Chapter 14: Convergance

"Mark."

Fate sprung around the corner watching Teana's barrier latch onto the world around her. For a second, she thought that it hadn't worked properly, as there were several more people that remained within the Barrier than Fate had suspected. Quite a few more. On instinct, the long-time Enforcer brought up her Device into a ready position. However, it seemed that the unexpected mages were paying little to no attention to her.

Fate watched as three of the newcomers pointed lance-like Devices at Jon and Naomi as they came around the corner and fired. A fourth was speaking into his Device, probably calling for backup. But all of that was driven quickly from Fate's mind as she saw the original target dash into her vision from a side street.

"Stop!" Fate called.

"Photon Lancer."

"Brick Wall." The attack was stopped by a red shield that was opaque enough that between the red of the shield and the golden attack, the target couldn't be seen, and that was apparently all he needed to be out of sight when the smoke of the attack cleared. Fate looked around, hoping for some sort of glimpse that would give her a hint as to where he had gone off to, but it was to no avail.

"He's headed toward where my allies are," Harlian called, which made Fate glance back at him. He and Naomi were relatively unscathed, which could not be said of those that had attacked them. "Their orders are to chase him into either your or your aide's hands."

"I'll go around and try to pin him," Fate said, then made to move, but in the street on which she had last seen the subject, she saw a pair of people. A tall man, and a short woman. Neither were people she had seen before, but apparently both of them had enough magic to exist within the Barrier. The man had black hair with enough grey to be called a salt-and-pepper look. He was wearing a black cloak that blended in well with the darkened background of a Barrier. The woman... merely a girl, by her looks, had silver hair that was cropped at her chin. For a moment, Fate wondered where she had seen someone like that before, but then she knew, and a glance back at Jon and his partner confirmed it.

If Naomi were a few years younger and had cropped her hair as short, the resemblance would have been uncanny.

The man gestured sharply, and the girl shot forward toward Fate, a haze of power forming around her hand in a very black color. Fate, very alert because of the weirdness of the appearance, was ready and jumped aside well in time. The girl slashed through the space that Fate had vacated with what had become a sword made entirely of black power. A moment the newcomer remained; a tableau against the darkened streets and the shocked looks of Harlian and Naomi behind her and the soft light that they could see by. Then the girl's face turned toward Fate and the her eyes glowed momentarily yellow before she sprung into action again, heading toward Fate with the sword ready to swing down.

"Haken Form."

Gold met black and crackled with a dangerous intensity. Fate had to disengage because the sheer strength behind the power was too much to bear. Luckily, the girl wasn't able to take advantage of the momentary opening that this gave, even though Fate was ready for it. Fate was saved from having to perform a complicated roll backwards to get out of the way of another slash when the girl spun quickly on the ball of one foot and her black sword met a silver one.

Naomi stood behind her, her face fierce. The swords crackled. Harlian wasn't all that far behind Naomi, though he was facing the other adversary with his Device pointed and ready. "You guys never ask any of the pertinent questions. Do you even know who she is?"

The man, instead of answering verbally, made another sharp gesture, which started the two girls in a pattern of slash, parry jump aside, thrust, spin, parry, jump over the opponent, parry, roll toward and thrust, parry aside... it was difficult to keep track, even for Fate's trained eyes. Harlian spoke again. "Or any questions at all, really." He fired his weapon, but the tall figure blocked it with a momentary shield, as if his shot was something he probably could have let through, but he didn't want to have to scratch the itch it gave him later.

While the whole past few seconds had been quite confusing to Fate, she knew that she'd rather be on the side that was helping her out than the one that would rather take her down. The inclusion of people she already knew on the side that was helping her only solidified the feeling.

"Sonic Move."

Fate darted around the melee of the two silver-haired girls and closed the distance to the tall man quickly. She brought Bardiche up and around.

"Haken Slash."

While her attack struck, it struck the man's hand, which had brought up another barrier like the one that he had used to deflect the ability that Harlian had sent at him. He didn't do the same dismissive de-cast this time, though, as Fate continued to press the attack, testing his ability to hold the shield against the shield piercing slash, and was quickly successful, digging a cut into his palm before he could disengage. He jumped back a few feet and made another sharp gesture. Fate rolled to one side, which would have saved her even if Naomi not come and deflected the girl's attack away from her again.

"Snipe."

The man then had to defend against a shot from Harlian's gun; this time he dodged it in addition to creating a barrier, which was good since it broke through his barrier as if it weren't there. Fate took the momentary distraction and launched another attack of her own to keep him off balance.

"Plasma Lancer."

He seemed ready for the attack of multiple golden shots, though a pair of them got through to splash against his Barrier Jacket, knocking him backward. His face was getting more and more angry at the events; he made another sharp gesture, but this time Fate charged him instead of dodging the coming blow from behind, trusting that Naomi would be behind her to defend against anything the other silver haired girl would attempt to do to Fate's back. Her trust was rewarded when she heard the tell-tale crackle of the swords connecting behind her as she changed the form of her Device.

"Zambar Form."

Her blade attempted to strike right through the enemy, but he knew that this would not be something that he could simply block, and he twisted away from the blow, using a barrier to deflect it downward to the street, where the golden blade sliced into the pavement. Fate brought the blade to bear again, and this time before her strike hit home, his other hand had to come up and deflect a bullet from Harlian's Device somewhere behind her. Dealing with both attacks seemed to be a little too much for him, and Fate's strike dug into his shoulder before he could get out of the way. The Barrier Jacket's upper half was destroyed by the strike, and he was left in a black long-sleeved Under Jacket.

Fate pointed Bardiche at him, the golden point a breath from his chin. "Yield. You are under arrest."

He glared at her, and then Fate looked behind her to see the two silver-haired girls settle into a stalemate, as Fate had the tall man at her mercy, and that seemed to matter to the girl who was fighting for him. She was unable to do anything, and seemed to be debating laying her own weapon down. The tall man gestured again, and she moved so quickly that even though Fate and Naomi both moved to intercept her, they were unable to stop her from getting to her partner's side. Once she reached there, the man gave a creepy smile and the two of them faded out of view. It was a little disturbing to see two people just fade to black and then out of view. Fate was surprised enough that she couldn't move. She had a feeling it didn't matter, as Naomi had moved and couldn't get a handle on them. A shot rang out, clanging on the pavement where the two had disappeared.

Jon cursed loudly. "Naomi, could you find it?"

Naomi shook her head.

"What was that?" Fate asked with more than a little frustration.

"A Master and Servant pair," Harlian told her. "The most... disturbing part of the forces of the Alliance. We are unsure about how the Servants were originally captured, but we do know that they are held with some sort of mind control device similar to our PMDs." He hefted his Device. Then he paused for a little before continuing quietly. "There's a lot to this story, but we don't really have the time right now. Here's what you need to know right now: the ship that we weren't sure of is definitely an Alliance ship and it's now in range. I don't know why they attacked us, though I have a couple guesses. I understand if you would rather deal with them, as they are probably closer to the official representative that you seemed to expect us to be."

"We'll discuss all of that later," Fate said. Maybe there was something that they could salvage out of the situation yet. "Bardiche, connect to Cross Mirage."

"Connection Refused, Sir. In battle."

Fate glanced at Harlian, who was looking at Naomi. Naomi was shaking her head. Jon looked at Fate. "We'll be right behind you."

Fate launched into the sky and looked around the area covered by the barrier. Apparently the large influx of mages had thinned out for whatever reason, and there weren't many people left in the barrier. This made it a lot easier to spot the fight that was occurring over in an intersection close to where Teana was supposed to be. And a flash of Teana's distinctive orange magic only confirmed it.

Fate shot toward them, watching as Teana fired more shots to an enemy that was in melee with another mage. Another mage was getting up slowly, and apparently bleeding if the red splotch around his hand on his chest was any indication. Fate landed next to Teana with Bardiche up in Haken Form.

"Fate!" Teana only glanced at her, but the relief in her voice was strong.

"What's going on?" Fate asked Teana.

"He just... attacked us. No warning. Prevented me from capturing the target."

Fate frowned. There were too many variables here. She was still trying to think of the best option when the man in the trenchcoat Barrier Jacket blasted his two opponents away with a burst of white magic. Teana was apparently ready for this.

"Phantom Blazer!"

The orange explosion of magic from Cross Mirage made Fate wince in defense of her eyes. The trenchcoat man was engulfed in the magic as the two who had been fighting him got up slowly. Naomi could be seen attending to the male momentarily, and then the female, confirming that they were more of Harlian's crew. When the Bombardment attack ceased, it revealed the man had shielded, though his heavy breathing was now the only sound that broke the sudden silence of the attack's absence.

"Surrender," Fate said. "You are under arrest-"

The man grunted. It sounded somewhat like a laugh. "I don't think you know quite who you're dealing with, girl."

"You're surrounded," Teana pointed out. Both Cross Mirage pieces were pointed at the man. Fate settled into a ready stance even as she noted that Teana was right. Harlian's crew had spread out around the man.

The man glanced around, confirming for himself that his adversaries had circled him. "Tch." He looked more bored than annoyed. "Too many bugs to squish alone." His pole-like Device retracted the silver blade and glowed. The glow included the man and all four of Harlian's crew fired at him. All four of the shots struck the man, and then he was gone.

"Do you think we-" the male who had been fighting alongside Teana began.

"No." Fate had to doubletake to confirm that Naomi had said that.

"What. Was. That." Teana ground out.

"I guess we owe you an explanation for all of that," Jon said. "Is here and now a good time, or would you prefer to head somewhere else later?"

"Send your wounded back, and I'll hear your explanation now," Fate said, indicating the man with a nod of her head.

Jon nodded. "Ifil, Wendy, return to the ship and stand by. Give Riley permission to do whatever she needs to do regarding the Alliance ship that has to be nearby."

"Got it," the male, Ifil, said. Then the two of them left.

Fate spoke quietly to her Device. "Call the bridge."

The window appeared to one side of her, with the Admiral's face in the pane. "Report," he said.

Teana looked at Jon. "Well?"

"What you fought was an Agent, which is a good analogue for you Enforcers in the Alliance, though with less discretion. They are probably the more official contact with the Alliance that you were hoping for."

Fate shook her head. "Regardless of the strange circumstances surrounding this meeting, don't think we'd just abandon our relation with you, Mr. Harlian."

Jon looked at the two TSAB officers with a flat affect. "I hope that is true. Moving on. What Enforcer Fate, Naomi and I fought was a Master and Servant pair. The... secret weapon of the alliance. To my knowledge, all of the people who have ever survived being suddenly attacked by one of those stands here. I hope I'm wrong about that, but there it is."

Teana's eyes narrowed as she processed the information. Fate looked at Jon. Given the flat dead look he still had, she had a flash of intuition. "You believe that you were sent on this mission to die." It wasn't a question.

Jon nodded confirmation. "I'm not sure what did it, but given that we've always operated some jobs that the Alliance would rather not get done, eventually we knew they would no longer overlook that because we provided them with similar services. Whatever bank of goodwill we may have had has been called due. I don't think we're welcome in Alliance Dimensional Space any more."

"We'll talk about that later," Fate said. "For now, what kind of further danger are we all in?"

"The quicker you can pick up your quarry and get out of here, the better," Jon said. "Coming back with a navy at the least would not be a bad idea."

"Do you think they'll attack again? And if so, soon?" Fate asked.

"We wounded the Master and crowded out the Agent. They need some time to heal, but if they can catch any of us out again, they will. I promise that much. When that will be, I can't guess at."

"Shari," Fate said. Shari appeared in another window above the admiral's. "Do you have tracking data on the primary target?"

"Some. Give me an hour or two and I should be able to track him down."

"Get started," the Admiral ordered.

"Understood." Shari's window winked out.

"So, what's next for you?" Teana asked.

"I'm not sure," Jon replied. "A significant change in our situation, certainly."

"You are released from whatever requirements you believe you may have to us," the Admiral said. "We appreciate your help in this matter." It sounded a lot like a dismissal.

Jon frowned, but nodded. "Thank you." He nodded to each of the Enforcers. "'Til we meet again, then." He and Naomi strode away, presumably to leave the barrier like their comrades. Fate wanted to say something to him, but she couldn't think of the right words in time.

"You have one hour's rest," the Admiral said. "Then you both have to be ready to chase the target. We're out of here the instant we have him."

Both Fate and Teana nodded. Then the window winked out. "Teana," Fate said, looking toward where Jon and Naomi had rounded a corner. "Return without me. I have a quick errand."

Teana tilted her head to one side, but when Fate shook her head, Teana shrugged. "Alright. Don't hurt yourself."

Fate took control of the Barrier as Teana prepared her teleport up to the ship. Once Teana had disappeared, Fate opened a channel, and waited patiently for a connection. She got it in about ten seconds.

"So soon, Enforcer? One might get ideas," Jon said from the other side... but his smile was genuine.

"Shari prepared a data file for you at my request. It's instructions as to how to get to and legally dock a personal vessel at Mid-Childa, our capital and my home."

Jon raised his eyebrows. "Why the change in tone?"

"I'm not giving you this on the record," Fate told him. "I'm giving you this because it's the right thing to do."

"Someone told you not to?"

"Something like that," Fate confirmed. "I can't leave you high and dry. My friends wouldn't forgive me for that."

"You have good friends," Jon said.

"The best."

There was a beat of silence, which was more comfortable than any silence before between the two of them. "Thank you."

"I hope to see you again," Fate said.

"Even if it's just to talk about the Alliance?"

Fate quirked an eyebrow, which caused Jon to laugh quietly. "Alright, I take it back. We'll see you again." Then the communication cut off.

Fate let the Barrier drop as she disappeared.

Every curse word he had ever learned passed through his head and then past his lips. He threw the scepter to the corner of the tiny room and it bonuced twice before coming to rest wedged between the only two furnishings in the room: the tiny bed and the desk covered in papers. Several fell to the already cluttered floor, but the raging man didn't seem to notice. He screamed wordlessly, tensing all of his muscles and looking up at the low ceiling. When he ran out of breath, he collapsed to the floor. He muttered something that even he couldn't decipher, but was meant to be "I failed."

Failed again. And not just that, but he didn't have the time to collect the data that he had wanted as to why he had failed. And worst of all, not only was the TSAB here, they weren't the only ones here and it had all gone complicated. He had never been good at complicated. That had been… someone else's job.

He sat there as the only sound in the room was reduced to his breathing, and the ambient sounds of the city started to filter in.

He had done his best, but the project had reached a point where he didn't know what the proper thing to do was anymore. There was only one thing he could think of that would help him out of this mess. He just had to summon the energy — and the courage — to do it.