A Saga of Tanya the Evil/The Irregular at Magic High School crossover.
I do not in any way, shape, or form lay claim to either of these works.
This is just a work of admiration from one fan, to those others that share the same interest.
The only characters or places I lay claim to are those solely of my own creation
Chapter 33, The Seven Schools Competition: The best laid plans never survive contact with the enemy.
As Tanya dropped the sphere, she cast the pen towards where the movement on the roof had been. She had wrapped it in a combination of spells at the moment of release. One, a cocoon of entropic magic to hold it at a much lower state of molecular motion. In this state, it should be a fairly effective armor piercing round. The second part was her own particular seeking spell, more effective and better able to handle the speeds that the pen would be traveling once it exited the entropic field.
The pen entered normal entropic space at 16 m/s subjective. The sonic boom as it entered conventional physics once again was a little startling. The effect it had down range as it punched through the scope of the sniper rifle, and didn't noticeably slow as it exited the back of the snipers head was far more startling.
Tanya's attention wasn't on her impromptu projectile, but instead on where the shooter's round went. To say she was surprised that they seemed to have targeted Visha instead of her was an understatement. Conversely, the rage she felt was quite understandable.
The pair of veterans were moving into the room as the door burst open with the lead man of the breaching team. He swiveled in, and started to sweep the room. The last thing he saw was the business end of an entrenching tool, and the cold angry eyes of their target.
He didn't really have the time to process the blur that shot past him and into the hall.
During the moments that followed their return to conventional physics, the two girls had been productive. As Visha activated her usual combat suite of spells, Tanya did the same with one important difference. Instead of the usual reaction and perception enhancements, she slipped into a minor entropically enhanced state. No more than twice normal, or there about.
Tanya didn't usually like into this bag of tricks without a proper, dedicated CAD, moving and functioning at this pace was like running a marathon. She could maintain twice a bit, but if she pushed it any more than that she would exhaust herself in moments.
Of course, that was ideally moments more than any opponents in the area had.
As she rushed in front of Visha, she could hear the team outside the door moving already. How they had not just a sniper team, but a breach and entry team on hand and ready was a question for later. Tanya slid her hand between the mattresses on Visha's bed and pulled the entrenching tool free from its holder. She dropped it into the air behind her, knowing that Visha would catch it before it hit the floor. Tanya grabbed a pair of combat knives from where she had stashed them as she moved past her luggage.
As the door opened in slow motion for her, she pushed just a bit. She could feel the drain as the world seemed to slow to a crawl. Tanya grinned a death's head grin as she slid past the breach man with the utter certainty that Visha would take care of him. That left the ones outside to her.
As the team outside prepared to enter after the breach man, they found themselves being assaulted by a small, blurred form that moved impossibly fast. The first of his soldiers dropped in a pile of limbs and gore in moments as a meaty thunk was heard from inside the room. The second barely had time to raise his gun before that blurred form was in the air in front of him, and his head came free from his shoulders. The leader of the breach team pointed his assault rifle, prepared to lay down a spray of fire when the end of his gun hit the floor, cleaved neatly just in front of the receiver. The last thing he saw was what looked to be a teenage girl with the coldest, clearest blue eyes he had ever seen and a grim smile that fit some of the veterans he had trained under.
Tanya dropped into a crouch as the last body hit the floor, panting slightly from the exertion of what she had just done. Her bloody knives were still held in her hands as she searched the corridor to make sure that there were no other attackers at the moment. She glanced over her shoulder as Visha stepped out, her bloody entrenching tool held in one hand, and the pistol from the assailant in the other.
"We are clear this way." Tanya said as she took a ragged breath.
"Clear this way, ma'am." Visha reported as she swept the other side of the hall.
"We should go after the spotter." Tanya said as she pushed herself back to her feet.
"I'll take care of him, ma'am. You catch your breath." Visha said as she turned to head back into the room.
"You are not going alone, Visha. You were the target, not me." Tanya said as she stood and took a deep breath. They would have to clean up the mess out here, and see about the spotter. She wasn't too concerned with the shooter, since they had mapped out the optimal firing lines from multiple locations. There was almost no way a good sniper would not have taken that spot that they had prepared in advance.
Visha hesitated, a conflicted look on her face. "Are you sure? I mean, why would they target me?" Visha asked as Tanya bubbled them once more, covering as much of the impromptu battlefield as she could.
Tanya shook her head, uncertain of an answer as they quickly dragged the bodies back into the room, then Tanya let the bubble of accelerated entropy drop before they moved out through one of the windows to see if they could track down what they both hoped was the last man on the team. Cleaning up and seeing if they could identify the nationality of the attackers would come a bit later, if they had the time. If they didn't run into a team that got the drop on them, that was.
Tanya chuckled a bit as they dropped neatly from the window, and landed lightly on the ground several stories below.
"What are you laughing at, Tanya?" Visha asked as they started to move at a good clip towards the building the sniper had fired from.
"Just thinking it almost felt like things were getting back to normal. You know, having people wanting to kill us." Tanya said as the two veterans shared a look.
"I would prefer they didn't, Tanya. I was starting to get used to peace." Visha commented as the pair began their ascent.
"You know what they say, Visha. Peace is the break between wars." Tanya said with grim certainty.
"I thought that we had left all of this behind us. Isn't this supposed to be a quieter, more civilized world than what we left?" Visha asked as the pair made their way up the side of the building rapidly.
"This is how civilized people handle things. Snipers and breaching teams instead of artillery and tanks. I would prefer that people were not trying to kill us, especially when there are things that I want to talk to you about." Tanya groused as the pair dove over the edge, weapons at the ready.
A quick sweep revealed that the spotter had made good his escape. The bloody mess that was the sniper and the ruined remnants of his gun lay where Tanya had killed him. Tanya retrieved the pen from where it had embedded itself in the wall before her spells had worn off. One last sweep of the roof, and the pair went about cleaning up, with Tanya breaking down the bodies through use of her entropic magic, while Visha provided cover.
As expected, there were no traces of ID left on any of the bodies, but their remains gave some hints. 3 caucasians, one person of african descent, and one of oriental descent. Very few countries sported that much diversity and the two veterans shared a look as Tanya sighed. "I thought that we were past the United States, this world's version of the Unifed States, wanting to kill us. That's almost disappointing, I honestly expected better from them"
"Tanya, would you rather that they had been more competent in trying to kill us?" Visha asked incredulously.
"Well, no… I just can't stand sloppy work." Tanya admitted.
Visha laughed as she wiped down their weapons and stowed them back where they belonged. "Only you would complain that the enemy was incompetant, ma'am."
Tanya grimaced as she finished with the last of the bodies, watching as they turned to dust. "Well, you know that I have always found war to be a wasteful thing, a very inefficient use of materials and personnel. The faster it ends, the better off we all are."
Visha laughed and shook her head as she looked at the door and sighed. "How do we explain this?"
Tanya shook her head. "Considering that we still haven't seen anyone asking about what is going on, I have the feeling that someone was paid not to inquire. We will just tell them that a drunk guest or three accidently broke down our door in trying to get into their room." Tanya waved her hand as they settled in against the wall with the door in front of them. "I'd say we could spend the night with Jane, but it's best to not drag her into this, in case there are more guests."
Visha nodded, then looked at her companion. "What was it you wanted to talk about earlier, before people interrupted by trying to kill us?"
Tanya blushed and looked away. "I'm not really sure right now is the best time to talk about it, Visha."
Visha sighed and nodded. "Just don't wait too long to tell me what is on your mind, Tanya. Someday, someone might actually manage to kill us, and then what about everything that hasn't been said?"
Tanya nodded mutely, as she bit her lip. "I promise, when the time is right I will let you in on what is on my mind."
Visha smiled at Tanya and nodded. "Thank you, I will hold you to that. Now, you rest and I will keep watch. You don't think that the spotter will try and do anything on their own, do you?"
Tanya shook her head. "I would bet that they will scrap any attempts, at least until they are better prepared after this mess. The Dacians did a better job in invading." Tanya said disparagingly before she closed her eyes and relaxed.
Visha looked away from the door for a moment to brush the hair out of Tanya's face as she smiled, and then went back to her watch. It was going to be a long night.
Elsewhere, in a secure site in the United States.
Jules Edison, known as E among his co-workers and those that he handled, stared at the report that he had just received. The breach team was gone, the sniper dead. The only person who had made extract was the spotter. He was reporting that it had to have been a team from another organization. A counter sniper and CQC team. Possibly Russians or Germans. It was a massive mistake. And he had already received notice that his supervisor wanted to have a talk with him. How in God's great name had it come to this? Yes, he had ordered a clean up team to be on standby, without getting direct approval. They had been there since before the competition began. He had arranged as much of the lodging and timetable as he could for not just the team, but the target as well. Everything should have been going just as planned.
Now, he was more than likely going to have to answer some very uncomfortable questions about why he took so much personal initiative with Company assets. Why he didn't seek out approval and direction from his section leader. Why he had ordered a full hit on a first year student without sanction from his superiors. It was all her fault. It had to be.
He heard the knock at the door to his office, and turned to greet his supervisor as they entered. He expected to see him angry, and the guards were not a surprise either. What he was not expecting was the barrel of the pistol that was aimed at him. In retrospect, he should have figured it was a possibility that they would decide that he was not worth questioning, that they might just liquidate him for so many mistakes.
At least he could sit at God's side now, he thought before the flash of the pistol sent him off.
"This is D. The problem has been dealt with. Arrange extraction to home for our lost bird. And I want all assets and operatives that E was responsible for transferred to my personal control. Let's find out what is going on here and get this mess cleaned up." the operative that went by the handle D said as he swept out of the room, leaving clean up to the others.
"I want to know what pushed someone as reliable and cautious as E to do this." He told his aide.
"I will see about it, sir." She replied.
"See that you do." Was his terse reply before he went to speak to his boss about this mess.