Author's Note: Deep apologies for the delay. A combination of unfortunate accidents (I had some remarkably bad fish) and unexpected factors (admission issues and such) meant that I wasn't able to focus on the chapter as much the past week, which is incredibly irritating. Thanks for everyone's patience.
5.2
I kept my face carefully blank as the pair leaned forward, interest glued to the screen and the blinking figure of what had to be the Einzbern Servant. Their reactions served to accentuate the pair's concerns perfectly, an interesting dichotomy that underlined their respective interests. McRemitz's visage seemed to almost bleed with concern, a frown creasing her face as her eyes took in as much of the screens as possible. Lancer's, by contrast, seemed largely disinterested with the information available to him. Instead, his eyes were set straight against the blob of magical energy settled into the ground floor, a representation of Berserker that nearly compassed Lancer and me; if one were to disassemble the two of us into our constituent magical energy, we likely wouldn't hit even half of what that monster down there was capable of.
To be fair, I was basically limping and half-dead at this point, so that wasn't exactly a fair comparison to make. Not that equity had anything to do with the reality of the situation; I doubted that Einzbern would be particularly concerned with how 'fair' the fight would be if she decided to obliterate us after all.
"That's a Servant, isn't it? Is it him? I bet it's him." Lancer remarked, jittery with excitement. It was actually somewhat jarring; for all that the man was obviously bloodhungry, he seemed relatively calm the vast majority of the time. Now, with the promise of another round with Berserker on the table, he seemed barely capable of keeping himself under control.
Such a concern wasn't lost on McRemitz, her irritation apparent as she narrowed her eyes at the Servant. "So eager to die, are you?"
"Everyone has to at some point." He noted, shrugging off McRemitz's concern, which amusingly enough seemed only to irritate her more. "Besides Miss Caster over here, I wouldn't mind dying to Berserker. He'll be a good fight, of that much I'm certain. It'd be a worthy death."
Curiously, the irritation on his Master's face turned to anger for a moment, before sublimating to something cooler, more disdainful. At least on the surface anyway. "How do you even know that's him? That could be someone else's Servant; I doubt anyone could have survived what you did to the docks, assuming you were right about the Master being there."
"Oh, I was." Lancer nodded, backing away from the monitor for a moment. One hand reached up to his jaw, miming some injury he'd suffered at Berserker's hand. "That bastard practically kicked me into the pacific as soon as I threw my spear. Then, instead of chasing after me and tearing me limb from limb, he retreated. His Master was there, I guarantee it."
His gaze returned to the screen, before he shrugged. "Which means I failed. That sucks, I guess."
It was possibly the most insincere thing I'd ever heard from him, and McRemitz seemed not to share in his humor. "...I'll have to apologize to Father Kotomine for your incompetence then, all that collateral damage for nothing."
"Not nothing, Master." Lancer grinned. "It was a great fight, I don't think I even landed a scratch on him."
A beat, before the smile grew conniving, nearly malicious. "Though if I recall, wasn't it you that gave me the order to blow up the docks? I was pretty happy just duking it out with Berserker you know, yet as a good Servant must, I had to obey my Master's orders. In which case, you'd be the one that had to apologize to him, no?"
"I….if nothing was done, you'd have gotten yourself killed you dolt."
Their conversation slipped through my focus as I considered the familiar in my pocket. When I'd left Einzbern's presence the familiar had stilled, the little avian construct shifting into something resembling a hibernation state without the presence of its Master. It had thus remained so, indistinguishable from a pretty set of jewelry or particularly clear glassware until Berserker had arrived mere moments ago, whereupon it had come to life.
I doubted that anything I'd done immediately after the docks would have greatly upset Einzbern, even presuming she had a way to follow me after my flight from the docks. Hearing my conversation with Saber would have shown that I'd maintained my promise to her, that I hadn't hurt Emiya as she'd insisted. While somewhat sensitive, my conversation with Kotomine would have likely been protected; irritating through the man may be, he wasn't incompetent. If a familiar had somehow managed to sneak into the Holy Church's environs, slipping past the chambers into his most private dwellings, he would have known about it and countered its effect. Presuming it could even survive what with the Church's defenses. There was an old sort of power in that place, something that made my spirit flinch away in unconscious revulsion. I doubted that a simple familiar would be sufficient in defeating that power so easily.
On the other hand, the attack on the Tower was more uncertain. Galliasta had installed certain defenses within the Tower, and while I was largely focused on maneuvering around the more obviously….verbose precautions with my attack, a lot of the more inconsequential ones likely would have been destroyed during the attack itself. Things that weren't quite important then, but were certainly important now, such as privacy charms or whatever they were called. I was uncertain as to their integrity, and thus their overall performance for the moment, which meant whether Einzbern could or could not listen in on us was just up in the air right now. I certainly didn't have the time to go through every inch of the affected floors to figure out what had and hadn't been destroyed, and while I could feasibly bring Lancer and McRemitz to a more secure location to talk, doing so without telling them why was awkward. The control room was the nerve center of the Tower, and allowed us to observe the surrounding environs and coordinate with Galliasta's, mine now I suppose, kill teams. Suggesting that we pop over to the cafeteria to chat was….stretching one's imagination.
The threat of Einzbern having heard me, and making moves based on my loose tongue, was still a potential danger though. What had Einzbern heard, if anything? Would it have been sufficient to push her to some stupid, impulsive, decision? Almost certainly, considering that she would have been willing to assault me on neutral ground for hurting her brother. I couldn't discount the fact that the girl had some degree of cold-bloodedness within her either, she'd tortured that man substantially, only making a move when she was positive she had all the cards. Practically speaking, if I was in her position and had access to the same tools she did, I would have ensured that my familiar would have remained as silent as possible. What use was a spy in drawing attention to itself after all? Now that the damn bird was beginning to flutter in my coat, it was likely that Einzbern had already made contact with it, which meant that whatever was going on now may be subject to hear eavesdropping.
I couldn't help what I said before, or if she even heard anything over the alarms and defenses, but I could still ameliorate the situation somewhat. If she was listening in to our conversation right now, then my advocating for a more passive response would surely be welcome, wouldn't it? It would be somewhat difficult to justify towards McRemitz and her hound, but I did say that we would only make a move with Tohsaka on our side. In a very real practical sense, attacking Berserker with our current strength would only get us killed. Surely even Lancer would recognize that, and if I could get him to agree then that meant I could likely influence McRemitz away from an aggressive posture for this fight.
"Very well." I nodded, backing away from the monitors for the moment. "What with our current resources, I think that-"
"Hellloooooooo! Can you hear meeee?"
I felt myself still, the familiar, girlish, voice echoing from my coat pocket, only slightly muffled by my coat. The conversation behind me ground to a stop, Lancer and McRemitz's lively little argument petering out as I felt their gazes settle in my direction. My mind raced, going a million miles a minute, though every thought running through my head told me that I could not look back, that to do so would be a grave, foolish, mistake.
"What was that?" I heard McRemitz remarked, and I closed my eyes. I fought them before, literally just had a few moments ago, and if worst comes to worst I could do it again. Both of them were proven close combat specialists, and while I wasn't bad with that if push comes to shove, I wasn't so idiotic as to believe I could compete on that level without something tilting the odds in my favor. A straight fight wouldn't be pretty, and it certainly wasn't likely to pan out as a win on my end; it'd probably end up more like a fighting retreat through the Tower itself. I had access to its innate defenses now, I could reasonably delay and isolate them within the building, minimizing any potential damage to myself.
I paused, took a deep breath, and reconsidered the situation. If I could have, I would have congratulated Einzbern's expert maneuvering of the situation. If she'd overheard our conversation and realized that Lancer and I were collaborating? Setting us against each other would be a masterful move, eliminating two enemies with minimal investment on her part. Admittedly, I was likely overreacting. The pair behind me probably wouldn't strike at me without further proof, so if I just smothered the damn bird before it could say anything truly incriminating, I'd be just fine-
"Is that- what are those things?"
It took me a moment to realize that they weren't directing their attention to me, or to the familiar that was still so persistently trying to acquire room for itself in my coat, only the sheer size of my apparel and the relative darkness of the control room shrouding the bird's efforts. I opened my eyes again, more out of confusion than any form of relief, only to be blasted by the strange sight ahead of me.
On the screen, at the very outskirts of the Tower's range, were multiple contacts. Brimming with power, they flitted in and out of detection radius, too numerous to possibly be a Servant, too quick and agile to be aerial mages. As I watched the screens, they formed into a larger pattern, drawing in closer to the Tower and triggering even more of our proximity alarms. The sensor spiked for a moment, a minuscule amount of mana thrumming through each object multiplied by the sheer number of them circling outside.
Again, I heard her voice. Multiplied by the presence of her familiars, the blaring of the alarms, and what remote microphones were still transmitting after the recent destruction. The voice echoed out, surrounding and suffusing us with the emanations of her servants, utterly impossible to ignore.
"Well, I'm gonna presume that you can. Hear me, that is." Einzbern drolled, disdain and irritation evident in her voice. The familiar within my coat echoed her words once again, but even with my enhanced hearing, it was near impossible to pick it out from the multitude of voices that the rest of her birds were giving off. Nonetheless, I stepped closer to one of the few remaining functional speakers still present, the better to mask the sound. "Did you think that you could hide from me, how foolish!"
Sounds behind me, and as I turned around I noted that McRemitz had gone closer to the screen, eyes glued on to the three-dimensional map of the Tower. Lancer opted for a more direct route, walking off to stand by the shattered remains of the window, the faint glittering of silver lights in the distance, like shards of broken ice.
"Honestly, so foolish! To think, that you'd be so foolish as to try to kill me! Well, you've made a grave mistake! The gravest mistake you and your Servant were ever gonna make for the rest of your life!"
…..ah, well that was good. If her arrival here was less due to my own actions and due to the battle from earlier, then it was a great weight off my shoulders. At the very least, it meant that I had some options, flexibility that would allow me some degree of control over how this scenario would resolve itself.
Again, Einzbern spoke. Her tune slipping, the disdain passing some ephemeral, difficult to see threshold, that turned her words from scornful to petulant. "I mean honestly, what was that even? An Anti-Army Noble Phantasm? Against me? Really? I'm a little girl you idiots, you should be treating me with more care!"
Though…..perhaps it was the fact that, at least for the moment, I wasn't quite in danger from Einzbern's temper and was rather in the rough vicinity of it, but I couldn't help but appraise her approach. Speaking from a completely objective standpoint, she'd done well at the beginning, what with the use of her familiars to set the scene and a fairly solid opening remark, but she'd floundered in her follow up. Presumably, she'd been boiling in irritation about having been attacked for the past few hours, and had been thinking about how she'd approach her revenge, only for her to get carried away a little and start complaining.
It was a problem of her circumstance really; there was a certain degree of acceptable cadence for what you'd need to really intimidate someone, and that range was greatly reduced if one was a young girl. One had to have constant control over themselves at all times, the fact that a child's voice tends to inspire a degree of fear more in line with an irritated pup meant that steps had to be taken to ensure one's natural tone did not bleed into the conversation. A degree of energy and excitability could be excused when deliberately intimidating someone as dangerously manic energy, but not in her case.
"So it seems like I'm going to have to show you, people, some manners, and prove to you just how fearsome the wrath of the Einzberns are! We do not forgive, we do not forget! You're going to pay for this!"
She just had too much of it, that excitability of her's, and it undermined the entire intent of her speech. She was trying too hard now, the voice too energetic and excitable to really fit something intend to show any degree of scorn. If I was in her position- well there was quite a lot of things wrong she did so far, but if I was her I would have leaned in towards appearing as little like a child as possible. I'd relied on that a lot when I was alive, the contrast between my childlike appearance and displays of maturity leading towards a degree of intimidation that was rather effective, all things considered.
That being established, any slip-ups on your end could be leveraged as part of the intimidating, disquietingly uncharacteristic slips in an otherwise fearsome persona. That distance between childlike and otherwise was the most useful thing really, if the opposition could barely see your actions as that of a child, then the very act of talking and speaking in one's normal voice would be sufficient for intimidation purposes. You wouldn't need anything overly dramatic on top of that; worst, going down that path was likely to backfire if you didn't know what you were doing. I'd done it enough times that it had become second nature to me of course, and while televised media hadn't quite there yet when I'd been an active combatant, I'd utilized the principles I'd learned in my youth often enough…..
Often enough….
I choked on my saliva, and it took a moment for me to gather my thoughts and recover, a slip that briefly caused McRemitz to glance at me in concern, though I didn't really pay much attention to her confused look. The girl's seriousness at the beginning, the imperiousness, the threats, surely she hadn't been trying to copy-
"If I was a less magmanaymous persona, I'd have Berserker climb that silly little thing and tear you all out of there!" She intoned grimly, butchering her pronunciation with glee. "But I can be kind and understanding too! I'm giving you…."
Her voice tapered off here, the girl's murmuring indiscernible, before spiking up again as inspiration suddenly hit her. I brought both hands to my face, the better to block out the blaring lights of the command center as I felt a headache coming on as I began to understand what she was trying to do.
"-fifteen minutes! No, twenty minutes!" Einzbern squealed, a most unthreatening sound. "You have twenty minutes to get out here and face Berserker, or he's going to tear down that building brick by brick! See ya then!"
Her purpose thus completed, the fragile shell of intimidation she'd employed cracked open to reveal the carefree child buried beneath. The familiars retreated, sensor array data showing the aerial contacts withdrawing beyond their effective range. The klaxons continued to blare on regardless, Berserker's figure not moving a single inch, apparently content with waiting by what appeared to be the Tower's entrance. A few taps upon the console had the alarms wind down, set to alert us the next time an incursion would come within range, but keeping Berserker well within sight of our systems. His figure maintained a crimson aura, throbbing with danger, but otherwise unremarkable for now.
Silence fell between the three of us as order was restored. Lancer was the first to break the silence, walking back into the room with an amused grin on her face.
"That's a memorable one." Lancer chuckled, shaking his head in amusement, drawing his Master's ire. He didn't seem to particularly mind. "I almost feel bad throwing my spear now. I'll make sure she'll be more acquainted with me personally, it's what she wanted right?"
McRemitz narrowed her eyes, suspicion flooding into her glare. "Lancer?"
"Yes, Master?"
"A thought occurred to me just now. I know you couldn't possibly, possibly be that idiotic, but I have to ask for my own peace of mind."
He grinned. "Alright, go ahead and shoot!"
Somehow, at the Hound's excitable behavior, I had the premonition that I knew exactly what McRemitz was angling towards. I felt the slight throbbing sensation at the sides of my head intensify, and I resisted the urge to massage at it with my hands. The Enforcer stared straight at Lancer, nearly dissecting her Servant with her gaze alone, before letting an explosive sigh.
"You didn't deliberately let yourself be followed after the operation earlier, did you?"
It was a reasonable thought. As far as Lancer and McRemitz were aware, their one and only interaction with the Einzbern Master consisted of blowing up every square inch of ground that she could have reasonably resided in a few hours ago. They couldn't possibly know that I'd talked to her earlier, or that we were on relatively friendly terms. I wasn't about to tell them that though; doing so would drastically reduce the flexibility on what exactly I could accomplish with the current situation. After all, as much as we'd come to a tentative alliance once more, they had been trying to stab me a few minutes ago. For all that the challenges interacting with the Einzbern would likely involve, they hadn't tried to kill me yet.
Lancer blinked at McRemitz's words, seemingly surprised, before a mischievous grin replaced it. "Oh Master, ye of little faith. To think that you would doubt your loyal, unfaltering, Servant like this-"
"Just answer the damn question."
Laughter now, before Lancer stepped forward, settling on the chair that Galliasta had been occupying not too long ago. He leaned forward, elbow to his knee, like some lounging predator, resplendent in his own territory.
"I'm not gonna lie and say that I ain't happy about it. Berserker's fun, and fighting him twice in a row's gonna be great, no matter what happens. His Master too for that matter." He shrugged. "But that she found us isn't good, I gotta admit. It means the girl's got some ways of tracking a Servant's movements somehow, with either the idiocy or confidence to make use of it, though maybe she just has good instincts. Coming up here and challenging us isn't exactly smart, but she picked the perfect time to hit us; neither of us are fresh, now are we?"
He was staring at me now, a canny look in his eyes, before I acquiesced with a short nod. "The Tower is likely under surveillance. Hours had passed since your fight, and she's only made a move now. Odds are good that they saw us fighting and decided now was the time to strike."
"Or they saw you bombarding the building with your soldiers." McRemitz remarked, which I responded to with a shrug.
"Same difference, in the end."
Lancer continued. "So the timing's off if we wanted to win this. But the fact that she wants to fight us here? Well, that's definitely a good thing, wouldn't you agree, Caster?"
Eyes glance over to me, and I considered my words for a moment before acquiescing. "True enough. If we had to fight Einzbern, the Tower's the ideal place to do it."
It was the center of my power after all. Beyond the fact that Galliasta's defenses were still active and keyed in to defend us, in both the physical and metaphorical sense, the Tower was now my Domain. I'd made it my Territory in conjunction with my Master's agreement, and had essentially taken it over once I'd neutralized Galliasta himself. There were other places less integral to the war effort, outposts and the like, that we could have lured Einzbern to in order to enable a war of attrition, but I wouldn't be able to leverage quite as much of our resources onto an enemy there. In addition, if for some reason we failed and lost the Tower, I would still have those resources to fall back on if necessary.
"I don't suggest we immediately engage her," I noted, keeping my tone steady and considering. "Neither of us is at our best right now, if we can somehow avoid a fight through diplomacy then we absolutely should. If we can have her align with us, then even better."
"She'd be a fool not to press her advantage." McRemitz snorted. "If she's confident enough with sending Berserker in here, that means she doesn't consider Lancer to be that significant a threat. The best he could do is probably delay, which'll last only as long as it takes for those two to blow up any battlefield they're on."
Lancer scoffed, a hint of irritation. "Harsh words Master, but you're probably right. Unless of course, you'd like to give me some help-"
"No."
"Ah well, worth a shot."
"Is he that powerful?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me. "Berserker, I mean?"
The other Servant's eyes lit up, as it often did with anything battle-related. "Oh man, you should try to fight him Caster, he's a riot. I thought that summoning me was pretty impressive, but that the Einzberns got Herakles-"
"Hercules."
"Whatever." Lancer brushed the correction off, much to McRemitz's annoyance. "Yeah, the fact they actually managed to summon him? Amazing. Spectacular. I'd suggest you go toe to toe with that one, at least once. This entire war is worthwhile for him alone."
For a moment, I thought back to the brief contact I had with Einzbern's Servant. Berserker's long, wild, mane, the near-superhuman figure, the clothing he wore- yes, I could certainly see Berserker as Herakles. Along with that conclusion came a shiver of dread- Lancer himself was a capable combatant, more than my equal in close range combat. That he was capable of delaying Herakles himself was more an indication to his own abilities than anything else; I did not relish having to fight that monster, I'd do anything in my power to delay or avoid that matchup, if at all possible.
That the Einzbern summoned him of all people though, was more a testament to the strength of the three families more than anything else. The Matou summoned Alexander the Great, the Einzbern summoned Herakles- what, was Tohsaka's Servant someone equally outrageous, like Odysseus or something?
…..but still, our situation was bad. It wasn't untenable though, and with McRemitz and Lancer on my side, it meant an opportunity available to me that I didn't have before. Certainly, the fact that neither of them was actively trying to kill me was a step up from our prior relationship.
"How frightening," I said finally, much to Lancer's amusement.
"Oh yeah, you wouldn't believe it." He grinned. "Man's as huge as a mountain, sword as big as my-
"We're wasting our time with this nonsense." McRemitz interrupted. "If you really have to boast about your fights, do it when we're not on a time limit."
Lancer laughed. "Ah but that's half the fun in a fight anyway! But fine, fine."
She rolled her eyes, muttering something foul under her breath, which only inspired more laughter, before turning her gaze to me. "So. What's your plan, Caster?"
I blinked at that. "My plan?"
She shrugged. "It's only been a few days since the war started, but I spent maybe half of it unconscious. You've been the one out and about making deals and plots, so you have a greater understanding of the strategic landscape than I do. Plus, you're the one that got us all into this mess by doing….whatever it is you did to Galliasta in the first place. It stands to reason that you wouldn't have moved without at least some idea of backup plans and all that; judging by your own legend and all. What was it again, 'through the Holy Kaiserin's sight, all things are made manifest', or something like that?"
This was an….interesting development, I suppose, but I couldn't help but give her a less than friendly look at that quote. Really, what kind of tripe had she read about me? "Apologies for the skepticism, but considering that you were at my throat mere moments ago, this sudden….outporing of faith, is somewhat surprising. Suspect even."
"Father Kotomine vouched for you," McRemitz remarked easily, as though saying that settled any doubts, instead of flaming my own towards her own character. "As far as I'm concerned that's all the proof of good faith I need. If you need proof of my own, then ask what you want. I'll strive to meet your expectations."
….that wasn't quite the sterling recommendation that the Enforcer evidently thought it was, but as far as ensuring her compliance went, that would suffice. It was a good reminder though, that as much as she was cooperating now, her fidelity to Kotomine made her a liability to me.
"Very well." I began, the bird still stirring within my coat coming foremost to mind. "Let's consider the following-"
I sighed, collapsing onto the nearby seat as I felt Lancer and McRemitz leave the floor. Credit where credit was due, of all the people I knew in this war, they might well be the most straightforward people to coordinate with, which may or may not be a fairly depressing thought, all things considered. Saber wouldn't have been caught dead in that room with me in it, Rider might not have sat still long enough for us to get any work done and I couldn't imagine what Archer would have said. Those two, at the very least, had listened fairly attentively as I spoke, the only interruptions from them being their own input on the matter. It was a fairly pleasant experience, though cooperating with a professional always was.
It was a pity though, in an ideal world, the combination of Einzbern and McRemitz on my side would be a fearsome combination, more than capable of clearing through the rest of the war with minimal issue. I wasn't entirely certain of Berserker's combat capability beyond his ability to butcher mages, but it was bound to be substantial. Lancer had apparently engaged him, only to find that Berserker was too much even for the Child of the Eire. Otherwise, he'd not have been ordered to blow up the docks in an effort to kill his Master.
And therein lies the problem. The fact that he'd laid a hand on Einzbern meant that the chances of an official alliance between the three of us were on life support. All things being equal, if I had to pick between the two of them, I'd obviously side with Einzbern, but I'd regret not making even a token effort at keeping such an alliance together. The possibility of the three of us acting in tandem to quickly win the war was too intriguing an idea to dismiss out of hand, and I'd commit to at least trying to see the possibility through, though I'd have to be cognizant at what point such efforts would be a waste of time.
This wasn't even considering the fact that it wasn't so much that I convinced McRemitz to stand by the alliance, and more the fact that she was Kotomine's man through and through, and he'd all but ordered her to stay allied with me. Even with all the advantages she'd possess, her ultimate loyalty being to Kotomine made her continued allegiance suspect as a result.
Another sigh, someone wearier and more frustrated than the last. Beyond the mechanics of the current partnership, at least we have a path forward for now. Preparations would have to be made, and with Lancer and McRemitz off to settle their own affairs, it meant that I could handle some matters of my own.
New presences arrived, speeding past the elevator shaft with reasonable enough speed, and I took a final glance at the control room before I finally left. By the corner, on the seat that Galliasta had been sequestered in, was my coat. For all that the familiar was a fearsomely complex construct of magic, it was still, at least without deliberate orders to the contrary, acting as though it was a bird. Wrapped up in my coat, it could do little more than anxiously flapping away within the wrapped-up bundle of cloth, temporarily neutralized for the moment.
Without an array of visages to delay and shroud the path, as well as awareness of the actual layout, it was relatively simple to meet with Rodriguez and his men. They seemed….well, they hadn't been particularly insubordinate, at least not since the very first day, but they were particularly stiff now. The moment I came within sight of them they moved in a military salute, six pairs of feet stomping on the ground with simultaneous rhythm.
They looked nervous, so I bid them stand down. Only Rodriguez did, eyes basically transmitting his anxiety, as he stared at the surrounding wreckage with a great deal of trepidation.
"It's something of a fixer-upper," I remarked, my boot tapping the elevator car, still resting in place from whence McRemitz and Lancer had ripped it from the shaft as a makeshift battering ram. "But I think that it would serve fairly well with a few million dollars in renovations, wouldn't you say?"
Rodriguez nodded quickly. "Yes, ma'am. Your changes in the decor's very...eye-catching."
Well, if he has the mindset to drop silly jokes then at least he was adapting reasonably well to the new state of things. I gave him a smile, more for his benefit than mine, before snapping my fingers and waving them my way. The Tresillo followed smartly after.
"How are the rest then?"
"Pardon, ma'am?" He asked, and there was something about his tone that made me perk up. I glanced back at him.
"Galliasta's pets. The non-Tresillo elements. Have they been causing any trouble?"
He relaxed substantially at that. "No ma'am, not for the most part. Most of the security contractors for Mr. Galliasta's properties are still on duty and have been instructed to maintain their security perimeters while standing down from all other operations. I had Southwind retreat from whatever it was they're up to, but last I heard they were having trouble with some parish, so I'm not sure what's happening there."
Hm. Well, those lot didn't really matter in the end now. Whether they fell at Emiya's hands or were sent to prison for the rest of their lives, I had very little intention of using that organization for anything truly substantial. I suppose I'd have Rodriguez gather all relevant files on them and prepare a package for the local police; that'd be something to busy them with for the next few years at least.
"Very well. What about the rest of the squad leaders, have we had any trouble?"
"Well, as you requested uh-"
There it was again, that hesitation of his returning back to the fore. I stopped in my tracks, the mercenaries behind me matching my movements perfectly. I turned to give Rodriguez my full attention.
"I don't have time for politeness and decorum, I very much prefer brevity now. Speak."
He blinked before nodding. "Most of the others are on board. Cutter, Ghost, and Sweeper are mobilized and ready for your orders, but Fang's missing. Her gear was still in her locker and her squad doesn't seem to know where she is, though I did send the rest of her squad to search for her. Maybe those other specialists, the one with the spear, got to her?"
I absorbed that for a moment before shaking my head. "No, call them off the hunt. Tell Fang's second in command that they're in charge now, and to ignore any order they'd been given or will be given by Fang if she makes contact. From now on you're to consider her a potential threat, understood?"
That Galliasta had spies in my Tresillo was easy enough to guess; in all likelihood, Fang was probably the one tasked with feeding Galliasta information about me. Given that my assault had caused one hell of a racket, followed by Rodriguez's announcement', she'd most likely jumped the ship. If she was smart, she'd be halfway through with burning her bridges and getting the hell out of Fuyuki, which was a reasonable enough precaution. Anyone that spied on the Tresillo on Galliasta's behalf, might have been subject to information regarding the kidnapped children in the first place. She'd be wise to get out as quickly as she possibly could before I could get my hands on her.
Rodriguez seemed to come to the same conclusion, or at least one close enough to waylay any inconvenient protests. He nodded, gaze hardening as he did. "Yes, ma'am."
I continued onwards, my squad following after me a beat later. "Now listen up. I want Laverne to bring her squad to the roof, she's to maintain her position there until I tell her otherwise, and is to stay there until she receives further orders. Fang's team, her former team rather- is to get out of here and go to the Parish. They're to force Southwind to disengage and to retreat to one of the other outposts nearby. There'll be two specialists on the field at least, and they're not to engage them under any circumstances. Laurent's team will fan out from the Tower and go on the lookout for a little girl matching my description. They are not to engage her under any circumstances, tell him that if they do anything without prior authorization, then their little exercise trip from earlier today is gonna be nothing compared to what I'd do once I get my hands on them."
The man nodded quickly at that, the importance of those tasks properly underlined to him. We passed through the shattered halls and ruined infrastructure in relative silence after that, beyond Rodriguez whispering my orders back to the rest of the Tresillo. Eventually, we reached one of the relatively undamaged rooms, my visages standing guard outside. The sight of them made the mortal men behind me shiver, though Rodriguez did relatively well in keeping his wits about him. A wave of my hand dismissed them quickly, shadows dissipating in my path as I opened the door.
There were perhaps a dozen or so of Galliasta's concubines piled into what might have once been a guest room. They were in varying states of injury, ranging from the remarkably unscathed to the largely unconscious, and my appearance sent a stir through the group. Galliasta had not been particularly concerned with maintaining the secrecy of the war, and I knew that at least a few of those present at the very least suspected my less than human nature. They flinched at the sight of me, the others nearby doing the same, and I supposed that they'd spread the knowledge of what they believed I was while my attention was occupied elsewhere.
My gaze latched on to Rodriguez, who seemed fairly shocked at the sight of them all. "I want you to take this lot away from here, bring them to one of the Shinto hideouts nearer to Kotomine Parish. Once they're all there, I want you to contact Kotomine Kirei and explain the situation, he'll deal with the rest."
Now that Galliasta had been neutralized and the Tower secure, I had little use for the man's companions, with any relevant information I could have gotten from them unnecessary what with their former employer successfully captured. I had no reason to kill them, maintaining resources to keep an eye on them seemed like a waste of time considering that they had nothing to really offer me, so the best I could do with them at this point was hand them over to Kotomine and hoped that the rotten priest would actually do his job.
I scanned through their number, absent-mindedly searching for the one that had greeted me on Galliasta's behalf several days ago. She'd not been part of the dead, at least as far as I was aware, and for a moment I wondered whether she'd come out of all this unscathed. It was difficult to really pick her out amongst the group; their makeup had run, their clothing not particularly intact. It was difficult to meet their gazes as well; I would catch their eye for a moment, fear so plainly evident in their stares, and I found myself jumping on to the next one.
Regret was not a useful emotion to feel the vast majority of the time. Considering whether something was or was not a correct decision, whether something could have been approached one way or another- I'd learned long ago that to dwell on such things was rarely helpful. Perhaps if I'd elected to neutralize Galliasta with more care and more finesse, the casualties in accomplishing it would have been drastically reduced. Perhaps if I'd gone at it with a clear head, I might have found that path. Easy things to say in hindsight perhaps, and realistically speaking the deaths or survival of these women wouldn't really matter in the long run, but it still bothered me regardless.
"Ma'am?"
I turned away from them all. "You have your orders, Rodriguez. Make sure that Kotomine handles them with care. If it looks like the priest isn't capable of that, deny him access. We'll figure out an alternative for them eventually."
They gave a hasty set of affirmations at that, and I walked away from them and set my sights back to the control room. I tarried just long enough to make sure that Rodriguez was doing his job properly before I did, though thankfully that didn't take long. Whether from loyalty to his duty, or the awareness that I could punt him from here to the Pacific with relative ease, the man was setting out to his task with admirable speed. Hopefully, should Einzbern decide to assault the Tower after all, everyone would have already been evacuated.
By the time I reached the ruins of the control room, I was aware that I didn't have all that much time. We had less than half of the original given time left, and the vast majority of that had been spent corralling my forces and ensuring that proper preparations were met.
The coat was still where I left it. I gathered the bundle in my arms, peeling off the layers until the avian was visible once more. The familiar looked rather harried, an impressive achievement for something made entirely out of crystal, and despite the complete lack of anything that could reasonably be found in a bucket meal, it acted out the part of a bird with remarkable fidelity. Which was to say, it began pecking at my arms and hands with obvious irritation, incensed at having been kept under wraps for so long. I extracted the familiar with both hands, crystalline wings fanning out in outrage as my coat flowed around my arms, wrapping itself unto my shoulders in the process.
I had doubts about how useful this was going to be. In truth, perhaps it was better to simply cut my losses, see one group or another killed, then move on to greener pastures. But something within me, perhaps that priest's analysis on my nature, held me back. Irritating though it may be to think the man right, I still had to try to see this matter settled without any more bloodshed.
I brought the bird closer to me, until its glinting beady eyes was level with mine. "Miss Einzbern, can you hear me?"