On The Path of Vengeance

By Daishi Prime

Chapter Eight – Justice

The light was blinding now, a pure whiteness the washed away shadows and shapes, bright enough to bring tears to her eyes. But Hayate strove onwards, striving to reach the top of that pillar of light as quickly as she possibly could. The scorching heat, the turbulent air, the glorious light, all of it beat at her in unsteady unpredictable waves, causing her course to tumble and veer, but the column was wide and her goal was within reach. All she had to do, she knew, was persevere, and she would be home. She had never lacked for strength of will, even before the Tome of the Night Sky woke, and whatever she had lost or gained, whatever had happened to her in this strange place, she had not lost that indomitable will.

She flew higher, striving for something she could not see, but knew was there for the grasping.

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"Sword of Light!"

Akira was lost in the glare, then Admiral Kriegsen. Chrono was forced to block his eyes with a raised hand, and the last thing he saw before the terrible radiance blinded him was Nanoha. She was standing behind her Round Shield, staring into the light, tears rolling down her eyes. He could not tell if they were tears of sorrow, or tears of pain from the light. The thought that they might have been tears of fear never crossed his mind. Nanoha never showed that sort of fear.

For a few moments, he could see nothing but white, even through his closed eyelids, and despite the shields he and Durandel were generating, he thought he was about to die. Then the light faded, the blinding white on his eyelids fading to red, to black, and he opened his eyes, blinking back tears of his own. Looking up and around, he found the last thing he had expected. Fate, Arf, Shamal, Signum, Vita and Zafira were all still standing where they had been, behind their commingled shields, blinking away their blindness even as he was. Kriegsen was slumped against a wall, still conscious and even now standing, but similarly recovering from blindness. Nanoha was not even behind a shield any longer, she was merely staring as she had been before, but now with a mixture of shock and joy on her face.

Looking where her gaze led, he felt those emotions himself. Standing a meter from Akira, holding a strangely double-ended staff in one hand, and the Sword of Light in the other, blocking Akira's Hellblade, was his missing mage.

"Hayate!" the cry came from ten throats at once, and the only thing that checked a mad rush for her was her outthrust hand, Reinforce held crosswise.

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Finding herself in a docking bay was one surprise. Finding a sword in her hand was another, but it felt so right she just accepted it. The biggest surprise was finding herself facing a man wielding another sword, and recognizing both despite knowing they had never been introduced. A moment's study, however, showed her she was not facing the man who's face was staring at her in surprise.

"You are not Takashi," she whispered, frowning in confusion, "but you look like him. Who are you?"

His eyes narrowed as he overcame his shock, and his voice was rock-steady and nearly emotionless, "Finally, someone who will admit that. Who are you?"

"Yagami Hayate," she answered, "Mistress of the Night Sky..." she blinked, as something else floated into her mind, "... Wielder of the Sword of Light."

"Shimazu Sara is the only wielder the Sword of Light will accept," Akira replied.

"It has accepted me," Hayate replied.

"But I have not."

She smiled sadly, as more information flowed through her mind, details and subtleties of what had happened to her. "I'm afraid you have no authority over the Sword of Light, whoever you are. It has accepted me… and it is telling me the most amazing things right now."

"You cannot match me, girl. You're the one these Bureau puppets have been asking about, aren't you? I've defeated the entirety of your fellows, you cannot stand against me. No single mage can."

Hayate pulled her attention away from the torrent of information from the Sword, looking at him curiously. "But you cannot access the full range of Takashi's spells," she said, "you are just a caretaker."

"And you have no idea what you're..."

Hayate cut him off, shifting the sword to point over his shoulder, "Celestial Bind." A single ribbon of white leapt from the blade, viper quick, to writhe about a man in an Admiral's uniform standing up behind Akira. His appearance triggered more information, and her gaze became a furious glare. But she had to deal with Akira before she could handle that matter, however much she wished otherwise.

For his part, Akira was considering her carefully, and she could feel the beginnings of a magical probe. She debated for a moment, then allowed him to scan her magic, and he nodded once, acknowledgement both that she had allowed the scan, and that she was using Deva-type magic. He moved back slightly, clearing the line between Hayate and Kriegsen, and brought the Hellblade around to guard position. Seeing that, the way he held the blade, and feeling the flow of energy from the Hellblade, Hayate frowned.

"Reinforce, make sure Admiral Kriegsen remains where he is, please," she said, releasing the staff.

It dropped half an inch, into the waiting hand of Reinforce, once more the towering statuesque woman she was based on. The hologram flickered into existence, achieving a level of solid reality Hayate had been previously unable to reproduce. Now, with her own source of power, Reinforce gripped herself tightly, and bowed to Hayate, "Yes, Mistress." Turning to Kriegsen, she stepped back and to one side, clearing the area around her mistress, and held the staff towards the admiral. "Ragnarok Breaker," she intoned, and with a shrill tone the triangular sigil of the Tome of the Night Sky appeared, fronted by three glowing spheres of light. "Please do not move, Admiral Kriegsen. Mistress Hayate will deal with you momentarily."

Nanoha, gaze jumping between Reinforce, Hayate, Akira and Kriegsen, finally managed to ask, "Hayate, what's going on? What happened to Reinforce? To you?" She paused, and her voice became even more quizzical, "Why are you blonde again?"

Hayate looked over, and smiled at Nanoha, then at her knights. "Hello, everyone, I'm back. I'm sorry I took so long, but it was more complicated than I expected." She frowned, looking back to Akira, "It's getting more complicated, as well, and you, hologram, have not yet answered my question. Who are you?"

Akira drew himself up to his full height and saluted her, right fist covering his heart, "Akira, Breaker of Ships, the Great Traitor."

"A solid-state hologram, like Reinforce," Hayate said, causing him to blink. "You look like Takashi, you wield his sword, but Takashi would never have made you, would he? He did not like holograms, thought they were too close to slavery, too easy to confuse with living beings." She smiled, glancing at her Knights, "I'd agree, from personal experience, in general. So where did you come from?"

"I am bound to fulfill Shimazu Takashi's final wish."

"Final wish? He is not dead."

Akira shook his head, "He cannot return from where he has gone. Aoi sent him there, only she can bring him back. The Hellblade created to me in response to his final order, to achieve his final goal – justice for Aoi."

"Attacking the Bureau is his idea of justice?"

"Justice is no longer possible, only vengeance," Akira snarled. "The Bureau already acquitted the bastard."

"The Bureau will listen to me on this," Hayate told him, looking back at Kriegsen, who was listening intently while staring at Reinforce.

Akira snorted derisively, "And what would you know about it, girl?"

She cocked her head at him, then smiled, "Sara did more than safeguard Takashi. She arranged for everything she knew to be passed on to another. She stored everything she knew on her magic, everything she knew about Takashi, and everything she knew about that last mission, into the Hellblade, under the guardianship of two programs, Hypatia and Beaudicea. Will you give me a moment to show you?"

"I will have my vengeance," Akira repeated, "but I will give you a moment."

Hayate nodded, and walked towards Kriegsen, her face hardening into a glare. "You are an evil man, Admiral Kriegsen, and you made a serious mistake in underestimating Shimazu Sara."

"Sara Nelson," Kriegsen replied, gaze scanning over the assembled powers, "her marriage to him was a crime, it should never have happened."

Hayate ignored his comment, "She loved research, loved looking things up. She was almost as skilled at it as Yuuno is. She studied Lost Logia intensively, once she was assigned aboard the Deva. Bureau records are quite extensive on the subject, of course, and the most thorough records concern those Logia held in the Secure Archives. So, when that Class One activated at Alin Sydra, she recognized it, as one of the more predictable but dangerous Class One Lost Logias held in Secure Archives, too powerful to be left loose, too dangerous to be destroyed."

Kriegsen was staring only at her now, angry but confident, a glare to match Hayate's as she continued, "Admiral Wilhelm Kriegsen, as a Special Officer of the Time Space Administration Bureau, I hereby place you under arrest, for removing a Class One Lost Logia from Secure Archives without authorization, for releasing said Lost Logia without safeguards, for activating said Lost Logia in the presence of civilians, for endangering civilians through willful negligence, for hazarding your command, and personnel under your command, through willful negligence, as accomplice before the fact in the destruction of Bureau ships and the deaths of Bureau personnel, and for the pre-meditated murder of Bureau Mage Captain Shimazu Sara. Drop your weapon, release your magic, and you will be permitted to plead in your own defense."

A horrified look suffused Kriegsen's face as she listed the crimes. As she finished, however, he shook his head and smiled. "Oh, very good, Takashi. The illusion is incredibly lifelike. What did you do, destroy her when you woke and..."

"I am no illusion, Admiral," Hayate told him, "I have spent the last few days trapped within the Hellblade, in a pocket dimension Shimazu Sara created to be her husband's private retreat. Where she bound him, in the moment before her death, to safeguard the greatest discovery she ever made."

"A mage-scan will prove that," Kriegsen said, "but I doubt Takashi will wait that long before he starts killing again. Admiral Hallaoun, you have your entire team here and ready, I suggest you act. I will keep this hologram busy, you deal with Akira."

"Actually," Hayate smiled, glancing back over her shoulder to where Reinforce still held the Ragnarok Breaker, "A mage-scan will report that I am not Yagami Hayate. Such scan's verify a mage's linker-core, after all, and the one registered to me is no longer mine." She gestured to Reinforce, "she has it, now, as the Sword of Light holds Sara's original linker-core, and the Hellblade holds Takashi's."

A chorus of pained sounds rolled through the bay. Almost all of them had experienced what it was like to have a linker-core pulled out, and reacted to Hayate's statement by flinching. "H... Hayate-chan? But... how can you still..."

Hayate shrugged, "Hypatia and Beaudicea gave me a new linker-core, Fate-chan, a different one, that allows me to use Deva-type magic. I'm afraid mage-scan will no longer register me as Yagami Hayate."

"How convenient," Kriegsen replied, shaking his head, "Admiral Hallaoun, you've only ever seen two people use Sara's magic, Akira and myself. Akira's the murderer here, the criminal, and you need to deal with him. Stop falling for his gambit."

"Misdirection is not Akira's style," Chrono commented, "but I can't discount the possibility that he has been deceiving us this entire time. Signum, verify whether or not this is Hayate, please."

Signum nodded, and began walking towards Hayate. "Forgive me, Hayate, but we have to be sure."

"Ask me a question, Signum," Hayate told her. "If I can answer it, I am who I claim to be. If not, arrest me for impersonating and officer, I won't resist."

Signum contemplated for a few moments, crossing her arms while studying the girl before her and thinking. "Ti'arol, the Star Serpent case. What was the last order you gave us, and how did we follow it?"

Hayate thought back for a moment, and could not help giggling. "I told you to go after Vari. He had triggered the Lost Logia, and I planned to deal with it, seal it, while the four of you captured him. So the four of you made a simultaneous attack on the Lost Logia, destroying it, then went after Vari." Hayate schooled her expression to be very serious, and shook an admonishing finger at the taller woman, "That was when I learned to be very specific with you, Signum. You keep trying to protect me from things I don't need to be protected from."

"We exist to safeguard the Mistress of the Night Sky," Signum said in a tight voice, then bowed deeply, "A thousand apologies for doubting you, Mistress."

Hayate walked over to her and put a hand on her Sword Knight's shoulder, pushing her upright, "Don't cry, Signum, you'll ruin your stoic image."

Signum cracked a smile, and pulled Hayate into a hug, which she returned. "Welcome home, Mistress."

"I'm afraid, Admiral Kriegsen, that you are under arrest," Chrono said, "you will be held for trial..."

"I will not be held for this," Kriegsen snarled.

Things happened very quickly after that. He broke the Celestial Bind by brute force, a wave of magic that flashed through the chamber. Hayate spun free of Signum and shouted, "Uriel's Shield!" The small white shield appeared before her outstretched hand, and Kriegsen's follow-up attack slammed into a wall of nothing, creating a shimmering yellow-white distortion across the width of the bay.

Akira's response was more aggressive than hers, anticipation filling his voice, "Brimstone Spear." The bolt of lava flew past Hayate's shield without slowing, and a thunderous explosion rocked the bay as it struck the far side.

The next spell came from Kriegsen himself, though he spoke not a word. Hayate felt the power shifting, felt him reaching through space for something, and a moment later all of Headquarters quivered, shaking like a skyscraper in an earthquake. The overhead lights flickered, and went out, followed almost immediately by the red emergency lights snapping on, and a wailing siren sounding. When the smoke and dust cleared, Kriegsen was nowhere to be seen. A gaping hole in the wall where he had been standing led through a service tunnel to the next bay over.

"He's aboard the ship," Chrono said, ignoring the hole in the wall and running for the docking tube. He was halfway down it, with the rest on his heels, when the tube shuddered, and tore free of the Novus Deva as it backed out of its slip. For a moment, gale force winds ripped at them as the atmosphere in the bay and tube rushed into the vacuum of space, then Zafira and Arf slammed shields across the end of the tunnel, sealing it.

"He's not getting away," Akira snarled, watching the ship pull out of its slip.

Hayate grabbed his arm before he could vanish, "No, Akira, stop." When she had his attention, she continued, "You can't attack that ship, Akira. The crew is innocent, they have no idea what is truly happening."

"I don't care."

"I care," Hayate countered, "and I will not let you do that again. You may have defeated my friends, but you will not be able to defeat all of us together. Please, Akira. I know what he did, I can prove it, as well. There is a chamber, probably here in Headquarters, in the Secure Archives, where he worked on this. I know, I've seen it, warded by Deva-type magic. Since you and I did not make it, that means he did. We can prove it, Akira, we can get justice for Sara and Takashi. Please, don't kill anyone else. Don't spill more blood in her name."

He was glaring at her, but still listening, "How can I trust you? You're Bureau."

"I am the Mistress of the Night Sky," Hayate replied, "I called upon the Book of Darkness and let it loose on the world in all its destructive insanity." A slight lie, but close enough to the truth. She was the Book's Mistress, so she was responsible for it's waking, in one interpretation. "The Bureau still saw through to the truth and treated me and mine with fairness and justice. Please, give us a chance, to finish this, the way Sara would have wanted it finished."

He shook his head roughly, "He's getting away, I don't have time for this."

"He will not escape," Chrono said, "We're deep within Bureau Headquarters, we can teleport aboard in a few minutes, far more quickly than he can get out of range. Mother is setting up the teleport now."

"Please," Hayate said, taking his hand in both of hers, "You have accomplished your mission, Akira. Aoi and Takashi will have their justice. Please, rest, let us finish it."

He looked obstinate for a moment, then turned from her to the ship. "You swear to me that he will be destroyed?"

Hayate nodded, "I swear it. He may not die, but he will be destroyed, he will have to live with the shame and terror of his defeat. Please, Akira."

"What about Takashi?" Akira lifted the Hellblade, staring into its depths, "my Lord is bound within here, unable to escape, unable even to realize he is bound."

Hayate sighed, shaking her head, "I do not know. Sara left something about how she saved him, but not how to reverse it. The gems about Reinforce seem to be related to it, somehow, but... I will have to study it, study him, but that will take time."

Akira looked back at her, and for a change, there was no hatred or anger in his gaze, just contemplation. "Aoi chose well, I guess. I will give you one month to achieve the justice you have promised me. After that, I will once again seek my vengeance myself." So saying, he flowed into the Hellblade vanishing in a moment into nothingness, leaving the blade floating.

Hayate reached out and took the blade, cradling it for a moment, contemplating the tragedies piled upon that sword. "Zafira, could you please hold onto this for me?"

He stepped forward and, somewhat gingerly, took the heavy blade from her. Studying it closely, he shook his head. "Hard to believe we were battling a hologram all this time."

"Akira was not just a hologram, Zafira," Hayate reassured him, "he had access to Takashi's magic, and the Hellblade served Akira as well as it served Takashi. He was always real, always dangerous. He just was not what anyone thought he was."

Shamal, also studying the weapon in Zafira's hands, asked, "Should it still be called 'Hellblade'? You renamed Reinforce, when she was freed of the security protocols."

"No, it is the Hellblade. Sara changed it, at the last, to better protect Takashi. It is not named for what it can do, but for what it and its master have survived. Guard it well, Zafira, we will need it to save Takashi, if we can."

Chrono interrupted, "We have a problem. Something is blocking the teleport to Novus Deva. Mother will teleport us to the Asura, and we'll pursue that way."

"You go ahead, Chrono-kun," Hayate told him, "we'll need another ship to bring the Novus Deva back to Headquarters. Zafira, please go with him, I cannot bring the Hellblade with me, and do not want to tempt Akira to break his promise. The rest of us will pursue him from here." Everyone looked at her like she had gone crazy, and her smile became humorous. "I can carry all of you within the Sword of Light, and utilize one of Sara's spells to pursue him."

"Agreed," Chrono said, "It'll take an hour or so to get the Asura moving."

They moved back into the bay, sealing the doors behind them, to free up Chrono and Arf from the shield. While Chrono and Zafira teleported to the Asura, Hayate took a moment to be sure she understood the spell she was about to cast. Then, smiling to her gathered friends, she pulled on the Sword of Light for the first time, "Arc of Angels." A cone of light leapt from the tip of the sword to cover the others, then vanished, taking them with it. Everyone alright, she asked mentally?

All present and accounted for, Signum answered her.

It's a little weird in here, Hayate-chan, Nanoha said, everything's white and... she trailed off uncertainly.

... It's a worse mess than Yuuno-kun's office, Fate finished, messes of books everywhere.

Fate-chan! Nanoha sounded quite insulted on Yuuno's behalf.

Sara created that space to be her true journal, Hayate told them, Please don't read anything, I'm not sure what is actually in there. She turned to the only other person still in the bay, and pulled her into a hug. "It's good to see you again, Reinforce."

The woman, who still towered over her, returned Hayate's embrace, "I am still your device, Mistress, crafted by your hand. But, the image you programmed no longer seems to fit, so..."

"That's fine, Reinforce. I like this one better, anyhow." Hayate stepped back and held out her free hand. A moment later, she felt the staff settle into it.

"Good hunting, Mistress. I will be here when you need me." Reinforce vanished, and the full weight of the staff settled in Hayate's hand. She sighed, the image was bittersweet, and having it vanish again reminded her of the pain of losing the original Reinforce. But she had work to do, so she slung the staff over her back, and turned to the cargo bay doors. Her next spell required more power than she had used since leaving the dragon, and she was curious as to how it would manifest outside the Hellblade's pocket dimension.

The white aura of power grew around her, flowing liquidly around her. "Lightwing," she ordered, and the aura snapped into solidity about her, covering where her armor did not in white, and forming another pair of wings on her back, angular and smooth as glass. Walking over to the boarding tube doors, she triggered the emergency open, then rode the blast of air down the tube and into space.

A moment to orient herself, another to call on the Sword of Light to track her target, and she stretched her wings and flew.

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"We will be free of Headquarters' interference zone and supra-light capable in ten minutes, Admiral."

From his position in the captain's chair, Admiral Kriegsen leaned forward and acknowledged the report, "Thank you, Lieutenant. Any sign of Akira?"

"No sir. We're still receiving that false hail from Headquarters, and it looks like a group of warships are moving to follow us, but no sign of Akira himself."

Kriegsen nodded slowly, then once more abruptly. "All right then. I have to take care of securing the last of our cargo. Follow the course I've programmed, don't stop for any reason, and let me know when we reach the end point. I'll be in my office if you need me." He strode off the bridge confidently, every inch of his bearing projecting the certainty and authority of a Second Admiral of the Time Space Administration Bureau.

Once he was alone in the corridor, however, his shoulders slumped. Running away, he criticized himself harshly, running again, from a barbaric child with more power than he has any right to, and no idea of his place in the world. A moment's self-pity was all he allowed himself, however. Everything is here, everything I need, all the evidence to prove it. Two days to finish setting it up, and this will all be over. He touched the left chest of his uniform, feeling the small photograph carried in the inside pocket. Soon, Sara, it will all be over. You will be avenged.

He stopped outside the door to his ship-board office, reaching for the mage-triggers on the far side that would disable the array of wards.

"Admiral Wilhelm Kreigsen. As a Special Officer of the Time Space Administration Bureau, I hereby place you under arrest."

The voice that interrupted him was sweet and clear, but it's tone was cold and hard. Looking to his right, back the way he had come from, he saw the girl from the docking bay standing in the hall of his ship, Sara's sword held before him, only the tip and tsuba visible it was so perfectly aligned with his eyes. He could not help thinking how much like Sara she appeared, eyes blued by the Sword's power, hair turned blonde the same way, confident determination in every line of her body and face.

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Getting aboard the Novus Deva had been simplicity itself. Finding Kriegsen had been more difficult. The ship was not laid out according to standard Bureau designs, and they could not afford to let the crew know they were aboard until either the Admiral or the ship was secured. But Hayate felt the distortion caused by the interactions of Deva and Mid type magics, and homed in on that. She was not disappointed.

After she spoke, he turned to face her, a look of terrible sadness on his face that quickly turned to resolution. "I don't know how you got here without being detected, girl, but I will not surrender now. I have almost destroyed that monster, and I will not allow his illusions to stop me now."

"I am not an illusion," Hayate told him, "but your opinion on that is immaterial. If you resist, I may be forced to kill you. Surrender, and you will have the opportunity to plead your case."

"No," he shook his head, "not this late in the mission, this close to success. Breaker of Dreams." The yellow aura flared into being around him, three streamers of it spiraling together to form a drill-like bolt that flew at Hayate with lightning speed.

"Uriel's Shield," Hayate replied calmly, and again the palm-sized white shield appeared. Kriegsen's attack slammed into it, and she sighed as alarms began sounding. He's chosen to do this the hard way, she told the others.

Arf and I have the engine room, Fate replied, no trouble from the crew. The ship's not going anywhere.

I'll be on the bridge in a moment, Nanoha said, got a little lost in a side corridor, gomen.

Barrier going up now, Reinforce told her, he's all yours, Mistress.

Hayate had to be very careful to give no outward sign. Kriegsen was building another, more complicated, attack spell, but he was still watching her closely. Deciding against letting him beat at her shield unopposed, she called out, "Michael's Sword of Flame!" Twin spirals of flame leapt from the Sword of Light's tsuba, rapidly wreathing the katana in white/red heat, and she leapt to the attack, Uriel's Shield holding its place before her.

Kriegsen blocked her with what she at first thought was his bare arm. But as the flame of her sword seared away his uniform's sleeve, it revealed a silver metal gauntlet. "Panzerfaust, my device," he growled, then added, "Blowback."

The reflection of her own spell was a surprise, and Hayate rode the blast to slide back down the corridor, rather than let it injure her. At least I forced him to abort his spell, she thought, then turned her attention to the next exchange.

The corridor was far from an ideal battleground, for either of them. They could not risk their more powerful spells, as even their lesser magics were damaging the ship around them. Hayate knew for a fact that Morningstar's Wrath would break the ship in two, even if it only hit Kriegsen and did not deflect of whatever counter he used. So they dueled in the confines of the corridor outside his office with lesser spells, and with sword and gauntlet. It was a style of combat that Hayate had little experience with, and she had dearly wanted to leave it to Signum, Vita or Fate, who all reveled in close combat. But Kriegsen's use of Deva-type magic required Hayate to counter it, and it would disrupt any other magic in the area, and they had to take Kriegsen alive, which her Knights might not be able to do. In her favor, it had been decades since Kriegsen engaged in true combat, and he was far rustier than she was.

A part of her mind was saddened that, whatever else happened today, this marked the first occasion when two Deva mages fought one another in true battle. Sara and Takashi had never fought one another outside of training, never engaged in the sort of free-form win-or-die battle Kriegsen and Hayate now engaged in. It marred the beauty of this new discovery Hayate had been shown, and that depressed her. But she refused to allow that sadness to turn her away, because however sad the use of the magic, justice for Sara and Takashi, for all those lost in this terrible charade, was more important.

Their spells for the most part cancelled one another out, limited as they were to lower level, weaker magics. However, as the battle careened back and forth through the corridor, Hayate realized that her initial estimation had been correct. For all the knowledge Hypatia, Beaudicea and the Sword of Light had given her, knowledge was not experience. Kriegsen was simply more familiar with Deva-type magic, how to use it efficiently, and how to predict side effects and interactions. Slowly, but surely, he was pushing her back. Eventually, they found themselves facing off, white and yellow auras flickering and swirling madly, sword to gauntlet.

"You can't beat me, hologram," He growled, "I'll drive you off and finish what I started."

Hayate shook her head, fighting against both his greater physical strength and the tiredness of an extended fight, and decided that she had tried long enough to end this simply. "Except, I have something you do not, Admiral."

"What would that be?"

Hayate shoved him back, hard, generating a small blast of pure power between them to amplify the separation. When he staggered and almost fell, she told him, "Friends." Mentally, she ordered, Now Shamal!

He was snarling something, hand raised with open palm towards her, when he suddenly jerked like a puppet on a string, a pale white arm suddenly lunging out of his chest, an amorphous yellow mass of light held in the clutching hand. Kriegsen gasped, choking in shock and pain, but could not move while his linker core was held fast in Shamal's grip. A moment later, lines of green energy flowed out of Shamal's hand and began wrapping around the linker core, hiding its yellow light and taming its gyrations.

Hayate gestured with the Sword of Light, "Celestial Bind," and wrapped Panzerfaust in magical bindings. That done, she walked over and carefully removed the gauntlet from Kreigsen's arm, ignoring both his stare and his feeble attempts to resist. Once she had the device removed, she looked into his eyes. "You are an evil, evil man," she told him again, then turned and walked back down the hall to the door he had been about to open. Signum, Vita, Shamal. Secure the prisoner in the ship's brig, please.

Yes, Mistress, Signum answered somberly.

Hayate listened with part of her attention as Kriegsen was bound by spells and by metal. Vita took his device from her without a word, while she studied the wards on the far side of the door. She had to be careful, if she was to avoid destroying Kriegsen's gathered evidence.

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Sheo Darren – Glad you're still enjoying this, though I've got to warn you, it's almost over. As far as making the magic and what-not realistic, the biggest thing is consistency (which I actually have trouble with, usually – poor note-keeping), if it's done the same way every time, it's more believable. The emotional imagery is something I'm not usually good with, since I've not had much experience with such things myself. I wrote chapter 07 of this & chapter 21 of Rise of the Guardians (yes, a shameless plug!) at the same time, and they've both got similar scenes, so they sort of fed off each other in my head. As for my vocabulary, it's a combination of reading a lot (couple novels a week, if it's a slow week for reading), playing a lot of RPGs (crazy uses for the same old terms), and being an English major (need a lot of big words to impress a college English prof). I've picked up a massive vocabulary from those, I just forget to use it sometimes. Thanks for still reading, and for the repeated reviews!

Panzerfan – Thanks for reviewing, hope the above was as entertaining as prior chapters. Hopefully what Akira said in the previous chapter (about the power reserve) and what Hayate related above explains why Akira was so much trouble. In all honesty, I didn't settle on what, exactly, Akira was until this chapter, or on where Hayate has been throughout, or on what precisely happened when Sara died. Regarding Nanoha and Fate, I intended this story to be about Nanoha, when I started, with a little bit from Fate and Hayate. As it turned out, this was my first experience with one of my own stories getting away from me. The sad part is, this is also the first time I had a story fully outlined before sitting down to write more than the prologue.