On The Path of Vengeance

By Daishi Prime

Chapter Two – Confusion

Elsewhere, Later

The first thing Hayate noticed was the sound. Wherever she was, the wind moaned and howled, mournful and frightening sounds, like the wind itself grieved. It was not freezing, but definitely cold enough to make her glad of Reinforce's armor. She was even more glad when she realized that she was laying on a heap of jagged stone rubble that was contained by four jagged columns. It took her a moment to realize that the columns were the only remnants of a building, the structure of the corners supporting themselves enough to last a little longer than the rest of the walls. Reinforce was lying on the ground nearby, the small spear-tip icon a vibrant gold at odds with the grey stone.

Her whole body felt like she had been sent through a dryer with a load of bricks, and her balance was uncertain, so she settled for crawling over to the device, gathering it into shaking hands. While nothing seemed broken or otherwise seriously damaged, and she could not see any sign of an injury, she nonetheless felt like one massive bruise. It took a feat of will to reach the device and take it in hand. "Reinforce," she whispered, "Set up."

For one heart-stopping moment, she thought nothing was happening. Then, softly, she heard Reinforce's response, "Yes, Mistress." A moment later, Hayate once again held her staff in her hand, the solid feel and resonance of power reassuring her more than words could express. She took a little while to simply lay there, hugging the staff to herself, drawing reassurance from its presence.

Using Reinforce like a crutch, Hayate managed to get herself vertical and relatively stable, despite the shifting mass of rubble beneath her. From there, it took several minutes of careful maneuvering and determined effort to reach one of the corner-walls, where she finally slumped, leaning against the stone more than Reinforce. Once there, her attempts to reach Signum, Shamal, Vita or Zafira all failed, a strange shifting energy distorting her telepathic attempts and reflecting them back to her.

Beyond the wall, when she gathered her wits enough to actually look, was a devastated wasteland. She could not see very far, for the heaps of rubble and wreckage, but there was nothing else. Low, heavy grey clouds, covered a grey expanse of ruined buildings, nothing more intact than the fragmentary wall she was now leaning against. Narrow, twisting streets served to separate one pile of rubble from another, though they were also torn up and strewn with debris. Everywhere, the only colors she could see were the grey of stone, and the brown of dry earth.

"This doesn't look good," she whispered. "Reinforce, where are we?"

The head of her staff glowed softly, and Reinforce herself appeared. The miniature hologram was looking around in confusion, more than a little fear on her face. "I don't know, Mistress. I can't locate any reference points. Something here is disturbing the magic, Mistress. I can't localize that, either."

Hayate sighed, then pushed herself off her support. "Let's find some higher ground, then, see if we can't find someone else. Maybe someone survived whatever happened here."

Slowly, carefully, she started walking. Even using Reinforce as a crutch, she was very slow, and had to stop frequently to catch her breath. She was soon wishing she had paid more attention to Shamal's lessons on healing, even if she did not yet have the fine control necessary for such effects. Learning to defend herself, and support her Knights directly, had seemed more important. "I'll have to fix that when I get home," she decided, after the third time she had to stop or collapse.

The twisting streets offered little room or line of sight, so she had trouble telling where she was going, or whether she was headed up hill or down. She was starting to give up on finding an observation point, when she rounded a bend and almost fell off a cliff. She caught herself with a choked off shriek, Reinforce's base actually catching a rock a foot below the cliff top when she thrust it out to catch herself, and struggled upright again.

Stretched out below her, across a bowl-shaped valley that had to be miles across, was a blasted cityscape. Behind her, circling the valley, towering mountains rose through the cloud cover, rough and intimidating. Below, perhaps a hundred feet, the base of the cliff was lost in windrows of rubble. From there, it spread across the valley, in drifts and heaps like old snow, save for the mass of the pieces. A few more partially intact walls appeared, and the twisting paths she had been following appeared to be somewhat wider below. However, the further towards the center her gaze traveled, the worse the devastation became. The pieces became smaller, the remains less frequent, and the heaps of rubble smaller.

Except, in the very center of the valley, a massive fortress brooded. It sat atop a pillar of stone, higher than the surrounding valley, almost as high as the cliff top she stood on. It was massively built, heavy concrete construction, narrow openings just big enough for an occupant to look out. It reminded her greatly of modern fortifications from her home world, though larger by far than anyone built any more. It was also pristine, at least in comparison to the ruin around it, untouched, not even chipped, as far as she could tell from this distance.

"Well, I guess we know what direction to head in," she muttered. "Reinforce, can you get a direction fix on that?"

Reinforce's hologram faded into view again, concentrating for a moment. Then she smiled and spun about in a circle. "Yep, yep, yep, direction fix, no problem!" The staff glowed for a moment, and Reinforce's swirling dance stopped, leaving her staring right at the fortress. The beam of light that leapt from the center of the cruciform headpiece was no surprise to Hayate, stretching easily across the distance to touch one wall of the fortress for a split second, then vanishing. "One thousand two hundred fifty eight meters," Reinforce sang, pointing at the fortress, "it should take us..."

Her report was cut off by a massive howl, sharper and higher than the wind. It rolled over the city, sending shivers through Hayate's bones, and causing Reinforce to shriek and hide behind herself. When it was over, Hayate shook herself out of her stunned immobility, "Looks like we have company after all," she said, frowning worriedly, "doesn't sound too friendly, though."

"I'm not detecting any life signs, Mistress," Reinforce whispered, "nothing at all."

Hayate sighed, shaking her head, "It's probably a construct, then. Automated defender of some sort. Well, we'll try to avoid it, shall we? Reinforce, Sleipnir's Wings, please."

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The Asura, eight hours after Awakening

Chrono gathered his officers together in the briefing room once he had a handle on the situation. It had taken longer than he expected, longer than he would have preferred, but the situation was worse than he had at first thought it to be. Watching the men and women file in, most of them visibly tired from the emergency, he took note of their condition, and decided that the long ride home would be a good thing.

The only ones who did not appear tired were the three Wolkenritter, who as usual kept their emotions to themselves, projecting an air of repressed hostility towards all and sundry. Six years they had been working as probationary officers, and still they seemed to regard the Bureau, as much as anyone else, as the enemy. Only Hayate had ever gotten them to show their emotions, and only Nanoha, Fate, Arf and Yuuno were shown any sort of friendliness. Even he, who gave them their orders, sparred with them, and had fought beside them, was accorded only the minimum respect due his rank.

Once everyone was seated around the conference table, expanded since his mother's time in command, he cleared his throat for attention. "First, I want to thank all of you for your efforts to repair the ship." Which even Signum, in her injured state and stubborn determination to pursue Akira, had contributed to. "Thanks to that, we are much further along than I expected to be at this time, given the original damage reports. Let's begin with Giuliani's report on the condition of the ship."

Giuliani, the ship's engineer, nodded, and leaned forward. He knew everything on the data pad in front of him, but nonetheless read directly from it. "This guy, whoever he is, did a real number on us, sir. I haven't figured out how he got in through our shields, but he only hit us with three strikes, one in the engine, one to the power plant, and one to the regulators between the two. Caused a massive overload in the engine and power plant both. The last strike cut most of the automated safety systems as well." He paused, nodding to Amy, "Amy-san's quick reactions triggered the manuals in time, fortunately. Per your orders, we've focused on getting power back, and the plant's operational again as of two hours ago, though we can't get full power. The drive should be back in another two or three hours, but again, at less than fifty percent. I'm afraid we won't be able to get much more than that without a full repair facility. Odd thing is, other than that, the ship's fine, no damage, not even from the power fluctuations. In short, he got in some lucky hits, but we had our own luck."

Amy stirred, and when Chrono looked at her, she spoke in a surprisingly soft voice. "I don't think he was lucky, Captain." She nodded at Signum, "Thanks to Signum's report, I managed to identify him, and obtain a file from Headquarters." She stopped and tapped a command into her data pad. The display in the center of the table lit, as did the individual consoles at each station, and a moment later a profile picture appeared, a young man with dark eyes glaring out of the hologram. Data appeared beside the picture, most of it identification data. "Akira, he called himself, the Breaker of Ships and the Great Traitor. I couldn't find reference to the last, except for a few notes about past mages who turned on the Bureau, the last over a century ago. But Akira and 'Breaker of Ships' I found recently. The first record of him is twenty years ago, when he attacked a Bureau warship near this sector of space, the Deva. He wasn't identified then, because he destroyed it without hail or contact, he just attacked." She paused, a look of sorrow settling in for a moment, "the only survivor was the ship's captain, he was at Headquarters testifying on a prior mission.

"A month later, he ambushed another warship that was looking for him, which is the first time he was identified by name. He crippled that ship as well, getting aboard somehow and raiding its computers, before destroying it. He left two members of that ship's crew alive, we don't know why, but they are the ones who identified him and provided most of what we know of his techniques. After that, a pair of ships were detailed to hunt him down and bring him in to custody. Both were destroyed while in contact with Headquarters, which is where the rest of our information on him comes from. He crippled both ships in the same way he did the Asura, then used one to destroy the other."

Signum grunted at that, "He did not get lucky, Giuliani. He knew exactly where to strike for the effect he wanted."

Chrono nodded, "You think he really is a traitor, Signum? A former Bureau mage?"

She nodded, "Probably."

Amy shook her head, "No, he can't be. I haven't been able to match any personnel file, active or inactive, to his image or name. I can't even match his device."

"If he is a traitor, his file may be secured for an investigation," Chrono said, "I'll look into it, see if my clearances can turn something loose. Is there more to his history? Any word how he was sealed down there?"

Amy nodded, "After the dual loss of Vishnu and Excalibur, three ships were specially assigned to a task group. The strongest mages available were gathered, and they and their ships spent two months training and refitting. All three were equipped with an Arc-en-Ciel. They disappeared a week after beginning their hunt for the fugitive, but Akira has not been seen since. The file is still open, because there was no confirmation of capture or death. Umm, that is what bothers me most about this, Captain." She tapped a few more commands, and the data beside Akira's image scrolled rapidly to the end. When she found what she wanted, she ignored the collective gasps and read off, "High Command Operational Directive, Alpha Priority. At first contact with the fugitive 'Akira' all Bureau personnel are authorized to attack at will. Authorization is granted to terminate subject at discretion of Bureau personnel."

Almost everyone at the table was staring at the order in shock. Only the four Wolkenritter did not seem to care. Chrono finally whispered, "An Op Directive to kill him on sight? What in the world could cause High Command to issue that kind of order?"

Amy shook her head, "I don't know sir, there's nothing in the file to explain it, just the order. But there's also the fact that nothing is known of his techniques, except a few of their names."

"I think we can update the 'Cacophony of Terror,'" Vita muttered, reading the list separately, "but the rest of these... 'Brimstone Spear', 'Graveward', 'Soul Breaker', 'Crushing Blow of Hate'... He's not exactly happy, is he?"

Chrono shook his head at her understatement, "No, Vita, he is not, and those techniques, especially as we know almost nothing of them, is only one of my concerns. Since the Asura was the ship to encounter him, I've managed to convince Headquarters to assign pursuing him to us. Giuliani, please expedite your engine repairs, and see if you can't figure out how to prevent what happened before from happening again."

"Yes, Captain."

"Anything more on Akira, Amy?"

"No," she shook her head, "but I think that's more than enough. I hate to say it, Captain, but this scares me."

Chrono nodded in agreement, then turned to the Wolkenritter, "Signum, it's good to see you're up and around. How is your team?"

She leaned back, crossing her arms, "I am fine, Vita and Zafira have been for hours. Shamal is still drained and should be in sickbay." the blonde woman next to her made a protesting sound, but Signum carried on over her, "Levantine was the only device damaged, and his core systems are intact. He should have completed his repairs before we are mobile again. He will be ready to go long before we can catch this 'Breaker of Ships.' As for Hayate," She dropped her head, shaking it slightly, "We cannot be sure. We still sense her, but cannot locate her."

"If she is in another dimension," Shamal spoke, "we should be able to sense that. But it feels like she is still here, on this world, but not here." She hesitated, searching for a way to explain herself, "I do not know, but I do know she is still alive. We have to find her."

"Akira is our best chance for that," Signum stated.

"Agreed," Chrono said, "Which is one of the reasons I got us this mission. Shamal, any luck on tracking him?"

She nodded, "Yes, but I do not think we need to worry about finding him." When he gave her a curious look, she smiled slightly, "He is headed for Bureau Headquarters, or was when I lost contact with him. It will take him several days, however he is traveling, but that is where he is going."

Chrono stared at her in surprise, "Why would he go to Headquarters? He has to know we'll warn the Bureau he's coming."

"'To resume his march towards vengeance and death,'" Signum quoted. She snarled her next sentence, emotion finally showing through, "He is going to die, and take Hayate with him."

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"Takamachi Nanoha, Testarossa Fate, please report to the principle's office immediately." The PA system cut into the teacher's lecture, surprising the entire class.

Miss Kishimoto looked at the speaker over the door, "Umm? What is that about?"

"Ano, sensei?" Nanoha was already putting her books in her bag, "I'm sorry, but..."

Miss Kishimoto waved the apology aside, "It's alright, Nanoha-chan. If they want you in the office, you better get going. You too, Fate-chan. I don't know why they want to see you two so often, you never do anything wrong! But, get going anyhow."

The two of them slipped out after suitable further apologies, heading for the office like the obedient students they still were. "What do you think is the problem now," Nanoha asked as they trotted downstairs.

"I don't know," Fate said, "but it must be serious, if they're pulling us out of class. Should I ask Mother?"

Nanoha shook her head, "We'll find out in a minute, but it's fun to try and guess. The reason is never the same twice, it's interesting."

Fate smiled, "Yes, I guess it is."

They reached the office, to find Lindy Hallaoun waiting for them. "Oh, girls, good," the retired admiral looked very concerned, "come with me, I've already cleared it." She lead the two of them out of the office, around a corner of the hallway. She took a hand from each of them, rubbing them nervously. "I... I'm don't know how to say this... Headquarters contacted me a short while ago. Something has happened to Hayate-chan. She's gone missing."

Nanoha could not believe her ears, "H... Hayate-chan?"

Lindy continued, "I'm so sorry, Nanoha-chan, Fate-chan. The Asura was damaged, so their report was incomplete, but someone attacked them, and appears to have imprisoned Hayate, somehow. Chrono and her Knights have been assigned to pursue him, but you are listed among her next of kin, so..."

Nanoha was in shock, struggling to realize that her friend could go missing so suddenly. Fate recovered faster, "Can we go to the Asura? Signum will need our help to find Hayate."

"Headquarters has asked for you to report there. Apparently, the one responsible is traveling to there, and they want you to help contain him. He is... dangerous. I remember when he was loose last time, I was much younger, before Chrono was born, and he is very dangerous. He did so much damage, but I think you girls can handle him."

"We'll get underway now," Nanoha said, pulling Raging Heart out of her blouse. She looked at Fate, "Headquarters? We can be there in an hour, through the new relay."

"Let's get Arf, first," Lindy said, "we'll need to get our travel packs, as well." Nanoha looked at her, ready to argue, but Lindy beat her to it, "He won't reach Headquarters for several days, Nanoha. An hour or so to prepare things here will not make a difference."

It took her a moment to nod, but she acquiesced. "Okay, Lindy-san. I'll go home now, get my pack. Should I meet you at your home, when I'm ready?"

"Yes, go ahead," Lindy told her, "I've already cleared it with the office, for both of you. Suzuka and Arisa will take notes and homework for you while you're gone. I'll tell them about Hayate-chan."

"Thank you, Lindy-san," Nanoha said, before turning and sprinting for the doors of the school

Fate reached out and almost stopped her, but then let her hand drop. "Thank you, Mother."

Lindy could not help smiling, it was still a thrill when Fate called her that. "I know how close the three of you are," she said, "I'll help, everyone will."

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The depths of inter-dimensional space are ever-changing, ever-shifting. Colors man was never meant to see swirl amongst one another, decorating an endless, horizon-less vista. Energies no mortal could control or withstand shriek through the vast emptiness, tempests of pure power. Ships ply the regions, traveling in pursuit of profit, knowledge, power and as many other reasons as there are ships. Contact between them is rare, as the vastness about them far exceeds that of any one dimension's outer space, reducing to flea-speck size even the most titanic of structures. Speeding through the razor thin layer between dimensions, driven by a formidable will and bottomless well of power, a six foot sword was so miniscule as to be invisible.

Had anyone noticed it, and been unfortunate enough to approach, they would have heard one phrase, before their destruction. "Vengeance shall be mine, for Aoi that was taken from me."

Sheo Darren – Pardon, but this'll have to handle both your reviews:) As I said in the first chapter, it was an idea I had – I saw the end of "A's", and imagined that scene (and I'll go ahead and spoil it now, the prologue is just one scene). The plot came along afterwards. As far as Nanoha & Hayate, relax, take a chill-pill. Hayate's not dead, just MIA, in furtherance of the plot. And Akira's not a super-powered villain – he's a raving lunatic on a suicidal quest… I think. He's kind of getting more complicated as I plot this out further.