Eevee Therapy for Little Magi Chapter 56: Arrogance begets Undoing

AZ carefully lowered himself into the beanbag chair, his long legs folded beneath him as he sat. “Thanks.” He offered the group of agents and Pokemon which surrounded him. The group had brought AZ to a small safehouse, the interior set up for the comfort of those who needed its services.

Kiritsugu looked over the man with a frown, examining him closely. “Are you in pain, sir?”

“Not a sir,” the ancient man responded. “Yes. Always.” He took a deep breath. “Judgement for a great sin. The Weapon.”

“Gotta ask, is there another name for it other than ‘The Ultimate Weapon?’ It just seems sorta pretentious,” Amelie asked, a little surprised when AZ turned to her.

“I never named it. Seemed unnecessary. Some after called it the Light of Ruin, or the Maker of Wastes,” he said. “It’s use… greatest regret. It’s not just a weapon; it’s a conduit.”

“A conduit? A conduit for what?” Elle asked, pulling out her phone to take notes.

“Life energy. Drain it from Pokemon, from a place, from a gathered group. Then pour it out, into people or back into the world. A glorified Hyper Beam.” He chuckled dully. “Poured twenty thousand years of life and growth into myself, the same into my partner. And still enough left over, from all I killed, to scour an army into the bedrock.”

Well. That was… definitely terrifying. A weapon easily comparable to the horrifying super-weapons that Atlas was rumored to have. Though twenty thousand years? No. Wait. That made sense. Especially since it explained the existence of a certain ecological phenomena that made no sense otherwise. “It’s responsible for the existence of the Desert right outside Lumiose City, isn’t it?” Kiritsugu asked.

“In part. Both the drain and the beam impacted that area. It was already ruined from the fighting. Then the impact tore away what was needed for it to heal,”hHe confirmed.

Misora interjected. “And Flare is hoping to recover and use it again? What are they targeting?”

“I do not know.” AZ shook his head, grimacing. “I have not asked. They have made allusions to a more beautiful world.” Pausing, he sighed. “I have my own opinions on what they mean by that - mass genocide - but I cannot confirm one way or another. Mildly useful conjecture at most. They are still utterly insane for asking me where it is,” he pushed out before stopping to massage his throat.

Elle coughed. “Kiritsugu, as the one here that’s most knowledgeable about esoteric weapons like this; how hard would they have to work to refit or upgrade something like this to widen the area of effect? Either the drain, or the beam?”

“I’m not certain, but simply via the advancement of technology, and how magic here does not seem to become worse with the advancement of technology, I would assume it could be done. Especially if they manage to… get better…-” Kiritsugu paused, color draining from his face, “That’s why they’re after the Legends. They’d make phenomenal power sources.”

“Life and Death,” AZ rasped. “I sought them for generations; hoping they could drain the life from me, let me go. They never showed themselves. Kalos is their home.”

“They could use any Legendary as a power source, but true deities would be best,” Elle said, hurriedly typing out an email. “We know Flare lacks almost any international presence, but I don’t think the League even knows where either of those two are.”

Misora winced. “How would we even know if they’ve captured them? Or any other legendaries. The league keeps tabs on some legends, but not all of them.”

Kiritsugu closed his eyes. “We either need to hunt down all of Flare’s bases, or we need to find and destroy the Conduit before it can be used. Seeing as AZ won’t tell us, for good reason, we need to step up our persecution of Flare’s bases.”

“Easier said than done,” Misora shot back. Because it was. Flare’s bases were disgustingly well concealed, and given the funds they had access to, that was no accident, “Especially with so much subtle support from the local league and governments.”

“We’re working on that,” Elle snapped back before calming down. “Nothing’s changed, then, except now we know the full stakes.” She stopped as her phone chirped, and she looked down to read the pop up. “Well, that’s interesting.”

“What?”

“The girl we captured, the greenette? She’s been positively identified as Bryony de Gaulle, a member of a local research lab.” Elle explained. “That alone wouldn’t be noteworthy much, but according to her social media, she and her three sisters do almost everything in concert; if one joined Flare, then the other three become suspect.”

“Well,” Kiritsugu mused, a dangerous glint entering his eyes, “That certainly is interesting…”

“Can we investigate?” Misora asked.

“Lysandre Labs is run by… well, Lysander de Lis.” As everyone gave Elle odd looks, she blinked. “I suppose he’s not known internationally. The man’s a politician, researcher, and philanthropist, generous and charismatic. I don’t know how he’d react to one of his personal researchers going rogue like this, much less four of them, and he has enough clout to make getting access to any of his information difficult.”

Kiritsugu hummed in understanding, considering a few things before deciding that it was worth asking. “Is he on the list, Elle?”

Elle gave him a sharp look. “If I had the entire list, I’d have already told you. Hold on, let me… hmm.” She paused. “Let me set up a secure chat client, then I’ll ask Looker.” She started sending messages. “I need to let him know about the current events anyway.”

AZ coughed. “Do you have more questions? I am happy to rest.”

“For now, I believe we have none, AZ.” Misora responded diplomatically. “You’ll be free to go as soon as we have put together an acceptable statement to pass to the police.. Speaking of, for a limited period of time, would you mind carrying a cellular device with you? It would be helpful to be able to contact you, or for you to be able to contact us in an emergency.”

“I carry a cell phone.” AZ produced a weathered flip phone from his coat. “Emergency calls only. I do not keep money for a data program.”

“...we’ll get you on a League plan. As soon as they clear the last of the moles, that is.” Elle sighed, her own phone chirping. “Looker’s gotten back to us. Lysandre is not on the short list, but he is on the list of potential ‘masterminds’ behind the whole affair. He’s not the primary suspect, but the last three most prominent persons have either been cleared or in one case was found to ‘just’ be running a pokephilliac’s dating service.”

“That is mildly suspicious in and of itself,” Mana offered, her eyes narrowing. She didn’t say anything further, not that she needed to. That the top three suspects had been cleared meant that they may have been intentional red herrings. It was paranoid, sure, but when they were actually out to get you, and had proven to have infiltrated the League, the Governments, and the Interpol…

“Not really? Or at least, I didn’t think so…” Elle countered. “Though, I’ll ask Looker to study the source of their suspicions. Anyway, Lysandre’s rhetoric and placement made him a poor choice for a Flare leadership role, at least on the surface. He was on the list due to his rich private life and resources more than anything.” She paused. “...though he does wear red and black and have bright red hair.”

“... Well that certainly is suspicious.” Kiritsugu blinked, tossing a quizzical look towards Misora, who shrugged. Looking lower, he eyes Mana, and, of course, the Primeon was staring blankly back at him, her sides heaving with barely concealed mirth.

“Well, I mean… a lot of the time, Team Leaders openly wear the symbol of their groups. It’s a thing,” Misora said weakly.

“Greevil didn’t,” Elle protested. “He just wore an ominous purple cloak… and walked around with two intimidating bodyguards…” She trailed off, blushing. “Look, it’s only obvious when you think back on it, okay?”

“Trainer mine, they ALL have orange hair, and they all wear red and black.” Mana said to Misora, then turned to Elle. “And was his name really ‘Greevil?’ Greedy and evil?”

“I think he had it changed from Deathgold,” Elle admitted, before quickly moving on to the next subject. “Okay, so Lysandre may or may not be the big bad behind Flare, but we can’t point to his fashion sense to prove it. The League will probably request access to Bryony’s workplace to see if she’s been up to anything, but unless he goes completely nuts and goes loud the moment we touch him, they’ll have plenty of time to clear up evidence before we get permission to search Lysandre Labs.”

“I suppose it’d be a crime to search illegally, yes?” Kiritsugu asked. “From what I remember of the legal code, anyway. It might be worth breaking in.”

“If we did find any evidence, it wouldn’t be permissible in court. And if Lysandre is innocent, he could give Interpol a huge problem at a time we can’t afford a lawsuit like that,” Elle admitted. “Unless you can guarantee we wouldn’t get caught at all?”

Kiritsugu shook his head. “It was more of an idle thought, a habit from back when I was an independent operator. Now that I’m running with a Government Organization I should do things right.”

“Better this way. The days of kings and single men making decisions which haunt the future are gone,” AZ said slowly.

“On that, we can agree. But we should make sure this Lysandre– or whomever’s in charge of Flare– doesn’t get to make that choice for us,” Misora growled. “Is there any way we could get into the Labs to check it out?”

Amelie winced. “I can think of one way.”

“Do tell,” Mana blinked, the Primeon’s large eyes gazing piercingly towards the Kirlia.

“Well… AZ could get caught, and then we can follow them back to where they take him? It’d be really stupid of them to do it, but Flare’s… not that smart.”

Everyone blinked. For a few moments, there was silence.

“She has a point.” Misora was the first to speak, breaking the silence, turning her head towards King AZ. “Provided you’re okay with it, of course, and we clear it with the rest of Interpol and probably the League.”

“...do you have a tracker?” He asked eventually. “I will not go quietly should they approach again.”

“Right, let’s plan this out a little. We can’t hold you, so we’ll let you go with an obvious tracker; your phone will count. I’ll clear it with my boss before we send you on your way,” Elle offered. “We should probably also let the Champion know we’re sending a national treasure out on a possible sting operation.”

“National treasure?”

“You’re old enough to count as a living relic, almost like a Legendary. It’s a thing.” Elle waved off his befuddled look.

“In the meantime, let’s rest and get you something to eat. Any preferences?” Kiritsugu asked the massive man, smiling at him.

“Don’t let him try to cook!” Elle yelled before she stepped into the other room, raising her phone to her ear. “Hello, Looker? Yeah, we’ve got a rather risky plan…”

--(o)--

Kiritsugu looked up at Elle’s strangled choke and Misora’s laughter, the two women looking at the laptop which was tracking AZ’s movement data. “What happened?”

“AZ’s phone wasn’t moving for a while, so we checked the police reports and camera footage. Flare caught him in one of the wild areas, took his phone, chucked it in a garbage bin, and took him to… drumroll please…” Misora gestured to the screen. “Lysandre Labs! Conveniently, the cameras in that part of the city mysteriously malfunctioned in the last five minutes. How interesting!” She poked a few keys on her screen, a new viewpoint appearing in place of the black screens previously shown. “The hidden camera we had Frogadier plant still functioned, though, and we have clear images of them hustling AZ in through the loading dock they share with Cafe Lysandre.” She explained.

“How have these idiots been keeping out of our reach?” Elle moaned.

“Money?” Kiritsugu guessed, because there was actually a certain level of sense in that. Rich fops made mistakes, money bailed them out, they never learned the consequences of their actions, and thus Nepotism over Competence and all that was likely a rampant issue in Flare.

“How much more do they have, then!” She wailed, then pointed a finger at the dancing Kirlia. “Don’t you start.”

Kiritsugu stood up, heading towards the door of the safehouse. “Well, we can’t give them too long to interrogate him. This will be for nothing if they gain the location of the Conduit before we can stop them. Elle, did Champion Diantha get any assets on-site for a quick response?”

“Yep,” Misora answered in place of the still despairing woman, giving her new colleague a very amused look. “Two members of the Elite Four were available. Malva and Seibold. Both of them are on site.”

He nodded as the door swung open, walking into the afternoon daylight. “We’ll link up with them, then assess the situation from there. We’re in the middle of a city, care will be needed.”

--(o)--

“...nitwits! Do you even care about operational security!” AZ blinked languidly as he heard someone ranting nearby, consciousness slowly seeping back into him as he kept his eyes shut.

“Xerosic, we managed to do what your subordinates could not, and captured the ancient before he could slip though our fingers. You should be grateful, not hostile.” A second man, his voice oozing with contempt, followed the accusations from the first.

“We know there are Interpol agents in the city, and we know they’re probably watching him. And you brought him here!” the first voice frantically spat. “This place is filled with research labs, monitoring equipment, and weapons caches!”

“No one saw us bring him in–” The second man’s voice cut off as alarms began to ring throughout the complex. “...what?”

AZ cracked his eyes, to see a portly man in a red jumpsuit digging into his pocket, pulling out a scanner of some sort and pointing it at AZ, giving a chirp as he panned it down towards his knees. “You didn’t even search him properly! He has a tracker in his boot!” the scientist swore, spinning to face the other man in the room. “The alarm is stating that we’ve been found!”

The other man swallowed. “What do we do?”

“You should not have been assigned to anything more intricate than privy cleaning.” AZ interjected.

“He’s right. Get out, I need to make a call.” The man turned and ran out of the room, and the first turned back to the king, who looked through the bars of his cell. “Make no mistake, this will not save you, even if it may damn us,” the man hissed, producing his phone and putting it to his ear. “Agent Apex–”

AZ tilted his head, listening to the person on the other end of the call. “Xerosic, I’ve been called to aid in an interpol raid on Lysandre Labs, Lumiose branch. What’s going on?”

“We’ve been compromised by rank incompetence. Can you delay the raid until we can evacuate?” Xerosic rattled off.

“Interpol is already on-site, with more on the way. The government has express-pushed a warrant for a search. There’s nothing I can do to delay things and keep my cover.”

Xerosic paused. “...then I thank you for your sacrifice.”

“Do you speak for–” The other voice stopped. “-Lysandre agrees. I’ll do what I can.” 

Xerosic nodded, hanging up and glaring at AZ. “You do not know what you stand against, elder.”

“The cost of the Weapon is more than you can understand,” AZ replied, slowly coming to his feet. “You know nothing, thinking you know all.”

Xerosic ignored the slight trembling in his hands as he turned away from the cell, moving to retrieve his tools. The utter certainty in the man behind him, it shook him more than the thought of the League’s arrival.

AZ looked up, closing his eyes. Rescue would be here soon.