Lovely Lady Nagant (IzukuxLadyNagant)

28: Inferno

*TICK*
*TICK*
*TICK*

*PING*

A ticking clock was interrupted by the pinging of an elevator stopping at the top floor of the Safety Commission headquarters, Hawks stepping out from said elevator and strolling towards the head desk. Seated in her desk with a skinny book open in her right hand was the Commission President who kept her eyes furrowed to the pages of the book, choosing to ignore the hero's presence for the moment. The elevator doors shut with the lift returning to the ground floor, Hawks stuffing his hands into the pockets of his pants with a curious tilt of his head. "You wanted to speak with me Miss?"

"..."

*thump*

Without word the President closed the book in her hand and placed it on her desk, rising out of her seat to face the window and walk up to it. Her hands reached behind and clasped over the small of her back as she took a deep breath through the nose and looked out over the city, her reflection nearly lost within the clarity of the glass. "Have you ever read the poem Inferno by Dante Alighieri, Agent?"

"I have a bare minimum experience with the work, nothing to strike a conversation over. All I really know about it is that a guy ventures through the circles of Hell with a guide."

"As do many other people who are somewhat aware of the work. Inferno is a tale that brings the reality of Hell to the world of the common man, as the weight of our sins shall hold judgement for where we end up in the circles. While the work was mainly written to reinforce the doctrines of religious standards, there are still probes and pieces that can be taken from the poem and applied to everyday life. The sins of incontinence, violence and fraud. The sins of pride, greed, lust, gluttony, wrath, sloth and envy. All of these are constants within the everyday life that is the common man and woman, a constant in which heroes such as ourselves must face one form or another. Do you follow religion, Agent?"

"Well considering I work for this organization, I don't exactly have the time to find myself doing so."

"I myself do not follow religion either. But what I do believe in, is judgement. And I fear judgement may soon loom on the horizon."

Hawks squinted. "Are you saying you're scared of Lady Nagant, Miss President?"

"I am not concerned of a woman who breathes and bleed as I do Agent. I am concerned about the levels of influence in which that same woman could ink into the fabric of this society." The woman answered. "Her actions might seep into nooks and cracks that could very well topple the base of this foundation, and should she accomplish to do that it spells the very end of our lives as we know it. And even worse, it will be our own doing that will result in the downfall of the HPSC.

The project of Lady Nagant and the Exposure Source was meant for the boy to instill the essence she once had on her view of life and hero society. His objective was to simply resemble what she once was, nothing more, though it's clear that she's grown attached to the student in ways we didn't think she would be capable of. Comparing her present self to the past self is the equivalent of comparing the color black to the color white if you know what you're looking at. In the past she was completely isolated from the commons of society, closed off entirely to anybody who dared to grow close to her on an emotional and mental level. The only ebbing of her personal life that was managed to be taken would have been through her psychologist that is the Warden of Tartarus, but even he failed at times to deliver in anything solid.

Today however, she's changed. She still retains that cold, closed personality of hers but it's obvious that something has been planted within Nagant that we did not prepare for. Something that so few and rare Commission agents manage to achieve given the level of work we're all put through nowadays."