Please be aware – I will be putting the Full Metal Panic canon into the blender and pureeing it, so don't expect for the parts to fit together right.
"Talking"
'Thinking'
START
"They are somewhere here" The nervous looking man pointed to a jumble of buildings in the downtown area. Hecht-on-Rhine was a decaying industrial city, whose only claim to fame (or to anything, really) was a picturesque forest on its border, making it a popular jumping off point for hikers.
Apparently, it was a jumping off point for some other sort of visitors as well.
"You don't know exactly where they are?" Rin asked in exasperation. She had quickly formed an opinion of Vasiliy Zaytsev, the 'Second Owner' of the area as a spineless dweeb who did everything half ass-ed. Rin was good at snap judgments. The former tsundere had graduated from 'Angry-Nice' teenager to 'Angry-Disillusioned' twenty-something. the 'Nice' part must have just been hormones.
She had trimmed her hair into a paige-boy bob, as a compromise between looking good and getting the hair out of her way. That and her woman's business suit made her look like a MBA on the way up the corporate ladder. Well, except that the skirt on the suite was about 6" too short. Some habits are hard to give up.
Zaytsev shook his head, looking nervous, "they move their base of operations around a lot. I detected their bounded field near here a couple of days ago, but I am not certain if they have moved." He rubbed his hands together, "We have never had anything like this in Hecht before. It's a quiet city"
Rin sighed, and then called out to her partner "Berhard, can you sense any bounded fields near here?" Technically, Johan Bernhard was the 'Senior partner' – aka her boss, but Rin wasn't going to put up with any crap from some half competent political appointee. She had been partnered with him against her will, and sent off to deal with minor 'situations', such as lost goblins or college kids that had stumbled on a piece of real magic, which was what they were in Hecht-on-Rhine for. It was beneath her abilities, and it cut into her research time, but the Clocktower required their members to help out with field work as part of their membership dues. And being Asian, she got all the shit jobs.
"I can't detect anything. How about we split up?" Berhard replied, striking a manly pose, his chest out, his head held high as a breeze ruffled his (thinning) hair.
'And all the shit people too' Rin added silently. "No splitting up until we know what we are dealing with" 'Moron', "But we can walk on opposite sides of the street – that will expand our range slightly" 'I wish Shirou was here. Him I could let out of my sight and not have him get buggered by some nickel and dime undead. God, I feel like a babysitter. And I hate kids.'
Bernhard gave Rin an annoyed look, "It's just a bunch of kids that got their hands on a grimoire. I know you Asians aren't very good at this, but all you have to do is hypnotize the bunch and take the grimoire away from them. I'll take down any bounded fields that they may have set up."
'I need to stop this – I already cracked one tooth' Rin tried to unclench her jaw as she processed the idiocy that was spewing from her partner. She quickly crossed to the other side of the street, "ok, lets get going" she said brightly, with a smile, 'before I kill you',
The pair slowly paced down the street, with Zaytsev tagging along near Rin. Apparently he could tell who was the more competent mage. Or maybe he preferred to spend time with the smiling young woman rather than the severe looking middle aged man. Either way, he wasn't a complete idiot.
Even though Rin was almost thirty, she still looked like she was right out of college. Which she usually appreciated, except when it came to getting some respect.
"I got it!" yelled out Bernhard, pointing at an empty lot in excitement.
As Rin jogged over, the empty lot wavered, and became an abandoned indoor shopping mall. It was a two story building, with a vaulting main arcade that spanned both floors.
Berhard barely waited for her before crossing the bounded field into the building. Rin paused to see if anything pounced on him, physically or magically. 'Shirou was never this dense, not even in high school'
Rin and Zaytsev followed. The building was unlit, with the empty storefronts gaping at them ominously. Their footsteps echoed softly. This late at night, all the neighboring businesses had closed for the day, and the neighborhood was empty.
Rin glanced at the Second Owner and frowned 'Zaytsev means rabbit in Russian. At least he's named right'
Berhard spoke a word, and a ball of light appeared around his upraised hand.
The three magi made their way down the main arcade. "I hear something" Vasiliy whispered to Rin. She paused, and heard it too – a susurration, like a group of people chanting.
"It's coming from big store at the end" Berhard started to walk faster. Which is why when the windows on the storefronts to either side of him blew out, he was the only one to get sprayed with the glass.
"Ahh!" he yelled, covering his face as blood poured from several cuts. The light on his hand went out. Which was probably for the best, as it was what had made him a target in the first place.
Rin pointed at the left storefront and spread her fingers, spraying it quickly with Gander shot before turning to the right and tapping a small gem and reciting "Feuer brennen!" and lashing out with a bolt of fire at a nightmarish -something- that leaped out from the right storefront
"Vasiliy, take the left side!"
The Second Owner, recovering from his surprise, started throwing surprisingly powerful lightning bolts at the creatures. They looked like mix of human and bat, but in all black. They were extremely quick, but they weren't any tougher than a human when hit with spell-fire.
Berhard recovered and stood up tall as he chanted:
"Eisen der Zwerge
fliegen von Ihren Berg Echtheiten
schlagen sich die uberirdische"
Metallic spikes flew from his outstretch palm, ripping apart one of the creatures. He turned to face another attacker, only to be forced back as it sprang at him. A rune flashed on his coat and faded out. as it did, Bernhard's attacker was flung away from him.
The only light came from where stray spells had set the walls to smoldering.
The spells were all powerful enough to fry any creature that they hit, but the bat things were fast, swarming around the spell casters, not giving them a clear target.
"Use shorter arias!" yelled Rin 'those idiots are too slow'. She pulled out a small revolver and shot a monstrosity from point blank range. As the tiny derringer barked, a chip of gemstone shot out, blazing with prana before exploding in the monsters chest, ripping it in two. 'I need to thank Shirou later' The derringer had been a birthday present
"We need to get out of here!" yelled Berhard, "We can't take them!"
'Come on, Shirou!'
Just then, a figure dressed all in black vaulted down from the second floor gallery, landing at the edge of the attackers. He wore a black, uniform-like pants and shirt, with glowing runes running all over them.
Moving with super-human speed, he gutted one of the creatures with a dagger as he opened fire with a machine pistol at several others.
The bullets that spewed out glowed with a silver, ethereal light, but they worked just fine on the monsters.
One of the monsters managed to grab his arm, but it's claws just scraped on the black cloth, like it was hardened steel. The young man threw it one handed into a wall before putting a bullet into it for good measure. Thick black ichor oozed out.
As the things stumbled in confusion, Rin released a longer aria, throwing out a whip of flame that scorched several as they tried to escape their new assailant.
A bolt of lightning flattened two more, and Berhard launched a jagged spike of metal through the last survivor.
Pulling himself together, Berhard turned to face their young rescuer. "who are you?" he asked imperiously.
"Sgt. Sousuke, I'm with Mithril" replied the young man as he continued to scan the mall for any further threats.
"Ah, Mithril?" asked Berhard in confusion. The man in front of him didn't look old enough to be a soldier – he looked like a high school kid, "Who.."
"Lets go" Sgt. Sousuke hissed, and started towards the chanting, keeping in a half crouch as he advanced.
Rin quickly followed his lead, her derringer in her hand 'I can't believe I walked into that - being around Berhard must drop my IQ by 10 points'
Berhard and Zaytsev followed behind the two. They appeared uncertain if they should be crouching down as well or not.
When they reached the entrance to the anchor store, Sousuke paused. The chanting was definitely coming from inside. He glanced questioningly at Rin.
"Vasiliy, take down the bounded field. Berhard, blast the door open. Sergeant, when the door is clear, go in. I will cover you."
It was a moment's work for the Second Owner to take down the sloppy bounded field. Berhard then slammed the door off its hinges with an overpowered blast of force.
Sousuke darted in, taking cover behind a cash register. Rin followed his lead, as Sousuke covered her.
Inside the store stood a circle of black robed people chanting. Each held up his left hand as if in greeting, while clenching a dagger in their left. In the middle of the circle, floating above head height was a book, with black fog-like tendrils that reached out to each cultist. Underneath the book floated a young woman dressed in a nightgown. Her eyes were closed and she appeared to be asleep.
Sousuke quickly darted to one side and slapped a sigil etched onto a palm sized piece of metal onto the wall. As he did, Bernhard stepped into the room and sent a storm of metal darts at the cultists.
A tendril of the black fog knocked the darts aside, and all hell broke loose. Black tendrils swarmed towards the mages, and they were hard pressed to drive them off.
Flashes of fire and bursts of semi-automatic gunfire burst in the dark room, Berhard's overpowered spells were less visible, but they did more to drive the fog back.
"Target the book!" yelled Rin, as she snapped of a shot with her derringer. Unfortunately, the small pistol was not terribly accurate, and the shot went wide.
The cultists had stopped chanting and turned to face the magus. One, who looked like a middle aged accountant, looked at Rin and opened his mouth. She barely dodged in time as a thick stream of some black liquid shot out at her.
'I have no idea what that is, but it's got to be bad for you' Rin dodged aside, hitting the cultist with a Gander shot, but it hit with no effect.
"Shit" she ducked a clumsy punch from the black shrouded figure before retaliating with a blast of concussive force that sent the man flying. As Rin dodged a swing from what looked like a high school jock, she noticed the first cultist staggering back to his feet.
'That's not good' Rin grimaced
The magi were able to contain the cultists, but the cultists were protected from most their attacks by the black fog. The battle was too evenly matched.
BANG!
A shot rang out. So loud it must have been from a high caliber rifle.
The book jerked and tore.
BANG
A second shot hit the book. This one exploded into a ball of silvery fire on contact with the grimoire , consuming it in moments.
The cultist staggered and looked confused as the garish light from the burning book glared over them. Rin glanced towards the noise – where Sousuke had slapped the sigil onto the wall, there was now a doorway (complete with an ornate wooden door) into.. somewhere else. Red light leaked from it.
Crouching to the side of the doorway was a man in a dark green military uniform. He was just lowering a sniper rifle as two more soldiers rushed to take positions behind a pair of cash registers, aiming their assault rifles at the cultists.
Following behind them came a tall, gray haired man. He came in unarmed.
"Everybody, don't move, hands on your heads. NOW!" He braked,
"What's the meaning of this!" demanded Berhard
"Stand down, Berhard" Rin called out, "they're allies."
"Oh, Hi, Rin" the tall man stepped forward, and his face broke into a smile. "You and your people can relax. Actually, it'd be great if you could give us a hand checking these poor saps for any remaining enscrollement so that we can let them go." When he relaxed, the man looked much younger, in fact appearing not much older than Sousuke.
"What's the meaning of this! These people must be eradicated!" barked Berhard at the same time as Rin said, "Hello, Shirou."
"You know this guy? Tell him we can't let cultists go – they will just do the same thing again."
Shirou shook his head, "Check them for Magic Circuits – I'm betting they don't have any. The grimoire was a mystic code of some sort. It was running the show. Most of the people here were just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
"Shirou," Rin sighed, "somebody here triggered the grimoire."
"And you are going to kill the lot just to get that one person?" Shirou asked vehemently, "besides, I bet they have learned their lesson"
Shirou turned to face the group of former cultists, who were huddling in a group under the sights of the Mithril soldiers. Despite the lack of resistance, the soldiers remained on guard, with their rifles at the ready - they appeared very professional.
Shirou looked around, noticing that Sousuke was helping up the young woman who had been in the middle of it all.
"Anybody here think what they were involved with was a good idea?"
The cultists shook their head no, "What... What did happen? I don't remember" said one. There were murmurs of agreement.
"I don't want to kill these people, but we can't just let them go! Insisted Vasiliy, "it's against the rules. What if they tell someone what happened here? We should hypnotize them"
"And who will believe them?" Responded Rin at the same time as Shirou shook his head, "Hypnotize them so that they can't speak of this, but let them remember. Otherwise, how will they learn to avoid dangerous magic?"
As the discussion was under way, Bernhard started an aria, only to stutter to a halt as a sword appeared under his adams apple, as if by magic.
"Go home!" Shirou snarled.
"Come on," Rin took Bernhard's elbow and steered him away from confronting Shirou, "if you fight, I'll end up having to file a report on why you died, and this whole thing has already wasted enough of my time."
*KoM*KoM*
"You can start by saying 'thank you'" Rin pronounced as Shirou walked into her office at the Clocktower several days later.
"Me thank you? I rescued you." Shirou walked over to a cupboard tucked away under a pile of papers and grabbed a tea cup before sitting down in the guest chair (a pleasantly overstuffed chaise - Rin did like her little luxuries) and pouring himself a cup. He was dressed in casual clothes, having abandoned his military garb.
"If I hadn't done some spin control then that idiot would have sent all of the Association after you." Rin countered as she walked over to Shirou and took the cup out of his hand and put it on the desk.
"Um," Shirou asked as Rin dropped into his lap and kissed him passionately
Pulling back for a moment he managed to get out "I thought we were going to debrief about the operation?"
"Talk later, sex now" Rin almost growled, locking the door with a wave of her hand.
*KoM*KoM*
Shirou was lying on the small cot that Rin kept in the back of the office, for those time when she had too much work to bother going home. (that was the official explanation, at least).
Clothes were scattered all over the floor, a pile of papers had been knocked off of the desk, and the tea was cold.
He turned to Rin, who was snuggled up close to him, so as not to fall off of the small bed. "Rin? What's our relationship, exactly? I have barely seen you in six months and now this."
"It's the same it's always been" Rin replied sleepily. "And it's not my fault you haven't seen me in six months. You keep running around with that Mithril thing of yours"
Shirou took a moment to look at her with a melancholy expression before replying, "It takes a lot of work to set up a new organization. You know that. But you could come join us."
Rin snorted, "Yeah, right. I want to do research. Would you be able to provide me with a laboratory? Or funding?" she replied disparagingly, easily slipping into her facade of dedicated researcher.
"And you have so much time for research here in the Clocktower?" Shirou asked gently, "They have you doing all sorts of busy work that could be done by someone with half your talent."
"The pompous, stuck up racist pigs!" snarled Rin. "I am so fed up with dealing with them!"
"So, my offer stand" finished Shirou. His argument was half hearted. He could see the direction things were going.
Rin was quiet for a moment, before changing the topic, "So did you find anything from checking out the cultists?"
Shirou sighed and pulled Rin close, "Most had no memory of anything that happened. They remembered walking in a bad part of town, a flash of black, and that's it. I had your sister check them over, and only two of them had magic circuits - one of the cultists and the young woman who looked like she was about to be sacrificed. I am letting them both go, but I am putting some of my people on them to watch them for a couple of months. Especially the girl. her name is Kaname Chidori, and she remembers hearing odd voices coming from the grimoire."
"you were able to convince my sister to fly out to Germany? I though she's scared of airplanes." Rin asked in surprise.
Shirou smirked, "She didn't fly. She walked."
"What do you mean?" asked Rin suspiciously.
"You remember Tessa? Waver's former apprentice? She's a genius - maybe better than you! She came up with a way to connect my Reality Marble to different parts of the real world. It lets us take a shortcut to anywhere in the world. You saw Sousuke set up an entrance in Germany. Without that, it would be much harder for us to operate out of an island in the middle of nowhere..." Shirou ran out of steam, noticing that Rin had pulled away and wasn't responding.
He replayed what he said before sighing. "I didn't mean anything by it. You know that I love you. but Tessa *IS* a very talented Magus."
Rin's anger passed as quickly as it came, "So what's your plan now?"
"More of the same. I know it's all small stuff, but Mithril doing good work, helping people. We are starting to get a reputation."
"Not that I've heard" Rin replied with a frown
Shirou leaned in and kissed her, "that's because we don't want the Clocktower to get involved."
"But who else is there?"
"Local governments, NGO's, stuff like that" Rin's eyes got big, so Shirou added, "They don't know about the magic - they just think we have really advanced technology"
"And that what, you're fighting off space aliens?"
"That works too" smiled Shirou.
*KoM*KoM*
a wisp of black smoke curled around a bronze scarab resting on a tripod. the room was almost pitch black, the only source of light the torch that was producing the smoke.
"en chert dver" the voice was old and soft, but certain as it muttered nonsense syllables.
The smoke slowly soaked into the scarab. After fifteen minutes, the last of the smoke was gone, and the room noticeably brightened.
The old man smiled, "yes, this is a good one"