Please refer back to chapter 9 for disclaimer and author's note
The crew members of Arthra were moving around frantically. Nearly two hours ago, the space they had sealed off had been hijacked by the mad scientist, Presea Testarossa. Out of the five individuals who were inside, only four had managed to escape.
Currently, Nanoha and Fate were both taken to the sick bay with Yuuno and Arf following them while a small team was sent down to get a better lock on where the massive lightning spell originated from.
"Nanoha, would you please stop pacing around the room? I know you are worried but you need to lie down," Yuuno said with a frustrated sigh. His irritation had been rising by the minute they were left in the ship's hospital with no news on their redheaded friend.
"I know! But I can't rest until I can see Shirou-kun back here safe and sound!" the girl growled out as she continued walking back and forth.
Off to the side, Fate continued to stare blankly forward with Arf worrying over the blond. The girl had been detained with a pair of handcuffs locking her arms together. While her physical wounds had mostly healed up, she was emotionally fragile from the loss she had experienced.
"Nanoha!" Shirō cried out as he rushed into the room. The sudden hug he gave his daughter made her yelp in pain. "You're alright, aren't you? Nothing's broken, right? Do you need anything? You can always rely on papa-"
"You better let go of your daughter before her bruises becomes more prominent," Kiritsugu stated stoically. On the inside, he couldn't help but sigh at his fellow coworker's eccentric behavior.
Seeing his daughter's reaction, the swordsman quickly relented on his doting.
"I'm fine, papa. Although… could you please get me some ice for my arm?" the youngest Takamachi asked.
Everyone was surprised when a sphere of ice formed in front of the girl. "Is this enough or should I make more, Nanoha-chan?"
Nanoha blinked in surprise before turning to where the voice was coming from. "Suzuka-chan? Alisa-chan?"
"Yo," Alisa greeted with a grin.
"What are you doing here?"
Shirō sighed before gesturing toward his daughter's two friends. "These two finally confessed about what they knew when they heard you were hurt in the latest operation." The Takamachi patriarch's eyes hardened. "What were you thinking, Nanoha?! Going up against an opponent like that without consulting us about it first! You're lucky you got out of this with only a few bruises!"
"Sorry, we were busy since Shirou-kun wanted to get me ready for the fight," Nanoha answered with a shudder. What Shirou had put her through two days before the confrontation had been nothing but torture. Apparently the boy had thought it was a good idea to train her reaction time by firing multiple E-A ranked Noble Phantasms at her without pause.
At least she's grateful since she did learn to speed up her casting time. Now if only she could get Shirou back by making him 'help' her perfect her Divine Shooter's accuracy; preferably by acting as a moving target.
"So what happened to Shirou-kun?" the young mage asked, decided to change the subject.
"He's taken," Kiritsugu answered without pause. "When we got to the scene, there were traces of a transportation spell being used. We believe Presea Testarossa had abducted him after she had knocked him unconscious with the trans-dimensional bombardment spell."
"We need to save him now!" Nanoha cried out in fear when she heard the news.
Kiritsugu nodded in agreement. "Yes, if he isn't retrieved soon, there is no telling what Presea Testarossa would do to get the Jewel Seed out of him."
"We got a lock on Presea Testarossa's location!" Amy's voice stated over the intercom. Outside, troops of the Arthra had started scrambling.
Nanoha practically rushed out the door when the announcement was made, forcing Yuuno to run after her while fretting over her current condition. Arf and Fate were the next to walk out the door with Alisa and Suzuka helping out the blonde girl.
"You aren't worry about Shirou?" Shirō asked as the two adults remained behind in the room.
Kiritsugu sighed at the accusing voice of his partner. "Yes I am. However, the life of everyone on Earth is in danger if the Jewel Seeds were to go out of control like it did once before. If that happened, we might need to sacrifice Shirou's life in order to eliminate the threat."
"So you are willing to kill off your son if it means the destruction of a mad scientist without looking for an alternative way of solving the problem?"
"If it means I'm saving everyone on Earth, then so be it."
"Ugh… what happened…?" Shirou asked groggily as he slowly regained consciousness. "Last thing I remembered was… oh right; I was struck by lightning, again."
When the boy finally tried to move, he found his limbs being held in place. Looking up, he noticed his arms held up by purple binding spells while he was forced to stay kneeling on the ground. "Is this how Heracles feels when Gilgamesh had him chained down?"
"I see you are finally awake, boy," the unfamiliar voice said, snapped the redhead out of his musing. "You sure are surprisingly resilient for one so young."
Shifting his eyes toward the voice, he came face to face with Presea Testarossa sitting in a throne-like chair. Her purple dress and cape, along with her regal looking staff made her look like a queen from some far-off land. A smirk appeared on his face. "It's what happens when one charges into multiple fights headfirst," he stated with a shrug before yanking slightly on his chains. "Could you please let me down? This position is quite uncomfortable, especially for someone who had been struck by lightning recently."
The woman scoffed at the boy's behavior. "You're lucky I'm letting you live for now, boy. Do not push your luck."
"Such an inhospitable host I have," the boy sighed out sarcastically. Silently, he was berating himself for the slip of the tongue. Apparently, experiencing Archer's sarcasms had a more profound effect on him than he realized.
Before the woman had a chance to retort, her base's alarm went off.
[Intruders detected on the Garden of Time. Awaiting orders.]
"Activate self-defense program. If they come close to the control center, destroy them."
[Acknowledged]
The sound of explosions and dying screams lasted for a moment after the order was given before everything became eerily quiet once more. The redhead could guess what happened but decided to focus on the current situation he's found himself in instead.
"Open a communication link to the Bureau's ship," the woman stated. Moments later a holographic projection appeared in the center of the room facing the two. On the screen was Lindy Harlaown with a frown on her face. "You sure have some nerves contacting us like this after what you did to my team, Presea Testarossa."
The crazed woman merely replied emotionlessly. "You shouldn't have forcefully tried to enter my sanctuary in the first place." Folding her hands in front of her face, she continued. "Now, I believe I have someone important to your team currently in my… 'care'. And I would not mind returning him to you, if you would simply part with the Jewel Seeds you're holding in your custody."
"You know that is not possible," Lindy answered matter-of-factly.
"Then I guess that will be the end of our 'negotiation'." Presea stated. She was about to turn off the link when she saw someone walking into the room behind Lindy. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the failure," the woman said with a scornful smile.
The words caught Nanoha and her friends by surprise while Kiritsugu and Shirō simply glared at the woman hatefully. "How can you say that to Fate-chan! She's your daughter!" Nanoha cried out.
Presea snorted at what the girl said. "No she isn't. She is nothing but a failed experiment of mine." The woman then rose from her throne. "Since this is going to be our last meeting, Fate, I guess I'll simply show you."
The entire crew watched the transmission with bated breath as the man scientist walked down the hidden hallway behind her seat with Shirou following behind her on a floating platform. Finally reaching a door at the end of the hallway, Presea opened it without pause and entered the room.
A few gasps were heard when the picture of a girl looking very similar to Fate appeared, floating in a large tube. Fate's eyes widened in shock and her knees buckled at the sudden revelation.
"This is my real daughter, Alicia," the crazed woman sighed out affectionately as she placed a hand on the glass, taking a sick pleasure in the look on the blonde girl's face. "You are nothing but a replacement for her, Fate. Even after I went and gave you her memories, you are nothing like my sweet Alicia. The only thing that you two shared was your physical appearance. You are nothing but a FAILURE!"
At the declaration, Fate collapsed to the floor lifelessly in despair. Nanoha and the rest of the girls could only try to comfort the fragile girl by hugging her.
Lindy couldn't help but sigh. "So the report was right." Seeing the curious look in the two adult males' eyes, she decided to explain. "The disaster at the laboratory where Presea worked at took her biological daughter's life. It was a magic reactor meltdown caused by a lapse in safety management. Alicia was one of the people caught in the blast." Leaning back on her seat, the admiral continued. "After the incident Presea started focusing her research on artificial life creation and resurrecting the dead through technological means. There's a specific project that earned her quite the reputation with the higher-ups; a special cloning technology designed to imprint memories: Project Fate."
"I see you've done your research," Presea chuckled amusingly. "Yes, it is all true. The project was quite successful, but there was one problem. Even though the clone received the original's memories, they aren't the same person. Their behaviors, thought processes, habits; the clones are nothing but a pale imitation. They are nothing but broken dolls."
"And because of that, you're abandoning Fate?! DON'T SCREW WITH ME!"
The sudden outburst from Shirou caught everyone off guard. Most of the crew members on the bridge blinked in surprise, including Kiritsugu and Shirō. Everyone could practically feel the rage pouring out of the redheaded boy.
"So what if Fate didn't turn out exactly like Alicia?! She is your daughter no matter how you look at it!" Shirou pushed on. "Even if she is a creation of science, a clone, a homunculus, you are still the one who gave life to her! She even shared the same genetics as you since she was created from your daughter! What would Alicia think of you if she knew how you've been treating her sister like this?!"
Everyone was stunned at the boy panting in anger. Even Fate was looking at Shirou in awe. Kiritsugu, however, was wondering why the boy had broken out in an angry rant the way he did.
"Oh? And what gives you the rights to criticize how I treat my own creation, boy?" the woman sneered. What the boy said had reminded her of a long forgotten promise she had made to her daughter.
"Because my sister is a creation of science and magic as well!"
There was a pause before everyone on the bridge shifted their eyes over to Kiritsugu, who was staring at the boy in shock. It took a while before the Magus Killer forced down his reaction. A small part of him was glad his adopted son saw his biological daughter in such a way even though they had never met in person. "Einzbern Homunculus," was the only answer he gave. Apparently, the only person who understood was Takamachi Shirō.
"Even if I don't share the same blood as her, at least I would still see my sister as part of my family instead of a living doll like Fate is to you! Fate's been doing everything in her power to please you like a good daughter would! The least you could've done was treat her like a person instead of a disposable tool!" the redhead spat. "You're lucky Alicia can't see you behaving like this. She would probably hate you if she-"
A backhand from Presea finally stopped Shirou's rant. "Enough, boy!"
The line was suddenly cut, leaving the crew of Arthra in panic. The two fathers, on the other hand, were already checking their respective weapons and preparing to enter Presea's stronghold.
Without anyone noticing, Fate had made her way next to Lindy. "Ma'am, could you please remove my shackles? I wish to join the team in rescuing Shirou."
"I will make you regret talking to me that way, boy!" Presea growled out as he looked at Shirou in pure hatred.
The redhead, on the other hand, merely sighed at the woman's reaction. He wanted the woman to turn off the communication link between them and the Arthra after he heard the woman's reason for collecting the Jewel Seeds. However, he had not anticipated his own outburst at what Presea said to Fate. Now, he had gone and antagonized his captor. He could only hope he could negotiate with the mad woman before she goes and do something rash.
"You know, if only you've treated Fate like your actual daughter and told her the reason why you are searching for the Jewel Seeds, all these problems could've been solved since the beginning."
The woman scoffed at the boy's statement. "Don't speak like you understand what is going on. The Bureau will never let me do what I had planned for reviving Alicia. And stop calling that doll my daughter."
While Shirou wanted to continue the argument on Fate's behalf, now was not the time. "Even if the Bureau doesn't approve of your method, there could be other ways of fixing this problem too." Shirou narrowed his eyes at the woman before he continued, "whatever happened at the plant, it affected you as well, didn't it?"
"So you've noticed, boy?"
"It isn't hard to tell," Shirou shrugged. "Your body looks unnaturally frail and your skin is sickly pale. There's also a bit of blood at the corner of your lips so unless you're some sort of vampyric race that I don't know about, you've been coughing out blood recently. Your magic also seems to fluctuate wildly; like you are losing control over it for some unknown reason."
"You are quite sharp for someone so young. But it matters not. All I need out of you is the Jewel Seed within your body and my plans shall be fulfilled!"
"And how would the Jewel Seeds even help? From what I've gathered, they don't have any healing properties and I really doubt any healing devices would require even a fraction of what a single gem."
The mad woman scoffed but decided to humor the boy anyway. "I'm going to rip open a dimensional doorway to Al-Hazard; a lost world known for its advance technology and magical applications. While most say the world was destroyed, I believe it is still out there."
"What if I said I have a way that might heal you and wake Alicia from her state?"
The question caught Presea off-guard. The woman narrowed her eyes at Shirou with a sneer. "What trickery are you trying to pull, boy?"
"No trick. I'm carrying an artifact in my body which may help both you and your daughter. It kept me alive when my Linker Core was corrupted by a foreign entity and later on purged it." While he did not know if it would work, Shirou had decided to use Avalon as a bargaining chip. He had a feeling that if he let Presea do as she pleased, the result might be apocalyptic. "You've said that Al-Hazard was supposedly lost, right? What if you can't reach it even with the Jewel Seeds' help? If my artifact works, you don't need to put Alicia in any more danger by ripping a hole in the dimension. I'll show you what it is if you let me loose."
Presea stared at the boy for a moment before she decided to humor him. "Fine then, boy. However, if you try anything, I will destroy you on the spot, understand?"
The binding spell holding Shirou's arms in place finally dispelled, letting the boy stretch out his sore limbs. "Loud and clear," he gave the woman a mock salute, causing her to sneer at his action. He ignored Presea's reaction, deciding to focus on bringing out Avalon instead. A frown made its way onto his face when he felt something off about the hallowed scabbard. In the end, he decided to simply manifest it to find out what happened.
What he got when the Everdistant Utopia appeared in his hands made him blink in surprise. Both ends of Avalon were encrusted in dark bluish crystal while the Jewel Seed that had entered his body was seen orbiting around the exposed area of the sheath. There was also a warm golden glow emitting from it, filling the entire chamber with its hallowed energy.
For the first time in years, Presea felt her mind cleared and her body rejuvenated.
"There doesn't seem to be an end to these sentinels," Chrono growled out as he launched another barrage of mana bolts at the oncoming wave of robots. "Every time we take one down, two more appears!"
"We need to deactivate the defensive protocol," Arf said while crushing one of the sentry's head with her fist.
"Unfortunately, we can only do so in the control center." Fate stated. While her mana level was still quite low, she had at least regained enough to cast an AAA-rank spell. Besides, the boy who helped her in her time of needs and stood up to her mother for her was in trouble.
"And the only way we can get there is if we clear a path through the guards…" Nanoha continued before letting out a sigh. Even though she was exhausted, her concern for Shirou made her push onward.
"It would've been easier if these things don't have an anti-magic force field around them. The ones further down the hallway looks a lot sturdier than the ones we are taking down too," Yuuno complained before looking over to the only adult that followed them into the rescue mission. Takamachi Shirō was the only person not having a hard time taking down the guard robots in the Garden of Time.
Kiritsugu would've followed them in this operation, but he didn't have much on him other than his Thompson and Calico. With a limited amount of ammo and lack of equipment, the Magus Killer decided to stay behind.
The archaeologist shivered when he saw the man simply slashed through a mana beam before bisecting another sentry with ease. How the man does this with a simple blade with no enhancement on said weapon whatsoever will forever be a puzzle for the young archaeologist. "Nanoha, your father is very scary."
"You've already told me that quite a few times, Yuuno-kun," Nanoha said with a giggle. Despite the tense situation, it was still funny to see the blonde support mage shivering in fear when her father pulls off inhumane feats. Turning to her fellow mages, the white-clad girl asked, "We should focus on making a path down the center. Chrono-kun, Fate-chan, do you think we can clear the way by combining three bombardment spells?"
Chrono paused for a second. "It is possible, but do you have enough strength to pull off an AAA-rank spell? Aren't you both still exhausted from your fight earlier?"
"I have enough to fire off a Thunder Smasher."
"And I can pull off a Divine Buster or two."
Both girls nodded at each other before looking back at Chrono. Replying with a nod of his own, the TSAB officer held up his Storage Device. "Aim for the doorway then. We're blasting our way through!"
"Dad, Yuuno-kun, can you buy us some time to charge up our spells?!"
Getting an affirmative nod from the two, the trio started charging up their respective attacks as the two continued tearing down the advancing forces. "Let's go! Zenryoku Zenkai!" Nanoha cried out as the three took aim, pushing as much magical energy into the spell as they possibly could.
"Divine Buster!"
"Thunder Smasher!"
"Blaze Cannon!"
The announcements of their respective spells gave enough time to alert the two holding back their enemies as they hastily leaped out of the way before three beams of pink, yellow and blue tore through the ranks of oncoming automatons and the wall on the far end of the hallway. The beam continued its way passed the control room, destroying everything in its path before blasting its way out of the Garden of Time.
Nanoha couldn't help but blink at the destruction they've brought forth. "Ano… do you think we've overdid it on our attack?"
The interdimensional fortress' warning klaxon going off was all the answer she needed.
Shirou couldn't help but let out a groan from his position, having lost his balance when the fortress shook and fell onto the floor. For a moment he had thought he could solve this case without any further complication. Apparently, he had been very wrong. 'Is my luck really that bad?' the boy couldn't help but think as he pushed himself off the ground. He had just started seeing signs of Presea starting to believe his claim before the situation went to hell in a handbasket.
Picking up Avalon, he turned his attention toward the recovering scientist. "Presea-san, what happened?!"
"The dimensional transfer device I was going to use to open a gateway to Al-Hazard must've been damaged!" the woman answered frantically. She barely kept her balance during the quake thanks to using her Device as a support. "The Jewel Seeds must be activating! If we don't seal them off soon, everything will be destroyed!"
The redhead couldn't help but palm his face in absolute frustration while cursing his luck. "We better get out of here while we still can then. It doesn't seem safe to stay here any longer."
Agreeing with what the boy said, Presea quickly detached Alicia's preservation tube from its stand, making it levitate behind her as they exited the chamber.
Shirou was quite glad that Avalon's healing properties had been increased. Apparently, with the Jewel Seed's help, the light emitted from the hallowed sheath would heal anything exposed to it. He could even feel his fatigue being washed away and his prana recovering at a faster rate than he thought possible. Even his Device, Blutroter Hüter, started flashing as it drank in the golden light greedily to aid its self-repair system.
Making their way into the control center, they were met with the five infiltrators. "Shirō-oji-san? Nanoha?" Shirou called out in surprise. "What are all of you doing here?"
"We are here to rescue you, idiot!" Chrono was the first to answer. "And what is that you're holding?"
The urge to slam his head into something hard due to frustration was beginning to rise again for the redhead. Gesturing to the sheath in his hand, Shirou replied, "It's something I had for over five years now apparently. I'll explain when we get back to the Arthra." Seeing Chrono nodding reluctantly, he continued, "While I appreciate your concern, I'm afraid to tell you that what you just did may have turned this problem into a full-blown disaster." Seeing the skeptical and worried looks on his companions' faces, he elaborated. "You damaged the thing Presea was going to use to open up a portal to some place called Al-Hazard. Now the Jewel Seeds are going out of control and if we don't do anything soon I'm guessing this place will collapse on top of us."
"Then shouldn't we get out of here as soon as possible?" Nanoha questioned.
Seeing everyone turning their attention to her, Presea answered. "If we leave things as they are now, the pocket dimension I've created would implode, causing the activated Jewel Seeds to explode. Even if it is only eight seeds, there is approximately enough power to destroy half the planet."
"Can't we just destroy the Garden of Time with one of Arthra's built-in weapons? A spaceship that size should have some kind of main cannon that can shoot down this fortress, right?" Shirō asked.
"There is the Arc-en-ciel, but I doubt we can use it since it destroys its targets by distorting time-space. The Jewel Seeds will most likely react badly to it," Chrono stated.
Another tremor shook the Garden of Time. "Standing here isn't going to help us. The Jewel Seeds need to be sealed before we can do anything else anyway, so our best bet is to get to them before any more damage could be done. Presea, could you please show us where they are kept?"
The scientist nodded before raising her staff. A magic circle appeared under the entire group before they were teleported into a cave-like room filled with stalagmites and stalactites. The Jewel Seeds were floating in the middle of the room while sending an alarming amount of mana through the air with each pulse. "We need to seal them off now! If this keeps up the Garden of Time will collapse!" Chrono yelled out.
Nanoha and Fate nodded as they quickly rushed the floating gems, only to be pushed away by an invisible force field. "Nanoha! Fate!" Shirou cried out in worry as he saw his two friends slammed into the stone pillars behind him.
"This is bad. The force field was created to contain the Jewel Seeds. It will take a considerable amount of power to break through," Presea explained.
Before anyone could decide what to do, the entire Garden of Time shook once more, causing everyone to lose their balance and fell and a few stalactites to drop from the ceiling. One of the loosen stones nearly speared Shirou on its way down, making the boy abandon Avalon in his panic.
"The sheath!" Presea cried out as she dived for it with the tube containing Alicia following closely behind her. It was at that moment that the floor cracked open, forming a wide fissure between the woman with her daughter and the rest of the group.
Chrono growled out in frustration. "Damn it! We can't reach the Jewel Seeds now! How are we supposed to stop it from going out of control?!"
Looking between the fallen group and the out-of-control gems, Presea made her decision. "Everyone!" she called out, catching the group's attention. "There is nothing left for you to do here. All of you should retreat back to the Bureau's ship. I'll seal the Jewel Seeds myself."
"What about you?!" Shirou shouted back. He knew there was nothing he could do, but he didn't want to sacrifice another's life just so he could live.
"Boy, just leave. You've done enough," the woman stated. Turning her attention back to the Jewel Seeds, she held up the hallowed sheath. "I will return this to you if we ever cross path again. And please, take good care of Fate for me."
Receiving the resolved look on the woman's face, Shirō sheathed his blade with a sigh and turned around. "Come along now. There is nothing else we can do here. We have already completed our objective."
Shirou would've retorted if it weren't for the glare his best friend's father gave him. Turning to Presea, he shouted, "I will promise to do everything I can to keep Fate safe! So come back to her as soon as you can with a fully healed Alicia!"
Presea snorted at the words from Shirou. "Don't worry. I have a lot I need to make up for. It's still too early for me to die, boy."
Seeing Fate looking at her with worry-filled eyes, Presea gave her cloned daughter a sad smile. "I'm sorry for the way I treated you, Fate. I hope you will forgive me someday."
Another tremor shook through the Garden of Time, loosening more stones from the cave's ceiling and completely blocking off the sights of the scientist. Fate could do nothing more than crying out for her mother.
"We need to leave now!" Yuuno stated as he erected a shield over the group. "This place could collapse on us any second now!"
Seeing as there is nothing else they could do, the team made their escape from the collapsing fortress.