Nanoha FanFiction Discussion

[00-Raiser]

Originally Posted by Alavon

I actually cried....ah, well. Fair enough. Three's Company it is.

Page Claim for crushed dreams! ;p

You're another reason I'm gonna fit Materials no Jikan in there, ya know

[Megaolix]

If I had been there two post before, I would have claimed the page for dreams becoming reality. I want more Three's Company!

Btw Yasa, are you on a break? It's been a while since the last snippet and you used to have about one new one per day.

[Nanya01]

Originally Posted by Megaolix

If I had been there two post before, I would have claimed the page for dreams becoming reality. I want more Three's Company!

Btw Yasa, are you on a break? It's been a while since the last snippet and you used to have about one new one per day.

It's only been 4 days, and Yasanagi's working close to 12 hours a day.

[Megaolix]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

It's only been 4 days, and Yasanagi's working close to 12 hours a day.

Whoa, I had no idea. I just wondered. And maybe it was just 4 days but like I said, it was about one new one a day minimum just a short time ago. One cannot help but wonder if something happened.

[Nanya01]

Originally Posted by Megaolix

Whoa, I had no idea. I just wondered. And maybe it was just 4 days but like I said, it was about one new one a day minimum just a short time ago. One cannot help but wonder if something happened.

Well, that's what happens when problems pop up and wills to write get sapped.

[Nanya01]

Double post...

...DAMMIT!

Spoiler for Changes 3:

"Miss, are you sure this is what you want?" A male voice was heard asking her.

"Of course I am!" She snapped at him without looking away from the tube. "Have you done what was in those notes?"

"Uh, yes." The man coughed behind her. "The girl's magic power far out-strips your own, in fact, it's likely that, if she survives to adulthood, she'll rival your mother in raw power."

"Good." A part of her was screaming to stop this, to not do it, no matter what. "Mother deserves a chance to live more."

"But, she has lived a decent life, miss." The man was behind her, concerned. "To go this far..."

She spun on him, nearly snarling. "My mother is the only family I have! Don't you dare try to minimize how important she is to me."

"Of course not." The man shook his head and sighed as she turned back to her console. "But to go so far as to clone yourself like that... The clone is supposed to have your memories..."

"I don't need a copy of myself, I need a tool that can get the job done, no questions asked, and get the materials that my mother needs to get better." She pressed several buttons before stopping and taking a look up at the young child's body and stared.

The girl, her future tool, was looking at her with innocent and curious red eyes. Her fingers trembled slightly, she was about to push the button, but stopped when the little baby did something unexpected...

She smiled.

It was so sudden and unexpected that she stopped, her arm fell limply to her side as she looked at the tool, no, the baby in the tube, before her eyes teared up. "What the hell am I doing?" She asked herself and went to the tube, pressing buttons and opening it up.

"What are you doing?!" The man asked as she gently picked the baby girl up from the tube and cradled her gently. "Ah... Miss?"

"I'm leaving... with my daughter... You'll forget everything you saw here, understand?" When he nodded, she started to walk to the door.

"Wait! A name..." She turned to him as he shook his head. "Don't leave without giving her a name at least."

She looked at the baby girl for a few moments, before softly smiling, tears falling out of her eyes. "Fate... Her name is Fate, to represent the weird twists in life that make it so that we live and survive."

Alicia gasped awake and looked to her right side, where Fate was sleeping, curled up to her. "What was I thinking back then?" She asked herself softly and grabbed her daughter, pulling her into a tight embrace, tears falling out of her eyes and into her daughter's hair. "I'm so sorry, Fate... For what I almost did to you."

Even if Fate never found out, and Alicia hoped that she never did, the older woman would do all that she could to make it up to her daughter.

I was tearing up as I wrote that, okay?

[00-Raiser]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Double post...

...DAMMIT!

Spoiler for Changes 3:

"Miss, are you sure this is what you want?" A male voice was heard asking her.

"Of course I am!" She snapped at him without looking away from the tube. "Have you done what was in those notes?"

"Uh, yes." The man coughed behind her. "The girl's magic power far out-strips your own, in fact, it's likely that, if she survives to adulthood, she'll rival your mother in raw power."

"Good." A part of her was screaming to stop this, to not do it, no matter what. "Mother deserves a chance to live more."

"But, she has lived a decent life, miss." The man was behind her, concerned. "To go this far..."

She spun on him, nearly snarling. "My mother is the only family I have! Don't you dare try to minimize how important she is to me."

"Of course not." The man shook his head and sighed as she turned back to her console. "But to go so far as to clone yourself like that... The clone is supposed to have your memories..."

"I don't need a copy of myself, I need a tool that can get the job done, no questions asked, and get the materials that my mother needs to get better." She pressed several buttons before stopping and taking a look up at the young child's body and stared.

The girl, her future tool, was looking at her with innocent and curious red eyes. Her fingers trembled slightly, she was about to push the button, but stopped when the little baby did something unexpected...

She smiled.

It was so sudden and unexpected that she stopped, her arm fell limply to her side as she looked at the tool, no, the baby in the tube, before her eyes teared up. "What the hell am I doing?" She asked herself and went to the tube, pressing buttons and opening it up.

"What are you doing?!" The man asked as she gently picked the baby girl up from the tube and cradled her gently. "Ah... Miss?"

"I'm leaving... with my daughter... You'll forget everything you saw here, understand?" When he nodded, she started to walk to the door.

"Wait! A name..." She turned to him as he shook his head. "Don't leave without giving her a name at least."

She looked at the baby girl for a few moments, before softly smiling, tears falling out of her eyes. "Fate... Her name is Fate, to represent the weird twists in life that make it so that we live and survive."

Alicia gasped awake and looked to her right side, where Fate was sleeping, curled up to her. "What was I thinking back then?" She asked herself softly and grabbed her daughter, pulling her into a tight embrace, tears falling out of her eyes and into her daughter's hair. "I'm so sorry, Fate... For what I almost did to you."

Even if Fate never found out, and Alicia hoped that she never did, the older woman would do all that she could to make it up to her daughter.

I was tearing up as I wrote that, okay?

Ah, so that explains it. I'm glad Alicia had a change of heart Very nice.

[Alavon]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Double post...

...DAMMIT!

Spoiler for Changes 3:

"Miss, are you sure this is what you want?" A male voice was heard asking her.

"Of course I am!" She snapped at him without looking away from the tube. "Have you done what was in those notes?"

"Uh, yes." The man coughed behind her. "The girl's magic power far out-strips your own, in fact, it's likely that, if she survives to adulthood, she'll rival your mother in raw power."

"Good." A part of her was screaming to stop this, to not do it, no matter what. "Mother deserves a chance to live more."

"But, she has lived a decent life, miss." The man was behind her, concerned. "To go this far..."

She spun on him, nearly snarling. "My mother is the only family I have! Don't you dare try to minimize how important she is to me."

"Of course not." The man shook his head and sighed as she turned back to her console. "But to go so far as to clone yourself like that... The clone is supposed to have your memories..."

"I don't need a copy of myself, I need a tool that can get the job done, no questions asked, and get the materials that my mother needs to get better." She pressed several buttons before stopping and taking a look up at the young child's body and stared.

The girl, her future tool, was looking at her with innocent and curious red eyes. Her fingers trembled slightly, she was about to push the button, but stopped when the little baby did something unexpected...

She smiled.

It was so sudden and unexpected that she stopped, her arm fell limply to her side as she looked at the tool, no, the baby in the tube, before her eyes teared up. "What the hell am I doing?" She asked herself and went to the tube, pressing buttons and opening it up.

"What are you doing?!" The man asked as she gently picked the baby girl up from the tube and cradled her gently. "Ah... Miss?"

"I'm leaving... with my daughter... You'll forget everything you saw here, understand?" When he nodded, she started to walk to the door.

"Wait! A name..." She turned to him as he shook his head. "Don't leave without giving her a name at least."

She looked at the baby girl for a few moments, before softly smiling, tears falling out of her eyes. "Fate... Her name is Fate, to represent the weird twists in life that make it so that we live and survive."

Alicia gasped awake and looked to her right side, where Fate was sleeping, curled up to her. "What was I thinking back then?" She asked herself softly and grabbed her daughter, pulling her into a tight embrace, tears falling out of her eyes and into her daughter's hair. "I'm so sorry, Fate... For what I almost did to you."

Even if Fate never found out, and Alicia hoped that she never did, the older woman would do all that she could to make it up to her daughter.

I was tearing up as I wrote that, okay?

*CRIES*

Well done, Nanya. Well done....

[Yasanagi]

Spoiler for More MD:

The group ended staying on the planet Tenrei longer than they had expected, mainly because Yuuno had to figure out how the new ship's interfaces worked such as reworking the display language to one he was more familiar with and going through the operator's manual. As there was much to read, he didn't rest properly for the past few nights as he kept reading and working things out.

Although deciphering the language was simple enough, he ran into another problem. The ship's systems were locked with command passwords. Thankfully, Material-D and Material-S managed to get a few primary ones open, mostly by guessing on words related to that girl love thing the Reverend had been preaching about earlier. "I managed to get this one unlocked, peon."

"Thanks. I'll get to it once I finish over here." The Librarian's attention was focused solely on the displays in front of him that were showing him engine schematics. "Let's see... where's that fuel mileage number again?"

"You're welcome." The Hayate replica took out her fan to cool herself off and glanced out the ship's window where Material-L was playing outside with her brand new dog summon. Rai was trying to get her new dog to do some tricks but was having little success. Obviously because of the way it stared at her in annoyance while she tried to get the dog to follow her example of rolling over in the ground.

"Yami, can you please call Rai in for lunch?" asked Seikou from the side as she took out the day's rations and started dividing them up into equal portions for four people.

"Call me 'Your Majesty'!" grumbled Yami before she headed to the hatch to get Material-L. Once the Fate replica got word that lunch was being served, she dismissed her summon and zipped inside the ship past a bewildered Lord of Darkness.

"FOOD!!"

"Goodness... I never seen you this hungry except for chicken!" Material-S passed on one plate to Rai while another plate went to Yuuno who accepted it quietly before heading back to work.

"I know!" As she plowed into her meal, Yami quietly connected with her device.

'Both yesterday and today, Material-L has brought out that summon of hers. Something like that would normally cost her an extraordinary amount of mana and drain her to the point where she would be starving for Linker Cores. But yet, her energy levels have remained stable.'

Well? Don't you have something to say to me?

Yami ignored the smug tone of her Device while keeping an eye on the feasting Rai. 'Okay, so you were right on that regard. And I myself feel a bit stronger than before despite not consuming Linker Cores or taking additional mana from that peasant in the past few days. What next?'

As things stand, the first injection of seeds have worked to create a foundation for your internal mana generators inside your Linker Core. It can now convert standard nutrients from the food you consume into units of mana. Of course, another injection would most likely improve the conversion rate.

'I see. I'll keep that in mind.' Just as Material-D disconnected herself from her Device, she heard Yuuno shout out in triumph.

"I got it! I finally figured out how to fly this thing!"

His outburst was followed by mocking applause coming from the Lord of Darkness. "Bravo, peon. That only took you... what? Forty something odd hours to do?"

Even as Material-S frowned in disapproval at her friend's wicked tongue, it didn't bother the Librarian at all. "Say what you will but if I interpreted the engine specs correctly, it's gonna be a smooth three day trip to Mid-Childa from here! Ah, I can't wait to get back to my old office! And I want to see Nanoha and the others again!"

Seikou's sharp hearing picked up on that name that he just said. For some reason, she was curious to know more about that name but that can wait for a moment. "Only three days?"

"I know!" exclaimed Yuuno with the excitement of returning home reflecting in his tired eyes, due to the small amount of sleep he had gotten while working on the ship. "These guys were using an X-3 Xros Virsago Drive as their primary means of propulsion! Far more powerful than what I had back on my old ship! Once we get off this planet, there should be no problems getting back home!"

That was when Material-L perked up from her clean plate. "Ooh, poor choice of words there, Yuu-nii. Now the universe has an obligation to throw everything including the kitchen sink to mess things up for you."

"Oh, come on! Stop joking around, Rai-chan!" laughed the blonde male. "This is going to work. It...... it has to..."

The Fate replica shrugged, not even picking up the sudden fatigue in Yuuno's tone during that last bit. "Don't say I didn't warn you..."

The only response she got was Yuuno drifting off and slumping in his seat. "It... has...... to..."

**********

"Whoaaaa... they really renovated this place! Look at it, Tea!"

The orange haired enforcer merely sighed in irritation at her friend's antics upon stepping into this place again after four and a half years. She could understand the whole nostalgia thing but still... "Subaru, would you please act more professional? You are a Sergeant for crying out loud!"

"Aw, come on! Don't tell me you're not curious about how they spruced up the old HQ!" exclaimed Subaru in her usual energetic tone.

"That can wait until after the meeting! Let's go or we're going to be late!" growled Teana as she walked on and saw the small crowd gathering near the area ahead. As the duo arrived, they spotted many familiar faces in the crowd. Senior officers such as Nanoha, Fate, Signum and Vita were present along with former members of Riot Force Six like Alto, Vice and Griffith. A few new faces did pop up though such as...

"Gin-nee?! And everybody else too...!" Indeed, all of the other Nakajima sisters had blended in with the crowd.

"Yo!" greeted Nove casually as Subaru and Teana made their way through.

"You all got orders to transfer to Special Duty Section Six as well?" asked Teana.

"It was Yagami-san who made the arrangements," said Cinque. "The fact that N2R and some of Battalion 108 have been transferred to this unit means that she is really taking this threat seriously."

"Speaking of transfers, Erio and Caro will be joining us too, right Gin-nee?"

Ginga nodded. "They're on their way from Supools as we speak although I do recall that they intended to make a detour to Carnaaji to recruit Lutecia. Commander Yagami's working to pull some strings and temporarily lift her sentence while the threat is still at large."

All of a sudden, the small chitter chatter began to die down as Hayate Yagami, dressed in a blue military uniform complete with a dress shirt, tie, jacket and skirt, came into view of everybody and stepped up to the podium to face the crowd. She was accompanied by a tiny silver haired Unison Device dressed in the same uniform as well except the one thing that most people noticed was that the little one wasn't looking like the cheerful energetic being they all remembered. "Hello everyone. It's good to see that everybody's healthy and I wish that we had reunited under better circumstances however we have a powerful threat on the horizon and it's our mission to ensure that they never set foot on our home." She paused for a moment. "First, I would like to clear up any misconceptions that are out there, beginning with this one."

A presentation screen popped up behind to show off the images of the three women who had broadcasted themselves all over Mid-Childa a few days ago before playing back a part of the clip. "...You will never get Yuuno-san back. I will never allow someone who has such kindness in him to work for such evil people. You had best hope, for your sake, Evil Admiral, that we never meet in person, for I shall not hold anything back." While that played on, Teana noticed Nanoha's sudden shift in posture out of the corner of her eye. The Captain's eyes were as hard as steel while one of her hands was rubbing against the pendant form of Raising Heart... as if itching to let loose on the enemy.

"The accusation that was just thrown at Admiral Harlaown has absolutely no basis. This is most likely a tactic to throw the public into confusion. Sadly to say that it worked and regardless of the press conferences we held to clear Chrono's name, there are still those who want these allegations thoroughly investigated. If any one of you is contacted by a member of the media, please do not comment on the situation as the position of the Bureau has already been clarified," said the Commander. "The next misconception I would like to address is the assumption that these 'Materials'-"

"Wait a sec. 'Materials'?" asked Vice in a puzzled tone.

"It was how they identified themselves along with a title so for now, we will be labelling them as 'Materials'," explained another male voice in the crowd.

"Thank you, Verossa." Hayate waited a moment to get her train of thought back on track. "As I was saying before, there has been a misconception that the 'Materials' are more powerful than myself, Captain Takamachi and Enforcer Harlaown. We cannot confirm or deny this so we are operating under the assumption that they are equal in power to ourselves. However due to the fact that they don't have Limiters and are openly hostile to members of the Bureau, it is highly recommended that none of you take on any of them alone."

When no one said anything, she continued on. "As it stands, with the imminent threat of these 'Materials' and the threat that they pose to Mid-childa, we have been taking the time to move several prisoners that have been on world to other penal colonies until this threat has passed."

"Why prisoners?" Wendi asked, confused as to why they would bother moving such people off world.

"A precaution to say the least. If they were to free all the prisoners to create havoc, it would divide our forces even further to their advantage."

Wendi nodded at Hayate, before frowning slightly. "What about civilians?"

"We're going to make sure that the civilians are kept out of this." Hayate leaned against the podium. "The rest of the Bureau agrees with me in that these 'Materials' must be kept off planet if possible. Fortunately for us, we're going to have some additional help from the Saint Church."

And on cue, three new females popped up behind Hayate by phasing through the ground. "Ta-da! No need to fear! Cute Church Knight Sein-chan is here!"

"Was that really necessary?" asked the girl hanging on her left arm in a quiet tone.

"We had to make a splashy entrance, Otto! That's the way we show style! Showmanship!!" Sein turned to the other girl hanging on her right arm. "Don't you agree, Deed?"

The nun merely shrugged indifferently while Hayate giggled. "As you can see, these three will be acting as the liaisons between us and the Saint Church. Please welcome Sein, Otto and Deed to Special Duty Section Six!"

[Megaolix]

Originally Posted by Yasanagi

Spoiler for More MD:

The group ended staying on the planet Tenrei longer than they had expected, mainly because Yuuno had to figure out how the new ship's interfaces worked such as reworking the display language to one he was more familiar with and going through the operator's manual. As there was much to read, he didn't rest properly for the past few nights as he kept reading and working things out.

Although deciphering the language was simple enough, he ran into another problem. The ship's systems were locked with command passwords. Thankfully, Material-D and Material-S managed to get a few primary ones open, mostly by guessing on words related to that girl love thing the Reverend had been preaching about earlier. "I managed to get this one unlocked, peon."

"Thanks. I'll get to it once I finish over here." The Librarian's attention was focused solely on the displays in front of him that were showing him engine schematics. "Let's see... where's that fuel mileage number again?"

"You're welcome." The Hayate replica took out her fan to cool herself off and glanced out the ship's window where Material-L was playing outside with her brand new dog summon. Rai was trying to get her new dog to do some tricks but was having little success. Obviously because of the way it stared at her in annoyance while she tried to get the dog to follow her example of rolling over in the ground.

"Yami, can you please call Rai in for lunch?" asked Seikou from the side as she took out the day's rations and started dividing them up into equal portions for four people.

"Call me 'Your Majesty'!" grumbled Yami before she headed to the hatch to get Material-L. Once the Fate replica got word that lunch was being served, she dismissed her summon and zipped inside the ship past a bewildered Lord of Darkness.

"FOOD!!"

"Goodness... I never seen you this hungry except for chicken!" Material-S passed on one plate to Rai while another plate went to Yuuno who accepted it quietly before heading back to work.

"I know!" As she plowed into her meal, Yami quietly connected with her device.

'Both yesterday and today, Material-L has brought out that summon of hers. Something like that would normally cost her an extraordinary amount of mana and drain her to the point where she would be starving for Linker Cores. But yet, her energy levels have remained stable.'

Well? Don't you have something to say to me?

Yami ignored the smug tone of her Device while keeping an eye on the feasting Rai. 'Okay, so you were right on that regard. And I myself feel a bit stronger than before despite not consuming Linker Cores or taking additional mana from that peasant in the past few days. What next?'

As things stand, the first injection of seeds have worked to create a foundation for your internal mana generators inside your Linker Core. It can now convert standard nutrients from the food you consume into units of mana. Of course, another injection would most likely improve the conversion rate.

'I see. I'll keep that in mind.' Just as Material-D disconnected herself from her Device, she heard Yuuno shout out in triumph.

"I got it! I finally figured out how to fly this thing!"

His outburst was followed by mocking applause coming from the Lord of Darkness. "Bravo, peon. That only took you... what? Forty something odd hours to do?"

Even as Material-S frowned in disapproval at her friend's wicked tongue, it didn't bother the Librarian at all. "Say what you will but if I interpreted the engine specs correctly, it's gonna be a smooth three day trip to Mid-Childa from here! Ah, I can't wait to get back to my old office! And I want to see Nanoha and the others again!"

Seikou's sharp hearing picked up on that name that he just said. For some reason, she was curious to know more about that name but that can wait for a moment. "Only three days?"

"I know!" exclaimed Yuuno with the excitement of returning home reflecting in his tired eyes, due to the small amount of sleep he had gotten while working on the ship. "These guys were using an X-3 Xros Virsago Drive as their primary means of propulsion! Far more powerful than what I had back on my old ship! Once we get off this planet, there should be no problems getting back home!"

That was when Material-L perked up from her clean plate. "Ooh, poor choice of words there, Yuu-nii. Now the universe has an obligation to throw everything including the kitchen sink to mess things up for you."

"Oh, come on! Stop joking around, Rai-chan!" laughed the blonde male. "This is going to work. It...... it has to..."

The Fate replica shrugged, not even picking up the sudden fatigue in Yuuno's tone during that last bit. "Don't say I didn't warn you..."

The only response she got was Yuuno drifting off and slumping in his seat. "It... has...... to..."

**********

"Whoaaaa... they really renovated this place! Look at it, Tea!"

The orange haired enforcer merely sighed in irritation at her friend's antics upon stepping into this place again after four and a half years. She could understand the whole nostalgia thing but still... "Subaru, would you please act more professional? You are a Sergeant for crying out loud!"

"Aw, come on! Don't tell me you're not curious about how they spruced up the old HQ!" exclaimed Subaru in her usual energetic tone.

"That can wait until after the meeting! Let's go or we're going to be late!" growled Teana as she walked on and saw the small crowd gathering near the area ahead. As the duo arrived, they spotted many familiar faces in the crowd. Senior officers such as Nanoha, Fate, Signum and Vita were present along with former members of Riot Force Six like Alto, Vice and Griffith. A few new faces did pop up though such as...

"Gin-nee?! And everybody else too...!" Indeed, all of the other Nakajima sisters had blended in with the crowd.

"Yo!" greeted Nove casually as Subaru and Teana made their way through.

"You all got orders to transfer to Special Duty Section Six as well?" asked Teana.

"It was Yagami-san who made the arrangements," said Cinque. "The fact that N2R and some of Battalion 108 have been transferred to this unit means that she is really taking this threat seriously."

"Speaking of transfers, Erio and Caro will be joining us too, right Gin-nee?"

Ginga nodded. "They're on their way from Supools as we speak although I do recall that they intended to make a detour to Carnaaji to recruit Lutecia. Commander Yagami's working to pull some strings and temporarily lift her sentence while the threat is still at large."

All of a sudden, the small chitter chatter began to die down as Hayate Yagami, dressed in a blue military uniform complete with a dress shirt, tie, jacket and skirt, came into view of everybody and stepped up to the podium to face the crowd. She was accompanied by a tiny silver haired Unison Device dressed in the same uniform as well except the one thing that most people noticed was that the little one wasn't looking like the cheerful energetic being they all remembered. "Hello everyone. It's good to see that everybody's healthy and I wish that we had reunited under better circumstances however we have a powerful threat on the horizon and it's our mission to ensure that they never set foot on our home." She paused for a moment. "First, I would like to clear up any misconceptions that are out there, beginning with this one."

A presentation screen popped up behind to show off the images of the three women who had broadcasted themselves all over Mid-Childa a few days ago before playing back a part of the clip. "...You will never get Yuuno-san back. I will never allow someone who has such kindness in him to work for such evil people. You had best hope, for your sake, Evil Admiral, that we never meet in person, for I shall not hold anything back." While that played on, Teana noticed Nanoha's sudden shift in posture out of the corner of her eye. The Captain's eyes were as hard as steel while one of her hands was rubbing against the pendant form of Raising Heart... as if itching to let loose on the enemy.

"The accusation that was just thrown at Admiral Harlaown has absolutely no basis. This is most likely a tactic to throw the public into confusion. Sadly to say that it worked and regardless of the press conferences we held to clear Chrono's name, there are still those who want these allegations thoroughly investigated. If any one of you is contacted by a member of the media, please do not comment on the situation as the position of the Bureau has already been clarified," said the Commander. "The next misconception I would like to address is the assumption that these 'Materials'-"

"Wait a sec. 'Materials'?" asked Vice in a puzzled tone.

"It was how they identified themselves along with a title so for now, we will be labelling them as 'Materials'," explained another male voice in the crowd.

"Thank you, Verossa." Hayate waited a moment to get her train of thought back on track. "As I was saying before, there has been a misconception that the 'Materials' are more powerful than myself, Captain Takamachi and Enforcer Harlaown. We cannot confirm or deny this so we are operating under the assumption that they are equal in power to ourselves. However due to the fact that they don't have Limiters and are openly hostile to members of the Bureau, it is highly recommended that none of you take on any of them alone."

When no one said anything, she continued on. "As it stands, with the imminent threat of these 'Materials' and the threat that they pose to Mid-childa, we have been taking the time to move several prisoners that have been on world to other penal colonies until this threat has passed."

"Why prisoners?" Wendi asked, confused as to why they would bother moving such people off world.

"A precaution to say the least. If they were to free all the prisoners to create havoc, it would divide our forces even further to their advantage."

Wendi nodded at Hayate, before frowning slightly. "What about civilians?"

"We're going to make sure that the civilians are kept out of this." Hayate leaned against the podium. "The rest of the Bureau agrees with me in that these 'Materials' must be kept off planet if possible. Fortunately for us, we're going to have some additional help from the Saint Church."

And on cue, three new females popped up behind Hayate by phasing through the ground. "Ta-da! No need to fear! Cute Church Knight Sein-chan is here!"

"Was that really necessary?" asked the girl hanging on her left arm in a quiet tone.

"We had to make a splashy entrance, Otto! That's the way we show style! Showmanship!!" Sein turned to the other girl hanging on her right arm. "Don't you agree, Deed?"

The nun merely shrugged indifferently while Hayate giggled. "As you can see, these three will be acting as the liaisons between us and the Saint Church. Please welcome Sein, Otto and Deed to Special Duty Section Six!"

On one hand, they have no idea of Yuuno's group new ship. On the other, Yuuno just tempted the universe.

I do wonder when one of the Materials will connect that Chrono said Yuuno worked for him and that Yuuno couldn't wait to return to his office. And will Yuuno will be present and/or conscious when an interception team will make contact with them... And how traumatized will that team be after the Materials will be done with them?

I have no doubt the Materials will win that first fight. After fearing the pink, they shall fear the purple!

[deathcurse]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

.....

I have a very cold, very nasty feeling in the pit of my stomach after reading this. I don't doubt Hayate has a plan up her sleeve, but somehow, I just cannot see this ending well for Raven.

EDIT: Pageclaim for part 5!

Thanks for reading, but daaaaaaaamn, I can't say much or I'll risk spoiling stuff!

Let's just say I enjoy tormenting poor Hayate as much as you like tormenting Lutecia ....

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Double post...

...DAMMIT!

Spoiler for Changes 3:

"Miss, are you sure this is what you want?" A male voice was heard asking her.

"Of course I am!" She snapped at him without looking away from the tube. "Have you done what was in those notes?"

"Uh, yes." The man coughed behind her. "The girl's magic power far out-strips your own, in fact, it's likely that, if she survives to adulthood, she'll rival your mother in raw power."

"Good." A part of her was screaming to stop this, to not do it, no matter what. "Mother deserves a chance to live more."

"But, she has lived a decent life, miss." The man was behind her, concerned. "To go this far..."

She spun on him, nearly snarling. "My mother is the only family I have! Don't you dare try to minimize how important she is to me."

"Of course not." The man shook his head and sighed as she turned back to her console. "But to go so far as to clone yourself like that... The clone is supposed to have your memories..."

"I don't need a copy of myself, I need a tool that can get the job done, no questions asked, and get the materials that my mother needs to get better." She pressed several buttons before stopping and taking a look up at the young child's body and stared.

The girl, her future tool, was looking at her with innocent and curious red eyes. Her fingers trembled slightly, she was about to push the button, but stopped when the little baby did something unexpected...

She smiled.

It was so sudden and unexpected that she stopped, her arm fell limply to her side as she looked at the tool, no, the baby in the tube, before her eyes teared up. "What the hell am I doing?" She asked herself and went to the tube, pressing buttons and opening it up.

"What are you doing?!" The man asked as she gently picked the baby girl up from the tube and cradled her gently. "Ah... Miss?"

"I'm leaving... with my daughter... You'll forget everything you saw here, understand?" When he nodded, she started to walk to the door.

"Wait! A name..." She turned to him as he shook his head. "Don't leave without giving her a name at least."

She looked at the baby girl for a few moments, before softly smiling, tears falling out of her eyes. "Fate... Her name is Fate, to represent the weird twists in life that make it so that we live and survive."

Alicia gasped awake and looked to her right side, where Fate was sleeping, curled up to her. "What was I thinking back then?" She asked herself softly and grabbed her daughter, pulling her into a tight embrace, tears falling out of her eyes and into her daughter's hair. "I'm so sorry, Fate... For what I almost did to you."

Even if Fate never found out, and Alicia hoped that she never did, the older woman would do all that she could to make it up to her daughter.

I was tearing up as I wrote that, okay?

.............. Awwwwwwww...........

[00-Raiser]

Originally Posted by Yasanagi

Spoiler for More MD:

The group ended staying on the planet Tenrei longer than they had expected, mainly because Yuuno had to figure out how the new ship's interfaces worked such as reworking the display language to one he was more familiar with and going through the operator's manual. As there was much to read, he didn't rest properly for the past few nights as he kept reading and working things out.

Although deciphering the language was simple enough, he ran into another problem. The ship's systems were locked with command passwords. Thankfully, Material-D and Material-S managed to get a few primary ones open, mostly by guessing on words related to that girl love thing the Reverend had been preaching about earlier. "I managed to get this one unlocked, peon."

"Thanks. I'll get to it once I finish over here." The Librarian's attention was focused solely on the displays in front of him that were showing him engine schematics. "Let's see... where's that fuel mileage number again?"

"You're welcome." The Hayate replica took out her fan to cool herself off and glanced out the ship's window where Material-L was playing outside with her brand new dog summon. Rai was trying to get her new dog to do some tricks but was having little success. Obviously because of the way it stared at her in annoyance while she tried to get the dog to follow her example of rolling over in the ground.

"Yami, can you please call Rai in for lunch?" asked Seikou from the side as she took out the day's rations and started dividing them up into equal portions for four people.

"Call me 'Your Majesty'!" grumbled Yami before she headed to the hatch to get Material-L. Once the Fate replica got word that lunch was being served, she dismissed her summon and zipped inside the ship past a bewildered Lord of Darkness.

"FOOD!!"

"Goodness... I never seen you this hungry except for chicken!" Material-S passed on one plate to Rai while another plate went to Yuuno who accepted it quietly before heading back to work.

"I know!" As she plowed into her meal, Yami quietly connected with her device.

'Both yesterday and today, Material-L has brought out that summon of hers. Something like that would normally cost her an extraordinary amount of mana and drain her to the point where she would be starving for Linker Cores. But yet, her energy levels have remained stable.'

Well? Don't you have something to say to me?

Yami ignored the smug tone of her Device while keeping an eye on the feasting Rai. 'Okay, so you were right on that regard. And I myself feel a bit stronger than before despite not consuming Linker Cores or taking additional mana from that peasant in the past few days. What next?'

As things stand, the first injection of seeds have worked to create a foundation for your internal mana generators inside your Linker Core. It can now convert standard nutrients from the food you consume into units of mana. Of course, another injection would most likely improve the conversion rate.

'I see. I'll keep that in mind.' Just as Material-D disconnected herself from her Device, she heard Yuuno shout out in triumph.

"I got it! I finally figured out how to fly this thing!"

His outburst was followed by mocking applause coming from the Lord of Darkness. "Bravo, peon. That only took you... what? Forty something odd hours to do?"

Even as Material-S frowned in disapproval at her friend's wicked tongue, it didn't bother the Librarian at all. "Say what you will but if I interpreted the engine specs correctly, it's gonna be a smooth three day trip to Mid-Childa from here! Ah, I can't wait to get back to my old office! And I want to see Nanoha and the others again!"

Seikou's sharp hearing picked up on that name that he just said. For some reason, she was curious to know more about that name but that can wait for a moment. "Only three days?"

"I know!" exclaimed Yuuno with the excitement of returning home reflecting in his tired eyes, due to the small amount of sleep he had gotten while working on the ship. "These guys were using an X-3 Xros Virsago Drive as their primary means of propulsion! Far more powerful than what I had back on my old ship! Once we get off this planet, there should be no problems getting back home!"

That was when Material-L perked up from her clean plate. "Ooh, poor choice of words there, Yuu-nii. Now the universe has an obligation to throw everything including the kitchen sink to mess things up for you."

"Oh, come on! Stop joking around, Rai-chan!" laughed the blonde male. "This is going to work. It...... it has to..."

The Fate replica shrugged, not even picking up the sudden fatigue in Yuuno's tone during that last bit. "Don't say I didn't warn you..."

The only response she got was Yuuno drifting off and slumping in his seat. "It... has...... to..."

**********

"Whoaaaa... they really renovated this place! Look at it, Tea!"

The orange haired enforcer merely sighed in irritation at her friend's antics upon stepping into this place again after four and a half years. She could understand the whole nostalgia thing but still... "Subaru, would you please act more professional? You are a Sergeant for crying out loud!"

"Aw, come on! Don't tell me you're not curious about how they spruced up the old HQ!" exclaimed Subaru in her usual energetic tone.

"That can wait until after the meeting! Let's go or we're going to be late!" growled Teana as she walked on and saw the small crowd gathering near the area ahead. As the duo arrived, they spotted many familiar faces in the crowd. Senior officers such as Nanoha, Fate, Signum and Vita were present along with former members of Riot Force Six like Alto, Vice and Griffith. A few new faces did pop up though such as...

"Gin-nee?! And everybody else too...!" Indeed, all of the other Nakajima sisters had blended in with the crowd.

"Yo!" greeted Nove casually as Subaru and Teana made their way through.

"You all got orders to transfer to Special Duty Section Six as well?" asked Teana.

"It was Yagami-san who made the arrangements," said Cinque. "The fact that N2R and some of Battalion 108 have been transferred to this unit means that she is really taking this threat seriously."

"Speaking of transfers, Erio and Caro will be joining us too, right Gin-nee?"

Ginga nodded. "They're on their way from Supools as we speak although I do recall that they intended to make a detour to Carnaaji to recruit Lutecia. Commander Yagami's working to pull some strings and temporarily lift her sentence while the threat is still at large."

All of a sudden, the small chitter chatter began to die down as Hayate Yagami, dressed in a blue military uniform complete with a dress shirt, tie, jacket and skirt, came into view of everybody and stepped up to the podium to face the crowd. She was accompanied by a tiny silver haired Unison Device dressed in the same uniform as well except the one thing that most people noticed was that the little one wasn't looking like the cheerful energetic being they all remembered. "Hello everyone. It's good to see that everybody's healthy and I wish that we had reunited under better circumstances however we have a powerful threat on the horizon and it's our mission to ensure that they never set foot on our home." She paused for a moment. "First, I would like to clear up any misconceptions that are out there, beginning with this one."

A presentation screen popped up behind to show off the images of the three women who had broadcasted themselves all over Mid-Childa a few days ago before playing back a part of the clip. "...You will never get Yuuno-san back. I will never allow someone who has such kindness in him to work for such evil people. You had best hope, for your sake, Evil Admiral, that we never meet in person, for I shall not hold anything back." While that played on, Teana noticed Nanoha's sudden shift in posture out of the corner of her eye. The Captain's eyes were as hard as steel while one of her hands was rubbing against the pendant form of Raising Heart... as if itching to let loose on the enemy.

"The accusation that was just thrown at Admiral Harlaown has absolutely no basis. This is most likely a tactic to throw the public into confusion. Sadly to say that it worked and regardless of the press conferences we held to clear Chrono's name, there are still those who want these allegations thoroughly investigated. If any one of you is contacted by a member of the media, please do not comment on the situation as the position of the Bureau has already been clarified," said the Commander. "The next misconception I would like to address is the assumption that these 'Materials'-"

"Wait a sec. 'Materials'?" asked Vice in a puzzled tone.

"It was how they identified themselves along with a title so for now, we will be labelling them as 'Materials'," explained another male voice in the crowd.

"Thank you, Verossa." Hayate waited a moment to get her train of thought back on track. "As I was saying before, there has been a misconception that the 'Materials' are more powerful than myself, Captain Takamachi and Enforcer Harlaown. We cannot confirm or deny this so we are operating under the assumption that they are equal in power to ourselves. However due to the fact that they don't have Limiters and are openly hostile to members of the Bureau, it is highly recommended that none of you take on any of them alone."

When no one said anything, she continued on. "As it stands, with the imminent threat of these 'Materials' and the threat that they pose to Mid-childa, we have been taking the time to move several prisoners that have been on world to other penal colonies until this threat has passed."

"Why prisoners?" Wendi asked, confused as to why they would bother moving such people off world.

"A precaution to say the least. If they were to free all the prisoners to create havoc, it would divide our forces even further to their advantage."

Wendi nodded at Hayate, before frowning slightly. "What about civilians?"

"We're going to make sure that the civilians are kept out of this." Hayate leaned against the podium. "The rest of the Bureau agrees with me in that these 'Materials' must be kept off planet if possible. Fortunately for us, we're going to have some additional help from the Saint Church."

And on cue, three new females popped up behind Hayate by phasing through the ground. "Ta-da! No need to fear! Cute Church Knight Sein-chan is here!"

"Was that really necessary?" asked the girl hanging on her left arm in a quiet tone.

"We had to make a splashy entrance, Otto! That's the way we show style! Showmanship!!" Sein turned to the other girl hanging on her right arm. "Don't you agree, Deed?"

The nun merely shrugged indifferently while Hayate giggled. "As you can see, these three will be acting as the liaisons between us and the Saint Church. Please welcome Sein, Otto and Deed to Special Duty Section Six!"

Well looks like everyone's getting ready for war. One that may not happen any time soon due to Yuuno tempting fate

[deathcurse]

Double post . EDIT: Ninja'd!

I come with quick update! The last bit of the first day of trial and a new part from Nanoha's POV...

Revised Part 1-4A, Revised Part 4B, Revised Part 5: Trial Day 1, part A and Revised Part 5: Trial Day 1, part B

Crime Never Sleeps
Revised Part 5: Trial Day 1, Part C

Spoiler for Crime Never Sleeps, Trial Day 1, part C:

Trial Day 1 – Expert Witness Testimony #2

Auris flinched when she felt a buzz from her Device. The sound was too soft to interrupt Jettal’s questioning but Hayate did give her a curious look.

“Problems, Director?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Auris muttered back just as softly. She pulled her Device out and glanced at it under the tabletop. The holographic screen showed only three words.

Private Call: URGENT

“Urgent call,” she hissed at Hayate, rising from her seat as silently as she could.

“Go,” Hayate nodded, understanding.

Hurrying out of the courtroom, Auris walked quickly to a private corner. With so many high ranking officers on the case, it wasn’t out of the question for someone to get an urgent call—and in Shadow work, “urgent” could mean a time-limited chance to move a spy or the difference between a case changing from “investigation” to “assassination”.

She keyed in her passcode, then opened the holoscreen. “Gaiz here. Report.”

Clara Tagus snapped a salute at her, but she appeared preoccupied—she was moving, as the background kept shifting behind her, but the slightly coloured blur showed that she was under a security cloak. “Ma’am,” she said quickly, glancing sideways into the screen. “I just got a tip from Touring’s undercover email—he had a contact on Vaizen who was supposed to give him information on the Hellhounds’ arms caches and their chain of command. The meet is in an hour. I think that we still have a chance of salvaging his mission.”

“His cover was blown with all the media mess,” Auris exclaimed, although she was already thinking hard on this new information.

“Undercover won’t work, but I can get information in other ways.”

“Go,” decided Auris. She called up a keyboard and quickly typed in new mission papers. “Tagus, you are to retrieve the information about the Hellhound chain of command and the location of their weapons caches. You are also to complete Touring's other mission objectives. Try to keep a low profile.”

As Clara wasn’t a senior Shadow, Auris also ordered, “You have permission to use lethal force at your discretion.”

The Shadow looked at the screen again, a frenzied smile lighting up her face. “Thank you, ma’am!” she exhilarated.

“Send me the original—”

“Already in your inbox.”

Auris smiled briefly. “Great. Good luck, Agent.”

Clara nodded, then cut the transmission.

This was good, and luck beyond what Auris would have expected for herself. Touring’s loss had meant the end of fourteen months’ investment, and allowing a multi-world criminal gang remain free. Strictly speaking, the Hellhounds didn’t pose a threat of the level normally sought after by the TSAB, but the escalation of weaponry that they used meant that soon they might drift into Lost Logia or dimensional-disrupting weapons. It would be better for the TSAB to have evidence and leads already for the Enforcers at that stage.

Or for the Shadows to make their own pre-emptive strikes. Whichever came first.

Harlaown had operated more cautiously, and so had been surprised by many events during his tenure. Auris had no intention of playing catch-up in life. Ironically, Hayate’s command style resembled Auris’ own very much. It seems like the young commander had learned through experience well.

She skimmed through Touring’s email, and yes, Tagus’ story checked out. Pulling up the original email in Touring’s account matched too, so Auris shut everything down and pocketed her device again.

To her surprise, the courtroom doors opened and people started filing out.

“The day’s over?” She asked Hayate when the brunette came out, carrying both their briefcases. Hayate’s lack of enthusiasm made Auris tense—was the jury swayed by the psychiatrist? Did Hayate have a change of heart herself?

“Most of us have other meetings,” Hayate reminded her, handing the case to her. “I’ll brief you later.”

Auris nodded curtly, but the distressed expressions on the defence council’s faces when they hurried by cheered her up. So the current advantage was still on their side. Smugly, she chuckled. “Good. I bet, Hayate, that we won’t even have to go over the scheduled three days before we wrap this all up nicely.”

“Probably not,” Hayate agreed sedately, her blue eyes emotionless and mild.

New Part 6

Spoiler for Crime Never Sleeps, New Part 6:

Nanoha fiddled with Raising Heart’s gem around her neck. Business now, she reminded herself, lowering her hand and picking up her notebook. Even after many years of living on Mid-childa, she still liked to jot down her meeting minutes with pen and paper than on one of the computer tablets. It reminded her of Earth and of her family, which always helped her keep her bearings even in the toughest of meetings. Her parents and siblings were her moral compass, and Nanoha needed that reminder whenever she felt herself wavering under the TSAB politics.

Especially now, with the other Cranagan high-ranking officers in a budget meeting ran by their Capital City Defence Forces commander…

No, worse than that…Nanoha was sitting across the table from NSIS Director Auris Gaiz. After the events of the Gallant Trial that morning, Nanoha had to fight the urge to send a Divine Buster across the wide wooden table. Auris was about to crucify an eleven-year old little girl, and yet she had the gall to smirk about it? Talk about a witch hunt! Clearly, the NSIS just wanted revenge of their own, and were dressing it up in justice.

And Hayate was aiding and abetting that…

She doodled a little kitten on her page to calm herself. Nanoha doubted that she could get away with her old-fashioned paper and pen much longer. Apparently, Vivio and Fate were conspiring to get Nanoha a top-of-the-line custom computer tablet for Christmas, made in secret by Yuuno (who had spilled the beans when she had caught him in a lie and Nanoha had threatened the poor guy curiously until he gave in), and she loved them all too much to not use it.

“I guess I don’t need a physical reminder of my moral compass, huh Raising Heart?” She chuckled lightly to herself. Raising Heart flashed warmly.

“No, Master.”

The conference room door opened, and Hayate came in, carrying two large bags in each hand. “Hello everyone, sorry I’m late!” She gave them all a smile. “I’ll try to keep this meeting on schedule, but since it’s cutting into dinnertime, I thought that I’d bring some food for everyone.” The room had already erupted into cheers before she finished speaking as they smelled the wonderful aromas from the take-out containers Hayate carried.

“You’re only two minutes late,” Genya Nakajima assured her as he went to help her set down the cartons.

“And the food is more than welcome!” Lat Cartos exclaimed, to wide-spread agreement.

Nanoha had to admit that the food was a brilliant idea from her friend—while it slowed the meeting down initially while everyone helped themselves to curry and vegetables and salad, the rest of the usually tedious budget meeting went by faster with full stomachs. In no time at all Hayate had presented her proposed budget based off of the projections she had been given by all the different divisions, and the rest of the meeting was spent going over each item and arguing or approving it.

“Why is there a cut to the Ground Forces’ support of the city’s social programs?”

“As everyone can see from last year’s treasury report,” Hayate explained pausing in her meal, calling up a spreadsheet on a side monitor. “We’re still in a deficit due to damage reparations from the Silver Cross Crisis as well as the expansion of the city’s transport stations…” She trailed off and nodded as Rein signalled an offer to continue explaining for her, and Nanoha observed Hayate as Rein continued speaking for her, rattling off numbers and dates precisely.

Was Hayate paler than usual? The brunette was barely eating, looking slightly out of it. Nanoha imagined that she was probably thinking of plans for plans for other plans…it was an expression she had often seen on Chrono and Lindy-san, after all. It seemed like those in command never stopped planning. Even teaching wasn’t nearly that complicated.

At least the only people Nanoha had to worry about were her students, and not anybody and everybody who thought they had a business in her lessons (some of her colleagues complained about having officials nose in on their teaching strategies, but Nanoha herself never had that problem. When asked, Vita said that she hadn’t had anyone try to contradict her either. How odd.). That thought made her feel a twinge of sympathy for Hayate, cutting through her simmering anger.

The debate still continued, with more people joining in. “—the Navy has already agreed to increase support of Cranagan’s social programs, as we have done over the last three years. There’s been an increase in Navy recruits that has reflected this investment…”

Fate-chan’s lucky she doesn’t have to attend, Nanoha thought as she tried to pay attention while doodling on her sheet. Individual Enforcers didn’t have to worry about budget projections; they had the Navy worry about that for them.

“Consider though, if we follow Lt. General Yagami’s proposal in the budget change there, it leaves enough extras to initiate Admiral Lowran’s proposal to increase cross-branch training in young mages…”

“Yes, the Lowran Proposal would greatly increase our lower rank mages’ efficiency,” Nanoha broke in. She knew that proposal inside and out, as she was the one who had helped Admiral Leti draft and present it initially. “Part of the difficulty in responding in the last few crises was due to a lack of cross-discipline training. If we want to avoid another Scaglietti Incident, it would be to our advantage to have Air Force mages train alongside Ground and Navy Forces, and vice versa.”

The arguments continued from there, finally settling with the Navy representatives agreeing to review their city contracts and a majority vote to implement the various proposals, before everyone moved on to the next issue.

As promised, they ended the meeting right on schedule, although it was dark out when Hayate finally closed the discussions. Nanoha stretched, hearing her spine pop, and shook out her writing hand. She had to admire Hayate’s facilitating skills—these meetings had been chaotic under her predecessor, and always ran overtime by hours. Unfortunately, Nanoha would have to tell Ginga that her program was getting a funding cut since the TSAB provided the bulk of the funds for the Cranagan Corrections Program. Worse—it might get scrapped altogether if the Navy also decides to cut their funding budget…

Maybe she could ask Hayate to try and squeeze funds from somewhere? Ginga was doing important work, and Nanoha didn’t want to see her get shut down.

After waiting for the room to empty, Nanoha walked over to Hayate. “Hayate-chan, can we talk for a minute?”

“Sorry, Nanoha-chan,” Hayate said quickly as she closed her briefcase. “I’ve got another meeting right now. We’ll talk some other time, okay?” She ducked her head and made a beeline for the door.

Nanoha gaped, stunned at how fast Hayate had blown her off and escaped out the door. Was Hayate avoiding her on purpose?

“Nanoha-san?” Rein flitted over, anxiously wringing her hands and glancing at the door that slide shut on Hayate’s heels. “I apologize for Hayate…she’s really not avoiding you! With the quarterly reviews coming up, she’s been really busy...”

“I’m sure,” Nanoha snapped, then softened her tone. It wasn’t Rein’s fault, after all. “After that first court day, I don’t like where she’s going. I expected that kind of behaviour from Auris Gaiz, but Hayate-chan?” She shook her head angrily. “Fate-chan’s going to testify in the next court day, and Hayate-chan’s going to hurt her, the rate she’s going…”

Rein winced, looking torn. “Nanoha-san, Hayate’s doing her best.”

“How can it be her best if she’s hurting people?” Nanoha sighed, more upset than furious. She picked up her notepad and tucked her pen into her shirt pocket. “Good night, Rein. And tell Hayate-chan for me—” Her face darkened. “—I’ll be seeing her soon.”

Spoiler for Author's Note:

............Okay, I copped out of the last Trial scene , but I really didn't want to write another questioning scene since they're so boring! But we'll get a recap of what happened later .

Now we can finally get more scenes of morally ambiguous Hayate and conniving Auris!

The New Part 6 was written in response to some of Dezo's comments before, about how I should show more of Hayate's responsibilities dragging her down instead of just telling about it ^^.

Once again, any Shadows-procedure reference is my own invention, and is not canon in RadiantBeam's Shadowsverse .

[vic-vic]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Double post...

...DAMMIT!

Spoiler for Changes 3:

"Miss, are you sure this is what you want?" A male voice was heard asking her.

"Of course I am!" She snapped at him without looking away from the tube. "Have you done what was in those notes?"

"Uh, yes." The man coughed behind her. "The girl's magic power far out-strips your own, in fact, it's likely that, if she survives to adulthood, she'll rival your mother in raw power."

"Good." A part of her was screaming to stop this, to not do it, no matter what. "Mother deserves a chance to live more."

"But, she has lived a decent life, miss." The man was behind her, concerned. "To go this far..."

She spun on him, nearly snarling. "My mother is the only family I have! Don't you dare try to minimize how important she is to me."

"Of course not." The man shook his head and sighed as she turned back to her console. "But to go so far as to clone yourself like that... The clone is supposed to have your memories..."

"I don't need a copy of myself, I need a tool that can get the job done, no questions asked, and get the materials that my mother needs to get better." She pressed several buttons before stopping and taking a look up at the young child's body and stared.

The girl, her future tool, was looking at her with innocent and curious red eyes. Her fingers trembled slightly, she was about to push the button, but stopped when the little baby did something unexpected...

She smiled.

It was so sudden and unexpected that she stopped, her arm fell limply to her side as she looked at the tool, no, the baby in the tube, before her eyes teared up. "What the hell am I doing?" She asked herself and went to the tube, pressing buttons and opening it up.

"What are you doing?!" The man asked as she gently picked the baby girl up from the tube and cradled her gently. "Ah... Miss?"

"I'm leaving... with my daughter... You'll forget everything you saw here, understand?" When he nodded, she started to walk to the door.

"Wait! A name..." She turned to him as he shook his head. "Don't leave without giving her a name at least."

She looked at the baby girl for a few moments, before softly smiling, tears falling out of her eyes. "Fate... Her name is Fate, to represent the weird twists in life that make it so that we live and survive."

Alicia gasped awake and looked to her right side, where Fate was sleeping, curled up to her. "What was I thinking back then?" She asked herself softly and grabbed her daughter, pulling her into a tight embrace, tears falling out of her eyes and into her daughter's hair. "I'm so sorry, Fate... For what I almost did to you."

Even if Fate never found out, and Alicia hoped that she never did, the older woman would do all that she could to make it up to her daughter.

I was tearing up as I wrote that, okay?

So hertwearming, i glad to see that Testarossa family can give Fate love and protection. I want to see Fate interaction with Precia, it will bu intresting to watch.

2Yasanagi

Cloud is gathering, Can`t wait to see clash between Materials and TSAB

[Tiresias]

Originally Posted by Yasanagi

Spoiler for More MD:

The group ended staying on the planet Tenrei longer than they had expected, mainly because Yuuno had to figure out how the new ship's interfaces worked such as reworking the display language to one he was more familiar with and going through the operator's manual. As there was much to read, he didn't rest properly for the past few nights as he kept reading and working things out.

Although deciphering the language was simple enough, he ran into another problem. The ship's systems were locked with command passwords. Thankfully, Material-D and Material-S managed to get a few primary ones open, mostly by guessing on words related to that girl love thing the Reverend had been preaching about earlier. "I managed to get this one unlocked, peon."

"Thanks. I'll get to it once I finish over here." The Librarian's attention was focused solely on the displays in front of him that were showing him engine schematics. "Let's see... where's that fuel mileage number again?"

"You're welcome." The Hayate replica took out her fan to cool herself off and glanced out the ship's window where Material-L was playing outside with her brand new dog summon. Rai was trying to get her new dog to do some tricks but was having little success. Obviously because of the way it stared at her in annoyance while she tried to get the dog to follow her example of rolling over in the ground.

"Yami, can you please call Rai in for lunch?" asked Seikou from the side as she took out the day's rations and started dividing them up into equal portions for four people.

"Call me 'Your Majesty'!" grumbled Yami before she headed to the hatch to get Material-L. Once the Fate replica got word that lunch was being served, she dismissed her summon and zipped inside the ship past a bewildered Lord of Darkness.

"FOOD!!"

"Goodness... I never seen you this hungry except for chicken!" Material-S passed on one plate to Rai while another plate went to Yuuno who accepted it quietly before heading back to work.

"I know!" As she plowed into her meal, Yami quietly connected with her device.

'Both yesterday and today, Material-L has brought out that summon of hers. Something like that would normally cost her an extraordinary amount of mana and drain her to the point where she would be starving for Linker Cores. But yet, her energy levels have remained stable.'

Well? Don't you have something to say to me?

Yami ignored the smug tone of her Device while keeping an eye on the feasting Rai. 'Okay, so you were right on that regard. And I myself feel a bit stronger than before despite not consuming Linker Cores or taking additional mana from that peasant in the past few days. What next?'

As things stand, the first injection of seeds have worked to create a foundation for your internal mana generators inside your Linker Core. It can now convert standard nutrients from the food you consume into units of mana. Of course, another injection would most likely improve the conversion rate.

'I see. I'll keep that in mind.' Just as Material-D disconnected herself from her Device, she heard Yuuno shout out in triumph.

"I got it! I finally figured out how to fly this thing!"

His outburst was followed by mocking applause coming from the Lord of Darkness. "Bravo, peon. That only took you... what? Forty something odd hours to do?"

Even as Material-S frowned in disapproval at her friend's wicked tongue, it didn't bother the Librarian at all. "Say what you will but if I interpreted the engine specs correctly, it's gonna be a smooth three day trip to Mid-Childa from here! Ah, I can't wait to get back to my old office! And I want to see Nanoha and the others again!"

Seikou's sharp hearing picked up on that name that he just said. For some reason, she was curious to know more about that name but that can wait for a moment. "Only three days?"

"I know!" exclaimed Yuuno with the excitement of returning home reflecting in his tired eyes, due to the small amount of sleep he had gotten while working on the ship. "These guys were using an X-3 Xros Virsago Drive as their primary means of propulsion! Far more powerful than what I had back on my old ship! Once we get off this planet, there should be no problems getting back home!"

That was when Material-L perked up from her clean plate. "Ooh, poor choice of words there, Yuu-nii. Now the universe has an obligation to throw everything including the kitchen sink to mess things up for you."

"Oh, come on! Stop joking around, Rai-chan!" laughed the blonde male. "This is going to work. It...... it has to..."

The Fate replica shrugged, not even picking up the sudden fatigue in Yuuno's tone during that last bit. "Don't say I didn't warn you..."

The only response she got was Yuuno drifting off and slumping in his seat. "It... has...... to..."

**********

"Whoaaaa... they really renovated this place! Look at it, Tea!"

The orange haired enforcer merely sighed in irritation at her friend's antics upon stepping into this place again after four and a half years. She could understand the whole nostalgia thing but still... "Subaru, would you please act more professional? You are a Sergeant for crying out loud!"

"Aw, come on! Don't tell me you're not curious about how they spruced up the old HQ!" exclaimed Subaru in her usual energetic tone.

"That can wait until after the meeting! Let's go or we're going to be late!" growled Teana as she walked on and saw the small crowd gathering near the area ahead. As the duo arrived, they spotted many familiar faces in the crowd. Senior officers such as Nanoha, Fate, Signum and Vita were present along with former members of Riot Force Six like Alto, Vice and Griffith. A few new faces did pop up though such as...

"Gin-nee?! And everybody else too...!" Indeed, all of the other Nakajima sisters had blended in with the crowd.

"Yo!" greeted Nove casually as Subaru and Teana made their way through.

"You all got orders to transfer to Special Duty Section Six as well?" asked Teana.

"It was Yagami-san who made the arrangements," said Cinque. "The fact that N2R and some of Battalion 108 have been transferred to this unit means that she is really taking this threat seriously."

"Speaking of transfers, Erio and Caro will be joining us too, right Gin-nee?"

Ginga nodded. "They're on their way from Supools as we speak although I do recall that they intended to make a detour to Carnaaji to recruit Lutecia. Commander Yagami's working to pull some strings and temporarily lift her sentence while the threat is still at large."

All of a sudden, the small chitter chatter began to die down as Hayate Yagami, dressed in a blue military uniform complete with a dress shirt, tie, jacket and skirt, came into view of everybody and stepped up to the podium to face the crowd. She was accompanied by a tiny silver haired Unison Device dressed in the same uniform as well except the one thing that most people noticed was that the little one wasn't looking like the cheerful energetic being they all remembered. "Hello everyone. It's good to see that everybody's healthy and I wish that we had reunited under better circumstances however we have a powerful threat on the horizon and it's our mission to ensure that they never set foot on our home." She paused for a moment. "First, I would like to clear up any misconceptions that are out there, beginning with this one."

A presentation screen popped up behind to show off the images of the three women who had broadcasted themselves all over Mid-Childa a few days ago before playing back a part of the clip. "...You will never get Yuuno-san back. I will never allow someone who has such kindness in him to work for such evil people. You had best hope, for your sake, Evil Admiral, that we never meet in person, for I shall not hold anything back." While that played on, Teana noticed Nanoha's sudden shift in posture out of the corner of her eye. The Captain's eyes were as hard as steel while one of her hands was rubbing against the pendant form of Raising Heart... as if itching to let loose on the enemy.

"The accusation that was just thrown at Admiral Harlaown has absolutely no basis. This is most likely a tactic to throw the public into confusion. Sadly to say that it worked and regardless of the press conferences we held to clear Chrono's name, there are still those who want these allegations thoroughly investigated. If any one of you is contacted by a member of the media, please do not comment on the situation as the position of the Bureau has already been clarified," said the Commander. "The next misconception I would like to address is the assumption that these 'Materials'-"

"Wait a sec. 'Materials'?" asked Vice in a puzzled tone.

"It was how they identified themselves along with a title so for now, we will be labelling them as 'Materials'," explained another male voice in the crowd.

"Thank you, Verossa." Hayate waited a moment to get her train of thought back on track. "As I was saying before, there has been a misconception that the 'Materials' are more powerful than myself, Captain Takamachi and Enforcer Harlaown. We cannot confirm or deny this so we are operating under the assumption that they are equal in power to ourselves. However due to the fact that they don't have Limiters and are openly hostile to members of the Bureau, it is highly recommended that none of you take on any of them alone."

When no one said anything, she continued on. "As it stands, with the imminent threat of these 'Materials' and the threat that they pose to Mid-childa, we have been taking the time to move several prisoners that have been on world to other penal colonies until this threat has passed."

"Why prisoners?" Wendi asked, confused as to why they would bother moving such people off world.

"A precaution to say the least. If they were to free all the prisoners to create havoc, it would divide our forces even further to their advantage."

Wendi nodded at Hayate, before frowning slightly. "What about civilians?"

"We're going to make sure that the civilians are kept out of this." Hayate leaned against the podium. "The rest of the Bureau agrees with me in that these 'Materials' must be kept off planet if possible. Fortunately for us, we're going to have some additional help from the Saint Church."

And on cue, three new females popped up behind Hayate by phasing through the ground. "Ta-da! No need to fear! Cute Church Knight Sein-chan is here!"

"Was that really necessary?" asked the girl hanging on her left arm in a quiet tone.

"We had to make a splashy entrance, Otto! That's the way we show style! Showmanship!!" Sein turned to the other girl hanging on her right arm. "Don't you agree, Deed?"

The nun merely shrugged indifferently while Hayate giggled. "As you can see, these three will be acting as the liaisons between us and the Saint Church. Please welcome Sein, Otto and Deed to Special Duty Section Six!"

I'm confused. The interaction with the Materials indicates that they're of similar age to the ones at Battle of Aces, but here there are the reformed NumberS, which means that the original trio are past 19...

Would someone kindly link the first chapter? And just for confirmation, this is the third one, right?

[Megaolix]

Originally Posted by Tiresias

I'm confused. The interaction with the Materials indicates that they're of similar age to the ones at Battle of Aces, but here there are the reformed NumberS, which means that the original trio are past 19...

Would someone kindly link the first chapter? And just for confirmation, this is the third one, right?

...

There's about 30-so snippets like this for this story right now.

[Nanya01]

Originally Posted by Tiresias

I'm confused. The interaction with the Materials indicates that they're of similar age to the ones at Battle of Aces, but here there are the reformed NumberS, which means that the original trio are past 19...

Would someone kindly link the first chapter? And just for confirmation, this is the third one, right?

Yuuno and Chrono BOTH have confused the Materials for the Aces...

Which wouldn't happen if they were still lolis.

So, yes, they're physically the same age as the Aces.

@dc: Wow, things aren't happy here, are they?

[blitz1/2]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Yuuno and Chrono BOTH have confused the Materials for the Aces...

Which wouldn't happen if they were still lolis.

So, yes, they're physically the same age as the Aces.

@dc: Wow, things aren't happy here, are they?

I like the sound/imagination of slaughter in the morning.

[vic-vic]

2 Deathcurse
Everything became more complicated and it`s seemd that hayate goes deeper and deeper in the shadows.

Can`t wait for continuation.

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by deathcurse

Double post . EDIT: Ninja'd!

I come with quick update! The last bit of the first day of trial and a new part from Nanoha's POV...

Revised Part 1-4A, Revised Part 4B, Revised Part 5: Trial Day 1, part A and Revised Part 5: Trial Day 1, part B

Crime Never Sleeps
Revised Part 5: Trial Day 1, Part C

Spoiler for Crime Never Sleeps, Trial Day 1, part C:

Trial Day 1 – Expert Witness Testimony #2

Auris flinched when she felt a buzz from her Device. The sound was too soft to interrupt Jettal’s questioning but Hayate did give her a curious look.

“Problems, Director?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Auris muttered back just as softly. She pulled her Device out and glanced at it under the tabletop. The holographic screen showed only three words.

Private Call: URGENT

“Urgent call,” she hissed at Hayate, rising from her seat as silently as she could.

“Go,” Hayate nodded, understanding.

Hurrying out of the courtroom, Auris walked quickly to a private corner. With so many high ranking officers on the case, it wasn’t out of the question for someone to get an urgent call—and in Shadow work, “urgent” could mean a time-limited chance to move a spy or the difference between a case changing from “investigation” to “assassination”.

She keyed in her passcode, then opened the holoscreen. “Gaiz here. Report.”

Clara Tagus snapped a salute at her, but she appeared preoccupied—she was moving, as the background kept shifting behind her, but the slightly coloured blur showed that she was under a security cloak. “Ma’am,” she said quickly, glancing sideways into the screen. “I just got a tip from Touring’s undercover email—he had a contact on Vaizen who was supposed to give him information on the Hellhounds’ arms caches and their chain of command. The meet is in an hour. I think that we still have a chance of salvaging his mission.”

“His cover was blown with all the media mess,” Auris exclaimed, although she was already thinking hard on this new information.

“Undercover won’t work, but I can get information in other ways.”

“Go,” decided Auris. She called up a keyboard and quickly typed in new mission papers. “Tagus, you are to retrieve the information about the Hellhound chain of command and the location of their weapons caches. You are also to complete Touring's other mission objectives. Try to keep a low profile.”

As Clara wasn’t a senior Shadow, Auris also ordered, “You have permission to use lethal force at your discretion.”

The Shadow looked at the screen again, a frenzied smile lighting up her face. “Thank you, ma’am!” she exhilarated.

“Send me the original—”

“Already in your inbox.”

Auris smiled briefly. “Great. Good luck, Agent.”

Clara nodded, then cut the transmission.

This was good, and luck beyond what Auris would have expected for herself. Touring’s loss had meant the end of fourteen months’ investment, and allowing a multi-world criminal gang remain free. Strictly speaking, the Hellhounds didn’t pose a threat of the level normally sought after by the TSAB, but the escalation of weaponry that they used meant that soon they might drift into Lost Logia or dimensional-disrupting weapons. It would be better for the TSAB to have evidence and leads already for the Enforcers at that stage.

Or for the Shadows to make their own pre-emptive strikes. Whichever came first.

Harlaown had operated more cautiously, and so had been surprised by many events during his tenure. Auris had no intention of playing catch-up in life. Ironically, Hayate’s command style resembled Auris’ own very much. It seems like the young commander had learned through experience well.

She skimmed through Touring’s email, and yes, Tagus’ story checked out. Pulling up the original email in Touring’s account matched too, so Auris shut everything down and pocketed her device again.

To her surprise, the courtroom doors opened and people started filing out.

“The day’s over?” She asked Hayate when the brunette came out, carrying both their briefcases. Hayate’s lack of enthusiasm made Auris tense—was the jury swayed by the psychiatrist? Did Hayate have a change of heart herself?

“Most of us have other meetings,” Hayate reminded her, handing the case to her. “I’ll brief you later.”

Auris nodded curtly, but the distressed expressions on the defence council’s faces when they hurried by cheered her up. So the current advantage was still on their side. Smugly, she chuckled. “Good. I bet, Hayate, that we won’t even have to go over the scheduled three days before we wrap this all up nicely.”

“Probably not,” Hayate agreed sedately, her blue eyes emotionless and mild.

New Part 6

Spoiler for Crime Never Sleeps, New Part 6:

Nanoha fiddled with Raising Heart’s gem around her neck. Business now, she reminded herself, lowering her hand and picking up her notebook. Even after many years of living on Mid-childa, she still liked to jot down her meeting minutes with pen and paper than on one of the computer tablets. It reminded her of Earth and of her family, which always helped her keep her bearings even in the toughest of meetings. Her parents and siblings were her moral compass, and Nanoha needed that reminder whenever she felt herself wavering under the TSAB politics.

Especially now, with the other Cranagan high-ranking officers in a budget meeting ran by their Capital City Defence Forces commander…

No, worse than that…Nanoha was sitting across the table from NSIS Director Auris Gaiz. After the events of the Gallant Trial that morning, Nanoha had to fight the urge to send a Divine Buster across the wide wooden table. Auris was about to crucify an eleven-year old little girl, and yet she had the gall to smirk about it? Talk about a witch hunt! Clearly, the NSIS just wanted revenge of their own, and were dressing it up in justice.

And Hayate was aiding and abetting that…

She doodled a little kitten on her page to calm herself. Nanoha doubted that she could get away with her old-fashioned paper and pen much longer. Apparently, Vivio and Fate were conspiring to get Nanoha a top-of-the-line custom computer tablet for Christmas, made in secret by Yuuno (who had spilled the beans when she had caught him in a lie and Nanoha had threatened the poor guy curiously until he gave in), and she loved them all too much to not use it.

“I guess I don’t need a physical reminder of my moral compass, huh Raising Heart?” She chuckled lightly to herself. Raising Heart flashed warmly.

“No, Master.”

The conference room door opened, and Hayate came in, carrying two large bags in each hand. “Hello everyone, sorry I’m late!” She gave them all a smile. “I’ll try to keep this meeting on schedule, but since it’s cutting into dinnertime, I thought that I’d bring some food for everyone.” The room had already erupted into cheers before she finished speaking as they smelled the wonderful aromas from the take-out containers Hayate carried.

“You’re only two minutes late,” Genya Nakajima assured her as he went to help her set down the cartons.

“And the food is more than welcome!” Lat Cartos exclaimed, to wide-spread agreement.

Nanoha had to admit that the food was a brilliant idea from her friend—while it slowed the meeting down initially while everyone helped themselves to curry and vegetables and salad, the rest of the usually tedious budget meeting went by faster with full stomachs. In no time at all Hayate had presented her proposed budget based off of the projections she had been given by all the different divisions, and the rest of the meeting was spent going over each item and arguing or approving it.

“Why is there a cut to the Ground Forces’ support of the city’s social programs?”

“As everyone can see from last year’s treasury report,” Hayate explained pausing in her meal, calling up a spreadsheet on a side monitor. “We’re still in a deficit due to damage reparations from the Silver Cross Crisis as well as the expansion of the city’s transport stations…” She trailed off and nodded as Rein signalled an offer to continue explaining for her, and Nanoha observed Hayate as Rein continued speaking for her, rattling off numbers and dates precisely.

Was Hayate paler than usual? The brunette was barely eating, looking slightly out of it. Nanoha imagined that she was probably thinking of plans for plans for other plans…it was an expression she had often seen on Chrono and Lindy-san, after all. It seemed like those in command never stopped planning. Even teaching wasn’t nearly that complicated.

At least the only people Nanoha had to worry about were her students, and not anybody and everybody who thought they had a business in her lessons (some of her colleagues complained about having officials nose in on their teaching strategies, but Nanoha herself never had that problem. When asked, Vita said that she hadn’t had anyone try to contradict her either. How odd.). That thought made her feel a twinge of sympathy for Hayate, cutting through her simmering anger.

The debate still continued, with more people joining in. “—the Navy has already agreed to increase support of Cranagan’s social programs, as we have done over the last three years. There’s been an increase in Navy recruits that has reflected this investment…”

Fate-chan’s lucky she doesn’t have to attend, Nanoha thought as she tried to pay attention while doodling on her sheet. Individual Enforcers didn’t have to worry about budget projections; they had the Navy worry about that for them.

“Consider though, if we follow Lt. General Yagami’s proposal in the budget change there, it leaves enough extras to initiate Admiral Lowran’s proposal to increase cross-branch training in young mages…”

“Yes, the Lowran Proposal would greatly increase our lower rank mages’ efficiency,” Nanoha broke in. She knew that proposal inside and out, as she was the one who had helped Admiral Leti draft and present it initially. “Part of the difficulty in responding in the last few crises was due to a lack of cross-discipline training. If we want to avoid another Scaglietti Incident, it would be to our advantage to have Air Force mages train alongside Ground and Navy Forces, and vice versa.”

The arguments continued from there, finally settling with the Navy representatives agreeing to review their city contracts and a majority vote to implement the various proposals, before everyone moved on to the next issue.

As promised, they ended the meeting right on schedule, although it was dark out when Hayate finally closed the discussions. Nanoha stretched, hearing her spine pop, and shook out her writing hand. She had to admire Hayate’s facilitating skills—these meetings had been chaotic under her predecessor, and always ran overtime by hours. Unfortunately, Nanoha would have to tell Ginga that her program was getting a funding cut since the TSAB provided the bulk of the funds for the Cranagan Corrections Program. Worse—it might get scrapped altogether if the Navy also decides to cut their funding budget…

Maybe she could ask Hayate to try and squeeze funds from somewhere? Ginga was doing important work, and Nanoha didn’t want to see her get shut down.

After waiting for the room to empty, Nanoha walked over to Hayate. “Hayate-chan, can we talk for a minute?”

“Sorry, Nanoha-chan,” Hayate said quickly as she closed her briefcase. “I’ve got another meeting right now. We’ll talk some other time, okay?” She ducked her head and made a beeline for the door.

Nanoha gaped, stunned at how fast Hayate had blown her off and escaped out the door. Was Hayate avoiding her on purpose?

“Nanoha-san?” Rein flitted over, anxiously wringing her hands and glancing at the door that slide shut on Hayate’s heels. “I apologize for Hayate…she’s really not avoiding you! With the quarterly reviews coming up, she’s been really busy...”

“I’m sure,” Nanoha snapped, then softened her tone. It wasn’t Rein’s fault, after all. “After that first court day, I don’t like where she’s going. I expected that kind of behaviour from Auris Gaiz, but Hayate-chan?” She shook her head angrily. “Fate-chan’s going to testify in the next court day, and Hayate-chan’s going to hurt her, the rate she’s going…”

Rein winced, looking torn. “Nanoha-san, Hayate’s doing her best.”

“How can it be her best if she’s hurting people?” Nanoha sighed, more upset than furious. She picked up her notepad and tucked her pen into her shirt pocket. “Good night, Rein. And tell Hayate-chan for me—” Her face darkened. “—I’ll be seeing her soon.”

Spoiler for Author's Note:

............Okay, I copped out of the last Trial scene , but I really didn't want to write another questioning scene since they're so boring! But we'll get a recap of what happened later .

Now we can finally get more scenes of morally ambiguous Hayate and conniving Auris!

The New Part 6 was written in response to some of Dezo's comments before, about how I should show more of Hayate's responsibilities dragging her down instead of just telling about it ^^.

Once again, any Shadows-procedure reference is my own invention, and is not canon in RadiantBeam's Shadowsverse .

All I'm going to say is.... don't do it, Nanoha!

No, but seriously, she probably isn't going to help at all. Even if she wants to talk to Hayate about her behavior, I'm rather certain Hayate herself is already aware of what she's doing; so having Nanoha call her out on it would probably hurt more than help at this point.

Originally Posted by vic-vic

it`s seemd that hayate goes deeper and deeper in the shadows.

*resists the urge to make a bad, obvious pun*

EDIT: Pageclaim for puns!