Johannes Volkner bid farewell to caution as he accepted the invitation, writing a brief reply back to the message supposedly sent by Joan. A neutral meeting place, one of the main briefing rooms, and a time of day when the halls would be seeing a good amount of foot-traffic. Whether it was a trap by Quinta, or Joan herself was plotting something bizarre, he wanted to have his bases as covered as he could manage. The next morning, he had actually come to the meeting place ten minutes ahead of time, and was satisfied to see the room completely empty. If nothing else, it meant there wasn't someone setting up a plot against him ahead of time, and gave him the confidence to sit down at one end of the long table.
He found himself waiting out the ten minutes, not taking his attention off of the entrance of the room. The one who appeared, thankfully, was Joan herself rather than Quinta. He tapped his hand on the table as he looked her way. Short, dark brown hair framed her face, and she glanced his way with green eyes that seemed to contain a barely-restrained outpouring of so many feelings, very few of them pleasant. It was as if the woman in front of him, clad in knightly plate armor despite the fact that it would do naught for her defenses, was a barely restrained madman prone to lashing out. Given her historical records, that wasn't so far from the truth, either.
He cleared his throat, before motioning to the opposite end of the table. "Joan, feel free to take a seat. You don't seem to want to pussyfoot around, but before we speak on Quinta, I want to speak on your own actions. You are one of our more reckless fighters, and yet one of our stronger ones. If everything goes mostly well-enough, as it did in the Spontaneous Summoning incident the other day, you can be an ace in the hole. And should it go poorly enough... You are a complete catastrophe in the making."
He could hear a sigh as he brought it up, and she took her seat. Before arriving, he had looked through the surveillance footage of the earlier parts of the fight. Martin had used some large sacks of flour in an attempt to catch out the slippery and initially hard-to-see enemy, before Joan had ignited the whole hallway and blown apart one of the nearby rooms, nearly breaking Heliopolis's outer containment wall in the ensuing explosion. It worked well to damage and burn the enemy, preventing him from continuing to slip through everyone's hands, but it had been through sheer luck that none of those caught at the edges of her attack, Suzuka included, ended up dead.
"...Suzuka and I are at least somewhat understanding; it's not too awful that you clipped her. Things happen. But if it's a Gevurah classification next time, or one of the Callers? That's a lot more of an issue, Joan. I need to know how well you can rein yourself in, and how willing or unwilling you are to do so."
With a groan, Joan gave him his reply. He had been admittedly quite worried how she would take it, half-ready to scream for help if she tried to draw for her sword. He couldn't help but feel that he had misjudged her a bit due to her Gevurah classification.
"I mean, I can try to rein it in. But, if I'm being honest? That is me trying to rein it in. The Lord has not seen fit to give me access to my full capabilities when in this vessel, so my power is somewhat lacking. I still have the tools and skills I had in life, but my power is waning compared to what it was when I drove those English dogs from our homes." Her eyes narrowed as she continued, waving off the initial topic for a new one. "Your precious Pagan was managing to dodge just fine, and if a Gevurah wanted a piece of me, they're welcome to lose several dozen pounds trying. As for you Callers... That's the principle of early death. It's not my fault if one of them intentionally puts themselves in front of a cannon, while aware that they can't survive a cannonball."
He fell silent for a minute as he took in her words. She was surprisingly eloquent, compared to what he'd seen in the surveillance footage. None of the terse, one or two word curses and orders were to be seen here. Still, he had to stifle his laughter at the absurdity of the situation. There were at least two Callers intent on staying in combat range of her, one of which was her own contractor and summoner. Not only that, but this same Joan who nearly blew open the station and killed all of them... Wasn't even at full power? It was maddening, given the sheer gap between herself and Suzuka. If he were to compare her to a similar Spirit's capabilities, it was as if she was a stronger version of Boudica, more practiced and skilled with the same flames, and perhaps a higher magical energy output.
"Well, I suppose that even in the Gevurah classification, you live up to the good reputation of Joan of Arc. As for the Callers... You've gotten to see how 'interesting' and 'eccentric' magi can be when it comes to decision making, first-hand. I have no reason to believe this will stop when you enter your first Distortion. Expect many more instances of them being... 'Eccentric'."
He was stressing the word, trying to be nice when he frankly wanted to say something far worse. Maybe he was just bitter. Maybe it was because of how so many of them would claw at anything for power. Hell, maybe it was still because of his own delusional, yet enrapturing dream of heroism.
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She gave another sigh as she placed her head in her hand, arm clanking onto the table somewhat loudly. "...Fine, I'll try my best. That only includes aiming, though! If they jump in the way of the barrel, you can expect them to be shot. There's only one exception I wish for my cooperation in this regard."
Those words immediately intrigued and yet worried him. It was clear she was taking his terms very seriously, but the fact that she had an exception in mind also had implications, especially given the strained relationship between herself and the one who called her down.
...Man, he was glad he summoned Suzuka, instead of a headache like Joan, even if she was far stronger.
She placed her hand on the sword at her side, and for a brief moment, Johannes's eyes widened and he readied to call out. Yet, Flash of Inspiration didn't seem to detect any danger in the slightest. If anything, it was telling him to relax. He pushed his chair back to try and get a few more centimeters of distance that might allow him to survive, but did not say anything as she swung her blade through the air, and he could hear ignition and several layers of pops. No flames came his way, or even lit the table in some display of intimidation. Rather, she had burnt the cameras themselves in the room, trying to build some form of secrecy for their upcoming discussion. He didn't have the heart to tell her that every Caller was, in a sense, also a surveillance device, especially given what she might do if she was aware of that information.
"You've seen how little myself and that mage get along. So, in the scenario that he were to attempt something... Drastic, and a workplace-related accident occurs, I want you to vouch that it wasn't my fault. That's all."
What she was talking about... Was effectively a form of treason. Yet, Heliopolis's higher-ups were all amoral bastards or magi themselves. They cared more about results than about sentiments, and if Joan turned out to be more useful than her Caller, in the event they needed to pick one or lose both, they would end up naturally picking her. He cleared his throat as he gave a response.
"If he were to do something drastic and reckless, the consequences of his actions would naturally fall upon Heliopolis personnel, and on himself. So, it depends on the situation this were to occur in. For example, if he were to seriously waste facility resources, or put our personnel and our ability to end the threat of the Distortions and their ritual in serious danger, then it's only natural that we would take a workplace accident for granted. Heliopolis's heads may, in other circumstances, decide that the Spirit he summoned was liable for his failed safety. In that case, they would discuss whether to recontract her with another Caller, so long as she still had the magical energy to remain summoned and form this new contract, or to officially mark her as terminated personnel."
He found himself sweating in the tense situation, as he was suddenly walking a verbal tightrope with eyes on him from all sides. It felt like he'd made the right choice, though he couldn't help but wonder if what Quinta did warranted outright death. He was a pretty awful guy, but surely it wasn't anything on that level, right? Maybe she was just worried for the future, or maybe this was a sign of how unreasonable Joan really was.
"In any case, Joan, I would recommend having a serious discussion with Quinta in the future about 'workplace safety'. If, after this, he continues to take part in... Unsafe practices in the workplace, you may be able to petition for reassignment before any accidents occur, as Daedalus and Thoth should have the capabilities to move your contract to work with another Caller in his stead."
He watched as she perked up at his words, clearly happy with the response she'd been given, before standing tall and sheathing the blade she held. He still found himself vexed by that sword - Joan of Arc had been said to never draw a sword herself on the battlefield, but the 'Distorted Timeline' Joan was casually wielding one as if it wasn't a big deal.
"Good choice, then our deal is certain. Anyway, I have to go speak with the Director; she insisted on discussing what happened personally with me. Try not to die before we enter the next Distortion, I heard they're accelerating the briefing and entry to later today."
At the moment of sheathing, the flames across the room sputtered out. It seemed that she really did think they'd managed to avoid being recorded or watched the entire time. And she was about to go speak to the Director... Oh dear. He nodded once in her direction, but did not follow her out of the room. He would either have to pass her, or walk close behind her, and neither option was particularly appealing in that moment, given her capability and readiness to burn anyone to a crisp, including other personnel of Heliopolis. He sighed gently, and continued to wait for several seconds after she left the room, before finally exiting as well.
With everything seemingly set for them to enter the Distortion later that day, assuming Joan had told him the truth, he headed off to go find Suzuka, and the two exchanged some pleasant words. He found himself spending more time with her, and briefly introducing her to some of their other coworkers that she hadn't already met on her own time. Soon, though, the announcement came over the intercom system, calling several Callers and their assigned Spirits to the briefing rooms. Naturally, among those Callers was 015 - Johannes Volkner. Johannes had a sudden, foreboding feeling that he quickly realized was coming from Flash of Inspiration. A warning, but from what? He found himself wondering what the hell they could be up against within the next Distortion that his Flash of Inspiration was actively telling him not to enter it at all.
