Authors Notes: Whee finally a revised version of the prologue, everyone thank my pre-reader Tjalorak, any mistakes remaining are my fault. There have been some substantial changes, and more material added, there is also some progress on chapter 1 and the entire plot is now outlined. Hopefully I can avoid the slowest writer ever award.
Deep inside the Area 51 complex, the massive Aquinas hub of super-computers hummed along, parsing intelligence data gathered from across the world, by connecting satellite pictures with census data, correlating intercepted emails with secret agent reports, and otherwise combining millions of sources of data into a single coherent whole. It did this all with the infinite patience of a machine, coldly calculating the odds, sifting through that vast mass of data for the nuggets of information its human masters were interested in.
In the middle of this electronic nerve center, Technician First Class Johannes was having a cup of coffee. He had just gone through the arduous task of fixing the Helios subsystem, by the highly technical means of a swift kick. Therefore, he could surely be forgiven when in the process of massaging his foot he accidentally dropped his canteen.
After all, not that many millions of dollars of electronics shorted out.
Cyan Productions Presents
"Sir, you have to see this!" cried a colonel, waving a printout, as he barged into the office of the General in charge of Area 51.
"What is it, Colonel?" The General frowned and thought frantically. What did I forget this time?
Swallowing nervously, the Colonel nonetheless pressed on and saluted while explaining, "I'm very sorry for interrupting, General, but Aquinas flagged this for immediate action. We finally might have an opportunity to acquire one of the Whispered for ourselves. This time, we'll be the ones pushing the boundaries of science. We won't have to depend on the handouts of Mithril anymore!"
Hmm. A capital in that last word. Must be important. thought the General to himself as he answered, "Well what are you waiting for? See to it immediately!"
"Yes, Sir!" the Colonel said while saluting before rushing off to cut the orders for a high priority CIA op.
A Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and Full Metal Panic crossover.
And so it came to be that a few hours later in the land of the rising sun, Agent Smith was trying to be inconspicuous in front of the Seishou Auxiliary Elementary School. In a black suit. With sunglasses on. It might have worked better if it hadn't been raining quite so hard this morning. It had been hard to find any agent willing to take on this mission. This was one of those areas that most agents avoided like the plague, much like certain parts of Juban in Tokyo and Sunnydale in California. Agents had a tendency to start hallucinating in those areas and report things such as demons or girls in miniskirts jumping tall buildings. Poor Agent Mulder was never the same again after that.
Smith wasn't afraid however. He had volunteered for this mission because it was certain to be a cakewalk. After all, how hard could it be to abduct a nine year old? Thunder rumbled ominously. And if this girl really were a Whispered, he would just have to turn her over to his real masters in Amalgam. He straightened to attention as a gaggle of four girls left the bus.
Full Lyrical Panic A's
" ... and Cassandra is about to have kittens," Suzuka finished explaining. I smiled and tried not to wince as my left leg sent a reminder to not let Signum tag me in the future. Before I could respond, however a weird guy in a full suit stepped up.
"Miss Testarossa, may I speak with you in private for a minute?"
Huh, this guy stood out like a sore thumb. He had to be a rookie from the Bureau. I wonder why Admiral Lindy didn't just call me? Eh, it's probably just some paperwork that had gotten messed up again, just like after the first battle with the Wolkenritter. At least this time Nanoha and Bardiche where alright afterwards. "Sure, Nanoha can you tell Miss Haruna that I will be a little late?"
"Ok, see you in class." She replied as she and the others ran to the entrance to get out of the rain.
"May I help you?" Behind me, I could hear a car driving up as the bus left.
The man pulled out a gun and aimed it at me.
"Get in the car."
I blinked, stunned, as I heard the click of a car door opening. Fortunately, Bardiche knew exactly how to react, and his announcement of "Defenser" took these guys by complete surprise.
Lightning played across my skin, shifting my school uniform into subspace while casting my Barrier Jacket around me. There is no feeling quite like it, having overlapping magical fields falling into place like pieces of a puzzle and with each piece slotting into place comes a piece of pseudo-cloth to anchor it and a sense of power. When the transformation is done it adds up to an euphoric feeling of might, as if I can take on the world with Bardiche in my hand.
The gun coughed a few times in rapid succession and I saw mild impacts on my shield, but without enchantments to pierce Defenser they stopped harmlessly not even doing enough to shift the energy bleed off into the visible light. Even my Barrier Jacket alone would have stopped them without a problem. This made two things clear to me, one, they where not informed of who I was, and two, they where reckless enough to use mass based weapons. Thinking about what would have happened if they had done this to Suzuka or Alisa or one of my other classmates made my chest feel tight with worry. Furious I switched Bardiche to Scythe Form and charged.
I ignored the little metal cylinders they threw at me, just reinforcing my shield and jumping high over them. The brilliant and disorienting flashes of light and deafening bang caused me to stumble on my landing and blink long enough to be surrounded and disoriented by a thick smokescreen.
"Fate are you alright!" screamed Nanoha telepathically, her concern jolting me out of my momentary stupor.
"I'm fine!" I replied in the same manner, glad that she couldn't see my flaming cheeks. Really to be affected like this by some measly fireworks, she must think I am a failure."Protect Alisa and Suzuka! I'll take care of these guys." They are trying to get away, I realized as I heard the car tires squeal. They wont get far. I rose into the air until I was above the smokescreen, spotting the racing car I aimed. "Plasma Lancer."
"Yes Sir" said Bardiche as the yellow bolt shot out over the car before turning and smashing through their engine.
"We surrender!" Came the desperate cries from the wrecked vehicle.
"Come out of there with your hands where I can see them." I called out before floating in the direction where the car crashed. Three men stumbled out of the car, but the one who tried to shoot me was not among them. I turned to the men who stood next to the car with their hands raised.
"Where is the other guy?" I asked them.
They looked between each other uncomfortably for a few seconds before pushing one of them forward. "I don't know," he stammered, "He didn't get in the car so he is probably escaping on foot."
I can't leave these guys alone but I need to go after that crazy. Using mass-based weapons, and then near a school. I thought as I floated around in indecision.
"You know Fate you don't need to do everything yourself, you are a mage of the bureau now.." Said a familiar voice from behind me. "I'll take care of these guys, you go after the escapee."
Looking behind me I saw Chrono in his black Barrier Jacket along with two other bureau mages. It's quite a novel experience to have others rush to my aid for once. It kind of feels like they don't trust me to take care of things, and they have reason two as I have already failed twice and I haven't even been a contract mage for a whole week yet. I don't have time to dwell on it now though. I have work to do to prove that I am not a failure.
"Thanks Chrono," I called as I took off towards the rooftops. The rain worked to my advantage here, making the streets nearly empty and none of the figures down below looked up. Even so I almost missed the agent as he came up from the local subway station, moving with the crowd. I hadn't expected such a tactic and it would have worked if his clothes weren't so distinctive. Hovering overhead I waited for the crowd to disperse so that there would be less potential hostages. He has already shown himself to be dangerously reckless with mass-based weapons, someone could get hurt. However luck is with me, as he hurries into a parking lot near the local shopping center, which is almost empty at this time of day, especially with this weather.
^_^
Agent Smith had almost made it to his escape vehicle when he heard the cry of "Lightning Bind" from above. His arms and legs where pulled apart in a rough X-shape and he being lightly lifted of the ground. Glancing around his arms where solid circles of yellowish white light though they didn't touch his arms at all. Little electrical discharges kept coming out of them and ground themselves again against the circles. Agent Smith looked up at where the voice came from, just in time to see the Fate land on his car, and level her scythe at him.
Well that is convenient, thought Agent Smith to himself, Now if I could only reach the detonator. It's a pity she will die, but better her than me. To buy a little extra time he asked, "I don't suppose we could talk this out?"
Fate blinked in surprise. An opponent willing to talk without having to beat it out of him? She thought, before glancing down at the bindings and amending, Well at least without that much of a fight.
"Hey Chrono," called Fate telepathically, "I'm over at the Toledo Shopping center and I have the escapee in a bind. He seems willing to talk, what am I supposed to do in this kind of situation?"
"Nanoha is on her way," answered Chrono, "If he is willing to talk, then by all means, question him."
Nanoha, thought Fate longingly before wrenching her mind back to the present, and saying with a sunny smile, "Sure, lets talk!"
Now that is a pleasant surprise, what should I say? thought Agent Smith, and why is she suddenly so happy? Oh well better than wanting to eviscerate me with that scythe of hers. Now lets see what would make a believable lie?
"I'm very sorry about the arrest attempt Ms. Testarossa, but I work for the Japanese government and we had some questions regarding your forged papers."
"What forged papers?" Fate asked, looking confused.
"Your birth certificate, your Jukinet ID, your guardianship papers, your guardian's papers, your school records, where the money in your bank account comes from, amongst other irregularities. Look just let one of my arms go, and I'll show you my ID."
"Chrono, the guy is claiming to be working for the Japanese Government, and he claims my ID is fake." Reported Fate telepathically.
"Well, as a Non-Administered World, your local ID is fake, though they shouldn't be able to notice it. If he is from the government we might have a small problem, I'll get Ami on it." Responded Chrono telepathically.
"What is Jukinet anyway?" asked Fate of her prisoner as she noticed him becoming restless.
"Jukinet is the Japanese National ID Database, I'm surprised you haven't heard of it. You are an illegal immigrant aren't you?" Agent Smith said. It looks like she is talking to someone, he thought as he watched her expression subtly shift, Implanted radio maybe?
After conversing a bit longer with Chrono and Ami, Fate dismissed the binding. "Alright, show me your ID."
Agent Smith moved his hand slowly into his jacket. This is going to hurt, he though to himself as he pressed the detonator. Five kilograms of plastic explosive blew the car sky high, designed as a last resort to getting rid of all evidence. The explosion shook Agent Smith like a ragdoll. before he slammed into a nearby car and rolled over it, before rolling underneath the next one where he finally came to a stop, suffering from a concussion, eight broken ribs, and countless other injuries. To him that paled into insignificance when he heard a young voice ask; "Fate are you alright?"
Oh dear god. he thought, there are two of them.
Fate meanwhile was just slightly surprised by her footing disappearing from under her, her Barrier Jacket easily deflected the force of the explosion away from her.
Oh no, thought Fate, is it not bad enough I failed, but Nanoha had to see my failure. Despair and self-loathing welled up in her as well as the fear that Nanoha would hate her. And what will Lindy think? And Chrono? Mastering her despair and putting on a brave front, Fate replied, "I'm fine but he's getting away."
"Then let him get away," Interjected Chrono telepathically. "That explosion will have attracted attention, and Ami checked your files, they have indeed been checked in detail by the government. She is not yet sure why but it doesn't matter. Besides you two should get back to school, Suzuka and Alisa are probably worried about you two."
Looking up carefully from under the car, Agent smith watched as Fate, the second girl and two men in an unfamiliar uniform flew off, while thinking to himself, Screw this assignment, I'm getting out of here. I'm only human, there is no way I can take on monsters like them.
^_^
Later that day Nanoha, Chrono and I where sitting in one of the corner booths of the Midori-ya, Nanoha's family's cafe. It gave them the privacy to discuss this morning's incident over ice cream. Nanoha kept giving me worried glances, probably wondering when I became so weak. I want to beat my self in disgust for even thinking that about Nanoha, but instead I just sink deeper into my chair.
"Don't feel too bad," said Chrono. "Thanks to you we captured three of them, and I was the one to ask for his ID instead of waiting until you had brought him in."
I just sighed and pushed at my ice cream not really feeling like eating. How could I fail so badly in front of Nanoha? First I mess up on saving her, then I can't even capture the Wolkenritter, and now I can't even capture some normal humans with the help of Bardiche Assault. I know the fear that Nanoha and Admiral Lindy will abandon me if I'm useless is silly, but I still feel it clenching my gut. Momma also used to be kind and gentle. I try to get the topic to move to safer grounds by asking about what I did accomplish. "So do you know why they wanted to kidnap me?"
"Not yet," answered Chrono, "The entire situation is a mess, since this is a non-administered planet we technically have only limited ability to deal with criminals unless our intervention is requested or they operate inter-dimensionally. However since they threatened a bureau mage they might be extradited to Midchilda where their interrogation will take place. Of course this whole issue has brought up the whole issue of Earth being a Non-Administered Planet under review again, and it doesn't help that one of them got away."
I barely suppressed my wince at the reminder of my failure. So much for that topic. Thankfully Nanoha diverted the conversation to safer topics. It makes me feel warm and tingle inside, knowing that Nanoha is looking out for me.
"Why is Earth a Non-Administered Planet anyway?"
Chrono grimaced at that. "Well it's mostly because the High Council is afraid of Earth. It's also different from all other Non-Administered Planets in that it doesn't know about the TSAB, and there are regulations in place to keep it that way."
"Eh, why would they be afraid of Earth?" wondered Nanoha clearly surprised.
"Is it because of the mass based weapons?" I asked, suppling the only reason I could think of to practically quarantine this world.
Seeing Nanoha looking confused Chrono clarified, "Mass based weapons are weapons anyone can just pick up and use because they don't need magic. Which is just about all the weapons on earth, from the handguns we confiscated from Fate's attackers to the massive ICBMs nations on earth use to threaten each other. The later is the real reason why the political situation with regards to Earth is so complicated."
"But why is the TSAB afraid of mass based weapons?" Asked Nanoha.
"Because anyone can use them," I explained eagerly, happy to still be useful. "Mages can be tracked and there are limiters available if mages get too powerful or if they are considered a threat. There is also the aftermath of the Last Velka War which is when mass-based weapons where banned in the first place."
"Alright quick history lesson," Chrono interrupted before I could continue. "Fate why don't you explain the Last Velka War to Nanoha, then I'll explain how it relates to Earths current situation."
And so I gave a quick explanation of how the Velka War led to a nuclear bombardment of Mid-Childa, and how it ended with the destruction of the Velka home world, and how the widespread destruction led to the formation of the TSAB and the ban on mass based weapons.
"Right and that brings us to Earth," said Chrono after I was done. "Earth was discovered during the First World War. We accepted some refugees during the conflict, but mostly there was a question on what to do with them, with some Councilors wanting to make contact but most wanted nothing to do with such a war-torn place. With the end of the First World War the Councilors favoring contact where gaining ground, but then the Second World War started and the idea of permanently Quarantining this world started to gain ground. And then the war ended by using nukes, though on a smaller scale than happened in the Last Velka War. This pushed some Councilors to push for Earths destruction as it posses a great threat if it ever discovers dimensional travel. The current Cold War is also not helping in that regard, however with so many different opinions the Council hasn't been able to agree on how to deal with Earth."
"There is a war happening on this planet?" I asked surprised, Earth always seemed so peaceful to me.
"Well the Cold War is not really a war," answered Nanoha, "the Americans and the Russians are mostly building up their forces and competing technologically. They mostly fight each other through proxies, such as the Chinese civil war, Russia is helping Peoples Liberation Committee in northern China while the Americans send equipment to the Democratic Chinese Alliance in southern China. Though they have had a cease fire for almost five years now. There is also the occasional war in the Middle East, but most of those have quieted down after the Fifth Middle East War. There are also," Nanoha continued the bewildering list of wars on her home planet before finishing, " I think that is all of them."
"I think you can see why the Council has trouble deciding what to do with Earth," Said Chrono, "There is no other world that has reached this level of technological maturity while still being so divided."
Ok, scrap the idea of Earth being peaceful, no wonder Nanoha is so strong. And I apparently know embarrassingly little about Nanoha's homeworld. "Chrono how do you know so much about Earth anyway?"
"Oh that is because one of my teachers, Admiral Graham, was from Earth. Though most of the teaching was done by his familiars Aria and Lotte Lize."
From there we drifted of to less grim topics, until Chrono and me had to leave for dinner.
^_^
Smith's supervisor looked over Agent Smith's report, a man portable Lambda Driver with a diverse set of powers, a Whispered with an organization behind them, and three missing mercenaries. What Smith hadn't noticed was the connection to the Takamachi family, a group of supposedly retired ninja. The connection to the Bannings and Tsukimura families, both of which where filthy rich just convinced him further that he was on the right track. In addition those families would be rich enough to fund a secret organization. Mithril would be very interested in this information. Now all that was left was deciding what he should pass on to his superiors. Looking at the clock he decided that it could wait till Monday as he left for a well deserved three day weekend in Hawaii. After all a little delay never hurt anything.
^_^
At the same time, in a dim conference room, a silver haired teenager and nearly a dozen holograms of old men sat discussing the far more complete report Agent Smith gave them.
"I think I would know if I had another younger sister," the teenager said,. "but I do wonder how another group gathering Whispered has escaped our attention for so long, Mr. Mercury."
"Mr. Silver, we have no indication that this group has been around for more than six months, if even that long," responded Mr. Mercury. He was a former KGB Agent turned banker, who had a nice business on the side of brokering information and financing arms-deals. As such, he was more or less in charge of overall intelligence gathering for Amalgam.
"Really. Then the supposed retirement of the Takamachi clan of ninja nine years ago was just a coincidence. And just coincidentally, they managed to somehow get the technological edge over us to build these man portable Lambda Drivers in just six months, despite the fact that we have the largest known collection of Whispered in the world."
"That is enough," interjected Mr. Gold. "We have all been taken by surprise by this new organization. Our goal right now is not to assign blame but to decide what to do about them. Mr. Silver, how important would you say the acquisition of the Takamachi Whispered is to Amalgams goals?"
"Absolutely critical," responded Mr. Silver immediately. "Being able to make and power man portable Lambda Drivers is decades, if not centuries, ahead of our own research. The only way I can imagine such devices functioning is by using the Lambda Driver to fold space-time so that it's machinery resides in a pocket universe. From the description of Smith and the video footage we have, they also have gravity control, something we have barely managed so far and on a far more limited scale. In fact, we have mostly abandoned gravity manipulation research because of it's high cost and few results. The most advanced prototypes of the technology were integrated into the Behemoth Arm Slave, and that required careful synchronization between three separate over-sized Lambda Drivers. With their technology, I would not be surprised if one of those girls could take out an entire squad of conventional Arm Slaves. We need their technology. It represents too great a threat not to have it. I propose we make them a priority target. They are far more dangerous than Mithril."
"Are you daft?" asked Mr. Mercury. "They have not yet cost us any money, but Mithril..."
"Enough," interrupted Mr. Gold. "Mr. Mercury, you should be well aware of the rules. Further outbursts will not be tolerated. Mr. Tantalum, do you think a retrieval team is a viable solution?"
An older gray haired man frowned before responding. "No, considering the experience of the agent and the projection of the research department, acquisition by force is infeasible. The operation would be further complicated by the relatively heavy Mithril presence in Japan. More subtle acquisition methods are also unfeasible due to the presence of the Takamachi. However, I agree with Mr. Silver that they represent either an invaluable resource or a critical threat. I recommend using Mr. Kalium and Mr. Iron's respective assets to capture or destroy these Whispered."
"But what about the operations against Mithril?" asked Mr. Mercury.
"They will have to be suspended while we deal with the more important threat."
"Is there anyone here - besides Mr. Mercury - that objects to this course of action?" asked Mr. Gold. "No one? Very well then. We will deal with the Takamachi threat first. I declare this meeting over."
Within a few seconds, most of the holograms shut down, leaving just Mr. Gold behind.
"Why do you think they picked the Testarossa name when they made the false documents?" he asked.
Leonard Testarossa, Whispered, unofficial second in command of Amalgam, and the older brother of Tessa Testarossa, sank back into the chair. "The only reason I can think of would be bait, but Smith's report about their reaction doesn't fit in with that. Tessa is fairly well known within Mithril so anyone who has infiltrated Mithril would know about her. In addition, dozens of people outside of Mithril have at least heard of her. I myself am also known amongst a fair number of Amalgam's senior members so, again, my name and participation in Amalgam can't stay a secret for too much longer. In fact, it's probably safer to assume that it has already been leaked. So, the name and it's meaning would be easy enough to find for a group as formidable as the Takamachi. We know she can't be directly related to me and that her papers are fake. Barring the extremely unlikely coincidence that she just has the same name, that she is of an hereto unknown branch family, or that she picked the name at random, we must conclude that she picked the name to attract either our attention or that of Mithril. Or perhaps, even both of us."
"I can't fault your reasoning, but I get the feeling I'm missing something," Mr. Gold admitted, "How do you think the strike team will do?"
"Trust me, I share the feeling. As for the strike team, it all depends on how powerful their miniaturized Lambda Drivers actually are. If they can match the output of our Codarl Arm Slaves, then it doesn't really matter what we do. However if our Codarls still prove superior, we have to take advantage of that before they get further advances in their Lambda Driver technology. I don't have the data necessary to predict either outcome, but in any case, I recommend you hurry the strike team along."
With a grimace, Mr. Gold finally disappeared too. Smirking, Leonard said to the empty room, "And, either way I come out ahead.... old fools."