Midchilda was in a state of panic.
Or at least their most popular downtown buffet was at least.
It had happened so quickly by all accounts; a short, flat-chested red headed young woman and a handsome if dumb looking blonde guy burst into the place and slapped down enough gold to make a person cry. And then the hurricane began.
Plates upon plates of food were devoured, and soon, the chef was cursing the names of the two patrons who had left in a hurry once they were chased out by an angry restaurant owner.
What was jarring was that the pair were dressed in what appeared to be armor of some kind. The girl's purple and yellow outfit was embroidered head to toe with silver etchings and patterns with large shoulder epaulets and a mantle. One could mistake her as being some kind of kid in a costume if it weren't for the parting Fireball she hurled at the pursuers.
Her companion had been dressed in blue with black armor with the insignia of an iron serpent on it. Something like that would have been jarring enough if it weren't for the half broken sword he carried, crying when it broke due to the way he cut a lamppost in half. He seemed to support no magic of his own but there was enough that he was definitely conditioned to soak up enough damage that it would make one think that they were both wearing barrier jackets.
"Yeesh what a mess," remarked Subaru as she looked over the damage. "Tea, what do you make of this?"
"Seems to me like we're dealing with professionals of an eat and run." Deadpanned Teana. "But what kind of group pays in gold knowing that it's not our currency and eats anyhow?"
"A crazy group?" At Teana's eyeroll, Subaru grinned. "C'mon, let's get that statement and see about finding these two multiple offenders."
On the other side of the main capital, a pair of figures appeared in a flash of light. "Ne, Mr. Zelgadis, do you think this is where Miss Lina and Mr. Gourry arrived?"
"Who knows," replied Zelgadis as his weapon collapsed into the small pendant that he slung over his neck. "Like we really have a choice. These things needed to "Return to Belka" wherever that is. It must have been some serious transportation magic if we're in a city that looks too advanced for modern society to make."
"I suppose," said Amelia as her own weapon, a staff with a filched cross on the top collapsed and her clothing returned to normal. "We should find them as quickly as possible before they manage to cause chaos around the globe."
"Good luck with that," scoffed Zelgadis as he and Amelia headed into the city, drawing some curious looks from the passerby from their obviously out of place clothing.
Zelgadis noticed it first as the people were staring at them. "Amelia," he said in a low voice, "People are looking at us."
"That's because they haven't seen avatars of justice before!" exclaimed Amelia and Zelgadis fought the urge to palm his face.
"That's not it. Our clothing: its making us stand out too much. We need better outfits." He looked up at the nearby store and smirked. "And I know where to get them."
The shopkeep was certain that he shouldn't be surprised; there were a lot of offworlders lately coming to Midchilda. But two people dressed in linen and silks, even fighters garb like they did was uncommon. Still, the gold was good, even if it wasn't the local currency.
After they had left, he put in a call to the TSAB. Weren't there supposed to be two people, a man and woman who had been terrorizing the food industry later?
"Put your hands up," commanded the lead officer of the TSAB.
Zelgadis scowled and rubbed his head. "This isn't going to go as according to plan, now is it Amelia?"
"I don't think so. And I'm pretty sure we can't reason with them since we can't understand them." Replied Amelia as the man commanded something again.
The leader of the police was frustrated. Damn offworlders, not knowing the language. "This is your last chance! Put your hands up and come quietly."
The pair looked at each other and sighed as one. And then spoke two words in unison that he was hardpressed to figure out. And then they shot into the air and soared off like a rocket.
The leader gaped and facepalmed. "Get the head office on line one."
"Four of them."
"That's right. We've heard two separate accounts. A man and a woman, both originally dressed in sorcerer gear."
Hayate rubbed her forehead. This was not going as according to plan. Didn't Kevin say she'd have days like this?
"Hayate-chan?" inquired Nanoha. "Are you okay?"
"Cursing Levin but I'll live," replied Hayate, earning a nod from Nanoha. Hayate's rivalry with Kevin Levin was LEGENDARY. "Check the database. Let's hope we're not trying to capture two different groups."
Nanoha patted her friend on the shoulder and headed out with the reports. When she was gone, Hayate pulled out a green badge and flicked it on. "Kevin?"
"Hey," replied Kevin. "So I heard you guys have some kind of problem."
"How did…? Never mind, don't answer that." Sighed Hayate. "Did we get any new people in Echo recently?"
"Not yet. Why? You've got people on your lawn that didn't come through the hall?" inquired Kevin.
"More or less. Can you look into it on your end? Discretely?"
Kevin smirked. "I'm always discrete. Later dear."
"Don't call me that!"
"Crossfire Shoot!"
How quickly everything had boiled to violence. One word to another, some mistaken language barriers, the blonde guy somehow getting the woman to smack him with a bunny slipper with enough force to topple him, and explosions began.
The balls of magic hurled out and were met solidly by a volley of flame arrows. They exploded in the middle of the courtyard and Subaru was already in the air, bringing her fist down at the blonde man who blocked it with his sword. The sword turned bright red and snapped and in an instant, he was off in the corner trying to hammer it into shape.
"You're wide open!" yelled Subaru, zooming towards her opponent but he dodged the blow.
On Teana's end, it was a ranged battle. She was dodging as much of the magical ordinance as she could, watching the young woman effortlessly fire off spell after spell. Shots rang out and the red head dodged Teana's blasts. The tone of the spell chant was familiar by now and a liquid hot fireball rocketed past Teana's head.
"I've figured out your pattern! Just surrender and we'll talk things through!" yelled Teana.
The girl bit back something decidedly foreign and swapped her spell chant. A dozen freeze arrows hurled at her and Teana snapped her weapon to dagger form to defend against them.
The blonde man was doing his best to fight Subaru without a sword but the girl came down on him like a hammer. Turning to his companion, he yelled something and the red head yelled something back.
He looked at Subaru and said something, almost apologetically. And then in a horribly mangled familiar statement, yelled "SET UP!"
Subaru leaped backwards from the explosion of power and Teana was distracted long enough from her fight as the sorceress yelled the same words. When it receded, they stood there dressed in black and silver, but the man wore a long trenchcoat. He drew a sword and Subaru swore as the sword proclaimed "JAWOUL!" at a command of his as it ignited into light.
"BELKAN!" yelled Teana as she started to dodge shots from Lina who had gotten an axe just as big as Vita's hammer and was firing blast after blast from the end of it. If it wasn't bad enough, Teana could now properly read their power levels. Just how overpowered was SSS+ anyhow? REALLY overpowered.
Teana wondered if her life was meant to be stuck with battle maniacs and ridiculously OP people.
Subaru clashed with the white blade and she yelped. That wasn't white energy, that was PURE LIGHT. The guy somehow managed to pull a sword of light on her. Wasn't that a big annoyance?
"Shouldn't we help them Mr. Zelgadis?" inquired Amelia as she watched the fight down in the courtyard.
"I don't think so. For one thing, we're not in trouble from Lina going over the edge and casting black magic." Replied Zelgadis.
"Huh? Why do you say that?"
"Can't you feel it Amelia? I know even a Priestess should be able to sense that there's a serious lack of divine or dark energies. While I'm sure Lina could muster up a few offensive black magic spells, I'm sure there's a good chance she wouldn't be able to cast any of the spells drawn on the mazoku. For obvious reasons." Said Zelgadis.
"Oh I see! We're cut off from the main spirits and energies so it's okay that Miss Lina isn't about to Dragon Slave her opponents!" Amelia laughed. "That's smart Mr. Zelgadis!"
"That's just good logic." Replied Zelgadis. "I'm sure Lina'll figure out that she can't cast Dragon Slave any time soon."
A pause.
"Any time now."
More pausing.
"Aaaaany time now."
There was a terrific screech of feminine fury.
Zelgadis grinned. "There we go."
