However the most interesting report was about the youngest Sky. He was one of the runaways from Namimori, was the leader of their little business -not surprising considering his element. But the most remarkable piece was the report attached to his profile, a recent document made by the Vongola over the disappearance of the son of CEDEF's head. It was classified information that he should not have access to, but it was invaluable to Verde. Iemitsu Sawada was of Vongola blood, with all that it entailed, meaning his son also had the Hyper Intuition and the Dying Modes. That probably explained a few things about his behavior and glowing eyes.
Verde almost trembled in excitement; he had never had the opportunity before to investigate the Vongola abilities, and here he had the means to force his test subject to participate. Judging from all the precautions, the boy didn't want his father to find him.
"Tsunayoshi Sawada." He called. As he expected, the younger Sky tensed, his burning orange eyes sharpened in wariness. The Storm and Sun looked equally suspicious, while the older Sky only tilted his head to the side, as if curious to see where this would lead. The blond didn't seem to understand what was going on -he probably had no ties to the Mafia.
"I need you and your friends to take part in my tests, and that includes any Flame-active child at your shop -Caeruleus, was it?" He stated. "If you refuse, I could always inform your father of your whereabouts."
The Storm cried in outrage at the blackmailing, but the brunet Sky silenced him, his eyes were two glowing slits. The others stayed silent, awaiting their leader's decision. "You would lose your test subjects if you did that."
Verde had not expected the boy to pick up on that. Hyper Intuition? "I would still have you friends to experiment on." He reasoned. "I'm sure Vongola won't mind a few civilians and would-be civilians being tested on."
The boy clenched his fists where wisps of orange fire escaped through his fingers. "But you would lose an opportunity to study Vongola blood." He argued with a too calm voice. Hyper Dying Will? A young boy like him could have Hyper Dying Will? Verde had to learn more about that. "Besides, Dying Will Flames reflect their user's state of mind; you would have much better results studying willing subjects. Isn't that right Shoichi?"
"Uh? Oh, right. Yeah, the- the quality and quantity of Flame varies greatly depending on the user's state of mind." The Sun stammered, visibly falling back on scientific facts when his nerve failed him.
"And what do you propose, then?" Inquired Verde dismissively. "You won't agree to become test subjects, and I won't back down on my experiments." He was already planning killer robots raids to force them to use their Flames in front of his sensors.
The Sky looked at him for a minute. If he was being honest with himself, those eyes were rather unnerving. "How about a compromise?" He eventually offered. "You don't tell Iemitsu or anyone else about me and my friends. In exchange, we partake in some of your experiments. But we still have the right to refuse some tests." His eyes hardened. "Some of my friends suffered already from scientists experimenting on them, I won't force them to go through that again. Any test you perform has to be non-invasive and based on volunteering. We have a few science enthusiasts, I'm sure you will always find willing subjects if you keep things safe." The Storm and Sun spluttered in indignation at their leader's words, and the Sky began to convince them, but the scientist was no longer paying attention to their antics.
Verde pondered the offer. It was the absolute truth that the state of mind of the test subjects had a significant impact on results in Flame-related experiments. It would be advantageous to actually have willing test subjects. Plus, the way the Sky talked, it sounded as though there were multiple other young Flame-actives, meaning more data and likely more types of Flame. Sure, he might not be able to perform all the experiments he wanted, but he was sure he could find ways around that and devise methods to investigate everything he wished without being invasive. He wasn't the world's greatest scientist for nothing.
Chapter 25: That worked for science
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