There were many sentient races in Mundus Magicus – Yue was friends with members of many of them, and at least partially acquainted with several more.
Their 'friend', as Yue had occasionally thought of him, was one of the less common ones.
The hood fell away to reveal a face that was only vaguely human. It was as if somebody had removed the skin from a person's skull, if a person's lower jaw made up half their head. Teeth wrapped around his head, and above the empty space where nose should have been were a pair of solid red eyes. He had no hair, just a pair of horns that twisted and curled around from the back like some sort of natural crown. "Not what you were expecting, human?" The unmasked demon hissed.
"Sorry," Sonoda replied, "I left my prayer beads and crucifix back at home." Then he threw a grenade at him.
The concussion grenade landed right between the fiends feet before detonating. Sonoda didn't bother waiting to see the effect before he unshouldered his shotgun and started firing. "You better be almost done!"
"Ten more seconds." Yue replied.
"Any weakness's on these guys?" Sonoda quickly asked as he continued to fire into the cloud of smoke. The occational hissed curse let him know he was still aiming in the right direction.
"Magic tends to do fairly well." Yue replied as she quickly began to finish up. "Kinetic weapons tend to be fairly ineffective."
The smoke chose that moment to finally dissipate, revealing the fiend battered and his cloak ripped and torn, but apparently none the worse for wear. "Now you tell me..." Sonoda grumbled. The fiend charged forward, and Sonoda raised his shotgun again.
Click
Sonoda cursed at the empty shotgun as he scrambled to reload as what might have been imminent death approached.
Sonoda crammed the shells into the gun as the blackened wooden staff came swinging down toward his head. Sonoda braced for the impact, quickly working out his next move, assuming he managed to survive.
The expected blow never came. Instead, there was a resounding crack. Sonoda glanced up to see the staff blocked by another staff, one that looked more familiar. "You know," The fiend jumped back as Yue stepped in between him and Sonoda, her staff held in front of her. "You really shouldn't attack my friend like that. It's bad for your health."
"Not you again." The fiend hissed. "Still think you can take me on?"
"I don't think so," Yue replied as Sonoda got back onto his feet behind her, "I know so."
"You know that secret weapon you were holding on to?" Sonoda whispered to her. "I think now would be a good time to try it."
Yue reached into a pocket and pulled out the vial. "Agreed." she popped off the cap and downed the contents.
At first, nothing happened. Suddenly, Yue flinched as ethereal flames began to curl off her as they seemed to envelope her. The vial tumbled from her hand, before crashing to the ground and shattering.
Yue shot forward before the vial could even finish disintegrating, after-images floating in Sonoda's vision as Yue's staff swung at the fiend's jaw in an upper cut fast enough to whistle. The fiend's head snapped back from the blow and he stumbled back a few steps, before he stopped. "Well, well," He muttered as his head snapped back into its usual position with a series of cracks. "it seems you've copied some of my toys."
"Shut up and fight, bone face." Yue replied as she swung her staff around.
"So be it." The fiend raised his own staff, one of his bracelets glowing before he shot forward, staff-point first.
Yue parried, sidestepping the strike as she sent him flying past her. "Sonoda!"
Sonoda stepped in to his guard, shotgun raised as he pulled the trigger. Slug rounds pounded into the fiend's face before taking a shotgun stock to the chin and staggered back, straight to where Yue was waiting.
"For so Kratika..." An arc of lightning shot out of her staff and sent the fiend flying, crashing into the console she had been working at just a minute ago. The console sputtered and sparked like a cheap sci-fi prop as it died from the impact, their assailant crumpling into a heap as Sonoda lept back to regroup with Yue. "You alright?"
"He managed to miss." Sonoda replied as he reloaded his shotgun. "Is he down?" His reply came from their attacker staggering back to his feet, glaring at them as several of his bracelets began to glow. "guess not."
"Just means we need to hit him harder." Yue replied, giving Sonoda a quick glance. "How many rounds you have left?"
"Not enough." Sonoda replied. "And all the grenades I have left are flash-bangs or smoke. I didn't think I'd need anti-tanks mines for this."
"Leave this one to me." Yue replied. "Just keep corralling him toward me and make sure he doesn't get any backup."
"I can do that." Sonoda replied. "What are you going to do?"
Yue grinned. "Hit him harder." Then she bolted forward again. Her staff cut through the air and straight at their opponent's head. He responded just as fast as her, his staff swinging up to block hers as both of them rapidly incanted. An explosion of sparks and fire erupted where the staffs met.
"Holy..." Sonoda said under his breath before he dashed off around the edge of the fight. The guy might be bulletproof, but Sonoda was willing to bet they still stung like hell.
Meanwhile, Yue found herself at an impasse. The potion was, for the moment, working marvelously – she was faster, quicker, and stronger than she could remember ever being. As great as the boost was though, her opponent was still keeping up with her. She could chant faster then him, but he had his additional artifacts to compensate. Her spell bolts were blocked by shields that seemed to manifest almost instantaneously. Counter-spells took pot shots at any gap in her defenses. She needed an edge.
Luckily, she had a spell for that.
Yue pushed back against him, opening up their distance for just a moment. But a moment was all that she needed. "Me Armet!" Yue shouted as he charged back in, staff swinging down at her head in a finishing blow.
The staff found itself stopped inches from its target, blocked by staff and sword. "Of course," he hissed, "The Knight finally reveals her sword. It will do you no good – surrender."
"I was about to ask you the same thing." Yue said back with a grin before kicking him square in the chest.
Her opponent flew backward into a nearby column, black cloak billowing around him before he crashed into the stone with a crack. Yue didn't let up though. She charged forward an instant after he hit the pillar, sword raised and ready to strike.
He looked up an instant before she stuck. The air hissed as her blade cut through it and the stone, the column sliding in half. But Yue was already whirling, for her target had already moved.
She caught him arcing over head, his inhuman leap sending him through the air to land behind her as Yue spun to face him. "Stupid girl," He hissed. "You can't-"
He was cut off as a burst of fully automatic fire slammed into the side of his head. He spun, throwing of an ball of fire at where the attack had come from, but Sonoda was already moving again. "You insolent little-"
He was cut off as he duked back, missing a blow from Yue's sword that would have sliced him in half otherwise. He hissed something else as Yue pressed him harder and he found himself back-stepping while forced to parry or risk losing portions of his anatomy.
"You can't take me without your toys," Yue taunted him as she pressed her assault with both sword and staff, bolts of lightning arcing in between sword blows. "And you can't take on both of us at the same time."
"Then I'll just kill you one at a time!" He snarled as he lunged forward in a fresh attack. Yue sidestepped the attack before launching a counter-attack of her own. He was getting angry – which meant sloppy.
He recoiled again as another bolt of lightning crashed into him. He lowered his staff and began to chant but was interrupted as another burst of gunfire from Sonoda peppered him with bullets. He spat out another string of what were probably curses as he tried to keep track of two separate targets, but it seemed Yue was right – he just wasn't up to it.
Yue and Sonoda watched as their opponent was forced further and further onto the defensive, and they just pressed their attack harder. Sonoda's gunfire was now nearly continuous, and Yue continued to send bolts of electricity along with rending bursts of concentrated wind at their target, who was now hunkered down underneath a translucent bubble shield as attacks came from two sides.
Sonoda, however, was moving a fair bit faster than Yue. Slowly, Sonoda began to close on Yue until they found themselves almost next to each other.
Which was just their opponent was waiting for.
Another of his bracelets flared before his shield suddenly folded over on itself and coalesced into tight ball before shooting at them. "Sonofa-" Sonoda cursed as he saw it before pushing Yue out of the way.
The sphere of condensed energy detonated as it impacted Sonoda square in the center of his combat vest, a massive plume of dust and smoke forming as a couple of the smoke grenades on his vest detonated in secondary explosions. The explosion had enough force to send him flying backward into a nearby wall before crumpling into a pile at the base. "Sonoda!" Yue shouted.
"Sonofa-" Sonoda groaned as he rolled over. "Okay...that hurts..."
Their opponent chuckled. "And now there is only one of you." He rose to his feet, staff held out in front of him. "What will you do now, Ministra Negi?"
"Right..." Yue's grip tightened on her staff before she turned and bolted toward the gate. She could hear him cackling behind her as he shot after her. Yue shot a few spell bolts out behind her, but she couldn't take time to aim and all her shots went wide. For the moment though, she wasn't trying to hit him. She just needed to stay ahead of him a little further.
She was half-way across the chamber when she felt her leg's beginning to slow. "Oh, not now." Yue groaned as she could feel her booster potion starting to wear off. She had the feeling she wasn't going to enjoy the crash afterwards.
With her pace slowing, her opponent quickly started to close ground. She was just steps from her goal when she felt the staff slam into her back. The air rushed out of her lungs as blow knocked her from her feet, sending her tumbling across the stone floor before she skidded to a stop. Above her, the World Tree glowed and pulsed. "You silly girl." He chuckled as he slowly paced across the space between himself and Yue. "You thought that you could take on the likes of me?"
"Think?" Yue replied as she slowly rose to her feet, wiping away a bit of blood from her lip as she grinned at him. "I'm pretty sure I just did."
"Your sole trick has run its course," he hissed. "You are bleeding and broken. Even your little police friend has been laid low. Your backup cannot reach you and you are cornered. Yet you still have the gall to assume victory?"
"A few points of correction." Yue replied as she held up a finger. "One – That wasn't my only trick. Two," She held up another finger. "I'm still standing, which is more than can be said of most of your goons. Three – Sonoda performed flawlessly. Five – you assume I'm the one that's cornered." You leaned on her staff jauntily as she gave him a smile she had learned from a friend – it was perfectly tailored to annoy people. "You talk like you are some big bad. I've seen big bads – I've fought them. I've watched my friends hoist them by their own petards . You aren't even a blip on the radar, ugly."
"And you cannot count." He growled back. "You forgot four."
Yue's grin widened. She wasn't one for theatrics usually, but sometimes it was just so much fun. "Point four is simple." Yue pointed above them as the surrounding magic apparatus began to spark. "Who said my backup can't reach me?"
There was a crack of thunder as space was ripped, two disparate points connected through the sheer force of magic. An an instant, what had moments ago been empty space was suddenly filled with scores of heavily armed mages that quickly descended on the site.
Yue's opponent back-pedaled at the scene. "Impossible!"
"Not if you reprogram the system controls." Yue replied smugly. "Give it up now and you might get a nice prison cell in Megloambrisia."
He replied with a piercing shriek before charging at Yue, any precept of technique forgotten.
He made it maybe a half-dozen steps before a young winged woman in a suit and armed with a sword crashed into him feet first. "Glad you could make it, Setsuna."
Setsuna pushed an errant strand of black hair back as she gave Yue a small smile. "Glad you survived until I could. Did I interrupt something?"
"Not really," Yue replied as she got back to her feet, dusting herself off. "Now, if you excuse me I need to check up on my backup." Yue made her way over to Sonoda, who had already dragged himself into a seated position and was now watching the small army of mages fanning out. Most were making their way through the stone monoliths and into the rest of the facility while a few seemed to be documenting the contents of several crates still lying about. "So," Yue asked as she came to a stop in front of him. "How are you feeling?"
"I think I hit my head harder than I thought." Sonoda replied. "Because I could have sworn I just watched a really hot chick in a suit with bird wings drop kick our ring wraith."
"She's taken." Yue replied simply as she offered Sonoda a hand.
Sonoda gratefully accepted to offered aide. "Lucky guy." He quipped as he got to his feet.
"Not quite." Yue replied.
"Not quite what?" The two of them turned as Setsuna spoke up. "How's your friend doing?"
"He'll live." Yue replied. "Let me introduce you – Setsuna, meet Inspector Sonoda from the Mahora Special District Office. Sonoda, this is Setsuna Sakurazaki of the Kansai Magic Association." Yue turned to Setsuna. "How is Konoka, by the way?"
"Busy, as usual." Setsuna replied. "You know how she gets though every time I have an assignment like this – I swear, she'd probably tie me to the bed if she thought it would stop me." She turned back to the Inspector. "Sonoda, was it? I believe I met you at-" She paused as she saw that Sonoda had sudden frozen up and as now gaping. "What's wrong with him?" She asked as she turned back to Yue.
"Just got the punchline to a joke." Yue replied. "He'll be fine in a minute. So, think you could help us with our paperwork?"
The next hour was spent rounding up the lackeys and getting them to the surface as discreetly as possible. Yue took a deep breath as she finally stepped back into the open air. They had come out about a block from where they started, part way around the World Tree at the edge of another public square. Kuzunoha, along with a gaggle of police that had cordoned off the most of the square, were already waiting for them. "So, did things go well?"
"If you can call a killer headache, bruised ribs and getting your general ass kicked 'well'," Sonoda replied. "then yeah, sure – it went well."
Kuzunoha shot him a glare before turning to Yue. "The killer has been apprehended." Yue said simply. "His gate system is getting dismantled as we speak and all of the contraband transferred."
"Excellent." Kuzunoha gave Yue a small bow. "The Mage Association thanks you for your aid in this matter- your payment has already been transferred." She rose and turned to Sonoda. "As for you – Yue seems to trust you, and if how you look is anything to go by you know how to handle yourself. My organization requires a contact within the SDO for matters such as..." She gestured at scene around them. "...this."
"Would I keep working with Ayase?" Sonoda asked.
Kuzunoha arched an eyebrow. "Perhaps. Why?"
"Better to work with the witch you know, as they say." Sonoda replied. "I thought this was a temp thing with her though."
"It was." Kuzunoha replied before turning back to Yue. "If you are going to continue this sort of work, you will need a licence."
Yue raised an eyebrow. "A license?"
"A private detective license," Kuzunoha replied. "you do intend to continue your work, don't you?"
"...perhaps..." Yue replied, but to frank she had little idea of what else to do. The last few days were the first ones that felt truly productive to her in quite a while. "I do have other job opportunities you know."
Kuzunoha gave a bark of laughter. "You mean those teaching arrangements made through miss Miyazaki? Hardly the most rewarding of activities after your illustrious career."
"Maybe I like teaching." Yue suggested.
This time it was Sonoda who laughed. "You were teaching before this? No wonder you looked miserable when we met. Happiest I've seen you was back there fighting ugly, so unless one of your students is going to be a vampire or something..."
"We could use somebody like you, Ayase." Kuzunoha said. "Things become more and more chaotic with every passing year. This isn't the first case to catch the attention of the mundane authorities, and I doubt it will be the last. And – as rude as this might be to say – finding somebody else the Chief will actually allow on a case is likely borderline impossible."
"I'll think about," Yue said noncommittally. "In the mean time, do you think you can help us explain all of this to the police?"
The next couple of days were occupied by a mixture of debriefings, paperwork, and finally getting her apartment unpacked properly. The Chief had not been very happy with the report they had ended up giving them – it was annoyingly short on specifics and had the phrases 'classified' or 'redacted' far too many times for his taste. Yue had the feeling though that the part that annoyed him the most was that the School had decided to transfer the suspect to 'Outside Authorities'. "What the hell is this crap!?" He demanded as he read that section of the report.
Yue gave him a shrug. "He was apparently wanted in his home country so the extradited him." Two days after the bust and most of Yue's injuries were treated and now nothing more than minor discomforts. She found that a combination of good rest and the lack of the specter of a killer hanging in the air removed a great deal of the foreboding nature that office had given off previously. That the Chief didn't seem bent on peeling Sonoda's skin off with a carrot peeler also helped.
"Trust me Chief," Sonoda chimed in. "It's better this way. This guy was completely outside our pay level."
the Chief turned and glared at Sonoda, his mustache twitching. "Since when did I ever trust you, Sonoda?"
"You keep assigning me to cases, don't you?" Sonoda replied with a shrug.
"Because despite every reason to the contrary you actually get results." the chief bit out. "It also seems that Miss Kuzunoha left a glowing recommendation letter for you based on Miss Ayase's opinion of your conduct. Frankly, I find that unbelievable. As for you, Miss Ayase," his expression relaxed as he turned to Yue. "Kuzunoha recommended I keep you on retainer in case of any other...interesting cases the Dean ends up taking interest in. I much as I hate to admit it, she probably has a point on this one. Even if only because it will stop her from trying to strong arm the SDO any more."
"I still have paperwork to complete first, sir." Yue replied politely. "I can file the relevant files with your office once those are complete – until then my special consultant information should suffice; none of it will be changing anytime soon."
"In that case, dismissed." The chief said before picking up the report again and leaning back in his chair with it. The message was clear enough; he was done with them for now.
"Well, that was the strangest assignment I've ever had." Sonoda said as they stepped out of the station and into the late evening sun. "Now, if I recall, I owe you a drink."
Yue raised an eyebrow. "I don't remember that."
"I'd be dead if it wasn't for you." Sonoda replied as he patted her on the shoulder. "For that, I owe you a drink. Come on – I know a good place."
The place in question was down a flight of stairs into the basement of a weapons shop a few blocks from the station. A sign over the door showed a blue roman numeral two on a black background. "Welcome to the Blue Two." Sonoda said as he opened the door.
The inside was dimly lit by a smattering of bulbs hanging low over the tables, none of which matched each other or their chairs. The floor was wood, well cared for and well worn by the traffic of a thousand pairs of shoes. Most of those tables were occupied by one or two people, most of them nursing drinks. What was most eye-catching though was the décor spread out across the walls.
Pictures, some of which looked like they might have dated back to the fifties, hung along side items such as yellowed wanted posters, handcuffs, billy clubs, patrolman caps and uniforms of past ages. A few revolvers hung among them, as well as a couple of swords. "A police bar?" Yue asked as she looked around from her spot part way down the stairs.
"The best in town." Sonoda replied as he continued down the steps. "It used to have a different name – don't remember what. It's gone through a few of them from what I've heard. Not that most people who go here bother with the name." He glanced back up at Sonoda. "You coming or not?"
Yue finally down the stairs again, following Sonoda to one of the booth's before he disappeared toward the bar. He returned a moment later after Yue had taken her seat, sliding into the seat across from her and sliding a glass filled with amber liquid to her. "One drink, a promised – I hope you like whisky."
Yue accepted the glass, taking a sip. "Ah – Nikka single malt?"
Sonoda grinned as he took a sip of his own. "You know your whisky."
Yue took another sip with a shrug. "I know my drinks."
"Well then, I think a toast is in order." Sonoda looked at his glass thoughtfully. "Any suggestions as to what?"
"Hrm..." Yue considered her glass for a moment before raising it. "To Mahora."
"To Mahora." Sonoda echoed before adding with a grin. "When the going gets weird..."
"The weird turn pro." Yue completed, clinking her glass to Sonoda's before taking a drink. "Still," She said as she lowered her glass back to the table. "There is one thing that has been bugging me."
"What's that?" Sonoda asked.
"Well," Yue started. "We know the guy was transporting magical weaponry through the gate."
"Yeah," Sonoda nodded. "So?"
"So," Yue replied. "Who was he selling it to?"
Sonoda froze as he tried to think of an answer but found that he was trouble thinking of one. "You said that there has been a lot more illegal traffic from the other side, right? Maybe he was selling to them?" Even as he said it, it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself then Yue.
"Not with that scale of an operation." Yue replied. "It was possible he was moving them out of the city and transporting them further abroad, but the Mage Association hasn't had any pings on their intel networks about anything of that scale. The last time anybody had this level of mage weaponry in the mundane world was during the martian invasion."
"Which wasn't really a martian invasion." Sonoda replied as he took another sip of his whisky before adding. "Well, sorta."
"That's not the only issue." Yue continued. "The other question is who was his partner selling too?"
Sonoda looked between her and his drink for a moment before lowering back to the table with a sigh. "You are a complete killjoy, you know that?"
Yue shrugged. "Sorry. I just wish I had thought of this sooner."
"Well, we'll find them." Sonoda replied confidently as he finished his drink.
"How can you be so sure of that?" Yue asked.
"Because we're the good guys." Sonoda replied. "And you can throw lightning and have a big honking sword. We win and they lose – that's how it works."
Yue leaned back in her chair. "Do you really believe that?"
Sonoda stared into his now empty glass. "I want to. I really do."
"You can't save them all." Yue said with a shrug.
"We can try." Sonoda replied. "Which reminds me – what was all that you told the chief about you still having to fill out paperwork? I thought you had been working on that stuff since The blonde lady with the sword gave you a job offer."
"I still have to file some more papers before I'm allowed to do official work just yet but otherwise I got my provisional license today." Yue reached into her coat and pulled out a small laminated card, sliding it across the table to Sonoda.
Sonoda picked it up and gave it a look over. It had Yue's photo along with most of her personal information along with the seal of the Mahora Academy District. "That was pretty fast."
"Already being cleared by the police helped." Yue replied. "And Kuzunoha might have called in a favor for me."
"You licensed to carry?" Sonoda asked as he slid the card back to her.
"Firearms?" Yue replied. "No. Magic?" She gave a small grin. "Quite. The paperwork for that was even longer than the paperwork for the Investigator License."
"Mages doing paperwork," Sonoda chuckled. "Who would have thought."
"Worlds come and go, but bureaucracy is eternal." Yue replied.
"So, what are you going to do now?" Sonoda asked. "Go work for Kuzunoha?"
Yue shook her head. "I think I'll stay freelance. Given everything that has been going on in town I should have no lacking of clients."
"What are you going to do?" Sonoda asked. "Get a ad in the phonebook that says 'mage for hire'?"
"Not quite," Yue replied as she took at out sheet of paper and slid it over to Sonoda. "This was what th Mage Association signed off on."
Sonoda picked up the sheet and read it over. "Yue Ayase - Private investigator. Lost items found. Paranormal investigations. Consulting, advice, reasonable rates." He raised an eyebrow. "No love potions, endless purses, parties or other entertainments?"
Yue shrugged. "They sort of insisted on the last line. Given this town, I'm not really surprised."
"But you can't really make love potions," Sonoda replied before adding "...right?"
"Not legally," Yue replied with a shrug. "No."
Sonoda facepalmed. "So, this is what you want to do? Investigate?"
"I want to help people." Yue replied as she rose to her feet. "And for once I want to do it on my terms."
"I know some PI's." Sonoda replied. "Said more-or-less the same thing. They don't make much, even in a town with as much strange to look into as this place."
"Good thing I'm not trying to make it rich." Yue replied.
"They said that too." Sonoda said with another sigh. "So, any way I can contact you? The office does have you on retainer now."
She replied by pulling a small business card from her pocket and laying it on the table. "That's my number. If you need anything, just give me a call."