Mia glanced out of the room and saw the guard passing by in the hall, gesturing him to move on before disintegrating the three Revenants in their vats.

"Still twenty to go." muttered Yuruko, showing her the list.

The four stepped out of the room, and Mia shouted something in horrific Russian to the guard, who pointed her to a room up the hall. They stepped in to it, then sighed to find an empty vat. Mia stepped outside and shouted something in even worse Russian to call the guard over, who shook his head and pointed her to the opposite room. She disintegrated its vat, and after checking the list to ensure they'd destroyed each Revenant, stepped in to a puddle of water and in to another facility.

For two hours, they repeated the same with the next ten facilities. Mia asked Yuruko to fill the time with discussing Revenant research, which, as it usually did with Serena, progressed in to her ranting against most other scientists in her field - a trait she'd picked up from her father. Particularly dismal in their views was those who compared everything biological to a computer. While not an issue in casual conversation - it was only natural to metaphorize nascent technology - in sciences, matters needed to be precise. She saw social sciences' primary weakness as its inaccuracy, and its acceptance of competing & often contradictory frameworks. To be forced to study consciousness as a Behavioralist presupposed that consciousness could not be grasped in principle - only through a lens.

That, of course, was not science.

"…and then, uh…" She frowned as they stepped in to another puddle, and in to another hallway. "…then there's mind uploading, which is just stupid..."

"Only three here." muttered Samuel, showing Mia the list. She nodded, then smiled as they stepped in to a room with three filled vats, and in the next instant -

- an alarm filled the facility, and Mia heard two men shouting in Russia at the entrance up the hall. A swarm of scarabs covered the vats -

- and exploded in to air.

"Worldwide isn't working." muttered Mia. "It's the temperature Revenant."

Yuruko nodded, readying to draw a cross-shaped puddle on the floor -

" - don't." said Mia, eyes on the hall. "Only if we need it. I need to learn more about this. Serena, destroy the Revenants."

"Got it." said Serena, clouds of fog swallowing the vats.

Yuruko frowned as her MGL formed, scarabs not burrowing.

Samuel keeping close to her, Mia peeked out to the hall -

- and saw an enormous wave of water rushing towards them -

- but Serena rushed next to her and a cloud of fog met it that turned it in to steam, disintegrating holes in the roof to let the steam escape. The four stepped in to the hall and saw a Russian they knew was (probably) their foe standing at the end of the hall, 200ft separating them & he.

"Don't think that's the guard." muttered Yuruko, relevantly, and in the next instant -

- another wave of water rushed towards them, then melted in to superheated steam; Serena shrieked as it burnt holes in her jacket -

- but Yuruko dumped six explosive shots in to the roof & carved enough holes for the steam to escape; Serena frowned as the four stepped back, noting the hole she'd created earlier was filled up again.

Beside, Mia watched her scarabs explode in to air and muttered something about their temperature; in the next instant, Samuel bashed a hole in the facility's outer wall that the four swept out of to the snow-covered lot outside -

- just in time to dodge another superheated wave of steam, and in the next instant -

- a hundred spikes jutted out of the wall -

- but another sweep back kept the four safe, Yuruko pointing to the facility's roof and frowning. "Uh, no steam?"

"Something's refilling the holes." muttered Mia.

A dozen grenades formed in Yuruko's hands, and as she threw them back in to the hole, streams of fog tried to close it up -

- but stopped as if they'd hit an invisible wall; another blue fireball burst out & towards Serena -

- and in to the punk went the scorching projectile, burn marks forming all over her body as she screamed in agony & staggered back, melting tentacle already starting to regenerate as the four ran as fast as they could away, Mia speaking as they ran -

" - will you be alright?" she winced, and Serena grunted nodding.

Once they reached 100ft away, the four glanced back just in time to see the facility explode in an enormous flash of blue flame, turning just in time to see their foe standing in the wreckage 100ft away. Six revolver shots entered his chest and made him stagger, no better idea in the Four's heads yet.

"C-Can't get in close." winced Serena, streams of fog replacing her flaking skin.

"No Solar Beam." muttered Samuel, relevantly.

Mia thought of something as an ice scarab landed in her palm, seeing a bow appear in their foe's hands, and in the next instant -

- a dozen arrows shot towards them -

- but ghastly hands redirected them in to the ground, no damage done.

"I - fuck." winced Serena. "It's - it's Greek gods."

"Again?" muttered Mia, relevantly.

"Poseidon, um - Artemis, Hephaestus, and - fuck."

Yuruko frowned, wishing she'd spent her middle-school years on Age of Mythology & not Warcraft III, and in the next instant -

- golden hands burst out of the ground and tried to grab them, golden fingers armed with golden spears following -

- but Worldwide's sword formed with a cloud of scarabs wielding it & slashed through the interlopers in a flash of gold. An ice cube formed in her right hand, but instantly melted in to steam, and more blue fireballs shot towards them ahead -

- but the four cut left and dodged the first volley, keeping their diagonal rush up to close some distance as another volley shot towards them; another dodge left -

- but a blue fireball rushed towards their path to meet them -

" - Medicinal!" shouted Yuruko, sweeping her boots underneath the four -

- and disintegrating the dirt below; in to the sudden burrow they fell, blue balls of fire flying overhead but missing them for now. A wave of water rushed in to their burrow, but streams of fog disintegrated outlets within the dirt, punk frowning a second later. "Where the hell is Zeus?"

More golden hands burst out of the walls, but clouds of scarabs ripped their fingers apart.

"I can still form water." muttered Mia, warm water dripping down her hands. "That's why there's still snow - it's only between zero and one hundred degrees." She glanced to Serena. "Serena, I need you to kill him. If I cover you with water -"

" - Leidenfrost effect?" said Serena, and Mia smiled a little.

"Yes."

Serena nodding, a coat of warm water covered her as she swept alone out of the hole -

- right in to a fireball of blue -

- with no apparent damage done as it covered her, streams of fog flying between her coat in the same instant & filling it with another as she rushed towards their foe only 70ft away.

'The steam acts as an insulator.' thought Serena, relevantly, surviving another blue ball of fire as she came 30ft within range; streams of fog filled his hands with anesthetic as he tried to aim them -

- and one knife-covered tentacle sliced through his neck and sent his head sailing another dozen feet away -

" - TAKE IT, BITCH!" shouted Serena, headless corpse falling dead ahead -

- and she heard the other three burst in to laughter as they swept up from the trenches behind, still laughing as they came up.

"I - I missed that." cackled Mia, relevantly. (Yuruko laughed and carved the Revenant out of his corpse.) "Are we ready?"

"Uh, hang on." said Yuruko.

Mia watched Yuruko & Serena squat like true Slavs over his corpse, then sighed as she & Samuel joined them.

"Royal Four." chimed Serena, taking a photo.

"…right." muttered Mia.

She formed a cross-shaped puddle of water, and as they disintegrated the next facility's Revenants, Serena's comment reminded her of the others' views of Sylvia. Even knowing what he did about their relationship, Mia knew Samuel saw Sylvia's fear of loneliness as a weakness. Serena and her were about as different as molasses & vinegar, and Yuruko's only view of her was in Maria.

She knew from the nonfiction she usually read in her office that most people failed to grow, and ever since their last conversation, had felt her mind begin blinking her away. Forming another puddle of water, she took a deep breath, and then, releasing it, stepped in to Mizuchi's maw in to another storage room.

"Says this one's classified." muttered Samuel, showing the list to Mia. "Six rooms, three Revenants each. Nine more left."

Mia nodded and three pillars of purple flame disintegrated the Revenants. On their way to the next room, they passed by a television in the hallway. Mia paused as she saw what was on-screen: a campus like Urasaria's, followed by an explosion that left nothing, and a Russian newscaster speaking over it.

"…should we go?" said Serena.

For a moment, Mia felt a burgeoning. She thought about why Sylvia had decided not to rejoin the Royal Four, if the Russians had been right about Worldwide conferring selfishness on its host, or if she was more like the Chinese representative than she wished. She began wondering if an essence of Ryumi's bacterium had remade itself in her.

But, she noticed her eyes unconsciously dampen in the screen's reflection, and her emotions recomposed themselves. Fear and its army of followers lacked permanency. Had this occured months earlier, the time she had gone hunting with Viktoria, and the way pieces of Otstoy's slime slithered back together, would have presented an apt metaphor for her mind.

She shook her head and kept walking, knowing she was herself, and not Ryumi.

◆◆◆

Two hours later, Yuruko pulled the slide off of her microscope and turned to Mia. "It's a cultural Revenant, so… definitely Greek gods. The temperature control isn't natural, either."

Samuel frowned. "Guessing Daigo'll be guarded by a few hosts like that."

"Mizuchi can deal with them, at least, but…" frowned Mia. "…Yuruko. Daigo can't give himself this ability, can he?"

Yuruko quickly shook her head. "No, uh…"

Serena readied herself for another Yuruko ramble as Yuruko glanced at her. Whatever the complex explanation was, she was hoping to hear it all night.

"…um." Her free hand scrunched. "…it's. Basically, Revenants - the colony's size is based on the strength of the ability. Stronger Revenants grow more bacteria, which, uh, strengthens the ability, more Volgari proteins, stuff like that."

Mia nodded. "Hirogane mentioned my colony was small in my first-year."

"Yeah. He told me that my colony's always been oversized, since - Medicinal is super broad. Same with Serena's. Daigo's colony probably takes up his entire heart, so he… probably can't do the same thing to himself, or he wouldn't - he'd lose his Revenant."

"Guy seemed to be missing an ability, too." said Samuel. "Greek gods, but no Zeus."

Serena nodded sagely. "And he was a total bitch."

"Uh, that didn't show up on the slide." grinned Yuruko.

"It's usually genetic." said Samuel and the three laughed, a little dimmer than usual.

Yuruko pulled the slide off of her microscope, silently staring at it. Whatever their motivations for applying had been, the four took a sense of pride in being students now, and their personal relationships imbued back in to that scene what their bacterial colonies usually removed.

"…disintegrated the Revenants, at least." muttered Yuruko. "What are we gonna do next?"

"We'll be staying here until the Russians have a better lead." said Mia. "We can't risk fighting until they find Daigo."

Samuel nodded. "Guess we'll be having plenty of Flashbulb's cooking, at least. Haven't had it in years."

"Still don't understand how those cookies were vegan." muttered Serena and Mia laughed. From what she remembered of Serena's attempts at baking, she always left the kitchen looking like Los Angeles.

"I still wanted to analyze it a bit more, so…" Yuruko's free hand scrunched and Mia nodded.

"Will you be alright?"

"Yeah."

"We'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Coolio."

Mia and Samuel walked out. Serena gave her a kiss & an 'I love you' on the way out, closing the door when she left.

As Yuruko began cutting another sample out, the lights cut out. Hearing nothing from the rest of Timepact, she figured it was something wrong with her generator - which was often correct. For a few moments, she looked at the door, and then, smiling slightly, formed a flame on her thumb and returned to her work alone.