(Control Room)
"It's definitely there," Sensors confirmed over their communications link with the Control Room. "Likely it has been slowly growing for a while, but our improved capabilities from the spaceship systems means we are able to identify and locate more effectively than before."
"I'd call that good news," da Vinci replied with an appropriate cheer. "The earlier we can catch these things, the more options we have." The Rider looked over the section designated for the Void Space Navigation Room, but it was unoccupied. "We should be able to ask around and see if other Chaldeas have similar findings. For now, what did the initial scans show?"
"Relatively modern times, Japan." There was a moment as the individual on the other side consulted her console output. "An increasing chance that it might actually be near Fuyuki, actually."
"Oh?" Emet, who had come up to report on something of her own, was not alone in realizing the potential implications of an Event placed at the birthplace of the Four Houses. "If it's this small, that implies its origin is rather 'recent' then?"
"Indeed." da Vinci thought for a moment, formulating a quick plan of attack. "Sensors, keep a running log of anything the scans bring up, send me a priority message if anything stands out to you." She turned to the homunculus who was in the usual liason spot. "Let the Masters know we've got a situation and to go to Briefing."
"Hmm, I was going to let you know officially that we achieved stable integration of the new sensor package, but I guess it's already proven itself," Emet smiled.
"Indeed," da Vinci agreed with her. "With just the initial results, it's already broken records. Good job !"
"Ah, well I was just bringing everything together, Emiya and yourself actually made the instruments..."
(Briefing Room)
"So the reports suggest there are ghosts and the like," Gudako remarked as Gudao walked in after ending his Free Quest shift early due to the circumstances. "Is this going to turn out like Elizabeth's Halloween castle again?"
"I doubt it will be that simple." Marie who had been there riding on the Masters' invitation could read the room's atmosphere well enough to tell that the Event facing them was not intended to be a friendly experience.
"Well between Scathach, Martha and Georgios I think any undead or evil spirits will probably run away screaming in terror -from- us," Gudao chuckled. "Of course those would only be the random chaff minions of some greater foe, but still that isn't nothing."
"... did I hear someone mention Halloween?" Elizabeth asked from the door before she was even fully through it. "It's the wrong time for that though, unfortunately."
"Well we can be relatively sure that there are no obvious life-signs around," da Vinci relayed to the group from her position in Control. "However, the main sticking point is the obvious gap in our scans which means someone is trying too hard to hide... what looks on mundane examination like just another apartment tower?"
"Oho, a modern apartment tower," Blackbeard sounded interested in this for some reason.
"Is that like your hometown?" Kiyohime, who would only be mollified from having missed a chance to show off to one of the Masters by them, of course, having Sasaku 'handle' her, had come along for the briefing when the Ruler was summoned.
"No."
"Ah."
"I suppose that largely settles it then," Gudao returned the discussion back to the Event at hand. "Their bubble isn't so well formed that we can't look in, but they've clearly been preparing if this tower is enclosed in an interior Bounded Field to prevent scrying."
"Exactly," Georgios agreed with the assessment. "In that case we gain little by trying to peek in from outside, but fritter lose time and potential surprise."
Looking around the room, Gudako tried to think about what would be the best composition. Clearly they wanted Chaldea's main Caster talent, and some heavy options...
"I'll go !" Kiyohime abruptly interrupted the other girl's thoughts by volunteering. Shortly followed by Elizabeth. Well Elizabeth can at least apply a sort of counter-magecraft. Scathach and Martha were quickly added as well.
"I guess I should explicitly say I'll hop on this," Blackbeard vocalized clearly.
"Are we able to go?" Shirou asked. Despite saying we though, Sakura didn't seem to be in attendance which didn't mean much on its own since the two were not always together.
"Sorry, but until Scathach is ready to at least get you two your first Ascension, we'd have you pass on anything bigger than a Free Quest," Gudao headed him off. "Chloe, you're here right? Oh there you are."
"Of course," Chloe agreed to the assignment cheerfully. "Someone's prepared a mystery and we'll crack it."
"Probably a trap," Scathach responded soberly. "Well it might not be finished yet, but we should be ready for anything when kicking in their door, as they say?"
"Ah yes, like in those famous police raid videos Chloe showed me," Blackbeard nodded in amusement.
"There's no reason to wait longer than necessary; we'll Rayshift in once they are all set up, and unless I miss my guess... da Vinci?" Gudako turned to the Rider's projection.
"Yes, they're prepped already."
l
(A Parking Lot in Fuyuki)
"So this is the modern world," Blackbeard commented while looking around at a disconcertingly empty asphalt lot.
"Um no, this is just an empty parking lot," Chloe spoke up while eyeing their destination, the unscryable apartment tower. On first glance it didn't look exceptional, until one noticed that despite the various lit windows, none of the residents seemed to have parked their cars. "I think there's some movement."
"I see it too," Blackbeard added after a moment of doing the same thing. "Well it could just be something like urban camouflage."
"Suppose the least-expected thing to do is just walk up to it and see who tries to stop us?" Wielding her not inconspicuous but non-threatening microphone stand, Elizabeth advocated for a direct approach.
"Fufu that's right. They need to learn not to mess with our shared history..." Kiyohime on the other hand had something completely different in mind but with the same outcome.
"Well I can see why you placed me ahead of Kojirou on this job," Chloe commented cheerfully while brandishing what seemed to be a knife and revolver. "Though I wonder if it is actually built like a residential block on the inside or not. But obviously even if it's a maze inside, I remember the basics of CQC."
"... that you do," Blackbeard frowned, perhaps remembering some embarrassing losses to Chaldea's senior Archer in Training Ground sparring matches.
"Let us know if you catch anything," Gudao told Scathach as they took up the usual middle positions; Blackbeard and Martha brought up the rear in this ad hoc formation.
As Elizabeth bounced up towards the front door, a rather plain but sharply dressed young man opened it for her, light spilling out from the lobby and glittering across the threshold, much to her delight.
"Hey don't just run ahead," Kiyohime complained, even though Elizabeth had actually paused for her ostensible partner to catch up. "It's rude and besides-"
*clunk* *woosh*
Several things happened at once. The doorman had barely opened his mouth before Kiyohime reacted, her fan blocking a knife thrust aimed at Elizabeth's stomach. A fraction of a second later, someone threw a knife from off to the side where they had gone unnoticed, striking the first knife.
*crack* *clatter*
To everyone's surprise, the knife struck didn't just fall from the would-be ambusher's hand, it practically shattered, shivering into pieces that scattered onto the ground in front of Elizabeth. Kiyohime quickly tried to backhand her fan at the assailant, but he immediately jumped back holding his weaponless hand as though it pained him.
"Oh no you don't !" Not needing to truly transform just to breathe a little fire, Kiyohime continued attacking while rushing forward with her fan in defense. The enemy though hurriedly withdraw while screaming something inaudible above the roar of Kiyohime's fire. A third knife made its presence known as it was thrown at the retreating foe, but as he was obscured by the fire, this attack missed its target.
At this moment, Blackbeard and Chloe had immediately spotted and turned towards the one who had thrown the two knives. Martha and Scathach quickly took up surveying the other side just in case.
"Ah right." The girl made no delay in stepping forward and letting everyone in the group see her clearly. "You're from Chaldea, right? I had a feeling you'd show up sooner or later."
"(Transforming, Flame-Emitting ..."
The sudden attack and introduction of potential ally didn't have time to sink in before Kiyohime interrupted everyone's thoughts by starting to transform, much to the Masters' dismay. Before they could respond, though, the Berserker was already filling the lobby with fire.
Moments later the trigger was made clear as a number of screeching ghosts came screaming out from the walls to either side and indeed through the walls of the floor above the lobby; obviously none of them appeared through Kiyohime's flames.
"Huh, it was ghosts like the scans thought," Gudako remarked calmly as Blackbeard and Chloe started shooting these new enemies. "Still, I don't think torching the place will solve anything."
Martha swatted aside a ghost that had gotten too close with her staff and began adding bolts of magical energy to the Archers' firepower. It wasn't long before the ghosts either realized they were totally vulnerable to spiritron-based Servants or didn't and had come out to be destroyed.
As the brief battle was concluding, Scathach continued placing runes down on the ground in a measured manner while also watching their unknown potential ally carefully.
"Hmm, I guess it was actually lucky for me that the doorkeep kept me out, huh?" the Assassin remarked after the situation had calmed down. "You wouldn't happen to have a better idea who they were, would you?"
"... you know, I can't remember anything about them," Elizabeth frowned, realizing that even though it was only a brief moment, she couldn't have totally forgotten about someone who had tried to kill her so brazenly. "Kiyohime?"
"Uh huh." Martha waited until Kiyohime confirmed her situation was similar. "That's means it's like who you encountered in London?"
"Indeed," Gudako agreed with her. "At least so far we know of one entity with Information Erasure and it's... uh, Scathach check the book please."
Nodding, the Caster pulled out a small codex of rough-looking but rugged construction; of course the main materials used were Forbidden Pages. Quickly flipping through its contents with the help of (Wisdom of Dún Scáith), she found the appropriate entry in the manual. "Jack the Ripper."
"That would explain it," was the reply. "Suppose I should introduce myself. Ryougi Shiki. You might say I've had a run-in with this apartment before. It shouldn't be here."
"I see. Ryougi, if this apartment isn't supposed to exit anymore, then it might be the case of this-" Gudao started.
"Singularity, right? I kind of understand what's going on," the presumed Rogue Servant answered impatiently.
"More like one in-progress. How best to put it..." Gudako took a minute or so to explain Chaldea's situation while Scathach and Martha walked the perimeter of the tower so that the Caster could prepare a magecraft.
"Figures that human history would be destroyed while I was asleep," Shiki concluded the impromptu brief. "If your guess is right then this is a pretty big job, even if the perpetrator isn't fully set up yet. I'm guessing it won't be the particular mage I would have pegged as responsible."
"I'd say that having a Servant-level guardian at your front gate is already rather well prepared," Blackbeard frowned. While the group's two Archers had been standing sentry at their basecamp, no other enemies appeared ever since that first rush of ghosts had been destroyed.
"The building itself seems to be a very solid part of the Event," Scathach stepped up to deliver the executive summary of her investigation. "Unsurprisingly, somewhere near the middle is what is probably holding it together, with a sort of repelling aura emanating outwards."
"Part of the function of the setup I took down," Shiki volunteered, "Was to constantly cycle souls between life and death, or something shady like that. Of course I think you have the capability to break that sort of thing, if you catch my drift."
"By permanently killing them?" Chloe caught on immediately.
"Hmm, if it would help weaken the aura I'm seeing, then as an additional prong of attack I can extend our own Bounded Field and try to cut bits of the hostile territory away from them," Scathach agreed. "That would be preferable to letting the enemy have all the turf advantages."
"Elizabeth, Kiyohime please take the front," Gudao started organizing everyone they had available. "Try to restrain your power consumption unless there's a mass of enemies though." The two of them nodded quickly.
"I suppose this is better than having to take them down one-by-one," Shiki approved as the group began making their way though the first floor. As they came up to each set of doors, Blackbeard and Chloe would quickly move up and clear the rooms, usually with no more fanfare than a single shot per undead occupant.
The first floor went smoothly - though Martha was sure that at any moment ghosts might assault them through the ceiling, this did not happen. In hindsight one might have guessed that any so bold had already been destroyed earlier, but that was far from a given.
Chloe opened a door on the second floor and stepped in only to jump back out with an alarmed shout that immediately put everyone on guard as an immediately recognizable girl in a dark blue uniform stepped out.
"Nursery Rhyme," Scathach remembered her from their encounter in the London Singularity. "Not surprising since your friend Jack was here."
"You shouldn't have harmed him," she replied carelessly. "Now I can't do anything about the fact that at least one of you is going to get gutted."
*... !*
Abruptly swinging her druid staff, Scathach only barely missed the ducking Assassin that had tried to come up and attack Shiki. With a growl, he kicked her leg, but the Caster hurriedly whipped out her wand and started blasting close-range offensive Runes at the attacker from her position on the floor, forcing him to quickly roll away and escape behind a corner in the corridor. Without hesitating, Elizabeth let loose with a sonic blast that shook the building as it chased Jack around the corridor, damaging who-knows-what in its wake.
"Seems like I can detect even Jack the Ripper if he steps into my Territory," Scathach noted with some satisfaction as Martha helped her up. "Weren't expecting that, were you?"
"You're pretty good..." Rhyme agreed with her, looking down at her simple shoes, the toes of which were right up against the boundary between the two Casters' Territories. "Maybe you'll be able to survive after all, Chaldea."
"I take it you aren't here to help the mastermind," Gudao remarked casually.
"No, I was just -not coincidentally, mind you- drawn in by the nature of this place," she replied in a matching manner.
"People constantly dying?" Shiki asked with a hint of sarcasm.
"Ah yes, I did read the story of this place. But now it is more of an attempt to gather grudges. You know what I mean Death-Seer; those with an undying lust for revenge."
"Right. So did 'the Ripper' came in with you, or did they have a grudge?" Gudako asked, sensing that Rhyme was in the moment being informative. Though of course it wouldn't be wise to simply accept what she said at face value.
"Oh they've a specific role; security, the bouncer. Haven't you noticed that this place isn't open for residents yet? The random zombies and ghosts are just mobs, aren't they? Don't signify anything." She sighed before continuing. "But you're here too early, otherwise I would have been able to catch Jack and avoid this conflict. By the way, would you like some tea?"
"No thanks," Scathach replied for the group. The Masters agreed with her, remembering what had happened the last time someone took Rhyme up on one of her invitations. Nevertheless, they understood a little bit, possibly, about Rhyme's previous interactions with the shapeshifting Assassin.
"Can you tell us anything about the other staff, then?" Blackbeard continued after a moment. "Perhaps the janitors and window-washers are also hardcore murderers?"
"Can't say much about those," Rhyme answered seriously. "But the sales agent is has a terrible character. And explosions."
"... why don't you come with us?" Martha suggested to everyone's surprise. "You seem pretty sure your 'friend' will be after us, so wouldn't your best chance of catching up with them be with us?" Gudao seemed skeptical about the soundness of this idea, but it seemed that Gudako had different ideas about the Ruler's intentions.
"Unfortunately I've put a lot of energy into this Territory so I wouldn't be as much of a help as you might think," Rhyme said by means of refusal.
"That's quite alright, if you'd be ok with a temporary contract," Gudako proposed. "How about it? Um... Chloe can tell you some stories from the time since our last meeting."
"Oh. Hmm, I suppose that would be a better way to spend time."
"I think we have established enough of a foothold to be able to tap the local leyline and connect to Chaldea from our initial camp," Scathach offered.
(Base Camp, outside)
With Martha keeping a close eye on their new ally, the decision was made after contacting Chaldea to have Blackbeard and Elizabeth return, with Nursery Rhyme and Shiki taking up temporary contracts after the first of the two convinced the second that the magical energy would be 'good for your eyesight'.
"So that's what it was," the Ruler said immediately after Gudako had confirmed her contract with Shiki. "To think that in the modern times someone might still emerge with (Mystic Eyes of Death Perception), you must have quite a story there. Hmm..." Walking around behind the Assassin, Martha shrugged. "Sorry, I thought for a moment there was someone behind you."
"I've heard that before."
"That sounds interesting." Taking out a large book and matching feather-decorated pen that looked like part of an old-time fantasy story, Rhyme started jotting down something. "By the way, did you pick up the key for the upper levels yet?"
"What key?" Chloe asked quickly.
"Jack has a key to unlock the gate leading further up, but after you broke his favorite knife I saw him throw it out a window into the forest," the Caster explained. "Even if you defeated him, obviously you'd need the key to advance past that point. Even if you didn't defeat him, it would let you go up."
"That makes it sound like we don't need to fight Jack at all," Shiki pointed out.
"Not since he tossed away the item he was supposed to be guarding," Rhyme agreed airily. "Of course he hardly cares about it because he's focused on gutting you now. But I'm sure you can hold your own in a knife fight."
"He cares more about the knife rather than someone trying to blast or torch him?" Martha asked incredulously.
"It's really important to him," Rhyme nodded. "That one, or whenever he uses dual knives, it's all the same; they're part of a set of four making up his Noble Phantasm. As you know with these things, losing even a single of those blades is a significant blow."
"Won't it come back as long as he has enough magical energy?" Gudao asked, seeing that Rhyme seemed to be in a mood to explain things.
"Hmm?" The Caster just raised an eyebrow. Some time passed as neither side knew what the other was expecting. "Archer, shouldn't you say something?"
"I don't -" Blackbeard started before realizing that Chloe was probably the one being called out.
"It depends on what sort of death you perceive, is that what you mean Rhyme?" the other Archer finally ventured, turning to Shiki. "If Noble Phantasms are sufficiently separable, you might be able to kill it such that at least this manifestation of Jack can't regenerate the loss."
"How did you happen to know that?" Martha broke in with an upset expression.
"Like Nursery Rhyme here seems to know, Chloe knew it," Chloe answered. "Maybe you've even met personally, Shiki? She seems to practically go around handing out fliers for Chaldea."
"No, not me."
l
Notes:
Chloe's revolver is, of course, a Colt Single-Action Army.
Nursery Rhyme's feather pen looks like the one Hans Christian Andersen uses.