Chapter 2
The pain was unbearable…
Yet she kept fighting…
Kept killing…
She wanted to stop but they just kept coming…
Her body was begging for rest, sweat and blood dripped all over, but her swords kept swinging, never missing their target. Suddenly, she felt searing pain through her left shoulder. She staggered, knees hitting the ground. The men and machine surrounded her, coming closer with each breath she took, their weapons set to fire. It was over, she knew and accepted, but she couldn't die like this. She shut her eyes, and heard a bang…
She shot up from bed, panting heavily. In the back of her mind, she could hear a heart monitor beep widely, but in her disoriented state she could barely take notice of her surroundings. Her gown stuck to her skin, and she didn't have to look in the mirror to know that she was sickly pale. A fierce pounding in her head caused her to shut her eyes from the light, and a wave of nausea came over her. She heard the door open, but didn't trust her eyes, and just held her head in her hands.
"So sleeping beauty awakens," joked the nurse, while checking the monitors, "and it took a nightmare to do it."
She replied with a groan, taking a peek at the nurse who was now pushing her wet, dark brown hair aside to feel her forehead. The woman wrote something down on a clipboard and pushed her back to bed.
"The doctor will be in here shortly," she took from her pocket a pack of pills and gave her two with a cup of water, "this should take care of the migraine."
She thanked the woman, and leaned back, trying to organize her thoughts.
What happened? Why am I here?
Before she could call on Athena or Apollo, a man came in, grabbing the clipboard the nurse had held moments ago.
"How are we doing Miss?"
"Izumi," she replied, remembering the anime character she used for her alias, "Hikari Izumi."
"Well Izumi-san, do you remember anything?" she pretended to think for a minute and then shook her head, "you were admitted to the Uminari City Hospital on February 16th, which was three days ago in a comatose state. For whatever the reason, you body is physically drained and you will have to stay in bed. We've cleaned and bandaged your injuries…"
Kari had stopped listening to him when she heard the date…
Three days… does that matter?
She racked her already exhausted brain for an answer…
Three days… that makes today the 19th… Why is this date so importan-
Her eyes widened and her heart stopped.
"What time is it?" she asked, interrupting him completely.
"Excuse me?"
"What time is it?" she asked urgently, grabbing his coat.
"A-a quarter to four," he stammered. She let him go, her heart monitor speeding up.
"Shit," she cursed as she yanked the tubes of her body, jumped out of the bed and ran out of the room, ignoring the vertigo that had hit her. She heard the doctor scream after her but she didn't have the time to listen.
15 minutes… Damn it, only 15 minutes…
Before anyone could stop her, she broke through the closest window and called on her devices, no even beginning to fall when her armor was in place and she sped through the sky, leaving flames behind.
When she past a clock tower, she knew a couple of minutes had passed. This just made her increase her speed, creating a bright red trail in its tracks. The café was close now; all she had to do was find the item.
"Apollo, tract the chip, we're in range."
"Sì, signore"
A red diamond appeared in her palm, and created a screen in front of her, pinpointing to the back of the café.
"Bomba si trova a 4 chilometri di distanza, signore (Bomb is 4 kilometers away, sir)," said Apollo.
"Thanks."
"Éxi leptá, kýrie (Six minutes, sir)," reminded her other intelligent device, Athena.
She flew over the café, too fast for any bystander to notice, except for the hot air that had suddenly passed them. She landed in the back of the café, looking not only for the device, but also who had placed it.
Where is he?
She clenched her fists, feeling someone watching her. She quickly turned and blocked a kick aiming at her, reciprocating by kneeing the enemy in the groin and punching his jaw with such force, that he smashed into the wall.
No matter how much time passes, he is still as predictable as ever, she tried to smile but winced, her body still had not fully recovered. She would have properly taken care of him if Athena hadn't reminded her that a minute and a half remained.
After spending 30 seconds finding the device and removing it from the wall, she flew up as high as she could go and threw the tiny chip as far away from her and the ground below. A couple seconds later, a large explosion was heard throughout the streets of Uminari City, many civilians including the owners of the café stepped outside to see the fireball in the sky. She couldn't help grin as she flew away.
I saved them… I saved them…
When Kari flew down to the back of the building, the man was gone.
Shit
Three days had gone by since the whole surge incident, and while Hayate and Chrono were receiving many updates from Yuuno, and dealing with the all the heads of the TSAB, no progress had been made.
"You should rest," Hayate lifted her head from a stack of papers, her tired eyes somehow managing to stay opened.
"I'm fine Signum. Anyways, I can't afford to sleep. Squads from all over the universe have been calling me nonstop demanding explanations I don't have. And because of the time differences, they could call at any time of day."
"Rein could handle it, right Rein?" The spirit in question was at the moment sticking her tongue out at the unison device on Signum's shoulder. She quickly composed herself and nodded.
"Anything for Hayate."
"Signum, have you ever felt something like that?" wondered Hayate, looking at the sunset, giving her a golden glow.
"I have heard about them, but they were said to be myths. No one truly believed there was someone with such power."
"I've had a bad feeling for a while Signum. Something's going to happen. Things have been too quiet."
"I-" Rein gasped, looking at a tiny screen in front of her.
"Master, you have to see this!" she quickly turned on the large TV screen, where a news report was being shown.
"Occurred in un-administered planet #97. The bomb was clearly magical-based because its intensity has far surpassed the technology of that planet. Lucky enough, the explosion was too far away to injure civilians, but it was large enough to grab their attention. Further investigation is taking place as we speak, while the TSAB is working on covering this up…" The screen showed the clear sky quickly changed in to an orange ball of flame.
"Stop the footage." Signum exclaimed, "Play it back to before the explosion. Play it in slow motion."
Rein did so, and the three watched Signum point at a certain area of the blue sky on the corner of the screen. There appeared to be a small dot there.
"That could be anything Signum. A bird or something," said Rein.
"Watch," commanded Signum.
As the video slowly played, that small dot started to glow and just as the explosion went into play, the dot disappeared, leaving a streak of red behind it.
"A bird wouldn't do that. Zoom in as much as you can." Even though the image was blurry, the three could clearly make out the outline of a human.
"Looks like we found the culprit. Good eye Signum," complimented Agito, who had been strangely quiet since the conversation started.
Hayate looked more closely at the image, "Do you think that this being has anything to do with the surge that we felt?"
"Unlikely but worth considering," Signum replied.
"Master… Look at its location… Isn't that close to the Takamachi café?"
Hayate's eyes widened.
"Contact Nanoha… tell her it's of high importance."
While Rein was doing just that, Signum left to get Fate, knowing she would want in on this.
This is too big a coincidence to be ignored… but why Nanoha?
Kari had been lying on the hotel bed for hours now, meditating. You would think that after a long day you would want to sleep… But that is the one thing she wouldn't do. If she did, she would only be haunted by past events… events she didn't want to remember.
The last time she had a peaceful slumber, she was alive and laying next to her… She scolded herself for thinking about that, trying to force down the lump on her throat.
Meditating was the only alternative to not sleeping. Sure it doesn't give your body complete rest, but if done right, you can function the next day as if you've gotten just barely enough rest.
Before long, the sun was already up and shining, and an alarm was heard from within her.
"Óra na sikotheí, kýrie (Time to get up, sir)," said Athena, jolting Kari from her trance.
"Il caffè è stato aperto per due ore. Se non si lascia ora, non si avrà la possibilità, signore (The cafe has been open for two hours now. If you don't leave now, you won't have a chance, sir)," reminded Apollo.
That got Kari moving at lighting speed. She ran to the kitchen, grabbing a quick breakfast and go ready for the day. Yes, the hotel room had a kitchen. The room, or suite, was five-star quality. How she had the money to pay for it… well, hacking is a valuable skill during times of war and hiding.
Once she had put on the proper attire for the period (she had taken some of her mothers' when they were her age) she stopped in front of the door. The nerves were finally kicking in. This was it… she was finally going to meet the people she had only seen through pictures. She took a deep breath and walked out.
Once she was out the building, she headed toward the café, passing by an electronics shop with TVs' on display, all showing the explosion from yesterday. The news couldn't get enough of it. She knew that the TSAB would be heading this way soon, so she had to be ready.
"There are still no further improvements on the investigation of the explosion that occurred yesterday at four o'clock. Even though many are working on the case…"
It was a slow day, probably because the crowd wanted to stay away from where the explosion was closest.
Momoko sighed, "Aren't you guys worried? It was so close to us."
Shirō laughed, "Honey, nothing's going to happen okay? Besides, why on earth would someone want to bomb us?"
"I don't know… I just got scared that's all," she said not looking him in the eye.
Shirō went to his wife and gave her a hug, knowing what was really bothering her. Their youngest daughter dealt with dangerous things like this on a daily basis. Once Momoko saw it with her own eyes, the gravity of danger in her daughter's work was starting to hit her harder than before.
"She's fine. She can handle anything."
"What if this has something to do with her? I almost lost her once… I can't go through it again."
"You have to give Nanoha more credit than that. I can't promise she'll be fine but I can promise that Fate will never let anything happen to her."
"Yeah mom," said Miyuki, "Fate's like a watchdog when it comes to Vivio and Nanoha."
Momoko wiped her eyes and grinned, " Nanoha got really lucky didn't she? Finding Fate."
Kyōya nodded, "And it doesn't hurt that she's hot." Miyuki smacked him on top of his head and the family laughed. They stopped when they heard the door open
Standing there was a young woman, with long, dark brown hair that reached to her mid-back. Her smooth, pale skin contrasted with her deep, burgundy eyes. Just by looking at her body, you could tell she was fit. But the characteristic that caught their attention the most was a thin but prominent jagged scar that ran down the left side of her face, starting from just above her left eyebrow and ending at the top of her left cheek. Even though she looked young, the sorrow in her eyes told you otherwise. Her beauty and presence mesmerized the four Takamachi, but in the back of each of their minds, they wondered why this girl seemed familiar.
She smiled a smile that didn't meet her eyes, one that made Momoko's heart tighten for some reason.
"Hi, my name is Hikari Izumi, I was wondering if you had any jobs open."