What Good is Peace?

Juro just nodded a bit, relaxing slightly. "..Then we might be safe even if she does find us, there's no reason to attack us. I think." Something else was bugging him but he couldn't place it at the moment.

* *

Isamu winced once again at Kiyoshi taking the hit. She knew her daughter wasn't reckless or stupid but at the same time that technique terrified her. For good reason. However, she couldn't assume Michi's attack would work, so she charged forward and joined Michi. She didn't get in the way, rather her stabs were graceful, quick and skilled and she stayed out of the way of Michi's strikes. Instead it seemed almost like a two part dance with three people, but one of them ended up dead.

Samael sighed in relief. Conflict definitely was one of his weakest suits, so avoiding it was his best (often only) course of action.

----------

Immobilized, Owen was raised before the massive blast. As his body was bathed in the intense chakra, his armor quickly absorbed to its limit. It cracked in various places and began to shine. When it finally neared its breaking point... "Hahahahahahaha!! Guess it's my turn to show you something!" Owen's energy seemed to multiply upon itself. He glowed with intensity comparable to a star. "Explosion Relea--" His technique was cut short as a large pink bubble enveloped him. When it popped, Owen was gone; his energy suddenly vanished as well.

A girl floating atop a broom flew above Akuma. "Sorry Mr. Doggie! I gotta take Brute-Brute cuz he's not good at following orders. You too, Puppy!" She pointed at Fafnir down below. The beast was on its last legs when a familiar pink bubble surrounded it and popped, eliminating its presence. The girl called down to them, "They were probably pretty mean but you can forgive a cute girl like me, right?" She winked, and a heart could literally be seen next to her smile.

Sam was running out of steam, but didn't let her guard down. She trained her gun on the girl. "What the hell is she trying to pull?" This girl's demeanor and speech were... kind of annoying.

Akuma in his Fenrir form let out a low growl, turning to look at the girl. He did not seem amused. However, he was not going to attack unless she proved to be an immediate threat. For now, he simply watched her.

~~~~~

The instant that Fafnir disappeared, Michi adjusted, tightening the circle she ran in. Kiyoshi leapt over, drawing a strange flask from out of seemingly nowhere, disappearing into the poisonous whirlwind. After a moment, the poison dissipated from the whirlwind, sucked into the flask, which Kiyoshi put away as Michi halted her running. Both women immediately turned to the floating girl, Michi keeping her sword ready, and Kiyoshi tiredly getting into a fighting stance.

Juro waited a moment longer, then turned to the young man. "Okay. I think its fair to have a few questions answered. For one..how exactly is that you don't feel much of anything? It's like you can hide your presence, but its different. And two..do you know anything about what's going on? You knew who the girl was at least."

* *

Darrien and Isamu stopped, the later taking a defensive stance, keeping a eye on them. The former, they weren't sure what to make of them. It could be a trap to get them to lower their guard, or the woman could just be that way.

"And you may be?" Darrien asked, keeping a eye on her and anything out of the ordinary.

Samael jumped slightly at the sudden inquisition. His meek disposition returned. "I-I don't kn-know. I've b-been told that before, but I never though much of it. I thought I was just quiet..." He trailed off. "Um, and I remember those p-people because they were the c-cause of my aforem-mentioned 'distraction.' E-every time I saw and sketched a creature..." Samael gestured to his clipboard, "...one of them would sh-show up soon after. "

----------

The girl's 'heart' broke in two and crumbled away. "Everybody's so tense and grumpy now." She sighed. She quickly perked up and crossed her legs. "I am but a mysterious beauty who just prevented this city from being leveled." She held her cheeks in a bashful manner. "I'm sure you all want to thank and dote on me, but I simply don't have the time. Bye bye!" The girl waved gracefully as she was encased within a pink bubble that popped one second later. She was gone.

Sam dropped her arms in a mix of fatigue and frustration. "Ugh. That was the most idiotic person I've ever met." She looked around, returning her Sol to its watch mode. There wasn't a terrible amount of collateral damage. "Mission accomplished, I guess." She said to no one in particular. "Is everyone alright? How about you?" She asked generally, before directing her last question toward Kiyoshi. Sam noticed her taking hits, but she didn't go down.

Akuma, after a long moment, visibly relaxed, the chakra dispersing to reveal a rather irritated Akuma. He dropped down to street level with everyone, and sighed heavily. "Well, that was a massive pain in the ass. I encounter him again, I'm going for the quick, chakra-less kill. Just rip him in half or something...."

Michi began to polish and clean her sword, looking about at everyone, while Kiyoshi dropped to her knees, placing her fists together against the ground, and gritting her teeth as the ground lightly shook, the absorbed energy from those hits dispersing into the ground. There were just some minor cracks where she had done this, but the street around her bubbled up a bit, something having happened deeper down. She then just sat there, panting, until Sam asked her question. She simply looked at her, and nodded silently. When she calmed down more, and wasn't in the 'battle' mentality, she'd speak.

Juro was silent for a bit longer. "So, it seems to me that there is something big going on. Someone is experimenting with monsters genetically, maybe to use them as weapons and those two are to keep things in line. At least that makes the most sense."

* *

"Different young woman to be sure. And I'm well." Darrien adjusted his glasses a bit. "We'll have to call this in, report what happened so others can keep a lookout for anything out of the ordinary. I took a picture when I couldn't do anything, so at least others will have an idea what they look like."

Isamu just nodded in response and went by Kiyoshi to look her over, making sure she wasn't too injured. Now that Owen was gone, her mana sensing was back to normal thanks to his strange armor not being present. "..Juro is here and a young boy with him. Perhaps he has a few answers. It wouldn't hurt.."

"At the very least, I should say so." Samael concurred with Juro. "But most of the time I've seen humans as test subjects. It would appear someone is researching the effects of splicing energies and demon DNA with ordinary humans. These chips might suggest an ability not unlike remote control." He scribbled again on his pad, making notes for later.

----------

"Oh, that's right." Sam said, remembering the two who left. "Let's see where they went..." Sam's scarf stretched to a nearby roof and brought her up. With her eyes, she was able to quickly spot them not too far off. She ran from rooftop to rooftop until she reached the two. "Looks like you two are doing okay. The fight's over, so it's safe. Hm. It was 'Juro', right? There're some people down there who know you. One of them took a few hits, but she looks alright."

She motioned for the two to go back with her to the street. Samael nodded and sighed in relief.

Akuma hung back for the moment, simply observing the area and keeping alert, though he stood near Darrien, for obvious reasons. Kiyoshi, however, yanked her arm away from Isamu, coldly rebuking her attempt to help her. This did not surprise Michi, nor would it surprise Isamu. When Kiyoshi got into a fight, her true self seemed to retreat, and a colder personality took over. She'd apologize when she 'returned'.

Juro was relieved. "That's good. I had been slightly worried." He had a guess of who they were, it was likely Kiyoshi and Michi. If it was Etna and Laharl, then he definitely seen and felt more collateral damage most likely. "Hang on."

He put a hand on the kid's shoulder, teleporting in a flurry of leaves and back on the ground closer where the others were gathered.

* *

Isamu didn't seem to take it personally, but she was still bothered by the 'switch' her daughter made during combat.

"Hm.." Darrien said more to himself, seeing Juro and the young man with him. "We'll, I suppose if anything is to get answered, we may as well ask."

Isamu went over to Juro. "I'm glad you're all right. We managed to hold out with the enemy but they left. Some strange girl made the man vanish and she left too."

Juro nodded. "Yeah. We..saw her not too long ago. The kid thinks some group is splicing normal humans with demon DNA and other things. Why, I'm not really sure."

"Troublesome." Darrien sighed. "But nothing to be done about it for now, the reason it may be humans is due to their adapability, we'll have to look into their motives. We don't know anything about the group."

Samael was a little dizzy when the two teleported. "Th-that might take some getting used to..." He turned to Darrien. "I have a theory, but it's just that. The last few times I encountered something like this the monsters exhibited signs of different energy ouputs. According to my observations of the specimens, they each had a small chip embedded somewhere within their skull. I can only assume that the person or persons responsible are trying to develop a way to breed controllable super-humans, consensual or not. It's only a guess, but that's what I've seen."

Sam jumped down from the roofs a moment later, rejoining everyone. "Those things were pretty far along to be primary test subjects. They could turn invisible and physically manifest their energies. I can't say much for that armor guy or his freak wolf." She conjectured.

Things were dying down it seemed. "S-so what happens now?" Samael asked.

Akuma shrugged. "Me and Darrien take this information back to Nobus, for one. Something like this... Nobus needs to know. There are so many things wrong with this situation that it's ridiculous."

"Master Laharl needs to know as well. He'll want to know why his favorite vassal got hurt."

"Not his favorite." Kiyoshi finally spoke up, the cold look in her eyes fading, replaced by a calm, almost innocent one.

Darrien nodded. "I concur. We'll need to report this back to Nobus and go from there, and hopefully track down the source. That man Akuma was fighting seemed to be on his last legs, if we captured him we might of gotten some information about him."

"Don't you guys have a few of those humans that were experimented on? Sure they might have something to say about it."

"Maybe." Darrien relented, thinking. "Though it wouldn't surprise me if they altered their memory. We'll have to see if any of them remember, the other weaker Nobus members left with the test subjects when the fighting heated up." He turned to Samael. "You're very knowledgeable for your age about these sorts of things, you seem to be doing field research work, you have a mentor?" There was somewhere he was going with this.

Isamu was relieved when Kiyoshi seemed to be turning back to normal.

In his response, Samael spoke with confidence. "Thank you, sir. I owe my fruitful studies and knowledge to Mr. Raphael Bryant; weapons and technological research. I'm his assistant." He realized who he was speaking to and added, "Oh. S-sorry. I'm sure you already know of him..." His voice trailed off.

Sam blinked at the mention of her father; she barely managed to hold back any other reaction. Daddy took on an apprentice? And one that's so... wimpy. She thought to herself. She knew not to question her father's logic, as it was incomprehensible to 'sane' people. That's how she saw him, anyway. She decided to distance herself from that conversation.

Noticing the other three women were still nearby, Sam made her way over to Michi, Isamu and Kiyoshi. "Hey. Thanks for coming to help us out. You probably saved us a few injuries or worse." She looked Kiyoshi over. "You look like you're doing better already."

Michi nodded, smiling slightly, while Kiyoshi's smile was much brighter. Of course, because of her mask, one could only tell she was smiling by looking at her eyes and the creases in the mask. "Yes, thank you. I just wish those hits hadn't been wasted. If I'd gotten a chance to use the energy on one of our enemies before they left..." She sighed, shaking her head. "Best not to dwell..." She glanced at Isamu. "Hey, Mom, are you alright? You seemed really tired when we showed up."

Darrien blinked, then smiled. "Interesting. An apprentice then. Anyway, me and Akuma need to get going to let HQ in on what happened." He pulled out a card and gave it to the young man. "If you need something, you can attempt to contact us. No promises but its better then nothing. In the mean time, stay safe."

Isamu turned to Kiyoshi, smiling faintly. "I am fine. I think I simply over used Dimension Slash a bit more then I should have. I'm sorry for worrying you."

"Thank you, sir. I'll try to keep out of trouble for a while." Samael said while taking the card. He hadn't intended to follow these incidents from now on; he needed to get back to the lab. He realized the chip in his possession would probably make the trip home more difficult than he can anticipate. Fortunately, only one other person knew of the chip. Maybe I can keep it a secret... He thought to himself.

Sam smiled at the girls before her. It's nice to see a close family. She looked over at Samael, who was starting to leave. He was looking at some small object in his hand. She wasn't sure why, but something in her gut told her trouble was going to follow that kid. She decided to do the same. "Well, I guess we're all good here. Take care." She waved, walking away. She stopped near Juro before going after Samael. "And thanks for taking care of the kid. Say... Did he do anything suspicious while you two were gone? I can't shake the feeling that this isn't over." She asked.

While Kiyoshi and Michi stuck with Isamu, Akuma was standing next to Darrien, and scanning the area. Shinobi, whether from the elemental countries or somewhere else, generally had at least a bit in common. One such thing was being alert, and aware of their surroundings. It was for this reason that Akuma was watching Samael. There was something going on with the kid right now. He wasn't sure what... but he hoped it didn't bite them all in the ass. That was when he caught sight of Sam watching the kid as well, and it seemed she was focusing in on him. "Guess I'll leave it to her then..."

Juro shook his head. "No, not really. Besides the kids ability to seem more transparent and not give off much of a presence. They don't know how to explain it and I sure as hell don't."

Darrien in the mean time moved a bit closer to Akuma, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. But in his line of work you never knew. "You believe we should leave or stay a bit longer? Still I find it strange the assistant of Ralpael Bryant is so young. Kid geniuses aren't unheard of but still."

"Hmm." She sighed. "Maybe I'm wrong, then. That'd be better anyway. Thanks." She rushed ahead to catch up with Samael. He stumbled forward a little when she patted him on the back.

"You're on your way back to the lab, right?" She asked nonchalantly

"Wh-what? Oh... Y-yes, I suppo-" He stammered, but was cut off.

"I'll go too!" Sam announced cheerily.

"You?! Wh-why?"

"My gut says you're headed for trouble. And what's wrong with me?!" She asked accusingly.

"I-I didn't mean... Uh, s-sorry..." His voice trailed off.

"Good." Sam teased, though Samael didn't appear to catch it. "Let's get going. I don't want you croakin' out on me."

Samael didn't see a way around it. She was much more forceful than him. He trailed after her as the two began to leave.

Akuma shook his head. "No. Seems a bad idea to hold off on reporting this clusterfuck."

(This is the suckiest post in the history of suckiness, but I just can't think of anything else.)

Darrien nodded. "Best not to keep them waiting then." He tapped something on his watch and his body seemed to transform into a strange digital computer code that lit up the area before vanishing. The spot he and Akuma was in was completely empty as if he was never there.(Both Akuma and Darrien are out)

There was something Juro wanted to know, and the man who might know a thing or to was this Ralphael Bryant. It was then his mind had been made up and he walked up to the other two. "Hold a second. You mind me tagging along? There's something I want to ask them in person."

Isamu closed her eyes, contemplating something. "If you're going, I suppose I will have to go to keep you out of trouble."

"Trouble? What trouble?"

"This trouble. Just now."

"...Hm. I really don't have a defense to that."

Sam and Samael turned to Juro. "W-well, Professor Regal isn't picky about appointments..." He started, but was cut off.

"What?! I didn't hear any objections to him going!" Sam snapped at him.

"He's nicer..." Samael mumbled under his breath. Sam's hearing was better than he foresaw. She quickly placed him in a head lock.

"Mind repeating that?" She growled.

"I-I'm s-sorry!" He struggled and was released from her playful grapple.

"That's better." Sam smiled sweetly. "I say 'the more the merrier.' And in his defense, he didn't start the trouble. He came along and kicked it in the face."

"Eloquent..." Samael mumbled.

"You don't learn very quickly for a scientist." Sam shot back at him. He jumped slightly and scooted away from her.

"Hey, if Mom is going, then so am I!" Kiyoshi came over quickly, followed by a far calmer Michi.

"Agreed. Beside's, I also agree with Isamu. Juro needs help staying out of trouble." This was old hat with them. That, and Michi didn't want to head back just yet.

(...Yeah, is it obvious I can't think of anything?)

(You're being too hard on yourself, that's how threads keep going)

Juro was slightly amused but let it go. "We'll, might as well get going. Lead the way. I'd teleport us there but I'm not really skilled enough yet. How far too is the place?"