Try And Follow

It was a modestly upscale restaurant, boasting at the very least an attempt at atmosphere. In one of the upholstered booths, four teenage girls sat sampling a small collection of deserts.

"I hope you've made plans to maintain your restored fitness, Homura," Nanoha was saying. "After a full regeneration, it isn't unusual to be surprised by how far you're able to push your body, and how far you need to push it to keep from getting out of shape."

Homura nodded. "It was explained to me. I signed up for an extra Athletics session at school... but I'm still kind of clumsy. I trip over my feet when I sprint, or... things."

Madoka, who was sitting right next to her, twined their hands under the table. "Really? You didn't seem so clumsy when we did... things."

Homura vividly remembered just how they'd celebrated when Homura first came home from the clinic healthy and strong, and kind of zoned out. Madoka giggled, blushing lightly, and leaned into her, nuzzling her head on Homura's shoulder.

Fate, meanwhile, was having a brief telepathic exchange with Nanoha. Fate looked apologetic, but Nanoha smiled and shook her head.

"Homura, I think you'll be fine if you just keep trying," Nanoha began. "I don't usually talk about this, but two years ago, I was very badly hurt."

Homura and Madoka both sat up at this. Fate didn't react much, but she didn't take her eyes off Nanoha's face.

"Over three quarters of my nerve tissue was incinerated," Nanoha told them. "On my homeworld, if I even survived, I would have been a quadriplegic on life-support for the rest of my life. Even with advanced healing magic, it is beyond MidChildan science to recreate lost motor reflexes and muscle memory."

"Nanoha never gave up, though," Fate put in, speaking to the other two without taking her eyes off Nanoha. "I think I cried more than she did, watching her relearn how to walk, to use her hands... then how to fight all over again..."

Nanoha turned and caressed Fate's face with a little smile, brushing a tear away with her thumb. "And you were always there, even when you couldn't stand to see me like that and I told you to go home."

"That's... but that's so much worse!" Homura blurted.

Nanoha nodded. "I know you can make it, Homura. You've just got to give your body time to learn."

"About that," Fate added softly. "You may want to think about how you can use your affinity to..."

Fate trailed off as Raising Heart alerted Nanoha to an incoming call, and a holographic screen popped up in front of them. Hayate had her serious face on.

"Major Carter has finished repairing the Stargate," Hayate said. "We're beginning our pursuit as soon as you gals arrive, so get here fast, okay?"

Nanoha nodded. "We can be there in twenty minutes."

Fate flagged down a waiter and paid for the meal while Nanoha ended the call and gave Madoka a serious look. Clasping hands with Homura under the table, Madoka spoke before Nanoha could.

"I won't renege," Madoka said with simple determination. "I made a promise, to Captain Tomoe, and to myself. I'm going to keep it."

Nanoha smiled. "Alright. Let's move out."

A horrible pressure built in Homura's chest as she slid out of the booth after Madoka. As the four of them stepped onto the street, Homura started trembling.

"Wait!" Homura squeaked.

Madoka, Fate, and Nanoha paused and looked back at her.

"Wait," Homura repeated, taking a deep breath to steady herself. "I want to help. Please, let me come with you."

"Eh?" Nanoha inquired.

"I'm... I'm not much use in combat, but I can provide support and recon," Homura stammered. "I can't bear the thought of sitting at home, not knowing... not being there if something happens to Madoka."

"Oh," Madoka murmured, hugging Homura tightly. "I knew you were worried, but..." Madoka shook her head and looked into her eyes with a smile. "I told you, you're stronger than you thought. We'll protect each other, right Homura?"

"Yes!" Homura agreed, holding Madoka by the shoulders as she fought off tears of... she didn't even know what she was feeling. Just that some part of it was rightness.

"Well, if you're sure, Homura," Nanoha said. "We won't turn down a mage who wants to help."

Fate gave Homura a gentle knowing smile. "I'll clear it with Chrono and Hayate on the way."

The symbols on the repaired pedestal lit up at Carter's touch as she dialed Earth's address. Chrono and Weiss both had active scanning spells focused on the Stargate as the orange crystal panels glowed. Carter pressed the red orb at the center of the pedistal, and the Stargate opened with a plume of exotic plasma.

Hayate helpfully used Schwertkreuz to generate an unencoded radio signal and a holographic interface.

"Stargate Command, this is Major Samantha Carter, IDC," she rattled off a series of letters and numbers, "do you read?"

After a moment, the screen indicated a signal, and a young woman's voice responded. "This is Lieutenant Hailey. We read you, Major. Do not embark, the iris is closed, repeat, the iris is closed. All offworld personnel are ordered to divert to the alpha site."

"Roger that, Lieutenant," Carter said somewhat uncertainly. "What's the situation there?"

There was another pause, and Hailey was interrupted by a voice Carter was always glad to hear. "Carter?! Is that you?" Jack O'Neill demanded.

"Sir! Yes, sir," Carter answered. "I managed to reason with Fifth. He let me go, but he stranded me without my equipment."

"Fifth?!" Jack shouted before she could continue. "Carter, last we knew you were taken by the Fae! What's this about Fifth?"

Cater gaped slightly in confusion. "Fifth abducted me during the Replicator attack. Why would anyone think I was with the Fae?"

"Oh hell," Jack swore. "Carter, the Fae were playing us for time. They've been systematically abducting the mortally wounded and mortally ill across the globe, ever since you went missing!"

"They're what?" Carter blurted as she tried to wrap her mind around that revelation. "How is that even possible? The sheer scale of an operation like that is mind-boggling!"

"Oh, it gets better," Jack snarked. "Seeing as how apparently this monumental security breach was all in the name of emergency medical attention for our poor neglected corpses, someone decided it was a good idea to raid Sunnydale and take our modesty-challenged friends into custody."

Carter stared at the signal display. "You're kidding."

"That went fubar at least three different ways," Jack told her. "Not only did the Fae out themselves to the public just to spite us, but the timing of our arrest attempt sucked let me tell you."

It was at this point that Nanoha and Fate showed up with a nervous Madoka and an awkwardly trailing Homura. Carter didn't really notice.

"How so, sir?" Carter asked, wincing.

Jack sighed. "Near as we can figure, we interrupted a meeting between the Fae and a british group of witches, if you can believe it, and they didn't take kindly to getting caught up in this. It was like something out of a comic book, Carter. A bunch of unarmed civilians took on the Prometheus a mile above Cheyenne and won.

"We lost the Prometheus?!" Carter exclaimed.

"Yep," Jack said. "With a ruin smote upon the mountainside and everything. Daniel even went all white wizard for a moment there. Saved a bunch of us from falling wreckage. It put him in a coma for three days, still don't know why."

"Daniel was in a coma?" Carter repeated numbly. "Is he okay?"

"Still a little shaky, but it seems he's recovering," Jack told her. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, sir," Carter said. "I spent some time in a wilderness survival situation, but I was picked up by a ship from a previously unmet civilization."

"Friendly?" Jack asked.

"Looks that way, sir," Carter said. "They call themselves the Time-Space Administration Bureau. They're... a major galactic power. They've industrialized and modernized magic to the point that it is standard practice, and they have ships on a mass-production scale. Apparently they've even had unofficial contact with Earth in the past, primarily Japan."

Jack paused. "You're makin' that up."

Carter chuckled despite herself. "Sir, I need to brief you on a potential threat. The crew of the ship that found me are pursuing an incursion from a race called the Ori. I'd like to come through for debriefing and then return with a full team plus backup. The TSAB has already been dealing with the Ori in an alternate reality, and sir, I feel confident that if this isn't addressed the Ori may present a significantly bigger threat than the goa'uld."

"For cryin' out loud," Jack muttered. "No can do, Carter. We're still picking up the pieces down here. The Replicators left the SGC in shambles. We don't even have power to the gate back up yet, more than half of our best personnel are missing, and the higher-ups are still flailing around like headless chickens... Point is, we can't dial out, and we need a three-man team just to open and close the iris."

Carter winced. "I'm sorry to hear that, sir." She hesitated for a moment. "Sir, request permission to remain and assist the TSAB in the name of future relations and the prevention of a large-scale intergalactic war?"

"You sure about this, Carter?" Jack asked.

"Yes, sir."

"Then good luck and godspeed, Major," Jack said. "Permission granted."

"Thank you, sir," Carter told him. "Oh, one other thing. You can tell Daniel that we may have finally found the legacy of the Furlings. The MidChildan histories call them Al-Hazard, but I'm... eighty percent sure it's the same language from the heliopolis on Tantalus."

"Swell," Jack said blandly. "I'll pass it along. You watch your six out there, you hear me?"

"Yes, sir. Carter out."

A hand on the red orb shut the Stargate down. Carter turned to the gathered mages and blew a breath out of her cheeks, feeling acutely underequipped. She was about to ask if she could borrow a weapon of some sort, when she noticed Hayate peering intently at her.

"What did he say is happening on Earth?" Hayate asked flatly.

While Nanoha was off sending a video letter to her sister, Fate introduced Homura and Madoka to the others. "Madoka Kaname, S-rank contract mage. Homura Akemi, C-rank volunteer."

Madoka chuckled nervously. "Um, hi."

Hayate stepped forward and shook Madoka's hand. "Glad to have you with us. Both of you."

Introductions followed. Hayate Yagami and Chrono Harlaown, in command of the investigation. Signum, Vita, and Shamal, Hayate's knights. Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiaolong, the Repository security division's frontline huntress team. Samantha Carter, expert on Stargates.

Hayate thrust one fist into the air and shouted, "Avengers, assemble!"

Everyone gave her blank looks. Even Nanoha and Major Carter. Hayate allowed herself a momentary pout.

"Durandal," Chrono intoned, and with a flash of deep blue light, he was clad in his black spiked Barrier Jacket.

Chrono dialed the address Carter had retrieved from the dialing device. The Stargate kawooshed open and Weiss leveled her Armed Device.

SCOUTER SHELL, Myrtenaster announced as a Circle unfurled at the tip of its slender blade.

A small glowing orb of pale lavender light condensed into being and shot forward into the Stargate.

"No contacts," Weiss reported. "Gravity in the standard range. The temperature is just below freezing, and the atmosphere is heavy and toxic."

"That's discouraging," Carter muttered. "It makes sense, though. If we assume they were intent on avoiding pursuit, they may have gated to several planets in a row."

Hayate nodded. "If that's the case, can you follow their trail?"

"Theoretically, yes," Carter said. "Although, I'm not sure how we're going to access the dialing device in such hostile environmental conditions."

"That is not a concern. Our Barrier Jackets provide more than adequate protection," Chrono told her, before pausing. "Although in your case..."

"Can we have her fitted for a standard issue Storage Device?" Nanoha asked.

"Yes, but that will take time," Chrono said. "I don't like the idea of further delays."

Hayate shook her head. "It would take longer for her to teach one of us enough to follow the trail."

"Ooh!" Ruby interrupted. "Don't move, I'll be right back!"

Ruby spun around and vanished in a flurry of bloody rose petals. Everyone stared for a moment, and Hayate turned to Weiss.

"Complete your search pattern just in case," Hayate told the huntress.

Ruby suddenly reappeared, startling those who weren't used to her, and held out her hand towards Major Carter. "This is Unraveller Exalt. It's an Intelligent Device that Professor Ozpin commissioned last year. It was supposed to go to a new hire in the research division, but it turned out she was a demon made of spiders and Yang had to set her on fire. Here! See if it likes you."

On Ruby's hand, sat a small cube of sky blue crystal. After a moment of hesitation, Carter took the cube. It was warm in her hand, and seemed to gleam in a light of its own making as she examined it.

"Ah, good thinking, Ruby! Thank you," Nanoha said.

Carter stared at the blue cube in her hand as everyone watched expectantly. "Um, what do I do with it?"

No one actually facefaulted, but clearly this was an unacceptable state of affairs, so Rein-chan projected her holographic avatar just long enough to mime falling on her face.

"You've never used any magic before?" Hayate asked.

"No..."

"That's alright," Nanoha told her. "I hadn't either the first time I met Raising Heart. Just close your eyes and focus on the warmth. You should feel it reach for you."

After a moment, Carter shook her head. "Nothing's happening."

"It might help if you make up an aria," Ruby suggested.

Carter blinked and looked up. "An aria?"

"Words that mean something to you," Hayate explained, "that make you feel strongly when you speak them. Magic always begins with emotion."

"So, I just need to feel strong emotion?" Carter asked, returning her attention to the blue crystal cube in her hand.

Carter closed her eyes and stood still. It took her a while, since she wasn't used to pulling her emotions up to the forefront of her mind and letting them run wild.

EMPATHIC RESONANCE DETECTED, Unraveller Exalt announced in a flat feminine monotone. AS PART OF A REQUIRED INITIATION PROTOCOL, PLEASE STARE AT THIS HELPFUL PROJECTION.

A hologram of a Circle popped up in front of Carter, and it was a hologram, not a real Circle. It was hard to believe she'd ever even for a moment mistaken the real thing for a hologram. It didn't look all that different, save for being colorless, but it lacked the presence that real Circles had.

At least at first. Slowly, a real Circle overtook the hologram until it was blazing sky blue, and it wasn't just an image Carter was looking at. She could feel it. She was it. It shown even brighter in response to her feelings of success.

VERY GOOD, Unraveller Exalt said, and the Circle dissolved. YOU ARE NOW IN POSSESSION OF THIS FULLY MODULAR PERSONAL INTELLIGENT DEVICE.

Unraveller Exalt's starting Device Mode took the form of a bulky gun-gauntlet with an internal handle and smooth white casings with stylistic gaps to show the black metal underneath. The blue core cube was inset in such a gap over the back of Carter's wrist.

Pressed for time, her Barrier Jacket ended up closely resembling her Air Force dress uniform if it had been blended with a lab coat, with white armored boots and vest. And apparently it afforded her more protection than the best spacesuits anyone on Earth had ever heard of.

"Alright, everyone who's not already wearing their Barrier Jacket, set up," Hayate ordered as her own Barrier Jacket manifested.

"Laevatein."

"Klarwind."

"Graf Eisen!"

"Raising Heart!"

"Bardiche."

"Galvan Soul!"

"Skjoldur."

And a chorus of voices commanded, "Set up!"

(Does anyone know what mechanism Nanoha and Fate used to exchange those video letters from the beginning of A's? I've looked and I can seem to find anything about that.)

(I apologize for sticking in yet another cameo, but having Samantha Carter's device look like a portal gun and sound like GLaDOS just really amuses me for some reason. Would it be too much to also imply that Crescent Rose sounds like a turret?)