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Nathaniel just watched the shouting match with a slightly amused expression. The corners of his mouth were raised slightly, and his eyebrows were cocked. As far as Nathaniel was concerned, this entire situation was unnecessary. Mistakes had been made, it was the team's first day in existence. Neither Eamon nor SOUL was entirely at fault for what had happened, but both were partly responsible in his eyes. The thin man smiled slightly as Damien made the comment about him protecting Rachel. He would keep her safe from now on, no matter what happened. Nathaniel, while at the time he had indeed been going for the kill after abandoning the car, had absolutely convinced himself that he had been trying to back the others up. However, he didn't say anything when Bender mentioned that he had lost control. It wouldn't do any good to enter his voice into the shouting match. He merely observed, hands in his pockets, leaning back in his chair.

As Eamon stormed out, Nathaniel broke into a grin, "I like him. He's funny. Nice accent, too." he chuckled, "But, it didn't really lose it's black-ness. It just kind of... I don't know, changed. Like turning on the light in a pitch black room. Well, not really. But still. All I know is that one second it was pitch black and the next second, it was a knight of the ******** Round Table. Bowed to me and everything. Pretty ******** cool, actually."

Richard turned to leave with a grunt. He didn't like the way things had turned out, his points were largely disregarded and Eamon was, as Richard saw it, unjustly demoted. Unfortunate, but there was nothing he could about it, saying anything more would only make things worse. At least Eamon would supposedly be reinstated if things went well with the doctor. The mention of Doctor Miles also reminded Richard that he had to report his visions of the blood stains.

Better do that now before I forget.

Without saying a word, Richard began walking alongside Eamon to find Rachel.

The overwatch guards remained calm throughout the demonstration. "Definitely new," one contributed helpfully. Silently, this event had more attention on their networks like a baby falling down an up escalator at a mall.


It all seemed so simple to Uso now - like he should've known it the moment he had changed from mundane to Illuminated. How could anyone not know how to simply bind that.... that raw unmaking, to store it and dispel it or release it later?



Damien nodded Richard out. He knew better than to question Richard. Coming down off the rage-high, he fell back into his chair and went quite silent. He had probably forgotten most of Eamon's summary already.

"Fascinating," Rachel purred with one eyebrow arched and a catish little smile on painted lips. She'd been curious where the boy was going with his request and, from his earlier mention of Demoncraft possibility (which she had questioned the ******** out of being incredibly interested to the point of excitedly distracted and even helpful if he admitted to having been trying to think of a way to use it), had guessed it would involve some attempt at a magic beyond his reach. Her whole countenance had changed when the subject of the Demoncraft had come up and now, seeing it, her face was an only slightly restrained version of a kid in a candy store.

Before she had been professional, analytical, and damned repetitively thorough in her questioning - looking for inconsistencies. His whole story had been, quite frankly, preposterous. Though she did have to admit a lack of holes in the detail and unusual continuity for a lie it was so far beyond the realm of anything they knew. Everything science, philosophy, and even religion said of the way things work for the past all of recorded history was just thrown out the window. It had been hard enough for Rachel to accept the existence of demons and Illuminated. She would not have believed it if she'd not seen for herself when a hunger crazed Illuminated went into a blood rage inside her clinic. Being taken in by SOUL had opened her world to new, and exciting, possibilities but this? There was so much wrong with this.

The basic concepts of magic and demons reach back into the cave drawings of pre-history. Humanity has never been without magic. Even in this modern day we have our mutants, our alien technology, our science fiction. Every human culture throughout history has some form of demon. From the classic Judeo-Christian Demons to Japanese Oni, Chinese Yaoguai, Sumerian Asakku, Hindu Kali, African Mbwiri, Polynesian Aitu, too many to list. It is such an ingrained and universal concept that there must be some truth to it. Rachel could rationalize that.

Afterlife was a common concept as well but never before had she heard it described as some sort of 'Terminal' that granted 'coins' which could purchase a 'Blue or Black Phantom' form to kill demons or Illuminated, respectively, in order to regain one's body. That just sounded like a video game. Admittedly Rachel had not done near as extensive research on afterlife as she had on demons but the two were often related and nothing she had read was even remotely close to that. There were beliefs that spirits of the dead could assist or harm the living. Some cultures do believe in reincarnation, though not directly to the same body. There were isolated examples of heroes returning from the dead to continue their heroism in many cultures but. . . well, Uso was not an epic cultural hero. He served no god to have brought him back and if he did that would bring up the whole question of gods being demons.

Perhaps this Terminal was a god? That was an interesting thought. But even this rationalization did not explain why, in decades of operation, SOUL had not encountered this before. No one had. Though this Black Phantom was a new development SOUL had lost 18 agents to them already. None of them had come back (until now). Not a single Blue Phantom had been sighted. And it took this boy all of two hours to trounce back into base with this fantastical story. It made no sense. Uso was not particularly strong, nor loyal. He was new. If this Terminal existed why hadn't Niko come back? Niko had killed a demon before, all on his own no less. He'd been part of SOUL for over five years now. He was loyal, despite the occasional use of excessive force. If this boy had survived the Terminal's trial surely Niko did too. So where was he? It didn't make sense.

Had she been talking to Nathaniel she would have prescribed the man some anti-psychotics and written the whole story off. But, from his file, this man had never shown signs of delusions before. Of course his utter newness within SOUL made his file rather scant but it did include civilian paperwork and his life before Illumination included no delusions, save perhaps an undue measure of confidence. But this was not arrogance. This was a complex and detailed account of events which the man honestly believed and could recall like memory.

Though his mental state was highly agitated at the moment and brain scans were showing an abundance of activity in the prefrontal cortices where lying (and the sort of thinking Uso was doing through out the exam) occurs, the boy's story was too detailed and consistent. He was able to recall too much, too quickly in the tweaked state of mind she found him in and did not contradict himself significantly at any point. Nor did he give too much information, suddenly coming up with answers he didn't have on the first telling. Truth or not the man experienced this. It was a real memory (whether caused by demon's magic, hallucination, or actual happenings) Uso's mind, by all scientific and psychological evidence, perceived this story as an actual event.

Lab results were yet to come back on pathology, trace, and DNA testing when Uso made his spectacular demonstration. It was the most solid evidence they had thus far (beyond the dead body) for this actually not being the same Jake Uso that had died just hours before. Though the boy's story explained that, an impostor would logically construct their story to do the same. It was a brash move on the boy's part but from his file that was fully within character.

Rachel sorely wished she had been given the chance to at least interview the team before they'd gone out. This ******** had completely ruined her whole purpose for the team. Uso had been the member of highest interest to her work and he'd gone and died before she even got to meet him. That he'd come back was no consolation. She could not run a proper study on such an aberrant subject, even if he does turn out to be in fact who he says he is. That he came back with a Demoncraft was just a slap in the face, as that was what she had wanted to study. The only consolation was that now she had a whole new field of research with this Terminal thing.

Her expression settling from the excited wonder of the demonstration, through a subtle resentment at the realization of the implications, and back to her chill professionalism, Rachel asked the Illuminated guards to estimate Uso's soul power and they all reported numbers nearly 20 times what it was said to be in his files. Rachel shook her head with a mutter at how ridiculous the scene in the briefing room had been. They should have seen this. She had to remind herself though that the team hadn't had enough time to really memorize each other's auras. Which didn't actually make it any better. She forced herself to not dwell on that with a sigh and considered what this meant.

The massive increase in power and sudden display of a magic Uso did not previously possess could support his claim to have killed a demon. However it could also lead one to believe that this is in fact not Jake Uso. She would just have to wait on the lab tests for that. In the mean time she may as well take advantage of the situation and ask a billion questions about how he came to realize this new found power, what it felt like, if he felt it had changed him any, and so forth. But first.

"Not inside the labs though, Mr. Uso," the doctor chided lightly with a coy smile. "You may be able to come back from the dead but I'm not convinced of the rest of us. Also, according to the details of your story, you've only one coin left to come back from the dead with. I'd suggest not wasting it on blowing up my lab."

Rachel started to say something to stop the boy from finishing his eight-second fade out of existence, but he didn't seem to be able to hear her. When he was gone she just stared at the empty space where he had been with a flat expression then sighed. Well. . . the boy is at least being forward with this. Most agents would have kept that little trick a secret she paused More likely he simply did not think that through.

"Alright boys," the doctor sighed at the guards who had started to scramble. "Let's just calmly go check the garage," she suggested as she stood up and walked purposefully but not particularly fast out of the room.

If any of the rest of the team that had come looking for her after the briefing were still sitting outside waiting for her (as they had been instructed to do through the intercom when they came calling at least an hour ago due to how long the 'physical' had taken) she quite sharply told them to go back to their bunks and wait. The doctor was a little irate with them all as she stepped into the elevator. The guards did not let any others in as they followed after and took the elevator up four floors to the garage.

Once there Rachel stepped out in front of the guards, who rushed behind her, and all but stalked up to Uso who was waiting for them in the halls.

"That was very unwise, Mr. Uso," Rachel chided as she clipped up to him. "What if one of the guards had decided to shoot you for that little stunt? What if it hadn't worked? What if you'd reappeared in some sewer in Bangladesh?" She straightened her jacket with a terse shake of her head. "And it did nothing to prove your story. All you've done is shown us another ability. There is no proof to the method of it. If you've any more tricks to disclose, please, telling will suffice.

"Now, come. You are not allowed out of the labs until the tests are done."

"It is not a matter of being an idiot, Mr. Uso," Rachel sighed with a slow shake of her head. "It is not even a matter of trust at this point. It is a matter of being thorough. I do fully believe that you believe what you have told me is all quite true. I believe that you are being quite complete in your disclosure and I greatly appreciate that. I believe that it is likely you have taken a demon soul to account for the new ability and power. I hope that your story is true but there is no definite proof either way at this point.

"You know as well as I that we live in a world where the impossible has become reality. Your very claims even push the boundaries of that. Is it any more ridiculous of me to worry that perhaps you are being deceived as well? Could not a very smart, very powerful, and very much the sort of legend throughout human history demon possibly be trying to deceive us all? It has always bothered me how stupid these 'demons' we have encountered seem to be.

"So forgive me for being paranoid, Mr. Uso. I am a scientist and as a scientist I do not make my conclusions before all of the test results are in. Now. If you will come with me to the labs we can continue to discuss your experiences. I can't imagine how you've not noticed but I am quite interested to hear everything you can possibly tell me about them. Or if you would rather drop that subject we may discuss your new found Demoncraft. That is another subject that greatly interests me.

"And if that is not something you would enjoy then I am sure we can find something to discuss, perhaps over a cappuccino, while we wait for the results to be in. But I will not make my decision on this matter until I have those results."

"Thank you," Rachel gave him a gracious smile as she stepped back to lead him to the elevator again. "And if you're all talked out then I would be more than happy to lend you the use of the lab's blast chamber to test your new found ability. I am curious to see just what you can do," there was a hint of a sly coyness to the last as she pushed the elevator's button.

Jake Uso noticed something odd:

There was a Blue Eye Coin sitting on the floor of the elevator, but of the three remaining perfectly-calm overwatch guards, Rachel, and the two Illuminated guards accompanying them now (the overwatch guards' astral perception eyewear was not precise enough to interpret an aura, after all), none seemed to be reacting to it.


Damien sighed. "Understood, Frederickson. And thank you for disclosing that. I think we shall have to complete this debriefing later." He pressed a finger to his headset to access the base PA system. "All members of Team Seven, the events of your recent mission are now Classified Throne/6G. Please submit written reports of the events of this deployment by noon tomorrow. Over." He sighed again. He'd been doing that quite often recently. "Dismissed. I suppose you'll have the rest of the day free. I'll see about further personnel transferring and organizing some intensive exercises for the team to spend the next week or two on, like we, well, should have if everything hadn't gone horribly wrong today."

He stood and left. Leon reappeared in the briefing room, and declared: "Well, at least it didn't go as bad as it could have gone."