Episode 4 : This Is A Call
"Hello? Yeah, I'm free, what's up?" Even without the spark of wariness infiltrating the empathic link, the implication of Sayaka's responses to the party on the other end of the phone line was enough to get the attention of the other occupants of the room immediately. The fact that Kyoko and Charlotte were both bored of their homework to the point of being ready to pitch their respective books out the window didn't help either. So it was that Sayaka found herself in possession of a captive audience without realizing it.
"Okay, yeah, I think we can set that- no? What do you want, then? WHAT?!" Sayaka screeched into the phone, and her partner and the Peach Persuader went from "merely curious" to "actively probing".
"Yes that would be a bad thing! How did they- (pipe down, you guys!) . . . Well of course the Self-Defense Force would get involved in something like that! They're probably going to send all sorts of specialists in too, to figure out how those two survived that, let alone managed to get in. What am I going to do? I'm going to ask the scientists to section their brains and figure out why in hellfire they tried something this stupid! No, no, I'll go rescue them, but still, jeez. You owe me for this, got it?" Sayaka stabbed the "end" key on her phone with furious vengeance, then she turned to address the two images of wide-eyed wonder staring at her from the other bed.
"Soo . . . I can't believe I'm really contemplating this, but it looks like I'm going to be committing a bunch of felony-stupid, er, felonies, to clean up after somebody else who did the same."
"Jeez, you don't need to butter us up any, Blueberry, just spill! What's the job?" Kyoko shook a stick of Pocky free from her current pack, passed it to Charlotte, then pulled out one for herself as well.
"You're incorrigible, you know that? And I can't believe Mami lets Charlotte hang out over here, considering how you're corrupting her." In response to the charge, Charlotte and Kyoko presented Sayaka with synchronized eye-rolls. "See? See? Right there, that's what I'm talking about!"
"You're just jealous because she likes me better," replied Kyoko, draping an arm over the younger Puella Magi.
"Arrrgh!" Sayaka stamped her foot repeatedly in frustration. "Gah! Anyway, here's the situation; Utsuho and Nitori decided to go check out the new research reactor at Oarai. Despite it being some kind of official Tirei Hyperdynamics business as opposed to a random act of stupidity, they did not bother to use proper channels or even get credentials, and so naturally they got pinched by plant security. Satori needs someone to go in and rescue them."
"Wait, how'd they get pinched? You'd think they could just fly or cloak past the guards, yeah? Anyhow, why didn't they just 'Card out of there?" Kyoko gnawed on her Pocky, as if it had the answers.
"I'm sure they did evade security, but they were caught inside the pile housing. As for why they didn't teleport out . . . nobody knows, which is why we we're being sent to check it out."
"So, to recap, we're jumping into a situation where we don't know what's going on, why it's going on, or how bad it's going to bite us in the ass?"
"Yeah, pretty much," Sayaka replied.
"Goodie. Why didn't she call in the big guns? I'm pretty sure Reimu at least could get a strong enough lock to 'Card them out of just about anything."
"I got the impression that Satori was borrowing those two without permission in the first place, so she doesn't want it to get out what happened."
"Hey guys, on second thought, I'm, uh, kinda tired. I think I'm gonna pack it in and head back to Mami's place. I should probably check up on Wriggle anyway." said Charlotte, affecting a grandiose yawn.
"Nuh-uh, Peachie, you're not leaving us to have all the fun! Especially not with an excuse that lame." Kyoko replied. The redhead had heard at considerable length from Mami how well the firefly youkai was taking to being trained for her infiltration mission. Kyoko had in fact been informed to keep Charlotte busy, as Mami was not allowing the both of them under her roof at the same time until her prized glass coffee table was replaced. God in Heaven, I never thought I'd miss the street days, but having nothing more to worry about than the Walpurgis and how am I going to keep fed and shiny sounds positively relaxing right about now! However, a glance towards the desk chair was sufficient to remind Kyoko of why she preferred her current situation over the old one.
"Phooey." Charlotte pouted, bringing the room back to the situation at hand.
"Now, for a better question, how do you plan on us getting there from here? Somehow, I don't think a Deputy Constable's badge is gonna get us out of trouble if we take the car." Kyoko said, shaking off the bout of nostalgia.
"Oh that part's the easy part." replied Sayaka, who picked up her phone once more. "Hey, Hitomi? Can I ask a favor real quick?"
A short flash of light preceded the arrival of the three would-be rescuers in Hitomi Shizuki's hotel room. With Hitomi and Kyosuke Kamijou both waiting patiently to hear what was going on, it made for a tight squeeze.
"Thanks a bunch, Mossy." Kyoko grinned as she materialized, offering up her box of Pocky in lieu of a handshake. "Although, I gotta admit, this is pretty convenient, you guys being here for a recital at the same place where our misplaced troublemakers are being held."
"Well, it makes sense, Oarai has a very good university, which is why they could manage their own fusion reactor." said Sayaka, a bit defensively.
"No, I believe Sakura-san has a point," replied Kyosuke, drawing a bevy of surprised looks. "There are a lot of special programs going on this weekend, more than I would expect the university to host at any one time. It feels . . . unnatural."
"Maybe, but it seems pretty far out there for somebody to first, know about Gensokyo, and second be able to bait a trap, even for those nimrods." Sayaka replied.
"I don't think your friends are the particular targets of whatever this is, they just happened to get lucky. Or unlucky, maybe."
"Kyosuke-kun, a question if I may?" Hitomi was all sweetness and smiles, but the other Puella Magi took an instinctive step back. "If you knew this was a trap then why are we here?"
"Well, a trap is a trap, but this is a chance to play in front of the directors of one of the biggest music programs in Japan! You can't exactly find an invite for something like that in one of the hundred-yen vending machines."
"Okay, fair enough." Hitomi replied, then she turned to Sayaka. "I'm coming with you."
"Um, are you sure? I don't want to mess up your stay here."
"Yes, I'm sure. I want a chance to earn my keep with this," Hitomi flashed her Soul Gem signet for emphasis.
"And draw anybody who might be on the lookout for people with talents other than musical away from here," Kyosuke added. To Hitomi's crestfallen look, he replied, "I'm not mad. I agree with the idea actually, I just wanted to remind you that I'm not a complete fool, whatever my grades might say!" Kyosuke snickered as he delivered his line, and the others laughed with him; being in the hospital for months had put a dent, albeit temporary, in his grades.
"Okay, yeah, I can see why you fell for him. The String-thing's a keeper," Kyoko added, which drew several bemused looks.
"Ugh, I can't take you anywhere, you awful delinquent!" replied Sayaka, putting on plenty of theatrical mock-anger.
"Well, we could always just stay home then. I'm sure we can find some way to pass the time!" was Kyoko's comeback. Charlotte made a big show of plugging her ears and gagging. In response, Kyoko smirked at the peach-haired girl, and threw a tight-beam link to her: Gagging, is it now? I wonder what Mami-sempai would say, in light of your weekend diversions? Or do you just prefer your desserts chilled first? Charlotte promptly went pale as paper, and turned away before anyone else noticed.
"Kyoko, you do remember that the Incubators aren't working to extend the life of the universe any further?" Sayaka put in.
"Uh, yeah, and?"
"So, I'd like to get this done sometime before the heat death of the universe. In time to still get some sleep before school tomorrow would be even better."
"Oh, fine, fine." Kyoko rolled her eyes again. "You ready to go, Mossy?" In response, Hitomi half-nodded, but ended up turning to look at Kyosuke in the process, then patted at her phone, caught in a moment of indecision.
Charlotte closed her eyes for a moment, then dangled her left hand over her right. A molten glob of material dribbled out from the voluminous sleeve, which Charlotte rolled between her hands for a minute, until it cooled into a marble of hard candy. Still concentrating hard she pushed back her sleeve, baring her Soul Gem, and passed the marble over it. The marble began to glow with a soft light, pulsing between various colors as it did so. A grin plastered on her face, Charlotte pressed the candy into Kyosuke's hands. Can you hear me?
"Huh? I heard you speaking, but your mouth didn't move. What happened?" Kyosuke looked down at the object in his hand, trying to figure out the trick.
Whoa, that's a pretty neat trick, Peachy! Kyosuke snapped over to face Kyoko, having "heard" her voice as well. "What's she's done is make a 'Soul Radio' I guess you could call it," Kyoko continued, speaking normally. "We all can 'talk' to each other through the link we share, between our Soul Gems. That thing apparently lets you listen in, too."
"And talk, but I wouldn't do that unless you really need to." said Charlotte. "It doesn't have much power, and since you don't have a Soul Gem, broadcasting will drain it fast. Also, it's technically not on the 'net', but rather it's linked to mine, and can only talk with people near me." Charlotte held up a finger to forestall the next wave of questions. "That's only to keep everybody else from freaking out because there's a new voice on the net, and a guy at that."
"Wait, is this a girls-only club?" Kyoko asked. "I mean, I've never seen a male Magi, but let's look at who we're dealing with- you'd think probability alone would mean Nova's fucked up and put a Y chromosome into the pool at some point. Also, have I mentioned that I've spent way too much time doing homework lately?"
"Yes you have, and no I haven't seen one either, but better safe than sorry. Especially where Nova's concerned- I'd rather not spook her and have her send in the Koishi Cavalry. We want to rescue the bird-brain, not get the whole university leveled!"
"Very true."
"The reactor vessel is installed over in the Natural Sciences complex, so that's where we'll need to go," Hovering over the dormitory block that had been opened for guests, Hitomi pointed south, towards where the university campus met the water.
"Okay, but wouldn't they be at the police station, or wherever the campus security is based?" Sayaka asked, looking dubious.
"Not if I heard you correctly." Hitomi shook her head. "If they got contaminated, then they'll be in the decon chambers, which are part of the reactor complex."
"Huh. Wait, I thought this was a fusion reactor? Don't those run clean, or something?" Kyoko asked.
"Other way around, actually. Fission and fusion reactors both give off high-energy particles while running, but the fission reactors require radioactive material to run, and that's still dirty even after the reactor is stopped. Besides, I believe Reiuji-san gives off a small but noticeable amount of radiation all the time, because of who she is. That would trip the Geiger counters, and make them think she was contaminated."
"Whoa, Mossy, where'd all that come from?"
"Mitikahara is scheduled to have a fusion plant installed next year. I wanted to know exactly what kind of trouble those things could make." replied Hitomi, a bit sharply.
"Well, color me impressed," Kyoko replied. "Now, let's get down there and see about how to do this. Fruits up top and flakes on the ground?"
"Excuse me?" Hitomi scowled.
"Mossy, you became an amateur nuclear physicist just because you're worried about what might get put up sometime in the future. You've definitely earned 'flake' status, at least for the moment."
"I suppose, when you put it like that, you might have a point. Very well, lead on, flake-san." Kyoko cackled and dived for the deck, first checking to make sure nobody was around to see her land. Hitomi followed after, touching down softly on the sidewalk.
"Okay, so when we get there, I'll pop my Fantasma and slip in, neutralize the guard and open the door, sound good?"
"Actually, Sakura-san, we should at least try a polite and non-violent approach first." Hitomi replied.
"Oh, come on, you think that's really going to work?"
"The security staff are not our enemies! They're only doing their jobs, we owe it to them not to go overboard."
"Hey, you heard Blueberry, we need to get this done tonight! Not stage a multi-year diplomatic mission!"
"E-excuse me, ladies. May I check your identifications?" A rather nervous security guard, one of the unfortunates tasked to do rounds in the damp and chilly night air that early spring by the ocean gave them, tried in vein to get the attention of either of the arguing girls.
"And how would you know how long it takes to do things the proper way, you delinquent? I had hoped that your time in Miki-san's care would have instilled some sort of decorum in you, but you seem insistent in being a lost cause!"
"Oh, low blow, Mossy! If we didn't have a job to get done, I'd hash this out, right here and right now!" Kyoko snarled, fingering her Soul Gem signet.
"Um, beg your pardon-" the guard began.
"Yes, please, by all means, let's resolve this in the most vulgar and barbaric manner possible. Last time I checked, we are tied in victories, and I would greatly enjoy seeing you put in your place."
"Ladies!" the guard shouted, losing his own temper. This time, he got through to the feuding Puella Magi, but that turned out to be a mistake as the sudden surprise broke through the girls' last reserves of control. Screaming a duet of rage, Hitomi and Kyoko turned on the guard, fists flying. The supernatural strength of not one but two Puella Magi saw the poor man blown off the sidewalk, battered into one of the decorative bushes along the path, and then further battered into unconsciousness.
"Oh dear. I think that might not have been a good idea," Hitomi mused, observing the KO'd casualty in the bushes.
"Ya think?" Kyoko replied, before bending down to search the man. "Aha!" she called out, snatching a USB key fob off the guard's belt.
"Do you think that's wise?" Hitomi asked, nerves showing now that the clash was over.
"Look, we're already gonna be in the kettle for thumping this guy when he wakes up. At least this way it wasn't a complete fuckup, got it?"
"I suppose," Hitomi mumbled, but Kyoko was already heading down the path at a hurried pace. The key was sufficient to get them in the building, and from there it was just a matter of locating a directory.
"That was a pretty slick ploy, getting that guard to come to you guys!" Charlotte gushed, once the "fruits" had caught up with the ground team.
"Er, uh, sure?" Kyoko replied, not wanting to break the news to the peach-haired girl. Following the instructions on the directory led the Puella Magi to the decon chambers, but there they discovered a new wrinkle; the chambers were locked in such a way that Kyoko's purloined key couldn't open.
"Okay, so now what do we do?"
"Go find somebody else and knock them out, I'm sure," Hitomi muttered, still a bit sour.
"Nah, I got this." replied Charlotte, covering her signet long enough to draw out her yo-yo and two meters of wire. A quick adjustment caused the topaz head to become two-dimensional, a thin disc of orange on the end of the string, which Charlotte then flicked between the door and the jamb with a hard snap of the wrist, reaching down to catch it when it popped back out at roughly knee-height. "There we go," Charlotte called out when a pull showed the wire to be wrapped around something in the crevice. The yo-yo then reverted shape in her hand and when set on top of the wire, it caused the wire to jump free of her Soul Gem and mate to the yo-yo body, forming a complete loop. Grinning that the trick was working, Charlotte spun the yo-yo in her hands. Sparks flew from the door as the running wire sawed through the lock bolt, then dropped limp once it was all the way through.
"Charlotte, I, uh, I think they'll notice that," Sayaka said, looking at the sharply-cut ruin that had been the latch.
"Yeah, but they were going to notice their guests are gone either way." Charlotte shrugged.
"True, I guess."
The door swinging open startled the occupants, and Utsuho and Nitori jumped up, surprise and then joy on their faces at the prospect of rescue. "I knew Satori wouldn't let us down!" Utsuho cried. The more things change, the more they stay the same, I guess, Kyoko thought, feeling bemused at the child-like trust that the Sun Goddess put in her former mistress.
"So, what happened?" Sayaka asked, turning to practical matters.
"I did not be thorough enough with the precautions, methinks," said Nitori, shaking her head ruefully. "The alarms started, and then the guards did be on top of us shortly after."
"Why didn't you just 'Card out, then? Don't tell me the Skyreach goons have some sort of anti-magic tech," Sayaka replied, dread crystallizing in her gut. Nitori and Utsuho looked at each other.
". . . oops," the pair replied in unison, causing Sayaka to smack her palm into her forehead hard enough to draw a sympathetic wince from Kyoko.
"Sorry, Miss Sayaka. We did be so absorbed in studying what we found, it slipped our minds." Nitori said. "This reactor is too advanced to be a prototype."
"Say what?!"
"Yeah. It do be a second- or more likely third-generation design."
"Does that mean what I think it means?" Sayaka asked, feeling the dread in her gut quadruple in size and sharpness.
"If you think it means that the Skyreach people do be lying out their teeth about what they have and where it came from, then yes." the Kappa replied, her normally-placid features scrunching up with anger. "Miss Satori is much smarter than people give her credit. She do be catching on to their tricks in a hurry."
"The rocket launch!" Hitomi exclaimed, to which Nitori nodded.
"Uh, mind cluing in those of us who aren't physics nerds?" Kyoko asked, which earned her not one, not two, but three dirty looks.
"The Torifune mission, it was in the papers a month ago, remember?" Kyoko's head-shake drew a sigh from Hitomi. "In order for a space elevator to go up, it has to have something to go up to." said the green-haired girl, speaking as if to a very dim child. Kyoko ground her teeth, but said nothing in reply. "A month ago, Skyreach launched a rocket to go and retrieve an asteroid to put into orbit over Earth, to give them something to hook the cable on to. Well, the asteroid retrieval unit is powered by a fusion reactor. They said then that they were going to build this reactor here as a testbed for scaling up to power a city."
"So? That seems reasonable, build a little one first, then make the big one."
"Yes, that's what they were hoping people would think. But think about it, if you imagine a clunky old computer as compared to a new one, you think . . ."
"Old and heavy- damn!" Kyoko smacked her fist into the palm of her other hand. "Lemme guess, these reactors are the same way?"
"Yep! That's why the reactor at the Temple of the Radiant Sun was the last thing to go online," Utsuho added. "The original reactor, the one that powers Youkai Mountain, is about as big as the entire temple. And actually, I don't think we could have made it as small as we did without the stuff the Incubators gave us."
"Wonderful," Sayaka grumbled. "Alright, why don't you two 'Card back to Satori's place. I think I've had all the bad news I can take for one evening." Utusho and Nitori nodded, clasped hands, and disappeared a moment later with the crack! of air being sucked in to fill the space they had just translocated from. Quickly, the girls headed back up the stairs and out the way they came, with Kyoko turning at the last moment to lock the door and hang the key on the inner handle before slipping out.
"What was that about, if I may ask?" Hitomi inquired.
"Hey, I might be a jerk, but I'm not that much of a jerk. I don't want to see anybody else use our handiwork for nefarious purposes." Kyoko replied, earning her a cocked-eyebrow stare.
"Thank you, Hitomi, for helping us out," Sayaka said, filling the awkward void.
"It was my pleasure," Hitomi replied, giving a curtsey. "Even with the undiplomatic manner in which the evening's job was carried out," she added, but with a smile to show that no harm was meant.
At that moment, a good-sized portion of the waterfront decided to blow right the hell up. "What the fuu-" Kyoko started to shout, before being cut off by a secondary explosion that sent debris shrieking overhead. And then, more bad news appeared in the form of dark, angular shapes that swept in over the beach, given away only by the halos of jet thrust outlining their forms.
Kyoko was fully clothed in her Puella Magi garb by the time she got back on her feet, and the other girls were just heartbeats behind. "I wonder what these guys want? Let's see if we can't find out and take it from them. Mossy, head back to the dorms."
"What? I can fight too, you know!" Hitomi put her fists on her hips and gave Kyoko a look halfway between a pout and a snarl.
"I know you can, which is why I want you there. Anything that three Puella Magi can't handle, four aren't going to fix either, but if anything slips past us, I'll feel a lot better if there's somebody waiting to pick 'em up."
" . . . when did you get smart?" Hitomi asked, relenting after a moment.
"Who knows?" Kyoko shrugged.
The girls' first encounter with the mysterious attackers was very nearly a catastrophe- as the Puella Magi bounded in low over the roofs of outbuildings and beachside stands, one of the invaders had the same idea, and only a very timely dodge kept Sayaka from being pasted by the thing. Only after landing were the girls able to reconstruct what they had seen- a narrow, humanoid form, perhaps half again larger than a grown man, with knife-like appendages for arms and legs, a sharply angled wedge-shaped helmet, and large dart-shaped fins extending back from the shoulders that were the main thrusters, from what they had seen. And it was coming back.
The Puella Magi scattered as a missile streaked down and exploded upon the sand where they had been standing, and the invader followed close after, dropping down to engage, throwing up a splash of sand when it reached ground level. Anti-gravity? That's a neat trick, Sayaka thought as she noticed the machine's "feet" weren't touching ground. The left arm flexed, swung up, and a port on the back of the wrist sparked and hurled a handful of particle bolts towards the Puella Magi, who were forced to evade once more.
Overhead, the moon disappeared for a moment as another shape passed over, this one much larger. The vehicle had roughly the shape and mass of a Shinkansen locomotive and rode on columns of hot thrust, but delta wings running the length of the hull suggested it was capable of traditional flight, and the depth of the tall, narrow main body suggested a carrying capacity. Mossy, incoming! Kyoko called out, before refocusing on the problem at hand.
The invader's electrolaser array recharged, and it tracked and fired again, but this time Sayaka had her aegis up, and the bolts splashed off of the magically-reinforced metal to no effect. This caused the invader to flinch back with very human surprise, then Sayaka pounced on it, raising a horrible screech as her falchion carved a furrow in the machine's chestplate. A blade popped up from its storage slot and into the invader's waiting hand, the meter of sharpened alloy appearing to be just a short sword in the unit's grip, but it was sufficient to parry Sayaka's next strike, and even attempt a reposte which struck against the Knight of Justice's shield with an awful sound.
Any time now, guys! Sayaka sent, but her companions were already on the move, having taken advantage of Sayaka's attack to get into a better position. Charlotte's yo-yo and Kyoko's scorpion spear each wrapped around one of the invader's legs, and the Puella Magi both yanked as hard as they were able at the same time. The legs were indeed the source of the invader's gravity-defying powers, and with these pulled out of line, the whole unit flipped forward to slam into the sand. Sayaka danced out of the way of the crashing machine, then darted forward and took her falchion in a two-handed grip. Stabbing down at the exposed neck joint yielded the second surprise of the evening- the flexible protective collar gave way beneath the strike, and the falchion tore completely through, sweeping both the wedge-shaped helmet and head of the man who had been wearing it off of the machine.
"It was a suit?! What the hell?" Kyoko saw the trail of blood that had arced away from the grisly trophy and winced. Sayaka bent down and picked up the helmet, disturbed by what had just happened.
"Uh, what does it mean when the engine starts running up after the driver died?" Charlotte asked. Indeed, the invader's machine had not shut down after the decapitation, but was instead spooling up to maximum power.
It means run!" Kyoko replied, suiting actions to words. Sayaka and Charlotte likewise bolted for cover, and not a moment too soon- just seconds later, an injector fired, dumping a volatile chemical into the engine feed, whereupon which the suit exploded in a horrendous fireball, scattering gobbets of vitrified sand and scraps of metal all over the beach.
Kyosuke! The call startled an already spooked Kyosuke. First things start exploding on campus, and now his name was being called out of nowhere? What had this trip turned into?
"Oh, right," Kyosuke said aloud, feeling foolish. He patted the pocket which held Charlotte's enchanted candy, then focused his thoughts on Hitomi. I'm here.
Good, Hitomi sent back, a wave of relief washing through the link along with her words. I need a favor.
Anything, just name it, Kyosuke sent back, determined to make a good show of things.
Not to worry, it's nothing too bad. Can you think of a way to jam or cover the radio frequencies around here?
I think so. What's going on? Kyosuke sat down at his computer and started poking through menus on the university's system.
The university is under attack by unknown hostile forces. Kyosuke nodded, too absorbed in his appointed task to remember that Hitomi wouldn't be able to see it.
Aha! Kyosuke called out. Having found what he was looking for, he jumped up and grabbed his headphones and plugged them in to the computer, jamming one earpiece down over the computer's built-in mic. How's this for a "public performance art installation"? Kyosuke grinned as he hijacked the public-access student radio system and cranked all the inputs as high as they would go. In an instant, a hideous feedback squeal blanketed every available bit of bandwidth in the greater Oarai metropolitan area.
Hitomi wasn't sure exactly what her love was planning, but when she saw the soldiers standing guard at the ramp of the dropship flinch and grab at their helmets, she knew he must have figured something out. A dozen soldiers had marched out of the vessel when it touched down a minute earlier, and spread out, to what purpose Hitomi wasn't sure, but she intended to find out.
The regalia of a Puella Magi wove itself around Hitomi, and she became rather introspective as the green velvet bodice laced into place over her chest and shining steel gauntlets poured down her forearms. I certainly haven't done the best job at earning my keep with this stuff. But I have no right to just sit back and let my friends go into harm's way. And I absolutely cannot stand by while armed soldiers march through a place where children come to learn! "Banzai!" Hitomi shouted, leaping down from the rooftop and leveling her axe upon the guards. "Drop your weapons, or I'll drop you instead!"
The guards glanced across at each other in disbelief, then moved to bring up their assault rifles. But Hitomi was in motion too, and her supernatural strength more than evened the odds. The first swing smashed the gun from the right-hand guard's grip before continuing on to decapitate the other unfortunate, and then as she spun past, Hitomi brought a steel-capped knee up hard enough to shatter the plating in the remaining guard's vest. He fell to the ground, gurgling, and Hitomi dropped to a knee. Sure enough, the guards had been issued grenades as part of their kit, and the Puella Magi snared four of the fat green ovoids, hooking them to her belt by the spoons. Akemi-san would know better than I how to go about this, but I bet I can work out something!
A clatter of boots upon decking drew Hitomi's attention. Another man, the pilot by the looks of him, had come running at the commotion, and kneeling on the ground, Hitomi had neither the time nor the ability to maneuver out of his sights. Instead she threw up both hands and drew upon the newest trick in her arsenal. Bars of blinding jade danmaku shot forth, blasting clean through the man . . . and the top of the dropship. Perhaps I should have taken some practice shots at full power before now. Ah, well. Hitomi shook her head and stood up, summoning her axe once more.
Once inside the dropship itself, Hitomi's plan was quite simple; she swung her axe in a long sloping cut through the inner hull until the stink of something volatile filled the space. Finding the leak, Hitomi jammed all four grenades into the gouge, hooked her fingers through all the pins, and then took a long deep breath to center herself. In one single motion, the green-haired girl yanked out the pins, spun on her heel, and sprinted for the open ramp. Throwing herself into a headlong roll as soon as she hit the bottom of the ramp, Hitomi cleared the scene just as the grenades went off in a staccato series of cracks. As she rolled face-up, Hitomi saw a small explosion blossom out the top of the dropship, sending a ribbon of smoke skyward. Huh. I was hoping for something-
At that moment, the fire eating through the hydraulic lines reached the dropship's missile magazine and the vessel burst apart with a colossal, window-shattering BOOM! that Hitomi felt as much as heard. -Like that, yeah. Shouts echoed across the courtyard, as the soldiers who had been dispersed from the ship came running to the scene of the calamity. Right, now it's showtime! Bouncing to her feet, Hitomi drew a Spellcard and charged at the soldiers.
Evocation ~ Reign of Blades
Ten splinters of light exploded into being around Hitomi as she ran, forming into sharply-angled blades that began to orbit her at high speed. With this halo in place, the green-haired girl chose to simply barrel straight into the soldiers as they massed together to shoot at her. The blades struck down three on her first pass through, and then the soldiers were shooting, most of their bullets going wide but those that would have connected sparked off the spinning blades instead. Hitomi made a leaping turn from mid-stride and plucked two of her blades from the halo and hurled them towards the enemy, each one embedding itself in a victim's flesh, despite the armor they wore. As she skidded to a halt on the grass, Hitomi grabbed another pair of blades, and these grew in her hands to become wicked boomerang-axes as long as she was tall. With these weapons in hand, Hitomi rushed the line of soldiers once more, and this time their courage failed them. Hitomi became a reaper in green, the boomerang blades whickering as they sliced through the air in her hands to fell the enemy left, right, and center. One of the men who had broken free had red tabs on his shoulders, and for this one, Hitomi turned one of her axes over in hand, commanding the edge to become smooth and blunt, and then she hurled it at the fleeing sergeant, while the other sailed free with no such modifications. While the sharpened boomerang cut down the last straggler, the blunted blade rang around the sergeant, and then it was if a god had hit "rewind" on the world, as the boomerang began its return flight, yanking the sergeant back with it.
Hitomi spilled the man off his feet and dropped down, pinning him in place with a knee. "Now, tell me, why did you come here? What are you trying to do?"
"Who are these guys?!" Charlotte wondered, seeing the aftermath of the flying suit's demise.
"A bunch of assholes," Kyoko replied, darkly.
"Obviously. But where do they come from? What do they want?"
"Hey, uh, guys? I think I have an answer," Sayaka replied, pointing. Kyoko and Charlotte turned to follow the blunette's aim and saw one of the large digital billboards that were seemingly ubiquitous, even out here on the beach. But what the image displayed certainly wasn't a normal advertisement. Instead, what they were seeing was a brushed-steel engraved image of the Earth, turned so the Pacific Ocean was front and center. This was a familiar design- the logo of the Skyreach Initiative. What was new was the red-and-white Templar's Cross superimposed over the logo, and the armored woman standing in front of it. She stood head and shoulders above the soldiers flanking her in two ranks of five to a side, and she was encased in pearlescent white armor that was both similar to the ruined battlesuit on the beach and also sculpted to flatter the female form. There were only two interruptions to the coverage of the armor- the first was the woman's head was completely uncovered, revealing a fair face in a stern expression, framed by hair that spilled far down her back in a blaze of literal fire, casting a red-golden glow about her, and her eyes likewise shone in gold as she glared at the camera. And the other breach in the armor was upon her chest, where a fancy gold setting surrounded an ovoid gemstone set between the armor's sculpted bosoms, glowing with a neon green radiance.
The armored woman stood stiff and braced, her hands resting on the hilt of a katana that stood like a cane in its sheath, and once the camera was focused she picked up the weapon and tapped it against the floor, making a gunshot crack, which caused the soldiers flanking her to stand to attention and salute. Another crack and the soldiers shouted out in time, their voices becoming a roaring chant in time with the rhythm. "DC! . . . DC! . . . DC!"
"No, no!" Kyoko cried out, anger and terror flooding through her in equal measure.
"People of the Earth, you have been deceived! This misguided reach to the stars shall bring down upon your heads naught but death and destruction!" The voice was everywhere, it was impossible to filter out, even for a Puella Magi who could only hear the blood hammering in her ears as she ran through the alleyways of the campus town that surrounded Oarai University. Damnit, I thought I was better than this! Let the past rest in peace, and all that! Kyoko shook her head to drive away the miserable thoughts tearing at her.
"We, the Divine Crusaders, have seen this truth. Today you have felt our sting in Oarai and Uminari, Darwin and Cairns, Seattle and San Francisco, everywhere that gives succor to the misguided ambitions leading our world to disaster." Kyoko rushed onward, trailing an unholy new star in the sky. She knew where it was leading, and she knew with a sick certainty that she wanted the conflict that she would find when she got there. How could anyone do what I did on purpose?!
"Consider this an ultimatum; either stand with the Divine Crusaders, or stand aside. There can be no other choice. You shall be given one month to comply, and then we shall return to mete out divine justice to those who would still imperil this world." The voice went silent then, the hijacked screens blank. In the distance, Kyoko could her companions calling out through the empathic link for her to stop, to turn back. They were following her, as well, but Sayaka and the others were being careful and rational, whereas Kyoko wasn't held back by such concerns. The star descended, and so Kyoko took to the rooftops, the better to fall upon her prey.
"You!" Kyoko shouted, with no time to make a more eloquent statement of her intent. Pouncing down on the clearing, the redhead found what had to be a commander's suit, marked as it was with gold flashes and thin, dagger-shaped antennae on the helmet. More suits were approaching, judging by the howls of jet engines, but Kyoko intended to be finished with her first victim before they arrived.
In the end, Kyoko got her wish, but not in a way she could appreciate. The command suit spun, raising its right arm to aim at the falling Puella Magi. Though Kyoko could cover the distance in a bare few seconds, it was too long when faced with a weapon that fired shots far beyond the speed of sound. The railgun discharged with a whump-crack!, and though the round was nothing more than solid iron, it was more than sufficient to blast clear through Kyoko's torso, tumbling her to the ground in a spray of blood.
The figure who was known only as "Valcyone" to both friend and enemy alike sat back in her command seat- Not a throne! Never that, just a place from which to coordinate the work- and waited for the man who knelt before her to make his report.
"My liege, we are undone!" Major Tempest Hawker was not a man given to theatrics. His cool head in the face of chaos had elevated him within the Divine Crusaders, and so to hear his lamentation was more than a little disturbing. But no more disturbing than the picture he had already painted by coming here. Valcyone winced as she looked her subordinate up and down. When I took the Scaffold Frames used by Skyreach to make my weapons from, I knew that tradeoffs would have to be made in order to get them to work. I tried to add in as much strength and endurance as possible, but I never thought one of my Lions could return after taking this much damage. I never though a Lion could take this much damage at all! Major Tempest was prostrate before the commander of the DC, but not by choice. His Armored Frame was shattered, all four limbs holed through, the helmet was missing, with bruises and blood upon his face telling the tale of where it went, the thrusters had been reduced to installations of abstract art upon his shoulders, and the glacis plate was crazed and shattered.
"What has happened here?" Valcyone asked, leaning forward to rest her chin atop her hands where they sat upon the hilt of her katana. An ethereal giggle came as reply to the restless motion, and Valcyone knew that the shadows behind her perch were no longer empty. Please, don't antagonize the man, we still need him, the mistress of the DC thought, knowing it would be heard.
"A-allow me to show you," Tempest said, linking the data recorder in his Armored Frame to the comand center's systems. A video began to play, showing what the major had seen in those last, fateful minutes.
A bar crept rapidly across the top of the display, giving the pilot a visual indicator as to how long remained before the railgun that made up the Lion's main armament was ready to fire again. "Alpha Squad, check in," Tempest called, ordering his squadmates to rally to him. Their mission was done, and it was time to leave before a more organized response could be sent against them. Already, this area had shown a surprising amount of resistance, which might have been a problem had their goal been anything other than to draw out just such a response, in order to map out how their foes might react.
"Alpha Two, roger."
"Alpha Three, coming in."
"Alpha Fou- Ghurk!" That last bit wasn't standard DC radio protocol, but Tempest allowed that having a massive wedge of metal jutting out of his chest probably explained Four's indiscretion. But when that wedge withdrew, and the assailant hurled the dead Lion aside like a broken toy, what was revealed caused chill sweat to break out all across the Major's flesh.
BGM: Daft Punk - Tron: Legacy Soundtrack - "The Game Has Changed"
An Armored Frame stalked forward, silhouetted by the detonation of Four's failsafe charge. How can this even be? screamed the rational bit of Tempest's mind, while the rest of him just stood there in shock. It seemed to be the antithesis of the Lions in every way- chunky where they were slender, weighty and clearly ground-based where they were made to fly. The bulges of air intakes thickened out the suit's greaves while the arms were bare of any weapons save for the brute knuckles themselves, and the wicked spear in the unit's right hand. And then Tempest saw the worst of it- the narrow, falcon-beaked helmet was open, and he knew that the face he saw there, maddened beyond reason, was the same of the girl he thought he had struck down a moment before. A tall protrusion crowned the helm, too big to be an antenna. A unicorn's horn? But for what purpose? Tempest pondered as the enemy Frame leaped into motion.
That spear flashed out once more, spinning like a glave before breaking apart suddenly, the segments connected by chains which wrapped around Two and pulled him in to her grasp. A cough of jet propulsion aided the crimson Frame's next attack, a brutal sidelong kick which crushed Two's hip joint. With a contemptuous flick of the wrist, the attacker unwound Two from her chains, which formed back into a spear in time to twirl around her in a screaming arc and Tempest swore that the haft of the weapon elongated in the spin in order to let the head lash out and strike Two's head from his shoulders.
Three lifted off, hoping to use altitude to his advantage, and then the Major learned the purpose behind the attacker's horn. The spear whirled about again, breaking apart into chain-linked rods once more to reach for Three, and the crimson Frame jumped skyward on tongues of flame. The boost was not enough to bring the suit up to Three's level, but it was enough to let the scorpion spear catch Three's foot and haul him down. And then the unfortunate DC trooper met the unicorn's horn, which was now glowing white with heat. A scream echoed across the radio as the burning hot knife dissected the Lion in midair.
Three's demise spurred Tempest to act, but he now realized just how fast the attacks had happened- Two's failsafe hadn't even detonated yet when the crimson Frame landed before him. The attacker twirled her spear again and this time it folded across itself once, twice, and then the attacker banged her fists together and the segments separated, three rods remaining attached to each forearm. Tempest couldn't even begin to comprehend how that worked, when the attacker caught up with him. A fist smashed his railgun, a boosted kick fractured the vanes in the right leg, cutting off the Lion's EM Floater Field and any hope Tempest had of escaping.
The attacker latched her hands onto the Lion's helmet and wrenched it forcibly down, so that she was looking Tempest straight in the eye. In that moment, the Major noticed that she wasn't merely driven by her fury; the girl's eyes positively glowed with madness. Then she spoke, and although the words were being recorded by Tempest's suit, it was clear she was speaking to one specific person.
"Listen up, bitch! I know what you are, and I know what you did. You have no right to poison peoples' hearts like that. What you are is an abomination, and I promise you, here and now, I will find you, and I will crush your soul, do you understand?" Her piece said, the attacker released Tempest, but only in preparation for another attack. The tips of the rods on her arms began glowing with livid light.
"JET PHANTOM!" screamed the attacker, and suddenly she was everywhere at once, the Lion's telemetry registering an impossible number of hits to every part of its frame. Three burning spots eclipsed the view of the camera, and then the video cut out with an awful crunch and squeal of alloys being annihilated by the ferocious blow.
"I-I can't explain what happened. I have no way of making sense of what I witnessed, but somehow the enemy has Armored Frames of their own, and they can, I am loathe to speak such superstitious nonsense, but it is as though they can do magic and raise the dead. How can we contend with such a force?"
"This enemy is known to me, and I anticipated their involvement. My apologies to you, Major, but a large part of this operation was to draw out just such a response. I regret the losses you sustained, but it was essential to see how they would react. Alchemie," Valcyone called, motioning with one hand to draw her companion out from hiding. "Will you please tend to the Major? See to it that he gets whatever he wishes."
"Of course!" Alchemie replied, her voice as airy and ethereal as her form, pale and slim and clad in a dress that seemed to be woven moonlight. Her hair was a pale blue color, but it shone like silver in the dim light of the command center, and her eyes seemed to glow red with an inner light. With a cheerful smile on her face, the girl stepped over to Tempest and helped him regain his feet, then led the Major from the room, his grip on reality still too rattled to notice that the slip of a girl had the strength to pull the hefty Armored Frame up off the deck.
After the pair had left, Valcyone continued to stare at the screen drinking in whatever tidbits of information she could glean from the recording. So, that was one of 952's pet troublemakers. Unfortunate that she was able to make that step so quickly, but one step is not the same as having run the whole race. I would have liked to see some of the "anomalies" mentioned in the reports, but if they're even half as smart as they'd need to be, they'll ration out their tricks like miser's gold. Well, no matter. We'll smash aside the obstacles in order to rise to the real challenge that lays ahead.