It's a hell of a homecoming party.
SEE FIRST CHAPTER FOR DISCLAIMERS
PLEASE READ & REVIEW
-CHAPTER START-
Cranagan (capital city of Midchilda)
Five Days After Archived Footage Viewing
It was so sudden as to seem surreal, really; one minute the city was calm, the next there was a tremendous swarm of Gadget Drones rolling through and flying over the city. Judging by their movements, they were searching for something, and blasting anyone who got in their way. The heavy hitters of Riot Force 6 had been scrambled nigh-immediately, as civilians were rapidly evacuated to safehouses within the affected areas. The problem was that "affected area" included pretty much the whole damn city. RF6's instructors and Forwards were spread thin, and the local TSAB Army garrison wasn't doing too well to help.
75,000 feet over the city, a cloaked vessel emerged from slipspace. Data on the situation far below was rapidly processed. The team was readied, short-range teleporters prepared to send them down. The team lead, standing before her squad, raised her blade and decided to finally use the phrase Gabriel Tosh had coined for them:
"Cry havoc, and let slip the girls of war!"
-SCENE BREAK-
Subaru lashed out with another super-powerful punch, smashing a Type-1 drone hard enough to send it flying into another, destroying both. But the damn things just kept coming! She had gotten separated from Ginga, Erio, and Caro, and had been fighting these things alone for around 10 minutes now. She was starting to get worried about how much longer she could keep this up.
"Seeker Swarm"
The sudden announcement from a male-based electronic voice heralded a barrage of purple-tinted concussive magic blasts that wrecked a good portion of the droids. A charged burst of pale-purple electricity flew out next, hitting a Type-3 Drone in the photoreceptors and taking it out.
"So you're Subaru" said a girl's voice from behind the blue-haired mage. "The Boss goes on about you a fair bit. You're a bit shorter than I expected; still taller than me, though."
'That voice…' Subaru's felt mild shock as she remembered the footage from several days ago. She turned around, and her eyes widened as she immediately recognized the girl standing there, clad in her black & grey Barrier Jacket, her Device in Cannon Form.
"Yo" Marie said with a grin.
-Mini-Break-
Erio moved about as quickly as he could, using Strada to cut down the Gadget Drones as they came at him, while Friedrich fired fireball barrages at the drones that tried to harm his Mistress, who in turn was maintaining a Defense Boost for Erio while also firing the occasional blast of magic at the drones. A Type-3 charged/rolled toward Caro, shrugging off the blasts she & Friedrich sent at it, and Erio wasn't going to reach her in time. Caro braced herself… and, in a flash of movement, the Type-3 was sliced into four pieces, the edges glowing with heat. The person responsible stood crouched in front of Caro, her twin lightsabers held out to either side. She stood up, her very alien features instantly recognized by the two little mages.
"Hey, kids, want some help?" Ahsoka said. "I've got plenty of experience scrapping battle droids."
-Mini-Break-
Ginga crashed through another Type-3 Gadget Drone, and then delivered a roundhouse kick that scrapped a Type-1. She looked up and ahead, and spotted a squadron of Type-2s flying toward her, unleashing a "light" bombing run. She braced herself, preparing for pain.
"Doton: Doryūheki!"
A half-dome wall of chakra-reinforced stone shot up from the pavement, surrounding and protecting Ginga from the air strike. Type-1 Gadget Drones then began to fall, shots piercing through their photoreceptors. Ginga heard a person land behind her, and turned around… and her jaw dropped just a little as she recognized the girl.
"Hi" Kaede said, grasping a bone-blade in one hand. "Mind if I join in?"
-Mini-Break-
Vita's hammer swung again and again, each swing either smashing a drone or sending a Schwalbe Fliegen into/through one. Being swarmed by Type-1s, she swung Graf Eisen in a circle, bashing them all away. Then, before she could do anything else, she was a Type-1 go flying across her field of vision with considerable velocity, a big dent in its side. She quickly spun around, blocking a hit from a modified Type-1… and the little drone was then bisected horizontally by a glowing two-pronged blade of plasma. Vita quickly recognized the tall blonde responsible.
"…So you girls are here now?" Vita asked.
"That we are" Sarah replied. Another batch of Gadget Drones appeared from around the corner. In response, Sarah readied the Jiralhanae Gravity Hammer she'd slung across her back, taking position. Vita grinned and readied Eisen.
"Stop!" Sarah started.
"Hammer time!" Vita finished.
The two rushed in, and Gadget Drones were soon reduced to so much scrap metal.
-Mini-Break-
Nanoha flew low over the ground, unleashing Axel Shooter blasts at the horde of Gadget Drones attacking her. However, her thoughts were not entirely on the current situation, and soon she found herself boxed in between a trio of tall buildings. This wasn't an unwinnable situation, but she would have to fight kinda hard to get out of this one. She readied herself, and the drones began to advance on her…
…Only for several of them to start falling to the ground in pieces, the edges glowing with heat, as a faint shimmer in the air moved about at speed, drones being cut down wherever it went. The figure de-cloaked, and Void-Jumped over to Nanoha's side. Seconds later a light-brown-haired girl leapt in, using a plasma sword to cut down another two Drones.
"S-Shion and Mai…" Nanoha muttered, eyes wide. "Teana's squad-members…"
-Mini-Break-
Ginga: "If you're here…"
-Mini-Break-
Erio: "…then that means…"
-Mini-Break-
Subaru: "…that… maybe…"
-Mini-Break-
Fate and Signum watched in surprise as a red-orange blur suddenly rushed through the horde of Gadget Drones attacking them, droids falling to the ground in pieces wherever it went. They couldn't see who it was at first, but then in a blitz of movement she appeared in front of them, crouched down and blades out, as a dozen more Type-1s fell apart in her wake. She stood up and faced them.
"I'm back" Teana said simply.
Before Signum could say anything, Fate lunged forward and pulled Teana into a hug.
"Do you have any idea how worried we've been?-!" Fate said, nearly crying. "Until we got the data packet five days ago, you could've been long dead for all we know!"
"I'm sorry" Teana replied as she gathered herself and hugged back. "I wasn't exactly in a position to contact any of you, and… I needed distance – to cut myself off from the Bureau for a while. …Technically, I'm not part of the TSAB anymore; I'm UNSC. But… you'll always be my motherly, soft but firm, dependable, distractingly beautiful Instructor Testarossa, no matter what flag I march with."
"This is touching and all," Signum interrupted, "but another wave of Gadget Drones is incoming. How's about you put your newfound sword skills to the test against ours…" a smirk, as Signum's competitiveness took hold "Ms. Uchiha-Lanstar?"
Teana's own newfound love of competition led her to make an identical expression once Fate let go of her. "That depends; have you gotten faster since an emotionally distraught teenager kneed you in the gut?"
"I hadn't been expecting you to successfully dodge. …You seem rather friendly, considering how you left us."
"Oh, make no mistake; I'm still gonna throw down with Takamachi. But you two I have no problems with; I've figured out you weren't in on the little conspiracy against me."
Fate was about to protest how there was no such "conspiracy", how Nanoha had been borderline-heartbroken by the incident, but decided to shelve it for the moment, as the Gadget Drones were growing closer.
"Gamma-1, this is Gamma Actual" Col. Holland's voice comes over the comm.; across the city, the members of the RF6 have tapped into the channel. "Have you linked up with the local defenders yet?"
"Affirmative, Actual" Teana replied. "I have linked up with Lightning-1 and Lightning-2."
"This is Gamma-2; Gamma-5 and I have linked up with Star-1."
"This is Gamma-3, have linked up with Star-5."
"Star-5?" Teana questioned.
"Ginga-san" Kaede replied.
"Oh. So she's my replacement…"
"This is Gamma-4; I've linked up with Star-3. Figuring out you're here has put a real fire under her, Boss."
"This is Gamma-6; I have linked up with Lightning-3 and Lightning-4."
"This is Gamma-7; I'm with Star-2."
"Hey, Hayate, are you listening in?" Vita said over the comm. "When this is over, I want a Gravity Hammer Mode for Graf Eisen; Swanson's kicking ass with hers!"
"If you could send a few reinforcements, Colonel, it'd be appreciated" Teana said.
"We'll do more than that" the Colonel replied.
Several seconds later, the Starshot itself exited slipspace over the city. Fighter craft and dropships began emerging from it, and the ship's point-defense guns began cutting into the enemy air forces. The Bureau forces below were startled by the sudden appearance of a ship almost as big as a TSAB cruiser, but the fact that the ship in question was attacking the Gadget Drones and not the Bureau personnel was a relief. When dropships began swooping in, dropping off troops, the Bureau soldiers were deeply shocked to see mass-based weapons being used by the newcomers, and no magic, but figured that fighting off an enemy attack was more important than adhering to TSAB protocol regarding first contacts with mass-weapon-using civilizations, and decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
The presence of non-humans amongst the newcomers was even more of a shock, but hey – gift horse.
When the enemy numbers had been reduced to about a third, they retreated, being hounded by fighter craft and aerial mages until they were no longer within Cranagan's limits. As the civilians slowly came out of the safehouses and saw the gigantic ship hovering in the sky above, Bureau personnel had to work to prevent a "Dear Saint, what is that?-!" panic from breaking out. By the end of things, Fate, Signum, & Teana were closest to Riot Force Headquarters, and headed there to simply wait for everyone else to show up. They didn't have to wait long.
"TiaaaaaAAAAAAAAAA!-!-!-!-!"
Teana turned around at the ever-loudening sound of her name, as she recognized the voice.
"Suba-WAGH!-!"
The blue-haired girl's high-speed tackle-hug bowled Teana over, the two rolling to a stop several feet away, Subaru latching on to Teana for dear life and shedding tears of joy and trying to talk coherently, occasionally succeeding ("Kyaaa! S-Subaru, we're in public!" "I don't care!-!"). Marie showed up soon after, landing beside Fate and Signum.
"Damn, she really missed the Boss" Marie said.
"You don't know the half of it" Fate replied. "She's been an absolute wreck." She then turned to face Marie. "So… How did you manage to construct an Intelligent Device all on your own?"
"Well, it wasn't really all on my own. I had help from Cross Mirage, the Starshot's VI, and a Huragok named Drifts Slightly Left… At least, I think that's its name…"
By now Teana had gotten Subaru to calm down a little, though the blue-haired girl was still holding onto the redhead for dear life, though she was quieter.
"Tia?" Subaru said, her face still buried in Teana's shoulder.
"Yeah?"
Subaru looked up, meeting Teana's eyes. "Please don't ever leave me again. I'm… I'm incomplete without you. I haven't had a good night's sleep since you left us. I couldn't take not knowing if you were okay. Tia… I know now… that you love me. And…"
And then she leaned up and kissed her.
Subaru spoke telepathically: "I love you, too"
Near-instantly, Teana forgot everything & everyone else. She didn't resist as Subaru pushed her down, pinning her to the soft grass as the kiss continued, then wrapped her left arm around Teana's waist while entwining her right hand's fingers with Tia's left. After nearly a minute, Subaru pulled apart and up onto her hands & knees, looking down at Teana – eyes half-open, red-orange hair splayed out beneath her, cheeks flushed.
"So beautiful…" Subaru murmured with sheer reverence as she softly caressed the side of the other girl's face with her left hand, which caused Teana's blush to deepen.
A sudden cough drew the two girls' attention to Marie, who was blushing a little at the sight but also had a big grin on her face. Fate had a similar expression, while Signum was turned to the side, trying to hide her own face. Immediately the two teens' faces went beet-red, and Subaru gave a nervous laugh as she gingerly pulled Teana up into a sitting position. The two fidgeted as Fate suppressed a giggle.
"Teana-san!"
The redhead turned her attention as Erio and Caro came running up, Ahsoka casually strolling behind them. The two kids jumped in, latching onto Teana in a three-person hug that Subaru quickly added to. Kaede and Ginga showed up next, and as soon as the three Forwards let go of Teana the elder Nakajima pulled her into another hug. Sarah and Vita showed up next, already chatting like friends.
"Man, Signum," Vita said, "this girl might be almost as good with a hammer as I am!"
"Might be?" Sarah replied with fake indignation. "Such tall words coming from a girl who's shorter than my baby sister…"
"Oh, you wanna make something of it, Skyscraper?" Vita fired back, though with a smirk on her face that showed this was just the two new friends' way of 'bonding'.
"Somehow, I had a feeling those two would get along" Signum muttered with a small grin.
As Ginga helped Teana to her feet, the last three people arrived at the scene. Shion and Mai arrived first, and then…
As Nanoha and Teana caught sight of each other, they had wildly differing reactions. Nanoha's expression was a mixture of relief, concern, and guilt; Teana's expression hardened into a calm, angry glare. The two slowly took a few steps toward each other, everyone else getting out of the way.
"Uh-oh" Ahsoka whispered.
"…Teana…" Nanoha said softly.
"Do not speak to me so informally, Takamachi" Teana said in a calm, cold, sharp tone. "It has been – for me – nearly a year, but I have not forgotten what you did to me. We will fight; I will have my revenge… but not today. Soon, but not now. Right now…" she turned to face the Forwards and Gamma, who looked to her. "I just want to spend time with my teams." Her tone softened. "Both of them. …You'd best prepare yourself, Takamachi; in a few days' time, we'll settle things. But there will be no more fighting on this day. All I want today is to be with the people precious to me."
"…Okay. We'll get things sorted out later; right now you should be with them. Your love for them is more important than your… hatred of me."
"…Indeed it is."
"And… Teana-san… I know it won't mean much to you, coming from me, but… I'm so, so glad that you've come back in one piece."
"…I'm not in one piece. I haven't been since I became the last survivor of Noble Team. But I'm close to it, thanks to these girls. If you'll excuse me…"
Without further ado, she turned and walked away, walking over to Gamma Team and the Forwards. After having seen how much Teana's need for vengeance burned within her, seeing her turn away from it – even for a few days – was a shock to nearly everyone. Teana found herself being hugged by Sarah.
"Having seen what you were like when you first started your journey, and then what you are now…" the blonde said. "You've grown, Teana. You should be proud."
The redhead simply nodded, letting herself relax into the hug.
"We should bring the others down" Marie said. "Let the rest of the gang meet the locals. And I know that Shipmaster Arum and Colonel Holland have got some 'splainin to do."
"Wait'll you girls meet me & Nanoha's daughter" Fate said.
"Daughter?-!" Teana snapped to attention.
"W-Well, she's actually a little girl we found wandering the streets with a Lost Logia chained to her" Nanoha replied. "We've determined she's a clone of someone who's likely long-dead. We don't know where exactly she came from, but for the time being Fate-chan & I have taken her in. Her name is Vivio, she's about five years old, and she's already started calling the both of us 'mama'."
"Perhaps we should go inside" Signum spoke up. "The rec room should be big enough to fit all of us."
-SCENE BREAK-
That Evening – 10 PM
Teana lazed about in the easy chair in HQ's rec room, Subaru squeezed in next to her, arm around Teana's shoulders. Thankfully, while the Bureau higher-ups were extensively interviewing and talking with Holland and Arum, they weren't gonna start questioning Teana for a couple of days. She'd spent most of the day simply enjoying the presence and company of the Forwards and Gamma Team. She had acquiesced to a detailed med-scan and physical from Shamal, who was very interested in the various enhancements Teana's body now had. At the same time, Shario and Mariel had been allowed to speak with and examine Cross Mirage; the Device's upgrades proved a considerable source of interest to the two, especially the UNSC-designed Riemann crystal matrix that allowed for dramatically increased processing power and intelligence for the AI. Also, the Mjolnir Armor schematics would certainly keep Mariel and her tech-heads busy for a while (though it was a certainty that the TSAB wouldn't be able to create their own MJOLNIR armor without an extra decade or two of technological advancement in some important fields). Shario also praised Marie for doing such a good job in constructing her own Device, and was already drawing up plans to upgrade Charon to increase efficiency (including reducing the amount of cartridges needed for higher-end attacks). Lastly, the effects of Khaydarin and Jorium crystals when installed in Devices' systems were quickly taken note of, and plans were made to possibly install them in the Instructors' & Forwards' Devices.
Erika, Timmy, Veronica, Asa, Rika, & Hanyū had come down from the Starshot and mingled with the groups. Erika & Timmy had very quickly become friends with Erio & Caro, with little Vivio (who even Teana found undeniably adorable) also quickly taking a shine to Erika, and Erika in turn quickly coming to trust Fate (enough to let her change her, even; Fate was the aunt of two young children, after all); Erika was, in fact, rather popular with all of the Local Group, as once the shyness was worked past she was adorably cheerful and friendly (Hayate was already starting to come with cute outfit ideas, which Sarah gleefully contributed to); Shamal was teaching Asa some healing magic; Nanoha and Rika had a quiet and surprisingly deep conversation regarding the nature of happiness and fighting destiny; and Hanyū talked with Vita, Signum, and Hayate about painful cycles and breaking free of them, and how the power of belief could create miracles.
Subaru stretched as she got up out of the chair, pulling Teana to her feet.
"Can I… sleep in your room tonight?" Teana asked, a little shyly.
"Our room" Subaru replied. "It's been our room since we first joined this unit, and it still is no matter how long you've been away. Come on."
The two made their way down the quiet halls, soon reaching their shared dorm-room. They stepped through, the lights coming on automatically.
"I'm back…" Teana murmured. She then felt as Subaru embraced her.
"Welcome home…" the blue-haired girl replied.
Teana didn't object when Subaru claimed her lips again, nor when the short-haired girl gently pushed her down onto the bed and started to undress her. Teana knew she wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight, and she was quite okay with that. As Subaru's soft, warm hands started to roam, Teana thought of how she was very okay with having come back to Midchilda.
-SCENE BREAK-
Next Day – 9:30 AM
"Okay," Nanoha said as she looked out at the group gathered before her – everyone except Subaru and Teana, at the moment, "today Vita, Signum, Fate, and I will be testing the members of Gamma Team individually to measure their skills and capabilities. We won't be making them go all-out; just finding out their basic abilities and how they stack up. We'll be doing Sarah, Ahsoka, Mai, and Marie today; Kaede, Shion, and Teana will come tomorrow."
At this point, a very happy Subaru practically skipped out of the building door nearby. Following in her wake was a slightly wobbly Teana who looked a little tired. The redhead was still feeling the aftereffects; Subaru had brought her to climax eight times last night, and three more this morning! Her body felt like jelly at the moment, and she was amazed that Subaru (whom Teana had given five) was still so full of energy. 'And I thought I had stamina…' the redhead thought.
…Okay, Teana thought with a smile, she had to admit that she had loved every wild, heavenly, nerves-singing-in-pleasure second of it.
"What's going on?" she asked as she slightly-unsteadily walked up to the group.
"…I see Subaru didn't waste any time" Signum remarked with a tiny smirk.
Teana blushed in response, and Subaru then came in, putting an arm around her waist, and she laid her head on the short-haired girl's shoulder. She paid the increasing of Signum's smirk's size no mind.
"I and the other Instructors are going to be testing the basic abilities of Gamma Team's members" Signum said. "We're testing Gamma 7 through 4 today, and 3 through 1 tomorrow."
"Good" Teana replied. "I am in no condition to do anything athletic right now."
"Aw, you're a great athlete, Tia" Subaru said, snuggling the redhead and switching to a sultry tone of voice. "You do have the… flexibility of one…"
The redhead blushed again and shot an annoyed look at Subaru, who merely giggled in response. Nearby, Erika blushed and let out a quiet "Oh…" as she finally put two and two together.
"Okay, you two wild & crazy teens," Sarah said as she walked up behind them, "save Round 2 for this evening. Right now you've got a show to watch."
"Sarah-san, you're up first" Nanoha said. "Unarmed close combat with Fate, and then you'll show Signum how good you are with that plasma sword."
"Welp, here I go" the blonde said as she followed Fate to the training grounds, everyone else following along.
-SCENE BREAK-
The next few days were rather relaxed and routine. According to the instructors, Ahsoka was the best swordsman of Gamma Team (with Teana a close second), Sarah and Teana were tied as the best in unarmed close combat, and Marie was the most accomplished at mid-to-long-range magical combat (though Kaede and Teana were both better shots with weapons in said ranges). Combination exercises had followed, leading to the four instructors praising Gamma for their teamwork. Also, when questioned, Marie had explained to Nanoha the basics of Teana's method of training: push a person to the very knife's-edge of safe limits, but not one step beyond under any circumstances – an interesting comparison to Nanoha's slow-and-steady method and Evangeline McDowell's "leave 'em half-dead and have Konoka heal them afterwards" style.
Colonel Holland and Shipmaster Arum had spent a lot of time talking with and explaining things to the TSAB. Ultimately, their presence was decided to be welcome so long as they didn't directly and deliberately cause trouble for the Bureau. Of course, the Bureau higher-ups knew that they were actually the ones at a disadvantage, for the same reason that Teana would not – and could not – be punished for "deserting from the TSAB". Namely, if any of the Time-Space Administration Bureau attempted to punish Lanstar – a certified member of the United Nations Space Command – for 'desertion', the UNSC would treat it as an act of aggression against one of their own, and would be "responded to accordingly". And if the UNSC and the TSAB got into a war with each other, the juggernaut that was the Sangheili Alliance would very quickly join in on the UNSC's side, and if Jim Raynor caught wind the Raiders would probably jump in, too. And if the winds blew right, the Protoss and the Phoenix League would likely take Lanstar's side, too. Lanstar would go unpunished, because attempting to do otherwise would result in the Bureau getting caught in a war against a coalition of several very militarily powerful sovereign entities that they would stand no chance of even surviving against, much less defeating.
A noteworthy development was the reveal of data regarding Tiida Lanstar's true fate – being taken down not by a B-rank criminal mage, but by an SS-rank shinobi capable of literally flattening a city in one blow. And that Tiida had actually put up a solid fight before being overwhelmed. Many people were practically falling over themselves apologizing to Tiida's surviving friends and little sister, though Teana had made it abundantly and painfully clear that the apologies were not accepted.
The "passengers" that the Starshot had picked up in the last three worlds either started or continued training with their newfound abilities granted to them by that ancient spell infused into the ship. In addition, the Instructors and Forwards of RF6 had been granted access to copies of scrolls from Konoha explaining crash-courses on accessing & manipulating one's chakra, and performing jutsu.
On the fifth day after the Starshot's arrival, Nanoha received a typed message in the morning, shortly before heading out to pick up groceries, that stirred a variety of emotions:
"Takamachi,
It is time we settle things. Meet me in the rocky grasslands 15 kilometers outside the city at 0945; plenty of room for both of us to go all-out, and no innocent bystanders to get in the way. My revenge has waited nearly a year; it will wait no more. Be there, or I will find you. Bring no-one else, and if you inform anyone ensure that they do not follow you. Today this ends, one way or another.
"Signed: Chief Warrant Officer Grade 5 Teana Uchiha-Lanstar, United Nations Space Command Naval Special Warfare"
-CHAPTER END-
Next time, the long-awaited clash finally takes place.
