Chapter 7: Paris Is In France

Fafnir, with a complement of Servants and Master on his back, flew into Paris over a wall that was no longer defended by a dragon slayer and landed in the first courtyard that was large enough to both accomodate him and leave enough room for people to fight in front of him.

"Remember, everyone. People live here. This is their home," Jeanne reminded the assembled group. "Just because we're taking Paris back from England doesn't mean we're looting or pillaging anything, and we're definitely not killing innocent people! I will not condone a single drop of innocent blood being spilled!"

"How do you plan to fight Lancelot under those conditions?" Altria asked, folding her arms.

A sigh escaped her lips. "I said I wouldn't condone it, not that I thought it was going to happen. Ideally, we can lure him out, then have Fafnir pick him up and throw him outside the city,"

Fafnir rumbled in agreement.

"Though it seems they are hiding like the little rats they are. Tch, how dare they hide from the splendour that is my Jeanne?" Gilles grumbled in his own way.

Tyler looked around the group. "Seriously, I'm not the only one getting bad vibes from this guy, right?"

"I shall rip your tongue from its blasphemous lips and - no, no, that's not what Jeanne would want, I can be good, I can be a hero," The Caster cut off his own indignant shout, pressing a hand to his forehead.

Jeanne offered him a soothing pat. "Be gentle with Gilles, Master. He suffers from the effects of an ability called Mental Corruption, as a result of the kidnappings and murders people accused him of,"

"Wait, what?!" the Master jumped, quickly shifting position to put the Sabers between himself and Gilles, who sighed.

"No, none of that. It's a similar case to Vlad. He didn't actually do any of those things, but because people think he did he gets saddled with the guilt in his record anyway," Jeanne clarified.

"Oh," Tyler bit his lip. "Sorry. I didn't . ."

"Quite alright, nothing less is to be expected. A reexamination a bit before your time called my guilt into question, I believe, and absolved me of my crimes. Perhaps, in another couple of centuries, enough of the world will forgive me that I can manifest as a true hero. But for the time being, this is who I must remain," Gilles sighed. "Don't waste your breath on apologies, if my name is to ever be cleared there must be a humanity to accept the verdict, yes? So let's get on with this 'save the world' business. Our immediate problem is how we might lure out Shakespeare and Lancelot,"

"I don't know about that little rat of a writer, but Lancelot should be easy. After all, there's nothing he wants more in the world than to kill me," Altria raised her sword, then paused. "Right. Damnit. I was about to fire Excalibur like a signal flare, but I forgot I can't do that right now,"

"You forget, I'm King Arthur too. I'll use Caliburn, from a distance I'm sure he'll mistake it for my adult self's Excalibur. Just shout at the top of your lungs, and he'll come running," Lily retorted, raising her sword.

"Sounds like a plan!" Altria agreed, taking a deep breath in.

Lily raised her sword. "Caliburn,"Golden Sword of Promised Victory she whispered, and a pillar of golden light shot into the sky.

"Lancelot!" Altria bellowed, reaching a volume impossible for human lungs, such that she could surely be heard anywhere in Paris. "Come out and face us!"

Caliburn died down, and the echoes of Altria's shout faded.

A long minute passed.

"Looks like it didn't work," Tyler shook his head. "You Servants have some kind of magic energy sense, right? Let's all split up and start searching. Wherever they're hiding, we should be able to find them if we sense anything weird,"

"It does seem like that's our best option. I suggest we go in pairs, so that we won't ever get caught in a two-on-one fight. If anyone finds Lancelot, don't stand your ground, lure him back here, to Fafnir," Jeanne instructed. "Charlotte, Master, you two are our biggest liabilities and the only ones who won't be able to goad Lancelot into a chase without just dying in one hit. You should stay here with Fafnir, he'll protect you. I'll go with Gilles. Vlad, you take the cute King Arthur, d'Eon, stay with the angry King Arthur,"

Altria spluttered incoherently when faced with the label of 'angry King Arthur', but before she could voice an objection, Lily piped up. "I'm not sure I'm comfortable with leaving my Master alone,"

"It's fine," Vlad agreed. "I'm still recovering from my battles with Siegfried anyway, rest will do me some good. Me and Lily will stay in this area whilst the rest of you fan out,"

"Fine, fine. Everyone know what they're doing? Then let's go!" the Ruler commanded, grabbing Gilles' hand and pulling him along with her. He hastened to keep up, and the others caught a besotted expression on his face as he followed after her.

"Caster boy's got it bad, huh?" Altria observed.

". . You know, we should try to set them up on a date or something," Tyler resolved.

Everyone looked at him in confusion.

". . I'm just saying. Everyone deserves love," he mumbled.

"If we get the chance, I'll help," Lily assured him.

"Yeah, sure. C'mon, hat kid, let's hit the streets," Altria demanded, guiding d'Eon in a different direction.

"How about we go for a walk around the block in that direction? Make sure nothing's sneaking up on us," Vlad suggested, and Lily cast a glance at her Master.

"I'll be fine. If something happens, I'll shout, and Corday and Fafnir will keep me safe long enough for you to get back here," Tyler assured her. Lily pursed her lips, but nodded and climbed over the dragon's tail on her way to another street's entrance, Vlad in pursuit.

A beat of silence passed, and the Master glanced at Charlotte. "So . . what are your plans for after this 'free France' thing?"

The maid cast him an incredulous look, then chuckled. "Master! Are you trying to ask me out?"

Tyler blinked. "What? No - what?! That's - that's not," He paused and took a breath. "No. What I was trying to get at is, the Director said we should be trying to recruit more Servants that we meet in the Singularities, because we currently don't have the ability to summon more Servants on our own. So I was hoping you'd be willing to make a contract with me and -"

"GANGWAY!" a voice hollered, and Master and Servant both stopped to see Altria charging back into the plaza. D'Eon was hot on her heels and they were being pursued by . .

Tyler's brain ground to a halt. Was that a tank?!

A lumbering shape shrouded in black mist approached, wheels clattering and bouncing off the cobblestone underfoot, and he could dimly make out a circular barrel protruding from the front. A familiar red visor floated above the shape, and, just in case it wasn't clear who they were dealing with, a throaty voice bellowed, "ARRRRRTHUUUUUUR!"

For the first second, all Tyler could think was shit. Then he remembered what he was standing next to. "Fafnir!"

A rumbling growl of displeasure built in the massive black dragon's throat as he lifted his head and turned it to face the oncoming assault. As he did, Tyler's eyes adjusted to the gloom a bit more and he saw what Lancelot had done.

It wasn't a tank. He'd used rope to lash two wagons together, mounted a fifteenth-century cannon on each of them, cajoled a pair of horses into pushing it from behind and infused the whole thing with Knight of Owner to hold it together.

"What in the hell?" the Master breathed, but a grin tugged at his lips as flame built in the back of Fafnir's throat and, seeing what was coming, Altria and d'Eon threw themselves to the ground to avoid being caught by the flame.

Lancelot fired first.

A pair of Noble Phantasm-enhanced cannonballs, trailing black smoke, flew across the plaza and crashed into Fafnir's snout and cheek. Caught off-guard by the impact, the dragon staggered, dazed, and the fire disappeared from his throat.

"He planned for Fafnir," Tyler breathed. Lancelot had realised that they would try to use Fafnir's overwhelming might to beat him and come up with a weapon that, even if it only worked once, would take Fafnir out of the fight long enough for him to defeat Altria. "Can Berserkers do that?"

"Don't ever count on what your opponent can't do!" Altria hollered, sweeping back onto her feet and raising her sword as Lancelot's impromptu fifteenth-century tank advanced, his tentacles whipping out and reloading the cannons. "Gah, this'd be a really great time to have that shield girl!"

"Allow me. This worked last time," d'Eon hissed, magic energy building around them, and they twirled and leapt into the air. "Sword Dance of Fall-: Fleur de-"

A cannonball struck them in mid-air, interrupting the half-formed Noble Phantasm and sending the Saber crashing to the ground.

"Idiots! You're all idiots! Why would you assume that the greatest Knight of the Round Table can't learn from previous encounters?!" Altria snapped.

Lancelot went still, his helmet swivelling to look at the person who had once been his king. ". . Great . . est?"

"Well, yeah!" the Alter snapped. "Any time someone thinks of a Knight of the Round Table they think of you! You're the big deal, the one who stands at the front!"

"No." A growled word erupted from the Berserker's throat. "You . . were . . greatest. You . . were . . light. I . . just . . shadow. Underneath. You . . were . . everything. So! . . why?"

Altria tilted her head. ". . You'll need to be more specific?"

"Why did you become - like - THAT?!" Lancelot bellowed through clipped speech, and the cannon before him fired - but he must have felt the projectile wasn't travelling fast enough, because he threw himself from the DIY tank and let it fall apart in his wake, his tentacles lashing out and snatching the cannonball from midair only to slam dunk it towards Altria's face like a basketball champion.

It crashed into the flat of Excalibur, which she barely got up in time to block the blow, only for the sheer force of the projectile to push her sword back and bounce it off her skull. Gritting her teeth, Altria mentally told her concussion no, thank you and flicked the cannonball away as Lancelot landed before her, a salvaged sword from somewhere in hand. "You mean the corruption? All this?" she gestured to the black and red that encrusted her body. "Heh. Like you're one to talk with your pitch-black armour and personal fog machine. Whatever radiance we had back in the old days, we've both lost it now. Is that really the only reason you want to kill me so badly? You're so mad at me for stooping this low that you'd rather destroy me than let me taint your image of the great King Arthur? Then you're a god damn hypocrite!"

Lancelot bellowed in wordless rage and anguish and lunged, a thrust that would have skewered the darkened King of Knights if Altria hadn't danced aside and used Excalibur to slap the tip of his sword into the ground.

"And, you know what? That's fine with me, because I feel exactly the same way," Altria admitted, panting slightly as Lancelot recovered his balance. "I don't like you running around and tainting my image of the great Knight Lancelot,"

The Berserker screamed and charged, tentacles lashing out from his back and flailing at Altria as his sword came down again. Grimacing, Altria danced back, taking glancing blows from the tentacles even as she kept away from the sword as best she could. "Is this really the best you can do?" she snapped, bashing his guard aside and using her free hand to punch him straight in the face. "How the mighty have fallen!"

A burst of magical energy erupted from the Knight, physically forcing Altria back, and the black smoke was stripped away from his body, coalescing into a dark sword to match the corrupted Excalibur in Altria's hand.

"Unfading Light of the Lake: Arondight."

Altria pursed her lips. "Shit, so you still have that too?"

Then her guard was bashed aside with a blow so hard she staggered.

From his viewpoint, Tyler, despite not being a Swordmaster could only describe the sequence of motions Lancelot then began as 'perfect'. He moved like he had all the time in the world to prepare and execute his attacks; every motion had the inexorable weight of a mountain behind it and yet was executed so seamlessly, so fantastically, that it looked like the result of an action movie sequence drilled over hours, if not days. He thrust and opened a gaping wound in Altria's torso, then slashed upwards and shredded her armour, stepped forward and brought his sword down to knock her foot out of position, which caused her hasty guard to fall flat as he buried the sword in her shoulder. Finally, with a flourish he withdrew the weapon, causing the king to twist in mid-air as she crumpled to the ground.

The observing Tyler, Charlotte and recovering d'Eon barely dared to breathe. "He just out-Sabered the best Saber," the Master numbly observed. "What the hell do we have that can stop that?"

At that moment, in a single motion, Fafnir's jaws swept across the courtyard and closed around the Berserker, muffling a scream of rage as the massive Phantasmal, with a force of will, swallowed.

". . oh yeah. A dragon," A hysterical smile broke out across his face, and he whooped. "Whoo! Go, Fafnir!"

If ever a dragon had looked smug, Fafnir did right now.

Then he looked constipated, as a visible bulge appeared in his throat. Fire spilled out of his lips as Fafnir fought back the urge to vomit, the bulge shifting and struggling inside him.

"What is this guy made of?" the Master whispered in dismay. "Spit him out!" he yelled. "Spit him as far away as you can!"

With a slight nod, Fafnir leapt into the air and inhaled, nausea sending shudders through his body. A great flaming meteorite - or, rather, meteor-knight - emerged from his throat, arcing into the air and soaring out of Paris. A distant scream was the last they saw of Lancelot.

It took a moment, but Tyler recollected his wits enough to mumble, "Let's, uh, try to solve this Singularity before he finds his way back here. Crap, Altria. First aid!" he yelled, crossing the plaza and crouching over the crumpled form of the King of Knights, green light suffusing her body.

". . Damnit," Altria mumbled, forcing her head up enough to inspect the injuries to her hip and right shoulder. "He got me,"

"How do you feel? Can you stand?"

"I'll be fine, I'll . . walk it off," she forced out through gritted teeth, using her left arm to propel herself to her feet. Unfortunately, Altria immediately stumbled, and d'Eon and Tyler caught her.

He immediately started dragging her towards an abandoned bench nearby. "Nope. You need rest. And much more healing than I can provide. I can't do anything about that second one but come over here and lie down. The others can find and deal with Shakespeare, I'm not leaving you,"

"Thanks," Altria grunted. "This might be the concussion talking but you're a really swell guy,"

"Hey, if I let Arthur Pendragon die Nikki and every medieval enthusiast in England would kill me," he weakly chuckled.

X

"We need a ship," Nikki declared, looking out at the docks.

Every pirate within earshot cringed and fled.

She hummed. "So is this what it's like to have people be afraid of you? It's nod bad,"

"Master, I think it's because your reputation is spreading and no one wants to have 'lost at sea' on their tombstone," Astolfo quite reasonably pointed out.

". . of all the twelve paladins of Charlemagne, why did I have to get the mouthy one?"

"Why do we need a ship?" Taisui suddenly interjected.

"Because this entire Singularity is an ocean and we've established that the Holy Grail isn't on this island. Ergo, we need sea travel,"

"Oh, I can do that," Taisui shrugged, striding to the edge of the shore. There, he closed his eyes and waited.

". . did he just go back to sleep?"

The question became redundant when a massive shadow emerged from the ocean's depths, pushing aside ships and smashing boats. After a heart-stopping moment, a giant kraken erupted from the water with a spray of sea foam, black with green mottled patterns encrusting it, and crooned at them.

". . Sea monster summoning," A smile tugged at Nikki's lips. "I can work with that. C'mon, let's go!" she beamed, charging towards the kraken, then faltered as she realised Astolfo wasn't coming with her. "Astolfo?"

"Master, were you really about to leave without a map or any idea where we're going?" the paladin challenged.

". . . mmmmmaybe?"

He just sighed and yelled, "Taisui, give us a minute, we need to bully some navigational information out of the locals!"

"Okay. By the way, I don't know if this matters, but I'm sensing Heroic Spirits approaching,"

"What? . . Astolfo, keep doing the map thing. I might have to greet some new allies!" Nikki commanded, chasing after Taisui. "Where are they? How many?"

"On that boat. Either four or five. I want to say five but one of them's so pathetic that I'm struggling to ascribe anything 'heroic' to it," Taisui offered with a shrug.

Nikki squinted but could only make out a blob. "Hey, Da Vinci?" she asked, holding her arm out so that the camera built into her communicator was facing the ocean. "How good is the resolution on this camera?"

"Good enough to tell you that's no ordinary pirate ship, it's a Greek longboat," the Caster replied. "Which definitely shouldn't exist in the sixteenth century but that's not relevant at all. You're probably about to run into some heroes from Ancient Greece,"

"Got it. I know literally nothing about Greece. Any tips?"

"Sure, cutie, I'll rustle up something. Anyone here know Greek mythology?" she called.

"Ahem. I dabble a bit," Dr. Roman appeared, mumbling something about wanting 'to find out who dropped the ball' that Nikki didn't quite catch. "To the Greeks, being a hero meant something different than it does to us. Heroes were champions, gods among men. They weren't so much 'good' as 'great'. Everything they did, they did with all the force they could muster. Enough is never enough. There's a certain arrogance characteristic in Greek legends, though really the worst offender is Jason. Compared to him, everyone else is pretty moderate and agreeable. Really, as long as it's anyone other than Jason, just treat them with respect and you'll be fine,"

"Great, I'll keep that in mind - holy moly that is a fast ship, it's already making port," Nikki blanched, then started in the direction of the berth that the trireme was docking at, gesturing to Taisui to follow her. "Hail!" she hollered as soon as the boat was bumping against the dock. "Heroic Spirits of Greece! I am Nikki, Master of Chaldea, and I am honoured to make your acquaintance!"

"And so you should be!" A blonde man in golden armour with smug and self-satisfied eyes declared, casually jumping off the boat and waving at her. "The honour is all yours, naturally. I am the greatest Saber to ever emerge from the mythos of Greece, the one and only Jason!"

Nikki's smile fixed itself firmly on her face as a muscle twitched in her neck. Though she showed no outward sign of it, her internal thought processes needed to be redacted for sheer profanity.

X

"Shakespeare's in the wind," Jeanne reported. "No sign of him anywhere in Paris,"

The Heroic Spirits had reconvened in the same plaza, and Tyler cursed at the news. "Damnit, I really wanted to punch that guy in the face,"

"Get in line," d'Eon snorted.

"Either way. With Lancelot and Siegfried defeated, or at least no longer fighting us, we have control of Paris. That means, putting aside the areas of France that're outside the boundaries of this Singularity,"

"Like most of Normandy," Vlad pointed out, eyebrows raised in amusement.

"Yes, exactly," Jeanne shot him a mildly aggrieved look. "There is only one site still occupied by British forces," Her fist clenched. "Rouen,"

"What's so important about Rouen?" Lily asked, noticing her reaction.

"It's the place where they burned me," the Ruler explained.

Everyone winced sympathetically.

"It's fine. The entire campaign's led up to this,"

"That's a fancy way to describe this operation, when you just started by taking the contested Orleans and immediately went to Paris," Vlad observed.

"Are you trying to make some kind of point?" Jeanne demanded.

"No, no, do continue,"

"Right. Rouen's not far, but it's still going to take a few days for the army to march there. I suspect it's going to be the place where all the remaining British forces rally for a final stand, including however many Servants they have over there. So we'll need to be ready, with as much firepower as we can bring. Which actually brings me to the next thing I want you to do, Master of Chaldea. Ideally, your Servants as well, but," Jeanne winced and looked at Altria.

"Hey! You!" the Saber yelled at the target of her ire. "Yeah, I'm talking to you! You're a real tough customer, I know, but I'm not afraid of you! Someone untie me so I can sock this rude little shit good!"

In response, the donkey she was yelling at farted the grumpiest fart they'd ever heard.

"Oh that does it! You're in for it now!"

"I don't think we should untie her until her concussion's healed over," the Ruler asserted, and no one objected.

"Me and Lily are enough to handle whatever you have in mind. What's the job?"

"There's rumours about a couple of rogue Servants that've popped up in Thiers, down at the southern edge of the Singularity. I need to stay here to corral the troops - I may have talked the government into letting the army be commanded by 'the resurrected Jeanne d'Arc and her dragon', but that's gonna break down pretty fast if I run off on Fafnir-back. Fafnir, on the other hand, likes you just as much as he likes me, which is more than he likes anyone else here. I think he might trust you to ride him without me keeping him in line,"

"So, you want me and Lily to go recruiting?" Tyler guessed.

"Got it in one,"

"Oh, that's perfect!" Charlotte piped up. "You can recruit them to Chaldea too!"

"What's that?" Jeanne's eyebrow quirked.

"The Director gave us a secondary mission objective while we're here in the Singularity. Our mechanism to summon Servants isn't working, but we have enough magical energy generation to sustain a lot of contracts. So I'm supposed to recruit as many Servants that've been summoned in the Singularities, either by Grail use or the Counter Force, make contracts with them, and bring them with us back to Chaldea when we leave," he summarised.

"Oh, is that so? Splendid. It would be an honour to join your group," Vlad assured him. "Yeah, agreed! I don't really know why you'd want me, but I'm totally up for it!" Charlotte concurred.

"Really? You're in? Awesome!" Tyler clasped his hands together and nodded.

"I'm not opposed, myself. But you should probably get ready to leave. Fafnir doesn't need to sleep, neither do any of us really, but it'll take most of the night for him to fly to Thiers. We'll need to set up a saddle that you won't fall out of while you rest. Gilles, would you mind trying your hand at that? You are our only Caster,"

"Yes, yes, I'll get on it, Jeanne," With a bob of his head and a cheerful - but still creepy - smile, Gilles bustled off.

X

An assortment of other heroes bustled out after Jason; a frazzled-looking man on the older side in armour made of green leather, a petite little woman with purple hair tied back in a flowing ponytail, a tall and thin man with white hair in platinum gold robes with teal-coloured flickers of magic around him, and, at the rear -

Nikki swallowed a double-take. The last Servant was a catgirl. A genuine, real-life catgirl, with green hair and golden, lion-like ears, and a tuft-tipped tail to match hanging out from her green skirt.

"I'm, uh, afraid I don't know much about Greek tales of heroism. I didn't really expect to run into Greek heroes out here,"

"Ah, don't sweat it, none of us are all that special anyway. Name's Hector, Lancer. This old man's charmed," the green warrior raised a hand in what could loosely be described as a salute.

"I am Medea," the little girl in white offered, sounding disinterested, and her older, male compatriot cast her a look. "Asclepius. Casters, both of us. Apologies for . . her,"

"And I am Atalante, Archer," the catgirl curtsied.

"Of course, I, the illustrious leader of the Argonauts, am Jason," the blond man at their head declared with a toothy smile.

"Yes, you already said that," Nikki mumbled. "So, what brings you to this shantytown? It's not much of a place, we were just about to leave,"

"Why, you of course! And your Servants, by extension,"

Nikki frowned. "What does that mean?"

"Today, we're offering you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; to become a temporary member of the Argonauts!" Jason beamed.

". . wait, what?" This was not the direction the Master had expected this conversation to take. "Why would you want me?"

"Nikki!" She jumped slightly as Olga-Marie's top half appeared on her wrist. "These are the Argonauts, incredibly powerful heroes of Greek myth, and they are willingly teaming up with us! Don't ask questions, go for it before they change their minds!"

"Yes, well, that probably won't happen because, you see, under the current circumstances we . ." Jason paused for effect. "Are quite weak!"

Resounding silence greeted this proclamation.

"Nevermind, Nikki, drop them like the hot garbage they are," Olga-Marie flatly corrected herself.

"What our illustrious captain is trying to say," Hektor stepped forward, "is that Medea and Asclepius detected the energy generated by your Rayshift here, and we've been tracking you since. Anyone who'd willingly come to this death trap of a dimension must be able to hold their own, so we're hoping you can contribute your strength to a problem we're having, and in turn that we can pay you back by helping with whatever your mission is,"

"I'm alright with that. What's the issue?" Nikki folded her arms and tilted her head, regarding the motley crew.

"I'm sure you've noticed, but we're missing someone," Atalante spoke up, stepping to Hektor's side, and subtly slipped in front of her captain by doing so.

"I . . just said, I don't know Greek myths that well. Also, I'm certain there were more than just the five of you in the Argonauts -"

"Heracles, woman, we're talking about Heracles!" Jason barked. "You know, huge, angry, built like a walking statue, always scowling?"

". . No, no I don't, but go on. I don't see anyone matching that description here," Nikki admitted.

"That's because he's being held captive on an island in the northeastern region of this Singularity," Atalante explained. "Some unknown Divine Spirit has brainwashed him somehow. We could defeat her on our own, but not when she has Heracles guarding her. Not without killing him, anyway, and we don't want that,"

"So your answer is . . to find someone who doesn't object to killing Heracles?" Nikki raised an incredulous eyebrow.

"No!" everyone said at once. Including, surprisingly, Olga-Marie.

Everyone except Medea, that is. "Honestly, I'm not opposed, but every time I suggest it this lot shoot me down," she mumbled.

"Don't even think about killing him unless you absolutely have to! Having someone like Heracles on our side? He's worth more than every other Servant you've seen put together!"

"Director! That's very rude!" the Master protested.

"No, she's right, Heracles is that kind of guy," Hektor nodded. None of the others looked thrilled about it but none disagreed.

"Well if this is a rescue mission, then . . I'm not opposed but I don't really see what we can do that you all can't,"

"It's a numbers game, to put it bluntly. Me and Medea are Casters, we're next to useless in a direct fight. We can heal others, but that's about it," Asclepius put forward.

"And while I don't regret taking up the bow and arrow in life, as tools go they are not well-suited to defeating the mountain that is Heracles," Atalante added.

"So, basically, I'm the only one who can tussle with him and not get crushed like a grape, and I'm just not enough on my own," Hektor finished.

"Hey! Aren't you forgetting your wonderful and heroic captain?" Jason snapped.

"Oh, yeah, sure, cap, you're super helpful too," It was hard to tell with the way that Hektor sounded constantly sleep-deprived, but Nikki suspected that he was being sarcastic. Nonetheless, Jason lapped it up.

"I see the problem. I think we can help, but you should know, this isn't the first I've heard of a goddess since coming to this Singularity. A man named Bartholomew Roberts tried to kidnap me on her behalf, and I suspect you and he are thinking of the same person. You mentioned brainwashing? He did sound a bit brainwashed," the bluenette realised with a frown.

"So we have a common enemy, then! Splendid, let us depart at once!" Jason immediately grabbed at her arm, but Atalante elbowed him. "Ow! Ah, right, wait for them to decide to help me. You mentioned,"

Nikki hummed, but nodded. "I can't think of any reason not to, and suspect that the Director won't give me a choice about helping you in any case. Plus, of our two parties, you're the only ones with a ship. Alright, then. I guess we can leave as soon as Astolfo gets back from mugging pirates for their maps,"

The Argonauts cast her a confused look at that, and Nikki grumbled. "Trust me, we'll need them more than they do. I hope one of you's good at navigation,"

A/N
A/N

Lancelot will return in The Avengers.

Well, I mean, everyone knows that he'll be back in Camelot. But still! He will be back and there will be Avengers avenger-ing. A-venger-ing? A-venture-ing? Huh, is that where 'adventure' comes from?