Chapter Text
The Sinners had run through the war-torn LCE facility like a fire was lit under them, defeating corpses turned into manikins, running into Abnormalities they’d faced before and taking them out a second time. Or more.
It was harrowing for certain, but they were far more prepared to take them on than they had been a month ago.
Dante was just a little upset they hadn’t been able to do anything about Alyssa with that turtle spiral digging into her, but he was confident they’d sort that out. Maybe they could call Binah?
Would that even be a good idea?
It was probably overkill, anyway.
But Malkuth says there’s no kill like overkill. Hm…
Anyway.
Rushing through the facility to save it, leaving Vergilius to deal with Valencina and Lucio of the ‘House of Spiders’ after they stole Charon (how do these things even happen?), the motley Sinner crew had managed to find where their LCE friends had bunkered down. While the voice that clearly belonged to Ezra had been hostile at first, she’d let them in quickly once she and Hohenheim realized it was them.
Yeah, so, the Limbus lab here was under attack by the House of Spiders place that Lei Heng had mentioned during the Family Hierarch War. You know, the place that he said Ryōshū’s baby was? Apparently, it was full of Finger rejects for a purpose they hadn’t uncovered yet, but they wanted the Golden Boughs and Ryōshū both, most likely.
That was something they could not allow to pass, and preventing further deaths was certainly on their radar. There’d been enough death and destruction around them already, this couldn’t go on a second longer.
Dante also got the sinking feeling that Ryōshū’s child wasn’t in the state she seemed to think she was. Ryōshū had been oddly calm through this; Dante just didn’t trust it.
But, anyway again, they found themselves hiding away with Hohenheim, Marton, and Moses’s crew in this ‘Broadcast Sector’ as they figured out their plan of action.
Hohenheim had seemed reluctant to trust Alyssa’s fate to turn out positive, but they didn’t have time to convince him they could find a way to get that spiral out of her regardless of how it looked.
Without the spiral code… surely, an Arbiter’s Fairy could do it.
Probably not a good idea to call a former Arbiter out here.
With greetings with Hohenheim out of the way, that left the more obvious matter here.
While this was their first time officially meeting Moses in person, she had a few extra guards with her that they hadn’t been expecting. He didn’t see Vespa or YuRia either, but they might be elsewhere.
“So, uh,” Ishmael blinked at the group, “what’s the plan here? And what are you three doing here? I thought you were protecting Nest L.”
Her eyes were locked on the three extra figures they hadn’t been expecting to find, the question as to how they’d gotten here bit back on her tongue but desperately wanting to be spoken.
At the very least, she could address the three due to having met them before.
Walter smiled, adjusting the tie of his suit. “Our benefactor received an urgent notice regarding an attack on this fine establishment; it only made sense that she would use her vast ability to find our passage here to assist.”
Moses did not look impressed by that statement.
Dante rubbed the back of his neck, glancing at the Detective.
She sighed. Not who she’d hoped would be sent, huh? Dante hadn’t been aware Moses could send missives to Angela like that – was it new?
Hohenheim gave the three Zwei Fixers an untrusting glance. “I still don’t understand how Moses got a message out or how you got here in such a timely manner, but I’ll let that slide for the urgency of the situation.” His eyes roved about the three.
“Something wrong?” Isadora asked, prodding him.
He frowned, eyes especially locked on her. “I would ask who your supplier is. You aren’t from Lobotomy Corporation.”
All three Zwei Fixers were garbed in E.G.O suits:
Walter in one made of veiny thorns, with an eyeball at the center.
Isadora in one made of pitch-black feathers, dotted in golden eyes that looked similar to the cuckoos.
And Julia in one made of green, thorny vines and stems.
Dante thought Angela wasn’t allowing E.G.O out of the Library?
Moses sighed, waving him off. “We can question that later. The fact of the matter is, their benefactor supplied them with powerful gear to see us through the day, we should not look a gift horse in the mouth.”
Hohenheim clearly knew Moses knew far more than she was letting on, brows furrowing.
“Main branch gear…” He sighed harshly, shaking his head.
By the look on Moses’s face, subtle and only noticeable to Dante by how he was trying to get better at this, she was touched. Very, very touched.
Angela had broken her own rule for Moses.
Walter was still fuddling with his tie as if to straighten it further, looking quite chuffed. “It seems we have landed ourselves quite into her graces and proven our worth at last for such a boon.”
Ezra snorted, giggling behind her hand. “Yeah, hard doubt, old man. She just likes Moses.”
He scoffed at her.
Hohenheim clearly did not like being out of the loop, and Faust was living for it by the look on her face. Oh, so smug even in this situation.
“We should focus back on the matter at hand.” Kim spoke up, cutting through the current discussion.
Hohenheim huffed, shaking his head with a sour expression on his face. “All of these sudden developments, concerning as they are, are still a boon for us.”
“Indeed.” Moses agreed. “Allow me to lay out our current situation.”
She spoke of the attack and their attackers:
The House of Spiders and its Nursefathers – Valencina being the Nursefather of the Thumb, and the man who’d driven Hohenheim and Marton here being Matthias, the Nursefather of the Middle. The House of Spiders was a collection of all five Fingers for a strange purpose; a breach of the lines the Fingers drew between themselves.
All for Ryōshū.
Why? Even she couldn’t say – her memories mutilated beyond belief, and the knowledge lost to her. What glimpses he’d seen of her past so far were pretty messed up – the view itself of them in tatters, even if the subject matter was as well.
Being that there were nigh endless possibilities for what the Nursefathers were after for their attack being now and not earlier, the highest probability was that they wanted the Golden Boughs because everyone wants those.
Very creative, Nursefathers. Just wonderful.
Obviously, they can’t let that happen.
So, off they are to prevent that and get the facility back under control.
As they moved out, their group large and bolstered, ready to take on just about anything, Dante thought back on the conversation.
To what had been revealed by Yi Sang at some of Hohenheim’s words, and the side-eye the Zwei had given him.
Limbus Company sought to put all the Boughs together to create a tree. The Tree of Light.
You know, the one the Library already created and released? What did Limbus Company want from making a new one? He had to tell Angela, this wasn’t… this didn’t feel right.
Something was very off here.
Had Moses known this? Surely, she wouldn’t like it either, and he didn’t see how she wouldn’t know.
That was a problem for later. Right now, they need to get to the lab and save the Boughs, turn on the power, and clear the way for reinforcements.
A hefty task before them, but one he was more confident tackling after what they’d been through.
Naturally, one of the very first things that happened after they started on this journey, was that everyone got separated. They were kind of going to need to anyway, but the building collapsing around them and forcing them separate was kinda just unnecessary.
Which left Dante with Meursault, Gregor, Yi Sang, Ryōshū, and Isadora going to the Boughs, and the rest to sort out the reinforcements and power.
“Sheesh,” Isadora glared back at the rubble as they made their way further into the facility, “guess it’s just us, then.”
“Did our job for us.” Gregor shrugged in agreement. He then raised a brow at her. “So, Angela sent you three in? Gotta say, no offense, but you three wouldn’t have been what I expected.”
Isadora shook her head, not insulted. “We were the only ones really available at the time that she thought could contend with Fingers well enough.”
<That’s understandable.> Dante nodded. Maybe he would have preferred the Shi, Liu, or Proxies, but the Zwei would be able to take enemy attention and keep it. He didn’t quite know what Abnormality she had equipped, but the fact she had E.G.O would carry them quite well. <We’re glad to have you regardless.>
Isadora glanced at Gregor for translation.
Ah, right…
“Ach.” Gregor winced. “Manager Bud’s glad you’re here.”
“We should ask Angela if she can give you guys translators for whenever you’re helping us.” Yi Sang noted with a low hum, contemplative.
Isadora pursed her lips. “That would probably be a good idea, yeah. She should be able to.” She shook the thought off. “Anyway, follow me and let me be your shield. I’ll take the damage, you do it. That’s how the Zwei work.”
“W.F.M.” Ryōshū hummed agreeably, eager.
“If that is how it must be.” Yi Sang nodded, not quite liking the idea of her taking all of the heat.
“Don’t worry about it, Yi, it’s what she’s trained for.” Gregor assured him.
Meursault nodded his own agreement, and they simply continued.
Isadora took the front, the eyes of her suit glowing and drawing the attention of any manikin they proceeded to come across. They went after her as if enchanted, their weapons of flesh and bone, little spider-like drones, crashing against her zweihänder and barely even noticing the three Sinners as they took them down one by one.
Dante almost felt enchanted by the E.G.O himself.
According to Ryōshū, the manikins were made by the Ring Nursefather. She gave no name to him, however, so Dante was just going to think of him as Dave until further notice.
Why Dave? Eh, it was generic enough of a name, right? Thinking ‘Ring Nursefather’ all the time was going to get exhausting.
So, yes, Dave the Ring Nursefather had made these manikins.
They were grotesque things, ugly and malformed yet with some kind of artistic flare to them that sent shivers down Dante’s spine. The kind of art that Dave employs was Corporism, so said Ryōshū. There was a short flash of a memory through his gaze, that of Dave teaching Ryōshū his kind of art, of twisting the flesh and reforming the bones to take elegant shape.
It was nasty, but it did at least explain where Ryōshū’s fascination with gore came from, right?
Eventually, they came across an elevator with LCA gunmen pouring out of it.
And a second later, an Index Proxy came in and killed all of them in a flash.
All of them, even Isadora, stared at the carnage with dull expressions. That was abrupt.
The Index Nursefather. He did not stick around at all, smiling at Ryōshū, and mouthing something. Something about sticking a random name on this guy like with Dave felt like it wasn’t going to fly for some reason.
“Hi sweetheart. How did your reviews go?”
Sweetheart. Her father – one of them? This Nursefather thing was really weird.
Another memory was launched from there. Where he’d stabbed himself thirty-eight times in his own arm against his opponent purely because the Prescript told him to, proceeding to very lovingly give Ryōshū a bandage for her own minor wounds.
This is what the Index is like… Dante had seen the fanaticism from the Proxies at the Library, but this was a bit different.
Or was it? Was it simply that he was seeing a different Prescript in action? Well, truthfully, the only Prescript they’d really seen was the one that had told the three to take the Sinners through District 12.
This was a lot to take in all at once – everything that had happened since Saude came running to them about being attacked. Way, way too much all at once.
But the way the Index Nursefather talked to Ryōshū - Yoshihide, her true name, apparently (this was the third Sinner with a different name in a row, but this one was tied to her daughter?) - he almost seemed like he truly loved her. Maybe he did? Maybe it wasn’t just the Prescripts?
Dante is still working on his people-reading skills.
All they could do was carry on with a swirl of confusion and missing information following them.
He hoped the other groups were doing alright.
Before long, they finally reached the lab. All in all, Dante would say the group was doing pretty well after everything. It had been a bit difficult, but not too bad.
Now, what’s awaiting them here?
By what Dante could tell, the Boughs were at least still there…
Upon entering, Ryōshū immediately looked pissed.
<Is something wrong, Ryōshū?> Dante asked kindly with a hint of concern. With how nonchalant she’d been the entire time, he was a bit nervous about what could possibly tick her off so much.
“There is a foul stench here.” She grumbled, eyes shining dangerously.
“Foul stench?” Gregor raised a brow. “I don’t smell anything but your cig…” he trailed off, looking the woman up and down. “You haven’t been smoking since we stepped into the facility.”
“Someone’s here, watching us. I can feel it.” Isadora stepped in a bit further, ensuring she the front in case of something, before glancing back at Ryōshū. “Anything in your memories on this one?”
Ryōshū huffed harshly. “Before leaving that place, I have memories of pure contempt for someone…”
She kept muttering to herself, only looking angrier by the second as she tried to delve into her mutilated memories.
They waited patiently for her to sort them out – Isadora’s eyes flicking about cautiously.
Another memory flashed before him.
Ryōshū was pissed, angrily lashing out at the Dihui Star – the Pinky Nursefather? Dihui lashed right back at her, hating the child she’d had to raise for stealing being an obstacle.
What an absolutely terrible mother. What the heck?
Maybe the memory was too short, but the woman seemed to hate her own child. Had Dante gotten too used to seeing good parenting at the Library? It’s not like there was a shortage of bad parenting in the City.
Was it too much to ask to call Binah in? Pretty please?
After spitting venom at each other, Ryōshū unsheathed the sword she always refused to unsheath, but the blade was lost to her memory and appeared a pure white. She cut off the woman’s tongue, leaving her laughing.
“I.S.O.T.P.I.T.A.” Ryōshū grumbled, glaring out beyond Isadora. “Insidious Stench of the Past… In the Air.”
Isadora clicked her tongue. “Seems like it. You up for this?”
Ryōshū scoffed. “As if I wouldn’t be.”
Now, before them stood, was the woman from the memory. Dressed in white, a veil covering her face, and appearing to be glitching out of reality.
Dante hadn’t noticed any glitching in the memory. That was off.
A whispering breath left the woman, but no words for her lack of tongue.
“Because of my five ‘fathers’…” Ryōshū sniffed. “I had to leave the single most important thing in this world. Some parents you are, treating your charge as such, but being good parents was never a concern of yours. Just what you could get from me. I will take what’s mine back.”
Enough of her memories were with her to accuse the five of that.
A strange laugh left the woman, wheezing and filled with a sense of irony.
“So happy to see you again, Ryōshū. I mean it.” A tall, young man with very pale skin and black hair in a bowl cut, holding a long sword in his crossed arms, came up beside the Dihui Star. “… Such were the words my master bade me to relay.”
Was this supposed to be a touching reunion?
His ‘master’, though. The Dihui Star’s apprentice.
“As my master expects naught from my insignificant self, I am but a blade rusting amid the quiet turn of nature, doomed to ever endure the dullness of todays and the emptiness of morrows.” He continued. “And therein in the spider’s thread, I am once again granted a chance to carry out my master’s will.”
Dante understood the merit of being humble, but this kinda felt like a bit more than being humble. More like… putting yourself down?
Ryōshū huffed at him. “Another talker. Piss off. We have other business here.”
There was a clank of metal as another woman walked up to the man, covered completely in metal like an iron maiden – steel and yellow in color. As she came up, the Dihui Star left.
He glanced at her. “The preparations are complete. I’m sure you haven’t forgotten the plan?”
“What’s this plan, if you don’t mind sharing?” Isadora cut in, leaning on her zweihänder.
“I’d second that question.” Gregor chuckled.
The man eyed them, eyebrow raising at the audacity.
“If one mentions a plan out in the open, it is only natural we’d be curious.” Meursault explained, joining in with them.
“It would be a shame not to fill us in at this juncture.” Yi Sang nodded in agreement.
Since when were his Sinners such comedians? Not that he’s complaining.
The man stared at them, jaw slightly ajar.
The new woman giggled, metallic sounding.
The Pinky Apprentice (does Dante need to give names to everyone?) cleared his throat awkwardly. “That would go against my master’s wishes.”
Isadora raised a brow. “I feel like I should point out the obvious crack you just left there, but that’s usually Walter’s job.”
He cleared his throat again.
“That would insinuate that you would do so if not for that restriction.” Yi Sang cupped his chin in thought.
His mouth opened and then closed, and then he sighed. “Albina…”
“Okay~” Albina giggled again and charged for them, lugging her huge sword behind her.
Ryōshū sniffed, preparing her blade. “Yes, I would want you to bring the Ring Nursefather to me.”
Albina didn’t respond before the eyes on Isadora’s gear glowed, and she turned an entire ninety-degrees to charge her instead.
The Sinners blinked at the abruptness of it.
There was a loud clang, Albina’s massive blade clashing with Isadora’s.
Dante scrambled for his PDA, quickly selecting identities and assigning them to the Sinners to help the Zwei Fixer as Albina’s greatsword and Isadora’s zweihänder continued to battle.
Think quick, Dante, uh--
Wu Branch.
Contempt, Awe.
Thumb Capo.
Night Awls.
That’ll do. Just go.
The identities took the Sinners over, and they sprang into action.
The sparks flying between Albina and Isadora ceased with the Zwei Fixer throwing the heavily armored woman off of her, leaving her wide open to suffer Gregor’s stiletto and Yi Sang’s guan dao. She didn’t even turn to bother dealing with them, striking again at Isadora who simply caught it again, the eyes still shimmering enchantingly.
Albina spun as the two tried to strike her again, throwing them back a bit, but it was largely unaffected.
The other, Bowlcut, blinked slightly in confusion, squinting at Meursault as he and Ryōshū approached him.
“The Thumb Capo?” He muttered quietly in confusion before his eyes flashed in realization, swiftly unsheathing his sword to parry Ryōshū’s.
“Hmph.” The N Corp identity sneered at him, twisting against his blade to shove him back.
Bowlcut looked a bit surprised by the force she struck him with. Maybe they hadn’t been expecting the Sinners to be further along than they otherwise would have been.
Heh.
Meursault crashed into him, pressing him further back.
It was a flurry of blades from there as Bowlcut managed both Ryōshū and Meursault at once, difficult for Dante to follow. After the sudden surprise, Bowlcut kept up with the two, his blade clashing both even as flames and blood fueled the pair of blades dancing together.
Meanwhile, Isadora was slowly moving herself closer to the other battle, her zweihänder not bothering to strike Albina and simply catching every blow with the terrible crash of metal on metal. The Ring(?) Apprentice kept trying to spin or let the spikes of her armor deal with Yi Sang and Gregor, but her attention being so locked on Isadora was leaving her almost completely wide open.
Yi Sang’s polearm caught her in the side, staggering her after she once again failed to break through Isadora’s defenses - though Isadora was wearing down a bit, she was still holding strong. Gregor came in with her off-balance, stiletto finding an opening in the armor and sliding right through to pierce her.
She jolted a bit, though didn’t seem phased otherwise and cut Gregor right in half.
Dante grimaced but was quick to revive him.
Isadora finally had the space to move past her and join the two fights together.
The E.G.O shone again with a chime, drawing Bowlcut’s attention to her as well.
His long blade caught both Meur’s and Ryōshū’s blades, twisting them to the side and sliding between them low to the ground.
Where Isadora then caught his blade on her own once more.
Albina had been caught immediately, but it took Bowlcut a second to be. Hm, that’s interesting.
Both Albina and Bowlcut worked to cut the Zwei Fixer down, but the Sinners being almost completely free and clear to take them down in turn made their lives very difficult.
Isadora was clearly not very flexible or fast, but the sheer size of her weapon was able to take the large brunt of their attacks even if she still suffered plenty.
Bowlcut was better able to divert from Isadora to try to parry or dodge the attacks the Sinners threw at him, but Albina took blows better than he did in general.
A spiral helix crashed into Albina’s chest, shoving her back, as a bullet powered podao and guan dao combined together to throw Bowlcut’s blade off and slam him into the ground.
Gregor slipped in, his stiletto sliding right into her armor.
Albina made a hissing sound, and her armor started falling off around the weapon, revealing a robotic body underneath the armor. The metal casing of her sword also started coming off, to an amalgamation of flesh within.
Ring. Definitely Ring.
Bowlcut made a sound, swiftly rolling back to his feet to place his sword before Albina yet it was still angled at Isadora. His black eyes were tinged gold, as were Albina’s heterochromatic ones. “Refrain from making any deviations to the plan… Has my humble self neglected to impress upon this matter many times?”
<Calling yourself humble isn’t humble.> Dante pointed out, going unheard.
Isadora huffed, a bead of sweat dripping down the side of her temple. “The plan we still don’t know, by the way.”
His brow twitched, foot moving towards her.
He stepped closer.
“But Fascia wants friends, see?” Albina also moved closer to Isadora’s glowing suit. “How she pulsates… I’ve not seen her so excited.”
A look of disgust crossed Bowlcut’s face.
Both stepped closer but gave each other dangerous looks.
“This mission is not to satiate personal desires.” Bowlcut stressed, grip tightening.
Dante rubbed the back of his neck, glancing between them as it was starting to look like they were going fight each other now. <Um… maybe this is our cue to go after the Boughs.>
The Sinners returned to him, Isadora’s E.G.O dropping whatever effect it had.
Bowlcut leapt for Albina, preventing her from unleashing her desire for flesh on them.
“Yeah, I gotta agree, Manager Bud.” Gregor chuckled. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Yes, quite the stroke of fortune.” Yi Sang agreed. “Let us away.”
Ryōshū looked furious, angrier than he’d ever seen her.
Mustering himself up, he spoke. He can’t leave her like this. <Ryōshū-->
She was glaring at the Dihui Star as she walked away with the Boughs, having been silently watching the battle.
“I don’t need your pity, clock.” Ryōshū grumbled, turning to glare at the ensuing battle between Bowlcut and Albina.
Dante sighed but entertained her. If she wanted to speak with Bowlcut, that was her choice.
They would be after the Dihui Star… whatever her real name is, eventually.
Why are they fighting so many opponents that are way above their weight class so suddenly?