Unholy Alliance

This was stupid.

I can't believe that I'd ever thought this was a good idea.

It was, in fact, one of the most horribly stupid thing that I'd ever even considered doing. And I'd once gotten myself disembowelled while trying to save an immortal spirit of heroism. Rin had always been quick to point that out to me whenever there were important decisions to be made, and even I had to admit that it was not one of my finer moments.

This, however, had to rank somewhere high up on my grand list of stupidities.

But, like so many other things that had happened in my life, it had made sense at the time.

After all, how else was I going to get the Enforcers off my back?

Still, it did not change the fact that I was in grave danger. I couldn't afford to get sloppy. If I faltered for one second, they would be on me like a pack of wolves. Well, me and my father.

Yes, it seemed that Emiya Kiritsugu and I had much more in common than anyone could ever have suspected. Whereas Kiritsugu's father had been a vampire and a dangerous Philosopher, my own father was a mad scientist who had concocted a plan to steal the powers of an alien race for his own. Well, his own and whoever won his insane contest. To quote him: "It seemed fair to me that the one who won my little game would get a portion of the prize!"

The man was insane, and his madness threatened to bring about the death of an entire species, bastardized as it already was from his 'adjustments'.

And now, I was going kill him.

To make sure that no other Sekirei would ever have to participate in his demented games, to save all those I had unwittingly delivered right into his hands and as revenge for everything he'd tried to do.

"Ah! Minato-kun, here at last!" My father shouted gleefully from the depths of the lab. "Good, we can get started! Which power do you want?"

This was so very stupid.

I'd come here alone, of all things. To keep my flock safe, I'd reasoned at the time. If I died here, or was captured, there was at least a chance that they would survive. Takami would take care of that much, at least. But if they were here when my 'allies' arrived I would be gambling a lot. I held no illusions that if the prize was great enough they'd betray me in a heartbeat, and flock of aliens that could be disabled simply my killing or even just killing me would be something they wouldn't hesitate to turn on me for.

I was already risking too much as it was. I wouldn't allow them to risk capture at the hands of the Mages Association as well.

But I would have buy time for the Enforcers to join me and finish what I can't. And I know I won't be able to. I have no illusions about my abilities: against the collected power of the fallen sekirei I would be hard pressed to hold my own even if I had attained the full use of Unlimited Blade Works, which I lamentably had not.

My only advantage here was that I was greatly acquainted with my magic. My father's abilities would be new and alien to him. I could use that.

"I don't need any." I inform the insane man.

"What?" The white-haired man squawked indignantly. "Nonono, this is not how things work! You pick your powers, then I pick my powers, and then we take over the world! Simple! What's not to understand? Ahh! I call dibs on lightening powers, though!"

"But I don't need any, Minaka." I explain, calmly, allowing my adrenalin to begin to flow as I readied myself for combat.

"No?" Minaka asked, quirking his head to the side slightly. "Are you sure? There's some pretty exotic ones, if I may say so myself. Are you sure?" I shook my head once more, which seemed to genuinely surprise my father. "But why? Don't you want to be a god?"

"I told you once already: the age of gods is over, and mankind is better off without them." I remind him, and now I begin to draw closer. "And besides, I already have power of my own."

The man in front of me goggled openly at me for a moment before he frowned.

"You aren't going to start spouting about the power of friendship, are you?" He demanded. "Because this really isn't that kind of game, you know."

"What?" I ask, somewhat surprised by the question. "I-no, that wasn't the kind of power I was talking about."

"Oh good." Minaka said, beaming brightly. "Hey, wanna see something cool?"

"What?" I snap, a bit angry that the conversation I'd originally planned out wouldn't be happening.

"Unlimited power!" My father roared dramatically, and pointed a finger at me.

I'd like to say that it was because I hadn't expected my father to so quickly turn on me that I was unprepared for his sudden attack. But the truth of the matter was that I was still recovering from his sudden and seemingly random line of questioning.

In either case I was completely unprepared for the sudden burst of lightning that lanced from his fingers and slammed into me, filling my world with pain. I could feel my blood boiling in my veins and smell my own skin burning as I was bathed in electricity. The pained shout tore its way out of my throat before I could stop it, though the sound of my voice seemed to stop my father's vicious onslaught.

I sagged down to my knees, breathing heavily, not for the first time thankful for Avalon's healing effects. Even now, despite my burned flesh, I could feel life returning to me even as my magic circuits began to warm slightly.

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist!" My father said, as if he has simply made a small faux pas and not just electrocuted his own son. "I mean, the situation was just too perfect. The rebellious son, the plan to take over everything, and then I totally remembered that I already took the lightning powers just so you couldn't beat me to it."

The man was insane. If ever there was a doubt in me that this had to be done, it was snuffed out then and there.

"Trace on." I grit out, and begin forcing myself back to my feet. My circuits surge with power as I invoke my own special brand of magic. Power seeps into my body, reinforcing it beyond what any mundane human could ever dream of achieving.

"What was that?" My father asks, suddenly full of curiosity.

"I am the bone of my sword." I state, and in that moment I know it to be true. I do not need to create swords: I am a sword.

Blades fade into existence behind me, nameless weapons wielded by forgotten men and women who had fallen in battle. Three, six, nine of them... I send them slashing slashing out like so many arrows fired from a nightmarish cannon.

My father has time only to gasp in shock before he throws himself to the ground and rolls away. My blades bury themselves in a line behind him before he finds shelter behind what looks like heavy machinery.

"That was so cool!" My father gushes happily, completely ignoring the dire peril his life was in. "How do you do it?"

"Magic." I retort flippantly, and I find myself grin wryly at the truth of that statement.

"Oh come on!" Minaka wails in protest, crawling from his cover and pointing his finger at me once more, casually throwing out yet another blast of lightning that I divert with a massive claymore buried blade-first in the ground just in front of me. "Is it some kind of teleportation technology? Ooh, or maybe transmutation? Wait, hold on."

He pauses for a moment, and then glares at me.

"Young man, are you breaking the laws of physics?" He demands, his voice suddenly serious. "So help me, if you make Newton spin in his grave any more than I already have I will ground you for a month!"

"I already told you: magic." I repeat. "Steel is my body and fire is my blood."

Half a dozen swords scream through the air, and I am following close behind, running at nigh superhuman speeds with Bakuya and Kanshou in my hands. The cluttered lab in which my father conducted his elaborate and quite possibly gruesome experiments proved difficult to navigate, however,

"Gah! No fair!" The scientist complains, though it seems lightening is not the only ability my father has taken for himself. With alarming alacrity he is moving away from me, effortlessly dodging past the black and white blades in my hands.

We trade blows for a time, and I am astonished at the fortitude my father displays in being able to go toe to toe with me for an extended period of time without any noticeable effort. Even Miya in our training spar had eventually taken on a level of seriousness. Had my father tapped into the unaltered power of the Sekirei? If such a thing were so, then how powerful was he really? How many had he drained to gain such fantastic strength.

"Yes, your hatred has made your strong! Take your place as my apprentice!" Minaka shouted excitedly, grinning wildly.

"What are you talking about?" I demand, exasperation plain in my voice

My father glares at me, catching a downward chop from Bakuya between his hands just before it could bisect him.

"Didn't your mother ever make you watch the classics?" He demands, affronted. "Honestly, what was that woman thinking?"

"She thought I died in a fire, idiot!" I snapped back at him.

"Oh yeah." He agreed, a thoughtful expression on his face. "How'd that work out for you, by the way?"

For a moment I can only stare at him, and then I whip Kanshou back for a sweep at neck height.

"Eep!" Minaka says, and in a blur of motion he lets go of Bakuya and instead brings both his palms into a powerful upwards thrust that launches me skywards and backwards. After that I have only a moment of warning before something grabs me from below and swings me down earthwards hard.

I smash into the ground with a thunderous crash, and it is only through the reinforcement of my body that I'm alive at all. As it is my chest aches with broken bones that are already on the mend, and the ground around me is a ruined spider-web of masonry from the shockwave of my impact.

"My, you are something, aren't you?" My father remarks, and he studies me carefully even as I force myself once more to my feet. "I'm certain that would kill a normal human, but here you are, still standing! How do you do it?"

"Magic." I grunt out through the pain, and the look of consternation that flits across my father's face makes it all worth it.

"Oh, come on! You can tell me, Minato-kun!" He tries to assure me. "I won't tell anyone, I promise! And then I'll share some of my own powers with you, and we can start kicking butt all across the world! It'll be awesome!"

A new smell suddenly grabs my attention, and I know that the time has come. I recognize the pervasive stink of smoke and oil, and begin to suspect

"It would never work, you know." I inform him, and lower my blades as I wait for the inevitable. Soon... "You would have been stopped sooner or later, even if it wasn't here and now."

"Oh, don't be like that!" He complains once more, folding his arms across his chest. "Just imagine it: you'd have a cape! Like mine! And if you chose your powers wisely, it could billow ominously at all times!"

"Nope."

"Well, I tried." My father says with a shrug. "At least I can tell your mother that at your burial."

The 'smell' in my nostrils suddenly increased in magnitude, blocking out even mundane smells as the Enforcers burst through the walls with explosive power, their mystic codes coming into play with deadly effect.

My father looks around him in alarm before narrowing his gaze on me, an accusing look in them. I give a light shrug and allow my blades to fade out of existence, willing to let the Enforcers finish the job for me. I'd done my part, after all. I'd stopped him from attaining any more power than he already had and distracted him long enough for them to move into position with relative ease. He snorts indignantly, and then moves as if to take out a pesky annoyance and not, as it were, some of the deadliest assassins the Mages Association had at their disposal.

It did not take it long for him to realize that the men and women who were quickly surrounding him were more than mundane, but even then he underestimated them. It was only when he slammed against a barrier of wards that he realized that something was up, and was more than a little surprised when his attempts to lightening blast a few of them into submission resulted in little more than singed clothing and slightly more agitated aggressors.

Even with his vaunted powers, the Clocktower made short work of my father. A few of them were unfortunate enough to get on the wrong side of his superhuman strength and speed, but most of them came out of it relatively unharmed. In the end my father is taken down by a volley of gunfire and magical chains, gasping out in shock at the swift reversal of fates.

I look down at the pooling blood, a satisfied grin slowly dawning on me. It was finally over. The sekirei plan, the desperate battles and the horrific abuse of a dwindling alien species. And all it had taken was the death of my biological father. A small sacrifice, to be sure.

As I surveyed the ruined corpse that was my biological father, I was again struck by the similarities between my adoptive father and I. I couldn't help but wonder at what might have happened had I grown up with the Sahashi family and not Kiritsugu. Would I still have done what was necessary here? Would I have had the strength to do what had be done? Perhaps I should be grateful to the fire that had forever shaped me.

I was snapped out of my thoughts as I smelled another burst of magical power. Furrowing my brow in annoyance, I traced and projected half a dozen blazes around me in warning.

"We had a deal." I remind the remaining Enforcers forcefully.

"That we did." That voice. I remembered it.

It was the voice of the Enforcer I'd brokered this alliance with. I still didn't know her name, or even her face, as I'd only managed to contact her indirectly through methods that were equally safe for both of us. This had initially begun as Matsu breaking into their communications lines so I could leave a message, and then escalated into an exchange of information at various dead drops.

The Enforcers had been very interested in MBI. So much so, in fact, that they'd been willing to suspend their hunt for me in order to pursue their own line of investigation. Which had, unfortunately, led to the discovery of the Sekirei. But I'd made my peace about that.

"Do you intend to renege?" I demand warily, summoning my resolve. If they really were going to betray me, I would need every bit of power I could muster in order to survive. And I would survive: I couldn't allow my flock to suffer on the eve of our victory, after all.

I waited patiently for what felt like eons, before the woman laughed.

"No. I think I could use a person like you."

The grip on my shoulder tightened momentarily, before the magus behind me let go to face his superior. I turned as well, curious to see my unknown benefactor.

"Madam, we have orders to apprehend or kill Emiya Shirou."

The woman that seemed in command shot her subordinate a whither glare, folding her arms as she did.

"Yes? So?" She demanded haughtily. "I don't see him here, do you?"

"What?" The man asked dumbly, shooting me a glance. "He's right there!"

"Don't be stupid." The woman admonished flippantly. "That's Minato Sahashi, an informant of ours."

My world reeled at that, and I stopped myself before I could protest that yes, I was indeed the man they had been dispatched to kill.

"Obviously the Archibald's got their information wrong, or lied to us in order to curry favour." She went on, the unrelenting torrent of distorted truth taking me aback somewhat. "And the Fraga mercenary must have been taken out by these MBI people when she discovered what they were up to."

This was so very wrong. I'd thought they would just leave me alone, but why in the world was this crazy woman going out of her way to protect me?

"Really now, I don't see you going very far in our organization if you go around misidentifying people. A man could get into real trouble, thinking he saw someone he didn't." She said meaningfully, her glare increasing with intensity as she said the words.

"I, er, yes, madam." The enforcer eventually said, his voice awkward. He turned to me, his face red with embarrassment. "Apologies, Mr. Sahashi."

"Ah, it's alright." I answer, also awkwardly. I still wan't quite sure what exactly had just happened, after all... "It's an easy mistake to make, I guess."

"Yes. Yes it is." The woman agreed, then nodded pointedly at the dead body of my father. "Prep the body for transportation. Someone's bound to find it worth cutting up, I'm sure."

"Yes ma'am!"

And then the team of enforcers were on their way, securing what they could for the long trip back to England and the Clocktower, leaving me alone with the strange woman.

"Why?" I ask dumbly, still confused.

"Some of us remember Kiritsugu." She explained, a small smirk appearing on her mouth. "He was a good operative, even if he was a bit idealistic."

Idealistic? My father? My confusion went ignored as the woman continued her explanation.

"And our influence here is weak enough in this land as it is. I could use someone with their ear to the ground, or a freelance agent with a history of being good at killing magi."

"But what about the Mage's Association?" I ask. "Won't they want you to come after me?"

The woman laughed, her smirk turning into a sneer. "Yeah, they will. And I'll find you in some backwater little village, and we'll have an intense fight that regrettably ends with your body becoming unsalvageable. They'll be disappointed, and I might even be punished a bit. But you're a little problem in a vast sea of problems, Emiya. I'd much rather have you on a leash than a few of my people in a grave and your life wasted as some lord's guinea pig."

"So you want me to be your dog, then?" I ask, feeling that I was at last on firmer ground. I tried not to let my derision show, but I just couldn't stop all of from seeping through.

The woman chuckled.

"At the end of the day, everyone is someone's dog, Emiya. Better to a live one than a dead one though, isn't it?" The woman smiled. "Keep your girls safe, boy. You're going to need them for the things I have planned for you."

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/NORMAL END

Man, six pages. If the readers of my real stories ever find out what I'm neglecting their stories for, I'm gonna get my ass kicked.