Saturday, August, 8, MC 0075
8:10 P.M.
Everyone was silent as the Raven flew along the night sky, heading to its destination. Everyone knew what was happening, everyone hoped that all of them would come back out alive. Satoshi was well aware of the situation, and he too was staying silent. He looked at everyone inside the helicopter, closely watching their movements. The Major and Captain Stada were staring at the sky, wondering about something. From the small opening, he could see Scuderia, piloting the very same helicopter that nearly was destroyed last time, seriousness on his face. Looking on the other squad, he could see Arvis using his magic style in very small amounts, making some small marbles float. Lian was spinning one of her Devices around on her index finger. Anne was busy loading and reloading her own Device for any defects, checking to see if anything went wrong. Nobuyuki was sleeping, as always.
Looking away at everyone to see the sky for a few seconds, he turned back to see his own squad. Vincent was looking at the floor, seemingly in deep thought. Satsuki was also looking at the floor, taking quick glances at Vincent from time to time. Margaret had her glasses off, placing them on her lap, staring at them. Looking towards Sydney, he could see her holding both of her Devices in their sealed forms, giving a sigh before closeing her hand. Something in his head made him stare at the pendant that Sydney gave to him a while ago, still thinking about what in the world did he see.
“Hey, at least this thing’s back on the air, right?” Scuderia shouted out, breaking the silence. Satoshi quickly noticed it, and he hit one of the panels hard. “Let’s see if you can keep it that way now.”
“Cut me some slack, man. I could easily drop you off here out in the sky.” Scuderia retorted.
“Fine, I’ll meet you there, then.” Everyone gave a smile and a small chuckle, at least, and then the Major started to give out the mission objectives.
“Alright then, reports have indicated that Gadget Drones and Replica soldiers have been seen at a group of abandoned building clustered together near the outskirts of the city. Other units have sealed the perimeter, so there’s no worry about the escaping.”
“So, it’s a ‘go in, clear out, go home’ type of mission?” Arvis asked. “Sounds easy enough.”
“What’s the plan, then?” Anne added, knocking Nobuyuki out of his sleep with a well-placed elbow.
“There’s three wings on the complex: the west, north, and east wings. The southern part of the complex is where your squad is going to land, Anne. Your job is to go to the north wing and clear it out.” Turning over to Satoshi, he continued. “Satoshi, you and your squad are landing on the north wing’s roof first; your job is to clear out any opposition on the rooftops, then search the west wing.”
“And what about you two?” Vincent asked. “You gonna stay in this helicopter and sit your butts off?”
“No, we’re actually doing something today. I’m landing with you, Captain Stada’s landing with them; either way, we’re clearing out the east wing for you. How’s that sound?”
“Perfect.”
Scuderia interrupted the Major, saying, “We’re near the complex. I suggest everyone get ready.”
In a flash, everybody was ready to fight, just waiting to actually land and get this over with. “Hey, you don’t think…?” Lian said, apparently worried about something. “What is it you’re worried about?” Satsuki asked.
“Those Numbers everyone’s talking about; I wonder if they’re there?”
“You mean the ones that tried to take down RF6’s helicopter a while ago?” Scuderia answered. “Those ones, yeah.” Satoshi and Sydney had heard of them from Nanoha and Fate themselves. “Hey…” Sydney said to Satoshi telepathically, “you really think they’re there?”
“If they are, that’s gonna be a problem.”
“I see…”
“Well, let’s hope they’re not there.”
“I don’t think so. Why would they be here?” Anne answered. “It’s not like they don’t have any Relics or anything to steal.”
“That’s true.” Nobuyuki added. “Wish Scagletti himself would show up; I would like to give him one for all of this trouble before sending him to Haralown.”
“If he did, it’d make our job much more easier.” Rachel replied. “Unfortunately, that’s not the case.”
“Hey, cut the chatter. We’re almost there.” Scuderia finally said, and everyone went back to silence. “Over the complex in 5.” he added, before several shots zoomed in front of him from the right side. “Damn it, they’re firing on us…Blitz Stiker, get those Troikas firing now!”
“[Roger that, chief.]” The guns started firing at the small group bunched up on the right. Within seconds, most of them had either scattered or were already dead/ destroyed. The chopper hovered on top of the roof, ready to drop off its first occupants off. “Alright, let’s go. Remember, whatever you do, as long as you go with the plan, it’s okay by me.” the Major said before being the first one off. “Sky Squad, let’s move!” Satoshi yelled out, everyone jumping off the next second. The Raven flew off, preparing to drop off everyone else.
Meanwhile, the Major started clearing out the roof, taking out another group that was unlucky to get in front of his Needler spell. He turned around to see one Replica soldier start to aim at him. Quickly, he grabbed the unlucky soldier, and threw her into three others, knocking them down.
“Schenelles Feuer.” (Rapid Fire) Margaret said, letting a burst take out two Gadget Drones. Satsuki was already set up at the edge of the building, finding for any targets that could hurt the others. She found one sniper, and shot at the gun, taking it out of the sniper’s hands. Finding another, she disarmed that one, too.
“You guys…” Vincent said in an annoyed tone to another group of Replicas and Drones nearby, “you just have to wreck a perfectly good day to rest! Shell Bullet,
Blattform!(Bladeform!) Spatz Flieger (Sparrow Flyer)!” “[ich verstehe schon…]” (I get it…) Several projectiles went towards them, but only hit the Drones, disappearing into the distance and not even laying a scratch on the Replicas. Switching back to Faustform, he got into a sprinting position. “Sprinten sie Schnell (Quick Sprint).” he muttered before dashing towards all of them. “Schrotflinte Faust (Shotgun Fist)!” he yelled, firing a spread of projectiles that hit all of them. “Serves you right…”
Sydney and Satoshi were side-by-side, clearing out the rest of them from the roof. Taking out one of them easily, Sydney started to take out another two on the left of her, starting to fire. Their shots harmlessly went off into the air as two Shadow Blades struck them at the same time. Turning back to Satoshi, she saw that another one was aiming straight at him. “Satoshi, dive right!” she yelled, crouching down and aiming Equinox. “Ice Bullet…” A burst from Equinox a moment later, and the same Replica went down with all 4 hitting in the head. Satoshi dived right, rolling on his side and getting up. Looking back, he saw another Replica firing at him. “Mach Move.” he quietly said, quickly heading towards the Replica in a zigzag pattern. Trying to shoot him, it was in vain, as Satoshi stabbed her a second later, slashing horizontally and taking out the last Drone, unintentionally, in the process.
Seeing that the roof was clear, the Major called over to Rachel. “How are things on your end?”
“Not the best, but it’s better than nothing.” she replied, taking cover on a wall nearby. Trying to look out, she could see someone with something that looked like a gun emplacement before several scattered bullets hit another nearby, forcing her to get back to cover. On the right of her was the whole of Thunder Squad, also taking cover on another wall nearby. Amidst the fire, Rachel could see Nobuyuki mention something to Arvis. He nodded, then got out of cover, using his Shield spell to block all of the bullets going at him. A shot from Anne a second later silenced the emplacement permanently.
“Now we’re going in. See you there.” Starting to move in, more Replicas popped out of the surrounding buildings, firing at all of them while moving in. A couple of Shields from Arvis managed to stop them from getting turned into dead bodies again, while Lian prepared to take them all down. “Azura, let’s get to it.”
“[Gut (Got it.). Explosion.]” Lian wasted no time casting Bombenstoß (Bomblet Burst) and sending Azura to them. The little shards spread out, bursting just inches of the Replicas. As soon as the explosions occurred, Anne, Nobuyuki, and Rachel dashed out of cover and started to take out the remaining Replicas. Stabbing one in the back with the elbow blade, Rachel saw two more of them aiming at both Nobuyuki and Anne. “You two, move to cover!” she said quickly while quickly casting one of her spells. “False Cross…”
Two cartridges ejected out as Rachel threw the cross-shaped projectile at both of them. The spell did the trick as the two Replicas were concerned for the incoming projectile, unaware that several smaller ones were being hidden from sight. The smaller ones tore them up quickly, saving both Anne and Nobuyuki from taking some fire. “Geez, just because of two of these guys…” Nobuyuki said to her telepathically, extending his right arm while a black circle appeared below him, “…you have to leave yourself open to one.” Looking back, Rachel could see a lifeless body of a Replica hanging by shadows. The body let go of a small knife, intended to backstab her when she didn’t notice. “Thanks. Really.” she replied back telepathically, relieved.
“Just doing….” he replied back, taking down two other Replicas through his spears behind him while disarming and stabbing another one in the chest, “my job.” Three started to fire at him, but another barrage of his spears coupled with Shadow Pierce took care of all three quickly. Near his right, Arvis was taking on some other Replicas. With a pulling motion, he took one of their guns out of their hands and opened fire on each of them. Using his Shield power to defend himself, in a matter of seconds, he killed them all, dropping the gun to the ground. On his right was Lian, using Drahtfessel on her Device as a lethal yo-yo to cut up three of them.
Taking a second to look in the courtyard, everything was clear. Taking the opportunity, she reported to the Major. “Courtyard clear. We can move in, Major.”
“That’s good to hear. Alright, move out.” Turing to Sky Squad, he mentioned quietly to move into a rooftop door leading into the west wing. Nodding, Satoshi motioned everyone to go through first. Everyone understood what needed to be done, and moved there quickly. As they went in, the Major grabbed Satoshi on his shoulder before he went inside. “Be careful in there, boy.”
“Huh? Wha-“
“Don’t talk, just listen. I got a bad feeling about this whole mission, but I feel like there’s something there you don’t want to know about you.”
“What are you talking about?” Satoshi asked quickly, confused. “Just a feeling. It may be nothing anyway. Go, get with your squad.” As the Major saw him enter the door, though, something started to bother him. “If Sion’s here…we may have something on our hands…” he thought before heading to meet up with Rachel.
Saturday, August 8, MC 0075
8:31 P.M.
“Damn these small, splitting corridors. They’re good for work, but they’re deathtraps in situations like these.” Vincent said, sighing after that outburst. They had been in the west wing of the building, having been attacked by groups of tow Replicas at random times.
“Think about it this way: it’s a deathtrap for them, too.” Satoshi replied, smiling a bit.
“Yeah… if we could get them in here.”
“Come on, you two, let’s get focused here.” Sydney said to both of them, simultaneously casting Area Search in order to see if anyone else was about to give them a surprise. “No one’s showing up.” she said quietly, relieved.
“Bastards probably chickened out.” Vincent said in a cocky tone, grinning. “They don’t have the balls to face up after we kill some of them. I thin-.” An elbow from Margaret to the right side of his ribs shut him up quite nicely, and he staggered to the side a bit, clutching his right side. “Agh!” Turning he head, he saw Margaret looking towards the rest, a small grin on her face. “Damn Unison Device…” Getting up, he sighed and started to catch up with the rest. “
Why is Margaret with Satsuki anyway?” Vincent thought to himself.
“She doesn’t know Neo-Belka; Margaret can’t unison with her.” His thoughts were stopped again, this time because everyone else stopped.
“A two-way intersection…nice.” Satoshi said to everyone in a cynical tone. “Great. I never wanted to split up, anyway. Anyway, Cipher?”
“[Yeah, what is it?]” the Device said instantly. “Switch to Pix; I’m gonna need his ease of maneuverability.”
“[Roger that. Switching.]” In a flash, Pixy took over for Cipher, and his shotgun-like form was in Satoshi’s left hand while he guided with his right. “Here’s the deal: Syd, you take both Satsuki and Margaret and go to the right. Vince and I will take the left.”
“Gotcha.” Sydney said, looking at him. “Just be careful, alright?” she added, concerned.
“Aren’t I always?” Satoshi replied with a smile as he raised Pixy and took point, with Vincent following after him. Seeing him move into the corridor, she couldn’t help but think about what happened to him at this day. “I hope you’re right…”
Turning to Satsuki and Margaret, she said, “Anyway, Satsuki, Margaret, follow me.” Nodding, all of them went to the right.
Saturday, August 8, MC 0075
8:33 P.M.
“Boring so far…” Nobuyuki muttered to himself as both he and Anne were slowly walking, still cautious about any other attacks. “Just focus on what’s happening now.” Anne quickly replied, quickly closing what she thought as his whining. “Geez…fine, fine.” Ignoring her for a second, he called both Arvis and Lian, who were on the other side of the same floor. “So, how are you guys doing?”
“Not bad.” Arvis said, kicking the body of a Replica to see if she didn’t respond. “We ran into a couple of Replicas, but it was nothing we couldn’t handle.”
“Good, at least you guys got something to do.”
“Still, it’s not what I expect to be a time-killer. I-.” he replied before he suddenly went quiet.
“Hey, Arvis, ARVIS!” Nobuyuki yelled before Lian reported back. “Something’s happened, Arvis got knocked out. I don’t…”Lian said in desperation before continuing again, “know what’s going on, but- You’re-.” Nothing from her was heard after that. After calling out both of their names, Nobuyuki knew it was useless to do so. “Come on, they’re may be time left for them.” he said to Anne quickly, running to the place where both Arvis and Lian were. Getting to the entrance, Anne quickly went in, seeing both Arvis and Lian on the ground, unconscious, and a man in a black trenchcoat and sunglasses with a crimson sword trying to finish off Lian. Without time to even think, she shot off the sword out of his hand. Someone was waiting and ready, though, because a shot rang out, narrowly missing Anne’s head. Looking back, she realized that Nobuyuki was not inside; the door had closed shut.
Two others then came out of the shadows; one of them had a hooded cloak and was pointing a compact sniper rifle at her, her face impossible to discern, while the other was wearing a black coat and tinted glasses and had no Device of any sort. The one without the Device picking up the sword Anne had shot out, handing it back to the one in the black trenchcoat.
“Wait a minute…” she thought, knowing instantly that she had seen them before. “So, you’re the three I saw a while ago.” she said to them, pointing her own Device at all of them. “Who are you and what are you doing here? Are you with that Scagletti guy?”
“Heh, him?” The one in the trenchcoat replied, almost as if Anne’s question was a joke. “We don’t deal with freaks like him. We have another purpose on why we’re here.”
“Then why don’t you tell me before I start shooting?”
“Like I would.” The one in the trenchcoat mentioned the person without a Device to get back, then he prepared to fight with his sword. “Now…let’s see if you can live out of this.”
Anne stayed silent; she knew that she was very likely she wouldn’t leave through the room. But for the sake of Arvis and Lian, she had to survive, or at least let them live.
Nobuyuki, from the other side of the door, chuckled silently, for he knew that everything was going as intended. “As long they follow orders, she’ll be fine…as for Scagletti’s proposition, though, it might be fun to see Satoshi have his hands full…might as well see.” he thought as he started to leave.
Saturday, August 8 MC 0075
8:37 P.M.
“No one here…” Alexi muttered as he and Rachel moved into another room. For a while now, there was no resistance; it was like the whole place was empty. “Again and again; we probably stepped into the wrong building or something.” Rachel said, joking about their current situation.
As they walked along slowly, the Major said, “Where I lived, there exists a saying that the place is ‘quiet…too quiet’.”
“A trap?”
“Maybe…” Taking a few steps forward, a glint alerted Alexi that something was about to happen. He sidestepped out of the way as a couple of playing cards cut into the grund beneath him, disappearing as quickly as they came in. “Better for you to come out of the shadows yourself, Asteright, than for me to flush you out.”
“And where’s the fun in that?” Asteright dropped out from above, landing directly in front of the two. “I would have needed the exercise.” Shuffling the deck of cards in his hand, he then threw one between the Major and Rachel, into a wall behind them. “Oh well, at least both of you and I will have some fun today.” Suddenly, red orbs appeared, surrounding all three of them. They came out, with guns pointed at both the Major and Rachel. “Stealth Replicas. Nice way to make an ambush, don’t you think?”
Alexi said nothing, but noticing Rachel, he knew that she was going to try and attack him in the next second or two.
“Don’t try it.” he said to her telepathically. “Those guns will tear you to pieces.”
“But-He’s the one...”
“I know. Look, don’t get foolhardy and go in. Even with magic spells, numbers and the fact that we’re surrounded is more than enough. Let’s just see what he wants. Besides, if you go, I’ll have to go too. Remember, I already made your sister a promise. I’m gonna keep it to the end.”
Hesitating, she finally agreed to it after a second. “Good.” Focusing on Asteright, he then said, “So, let me guess, if we try to leave, we’ll get shot.”
“You got it.”
“The only way out is to fight you then, huh?” Asteright grinned, and then raised his right arm, motioning for the Replicas to go. Immediately, the Replicas backed away, still aiming their guns at both of them. “Thought as much…”
“Rachel, looks like you get your chance today.” Alexi commented, getting Potemkin ready by discharging 3 cartridges. She smiled and discharged two cartridges from Fixer.
“Heh, falling for the bait, huh? I’ll keep you guys busy.” Asteright thought as he shuffled out his deck, ready to fight.
“Sion, you better make this gamble work, or I’ll be sure to get you. As for Hollow…let her do whatever she wants.”
Saturday, August 8, MC 0075
8:40 P.M.
“Anything there?” Sydney asked Margaret, covering the hallway ahead of them to the left. “Nothing.”
“What about on the right?” she then asked to Satsuki. “Nope, nothing.”
“Alright…let’s go.” Telling both of them to move towards a door nearby, Sydney could only think about the fact that nothing seemed to be here. “It’s strange…nothing seems to be here, but I feel like someone’s been watching all of us….wait.”
Stopping, she turned around to her back, and told both Satsuki and Margaret, “Go ahead. I’ll be staying here.”
“Wha-Why?” Satsuki asked, confused. “I said go! Don’t ask, just go!”
Hesitantly, Satsuki went through the door to the next room, taking Margaret with her.
“Good, they’re in…must have-.”
“You know that you led them into a trap.” a robotic voice said to her. Noticing a glint, Sydney ducked and moved away from where the voice came out, seeing a lock of her hair fall out. Getting back up, she noticed who the voice belonged to. “It can’t be….Wolf…” she thought, shocked that he was still here.
“Yacoby? How did you? I thought-.”
“I can’t die…not yet.” he replied, interrupting her. “What are you-?”
“I still have orders to do.” was his answer. “And what are those?”
“To keep you busy.” he replied before going straight at her, trying to stab her with his blade. She moved to the side, grabbing his arm and disarming him. He retaliated with a kick to the stomach, which sent her to the ground instantly. She only had time to aim Equinox onto Wolf, for he was also aiming at her with a blaster on his left arm. Sydney stayed where she was: he had a better chance of killing her than she did killing him.
“So, did Scageltti give you these orders?” she asked, wanting to know who sent him.
“No, not him.”
“Then who?”
“That is not what you should be concerned about.”
“Then what, huh? What should I be concerned about?”
After a moment of silence, Wolf started to talk. “This place is a trap, for all of you. They’ll be sure to kill you all. Except one.”
“One? Who?”
“You know who that ‘one’ is, don’t you? He’s the only one that matters to him.”
Sydney suddenly knew who Wolf was talking about, something that she wished that she didn’t know. “No…not him…” she said quietly. She felt guilty now, not for being in this situation, but because she knew something that she should have told him. She stayed silent, then asked, “Why are you helping Scagletti, then? Why?”
“We have our own reasons. Now…” he jumped back a little bit away from Sydney, giving her time to get up. “I still have to keep you busy. You’re no use to me dead.”
Getting up, she could only think of one person besides Wolf.
“Satoshi….”
Saturday, August 8, MC 0075
8:43 P.M.
Carefully, both Satsuki and Margaret moved towards the right side of the lobby they were in, trying to not attract attention from anyone else. Taking cover behind some columns, Satsuki took a look around the right side, and after a couple of seconds, she silently motioned Margaret to go ahead. Nodding, she did, reaching the door nearby. She tried to open the door, but strangely, it wouldn’t budge.
“Hey, Sat-chan, this door…” she said, pulling the handle, “won’t…open!” She stopped pulling it and started to kick the door down. The door still stayed shut.
“What are you talking about?” Satsuki replied, confused. She also tried to open the door, but it still didn’t move. Suddenly, Satsuki stopped trying to open the door. Slowly, she let go of the handle. Whispering, she said to Margaret, “on 3, move to the right.”
Margaret almost spoke before noticing the reflection on the handle itself: it showed a silhouette of someone, pointing something behind them. She didn’t turn around; that would expose the fact that both of them would know that they were there.
Satsuki started counting quickly. “One, two…three!” Both of them got away from the door, as a shot hit the door, near where they were standing. In an instant, they were taking cover on the columns, trying to find out where the shot came from. Several other shots were fired by, pinning both of them down. The fire stopped coming at both of them as suddenly as it came in, leaving both of them to wonder what was happening. “Is it-.” Margaret asked herself before two disk-like shaped objects stuck on the wall near them.
“Don’t tell me that’s-.”
Both of them ran out of cover quickly, trying to not get blown into pieces. They thought those disks were explosives. It was a really clever error in judgment. Aiming at the silhouette quickly, Satsuki was ready to fire at it. She took a shot at it quickly, but couldn’t tell if she hit it, because something else appeared that took her attention away from the silhouette. As soon as she turned her head to take another look, several binds sprouted out of the ground under her. She couldn’t back out; she was binded tightly, her Device on the floor near her.
“Satsuki!” Margaret yelled to her in panic, but someone managed to kick her in the back of the left leg, and grab her, holding a knife near her throat. Looking back, she knew who it was. “July…” she said with disgust.
“If that’s July, then…” Satsuki realized before Hollow herself came out of the shadows, holding a rope. Letting it go, the silhouette fell to the ground, revealing itself as an already-dead Replica with a sniper rifle.
“Silly…” Hollow muttered as she walked towards Satsuki. “Or maybe stupid, following idiotic orders to be sent inside a building with that with you.” she added, referring to Ellis, lying harmlessly on the ground near Satsuki.
“Maybe I should kill you now and get it over with….” she added, before turning around. “But that wouldn’t be nice to my sister, wouldn’t it?” Reverting her Device to its sealed state, Hollow dropped her right arm to her side, letting Satsuki see how it looked like.
“No way…that’s…” She looked at it in shock, turning her head slowly to her own Device.
“A mirror image….the only person that has it is…”
“You’re lying! You can’t be her!”
Turning around, Hollow took out from a pocket an old photo, from years past, and showed it to Satsuki. It was crumpled and losing its color, but it still was easy to distinguish who the people were.
“Mother…Father…” Satsuki muttered in shock and horror, realizing that she was telling the truth.
“But…but why? Why are you working for Scagletti, Nina!?!”
Hollow didn’t respond for a second or two before she turned around, her Device activated again, and started to point it at her again for the second time.
“Even though…even though you’re my sister…you’re still a member of the TSAB. I must kill you.”
Satsuki could only think of one thing in her mind.
“Why? Why did you become like this?” She suddenly managed to break out of her binds, and in an instant, without even thinking about it, reached for her own Device. Hollow could only fire one shot, grazing Satsuki’s head before she managed to get her Device back, pointing it at Hollow herself.
At the same time, Margaret broke out of July’s hold on her, putting two rounds onto his leg. In return, he managed to get a lucky stab into her right arm. Wincing in pain, Margaret dropped the gun, holding the wound in order to try and stop it from bleeding anymore. July, on the other hand, got up easily, oblivious to the wounds on his leg.
“Looks like I have the advantage now.” he said with a sly look on his face, ready to attack at any minute. Slowly getting up, Margaret prepared to try and at least defend herself.
“He’s right…I’ve never been an expert on knives…but why me only? Why not Satsuki? Shouldn’t he be helping Hollow right now?”
She didn’t voice her thoughts, since another quick stab by July interrupted her. Dodging quickly to the right, taking a swipe at him. July managed to somehow sprint out, throwing one hidden knife, hitting Margaret on the left leg. She staggered, managing to stay up even after the hit.
“A product of Seifel itself…you should have died with all the others.”
“Then you’re…” The second Unison Device to go through all of the experiments in that place. It made sense to Margaret now why he was after her only.
“The second one? Yes. And I’ve been following my mistress for a long time, like you. But, as she said, you’re a member of the TSAB. I’m still gonna have to kill you.”
The Unsion Devices and their mistresses were at a standstill, ready for one thing to let them start fighting again.
Saturday, August 8, MC 0075
8:55 P.M.
“Hey, stay cool Vince; no need to get antsy.” Satoshi said to him as he was scanning the room for any trouble.
“I’m not getting antsy, man. Just…I’m just waiting to give them some hell for wrecking my day.”
“Uh huh, sure.” Satoshi replied nonchalantly. “Going to enjoy your day with Satsuki, huh?”
“None of your business.” Vincent said angrily, blushing a bit.
“Okay, then, don’t mind me and stack up on that door.”
“Always trying to get me…” Vincent thought as he took his position on the left side of the door.
With caution, Satoshi opened the door with his left hand slowly, making sure that nobody was inside. Vincent followed him in, checking the left side of the room.
It was a relatively small room, with windows on the left side looking over to a storage room below.
“Nothing inside here, Vince.”
“Yeah… I see nothing down there either.”
Noticing something that seemed to be moving in the window in front of him, Vincent turned back, trying to figure out who or what was it.
“Hey, Satoshi?”
“Yeah?”
“Did you-.” he said before a figure knocked him out to the window behind him. Under pressure, it cracked easily, letting Vincent fall into the storage room below.
It was easily recognizable who the figure was to Satoshi himself. “Sion…”
“Don’t worry.” Sion said dryly with a condescending smile on his face. “I’m sure the fall didn’t kill him.”
No sooner than he had said that, Satoshi was already in front of him, sticking the barrel into his chest and firing one shot. He staggered from the shot, crumpling down on the ground in a second.
“Bastard…serves you right.” Satoshi muttered, pumping out the used shell from Pixy. Heading to the broken window to check on Vincent’s condition, he was stopped by a knife barely missing his head, sticking to the frame of the broken window ahead.
“Damn it…that didn’t do enough!?!” Satoshi thought, turning around. There was Sion, standing up, his freshly made hole in the body healing up. He himself was actually smiling as he slowly got up from the shock
“Close…but no cigar.” he said to Satoshi, pointing to a spot in his mid-lower chest, seeming like he was taunting him silently.
“Pixy, let Cipher take over now.” Satoshi said to Pixy.
“[Fine. Just let me get the last shot, alright?]”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” With that, the shotgun-like Device turned back into the familiar cross-spear.
Readying himself, Satoshi casted Mach Move, then started to dash in a zig-zag motion. Sion threw several knives at him, all parried away, falling harmlessly to the ground. Switching Tartarus back into combat knife form, he slashed at the blur, missing it completely.
Satoshi gave Sion no mercy. He pierced the right side of Sion’s body, dragging the blade clean out the backside of his body.
“Shotgun Blast…”
Several spheres headed towards Sion’s back, bursting individually as all of them hit his body. Immediately came the top point of Satoshi’s Device through him. Satoshi stabbed twice, with a twist on the second stab.
Sion’s body fell to the floor, a pool of blood forming around it. Panting, Satoshi was sure he had killed Sion; after all, no person could survive that.
“Distorting Throw.” Sion muttered quietly. A big flash blinded Satoshi, stunning him long enough for Sion to get up and go hide. When the flash subsided, Satoshi looked around, seeing that his body was gone.
“No…” he thought, shocked at the revelation that even a barrage of attacks didn’t kill him, not being aware of the fact that Sion himself was sneaking up on him. He turned around, but it was too late, as Sion took out what looked like to be a syringe and plunging it into Satoshi’s neck.
Managing to back away from Sion, Satoshi seemed fine. Soon, though, he was developing headaches so strong, he had to let go of Cipher. He was screaming in pain a second later, holding his head.
“What in the hell did you do!?!” Satoshi screamed to Sion, his head still in pain.
“Wake up.” was Sion’s cryptic answer, making Satoshi look up. At this point, whatever Sion injected in him was messing with his vision, and he could barely see anything clear, since almost everything was blurry to him. He could only watch as a fist went straight to his face, then darkness covered his eyes.
Saturday, August 8, MC 0075
8:58 PM
“Aw God, landing on boxes…not something I want to do again for a while…” Vincent muttered as he got up from the ground. Luckily, the boxes took the fall for him, although he was knocked out for a good 3 minutes or so. Looking up, Vincent saw Sion looking down on him, grinning as he walked away from the edge.
“Satoshi…looks like he got himself into something…I’d better help.”
Struggling to get up, he tried to look around for a way back up. Finding one on his right that seemed to lead to the room, he approached the door, only to be blindsided by a blow to the left side of his body that sent him flying into another stack of boxes.
“Well, looks like we got someone to mess with for a while…”
Getting up and wiping the newly-coughed blood out of his lips, Vincent looked up, seeing what appeared to be two females, one with a board, floating around and another that had sharp, yellow eyes and a sort of fist-like Device, similar to one of the forwards of Riot Force 6. Both were wearing blue form-fitting suits.
“Ah, he’s awake….really now, Nove, was that necessary?” the one with the board said to the yellow-eyed girl.
“For a mage that’s blind, yeah, Wendi.” she responded.
“Why that little…” Ignoring the fact that he wanted to grind Nove into dust, he still wanted to get out of this place. That was impossible, though, since they already blocked the way. He had no choice.
“So…” Vincent finally said to the both of them, “if you don’t want to get out of the way…” Prepping to attack, he discharged two cartridges. “I’ll make you.”
Nove responded in kind, smirking at what seemed to be an easy target.
“Let’s go.”
“You first.” Vincent motioned both of them to come forward. “Hold on, Satoshi…just let me take care of these two first…”
???
Memories…from those recently to the past….today….the cafeteria where he was at several days ago….a small store….a secluded place where he and the Major trained…a bright light….a forest…a burning facility…a battlefield littered with the dead and the dying and the remains of equipment used….a tube of sorts….all of these flashed through Satoshi around him before he blacked out.
“Ugh…where in the world am I?” he muttered to himself, darkness surrounding him as he got up. It was pitch black, and there seemed to be no sign of a place to get out of. “I’m not outside…a room, maybe?” Quickly realizing what happened to him, Satoshi prepared for a surprise attack.
“I don’t have Cipher with me….it’s too damn dark to see anything…Sion probably dragged me here to play with me before he decides to kill me. Shit, this isn’t looking good.”
A distant blue light radiated behind him. Quickly turning around, Satoshi saw that a terminal was open nearby, able to be used quickly.
“Sion must have turned it on, to try and draw me to get out of this room while he backstabs me…still, I have no other way to get out of here.”
Approaching the terminal, he saw that a folder had been opened, showing one file in it. There was nothing else on the screen, just only that one file. Sighing, he opened it, expecting to be a list of instructions. Instead, he got something entirely different.
“Hey…this is a profile…
MY profile….”
--
Name:Satoshi Kazukuni
Gender: Male
Age: 24
Birthdate: 10/23/0050
World of birth: Mid-Childa
--
“Hold up. I thought I was born on Earth, not in Mid-Childa.” he muttered to himself. “Someone must have gotten this thing wrong.” Curious, he continued to check this profile out.
--
Program Involved in: Storm Phase, formerly 1st group, switched 2nd group
Designation: SPII-000
--
“Storm Phase? 2nd group? I don’t know of anything like that, and I didn’t get involved in something like that. And what’s with the designation number? TSAB ID numbers aren’t anything like that.” Remembering the necklace that Sydney showed him before the mission, he realized it was the same number, as well as a date.
“I wonder what the date is…might as well figure out.”
--
Reason for group switch: Pulled from 1st group and sent from second group for experimentation.
Role: Prototype speed attacker/ tactical leader
--
“Me, a prototype? And what’s with getting experimented on?”
--
Self Personifying Assault/Defense Enhancing System: Flashpoint
--
“Self Personifying Assault/Defense Enhancing System?”
--
Function: Gathers and focuses mana from surroundings to enhance speed, reaction times, and perception. User will feel as though time is “slowing down” while they “speed up”,
--
“Then that means…” The slowdown fighting the forwards…the counterattack on those Extended Relic Weapons…it couldn’t be.
--
Qualifications:
--Combat:
-Expert in Ustio artificial magic system
-Expert in hand-to-hand fighting
-Expert in Device usage
-Tendency to wield two weapons at one time
-Expert in conventional weapon usage
-Also tends to dual-wield, favors pistols, shotguns, and rifles
-Expert in Explosives
--
“Conventional weapons? Explosives? I wasn’t trained in anything like this.”
--
--Highly recommended for leadership position
-Manages group well, gets along with most of them
- Led 2nd group to pass Training Mission-WS117 efficiently
-Passed Rainsford scenario working with SPII-001
--
“I still don’t know what in the world’s going on…”
--
Date of graduation: 11/4/0058
Handed Dual Device “Garm” to him; Two-sword pair: one long and the primary system, one short and the secondary system; secondary system changes into a pistol.
Battle History:
-Sent to 121th Administered World of Eridan to deal with rebels on12/9/0058
-Performed well with assigned squad, SPII-001, SPII-032, SPII-11 taking out key targets and destructuring rebel leadership with the loss of SPII-11.
-Lost over Eridan with SPII-001 on 2/3/0059; transport chopper shot down during extraction
--
“The end of the profile….” he said with confusion and doubt. “I don’t believe any of this. This is just-.”
“Worthless junk that is inaccurate?” a younger voice said behind him.
Startled, Satoshi turned around, seeing a small boy that looked exactly like him. He had seen him before, in one of his hallucinations, but why was he here, of all places?
“No…this must be another hallucination of mine…” he said to his younger self.
“You wish it was. Look at the screen again, then tell me what you see. I’ll warn you that what you see is true.”
Looking back, he saw that there were several clips inside that folder, each containing a date.
--
2/10/0059….12/7/0060…8/24/0062…8/2/0064….5/5/0067
--
Opening the clips one by one, Satoshi watched in shock and horror. He saw his younger self, who was behind him, on these clips, seeing the things he had done….kneeling down to Jail Scagletti with another person besides him that looked strangely similar, swearing allegiance to him….On the second clip, there showed several people attacking his younger self, only to have him cut them up easily….The third clip again showed his younger self and the same person as in the first clip killing several mages before escaping. The fourth showed both of them setting up a bomb inside a reactor of some sorts…
Normally, he didn’t believe it. The only thing was that he could remember what those things were. He knew what happened next.
“That guy near me….Sion…it’s Sion.”
“Yes.” His younger self replied with a grin. “My partner, my brother, and yet we fight on different sides today.”
“We?”
“Or more precisely, you. See the last one….”
Was this some sort of joke? Some psychological attack or something? Maybe…but he had already seen these things before. Somehow, he had to find out. There was that last clip left. He had to know.
Opening it, he saw both his younger self and Sion walk on a forest trail before TSAB mages came out of the woods, surrounding both of them from all sides. There were some mages that came from the armed forces that Satoshi couldn’t tell, but there were others that he could definitely figure out: people that he knew…people that he considered friends…
“Hayate…Chrono…Fate…Nanoha….Major…Sydney…”
Seeing who they were, Satoshi suddenly felt something burning in his chest, painful enough to bring him down kneeling. Slowly getting up, he saw his younger self getting pierced by one of Chrono’s spells, followed by a white light before ending.
Turning around, Satoshi saw that his younger self grew a bit older, looking like the one he had just seen in the clip recently.
“You…why?” Closing his eyes for a moment, he opened them again, seeing his younger self turn into an exact copy of himself. He was grinning evilly, chuckling to himself.
“This is how the fake disappears…don’t worry about me, anyway. After all, this is my body, my mind. You are I...”
“…and I am Nil.”
The last thing Satoshi saw before darkness came again….