Grand Cathedral, Belkan Autonomous Region, Mid-Childa

She frowned as she tugged at her collar, finally managing to settle it into place, or at least as good as it was going to get wearing a borrowed uniform. Hayate gave a little grin at her shuffling, which caused her to straighten back up and pay attention.

The Harlaown boy had grown up nicely. Mellowed a bit to, though she couldn't help but wonder if that was part of the family genes that once they hit admiral they were able to put up a constant calm even if they actually weren't. Though evidently he hadn't quite managed to perfect it yet as he twitched when Fate called him 'onii-chan.'

She'd managed to keep from smirking though, something that she figured would be inappropriate especially when seated at a table that the next lowest rank was the equivalent of a Captain. Instead she simply settled in to listen to Hayate's report on the attack. Largely she was only focusing on the appearance of the summoner and the three that used the same energy source as the old combat cyborg program had been prepared to use before its cancellation. Though Reinforce was able to pick up on the fact that these 'gadgets' were the main issue that RF6 had been dealing with and that who the actual enemy was was as yet unknown as they hadn't yet managed to identify any of the individuals that had been present in the city the day before.

RF6 being an experimental force wasn't surprising, given the fact that so many powerful mages in the same unit was unheard of given the Bureau's tendency to try to spread power around to ensure that any situation could be dealt with with a minimum response time. A silly notion... but they are more of a policing organization than a military... The day the next Belka comes along though... They're going to have to learn and learn quickly. Of course if RF6 is a success and they manage to deal with these relics and smuggled Lost Logia effectively enough, the Bureau might be a bit more secure.

The fact that Hayate was the officer in charge would have been enough for Reinforce to want to see it be a success, but having the Bureau being better prepared for what could happen in the future also factored into her thoughts. Given that it was the Bureau's apparent lack of preparation that had led to Hayate's death in the future.

That said though, RF6's patrons weren't exactly as diverse as one could hope. Chrono and Lindy's support could easily be ignored by opponents of the new idea in that they're simply supporting the unit since a member of their family is a part of it, as well as being long time friends of Hayate and many of the unit's other officers. Only Carim's support would be given much weight on the issue, but even that was something of a double edged sword. As the commander of the Belkan Saint Church's Knights she might be viewed as attempting to interfere in the TSAB system, something that even now people were skittish about the Belkan remnants doing. She didn't even bother counting on the 'unofficial' support of the Three Admirals. In that sense, Hayate was still a child, 'unofficial' support could be withdrawn the moment giving said support became inconvenient.

That Carim was a seer was something of a surprise, calling it a rare skill was something of an understatement, as it had been incredibly rare even in the Empire's days. Hearing about this Lieutenant General Gaiz that would be biased against the Church's warnings along with RF6 being formed because of said warning was surprising. Even if prophecies should be looked at carefully for possible interpretations, outright ignoring them was among the more foolish ideas that had left numerous nobles and even a few royals dead over the centuries, not to mention at least two of her own previous masters.

"In the land where ancient crystals and infinite greed gather and intertwine, the wings shall revive from the holy land beneath the dead king. The dead shall dance, and the tower of law in the central lands shall burn to the ground, but before this, the ship of law that guards the many seas shall be torn apart." Reinforce frowned as she took in Carim's prophecy. Though it was only a few moments later that she was torn from her thoughts by being addressed by the Knight-Commander.

"I'm told that you have some information that might enlighten us a little further on this prophecy though. We've figured that the ancient crystals mentioned are the relics that we've been securing, and this infinite greed is whoever is controlling the drones, but Sister Schach tells me that you and Signum know something about that little girl we've secured."

Reinforce nodded as she called up a window of her own, placing a picture of Vivio next to a painting of Olivie Sägebrecht. "The king that's mentioned, might be the last Sankt Kaiser, Olivie. Vivio is her clone. I would be willing to stake almost anything on it at any rate. The child has the same eyes of the woman I fought long ago. The dead dancing portion... that I am unsure of. Prophecies as you say are difficult, and overthinking them will merely bring about trouble, or perhaps worse, cause the prophecy to come true in it's fullest potential. We would be wise to keep a close eye on her in any case."

The Knight blinked at that. "The child is Her Majesty?"

"Her clone, at any rate. Though I'd imagine the girl likely has at least some of her memories. No child has eyes like that without having seen some of the worst reality has to offer."

"I see... We'll have to figure out exactly what we're going to do with her once the criminals behind this are captured. If nothing else, the Church will be more than happy to take her in." Reinforce supressed a smile as she saw Nanoha twitch at Carim's words. "We've recieved word that RF6 is going to be inspected by Gaiz's office though. I'm afraid we won't be able to provide any further assistance in holding that off. RF6 is going to have to pass on its own. The Church is reaching it's limits of non-interference, and the Navy has no jurisdiction in what amounts to a Ground Forces internal inspection. Just... be careful. With the way RF6 is structured, they'll know that it'd be easy to set up as a scapegoat. Don't make it easy for them. RF6 is the future. We need this concept to be proven."

Hayate and the others nodded, the meeting winding down as the topics moved towards personal lives. Reinforce was content to listen, content to let the others have their chat and not run the risk of exposing what she'd been up to. She wasn't about to bring the Bureau down on Earth's mages. That was something that she wouldn't do until Chao asked, or something of her plans required more than just Reinforce to stop.


Long Arch, Cranagan, Mid-Childa

The flight back from the Cathedral was a quiet one. Nanoha and Fate seemed to be busy assimilating the information that had been dumped on them in regards to the unit's true purpose beyond simply training several new recruits and deal with Lost Logia smuggling. They seemed to have perked back up by the time they landed though, Reinforce had no desire to intrude on the conversation that they were holding in the hall, and so she held back, but thanked them in her thoughts as Hayate turned back towards her looking like a weight had been taken off of her shoulders.

Hayate nodded with a little smile as she passed, motioning for her to follow. Reinforce fell in easily behind her and followed her to an office that was worthy of envy. Spacious, a great view of the harbor... And then her eyes met blue copies of her own. A girl, looking about the size of Vita, was sitting on the couch, giving a little wave. "H-Hi... Mom."

Reinforce froze at that, seeing the girl who could easily pass as her own clone, even with the minor differences like her blue eyes. This was hardly the sort of thing that she was used to. Getting home to find that not only had you rejoined your family, but that you had a daughter? How are you supposed to greet her? And should you be berating her for joining the military before she looked older than 10?

Hayate gave her a quick jab with an elbow with a grin. "Reinforce, is that anyway to greet your daughter? And Sergeant Major Rein! Hugs are the appropriate greeting for your mother, especially if you went to the trouble of taking your human form."

Rein blushed as she hopped up, dashing over with an infectuous smile as she held her arms out for a hug. Reinforce hesitated only a moment before she knelt down, wincing slightly at the surprisingly strong grip of the girl that glomped her before finally wrapping her own arms around Zwei. "It's good to finally meet you, Rein. You've been doing a good job watching out for Hayate in my place, haven't you?"

She felt the nod at her shoulder, and she turned her gaze to Hayate, who smiled before joining in on the hug. Reinforce felt her control breaking, tears prickling in her own eyes as she squeezed Zwei, savoring the feel of Hayate's arms wrapping around her. "G-good. You're going to have to keep up the good work too. Just because I'm back doesn't mean you can relax. I might be your mother, but don't think that means I'll go easy on you... I'm going to be a mother after the Belkan tradition. Plus, there might be times I have to leave for a while... and you'll need to be strong enough to keep Hayate safe."

Zwei just gave a nod before she giggled at that. "You need to look out for yourself too, Mom. You're going to be sentenced to public service with the Bureau by an Admiralty court in the next day or two according to Hayate-chan."

That drew a chuckle from her as the hug finally broke apart. Hayate moving to take a seat at her desk while Rein and Reinforce sat on the couch. The Colonel was the first to break the comfortable silence after a few minutes. "As Rein mentioned... I've managed to get your case put up before a friendly Admiralty Court. We've backdated your enlistment a little, so the illegal teleports are being classified as tactical emergencies. You will be put under a limiter though. There's nothing that I can do about that. Myself, Nanoha, and Fate have one, and you're powerful enough to merit one."

Reinforce stiffened slightly, it was obvious that Hayate had grown... but she was still young, being able to put on such a professional officer aura was worrisome. "That's... fine. For the time being. I might need to remove that limiter at some point though, I have debts that could potentially be called in at any point."

Hayate gave a slow nod. "That brings me to my second point. The limiter will be able to be released in emergencies, but to remove it while on Mid-Childa will require authorization from me, Admiral Harlaown, or Knight-Commander Carim. If you ever have to leave Mid-Childa... you'll be able to remove it yourself, but I can promise you, Ground Forces HQ will have some tough questions for you if you do that. So, I have to ask this officially. Who do you owe debts to, and is there any chance that they might cause trouble?"

Rein squirmed next to her mother, seeming to be quite uncomfortable even though she wasn't the target of Hayate's 'command stare.' "When you say officially...?"

"Between you, Rein, myself, Chrono, Carim, and the Admiralty Court that's handling your case, to be sealed as top secret for the duration of RF6's operation."

Expelling a little sigh, she nodded. "I suppose that's as good as I can expect. My debts are to an... exceptionally clever engineer. She is working in secret to help the mages of her world, and we have an understanding that my aid is highly conditional, despite the fact that she gave me a second chance at life. She understands that I will fight her if I believe for a moment that she is doing the wrong thing."

Hayate gave a tight smile. "That will likely be good enough for the court... But I know what you're not saying there. After having dealt with Signum long enough I understand your concept of honor. You would join this engineer even if the Bureau considered her a threat, provided she was doing what you considered the 'right thing.'"

"That is... true. But allow me to ask you this, Hayate. If the Bureau were in the wrong, would you not do everything that you could to stop it?" She gave a grim smile at Hayate's nod. "That is because you serve not for the sake of the Bureau, but to see the right thing done. I was careful to make sure that I would have a way out, and that she was so willing to accept even with the condition only proves to me that I believe she will only ask for help in doing the right thing. So, it won't come to a choice between siding with her or the Bureau, unless it is the Bureau that is doing the wrong thing."

"Very well then. You obviously don't have any intentions of telling us the whole story yet, but I trust you, as does everyone who knows you. I would like to hear the whole story at some point though. When the time comes, if the time comes, do tell us. For now though, we can overlook it since you're back. And for that I truly am glad. Now, Rein, go show your mother to your room. The two of you need to get some rest, especially since Stars and Lightning are scheduled for a mock battle tomorrow morning... Nanoha might change up the routine a little given your presence, but I hardly think that she'll take it any easier on the Forwards."

Rein and Reinforce both rose to their feet, giving Hayate a smile as they saluted. "Don't forget that even a commander needs to rest as well, Hayate. It's good to be back. Now then... daughter mine, lead the way."


RF6 Training Island

"There, all done. How are you feeling?"

Shamal's question went unanswered for a moment as Reinforce grasped for her magic, having to work quite a bit harder to draw mana from her linker core.

"I'm fine... But I'm not sure I'm really a fan of limiters... I've gotten pretty good at control, but I suppose this has its uses."

The doctor nodded. "Well, it is policy to limit S classes to AAA. And while it might be at least partially due to a desire to prevent conflict amongst the ranks, it does help for powerful mages that can't necessarily control their power as well. You know as well as I that if you wanted to, you could create a dimensional tear with your power."

"I know. And I shouldn't complain, this is plenty of power for any likely situation. I just..."

"It's just the Belkan in you. It took us a long time to adjust to the Bureau too. Don't worry about it. You're still thinking in terms of being at war or worse, serving a master with no morals. You'll get used to the Bureau being more for peacekeeping and policing soon enough. On a side note though... How was your first night as a mother?"

Reinforce blushed slightly at that, drawing a snicker from the blonde. "It was... surprising. I didn't realize that the dorms were so... luxurious. And it was... relaxing, if a bit odd to wake up with Rein trying to strangle my arm."

Shamal's grin only widened at that. "You'll get used to it... Rein-chan was telling everyone how wonderful it was. I'm pretty sure that she's going to be keeping it up for a long time to come."

Another snicker followed as Reinforce twitched while pulling on her air forces fatigues that Nanoha had delivered for training.

"Now then, Nanoha should be about ready to start the training, go meet up with the other forwards, and don't let them smack you around too much."

That caused her to raise an eyebrow, which only drew an enigmatic smile from the Knight of the Lake. She decided that it wasn't worth pursuing since no further information was forthcoming and she made her way to the center of the island on foot, through the eerily realistic urban ruins.

"Ah! And here she is now. Everyone, this is Reinforce Eins, the Sergeant-Major's mother, and a new Forward. Reinforce, meet Subaru Nakajima, Stars 3, Teana Lanster, Stars 4, Erio Mondial, Lightning 3, and Caro Ru Lushe, Lightning 4." Nanoha pointed to each in turn as they gave waves or nods of greeting.

"Now then, Reinforce has been away for quite some time, and she's just received her limiter, so I'd like to take this opportunity to get her used to it. Today was going to be a mock battle of the four of you against me... But let's settle for the four of you against her. Is that alright with you, Reinforce-san?"

"I'm fine with that. It wouldn't do to have these kids get used to fighting only against your style, Nanoha."

"Oh, they do fairly well against Vita too..."

"Vita? She has the patience to train people?" Reinforce was watching the other Forwards though, suppressing a grin as they twitched first at the thought of a mock battle with Nanoha, then with the mention of Reinforce's new limiter. Teana certainly had piercing eyes that were analyzing her the whole time. Caro and Erio seemed to be both too young and kind to be in the sort of position they were in. And Subaru... seemed bubbly.

"Vita's grown a lot since back then. She's quite reliable these days! Now then! Time for training. The time limit will be an hour. You have an hour to land two clean hits on Reinforce here. Reinforce, the goal for you is to get used to fighting while under the limiter. It does make barriers and shields a little harder to work, that's why you're getting two hits as a loss condition. One for getting used to the limiter, and one since these kids are really quite clever and might surprise you." She turned to the Forwards with a grin. "And watch out for her chain binds... She's vicious with them."

Reinforce chuckled at that. "Now Nanoha, it's been 10 years... I don't think you should still be sore about that."

"That's true I suppose. Now then! Let's begin, shall we?" She nodded to the four who darted off in separate directions, leaving Reinforce standing there with Nanoha. "Going to let them have the first move?"

Nodding she began walking down the ruined street, reaching out with her senses. She could still feel three of them, though she wouldn't have been able to pin down their exactly location, but the fact that she couldn't sense Teana at all was surprising. "Yes. I'm curious to see how they'll fight someone who they know has to be powerful, but they don't know exactly how I fight."

"Well, do be careful, like I said... They might surprise you." She gave a little smile and a wave before taking to the air, heading for the roof of one of the buildings.

Reinforce was content to walk towards the intersection, taking up a position in the middle of it and simply standing there, eyes closed as she awaited their first move. Will they attack all out, or will they probe for information first... At first glance, I'd say that Teana would probe first... but-

She opened her eyes quickly, reaching behind with one hand to summon a hasty barrier just in time to block the spear point that was quite literally rocketing towards her back. Erio is fast... Not much in the way of power to back up the speed yet... But that was nearly a hit.

Pushing back at him, she smiled as she spun, generating enough space to launch an attack of her own, a quick burst of magic that sent him spiraling back, though it looked like he'd gotten a barrier of his own up in time. The fact that the second attack was coming from the air was another surprise. None of them had felt powerful enough to be likely areial mages, but as Subaru threw a punch that forced her to twist and bend out of the way from a blue road, the kids looked eager to prove that they'd been underestimated. The crater was impressive, but the fact that she followed up the miss with a spinning kick from armored rollerblades was what really drew her attention. The force that she was able to put behind it made Reinforce wince as she blocked with her forearms, only to be launched into the second story of the building on the corner.

The walls seemed to have been made of brick, but they made little headway in stopping her until she'd gone through two of them. Her opponents didn't seem ready to let up for a moment though as the windows behind her glowed, glass shattering as a fireball from a dragon burst with explosive force, sending flames scorching through nearly the entire second floor, only the portions that had been behind Reinforce and the shield that she'd summoned remaining unburnt.

She whirled as she finally sensed Teana. The girl had managed to get behind her, and was already moving to strike with the dagger she held in hand. She seemed to be something of a master at hiding herself. Reinforce's hand flashed out, slapping the dagger off target, though it still sliced its way through one of the cargo pockets of her fatigues. Teana's other hand came up, gun in hand already pulling the trigger. Drawing on her mana to speed herself, Reinforce twisted away, nearly losing her footing, but successfully avoiding the orange bolt before she lashed out with a punch of her own shattering through Teana's barrier and launching her out the window back into the intersection.

Deciding to test the limits that were now imposed on her, she called up a few of her dagger missiles. Bringing forth enough mana for just ten of them was proving to be as straining as fifty would have been prior without using Nacht's help. She sent five of them flashing out after Teana, the other five staggering their launches as they went after the dragon behind her, an indignant cry from the beast being clear enough of an indication that it was evacuating the area as the daggers continued to burst with explosive energy.

Putting Teana out of the fight first would probably be the wisest... they're going to be using her to set up ambushes like that unless I don't

She took off, running out the hole that she'd blasted Teana through. She blinked as she came face to face with Subaru slicing down on her flying road, a massive concentration of mana ahead of the fist that was already flashing towards Reinforce's stomach. Hearing Subaru shouting two words made her frantically pump mana into the barrier that she'd summoned.

"Divine Buster!"

Her barrier held for a moment before it simply shattered. She blinked, not even having time to wonder at how her barrier had broken so easily before the fist and subsequent blast of mana impacted sending her cratering down into the ground.

She coughed as she heard Nanoha's voice calling out that they'd gotten a clean hit in before she heard Nanoha's voice telepathically. "Ready to stop underestimating them based on their power levels?"

"Nanoha... What have you been teaching these kids? I realize that RF6 is supposed to be the elites of the Bureau... but this is ridiculous. And I take it Vita's been teaching Subaru how to break barriers, hasn't she?"

"I wonder... They're surprising even me a little... I think they were planning on getting me with all of this. I suppose it's a good thing that I let them play with you instead then. It would be a little embarrassing to have been hit with Subaru's version of my own attack..."

Reinforce just shook her head at that, standing up and brushing herself off before she lifted her wrist. "Alright, Nacht. It's our turn now."

[Yes, Mistress.] The device acknowledged even as it's weapon form grew with a comforting weight upon her arm, her fingers wrapping around the grip before she summoned up more daggers, sending them flying out not towards the forwards themselves, but rather the buildings that they were observing from. Concrete supports shattered as explosions ripped through six of the nearby buildings, each of them shuddering before they began to implode, the three that she could sense quickly evacuating.

She gave a little smile as she watched Subaru taking to the skies on the mana road, calling out to her as she aimed. "Subaru! Allow me to show you the traditional use of that spell."

Subaru's eyes went wide as Reinforce pressed Nacht's claw into a dark version of Nanoha's signature bombardment spell, the beam smashing into a shield and shattering Subaru's road before sending the teen crashing down onto a roof.

Erio struck again, though this time Reinforce simply ducked under the strike as the red-headed boy blurred over her, reaching out with her right hand as orange chains extended, trapping his arms and device before she gripped their ends, noting the strafing run that the dragon and Caro were about to commence on her. She turned, her right hand pulling Erio along before she swung him like a morning star down upon the dragon, sending all three of them crashing down into the street.

The orange bullets that came at her were easily dodged, the few homing ones amongst the barrage easily slapped away by a shielded hand or Nacht's heavy form. The fact that there were three Teanas was a little more surprising though. All of them felt real, and all of them were rushing forward with respectable speed, firing twin pistols each. The one to her left looked like she was straining slightly though, with practice she'd get better at this. Two quick blasts of mana later and the real Teana had been properly dealt with.

Or so she'd thought until she spun away from the dagger of what she'd thought had been one of the illusions. I really do need to stop underestimating them... she couldn't help but smile at the teen's tenacity, or her use of tricks and tactics. While many Belkan Knights of old would have frowned at her methods, they were also the ones that died first in the wars. Those willing to fight dirty were the ones who usually came back from the battlefield.

It was apparent that she wasn't used to fighting at close range though, not yet anyways. Though she would certainly keep most opponents on their toes with the combination of gun in her left and dagger in her right was an unfamiliar enough style to cause more than a few close calls as Reinforce was forced to abandon an attack to dodge a bullet, or sacrifice her stance to parry a slash.

Teana was straining to keep up the attack though, as she was showing more and more openings to keep the initiative until Reinforce finally took one, planting her knee in the teen's stomach perhaps a little harder than she should have as Teana started to collapse. Frowning at her own lack of control, she caught Teana before laying her down on the road.

"Well, it's good to see that they weren't underestimating you... but was it really necessary to put them down like that?"

Reinforce glanced up with a sheepish look as Nanoha landed. "Well, between the limiter and them proving to be more capable than I was expecting, I might have used a bit more force than necessary."

The Captain only chuckled at that. "Well, I did warn them about your chains... And I probably would have gotten a little serious myself. You could have taken to the air though, that would have limited their options and let you fight them a little longer."

"I... suppose I could have. You'll have to forgive me though, that sounds an awful lot like training. Battles are fought to be won... to put your enemy down before they can cause any damage to you."

Nanoha only shook her head with a sigh at that. "And now you're sounding like you've been taking lessons on avoiding training the forwards from Signum. But, I suppose Vita was something of an odd one to have been able to adjust to training those much weaker than herself easily. That's alright. I won't make them spar against you unless they've done something silly then. Just... Don't tell Fate you were so rough with Erio and Caro..."

Dismissing Nacht, Reinforce sent her a questioning look, though Nanoha didn't elaborate further. "I'll take your word for that then. Will you be needing me for anything else today?"

"Um... No, and I don't think you'll need to worry much about training... Just work on your own to keep your edge and get used to the limiter and I'll focus on getting the kids powered up to where they can take you down for real. Other than that, you're free for the rest of the day to get settled in properly.


The days that followed were... peaceful. For Reinforce anyways. She was finding it disturbingly easy to fit into the daily routine of waking up, having breakfast with her daughter, listening to the banter with the Wolkenritter, save for Zafira who was generally quiet in his animal form keeping watch over Vivio.

The little girl seemed quite happy despite being in what amounted to a military base. Reinforce hadn't missed how Nanoha looked at her though. Already she knew that Nanoha would have a hard time giving the girl up even if they found a family to take Vivio in. This must have been what happened to the Vivio I met... This is right though. Nanoha and Fate both give the perfect image of ideal mothers. And Vivio is lucky enough to have two of them. And with the reputation the two of them have in Bureau space, their child would have nothing to fear.

Her own position in the unit was largely decided in a discussion with the two Captains and Hayate though. She would serve more as an independent reserve than as a member of Stars or Lightning. It was clear enough that she didn't need training, and many of her spells weren't exactly suited for use with friendlies nearby. Hayate had perhaps put it best. 'When I need something blown up and I'd think I would have had to do it myself... That's when I'll call you, Reinforce!'

That was fine with the new Private. As it gave her ample time to explore Long Arch and get to know the force that Hayate had created. It was a little surprising though, to find that it was even less like a unit than she'd thought. It was really more like an extended family. Everyone was willing to part with a smile whenever they crossed paths with her, and they accepted her without even knowing her... Simply because she was now one of them.

Even so, Reinforce still had her reservations about this. Hayate and Rein were trying to hide it, but she'd managed to glimpse the trouble that the two of them were having sheltering her despite the fact that the issue had been resolved in an Admiralty Court. She'd contemplated offering to transfer to the Navy to take the burden of protecting her off of Hayate's shoulders, but she knew that both Hayate and Rein would object to that, so she held her silence and simply decided to support them where she could.

Days passed without any calls to action, only Lightning having deployed to investigate the combat cyborgs that they now knew to be amongst their foes. It was understood that whoever it was would likely use the Ground Forces upcoming press conference as an opportunity to attack, but nothing that Hayate could say had dissuaded them from carrying on with the event. Stars and Lightning were being brought in as security, but Hayate and the Captains and Lieutenants weren't allowed to bring their devices within HQ.

To make matters worse, Reinforce was banned from even stepping foot on HQ grounds, leaving her stuck at Long Arch until a state of emergency would allow Hayate to override that order, provided anything occurred.

Reinforce scoffed at that thought. As if I'm foolish enough to believe that the enemies in the prophecy wouldn't take such a golden opportunity... She couldn't help but shake her head as she watched the helicopter flying away towards the massive tower in the center of the city. Not only fools, but blind fools. I see that the bureaucracy is what I'll have to fight more than any outside enemy to keep everyone safe...

It hit her though as she slipped into the oversized bed that she normally shared with Rein. She couldn't help but smile at her predicament. She was uncomfortable because the girl wasn't their with her. Somehow she'd been as blindsided as Nanoha had in just a few short days that the little unison device had wormed into her heart and truly had become her daughter, even if she was still slow to show motherly affection.

She decided that she would have to work on that in the days to come. Rein had accepted her, the least she could do is properly reciprocate. With that last thought, despite her discomfort, she let sleep claim her.


She woke early, a frown forming on her lips as she glanced down at the pillow that was proving a poor hugging substitute to Rein. You know it's time to get out of bed when you contemplate pillow murder...

"Good morning, Nacht." She gave the device a little smile as she made her way over to take a quick showever and get dressed in her uniform before finally slipping the bracelet onto her wrist. "What's the status of the conference?"

[Would you like what you are cleared for, or what has been pulled from RF6's systems?]

A delicate eyebrow rose at that. "While I'm fairly certain that Hayate won't mind... I'm sure that goes against any number of regulations, Nacht."

[Of course not, Mistress. It's merely through my communications with devices that are cleared for the data. Raising Heart and Bardiche were most interested in meeting me and we share much information amongst ourselves.]

"My device is going to get me court martialed for hacking... Great. The most detailed information you have then please."

[Yes, Mistress. The Forwards are rotating on perimeter duty, while the Colonel, Captains and Lieutenant Signum are making their way inside of headquarters. Bardiche, Raising Heart, and Laevatein are... frustrated that they are not allowed to accompany their mistresses. Reinforce Zwei is remaining with Second Lieutenant Vita outside.]

"Hm..." Reinforce couldn't quite keep the frown from her lips as she left the room to head for the roof. "Let me know if there are any changes."

The weapon didn't reply, but she knew that it would keep her informed. Still, she frowned as worry coursed through her as she turned to face the Ground Forces HQ where the conference was taking place. Looking at it from the point of view for someone seeking to bring the Bureau down, there wouldn't be a better time to strike. And here she was, separated by distance and the more impenetrable wall of orders. She was going to have to to rise in rank quickly or transfer to a service that would better allow for independent action.

Maybe I'll speak to Fate about that...

She chuckled as she finally tore her gaze away from the collection of towers to head to the cafeteria. Better put your mind to something other than watching the tower all day Reinforce... otherwise you'll be up here staring the whole day.

It was even harder to not growl as the first raindrops began to fall. The Bureau frowned upon what it considered a frivolous use of magic... such as using your magic as a barrier against the rain. And so she took the second option of hurrying back indoors.


The day had been dragging slowly by, at least until the alarm finally began blaring. She couldn't help but feel a dark amusement at the surprise of the faces of the Long Arch staff. She knew that she shouldn't have, after all, they likely weren't privy to the prophecy that had led to the unit's creation.

A few were more composed as storage devices were distributed to those who could use them. The helicopter pilot the most of all as he checked the staff with a grim expression. Vice... The least you could do is remember his name, Reinforce.

Griffith came through moments after the alarm went off and was reporting to the entire base that communications with the Forward team and the officers had been cut off in the midst of an assault on the Ground Forces HQ. A number of unidentified S-level signals had been detected before jamming had gone up. And perhaps worst of all was the fact that one of them was driving hard towards Long Arch.

Reinforce was already activating her Knight armor as even Shamal dashed out into the rain, whispering to her device as Zafira paced in his lupine form. The approaching foe was bringing company. Gadgets by the dozens of all types were coming, and the sensors were even picking up two other signatures that were being identified as combat cyborgs.

Three cyborgs and a bunch of machines equipped with anti-magic fields that render all but about me, Shamal, Zafira, and a few of the Long Arch staff useless... And making it worse... the few people able to lift my limiter are trapped under a jamming field.

[Mistress, I'm already working on cracking the protection on the spell attached to your linker core, but it will take time; it has surprisingly sophisticated anti-tampering measures for a spell applied to voluntary recipients.]

I'm not even going to judge you for not telling me that you're doing something that could get me branded as a criminal... again. Don't lift it until I ask you to though.

[Of course, Mistress.]

Activating Nacht's weapon form, she looked to Shamal and Zafira, giving them a grim smile before she took to the air, watching as the machines swarmed around the buildings surrounding the base. They weren't going to be what she focused upon. She watched as the three cyborgs approached. None of them showing any emotion as they approached.

Reaching out with telepathy she addressed them. "Unidentified flight, you are in restricted airspace, land now and await officers to take you into custody or you will be intercepted."

Despite the nod to her new position as a member of a law enforcement organization, she'd already begun gathering mana for a mid-range divine buster targeted at the one with two long blades light pink hair. The two brunettes seemed to be taking her lead at any rate. Best to take her out as quickly as possible.

She gave a short five count as they continued to approach, and shrugged before launching the spell and charging out to meet them. They were clearly coming with the intention to attack RF6's home, and Reinforce wasn't about to allow that, whatever their goal.

The surprise on the faces of the cyborgs was promising, but the fact that the leader looked unharmed from the attack was disappointing. She frowned as she listened to them, hovering at short distance away from them as they observed her, faces still devoid of emotion.

The one bearing the number 8 at her neck sounded a little irritated. "I thought all of the mages were going to be stationed at the main target..."

The other brunette with numerals for 12 only shrugged while the leader, 7, responded. "This one is weak. Dieci said she collapsed after blocking a single shot. Otto, Deed, secure the target, I'll take this one."

"Understood, Sette."

Reinforce let them pass, keeping her eyes locked on the leader, this Sette. She felt strong. Worryingly so given the artificially weakened state.

"Tre-nee-sama said I might be needed to help my sisters deal with this base and take the Vessel of the Saint. I think she might have been a little overly cautious, but I'll still be dealing with you. I'll make your death quick, Bureau agent. You are only doing your duty after all. You should be commended though, your spirit is admirable for a Bureau dog, that spell so soon after your warning isn't something I would have expected."

"Private Reinforce Eins Yagami, of Riot Force 6."

The cyborg only nodded before simply giving her name, while shifting into a stance with both of her blades.

"Sette."


And... sort of abrupt end there... but I figure that at almost 7k words... that chapter's gone on long enough. It's going to be a bit of a cliffhanger sadly... I'm going to be busy for a few days and won't be able to write... so it might be a bit longer before I get the next chapter going.

As always! Give me your thoughts, love/hate/what I can do to make it better etc!

And below... we have the review responses for the last two chapters that I was lazy about doing because I was studying for my finance final. (And not that anyone cares... but I passed it. Hahaha.)

Voidzzz: Haha, yup. I thought about it for a while and decided that it would be more entertaining to start this out in StrikerS, so here we are... And as for the political situation... I'm trying to put this more from Reinforce's point of view than jumping around like I was earlier... so... that's probably why the political situation is seeming to go fast. It's because she's not the one dealing with it... It's more Hayate in the background who isn't wanting to worry Reinforce by bringing the issue up... Plus she's more just passed it up the chain of command to have it dealt with by Lindy and others who can just decide to put Reinforce on the rosters. That and as entertaining as it is for me to write politics, I'm also trying to not bog people who don't necessarily enjoy it as much down. Do keep on me though, if I'm going too far in that. I want to have it be lean, but not bare bones.

Reishin Amara: Yeah... Hayate and Mahora is a truly frightening sort of combination... I haven't thought much yet about how we're going to be making it back into the Negima-verse... but I imagine I'm probably going to have silly fun with it. Hopefully not too silly... since Negima has its serious moments that I'm hopeful I'll be able to keep in or at least keep the style anyways.

mega-dark: Yeah, I've been figuring that any changes that I make for the sake of... well, not making things confusing... will be at least partially due to having Reinforce being present and changing things a little now... and I think we're going to call Vivio 7 for the sake of this story... since it's 2 years prior to Negima... Having her befriend Negi... perhaps with Zwei around to keep an eye on the two of them... Trouble, that. Especially perhaps a Vivio trained by Eins... (Not that I don't like Nove... but... A Knight-trained Vivio could be interesting... an interesting befriender of the Vampire-trained Negi anyways. And... Strip spells/sneezes will likely be happening... I just couldn't quite bring myself to do it to Reinforce just yet anyways. The limiter will also probably keep the curbstomping to a minimum without having to resort to radical time changes and the such. I do rather like the idea of Chao having ME... thinking about the potential for additional chaos in it... I'll certainly keep that in consideration, (no promises of course...) Reinforce is likely to play a major portion in Chachamaru's creation though... I will say that. :P The Linker core bit fits fairly nicely, if you don't mind, I might be using that.

jgkitarel: Yay! Good to know that I'm managing this at least believably. And Jail's gals... yeah. Reinforce is probably going to be as surprising to them as pissing off Nanoha-mama-kuma. And oh, the delightful shipping... I'm going to try to avoid the more chaotic chaos there... Though personally I do see NanoFate as being highly believable and fitting with canon. But, yeah. If it's something that I can avoid/leave to the audience's imagination much like canon does... That's what I want to do... and well, I may not manage it, but hopefully I'll manage it without alienating too many. I think Omake Signum is my favorite though...

Bladedknight: Glad things are getting exciting! Hope you continue to enjoy as we go through this whole little journey.

Drinker: Ack! Haha, sorry for the confusion, I'll keep the additional info in mind though. And as always, thanks much for reading... And blasphemy! Forgetting who's who in Negima! Hahaha.

Ethorin: Woot! Another happy reader, always fun that. Hope you continue to enjoy!

Dark0w1: Yeah, I'm pretty sure that Reinforce would probably be wise enough to force a teleport to an uninhabited world before she unleashed said card on Rakan... But yeah... I can just see the scene there... Rakan twirling panties on a finger and Reinforce with that eye twitch... And then of course the updating of TSAB star charts with the destruction of said planet.