Nanoha FanFiction Discussion

[deathcurse]

Originally Posted by Rising Dragon

Seems like while the canon's busy giving Hayate the shaft, the fanfiction community is making her the chewtoy. :V

Hey, I gave her a promotion! But being the chewtoy makes her more interesting!

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

And here we go! After a long while, chapter 3 of Sisters... because if nothing else, writing has never been the one thing that's failed me, or the one thing I've doubted.

Spoiler for Sisters, chapter 3:

Chapter 3

Waving a brief farewell to Fate and Nanoha and calling a quick promise of meeting up with them after class, Hayate chuckled softly to herself and turned back to her locker, spinning the combination and opening it. Giving the card in her hand one last look, the brown-haired girl shook her head with a slight smile and slid it to the back of her locker, making a mental note to not forget it when she headed back home. Perhaps she was much too kind for her own good, but she never had the heart to turn away anyone who gave her gifts.

After all, in many ways, she could both relate to her suitors and admire them. Like those girls, she knew how it felt to feel like she loved someone way beyond her league; and unlike those girls, she still didn’t have the courage to actually do anything about it.

Almost against her will, Hayate sighed as she closed the door to her locker, spinning the combination again and checking to make sure it stayed locked before she headed down the hall.

Maybe in some ways, she was being cruel to her suitors; after all, using their gifts and attentions as a means of catching Fate’s eye was probably the lowest anyone could go. And maybe it made her a horrible person, but at least for a little while, when Hayate brought up her suitors, she knew she had Fate’s attention.

And for now, at least, those few minutes of the blonde’s focus was all Hayate needed.

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“He’s late.”

Sighing, Riku lifted his glass to his lips, taking a long sip in the attempt to stifle the urge to reach out and smack his companion over the head. The girl he’d brought along was young and still in training, and he’d figured that this short meeting would give her some much needed experience. He hadn’t thought of the fact that she’d get impatient after a few minutes.

“Relax, Raven.” He didn’t even need to speak; surprisingly enough, the one who came to his defense was the elderly man who often spoke out against him when they were alone. Anderson was a lot of things, and while he still hoped for Silver to return, he put his loyalty behind Riku when it counted; the old man knew there was no one else in the group who could be a better leader at the moment. “It’s only been a few minutes.”

“He was supposed to be here ten minutes ago.” Raven scowled as Riku took another sip, drumming her fingernails against the table. “Dammit, Riku, why didn’t you let me handle this? The kid isn’t even a member of our group.”

Riku sighed again and lowered his glass, accepting the fact that Raven wasn’t going to leave him alone about this. Before he could begin, though, the door to the small café they were sitting in opened, the bell above the door jingling softly. He didn’t even bother looking back, even as Raven and Anderson both glanced at the door; he knew who it was.

“Sorry.” Sliding into the empty chair, Hikaru had the decency to look properly ashamed for arriving to the meeting late, but Riku wasn’t fooled. He saw the distracted light in his eyes, the way the boy absently turned the bracelet on his wrist, and knew he wasn’t completely with the people he was meeting today. “I got distracted.”

Raven glared at him. “You were the ones who asked to meet us. You’re lucky we didn’t leave.”

“Don’t mind her, Hikaru.” Riku shot Raven a mild, warning look that had the girl snapping her mouth shut, even as she glowered. “What happened?”

“I had some trouble with my Device.” Still not seeming to pay much attention to said Device (or his audience, for that matter; Hikaru almost seemed like he was talking more to himself than to an outside party), the boy brushed his fingers over the bracelet again. “I’ll get it fixed.”

“There’s no rush,” Anderson said soothingly; he always seemed to adopt a soothing tone whenever he spoke to Hikaru. “We have plenty of time.”

Seeming agitated at that, Hikaru shook his head. “I’ll get it fixed,” he repeated. “I have to, and soon. I found Yami again.”

In the silence that fell after he made that statement, Riku and Anderson exchanged a quick, silent look that Hikaru didn’t notice. Raven winced and slowly sank down slightly in her chair, her fingers going still at that announcement; while she knew they had to continue letting Hikaru hunt for Yami, she didn’t like it.

“Are you sure it’s her?” Riku asked after a moment, keeping his voice soft; he knew that if he was too questioning, Hikaru would get edgy. Most of the time the boy was relatively laidback, but talking about Yami was his weak point.

“It’s her,” Hikaru insisted, shifting in his chair, a small scowl coming across his face. “It’s definitely her. I know I made some mistakes with the other ones, but I’m sure it’s her this time. This one…” He fidgeted, his twisting of the bracelet becoming faster as he struggled to find the right words. “This one doesn’t just have her looks, she has her personality. She is Yami.”

“I see.” Riku nodded in understanding, motioning for Anderson to keep his mouth shut when the elderly man seemed to want to speak. “Will you show us what she looks like, Hikaru? Like with all the others? You know we just want to help you find Yami.”

At that, the boy’s fidgeting became worse. “I need to make sure I can stay close to her. It’s harder, compared to the others. I can’t just keep a distance.”

“Of course. We’ve never asked you to, Hikaru.”

At Riku’s calm, gentle tone, Hikaru settled slightly, though he continued twisting his bracelet around his wrist. Raven and Anderson exchanged nervous looks. Riku, this is bad, Anderson said mentally. The boy’s really worked up this time.

I know. Riku wasn’t blind; he knew Hikaru was in a fragile state right now. But he’s our best bet right now. We just need to play him right.

Raven shuddered slightly. He’s seriously starting to freak me out here. I mean, seriously, completely freaking me out.

Completely ignorant of the silent conversation concerning him, Hikaru sighed. For the first time since he’d started working with Riku, a small smile curved his lips.

Hide and seek had always been Yami’s favorite game; but at long last, after so much searching, it seemed they were finally beginning to end the chase.

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To say Mikami Miasto was annoyed would have been the understatement of the century. Being the head of defense in Hong Kong was the kind of job that more or less caused her a major headache every other day, but even then, there were exceptions.

“Please tell me you know how stupid this is.” Scowling, the black-haired woman leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms loosely across her chest as she faced the holoscreen, Lindy Harlaown trying and failing to hold back her laughter. “Why does the Council want me to come all the way to Mid-Childa? I’ve been helping out with their criminals for years, and they’ve never wanted me to come out there before.”

Lindy couldn’t quite hold back the soft laugh that escaped this time. “Believe me, Misato-san, I told them you wouldn’t handle it well. You’re a very busy woman. But in their defense, you’ve never really had a criminal like this in your facility.”

Sighing inwardly, Misato uncrossed her arms. “Silver Lance, thirty-six years old. Former head of the terrorist group known as Cloverfield, linked to various crimes, including but not limited to drug smuggling, murder, bribery, the study and use of dark magic, and, several years ago, attempted murder on Lindy Harlaown. He was proven guilty in all but the last, but circumstances are questionable. Has been in prison for the last seven years.” Her voice softened. “He’s not the kind of criminal I’m used to handling, no.”

“Hence why the Council wants you to come up.” Absently, Lindy brushed a loose strand of light green hair back behind her ear. “Besides, there’s been talk of getting Silver moved to one of our high-security facilities, within reach of the TSAB so he’s easier to monitor and keep track of.”

“Then why do you need me there?”

“Because you’re one of the few people who have monitored him over the last seven years.” Knowing she’d caught Misato in her trap, Lindy leaned back in her chair slightly, causing the holoscreen to flicker. “We need your information, and your insight, to make the proper decision so that at the end of the day, no one doubts themselves.”

“…” Misato sighed. “You’re using my sense of honor against me.”

Lindy smirked. “Is it working?”

Sighing, Misato ran a hand through her hair. “How long will I have to be there? I can’t leave this place for too long.”

Congratulating herself inwardly, Lindy chuckled. “Only a few days at the most, I promise. It’s just easier to convince people of our stance when they see you in person instead of through a holoscreen. Gives your words more weight.”

“Why were you never involved in politics?” the teal-eyed woman muttered. “You certainly know how to use your words.”

Lindy simply chuckled before the holoscreen flickered and faded away. With a quiet groan, Misato slumped back in her chair and rubbed her eyes to fight off the oncoming headache.

She made a mental note to contact her secretary to give her a few days’ warning; the young woman wouldn’t appreciate it if her boss just up and disappeared.

And I’ll need to think of an excuse that isn’t ‘I got called away to a magical world’…

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Looking through the case files, Chrono had quickly come to two realizations.

The first was that the cop he’d spoken to earlier at the scene was right; this was definitely the work of the serial killer. Certainly not the kind who would go down in history books or be remembered throughout the ages, but whoever it was had a pattern—attacking the women outright, almost as if he was testing their strength and endurance, before going in for the kill—and a preference for his victims. All of the women were dark-haired black or extremely dark brown, with light blue eyes, and relatively young, between their teens and early to mid twenties. The murders weren’t one-shot, and while it wasn’t good news, it gave them a solid lead on whoever was doing it and where he or she would strike next.

The second realization was a little more unsettling. Perhaps it was simply a matter of coincidence, perhaps there was a reason behind it, but all of the victims had a disturbing physical resemblance to Takamachi Miyuki. It wasn’t specific, but in general terms it was there: the dark hair, the eye color, the general build, the age range.

Of course, there was no clear evidence that Miyuki would be the next victim; or even that she was the killer’s target in the first place. But the resemblance between the girls who had been killed so far and the woman who had followed her sister to Mid-Childa wasn’t something he could ignore. And if by some chance Miyuki turned out to be the killer’s next victim, he knew Nanoha would never forgive him for it.

Even then, Nanoha would probably forgive him far sooner than he would forgive himself if anything like that happened.

The obvious course of action, naturally, was to at least alert Nanoha to the fact so that she was aware and could get Miyuki to take the proper precautions. By normal Earth standards, and even by some Mid-Childan standards, the black-haired woman was strong, but sword training could only go so far in a fight against an Intelligent Device.

But that in itself could only do so much, and Chrono doubted that Nanoha would want to sit by idly with the thought that her sister might fall prey to a serial killer.

And besides, it was about time Fate got some experience in the field….

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Sighing, Miyuki closed the door behind her with a soft click, pausing for a moment to check to make sure it was locked; the one time she’d left it unlocked, Nanoha had gone into a fit and given her a lecture that would have made Momoko proud.

Chuckling at the memory, the black-haired woman hung up her coat and set her keys on the counter, reaching back to undo the ribbon from her hair, shaking her head to clear it. Even though she was home, she couldn’t help but be nagged by the fact that in the end, she’d been wrong; the garage she worked at, despite her original thoughts, didn’t handle Intelligent Devices on a regular basis and didn’t have the equipment to repair the damage done on Chris’s. The boy hadn’t held it against her, and had still been extremely friendly, but in the end, the thought still wouldn’t leave her alone.

Miyuki could guess why, too.

Grimacing and shaking her head again, Miyuki scowled when her thoughts never faded in the slightest. Going to the kitchen, she grabbed a glass and turned the sink on, filling it with water and taking a long, deep drink.

Maybe she was being selfish, and maybe she was looking way too deeply into things, but Miyuki wanted, desperately, to believe that Nanoha hadn’t brought her along just as a source of comfort. Because even though there was nothing wrong with that, Miyuki wanted to be more.

What ‘more’ was, the older woman wasn’t completely sure of. She just knew that she wanted to be something that wasn’t just comforting to Nanoha; she wanted to be on equal footing in that regard, wanted to be strong enough, smart enough, for Nanoha to depend on her for more than just simple comforting.

It was confusing, and thinking about it not only gave Miyuki an extremely painful headache when she let her mind linger on it, but in some ways it scared her. It scared her because when she thought about it logically, she knew that what she wanted from Nanoha wasn’t in the interest of their bond as sisters; it was in the interest as a deeper bond, a more intimate bond, something she shouldn’t have even thought about in the first place.

She drained her glass in one gulp, leaving it completely empty, setting it down on the counter as her hand trembled.

A lot of framework and foreshadowing in this chapter, mostly because I'm starting to set some things into motion and develop some points.

Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2

Interesting...

Chrono's a smart man . It'll be interesting to see what Fate does with the knowledge .

EDIT: Page claim for poor Hayate!

[sniperk]

Chapters 1 & 2 Chapters 3 & 4 Chapters 5 & 6 Chapters 7 & 8 Chapters 9 & 10 Chapters 11 & 12 Chapter 13

Cards And Devices

Chapter 14 - Rescue

Spoiler for Chapter 14 - Rescue:

Atelaia was receiving, aside from the normal staff, many guests this time around. Her mission was more like a field trip, the Admiral decided. Fate would take advantage of her mission to visit Nanoha's parents back on Earth, as well as, accompanied by Vita and Signum, escort Tomoyo to and from her house back to MidChilda.

"Are you sure you don't want us to accompany you to your house?" Vita asked, concerned.

"No." Sakura answered instantly. "I think it would be too much trouble for you."

"No trouble at all. And besides, you did disappeared from your home for several days, and I don't believe your father can be compreensive enough to just let it slide."

"Yeah. I'll problably be grounded till I turn 30." She gave a half-smile. "But I think he'll understand. Not that he'll approve, but will understand."

"If you say so." Vita reached for her jacket pocket. "Here. Just in case you need to contact us." She handed a little box to the cardmistress. "If you need us, open the box. The rest will operate by itself, so don't worry." When Sakura made mention to not accept the item, Vita shoved it into her hands. "I'm not giving to you. I'm only delivering the parcel." Then after the girl took the item, she smiled. "If you want to return it, you'll have open it and call Nanoha."

Sakura tried again to protest, but Vita was already out the door to the ship's corridors. She stepped out her room into and was about to call the little red haired woman, when she saw the door to Tomoyo's room suddenly being closed out of the corner of her eye. She sighed and entered her room again. After looking at the images being diplayed in one of the walls, as if it were a window, she lied down on the bed and closed her eyes trying hard to not think about the conversation she and her friend had earlier that morning.

----

"C'mon. We have to get out of here." He said as soon as the land stopped shaking. "It's not safe here anymore."

"Take Mediel and go now, boiya!" The crippled old lady said in an almost pleading voice. "She still have all her life ahead of her."

He took a single glance at the kid crying in the cradle before turning back to the lady on the floor. "She'll not live for long without you, Meniel-obaa-san." He ripped the sheets that were on the bed as another smaller quake tumbled him and the lady down to the floor, knocking the cradle with the baby. Between startled, painful cries from the other two, he managed to stand up and moments later he was already craddling the little girl in his arms, as the shakes diminished again.

"You're hurt." Meniel pointed to him forehead where a trail of blood started to form, coming from his scalp.

"Don't worry." He dismissed instantly. "Here, hold her a little. I just need to do something." As he said that, he tore another strip of the sheet. After a few moments he made a makeshift baby sling. He took the girl from the womans arms and nested her in it, making sure it was strong enough to hold her and she was well tied to his chest. After this he turned his back to the woman and crouched. "Jump in my back."

"I can't... I'll just slow you down, boiya."

"We don't have time to argue. Just crawl in my back."

The woman relutanctly reached for his shoulders, but stumbled and almost knocked him down. He was forced to put one of his knees on the ground for support, but managed to stay upright. The woman crawled her way into his back and grabbed around his neck. He, in turn, took her legs in each side of his waist and forced his body to stand. "We need to get out of this house." He walked and upon opening the door, he saw the swirling dark clouds in the sky. He took three steps out the door and looked around the pretty much empty village's streets.

"Boiya, go to the fields." Meniel suggested. "That way."

"I'll have to run. Hold on tight." With that he started to run furiously. He reached the fields soon enough, and saw at distance a gathering of others villagers, waving at them. Several times during his run he had to reinforce the knot in the sling to make sure the little girl wouldn't fall. After a few minutes of running he caught up with the others.

The village wasn't big, but it still have several people living there, that took care of the rice fields. As soon as he put the old woman on the ground and the baby back in her arms he sat on the ground to catch his breath. During this he looked up at the village and to the people gathered with him. There wasn't nearly one quarter of the people who lived in that village, he decided. He stood up again and turned back from where he came. "I'm going back there."

"Wait, boiya." The old lady's plead fell deaf on his ears, as he continued to run back to the village.

----

"Tomoyo!" The woman lounged at the raven haired girl, as soon as she appeared in the room. "I'm not dreaming, right? You're really here, right?" She hugged the girl as tight as she could. "Thank god, you're alive."

Tomoyo noticed that her mother was thiner than she last remenbered. From what the maids and bodyguards had told her, Sonomi hadn't been eating well, and the family doctor had prescribed sedatives for her, so she could sleep. "I'm okay, Mother. Very much alive, as you can see."

They stayed in that position for a few more minutes, before her mother got back a little just to look at her daughters face better. She then hugged her again.

"After the gas explosion, everybody said that you had died in it, but I knew it couldn't be true."

The girl smiled to her mother. "Come with me. I need to introduce a few people to you." Getting to her feet she holded her mother's hand.

Sonomi instead hugged the girl, as if just her hand wasn't enough to feel that her daughter was with her. "Where are they?"

"In the living room."

A few moments later and the woman was in front of the guests her daughter had brought. Three womans, one with pink haired, a blonde and a red haired. All of them wearing strange military uniforms.

"Mother, these are Signum-san, Fate-san and Vita-san. They are the ones who rescued me."

"Rescued? Then you really were kidnapped? Did they do something to you? Are you really okay?!"

"Ma'am." The pink haired one started. "I believe that it would be better if you hear us out first. After that, if you still have questions, we'll gladly answer them."

She looked at them for a few moments, then took a deep breath and turned to one of the maids that were at the door. "Please, bring more tea for our guests. I have a feeling that this could take a while."

As soon as the maid brought them the tea she prompted the woman. "Go on."

"First, I would like to introduce ourselves properly." The blonde started. "I'm Admiral Fate T. Harlaown. This here is Liutenant Coronel Signum and Liutenant Vita. We work for a military entity called TSAB. I'm sorry for not revealling what it stands for, but this information in classified at the moment. We found your daughter at one of the terrorists bases we raided earlier this week. She was been held captive for, from what she told us, and the information we gathered in the local news, a little above a week. At first we tought that she was being held captive for ransom."

"But I never got a call from anyone, not a message, anything." Sonomi intervened.

Fate rubbed her cup and put it on the table, before adjusting herself on her seating. "Then it could be worse than we tought." She signaled for Vita.

The red haired woman grabbed a case on her side and took a few papers and radiographs from it, handing them to woman. After looking around she turned to Sonomi. "Can you dispense your maids from the room?"

"Why?"

"Please, Mother." Tomoyo asked, voice soft.

Sonomi looked at her daughter then signaled for her employees to leave the room.

"These are exams we performed in your daughter at our base." She pointed at one of radiograph marked with a circle. "This is a scan of her head. As you can see, there's an anormal body in her. We believe that it's a tracking device of some sort." She looked at Fate who nodded. "What I'm about to tell you is top-secret military inteligence. I believe I don't need to mention what will happen if such information leaks to the press." She got a nod. Sonomi was getting confused. "These devices are like a brainwash mecanism. They can take control over a person who has one of these to do anything, from killing other people to killing herself. A terrorist group is implanting these devices in proeminent people around the globe. People that can turn out to be very powerful in the near future, be it in politics, economics or military."

The short haired woman was about to say something when Signum cut her off. "You are the president of one of the most proeminent toy companies of the planet. Imagine what could happen if someone used your daughter to, let's say, start a new franchise in your company, like developing and producing weapons." Sonomi thought about it for a few moments. Signum let her take her time absorbing all of that information. "We can't say for sure what this device is without a proper examination. Unfortunately, the device has countermeasures against someone trying to remove it forcefully, so we need to take her to our central base to get the examination done."

"Wait. You want to take my Tomoyo from me again?" Sonomi shot up. "I won't allow it. I'll take her to the best hospitals in the world. I'll make sure that..."

"I don't believe I said you had a choice in this." Signum stated flatly.

"So you are going to take my Tomoyo from me again?" Anger clearly raising in her tone.

"No." The soft spoken word made Sonomi turn back to her daughter. "I'm coming with them of my own will, Mother."

"But, Tomoyo-chan... You just came back to me. How can you say that you're going away again so easily?"

"It wasn't easy." Tomoyo waited a few moments before continuing. "I already talked with them about all the possibilities, and in the end came to the conclusion that this is the better way."

Sonomi tried to retort again but found herself without words to say.

"Sorry if what Signum said sounded rude." Fate broke the silence. "We're not taking your daughter from you. It'll be just till we can make sure there's nothing that will harm her any longer."

"How much time it will take?"

"We can't be sure of that, Ma'am." The blonde took another sip on her tea. "Do you have anymore questions?"

"Well..." She looked at Vita a moment. "No. Not really." She downcast her eyes. "But she'll be able to call home, from wherever you're taking her, right?"

"Phone calls are impossible at the moment, but we can relay letters or videoletters, if needed."

Sonomi looked at her daughter again.

"I'm sure you want to stay with her at least for a little more time." Fate voiced softly. "Signum and Vita will stay outside the house on guard. I need to run some errands in the city. I'll be back in about two or three hours." She then looked at Tomoyo. "Please, prepare your lugagge in this time frame." She got a nod in response. The three of them got up and bowed to the woman before leaving the room.

When they were outside of the house, Vita stood on guard on one side of the front door, enjoying the effects of her tranformation spell that made her look much older.

Signum followed suit to the other side, then asked mentally to the other two. "Why do I always need to play the bad guy in these little facades?" She didn't got an answer aside from a smirk from Vita that she missed and a giggle from Fate.

----

"I'm home." Sakura absently declared when she entered her house, like she was there just the day before.

"Sakura?!" She heard the voices of her father and brother at the same time coming from the living room, moments before she saw them both at the end of the corridor. "Sakura!" Both of them tackled her in a tight hug.

"Thank god you're alive!" Her father started, voice cracking. "I thought I had lost you too."

"Where the hell have you been, Kaiju!"

"I... " Sakura was at a loss about what to say. "Didn't you read the note I left?"

"Note? Wich note?"

"I wrote a note and left it here for you, Dad."

"I didn't find anything." He looked confused. "Where have you been this whole time? When we saw the news that Tomoyo-chan had disapeared and the Daidoji residence was partially destroyed we almost tought that you and her died then, but then I remembered that you came home that morning and..." He separated himself from her to look straight in her face, not sure if he should continue with what he was saying.

"And I lied to you." Sakura completed. "I'm sorry, Dad. But right now I just want to lie down and rest a little. Can I?"

Fujitaka took a few moments to examine the girl before consenting. "You don't look tired, but ok." He got up. "Aren't you hungry?"

"Not really. I'll eat something after I rest a little."

Sakura grabed back her backpack that fell on the floor and started to climb the stairs, failing to notice that her brother was still watching her.

"Kero." She called her guardian, as soon as she entered the room, talking in a low voice, but almost barking at him at the same time. "Where are you?"

"Here." He called from a opening in a loose tile in the ceiling. "Welcome back, Sakura. How was everything there?"

"I'll tell you later. Why didn't you delivered the note to my father?"

"I couldn't." He floated to the top of her drawer. "After you disappeared, and came to them the news about Tomoyo's house, your brother and father started to get frantic. Even Yukito-san came here. He didn't transform, so I couldn't talk with Yue about it. They searched your room, found my drawer. If it wasn't for me getting up there, they would have found me too."

"But what about the note?"

"Syaoran came, two days later, and... I told everything to him... He asked about the note, and when I showed him, he left the house running, taking the note with him."

"Syaoran came here? And took the note? But what for?"

"I don't know. I think he didn't even realized that it wasn't for him."

"I'll call him right now." She reached for her drawer. "Where's my cell?"

"With your father, I think."

"Oh, great..." Sakura paced in her room a few moments, thinking if it would be wise to climb down now, and ask for the phone but she dreaded that it would be signaling for her father that she was already okay to talk about what he wanted to know. After pondering for a few minutes, she decided to give up for now. She sat on her bed and concluded that getting some sleep would be the best thing she could do.

-----

"This is creepy." The bespectacled woman voiced her thoughts.

"What is?" The other woman asked.

"The programming of this Device." She said typing away in one of the keyboards in front of her. "It's freaky as hell."

"How so?" She asked taking another sip on her coffee.

"Well, it's gotta be some sorta of a prank they pulled in the owner or the owner is a sad little man. Literally." She turned the window so the other could see better. "It's programmed to act as if it is his lover."

"Pfftt... What?!"

"I don't really know. That's why is creepy." Shari continued to type.

"A-Anyway... Is there any usefull information in it?"

"Lots of it." She turned again to the other device. "This devices are incredible. It's hard to imagine that someone managed to create them without TSAB's technology. Well, they don't compare to your Cross Mirage in terms of functionality, but the amount of information they have stored is humongous. Not to mention the tracking system instaled that is top-notch."

"Can you make a copy of that information and send to me later?" Teana asked her partner.

"No problem. I think you guys will have a rough time ahead of you. These little fellas had so much protections in the storage system, like passwords, DNA's scan, voice recognition, and so on, that took me forever to finally be able to access it. But was it worth it. There's everything you could imagine in them, from smuggling routes to contact information of suppliers. There's so much information in here that you guys will take months to investigate it all."

"I see. Anyway, try to classify the information by groups. I'll talk to the Admiral and see what we'll make of it."

"No problem."

----

"We'll take out of there in no time. Just calm down." He said to the man screaming in pain, his leg trapped below of what once was a wall of his home. He turned to the other two men that were around him. "On three." He positioned himself "One, two," He took a deep breath. "Threeeee!!!" They forced the remnants of the wall up just enough to free the man's leg and he could drag himself out of the position he was.

"Arrrrgghhh!" The man wailed again, more for the sight of his smashed limb than from the pain.

"Calm down, Ojii-san."

"Gord-san, calm down." The second man said. "We'll take to the others. I'm sure that help is coming."

"Grid?! Is Grid there!? And Samantha?" The man asked when the first shouldered him.

The man grimmaced. "No. We didn't found your son or your wife."

"Maybe he's still inside the house." The second one added, without thinking, at what Gord started to squirm.

"I need to go back. I need to get my little boy."

"You're in no condition to save anybody, Ojii-san." The boy tried to coerce the man. "I'll go take a look."

"We'll be right back, boiya. Don't try anything stupid before we get back."

The boy waited till the two where out of ear shot and took a shovel that was nearby. He got around the house and looked for something that could be an entrance. The house had collapsed all around and he couldn't find anywhere to enter the rubble that was once a caban. "Damn it."

He started to dig the durt, trying his hardest to move the debris. His mind was raging. Wasn't this supposed to be a magical land? How can be that ever since he arrived he haven't seen anything alike. There were no dragon, or spirits, or faeries, or demons, elfs, trolls... nothing. It seemed just like any other remote village back on Earth. He wasn't even sure if he did had really come to the right place, but right now that wasn't important. Right now what was important was to save these folks from the rage of mother nature.

"..lp..."

He was trhown out of his toughts when he thought to have heard something.

"...help..."

The voice seemed weak. Probably a kid. "Are you ok?" He screamed at the rubble.

"Help me."

He dug deeper in the rubble. Trying his hardest to use the voice as a guide as to where he should use the shovel, stopping only to make sure the voice was still there. The blood on his face had already closed his left eye, and he was having trouble to keep the other open, using a piece of the sheet that was still around his neck to clean the excess. After several minutes of intense battle against the debris he found an small opening. What once was a window. He cleared around and kicked the frame, breaking it. He took another look, and after confirming that it wasn't going to collapse on him, he went inside.

"Where are you?"

"...wn ...re..."

He turned to where the voice was. There was a trapdoor, that collapsed by the weight of the debris and a few more furniture that fell on top of it, and it was now blocking the passage to what he tought to be the cellar of the house. "Are you okay?" He asked, even knowing they probably wouldn't be.

"I'm okay, but Mom is bleeding too much."

"I'll take you out of there in no time. Just wait." With this he started to take all the rubble that was blocking the opening.

"Boiya, are you in there?" The voice came from outside the house.

"I think I found the boy. He's trapped inside the cellar."

"We're going inside." Another one announced. "We just need to open more this."

"Okay." He turned to the debris again. "Stay away from the door." He continued to dig it till it was enough to see inside the hole. "I'm almost there." He looked through the crack and saw nothing but darkness. He took away some more till he was able to crawl into the hole. "I'm here." He squeezed himself into the hole. "What's your name?" He asked to the darkness.

"Grid." The boy answered, seeing the silhouette of the older boy in front of him.

Turning to the voice of the kid. "So Grid, how old are you?" He asked as he finished entering the cellar.

"Eleven."

"Good. Where's your mother?"

"She's here. But she won't wake up."

His eyes were getting accostumed to the darkness. He felt his way till he found the body of the woman. She was cold. He felt something wet in his hand, and sniffed. Blood. She was bleeding, and from where he could tell, something had pierced her right shoulder. He got closer to the woman and put two fingers on her neck. It was weak but she still had pulse. "Good, she's still alive." He took the rest of the sheet from his neck and blindly wraped around the wound as best as he could.

"Boiya, is he okay?"

"The mother is bleeding heavily here. We need to take her out of here first."

"Okay." After a few moments, one of the two that were outside inched a board inside the opening. "Put her on top of this. We'll open the hole a little more."

Crack.

He put the woman on top of the board and tied her as best as he could, tearing his own clothes. "Grid, help me." They inched the board to the opening.

"Alright, I got her now." The man said, cursing when what little light that they had finally managed to land on the woman's body.

Crack. Crack.

When they managed to take the woman out the hole, the boy turned to the darkness again. "Grid-kun, your turn." He felt his way to the kid's hand. "Here. I'll help you." After a hummed response he put the kid in the opening.

"C'mon, Grid. Give me your hand." The man managed to pull the kid out of the hole.

Crack. Crack. Crack. The house around them started to collapse. The hole where the boy was started to crumble. The rocks started to fall hitting hard against the body of the brown haired boy. Then they heard a metallic voice stating. "PROTECTION!" All at once the collapsing house came to a stop as a tri-pointed magic circle appeared on the ceiling.

"Are you okay?" Said the girl, through the opening, to the people that were inside.

"Were okay."

"NII-CHAN!!" The kid cried when he saw the rubble now collapsed on top of the boy.

"I'm okay, Grid-kun." He said weakly. "Take your mother with you."

"Shit." The girl outside said. "This is rescue unit S-03. I need a medical team on my coordinates." Then turning to the ones inside. "Don't move. I'm coming inside." As she entered the house, she quickly found the group of people inside. She pointed her fist to them. "Mach Calliber!"

"BARRIER FIELD." Her rollerblades answered. Moments later a blue cacoon of energy enveloped all of them.

She took that moment to confirm the situation. The two men seemed to be okay, the little boy too. The woman on the floor was bleeding heavily through her shoulder and the other boy was trapped with his lower half in a hole. "This is unit S-03, requesting clearance."

"Clearance granted." The voice through her comn confirmed.

"Mach Calliber."

"Protection will be nullified in T minus 3 seconds."

"Load Cartridge."

"2"

"Revolver..."

"1"

"Shoot!"

"Zero." As soon as the device announced, the tri-pointed shield disappeared and the blue energy shot blew the ceiling of the house. "Opening confirmed. Damages to the structure are minimun." The device called instantly recasting the previous nullified spell.

As soon as the opening was created several more people started to climb it down. After all the others were out of the house, the boy started to feel the pain in his body.

"We need to take this one out of the debris." The girl screamed.

"Yes, sir!" The others responded and immediatly started to work in the rocks and wood pieces.

The boy was almost collapsing with the pain.

"What is your name?" She asked him.

The boy lifted his head and forced a smile. "Syaoran." He passed out.

The girl put a hand on his head. "You can rest easy now, Syaoran-kun. We'll take you out of there in no time. C'mon, People. Move it."

Spoiler for Author Notes:

I know Subaru doesn't need to load a Cartridge to use 'Revolver Shoot', but having her using 'Divine Buster' in that moment would be even more cliché than already was. XD

[deathcurse]

Part 1 of Crime Never Sleeps...and now an update, which is a little bit more talky but slowly the stuff behind the scenes begin to unfold...

Crime Never Sleeps
Part 2

Spoiler for Crime Never Sleeps, part 2:

“Can you do it?”

“From the message flag, I’m assuming that I will be…undercover?”

“Of sorts. Can you do it?”

“Yes.”

“Then go.”

***

One thing Auris found amusing about Shadow work was the odd things they re-taught you from your childhood. Listening at doors was one of the first. What they also taught you was how to do it without appearing like you were a childish eavesdropper.

This was her father’s door.

“…I’m sorry Nanoha, I can’t talk about it.”

Captain Takamachi’s voice was fuzzier, through a screen, but her annoyance was clearly audible. “Hayate-chan, I can’t believe that you’re actually considering! Shouldn’t it be obvious?”

“Nanoha, I said I can’t talk about it.” Hayate paused. “Go let Director Gaiz in, Rein. Nanoha, we’ll talk later.”

The metal door hissed open, and Auris stared calmly back at the small silver-haired Unison Device. “Director, the chief will see you now.”

“Yes,” Auris said, raising an eyebrow. “I was invited.”

Hayate looked up from where she was scribbling something in a paper file. “Director Gaiz, please have a seat.”

“Please, we’ll be working together.” Auris sat down and laid her documents on the table, neat in a pile compared to Hayate’s organized sprawl of papers across her wide desk. “Call me Auris.”

“Only if you call me Hayate,” Hayate replied courteously, although she boasted a pleasantly surprised expression. About to write her off as naïve, Auris caught a hint of wariness in Hayate’s deep blue eyes as she shuffled some of her sheets into a stack. Accepting the folder, Auris smiled. Not so naïve after all.

“Can you summarize what information the NSIS has gathered thus far?” Hayate requested as she sat back in her chair.

“This is a report from Touring, dated 10:00 four days ago,” Auris said, calling up a holoscreen with the original timestamp. “There was no mention of the Gallants, however he did say that he “suspects an assassination mission for 14:00”.”

“Did you make an attempt to stop the mission?”

“That wasn’t why our agent was undercover in the Hellhound gang,” Auris said defensively.

“It wasn’t a criticism,” Hayate responded evenly. “Only a question.”

Auris doubted that, but she carried on regardless. “Our last official report from Touring was at 15:20 that same day, saying that they had killed a family at their home and were now on the run.”

Hayate rose, walking over to the window. She tapped her fingers silently against the glass, considering something. “Did he participate in the killing?”

“He said ‘no’ in his last incomplete message, written at 20:35 that day.”

“Do we know that for sure?” Pausing, Hayate took a breath, closing her eyes so that Auris couldn’t meet her gaze in the glass reflection. “Can Raven claim that he had taken part in her family’s murder?”

Shifting, Auris resisted the urge to fiddle with her glasses, allowing herself to only lace her fingers together under the desk to express her tenseness. “We removed all traces of his undercover persona from the evidence collection. She wouldn’t be able to recognize his real face.”

“I see.” Hayate came back to the desk, sitting and spinning her chair to the side. Auris watched her like a hawk, wondering what was going through her head. Looking up, Hayate smiled and waved at her. “Continue, please.”

“You know the rest—it’s in the open file.”

“Is it accurate?”

“Yes,” Auris confirmed. “Raven Gallant survived her family’s murder by hiding in the bathroom cupboard. When she came out, her whole family was dead.”

Softly, Hayate whispered, “She’s only eleven years old.”

Terse and trembling with anger, Auris worked out coldly, “That eleven-year old found her father’s old Earth machine-gun and shot a dozen people to death, including a Shadow agent.”

Hayate laced her fingers together over her stomach, leaning back in her chair. “Director Auris.”

“Huh?” Auris quickly composed and corrected herself. “I mean, yes?”

“I want you to go to both crime scenes yourself. I want to know any details about Raven’s method and mental state when she left both crime scenes, and what kind of person she is.” Tapping on her computer, Hayate sealed the form with her code and sent it. “I’ve just sent a request for the nearest naval ship to provide you and an assistant a transfer station.”

“I could have done that,” Auris said dryly. “Being in the Navy myself. Less paperwork.”

“Ah, I forgot,” Hayate said, rubbing her head sheepishly. “Either way, it all works out the same.”

“What about our case?” Auris asked.

“What about it? We’re working on it.”

“I mean, our position, our arguments…”

Her tone light, Hayate replied with a laugh, “How can we form a position when we haven’t even gotten all the facts yet? It would be devastating if our opponents drew upon information that we weren’t aware of, hm?”

You’re stalling. What are you waiting for? What are you trying to accomplish? Auris bowed her head. “I’ll leave immediately.” Too late, she realized what Hayate had done. By asking Auris to report, she had taken control of the meeting…and had established herself as the leader in the investigation, the one who issued the orders.

Ah well. If it all fell to pieces, it wouldn’t be Auris’ head the masses would be after. Being the second-in-command had its benefits.

Her device beeped with a new message, prompting Auris to step into a doorway and pull up her inbox. The message was short, but Auris smiled when she read it, satisfaction spreading through her at the news.

Roberts: Assigned to Gallant’s guard. Part 2 of assignment will be ready in a few more days.

***

“Director, if I may?”

Auris turned to her assistant as they waited to teleport back to Midchilda. After an evening of travel and of looking at blood-covered crime scenes, all she wanted was to go home and sleep. A good night’s sleep before she implemented the plans she had conceived while standing over the spot where Keen Touring had been gunned down like he was nothing more than a common criminal. The interruption to her thoughts startled her. “Jian?”

Jian Valiant’s distinctive black eyes turned her way, her slim face covered with dry humour. “The Lieutenant-general sent us on a wild goose chase.”

Auris had worked that out hours ago. Still, she was intrigued by Valiant’s comment. “Why do you think so?”

Jian tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder, a beautiful, unconscious flourish from her usual cases as a Shadow. “While all Shadows have some profiling knowledge, this has already been done by the SIB experts—which the Lieutenant-general already knows. They’ve transferred all their information to us—through the Lieutenant-general herself, no less. So since she already has Gallant’s personality profile, there was no reason to send us here again.”

Auris smiled wryly. “Did you get anything new from the scenes?”

Her companion shook her head. “Nothing that wasn’t already covered. Hence the wild-goose chase.”

“It wasn’t a useless exercise.”

“What?” Jian exclaimed, her voice a contained whisper.

The transporter glowed, ready for their teleport. Auris stepped in, Jian hopping in hastily after her, still looking at her curiously. “I learned quite a few things.”

“Like what?”

“Like when she thought no one’s watching, she relaxed her vigilance enough for us to hide bugs in a high-security office.” Smirking, Auris couldn’t keep the satisfied tone out of her voice. “And that she wanted time to figure out where she’s going to go, stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

***

Rein glanced twice down the hall before darting across, using her special access to enter the office without knocking.

“Rein?” Fate looked up from her work, smiling before looking concerned at Rein’s twitchy demeanour. “Something wrong?”

Flying closer, Rein perched on the edge of Fate’s folders. Fate pulled her briefcase up and laid it on her desk, offering Rein a more comfortable seat. Flitting over, Rein fidgeted, running her hands along her new seat.

“Do you want something to dri—”

Rein exhaled, “Hayate’s-having-some-trouble.”

Fate blinked, then tapped a few keys on her computer. Rein recognized the code for office security, and she saw spell-lights appear along Fate’s office walls. Some of them weren’t ones she recognized—Enforcer-grade ones, Rein guessed. Fate closed all of her monitors and turned to give Rein her full attention. “What kind of trouble is Hayate in?”

Rein hesitated slightly, the old urge to obey her master at any cost ghosting into her mind for a moment before she shook her head, banishing it impatiently. She knew that Hayate wouldn’t want to worry her friends, but Rein couldn’t keep silent. Her other ancient compulsion (one that she still enthusiastically followed of her own will) was to protect her master from all danger. Even the dangers Hayate refused to see.

“Fate-san…” Rein rubbed her face. “Do you know Director Aspen Narang?”

“The new Ground Forces Intelligence director?” Fate frowned. “Is he putting pressure on Hayate for siding with the Navy intelligence?”

“You know why she did that, right?” Rein asked nervously.

Fate grimaced, scratching her head. “Um…yeah. I, uh, had to explain to Nanoha my guesses why Hayate chose to support Director Gaiz. Even if I didn’t like it when Chrono was head of the NSIS, at least Hayate could trust that he’ll do what’s best overall. And that he won’t, uh…”

“Possibly stab her in the back?” Rein piped up.

“Director Gaiz might have her own agenda which Hayate might want to watch out for,” Fate said, ironically diplomatic. “So is Hayate getting heat from the Ground Forces superiors because she decided to work the case as overseer of the NSIS instead of as Chief of City Defense?”

Rein sighed in relief. “I knew you’d know without me having to say.”

“I guessed.” Sighing, Fate rocked back in her chair, putting a hand to her forehead. “That’s not all, right? There’s more.”

Chewing her lip, Rein rose, pacing back and forth across Fate’s desk nervously. “There’s nothing openly said…but Hayate got a message from the mayor hinting that…that she should follow her heart and show leniency for Raven. And you know, the mayor was elected after the Scaglietti incident, and so his policy is one of rehabilitation and clemency…”

Fate winced. “So he doesn’t want an eleven-year old girl to be imprisoned for killing her parents’ murderers. Is he bringing my name into it?”

Sorrowfully, Rein had to nod, tearing up. “I’m sorry, Fate-san.”

“No, it’s alright…it’s to be expected.” Fate took a breath. “What else?”

“None of this is official, but Hayate got word that a lot of Council members are split over what to do about the Gallant case…” Rein sighed, and Fate offered her a hand in comfort. “Some of them think that it’s important to show people that killing TSAB officers will result in severe punishments to keep the rest of us safe…but other people want to show mercy to the girl.”

“Oh,” Fate said softly, her red eyes incredibly sad. “And I think that most of the ones who are asking for mercy are our friends?”

“Yes,” Rein mourned, crying. “But I’m afraid that Hayate will have to do something she doesn’t want in order to make everything work out.”

Spoiler for Author's Note:

The details of Shadow training were all made up by me, and are not canon in RadiantBeam's Shadowverse. She's just kind enough to let me borrow the Shadows for my story .

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by deathcurse

Part 1 of Crime Never Sleeps...and now an update, which is a little bit more talky but slowly the stuff behind the scenes begin to unfold...

Crime Never Sleeps
Part 2

Spoiler for Crime Never Sleeps, part 2:

“Can you do it?”

“From the message flag, I’m assuming that I will be…undercover?”

“Of sorts. Can you do it?”

“Yes.”

“Then go.”

***

One thing Auris found amusing about Shadow work was the odd things they re-taught you from your childhood. Listening at doors was one of the first. What they also taught you was how to do it without appearing like you were a childish eavesdropper.

This was her father’s door.

“…I’m sorry Nanoha, I can’t talk about it.”

Captain Takamachi’s voice was fuzzier, through a screen, but her annoyance was clearly audible. “Hayate-chan, I can’t believe that you’re actually considering! Shouldn’t it be obvious?”

“Nanoha, I said I can’t talk about it.” Hayate paused. “Go let Director Gaiz in, Rein. Nanoha, we’ll talk later.”

The metal door hissed open, and Auris stared calmly back at the small silver-haired Unison Device. “Director, the chief will see you now.”

“Yes,” Auris said, raising an eyebrow. “I was invited.”

Hayate looked up from where she was scribbling something in a paper file. “Director Gaiz, please have a seat.”

“Please, we’ll be working together.” Auris sat down and laid her documents on the table, neat in a pile compared to Hayate’s organized sprawl of papers across her wide desk. “Call me Auris.”

“Only if you call me Hayate,” Hayate replied courteously, although she boasted a pleasantly surprised expression. About to write her off as naïve, Auris caught a hint of wariness in Hayate’s deep blue eyes as she shuffled some of her sheets into a stack. Accepting the folder, Auris smiled. Not so naïve after all.

“Can you summarize what information the NSIS has gathered thus far?” Hayate requested as she sat back in her chair.

“This is a report from Touring, dated 10:00 four days ago,” Auris said, calling up a holoscreen with the original timestamp. “There was no mention of the Gallants, however he did say that he “suspects an assassination mission for 14:00”.”

“Did you make an attempt to stop the mission?”

“That wasn’t why our agent was undercover in the Hellhound gang,” Auris said defensively.

“It wasn’t a criticism,” Hayate responded evenly. “Only a question.”

Auris doubted that, but she carried on regardless. “Our last official report from Touring was at 15:20 that same day, saying that they had killed a family at their home and were now on the run.”

Hayate rose, walking over to the window. She tapped her fingers silently against the glass, considering something. “Did he participate in the killing?”

“He said ‘no’ in his last incomplete message, written at 20:35 that day.”

“Do we know that for sure?” Pausing, Hayate took a breath, closing her eyes so that Auris couldn’t meet her gaze in the glass reflection. “Can Raven claim that he had taken part in her family’s murder?”

Shifting, Auris resisted the urge to fiddle with her glasses, allowing herself to only lace her fingers together under the desk to express her tenseness. “We removed all traces of his undercover persona from the evidence collection. She wouldn’t be able to recognize his real face.”

“I see.” Hayate came back to the desk, sitting and spinning her chair to the side. Auris watched her like a hawk, wondering what was going through her head. Looking up, Hayate smiled and waved at her. “Continue, please.”

“You know the rest—it’s in the open file.”

“Is it accurate?”

“Yes,” Auris confirmed. “Raven Gallant survived her family’s murder by hiding in the bathroom cupboard. When she came out, her whole family was dead.”

Softly, Hayate whispered, “She’s only eleven years old.”

Terse and trembling with anger, Auris worked out coldly, “That eleven-year old found her father’s old Earth machine-gun and shot a dozen people to death, including a Shadow agent.”

Hayate laced her fingers together over her stomach, leaning back in her chair. “Director Auris.”

“Huh?” Auris quickly composed and corrected herself. “I mean, yes?”

“I want you to go to both crime scenes yourself. I want to know any details about Raven’s method and mental state when she left both crime scenes, and what kind of person she is.” Tapping on her computer, Hayate sealed the form with her code and sent it. “I’ve just sent a request for the nearest naval ship to provide you and an assistant a transfer station.”

“I could have done that,” Auris said dryly. “Being in the Navy myself. Less paperwork.”

“Ah, I forgot,” Hayate said, rubbing her head sheepishly. “Either way, it all works out the same.”

“What about our case?” Auris asked.

“What about it? We’re working on it.”

“I mean, our position, our arguments…”

Her tone light, Hayate replied with a laugh, “How can we form a position when we haven’t even gotten all the facts yet? It would be devastating if our opponents drew upon information that we weren’t aware of, hm?”

You’re stalling. What are you waiting for? What are you trying to accomplish? Auris bowed her head. “I’ll leave immediately.” Too late, she realized what Hayate had done. By asking Auris to report, she had taken control of the meeting…and had established herself as the leader in the investigation, the one who issued the orders.

Ah well. If it all fell to pieces, it wouldn’t be Auris’ head the masses would be after. Being the second-in-command had its benefits.

Her device beeped with a new message, prompting Auris to step into a doorway and pull up her inbox. The message was short, but Auris smiled when she read it, satisfaction spreading through her at the news.

Roberts: Assigned to Gallant’s guard. Part 2 of assignment will be ready in a few more days.

***

“Director, if I may?”

Auris turned to her assistant as they waited to teleport back to Midchilda. After an evening of travel and of looking at blood-covered crime scenes, all she wanted was to go home and sleep. A good night’s sleep before she implemented the plans she had conceived while standing over the spot where Keen Touring had been gunned down like he was nothing more than a common criminal. The interruption to her thoughts startled her. “Jian?”

Jian Valiant’s distinctive black eyes turned her way, her slim face covered with dry humour. “The Lieutenant-general sent us on a wild goose chase.”

Auris had worked that out hours ago. Still, she was intrigued by Valiant’s comment. “Why do you think so?”

Jian tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder, a beautiful, unconscious flourish from her usual cases as a Shadow. “While all Shadows have some profiling knowledge, this has already been done by the SIB experts—which the Lieutenant-general already knows. They’ve transferred all their information to us—through the Lieutenant-general herself, no less. So since she already has Gallant’s personality profile, there was no reason to send us here again.”

Auris smiled wryly. “Did you get anything new from the scenes?”

Her companion shook her head. “Nothing that wasn’t already covered. Hence the wild-goose chase.”

“It wasn’t a useless exercise.”

“What?” Jian exclaimed, her voice a contained whisper.

The transporter glowed, ready for their teleport. Auris stepped in, Jian hopping in hastily after her, still looking at her curiously. “I learned quite a few things.”

“Like what?”

“Like when she thought no one’s watching, she relaxed her vigilance enough for us to hide bugs in a high-security office.” Smirking, Auris couldn’t keep the satisfied tone out of her voice. “And that she wanted time to figure out where she’s going to go, stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

***

Rein glanced twice down the hall before darting across, using her special access to enter the office without knocking.

“Rein?” Fate looked up from her work, smiling before looking concerned at Rein’s twitchy demeanour. “Something wrong?”

Flying closer, Rein perched on the edge of Fate’s folders. Fate pulled her briefcase up and laid it on her desk, offering Rein a more comfortable seat. Flitting over, Rein fidgeted, running her hands along her new seat.

“Do you want something to dri—”

Rein exhaled, “Hayate’s-having-some-trouble.”

Fate blinked, then tapped a few keys on her computer. Rein recognized the code for office security, and she saw spell-lights appear along Fate’s office walls. Some of them weren’t ones she recognized—Enforcer-grade ones, Rein guessed. Fate closed all of her monitors and turned to give Rein her full attention. “What kind of trouble is Hayate in?”

Rein hesitated slightly, the old urge to obey her master at any cost ghosting into her mind for a moment before she shook her head, banishing it impatiently. She knew that Hayate wouldn’t want to worry her friends, but Rein couldn’t keep silent. Her other ancient compulsion (one that she still enthusiastically followed of her own will) was to protect her master from all danger. Even the dangers Hayate refused to see.

“Fate-san…” Rein rubbed her face. “Do you know Director Aspen Narang?”

“The new Ground Forces Intelligence director?” Fate frowned. “Is he putting pressure on Hayate for siding with the Navy intelligence?”

“You know why she did that, right?” Rein asked nervously.

Fate grimaced, scratching her head. “Um…yeah. I, uh, had to explain to Nanoha my guesses why Hayate chose to support Director Gaiz. Even if I didn’t like it when Chrono was head of the NSIS, at least Hayate could trust that he’ll do what’s best overall. And that he won’t, uh…”

“Possibly stab her in the back?” Rein piped up.

“Director Gaiz might have her own agenda which Hayate might want to watch out for,” Fate said, ironically diplomatic. “So is Hayate getting heat from the Ground Forces superiors because she decided to work the case as overseer of the NSIS instead of as Chief of City Defense?”

Rein sighed in relief. “I knew you’d know without me having to say.”

“I guessed.” Sighing, Fate rocked back in her chair, putting a hand to her forehead. “That’s not all, right? There’s more.”

Chewing her lip, Rein rose, pacing back and forth across Fate’s desk nervously. “There’s nothing openly said…but Hayate got a message from the mayor hinting that…that she should follow her heart and show leniency for Raven. And you know, the mayor was elected after the Scaglietti incident, and so his policy is one of rehabilitation and clemency…”

Fate winced. “So he doesn’t want an eleven-year old girl to be imprisoned for killing her parents’ murderers. Is he bringing my name into it?”

Sorrowfully, Rein had to nod, tearing up. “I’m sorry, Fate-san.”

“No, it’s alright…it’s to be expected.” Fate took a breath. “What else?”

“None of this is official, but Hayate got word that a lot of Council members are split over what to do about the Gallant case…” Rein sighed, and Fate offered her a hand in comfort. “Some of them think that it’s important to show people that killing TSAB officers will result in severe punishments to keep the rest of us safe…but other people want to show mercy to the girl.”

“Oh,” Fate said softly, her red eyes incredibly sad. “And I think that most of the ones who are asking for mercy are our friends?”

“Yes,” Rein mourned, crying. “But I’m afraid that Hayate will have to do something she doesn’t want in order to make everything work out.”

Spoiler for Author's Note:

The details of Shadow training were all made up by me, and are not canon in RadiantBeam's Shadowverse. She's just kind enough to let me borrow the Shadows for my story .

So you're posting this in bits and pieces, eh? Nice, very nice. Builds up the suspense quite well.

Interestingly, I had no idea Raven was so young. o_o Ouch. Now I'm starting to understand why this case has so many people split down the middle with how to handle it. On one hand she murdered in cold blood, including an NSIS agent, but on the other hand she's only a child and was traumatized by the loss of her family... oh, line, thin line you're walking there, Hayate.

It's a small thing, but I liked the observation that Hayate never rode Chrono like this when he was director because she knew she could trust him, compared to Auris. It's a tiny thing, but it explains a lot of her actions.

And hey.... it's always darkest just before dawn, right?

[Tabasco]

I think one of the things I liked about the Shadowverse is we see just how cunning and manipulative Hayate can be when she sees the need.

I mean come on, running the entire investigation black would be a normal response to a case this potentially explosive, but to precisely time the information leaks in order to get the public response she wants? That's something else. I'm looking forward to more.

[RadiantBeam]

Honestly, I can't remember which one of us brought up the idea of Hayate sort of being Chrono's "angel on the shoulder" as far as the Shadows and the NSIS go, Dezo or me.... it just seemed to fit her extremely well.

[deathcurse]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

So you're posting this in bits and pieces, eh? Nice, very nice. Builds up the suspense quite well.

Interestingly, I had no idea Raven was so young. o_o Ouch. Now I'm starting to understand why this case has so many people split down the middle with how to handle it. On one hand she murdered in cold blood, including an NSIS agent, but on the other hand she's only a child and was traumatized by the loss of her family... oh, line, thin line you're walking there, Hayate.

It's a small thing, but I liked the observation that Hayate never rode Chrono like this when he was director because she knew she could trust him, compared to Auris. It's a tiny thing, but it explains a lot of her actions.

And hey.... it's always darkest just before dawn, right?

Ah, good on the Chrono bit...I was worried that Hayate might seem too callous, making so many of her hard decisions seemingly without much cause . It's good to know that some of her reasons are visible .

But what kind of person is Hayate, alone in the dark?

Originally Posted by Tabasco

I think one of the things I liked about the Shadowverse is we see just how cunning and manipulative Hayate can be when she sees the need.

I mean come on, running the entire investigation black would be a normal response to a case this potentially explosive, but to precisely time the information leaks in order to get the public response she wants? That's something else. I'm looking forward to more.

I've always been fascinated with the idea of the "cold higher-ups" even if you consider that Lindy and Chrono are technically "higher ups" too (Gil Grahem is a more clear-cut example). So then I got thinking...what if Hayate was promoted up to becoming one of those higher-ups too? How would she deal with it? RB already explored the differences between TSAB mentality and the heroic mentality that people like Nanoha have, and so I wanted to test that one step further--a hero having to choose between the two (or come up with creative solutions ).

[RadiantBeam]

Short post is short, but to the point.

Basically, for personal reasons, I've decided to step down from co-writing "Day" with Nanya. He has permission to continue on with it by himself, without my input or help. Thank you to everyone who has followed the story so far, and I wish Nanya the best of luck in continuing on with it.

[Fuyu no Sora]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

Short post is short, but to the point.

Basically, for personal reasons, I've decided to step down from co-writing "Day" with Nanya. He has permission to continue on with it by himself, without my input or help. Thank you to everyone who has followed the story so far, and I wish Nanya the best of luck in continuing on with it.

I'm personally rather curious about why you're stepping down, but since you said it's for personal reasons, then I'll refrain from asking. Still, it was fun to read while it lasted. A great salute to you, RB, for having given us a great story while you co-wrote it with Nanya. *salutes*

[00-Raiser]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

Short post is short, but to the point.

Basically, for personal reasons, I've decided to step down from co-writing "Day" with Nanya. He has permission to continue on with it by himself, without my input or help. Thank you to everyone who has followed the story so far, and I wish Nanya the best of luck in continuing on with it.

Well if that's what you've decided on, we'll all support your choice. It's sad when your favourite band breaks up, but who knows, maybe we'll have a Nanya and RB reunion tour sometime in the future?

[Kaijo]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

Short post is short, but to the point.

Basically, for personal reasons, I've decided to step down from co-writing "Day" with Nanya. He has permission to continue on with it by himself, without my input or help. Thank you to everyone who has followed the story so far, and I wish Nanya the best of luck in continuing on with it.

Life is ever changing, and our paths wind all over the place. Sometimes, two paths will part, and such is life. The time is never lost or meaningless, though, as long as you take what you've learned and apply it while moving forward. That's all any of us can ever do.

Here's hoping your path continues to shape itself favorably for you. If not, you still have plenty of friends who are willing to help where they can. ^_^

[spawnofthejudge]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

Honestly, I can't remember which one of us brought up the idea of Hayate sort of being Chrono's "angel on the shoulder" as far as the Shadows and the NSIS go, Dezo or me.... it just seemed to fit her extremely well.

Hey! Don't rob me of my only good contribution!

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by spawnofthejudge

Hey! Don't rob me of my only good contribution!

Ah, crap. I'm sorry about that, Spawn. Forgive me? *hugs*

And thank you everyone, for understanding. It helps a lot.

[deathcurse]

Originally Posted by spawnofthejudge

Hey! Don't rob me of my only good contribution!

Ah, was that yours? I suppose I'd better ask for your permission too, as I'm using the plotline that Hayate's the overseer of the NSIS for Crime Never Sleeps ...

[sniperk]

Updates on FF.net

Cards And Devices - Ch 13

Decisions - Ch 02

@RadiantBeam
I just hope I wasn't the last drop in your decision to do this. Nevertheless, I'm still one of your biggest fans, and I'm SO looking forward to see more from you.

[DezoPenguin]

Damn, time for another BACKLOG BREAKER!

Originally Posted by deathcurse

This is a plot-bunny I've been working on for the last while, so I decided to post the first bit as a teaser in order to motivate myself to actually finish it soon .

Borrowing RadiantBeam's Shadows/NSIS concept, I've thrown Auris Gaiz in as the new Director of the NSIS, who's been partnered up with Hayate to deal with a case that has the TSAB and the city of Cranagan split down the middle...

Crime Never Sleeps
Part 1

*snip*

Ah, so you've started in on this one! Great opening sequence; I like the political back-and-forth (I love the way the Ground Forces Intelligence leader is so confused and angry over Hayate's decision--particularly since Hayate herself used to be an investigator for the Ground Forces pre-StrikerS*)

Spoiler for Natter about Hayate's career path:

*Which brings me to one of the weirdest things about Force; while the StrikerS manga says that Hayate was going to go back to Investigations post-JS Incident as she believed it showed that she wasn't ready for a command position (which, ironically, should make the Military, Authority, and Decisions thread happy, since Hayate is here acknowledging her mistakes in handling the JS Incident in canon!)--in Force she's ended up as the chief of Naval investigations--that is, she's switched service branches on us!

(Though she *is* from Earth, so it's possible that she just acknowledges that NCIS is simply that much cooler! )

I also love Auris's confusion about Hayate's decisions, Hayate's sneakiness overall, and how Auris has concluded that Hayate must be scared of her growing authority. If Auris is still anything like her "somewhat reluctant but ultimately behind her father" self of StrikerS, or even growing to drop the "reluctant" out of there due to her increasing age and hence decaying idealism, then there may be a point there. Unlike Chrono, who balanced the necessity of covert ops pragmatism with the honor and idealism of the TSAB ethos and deeply felt the weight of the conflict between the two, Auris is clearly more into the "pragmatic" and less into the "ideals," a major headache for the Intelligence Oversight Subcommittee and anybody in the TSAB bureaucracy who believes in decency and the rule of law.

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

And here we go! After a long while, chapter 3 of Sisters... because if nothing else, writing has never been the one thing that's failed me, or the one thing I've doubted.

Spoiler for Sisters, chapter 3:

*snip*

A lot of framework and foreshadowing in this chapter, mostly because I'm starting to set some things into motion and develop some points.

Spoiler for Long comments are long:

Yes, much framework! Honestly, I didn't realize just how complex this story was going to end up being--I didn't even have a clue that there was going to be a Fate-centric subplot (with her investigating the serial killer on one hand and a HayaFate romance issue on the other) here. The "conspiracy" continues to be opaque in the extreme, and I can only wonder what they're really up to, and more importantly what the killer (the little glimpses of him--presumably he's Chris, but who knows--definitely show him as being waaaay out there in crazy-land...) can do to further them. There's a little bit of ViCia/Shadows!Chrono leaking in to this one, since he's willing to use Miyuki, apparently, as potential bait (and it's no surprise that he'd notice the similarity--I think we'd all notice if a victim profile of a serial killer case matched a close family friend, particularly if we were the one investigating it).

Hayate's section was the most surprising of the lot--I presume that you mean that she uses the "I got a confession/gift/love letter" as a conversation starter with Fate to make Fate pay attention to her for a second with "love" on her mind?

For Miyuki's part, I note that you inserted a few of the things that we discussed a few months back. That was a nice moment of Author's Saving Throw, where potential "wallbangers" about the nature of Intelligent Device repair instead become a way to emphasize that Miyuki, as a nonmagical new arrival, doesn't yet really understand the "rules" of Midchilda and helps to emphasize her feelings of isolation...which in turn might make her cling closer to Nanoha. Since she basically made this move strictly for Nanoha's sake, I'm not surprised that her feelings are starting to more openly turn to a romantic sort of devotion...and knowing how you love the angst, I'm expecting the whole question of incestuous love to be played out with a full slate of emotional torment on both sides (especially since earlier chapters suggested that Nanoha might not, herself, be opposed to that particular direction of thought, either). And of course, with Misato brought in, it highlights that Nanoha and Miyuki are in fact, Not Blood Siblings.

In conclusion, the cry goes up: MORE!

Originally Posted by Tabasco

I think one of the things I liked about the Shadowverse is we see just how cunning and manipulative Hayate can be when she sees the need.

I mean come on, running the entire investigation black would be a normal response to a case this potentially explosive, but to precisely time the information leaks in order to get the public response she wants? That's something else. I'm looking forward to more.

I always love PoliticallyAwareManipulator!Hayate, myself. I've always felt that the best thing about the Mistress of the Book of Darkness is that what really makes her scary has nothing to do with her magical powers, but her brain.

Vita: I'm sure Signum would agree after being forced to wear that dragon-girl outfit for the last Comiket.

Originally Posted by Fuyu no Sora

I'm personally rather curious about why you're stepping down, but since you said it's for personal reasons, then I'll refrain from asking. Still, it was fun to read while it lasted. A great salute to you, RB, for having given us a great story while you co-wrote it with Nanya. *salutes*

*wave* Hi, good as always to see you drop by!

Originally Posted by spawnofthejudge

Hey! Don't rob me of my only good contribution!

Originally Posted by deathcurse

Ah, was that yours? I suppose I'd better ask for your permission too, as I'm using the plotline that Hayate's the overseer of the NSIS for Crime Never Sleeps ...

Yep. "The Deep Shadow of Chrono Harlaown" was the fic. Don't miss it, because it adds a lot to Chrono's characterization in the Shadows series, particularly if you're going to be using Auris as kind of a dark-side-of-the-mirror version of Chrono. My Chrono in "Shadows Fall," quite frankly, had too many sharp edges to him, and spawn rounded off both those edges and the character as a whole, while deepening his depiction and making him more of a natural development of his canon self. I'm a lot happier with the way I have Chrono in "The Shadows We Cast," and it's spawn's version of him that RadiantBeam and I have made into the NSIS director in the ViCia/Shadows stories. (Personally, I consider "The Deep Shadow..." to be an official part of the series.)

[deathcurse]

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

Damn, time for another BACKLOG BREAKER!

Ah, so you've started in on this one! Great opening sequence; I like the political back-and-forth (I love the way the Ground Forces Intelligence leader is so confused and angry over Hayate's decision--particularly since Hayate herself used to be an investigator for the Ground Forces pre-StrikerS*)

Spoiler for Natter about Hayate's career path:

*Which brings me to one of the weirdest things about Force; while the StrikerS manga says that Hayate was going to go back to Investigations post-JS Incident as she believed it showed that she wasn't ready for a command position (which, ironically, should make the Military, Authority, and Decisions thread happy, since Hayate is here acknowledging her mistakes in handling the JS Incident in canon!)--in Force she's ended up as the chief of Naval investigations--that is, she's switched service branches on us!

(Though she *is* from Earth, so it's possible that she just acknowledges that NCIS is simply that much cooler! )

Yeah, thanks for your help in the details ! I suppose I should have mentioned all the help you gave me on it in my first post, sorry, my bad !

Yeah, I give Hayate's SIB past a nod in Part 2, but you're right in the natter part: She switched military branches? Weird! I'll really regret that she went back to investigations, I always found the career choices of the 3 Aces interesting in how they differed from each other: Nanoha went into teaching, Fate investigations and Hayate ultimately into command.

I also love Auris's confusion about Hayate's decisions, Hayate's sneakiness overall, and how Auris has concluded that Hayate must be scared of her growing authority. If Auris is still anything like her "somewhat reluctant but ultimately behind her father" self of StrikerS, or even growing to drop the "reluctant" out of there due to her increasing age and hence decaying idealism, then there may be a point there. Unlike Chrono, who balanced the necessity of covert ops pragmatism with the honor and idealism of the TSAB ethos and deeply felt the weight of the conflict between the two, Auris is clearly more into the "pragmatic" and less into the "ideals," a major headache for the Intelligence Oversight Subcommittee and anybody in the TSAB bureaucracy who believes in decency and the rule of law.

I'm always laughing as I write Auris speculating on what Hayate's up to , since Hayate being so cheery and seemingly open and frank about her emotions always messes up Auris' thoughts . Something I'm not exploring as deeply is how Auris feels about Hayate, her father's enemy, essentially taking over her dead father's position.....For Hayate, it also makes her wary of Auris, since Auris would know the ins and outs of what her new position entails, being her father's assistant and all. Plots inside plots inside plots! It's too bad that this story has a limited scope--I'd love to take Auris further on other cases, just to see what kind of results her pragmatism would bring ^^, but I wouldn't want to overstay my welcome in RB's Shadowverse !

Yep. "The Deep Shadow of Chrono Harlaown" was the fic. Don't miss it, because it adds a lot to Chrono's characterization in the Shadows series, particularly if you're going to be using Auris as kind of a dark-side-of-the-mirror version of Chrono. My Chrono in "Shadows Fall," quite frankly, had too many sharp edges to him, and spawn rounded off both those edges and the character as a whole, while deepening his depiction and making him more of a natural development of his canon self. I'm a lot happier with the way I have Chrono in "The Shadows We Cast," and it's spawn's version of him that RadiantBeam and I have made into the NSIS director in the ViCia/Shadows stories. (Personally, I consider "The Deep Shadow..." to be an official part of the series.)

I've read all the Shadowsverse fics , but it's been a while, so the details of who came up with what blur in my mind a little . Sorry spawn!

One thing RB asked me that I didn't have an answer for was "Why was Chrono replaced by Auris as Director of the NSIS?". If anyone has an answer for that it'll be great , it wasn't essential for my story so I hand-waved that, but I must admit, I'm curious myself ...

[sniperk]

Originally Posted by deathcurse

One thing RB asked me that I didn't have an answer for was "Why was Chrono replaced by Auris as Director of the NSIS?". If anyone has an answer for that it'll be great , it wasn't essential for my story so I hand-waved that, but I must admit, I'm curious myself ...

I hope my take on the Shadowverse doesn't have anything to do with it... Who am I kidding, it would be an honor if it had!

[deathcurse]

Originally Posted by sniperk

I hope my take on the Shadowverse doesn't have anything to do with it... Who am I kidding, it would be an honor if it had!

I did read it, and I hope you don't mind me stealing the idea that Hayate sometimes asks Lutecia to run special missions for her from you? ^^

Ah, sorry, did you throw in some Chrono controversy?

[sniperk]

Originally Posted by deathcurse

I did read it, and I hope you don't mind me stealing the idea that Hayate sometimes asks Lutecia to run special missions for her from you? ^^

Ah, sorry, did you throw in some Chrono controversy?

Actually the idea that Hayate used Lutecia I had it stolen from RB before so...

About Chrono, I just used a little passage to foreshadow him not wanting the job anymore, of course, in it's earliest stages.