Chapter 7

"Where the hell did that come from?" Doctor Richardson shouted again, "That wasn't supposed to happen!"

"I don't know sir." The aide replied.

"Well find out!"

"He's becoming very annoying." Yui muttered.

"You have no idea." Faust said. He then looked at Lorelei. "Anything?"

Lorelei looked up from where she working on the four marionettes.

"Nothing yet." Lorelei looked back down at Lime (the marionette). "There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with them."

"Do they have a reset?"

Lorelei looked over at Arael who had one of the god's communicators out and was working on it.

"What?" Lorelei asked.

Arael looked over at Lorelei. "On occasion, when my brothers exploded, there was a resultant EMP that disrupted electronics." Arael looked back down at the communications device. "I learned of it when I was……..reawakened." She then hit a button on the communicator. Lights flashed on it, then went off. A second later they went off again, this time with a beep.

Lorelei turned her attention back to Lime (the marionette). She lifted open one of the shoulder hatches and flipped a switch next to the steam relief valve. After waiting several seconds she flipped the switch back, then sat back and waited. Lime's eyes flashed for several seconds before taking in their normal green color. She then blinked and looked at Lorelei.

"What happened? Is Otaru alright? What did….?"

"Otaru's fine." Lorelei said, "Now can you help me reset the Saber Dolls?"

"Sure!"

Within minutes, all three Saber Dolls were up and about. Faust then pointed towards the castle that now set in the location the S2 Engine had occupied before the test.

"Luchs what do you make of that?"

Luchs stared at the castle, her eyes flashing as she scanned it.

"It appears to be a renovated 18th century Germanic Castle."

"German?" Faust muttered, "Renovated how?"

"It appears to have a complex satellite communication system mounted on the roof. Early to mid 21st century."

Faust was now very curious. "How does a German castle get here from earth though?"

"I don't have enough data for that." Luchs said.

"We'll find out soon enough." Faust turned to see Doctor Richardson behind him. "I'm sending a squad of New Texas Sabers in on a fact finding mission."

"Armed?" asked Faust.

"Of course." Richardson said with a smile, "You can never be too careful."

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The squad of six Saber Marionettes approached the castle. They step over the dividing line from the sand of the desert, onto the green grass that the castle sat upon. They ran up hill until they reach a asphalt road that led to the main gate. Pushing on the massive gate, the Sabers found it to be locked. One of the Sabers pulled out an energy blade and sliced through the lock bolt. The doors were then pushed open.

The Sabers entered a small courtyard area. One moved over to the small shack that sat next to the gate. A quick look inside revealed two corpses, both with their throats cut. The Sabers then approached the front door to the main building. One reached forward and found the front door open.

They entered a large dark foyer. The Sabers slowly looked around the room. One spotted movement, but could not track. The Saber began adjusting it's eye sight for darkness. Another bit of movement. The Saber turned again, this time it spotted a figure holding a weapon pointed at it. The Saber started to raise it's own when all along the upper balcony guns opened fire.  Bullet after bullet found it's mark, shredding the Sabers. All six collapsed to the ground. Only one remained functioning as a figure in black approached it.

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Everyone watched the out of focus view as the figure walked up to the Saber, pulled out a pistol and fired a shot. The screen then went to static.

"That was…….interesting." Faust said.

"Did you see the outfit those two dead men were wearing?" asked Lorelei, "They looked 21st century."

"They were." Yui spoke up. "Mom and Dad still have some from back then."

"What" began Richardson, "are you talking about?"

Faust moved in front of Yui before she could say anything.

"What do you intend to do?"

"Do?" asked Richardson, "They are obviously hostile. I'm going to call in more Sabers to deal with them." He started to leave when Faust placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Would you mind if we tried to deal with them?"

Richardson started to raise his hand and open his mouth to complain. Then he stopped.

"Fine." He said, "You see what you can do." He then turned and left. Faust waited till he had been gone for a bit before turning to the others.

"Opinions?"

"They were using old 21st century weapons." Luchs said.

"Everything we've seen so far places the castle at the 21st century." Otaru said.

Lorelei frowned. She then began to type on the console.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm checking the Japoness and Gartlant Databases." She glanced back at Otaru. "Remember, they both contain information brought with from Earth on the Mesopotamia." She looked back at the screen. "I'm checking to see if castles disappeared."

"While your looking." Faust turned to the Saber Dolls. "I would like to try and walk out their and talk to them."

Tiger frowned. "No your not. It's too dangerous. If anything we should go. We're machines easier to fix then you."

Faust shook his head. "No. You saw what they did to those Sabers. I will not let you go. Besides, your more then just machines to me."

The three Saber Dolls blushed slightly.

"Then who's going to……"

"We'll go."

Everyone turned towards Keima. Lime looked at Keima curiously.

"What do you mean 'we'll go'?" asked Lorelei, "I'm not letting Lime go over there, either Lime."

"Sorry," Keima said, "I meant Arael, Yui, and myself."

"Us?" Yui and Arael said together.

"Why you?" asked Faust.

Keima smiled. A blue shield appeared between him and Faust, surprising everyone present.

"As you can see, we're a bit more bullet proof then any of you." Keima said.

Otaru looked over at Faust. "He has a point."

Faust nodded, "Alright. You talk to them."

Keima nodded and headed out, followed by Arael and Yui. Lime (the mortal) looked around at the others before racing out after them.

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"KEIMA!"

Keima stopped and turned around to see Lime running after him.

"Talk to her." Yui said, "But then you'd better catch up to us."

Keima nodded and waited for Lime to reach him. Lime wrapped her arms around him as she tried to catch her breath.

"Why are you doing this?" she finally said.

"Because I'm one of the only ones who can." He said softly, "And I have an odd feeling on this."

Lime held Keima tightly to her. "Come back safely."

"I will."

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"Got three people approaching."

The Squad Leader looked up at the Director, then clicked on his headset.

"Say that again."

"We have three, repeat three individuals approaching from the complex in the distance. Looks like one male……..and a couple of Jedi Knights."

Both men frowned at each other.

"A couple of what?" asked the squad leader.

"Jedi Knights. You know, with big cloaks pulled over their heads and stuff."

"That has to be the strangest thing I've heard yet today." muttered the Director.

"Mitchell is a big fan of classic movies." replied the squad leader, "She forces us to watch some every now and then."

"Hmmph." replied the Director, "What's next? Someone with sunglasses in black PVS saying the 'Matrix has us'?"

"So you like the classics too?"

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"So what are we going to say to them?" asked Yui.

The three were walking up the hill towards the gate.

"Don't know." Keima said, "I'm working on it." He then looked over at Arael who was still fiddling with the communicator. "Don't you have that working yet?"

"The memory was wiped when I reset it." Arael said, "It's currently trying to update itself with Yggdrasil."

The three entered the courtyard and were soon in front of the main door.

"Well?" Yui said.

"Well what?" asked Keima.

"You wanted to come out here. You go first."

"What?!" Keima turned and stared at Yui, "You're the Guardian. You're supposed to protect the Gods."

"Well you're male. You're suppose to protect the women."

Keima looked over at Arael.

"Don't look at me. I'm staying out of this one."

Keima sighed.

"Fine." He then turned, pushed the door open and entered.

The light from the doorway shined into the foyer, showing the remains of the Sabers. Keima took several more steps in, followed by Yui and Arael. Both removed their hoods and looked around.

"Do you see anything?" asked Yui.

"No." Keima replied, "But they're here."

Yui looked up. She could just make out the balcony. Everything there was shrouded in blackness. Keima was now standing in the middle of the room. Yui and Arael continued walking until they were beside him.

"I don't like this." muttered Yui.

The doors behind them slammed shut, sending them into complete darkness.

"How do you like it now?" came a voice.

"I hate this worse." muttered Yui.

"Who are you?" asked Keima.

"We'll be asking the questions here." replied the voice.

A bright light was shined on them. The three immortals blinked several times to adjust to the light. A shadow moved across the light and slowly approached. Keima found himself looking at a middle aged man wearing glasses in black fatigues. The man looked closely at Keima's forehead.

"You are a God." The man said.

Keima blinked. "How did you know?"

"You have the markings." The man replied. He then looked over at Yui. Keima felt the man's surprise. "Asuka?"

Yui frowned. "I'm not Asuka! I'm Yui! Asuka's my mother!"

"I see." The man seemed even more surprised. He then looked at Arael. "You look like your related to Rei Ayanami. You her daughter?"

"In a way." Arael replied. After all, Lilith was the Mother.

"You know Asuka and Rei?" asked Keima.

"In a way." The man replied, "Now I don't suppose you can tell me what these are?" He kicked one of the Sabers.

"Marionettes." replied Keima, "In this case military models."

"Since when does anyone use robots for the military?" asked the man, "The UN would have heard about it."

"There is no UN on Terra 2."

The man looked shocked. "Where?"

"Terra 2." Keima said, "You're not on earth anymore."

The man remained silent, absorbing that information.

"What's with all the old weapons?" asked Yui.

"Old weapons?!" the man said stunned, "These are top of the line weaponry!"

"They are five hundred year old antiques."

"Five hundred………" Shock was just rolling off the man. "But it's 2037!"

"A bit closer to 2547 now." Yui said.

The man turned around and paced a moment, muttering to himself. He then turned and looked at Keima.

"I want you to contact a Goddess for me." He said.

"Ok. Who?"

"Belldandy." replied the man, "She was on the Heavenly Council last I knew."

Keima nodded, "She still is."

"Good. I want to speak with her. Here."

"We'll see what we can do."

The man nodded. "You can leave now. We need to discuss this amongst our selves."

Keima nodded and turned towards the door. Yui followed with Arael taking up the rear. As Arael was walking through the door, she heard someone walk up to the man they had been talking to. She caught a few words before the doors closed.

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Faust, Otaru, Lorelei, Lime, and the four marionettes were waiting for them when they returned.

"Well?" Faust asked.

"I need to get in touch with Mom." Keima said, "Arael?"

Arael had been fiddling with the communicator all the way back from the castle.

"I think I have it." She said. She set the device on a table. The air over the device sparkled for a second before three holograms appeared: Belldandy, Sayoko, and Asuka.

"Keima!" Belldandy practically shouted, "What's been happening? Why didn't you call sooner! What's wrong? Why aren't you saying anything?!"

"Calm down and let him speak Mom." Sayoko muttered.

Belldandy closed her eyes and visible took several deep breaths. Keima gave a small smile and then began to speak.

"Within seconds of the S2 Engine activating," Keima began, "It…….well……...failed."

"We know." Asuka said, "That's why Sayoko and I are here. We thought it might have been an Angel event. No offense Arael. (None taken was Arael's reply) What is the building?"

"It's a German castle." Yui said, "It has equipment dating from around 2037."

Belldandy and Asuka blinked at the date. Sayoko was still watching and listening without any reaction.

"There's more." Keima said, "There were 12 men and a woman in there in military outfits. They gunned down six Saber Marionettes with no losses."

"13 people?" Belldandy said. She and Asuka looked at each other.

Keima looked at his mother curiously. "Do you know something about this Mom?"

"It………sounds familiar." Belldandy said, casting a quick glance at Sayoko. "Did you speak to them?"

"We talked to a man who apparently knew you and Aunt Asuka." Keima said, "He claimed they were from the year 2037. And he wants to meet with you."

"With me?"

"With you."

"Well she can't just walk into there." Sayoko said, "We don't know what their intentions are."

"There's more." Arael stepped forward, "As we were leaving, one of the other men stepped up to the one we were talking to." Arael looked directly at Sayoko. "He called him 'Director Aida'."