Fabricator: Chapter 24 (WIP)

The morning following his 'fight' with Freed, Junichiro stepped through a portal into the occult research club's main room. The others were already there preparing for the school day ahead. Rias looked up from some form of paperwork, something Junichiro was glad he didn't have to do, and pouted a bit, “I wish I could get from place to place like that. Teleportation circles are so slow and cumbersome in comparison.”

Junichiro smirked while closing the portal behind himself, “Is that what you would like for me to make for you?”

Rias sighed and shook her head. She still couldn't decide on what she wanted Junichiro to make for her. It'd been quite a while since he'd made the offer and she still simply couldn't decide. His Sacred Gear just offered far too many possibilities. She'd spoken with Gasper about removing his Sacred Gear but the trap dhampir had refused. He wouldn't explain why he refused but she believed it was out of fear. She tried to assure him that he would always be a member of her family even without his Sacred Gear but she suspected he didn't believe her.

Junichiro nodded and changed the subject, “In that case I've got something to inform you of and a request.”

Rias arched an eyebrow and leaned back in her seat. She quietly prepared herself mentally for whatever possible new shocking revelation that he was about to unleash on her. She was unaware that Akeno and Kiba were similarly bracing themselves. Koneko didn't really need to with her ever-cool attitude. Rias crossed her arms beneath her ample bust and nodded, “Alright. Go ahead.”

Junichiro briefly thought about simply not saying anything about what he'd done to the fallen and their minions. There were no witnesses so there would have been no one to contradict what he said. However, he decided to go with the truth, at least most of it, “Yesterday I made a new friend. A kind girl named Asia Argento. She was lost in town and I had nothing else to do, so I helped her out and spent some time with her. She's a kind soul that used to be a member of the Church.”

He'd stressed the word 'used' to make sure that Rias didn't jump to the wrong conclusion. Seeing she took the hint, he continued, “She used to be a holy woman but was excommunicated after she used her Sacred Gear, Twilight Healing, to heal a Devil who just-so-happened to somehow get near a church with a potential saintess in the making within it. He also just-so-happened to be in need of some healing right by one of the most powerful healing Sacred Gears.”

His sarcasm at how any devil could just happen to be near such a place in a time of need came through loud and clear and brought a frown to everyone's face. Everyone was aware of the current push for peace so any devil going so close to such a place was risking a lot. Junichiro continued, “After they gave her the boot and called her a witch, she was approached by the Fallen and sent here. No one showed up to retrieve her from the airport so she decided to head to the local church on her own. She has only a couple days worth of practicing Japanese so her communication skills are subpar, for now. That's how I met her, she was trying to ask for directions.”

He crossed his arms over his chest and let out a sigh, “Instead of taking her there right away I spent some time talking to her, showing her around town, and even took her out for food and such. It was actually a nice day, until one of the fallen showed up.”

Everyone in the room tensed at that. Obviously it worked out since Junichiro was there and looked perfectly fine but the fallen were a sore point for Rias. She hated having them so nearby without being able to do anything about it, legally speaking.

“The fallen, Raynare, threatened my life. I didn't take too kindly to that. I was able to determine what her plans were for Asia and exposed them. She planned to use a cruel device to rip Twilight Healing out of Asia's soul and take it for herself. Unlike my process, the one Raynare wanted to use would have been exceptionally painful and fatal.” He scratched his chin and added, “She also told me how she murdered Hyoudou-san the previous night.”

That got everyone's attention. While Issei and the other two perverts had been expelled for their horrible behavior, they had still been students in the same school. Hearing a former fellow student had been murdered in cold blood wasn't a happy experience for anyone, Devil or not. Junichiro sighed, “So, I killed her and got rid of the body.” He saw Rias opening her mouth to say something so he plowed on ahead. He figured he should get scolded for everything all at once, “Then I killed the last two fallen angels and every excommunicated exorcist within the church. I left no survivors and nor trace. There isn't even any damage to the church.”

There was absolute silence as everyone stared at him in surprise. Even Koneko had an obvious look of shock on her face. When they recovered, Rias looked torn between ripping him a new one and thanking him for getting rid of the thorn in her side. When she spoke her voice was flat, bereft of the usual warmth she exhibited when speaking to her peerage members, “While I can understand removing a threat, I would have preferred if you had contacted me before doing anything. The balance between the three factions is a fragile thing and the actions of any member of my peerage could be seen as a provocation. A provocation that could potentially start up hostilities and ignite a war. I'm not saying you did the wrong thing, necessarily, but I am ostensibly your boss and responsible for your actions.”

Junichiro nodded in understanding, “I understand. I contemplated simply not telling you about taking care of the trash in the church to give you plausible deniability. I decided you needed to know what happened to best be prepared for any possible questions or responses. However, I do want to point out that there is no evidence of anything having happened to anyone in or near the church. There are no bodies, no signs of combat, nothing to indicate what happened to the people within the church. To anyone not in this room it looks like they simply pulled up stakes and left.”

His eyes narrowed as he continued, “Besides, if the fallen bastards in charge do make a big stink about it then we'll have some difficult questions for them. Not least of which is, why were they building up such a large combat force inside of known devil territory run not by one, but two of the younger sisters of Satans? Such a large group gathering together could easily be seen as an attempt at assassination or just a straight up assault on you and Sitri-san. Then there's the multiple unprovoked murders by the excommunicated exorcists. Lastly, there's the murder of Hyodou-san. Raynare admitted to killing him just because he possibly had a powerful Sacred Gear. She was literally in your territory murdering people in what appears to be a blatant attempt to keep potential power out of the hands of Devils.”

Everyone remained silent for a bit after Junichiro finished talking. They needed a moment to digest everything he'd said. Rias looked pensive but she couldn't find any fault in what he'd said. It honestly did look like the fallen were up to no good and were poking the hornets nest, so to speak. Finally, Rias let out a sigh and addressed Junichiro, “Fine. What are your plans for this Asia Argento?”

Junichiro smiled, “Well, she's been living a heavily sheltered life so I offered her a chance to go to a normal school and live a normal life. I suppose it could be considered a contract but I didn't ask for anything in return. I feel like if I did I'd lose something important. You'll see what I mean when you meet her. She's a sweet little thing and I promise that once you meet her you're going to want to do everything you can to protect her.” He took a moment before he continued in a rather serious tone, “I do need a promise from you though Rias.”

Rias arched a delicate eyebrow and gestured for him to continue, “While I wont stop you from trying to recruit her into your peerage, it's her decision after all. I do want to stress how disappointed in you I would be if you took advantage of her innocence and naivete. She knows nothing of the real world.”

As Rias opened her mouth, likely to point out that they were all devils and such behavior would be expected or some such, he continued, “If you do, I'm prepared to offer you a second item of your choice.”

“SOLD!”

AN

I'm still working on this chapter. I just wanted to get what I had out before too many people thought I just dropped off the face of the earth. I apologize for that.

To make a long story short and simple. My primary job is as a live-in caretaker for two physically disabled senior citizens. I do all the manual labor, cooking, and driving for the household while maintaining a part-time job. To supplement my income I have a SNAP (Foodstamps) account and have for years. For some reason it was cut off without warning last month. I had to scramble and work my ass off on crappy side gigs to make enough money to buy food. It left me too tired to do much in the way of writing. It's fine now since I got the SNAP benefits back and should be back to my normal writing progress.

Sorry about the delay and I'm hoping to have this chapter done either today or tomorrow.

Random Side Note

While I was bored out of my mind doing menial labor I had an idea for a My Hero Academia story. Basic idea is the MC would be like Junichiro (random soul tossed into his favorite story for the same reasons), only born as the older twin of Momo Yaoyorozu. His Quirk would be a limited form of Biological Manipulation AKA Biokinesis. Like Momo's creation Quirk, his would be fueled by the energy stored in his fat cells and give him, essentially, limitless possibilities for modifying his own body and minor abilities he could use on other people (healing mostly).

So, he could give himself abilities based on any kind of genetics he could get his hands on. Think things like Luke Cage's unbreakable Abalone based skin. Or the genetics based Tobey Maguire Spider-Man's web shooters and abilities. Denser bones, Stronger organs, and so on.

Oh, and stealing portions or all of the Quirk of anyone he touches, since, ya know, they're based on genetics. >_>

If that sounds like it could be interesting, sound off in the comments below. Fabricator will still be my focus, but the Biokinetic idea interested me.