It was a tense stand-off, or rather, it would have been tense if a redheaded woman with mis-matching eyes holding off a blond-haired, red-eyed girl with an axe and a redheaded wolf girl with one hand wasn't so preposterous that it bordered on hilarious.
"Now, are we going to be a good little girl and calm down and talk, or am I going to have to teach you a lesson about fighting your betters?" Lina Takamachi grinned at Fate, who flew backwards, a magic circle appeared under her as she charged up several magic attacks.
"Mother!" Nanoha called out as Lina let go of Arf before kicking her away.
"Nanoha, be a dear and keep that mutt out of this." Lina turned away from them as she focused on Fate. "Well then, how about we have a nice little... Bomb Di Wind!"
Fate's eyes widened as a MASSIVE hurricane force wind crashed into her body with enough force to send her flying, literally, hundreds of feet away, even with her barrier up, she couldn't keep herself from being blown back from the force.
Lina sighed. She didn't need to use the names for the attacks anymore, not since that fight all those years ago. 'Lady, are you really so fickle?' She twitched as her left eye throbbed softly. 'I guess you are.'
"Fate!" Arf yelled from her position under pink and green binds. "Let me go!" Arf growled at Yuuno and Nanoha, both of whom where rather stunned from that one attack.
"Stop your worrying." Lina rolled her eyes at the wolf girl. "She'll be fine, maybe a little shaken up and she might need a change of underwear, but she's just fine." Lina then tapped her chin in thought. "Well, unless she crashes through a few trees, ends up tangled in vines and finally crashes into a bee hive."
"Uh..."
"What?" Lina looked at the three children looking at her as if she was crazy. "Have you never had to deal with bee stings when those guys are pissed?" She shuddered at the memories. "Not as bad as the time my sister left me out in the rain covered in slugs, but still pretty bad." She jumped away as several lightning strikes hit where she had been moments before. "Huh, looks like she recovered pretty fast." Lina looked up to see a panting Fate looking down at her. Shaking her head, Lina wondered if it was in her blood to have her family attacked by people who were crazy.
Fate wasn't surprised as the woman flew up to look her in the eyes. "I won't let..."
"Let what? Let me get away with attacking you? Let me interfere with you attacking my daughter?" Lina raised an eyebrow as a sphere of fire appeared in the palm of her hand. "Or let me win?"
Fate flew back as the fireball was tossed at her at high speed. She blinked as the woman smirked at her before looking up and gasping as the fireball twist and turn in mid air before coming back down at her. Throwing her shield up, she grunted as it crashed with impressive force, the explosion, heat and power that happened from that was just as impressive. Miraculously, her barrier held and left her winded from the effort. "I...Impossible."
"I suggest that you stop." She turned to look at the woman, who was holding two more spheres of deadly fire in her hands. "If I was sixteen, you'd have a very good chance, heck, you might be able to beat me with some luck, but," Lina disappeared and reappeared in front of Fate, her knife at the blond girl's neck, "I've gotten more experience since then, and due to certain events, kiddo, there's not much you can do."
Fate gulped slightly, before blinking as the woman smiled at her and put her dagger away. "...What?"
"What's going to happen is that we're going to set down, go back to the hotel where we're staying and talk about everything."
Something about the way her eyes glinted and the grin on her face had Fate nodding in haste as the two of them floated to the ground.
"FATE!" Arf yelled as the binds were released. She ran to the little blond and hugged her before glaring at Lina. "You..."
"Shut up." Lina scoffed at the familiar. "Nanoha, honey..."
"Yes?"
Lina smiled at her and the ferret. "I hope you two learned something from that, I'm going to train the hell out of you in magic after this."
The way they gulped was music to her ears.