"Suffering from success is a real thing…" Adam sounded disappointed. Not only him, but Louis couldn't hide his as well.
"It really brings the worst out of people sometimes. Complacency is only the beginning." Coco, although not surprised, appeared unamused.
Getting supplies wasn't going to be as easy as Louis had thought. The internal conflicts of interest within Cerberus hindered parts of the arraignment to an extent.
Sure, the order went through, but there are two factors that make the start a rough take off.
One was their success in the recovery of facilities to maintain a hospitable place for humans. In other words, avoiding the extinction of humans within the Gaol of the Mist.
This has led to some complacency within certain groups of officers, many of whom consider their job done without a care for those still outside the shelters.
And, second, the passing of Juzo Mido. The man who many considered the backbone of research advancement involving shelters, research facilities, BOR Parasites, along with their many uses for weaponry and armor.
His death left many research and development studies stalled. Now, the ones with any knowledge close to advancing and discovering a tenth of what he had done stopped.
Not out of inability, but greed.
They became close to nobility.
Some began keeping certain information hidden from others to elevate their worth, or letting a few officers know where to "discover" flourishing Blood Springs to bring merit to themselves.
Certain circles have grouped up, basically claiming Blood Springs for merit and, essentially, declaring dominion over territories to keep their benefits secured.
"It's not as stable as it seems from the outside," Davis admitted without holding back. He was displeased just as much.
Even with the order to help Davis with some of the surplus of supplies lying around in Cerberus, many outright refused with a "we don't have enough."
Though, with Dominic's help, Davis managed to get what he needed to begin operations. It is all about keeping the ball rolling. There wouldn't be any interference, but the same went for direct support from other teams in R&D.
As for the few who couldn't hide their abundant resources, they only expressed that it would be difficult to transport them through the city, essentially telling Davis that they would do it when they felt like it.
Consequently, Davis went around shelters with a few trustworthy soldiers to recruit Revenants. He couldn't trust the Officers outside his division to keep quiet about their operations, much less about Adam's miraculous blood.
He plans on keeping the special blood a secret as long as he can, and as for the ones in the know, to keep them under his watch.
In the end, expeditions to the Depths for resources will still be necessary to maintain their weapons and facilities functioning, for the time being.
The silver lining in all of this mess is one thing: Davis, as a commander who rarely spent his time in luxuries, had some deep pockets and had no trouble getting some proper equipment for Louis and the rest.
Of course, maintaining it was another matter.
"... A team effort," Adam noted, less oomph in his declaration this time.
"..." Louis frowned, bothered by something.
Nobody had brought up anything related to the Queen or Adam's status as a Successor to Davis.
Considering that Davis also didn't say anything specific about Adam's blood after using it to fertilize Blood Springs, the group had guessed that the Officer knew a lot more than they thought.
Especially since Louis assumed a possible connection between Davis and the Hunter after talking to John.
It was a simple 'We know you know, and that you know we know.' So, everyone let it be. No reason to make accusations since they now understood the severity of the truth.
But the detail that bothered Louis was something else.
He looked at Davis, "Is Silva the Successor maintaining the mist?"
The Officer didn't even flinch at the question; he gave a brief "yes."
"I see." It wasn't a big discovery, just a puzzle piece that made sense in placement with the information Louis had learned until now.
Of course, to most of the group, it wasn't a small revelation.
"""..."""
Silva was restrained by his duty of keeping the world outside safe from the monsters dwelling in the city… or so are the man's thoughts now.
With such limitations, the people he can confide in, like Davis and the Hunter, to carry out certain duties must be small.
As if he had stated that the sky is blue, Davis continued his explanation, "Although we have to maintain ourselves with what we can scavenge, you are no longer restricted in your expedition routes to the Depths."
The Depths are a general term for the labyrinth of caverns and tunnels underground. Some were created by the Thorns of Judgement that elevated the ground, while others were made by people trying to find resources that had been lost through the gaps of the ravaged city.
One of the ways for Revenants to partake in Depths expeditions legally is to apply to the headquarters of their shelter and take the job.
However, the routes they are allowed to take can be restricted for a number of reasons.
Structural integrity, overpopulated by Lost, possible occupation of rebel Revenants, and, worst of all, an Elite Lost that claims it as its territory.
Though there is a chance that a higher-up suspects the presence of a resource so precious that they wouldn't want anyone unqualified to handle its extraction.
And, Davis, a higher up, trusts the group in front of him.
Being few of the most capable Revenants outside the government, they could handle tasks of greater risk with higher reward.
'He is odd.' Davis is a Revenant of the 3rd generation, meaning he woke up after the war and had only heard absurd stories about Adam. And from what he heard from Jack, most of them were surprisingly true.
'Maybe the loss of memory?' He saw a young man who lacked any resentment for the world that wasn't done grinding him to ash.
Adam appeared rather calm and accepting of the situation he was in.
"Oh, by the way!" The young man spoke, suddenly remembering something, "The equipment I used to fight the Queen and all that, what happened to it?"
"?" Davis wore a peculiar expression. Hearing Adam summarize all his past battles and hardships as 'all that' was… humorous.
"At the bottom, most likely," He began to explain, "your equipment was indeed the best we had- it still is. I am aware of past expeditions trying to find it at the place of your disappearance, but nothing was retrieved."
"Alright." Adam just nodded.
Now there was another reason to collect his real Vestige.
The meeting was short. Although Davis didn't bring good news, he could offer chances. The opportunity to attain some useful resources.
And, while the team could get stronger, Davis could gather power.
After all, Blood Beads in The Gaol is what makes you important. And, with the blood samples belonging to the Successor of the Queen's Blood, he and his team won't be at the whims of someone playing politics with secretive research.
By the time they realize that Davis has samples of blood that revive Blood Springs and Mistles, it will be too late.
Shortly, the meeting came to an end.
Louis and the party left, but not without Adam giving a nasty side eye to the two comedians that were part-time guards.
He could easily tell the smug smiles under their helmets as they motioned him a farewell. Not even waving their hands, but by playfully wiggling their fingers.
He made sure to remember their builds.
"!!!" Their mocking send-off stopped, and they waved normally once Io looked in their direction.
On their way to the base, they passed by some men hoisting a man holding a bottle of wine. Daryl, all of the cheering with him.
Adam saw the bottle, and just as he guessed, it had Coco's trademark. A mechanic's hat with a "24" mark on it.
He had no idea how she made that stamp since it changed the moment the bottle was opened. It essentially functioned as a seal of verification that only she could make.
Sure, there might be imitations out there, but no Blood Code was the same. Just like how Atlas and Berserker are all about punching, really, really hard, they are still different.
Atlas is about punching harder eventually, and Berserker is all about punching hard now.
A copy will inevitably be different from Coco's products.
There is really a lot he doesn't understand, but Adam definitely knew that he shouldn't try to satiate his curiosity with every single little thing. There is no guarantee he has time on his side to play around.
It's better to learn from whatever could help him survive the end of the road.
See if he makes the jump and reaches a new beginning after all this chaos, or plummets to certain death.
And with these thoughts, he spoke, "So, while Davis gets the blacksmiths and engineers to make weapons with Blood Beads and such, we get the resources…" He trailed off.
"Yes?" Louis confirmed, somewhat bemused.
"Are all the engineers and weaponsmiths taken in by the government? There isn't anyone capable of weapon crafting outside?"
"Ah!" The researcher suddenly understood where this was going.
And Yakumo answered for him, "Alexander was a special case… Not that he was too brilliant, just that everyone assumed he was high on something. He always spoke about a higher plane of being, or about the spiritual state of mind… it was all the same if you didn't care.
With the state of things, people just thought he was coping with the situation. You don't talk about the meaning of life when a Lost is trying to bite your throat."
Hearing this, Adam almost stopped in his tracks.
If one didn't have a strong Blood Code, one could only be a scientist or engineer with merit to get inside the government ranks.
So, how can a man who understands Ichor and BOR Cells better go unnoticed by Cerberus?
Simple, Alexander was a stoner. In a way, it made sense the more Adam thought about it.
An actual stoner… Sure, a rude way to put it, but that was likely what people saw him as.
No person with sound reason would ask a crackhead about the state of the trout population and confidently follow their logic.
This weaponsmith is unnamed in the game and has very little information about him revealed. Only that he created Yakumo and Louis' weapons with great care and skill. The more Adam found out about him, the more questions he found himself asking.
'A seemingly crazy man who wasn't crazy, he just understood more than everyone else and couldn't make them see it…'
With that thought, Adam made a mental note to give more weight to John's words… of course, he threw in a pound of salt in said weight.
Just because one crazy turned out to be alright, it didn't mean that the other crazy was infallible by correlation.
While Adam reorganized this information in his head, Yami questioned further, "... Did he do shrooms? Because it is always the ones on shrooms that speak of spiritual resonance and third eye bullcrap.
Like, they don't really come down from that high and always speak in weird ways."
Yakumo smirked, a smile with a tinge of nostalgia, "Alexander did talk about this one thick, funny mushroom on a dubious-looking tree-"
"A spiritual seeker," Louis interrupted, giving Yakumo a reprimanding side eye before continuing, "He traversed a multitude of locales, engaging with numerous people, posing hundreds of inquiries, and articulating numerous rants. I would hesitate to claim understanding of even half of his frequent sermons.
But you are right, Yami. He did take… some substances.
Though all in all, Alexander ostensibly devoted his efforts to ascribing the intrinsic nature of human consciousness and where it all leads.
Specifically, the connection between instincts, the self, and the outside. He wished to find all parts of human existence that lead to the culmination of conscience.
Alternatively, to determine the definitive essence of a soul."
With that response, Yami was even more confused.
How did even Louis trust this man to make a weapon for him?
HOW would anyone trust a man high off his rocker to hold their weapon?
But by Louis' articulate response, it was obvious how much importance he gave to such research.
"Ohhhh…" Oliver intoned, grabbing the attention of everyone as he spoke, "The four stages of consciousness?"
"The what? Did you do drugs too? I'm disappointed-" Yami shook his head.
"shut up," Oliver shut him down quickly before noticing Louis' reaction.
Louis stared in shock, a stare that Oliver returned with a confused look, "I might not know about science stuff, but I have heard a lot of spiritualism mambo jumbo."
"Hahaha!" Yakumo laughed at their small interaction, "Why do you look at him like he is supposed to be stupid?"
"How dare you call him stupid! That is my only privilege-" Yami… defended(?) Oliver's intelligence.
"shut up."
____________________________________________________________________________
Word Count: 2,206
Ready to open your third eye?