[10th] Week 295: Institutional Effectiveness

[Time Lady Katie]

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Working on Some Calibrations​

“Ow,” though it was more the indignity than the pain that made Adelaide wince, there was a little of both. She sat in a lab, machines bleeping and booping around her and she at best understood what a tenth of them did. There was a click, a whirr and a light flipped from green to red on the black collar that was placed around the Captain’s neck.

To say her fight with Reijuu Kyuketsu had been short was an understatement. She had gotten exceedingly lucky with a combination of distance strikes that took him off-balance. She also had lit him on fire. All things considered, it was a good day in the life of someone who needed a lot more validation than a normal person. But it also was met shortly after with a Hell Butterfly, and a request to come to the Ninth Division.

The Captain turned her glance to the woman with long snow-white hair that affixed the collar to her neck, “This is retribution for me saying ‘no’ to Yin’s ascent, isn’t it?” The utter contempt she held Yin Feng in was astounding, so astounding that she failed to consider that he could complicate her life – win or lose.

This one, though, at least seemed on the level, “I cannot believe the Ninth Division would hold such a petty grudge!” protested the scientist, her hands finding her hips in the most overexaggerated fashion.

Rolling her eyes, the Captain nodded to the badge attached to the other woman’s lab coat, “Then why are you still listed as being SRDI and not Ninth Division?” The two were essentially fused back together thanks to Adelaide opening her damned mouth and suggesting something utterly stupid. That was how things tended to get done these days in Soul Society.

Violet eyes glanced down, as if the tinkerer had forgotten her badge altogether, then with a quiet ‘ah’ of realization she looked back at Adelaide, “Because I think that the Ninth Division would hold exactly that kind of petty grudge?” she offered with an asking tone, “Also, because I’m rather foolishly loyal to Director-kun.” She meant Iha, and the diminutive title was well-earned. The eccentric little guy might’ve even appreciated it.

Andromeda de Laincourt pressed a button on the holographic keyboard that was floating next to her, projected by a little bar of metal about the size of a pen. The ‘pen’ was open in half and the same length went upward at a forty-five degree angle projecting a display, “Please strike the target. Please use Hadou Thirty-Three for this test.”

Leveling one outstretched hand, the kidouist calmly lanced power forth with the word “Soukatsui!” The blue burst, amplified by her raw force with magic, struck the dead-center of what had looked like a paper target, blasting a hole the size of a soccer ball through it. Adelaide offered the albino a self-satisfied grin, and was promptly zapped by electricity from her new damned collar. “Again, ow.”

“Calibrations,” explained a far-too-chipper Andromeda. She looked at the readings, offered a nod to no one in particular, and pressed a few buttons on her keypad again. And again she heard Adelaide’s protests of pain as the Captain was electrocuted. Somehow it didn’t seem to faze Andromeda.

Adelaide scowled her best scowl at the snowy-haired scientist, “Tell me again why can’t just use a normal limiter?” she asked, as if she had been told to begin with. She hadn’t. She had asked a few people and none of them had given an even remotely satisfactory answer. Instead of an armband, she got a black collar, that probably reminded some people far too much of Prometheus’ collars. Hers, though, had a little box on one side, with a little glowing red light on it. When the limiter was off, the light flicked green. At the moment, Adelaide wanted to see what color the light turned if she smashed it to little, tiny pieces.

The researcher looked up from her results and stared blankly for a long moment, then actually gave a surprisingly straightforward answer. “You blow too much shit up.” A couple keystrokes later and the paper target writhed in the air, restoring itself to the way it had been before Adelaide attacked it, “I mean, god, Cap’n, you incinerated a New York City park, you turned Rio into the site of a horror flick, you did your level best to melt that big hunk of metal in Tokyo, I think you might, might be personally responsible for global fucking warming. I don’t know yet, I’m thinking of doing a paper on it.” She said the whole thing so factually that even her use of coarse language hadn’t seemed emotive so much as explanatory. “Please strike the target. Please use Hadou Thirty-Three for this test.” It was the exact intonation she had used before, the exact facial expressions, as if she was able to reproduce them verbatim.

Well at least Adelaide had gotten a real answer this time. Though she wasn’t that bad, was she?

Kyuketsu wanted to fight her because she had hidden the Gardens of Arimanthium in a pocket dimension for a month. She responded to that by melting his face.

She pointed to the target again. “Soukatsui.” This time the blast was a pinprick, even weaker than a normal, weakened Soukatsui would be. She glowered at Andromeda. Mages and scientists were both pissing her off lately.

ZAP! This jolt honestly shot hairs on end.

“Please strike the target,” reiterated Andromeda as the target refreshed itself, “Please use Hadou Thirty-Three for this test.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You’re enjoying this,” she muttered and then attempted a third time. “Soukatsui.” This one was about normal. Not pitiful, but as if the raw strength she was pouring into it simply wasn’t doing anything.

The face of the scientist contorted awkwardly as she glanced at her data for a long moment. Suddenly, the woman threw her hands in the air and let out a half-intonated cry of frustration before looking back at Adelaide, “That’ll do for now. Come back next week for recalibration.”

“What do you mean that will do for now?!” the redhead practically shouted her protest, “That was way more anemic than even a normal limiter!”

Matter-of-factly, the scientist explained: “The normal limiter mechanically suppresses the spiritual potential capable of being expressed by a high-pressure shinigami. This both effectively cuts that pressure preventing the phenomenon colloquially called ‘reiatsu crushing’, as well as limits the amount of one’s spiritual force that can be put into practical form by restricting the ability for that presence to manifest itself. It uses the same principles that the old bankai limiters used, and the normal limiters before them. Yours is different. The Damocles Limiter biologically limits the amount of pressure able to be manifested at a time. Yours functions by preventing your body from channeling the energy to begin with, as opposed to mechanical suppression of that energy once its generated. Ne? So as a side effect, it is impossible to overwhelm or overload your limiter. In fact, yours is the only limiter equipped with the ability for us to fully suppress your abilities, ‘cause we can pierce your soul sleep.”

There was a long silence.

That silence was full of hate.

One word cut it, the kind of cut that would pierce someone’s soul sleep, “... pardon?”

Jovially, the scientist responded, “How else would we be able to philologically suppress your power?” She saw it all as perfectly reasonable.

“Because I blow shit up?”

“Because you blow shit up.”

The kind of rage she felt right now, at the hands of a division she already felt at odds with, was remarkable. It was beyond quantifying or qualifying. She just hated everything.

“Don’t worry,” reassured the albino, “I’ll be the one controlling your limiter while on Earth. I promise not the accidentally kill you, or permanently disable you, or disfigure you, or...”

“Andromeda.” The name was said so coldly and harshly that it might’ve been the glaciers Adelaide’s powers were allegedly melting. “Take off this collar. Take it off now.” The redheaded Captain was sending the white-haired researcher back to the goddamn drawing board with this one.

For her part, Rommie closed the floating pen-computer and slid it into her lab coat’s pocket. “If you tell me who Eris of Cartridge was.” About time she got some damned answers. Adelaide was always asking questions and buzzing about... the SRDI’s scholar was more than willing to redesign the limiter in a new and more creative way – challenges were fun – but right now power was in her hands.

“This is treason, you know,” warned Adelaide. Because that line had helped her so much before.

Andromeda frowned, “Youre here for sanctioned experimentation, and produced yourself voluntarily. The experiment ends when I decide it does.”

This made the Captain’s expression sour all the more. “And you’re the one I trust with my life?”

“Yeah, you seem a bit screwed, don’t you?”

There wasn’t anything else to do about it. It was story time.

1505 Words​

 

[Time Lady Katie]

CHAPTER NINE
Get Well Soon​

Machines beeped and whirred around the medic and her head pounded. Sleep wasn’t something that came easy to her lately, and the effects it was having on her... well, she wished she was unaware of them. She frowned, knowing there was a spell that essentially acted as a stimulant, but she couldn’t remember what it was. Maybe I should go to Earth, she callously joked to herself, the humans seemed fine helping me get a good night’s rest. In fact, I slept like the dead. She tried to laugh at herself, but it just wasn’t happening. It was too sad to joke about. Complicated, lonely, and sad.

She barely remembered anything about that fight. She remembered people before telling her that Fidelacchius was going to be so useful in the fog. That if she could succeed anywhere, it would’ve been there. And then she was here in the Fourth and withdrawn from the tournament.

I wasn’t the one who said I would win.

The sword’s attempt to defend herself almost literally fell on deaf ears, as Echo couldn’t really hear her. She didn’t understand what the so-soft whisper said, a symptom she decided of lacking faith in a weapon that literally lived and breathed belief.

A man poked his head into the room, “Doctor LaSalle?” his voice was quiet, clearly meant to not wake her if she were sleeping.

“I’m a patient,” grumbled the blond, her hand shielding her eyes from the light as she opened the weary windows to her bruised soul, “Just call me Echo.” She had always been told that doctors made terrible patients, so she made a conscious effort to separate herself from the work while she was bedridden most of her days. Experimentation with deviating from this decision had proven it to be the right one (she lost consciousness attempting to do work in the clinic).

The man opened the door entirely, revealing a woman with long, bright sky-blue hair and a bright, warm smile. The woman was dressed in a rather close-hugging but long dress and heels, her long blue hair tied into a ponytail that fell easily to her bottom, and her eyes were like looking at the midnight sky. Her dress was a deep purple with a beautiful silver necklace dangling and intricate design on her chest. She also carried a black briefcase with “VAL”, golden letters emblazoned on it. They stood for, in a mildly insulting way, Verity Aqua LaSalle. This was mildly insulting in that ‘Aqua’ had been something of a disparaging nickname given her by other members of the family, a mocking of her blue hair. Difference wasn’t exactly heralded with appreciation and sensitivity.

This actually greatly upset Echo. For a fraction of a second, she almost said so. She had been conscious for a week, she had been in Soul Society at least three days before that. That left plenty of time for her father or siblings to come in person. They hadn’t. She asked. No sign of Gaius, no sign of Iosepheus, no sign of anyone until today. She got Verity, and she got her ten days later. And it didn’t look like the blue LaSalle was here on a social ‘how are you doing’ trip either. She had a briefcase. Briefcases, typically, were signs that Echo’s life was about to get worse.

But she didn’t say anything. She never did when she was upset with family. She was here to serve Lord Septimus’ cause. And then Lord Septimus died and she was here to redeem Augustus and Maria, and then Augustus and Maria died, and now she did what she thought Lord Gaius would’ve wanted. What her father would’ve wanted. She might’ve had a number of different objectives, but the mission was always the same: dutifully serve the LaSalle family. Restore the standing of the LaSalles and, if possible, diminish the influence of the Fausts. She was cross with her family, but they gave her direction and purpose, and that made them hard to challenge.

So, she feigned a smile, “Vee,” she had long ago elected not to call Verity ‘Aqua’ as her other family members did – it seemed rude – so she opted for ‘Vee’ or ‘Val’ instead, “I’m glad to see you. I’d get up, but my colleagues remind me it’s a bad idea often enough.” She honestly wasn’t doing it because she was mad; though she was telling her cousin the truth, she had flagrantly ignored their advice once or twice already and intended to numerous times in the future.

“I come with well-wishes from your father,” responded the bluenette. Her voice was sure, but quiet. She knew what she was doing, she believed in what she was doing, but she hadn’t been treated all that well all that often and it showed. She always had the sense of a kid sitting at the grownups’ table about her, a fear (credible or not) that her entire life was one disaster away from falling apart. She knew her good fortune and her comparably nice life was maintained at least in part by her extreme stress.

And Echo could tell she was also full of shit. “Father sends well-wishes in briefcases now?”

Aqua’s smile faltered, only for a moment, before she regained control of the high-wire act that was her professionalism, “We’re all very pleased at the news of your promotion. Eighth Seat of the Fourth Division is something substantial, without a doubt.” The fact that there was a flip side to that coin was abundantly clear. “Ioesepheus did ask me to point out that he believes you could have done better on Earth had you remained in the Eighth Division, however.”

Well, it was a nugget of honesty. She at least took solace in the fact that Ioesephus wouldn’t have ever sent Aqua to deliver a scolding – he liked to do them himself. “I’m glad my family is so fixated on the number Eight and its influence on my life.” It was cheeky, cheekier than she usually would’ve been but her head was simply pounding. She felt pushed by that pain to be a little snarky.

Aqua opened her briefcase and set it on a table. She glanced at Echo’s doctor and he politely excused himself before she pulled out a dossier and handed it to Echo, “The Family wanted to appraise you of what had transpired since you... as your father put it, ‘while you were sleeping’.”

“My nap was lovely,” she took the file, essentially a small book, from Aqua. Honestly, she wasn’t sure if her father was being curt and dismissive or if he was denying the significance of her injuries. Either was believable, and both had their own special reasons for Echo to disdain them as reactions of her father to her near-death experience.

Aqua made an effort to avoid eye contact, which since Echo was reading was actually remarkably easy. “Two noteworthy events transpired at the taishuu of Yin Feng. First being that with his ascent, House Yin has a political player in the army now, a major political player. Given the resources at his disposal, and his well-advertised, shall we say ‘pragmatic’ nature, it is likely he could be persuaded to ignore certain aspects of the Family’s reputation.”

There was a certain total and utter hatred Echo had for compromising the image she had of her family as knights in shining armor, but they weren’t so shining in the White City anymore, and someone with a complete disregard for integrity and a decent amount of political power was exactly the kind of person who would appreciate the LaSalles still. Hell, he might’ve even been a fan of Maria and Augustus.

“The other thing is the Captain of the Eighth Division was conspicuously not in attendance.”

That made Echo look up, and Aqua made an effort not to make eye contact. “Takimoto Kago is missing?” Or at least AWOL. It had happened to Anenokoji Senesati as well, and had lead to Takimoto Kago becoming the Captain of the Eighth. No wonder Ioesephus wishes I had stayed there, he’d position me to take over. She wasn’t even close to that level of skill, if she was she wouldn’t have been in this hospital bed. “What am I supposed to do about him?”

Aqua took another dossier and handed it to Echo. The first was on Yin Feng and House Yin. This one was on the Eighth Division and Takimoto Kago. “Anything that benefits the Family.” That was a cryptic and not helpful answer, but it was the default task to hand out to a little shinigami that could. “You have extreme latitude in this situation. Help him, earn us a debt from House Takimoto. Help the Eighth and earn us notoriety in the Gotei. Shame House Takimoto and we diminish their ability to assist our adversaries. There are a lot of options, Lord Gaius wants you to ‘be Echo’, and resolve the situation in the way most suited to your disposition.”

Which was a refreshing ray of light. For a long time, Echo and Aqua worked together bringing as much peace and happiness to the outer districts as possible, and they became somewhat known for the effort, though Echo gained more popularity than Aqua did. Maybe Gaius was counting on her to use that ability to generate good will here? It certainly was more her speed than winning glory in combat. “What do we know about Takimoto’s absence? I mean, he only missed one event.”

“Maybe it was a mission-critical situation,” conceded Aqua, “but you need to think like a Captain. There are only thirteen of them in existence. Thirteen people. They’re a more exclusive little club than the Forty-Six. They have a vested interest in seeing who will join their ranks. Even notoriously reclusive captains like Katsuji Ishin attend these ceremonies. An absence goes noticed. Doubly so given the public nature of this event. I would expect House Takimoto to be critically judged for Kago’s failure to attend this ceremony, and so...”

“... so either he had a good reason or something bad happened to him?” asked Echo.

Aqua shrugged and closed her briefcase, “Either way, we have potential gains to make by learning this information in advance of the general public. Once you’re capable of being discharged, please pursue this Takimoto question as your top priority.”

That was when Echo did something incredible. She said “€

“Serving the Fourth is my top priority, Vee,” she dropped her head back against the pillows and slid the two dossiers under the blankets beside her, “I’ll do it, but this place comes first.”

Though she didn’t say anything, hearing that made Aqua proud. She offered a nod, small but significant, to Echo and started for the door, “Get well soon, LaSalle Lilium.”

1800 Total​