The thirty sixth chapter of the "Bureau agent Potter" is here! Enjoy!
* Review Response:
god of all, davycrockett100, Jose19, roughstar333, vampireharry the 2, Ranmaleopard, ultima-owner, Penny is wise, PhosphorusLucina, jgkitarel, thank you for your reviews, folks!
Paxloria, do note that everyone but Reinforce (who's technically immortal) aren't even out of their teens yet. And even if they are fighters for the Bureau, for the most of them the death isn't something waiting just behind the corner. Thus, knowing that Alicia's days are numbered also painfully reminds them about their own mortality. Still, I understand what irks you about that scene.
Impstar, no promises.
ShugoYuuki123, Nanoha is now quite guaranteed to make more or less full recovery. Though it will still be some time before she's allowed to return to active duty. Alicia... Well... She might be able to find her happiness.
Bonestar, thank you for your kind words.
Guest, while it wasn't stated directly in the story (but you can view circles' images through my profile), Harry's magic is NOT Al-Hazardian. There are no pure Al-Hazardian mages in this story (yet), but Alicia is an Al-Hazardian/Mid-Clidan hybrid now. As for writing a small arc about Harry's magic... That might work, but I have no ideas what to write in it yet.
* AN: Damn... It has been what, three months since chapter 35... And I can't even make a legitimate excuse for taking so long to write this chapter beyond not having even a hint of inspiration. And I still have no idea where to take this story next... Thus, I'm placing it on a hiatus. Hopefully, it won't last forever...
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" or "Mahou Shojou Lyrical Nanoha". No profit is being made. The same goes for the other books, anime & manga I may or may not use for ideas.
"speaking"
"telepathy"
'thinking'
"spells"
「Devices speaking」
written messages
Bureau Agent Potter
chapter XXXVI: Princess Alicia
A week passed since Harry and co returned to Mid-Childa, but the adventure they've gotten into during their 'eventful' vacation off-world wasn't quite over yet. While the curse Alicia had been subjected to was broken, everyone agreed that its inactive fragments that remained inside her should be removed as well. And the sooner the better. Thus, Reinforce was currently collaborating with the Bureau's Magitek Research Department in hopes of finding a way to remove those last bits of the curse from Alicia.
The said blonde, meanwhile, was getting used to living again. And, once she became fully accustomed to her now-teenaged body, she began spending her days getting to know people around her. Of course, most of the tie she was hanging around her sister, but had also dropped by the Yagami-Potter household several times as well: she wanted to be friends with everyone who had played part in saving her. That said, Alicia definitely was showing more interest towards Harry than she did towards anyone else, even Reinforce and Hedwig.
And the young man in question wasn't oblivious to this. He, however, had other and more important things to worry about right now. First and foremost, with Hayate-chan once again attending her classes at the military academy, he was the one babysitting little Lutecia most of the time. Then, he also had to show up at his work place at the Investigator Department's archives once in a while... And when he wasn't otherwise occupied, Harry tried his best to help Reinforce out with her curse-breaking task. Yet, even with his help, the Al-Hazardian magic was proving to be quite difficult to deal with.
Finally, he was also worrying about Megane-sensei – the hospital was yet to inform him that she was brought out of her healing coma at last. Hopefully, though, the doctors were just being cautious and didn't want to wake her up before they were sure there would be no unexpected complications... At least, Vita-chan's reports on how the phoenix tears were miraculously improving Nanoha-chan's condition solaced him a little.
So, yes, while the young Potter did notice that Alicia seemed to gravitate towards him whenever she and Fate-chan stopped by his home, he didn't pay it much mind at the moment. After all, it wasn't like this caused him or anyone else any real problems...
Another couple of days passed, and finally some good news came. For one, the eggheads at the Magitek Research Department decided that they had enough data on the curse to try and develop a procedure for removing its remaining fragments from Alicia. Of course, it would still take them some time to get all of the necessary preparations done, but it was a start...
And later on the very same day Harry received a message from the TSAB HQ hospital telling him that Mrs. Alpine has finally woken up. That certainly raised the green-eyed investigator's spirit, even if the doctors were asking him to wait a little before paying his mentor a visit. Something about her needing a bit of time before she felt quite herself after her near-death experience.
Of course, the green-eyed teen would rather visit her as soon as possible, but perhaps this actually was a blessing in disguise. This way, he could bring Lutecia along without a problem and, gods know, that little ball of sunshine really missed her mother. After all, real loving family was something he could never replace, no matter how much he tried...
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"Good morning, sensei." Harry greeted as he stepped into Megane's ward at the TSAB HQ hospital. And even though it was clear to him that the phoenix tears had improved her condition greatly over the past days, it looked like the lavender-haired summoner still had a considerably-long road to recovery ahead of her.
"Mama!" Lutecia, who rode in Harry's arms, cried out happily as she tried to reach for her mama with all of the energy and power of an eager child. He held her down for the moment, though.
"Lu-chan!" He chastised her softly. "Didn't I tell you that your mama is still healing and you should take care not to hurt her?" He asked.
"Yes, papa." The girl replied, some of her earlier enthusiasm disappearing from her voice. Still, once Harry let her down, she moved to her mother's side as fast as a two-years-old could. Meanwhile, Megane couldn't help but raise her eyebrow at the way her daughter addressed the green-eyed teen.
"Papa?" She asked while caressing her little princess who was snuggling against her side.
"Uhm, well..." Harry doddered, embarrassed by the question. "She just randomly started calling me this after a couple of months." After making a short pause, he added: "And certain someone decided that she should follow the example." He said, while playfully glaring at Hedwig, who was perched on his shoulder.
"I have absolutely no idea, what you are talking about, papa." The miniature girl retorted, while putting her tongue out at her lord. Megane let out a small giggle over that exchange.
"Either way." She spoke. "Thank you for taking care of my girl, Harry-kun." As the young Potter gracefully accepted her gratitude, the lavender-haired knight continued: "Speaking of which... What happened to Pierre? Or Quint-chan? Or..."
"I'm sorry." Was all that Harry could say in response to her question.
"I see..." Megane said with a deep resigned sigh, her eyes suddenly full of tears. "I kind of knew... that something was up... when the nurses didn't say... they ever visited me... But..." She sobbed. "But to have my guesses confirmed... It hurts... right here." She said, placing her hand over her heart. And as Harry was about to say something, she continued, her voice gaining some of its usual strength back: "Don't worry,.. I'll manage somehow and carry on." This was followed by a long and uneasy silence. Eventually, Megane decided to break it: "So, Harry-kun, what's going on in the big world these days?" She inquired.
"Well..." Harry began while thinking about which of his recent adventures he should narrate to his sensei. "How about I tell you a fascinating story of two sisters getting reunited?" He asked finally.
"Do I know either of them?" The pretty summoner asked back.
"I'm pretty sure you know Fate-chan." The green-eyed teen replied. A moment later he corrected himself: "I mean, Ms. Fate Testarossa, of course." His mentor raised her eyebrow.
"Isn't she a daughter of Precia Testarossa?" Harry nodded. "Hm... Wasn't that woman's ...uh, original daughter dead for nearly quarter of century?" Megane asked, confused. Indeed, until she appeared right before him and his friends on the non-administered world #97, the young Potter and everyone else believed Alicia to be dead for years.
"Turns out, not quite." He replied.
"Oh my." The lavender-haired knight said then. "This gotta be quite a story then."
"It is." Harry confirmed. And after a moment of silence, he began recounting those events – well, an edited and whitewashed version of them at any rate – to his mentor...
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It came as quite a surprise to everyone that the staff of the Magitek Research Department managed to piece together a method for removing the curse's fragments from Alicia in just two weeks. If this didn't make it clear how ingenious and capable they were, then, perhaps, nothing will. Still, Harry was sure that much of the credit for this accomplishment should be given to Reinforce: after all, it was her who provided the research officers with the data they needed to make this possible.
Unfortunately, it was entirely up to the department's administration to decide when the actual curse removal will be taking place. And, of course, they somehow managed to pick what felt like the worst day and time possible...
To begin with, Fate-chan had an appointment with her mentors at the Enforcer headquarters early in that morning – probably something to do with her prolonged academic leave – and thus she couldn't be there for her sister during the procedure. Hell, she couldn't even take her there!
Meanwhile, Harry and Reinforce were tied up by their respective divisions' businesses from mid-morning onwards. Thus, while they could escort Alicia to the Magitek Research Department, they most likely would be unable to see her back home afterwards. Of course, that wouldn't be much of a problem if everything passed over nicely but... Who knows what state the poor girl would end up in should something expected happen during the curse removal?
Alicia herself, though, appeared to believe into research officers and trusted them to make sure she suffered no ill effects from the procedure. And, while she certainly was rather upset that her dear sister couldn't accompany her that day, she didn't let it get to her and saw this as a chance to get a little closer to her new friends instead. Well, just her prince charming, seeing as he was only one escorting her; he let his silver-haired lady go about her own business...
Several hours later, Harry was sitting in his office at the Investigator Department Archives and trying to turn the stocktaking paperwork he had to fill in into ashes with his glare alone. So far, his morning chat with Alicia has been the highlight of the day and, for whatever reason, his gut feeling was telling him that dealing with these accursed forms wasn't the last of his troubles for the day.
Unfortunately, this feeling was proven to be right when worried Fate-chan called him, saying that she couldn't find her sister anywhere nor could she reach her through her device. Something must have happened to Alicia! And since he was currently bogged down by the bureaucracy, Harry couldn't even help her in person... That, however, didn't mean he couldn't do anything at all to help her: he still had a few friends in the Magitek Research Department who could lend Fate-chan a hand in finding her suddenly-missing sister.
"Sorry to bother you, Kyoko-sensei." The green-eyed teen said as he rang up his one-time mentor and the woman who helped him adjust to the life here, on Mid-Childa. "But I need you help."
"Something's happened, Harry?" She asked in response.
"I'm sure, you've probably heard about the curse-breaking procedure taking place today?" He began from afar, trying to gauge just how much she knew about this all.
"The one for young Ms. Alicia Testarossa? Yeah, what about it?" Kyoko asked in return.
"It seems that she went missing sometime during or after it." Harry said. "Her sister says that she can't find here anywhere and that she doesn't answer any calls to her device." This was followed by a rather lengthy pause, before the device meister spoke:
"Well... There isn't really all that much I can do to help, but... I'll look for her." She said. "Can you give me their numbers so that I can try reaching them?" The green-eyed teen nodded.
"Of course; sending you the data." He said. "And, thank you, sensei. I owe you one." After making a short pause, he continued: "If the situation isn't resolved by then, I'll join the searches in maybe half an hour. Still have a ton of damn stocktaking papers to fill in..." He added, while sending a death glare at the aforementioned spawns of hell lying on his worktable.
Of course, it took Harry a little more than half an hour to finally deal with the goddamned paperwork, but that changed nothing as Alicia still wasn't found yet. Her device, however, was: it was lying abandoned in the very laboratory where the curse-removal procedure was supposed to take place.
Furthermore, with some help from the department's security, Kyoko-sensei managed to determine that Ms. Testarossa wasn't inside the tower anymore. Yet, there also were no records of her leaving via any of the public entrances. And since she knew better than to drop off the map in case something bad enough to make her flee via magic happened, that possibility could be discounted as well...
That, unfortunately, left a kidnapping as the next most reasonable explanation for Alicia's sudden disappearance. Which meant that the things got really serious now and the law enforcement should be called immediately. And while they were waiting for the police to arrive, Harry and Fate, now acting in their official capacity of Bureau-certified investigators, continued looking for any clues that could shed some light on what had happened there and, hopefully, would let them find Alicia.
Understandably, though, sitting here in the laboratory and trying to divine the perpetrator of the crime and his motives was not very helpful in locating and freeing the missing young lady. Thus, the young Potter decided that the search for Alicia should be conducted simultaneously as well. And who could be better suited for such task than the most powerful mage in existence?
Even with all those limiters on, Reinforce still had enough power to cover hundreds if not thousands of square miles with Wide Area Search or some other similar spell. Alicia herself also wasn't exactly hard to find this way, despite being only slightly above average in terms of magical power: it was the uniqueness of her magic that made her stand out. Indeed, there was high chance that she was the first Al-Hazardian mage in several millenniums!
And, luckily for the young Potter, his silver-haired lady was both willing and able to help him out with this one.
The next half an hour was a rather arduous for those at the Magitek Research Department. Even with the help of the police almost no useful evidence was found. They also had no prominent suspects at the moment as pretty much everyone had some sort of an alibi. And, as the result, Harry and co weren't getting any closer to finding and rescuing Alicia...
Thankfully, the day was saved when Reinforce got on for the contact and announced that she managed to locate the missing Ms. Testarossa: her kidnappers have taken her to one of the satellite towns some twenty miles away from Cranagan.
Not wasting any more time, Harry, Fate and a couple of police officers teleported away using the coordinates the Lady of the Blessed Wind has provided them with. And a few moments later they found themselves standing in a small driveway on the edge of the town, right in front of a normal-at-the-first-glance house. Reinforce was there as well, and she looked ready for battle.
"Is Alicia-nee-chan here?" Fate asked.
"Yes." The silver-haired lady confirmed with a nod. "She's being held in a shed behind this house." After a moment of silence, she continued: "There is a barrier around the property. It is a fairly quite weak one, but whether we dismantle it or breach it, the kidnapper will know we are here the moment it goes down. Whatever your plan is, you'll have to move fast."
"Understood." Harry said, before adding telepathically: "Thank you, Rein. We owe you." After a few moments, he spoke aloud again, addressing everyone: "Any ideas on how we should proceed?"
"Is there anyone else, besides my sister and the bastard who dared to kidnap her here?" Fate-chan asked. Reinforce shook her head.
"If there is anyone else, I can't detect them." She said. And given that it was all but impossible to hide from her senses when she was actively looking for something, everyone concluded that the silver-haired beauty was right, and their only opposition here would be Alicia's abductor.
"Then, perhaps, we should opt for a frontal assault." The blond enforcer-in-training said after a second or two of thinking. "It will give our opponent the least time to muster his defense."
"Agreed." One of the policemen said once he finished communicating with his superiors. "That seems like our best bet in this situation."
"Alright then." Harry spoke as he activated his flight spell and rose a couple of feet into the air. Next to him, Fate-chan did the same. "Do the honors, Reinforce?" He 'asked'. The silver-haired beauty nodded and raised her hand, preparing to overload the barrier around the property.
"On three." The Lady of the Blessed Wind said as a Belkan triangle blossomed to life under her feet. "One... Two... Three!.." She counted, before releasing a powerful magical pulse that shredded the barrier's spell matrix, causing the whole thing to collapse a moment later.
And as soon as that happened, the two youths darted inside, covering the distance to the shed where Alicia was held in a matter of seconds. And some flimsy wooden door wasn't going to stop them: in a blink of an eye Fate cut it into pieces with a few well-placed slashes of her scythe... With the door gone, the two of them advanced into the shed.
They weren't quite ready for what they found inside: a self-built laboratory a lot like those found in the old movies about mad scientists. And the centerpiece of that whole ensemble was a large scanner, to which unconscious but otherwise unharmed Alicia was affixed spreadeagled.
"Surrender peacefully, and you will be..." The enforcer-in-training began the standard speech, was quickly interrupted by her sister's captor – whom Harry finally recognized as one of the research officers who worked on the curse-removal procedure.
"No! No! No! I'm not letting you take her away!" The man cried out as he positioned himself between the Testarossa sisters. "This girl is the key to understanding the secrets of Al-Hazard! Just t-think of all the advancement we can make if we study her! W-Why does no one understand this?! Why-..." His further rant was interrupted by Bardiche's blade appearing a mere inch away from his throat.
"I strongly suggest you rethink your intentions towards my sister." Fate hissed at him, her voice laced with barely-controlled anger.
"B-But the scientific benefits..." He tried to protest hysterically.
"Are off the table." The blonde cut him short. The man definitely didn't agree with that. To the point where he tried to assert his point of view with force. Understandably, that didn't work; Fate had him knocked unconscious before he was able to even raise his fist. "Take him away." She said then, addressing to the police officers, who had finally reached the shed.
As the defeated kidnapper was dragged away, the enforcer-in-training turned her attention to Alicia. At a glance it didn't look like anything bad had been done to her sister, but she wouldn't be able to rest until she was completely sure. Reinforce was quick to notice that and was already scanning the unconscious girl for any recent injuries... And after some twenty seconds, she was ready to set Fate-chan's worries at rest:
"Your sister appears to be fine." She said. "Also, her sleep appears to be magically-induced and not caused by soporifics." The younger Testarossa girl nodded as she let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness!" She breathed out. After a few moments, she spoke again: "Alright! Let's get nee-chan out of here!" She then dithered a bit. "Ah... Could you lift the sleeping spell, please?" She asked the avatar of the Tome of the Night Sky pleadingly. The silver-haired beauty simply nodded in response and then used her powers to undo that piece of magic. And while she did that, Fate-chan dealt with binding spells that kept Alicia affixed on the examination table.
With no magic forcing her to remain unconscious, it took Alicia no more than a minute to wake up. And as she did, she quickly noticed that she no longer was inside the Bureau's central offices. She was also quite sure that the shed she was in didn't belong to some hospital either. So, something must have happened, she concluded – ans that something was not of a nice kind... At least, the presence of her dear sister and her friends meant that whatever had happened to her was now over and she safe.
And so, as soon as the last of her drowsiness went away, Alicia went to thank her saviors. She started by giving her sis a big warm hug while whispering words of gratitude to her. Next, she gave Reinforce and gave a hug as well. For her Prince Charming, though, she had something else in mind... Approaching Harry, who was expecting a hug, she surprised him – and everyone else – by giving him a long and quite adult kiss instead.
"Ahem!" Fate-chan coughed into her fist as she tried to get her sister's attention. And while that worked, it looked like Alicia didn't quite get the reason why she got drawn out.
"Mhm?.." She 'asked'. "You want one too, sis?" Not even letting her sister to thrust in a word, she continued: "I know you're beautiful and all – you are me, after all – but,.. Well... I'm not really into girls." Making a short pause, she then added playfully: "But, if you insist, I'm sure we can give Harry-kun a show."
That's all folks!
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