[Record 03: The Gears of Destiny]

The closer Alicia got to the disaster zone, the more chaotic the situation seemed to be. Buildings were aflame and several civilians were running through the streets in a panic. The little mage could hear explosions sounding off one after another in the distance. The fire around her raged on without mercy, scorching anyone who had failed to escape the attack in time. Alicia paled as she turned to her left: a hand caught beneath a pile of burning rubble. "This is scary," she thought. "I want to go home!"

Caliburn ripped Alicia from her thoughts. [Ma'am,] it said, [A battle is unfolding above us and may approach us. Will we participate? There are four combatants on the TSAB side and two combatants on the enemy side.]

Alicia shook her head. "No way. If Mom finds me now, I'll be grounded for life!"

[Very well,] answered the device. [New report,] announced Caliburn. [Another enemy life sign has been detected just fifteen meters ahead of your current location. Shall we confront them?]

"Hmm." The little mage thought about it. "Is there anyone who can take care of 'em nearby?"

[Confirmed. Lady Vivio and lady Einhart will arrive on the scene in about forty five minutes. The damage the attacker will have caused by then however will be substantial.]

"You're not giving me much choice, are you?" asked Alicia.

[Courage is an important asset,] answered Caliburn.

"Well, I guess it wouldn't be that bad," thought Alicia. Her mother was younger than her when she was first partaking in practical battle. On top of that, she had at least half an hour before her sister made it to the scene and in the middle of battle there shouldn't be a way for anyone to find out she's here. Looking down at the device in her hands, a grin slithered its way onto Alicia's face. "And I'm dying to see just how much oomph this thing's got!" At last, her mind was made up. "Alright then, let's go Caliburn!"

[Yes Ma'am!]

Vita dodged her opponent with little difficulty as she slammed a magic bullet with her hammer. The force of the impact sent the energy bullet right back to Prometheus, who dodged the blast with minimal effort. The red-headed knight growled. "His strength is below average, but his stamina's pretty good. This is going to be a pain in the ass if things stay this way!"

Prometheus grinned smugly. "What's wrong? I thought you said you were gonna 'clobber me!'"

"And I plan to do just that," yelled Vita. "Graf Eisen!"

[Gigantform!] yelled Graf Eisen.

Vita's hammer extended and then enlarged in a flash of red before the red-headed knight angrily slammed her hammer down on Prometheus. Seeing him cringe from beneath her hammer, Vita grinned. "Just a little more," she thought. "Graf Eisen!"

[Explosion!]

Several cartridges burst forth from the revolver on Vita's device, causing the weight against Prometheus's body to amplify substantially. Vita grinned with satisfaction as she watched the grey-haired boy squirm. "What's the matter, brat? Is this too much for ya?"

"D-Damn you," snarled Prometheus. "It's no good," thought the grey-haired boy. "There's a crack in my barrier and that blasted hammer isn't making things better for me!" Realizing that he was in over his head, Prometheus decided that it was finally time to call for back up. "Pandora," he yelled, "I need a little help over here!"

Pandora zoomed past him with Fate trailing behind her. Bardiche met with the green-haired witch's staff. "I'm sorry Prometheus, but I'm having enough trouble fending for myself!"

CRACK!

Prometheus gazed up in alarm as his barrier began to shatter. "Curses!" The grey-haired boy quickly did a barrel roll in mid-air, causing Vita's hammer to just barely miss colliding with his body. Grinning, the enemy mage immediately made for the sky. "Pandora," he said over telepathy, "Get ready to go viral."

"Oh no you don't," yelled Vita. Just before the red-headed knight could approach him, Prometheus set up yet another barrier, effectively stopping Vita dead in her tracks. Raising a fist toward the clouds he hid in, she screamed, "Coward!"

Signum, Zafira, and Shamal seemed to be in a pickle of their own. As Signum fought off mysterious, black flame creatures in the sky, Zafira was taking care of similar creatures on the ground while Shamal was in the middle of creating a shield to cover Zafira's and Signum's backs. At the same time, Erio was riding Fried with Caro as he used Sonic Move to assist Signum in fighting off the fire abominations that plagued the airspace. Finally there was Caro who was in the middle of maintaining a boosting spell on Erio to assist in maintaining cover fire.

Pandora smirked as she finally turned around and formed a barrier around herself.

Zooming toward it with incredible speed, Fate thought to herself, "Why form a barrier now?" She trained her eye on the barrier's center and carefully angled her sword to the side. "I'll cut my way through it!" Fate swung against the barrier with all of her might, colliding against the barrier with a loud clang. Lightning surged from Bardiche's energy blade until it suddenly disappeared, leaving her with the AEC 5th Generation Terminal blade. Astonished, the blond swordswoman immediately jumped back. "Wh-What the?"

[AMF signals detected. Eclipse-Driver-like organism confirmed,] announced Bardiche.

Fate's eyes narrowed. While continuing to hack away at the barrier, she yelled over telepathy, "Nanoha! They're planning to use something like the eclipse! Hurry and aim for the spot where the boy went to hide! Vita, please support Nanoha!"

Nanoha smirked. "'Kay! There's enough residue mana, I'm gonna aim for him with a Starlight Breaker."

Vita on the other hand snarled as she continued to hack away at the barrier. "Easier," she paused to swing, "said," once more she swung against the barrier to no avail, "than done!"

The white devil pointed her staff towards the sky. "We don't have much time. I didn't breaking my AEC Armament with me, so our best course of action is to knock them down with magical damage before they can divide." Mana began to pool around Raising Heart. It at first appeared like several specks of pink stardust and then began to race toward the device like millions of shooting stars. As the light began to grow larger and larger, Nanoha chanted, "Starlight…"

The red emergency lights sounded all over the TSAB headquarters station. "Emergency!" was just about the only word the workers could hear at the moment. At the commanding bridge, a boy with short, brown hair and blue eyes was saluting Hayate. Next to him stood a girl dressed in very classy European styled clothing with chesnut hair, and another girl with black hair tied in a short pig tail, and amber eyes. The group was dressed in the usual TSAB training uniform.

"Thoma Avenir reporting for duty with Lily-Strosek and Isis Erget!"

"What's up, Commander?" asked Isis.

Hayate seemed visibly bothered. Her eyes were narrowed and her forehead was wrinkled with stress.

Thoma and company did not know well of the situation as they had only returned from Vaizen a few hours ago. Seeing the discomfort on the commander's face, Lily asked, "Is something the matter?"

"Should we have brought the Grendels with us?" asked Isis.

"No," answered Hayate quickly. "No, it's fine. I'm sorry. I just need a moment."

The Eclipse Driver cocked a curious eyebrow, but made no attempt to question Hayate's unusual behavior.

"We have a large problem right now," explained Hayate. "I need the Zero Unit to mobilize as soon as possible."

The strosek's eyes widened with surprise. "Aren't the Lightning and Star units already out?"

Hayate shook her head. "Unfortunately, the circumstances have changed. They were doing fine a moment ago, but the opposition is raising the stakes beyond what I can consider safe."

"In what way?" asked Thoma.

"They plan to react. They seem to be Eclipse Drivers."

Thoma was taken aback. Nodding his head, the Eclipse Driver asked, "How long can the other units hold out?"

"You've got ten minutes to make it to the scene," answered the commander.

"You got it," replied Thoma. "Let's go. Isis, Lily-"

"But before you go," interjected Hayate, "I wanted to ask you: how is the vaccine doing? Have things stabilized?"

"Actually, it's not that bad anymore," answered a smiling Thoma. "Lily's not contagious anymore. The two of us should be fine from here on in. The Grendels seem to be doing well too. We're all still able to use our abilities and react, but it's no longer a threat to our health." The Eclipse Driver paused to nervously scratch the back of his head. "At least, that's what the R&D group told us anyway."

"I'm glad," said Hayate. "Well then, get moving Zero Unit! Your orders are to assist the Lightning and Star units!"

The group immediately saluted her. "Yes Ma'am!"

Meanwhile, Alicia was flying through a small boulevard She had traversed several streets, but the so-called opponent her device mentioned had not been spotted yet. "How much further Caliburn?"

[Only another block. We are close,] answered Caliburn.

"Un!" With a final burst of speed, Alicia found herself in the town square. The entire area was aflame and only a single boy stood in the middle of it all. The little mage's face went from excited to terribly confused. "He's about my age. Did he do all of this?" Upon taking a step toward him, the boy calmly turned around.

The auburn-haired boy immediately leveled his divider at the little mage's rib cage. His eyes were threatening and filled with hostility. "Who are you?"

Alicia tightly gripped Caliburn's handle, replying with a warm smile. "My name's Alicia, Alicia T-Harlaown. I-I'm helping the bureau capture the people who did this to the town." Looking at the boy once more, she added, "I've never seen you around this part of town. Who are you? Where are your parents?"

Yuusei raised an eyebrow and cautiously lowered his divider. "You're kind of young, aren't you? I don't think someone like you should be involved in something like this," answered the auburn-haired boy. He was carefully choosing his words. "This kid may look weak, but I need to be careful. She may be leading me on."

"How rude!" huffed Alicia. Placing a hand on her chest, she said, "I'm the daughter of Fate T-Harlaown and Nanoha Takamachi. I'll be fine here." Seeing that her boast had little affect on Yuusei, the little mage asked, "Who are you?"

The auburn-haired boy's eyes narrowed. Quickly feigning surprise, he replied, "Oh, so you're their daughter. That makes you pretty strong then." Carefully bringing his divider into battle position, Yuusei said, "As for my name it's Yuusei. My parents abandoned me when I was really young, so I don't really know what my last name is."

The little mage's eyes softened. "I'm sorry to hear that," she said. After a moment of thought, Alicia beamed with optimism. "Hey, why not come with me? Maybe we can find someone at the bureau to help you! People have done it before."

Yuusei tilted his head, struggling to maintain his feigned smile. "Is this kid really a member of the bureau? They've seen my face, so she would have orders to detain me." Suddenly, a guilty expression slithered onto his face. "I'm gonna feel real bad about this. She really is a nice kid." Narrowing his eyes, the auburn-haired boy thought to himself, "But something she said earlier seriously rubbed me the wrong way."

Alicia felt somewhat hurt that he was going to reject her offer, but she urged him on. "Was it something I said? I promise that these people can help you!" Suddenly, a surge of energy swept past her.

[Ma'am! Quick! Block with me!] cried Caliburn. Yuusei's divider collided with the sword-like device with a loud clang.

"Tch." Alicia looked up with surprise evident on her face. "N-No way!"

Not wanting to give Alicia time to gather her bearings, Yuusei leaped into the air and summoned four spheres of crimson light. "Crimson Flare!" shouted Yuusei. On command, the spheres shot forth from their spaces, racing towards Alicia.

Alicia gasped and held out Caliburn.

[Protection EX!] bellowed Caliburn. Suddenly, a large shield of whitish blue energy appeared. A golden rim framed the outside of the shield, spinning violently as the spheres of light slammed against it and burst into flames. Alicia was unharmed, but obviously taken aback by Yuusei's hostile assault.

Yuusei stared down at Alicia with amusement evident in his eyes. "Hey, you're pretty good. I didn't think that you'd be able to block that. Then again, I guess I shouldn't be praising you. That device of yours is pretty top notch. Had it not summoned up that shield for you, I would've killed you!"

Still too flabbergasted to fully grasp her situation, Alicia yelled, "W-Wait! So you're-"

"Yup," answered Yuusei, "I'm the one you're looking for."

The little blond mage gazed up at Yuusei agape.

The auburn-haired boy sighed. "Look, Alicia was it? I don't wanna hurt you if I don't have to. Why not just turn around and forget you saw me?"

"Sorry, but I can't do that if you did all of this," answered Alicia as she readied her blade. "I don't know too much yet, but I think I should be okay if I stick to basic spells. If he gets close enough I can nail em' with my Strike Arts." The little mage readied her stance: one arm ready to cast, and the other ready to put her device away to deliver a quick punch.

"Yep, definitely a rookie," thought Yuusei. "You know, if you think that you're going to land a punch or a mana blast on me with that stance, you may want to rethink your strategy a little."

Alicia froze. "How did he know?" she thought to herself. Surely she hadn't made it that obvious. The little blond gazed into the auburn-haired boy's eyes: they were calculating and cold. At the same time, they seemed to be watching her, judging her.

"You're still inexperienced," warned Yuusei. "I'd feel bad about hurting you."

"What was that?" growled Alicia. His warning had been taken as an insult.

Yuusei shook his head as a large sphere of light formed above him. "This is no place for some kid to play hero. Leave and maybe I'll reconsider blasting you to pieces," the auburn-haired boy threatened. His voice was completely indifferent, devoid of all emotion.

Alicia stubbornly shook her head. "If you think you can just insult me and leave, then you've got another thing coming, buddy!"

Yuusei rolled his eyes before closing them. "Suit yourself," he said calmly. The faint image of a woman with long, auburn hair ran through his mind. Her deep-blue eyes were very much like his own. By this woman stood another woman very much resembling the girl he was fighting. He hated them, more than ever now. He knew who they were. He just didn't want to remember. The auburn-haired boy shot Alicia a dark glare as the ball of crimson light above him sparked violently. "Star..."

Alicia was startled by the killing intent in Yuusei's eyes. She stumbled backwards as she tried to come up with a plan, but nothing came to mind. Yuusei's burning, blue eyes were silently warning her that she would not survive if he hit her with this next attack.

[Master, use maximum defense!] commanded Caliburn.

Alicia swiftly held out Caliburn, causing several layers of shields burst forth from the device. Alicia braced herself, anticipating the impact.

Yuusei's eyes darted above them. Something seemed to be drawing his focus away from the battle. At last, he changed his aim to the sky. "Break!" he finished, sending a blaze of crimson light up towards the sky. A loud explosion sounded from the sky, causing the auburn-haired boy to crouch into a more serious fighting stance.

Once the dust had settled, Alicia let her shields down. "He changed his aim at the last second. Why?"

[His target was not us.] noted Caliburn.

"Looks that way," muttered Alicia.

"Hmm." Yuusei ignored his opponent and stared toward the direction of the explosion. "Hmph, nosy woman," he muttered with a bitter-tone-of-voice. Returning his gaze to the battlefield, the auburn-haired whispered, "Accelerate," before disappearing completely.

"Wh-What the?" Alicia was caught by surprise. Looking all around her, Yuusei was nowhere to be seen.

[Behind you!] yelled Caliburn.

Unfortunately the device was too late. Yuusei appeared behind Alicia with little warning, holding his divider's blade to her neck. He paused for a moment to eye the blond mage more closely. She was the spitting image of the woman with blonde hair and red eyes. Bit by bit, his ferocity began to leave him. The auburn-haired boy turned over the blade of his divider and lowered it so that it was now facing her chest. "I'm sorry," he whispered quietly.

"Huh?" Alicia struggled to turn around but was unable to in the boy's strong grip. "Wait!" cried the little mage, "What are you talking abo-"

SNAP!

Alicia fell to her knees, completely unconscious.

Yuusei caught her with the blunt edge of his divider. After taking a final look at her, he gently laid her on the ground. Looking around, he noted that none of the falling debris should manage to harm Alicia. "Prometheus," he called, "I was seen. What should I do? I've managed to escape."

"Gah! Damn it kid! I have my own problems right now! I've just hid in the clouds, preparing to go viral. In any case, return to base. The boss will probably have new orders for you."

Yuusei thought about that for a moment. "Very well then. I'll be leaving in a momen-"

"Hold it right there!" yelled a woman's voice.

Yuusei spun on his heel to find two women with dual-colored eyes, one with golden hair and the other silvery-mint. "They look like real bureau soldiers," he thought to himself. Shortly after that thought, the auburn-haired boy's eyes quickly darted toward Alicia. "Good. Someone can take her out of here now."

Vivio stopped when she laid eyes on Yuusei. Einhart seemed equally as flabbergasted. Alicia was unconscious and Yuusei was standing there, analyzing them with calculating eyes.

A scowl formed on Yuusei's face. "I can't fight seriously right now. I overdid it showing off to Alicia earlier." The auburn-haired boy immediately summoned a magic circle beneath his feet. "Oh well. I should still be able to escape!"

Vivio immediately charged the auburn-haired boy. "Wait! Don't leave yet!"

Yuusei ignored her protests and continued his spell. He disappeared in a flash of light. Nowhere to be seen with Alicia laying next to where he once stood. It took Vivio a split second to dash through the spot where the auburn-haired boy once stood. She held the air in her open palms. She clenched her fists and slammed the left one into the ground.

Einhart cautiously approached her. "Vivio?"

"This is so screwed up," muttered Vivio, ignoring Einhart's words. A light veil of rain began to fall, quenching the flames of destruction that Yuusei had left in his wake. At last, Vivio finally rose from where she knelt and scooped Alicia into her arms and cradled her. "How did I know that you were going to sneak out?" she asked with a sad smile.

A warm hand carefully caressed Vivio's shoulder. "I caught his mana signature just before he fled the scene," whispered Einhart. "I'll go looking for Yuusei after I report to Commander Yagami that we ran into him. You take Alicia home, okay?"

"Okay," replied Vivio. "But if you happen to find him, let me know."

"Very well," said Einhart. She turned around to leave, but Vivio suddenly grabbed on to her hand. "Vivio?"

"Alicia was never here. I'll go home and her wounds." Vivio looked back down at Alicia with empathetic eyes. "I think she's suffered enough."

Einhart nodded her head. "Okay." She took a moment to hug Vivio from behind. "Are you going to be okay?"

For a moment, Einhart received no reply.

"Yeah, I'll be okay," answered Vivio. "Let's get moving."

The two left without another word to one another in opposite directions.

Yuusei warped into plain, metallic room. It was completely white in color. There was a single door exit with a design similar to the bureau's base rooms. "Koga, you back yet?" he yelled.

No answer.

The auburn-haired boy was just about to walk away when a voice called for his attention.

"Hey Yuusei, you made it back. It's been awhile!"

Yuusei turned to find a boy of similar features to him. The only difference being his dark, brown hair compared to Yuusei's fiery brown. Their deep blue eyes were almost the exact same shade. An excited smile immediately found spread itself across the auburn-haired boy's face. "No joke! How have you been, Koga?"

"I've been alright," answered Koga. "Hey, did you hear that XII was active in the city today? The other Harlaown girl."

The auburn-haired boy froze for a moment. "Y-Yeah, I did."

Koga seemed puzzled for a moment. Putting two-and-two together, he asked, "Wait, you fought her? How was she?"

"She was so-so," answered Yuusei with a heavy sigh. "It's obvious that she's only recently gotten a real hold on the basics. She's above average, but it's obvious she's had no one come at her with the intent to kill her."

"Yeesh," muttered Koga. "Couldn't just go easy on her, could you?"

"Well, she did have one of the new hybrid devices, so she didn't get hurt. After a while I just knocked her out. Two bureau girls showed up shortly after, so she should be okay now."

"Oh, right. I totally forgot about that," mused Koga. "You have a hard time killing women and children, right? That nice streak is gonna get you killed one day."

"Thanks for the concern, but I'll be fine," countered Yuusei. "I personally think that your willingness to kill whoever you're told to kill is more disturbing."

There was silence.

Suddenly, Koga's eyes lit up. "Oh, that's right! I heard the new resonator units should be ready today!"

Laughing, Yuusei teased, "Who's the older one here?"

"Whatever! It's only by a few months anyway," answered Koga with a goofy grin. Looking around cautiously, he asked, "Wanna check it out?"

Before Yuusei could reply, the two boys heard a beeping noise. A message. The two quickly activated their sound only communicators.

"Yes, what do you want Precia?" asked Koga with an indifferent-tone-of-voice.

Yuusei said nothing.

"Is Yuusei with you?" asked Precia.

"Yeah, he is."

"Good," said Precia. "I want both of you to go and lay waste to Cranagan. Most of the stronger members of the bureau are out fighting Prometheus and Pandora. It should give you two more than enough time to inflict substantial damage to the area."

The two boys looked at each while frowning irately.

"By the way, Koga."

There was silence.

"Yeah?" answered Koga.

"I promise you a gracious reward if you manage to bring me the commander's head."

Koga glared at the screen, suddenly thankful that Precia could not see his face. "Fine," he replied stiffly.

At last, the message window disappeared.

Yuusei eyed Koga with a level gaze. "So, when are we heading out?"

An unreadable expression made its way onto Koga's face. "We're going to the lab."

"Huh? Why the lab? Wouldn't we be wasting time?" Suddenly, realization flickered about in Yuusei's eyes. "You wouldn't."

"Oh, I would," replied Koga with a devilish grin. "If the people in the labs are done, we'll have everything that we need to escape from here."

"Us against the world?" asked Yuusei with a mischievous grin on his face.

"If it comes to that, hell yeah," replied Koga merrily. The two made their way to the single exit to the room; however, Koga suddenly stopped walking upon opening the door. "Last chance, Yuusei. I can't guarantee that we won't be killed if we do this. Gonna back out?"

Yuusei didn't answer him for a moment. At last, he replied, "We're probably gonna get the short end of the stick either way. Might as well go down in style."

"Crazy bastard," laughed Koga.

"Thanks. I'm proud of it," joked Yuusei.

With that, the two began their quiet trek to the lab. From this moment forward, these two boys had set the gears of destiny into motion. For better or worse, they had set into motion the events that would change their lives forever.

Twenty minutes later...

Yuusei and Koga crept through several hallways until they finally found themselves in a white lab room. It seemed that everyone had gone out to lunch with no security left behind to keep watch on the lab. Then again, this was an underground laboratory. Looking to his right, Yuusei noticed a strange pair of tubes with life-sustaining fluid. "Are those the resonators?" he asked while pointing at the tubes.

Koga shrugged his shoulders. "Probably. Resonators were built with the intention of working like Unison Devices and Stroseks. I have to admit though, even while I'm looking at them up-close, they don't look like anything special."

Looking at them again, Yuusei flushed and quickly looked away for a second before realizing that they were already clothed. Deciding to play it off, he took a quick peak at the control panel. "Seems like they're done preparing them Koga. Can you take it from here?"

"Yeah, sure," replied Koga. "Just make sure to keep watch. If anyone shows up, blast 'em."

"You got it," said Yuusei as he stepped out of the room and into the hallway. Looking from left to right, there was not a single guard in sight. The auburn-haired boy looked back at Koga, who in less than ten minutes, had removed the two girls from their tubes. He seemed to be having trouble waking them up though.

"They're out like lights," complained Koga whilst struggling to lift one of the girls. They were much taller than them, making it difficult for Koga to find a comfortable position to hold her from.

Yuusei chuckled. "They wouldn't wanna make this hi-jacking that easy, would they?"

"Yeah, guess I should've seen this coming," mused Koga. Suddenly, one of the girls began to stir. "Oh, Yuusei, come here. They're waking up!"

Despite his fears, Yuusei came to Koga's side and went straight to observing the two now that they were out of their tubes. He could not make any exact judgments. They were too closed up and asleep. Still, to get out of here they would have to wake them up and calmly escort them out of the building. Waving his hand in front of one, he said, "They're totally out cold Koga. How are we gonna get them outta here?"

Koga shook his head. "Dunno, we're gonna have to wake them up first."

Yuusei grimaced and gently shook one's shoulder. "Hey," he whispered, "you alive?" he asked. It seemed like a stupid question, but it seemed appropriate since they were submerged in fluid.

At last, one of the girls began to stir. She groaned aloud. "Ugh, my head." The girl's hair was a darker gold color with eyes green and red. Her outfit was a tad unusual, being a skin-tight black suit with an armor piece for her abdomen.

Taking note of this, Yuusei backed away. "What the hell?"

Koga's eyes lit with interest. Turning to face Yuusei, he asked, "Somethin' wrong?"

"They look like them," answered Yuusei.

"Who looks like who?" inquired Koga.

"The girls," began Yuusei, "They look like the two older girls from the TSAB that I ran into before I escaped the attack site."

"Seriously?"

Yuusei nodded. "Positive."

Koga looked at the girl laying down before him. Her long hair was a minty-silverish color and she was dressed in a white battle dress. "Hmm, I have to say, this is pretty weird. Project Photon was shut down after the last of the Testarossas was born. Why would there be genetically enhanced children here?"

"There's Project F," suggested Yuusei.

"Fair enough," replied Koga, "But that doesn't explain why they're unison devices."

Another groan sounded in the room. "Is it morning?" asked the minty-haired girl.

Upon closer inspection, the two resonators strongly resembled Vivio and Einhart. After letting out a loud yawn, the one resembling Vivio began to speak. "Sankt-Resonator, Olivia at your service."

The silvery-mint-haired girl nervously shifted her gaze between the two boys. "H-Hegemon-Resonator, Aerith is ready for combat."

Koga waved at the two girls with a welcoming smile. "Hey there," he said, "I'm Koga and this here is my partner-in-crime, Yuusei."

Aerith blinked for a moment, quietly scrutinizing the two boys. "You two must be quite skilled to think that you can use a resonator at such a young age."

"Tch." Koga felt his eyebrow twitch. "Listen here toots, I'll have you know that I am one of the highest-ranked combatants among all of the Project Photon survivors!"

Olivia yawned once more whilst stretching her arms. "Just be careful when you use us, alright? I don't wanna hear any complaining if you get hurt." Standing up, she added, "Oh, right. Aerith, we should probably change into our combatant forms."

Aerith nodded to her. "Right."

"Whoa, hold on a second," interrupted Yuusei, "What's a combatant form?"

Olivia's eyes lit with curiosity. "You don't know? It's our true form. This is just the initial form they installed for us based upon the DNA used to create us. Our true form is what we really look like, and it raises our stats a fair amount."

"Please be patient. It will only take a moment," said Aerith monotonously.

Not too long after saying that, a pillar of light engulfed the two resonators. The light almost blinded the two unsuspecting boys and forced them to look away.

Attempt to ignore the blinding light before them, Koga muttered, "I haven't heard of unison devices with different forms before."

"Don't feel bad. It's not familiar to me either," replied Yuusei.

For several moments the light blinded them in this way until moments later when it finally died down. In place of the two girls stood two slightly older looking girls. One, in the place where Aerith once stood had her hair in double braids. Her hair had gone completely white in color, with eyes gleaming gold.

As for where Olivia once stood, the girl's blonde hair had become much shorter slightly brighter in shade while both of her eyes had become green in color. She was also wearing an armor similar to Vivio's barrier jacket.

[Aerith Silverbane Combatant Form: Army of One] the white-haired girl identified now as Aerith said in an almost metallic voice.

[Olivia Leonhart Combatant Form: Kaiser Trans] the golden-haired girl identified now as Olivia said in an equally metallic voice.

Koga and Yuusei sat where they were, completely befuddled by what they had just seen.

"Hey," began Koga. "Did they just-"

"Change form out of nowhere? Yes, yes they did," deadpanned Yuusei.

There was silence.

The two boys stared at each other for a moment. Eventually, gigantic grins spread across their faces. "This is totally awesome!"

Aerith watched the two boys celebrate with intense curiosity. "They seem a bit different from the two mages we were supposed to be assigned to."

Olivia shrugged her shoulders. "I don't mind. The other two were annoying. I like these two a lot more." Eyeing her fellow resonator, the blond asked, "Shall we partner up with them?"

"I don't see any harm in it," replied Aerith.

"Good," muttered Olivia. Waving at Yuusei and Koga with a mischievous grin, she said, "Hey, let's talk business for a bit. We need to decide on how we're going to get out of here after all."

Meanwhile, Nanoha and the rest of the Section Six members were having problems of their own.

Nanoha unleashed Starlight Breaker into the clouds, but by then it was too late, Prometheus had already reacted! He emerged from the clouds, laughing maniacally. "It's too late now chumps! Prepare yourselves!" he yelled wildly between fits of psychotic laughter. Nanoha gasped as Prometheus's scythe swiftly met with her staff. He chipped the staff, but just barely. What he had hit for the most part was Nanoha's Round Shield spell. The grey-haired boy kept striking in this manner, continuously focusing on one spot. "Kill- hahaha- I'll KILL YOU ALL!" he yelled demonically as he continued to slice at the mage's shield.

Nanoha on the other hand, was not nearly as amused as Prometheus. While he was busy striking and focusing on a single point, she was preparing a focused blast from behind her Round Shield. "Just a little more," she thought to herself quietly. "If I hit him at this distance with my full power, he'll be down for the count!"

While this was going on, Fate was faring no better against the equally as dangerous Pandora, who had also decided to react. Her shield was down and she was chasing Fate all over the streets with what seemed to be homing fighter bits. Fate cursed as a laser of magical energy just barely missed her hair. "Tch, figures I'd get a long distance opponent!"

Pandora on the other hand stood motionless in the center of the street, uninterested in Fate's predicament as she directed the fighter bits to her location and attempted to shoot her. "She won't escape," muttered Pandora.

"Oh yes she will, bitch!" yelled Vita angrily as she left her post near Nanoha. She sped towards her opponent, Graf Eisen at the ready. She readied her stance and aimed to make a clear shot a Pandora's head. When Vita finally swung her mighty hammer, she was met with an incredible wall, no, a shield!

While controlling six fighter bits, Pandora was still capable of shield herself. She looked up at Vita, completely uninterested in her assault. "Go away, I'm not done playing with her yet," hissed Pandora as smaller magic circle appeared in front of her shield.

Vita's eyes widened as she noticed a large amount of energy gathering inside of the circle. "Shit!" she yelled as she attempted to escape the blast radius. Unfortunately, she was too late. The blast almost engulfed her entire left arm. Thank goodness for her barrier jacket or her arm would have been lost to the world. Due to the sudden imbalance from the blast, Vita tumbled back to the ground. She cursed indignantly.

From where Signum and the rest of the Wolkenritter were fighting, they noticed the difficulties of their fellow comrades and cursed. "This is bad," Signum muttered allowed.

As Zafira punched through yet another beast and sent a Steel Yoke through another, he said, "and it only seems to be getting worse."

Indeed Zafira was right. Things were getting worse for the group. Nanoha was in a completely bind going toe to toe with an opponent that she needed actual charging time to deal serious damage to, with Fate unable to get too close because of the constant interference of the remotely guided fighter bits. Thankfully, their fight seemed to end with his last two kills.

"Time for backup!" yelled Erio as Shamal teleported the three to Pandora's general location.

Pandora's eyes raced around herself as she made quick note of the fact that she was surrounded. "Oh no! I was too careless-" she was distracted from her thoughts when Fate finally managed to break through her barrage of lasers and land a blow with the Zanber form on one of Pandora's shields. With a little force, she shattered one of them completely; however, Pandora created five more to take its place.

Calmly speeding to her group's side, Fate said, "Thanks for the surprise guys. You helped me catch her for a moment."

Signum grinned. "No problem," she replied whilst raising her sword. "Let's finish her off and take her back for questioning."

Pandora grimaced and looked upward. "Prometheus, I need help-"

"Sorry! I'm busy too you know!" Prometheus mentally yelled as he charged forward.

Nanoha smiled. "Just what I was waiting for," she thought to herself. She was done charging. The White Devil was finally ready for the counterattack. "Divine Buster!" she yelled. A beam of pink energy raced forth from her device and slammed into Prometheus, sending him sailing through the sky.

Soon after that, Prometheus quickly recovered and charged the White Devil once more, scythe at the ready. He raced toward her, even with his damaged body. "I'll get you this time-"he never got to finish his sentence as a silver beam of energy crashed into his side and slammed him into the ground beside his sister.

"Bulls-eye," cheered Touma as he brandished his divider.

"Well done Touma!" exclaimed Lily.

Isis smirked and waved at their comrades. "Sorry we're late," she told them, "but without further delay the cavalry has arrived!"

Prometheus and Pandora growled. What was a somewhat disadvantageous battle had suddenly become a completely one-sided trouncing.

BOOM!

Back at the lab, Koga and Yuusei were running about the lab. Their bodies were covered in blood and their dividers were out and ready for combat. While Yuusei's greatly resembled Touma's, Koga's took on the appearance of an energy buzz saw.

"Photon subjects Koga and Yuusei have gone berserk!" yelled a man hiding around the corner. "I repeat! Subjects Koga and Yuusei have- AGH!"

BAM! SPLAT!

With a powerful slice, Yuusei and sliced the panicking man into two and dashed toward what appeared to be the lobby of the research facility. With a final push, he and Koga were finally standing outside of what appeared to be a hospital entrance. Finally out of harm's way, the two took a moment to glance over themselves.

"I like the new look," said Koga aloud, admiring the new wardrobe from his unison. His eyes had turned green and his hair was now a golden-blond color. "Not bad, Olivia."

"I'm glad that you're satisfied, but don't you two have something to do right now?" she asked.

Koga smirked. "Kind of, but we don't have to rush into it," he explained to her over telepathy. "Right now, Yuusei and I have to clean up a little. If we walk or fly around like this we'll be found out in no time."

"What he means to say is that we look suspicious all armored up and covered up in blood like this," chimed Yuusei. It was true. The two were completely garbed in knight's armor. Due to the unison, Yuusei's hair had become pure-white in color while his eyes had become as gold as Aerith's were.

"Fair enough. What would you two like to do then?" asked Aerith.

Yuusei shook his head. "I'm wokin' on that one. For now, I think it'd be a good time to find somewhere quiet to hide and wash all of this blood off."

"Agreed," said Koga. "Once we've freshened up a little and managed to rest up a bit, we're going to take care of some business with the TSAB."

Yuusei raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "We're seriously going to attack them right now?"

Koga nodded his head. "No better time than the present. Data of what was actually here will be leaked eventually. Once that happens, they'll figure out a cover measure for their powers. We should make use of our element of surprise."

"Hmm." Yuusei thought about it for a moment before saying, "Fine, sounds good, but you're leading the charge."

"Naturally," replied Koga.

With the finer details of their plan complete, the two set off to find some shelter -and hopefully- a shower.

At last we return to our young heroine Alicia, who currently lay asleep in her bed. Chrono was standing over her beside Vivio. "So you're saying that Alicia ran off into town and fell?"

"Yeah. It seems like she hit her head," answered Vivio.

"Sure you didn't see anything else?" asked Chrono.

"Yeah," replied Vivio.

"It's okay, Vivio," said Chrono reassuringly. "I promise that I will keep whatever it is that you saw a secret."

Vivio sighed. "Fine." She paused. "Alicia saw him. Yuusei I mean."

Chrono's eyes widened. "She did what? Wait- he was responsible for the fire?" He looked away for the moment and then back to the window, thinking of the auburn-haired mage fighting outside with her comrades. "Does your mother know yet?" he asked stiffly.

Vivio shook her head. "Ein caught a glimpse of his signal right before he escaped, so we're tracking him now."

While Chrono was a superior officer, he was also part of the family. If anything, he knew better than anyone to judge a crook before knowing the whole story. "Very well. If he's detained I will argue for his freedom. Nanoha had the right to raise that boy from the very beginning. If anything, Alicia might enjoy having an older brother."

"Thanks a lot, Uncle Chrono." Vivio smiled. It paid real well to have family in the higher-ups.

Chrono smiled and ruffled the girl's hair. "No problem kiddo."

During this exchange, the two hadn't realized that Alicia had woken a few moments ago and had been listening the entire time. She continued to feign unconsciousness, but in her mind she was filled to the brim with questions. "Yuusei is Nanoha-mama's son?" she thought to herself in shock. "If that's the case, why did he attack me? Why doesn't he live with us? What's going on here?" She had so much to ask, so much more that she wanted to know, but she knew she had to remain silent.

"So, that Project Photon stuff," began Vivio. Biting her lip, she asked, "They won't really terminate any of them will they?"

Chrono crossed his arms and heaved a heavy sigh. "It's hard to say. We might get pardon for Yuusei if we argue really, really well, but our odds of securing proper rights for the others are low."

Vivio growled. "But that's not fair! None of them ever asked for this!"

"Calm down, you'll wake up Alicia," warned Chrono.

Little did he know, Alicia was awake and becoming more and more curious by the second. "What in the world are they talking about?" she thought to herself. "Whatever it is, it's making Vivio really upset."

Alicia heard Vivio slam a fist against one of her bedroom walls. "Even if they are genetically engineered children, Alicia and Yuusei never deserved any of this!" yelled a frustrated Vivio.

Alicia's eyes threatened to tear themselves open. "Hold on, What did Sis just say? Genetically engineered children?" A whirlpool of emotions began to well up inside of her. "H-Hey, this is some kinda joke. Right, Sis? I-I get it. This is a bad dream!" she thought to herself desperately. "Yeah this is all a bad dream! So please, Sis, wake me up already… please?" she mentally begged. The little mage felt herself drowning a sea of questions when she realized that she was wide-awake, so much so that tears began to leak from her tightly shut eyes. This wasn't a dream. This was reality. Who was she? Was she Alicia Takamachi-Harlaown, Fate's little girl, or was she some kind of experiment created by the TSAB? She no longer knew and it terrified her.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the delay everybody! This one went through quiet a bit of debugging and in some areas, rewriting, so it took a bit longer than the previous sections. Regardless, I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter.