Chapter 6: Enter The Inferno

 

Everyone knew of the Inferno Group, although different people knew different things.

What the public knew was that they were the wealthy, powerful criminal group allied with Tenibrus.

What they didn’t know however, is that they had its members infiltrating society (with varying amounts of success) to sabotage their enemies and aid their allies at a moment’s notice, or just to spy on everyone else.

Eiji Sanada was one of those infiltrators. Given that he was no longer at school, he would most likely be at their headquarters and if he wasn’t, they’d know where he was.

And if they don’t tell me, then I’ll just have to make them.

The Inferno Group’s headquarters was hidden under a factory owned by one of their shell companies. It was located in one of the seedier areas of the city, a place Reina Kagura, scion of the Kagura family, would seemingly have no reason to go anywhere near.

However her other identity, Thorny Blue, often had business there. Often enough for her to recognise plenty of the Inferno goons. Of course, that hardly meant they liked each other, especially not after the Thorns’ fall from grace.

Blue used her powers to camouflage herself in the sky as she flew. A discerning eye might be able to spot her, but since the Thorns usually flew together, no one would think to look for her alone.

She approached the gates of the factory (which made a particularly spicy brand of curry) and talked to the guard, a burly and rough looking man, who she knew was working for Inferno.

“I’m here to see Eiji Sanada.” Asserted Blue as she hovered slightly off the ground. “It’s important.”

“You got an appointment?” Asked the guard with an almost bored tone. “Can’t let you in without one.”

“I’m going in whether you let me or not.” Said Blue as she hovered a little higher. “If you don’t I’ll just fly over these gates. I just need you to let him know I’m coming.”

“Heh, you got spirit girl.” Said the guard. “I’ll let you in and tell him he’s got a visitor, but there’s no guarantee he’ll see you.”

Blue entered through the gates. Since it was Wednesday and still working hours, she entered the headquarters through a route reserved exclusively for Inferno members.

 

The headquarters was a rather imposing place. There were no windows to let in natural light and it was completely soundproofed from the outside. The Inferno logo was painted all over the base and the walls were plastered in propaganda posters. The furniture was quite cheap looking, contrasting with the elaborate Tenibran heraldry hanging from the middle of each wall. There were also several smaller rooms for training, holding prisoners, interrogating and/or torturing them and for laundry.

There was also a large arena on the far side of the HQ where both goons and the members of Inferno’s elite squad, the Inferno Five, would spar with each other.

The place was also full of Inferno goons. Some were moving crates around, some were training their marksmanship and some were just lounging around, but all of them turned to look at Blue when she entered. They were not used to receiving visitors and Blue’s sudden appearance put them on edge.

“Look who it is.” Said a mocking voice, coming from near the arena. “Heard you visited the museum recently. Did you bring back any souvenirs for us?”

The voice belonged to Inferno Tragedy, a member of the Inferno Five. He was a short man, clad head to toe in yellow armour made from a lightweight Avarldian material called Mythrite that looked like plastic but was incredibly resistant to damage. It also included two eye slots shaped like the eyes of a Greek tragedy mask, covered by black one-way glass and the shape of the mouth of the tragedy mask in black paint over his mouth. The Inferno logo was proudly displayed on the centre of his chest.

“It wasn’t my fault we didn’t get the Eye.” Said Blue, defensively. “Red didn’t follow the plan. She pulled us into an unnecessary battle.”

“Blaming your leader, Blue?” Sneered Tragedy, as he stepped towards the girl. “I dunno, that makes you look pretty weak.”

“Yeah, I’m sure it does, but I’m not here to talk about the Thorns, or our botched museum heist.” Said Blue, trying to steer the conversation towards what she actually wanted to talk about. “I just want to talk to Sanada.”

Tragedy let out a small chuckle. “You see, he’s quite busy. He’ll have no time for you.”

“Then he’ll have to make time.” Said Blue. Although her mask hid her eyes, Tragedy could sense that Blue was staring him down.

“Not for a weakling.” Taunted Tragedy as he let out a little snicker. “Unless you’d prove otherwise.”

“What do you mean?” Asked Blue.

“I might be able to show you to him.” Explained Tragedy. “But only if you beat me in the arena. First one to knock their opponent out, make them surrender or get them out of the dome wins.”

“I don’t have time for this.” Said Blue. “He already knows I’m here. I just need to wait for a response.”

Just as Blue started to walk away, a bolt of electricity struck right in front of her. She felt a brief flash of pain, but did not let it show.

“Gonna run from me?” Mocked Tragedy. “Just like you ran from the Flowers? Here’s the thing, you seem to think you have a choice in this. You’re going to face me in the area and you’re going to get the shit kicked out of you.”

Blue sighed. “You’re very annoying, you know that? You and Eiji have that in common. Fine, you’ll get your fight. I’ll end it in two minutes.”

The two fighters made their way to the arena. In the middle was a large magical dome. People could enter and exit without any problems, but any attacks made from inside the dome towards the outside were absorbed and vice versa. It had the same decorations as the rest of the base and there were a large number of plastic chairs outside the dome for viewers to safely spectate.

Blue and Tragedy moved to opposite ends of the dome. A group of spectators had sat down on the chairs. Unsurprisingly, all of them cheered for Tragedy and jeered at Blue.

It would be nice if at least one person cheered me on.

The two both pulled out their dual swords. Tragedy’s were twin electrum-plated hook swords, both containing yellow gems in the centre of the handle which allowed them to channel lightning. Blue’s sabres were made of a lightweight Tenibran alloy that was blue in colour and had dark blue gems socketed in her hilts.

“You know,” Began Tragedy. “I just thought of something about our team names. Infernos kill a shit ton of people but I just can’t see someone ever getting killed by a tiny thorn.”

Blue did not respond to the mockery, instead started hovering a few centimetres off the ground to avoid any strikes hitting the ground from electrocuting her.

“I’LL SHOW YOU A TRAGEDY!” Shouted Tragedy as he charged at his opponent.

Both fighters locked blades. Blue flew back then cast a frost spell, freezing Tragedy’s feet to the ground. She launched forward to deal a devastating blow, but before she could do so, a lightning bolt struck from above, forcing her to block with an ice shield.

Tragedy ran forward and hooked his swords onto Blue’s right arm, swung her around twice and threw her against the edge of the dome as the crowd cheered, throwing a bolt at her to make sure she was ringed out. However, just as soon as the bolt hit, a cloud of ice burst from Blue’s swords, blocking Tragedy’s vision.

Tragedy blasted wildly into the cloud, but was unprepared for when Blue slid across the floor, throwing a gust of icy wind away from the man to gain momentum with her left hand and manifesting a sheet of ice with her right hand to reduce friction.

Taking Tragedy off his feet, Blue used her swords to brake, preventing herself from leaving the ring. She casted a beam of pure ice magic at the Inferno man, launching him higher into the air.

Tragedy created a cage of electricity, suspending himself in the air and preventing the beam from knocking him back any further. But as he was planning his next move, Blue flew towards him with her swords extended. She yelled in pain as her swords touched the cage, but she kept her momentum, managing to just barely pierce her foe’s armour.

She continued her flight towards the top of the dome in spite of the agony she was feeling. She and her swords did not pass through the dome, but her opponent did, their existing momentum throwing the man against the ceiling as she was pushed back into the arena by the light magic that powered it. She allowed her opponent to fall back onto the ground, defeated. The crowd groaned in disappointment.

 

“You were right.” Said Blue with a smirk as she adjusted her hair. “You showed me exactly what a tragedy looks like.”

“I-I can still fight.” Said Tragedy, picking himself up from the ground.

“Considering the fact you’ve already exited the dome,” Said Blue as she let out a small laugh. “Your condition is irrelevant. Unless your own rules mean nothing to you.”

“Damn it!” Cursed Tragedy. He pointed to a seat near the back of the arena. “Eiji’s right there.”

Sure enough, Eiji Sanada was sitting down, eating popcorn. Tragedy and the spectators besides Eiji left the arena, leaving the two alone.

“Oi, class rep.” Shouted Eiji as he put down his snack. “That was freaking sick.”

“Sanada.” Said Blue as she walked towards him. “Aren’t you supposed to be busy?”

“Yeah, I’m supposed to be.” Admitted Eiji. “I’m just taking a break right now. Nothing wrong with that.”

“We need to talk.” Said Blue.

Eiji started grinning. “Don’t tell me… you’ve fallen in love with me. Why else would you come all this way for me?”

“I’d never fall for someone like you.” Snarked Blue as she moved the seat in front of Eiji towards him and sat down on it. “I have this little thing called ‘basic standards’. I’m here to talk to you about Seiko Kisaragi.”

“Wow!” Said Eiji. “First you become an evil magical girl, then you gossip about our classmate. Is there no end to your depravity?”

“Why did you go to the rooftop with her yesterday?” Asked Blue.

“Cause I felt sorry for her?” Replied Eiji, leaning back into his seat.

“Can’t you take things seriously for once?” Asked Blue in exasperation.

“Maybe once or twice.” Said Eiji. “You know, I think you could stand to loosen up a little. You’re kinda—”

“Just answer my question!” Commanded Blue.

“Fine…” Sighed Eiji. “I was ordered to teach her self-defence.”

“By who?” Asked Blue.

“Normally this would be classified information but,” Started Eiji. “Since you’ve just defeated one of the Inferno Five (the weakest one, to be honest), you’ve earned the right to some classified information. It was our teacher, Kirie Terada herself.”

“Is she Inferno or a Chimera?” Asked Blue.

“She’s a Chimera.” Answered Eiji. “But you shouldn’t have known about the Infiltrators already. You guys were supposed to be kept in the dark. Couldn’t risk one more of you defecting and ruining the secrecy. But I now I gotta know how you found out in the first place.”

Thorny Blue proceeded to recap the events after the failed museum heist and how she used Eiji’s knife to prove that Seiko was a Chimera. She also returned the knife, which had been thoroughly cleaned of blood.

Eiji laughed out loud. “Oh man, you actually cut Seiko? The most I ever did to her was threaten her with a lock pick. You know, you’d make a great delinquent.”

“I don’t want that kind of complement from you.” Said Blue. “So, are there any other Chimera besides Seiko and Ms Terada at school?”

“Not that I know of.” Said Eiji. “Though that doesn’t mean there won’t be more. And one more freebie for you. That Onyx Eye you tried to steal, it’s got some hidden power inside that’ll help the bugs somehow. They didn’t tell me how it’d work exactly.”

“Thank you for the information.” Said Blue. “But was it really okay for you to be telling me all this?”

“Well…” Began Eiji. “I think I’ll let dad explain.”

Eiji gestured towards the entrance, where a young man with long blonde hair tied into a ponytail and gold coloured eyes was waiting. Despite the fact Eiji had just called him ‘dad’, he did not look much older than his son, being youthful enough to be mistaken as his older brother. He wore a black tieless suit with the Inferno insignia in the front and a cloak made of black feathers on his back. He also had what looked like a small black cylinder attached to his belt, which had a red gem embedded in the middle of the buckle.

“Greetings, it is a pleasure to meet you, Thorny Blue,” said the man as he bowed to Blue. “My name is Cygnus, the Black Swan.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you too.” Replied Blue, as she returned the bow. “Were you expecting me?”

“In truth, no.” Admitted Cygnus. “However, we intended to reach out to you to make you an offer. We would like you to abandon the Thorns and join Inferno. I believe you have felt stifled by the leadership of Thorny Red and can understand your frustration of being denied important intelligence.”

“Why me?” Asked Blue. “Red’s stronger than me, Yellow has Tenibran blood and I’m sure Pink has her qualities too.”

 “It is because you have shown a level of competence above that of your peers,” Said Cygnus.  “And you have shown superiority in martial prowess against one of our own elite.”

“I’m flattered by your offer,” responded Blue. “But this is too sudden an offer for me to take up right now.”

“I understand, feel free to take your time.” Said Cygnus. “But do not share this information with your peers. It is our personal gift to you.”

“Thank you for your generosity.” Said Blue. “I think it’s time I left.”

“And one last thing,” said Cygnus as Blue started to leave. “The Onyx Eye is not lost yet. Soon, Inferno, the Thorns and the Chimera will perform a joint operation to retrieve it. I do hope you will be prepared on that day.”

***

Seiko Kisaragi was in her bathroom in her Chimera form, practicing her force field ability as well as some martial arts moves she found on the internet. She seemed to be getting the hang of it pretty well. After all, most of her immediate family were fighters. Her sister is a Valkyrie, her aunt, Reiko Kurogane, used to be one too and ********.

Oh darn, I lost my train of thought. Where was I? Oh yeah, my sister and Auntie Reiko are so strong. I may be a Chosen, but I’m going to make them proud of how strong I’ve become.

It was then that the doorbell rang. Seiko quickly changed back to human form and opened the door to see a woman standing there.

She had facial features similar to Kuroha but just ever so slightly softer. She also had short crimson hair, untied but neatly styled and black eyes. She was also wearing a white Aesir uniform with the gold coloured emblem of Asgard emblazoned on the back. She was also around a head taller than Seiko, even without high heels.

The two hugged each other immediately.

“I was just thinking of you.” Said Seiko, mid-hug. “Where have you been?”

“I’ve been out on a research trip.” Explained Reiko, as they ended their hug. “I’ve actually been in the city for a few days already. I wanted to surprise you on the weekend, but with what happened to your sister, I’ve had to change my plans. I’m sorry I’ve been away for so long.”

“You don’t need to apologise.” Reassured Seiko. “Your work’s important. You don’t need to interrupt it because of us, but I’m glad you’re here.”

“I’m not just here because I wanted to see you, though I’m really glad I did.” Said Reiko. “There’s another reason I’m here: I need to warn you about something. We got an anonymous tip concerning the Chimera.

“They know how to pass for human now.”