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2010-05-31, 18:55
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Link #25121 |
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blinded by blood
 Author
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Oakland, CA
Age: 40
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Why am I having mental images of Hayate as Dr. Breen up in the Citadel with her face on monitors all over City 17...
... and Nanoha as Gordon Freeman... >.>;
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Indie science fiction author and all-around weirdo:
Check out my original fiction here! Read an excerpt from my sci-fi novel Binary System! |
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2010-05-31, 20:20
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Link #25123 | |
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Burst Mode
Author
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Windsor, Ontario
Age: 37
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Quote:
I would like to suggest adding some double spacing in the fic to make it look less like a block of text. Quote:
Cool to see you actually doing this, though this means I should hurry up with one of my own projects to preempt you on something you have planned for later   You did a good job on this chapter. You set things up with enough action and mystery to be quite engaging. I know I've seen similar plots (though it bugs me I can't think of specific examples >_<) but it'll be nice to see your take on it. Quote:
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2010-05-31, 22:28
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Link #25124 | |
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blinded by blood
Author
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Oakland, CA
Age: 40
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Quote:
So if Hayate is Dr. Breen and Nanoha is Gordon Freeman, I guess that makes Uno... Alyx Vance! oh lawdy. And YES JAIL WOULD BE THE G-MAN.
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Indie science fiction author and all-around weirdo:
Check out my original fiction here! Read an excerpt from my sci-fi novel Binary System! |
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2010-06-01, 07:29
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Link #25125 | |
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Shhh.....
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Behind you.
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Quote:
 .P.S.: Hey..former lurker here, nice to meet ya. |
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2010-06-01, 10:09
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Link #25126 | ||
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Banned
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Somewhere over the rainbow, in a house dropped on an ugly, old woman.
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Quote:
It's interesting that people are pulling the half-life comparison; I think Nanya was the only one to actually get the partial reference to a Gargoyles episode. Well, not so much a reference, but I kinda had it mind when coming up with this. But don't think knowing that episode will tell you anything about what's happening here... Quote:
@SilentOutlaw: Thanks! And welcome! |
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2010-06-01, 10:15
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Link #25127 |
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Vividly Vivio
Author
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Over there
Age: 40
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I carefully wrapped a mass of eggs, bacon, ham, melted cheese, and scattered herbs with a warm tortilla, folding it slowly while glancing at Raising Heart's display of directions. Once done, I looked at the breakfast burrito with pride for only a few moments until it burst open and unfolded. My device tried to comfort my failed attempt and instantly swapped to another screen, showing me how to use a toothpick to keep it together. Although I had tried extra hard for Vivio's sake, I had simply cooked too much again. Oh well, better to pin it together than to have her make a mess of herself while trying to eat on the way to the fair grounds where the tournament would take place.
Current title in the works By: Satashi Story about Nanoha/Vivio having their first troubles as mother daughter. When a 13 year old Vivio gets a girlfriend and thinks she's old enough to run her own life. NAnoha has to deal with her daughter, Fate being away so much, and how she's back on active duty.
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2010-06-01, 10:58
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Link #25128 | |
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Test Drive
Author
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: USA
Age: 33
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2010-06-01, 12:17
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Link #25129 | |
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Black Dragon
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: In the Netherrealm, thinking who to betray next...
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2010-06-01, 15:11
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Link #25130 | ||
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Vividly Vivio
Author
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Over there
Age: 40
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Quote:
Quote:
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2010-06-01, 15:42
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Link #25131 |
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blinded by blood
Author
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Oakland, CA
Age: 40
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here's some fic!
I know a few of you have been waiting for this most impatiently. Here it is, Chapter 4 of false light, for your general consumption!
false light a false light casts a darker Shadow... Spoiler for Chapter 4:
Unknown location
Non-Administrated World #97 08.27.0088 “Administrative access granted,” Tizona's metallic voice echoed softly in the small sandstone niche. Celica's gray eyes fluttered open slowly. She blinked a few times—the small cave was pitch-black save for the soft glow of Tizona's multiple holo displays. She had fallen asleep during her Device's takeover of the base's security systems. Night had already fallen, and yet the enemy had not located her yet. Very strange. Celica was immediately on her guard. The sentries she did not kill would have either been rescued or returned to base on their own. The facility ought to have been lit up and on full alert. Perhaps the nature of this place is such that they cannot risk discovery, even in the event of a possible incursion. It had taken Tizona longer than either had imagined to break into the base's security systems. Celica underestimated their computer technology, a mistake she wouldn't likely make again. The red-haired woman cleared her bleary eyes and came fully awake, rooting around in her rucksack for a preserved food bar. They weren't the most appetizing things in the world, but it was important to keep her strength up. I'll be fighting again before this is all over, she reminded herself as she tore the wrapper open and took a small bite. She made a face, chewing several times before swallowing. “I wish I had pizza and beer,” she muttered aloud as she turned her attention to the new windows open on Tizona's displays. Now that she had full and unrestricted access to their security systems, it would be a simple matter to render the base's defenses impotent and seal off the complex. “Reprogramming defense turrets. Sealing Sections A through K. Opening L Section service entrance,” Tizona said. Celica watched through the security camera feeds as the flashing alert sirens died. Sections of corridor suddenly popped open, revealing hidden gun turrets. Doors began to slam shut throughout the facility, sealing off certain sections while leaving a clear path to the artifact conservation chamber. Then the whole scene went to hell. Celica looked on dispassionately as the defense turrets began to fire indiscriminately, gunning down the very people they were designed and constructed to protect. White-coated lab technicians and researchers were cut down as they tried to flee. Blood spattered the immaculate white floors and walls. “Enemy forces are resisting,” Tizona noted, bringing a new window to Celica's attention. She watched as a group of well-armed soldiers systematically destroyed the defense turrets in B Section, using what appeared to be automatic carbines with grenade launcher attachments. The men were well-organized and seemed to exhibit no signs of panic. “Cameras in A Section have been disabled,” Tizona said; Celica could almost detect a note of anger in his artificial voice. “I am picking up some unusual readings within the base.” “What sort of readings?” “Magical energy signatures of an unknown type,” Tizona reported ominously. “The signature has many similarities to Mid-type, but it has been altered. There is no indication of Mid-type core logic, only energy readings consistent with Mid-type mages.” Celica said nothing, only digesting what Tizona had reported. The presence of magical energy signatures in the base was not unexpected—after all, this facility held the Lost Logia detailed in Stele's debriefing report. It made sense that the humans of Earth had found other bits and pieces of magical technology. But to find readings consistent with active Linker Cores, using a system fundamentally based on Midchildan arcana, yet without any sort of core logic... Celica shook her head violently, as if she were trying to clear her thoughts by rattling her brain around in her skull. Of course the humans here would have found some way to use this technology they had been studying for so long. She pulled up the readings from A Section and examined them more closely. Without core logic, Celica was not even sure how they were utilizing magical energy. She didn't understand the concept well enough—she was a computer specialist, after all, not a Device Meister. But Tizona's readings were not in error; there were at least twelve individual contacts within A Section, each one a blazingly bright active Linker Core. “Defense turrets in A Section have been destroyed,” Tizona reported, bringing additional information to the surface. “Shutters to B Section have been breached. The unknown force is attempting to retake the base; I am locking all internal workstations and access points.” “That won't hold them for long,” murmured Celica grimly. “I'm sure they have a back door in place for just such an occurrence.” “I will not make it easy for them,” promised Tizona as the static-filled windows disappeared. Celica watched as her Device redoubled his efforts. The resource monitor showed that he still had plenty of processing power left to spare, however—the enemy would not have an easy time of it. “How many are left alive in there?” “Twelve unknown contacts in the blackout section. Sixteen known contacts accounted for, sealed in B Section through K Section. Five known contacts in B Section are not accounted for.” “Damn, they're putting all their effort into releasing the scientists,” Celica observed. The window showing the B Section camera flashed briefly as Tizona brought it to her attention, and she got her first good look at her new foe. She couldn't tell if the figure was a man or a woman; the individual was covered from head to toe in a heavy charcoal-black armor constructed of some composite material. Flashing emitters studded the heavy shoulder plates; Celica could barely make out a backpack consisting of two transparent tubes filled with a glowing green-white substance. The armor seemed to glow and flicker, arcs of greenish lighting licking from the emitters to the armor plate itself. The dark-armored figure shouldered a heavy rifle with a wide bore and aimed it directly at the camera. Celica was able to see that a thick umbilical ran from the glowing backpack apparatus into the main body of the weapon. The gun's barrel flashed with brilliant green-white as the image was suddenly replaced with static. So they're the source of the strange readings, Celica thought. Given enough time, they would take back the entire base and Celica would be unable to complete her objective. She was not foolish enough to rush inside the facility without a plan, however. Celica would have to decide quickly. If she waited too long, they would breach all sections and be able to secure her intended point of entry, the L Section service entrance. If she left her protected location now, though, the enemy commander would undoubtedly send some of the dark-armored soldiers to eliminate her. What she needed was a distraction of some type— “Hold,” an angry female voice said loudly from behind her. “Celica Iris-Lynnfield, you are under arrest for the murder of three Security Division officers. I have orders from Admiral Harlaown to bring you in alive and unharmed. Deactivate your Device, remove your Barrier Jacket and surrender peacefully or I will force compliance.” Celica stiffened at the sound of that voice, a voice that was as familiar to her as any could possibly be. The voice of a dear friend. “Alphine,” said Celica in a dry tone, not moving, not taking her eyes off Tizona's displays. “What brings you to this part of the universe?” * * * Ten minutes earlier: Lutecia opened her eyes and blinked several times, trying to adjust her vision to the darkness around her. Her dimensional transfer had been exceptionally accurate; she ended up less than two hundred meters from where her target lay, completely absorbed in her electronic assault of the secret research facility. She would be distracted by her task; even with Tizona's help, and even though Celica had the technological advantage, it would be a difficult task to maintain her control. Lutecia would have the upper hand. Celica knows the score, thought Lutecia darkly as she carefully walked toward the small sandstone niche where the gray-eyed Shadow was holed up. Asclepius granted her eyes the ability to cut through the complex camouflage barrier that Celica had set up to confound the Terrans. She could clearly see the woman, even from this distance, her charcoal-colored Barrier Jacket scuffed and dirty. It hadn't been easy for her. Lutecia didn't know what was driving the woman so hard, but she intended to find out, even if she had to beat it out of her. “Garyuu,” Lutecia said softly. “This is an important reunion. Please ensure we are not interrupted.” The black-armored summon nodded silently and flashed into the shadows between the sandstone valleys and gorges. Lutecia was not worried about her ever-present partner; Garyuu was more than a match for any ten of these magic-dead humans, and they had problems of their own at the moment. Lutecia took her time, walking slowly toward Celica's hiding place. This was it—the frantic mission was almost over, her quarry in sight. The thought should have filled her with an elated sense of relief that it was finally over, but Lutecia felt only weary. Her legs were rubbery and she felt lightheaded. She had the strong feeling that this was just the beginning. Lutecia stopped ten meters from the small hole in the rocks, eroded by the wind and grit blown about. Celica did not even turn, but Lutecia knew the other woman was aware she was no longer alone. It didn't matter. She would say what she had to say. “Hold. Celica Iris-Lynnfield, you are under arrest for the murder of three Security Division officers. I have orders from Admiral Harlaown to bring you in alive and unharmed. Deactivate your Device, remove your Barrier Jacket and surrender peacefully or I will force compliance.” “Alphine,” Celica replied dryly, not bothering to turn around. “What brings you to this part of the universe?” “Celica...” “I don't have anything to say to you, Alphine,” Celica deadpanned. “You showed up entirely too soon—I guess I didn't obscure my trail as well as I thought.” Lutecia ignored the comment. “If you wish to speak on behalf of your actions, the Bureau will—” “I know better than that, Lutecia,” Celica snapped coldly. “We aren't the Bureau. We're Shadows. We don't listen to our targets—our enemies. We don't arrest them. We kill them. You, of all people, should know this better than anyone.” Lutecia was taken aback at the severity of the response. The words stung profoundly. Emotions poured through Lutecia's mind. Celica's harshly-spoken words had their own dark sort of magic, summoning the ghosts of those Lutecia had murdered as a Shadow. And there was the fact that Celica had referred to her by her first name! The older woman had never, not even once, called Lutecia by her first name in the seven years they'd known each other. Lutecia's eyes narrowed dangerously. “I am authorized to use lethal force—” Celica finally turned around, standing up and stretching her arms high above her head. The myriad monitors and displays flashed away in a brilliant blue-white glow, leaving the Shadow holding the long-bladed dagger, Tizona, in her right hand. When she finally spoke, the voice sounded not angry, but bone-weary, exhausted beyond all limits of human endurance. It was a voice that Lutecia had never heard from Celica's lips—a voice that sounded so very much like her own. “At least this way, my death will come from the hand of a friend.” * * * Unknown location Non-Administrated World #97 08.28.0088 “[Pulse Lancer],” Tizona barked harshly. Blue-white globes of magical force shimmered in the air and slashed outward at blinding speed. Celica watched as the shots tracked their target and slammed into Lutecia's body. The projectiles detonated into small shockwaves—but the brunt of the attack was absorbed by the telltale Belkan sigil of the summoner's shielding spell. Celica knew she was outmatched and outgunned. For some reason she did not wholly understand, Lutecia had not involved Garyuu in this fight. If the black-armored insect summon had been called in, Celica would not have lasted more than five minutes. Because it's personal, thought Celica belatedly as she awkwardly dodged a barrage of black-purple beams of force. Fortunately for her, Lutecia's offensive strength lie mostly in the power of her summons. Her direct-fire magic was actually less powerful than Celica's own, but as a trained and highly-experienced combat mage, Lutecia's endurance and magical capacity was much higher. Even with less-destructive weapons, Lutecia would outlast her, if she allowed it. Celica's only hope was to put everything she had into a single strike that would blast through the other woman's meager defenses. Summoners were vulnerable without their summons nearby—and Lutecia had intentionally thrown that advantage by sending Garyuu away. Celica knew better, though. Lutecia did not have absolute control over her summons—especially not Garyuu. If Celica managed to wound Lutecia, Garyuu would intervene, disobeying his master's orders to save her life. It was after midnight. The battle had gone on for only ten minutes, yet to Celica it felt as if she had been fighting for hours. She had not yet completely recovered from battling the sentries the previous day. And now she was facing Lutecia Alphine, the number-three most powerful mage in the entire Field Division, only losing out to the director himself... and Abraham Stele. Celica had spoken the truth earlier. If she had to die today, she would rather be killed by the hand of a friend than the hand of the betrayer. “[Protection],” Tizona said suddenly as a blue-white dome of force coalesced in the air around her, a split-second before a barrage of glowing beams splashed against the shield. “Thanks,” bit off Celica, nodding to her Device. She had to keep her head in the game. Lutecia hadn't even hit her stride yet. We're going to have to get close, Celica said mentally to her Device. Tizona already knew this well—even as low as Lutecia's defenses were, a well-known fact that was oft-lamented among other Shadows that they worked with, Lutecia would be able to defend herself reasonably well from any bombardment that Celica could cast. The only hope Celica had to save herself from Lutecia would be to breach the summoner's defensive perimeter and hit her with an overpowering technique designed to breach all defenses and strike the target directly. It was a risky maneuver against most Mid mages and all Belkan knights, but Lutecia's close-combat abilities were poor. She relies too heavily on Garyuu to keep potential threats at arm's length, Celica thought. It would be difficult enough just getting that close. Celica ran laterally across the top of the sandstone ridge just as Lutecia popped up out of the gorge she had taken cover in, Asclepius glowing fiercly as the summoner cast a withering barrage of magical projectiles. Tizona's protective spell wasn't enough to withstand the onslaught. The magical barrier shattered like glass and several black-purple bolts of force slammed into Celica's torso and legs, exploding with a blinding flash. Her Barrier Jacket managed to absorb the brunt of the attack, but not all of it. She staggered, stunned by the hammer blows, her vision obscured by the magical detonation. It would be less than seconds before Lutecia would strike the finishing blow and send Celica into unconsciousness. Without any other options, Tizona protected his wielder as best he could. “[Overclock].” Celica gasped as a blinding flash of pain exploded behind her eyes, but she shunted the pain aside, gritting her teeth viciously, knowing that she would be lost if she wasted this chance. It was too soon; she was too overextended, and by the gods, it hurt! Celica's Overclock ability was a double-edged sword. The spell was capable of amplifying her physical and magical power far beyond her normal limitations, but there was a price. It used a tremendous amount of magical energy, more than Celica's nominal capacity could hold. It placed incredible strain on her body and her Linker Core. Even in prime physical condition, fresh and rested and with her Linker Core at full capacity, Celica could only cast Overclock three times without any significant danger to herself. Tizona is a computer, after all. He would have calculated everything, made the decision with utter rationality. And he's given me the chance I need to save myself. Time seemed to be mired in thick mud. The flash of light from Lutecia's energy bolt spell hung in the air like mist. Celica moved, as fast as her weakened and injured legs could carry her, and under the effects of Overclock, Lutecia would be unable to hit her before she closed into melee. Lutecia's eyes widened in disbelief ever-so-slowly as she fired another barrage of magical projectiles—Celica watched from the corner of her eye as they leisurely flew through the air, seemingly drifting like feathers, on target with the spot she had just been a split second before— Celica raised Tizona up above her head in a two-handed grip, holding the dagger like a sword. The blade began to glow fiercely with argent light, too bright to focus on. The glow began to extend, lengthening the blade considerably as Celica performed her most deadly technique. “[Vertical Cleave],” Tizona intoned, his artificial voice sounding a death knell. Celica felt the Device infuse her slender arms with superhuman strength, already amplified through Overclock, as the blade flashed downward, aimed directly at Lutecia's head. Celica felt the impact as a blinding explosion of magical energy engulfed them both. She squeezed her eyes shut, tears streaming down her cheeks, not only from the painful brilliance. Her head exploded into agonizing pain as she felt—she felt the damage as her Linker Core overloaded. Blue-white arcs of magic energy crawled over her body, her muscles clenching in uncontrollable spasms. Black tendrils edged at the corner of her vision, under the red-tinged glow that burned through her eyelids. She fell backwards, losing her grip on Tizona, only dimly registering the impact as she hit hard sandstone. Celica opened her eyes, barely cognizant of her surroundings, but she still had enough of her wits about her to confirm— “Fuck,” she mumbled weakly. Tizona's blade, no longer glowing, was imbedded in a pauldron of crumbled black carapace. The blow that should have sundered Lutecia's defenses and struck her directly instead had badly damaged Garyuu's left arm. The insect summon stared at her dispassionately, seemingly oblivious to his ruined left arm and the bladelike Device imbedded in the shattered chitinous armor. He did not move, but Celica could feel the murderous intent beneath the alien gaze. Lutecia stepped out from behind her summoned guardian. Celica kept her gray eyes focused on the woman as she stopped and, as gently as she could, removed Tizona from Garyuu's shoulder, dropping the drained Device to the ground. The black-armored insect creature made no sound and continued to stand guard as Lutecia knelt down beside Celica's prone body. The red-haired mage desperately tried to move, but her body would not obey her mind's commands. Her eyes started to droop as the black mist nibbled further at her vision. “Celica, talk to me,” Lutecia cried urgently, wiping blood from Celica's nose with her fingers. “Celica? Celica, keep your eyes open. Shit, Celica, don't die on me. Come on, girl, keep those eyes open!” It was then that Celica's vision cleared enough to see the tears streaming from Lutecia's eyes. It was the last thing she saw before the darkness overtook her. * * * Celica opened her eyes slowly and saw the starry sky—an unfamiliar sky. She was not on Midchilda. Then, where the fuck am I? “You're awake,” a familiar voice said. Celica could hear the relief flooding that voice. She tried to turn her head, to focus on the voice, but she found she was incapable of movement. “How long was I out?” Celica's vision cleared a bit more and saw the unsmiling face of her friend above her. The lilac-haired summoner cradled Celica's head on her lap, gently moving it until the two women made eye contact. “Only about twenty or thirty minutes,” Lutecia replied in a worried tone. She glanced about quickly, knowing very well that the two of them were in a lot of danger. “The fight attracted a lot of attention. They're out looking for us now.” “Where did we... ?” “After you lost consciousness, I teleported us some distance from the base. We're about ten kilometers away. I put up a phase barrier, so they shouldn't be able to find us without magical assistance.” Celica didn't reply, but instead tried to sit up, levering her body upward. Her muscles refused to correctly obey her mind's commands, however, and she succeeded in doing nothing but planting her face directly into Lutecia's chest. “Don't try to move,” Lutecia Alphine said, giggling slightly as she lowered Celica's head back into her lap. “I feel awful,” said Celica weakly. “Overloading your Linker Core will do that,” Lutecia agreed in a dry tone, but the relief—and the anger—was obvious in her voice and her eyes. “I can't believe you did something like that, Celica. It could have killed you.” “I seem to recall you were doing your best to take care of that little chore yourself,” Celica replied slowly. “Damn it, Celica, you know I'd never—” “So here I am, helpless and defeated,” Celica cut her off. “I can't even move my head, much less fight or run away. You've got me now, slap the cuffs on me and take me back to headquarters, where I'll have some sort of accident—” “Shut up, Celica,” Lutecia said sharply. “You could have just told me. I would have given you the benefit of the doubt. I would have believed you.” “What are you—?” “Talking about? Your Device told me everything,” Lutecia explained, “while you were unconscious and Asclepius was hard at work trying to keep your Linker Core from collapsing. Which he was successful at, by the way, so you should thank him. Are you insane, Celica?! You should have just told me. I would have helped you!” “I had no way of knowing—” “Where my loyalties lie?” Lutecia said bitterly. “Come on, you know me better than that. Why didn't you just tell me?” “I didn't have time,” Celica said, licking her dry and cracked lips. “Once I stumbled across the doctored reports and the data regarding the Precursor Artifact, I was locked out of the system. It wasn't long before two Security Division officers armed with linear rifles broke into my office and tried to kill me. They were unsuccessful, and I had to escape before they sent more after me.” “There were three dead,” Lutecia noted coolly. Celica grimaced at that observation, knowing there was no real way around it. “The third man attacked me as I left the room,” Celica explained. “He was an A-ranked mage, a Belkan adept with an Armed Device. At the time I thought he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time...” “But you don't now?” “No,” Celica said, feebly nodding her head in Tizona's direction. It was an improvement; she could move something now. “I found the man's name in the data I took. He was put there as insurance, in the event the first two assassins failed. Whoever sent them underestimated my combat abilities, but just barely.” “Your 'combat abilities,' specifically your grasp of tactics and your own limitations, leave much to be desired,” said Lutecia dryly. “What are you going to do now, Celica?” “Too much time has passed now,” replied Celica glumly. “The base is no longer under my control. I don't know, Alphine. I just...” “You don't have a backup plan? The mistress of contingencies herself, and you don't have a Plan B?” Lutecia demanded incredulously. Celica's expression shifted from grim to sheepish as she looked away self-consciously. “Well, I have been running for my life and not getting much sleep lately,” she offered lamely. “Yes, I do have a Plan B. But there's a catch.” “What catch?” Lutecia asked suspiciously. Celica told her. “This is insane. You are insane,” Lutecia muttered, exasperated. She threw her hands up in the air and sighed theatrically. “If Storm knew anything about this crazy plan of yours, he'd kill you, then kill me for daring to even entertain such a thought! You're half-dead and you can't even move!” “I'll be fine in a little while,” Celica said truthfully. Her Linker Core had overloaded, but that rarely caused permanent physical damage. The gray-eyed computer genius stared up at her friend, silently pleading. “Oh, all right,” said Lutecia disgustedly. “But if you get yourself killed I'll never forgive you. Close your eyes and try to relax. This probably isn't going to feel very good.” Celica followed the field agent's instructions, shutting her eyes and bracing herself for the pain to come. Most magically-aided healing was a gradual process, but the Shadows had developed a much-accelerated method of healing wounds and repairing Linker Core damage, designed to be used in the heat of combat where time was a luxury they just didn't have. There was a price, though. Such rapid healing caused tremendous pain for the recipient, and the spell itself consumed enormous amounts of energy. Fortunately for Celica's sake, Lutecia's Linker Core capacity was much greater than that of an average mage. Summoners had to constantly expend energy in order to anchor their summons to this dimension—much of the training summoners endured was focused on expanding their magical energy capacity. Asclepius glowed fiercely with black-violet light as the spell took effect, sending searing bolts of healing energy into Celica's prone body. Her back arched suddenly as she grunted in agony, clenching her teeth as every muscle in her body spasmed, every nerve blossoming into blinding pain. And just as quickly as it had begun, it was over. Celica's body went limp for only a moment before she sat up, slightly unsteadily, but her muscles were functional once again. She felt a surge of vitality and strength course through her body. “I'm going to stand up,” Celica announced, nimbly jumping to her feet. The spell had fully taken effect with no side-effects. “Try using magic,” Lutecia suggested. Celica nodded and closed her eyes, focusing her mind on the formless distortion of reality within her—the metaphysical “organ” that functioned as a conduit to channel a mage's power. Her Linker Core felt normal again, no longer wildly oscillating with uncontrollable surges. “Pulse Lancer,” Celica declared, and a single blue-white bullet of force appeared in front of her outstretched hand, streaking through the air and slamming into a nearby rock with shattering force. Shards of fractured stone scattered across the hard-packed earth of the badlands. “Looks like it worked,” Lutecia said, relief evident in her tone. Celica nodded briskly as she bent down to pick Tizona up from the ground where Lutecia had left the Device. “Are you really okay with this, Celica? I'm not going to be able to help with the fighting very much, and you pretty much destroyed Garyuu's left arm—” Celica grimaced at the comment. “I'm sorry about that.” Lutecia shrugged. “He'll be fine in a few days, but it puts us at a disadvantage now.” “What about Jirao? Can't you call him to help, as well?” “Not after that healing spell,” Lutecia said grimly. “The material summon I'm going to use to steal the Precursor Artifact isn't exactly an easy casting, either. It's going to be you and Garyuu against whatever defenses they've managed to put back together since your electronic assault ended.” “It's going to work, Alphine,” Celica said firmly. “This is the best chance we've got to get out of this one alive...” “... and find out what's really going on in NSIS,” finished Lutecia in an equally-firm tone. “All right, Celica, I'm going along with this insanity. I don't know why, maybe I'm just as crazy as you, but... let's do this.” Celica nodded and offered her hand, which Lutecia clasped in a strong grip. At the same moment, Lutecia felt a strange chill run down her spine. A slight reverberation shuddered through her mind. “The phase barrier has been dispelled,” Tizona announced ominously. Celica and Lutecia looked at each other in astonishment. There shouldn't have been anyone anywhere near them that could have dispelled— “Look,” said Lutecia in a small voice, pointing toward the sky. Celica followed her gesture and saw five points of glowing reddish light and the familiar contrail of a mage in aerial flight. “Magical energy signatures detected,” Asclepius announced. “Configuration unknown. Core logic not detected. Contacts are not of Midchildan or Belkan origin.” “It doesn't look like we're going to get out of this one so easily, after all,” Celica said in a deadpan tone. “They're incoming—get ready, Alphine!” “Garyuu!” Lutecia snapped suddenly. With a flash of movement, the insect guardian returned to his mistress's side, his left arm still badly damaged and hanging useless from his shoulder, but the injury didn't seem to slow him in the slightest. “Garyuu will close to melee,” Lutecia said, outlining a tactical plan. “I will coordinate the battle and our defenses. You focus on bombardment.” “Got it,” Celica replied, stepping back until she was about five meters behind Lutecia. The red-haired woman glanced at Tizona and nodded. “[Cannon Form].” Celica braced the transformed Tizona against her shoulder as the incoming aerial units closed in. They were within visual contact range now—Celica could clearly see that they were the same strange armored units she had seen during her takeover of the base's security systems. But now they were flying. “Asclepius,” Lutecia implored softly. The Belkan magic circle sprang into being under her feet, the ancient sigils glowing with barely-contained power. “[Shadow Shield],” Asclepius responded. A black-purple dome of shadowy energy flared into being, covering both Lutecia and Celica. Lutecia's defensive abilities were about on par with Celica's, but her endurance was vastly higher. She would be able to hold this level of defense even through a protracted battle. “They're within range,” Celica shouted. “Opening fire!” “[Ion Cannon],” Tizona intoned as Celica braced the weapon against her shoulder. The Interface Device's aperture flared brightly as a wide beam of crackling blue-white lightning tore across the sky, streaking toward the incoming aerial units. Celica's aim was true, but the enemy units reacted quickly and scattered, breaking formation. The disabling beam struck only one target, but the result was exactly what Celica had hoped for and expected. Arcs of blue-white energy played across the unit's armor and shorted out its systems. The corona of reddish energy flickered once and failed outright, sending the aerial trooper falling from the sky. Celica watched as the trooper calmly deployed an emergency parachute, slowing his fall enough to avoid serious injury upon impact with the ground. “That's one out of the fight,” Celica said in a satsified tone. With the power subsystems fried by her attack, he would be unable to move with the armor no longer supporting its own tremendous weight. “Hit them again,” Lutecia commanded. “They're almost within firing range.” Celica lifted Tizona and loosed a second shot, sending the beam of overloading energy directly on-target. The result was not what she expected this time, however. The energy seemed to sheer off the unit's armor like water. “They've adapted their defenses to compensate!” Celica cried, switching Tizona's firing mode to a more physically-damaging method of attack. The enemy units were then within firing range, raising their heavy-barreled weapons and loosing fast-moving blobs of a glowing liquid-like substance. “They're firing bolts of raw magic,” Lutecia noted. “Garyuu, now!” Celica waited and watched as the insect guardian suddenly appeared in the air between two of the armored aerial units. Even with one destroyed arm, the alien creature moved with an impossible fluidity and speed. His right arm flashed as a long, razor-sharp blade extended and slashed at the nearest soldier, knocking the unit into a drunken loop. Garyuu pressed the immediate advantage of surprise, swooping in for the kill. The enemy soldier was far from helpless, however, firing bolts of molten magic as he struggled to regain control over his flight. Garyuu dodged the blasts without trouble and slashed viciously, severing the tube connecting the soldier's rifle to the power plant backpack. Glowing fluid leaked for a moment before the armor's internal systems shut the valve off. The soldier changed direction, discarding his useless weapon. They had planned for such an occurrence, however, and the soldier drew a machine pistol from a hidden compartment, blasting away at the black-armored insect guardian. The ordinary bullets had little effect on Garyuu, however, and the terribly sharp wrist blade slashed through ceramic and carbon fiber armor, rending the flesh and bone beneath. “Energy levels at 94.9%. A firing lock is canceled,” Tizona reported helpfully. Celica's field of fire was clear with Garyuu chasing after his own prey. Lutecia laid a withering barrage of suppression fire, filling the air with black-purple bullets of magical force to restrict the movements of the remaining three aerial units. “[Plasma Cannon].” Tizona's aperture burst into brilliant blue-white fire. The wide beam of destructive magical energy surged outward, blasting through the tight formation. Two of the three enemy units were struck with the full force of the attack, their armor cracking and shattering from the force of the blast. They fell from the sky, swooping down in a controlled crash-landing to take cover in a nearby sandstone gorge. They're out of the sky, thought Celica with satisfaction, but they're likely not out of the fight just yet. The third unit was struck a glancing blow, sending him spiraling through the air uncontrollably. Lutecia suddenly shifted from suppression fire to a focused barrage, slamming dozens upon dozens of black-purple bullets of force into the aerial unit as he struggled to regain control. Each successive strike blasted away chunks of armor, but Celica was unsure whether or not the attacks would actually take him out. The armor was obviously charged with magical energy much in the same way a Barrier Jacket was, else it would not have defended so well against her Ion Cannon. Even if Lutecia's shots weren't seriously hurting the man, they were sending him careening across the sky, preventing him from making any real effort at directed flight. One shot exploded across the man's helmet, sending him pinwheeling through the sky. Celica watched, awestruck, as three successive bullets of force slammed into the man's power plant backpack, breaching the containment unit. The aerial unit abruptly exploded in a thunderous detonation, tearing a brilliant hole in the starry black sky. “Looks like that's their weak spot!” Lutecia cried, a note of triumph in her voice. “Don't let your guard down; those other two are still alive.” “I know that,” said Celica. “Tizona, Blade Form.” “[Blade Form],” the Device confirmed, reshaping itself into the familiar long-bladed dagger. “They aren't going to come to us; we're going to have to hunt them down.” “They know better than to face us at range,” Lutecia said coolly. “Asclepius, can you take down the shadow shield?” “I obey,” the Intelligent Device said immediately. The shimmering dome of shadowy energy flickered once and faded, allowing the two women to quickly meet up with Garyuu. Celica was astonished to see that the insect guardian's left arm no longer hung limp and useless. The deep gash where Tizona's blade had sundered the alien creature's natural armor was already repaired, leaving only smooth black chitin where a grievous wound once was. “It's already healed that much?” “His regenerative powers are incredible,” Lutecia said proudly. “It'll be a while longer before he can actually use that arm to fight with, though.” “Be careful,” Celica said seriously. “We don't want to hit their backpacks too close; that explosion was big enough to leave little pieces of us laying all over the landscape.” No more words were exchanged as Lutecia and Celica ran across the blasted landscape, easily jumping over gorges and large fissures in the rock. The two aerial units had gone to ground about two hundred meters away. It would only be a matter of time before the stunned units managed to recover and mount a renewed assault. We've got to take these guys out so Alphine can steal the artifact, thought Celica grimly. Let's do our best, Tizona. Yes, Mistress, was the Device's mental response. It wasn't long until the air was alive with glowing green-white blobs of molten magic. Celica tucked her head down and ran as fast as she could, brandishing Tizona in her right hand. “[Protection],” Tizona said as he brought up defenses, deflecting two of the incoming projectiles with a liquid-like splash. The raw magic was heavily charged, however, and the third and fourth shots plowed through the hastily-erected defense, shattering the shield like glass. Celica dropped as she ran, sliding across the dusty ground as the two bolts of power streaked past her. Garyuu flitted across and brandished a wrist blade, deflecting two more shots that bore down on the prone and now-motionless Celica. The Shadow mouthed her thanks to the insect guardian and stood up, glancing over at Lutecia, who was fighting one of the enemy units in close combat. Celica had never seen Lutecia fight hand-to-hand, but the young woman was quite skilled. Her foot lashed out and slammed heavily into her opponent's metal helmet, sending the man staggering back as he struggled to bring his magic-blasting rifle to bear. Garyuu's wrist blade flashed and severed the umbilical connecting the weapon to the armor's power plant, rendering it useless. The insect guardian whirled around and slammed his clawed foot against the chestplate, shattering the composite material with inhuman force. The body flew several meters from the force of the blow and crumpled into a lifeless heap. Celica sent a barrage of magical force bullets streaking at the last remaining unit, the micro-detonations stunning him and putting him off-balance. The soldier was well-trained, however, and managed to fire several quick blasts from his rifle, scoring a direct hit that knocked the red-haired woman from her feet. “Celica!” Lutecia cried, raising her hand with a quick casting. Asclepius glowed fiercely as he brought up a shadow shield around Celica's prone form. The older woman groaned, her Barrier Jacket smoking and scorched. Lutecia was worried about Celica, but she couldn't do anything at the moment, not as long as the last soldier remained alive. The enemy unit was intelligent enough to recognize the shadow shield for what it was and subsequently switched targets. He sent a deadly barrage of seething raw magic at Lutecia, which she managed to dodge just in time to avoid being incinerated. “Garyuu, cover me,” Lutecia commanded. The insect guardian nodded silently and glared murder at the remaining soldier as he laid down several poorly-aimed shots, intended only to keep his enemy at bay while he opened a communications link with the base. If they had any more of these... proto-mages, I guess, thought Lutecia, they would have sent them out already. Still, it wouldn't be good to let him have a conversation with his superiors. “Tizona!” Lutecia shouted, hoping the Device could register her request from this distance. “Jam all communications now!” “I will do so, Agent Alphine,” the Interface Device replied, the blade flashing briefly with blue-white energy as it began to emit a powerful jamming signal on all usable frequencies. It would be short-range, since Tizona had not had time to target specific frequencies, but it would be enough. Lutecia smiled grimly as the man's body went rigid with anger, visible even under the bulk of his power-assisted armor suit. Tizona's intervention came just in time to interrupt his report. Now all that's left is to take him out, thought Lutecia. She raised her right hand and extended her palm, preparing to loose a deadly barrage of magical force. A swarm of black-purple bolts rained down on the man, blasting chunks of armor away, penetrating the magically-charged material and damaging the flesh and bone beneath. Lutecia ceased her attack just short of breaching the power plant's containment field—she was much too close to survive such an explosion—and aimed a single magical blast to strike the man in the head. The heavy helmet burst apart at the seams from the detonation as the man's head exploded. Blood splattered the ground as the now-headless corpse fell heavily, pieces of fragmented skull and brain matter staining the cracked and ruined armor suit. Lutecia exhaled a breath she didn't know she was holding. The fight was over, for now, but there was still much to do. She half-ran over to where she had left Celica under a shadow shield. The woman was sitting up, patiently waiting for Lutecia to dispel the defensive barrier so she could get out. “I wasn't hurt that badly,” Celica explained. “The Barrier Jacket absorbed most of the hit. If you hadn't left this silly shield over me, I could have helped you out with that last one.” “How was I supposed to know you weren't out cold? Again?” Lutecia demanded teasingly. “I just wanted to make sure I didn't need to worry about protecting you while I fought.” “Oh, is that how it goes?” “That's how it goes,” Lutecia agreed dryly. “Come on, let's get this over with before they start harassing us again.” * * * Unit Epsilon Headquarters Washington, D.C. Non-Administrated World #97 08.28.0088 “They have taken the Precursor Artifact, General. Both contacts are no longer showing up on our instruments. We've lost them.” “It doesn't really matter that much,” a gravelly voice with a touch of a Southern accent said, staring into the webcam built into the lid of his portable computer. “We've already learned as much as we can from the damned thing. After having it for fifty years, we still can't figure out how to turn it on!” “Perhaps that is for the best, General,” an older woman on the other end of the videoconferencing session said primly. “That thing always gave me the creeps.” “Gave you the creeps, huh?” General Augustus Reed said. “Ain't that a little unscientific to say, Dr. Vance?” The woman's face split into a small smile. “You know damn well I'm not an ordinary researcher, and what we're doing isn't in the realm of ordinary science. We're using it, yet we don't fully understand it.” “It's only magic if you don't understand how it works,” quoted the General in a dry tone. “The prototype units were killed?” “One survived; it appeared as if his power armor was overloaded by some type of disabling magical attack. We're pulling a debriefing report from him as we speak. The other five have been confirmed dead.” “The artifact was an acceptable loss,” General Reed said solemnly, “but this, this failure is unacceptable, Dr. Vance. You know as well as I do that humans with active Linker Cores are extremely rare. We can't afford to lose even one unit, much less five!” “General, I know it is a significant loss, but the data we've managed to obtain as a result of this battle is of incalculable value. We knew right from the starting gate that we'd never be able to obtain real field testing data... but we have that now!” “What are you telling me, Doctor?” “I'm telling you that with the data we've gathered... assuming we have the available resources, we can improve the combat effectiveness of the prototype units threefold.” “That much?” “At least that much,” said Dr. Vance with conviction. “Just from scratching the surface here, I know we can greatly bolster the defensive abilities of the power armor. With further study, we should be able to realize a substantial increase in both offensive and defensive power when the unit goes into mass-production.” “You're forgetting one important thing,” General Reed said acidly. “We haven't found the Factory yet. Even if we start mass-producing the power armor, who's going to use it? It won't work unless the operator has an active Linker Core. You're getting ahead of yourself, Dr. Vance.” “We know how to find the Factory, General. If you give us a little more time...” “Time is something we don't have,” Reed said sharply. “Congress is nosing around. Make sure that there were no witnesses to last night's events. If there are, you know what to do with them.” “Yes, sir,” the gray-haired woman said solemnly. “I'll relay your orders to Colonel Meyers. This area is pretty desolate, though, so I doubt anyone saw anything at all.” “The last thing we need right now is a massive media scandal and a congressional witch-hunt into Unit Epsilon. Especially not when we're so close to success. We have no idea when the Time-Space Administration Bureau will decide to involve themselves more closely in Earth—and by extension, the United States. Make sure nothing gets out.” “Yes, sir.” General Reed closed the connection and shut down the video stream. He leaned back in his leather executive chair, pulling a pack of unfiltered cigarettes from his breast pocket. The military officer lit the cigarette and exhaled a plume of bluish smoke. “I hope to hell that this works,” Reed said to no one in particular. Spoiler for author's notes:
Ended up a little longer than the ones before it, and I still didn't get everything into this chapter that I wanted to. Oh well, so Chapters 5 and 6 will end up slightly different.
So yeah, Lutecia and Celica are now together. I didn't actually want them to end up teaming up this quickly, but the way the story's working out now, with so many other antagonistic groups (the rogue NSIS elements, the secret Unit Epsilon of the US government, plus the Administrative Council of the IAFW), it felt like a good idea to pare down the factions before I got tangled in a Thirty Xanatos Pileup. So we meet our two named characters on the Earth side; General Augustus Reed and Dr. Lily Vance. They're yet another antagonistic faction, a secret section of the US government, run by the military that looks at, basically, “weird stuff” that they find or acquire, and tries to make use of it in some manner or another. Usually with the goal of blowing shit up. Unit Epsilon knows about the TSAB and basically is taking the worst-case scenario as the gospel truth; they're preparing for the Bureau's eventual “invasion.” Of course, we know that won't happen as they've got problems of their own, but they don't know that. They've had their hands on the Precursor Artifact for a long time, but they couldn't figure out how to turn it on. They're also looking for the Factory, just like Admiral Hayes and the rogue NSIS elements. Stay tuned for more in Chapter 5! Edit: Now also up on Fanfiction.net... right here.
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Check out my original fiction here! Read an excerpt from my sci-fi novel Binary System! Last edited by synaesthetic; 2010-06-01 at 16:20. |
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But hey, on the other hand, it moves the plot along!Also, if I didn't have a policy against OC/CC shipping, I would totally ship Celica/Lutecia. But that requires me abandoning the ViCia and Victor/Celica ship. Seriously, that made this whole chapter for me. I know there was a lot more going on, but seeing Lutecia and Celica interact, the way they bounced off each other, was so much fun. You can tell that beneath the barbs and coolness, Celica definitely considers Lutecia a friend. Props also for having her call Lutecia by her first name, to show how emotionally worn she is. Though I doubt that will last long.
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This took me forever to get this done.
(Maybe I shouldn't be writing all those lemons that I've been writing this last month. )Oh well... Day in the Life Chapter 36 Spoiler for Escape PT II:
"Nnngh..." A groan escaped her lips as she shivered. "Hungry." She cracked an eye open to see her darkened room, before shivering as she moved the blanket off of her slightly. Whimpering, she she flopped down and covered herself up again. She couldn't stand the chill she was getting from taking off her blanket.
"Hayate." A familiar male voice spoke up to her softly. "Feeling any better?" "Zafira..." She groaned, shaking her head. "I'm hungry though..." There was movement as her bed seemed to slump down before bouncing up. "Zafira?" She looked at the door was opened up, letting in light. "Don't go..." She groaned, causing him to turn back and look at her. "I wasn't going anywhere." He commented as Rein and Agito, both in their larger forms, walked into the room, their arms full of various foods. "But they couldn't open the door with their arms full." Hayate smiled as she sat up. "Sorry." She mumbled as trays of food was set over her lap. "Oh, don't be like that, Meister." Agito shook her head, frowning slightly. "You won't get better without food and Rein and I spent all day making sure that the soup was done just right and kept hot for you." Hayate giggled softly, before coughing for a few seconds. "Thank you, Agito, Rein, Zafira. Where's Signum, Vita and Shamal?" "Work, training and running her clinic." Zafira answered her, getting a nod from Hayate. "They said that they'd be here as often as they could." "It's okay, they have responsibilities they need to attend to." "Oi! Enough of that!" Agito frowned and put her hands on her hips. "You need to eat, otherwise it's going to get cold and you won't get better." Nodding, Hayate laughed softly and started in on the food. "Of course." She still wasn't feeling that well, but seeing Rein, Agito and Zafira there for her made her feel better. She knew that Signum, Shamal and Vita would have preferred to have been there, but she would have been more disappointed in them if they had decided to blow off work just to make sure that she was okay. Overall, Hayate had to admit that she was pretty happy, despite feeling horrible. It didn't hurt that the soup was extremely delicious. The way that Agito and Rein's faces would light up as she complimented them on the food made her even happier. She just wished that she wasn't sick at the moment. (---) There was a lot of noise, people moving and saying stuff, but that wasn't important. Nope, the important thing was that he could move around freely. Smiling and laughing, he rushed between the legs as fast as he could. There was nothing that could stop his freedom. Yep, total and completely freedom. Which was taken from him as two hands grabbed his sides and lifted him up. "Isamu, you shouldn't be worrying me like this." His blond mother smiled at him, her eyes sparkling in amusement as she held him aloft. "Naa!" Isamu practically pouted, kicking his small legs and arms in the air and getting a laugh from Fate in response. "Silly boy, you can't just crawl around with everyone here." She spoke softly as she walked around, smiling as Yuuno's cousins and aunts commented on her and Isamu and how they were happy for him. Fate couldn't help but feel her face heat up at the comments and praise she was getting, it wasn't too often she found herself at the center of attention for something other than military matters. Well, at least not from complete strangers, and the amount she was getting was rather humbling and amusing at the same time. "Fate." Nanoha spoke up as she slipped in, speaking politely and simply, managing to get to her and Isamu while giggling softly. "Excuse me, but can I please steal Fate and Isamu from all of you for a little while?" Laughing, Fate was relieved as the group let out some mock-groans and allowed Nanoha to pull her away from them. "Thank you, I was starting to feel a little smothered in there." While the blond had wanted a large family, she really didn't think Yuuno had this many relatives. It was crazy, weird and at the same time very heartwarming. "Ack!" Her eyes widened as Isamu grabbed her hair and pulled down. "No, Isamu, I need my hair." She laughed softly as he seemed to pout when she worked her hair from his little fingers. "Come here, Isamu." Nanoha smiled softly as she took him from Fate. "It hurts to pull people's hair, Isamu, you can't do that." "Where's the rest of our family, Nanoha?" Fate smiled as she smoothed her hair down. Nanoha giggled at the other woman. "Vivio and Yuuno-kun are watching Sora and Alicia right now." The amused smile on Nanoha's face made Fate laugh softly. "They're..." "Excuse me..." A smallish woman with long black hair, wearing a black shirt with a red skirt that reached to her knees, interrupted the two. When they turned to look at her, she bowed apologetically. "Miss Fate, you have a phone call from one Admiral Chrono Harlaown." Fate nodded to her, smiling softly. "Thank you, is there a room where I can take the call?" "Of course." The woman nodded and motioned for Fate to follow her. After a quick goodbye to Nanoha and Isamu, the blond did just that. "Right this way." "Thank you." Fate smiled as she followed her. "It's not my place to say anything, but I'm glad that Yuuno found two lovely ladies." The woman said as she opened the door. "Just press the flashing button." Fate nodded to her as she left before pressing the button. She was happy to see her brother's face on the screen, but blinked at the rather serious look on his face. "What's wrong?" There was something in his eyes that she didn't like; not to mention that he seemed rather worn out and tired at that moment. "I'm sorry to hassle you on your vacation, Fate, but there was information that I felt you needed to know." "What is it?" Granted it wasn't really too much of a vacation as much as it was supporting Yuuno, but she wasn't going to argue any semantics when her brother looked worried enough to try and send a bunch of Enforcers out to make sure that she and her family was safe. "Roughly a day ago, four criminals managed to escape from several high-security prisons." Fate went silent as she listened, a picture of a man with slightly dark skin and black hair that was unkempt appeared on the screen. "You may or may not remember this man, Kagal, but he managed to escape at that time. Years ago, you managed to bust his smuggling ring." "That was one of my earliest cases." Fate looked thoughtful for a moment. "If I recall..." She trailed off as she took on a thoughtful look. "He was a fairly dangerous opponent, but nothing about him really stuck out in my mind." At least as far as she could remember, since all the details turned a bit gray and fuzzy in her memory in regards to this particular person. Chrono nodded at that as he turned the picture off of the screen. "I just thought that you needed to know about it, in case he remembers you and comes for revenge." There was a beeping sound from Fate's pocket as she took out Bardiche. "I sent you information on the four that escaped." "Thank you." Fate nodded to him as he told her to give Yuuno a punch in the arm for him. (---) "This little girl's so cute." Yuuno shook his head at his aunt as she gushed over Alicia. He, Vivio, Alicia and Sora were outside in the yard. He smiled as he watched Vivio carry her younger brother around, stopping at times to put him on the ground as they looked at various bugs and flowers. It was rather nice being outside and with his children. He felt strangely warm at that thought. He had once over-heard Momoko and Lindy mention that men got silly when they thought about the children they helped bring into the world and could only chuckle, maybe it was true, he certainly felt like he got silly looks on his face when he thought about the children. Suddenly the hair on the back of his neck stood up. He looked around, felt for something dangerous, something powerful, something that shouldn't have been there. "Got'cha!" A female suddenly glomped his back, giggling. "Been a long time, cousin." "R...Reiko?" Yuuno blinked, surprised he remembered her name, he hadn't seen her since he was nine years old. Though, all things considered, she was the only one of his cousins that was like this. Giggling, the woman nodded and got off of his back. "Wow, look at you! All grown up, and what's this I hear about you getting married?" She seemed to pout as he turned to look at her. She was a little shorter than him, with black hair, that extended just past her shoulders while she wore gray shoes, blue pants and a white short-sleeved shirt as she smiled at him. Chuckling, the blond man nodded at her. "Yeah, I'm going to get married to two lovely women soon." "Well, you better make them happy, or I'll have to stop by and make you pay for it." She winked and punched him the arm playfully. "Seriously though, I'm glad to see you doing well." She laughed softly, getting a chuckle from Yuuno, who rubbed his left arm and idly wondered just how many more of his cousins he barely recalled or remembered were going to punch his arms to congratulate him. "Yuuno-papa..." Vivio held Sora with one hand while tugging on Yuuno's pant-leg. "Who's she?" "Papa?!" The woman blinked a few times before Yuuno could answer and got right up in Yuuno's face. "She's what? Ten years old?" "I'm eight." Vivio raised her hand at Yuuno's cousin. "Okay, eight years old, you're twenty-one so that means..." "I'm going to be twenty-two soon." Yuuno muttered and sweat-dropped as his cousin seemed to have the wrong ideas about his situation. "You had her when you were only thirteen?" Reiko's eyes widened and she seemed to gasp while pointing at him. "My, my! You sure did grow up fast!" Behind Yuuno, his aunt Rika giggled as she and Alicia watched the confrontation. This was more amusing than some of the soap operas she watched. Yuuno's face turned slightly red at the insinuation. "Huh?" Vivio blinked at what Reiko had said, getting the adult's attention. "Nanoha-mama adopted me and Fate-mama helps Nanoha-mama and then Yuuno-papa moved in and then we all became a family." Reiko blinked a few times, before breaking out in laughter. "Ha ha ha! I kind of thought that was the case. I just wanted to tease my cousin." She winked at Vivio and Yuuno. "When you have a lot of family members, you find that most of us take our time to tease each other." "Or get the runt of the group stuck up in trees." Yuuno muttered, but his voice had no malice in it. Nothing bad had happened because of it, and he had gotten down, plus the cousins that had done that to him had gotten punished by the adults, so it all worked out in the end. "I remember the time when my cousins got me stuck in a mud hole and left me there for nearly a half an hour." Rika shook her head at the memories. "Good times." Oh sure, at the time, it wasn't that fun, but it was very amusing when she thought back on it. Vivio looked confused, that didn't sound fun to her, but then again, she didn't have a lot of cousins. Maybe she'd find out what was so interesting about teasing younger cousins if she had any. "Yuuno! Vivio!" Everyone turned to the house as Nanoha was walking towards them with Isamu in her arms. She smiled at them as she got close. "Hello, Alicia, hello, Sora." Sora looked up at her and let out a happy squeal as she giggled and gave Yuuno a quick kiss on the lips, before kneeling down and putting Isamu on the ground and picking up her other son, hugging him softly. "And how are you? You've been good?" Vivio nodded at Nanoha. "Uh huh! Sora's been a good boy and looked at lots of bugs with me." "Sounds like fun." Nanoha smiled at her eldest daughter. "You'll have to show me before we leave." "Okay!" Vivio grinned and yelped as she saw Isamu crawling away from her. "Hey! Get back here!" She ran after him, much to the amusement of the adults. "So this is one of the women you're marrying?" Reiko raised an eyebrow and looked at Nanoha. "Wow, you got lucky, Yuuno. Gotten any death threats from her jealous ex-boyfriends?" Nanoha laughed at that, but blushed when she admitted that she had never had any boyfriends before she had Yuuno move in with her and Fate. "Oh, I see how it is now!" Reiko had a positively amused look on her face as she pointed dramatically at Nanoha. "My cousin charmed the socks right off of you and your friend Fate and managed to get both of you to fall for him!" Yuuno chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. He was about to say something when Nanoha hugged his arm and smiled while holding Sora with her other arm. "Something like that. He was always a precious friend to me, who showed me the world of magic and let me spread my wings and find my own path in life." Yuuno blushed more as both Rika and Reiko practically gushed over that. "You saved my life when I needed help, Nanoha." She shook her head. "I would save anyone's life if I could, Yuuno. You and Fate, you two are special to me, and I love you both." "Nnnngh!" Alicia started squirming and grunting, getting a chuckle out of Rika as she brought the little girl over and gave her to Yuuno. "I think she wants to get in on this moment... Or break it up." Rika laughed at them as Yuuno took Alicia from her. "You're very lucky, all of you." She smiled before heading back into the house. Reiko chuckled softly and walked up to Nanoha, giving her a hug. "Welcome to the clan... Cousin." She got a smile from Nanoha, even though she couldn't see it, and a light hug in response. "Now, Yuuno!" She exclaimed as she stepped away from Nanoha. "You need to take good care of your future wives." "I know, I know... Or you'll come after me." Yuuno said with a chuckle, before blinking as Reiko shook her head. "Nope! All of their ex-boyfriends will be after you for making them cry." "Actually, Fate didn't have any boyfriends either." Nanoha pointed out, causing Reiko to groan in dismay. "Ruin a good joke, why don't you?" She said, while getting a laugh from the two of them. Walking up to them while keeping Isamu in front of her, Vivio just shook her head. Adults were weird, that was all there was to it. (---) The next thing Ginga knew she was hearing voices, they were a bit distant to her, but she was hearing them. "...out of it soon." One of them, the ship's doctor if she recalled correctly, was saying to someone else. "Most likely." Someone else, the captain now that her mind was starting to reboot, spoke up. "It seems she woke up just as you thought she would, doc." There was a chuckling sound as Ginga opened her eyes, then groaned, the light was way too bright and she was in too much pain right now to function properly. "Just don't have her stay up too long, she's pretty beaten up." "Of course." The captain nodded to the doctor as he left. The man was pretty tall and had a fairly solid build on him, but Ginga didn't care for much of that at the moment. She was just surprised she was alive. The sheer pain she was feeling was pretty much a testament to that, at least the throbbing pain in her head was telling her that she was alive. "Glad to see you alive." The captain said softly, getting a wince from her, since it sounded like he was yelling to her. "Just so you know, Ginga, we're heading back to Mid-Childa." "But.." She gasped, wincing as the evil little gremlins and their evil Armed Devices went back to trying to use buster beams in her skull and make it explode from the inside out. "The ship's engines are practically scrap, thanks to sabotage; we have a spy and assassin on board and one of my crew members nearly died. I think that it would be better to head back and file a report for our superiors to deal with than stay out here." The captain shook his head at her look. "Just recover for now." "What about..." "The assassin?" The captain frowned darkly. "We discovered him in several layered binds in the engine room trying to escape. He claimed that you went crazy and tried to kill him." "I..." "Don't worry, considering that he was alive and you were more busted up than him, I didn't care to take him at his word." The captain shook his head. "Just rest for now. He's being held up in the brig for now, we'll get back and deal with him properly." Ginga nodded and closed her eyes. She just hoped that this wasn't a delusion and that she was really going to live and not dying in the engine room. (---) Again wondering why their benefactor was helping them, Pyro, now dressed in black pants and red shirt, looked at the white gloves on his hands, each had an weird symbol on the back of his hands and his right gloved hand had a red ball seemingly sewn into the fabric. "Interesting, I don't feel any stronger." "You're not." The man at the desk said, shaking his head as his assistant sighed softly. "As I explained before, these devices don't make you any stronger, but what you can do with them gets better and more powerful as more magic starts to saturate the area around you." "And being unable to turn it off is just a side-effect, huh?" Kagal, now dressed in green cargo pants, black boots, a green shirt with a black vest and a green and black bandanna on his head, spoke up as he looked at the pendant around his neck, the gem there was blue in color. "Of course." The woman smiled at him. "Uh, could you explain it to me again?" Weasel asked as he sat on some boxes, he was dressed in a blue shirt and long shorts with tennis shoes on his feet. "How can these things work if they need to gather magic from around them to make them stronger?" The man sighed softly and nodded to his assistant, who pulled up a board with some stick figures on it. "As you can see, everyone has a magic aura around them." The assistant drew some lines around the stick figure, a small bubble followed by some squiggly lines that arched off into various directions. "Even so, magic tends to bleed out of a person at times, which is what those little lines represent, it's how magic can be sensed by people around them, as well as being able to be measured. Generally it's not enough to interfere with a spell or make it harder to cast any magic, it just happens" He shrugged as the assistant then erased the figures on the board before redrawing the stick figure, this time with the bubble, but with noticeable breaks. "Unfortunately, in order to use your magic aura, you can't really have it being disrupted by too much." "Which is what seals do." Rudal, dressed in light blue pants, a sleeveless blue shirt, showing off his muscular arms and chest as he walked up to them from a closed off area. "I'm surprised you managed to get so much in such a short amount of time." "It wasn't too hard." The man smirked at Rudal before looking at Weasel, the escaped criminal squirmed slightly under the intense stare he was being given. "As for how these devices work, well..." His assistant drew the same squiggly lines away from the stick figure, but this time, she had them bend in mid air and go to a single point, which she then circled for emphasis. "Your magic is still there, it's not bleeding because the seals are stopping you from using your magical aura, these... "Compression Devices" take the aura you already have and force it out of you so that it can be used." "Be that as it may..." Rudal interrupted, frowning at the exchange. "How is it that you were able to get everything here. Considering who you are, I doubt that you could have gotten all this freely." The woman laughed softly, getting Rudal's attention. "I'm sorry, but this stuff here is just a small amount of what we have, sadly the making of most of this is very difficult and time consuming." "Indeed." The man smirked at Rudal. "The four of you wouldn't know, but while you were in prison, there was a crime wave in TSAB space, lots of different things were stolen, seemingly at random, we were almost discovered when a member of the military stumbled across a crime scene." "Lucky you weren't discovered then." Rudal intoned, getting a chuckle from the man. "Oh yes, it was lucky, otherwise this would have taken longer. Speaking of lucky, I hear that you..." "Whatever." Rudal interrupted and turned away from the man as he started to walk away. "I've got what I want, I've got some stuff to do." He stopped at the door and turned to the man. "You said you don't care what we do, as long as we use these devices and get information for you, correct?" "That's all I want from you." The man chuckled as Kagal, Pyro and Weasel followed Rudal out of the room. "Sir..." His assistant spoke up softly. "I don't really care about them, but shouldn't we have told them that those devices are likely to kill them?" He chuckled and stood up, shaking his head, honestly, it didn't matter. "Come on, we need to get out of here and meet up with her." He was curious to see just how long those four lasted with those devices in use, especially Rudal, considering who the man was. "Of course." The woman smiled as several small hovering robotic devices floated into the room and started packing away the various merchandise. "Do you think she'll be mad?" "A little." The man shrugged, not really caring. "We did leave her alone to do this." (---) Rubbing her head as she looked over the reports, Carim sighed in exasperation. "How does this happen?" Signum shook her head, she wasn't sure either. The reports they were getting seemed odd, weird and contradictory at times. "It's almost like someone put an illusion up on the security cameras and then created false illusions to cover their tracks." Carim was about to say something when a knock was heard on the door. "Yes?" She looked up as Schach came into the room, Verossa following right behind her. "Verossa, what news do you have?" Rubbing his eyes, he took a seat across from his adopted sister. "Let's just say that someone's good at illusion magic, people thought those four were still in prison just after the riots had ended." Carim didn't like the look in his eyes. "I'm not going to like what I'm going to hear next, am I?" Verossa shook his head and sighed in exasperation. "No, you aren't. I don't know who was able to do such a complex illusion, but from what I saw..." He sighed, shaking his head. "Whoever it was, well, they could have kept it up as long as they wanted..." "And we'd never know that anyone escaped." Carim finished, feeling a major headache on the way. "Did you double-check to make sure that everyone that should be there is there?" "I looked, from what I can tell, they're all there, but..." 'But..?" Carim, Signum and Schach asked at the same time, getting the green-haired man to shake his head in dismay. "I don't know how real the illusions were, but I couldn't tell any difference between the illusions on the tapes and the real deal until the illusions were canceled." "Great..." Signum muttered. They'd need to find out who was capable of doing this, stop them and find out just how many more people could have escaped when no one was looking. "This means..." Schach's eyes slowly widened as she realized the implications of what Verossa was saying. "Yeah..." Verossa slumped, feeling like a failure at that moment. Seriously anyone that could make illusions that convincing would be trouble. Signum suddenly went stiff and pale. "...I need to get home. I'm sorry." She didn't care if Hayate was okay, she wanted to make sure for herself. She sent a message to Zafira to make sure to double check on Hayate for her. "Of course." Carim nodded, worried for Hayate as well. "Schach, will you see Signum out?" "Of course." The nun bowed to Carim and led Signum out of the room. (---) "Signum," Zafira blinked as he looked at the pink haired woman as she walked through the door, "I didn't expect to see you back so soon." "I was worried about Master Hayate." She said as she walked into the house and looked around for a few moments. "She's fine." Zafira said as he and Signum went towards the kitchen and looked out the glass doors towards the ocean. Zafira couldn't help but enjoy the view of the ocean from the house, but still, he looked at Signum for a moment, before shaking his head. "That's good, but I need to make sure." Signum said as she turned to move towards Hayate, but stopped as Zafira stood in front of her. "Zafira?" "Yes, I'm sure that she'd love to see you, but there's just one problem." Signum raised an eyebrow. "And what's that?" "You're not Signum." Zafira narrowed his eyes and growled before lunging at the faker. Big, BIG thanks to Rising Dragon for being a pre-reader for me. And nixing a plot that really didn't need to be done. Sorry this takes so long, I'm much slower writing when I write on my own. |
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2010-06-02, 08:07
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Link #25139 | |
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"Hey, Isaac?"
Author
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Pennsylvania. It's sort of like a real state.
Age: 39
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Celica and Lutecia's interactions were just golden, really. I've been waiting to see those two finally interact, and it did not disappoint. They may be odd friends, but it is obvious they really are closer than Celica in particular likes to publicly admit. A sad lack of Naval Special Intelligence Service Agent Abraham Goddamn Steele (He must, in my mind, always be referred to by his full name and title. The 'Goddamn' may, if you wish, be replaced by any number of words. It's really only there for emphasis). But then, you can't him in every chapter. It would overload the story with badass. |
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2010-06-02, 09:39
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Link #25140 | |
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Test Drive
Author
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: USA
Age: 33
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Quote:
EDIT: Pageclaim for requests!
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| Tags |
authorshipping, befriending, fanfiction, interactive fanfiction, nanoha  |
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