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"Minato." - Regular Speech

'Musubi' - Thoughts

"Kaminari!" - Sekirei Incantation

Beta'd by BigCC

Chapter 17: The Sekirei of Life and the Second Stage

Central Laboratory, Sahashi Takami's (Not so) Secret Facility

"Ah, Shiina." Takami greeted the boy as she entered the room where the Maturation Chamber resided. The bishōnen was hovering around the tube, having run ahead of her. "Let's have a look here…yup, she's about ready to come out. Shiina, be a dear and grab a towel for her."

The boy scrambled out of the room even as Minato slipped in behind him, Yahan and Kuruse following close behind. Yomi and Yashima had been assigned to guard the room where the soldiers were being kept, while Musubi, the Twins and Uzume were on guard outside. Hopefully, if Karasuba did show up, the bubbly Miko-look-alike could stop her from going nuts. Out of all of the Sekirei here, she was the only one who wasn't scared stiff at the thought of going near the Black Sekirei.

"I'm going to have to look into why none of the Discipline Squad answered my calls." Takami muttered as she typed away at the interface. "Benitsubasa and Haihane are one thing, both of them are prone to getting distracted by their own hobbies, but Karasuba? That woman is always looking for a reason to kill something, so she never lets her work phone out her sight!"

"What about her Ashikabi?" Minato asked. He kept his eyes politely averted away from Kusano's tank.

"Ah…him." Takami scowled. "Ichinomi Natsuo, the Ashikabi of the Discipline Squad. The long and short of it is that the two of us get along like oil and water. I didn't even think of asking him for help, because technically we're of equal rank. I may be the Head of the Sekirei Plan, but I can't issue orders to him thanks to that idiot Minaka mismanaging the ranks within MBI. He's Minaka's loyal pet through and through and only obeys orders from him."

"And yet you can give orders to the three he's in charge of?" Kuruse blinked in confusion.

The ash-haired woman grimaced. "It's Minaka; I gave up trying to understand how his mind works a decade ago, things just don't always make sense when it comes to his schemes. The Sekirei Plan itself could be used as a very good example of that."

Minato silently agreed. Why on earth did the Sekirei have to take part in a bloodbath of a tournament in order to find their Ashikabi? It made no sense if there was no other reason for it. That being the case, either the President of MBI was an idiot (a likely case, as Takami could attest to) or the so-called tournament was just a front for something else.

Surprisingly, mother and son were sharing similar thoughts, and Takami was starting to suspect that the answer might be both. The crazy bastard's schemes and plots being partially covered by his delusions and generally eccentric behaviour. She knew that, despite his moronic behaviour, Minaka was not only a brilliant scientist, but a cunning, manipulative bastard when he needed to be. His subtle take-over of most of Japan's infrastructure showed that.

However, a sudden beeping emanating from her computer broke her out of her musings before she could ponder into the idea too deeply.

A small grin spread across her lips. "Vitals: All Nominal. Spiritual Wavelength: Within expected parameters. Maturation Sequence: Complete." Takami muttered, her fingers dancing across the keyboard. "Beginning Final Adjustment Sequence. Phase 1."

The colour of the fluid within the tube changed from a light green to dark blue as pumps whirred.

"Phase 1, complete. Starting Phase 2 and Phase 3." The scientist continued.

"What's Kaa-san doing?" Minato whispered to Kuruse.

"She's adjusting Kusano's body so that her power as a Sekirei is limited and won't harm her from overuse." The honey-blond Sekirei answered quietly. "If her body and mind hadn't been artificially matured like it has, this wouldn't be necessary, but it is what it is."

"Ordinarily, her power would adjust to her as she grows and she'd learn how to use it through trial, error and teaching, but these are hardly normal circumstances." Yahan mentioned. "The Maturation and Adjustment processes are supposed to be an emergency procedure used by the Sekirei Pillar in the case of an attack on the mothership by hostiles or the world we landed on had hostile inhabitants, but…"

"It's also something that needs time for her to adjust to after I'm done." Takami finished, proving that she had the hearing of a mother, even after all this time. "You won't be able to Wing her for two days at least, and I'll have to give her a medical to clear her for that. Continuing adjustment. Phase 2, 45% complete, Phase 3, 24% complete."

"I'm sure Kaa-san wouldn't be using it if the President wasn't making her." Minato said assuredly to the Sekirei of the Shadows.

"We know." Kuruse said with a small smile. "Takami-okaa-san has always tried to protect us as much as she could. Any scientist or Handler who tried anything close to outright abuse was dealt with immediately. She couldn't catch everything all of the time, but she helped all of us as much as she could. All of the Sekirei respect her tremendously, with a few, rare, exceptions."

Minato was about to ask about those exceptions when the liquid, now completely clear, started to drain out of Kusano's capsule.

"Phases 2 & 3 complete." Takami offered, smirking proudly as she stood up from her screen. "Final Adjustment complete."

Just then, Shiina ran in with a large fluffy towel and almost ripped the capsule off of his sister, pulling her out and wrapping her in the towel, splashing the floor with the fluids from inside the capsule. Kusano was so tall compared to him that it was a rather comical sight to see Shiina holding her in his arms.

"She's unconscious." He noted to Takami.

"Of course; do you really want her conscious while she's forcibly matured, both physically and mentally?" the Head of the Sekirei Plan scoffed. "She'll wake up in a couple of hours. Take her to a room and dress her in a shift before putting her to bed. I'll be along to examine her once she's awake. Min-chan, you'd better go and intimidate those assholes again."

"What'll you be doing, Kaa-san?" Minato asked, and then flinched at the anger burning in his mother's eyes as she turned around.

"I'm going to be finding out exactly why I was cut off from any form of support or backup during a vitally important medical procedure." She said grimly.

As he quickly executed a strategic retreat in the face of outraged matriarchal fury, Minato gave a little prayer for the souls of those his mother was about to smite. When she got like this, nothing and no one was safe from her wrath if they got in her way. A teacher at his middle school had learned that the hard way.

'Ah, poor Satou-sensei…he never was able to sit properly again after that incident.' The raven-haired boy mused sympathetically. A dick the man may have been, but he hadn't deserved that.

Same Time

Outside the Botanic Gardens

Kagari, otherwise known as Sekirei Number 6, Homura, the Sekirei of Flames and the Guardian of the Unwinged, stooped down as he landed atop a nearby building, unwilling to move closer to where he knew Takami's hidden facility to be, as he sensed THAT presence there. If her son was there, and feeling somewhat calm, then Takami must be safe.

"Homura!" a loud and boisterous voice yelled at him and the black-clad figure sighed tiredly as another Sekirei landed on the roof he was standing on. This Sekirei possessed long blond hair and pure aquamarine eyes, as well as having the typical 'hourglass' figure that was common to powerful Sekirei. She wore a black dress complete with a white underdress that exposed both a large amount of her cleavage and her white panties when she leapt from building to building. Black stockings and brown leather boots sheathed her legs and a black choker with white frills on it enclosed her neck.

Tsukiumi, Sekirei Number 9 and the Water Sekirei, huffed at him. "Cretin! Why dost thou flee from me? We were to battle today!"

"An attack." He nodded at the botanic gardens. "Someone just tried to kidnap Sekirei Number 108."

"Was it one of those monkeys?!" the blond water user sneered in distaste.

"If by 'monkey' you mean an Ashikabi, you'd be wrong." Homura sighed again. Tsukiumi's Handler and Adjuster, Miyajima, was a strict woman who was the only person that made the proud Sekirei tremble in fear. But seriously, just what the heck had she said about Ashikabi to make the Water Sekirei hate them so much?!

He knew that she had been severely docked in pay and only saved from dismissal because of her genuine care and love for Tsukiumi, despite her salacious tales to the Sekirei of Water.

"Then who…?" Tsukiumi blinked in confusion.

"The same people who tried to kidnap Sekirei twice before, Tsukiumi." The Sekirei Guardian said, mightily resisting the urge to roll his eyes at her obliviousness. While not stupid by any means, Tsukiumi was something of a battle maniac; her focus was totally on the Sekirei Plan and the participants in it. Ordinary humans were not able to Wing Sekirei, so them attempting to capture a Sekirei made no sense to her, because it did not fit in with her vision of the world. "I do hate to burst your bubble, but we are alien to this world despite technically being born here. The amount of medical advances that have been unlocked from what little of the Sekirei Mothership's database MBI has managed to access, as well as their work on us Sekirei, has made MBI a world power unto itself. Without the Mothership, the only possible way to investigate the secrets of the Sekirei is by capturing a Sekirei."

"Wha…! That can't…!" Tsukiumi staggered slightly in shock.

"Unlike the last time, no Sekirei came to harm because an Ashikabi brought his Sekirei to aid Takami-sensei in time to stop them." Homura said as he turned away from the gardens. "It was her son, if you're interested. He's the Ashikabi of the North and has the loyalty of a goodly number of Sekirei already. Just how he'll alter this cursed game of Minaka's will be interesting to see…"

'I can only hope my flames do not consume me before I have a chance to see the look of frustration on his face at his own son's interference in his little game.' The Guardian smirked beneath his face mask. Takami had told him the likely father of her children after she'd gotten really, really, drunk out of her mind after the debacle with Musubi and Yume. At first, he had been inclined to dislike the two siblings on principle, but had relented on that fact after some time and introspection.

The sins of the father had no effect on the innocent children.

With that he leapt away, leaving a still stunned Tsukiumi behind to rage in frustration and fury at being left behind again, once she came out of her stunned daze that is.

Later that Day

Sahashi Minato's Residence

The first thing he did when he got home was go up to Matsu's Room and give her a firm kiss on the lips that had the orangette's legs trembling and put a dazed, happy expression on her face for the rest of the night.

It also made the rest of his wives somewhat jealous and he had to spend quite a bit of time kissing and cuddling them into submission as well, much to the amusement of his mother. Akitsu observed them before retiring to her room.

"Ah, youth." She laughed as Oriha, the only one not in a kiss daze aside from Takami and Yukari (for obvious reasons), carefully carried a comatose Kusano up the stairs assisted by Shiina, who felt hot; his Sekirei Crest was burning and he kept looking at the pretty human girl who was also looking at him almost feverishly.

'Oh boy.' Minato sighed as he saw the tell-tale symptoms of an imminent Winging fall upon both Shiina and his little sister. While not conventionally falling into the role of an overprotective brother, he did fell somewhat unhappy that Yukari's purity would likely only last long enough for the girl to find out that Shiina wasn't restricted in the same way as the females of his species in the bedroom department.

He jolted when his mother lightly elbowed him in the ribs. "None of that, Min-chan. At least this way you'll have a reason to tell her that you'll ignore her bedroom activities if she ignores yours."

Fighting down a large blush, Minato hissed, "Why are you so blasé about this?!"

"Because Shiina's firing more blanks than any Hollywood action blockbuster at the moment." Takami stated bluntly. "It's a similar formula to what we use to keep the female Sekirei from banging out babies, but adjusted to ensure that the males are temporarily sterile. I won't be getting any grandbabies from Yukari any time soon."

Slapping a hand to his red face, the Ashikabi of the North resolved to soundproof his room so at least he would be able to pretend that his sister was still a virgin at some point in the future.

The Winging, when it happened, was surprisingly tender and emotional. Seeing Shiina's pale, ghostly blue wings flutter protectively around Yukari after extending to their full length, which was longer than Hibiki and Hikari's by a good foot, was surprisingly both happy and sad for Minato. He had known that Yukari had a Sekirei before Shiina, but with a 100% male Sekirei in her 'flock' now, it was likely he would need to maintain his distance for a while so as not to aggravate the new dynamic in Yukari's flock.

Kusano was in her own room for the moment, having briefly regain consciousness at Takami's facility to be examined and have a quick meal before falling unconscious again. As she had just grown form the size and mental capacity of an eight-year-old girl to a young woman in her late teens, it was unsurprising that she had needed to rest and recover.

"It's started, Takami-okaa-sama." Matsu said grimly as she came into the living room, where everyone else was.

"Urgh, that idiot. I'll just bet he's been waiting on tenterhooks for the required number of Sekirei to be Winged just so he could push the button." Takami shook her head in irritation. "Someone turn on the TV. You'll want to watch this."

What was seen on the screen was of the MBI 'Security Enforcement Division', otherwise known as their private army, essentially annexing the entire New Capital. APC's and even tanks were rolling around the outer perimeter of what could only be described as a blockade around the city, while squads of heavily armed men in full combat gear took up stations at key points around the city.

"Kaa-san…what is this?" Minato asked softly.

"This is the Second Stage of the Sekirei Plan being put into motion." Takami said with a scowl. "The First Stage ended when 90% of the Sekirei were Winged. An obvious guess would be that the Winging in question occurred in front of us just a couple of minutes ago. The Second Stage involves the New Capital being locked down completely and the Ashikabi have to Wing the remaining 10%. The Third Stage is basically a series of Matchups between Ashikabi; I can't say any more about it or that idiot will kick up a royal fuss about it. If I were you, I'd see about buying the houses around you to add a layer of security and letting your girls spread out and have rooms for all of their interests. I have a hunch that housing prices are going to drop like a stone in the New Capital soon…"

"But…the people!" Yukari stared at her mother is slack-jawed shock. "How will food and other things get into the Capital if no one can get in or out?! What about people who live outside of the Capital and commute in to work?!"

"MBI is taking complete control of the city as we speak." The eldest Sahashi sighed. "All municipal offices, all private shipping, everything. I made arrangements for regular shipments to take place so the New Capital doesn't run out of food or the daily necessities. As for commuters, I've also catalogued all of them and made arrangements with their companies to be transferred to outer offices, as well as arranging alternate personnel for the companies they work for. Well, as much as I could. I'm not perfect, after all."

And what a lot of work that had been. In fact, she had only managed to make alternate arrangements for about 60% of the people and only 40% of the companies, mostly because rival companies would mostly rather cut off their nose to spite their face rather than accept a handout from MBI.

Idiots.

"What about the soldiers that attacked you?" Minato asked with a worried edge to his voice.

"They're currently heading towards an MBI-run prison in the Kansai region." Takami assured him. "They should be well out of Karasuba's range by this point."

"Takami-okaa-san, Minato-sama mentioned that the last time an attempt was made, a Sekirei was actually kidnapped." Kuruse said seriously. This had been bothering her since she had heard it. "Is that true?"

"I…" Takami paused for a moment before a soft voice interrupted her.

"Takami-sama, Musubi will tell them." Musubi said softly, eyes falling on her in surprise from around the room. Only Yahan, Matsu and Takami didn't look confused.

"Only if you feel up to it." The human woman said gently to the unusually serious-looking Power-type Sekirei.

"Musubi?" Minato blinked at his (technically) Second Sekirei.

The Miko look-alike walked over to the window looking out over the street. Looking out at it for a moment, she started in a quiet voice. "It was over…four years ago. Four years ago that a scientist betrayed MBI during an attack on Kamikura Island and kidnapped Number 87 and Musubi."

A gasp of shock echoed around the room. Minato knew it wasn't over though; Musubi wouldn't look and act so serious if it was just a kidnapping. Also, his mother's reaction to the possibility of Kusano, Shiina, and Akitsu being kidnapped was not normal.

"It was before Number 87 and Musubi were matured, so we couldn't use our abilities to fight them off. We were both completely helpless." Musubi continued, looking down. Her fists were clenched hard. "The scientist was paid off and left us with a research facility hidden on a desolate island. They…started to experiment on Musubi. Ultimately, they removed and destroyed Musubi's Sekirei Tama."

"WHAT?!" most of the Sekirei shouted and leapt to their feet, even Oriha and Shiina. Looks of mingled horror, shock and fury were on their faces. Yomi, who was the most apathetic of Minato's Sekirei unless riled up in battle, looked positively furious.

"What they hell were they thinking?!" she roared.

"Er…can the humans without a degree is Sekirei Physiology get an explanation please?" Minato asked, with Yukari nodding in agreement.

"A Sekirei Tama is an organ unique to the Sekirei." Takami said softly. "Think of it like a regulatory organ for a Sekirei's supernatural powers and life-force. It's about the size of a golf ball and is more vital to them than their hearts. If a Tama is removed…the Sekirei it belongs to will die."

Minato's throat thought that this would be a wonderful moment to seize up. Yukari looked sick as well.

"They can be brought back if the Tama is re-implanted quickly enough." Matsu said quietly. "But Musubi's was destroyed. She was gone."

"Th-then…how…?" Yashima asked weakly as she stared at the Sekirei who should be dead…at Musubi.

"The Second Generation of the Discipline Squad, consisting of Number 4, Karasuba, the Black Sekirei, and the appointed leader, Number 8, Yume, the Sekirei of Fate, were dispatched to retrieve them." Takami said softly. "Yume fought her way in, without killing anyone, and retrieved Number 87, Kaho, as well as Musubi. Karasuba…slaughtered the oversized mercenary battalion, including the ones that Yume spared."

"But…then how is Musubi-chan still…?" Minato asked in disbelief, his eyes not leaving the back of his usually bubbly and upbeat Sekirei.

"Yume-sama saved me." Musubi said as she turned around, a melancholy and wistful smile on her face. "She gave Musubi her Sekirei Tama."

Another choked scream came from the Sekirei, this time from all of them, even Matsu, who stared in shock at Musubi with wide eyes. Evidently this was not something that the Sekirei of Wisdom herself had known.

"She…gave you…her Tama?!" Yahan asked in disbelief. "She had to know what would happen to her if she did that! And there was no guarantee that you would be compatible with her Tama! She could have sacrificed herself for nothing!"

"I think she knew it would work, on some level." Takami mused.

"How?" Yukari asked in a very subdued fashion as she tugged a surprised Oriha into a cuddle, swiftly followed by Shiina.

"The more…unique…Sekirei have opposites, counter-forces if you want. For example, Kusano is the Sekirei of Life, with the ability to make plant life grow and making life around her in general flourish." Takami stated. "Her opposite is Shiina here; the Sekirei of Death or Decay. He has the ability to disintegrate most materials away, including Kuu-chan's plants. This was very useful when she was a child and couldn't control her own powers and made the Botanic Gardens overgrow.

"A unique aspect of this is that all the Sekirei paired up in such a way seem to be genetically related. Shiina and Kusano are cousins, to continue the example. Akitsu and her opposite, Number Six, Homura, are sister and brother. Yume and Musubi were opposites as well. Musubi is a Power-type specialising in raw physical destructive force, while Yume had the ability to use positron beams, using vast amounts of energy to deal massive damage. Yume…Yume was Musubi's mother, and there are just some things that a mother knows."

"Eh?" Musubi looked surprised. "Yume-sama…was…my mother? But…"

"HOW?!" Matsu demanded, one eye twitching in agitation. "All of the Single Numbers were cryogenically frozen foetuses when the ship crashed, while the other Sekirei were cryogenically frozen fertilized eggs! That sort of blood connection between Yume and Musubi should be impossible!"

"Don't ask me." Takami waved a hand lazily. "I triple-checked the results before getting drunk out of my gourd after the incident. A likely scenario is the foetus that Yume was developed from was actually a clone of a Sekirei that already existed, and that the original was actually Musubi's mother. Another hypothesis is that if the Sekirei main race had access to the formula that MBI used to artificially mature the Sekirei, they may also have had some sort of formula that artificially reversed the process and turned fully mature Sekirei back into foetuses. I kinda doubt it, but the possibility is there."

"So…Yume-sama knew that she could save Musubi by giving Musubi her Tama because she somehow knew Musubi was her daughter?" the Priestess lookalike questioned with a smile.

"Essentially." The ash-haired woman nodded before bowing slightly to Musubi. "I am so sorry that you had to go through that, Musubi-chan. We weren't prepared for the possibility of a traitor and you and Yume paid the price for it."

"It wasn't your fault, Takami-sama." Musubi shook her head gently. "Musubi doesn't blame you, and I know Yume-sama wouldn't either."

"Wait…" Matsu said slowly. "Musubi has Yume's Tama, right?"

"Right." Takami nodded.

"One of the functions of the Tama is to contain the spirit of the Sekirei it belongs to as well." The Sekirei of Wisdom stated. "That means that Yume is still alive inside of the Tama! And that means that when Minato-sama Winged Musubi, he must have also Winged Yume!"

"Correct." The Head of the Sekirei Plan nodded, impressed. "You cottoned on to that far quicker than I would have thought possible. Yes, when Musubi was Winged, and every time Minato has kissed her since, a second pair of wings appeared. It doesn't show on the MBI system because Yume is listed as KIA."

"So I have another Single Number in my Flock other than Matsu-chan?" Minato blinked. "It's a shame that she's not able to talk to us; I kind of feel bad for her…"

"You are such a good boy." His mother said fondly and ruffled his hair, to his displeasure. Turning to Musubi, Takami became serious. "Whatever you do, Musubi, do not allow yourself to be defeated. If you are, Yume will reinvigorate you, but her spirit will merge with yours and she'll vanish for good if she does that."

The look of fright on Musubi's face at that possibility was chilling; Musubi was usually so effervescent and upbeat that seeing her frightened made Minato go over and tug her into a cuddle.

He looked reproachfully at his mother. "Kaa-san, you could have put it a bit less bluntly!"

"Sorry." Takami shrugged. "In this case though, all she has to do is keep winning and not be reckless. Simple and effective."

"Onii…-chan?" a sleepy voice said from the door, making everyone turn to look. A half-asleep Kusano stood in the doorway, completely naked.

"Gah!" Minato looked away, blushing bright red.

"Kuu! Put some clothes on!" Shiina yelped and pried himself away from his Mistress to grab a towel to wrap his sister-figure in.

"That was quick." Takami blinked. "I wasn't expecting Kusano to wake up again until tomorrow. Hmm…ah, it must be her powers; they must be accelerating the adaptation process somehow. An adaptive physiology or perhaps some form of enhanced regeneration? Anything along those lines would be well within the realm of possibility for the Sekirei of Life."

Kusano, now wearing a towel that protected her modesty, was in the process of waking up fully. She looked around the room, taking in the numerous Sekirei in it, along with the three humans. "Takami…-nee-san?"

"Hi Kuu-chan." The ash-haired woman smiled gently at the newly matured Sekirei of Life. "How do you feel as an adult?"

"Kuu…no, I…feel good…fine." The blond woman smiled at Takami before frowning with a cute pout. "Why can't I feel myself reacting to Onii-chan?"

"Because Sekirei that have been artificially matured cannot react to an Ashikabi or be Winged by an Ashikabi until both mind and body are completely brought into balance." The scientist informed the pouting girl. "Your mind and body may have healed enough for you to regain consciousness, but you aren't back to a 100% just yet. You won't be able to be Winged by Min-chan before midday tomorrow at the absolute earliest."

"Muuuuu~!" Kusano pouted even more at that. She brightened up when she shifted her gaze onto Minato, who was still standing with Musubi, one arm wrapped comfortingly around the Bear Fist Sekirei's waist. "Then I can get to know Onii-chan better before he Wings me!"

"Why is she calling MY brother 'Onii-chan'?" Yukari scowled as the towel-clad girl glomped her future Ashikabi. There were few things that she truly got angry about (in her own opinion) but daring to refer to HER brother with any honorific that implied they were related to him like a sibling was like a red rag to a bull for Yukari.

"Yukari-sama, we can't involve ourselves in the courtship of a Sekirei and her future Ashikabi." Oriha admonished her Mistress gently.

"Grrrrr….!" The sound of grinding teeth could be heard as the youngest Sahashi glared daggers at Kusano, who was happily chatting to Minato and Musubi. Takami, who was watching, sighed.

"This is a bloodbath in the making." She muttered before eying the Raiden Futago, who were standing next to her. "I take it you two are prepared for when she goes nuts, right?"

Her answer was a pair of positively evil smirks. Takami made a mental note to keep a wary eye on her twin daughters-in-law.

After dinner and examining Kusano again, she left for the night, heading back to her penthouse apartment. No sooner than she entered than she was greeted by the sight of a half-naked Karasuba. It actually took her a moment to reengage her brain at such an unexpected and out-of-place sight.

"Karasuba? What the hell are you doing in my apartment? And why the hell are you only wearing panties?" she asked, once she had finished resetting her jaw back into its socket.

"To answer in reverse, because I just got out of the shower." The grey-haired Sekirei said as she crossed to where her clothes were lying, scattered on Takami's dining room table. "And I came here because I needed a place to crash that wasn't anywhere near my 'dear' Ashikabi, otherwise I might be tempted to see how many times the little louse can endure having his kneecaps broken."

"Most of the time, you can only have them broken once each." Takami observed. "What did Natsuo do this time?"

"Fantasize out loud about things that he'd like the lunatic to do to him." the Black Sekirei shuddered, her skin taking on a green tinge with disgust. "I have absolutely no problem with gay men, but Natsuo is a creep. The fact that he's obsessed with that crazy moron just makes it worse."

"He isn't likely to go anywhere with it. That idiot is 100% straight." The Head of the Sekirei Plan said with a tight smile. "So where were you today? Your phone was out of range."

"The idiot had me and Natsuo guarding the inner passage to the Datalink Room." Karasuba replied. "He'd received information that a vital location was going to be attacked today, and had the Discipline Squad divided up among the most likely locations. I was in the passage to the Datalink Room, Benitsubasa was on guard at the entrance to the Archives' Access Room and Haihane was on guard in the Jinki Storage Room."

"The three most heavily defended and high-security areas of the MBI Building and its underground Complex?" Takami said, one eyebrow twitching in frustration. The Datalink Room was the only place in Japan, short of using Miya, which someone could connect remotely to the Sekirei Mothership. It was in the very centre of the MBI Building and had enough security to make a major metropolitan bank vaults look like a child's piggy bank in comparison. The entire area had been designed to keep out multiple Sekirei-level attackers. The passage, the only way in or out of the room, was a Faraday Cage, which explained why Karasuba's phone had been useless.

The Archives were exactly that; a large databank and mainframe that held every scrap of research and data conducted by MBI regarding the Sekirei and the technologies from their ship. Utterly standalone, they could only be accessed from a single console located in an entirely different location and connected by a dedicated, hardwired and encrypted link that not even Matsu could hack. Even Takami herself didn't know where either location was.

Finally, the Jinki Storage Room was where the seven remaining Jinki were stored. With defences even more ironclad than the Datalink Room, so much so that nothing short of the unified force of all 108 Sekirei, including Miya, would be required to breech its defences, some of which were copies of some found on the Sekirei Mothership. Again, Takami had no clue as to where the idiot had hidden them. Even she didn't have access to that information.

"That idiot!" Takami snarled. "There was an attack and it was my off-site facility! I barely managed to stop three Sekirei from being kidnapped, thanks to my son and his Sekirei showing up!"

"What." The Black Sekirei growled flatly.

She was then regaled with the entire tale and was mightily pissed that both the soldiers and the planners were now well beyond her grasp. On the other hand, Karasuba was somewhat impressed with Minato having the brass balls to threaten the soldiers with her wrath, even if he didn't mean it.

"Mu-chan has quite the Ashikabi." Karasuba mused, dressed in her Discipline Squad uniform once again. "Most wouldn't dare threaten others with me. For a human, he isn't too bad."

"That's my son for you." Takami shrugged before she headed to her liquor cabinet. "Want something?"

"Got any vodka? That's just about the only thing that'll make me feel the punch." The Head of the Third Generation Discipline Squad said.

"I always keep some Stolichnaya here in case I need to really get hammered." The human answered absently, grabbing a bottle of the stuff and placing it and a tumbler in front of Karasuba. She fetched a bottle of white wine and a wine glass for herself.

"A Chardonnay? Rewarding yourself?" Karasuba hitched a brow as she poured herself a generous amount of the expensive spirit into her tumbler. "That's one of the Côte Chalonnaise wines too, isn't it?"

"I had no idea that you knew much about wine." Takami said in mild surprise.

"Are you kidding? I tried to drink almost every kind of alcohol on this mudball of a planet to find something that could both get me drunk and taste good." The grey-haired Sekirei scoffed before downing her glass in a single swallow. "Only this stuff and a few Tokutei meishō-shu fit the bill."

"Didn't know you liked Nihonshu either." The human woman shook her head as she carefully uncorked the bottle and poured herself a measure of the wine. Taking a sip, she hummed happily as the alcohol slipped down her throat. "Ah…that hits the spot."

She then cocked an eyebrow at Karasuba and asked, "Actually, now I come to think of it, where is that idiot? I would have thought that he'd be bothering me via a television screen or on my phone by this point."

"I punched him through a wall for making me waste an entire day hanging around in an empty corridor with Natsuo." Karasuba replied with a smirk.

"You…what?" Takami blinked in surprise.

"I literally punched him through a wall." The Black Sekirei repeated. "Smug bastard was wearing a helmet though, and I'm half-sure the wall was a fake as well, but he's still out cold. Doubt you'll hear from him again before tomorrow."

After laughing her ass off, Takami got up and handed another bottle of Vodka over to the Sekirei with a beaming smile. "You just made my day."

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Next Chapter: Over the Line

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