DXD: The Grumpy Mechanic

And then I didn't need to see them because it became obvious what was going on when the many other, smaller cells swarmed around Yemo and began to orbit him, all but hanging off the other ends of the beams he gave off. Other plasma cells now wandered close to the Tesla coil too, as close as they wanted, even float as one in the shape of a double helix around the one, big, smooth arc of unliving lightning because the bolt was now a single, stable arc permanently and safely locked on Yemo's form like… like he was a satellite.

Yemo turned himself into the moon, I thought nonsensically, though the thought quickly felt increasingly less and less absurd. And he's basically protecting and nurturing the others now.

That's my boy!

Hesitantly, but not as much as previously, I turned off the power to the electrodes.

Some of the larger kids – heh – swarmed over to check on the sudden quiescence of their previously chaotic birthing place, but then seemed to shrug in unison and went back to their new home to… crowd around their big brother and live their lives I suppose.

Just hanging there.

Living the life.

… Oh my god, I've created life!

I stood there for a while, just watching my creations, awestruck. I hadn't really expected anything to come from this.

It was just a whim, a point of pride for me to put at least some effort into my passion, after I spent almost everything I had on soft science and the most exhausting self-imposed task of both my lives, bar none. All for the salvation of a bunch of people that I wasn't sure deserved it anymore.

No, that's not really fair. Realisation descended on me out of nowhere, as tends to only happen when you've had a good break from wallowing in your problems.

I wasn't sure I welcomed it right now though. Maybe Shisui was deliberately being obtuse at the end there.

Maybe this is something Danzo pushed on Sarutobi that Shisui wanted to fail on purpose and I didn't live up to his expectations.

I was almost sure this was the case the moment it came to me, but instead of the embarrassment or shame I might have felt any other time, I just felt angry because fuck that shit. Shimura Danzo should be six feet under with not a headstone to his name after everything he's done, not getting his way over the Hokage even now after everything.

I grit my teeth. My fist was clenched.

Within the medium, my creations lived their little lives completely oblivious to the world outside. Ah, the bliss of ignorance.

Alas, I couldn't make the same claim to composure as them.

Sorry, children, but daddy wants to bask in your presence a bit. I promise not to be too overbearing.

Slowly, so slowly, I walked over to stand next to the table with the medium. Stood there.

Bent over to watch as close to the glass as I could. Hesitantly raised my hand and tapped on the glass with my finger.

Just once.

The creatures started in place. Like a school of fish they jolted away from their prior trajectories, the swarm moving relative to the source of the vibration without exception.

And near his place around the head of the Tesla coil, Yemo lurched out of orbit.

Then shot over to the origin point as fast as he could, the other creatures hovering in his wake, their pulses uneven and lacking the synchronisation of before.

Yemo came as close to the glass as he could without passing through it. Rolled around like a ball in a perfect circle along the inside, searching.

Waiting.

I tapped the glass again.

Yemo shot to the spot immediately and all but hugged the wall.

That's the most adorable thing I've ever seen in my life.

Sorry, kids, daddy has a new favorite.

Behind my new angel, the rest of the beings came together in a unified cluster, a cord of lights swaying back and forth in rhythm with the Tesla arc, now bereft and distant.

That gave me an idea. It was kind of silly, but the more I thought about it, the more I decided it was a crime that I hadn't done it from the beginning.

After all, what kind of creator would I be if I didn't give my world music? The Professor would be ashamed of me!

First I recalibrated the other two coils and activated all three at once. The sudden re-emergence of life-giving energy from all three megastructures caused a whole new form of chaos in the medium.

It gave me ten more minutes' worth of new observations to write down.

But this time, when the creatures acclimated to their new, richer environment, Yemo chose not to enter orbit like before.

Instead, he flew over to the edge of the glass and began hovering back and forth in a circle. Like it was looking for me.

Increasingly so as the others again began to come over and join him like the tiniest school of fish. School of the tiniest fish, I mean, the swarm was anything but small now, there must have been hundreds of them now.

Being well past the time where I had to worry about extra variables contaminating the experiment, I brought over my phonograph. Fate was with me for once and I already had the setup I needed to divide the audio signals by channel, I'd played around with the music function a lot since I left Shisui speechless that first time.

I'd had to build a lot of the hardware myself, but I was used to that.

I turned off the Tesla coils.

Sorry, kids, dad'll only be a second.

But a second was probably ages at that size, wasn't it?

This world was still way off from software equalizers, but I'd managed well enough to split sound channels into three streams, which I hooked to each of the Tesla control boxes.

Then, crossing my fingers, I activated the Tesla coils all at once.

The medium came to life. The lightning sang.

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