of living?"

Mia frowned and didn't reply. She remembered something from her first-year: something she hadn't told even Serena. Marisa had trusted her to respond to a call solo, and after affirming it was received on her tablet, Mia walked out of their house, then ran in to Sylvia. As they hadn't seen each other in a while, they spoke for a few minutes.

There was no sign of the host when Mia arrived. Sometimes she would struggle sleeping if this memory again became too-luminous.

"There's people who are better at making these connections than me, but I know you've read about these things -- I'm sure you've seen them. I've always despised people who passively watch the world with no desire to change it. These suppressants are the product of over a decade of my research. I only attacked you because I've reached the point where I need a professional Revenant to progress any further -- for my experiments. Even just allowing me to take a sample of your bacteria would let me -- I need to know how stronger Revenants act under a microscope. I can't make any more progress by experimenting on society's residue, or kidnapping random criminals. If I was given that, I could cure Revenants or permanently suppress them in a generation."

Expecting Morgan to attack her, a hole opened in Mia's purple immolation. She did not.

"I still am a Revenant researcher, and a great one." said Morgan.

"…if any of this is possible, why are you the only person who's attempted it?"

"There's only two hundred Phantasmology researchers in the world, and they all receive government funding. They're not paid to investigate anything outside of their salary. Even your paycheck relies on thinking certain things are facts of life that can't be changed, I -- I knew the same types of people when I attended Urasaria. But I know you can observe the same things that I have. I can't transplant my thinking in to your mind, but I know you can observe what I have, and come to the same conclusion. If you come with me, I-- I can explain all of my research to you."

Mia wished Yuruko hadn't been hit: partially so she could verify any of it. When she still didn't respond, Morgan said: "I suppose you're probably remembering another criminal, or someone that reminds you of me. Maybe they said something like this to you, or you learned in your first year that people can become very proficient at lying. As much as I need to convince you, I can't force you to give up your memories or habits, or…"

Frowning slightly, Mia raised her burning-purple blade, then watched as Morgan's lips slowed, then nodded.

"Aegis."

Aegis's bats swarmed her rifle and left nothing. A hundred feet of the avenue below separated them, and Mia started walking forward on a bridge of ice built 30ft ahead of her step. Ahead, Morgan walked towards her with a bridge of wood 30ft ahead of her step, and as they came 50ft within -

- three jets of water shot towards Morgan -

- but Aegis's bats swarmed ahead of it, self-destructing in to three pillars of wood to absorb it & dissolve it in to the rest of the roots. A line of leaves burst out of Morgan's bridge; she swept a bat-covered hand forward, and a gust of wind blasted the leaves towards Mia -

- and in to the purple woman went the diamond-sharp leaves, disintegrating without a single scratch done. Mia saw Morgan's face pause as she looked over her permanent immolation, and their bridges nearly touched as they came 40ft within; Mia took another step forward -

- and her frozen bridge shot in to Morgan's wooden bridge, icicles growing and tearing through the wood -

- but a set of Aegis's bats reinforced it as Morgan rushed towards her, another few seconds separating them as Mia raised her purple blade again -

- but an explosion blasted Morgan back, then to the side off the bridge; another swarm of bats burst open and sent a barrage of metal towards Mia -

- but her blade swept and disintegrated every projectile without a single ash left; to her side, roots rushed out of the wooden bridge and grew over her, shooting down to try to grab her -

- but ropes of scarabs lassoed around then and bent them back; in the next instant, more branches shot through her frozen bridge from below -

" - Worldwide!" she shouted, sweeping her electrical sword down as more brambles caught her ankles -

- and the bark shattered like a lightning bolt hitting a tree; the burnt shards flew away, but Morgan was rushing towards her 20ft from her left. Mia turned to her and felt more roots growing at her back, but she shouted for Solar Beam and swept her palms forward; a blue beam erupted from her palms -

- and as Morgan turned, the blue beam entered her back -

- but Mia snuffed her scorching ray out, realizing one of Aegis's abilities then as Morgan turned, no scar forming or damage done, Aegis's bats swarming her again.

"Try again from head-on."

Mia didn't let her frown show. Needing to keep her immolation, she was temporarily depleted of fire scarabs, and as three swarms of bats hit her frozen bridge -

- three lines of explosions shot towards her; she rushed back as fast as she could off of her bridge, and as she took one leap off and started to fall -

- a net of roots burst out to catch her -

- but a bolt of lightning hit them tip-first -

- revealing the gunpowder planted within; Mia winced as she fell past and the explosion erupted above -

- slamming her straight in to the avenue below, leaving a crack in the road & hearing one in her arm. Groaning, staggering a bit, she pushed herself to her feet and rushed away with some difficulty as she heard Morgan landing behind. Turning to see her, three jets of water shot towards Morgan -

- but a swarm of bats blocked them, leaving her with few options as Morgan rushed 20ft within, and her entire swarm of bats flew ahead -

- but a wall of scarabs blocked it; pincers, wings, fangs ripping & tearing. Mia swept her sword out and a line of scarabs shot from it that cleared a hole in the wall of bats, and she reinforced a hole in her own wall as their Revenants clashed in the center, little sight of Morgan amidst the mix of red & gold & black gnashing & tearing.

"Aegis is at its greatest strength in close-range: and so is Worldwide."

Scarabs beginning to regenerate, Mia opened a few holes in her immolation to send more insectile troops fighting for a president they believed in. Cars were parked at their usual intervals, and she saw one north & right; she threw her sword up and an electrical arc popped out of it, yanking the car & shooting it towards where she knew Morgan stood -

" - Aegis!" her voice shouted from the other side; a swarm of bats surrounded it -

- and it disintegrated in to one ton of rust, excess troops deploying to the battle at the center. Mia resummoned her blade. It burst in to purple flames as she readied to throw it at Morgan, but she paused as she saw Morgan's back turn again. Scarabs & bats remained clashing at the center, pillars of purple flame & lightning & ice impaling exploding bats turning in to metal & wood & wind.

Beneath the road, Mia felt the ground begin to rumble; she stomped down and a bed of icicles formed underneath to block any grassy assault. Ahead, Aegis's bats pulled back with their mistress's back still turned.

"Your scarabs." she said, her bats keeping her flanks protected. "I remembered when I started researching you, that's, obviously, something rather prominent about you. I've always been interested in nature and animals, although… Not in the way you expect, but that's irrelevant. But I started wondering what a scarab represented, exactly. I'm sure you've looked it up, too, right?"

Mia grunted. She was bleeding from a few wounds: she started chilling them. "I… have, yes. They were a religious symbol in Egypt."

"Of course you knew. You're obviously intelligent. The queen of scarabs. Like you said, they're important to the ancient Egyptians - or they were. Now if you go to Egypt, all that's left of Ra or those scarabs is however many pounds it takes to buy an amulet. But it's funny, really, because making it some shitty little trinket is much more honest to what it is, don't you think? I mean, they used to think scarabs were actually symbols of something deeper. It all seems stupid, but you and I, we're over 2000 years progressed from the people who thought they were these sacred creatures. Isn't that funny? You have something that rolls around shit in to little balls, and they still thought that it had to be something worthy, something of real importance, just because they decided it was so. But, I suppose what I'm really saying is that every culture has a tradition that seems like a law of nature until it sheds away from it. Sometimes, it takes fifty years."

Morgan turned and swept her hands forward; ten geysers of rust burst out of her fingers as Mia swept back -

- but even her immolation couldn't disintegrate them all; her eyes caught a few flakes and they slammed shut, blinding her as she staggered back -

- but a jet of water blasted her away from Morgan; as she flew, a rope of wind tried to yank her back in -

- but another watery jet blasted her to the side; still blinded & flying, an electrical scarab scouted ahead of her flight path and detected a metal wall of spikes -

- so she made sure to land just before she hit it, rolling on to the sidewalk and sweeping out of her fall with a purple strike that melted it without a single spike left. Turning with few seconds separating them, Morgan's winds shot towards her again -

- but a wall of ice formed with no damage done; Morgan was surprised for a second, and in the next instant -

- a wall of ice shot up behind her -

- and another at her left; another at her right -

- and a floor & ceiling of ice formed, keeping her trapped in her frozen prison. Aegis's bats swarmed her and all Mia saw was a constant coat of explosions, ice cracking as more scarabs kept it reinforced. Titanic winds tried to escape through the walls, but miniscule holes were cut to let the pressure escape: Mia's usual counter to wind Revenants now.

Her frozen prison was starting to crack, and as a dozen icicles tried to shoot through the inmate, another swarm of bats blasted it to bits; more crystals were forming on the floor, but Morgan would escape before she could drown in ice. Mia clutched her ear as more winds shot out of the walls: she had her idea now. A miniscule pipe shot out of the back wall, connecting the hole back in to the prison -

- and the supersharp jet of wind put a hole in Morgan that went through her right arm & exited out the left; she screamed and nearly caught an icicle to the skull when she staggered back, Mia plugging the hole again. Another swarm of explosions covered the interior and sent a hundred cracks through the frozen walls; Mia couldn't see inside any longer, so she swept to the side and let Morgan demolish her cell, still within Worldwide & Aegis's range.

Still bleeding, Morgan grunted as she stomped over the frozen shards, seeming to be grudgingly respecting her. Another stream of bats shot towards Mia, but a stream of scarabs shot at it and every combatant died in the center of the insectile & mammalian beam.

It annoyed Mia how little damage they'd done to each other: she couldn't wait for Serena & the others to regain their Revenants. A few lines of explosions shot towards her, but her purple immolation kept sturdy & absorbed the miniscule wounds, and in the next instant -

- three streams of liquid metal shot towards her, and as her scarabs flew to block it -

- a gust of wind pulled it around the block -

- direct in to a wall of electricity that sparked and shot an arc towards something on the back of Morgan's ankle; Mia tried to see what it was as the metal went molten around her, but another gust of wind hit it -

- and it started solidifying. No time to waste, she tried to rush out, but molten gray slowed her step as another metallic wall burst up ahead -

- and behind -

- and left, and right -

- and she grunted as she jumped to avoid the spikes of metal from below, managing to form a frozen floor for her metallic cell as the ceiling formed. Miniscule holes opened up in the walls, and in the next instant -

- a hundred ball bearings shot in to her cell; most disintegrated as soon as they hit her, but the rest hit the walls and ricocheted back -

- and again, and again, hundreds of metal projectiles bouncing around her as another thousand shot through the walls. Her immolation couldn't catch it all. One hit her right arm and recracked where she'd fallen on it earlier: another hit her eye and her vision muted for a second, returning back just in time to see a hole open up in the ceiling -

- and her purple sword shot through it, impaling a kebab of Aegis's bats; she unsummoned it before its explosions could tear through the unnatural blade, then staggered back as another ball bearing struck her throat and left a bruise that'd stick for a while. Through the holes of her cell, more wind from outside was yanking all of the oxygen out of it: her blade spun as hundreds of ball bearings ricocheted throughout her cell, ice plugging her ears & most other orifices.

One nostril opened, but the wind stole the oxygen out from under it and she gasped. A frozen cocoon formed over her immolation, but more projectiles shot in to it; Aegis's bats swarmed on the outside and tried to break in, fangs shooting through the ice but freezing before they could explode.

'T-Tri-Swarm Raid...' she winced, opening her mouth to let a fire & ice scarab form water, then an electrical to electrolyze it in to oxygen. Her frozen cocoon shattered and she swept back before Aegis formed its own; gripping her burning blade again, she shoved it through the wall -

- and was pleased to feel it go all the way through; a few bats nipped at it on the other side, but she resummoned before any damage was done, and as she felt another wind yank the oxygen out of from the room -

- the next scene was instant. Mia saw the miniscule hole it came through & saw a spot of motion that was Morgan's hair 20ft away; she waited a second, then shoved her burning blade through the hole -

- and the next wind yanked out her blade with it; she saw Morgan turn ahead -

- and unsummoned it just in time to shout Solar Flare, and out of Mia came a blast of blue that disintegrated the entire prison without a single ash left. Still, her fire scarabs were gone and Morgan was turning forward ahead; she threw her sword to the side and an enormous bolt sparked out of it towards Morgan's ankle -

- but she hit the ground with a duck & roll to the left, still panting as Mia rushed away to the other side of the road, fire scarabs regenerating and giving her purple coat a fresh set of paint. Both held against their respective walls: Mia was sweating, gripping her's hard enough she didn't realize her fingers went through it until later. Morgan staggered, then slammed her fist against the wall and the window above it shattered.

'…I need to get closer.'

Morgan was still hunched over when Mia rushed towards her, but she got her feet under her in a hurry: Aegis's blade formed and she raised it in time to block Mia's swipe, constant line of explosions erupting wherever it was touched. Both dug their footing in to the pavement, but Mia had the frozen advantage with her boots.

Still, she couldn't crane Morgan back. She swept back & to Morgan's right, and a jet of water blasted her straight past Morgan; bats & scarabs met but allowed no damage to their hosts, Mia landing 20ft away and turning to face her again. Her blade burning, she rushed at Morgan and Morgan shot towards her; Aegis's blade swept down & back and an explosion launched her overhead of Mia, and as they met -

- another explosion blasted Mia's face to the ground; a spray of purple disintegrated half of Morgan's left hand -

- and they both hit the pavement scraping & rolling, covered in scabs & sweat. They rushed at each other again, and when they met a TriSwarm Raid swarmed Morgan's hands -

- but a swarm of wood absorbed the electricity; a coat of metal kept the ice from hitting her, and the wind blew the flame out; both were 20ft away again, and as Morgan turned, an Aegis bat crawled on her ankle as she rushed towards Mia.

Their blades met and Mia's purple coating disappeared: a line of superheated fire covered her sword and one sweep shot through Aegis's blade like there was nothing there -

- sending Morgan's left arm skyward with it; a gust of wind cranked Mia's hand in to a position it shouldn't have bent as Aegis's pistol formed on Morgan's ankle -

- but a blue fireball shot through Morgan's heart and disintegrated most of it -

- just in time for the bullet to shoot through Mia's hand and dissolve inside: both of them folded and hit the ground away from each other, weak and gasping from their wounds. Morgan was on her one hand, and she clutched the cavity that had been her chest as she felt Worldwide's last scarabs chill it to a temperature a civilian could survive. Coughing up fluid, she turned over just in time to block Mia's weakened knee to her face: her neck still craning back. Her right hand clenched on Mia's knee and when she threw it off of her, it was forceful enough that it sent Mia's head slamming in to a wall.

Still feeling a blanket of red come out of her, Morgan got back on her hand & knees. Mia was still staggering and trying to get her limbs to work right. Morgan grabbed her by the ankle and tried to pull her down, but she got a kick to the face that shoved her nose up to her eyes. Grabbing, pulling again, she dug her nails in and took a few lines of skin with it: Mia hit the ground but her hands broke her fall, her legs still kicking and boot trying to push Morgan's neck back.

Morgan tried to crawl further forward, but what was left of her host strength was in the pieces of heart dripping on to the pavement. Her hand swept up Mia's leg and gave it a yank that turned her over: she got on top of Mia and raised her fist, but a blow hit her face that sent the side of her head against a newspaper box. Another fist hit her skull and her vision started reeling. Her legs stopped working: another blow hit the back of her head as she slumped against the box, and the next thing she felt was Mia bending her left arm back and smashing her with a knee that felt like it put her spine through her lungs.

Mia's fingers grabbed Morgan's hair, legs thrashing. She still had some general strength from training: she pulled Morgan's face to the pavement and scraped it hard enough she left some of it on the sidewalk. When she lifted it up to slam it again, Aegis's last bat shot through Mia's hand and a metal spike impaled it to Morgan's skull.

Mia's reactions were dulled, but her left hand was free. She plunged it to the cavity where the rest of Morgan's heart was beating and her nails slashed hard enough that a jet of blood shot out of an artery she'd just torn: she clenched her grip, ripping through veins, spikes, anything she could grab, until Morgan's gasp escaped as a bloody gurgle, and no bacteria animated the pieces of her shattered heart.

She felt disgusted as she kept her right hand attached to Morgan. She tried not to call to mind any kills of Serena as she sublimated her pain, with much more difficulty than usual, and used her left hand to call a number she had not needed for nearly four years.

+++

Adjusting her rearview to see Serena & Yuruko, both nearly asleep on each other, and her own wounds stitched, Mia stepped out of her car to meet with the man in the parking lot, waiting outside of his van. She led him to the trunk of her car and opened it to show Morgan's corpse. "Her ability matched Aegis's. Her Revenant was destroyed while we were fighting."

He crouched over it. "Good. Follow me, afterwards. We'll conduct a full autopsy, and you'll disintegrate her afterwards."

"And her research?"

"We've found some of it, and I'm certain more will show up eventually. None of her notes are very legible to anyone without an education in Revenant research, fortunately."

Mia viewed Morgan's corpse again. She remembered that when she had first put it in the trunk, both of Morgan's boots had been laying down. Somewhere on the way over, a speedbump had turned her right leg so that one boot was pointing upwards, as if it was looking over the other. She had seemed like that type of woman: someone whose observation did not stop with her carcass.

She pressed down the weight of the trunk's door. As she walked back to her side of the car, she thought on Morgan's motivations, and as it had with another Revenant researcher, a hesitant sympathy pervaded her. Opening the driverside door to sit down in a 2021 that contained neither, she heard Serena yawn and ask when they would be going on their next contract.

That she asked this question so calmly alarmed Mia. She had explained Morgan's motivation on the drive over, and began to feel conflicted at her excitement of her own Revenant's return. How could Serena regard this event as something without import? Mia was unaware of the things discussed last chapter, but she remembered what Morgan had said about scarabs, and the illusions humans made. But there was something deeper to this. No, there needed to be, for existence is an impersonal fact of the cosmos that does not care of our machinations, but human need was what Mia understood, and recognized because she felt it.

As she looked over the shoulder of her seat, to pull out from this space, she saw Yuruko looking at her, with neither her nor Mia's eyes containing the insight of crows.

[END OF ARC: OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD]