[mega1987]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Try to not froth at the mouth too much...

StrikerS 1-35

StrikerS 36

StrikerS 37

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - StrikerS 38:

A little later...

Stretching as she stood up, Hayate groaned as her back popped softly. "Well, I have to admit, I was surprised that Zest finally joined us, but his reasons make sense at least."

"Indeed," Reinforce smiled as she walked behind Hayate. "Though, I wish it was under better circumstances that he wished to join us. Although..."

"Excuse me," Reinforce blinked as she was interrupted by one of the staff members.

"Yes?" Reinforce looked at the girl, who couldn't be any older than seventeen at the most.

She smiled at them a bit nervously, "well, uh, you wanted to know if that weird signal appeared again, and it seems like one just formed outside of Cranagan."

Hayate frowned softly. "Probably another red herring. Who's supposed to cover it this time?" She asked, sighing heavily and wishing that she didn't have to send people to go check it out.

"That is, ah..." The girl blushed heavily and looked down, "anyone who can are well, the trainers and, ah..."

"I'll go."

"Reinforce?" Hayate turned to the taller device, blinking owlishly. "Are you sure?"

"If it is just a red herring, then at least we won't waste anyone's time," Reinforce smiled at her, "if it's something more dangerous, I can handle it. But, I'll take Zafira along with me."

Hayate slowly nodded at that, it sounded reasonable. "Sure, just... Be careful, okay?"

"Aren't I always?" Reinforce asked rhetorically as she walked away.

Watching Reinforce leave, Hayate's pupils shrank and an utterly cold feeling came over her chest. Closing her eyes, Hayate wondered what that was. Opening them again, she reached towards Reinforce, only to see that she was no longer in the hallway. "...Is it natural to have a sudden cold feeling wash over you?"

"I'm not sure, maybe you should ask Shamal when she gets back?" The staff member said, chuckling softly, "also, Captain Takamachi wishes to speak to you about allowing a couple of family members stay here for a couple of weeks."

Hayate blinked in confusion. 'Why would Nanoha-chan's family need to stay here?' Still, it couldn't hurt to find out what was going on.

(---)

Elsewhere in an undisclosed location...

A small body slowly made its way through an underground passage, her hands were chained to a single box as she tried to walk forward, her unchained hand was pressed against a wall as she, dressed in a dirty shirt, no shoes or socks, tried to move forward. Her breathing was ragged as she stumbled forward. Looking up, she saw a ladder and tried to climb up. Her whole body hurt and was numb and she wasn't sure why she was down here. All she wanted to do was get out and find someone.

As she got to the top, she pushed the grate out of the way and climbed out of the hole into the air. "Mama..." She whined, wondering where her mother was.

"Woah!" A voice spoke up, startling her and causing her to spin around, gasping at the person. She didn't recognize the person, but he had short red hair, purple eyes and didn't look that much older than she was. "Are you playing hide and seek too?" She shook her head and whimpered as he moved close to her. "My name's Arashi, what's yours?"

"Vivio..." The girl whimpered before her eyes rolled up into her head and she fell to the ground, out cold.

"Wagh!" Arashi grabbed the girl and shook her. "Hey! Come on! You're not supposed to fall down when you play hide and seek! It makes it too easy to find you!"

"There you are!" Caro cried out as she found Arashi. "You shouldn't... Who's that?" Behind her, Erio and Fried popped their heads out, looking at the situation.

"Why are you copying Fate-san and Yuuno-san?!" Erio pointed at Arashi with a shaky finger. "I knew that something was up! Grandma taught all her kids how to find people and take them home with them, didn't she?!"

"Kuuuuu..." Shockingly, Fried actually fell out of the air and slammed his face to the ground, groaning not only at Erio's statement, but the fact that Caro was agreeing with him.

"Nah uh!" Arashi stood up and pointed at Erio, "she just came up and then fell asleep!"

Erio blinked and looked at Caro. "Think we should call back to base?" Caro shrugged and blinked as Arashi grabbed a case and was trying to open it. "Hey! Arashi, you shouldn't..." She trailed off as the case opened and a large metal ring hovered out of the case. "...Erio-kun, call the base, I think we've got something weird here."

Erio nodded and tapped his wrist watch. "Hey, Subaru-san, Teana-san, think you can come to where we are? I think something weird's going on here."

"Not a problem, we were kind of bored anyway."

Erio then punched a call back to base. "Excuse me, is anyone available right now?"

"Eh? Erio, what's wrong?"

"Captain Vita-san, ah..." Erio wasn't afraid of Vita, he was just surprised to hear her pick up the communication link.

"I'm not that scary, Erio. Is something the matter?" Vita's voice was rather amused as she spoke to him.

"Well, ah, Nanoha-san's brother found a girl, and..."

"You know, I think there must be something to that family, picking up girls at his age? Even I'm not that bad."

Erio's face went completely red and he shook his head. "No! It's not like that! He found her in an alleyway and she had some sort of box strapped to her wrist and there's this floating weird ring and..."

"Alright, calm down, Nanoha and I will head out there in a few minutes, we'll be arriving by helicopter. Is the girl okay?"

"She's out cold, but I don't think she has a family, she looks like an orphan."

"Alright, we'll bring her and the ring back here. Vita out."

Erio nodded and turned off his communicator as he looked at Arashi, Caro, the girl and then at the ring. "...This is going to get bad, isn't it?"

Caro nodded and looked at Erio. "Um, Erio-kun, where's your spear?"

"Huh?" The boy blinked before tapping his watch. "Shari-san and Mary-san were able to get this device to work with my spear finally, so I don't have to carry it around everywhere."

(---)

Grinning at the screen, Levi leaned back in her chair. "Quattro, make sure that you send enough of your sisters out to keep them busy."

'Yes, master.' Levi smirked as she pressed a few more buttons, causing a new screen to appear, revealing Kuma, Amitie and Kyrie as they rode in the car.

"Hello, you three, I hope that you're well." Levi smiled at them. "I have a little job for you today."

"Is it messy?" Kyrie asked, fidgeting in the back seat. "I mean, messy jobs are always so gross and..."

"Only if you want it to be." Levi smirked at them. "Not too long from now, there's going to be a little... Problem in the city proper, I'll send you some coordinates in a little bit. Deal with it as you see fit, but I need you to keep the Riot Force busy and distracted for me."

Amitie nodded at her. "Very well, leave us the coordinates and we shall deal with it. Anything we should know?"

"You'll be working with some cyborgs, Kuma's worked with some of them before." Levi grinned as she sent them some information before turning the screen off. "Now for my role in all of this." Laughing softly, she disappeared in a swirl of darkness. There was no need to wait any longer, everything was almost in place.

(---)

Several minutes later...

"Is this the place?" Zafira asked as he and Reinforce, both of whom were out in the country, as they looked at some caves.

Nodding at the blue wolf, Reinforce walked inside. "Yes, the scanners are getting the strongest signal from these caves here." Turning off the device, she and Zafira walked into the cave. As they walked in, the light quickly left the cave, though it wasn't a problem, as Reinforce merely held her hand up and a sphere of light snapped into being. "I don't know what I was expecting."

"Bats, perhaps?" Zafira asked as they moved deeper into the cave. "...Reinforce, does it feel like the darkness is moving with us?"

Turning to look at him, Reinforce had a confused look on her face, that turned to shock and horror as she saw that the shadows were moving. "Zafira! Look out!" She snapped her left hand forward, a black beam of magic lancing out and carving into the darkness.

Growling, Zafira shifted into his human form and curled his fingers, energy building up before he lashed out. A grim smile came to his face as his attack tore into the shadows with ease. "I guess there was something to worry about."

"Don't let your guard down." Reinforce said as she blasted at the shadows. The next thing that she knew, one of the shadow tendrils snapped around her neck and pulled her back, causing her to groan in pain.

"Reinforce!" Zafira turned to her, only for a body to form between him and Reinforce. "You!" His eyes widened in shock as he stared at who it was in front of him. "You're supposed to be ARRRRGH!" He screamed as she held out a hand and fire, point blank, a powerful red blast that sent him flying back against the wall hard, before he fell to the ground, twitching in pain.

"Dead? Yes, I get that a lot." Smirking, she turned to Reinforce, who had just broke free of the tendril around her neck. "Yes, I like this."

Reinforce paused and turned, her face paling. "A...Alicia Testarossa..?"

"It's LEVI now!" Levi narrowed her eyes as dark tendrils snaked around Reinforce's arms and legs, pulling her down. "But you'll learn soon enough." She chuckled as the shadow tendrils forced their way into Reinforce's mouth and down her throat. "Oh, you'll learn... So well." Levi threw her head back and laughed as lighting coursed through Reinforce's body, eliciting screams of pain from the device as her body jerked. Turning around and ignoring Reinforce's screams, Levi walked up to Zafira and put her hands on his shoulders. "I know you're still awake... Or alive, I'm not sure, so..." Her eyes flashed as she started pouring dark energy into his body, a gleeful look came to her face as he screamed from the pain that was searing him down to the bones. "I guarantee you, Zafira, that I'm a lot tougher than my clone thought I was. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

After several minutes, when he could no longer scream, Levi pulled back, smiling as she saw Zafira's smoking body. "That's that for you." Turning, she grinned as she saw Reinforce slumped, out cold. "As for you," she smiled as her tendrils were sucked back into her body, depositing Reinforce onto her shoulder. Putting an arm over Reinforce's back, Levi started to walk deeper into the cave. "You and I, Reinforce, are going to be... Such close friends." She laughed as she disappeared with the silver-haired unison device.

Me: You don't hold back on those cliffs and suspense do ya, Nanya?

Odin: Levi, Levi, Levi. *shook head* Nice knowing you, I'll award you with a darwin's award after a few dragon slave level spells vap your ass.

Me: *looks at Odin.* You're already jumping on the award? You can't be serious!?

Odin: Sirus and Riksfalto haven't left Mid-Childa yet as far the the story state. No doubt that they too will investigate the source.

Me: Oh boy. And now I'm the person who's asking somebody to ignore you, Odin. *sweatdrops.*

Mariemeia: Like I care about what Odin's have to say. I want MORE of this!!!!

Me:-_-"