Chapter 132: Why You Don't Betray the Canopy

Previously, on "Crowns of Thorns" . . .

"I'm the best at explaining so I'll explain!" Blanca snapped. "We found her in the street and she was mumbling and blocking my path and I was just going to leave her but then she said -"

"TF . . EI," Suou mumbled.

Smoke coloured a sickly pink shade rippled outwards, and her face disintegrated, revealing a metal mask with jagged eye holes. There was a massive crack running through Suou's face. A jagged gash that crossed from her chin to her left eye, before running across her forehead, with a metal plate joining the two broken halves together.

Ariel looked conflicted. TFEI were supposed to be indestructible . . Suou was damaged. Some kind of fundamental flaw in her design that was beyond repair, most likely. Was she so mistreated by the Canopy for her defect that she had been driven to betrayal? This was surprising . . this was unprecedented!

"Can't . . tell . . show," Suou mumbled. She took a halting step forwards, then another, making for the door with an unsteady gait.

"We have our mission, then. Follow the mysterious girl!" Alice smiled, determined, and took point, the other four members of the team falling in behind her.

-[CoT]-

"How much further is it?" Lync whined.

Suou had led the five Phoenixes across town to the train station and onto a train that had been just about to depart. They had spent all day and most of the night riding the train northbound across Fiore, through and around the mountains, before disembarking under the light of a weak, watery sun at a run-down station in the middle of, as Ariel put it, Nowhere, North Fiore.

"Actually, this region is called the Pathless Plain. It's a large stretch of farmland attached to the far side of the mountains in North Fiore," Alice perfunctorily explained.

"Hurry up," Totomaru had interrupted, gesturing to Suou, who was already exiting the train station, disregarding the established road and forging into the middle of nowhere.

That had been an hour ago, and they had been following her through knee-high grass ever since. And Lync was sick of it.

"Why do they call it the Pathless Plain, anyway?" Totomaru questioned. "We saw a road earlier,"

"At night, a fog rolls in. In the fog, it's easy to lose all sense of direction. You can be walking along a path one minute and lose track of all sense of direction in an instant," Ariel answered on Alice's behalf.

"I'm surprised you know that," the orangette offered the bluenette.

"I've been here a couple of times, on a job," Ariel didn't feel the need to add that the job in question had occurred before anyone present had been born. And also hadn't been Phoenix's Eye business but more of the immortal secret agent variety.

Fleur turned to Totomaru and signed something, which he repeated. "Well, Suou seems to know where she's going. So as long as we follow her it'll be fine,"

"You have Aluze, right?" Alice suddenly checked. Lync nodded, patting the pocket that contained his Mechanical Bakugan. "Always. Hydranoid?

"Haven't heard from him in a month," Alice admitted, looking glum.

"We'll be fine," Lync assured his girlfriend.

Meanwhile, Ariel was deep in thought. While on the train, she had hidden in the toilet and opened a call to the Data Overmind.

-[CoT]-

"You again?" Asakura had looked like there was a sour lemon stuck in her throat.

Ariel cut straight to the point. "There is a red TFEI traitor attempting to liaison with Phoenix's Eye and betray the Canopy,"

The psychopathic TFEI sat bolt upright. "What?"

"Impossible." Ariel suspected that nothing had ever gotten Cardinal's attention so quickly. "TFEI agents are hardwired to be loyal to their faction above all else. That is one of the primary reasons that the leader of the Canopy and I use TFEI agents rather than mortals."

"I am aware, sir. My first instinct is to expect her betrayal, however there is an extenuating circumstance to consider; TFEI Suou - I don't yet know her numerical designation," Ariel hastily added, "is defective. She has demonstrated irreparable damage to both her internal and external functions. I feel we ought to account for the possibility that her damage may have generated a programming defect,"

"It would be remiss of me to dismiss the possibility out of hand." Cardinal admitted. "Current status?"

"I am travelling with four other members of Phoenix's Eye; Lync, Alice, Fleur and Totomaru, to follow Suou to something that she wishes to show us," Ariel reported.

"Sounds like you're gonna die!" Asakura sounded far too happy about that.

"Be cautious. The initial events of the Tartaros arc are transpiring as we speak. This cannot be a coincidence." Cardinal informed her. "Maintain your cover. I will alert B/0297, she is active and will soon be available to assist you. Maintain standard procedure of only breaking cover if it will save the life of a Phoenix's Eye member. Other questions?"

"None, sir," Ariel nodded.

"Dismissed."

-[CoT]-

Presently, Suou led the five Phoenixes to a cleared area in the plain. The ground underfoot was bereft of grass and dry, but it seemed unremarkable otherwise. "Here," the damaged TFEI mumbled.

"What's here?" Ariel asked. There was a prickling on the back of her neck. She could sense extradimensional magic, but couldn't pinpoint it.

Suou raised a hand. "TFEI R/278. Requesting access to . ." she momentarily trailed off, struggling to get the words out. "Facility 8," she finally managed to mumble.

A pulse of red light appeared in the air. "TFEI R/278 recognised. Access granted," a voice spoke, and a glowing red doorway appeared before her. Red lines spread outwards from the door, curving and twisting, spreading upwards and downwards and forming the outlines of walls and windows. The holographic shapes gained form and distinction, resolving into maroon walls, building a large, circular building with three towers raised above the ground floor. Each tower was rimmed with a row of square windows that flickered with yellow light and projected a large letter 'R' onto the glass, but the central tower reached above the two that flanked it and its uppermost level billowed outwards like a mushroom.

The Phoenixes looked up in bemusement. ". . Okay," Lync finally spoke.

"So this is a Canopy bass of operations?" Ariel was ecstatic. This was a huge find; if Cardinal sent in a strike team of blue TFEI, they could discover all sorts of things about the Canopy and their plans. And with Full Revolution drawing closer with every passing day, they needed every advantage.

Suou traipsed in, the five Phoenixes following her. "Gauntlet, Power Strike," Lync activated the machine that boosted his magic.

"Canopy . . Tapes," the traitorous TFEI mumbled as they emerged into a large central room. The room had a large triangular pillar in the centre, and a door on both the left side and the right side of the building.

"Tapes?" Alice parroted.

"Recordings," Suou mumbled. "Knowledge of the days to come . . or a version of them," With her jerky motions, she moved towards the left door, making to open it.

There was a sudden mechanical whirring noise, and the triangular pillar began to retract downwards. Suou froze, not looking, as the top of the pillar reached the ground, revealing itself to actually be an elevator. "R/101 . . no," she mumbled loudly enough for everyone to hear.

Standing on the platform was a figure whose skin was bright yellow, almost golden. Unlike the other TFEI they had encountered, this one was making no attempt to appear human. His limbs were long and thin, with orange patterns on his shoulders and a four-pointed star on his chest. His face was flat, and painted with a circle that had three spikes at the bottom and an arrow pointing upwards at the top. His eyes were set into the left and right sides of the circle, glowing yellow rubies that had neither iris nor pupil, and a spike protruded from either side of his head, the left one curving up and the right arcing down, which combined with the circular shape of his head to resemble a spinning galaxy, frozen. "Oh, come now, Suou. Is that really a fitting introduction for me?"

"A TFEI?" Totomaru asked.

"That's Temporally Fluctuated Entity Interface to you, human," the golden TFEI spat. "I suppose I should not be surprised that a pathetic little glitch like R/278 is incapable of introducing me properly," He pressed a fist to his chest, and golden electricity burst outwards from his body, flashing and forming into two massive golden blades that sprouted from the floor of the elevator and framed his form. His eyes glinted with menace. "I am Lightning, First Lieutenant of the Sky Canopy Dominion! I am the flash that strikes down from the heavens to scour this world of the filth that has infested it so that it might become a worthy gift to present to our master! Grovel for your lives, you pitiful mortals!"

The Phoenixes were instantly on edge. They could tell from the radiating magic that this foe was powerful, significantly more so than Suou, or, indeed, most any enemy they had encountered before. And he didn't seem like he was going to be talked down.

"R/278," Lightning turned to Suou, who stood bolt upright, still looking away, as though her spine were suddenly being measured against a ruler. "You think you're so clever, bringing them to a disused base, to tell them our secrets,"

"You . . here - why?" Suou choked out.

"Clockwork expected this. He knew you were going to betray us. He planned for it," Sadistic pleasure oozed from Lightning's words. "Of course I'm here. I wouldn't miss the opportunity to punish you for this if it cost me my whole collection. Kill them," he gestured to the five Phoenixes.

Suou was still. It took her a moment, however she managed to wheeze, "But . ."

Lightning's eyes flashed red. "K1ll them," he repeated, more forcefully.

Suddenly the damaged TFEI span, and pinkish red crystal burst outwards from her arm. She lunged at the Phoenixes, bringing to bear a warped, twisted and swollen limb that crackled like carbonated water, with a fist reaching out towards Lync and a long spike growing out of her engorged wrist to impale Fleur.

Lync reacted. "Airnvention: Rockets!" he cast, blasting upwards to avoid the assault, while Fleur swept her rapier to deflect the strike.

And then Suou glitched. Her arm flashed with flickers of orange and purple light, passing downwards and partially phasing into the floor while simultaneously reaching upwards, before resolidifying a foot to its owner's right.

Fleur was suddenly deflecting in entirely the wrong direction, a mistake that cost her as the crystalline spike pierced through her left arm.

"Fleur!" Totomaru exclaimed as she silently cried out from the pain. In a flash he brought his fist down on the spike and severed it, an instant before it suddenly went upwards.

Turning their attention back to their assailants, they saw that Suou's ankle had swelled into an obelisk of pink-tinted crystal, lifting her high into the air, which would have been more impressive if not for how much she was wobbling.

"I've got this!" Lync shouted, dive-bombing Suou's support. "Airnvention: -" Unfortunately, whatever he was trying to cast would go unrealised, as Suou's leg spontaneously exploded, showering him with crystals and sending him crashing to the ground. Ethernano gushed from the crystalline stump, sending an electrical charge of glitched magic through the air.

Alice, who had been standing back from the fight, frowned, and a purple circle of Amaterasu Formula appeared in her hands. "This magic doesn't made any sense," she complained.

"I think that's the point. She's broken, so her magic doesn't work properly either. But it doesn't matter," Totomaru stepped forward and threw a globule of adhesive orange fire at Suou's exposed chest as she fell, hoping to knock her into the wall or floor. Instead, though, it washed over her, being sucked up by a burst of pink smoke before exploding out of her stumpy thigh and forming a new prosthetic leg.

"Nothing we do is making a dent!" Lync complained even as he wound up for another attack.

"Fleur! Buy me some time, I'm going to try Rainbow Fire," Totomaru commanded, and the silver-haired witch nodded. Luckily, the injury was to her non-dominant arm, and her rapier only needed one hand to use anyway. She swept her weapon outward and calligraphy painted the words 'PETAL SWORD STYLE' into the side of the blade, flower petals spreading outwards and cloaking her sword to let it grow to a giant size. The behemoth blade swept around in a colourful, aromatic wake, crashing into Suou's floating form.

A scream rent the air, and suddenly the TFEI was a beanpole whose feet and forehead were braced between the floor and ceiling, before snapping in half like a length of wood and crashing to the ground. Both pieces of her body promptly exploded into a cloud of coral-coloured glitter.

For the most fleeting moment, the Phoenixes exchanged grins, but the pink, fizzling magic that had composed Suou's body emerged, swarming towards them like an incoming fog of doom.

Behind them, Lightning laughed. "I suppose even that little glitch is good for something. Suffocate them!"

Lync and Fleur recoiled, retreating to where Alice was observing and Totomaru was building his strongest spell. Ariel, on the other hand, stepped forward. "Fountain!" she invoked, brandishing her fountain pen, and a wall of water appeared to shield her friends from the fog. Suou battered against the barricade as it spread upwards and outwards, but found herself unable to get through.

Ariel grinned. Cardinal might have ordered her not to use her TFEI powers except as a last resort, but she still had a few mundane tricks. "I can't hold this forever," she warned her fellow Phoenixes. "Make it fast, Totom-"

She choked on her own words as several thousand volts of electricity suddenly coursed through her barricade, lancing through her metal Holder Magic pen and into her body, a burn spreading across her arm. Twitching uncontrollably, Ariel collapsed, and the Water Magic disintegrated.

"Not bad," Lightning didn't sound impressed. "But you all aren't going to win this fight no matter what. Your lives are mere spectacles for my amusement. I won't have my fun delayed,"

"Ariel!" Alice shrieked, but Lync cautioned her. "We'll get her, we just have to beat these two,"

"There's a problem," Totomaru warned them both as Suou advanced. Coils of her smoky body wrapped around Ariel's prone form and dragged the unconscious girl with her. "I can't shoot Rainbow Fire with Ariel that close, she'll get caught in the blast," It went unspoken that, assuming she wasn't already dead, exposure to such magic might kill their guildmate.

Meanwhile, inside her own head, Ariel was fighting to move. Upon being electrocuted, her body seemed to have shorted out. Whatever Lightning had hit her with, it must have been an attack specifically designed to incapacitate TFEIs - she was supposed to be resistant to electricity. Had he seen through her disguise? Or was he just that indiscriminate with his spells?

"Then - then target him!" Lync's declaration was spur-of-the-moment as he gestured to Lightning, but even a mere couple of seconds' thought proved the validity of his suggestion. Lightning was obviously the bigger threat; furthermore, he was puppetmastering Suou. If he were taken out, they might be able to pacify the malfunctioning TFEI traitor.

Totomaru swivelled and prepared to release - until a bolt of electricity caught him in the face. "You are, of course, aware that I can hear you," Lightning pointed out in a silky tone as he stumbled backwards, losing his grip on the spell, which vanished in a flicker of colourful light. His head pounded, but he wasn't out of it yet.

Suddenly, Suou lunged, like a predator pouncing on its next meal, targeting all four arrayed humans with a powerful ground slam.

Unlike the others, though, Fleur had never taken her eyes off Suou. As she charged, the silverette brandished her rapier and the petals spreading from her arms and blade turned gold, spreading outwards into a wall. 'AEGIS OF PETALS' flashed down her rapier blade, and the pink smog met the wall of petals and wind, bouncing off once again.

"What did I say about delaying?" Lightning roared, gesturing with his hand and throwing a bolt of his namesake at the Phoenix.

He'd made a mistake, though. As a metal object, the voltage was naturally guided to the steel of Fleur's blade.

The blade that had left her hand and was flying upwards into the air.

Green petals exploded from her feet, and Fleur flew underneath the bolt of corrupt magic as it twisted unerringly towards her abandoned weapon, and red blossoms burst from her sleeve, spreading and swelling until her right hand was swollen to the size of a giant's. She twisted her body as she lunged, tucking her injured arm behind her and gritting her teeth to push through the pain. Her strike hit true, punching Lightning off his feet and straight into the ground.

Behind her, the rapier, glowing red-hot and crackling from the energy it had just absorbed, hit the floor with a clang. Fleur couldn't help herself, she glanced back to assess the condition of her most prized possession. It looked somewhat singed, but not much the worse for wear.

Her surrender to temptation, though, cost her. A corona of golden energy wrapped around her neck and lifted her into the air, restricting her airflow. The Phoenix's cheeks turned red. "You impudent human," Lightning growled as he levitated back to his feet, unrestrained fury painted over his face.

Ariel, even in her state of paralysis, couldn't help but roll her eyes. Was he seriously Force choking Fleur? This Lightning person was trying far too hard.

"Hey, Lightning," Heads across the room swivelled to focus on Lync. But he had changed, metal crossing his skin. His Airnvention: Plating was coming into full effect. "Eat this!" he roared, rocketing forwards and, like Fleur, punching him in the face.

However, this time the TFEI was ready. He raised a hand with the toughness of a mountain, effortlessly blocking Lync's attack. "Pathetic," he spat.

"We've got one word to say to you," Lync sneered.

"And what's that?"

Suddenly the boy reversed his position, soaring away and yelling, "Switch!"

Lightning realised a little too late that Totomaru had been building up Rainbow Fire again. With a roar, the Fire wizard released an inferno of multicoloured flames, blinding and roaring and focusing directly on the TFEI. Hope soared in the Phoenix's hearts; this was going to work -

A sword made of electricity batted the attack aside like a home run, sending it flying into the wall.

Magic crackled around the monster's eyes, and he looked around at the humans (and imposter). "I've had quite enough,"

-[CoT]-

"So, did Suou perform as expected?"

Lightning nodded to the man on the screen before him. "She was entirely predictable, master,"

"As expected. Do you have hostages?"

"Five,"

"Excellent. Bring them, and join me on Cube. Phoenix's Eye will undoubtedly aid Fairy Tail during the battle against Tartaros. I've put in a request for more aid from Red One, but I doubt it will be forthcoming,"

"R/004, if I may," Lightning frowned, and his superior raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Why are we bothering to help the demons? We know they failed in the original timeline. Furthermore, we TFEI are made of Ethernano. If FACE is activated, it will assure our demise as surely as that of the protagonists. I don't understand why we should help them,"

The man leaned forward, looking murderous and casting his gaunt face into stark relief. Clockwork gazed menacingly at Lightning. "Choose your words carefully, R/101. Are you saying that you believe maintaining your pitiful existence to be more important than fulfilling the D-eternal Directive?"

"No. Of course not," Lightning hastily shook his head. It wasn't that he didn't want the founder of the Canopy's mission fulfilled. Just . . he kind of didn't want it to be a suicide mission. "I just mean, surely there's a more efficient way of doing it,"

"There was. The Infinity Clock. But we know how that turned out, don't we?" Clockwork coldly replied. "We have a limited number of opportunities to fulfil his Directive. If FACE fails, the Fairy Heart will be the only known remaining opportunity. We are not going to abandon this mission because you'd rather not die," Scorn dripped from his words. "FACE may be the least efficient method, but it will still sow sufficient chaos. Let the Etherious have their fifteen minutes of glory. They're powerless to stop D-eternal,"

"Yes, master," Lightning nodded, pretending to look ashamed. "So you are certain that we cannot expect assistance from Red One?"

Clockwork sighed, looking discontent. "You know how fickle she is. She wouldn't even permit R/054 to aid us. I understand future-proofing, but does she really think two and a half TFEI will be enough for this mission?"

A frown crossed Lightning's face. "Maybe she doesn't. Maybe she's confident enough in her ability to obtain the Fairy Heart during the Alvarez arc that she's willing to sabotage our operation to get you out of her way. You are his favourite. I doubt she likes that,"

"I wish I could say with certainty that you're wrong," the more human-looking TFEI shook his head. "Well, there's nothing we can do. After all, we have another advantage over Phoenix's Eye,"

Lightning frowned. "What's that?"

A sadistic glint entered Clockwork's eye. "Regykraeon,"

A/N

A/N

Clockwork's back! And we have ANOTHER new TFEI! Those of you who are fans of Yu-Gi-Oh might recognise one of the main villains from VRAINS, Lightning!

What? Ariel can Storm Access. Really, you should have expected this. Besides that, I just thought Lightning's near-pathological hatred of humans would be an interesting dynamic to add to a red TFEI. Don't worry, with Lightning the TFEI lineup for this arc is complete. No more new characters. Unless I'm lying. :P

If anyone's curious or wants to get a better idea of what the Canopy Outpost looks like, I based it predominantly on the Rainbow Rocket-ified version of Festival Plaza from Pokémon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon. So just imagine that but bigger and more symmetrical. Peace!