"Ahhh, I want a promotion." Diamante was in the Information Team's office, waiting for Yesod to finish his meeting with Lieb and the others, swishing a cup of coffee. He sighed dramatically, having just killed some small clowns.
"Dia, what's got you so down? Shit's hitting the fan?" Turning his head around, he saw a brother-in-arms, an Agent from the same batch as him, London. "Damn, you're still alive?" Diamante went wide-eyed.
London smirked at him, rolling up his blood-soaked sleeve, London flexed his arms, though...
"Not a lot of muscle is showing there, bud." A flat voice came from Diamante, his eyes now bored.
"Shut up! I'm training Fortitude! Besides, my highest virtue is Prudence! I am a scholar! A scholar has no need for such savagery! A scholar only needs their brain! A body full of muscle is a body showing signs of unintelligence! Besides, no one can find the Heart of Inspiration anywhere, so you haven't seen me at my strongest yet!"
Sensing his bull, Diamante just nodded up and down while spouting "uhuhs" every time he spoke. Get real, using that Abno does not count.
Clenching his fist, London muttered, "You..."
Plopping down on the seat opposite him, London reached out to pinch Diamante's hand, which was coincidentally the hand holding his drink.
Thud! The mug's contents fell directly on Dia's pants. London on the other side tried to stifle his mouth.
...
Pft.
"Piss boy"
The sound of a gun cocking could be heard from all over the Company, followed by the sound of a pig screaming.
Having changed into new clothes, Diamante headed out of the locker rooms and started jogging toward the elevators, but suddenly a familiar sound came from the speakers.
"First Warning?" Looking up at the speakers blasting that damned tune, he sighed and hurried down to the Information Department.
"Yo, London, how's that bullet hole in your dick feeling?"
Diamante went towards the central control panel of the lobby, passing by London.
"Not the time for that piss-hie! Put down your gun, damn!" Lowering Hornet, he turned to one of the Agents operating the panel. "What's happening?"
The level 2 Agents, seeing Diamante immediately, straightened up. "Sir Diamante, it seems like some Agents missed a clown or two during the Crimson Dawn, and the clowns seemed to sabotage Nameless Fetus. But it's in the Control Department."
"Nameless Fetus!? Wait, wasn't it in the Central Command!?"
"No, it got moved to the Control Department." Diamante chimed from the side, leaning on one of the empty chairs.
The two Agents looked at each other, then a sudden realization struck them.
"Plague Doctor? Weren't they in the Welfare Department?" Both of them said at the same time. Diamante at the side nodded and went up to the panel, switching the cameras to the Containment Units of the Abnormalities in the Control and Plague Doctor in the Central Command Department.
"The Plague Doctor has the ability to swap Containment Units with other Abnormalities during the start of the day. Look at the fourth Containment Unit of the Control Department. It used to be Heart of Aspiration. Plague Doctor switched with the Heart of Aspiration, so he moved to the Control Department, then he switched with Nameless Fetus from the Central Command, bringing it to the Control Department."
London stepped forward, a confused look on his face. "Didn't anyone monitor the movements of the doctor?"
One of the agents brought up a file containing the Plague Doctor's information. "Well, most of the Agents in the Asiyah layer ignored it most of the time, seeing as one of the notes on here said not to work on it too much."
"It didn't say not work on it at all!" Damn it! These absolute numbskulls! London started chewing on his fingers, his hand bleeding. A hand patted his shoulder. Looking behind him, he saw Diamante with a face he hadn't seen before. Diamante's face was silent, cold; his eyes were focused on the screen, looking at the monitors, scanning for something.
Diamante turned to the agents, his arm tapping an armrest. "Say, did any of you notice the newbie?"
""Newbie?""
Diamante paused, mulling over his words. "That... that girl. That one. That girl who was working on One Sin? Evangeline?"
The agents turned toward him, shaking their heads. Diamanted touched his chin. After a moment, he stepped towards a screen, operating the controls to show the feed Containment of One Sin.
Inside was Evangeline, holding her head. Seeing this, Diamante hooked up the microphone. "Evangeline, you alright in there?"
Looking up, Evangline saw the red dot on the camera. Her face lit up. It was Diamante!
"Hey! Diamante! Thank goodness! I've been trying to complete my work here, but I suddenly felt weird after hearing that cry!"
Diamante sighed, a sigh of relief. Seems like she's fine. Putting his hands on the table, he spoke into the microphone, his voice unwavering. "Evangeline, please do not panic. Rescue is on the way. Don't go insane."
Evangline slumped down, a light thump. "Ah, thank goodness. But please hurry! Please! I feel like I'm about to go batshit right now!"
Diamante felt his mask crumble, face twitching. "Yeah, yeah. London, go pick her up."
London scratched the back of his head, sweatdropped from his face. "Uh... Why not pick other people?"
"Want me to shoot your dick again?"
"Sir, yes sir!"
Glancing at the fleeing London, Diamante shouldered Hornet with a huff/. "Now then. You two, continue to monitor the situation. I'll go handle any breaching Abnormalities."
""Yes!""
Running towards the hallways of the Information Department, he saw an Abnormality, one with a metal head and a straitjacket. "Forsaken Murderer. Easy enough, Hornet outranks it by two times."
Putting Hornet on his shoulders, he aimed down the sights of the rifle, the metal shell in his irons. "Fire."
A loud bang echoed in the hallway as the bullet dented the protective shell of the Murderer. It turned towards Diamante, its head hidden. "Tch, would've been better if I had a Black Weapon."
Backing up, Diamanted continued to fire at the Murderer, each time ringing in the halls, mixing with the Second Warning's wailing.
Thump.
Hitting a wall, Diamante glanced behind him. "A dead end, huh?" Turning towards the Murderer, he muttered. Just great. Breathing in and out, Diamante forced himself to think. If I can't get away, then I'll just have to blast you open!
But before he could do anything, a figure strayed in from a nearby hallway. Wearing the standard uniform, they were holding a baton, their face frenzied. Diamante felt his eyes widen.
Is that...
Evangeline.
Turning towards him, she cracked her neck. I'm boned up foo.
[Page 4-5 of the Managerial File of O-03-03 (One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds)
"Its eye sockets are empty. It is a skull after all. But I doubt it's blind. It certainly has its gaze fixed on me, and I can somehow feel that it's listening to me. Confessing to it does lighten my heart, admittedly."
(Passage is not viewable to Employees Lvl 5 and under. Only to Dpmt. Heads, Team Captains, and Sephirah)
"Honestly, you can't expect all of our employees to give honest confessions to that skull. Around one in ten employees tends to say something that is not completely true. It's a bit different from a lie. You can say that it's a subconscious excuse they make.
They distort perspectives to justify their actions, even though they are aware that they should be telling the truth. Once this happens, the confession is no longer truly a confession. Yes, I'm talking about you trying to justify your tardiness for 5 minutes now!"]