Secret No Longer

Uminari City, Japan

Below the sunny sky, a happy family is walking while talking to each other. The family consists of two not-so-old male and female, a young woman, and a little girl.

"So, Vivio, did you enjoy the town?" Asked the young woman.

"Mmh, Nanoha-Mama was right! Your hometown really is wonderful!" Replied the little girl.

"Now that you've known Uminari, how about if we go back to Midori-ya and have some caramel milk?" Asked the female.

"Yay! Let's go, Ms. Momoko!"

"I am still wondering why you're so adamant for Vivio not calling you…"

"Dear, do you want to have a rematch?"

"No, no! No need for that!"

Nanoha Takamachi laughs a little at the antics of her parents.

After the entire JS Incident and the dissolution of Riot Force 6, Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate decided to take a little break on Earth. Currently, Hayate Yagami is having a meeting with Gil Graham while Fate T. Harlaown is with Amy and her children.

Nanoha decided that the first thing she would do is to visit her family and introduced them to her adopted daughter, Vivio Takamachi.

Long story short, there were several shouting's and glares and a misunderstanding before everything settle down.

"Anyway, it's a good thing that Vivio is adopted and not your biological child. That would mean that we're failures as parents." Commented Shirou Takamachi.

"Dad, I will never do such a thing! I will only do it with someone that I loved!" Declared Nanoha. After that, she realizes what she's talking about and blushes a little.

"Oh, my. My little daughter has grown up. She now knows everything needed to have…"

"Mom, not here!"

"What are you talking about?" Asked Vivio.

"It's grown up stuff, Vivio. We'll tell you when you're older." Replied Nanoha.

Vivio pouts a little but decides to let it go.

"So, do you have someone in mind?" Asked Momoko.

"Mom, can we please not talk about my love life?" Replied Nanoha grumbly.

"Nonsense, Nanoha. You're now a grown-up lady and now taking care of a child. It's only a matter of time until you want to find someone to become your partner."

"Fine. But can we at least gain some privacy first?"

Momoko nods her head while giggling.

The Takamachis finally arrived at Midori-ya. Shirou takes out the key and unlocks the café. When he enters it, he immediately realizes that something is wrong.

"Is there something wrong, dad?" Asked Nanoha.

"I left the lights off when we left. Some of the desserts have been moved around as well." Replied Shirou as he walks inside.

"Very good observation, Mr. Takamachi." Said an accented voice suddenly.

Shirou, Momoko, and Nanoha immediately set their eyes on the source of the voice while the last one pushed Vivio to her back. The source is a man with balding head wearing a black suit. He's currently eating a chocolate soufflé that Shirou suspect to be one of his creation. What stand out the most is the fact that the man is not of Japanese descent.

"Sorry about that. I noticed that your shop happened to be closed, and helped myself." The man then gestures towards the counter. "Don't worry, I left the correct amount of money on the counter."

Shirou motioned for his family to stay still as he edged over to the counter, still keeping his eye on the intruder. Looking at the stack of yen on the counter, he admitted to himself that it is in fact the correct amount for what the intruder had eaten. Still, he slowly edged towards where one of his shinai is concealed, in case of robbers.

"Who are you? And what are you doing here?" Demanded Nanoha.

"Oh yes, I've been getting ahead of myself. My name is Agent Coulson, of S.H.I.E.L.D." Replied Coulson calmly as he puts the spoon down and stands up.

Both the eldest Takamachis become stiff when they hear "S.H.I.E.L.D" while the young one – but not the youngest – becomes confused.

"And what is S.H.I.E.L.D?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division." Seeing that Nanoha is still confused, Coulson explains deeper. "We're an organization that deals with threats to Earth, usually paranormal and extradimensional."

Upon hearing the latter, Nanoha looks a bit alarmed.

"What does this have to do with us?" Asked Shirou immediately.

"Well, remember all those things happening in New York? People just want to be more careful." Answered Coulson.

Hearing that, Shirou put the pieces together and realizes why Coulson is here. Nanoha however is now even more confused and really wants to know what she has been missing.

"I don't understand how something that happens half another corner of the world could affect us." Stated Nanoha, who then sees that her parents give her a disapproving look.

"Really, you don't understand? As in, you don't understand the ramification alien invasion, large portal over the city, millions of dollars in damage..."

Nanoha tries not to show it, but her face becomes more and more confused and now mixed with worries. Alien invasion? Large portal over New York? How could she missed all those things? They were happening on her planet for God's sake!

Right. She spent most of her time on Mid-Childa after graduating.

"After the whole invasion, a lot of governments got worried about alien invasions happening over THEIR major metropolitan centers. Yours being one of them. So, they contacted S.H.I.E.L.D." Said Coulson.

"Back to my question." Said Shirou.

"Of course. Seeing as there have been several strange things happening around a few years back, we thought it would be best to focus on this town. Along with the help of…several trusted informants, we got the wanted result; you." Coulson said the last word as he points at Nanoha.

"M-Me?!" Responded Nanoha.

"Well, not wanted as in 'we want the result to be you'. It's more like wanted as in 'our question is not left unanswered'. Sorry for the misunderstanding, it's been a long time since I spoke Japanese."

Nanoha nods her head in acknowledgement. Still, she's surprised that Earth managed to found out about her… unique activities ever since she met Yuuno and Fate. Looks like the TSAB is wrong when they say that Earth is "undeveloped" compared to the administrated worlds.

"So…your reason for being here is…" Said Nanoha worriedly.

"I just want to make sure that the off-world teleportation going on around here isn't going to result in any sort of invasion." Seeing the expression on Nanoha's face, Coulson laughs a little. "Sorry. Also, a little bit of advice; just because no one see's you, doesn't mean they can't know you."

"So, is that your only intention?" Asked Shirou.

"I can assure you that. We just need some confirmation. Though don't be surprised if you see some strangers. Like the old saying; better safe than sorry." Replied Coulson.

Seeing no choice, Momoko, who had been silent until now, sighed.

"Nanoha knows the most about this." She offered her hand to Vivio. "I'll show you the dojo, OK?"

Vivio gives a worried look at her mama, but upon seeing her nod, she begins to leave with her mama's mama. When they walk past Coulson, Vivio speaks up.

"Be nice to them, OK?" Asked Vivio and Coulson replies it with a bland smile.

"Like I said, we just want to talk. Sorry for interrupting your little family get-together." Coulson reached into his jacket pocket. Slowly, so they wouldn't panic, he withdrew a crisp 1000-yen note. "As an apology. Buy yourself something nice."

While Shirou still looked wary at the whole situation, Nanoha smiled a bit, then looked at Coulson, the smile fading slightly. With both Momoko and Vivio out of the room, it's time to get more serious.

"Could you tell me more about this 'alien invasion' thing? I was kind of...off-world at the time." Asked Nanoha sheepishly.

"I can see that." Replied Coulson simply.

Nanoha looks a bit embarrassed at being ignorant of something that sounded so...monumental. And on her home planet, no less!

"There isn't much to tell, really. There are a lot of news articles both foreign and domestic about it, and probably dozens of home videos from people who didn't get out of there. Your father could probably explain it to you." Coulson paused and looks at his watch. "I am not on a strict schedule, so you can take some time to learn about it before we continue."

And the prologue is done.

If you have question or suggestion, feel free to tell me.

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