"On my honor as a knight, I swear myself to your service, Master."

Waver Velvet could barely believe what had just happened. He'd done it. He'd summoned a Heroic Spirit, the most powerful kind of familiar know to magecraft. If only those fools at the Clock Tower could see this: the child of a supposedly lesser family with barely any history behind it had done what they would have called impossible. If only that bastard Kayneth was here so Waver could rub it in his smug face.

"Master?" The Servant said, breaking Waver out of his fantasies. Right, he had to focus on the present. Gloating could wait until after he'd won the Grail.

Waver took this chance to inspect his new Servant. Rider Class, which usually meant low stats but a strong Noble Phantasm. She was a fairly tall woman with long black hair and very Japanese features; Waver mentally noted that could help move around the city without drawing too much attention. Her clothes were another issue: a white double-breasted military uniform with silver epaulettes and rank insignia that Waver didn't recognize. Definitely something that would stand out in modern Japan. Her left hand was covered by a silver gauntlet, and at her waist was a sword tied to a belt with a silver buckle that had an engraving of a tower in it. Also, Waver suddenly realized, she had been kneeling the entire time waiting for his reply.

"Um… I am Waver Velvet," he tried putting the same dramatic gravitas she had when she asked her question, "As your Master, I accept your service!" Waver couldn't stop the smile spreading on his face. That was actually kind of fun. But, on the other hand… "You can, um… you don't have to bow." He finished with some embarrassment.

The Servant stood up, but did not leave the summoning circle. "So, um…" Waver awkwardly continued. "What should I call you? Other than Rider?"

"My True Name is Hana." She said. Waver thought it was an oddly mundane name for a Heroic Spirit. "Though I would prefer Rider."

"Alright then!" Waver said, still riding the wave of excitement from his successful summon. "We need to prepare some things for the war. Follow me, Rider!"

Waver started to walk away, and then stopped when he realized that he wasn't being followed. "Um… Rider?" He said to the Servant still standing in the circle.

"I have one question, my lord, before we begin." Rider said as he hand moved to the hilt of her sword. "What wish do you seek from the Grail?"

That question caught Waver off guard. He stammered a few times before he could finally start to answer. "I want…" Waver looked down, away from Rider's eyes. "I just want prove those fools at Clock Tower wrong. I want them to acknowledge my talent."

When Waver said that, it seemed as though a layer of formality was stripped from Rider as she relaxed her stance and smiled for the first time. "Very well, my lord. If that is your wish, then I shall grant it." Rider finally stepped out from the circle to stand besides her Master.

Waver sighed with relief. It felt as if he'd just passed some kind of test. "What would you have done if you didn't like my wish?" He couldn't help but ask.

Rider shrugged nonchalantly. "If I thought you had an evil wish, I would have slit my throat."

There was a stunned moment of silence before Waver shouted, "WHAAAAAAAAT?" But you're my Servant! You can't…!"

Rider laughed at his reaction. "Don't worry, I don't plan on killing myself right now. But make sure you remember, my lord," She stared at Waver with an iron gaze, "just because I'm a Servant doesn't mean I don't have a conscious."

(*)

The clatter of a keyboard filled the room as Kiritsugu finished up the last of his preparations before leaving for Fuyuki. It had taken years to convince old man Acht to let him install a working computer and fax machine in the castle, but it had been worth it. There were some modern conveniences Kiritsugu wouldn't give up for anything. Well, almost anything.

Kiritsugu had been aware of someone watching over his shoulder for a while, but had been trying to ignore it. But when the watcher started saying, "Hm," "Very interesting," "Ooh," every time he finished typing a sentence, he'd had enough.

"I told you to stay with Iri, Saber." Kiritsugu said without looking away from his computer.

"Aaawww, but that's boooring!" The Servant replied, before flipping over the desk so she was now standing in front of him. "Besides, Comrade Iri said I should learn more about my 'Master' before he leaves." She said "Master" with such sarcasm that Kiritsugu could hear the ironic quote marks being put around it..

Kiritsugu finally glanced up from his computer to look at his Servant. She smiled back at him, failing at putting on an innocent facade. From his few interactions with Saber so far, it wouldn't be out of character for her to make up that story just to have an excuse to bother him. She was constantly doing everything she could to make ignoring her impossible. On the other hand, that did sound like something Iri would say.

"There's nothing you need to learn. Just focus on protecting Iri and fighting Servants." He said, hoping that would end the conversation.

"Come on, Comrade-Master Grumpy Pants! At least let me look at all that information you've got. What if I run into an undefended Master out there, but since I don't know what they look like I can't tell who they are and stab them? Bet you'd feel pretty silly then."

Kiritsugu paused his typing for a moment. He'd expected certain kinds of behavior from heroes based on the legends he knew. Righteous, honorable, and all those other words that tried to cover the hypocrisy of their actions. But those were the kind of legends from his world. Maybe Saber's home had a different definition of a hero….

"If you did see a Master without their Servant to protect them, would you attack them? Without hesitation?" He asked to confirm what she'd said.

She gave him a look implying he was an idiot for even asking that. "Well, duh. It's the easiest way to win, right?"

Kiritsugu finally gave Saber his full attention. If he had been fortunate enough to summon a Servant that also followed his tactics and ideals, several tactical possibilities emerged. Time to put that to the test. "I want to know how you would react to this scenario: you have a job to hunt down a terrorist ringleader. You've tracked them down, but they've planted explosives at a concert. To set off the bombs they have to manually activate the detonator, but they've also taken a hostage and are using them as a shield. What do you do?"

Saber responded quickly. "Is the hostage or anyone at the concert of strategic value?"

Interesting question, but not the scenario Kiritsugu was looking for. "No. Everyone involved are civilians."

Once again, Saber's expression seemed to imply Kiritsugu was asking stupid questions. "Sacrifice the hostage. Eliminating the threat is top priority."

Exactly what Kiritsugu would have done. Had he really gotten a Servant that in sync with him? There had to be a catch….

"I mean if you're testing me about what I'll do in the Grail War, of course I'm going to try to win this as quickly as possible. The whole thing's too small scale to be any fun."

Fun? Ah, there was the catch. "What do you mean, fun?"

Saber's face lit up. "If we had, like, a hundred Servants all fighting each other, with the whole island as the battlefield, and no restrictions on having to hide from the public, that would be the best kind of war! I'd still be doing the underhanded stuff, gotta do what you gotta do to win, but at least I'd get the chance to really let loose and enjoy myself!"

Of course a hero that would understand his beliefs was too good to be true. Kiritsugu fought down the disgust rising in him. Her idea of "fun" was to let loose a hundred magical superhumans without any rules to rein them in? That wasn't killing for the sake of a greater justice, that was just fighting for the sake of fighting. Tactically this Servant might complement him, but ideologically…. The very idea of someone who looked at a battlefield and called that hell "fun" brought up emotions that he thought he'd killed long ago.

"What, isn't that the same for you?" Saber said with her head tilted. "I heard you traveled around the world looking for wars and fights. You enjoy that kind of stuff, right?"

"Get out." Kiritsugu said, his voice a low growl. "Go back to Iri. I'll make sure you get tactical information I've gathered later."

Saber seemed like she was about to say something else before Kiritsugu repeated his command for her to leave. With a sullen look on her face she stomped out of the room, muttering under her breath about "grumpy pants" before slamming the door on her way out.

It took Kiritsugu a few moments to calm down. He shouldn't have let her get to him like that. No matter what her beliefs were, Saber was still just a tool. All that mattered was that she fulfilled her purpose. Any tool was acceptable if it meant saving the world.

(*)

Class: Rider

True Name: Hana

Origin: Chaos Rider

Alignment: Lawful Good

Strength: C

Endurance: D

Agility: B

Mana: E

Luck: D

Skills

Magic Resistance D

Riding A