Chapter 58- There's No Turning Back

Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool DxD.

There's No Turning Back

Joshua teleported the Khaos Brigade agents to the Hunter's House basement while doing his best to keep any emotions from his face. He'd decided what to do long ago, he'd made his choices and he was fine with them. Too fine with them, maybe, but that was ok for him. He had people he cared about and Khaos Brigade's goals put them all directly in danger.

That wouldn't do.

At all.

"Man, we aren't-" With a snap of his fingers, Joshua silenced the magician that had started to talk. He knew the man was that, because of the feeling he got through Magic Sense, he had significantly more magic than most of the others. He considered what to do as everyone regarded him nervously, tied to chairs and muted by the Sound Dampening Ward.

"Don't even try anything," Joshua told them with a shrug and a "what can you do?" expression on his face. "Telling me you aren't Khaos Brigade isn't gonna work, you know why? Because of…" He trailed off as he approached one of the magicians and searched his clothes for a bit. "... this," He finished, pulling out a piece of paper with a circle drawn on it. "This is remarkably similar to the circle one of the people that attacked my home used as a signal for more Khaos Brigade to come for a visit."

With that said, he looked at the thing for a bit, waving it lazily in the air. He could see that his lack of concern was scaring some of the others that held onto the circles. He'd already taken measures to obscure the signal the circles sent out, after all. Nobody would be finding them through those means, or any other, if Joshua had any say in the matter.

"I would suggest not trying to be tough either," He advised, taking a deep breath in and expecting to be disappointed. "But I don't think you'll listen to that, honestly."

With a snap of his finger again, the silencing ward fell. Nobody talked for a bit though, as he tilted his head towards them. Eventually, one of them found their voice.

"You think you can just make us talk or something?" A man asked, and Joshua could see clear as day that he was the warrior type. He was big, with broad shoulders and he imagined there were muscles everywhere in his body. At least from what could be seen, that was the impression Joshua got.

"I think so, yeah," He answered with a nod and the slightest of smiles. A grin that held no mirth or joy, just a resigned feeling. He didn't want to do what he was going to, but he would.

"You were going to start without me, huh?" A new voice asked, and Joshua felt even more bitter than before. Turning, he saw Jeanne standing on the higher steps of the stair leading up to the house. "That's just mean, Josh."

"Yeah, well, I'd hoped I could get the unpleasantness out of the way before you showed up," He admitted with a shrug as the Khaos agents looked between them nervously. That is, until they saw Nagini slithering her way down to the basement too. With her came the other familiars too, Morag, riding on the snake's head, Cheshire, stepping down calmly in her lynx form, and Margalo, who flew right at Joshua and settled on his shoulder.

One of the female Khaos Brigade members would have fallen off her chair when his feline familiar changed into her tiger form. She would have, really, if not for the fact that she was bound to a chair. Another, a man that looked like he had an assassin build going on or something, started sweating bullets as Nagini got uncomfortably close to him, all but licking him with her forked tongue. Morag, meanwhile, slowly crawled her way to someone else and started climbing up their leg.

"So, how are we gonna do this?" Jeanne asked, completely ignoring his previous words as she walked in and tilted her head at the Khaos members. "The voices had some ideas for swords that sounded… effective," She offered, although Joshua could see her face pull into a grimace, even if she hid it well.

"You know I can do this by myself, right? You don't have to take part in this," Joshua reminded her kindly, for a second deciding to forget the fact that they were surrounded by the enemy. His familiars would make sure they didn't try anything.

"Josh, don't be an idiot. I know you aren't one," His sister replied and he sighed. Shoulders deflating, he turned to the people tied to chairs and regarded them tiredly. He really, really didn't want to do what he was going to do, especially in front of Jeanne. However…

"Fine," He sighed again. "I was going to point out to them that I have very good weighing wards that I usually use for training. I'm sort of curious what those can do when I push them further. Will they squash them against the ground? Will they do something else to them? There's the Weakening Ward too. What would happen to them if I weaken them too much? Would their bones break under their own weight if they are weak enough? Or what about the Draining Ward? I'm sure I can make a ward that'll drain their life instead of their magic."

With every word, every sentence, Joshua saw them paling and he allowed himself a smile, an empty one, but a smile nonetheless. He wasn't really lying, after all. He was curious, even if he was also disgusted by those thoughts. He couldn't even really tell if those were the intrusive kind or just a messed up part of him. Would it make a difference? In the world he now lived in, maybe those thoughts would be useful, repulsive as they were.

"So, there's two options here, you'll all talk or I'll start experimenting," Joshua told them. He wasn't very surprised when nobody spoke right away. Disappointed, yes, but not surprised. "Well, I'll give you all a bit to think that over. Meanwhile, Jeanne, could you be a dear and look for a notebook so we can note down whatever they say?"

He could have just pulled one from a card, but that wasn't the point. He was going to give them a minute or so, and then he'd start applying his threat. He only needed to imagine what would have happened if any of his encounters with Khaos Brigade had gone differently. He only needed to remember what they'd cause if he did nothing, or think about a scenario in which his actions somehow made things worse.

He couldn't allow that. Joshua would hate to do what he knew he had to. He'd hate himself and he'd be disgusted. However, the people he cared about would be fine. His eyes found the scars on his wrists. He hadn't caused those injuries himself, but they were a reminder of what he'd lost already. A life and a family that he'd never get back.

He wouldn't allow that to happen again.

[}-o-{]

"Are you sure it's a good idea, Joshua?" Sairaorg asked from the other side of the phone. They were past those days when they'd only communicate through fliers. Apparently, that was a thing to give people a more reassuring look at devils, from what he'd been told. It allowed them to think that getting rid of the flier was all it took. Granted, that wouldn't actually stop a devil, but people could be irrational at the best of times, let alone when they were afraid.

It was also less personal for everyone involved, or so Sairaorg had explained.

On top of all that, fliers could connect anywhere unlike phones. It was sort of the same thing that happened with Joshua's necklaces. They'd connect anywhere. He'd even taken steps to prevent magical ways of stopping the communication. Twisting the basic magical formula so that it was more difficult to interfere with.

Also, magical means of communication could be magically draining, depending on distance. It was why he'd had to add a wardstone to the necklaces and why it was a single use thing before recharging. Fliers were very basic things and they were either connected to the devil owner or to an array at their home, so that they'd be able to power it with no issue. Even the flier given to humans was like that, which was why devils mostly stuck to spreading them on their own territory.

"Josh?"

"Sorry, I got distracted," He apologized, almost chuckling as he saw Jeanne roll her eyes at him. "But yeah, I'm sure. I've texted everyone that should know about this, just to be on the safe side. I doubt they'll do anything rash, man. I would have liked to wait too, but something came up."

"Something you aren't telling me about," Sairaorg said, although he was being accusatory, at least. He was probably just concerned, he supposed. Joshua'd been open about a lot of stuff after they'd become friends, after all.

"I'll tell you, but I gotta have a few talks to see if I can," He explained with a slight grimace as Jeanne and him continued walking. He only had Cheshire with him at the moment, walking besides him in her cat form. "Shouldn't be too much of a problem, really, but you know me," He added, for whatever that was worth.

"Hm… if you say so. Well, I'll be expecting compensation for this, man," Sairaorg said, his tone light. Joshua just rolled his eyes.

"Sure, my place one of these days. Sounds good?"

"Sounds good," Sairaorg replied cheerfully before continuing. "I'll leave you to your secret stuff. See you later, Josh."

"Later," Joshua replied simply before hanging up.

"Sairaorg being a worrywart?" Jeanne asked with a raised eyebrow. "I remember when you were like that."

"You say that like I'm not one still."

"Eh, you've relaxed a bit," His sister said with a shrug of her shoulders. "We've gotten stronger though, so that could explain it. Especially you with your wards, I guess."

"That could be it, not that we are inside my wards now though," Joshua mumbled, feeling unease creep inside him. He pushed it down though. It was irrational. "Good thing we've made some powerful friends, huh?"

"Indeed," Jeanne agreed as they stepped inside a cafe. Joshua noticed his sister taking in the whole business, looking at everything like she was dissecting the place in her head. She was definitely going to take over their own cafe once she learned how, he was sure.

As for Joshua himself, he was more busy sensing the defenses that had been placed around the place. Magic Sense read through the basic privacy and anti-mundane spells like they were an open book. There were other things that had been cast, but those were a little harder to pick up on. There were some defenses, for sure, and some nasty surprises. He knew those weren't meant for him or his though, because there was no way someone would just backstab him like that when he was on friendly terms with so many high up people. Not for no reason whatsoever, at least.

"Griselda, good to see you again," Joshua greeted as Jeanne and him approached the table the exorcist was sitting at. "Xenovia, doing well?"

"Yes," Was the curt response he got from the blue-haired girl.

"Mr. Davis, it's good to see you too," The adult greeted, much more friendly. That was about what Joshua had expected though. He knew Xenovia had no lost love for the devils and he was an ally of those. "I must admit, I expected your call much earlier. We heard you'd finished setting up defenses for the youkai some time ago."

"I did," He confirmed with a nod as he took his seat in front of the two exorcists, Jeanne taking the chair next to his and Cheshire jumping on the table. To their credit, neither woman really seemed to think much of that last thing. 'Thank God for small mercies, huh?' He thought to himself before focusing on the present. "And I was actually gonna wait for a bit longer to meet you. Something came up, however, and I wanted to get in contact with several people as quickly as possible."

"Oh?" Griselda seemed surprised by that. Although, it made sense, all things considered. After all… "I thought this would be solely about the payment for mentioning us during your job with the youkai."

"Honestly, I don't care much for that," He admitted, which didn't seem to surprise her very much. 'Guess I have a reputation already?' He wondered to himself, somewhat amused. "We can discuss that too, but afterwards. I wanted to talk about something that I came across just yesterday."

"And what would that be?" Griselda asked just as a waiter came up and set a drink for everyone. Joshua looked down at his cup of tea and then his eyes moved towards the coffee in front of Griselda. Jeanne had one of those too while Xenovia had… hot chocolate, if he had to guess. 'Definitely have a reputation,' Joshua mused, somewhat amused by the fact that, apparently, that detail had come up somewhere when talking about him.

"Khaos Brigade," He said and Griselda's eyes widened while Xenovia looked mostly confused. It seemed that someone wasn't in on that, which wasn't very surprising when he considered how canon had gone. "Let's just say that I don't like them, yeah? And I have a vested interest in seeing them gone."

"I… see… That was part of what we knew about you," Griselda told him, regarding him as if trying to pry whatever was in his head with her eyes. "They are a rather problematic group, I have to say."

"Don't I know it," Joshua replied with a sardonic half-smile. "I'm gonna be offering people my services and information I come across regarding them. In exchange, I want these people to take care of them."

"You do know that the factions are already trying to do that, right, Mr. Davis?" Griselda asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "It's not for a lack of motivation that we don't, I assure you."

"Hm, I'm not too sure about that," Joshua replied, taking a sip from his cup of tea to hide an expression that would probably be seen as a little too hostile. "Mainly because I think it'd go a lot better if factions worked together against them."

"That's… likely more complicated," Griselda said then, making him chuckle.

"I know, which is why I'll make things a little easier, or so I hope," Joshua told her, setting his cup down again. "It's just a project. I'm sure you'll have to discuss this with people higher than you, whoever they are."

"You said you sped this up because something came up," Griselda pointed out and he smirked. "That's because you found something that we could use. Something time sensitive."

"I did," Joshua nodded.

"But you won't share it with us until we agree?" Xenovia was the one to ask that, earning herself a pointed look from the older woman. The glare she was getting from Griselda was probably burning the side of her head, or so Joshua assumed. "Why doesn't it surprise me, considering that you get along with devils?"

"You can think whatever you want," Jeanne hissed at her before Joshua simply waved both of them off.

"I would give the information I got to you, honestly, but this works well to prove my point," He explained with a shrug. "After all, if you had information that the devils could use to fight Khaos Brigade, would you give it to them?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"There's enmity between the Church and the Devils, Mr. Davis," Griselda told him. "There's no such thing between you and us, I'd hope."

"Hm, I don't know about that," He mused, his eyes moving towards Xenovia for a moment. "But besides that, I'm not gonna work only with you. I'd expect you to get me information like that, which I'll pass to the devils. It would work the other way around too if things go the way I want them to."

"That's…" Griselda started before pausing. "Unlikely to work."

"Well, I guess that'll be your answer. A shame, really," Joshua said with a shrug. Maybe they'd change your mind later down the road. He could only hope so. As it was… "Well, I guess we can talk about payment now, then."

"Of course, Mr. Davis," She nodded, but he could see she was barely paying attention to that. It was likely that she was still processing everything he'd just thrown at her.

"Well, in all your knowledge that I don't know how you gather," Joshua started, drawing a somewhat prideful smirk from the woman. "You seem to know how my negotiations usually go."

"Which is to say that they don't exist," Griselda finished, making him chuckle.

"I guess that's a way to say it," He admitted. "So, I'll just say this, wardstones, artifacts and books that could help with warding," He supplied simply. That was basically the same list he was giving most people, really. However, he'd come up with some changes. For example, he had lots of books about warding, but those had come from devils, so, with some luck she'd provide new things. "I have lots of those latter ones, but I'm sure you can find different stuff than my previous… suppliers."

Slowly, Griselda nodded, clearly figuring out what he was getting at. Xenovia did too, if the scowl on her face was anything to go by. Next to him, Jeanne sat tense, even with her cup in her hands. Evidently, his sister was watching the other girl like a hawk. 'Maybe it was a bad idea to bring her.'

"I'll be starting to dabble into Hex magic too, but I'm not sure if you can help with that," He added too. He'd been hesitant to do so. Never had he seen much saying that the Church had something against the practice, but it still made him a little nervous. Especially because there were some pieces that said it could be the case.

"I don't think we'll be able to provide that latter one, but we can work with the rest, Mr. Davis," Griselda replied. There was some movement made there that told Joshua she likely had put a calming hand on Xenovia's lap or something. 'So, it is something they don't like, huh?' He mused.

"Well, that's all I wanted to talk about, honestly… Although," He said, before frowning, which seemed to make the woman tense up. He wasn't sure why though, she'd been pretty calm during the whole conversation, regardless of how it went. "Didn't I tell you to call me Joshua?" He asked, earning himself a shocked reaction from both, Jeanne and Xenovia.

Meanwhile, the woman's cheeks colored slightly.

[}-o-{]

"Well, this should be interesting," Azazel commented as he entered the room where Joshua had summoned every high up ally of his. Which wasn't saying much, really, considering it was just the Fallen Angel, Serafall and Yasaka. 'Then again, maybe my view is skewed there,' He considered as he looked at the three. He imagined not many could summon three faction leaders. And a god to boot, if one counted Shed's presence with the Charm.

"Did you really need to invite him?" Yasaka asked then, ignoring the Governor with infinite patience as the Fallen leered at her. Serafall, meanwhile, simply giggled at the two of them. Joshua half wondered if he should have asked for someone else to come to the meeting. However, Azazel was the one he knew better, sadly.

"I'm sorry," He apologized with a wry smile as he took a deep breath in to gather his thoughts. "I called you three here because I'm becoming a little more… proactive regarding Khaos Brigade," Those words alone seemed to pull the atmosphere of the room from any levity it might have had before. Yasaka, in particular, threw a very intent stare his way. "I've started laying traps out in places that aren't within anyone's territory, to see if I can catch them when they are lurking around. The other day, I succeeded."

"Oh, for a second there I thought you were going to ask for permission or something," Azazel pointed out with a grin, although it seemed almost empty. Joshua could see clear as day how the gears turned inside the Governor's mind. "I'm guessing you got something?"

"I got some information that should be useful," He answered with a nod, bringing his tea up to take a sip. The action didn't seem to be well received from any of the three leaders, but he needed it to keep his calm. "Useful but not for any of you, sadly. It involved the Church, after all."

"Troublesome that," Yasaka muttered. "Also explains your message from the other day."

"Indeed, I've already contacted them. I have somewhat of a connection to them, even if it's nothing like you three," Joshua explained then, drawing a tilt of Serafall's head and a blink from Yasaka. Azazel, for his part, remained as he was, listening. "I've asked them if they'll work together with me to take care of this… mess."

"And by extension us," The Fallen Angel guessed, correctly at that. Joshua nodded to that, taking in the three of them. He didn't even know why he did that. He wasn't good enough to actually get a read of three people that were who knew how many times older and more experienced than he was.

"Bold move, as expected of Joshua," Serafall nodded, her expression of childish seriousness drawing a smile from him. Count on her to be serious and still be silly.

"If I get any more information, I'll share it with you, guys. Can I expect you to work together for this? I think we can agree that these people are… Worth the hassle of dealing with Azazel," Joshua said, drawing a giggle from Serafall and a smile from Yasaka.

"That hurts, Joshua, right here," The Fallen lamented, dramatically placing a hand over his chest.

"I guess that's true enough," Serafall agreed with a nod in between laughs.

"What about the Church, what did they say?" Yasaka asked then, drawing a smile from Joshua that said it all. "Ah, troublesome as always, I guess."

"They are meanies, as expected," Serafall nodded with a pout.

"I'll lay it out that I plan to offer my own services if it'll help you guys get over any reservations you might have to work with each other. I'll mediate for the information and I'll offer wards and anything else I can offer for this," Joshua explained, making Azazel straighten up. "Within reason," He added, making the Governor deflate.

"Hm, so very tempting. Although, I'm already in your debt, so I don't think I'll be taking you up on that offer, Joshua, much as it pains me to pass up that chance," Yasaka said, although her expression didn't seem very regretful despite her words.

"And Sirzechs and I already owe you for what you are doing. I'm sure everything will be fine. I'll have to talk about this with Falbium though," Serafall added, although her face twisted in a grimace of annoyance at the last part. He could tell it wasn't very serious though, which was reassuring. 'That was the lazy Satan, wasn't it? Can't remember what he was in charge of. Defense or something? Makes sense that she'd have to talk to him, I guess.'

"Ah, I'm sure I can be convinced with some more data and wards related to Sacred Gears," Azazel agreed easily with a wide grin. He didn't seem to mind the reproachful gazes of the two women in the room. Joshua didn't much care for that though. His plan seemed to be working rather well, which was all that he cared about. He hadn't given much thought to the political side of things, as usual, but it seemed that things had worked out in the end.

Now he just needed to continue as he was. Set up more traps and gather more information. With some luck, his project would snowball into taking down the entire organization. One could only hope.

"Speaking of, I might need help dealing with the Khaos Brigade members I caught and will probably catch," He commented with a wry smile. Immediately, a dangerous glint appeared in Yasaka's eyes.

"That can be easily taken care of."

[} Chapter End {]

(AN:Please remember that this story is not mine and will never be mine. Make sure to give thanks to the original author on fanfiction.net https://m.fanfiction.net/u/11459794/)