Disclaimer: I don't own the worlds in this fic, or anything else portrayed. I did create the villains and story, though. They're not really worth taking, but if you do, just let me know if you would. Maho Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha and Maho Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's were produced by Ivory and Seven Arcs. Sailor Moon and its sequels were written by Naoko Takeuchi, and published by Japonica Polonica Fantastica (JPF).


Chapter 3 - 'Friend or Foe?'

08.00, 12th June, Infinity District, Tokyo, Earth.

"Venus Love Chain Encircle!" A strong, female voice cried and before Fate had a chance to react, the monster was bound at every limb with glowing golden chains not dissimilar to Arf's Binding spell. "Now!" the voice continued, and Fate nodded - mostly to herself, since she couldn't see the other spellcaster - and leapt forward, bringing her scythe around.

"Haken Slash." Bardiche intoned, burning another cartridge as the blade cut through monster flesh and golden chain alike, shattering both. The monster roared in pain before seeming to stretch in every direction and flickering. It disappeared a moment later.

Nanoha stood, using Raging Heart as a crutch as she moved to stand by Fate, and the two mages looked at their saviour.

"Thank you..." Fate murmured to her as she moved closer, noting her hostile stance and keeping Bardiche ready beside her. The blade had faded with the end of its perceived need, but it could be summoned again with the residual energy from the cartridge. As she examined the girl who approached, she reloaded and put the dead cylinder into a storage pocket. "Whom do we address?"

"Sailor Venus, Sailor-suited soldier of love and justice, protected by the planet Venus. Who are you?" The woman's voice was somewhat guarded, as though uncertain what to make of the two girls in front of her. Sailor Venus wore a white bodysuit with an orange bow on the breast, held on by a blue brooch. An orange skirt hung around her hips, though like Fate's it was more a fashion statement than for modesty. Her gloves reached up to her elbows, and held no Device that Fate could see. That didn't mean anything though, since Yuuno also cast without a Device. Her high-heeled shoes looked impractical, but she moved as though she hardly noticed them as she stepped to stand a few feet away. Finally, her shoulders were covered by a sailor's scarf the same colour as her skirt.

"Fate Testarossa, Special Enforcer Triple-A class mage of the Time and Space Administration Bureau." Fate paused, then indicated Nanoha. "This is Lieutenant Takamachi Nanoha, Combat Instructor and Triple-A Class Mage of the same." Nanoha bowed from the waist, and a moment later Fate mimicked her.

"What brings you to Tokyo, Fate Testarossa and Takamachi Nanoha?" Venus bowed back automatically, though perhaps not as deeply.

"An accident," Nanoha began, but Venus held up a hand and touched her earring. After a moment, she frowned.

"I must consult with my team. I leave you with a warning. This city is under the protection of the Sailor Senshi. Anybody who threatens it must answer to us." Her final words echoing, Venus turned and jumped to the top of a nearby building.

Nanoha and Fate looked at each other before dismissing their Barrier Jackets and Devices.

"We should go before the police arrive." Nanoha muttered, and Fate nodded as she looked at the debris. With no sign of the monster, it would likely be put down to terrorists. Together, the two girls left at a swift pace, wishing they dared use more cartridges to fly.


Nearby, Aino Minako walked towards school, listening to the tomcat in her arms.

"I mean it Mina, those two could be trouble. We still don't know why the monsters are acting up, and they appeared out of nowhere. We don't know who they really are, or anything about this Bureau they mentioned..."

"Don't be such a worry-wart, Artemis! We'll ask Ami after school, okay?"

"Alright, but I still don't like just leaving them to wander around all day." The cat grumbled, before jumping out of his nominal mistress' arms. "Take care. I'm going to keep an eye on them."

"Whatever you say. Take care, Artie." Mina grinned at the cat as he walked off, tail in the air as though he were a normal cat. The disguised Senshi of Love hid the concern she felt for the guardian in her cheerfulness, but the truth was she was worried as well. She didn't recognise the energy the two girls had been using, and even though the monster had nearly downed one of them and been about to chomp the other, the way the white-cloaked blonde had taken out the monster once it was holding still frankly scared her. Sighing, she shook her head before starting and breaking into a run as she heard the school bell intoning ahead of her.


16.30, 12th June, Juuban High gates, Juuban District, Tokyo, Earth.

"Aww, come on Ami-chan! You know I can't do this stuff! Please?" Tsukino Usagi wheedled to her friend as they left the school building.

"Usagi-chan, you know I won't do your homework for you. Of course I'll help, but you have to do the work." Mizuno Ami told her firmly and prayed that she wouldn't recognise the blonde blur moving towards them.

"Come on, Usagi-chan, you know it's hopeless. If I have to do it, so do you. Besides, it's only Phi, how hard could it be?" Kino Makoto grinned to deflect the black look the shorter Senshi of the moon gave her.

"Oh! Isn't that..?" Usagi had seen the blonde running through the crowds, and moved to meet her. "Minako-chan! What's wrong?" Hey, are you okay?" She peered closer as the honey-blonde rested her hands on her knees as she fought to catch her breath.

"You're out of shape, Minako-chan!" Makoto told her, disapprovingly, and got a fringe-obscured glare in return.

"Wear... your bloody... communicators..." Venus gasped as she finally managed to straighten. "I just ran all the way here from school to catch you before you split up. We need to call a meeting. I contacted Rei, she'll meet us at the shrine..."

"What's wrong?" Makoto asked, frowning and looking around. She drew them into an alleyway where they could talk without being overheard. "Is it a new enemy?"

"Maybe. Artemis called me to the bay this morning..." Mina began, but stopped to let Ami speak.

"The death busters again? We destroyed them..." the genius thought aloud, but Minako shook her head.

"Maybe, but I don't think so. This thing looked a bit like a daimon, but Artie told me it crawled out of the sewer. That's not all though." She paused until she was sure she had their attention. "There were two girls there, about our age. They were fighting it with some kind of technology-based magic."

"That's strange... I'll have to check my computer and quiz the guardians." Ami murmured, her mind already on track.

"We should wait until we're with Rei... maybe the Outers might know something?" Makoto frowned. Those girls worried her. If they were enemies, it could be bad.

"Mako-chan? Earth to Makoto." Minako was waving her hand in front of the tall brunette's face, and the martial artist blinked and mentally reprimanded herself. "We're going." Mina finished, and Maki nodded before following them.

Hino Rei met them at the foot of the shrine steps, already changed into her Hakama and tapping a bamboo broom on her shoulder impatiently. The taciturn priestess growled a mock-angry greeting at them as they approached, then led them up the many steps to the shrine.

At the top, she started sweeping. At this time of the afternoon on a Tuesday, there weren't many visitors to the shrine so it was safe to talk in the courtyard.

"So you're saying that the one with the scythe destroyed the monster in one hit after you bound it with your chain?" Rei asked, frowning as Minako finished her report.

"Yeah, and I don't know if I'll be able to use the chain for a while, either. Some kind of feedback when she shattered the links. It's almost like her weapon attacked the power of Venus itself. What's even more confusing is that according to Artemis, they just transformed right there in the middle of the street, like they didn't care if someone saw them."

"Transformed? Do you mean like Senshi?" Ami picked up on the phrase like a dog with a bone.

"Not quite." The new voice answered the question as Artemis flowed out of the bushes. "Luna's watching them now, since I heard Mina's message," he elucidated to answer Mina's questioning look. "It was more like they were putting armour on. There wasn't any glamour to hide their identities like the Senshi have, and they didn't seem to get any stronger or faster. Just tougher. When I saw the staff-wielding one thrown into that wall, I thought she was a goner for sure."

"Who did you say they claimed to be?" Ami asked while Rei coerced Usagi to pay attention.

"Mages from the Time and Space Administration Bureau. An operative and a combat instructor..."

"That's a strange pair to be sent out anywhere. Did they say why, or make any attempt to say who this Bureau are?"

"Not before I had to remind Mina about school." Artemis told her, sheepishly. He supposed it was the one disadvantage of a Sentai team in high school. Apart from the maturity level, he sighed to himself as he watched Hino chasing Tsukino around the yard to get her broom back.

"Actually... the one with the staff. Nanoha. She said it was an accident." Minako broke into his train of thought. "And the other one... Fate. That's English, isn't it..?"

"Fate. Yes... it means fate. Destiny, if you want. It's a strange thing to have as a name..." Ami mused. "Fate Testarossa. The family name sounds Spanish, maybe. Who is she, though... I'll run a search, see if I can pick up any leads on the 'net. Nanoha's a Japanese name, though, so it should be easier to pick up. I'll search Takamachi while I'm at it."

"Thanks, Ami-chan" Usagi broke the train of thought, having finally relented the broom, before the reticent genius could finish the transfer into her own world.

"One of the cats should follow them, too," Minako decided. "I think we should ask the Outers if they know anything."

"Uhuh." Rei vetoed the idea as she resumed sweeping. "They have enough of their own problems, and if this is one of them they'll show up anyway since it'd have to come past them. I'll ask Phobos and Deimos to keep their eyes open though. They can be unobtrusive even where someone might notice a cat following them, since there's crows all over the city."

"I've got an idea." Makoto said suddenly. She'd been quiet up to now, so this was clearly the culmination of a long train of thought. "Instead of trying to follow them everywhere, why don't we put them where we can see them? You said they were wandering around and ended up on a park bench, right?" She looked at Artemis, who made an affirmative sound. "Well, I could offer them a place to stay for a while."

"No good. You can't be there the whole time, you've got school." Minako's turn to refute an idea. "Besides, how would we stop them figuring out your identity?"

"We could have them here, though." Rei pointed out. "We have the odd lodger, and Yuuichiro never figured it out. I can ask grandpa to keep an eye on them, as well as the birds. I'd just be like..."

"Peter Parker to Spider-man?" Minako interrupted the miko with a grin. "The ordinary friend to the superhero?"

The comment fell flat as no-one else got the reference.

"... what, none of you ever read American comics?" The blonde pouted. "Spoilsports. Spider-man is Peter Parker's superhero alias. Peter makes his living selling photos of Spider-man, which he says he gets because Spider-man tells him where he's going to be."

"Er... I suppose so..." Rei muttered, uncertain. She hated being shown up. "It's getting late. Should we go and find them now, or..?"

Usagi's, Ami's and Minako's phones went off simultaneously. Usagi and Minako's families both wanted to know where the hell they were, and why weren't they home yet. Ami's mother was actually home early for a change and wanted to eat a meal with her daughter while she had the chance.

"I guess that answers that question..." Makoto chuckled once the phones had been put away. "Tomorrow's Wednesday, right? That's a good opportunity, since we're off school."

"I'm not, so you'll have to deal with my grandfather..." Rei pointed out. Sometimes she hated the strict catholic school her grandfather had gotten her into. Never mind that it was the best school academically in the area.

"I'm sure he'll come around." Makoto remarked dryly as the old priest dashed out of the shrine office to meet a pair of high-school girls as they came up the steps.

"I had better be going... we'll meet at the bus station tomorrow morning?" Ami asked, and Minako nodded.

"I'll see you there." she told the blue-haired girl, who then started walking down the steps.

It was only when she was halfway down that Usagi remembered their Phi assignment and started running to catch up.

"Ami-chan, waaaiitt!"