MGLN: Future Tense
Chapter 3: Good Intentions
Xx~~*~~xX
Uno didn't know what was more difficult to believe; Nanoha seemingly going berserk as she physically jumped the enforcers, or the fact that she was overpowered so easily. Even without a device, Uno knew Nanoha's true magical strength; there was no way those enforcers should have been able to take her. It was still an illogical move that risked everything they had worked towards, but Uno was still unable to fathom how that woman thought, but there was only one conclusion Uno could draw.
Nanoha
wanted to get captured.
That was the only logical reason Uno could find, except that it was still so blatantly illogical and explanation-defying, that she briefly wondered how these mages had managed to best Jail's forces all those years ago. What if they recognized who Nanoha was? What was her plan of escape? Or did she even think that far ahead? Uno regretted letting slip that the Bureau had captured others; they wouldn't be in this situation at all.
[Even though I'm your clone, sometimes I wonder what goes through your head, Doctor,] Uno wondered as she walked alone along the forest road. [Why did you clone Nanoha, and why did you send me along with her? What can she possibly do about our situation? Or are you just betting on someone who managed to beat you before? Use their own friend against them in some ironic concept?]
She sighed, mentally checking her map as she reached a crossroads, and took the left path. She had a complete map of the planet downloaded in her mind marked with all the known locations of towns, villages, bases and so forth, thus it was easy to deduce that Nanoha would have been taken to the closest facility. Well, there was always a chance the two soldiers might have recognized Nanoha, or at least taken her to Clanagan instead; but if so, then Uno's journey was at an end and they had lost. There was no way the cyborg could free Nanoha from Hayate's personal clutches, so she found herself doing something that she often derided humans for:
Hoping.
Not only that Nanoha was in the closest base, but also hope Uno could figure out a way to get Nanoha out before they realized who she was, or Hayate learned Nanoha was there. With any luck, she would be treated as just another mage among the dozens that had tried to hide but were caught.
Uno checked her internal chronometer as the sky continued to darken into night; at her current rate of travel, she'd arrive and find her answer in 4 hours, 12 minutes, and 28 seconds.
x~~*~~x
Her head throbbed with pain as she slowly awoke, the gentle bouncing of the van the second sensation that she became aware of. Nanoha Takamachi, or at least the clone of her, tried to pull herself upright, but found her arms and legs held tight by green, circular, magical binds. She knew they'd bind her, and some initial testing confirmed that she could break them at any time. But that would have to wait; there were answers she needed and this course of action, however risky, was the only way she could find them.
She raised her head, noting the young girl was bound nearby, passed out as well. It made Nanoha wonder just how long she had been out herself and if something had been administered to them both to knock them out. Also, how far they had traveled? Would Uno even be able to find her? If not, then she was truly on her own in a strange world.
The bouncing promptly stopped, and Nanoha's ears followed the sounds of doors opening and closing, and boots traveling across the ground to the van's rear entrance. Nanoha closed her eyes for now to fake being unconscious; she needed every advantage if she was going to pull this off.
The doors swung open, but there was no bright light indicating day, so it must have been night, unless they were inside a building. Nanoha waited until she had been pulled out and her arm draped across someone's shoulder, before cracking an eye open, confirming that it was the former, outside some type of facility. It was surrounded by high fences with watchtowers on the corners, but there were precious few signs of other humans; mainly drones of a couple different configurations floating around, presumably patrolling the area.
The captain was carrying Livia, so that meant that it was the one known as Randy that was carrying her own body as the quartet were taken inside the single large building; but they separated shortly thereafter down different hallways.
"I'll take this one down to the children's pen," the captain informed him starting down a side corridor. "You sure you can get her to the adult area okay?"
"Come on, Captain, when have you ever known me to screw up?" Randy replied humorously, and after the pair parted, he announced softly, "I know you're awake; I can tell by your breathing."
Surprised, Nanoha allowed both eyes to open, but he wasn't looking at her. "Why didn't you say anything before?"
He was silent for awhile, as if considering his words. "Maybe I'm a little curious. Who are you, and why did you attack us when you must have known we weren't after you?"
Nanoha also considered her reply carefully. "You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you. But you seem smarter than your captain."
"He means well, and he's a decent guy," Randy replied as they reached a door and he paused. "He's got a wife, and two kids. He does what he has to, which is all any of us can do. I assume you will as well."
There was something about him, something almost familiar, Nanoha decided, but his words confused her. Did he know who she was or what she planned to do? How could he? He only appeared about 20 or 30, and if she really had been dead for over 50 years, he wouldn't know her... would he?
He placed his free hand against a pad beside the door, which beep and slid the door open, revealing a glowing cage on the other side of the room with two other enforcers standing guard outside. Several prisoners were hunched over within the enlarged cell.
"Got another one, Randy?" one of the enforcers noted, his eyes traveling over Nanoha in a manner that she didn't find comfortable. "A good lookin' one, too."
The other enforcer opened the cage door, allowing Randy to push her in. "Cool it; you know what the boss will do to us if she catches us again."
"What makes you think she'll find out?" the first one hinted with a grin, then shrugged. "But I suppose it doesn't matter.”
Nanoha hit the ground inside, the binds immediately dissolving as the door closed. Feeling a bit odd, she attempted to gather magic and realized what the issue was: an anti-magic field. It was fairly powerful, and if she had Raging Heart she probably would have been fine, but as it was, she had limited power available to her. It only seemed to exist inside the cage itself, so if she got out, she would be fine.
She took a moment to right herself and glance around the cell, taking note of the near-dozen or so other people in with her. There was plenty of room for all of them, but other than cursory glances, most of them just eventually looked away in disinterest. What got to Nanoha the most, though, was every one of them looked like people who were beaten and knew it. It was like all the hope and life were gone.
[Well, I can't rally them with the guards right there,] Nanoha realized. [I'll just have to take my chance when I see it.]
But apparently, she was wrong about at least one of the prisoners, as one of the young men nodded at her. "Name's Ken. What's yours?"
Nanoha glanced at the guards, and came to a quick decision, even though she hated to lie. "Seikou. What are you in for?"
He chuckled. "Same as you and everyone else; being an unregistered mage. But, with any luck, maybe we'll end up serving in the same unit."
She allowed a small smile to form. "Maybe. Or maybe we'll all break out of here and go home!"
Ken laughed. "Or fly away from the planet altogether!"
"Sounds good to me!" Nanoha replied, then decided to take a chance. She concentrated, focusing on Ken, "[Can you hear me?]"
Startled, he glanced at the guards, then at her, and nodded slowly.
"[If you can't respond, it's okay,]" she told him. "[This AMF is making things difficult for me, too. Is there ever a time when the guards aren't here?]"
He lowered his hand, but made a quick thumbs up sign.
"[Any idea how long until that happens?]” Nanoha asked, but was surprised when the life seemed to leave him.
He shrugged and shook his head, then mouthed. “Don't.”
Nanoha was confused. “[Don't what? I think I can get us out of here, if we all work together, and-]”
Her words died as he scooted closer and hissed in a deathly quiet voice into her ear, “No. Don't think about it. We can't escape, and no one will help you if you try. Just don't.”
Shaken, Nanoha just watched as he scooted away and seemingly became just another one of the quiet, mindlessly staring prisoners sitting against the walls, his earlier nature all but gone, leaving Nanoha to wonder if he was still the same person. What had gotten into these people? Were things so bad that they no longer had any hope? Was that what her purpose was to be, to bring hope back?
[I'm going to have to,] Nanoha realized, her jaw firm. [I have to show these people, and I have to rescue Livia and the other children they may have. I just need an opportunity....]
x~~*~~x
Uno's eyes zoomed in to take in the lay of the outpost; her vision wasn't as good as Dieci's, but it was decent enough to pick out all the units from the treeline, a few hundred meters away from the fence. In no time, she had cataloged all the drones and soldiers present, and picked out all the weaknesses in the defenses; it would still be quite a risk for her to break in, and she knew it would be harder still to get back out. Plus, Nanoha might not even be here, so Uno was left debating her next course of action.
Part of her was considering abandoning the effort altogether; after all, she had no idea what the doctor planned, or even it's chances of success. While she understood the secrecy in retrospect, it didn't help her now. She calculated that if she just disappeared into the countryside, she could probably live out the rest of her life normally enough.
She shook her head disregarding that plan almost immediately. Despite the situation, she was a clone of the doctor, and thus a simple life hidden in obscurity did not suit her. She would attempt to fulfill the doctor's dream as well as she could, and right now that meant finding Nanoha and getting her to safety.
Sighing, Uno began to run the calculations in her mind.
x~~*~~x
Nanoha's head went up as the door to the room swished open, and a cart was pushed in; she recognized the familiar face.
“That time again, eh?” one of the two guards noted from where he sat on his stool, his back to the cage. “Personally, I don't think dodgers should have the luxury, since the rest of us are doing our duty.”
“Maybe, but them's the rules,” Randy countered, pushing the cart in. “Unless you wanna talk to the boss lady about it.”
Nanoha's eyebrows furrowed as she watched the guard shiver in response; was he referring to Hayate? Was she feared that much?
“No thanks,” the guard replied, turning slightly to swipe his card and open the cage door. “Just get it over with.”
As Randy wheeled the cart in, Nanoha bit her lips, debating. The other prisoners still hadn't shown much sign of life; even though the door was open and the two guards weren't paying much attention, having their backs to the prison cage and chatting, they didn't even seem to be thinking escaping. Clearly, none of the guards seemed to think it was even a possibility, given the way they weren't even holding their war staves, instead just resting them against the wall nearby. Only Ken shot her a look, but it was more to discourage her from her earlier notion, then to see if she'd carry it out.
She looked up as Randy stepped in front of her and bent over to set a small dish on the cold, hard ground, with what she assumed to be some sort of gruel or hydrated protein powder; either way, it was grayish-white and not very appetizing. But what caught her attention the most, was the strange look on Randy's face; almost a sad smile, but she couldn't figure out why. Was he honestly disturbed by the situation and couldn't do anything?
He turned around and went back to his cart, still having half the prisoners to feed, apparently. Nanoha spared a quick glance at the guards again, but they had ceased their chatter, and one of them was actively leaning back against his wall, eyes closed in what looked like a quick nap. The internal debate finally came to a close as Nanoha took a deep breath.
Concentrating, she stretched out her arm, pointing her finger, three pink orbs rotating around her wrist. "Shoot!"
Randy took a shot to the back that sent him flying across the cell. The action got the attention of the two guards, who looked more startled that someone was trying something, then the fact that Nanoha was performing magic inside an AMF field; but that kept them stunned long enough for Nanoha to launch her other orbs at them, smacking them both against the far walls. As they hit the ground, she dove out through the cage door, immediately feeling stronger as the AMF faded, and fired a couple more shots at the downed guards to make sure they were out cold.
Then she turned back to the prisoners, who were staring at her much like the guards were. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting out of here. I'm sure we all have family we'd like to get back to."
They continued to sit there and stare, but it was finally Ken who leapt to his feet and addressed her. "Are you mad? I told you not to try this!"
"You wanted to become a soldier?" Nanoha questioned in surprise. "You were satisfied being locked up, away from your friends and family?"
"They were safe as long as I cooperated!" he nearly yelled at her. "None of us wants this, but we don't have a choice! There's no where we can run where the Bureau can't find us! Our only chance was keeping our magic secret, but once we were found out, the game was over. Don't you get that? Are you crazy? Even if you took out these guards, there is no way you can get past the sentinels. Even if you got past them, it would only delay the inevitable." He fell back against the wall, grabbing his head as he slid down to a sitting position. "Now my family is dead, once she learns of this."
Nanoha took a step forward, gathering her thoughts. "Why are you so afraid? You'd rather die as slaves, then fight to be free? Yes, it's dangerous, but what about your families? Your children; what about them? You want them to go through this, too? I can't make you fight, and I'll do this alone if I must, but I've never given up before when the odds were against me, and I'm not about to start now."
Ken just stared at her as if she had just grown two heads. "You're crazy. You can't be from around here. And if where you were from is any better, I suggest you go back there and leave us alone; you'll get us all killed."
"No, she's right," Randy replied, groaning as he slowly picked himself up, Nanoha raising her finger to point at him. "I've seen what goes on, and this isn't right. My grandfather used to tell me of a time when things were better, when mages worked for the betterment of society and actually protected people. I never really believed him... until now."
Nanoha was oddly a bit uncomfortable as Randy looked at her, and something niggled at the back of her mind, but she couldn't place it.
"You can put that away," Randy chuckled, indicating her glowing finger. "If you want to get out of here with these people, you'll need my help. I've already killed the sensors in here, but it won't last long. There would have been an alarm already if I hadn't of remotely disconnected it earlier; I guessed that you might make a move."
"Why?" Nanoha asked him, confused.
"Later," he told her, turning to the rest. "Not everyone is content to be a slave. There is a resistance. Go take your families and join them. If it grows large enough, we can take back our planet."
Ken's head came up. "A resistance? They are just a myth."
Randy shook his head. "No, as an enforcer, I was told about them. They aren't active on this continent, but they are across the ocean. I'm going to join them, and try to make a new life on this planet. I'm sick of dragging little girls into the army, sick of locking people up whose only crime was wanting to leave a peaceful life with their family."
For some reason, Nanoha believed him, and she reached up to put a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you."
His words must have some effect, because one prisoner stood up and slowly walked to the cage door, pausing a moment before stepping through. He offered a brief smile, then shrugged. “I don't have a family, and I don't really want to fight. But what have I got to lose?”
One by one, the rest followed his lead, until only Ken was left.
"You're all crazy," he declared in disbelief, then sighed and dragged himself to his feet. "You'll all be killed. At least as a soldier you can live, and your families will survive. Why?"
"Hope," Randy replied simply, picking up his staff, then grabbing one of the guard's staves and tossing it to Nanoha, who caught it easily in her left hand. "That's what she brings."
Ken shook his head. "Fine. We're dead anyway, so might as well." He crossed the gate threshold. "Now what?"
"Now, we get the children and get out of here," Nanoha replied, smiling, getting a feel for the staff's weight. "Let's go."
Randy opened the outer door, and gestured that the coast was clear. "This way; the children are being held in a cage just down the corridor and to the left. But I wasn't able to get to that alarm, so once we break them out, they'll know what's up; we'll have sentinel drones all over us. You have a plan?"
"I figured I'd just blow them all up," Nanoha told him straight up, and he had to stare at her for a moment to see if she was serious. "What?"
He shook his head. "I'll tell you later. I may have a better way; several floors up in the control tower, is a relay for the drones for this sector. I can mess up the network and scramble the systems, which will buy us some time, but I don't know how long it will last. Maybe a minute at most before the master control reasserts itself. Still, the drones will be offline, and much easier to destroy. There's usually only a half-dozen enforcers stationed here at any one time; they mainly rely on the sentinels for security."
"Then you should take me there,"came a familiar female voice from above.
The group paused, gaping as the grating on the ventilation system was kicked out and female in a jumpsuit plopped down beside the group.
"Uno!" Nanoha exclaimed, never realizing she'd be so happy to see the cyborg. "You did find me! How did you get in?"
She shrugged. "After analysis, I discovered there was a 3.3 second gap in the patrol coverage outside. And oddly enough, the ventilation system is just big enough for a human, which is where I was hiding until you made your move. I'm quite surprised these facilities are so flawed." She shrugged again, then turned to Randy. "If you can take me to the relay center, I can upload a virus that will take the network down for hours, if not days.
Randy stared at her, incredulous. "And how would you know how to do that?"
"I helped design them," Uno said simply. "The doctor always made sure to include back doors on anything he programmed."
"Easy, Randy, we can trust her," Nanoha soothed, as the enforcer and the prisoners started at her in shock. She bit her lip. "But you'll have to go with her while I free the children."
While he appeared uncomfortable, Randy took one look at Nanoha, then nodded, before turning back to Uno. "Alright, this way."
The groups split up.
x~~*~~x
"Commander, I'm reading an anomaly in Sector 002," one of the male technicians announced from his station in a detached monotone voice.
The commander's head came up as she frowned. "Sector 002? What kind of reading?"
"Relaying it now, but it looks I'm getting some power distribution errors," he replied. "And I thought I saw an alarm go off for a brief second before it shut off. Also, communications with the base in that sector seems to be down. Could be a glitch. I'll send some people to check up on them."
"No," the commander replied, eyes narrowing. "It's in my sector, I'll deal with it."
The technician didn't disagree, as his commander turned and left the room, black cape and gold hair swaying behind her.
x~~*~~x
What surprised Randy the most was the way this so-called drone designer moved. As he figured, the relay control room was only manned by two lackadaisical enforcers and Uno quickly put them out of action after bursting into the room. She was far stronger than he believed, and moved quicker than he would have given her credit for. Now one enforcer was out unconscious, while the other dragged himself party-way up against the wall, arm across his mid-section while blood leaked from his mouth.
“What are you... doing, Randy?” the enforcer managed to spit out, clearly having trouble breathing.
Randy knelt down and checked the man's vitals as Uno began tapping away at holographic keyboards. “I'm sorry, but things have to change, Zo. I promise you won't be killed; medical help should arrive after we're gone with the prisoners.”
Zo barked out a laugh, which turned into coughs. "You may as well kill me now. I'm as good as dead when she finds out how I failed."
"You could always join us," Randy suggested, tactfully, but he knew the answer as soon as he said it.
"I'm not a traitor," Zo accused, coughing up more blood. "I took an oath, same as you. What made you betray it?"
"Because I-" Randy started to reply, but was cut off as the alarm blared and the room flashed red. "Dammit, I thought we'd have more time!"
Zo chuckled. “She's tripped the system's protection. We're all dead now. This entire complex will self-destruct. It's to prevent tampering just like this."
Randy Spun on Uno. "I thought you knew what you were doing!"
"I had little choice," the cyborg replied, her fingers dancing at a dizzying speed across multiple keyboards. "They are alert to anomalies in the system, so I had to move quickly. The virus is almost complete. As an enforcer rank A, you should be able to provide proper shielding."
Randy glanced at his two former compatriots. "If it was just you and me, but I'm not leaving them to die!"
Uno didn't miss a beat. "I calculated as such. We are on the top floor; blast a hole in the ceiling while I contact our companions."
Randy pointed his staff upwards as he gathered his magic, hoping she knew what she was doing.
x~~*~~x
"I really hope Uno does her thing soon!" Nanoha noted with alarm, blocking several more shots with her shield and returning fire with the staff, clipping a sentinel and sending it spinning into a wall, but two more came around the corner along with a pair of enforcers, she quickly came to a decision as she tossed the staff at another mage. "Someone else use this! I'm getting us out of here!"
Two mages providing cover fire while the rest shielded, while Nanoha turned toward the wall and gathered her magic, hoping she could put enough into this without Raging Heart. But then one of the mages firing the staff was hit as the spherical sentinel drones penetrated the shielding and struck. Cursing, she spun and yelled for everyone to get down.
"Divine... Buster!" she cried, thrusting both palms out, a pink beam of energy exploding outward.
The two drones were enveloped and blasted against the ceiling, as the two enforcers down the hall hit the ground. The magical energy wave ripped through the top of the corridor and continued on, bursting into the night air.
When it was over, Nanoha blinked at her hands, bewildered. [That was almost stronger than my normal busters; but I don't have Raging Heart, so why?]
She didn't have time to ponder it, as she received an urgent telepathic missive from Uno and quickly threw up a Protection barrier around the group. "Everyone, put all your strength into the shield, NOW!"
Most complied as their surroundings erupted a second later, and the base was consumed by hellfire.
x~~*~~x
He had barely survived the explosion. If it hadn't been for the system warning in his communicator, he would be dead now. As it was, young agent Jayd paid the ultimate price, his own barrier not being up to the task.
Captain Granz grit his teeth, unable to move, and shocked as the pink barrier faded a dozen meters away. It was so hard to see due to the blood over one eye and the other being blurry, but Captain Granz could just make out shapes in front of him with one of them was the demon, the destroyer. She had been fending off the sentinels with ease, and with one shot, took out two of them with enough force to blast through the walls of the base, too. And she managed to shield an entire group of people!
He hadn't seen such power since that one time he witnessed his boss fight; if he didn't know any better, he'd swear the demon in front of him might almost be on an even power level. He had failed in his duty to protect this facility, and he might not survive long, but he had one chance to make up for things.
He had to kill her.
Even though his lower half was covered in rubble and his legs were most likely crushed, he realized he still had a grip on his staff in his right hand. With all the strength he could muster, he slowly brought it up, the blurs shifting as his visioned worsened, his hands a bit unsteady as he aimed. He had to put everything he had left into this shot; he couldn't let her leave this location alive.
He fired.
x~~*~~x
"Is everyone alright?" Nanoha asked, drained; that had taken a lot out of her.
"What the hell are you?" Ken demanded to know, the rest of the prisoners staring at her. "You took out those sentinels like they were nothing, and you have barriers strong enough to survive an explosion?"
“Practice,” Nanoha replied, smiling. “Besides, we all helped on the barrier.”
Before Ken could form a reply to that, Uno landed nearby her and set two enforcers down she had been carrying, while Randy touched down beside her.
"Uno!" she exclaimed as they walked up to her. "Randy ! Are you two okay? How did you survive?"
"I jumped," Uno explained simply, as if that explained everything, then glanced around at the wreckage, some of it still burning. "But I suggest we relocate elsewhere. It won't take them long to send reinforcements here."
Nanoha shook her head, then looked around, searching as some of the prisoners began to run for the nearby forest, escaping.. "After we get what we came for. Livia?"
"H-here," came a small frightened voice nearby.
"I've come to take you back to your father," Nanoha told her, kneeling down next to her. "I-"
"LOOK OUT!"
Nanoha turned in slow motion at Randy's shout, her head coming around just in time to see his body block her vision. His hastily formed shield shattered, and blood spattered against her cheek and backside, his form slowly collapsing toward her. Time seemingly returned to normal as she finished turning, catching his body in her arms as he fell, a small bloody hole in his chest. The shooter was several meters away, mostly buried under rubble, and collapsed after the shot.
[That was lethal magic!] Nanoha realized in shock, as Randy shook her arms, coughing up blood. "I'll get you to a healer, hold on!"
"Too late," he gargled, his fingers raising to her cheek. "No time. Save them.... Nanoha..."
Her eyes widened. "How did you know? Why didn't you say before?"
Randy smiled. "Grandpa... showed me pictures and told me stories...... about the Ace of Aces that... never gave up. He told me... he served on a ship with you once..." With his other hand, he lifted his staff and pushed it at Nanoha. "Save them..."
His eyes rolled up in his head as his hand dropped from her cheek, leaving a pair of blood streaks along her face. Nanoha could only watch in numb shock as the life left his body, and there she might have stayed, had she not felt Uno's hand on her shoulder.
"Nanoha, we have to go," the cyborg said softly, yet urgently. "There is nothing more we can do for him, but we must get away before reinforcements show up.”
Numb, Nanoha nodded, laying the body down gently, gripping the blood-spattered staff in her left hand; she had seen death before, but not quite like that, not right up close, by someone giving their life for her.
“I'm sorry,” she whispered, her voice nearly catching in her throat as she reached up and slid his eyes closed.
She barely registered Uno picking Livia up with one arm, while grabbing Nanoha's hand and pulling her away; instead, a single thought kept reverberating through her head.
It wasn't supposed to be this way.
Xx~~*~~xX