(Bishop-chan's notes: Something of an admittedly slow-paced update...)
* Spirit Of Steel *
"Sector F34 E30, nothing to report, moving to F35 E30..."
Yamato's soft monotone reported, the lone voice in the otherwise silent street that the ship girl and Rin were walking on, leading back to the manor. The battleship was monitoring the progress of the miniature aircraft she had launched earlier. At first Rin didn't mind the added distraction: the walks home whenever she was caught late were deathly quiet at this hour, and there was only so much that one's own thoughts could do to keep the silence out.
"Sector Q20 Y63, nothing to report, moving to Q..."
Repetition lead to boredom however, and having her now invisible Servant report sector after sector of nothingness was not how Rin wanted to spend her evening.
"Archer, there's no need to tell me everything that's not happening." Rin chided. "Just tell me if you find anything unusual."
"... Yes, understood."
The only sound that reached Rin's ears were the sound of her own and Yamato's footsteps, and her own internal thoughts, memories, information and data churning inside her head, trying to form a coherent picture of the various solutions the young magus needed to the problems she faced. Arranging her budget to accommodate Yamato's abnormal appetite; finding cheaper alternatives to the gem stones she used without sacrificing quality; combat tactics and doctrines for how best to utilize her Servant when in her combat outfit and without, and a lot of other thoughts. The Holy Grail War had just begun for her, and she would not be caught unprepared.
One set of footsteps suddenly disappeared, breaking Rin out of her musings. Rin turned to see Yamato dead in her tracks, her left hand to her ear.
"What's wrong Archer?"
Yamato's expression was unreadable, though her eyes seemed to focus on something beyond Rin. "Yamato is... uncertain," the Servant stated, reflecting the tone in her voice. "Radar is picking up unidentified contact within 200 meters."
"What do you mean?"
200 meters close to a mystery was not something Rin had been expecting for a walk back home. She tinkled some of the gems on her jacket pocket, though she hoped not to use them. Damn expensive gems...
"My Radar detects the signature of a Servant, but is unable to detect the magical output associated with one." Yamato's head dropped slightly. "My apologies, but my systems are confused in regards to this contact."
A Servant... Rin sidestepped herself closer to the trees, kneeling by a concrete wall in the darkness. On the one hand, Rin should've expected such, given that she was now a participant of the Holy Grail War. The presence of a Servant here might indicate a possible ambush, or possibly a head on confrontation. On the other hand, a Servant without a hint of magical output... could such a thing even exist?
An important question had to be asked first before making any hasty decisions though. She looked to Yamato who was now crouching beside her.
"Archer, I need to know if it's moving."
Yamato's face took on a look of focus. "Contact is moving slowly at walking pace towards us."
Either their 'contact' was an extremely weak Servant with no idea of what he was walking into, or he was confident enough in its abilities to be moving so lackadaisically. After the revelation of Yamato's energy drain problems and feeling her own mana not up to task at the moment Rin's confidence in a confrontation was unfortunately rather low. Perhaps her Servant might be more powerful in her basic form than she expected, but that wasn't a risk Rin was willing to test out just now, better to be safe than sorry.
A short magic chant enhanced Rin's night vision, allowing her to better pick the shapes in the dark hidden by the contrasts of white street lamps, because the objects least visible in total darkness are those hidden just near the corona of the brightest light.
Scanning the rising streets ahead, Rin squinted out a dark human shape walking towards their direction.
"Is that shape the one you were talking about?"
"It appears so Admiral."
With confirmation of what Yamato just picked up, Rin followed the man with her eyes. It appeared that he wasn't moving directly at them. Instead, as he made himself visible underneath a street lamp, a blonde foreigner wearing a black jacket, he seemed to be walking towards a young girl in a brown vest uniform, with purple hair-
Identification set in immediately.
"Sakura?"
"Someone you know Admiral?" Yamato asked innocently.
"She's an junior from school. I skipped school today, so I'd rather not run into anyone from there today." Rin decided Yamato didn't need to hear any more than that about the girl in her sights. That still left the question of the man though, who walked up to Sakura. The latter stood straight still with no visible signs of distress, with which Rin deduced they were talking about something. Nonetheless, Rin's shaky grasp on her gems felt damp.
"Sakura, what are you doing..."
The unheard conversation between the Sakura and the unknown man seemed to last forever, and the more Sakura spent before the man, the stronger the urge to just shoot the guy with a Gandr grew within Rin. He was someone her Servant could not identify, and Rin hated dealing with mysteries that might turn out to be hostile. And so close to Sakura too!
If he so much as lays a hand on her-
Fortunately the man finally left Sakura behind before Rin could finish the thought, resuming his walk at a comfortable pace, turning left towards another dark alley- or so it seemed, until he paused and her eyes met his.
No, he's just looking in our direction! Rin justified, shaking her overreaction away. She and Yamato were hidden in a dark place, and even with night vision they'd be too far away to be picked up with them just peeking over as is. No, more likely that person was just staring aimlessly. So why was she gripping her gems so hard?
The man turned away, and stepped out into the darkness to resume his course away from them. Far, far away Rin wished, releasing the breath she didn't even know she held. Her hands felt clammy inside her pocket.
"That person sets me ill at ease Admiral," Yamato stated with barely hidden discomfort, to which Rin nodded in assent.
"Make that the both of us."
There was no confrontation this night, but Rin had a feeling that wouldn't be the last they would see of that person. She just hoped she was wrong about that as Rin finally stood up from her hiding place, brushing away some leaves from her legs. With the immediate situation over and done with, a question surfaced in Rin's mind.
"Archer, this Radar of yours... how far can it detect enemies like Servants?"
Yamato perked up. "With clear line of sight in this form the tactical radar can detect large contacts up to 500 meters within where I am facing, and the combat outfit's general purpose radar has a 20 kilometer range. I must stress however that Yamato's radar range is affected by factors like obstacles and other sources of interference. " The battleship gave the environment around her a quick scan with her eyes. "In a city of this make, the sea planes would be a more prudent source of reconnaissance."
And then Yamato smiled as if finishing a sales pitch. "In the event that a Servant becomes airborne however, my Air Search Radar should be able to detect them at significant ranges from a proper vantage point." The Servant finished with a note of pride.
Rin didn't really care much about the technical sounding terms of the exposition, and as much as she hated to admit it technology was never her strong point. Nonetheless, at least she knew her Servant wouldn't allow her to be caught red-handed, and she could include Yamato's newly revealed capabilities into their plans.
"I'll keep that in mind Archer. Now, let's go home before we run into more unnecessary encounters."
"Archer isn't it..."
The man pitied the mongrel's attempts to hide from him, stupidly thinking their flimsy cover of concrete and the veil of darkness would be sufficient against his eyes.
The Master in his view, a girl under the care of the fake priest, wasn't worth much of his attention. All of his attention was focused on the Servant beside her, a very fine specimen of a woman of inexplicable beauty. Even from this distance he could sense the immense flow of mana within her, even if she could never hope to achieve his own level of power.
Her eyes held much steel in them, a hardened look reserved only for heroes who have fought wars that would shake the earth asunder along the mountains of the dead. Yet she had none of the haunted stare of a veteran plagued by their memories of death, nor did she have the gleam of command that spoke of leadership commanding armies of men, entire kingdoms at their mercy. Focused only on her goal, a devotion to her duty so strong that she would sweep aside all weakness to do so.
Where the Saber that captivated him with her stubbornness and defiance was a noble ruler, this one was a warrior, whose only place was to be bathed in death and blood. Yet both commanded an aura of respect that compelled those to see them as superior.
As if anything could be superior to himself.
Superficially similar this Archer was to his Saber, and yet so drastically different, lacking the defiance that the latter had with conviction. Archer would obey, simply because it was her duty. From that standpoint, Archer had nothing for him, because one without pride to break was not worth the breath he exhaled.
And yet she compelled him in a vague manner beyond his conscious understanding. If Saber was to be his wife, this woman... he felt the need to make her his, and claim her as his rightful possession within his vault.
His treasure.
No Servant had given him that compulsion before, the desire and need to procure them so greedily. And so he studied the specimen for a while longer, before letting them go with a scoff.
There was no need to rush, because he had all the time in the world to collect on his prize. Because the undisputed truth was and ever shall be, the King of Heroes has dominion over all.
* Spirit Of Steel *