A NICE BOAT FOR A NICE FAMILY
Constanta, Romania
August 5, 1994
Kiritsugu Emiya couldn't help but stare out the window as the car hummed down the 4-lane highway towards the massive docks that dominated this city.
This place was ugly. It was to be expected of any post-Soviet state, really: the communists had built for efficiency, not for looks. But there was more to it than that. The ugliness here wasn't just by design, it was by evolution. Romania had had a hard time recovering from the collapse of the Union, perhaps even more so than its neighboring states... undoubtedly due to the unique situation of governance the country found itself in, thanks to the Yggdmillennia.
The hardships the nation faced were reflected in this city. Once-grand edifices now seemed almost desiccated, proud concrete overgrown with algae and grime, sidewalks and public installations crumbling, foreign franchise businesses (such as the numerous McDonalds that he would likely be making a pilgrimage to once the car reached its' destination) sprouting out of disused street corners like colorful weeds. The weathered monuments to a regime that oppressed the people of this land now seemed tinged with a strange sense of nostalgia: the past might have been dead, but at least they had known the past. Now this place and its people were traveling down a dark highway at night, headed for an unknown future.
You could see it in the faces and the actions of the people they passed. Pained, tired expressions, violent outbursts just out of sight, poverty and uncertainty everywhere, people clinging to outlandish ideas, both old and new, for a sense of comfort. The people here were hurting, dejected and abandoned.
Kiritsugu couldn't help feeling that, in a way, this was where he belonged. A dirty, troubled place full of dirty, troubled people. There was a lot of evil here, a lot of things that could be done away with to reduce the suffering of those around them. This was what something like him deserved, a hunter in a bountiful hunting grounds. What was there for him, anywhere in this world, but the thrill of the hunt, the rush of excising the world's tumors?
"Look! Kiritsugu! Look there, do you see that?"
Right... Irisviel. His one love in the world, she had followed him here... and was now pointing excitedly to a massive disused industrial crane resting quietly at the edge of the sprawling port complex that was their destination.
"The crane? Yes, what about it?" He answered, not quite sure what exactly she was so excited about.
"I think it looks lovely is all!" She answered, "Sitting there against the setting sun like that... it's beautiful in its own way."
Kiritsugu blinked. The crane she was looking at was an old horsehead crane, rusted, disused, and partially covered in barnacles. The thing had probably been driven out to the far side of the docks near the trainyard simply to get it out of the way. There was certainly no beauty in that, but Irisviel had this strange way of finding beauty and goodness in even the ugliest of things... including Kiritsugu himself, he supposed.
"Yes... I guess it is." He said. He might not really understand what she saw in the thing, but he could nonetheless be happy for her ability to see a brighter world.
"Are we there yet?" A small voice asked from the back seat. Right... despite his reservations, Kiritsugu had been unable to find a safe place to leave their daughter before coming to this miserable corner of the world. It was hardly a place for a child... yet where else was she going to go?
His hand had been forced, here, to take the things he cherished most with him as he walked back into the fires of hell, back into his personal crusade. This would not be like his other operations, where it was nothing but himself and Maiya purging the world's evil, before there had been no real risk to his actions, just two more bodies added to the pile to be fed to Earth's hungry maw... but now, there was something precious at stake. Something he couldn't afford to lose.
"This looks like the right turnoff..." Irisviel murmured, jerking the wheel hard to the left and spinning the car into a hard drift in order to enter the port without losing her momentum. Kiritsugu found himself quickly glancing to the back seat to see a cheering Illya with her hands thrown in the air as the back end of the car swung back into alignment. Thank god for seatbelts.
In retrospect, letting the excitable woman who had spent most of her life as an unwilling shut-in serve as the designated driver here might not have been the best idea. His dear Irisviel had incredible spatial awareness and reflexes and handled the wheel like a long-time master... but Sunday drives with her felt like she was being chased by the LAPD in a Hollywood blockbuster. Amazing for a getaway driver, but not so much for when there were children in the car. Or when keeping a low-profile was preferred. Or when you didn't want whiplash. Or in countries with police forces that were halfway competent at traffic work.
Kiritsugu had nerves of steel, he had stared down everything from the barrel of a gun to some of the most powerful magecraft left in the world, and things horrible beyond imagining... and he still couldn't help but recoil and flinch as his wife floored it into the tight-knit narrow accessways of a port complex made for vehicles half the size of theirs, weaving through containers with inches of clearance to spare, drifting around 90 degree turns into narrow alleyways with every change of direction, launching the car off improvised ramps to clear old sets of oil pipes, and leaving not a single open stretch of tarmac without a circular set of skid marks from pulling donuts like an over-eager teenager. Kiritsugu would have needed a calculator to keep track of every brush with death in that maze, and while he had long-since gotten past the point where it bothered him too much, he still found himself white-knuckled and in a cold sweat every time she did this...
Illya of course loved every second of it.
It was something of a relief when they finally hit the waterfront, and an actual access road meant for vehicles wider than a forklift, and not far away a small parking lot waited at the foot of a massive vehicle boarding ramp, already home to several suspiciously high-class vehicles― trust a magus to come into a war zone in a Rolls-Royce... not that a Mercades-Benz was much better, but depriving Iresviel of her most prized possession just wasn't on the table, no matter the practicality concerns. Just beyond the lot, Kiritsugu could see their actual destination... a hulking cargo freighter moored up at a private unloading station, overhead gantry cranes sitting suspiciously idle.
Kiritsugu had more than a bit of experience with safehouses in his time. Normally you wanted something out of the way, easily defended, inconspicuous... a freighter moored in a disused cargo dock was none of these things, and yet here it was. He had to wonder what, exactly, the Association had been thinking, using this as the primary base location for this mess. It was like they were trying to get everyone killed...
"My, the ocean looks lovely from here." Irisviel commented.
Well... at least it wasn't completely devoid of positives. Still, he would be investigating what exactly was going on here, and there had better be a good reason why everyone's lives were being put at risk like this.
"I guess they want us to head up to that checkpoint?" Irisviel mused.
The aforementioned checkpoint booth looked like a toy next to the gargantuan hull of the ship. And as she drove up to it, Kiritsugu could feel tension rising in his stomach. This thing... it was a deathtrap, but as he looked at it he couldn't help but feel the power that its presence exuded, like their little car was driving into the maw of a waiting dragon.
From the quiet whimpering in the back, it seemed that Illya felt something similar.
"So, you think this thing is as impressive as it looks?" He asked, more just to cut the ominous silence than anything, and to give Illya something to focus on.
"Well, it has to be, doesn't it?" Irisviel murmured. "I mean, the Association has some of the best fortification mages in the world, don't they?"
She did raise a good point. Conspicuous as a ship might be as a location, it was populated by some of the most skilled magi in the world. If between the lot of them, they couldn't even come up with an appropriate set of defenses to stop the Yggdmilennia from blasting it apart while they slept... well, frankly they might as well just hand over their Association Membership cards right there, and their family Crests along with them.
That wasn't to say that Kiritsugu didn't intend to inspect every inch of said defenses to the best of his ability as soon as possible, of course. But until that point, he could perhaps have just a tiny spark of faith in the abilities of these magi... though the more he thought about the phrase 'have faith in the abilities of magi', the more insane it seemed.
As the car rolled up to the checkpoint building, a dark-robed figure loomed out of the window.
"What is your purpose here?" The figure asked.
Without pause, Kiritsugu raised his right arm, and pulled back his sleeve to reveal the Command Seal running up said arm.
"I have business onboard this vessel."
"And the other two?" The figure queried.
"Associates, their accompaniment is not negotiable."
"Very well. You may enter."
The checkpoint gate raised, and the car quietly began the ascent into the belly of the beast.
The ramp was steep, more like a ski lift than a normal road, it almost seemed like the car would slip and roll back to the ground at any moment... but Irisviel hadn't learned to drive in the ice and snow around the Einzbern Castle for nothing, and the car crawled up the ascent with all the patience in the world.
Still, the ramp wasn't that long at least, and as they ascended Kiritsugu managed to spot the ship's name, painted along the hull.
Salvation
A bit grandiose for a glorified freighter... but trust magi to place the most dramatic name they could think of on the most mundane things imaginable.
As the car crested the top of the ramp, they caught sight of the imposing sight that awaited them inside.
The interior of the freighter was not only cavernously open, but also seemed... too big. The gargantuan space that they had just entered felt like a cross between a military hangar and an industrial complex more than it did the inside of a ship. It was too large, too open... no, that was the thing, it was too large. Kiritsugu's eyes darted to the edges of the space, comparing it to the dimensions of the ship's exterior. There, that catwalk around the outer wall, that should be level with the upper deck of the ship, yet it was just over half the way up the inside of this gargantuan expanse.
"Did you catch it too?" Irisviel murmured. "They've expanded the interior, some sort of Bounded Field... after living inside of one for so long, I could recognize one anywhere."
A Bounded Field... it was a common enough type of magecraft with myriad applications, but a field that expanded space, and to this extent? That wasn't just some two-bit salt circle, that was something big, and more importantly, expensive. Nothing with an effect that potent came easily, either in the setup nor in the maintenance.
How long had the Association been preparing for this?
A thin set of yellow lines marked off a parking space for the car. Normally, the engine falling silent would be a mark of relief, an end to an exhausting journey... but here, leaving the car felt like leaving behind a protective cocoon, like his family was exposing themselves to a den of wolves.
As Kiritsugu scanned the cavernous space, he came to realize that that might not be too far from the truth.
The expanded space was far from empty. It was somewhere between a warehouse and a military staging ground, and almost everywhere Kiritsugu looked, he could see Enforcers, the Association's attack dogs. Each seemed to have their own space, little fenced-off personal safehouses separated by thin yellow lines, like little stage sets, except that the actors were hired killers, and the prop weapons were very, very real.
"We should move quickly," Kiritsugu muttered. "These people are dangerous. I know from experience."
Irisviel didn't need any prompting, though Illya needed the firm guidance of her mother's hand to be willing to leave the car behind. The girl's smile and excitement from just minutes ago had completely evaporated now, replaced by the shoddily-masked fear of a child doing her best to be brave. It hardly took a lifetime's experience with the violent underside of magus society to know the trouble this place entailed.
"Do you recognize any by name?" Irisviel whispered.
It wasn't a bad idea, the Association might be on his side here... but knowing who they'd be working with was always useful, to say nothing of what might happen when that inevitably fell through. The Association was a den of snakes, and Kiritsugu had long-since learned that they were only to be trusted exactly as long as necessary.
His eyes darted around the room, picking out figures that he was familiar with, either by reputation or by experience.
――
He watched a small group of Enforcers boarding an unmarked van near the entrance. They weren't particularly worthy of note... ah, except one.
The giant warhammer was a dead giveaway, that group was being commanded by Maxim Dayloth. An Enforcer of... modest note, who's claim to fame other than that his great-great-great grandfather had designed a somewhat interesting Mystic Code was the fact that he had more or less made himself the main operator on one of Policies' pet projects, killing off some mundane scientist who seemed to keep slipping their nets somehow.
How and why failing to kill one regular human for a year and a half was meant to be some grand claim to fame for the man, Kiritsugu couldn't really say he knew. The guy was apparently nice enough to work with, if a bit prone to obsessing over his work, which was never a good thing in this kind of profession, you couldn't afford to hold grudges.
Kiritsugu turned away from the man as his van began the slow climb down the boarding ramp. He wasn't really worth more of his attention.
The next one however, was. Kiritsugu's eyes nearly boggled at the seemingly obese old man who was currently laughing at another Freelancer's joke. Jule Daved had retired from active fieldwork before Kiritsugu had even been born… What the hell was the old poisoner doing with this crowd? His finely-cut yellow suit stood out like a sore thumb.
Not unlike the next face Kiritsugu recognized. This one made him grind his teeth. "Make sure that that one stays away from Illya." He whispered to Iri in a hushed tone so that his daughter couldn't hear, pointing to a tall, gaunt woman with graying teal hair. "I thought that Clocktower had her under Sealing Designation… what the hell is she doing here?"
Mageleste Carweyst Einorwey was somewhat… infamous for an incident about a decade back that still made Kiritsugu shudder. The fact that she'd been locked up rather than just killed was a bit of a sore spot.
Kiritsugu's dour express lightened somewhat at the sight of a tall, dark skinned and broad-shouldered man in a black suit that matched Kiritsugu's own. He turned, as if noticing that someone was looking at him, and met Kiritsugu's gaze with his own, though his eyes were covered by a pair of black sunglasses. Seeming to recognize Kiritsugu, he nodded. "Balthazaar Sanguine's as close to a friend as I can say I've made with an Enforcer. If I'm not around, and you can't trust anyone else… well, hopefully he'll have your back."
Iri nodded, looking around curiously. "Who's that?" She asked, pointing to an androgynous figure wrapped up completely in black robes, face hidden by a white skull mask. Kiritsugu actually blinked.
"Tygan Gathries… he's…" Kiritsugu just groaned, shaking his head. "He was a fairly normal Merc, up until he found an old dagger in the Middle East. Now he thinks he's the modern reincarnation of a Hassan-i-Sabah. Ignore him."
There were a few other faces Kiritsugu recognized. Some he only knew by reputation, like "Sure Kill" Tria Alberedge, while others he had worked with directly, like Demlit and Cabik Pentel. And finally, there was the category of those who he was going to at least put in an effort to ensure that they didn't make it out of Romania alive, like Rottweil Berzinsky.
Overall, it seemed that the Clocktower had pulled out all of the stops. Kiritsugu didn't particularly care to consider how much expense the organizers had put into wrangling up this carnival of killers, but it probably was absolutely excessive.
He hadn't truly seen the scope of it all yet.
――
The gallery of hired killers came to an end as the family came upon the far end of the cavernous space, a wall of densely-packed catwalks and hatchways, leading God-only-knew where... if anything made by magi could be said to be within the domain of God at all.
They were greeted by an Enforcer acting as a glorified bouncer managing passage between the ship's cavernous hold and the 'higher-class' area meant for the seven Masters and magi of significant standing. This killer in particular gave Kiritsugu a bad feeling.
A tall, thin woman with shoulder-length straight blue-white hair, reminiscent of thick ice, and yellow eyes, like a cat's. She might be wearing a suit similar to the other Enforcers, but there was clearly something different about her. She had an air not of death around her, but of un-life, of something that shouldn't even exist... an air that Kiritsugu could never forget.
The Association had a Dead Apostle acting as a doorman.
If there was a better exemplar of both the Association's power and callousness, Kiritsugu couldn't imagine it. Mentally, Kiritsugu added her to a growing list of Association hirelings he would prefer didn't leave this country in one piece.
"Name please?" the vampire asked.
Kiritsugu pulled back his sleeve to reveal the Command Seal running up his arm.
"Kiritsugu Emiya. Master Kiritsugu Emiya." He stated simply. That he was expected was implicit.
"Very well... that makes you the fourth one to actually show their face around here." She grinned. It wasn't a nice grin: more like an animal baring their fangs to attack than any display of mirth.
Nonetheless, the vampire stepped back, presenting a large circular hatch, more reminiscent of a bank vault than of anything that belonged on a ship. Ridiculous.
Still, as the door began to open itself, he couldn't help but be a little impressed with the sheer degree of extravagance the Association had undertaken to outfit this glorified container ship.
The hatch swung open, revealing...
A sprawling two-floor lobby area, like something out of a top-end hotel, or perhaps the Titanic. It was all rich wood and thick carpet, with hanging chandeliers and elaborate ornamentation on everything: there was even the faint chords of a piano reaching from somewhere out of sight. The scene was populated by a number of well-dressed magi making conversation with one another, and service staff who seemed to perk up when they saw the family enter.
It was certainly at odds with the hold behind them, to say nothing of the ship's external appearance, but honestly Kiritsugu couldn't really be surprised. Disgusted by the assumed cost of creating something like this perhaps, but not surprised. While he might have little issue sleeping to the sounds of gunfire and burning oil in Kuwait, magi were made of softer stuff, and it was no big surprise that the Association had made accommodations for their upper echelons in what was to be their primary headquarters for the next few months.
It was a waste of effort better spent on something useful... but at least Illya would have a proper bed to sleep on instead of a shipboard bunk.
As the hatch behind the family closed, it felt like much of the tension felt in the hold before was closed off with it... but Kiritsugu knew better. The Association's higher members were no better than the contract-killers outside, perhaps even worse in their own ways. Callous, intelligent, and so utterly driven by the things they put themselves towards that everything else fell away in pursuit of their goals. A dangerous combination.
Kiritsugu glared at a stray magus, a man in a white suit with washed out gray hair tied into a braid hanging over his shoulder, who had spent a bit too long staring intently at his wife and child.
A dangerous combination indeed.
"Greetings sir!" A hostess made herself known. "You would be the Emiya family, correct?"
Kiritsugu eyed the girl up and down. Nondescript uniform, nondescript face. Could be just some hired-on second child from a mage family... but assuming reasonable solutions where there could potentially be convoluted magecraft afoot where the Association- especially the Association's upper echelons- was concerned was a foolish mistake.
"Yes, that would be us, thank you!" Irisviel answered in her husband's place.
"Wonderful!" The hostess beamed, "We've been preparing a suite for you ever since our departure from Fuyuki three weeks ago!"
"For us specifically?" Kiritsugu inquired.
"For all the Masters in the Grail War!" the girl elaborated. "You are the most important players in this entire affair, so it only makes sense for you to have the most luxurious accommodations of all!"
"I see."
It was one thing to avoid looking a gift horse in the mouth, but this was the Mage's Association. There was always a catch with them.
――――
All concerns aside, the suite that had been prepared was far from unimpressive. It was probably one of the most lavish rooms Kiritsugu had ever seen outside of the Einzbern Castle. The space was huge for a glorified hotel room, being more like one of those two-story penthouse apartments―no doubt thanks to the work of that space-altering Bounded Field.
The decor was a bit old-fashioned. Maybe Art Deco if Kiritsugu was to put a name to it, by any normal standards this was practically living history but these were magi. It was a miracle the room wasn't lit by torches.
Said room was dominated by a massive floor-to-ceiling... No, it wasn't a window. The view of the open ocean through that window was completely out of line with the dense port infrastructure around the ship's actual exterior. This was... perhaps some sort of illusion work? It was spectacularly opulent, if nothing else.
There was a second-floor balcony running around three of the four walls with multiple doors leading off into rooms that couldn't exist without intersecting other parts of the ship, a full kitchen in one corner with a bar island running along the outside edge, and almost excessively luxurious furniture filling the rest of the space.
"Mama! Papa! Look! There's a hot tub!"
And as the practically vibrating Illya was quick to detect, there was a large hot tub situated directly in front of the illusion-window. At least it would probably distract her from jumping on the bed.
"My... that was something," Irisviel sighed. "It is a relief to be away from all that, I was almost worried someone would suspect-"
Kiritsugu shushed her with a hand.
"We're not free from prying eyes quite yet. I'd be more shocked if this place wasn't crammed full of bugs."
Irisviel blinked in confusion. "Bugs? You think there is an insect infestation here? Surely we could ask the Association to-"
Oh bless her naivety. It couldn't be helped really, she had spent almost her entire life sealed away in that castle, and he had certainly never told her that such things existed.
"Listening devices... perhaps cameras as well. I know how to check for conventional ones, but knowing the Association there will be all sorts of magical ones as well. I think we both know someone who could help with that." Kiritsugu explained, the implication behind his last statement hanging in the air.
As if on cue, a swirl of golden sparks formed before the couple, and quickly resolved itself into a handsome blond man conspicuously not wearing a shirt.
"Ah, so I suppose there is finally something for me to do?" Caster asked rhetorically. "I must say, if there is one thing more incredible about this era than all others, it must be the fact that you have somehow managed to turn flying into such a mundane bore of an activity."
"I suppose you caught all of that already?" Kiritsugu ignored the barb about modern air travel (he was hardly one to defend the damned flying people-cans after all).
"Of course I caught all of that, I have had nothing to do but listen to you three chatter with one another since we departed from Munich," Caster huffed. "Frankly such a paltry thing is beneath the purview of a king, so consider this a demonstration of my infinite magnamosity."
A stone tablet materialized in Caster's hands, and split open like a massive stony book as he began to work his craft. Kiritsugu, meanwhile, got down on hands and knees and began to search out-of-the-way crannies.
"Is there anything I can do?" Irisviel asked her bent-over husband.
"No, you wouldn't know what to look for... there." Kiritsugu extracted a miniscule bundle of electronics from the underside of a cabinet, and crushed it between his fingers with a small spark. "That's one."
"I would like you to know that I have already detected and destroyed 36 assorted spying mechanisms for my part." Caster crowed, "I'm sure that with my efforts in play this paltry task can be put to an end in short order!"
Irisviel smiled warmly at the shirtless man.
"Thank you so much Caster, you really are such a help."
"Now now, don't you go thinking that I am doing this out of the kindness of my heart. I am here purely for the sake of my own curiosity and amusement. Having to tiptoe around listening devices is simply such a bore to bother with."
Irisviel nodded, having long-since gotten used to Caster's demeanor at this point.
"Of course your highness, I would never presume otherwise."
"Indeed... Hmm, that seems to be the last of them." Caster slammed his tablet shut, and it evaporated in his hand. "I've taken the liberty of placing a few anti-spying measures as well. Might I suggest that we get a move on with events?"
"You mean the meeting with the Association's other Masters?" Kiritsugu asked.
"Come on now, do try to keep up, what else do you think would catch my interest so thoroughly?" Caster spared Kirisugu a half-joking smirk.
"Ah, then I suppose that the men can take care of that on their own while I mind the kitchen and watch the children?" Irisviel queried... Kiritsugu wasn't quite sure how much of her statement was serious.
"There's no reason to give them the wrong idea. You stay here with Illyia, try to relax while you can and enjoy this while it lasts." Kiritsugu ordered.
A silent look shared with Caster was all that was really needed as the two men departed the room.
As silence fell, Irisviel sighed, and allowed herself to fall into a reclining chair.
... Wait, silence? How could there possibly be silence in a room with an excited child in it?
Irisviel sat bolt upright and began scanning the room.
"Illya? Illya? Illyasviel, where are you?"
――
The meeting room was situated directly at the back of the bridge tower and currently facing out towards the ocean. Despite the efforts put into prettying up the space, the biggest attraction in the room was still easily the floor-to-ceiling (and this time non-illusionary) window facing out into the sea, which even from this angle still glowed orange in the setting sun. It seemed that most of the other Masters were already here... not all, but at least 4 of them. The over-decorated giant doll in the wedding dress was clearly the master of Berserker, the bearded Russian fit the description for the so-called "Red Menace" commanding Assassin, the 14-year-old in a suit currently playing with a flame in the palm of his hand was, unfortunately, probably the master of Archer... and right at the head of the table was a Japanese man in a red suit.
The master of Lancer, Tokiomi Tohsaka.
"Ahh, Emiya Kiritsugu. Good to see you, welcome." Well, Tohsaka's welcome was pleasant, if not sincere. "You'll have to forgive me: in light of Lord El-Melloi being currently occupied elsewhere, the Association has seen fit to charge me with acting as the host of this meeting."
Kiritsugu eyed the man with no small amount of irritation... part of which was because of Tohsaka's apparent insistence on shoving Japanese linguistic conventions where they didn't belong. It was making it difficult to keep track of which language he needed to speak.
"I wouldn't suppose that the acting host would know why exactly the Association saw fit to send in a small army inside of a cargo freighter-turned-luxury liner, would he? This is hardly an ideal location for a safehouse. If our enemies don't already know where we are, it is only by sheer luck."
Tohsaka sighed. "All will be explained in time, Emiya-san. For now, I hope that you can trust in the Association's abilities to shield this place from prying eyes."
"And prying explosives?" Kiritsugu retorted. He wasn't going to be put aside this easily. "It's going to take more than a bit of illusion work to keep one of the most powerful magi organizations in the world from putting this thing at the bottom of the harbor."
Tohsaka smiled. "Please, Emiya-san, I can go over the protections Lord El-Melloi put in place here personally, after the meeting."
Kiritsugu frowned. "Very well... but I will be inspecting them myself, with Caster's expertise."
Behind him, he felt Caster raising an eyebrow at that. Now would be a good time to change the subject, before the King of Heroes could become the King of Complaints again.
"Speaking of Servants though," Kiritsugu quickly segued, "I can't help but notice that Caster is the only realized Servant here at the moment. Weren't we supposed to be coordinating on this? How am I supposed to plan around Servants whose capabilities I don't know?"
"I suppose you do make a decent point."
Kiritsugu turned around as the Russian spoke up. The man was much like his picture, long beard, burly, a bit overweight... kind of like a grandpa, if said grandpa had a tactical vest doubtlessly filled with explosives and an evil look in his eye. "In that case... Assassin, would you mind introducing yourself?"
"With pleasure, Master. I was getting bored anyway."
As the Servant of Murder coalesced into a human body, Kiritsugu raised a eyebrow.
The first part of Assasin to materialize was a wolfish grin... followed by a Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle.
…with what looked to be a custom barrel, an IR scope, bipod, and gold plating, with engraving that served no tactical purpose whatsoever.
The woman who formed around the anachronistically contemporary rifle was vaguely familiar. Red eyes, unhinged expression, Sengoku-era Japanese military uniform—with some kind of silver weave?—and that damned crest.
Kiritsugu wasn't exactly the most well-versed in his home country's history, but the tale of Oda Nobunaga, the Fool of Owari, the rogue daimyo who had virtually single handedly destroyed the old Bushido code with a heaping pile of imported Portuguese rifles, was one so infamous even what cursory learning he had made the woman's identity obvious.
...And here she was. In the flesh, in a manner of speaking. Kiritsugu suddenly felt an impulse to check the locks on his gun safe.
Seemingly sensing his surprise, the boorish woman smirked, and gave Kiritsugu a mock bow. "I see my reputation precedes me doesn't it? Oda Nobunaga at your service, noble masters."
The last two words were almost disgustingly sarcastic.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the table (and on top of a few books by the looks of it), the evil-looking pyromancer boy scowled, and began to mutter angrily.
"Archer, you will materialize this instant!" The boy suddenly shouted, before... pulling back the lid of his left eye? Ah, to reveal his Command Seal glowing within the iris... wait, surely he wouldn't be stupid enough to actually use a Command Seal on something like this, right?
... a minute passed, and the seal didn't fade, but a thin Indian man in a white robe did slowly materialize, a dark expression on his face.
"Very well, Master." Archer said flatly, "I am here, as ordered."
The malice contained within the boy's grin rivaled that of Nobunaga.
"Good. Now, for the rest of you. I'm certain you already know of me, Lucius Olizar, heir to one of the most powerful magi families in Europe, a better pyromancer now than most of you will ever be at anything in your entire lives. And with a better Servant than any of you could have ever hoped for. Arjuna here will be our Archer, and I'm certain you can identify much of his strength simply by looking at him with that in mind."
Kiritsugu had to wonder if the boy wanted someone to punch him with that tone.
...He wasn't wrong though. Perhaps overstating a bit, but Arjuna was hardly weak. Even a passing observation revealed that the Servant was almost as powerful up close as he was at a distance... normally Kiritsugu would think of something akin to a sniper rifle where an Archer-class was concerned, but Arjuna was really more like a machine gun. Just because you engaged it up close didn't mean it couldn't turn you into pulp. Kiritsugu himself had done that enough times to know that for certain.
Still, even now he could detect a rift between Servant and Master. One much more serious than his own spats with Caster.
"Furthermore, Archer's Noble Phantasm—"
"...Berserker, please."
The voice was barely more than a whisper exiting the veiled mountain of silks and velvets that surrounded Berserker's Master, but the Servant seemed to hear it just fine. Lucius's ongoing prattle was interrupted as a third figure materialized in a shower of magical sparks.
This one was strange, clad in ancient-looking armor mottled like wood, with almost branch-like horns reaching out of the helmet... many of the figure's details seemed to swim as Kiritsugu looked at it, likely thanks to some sort of ability that hid the Servant's identity. Nonetheless, no amount of distortion could hide the green glow that emanated from Berserker's eyes.
A long silken sleeve of the Master's white dress slipped behind her head into the flowing mass of burgundy hair that ran down and pooled on the floor beneath her seat, brushing the almost liquid-like material away to extract... a very, very large sword that she had apparently been hiding somewhere on her back. As the Master's hair flowed off the sword like rain, she handed said sword to her Servant, who took hold of it without pause.
The sword was simple enough in form, a broad blade with a basic crossguard and a series of simple runes engraved on it , with an odd eye-like marking at the hilt. It was only really distinct in coloration—a sort of corroded black that made it look incredibly old and not particularly well cared for—and its sheer size. A gargantuan hunk of corroded metal, calling it a 'sword' was almost an understatement. It was longer than most of the room's inhabitants were tall, broader than even Caster's shoulders, and looked like it had enough weight behind it to crush a man flat with the pommel alone.
Were it not for the towering heap of bejeweled frills and lace with a woman's voice calling it Berserker specifically, Kiritsugu would have assumed that this was the team's Saber. As it was... he couldn't help but wonder what the hell this thing might be with that in mind.
...Well, the Master certainly wasn't elaborating. Determining anything about the woman herself was about as hard as discerning anything about her Servant. While the clothing obscured enough that the idea of her being a (presumably desperate or insane) persona non grata in elaborate disguise had passed his mind, Kiritsugu certainly did not recognize the voice, and it was far too distinct to simply forget. It was deep... yet still clear and beautiful, like a set of very large wind chimes. Judging by the slight crumpling in her posture after Berserker materialized, she obviously wouldn't be elaborating on what the hell she had actually summoned any further.
"Well..." Kiritsugu started, "I would hope there is more at play here than just a big sword."
Berserker turned its head towards him slowly, and it's massive sword shifted in its grasp.
"You needn't worry about my power, Far-Traveler. This blade is the finest to ever be carried in the northern lands. And my own skill with it shall rival that of the gods themselves."
Kiritsugu didn't know much about Berserkers, but he was pretty sure that their archetypal class skill was supposed to render them completely incoherent... Then again, when the thing in front of him spoke, it almost felt more like it was the sword talking than the figure holding it. Strange.
"Alright then," Tokiomi spoke up, drawing eyes away from the giant death sword for the first time in more than a minute. "I suppose you should show yourself now, Lancer, if you don't mind?"
"Don't mind? Come now, what do you take me for? It would be unbecoming of a king to not meet with his allies and guests!"
A deep masculine voice boomed as the fourth servant took form. The man... was distinctly reminiscent of Caster really. Same skin tone, similar clothing, though his seemed to be somewhat more covering and worn over a deep blue tunic, and a rounded, steele-like crown, though where Caster was mostly clean-shaven, this Servant had a long, flowing beard and very black and slightly curly hair.
"King Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, of Sumer and Akkad, and of the Universe. To whom do I owe the pleasure?"
Nebuchadnezzar swept his gaze across the room, before locking eyes with Caster. A smile played across the King's face.
"Ah, I see that I am among good company! Gilgamesh, King of Uruk and of All Heroes! It is an honor to meet one such as you."
Nebuchadnezzar did not quite bow, but did clearly make a gesture of deference. For Gilgamesh, that seemed to be more than enough though, as the King of Heroes allowed himself a wide smile.
"My, it is good to be recognized for my works. It is good to see that at least one among our number knows their histories."
"Ah, but how could I not, King of Uruk? Your legend is our national epic! To not know the story of Uruk and her king would be practically barbaric."
"Then I see Mesopotamia was indeed in good hands after my time, King of Babylon. For doubtlessly a man as cultured as you was an excellent king in your own time."
A chill went through the room. Not everyone knew who these Servants were, or what their general demeanors were like... but hearing two men talk to each other like that, and evidently enjoy each others' company that much...
It was a terror that didn't need context.
There was a silence hanging in the room as everyone processed that, which gave ample opportunity for the next thing to go wrong.
"Hmmm hmmmm hmm Hmmmmm Hmmmmm!"
The first indication that something was up was a muffled humming coming from the hallway, and the sound of confident footsteps approaching the door.
SLAM!
The door was embedded in the wall as it opened, revealing behind it the silhouette of a towering adonis of a man... with both his arms occupied slinging two objects over his shoulders.
"Greetings, honored allies!" The towering man bellowed, "I am Iskandar the Great, Rider of Red! I understand that this was the place we were to meet with one another, correct?"
Nobody answered, but Iskandar didn't seem to care. With the contents of the room it was hardly like he needed verbal confirmation after all.
"Rider!" one of the objects slung over Iskandar's shoulders hissed as he began to enter the room, "Why would you do that?! What if you got the wrong room?"
Iskandar only laughed at the lump—seemingly a scrawny boy in his teens—and his complaints.
"Bah, even if I had found the wrong room, it would be unbecoming of the King of Conquerors to not introduce himself."
...Well, this was an interesting turn of events. As Rider entered the room and took a seat at the table, he placed down both of the objects in his arms, one was a barrel of... something that sloshed around heavily, and the other was indeed what looked to be a underdeveloped teenager dressed like one of the students from the Clock Tower's education divisions.
Who was that kid, and why had Rider brought him here? That surely couldn't be his Master, right? Iskandar—or Alexander—the Great was far from a weak Servant, but if he was being powered by a kid like that... And how did El-Malloi factor into that?
"So," Rider interrupted Kiritsugu's thoughts as he put his hands together on the table (and his accomplice scrambled for a chair of his own), "to whom do I owe the pleasure?"
Thankfully, this time introductions were a bit quicker than the first time, with Rider nodding in thought after each Servant introduced themselves. Evidently, be it him, the kid, or whoever his actual Master was, Iskandar had learned of who the other Association Masters were one way or another, and that round of introductions was simply skipped entirely.
With introductions out of the way, it seemed it was finally time to actually discuss business. Tohsaka had just laid out a map of Romania on the table, when suddenly there was a sound from outside...
Thump
Thump
The Servant population in the room readied themselves, grasping for weapons and spellbooks... and in Lancer's case, a column of black stone that had materialized in his hands, covered in thousands of lines of ancient writing.
Crash!
The exterior access hatch was smashed in by a large, armored boot, revealing a hulking figure behind it. Rough, dark armor with an insidious haze over it, and a glowing red visor shining out into the room.
It was the Black Knight... the last Servant missing. Though the Master still seemed unaccounted for here.
"You! Servant! State your intentions for being here! If you have come to fight, I suggest you spare us the trouble and throw yourself overboard now." Nebuchadnezzar's words were emphasized by the black stele in his hands being pointed directly at the Knight's chest.
The Black Knight waved the warning off with a flick of his gauntleted hand, and stomped towards the table, each step shaking the floor like someone was throwing cars from a story above. The fact that the black behemoth was able to even fit in a chair, much less the chair managing to not collapse under his weight, was frankly a miracle.
Silence hung in the room for more than a minute. The Black Knight might be here to talk, rather than to fight, but his presence still clearly had the room on edge, and nobody was quite willing to simply lay down their arms around the mystery Servant.
"I understand we are here to plan our attack." The Knight finally spoke, a deep, booming, almost metallic voice speaking of years of battles untold resonated from within the helmet. "I have come to see what strategy you are capable of."
"And of your Master? It was agreed that all Association Masters would be meeting in person at least once, this was meant to be a show of good faith."
"My master has little faith in the good nature of other magi. I am here in his stead."
Tokiomi seemed to be having trouble keeping his face neutral after that. Such an insult to his hospitality—and damage to the ship—wouldn't be forgiven easily. Still... a broken door was an acceptable trade for having all seven Servants present. Even if the Knight seemed more than a little troublesome.
"I suppose a round of introductions—" Iskandar began.
"No." the Black Knight interrupted, "I can tell half of you by the aura of arrogance alone. The others... I have no need to know your names."
Iskandar didn't seem to be the only one in the room irritated by that statement. Still, it at least got that out of the way.
"In that case," Tohsaka said, "I think it is time we finally moved on to business. Enough time has been spent on pleasantries, I think."
The circle in the center of the table began to shimmer, and suddenly a glowing projection of the country extruded from it, expanding quickly to take up the entire table. Kiritsugu snorted at that. Of course the Association would waste time making a ridiculously overcomplicated feat of illusion magecraft to do what could have just as well been done by a projector and set of slides. Why do things simply when you can be extravagant to show off your skill?
"I won't waste your time describing our purpose here," Tohsaka narrated as a series of icons took form on the map. "The Yggdmillennia control this country. the Association has sent groups of Enforcers, volunteer magi, and freelancers throughout the country to create an intelligence apparatus for us and a network of safehouses to operate from, marked here in green."
"And how exactly is this to assist us in seizing the Grail?" Caster questioned, "As a king, I have only as much patience for hiding inside merchant vessels as is absolutely necessary."
Tohsaka nodded. "It is simple enough. Our enemy holds the Grail in their direct possession, and with the broad area of their control, it will be necessary to engage on a far greater front than has ever happened before in a Grail War. Their Masters could be anywhere in the country, and as such we have to be prepared to fight them anywhere in the country."
Assassin tilted her head. "But the entire point is to just take the Grail, right? Sure, they need to die and all that, but if we just launch a full-on frontal assault at wherever they have the thing stored, they'll either have to respond in force and give us the battle we want, or they'll have to cede it to us willingly. Either way, we win."
Tohsaka sighed. "That is where the problems begin. Despite the extensive intelligence gathering done by the Association, we are currently unable to accurately pinpoint the actual center of our enemy's operations, much less the Grail's physical location."
Kiritsugu and Caster's reactions were almost in sync.
"You have to be joking," Kiritsugu growled. "Not only are we sitting in the middle of hostile territory in a high-visibility asset, but we have no idea where our enemy even is? This is a recipe for disaster! I can't shoot shadows. We'll be forced onto the defensive in a war we started! Ask the Americans how well that went for them the last time they tried it!"
Lancer raised a hand. "Calm, please. I understand your ire, but as my Master was about to explain, we aren't simply going into this blind."
Tohsaka gestured, and a set of red icons were added to the map. "I said we cannot locate the center of their operations, not that we couldn't determine anything about them. As you can see here, we have rather extensive knowledge of a great number of 'government' facilities throughout the country that house Yggdmillenia operations. Soviet-era bunker complexes and military bases mostly, but a few more stand-out ones that appear to be more active. Namely, we have pinpointed 5 major facilities across the country that could potentially be the true location of the Grail. Each one is at a major leyline nexus."
At a gesture, the map created several floating panes of color, images of the facilities.
"First, we have the most local of the facilities: the Constanta Harbor Fort, or Marea Risipă de Muncă as it is known locally." The image showed a large, cylinder-shaped stone island rising out of the sea, its high walls studded with small windows and several ships docked around its foot. "I believe it translates to something like 'spectacular waste of effort'. Nominally, this offshore fortress was meant to defend the port of Constanta from raiding by the Ottoman Empire during the late 1800s... raiding that never materialized. It was used intermittently by every group to control this region, the Germans, then the Russians... and now the Yggdmillenia, as a hub of operations for the coastal region. While we are fairly certain that it will not house the Grail itself, simply destroying the Harbor Fort outright would likely buy us significant breathing room."
"I think I can do without the oceanic excursion, thank you." Caster muttered.
"Next, we have Castle Yggdmillennia." The image showed a towering stone castle perched on the peak of a mountain, overlooking an old-fashioned splotch of a city nestled into a valley in its shadow. "Castle Yggdmillennia dates back to at least the 8th century, and is about as archetypal of a dwelling for magi as you could imagine. Opulent, remote, imposing. While we aren't sure what exactly is going on inside, we can be certain that it is home to something important to the organization. The name suggests that this is their original headquarters, and even were it to not hold the Grail, it certainly holds something major."
"An organization desiring secrecy having the gall to name a hidden facility after themselves is as impressive as it is stupid," the Black Knight quipped from a reclining position.
"Next, we have Kreuzenstein Fortress." The image showed a structure in stark contrast to the previous castle. Whereas before the project had shown an artful thing of stonework, here it displayed a brutalistic monolith of concrete towering out of a rough, craggy mountain. Like a fist raised in defiance, finger outstretched, against the gods themselves. "Built in the 14th century, rebuilt in the 20th to house a forward research base for the German SS. Nothing good happened within those halls in those times, and our information suggests that nothing has changed. A mass grave containing what appear to be homunculi was found in a nearby valley; the bodies reportedly number in the hundreds."
"...perhaps that one we could just destroy first. I don't need the gods to lay judgment on that," Archer murmured.
"Next we have the RMKP Complex." The image was a cutaway of a massive underground complex built into a sprawling vertical shaft. "This was once the Royal Salt Mine. Much like the more famous one in Poland, it has been a source of various salts for as long as humans have existed in this region, and for the last thousand years has been steadily expanded, resulting in a massive underground cavity large enough to multiple skyscrapers. The upper levels are something of a heritage site, but the Soviets used the entire shaft to house a top-secret facility that has since been taken over by the Yggdmillennia."
"Next we have the Carolingian Citadel." The picture showed a towering monolith of concrete and stone, a modern castle made of concrete and steel, built in the shape of a massive starfort, and surrounded by a sprawling city. "This behemoth installation was first built nearly 500 years ago, and has been added to and rebuilt by nearly every military force to occupy the region since. Its most recent transformation into this concrete monolith was thanks to the Germans during World War II. It sits in the middle of the city of Carolisburg, in Transylvania. If we're lucky, the activity here is a dead end. If not, we may well have to lay siege to our enemies in the middle of a major urban center."
"I thought my days of destroying city blocks ended with the war," the Russian began. "It is good that it seems that chapter of my life is yet unfinished."
Kiritsugu couldn't help but stare at the man for a moment as he lazily high-fived his Servant as if he had pulled off some grand inside joke.
Still, Tohsaka was on a roll and didn't seem interested in stopping.
"Next we have the Medias Nuclear Power Plant." The picture showed a sprawling complex dominated by concrete reactor buildings and gargantuan cooling towers, with massive HV power lines trailing off over the horizon from a behemoth substation. "This facility is one of the most carefully watched on the list. Not only is it a Soviet-built nuclear power plant only hundreds of miles away from the site of Chernobyl, but it also serves as the main source of electricity for all of Transylvania. There are even theories that say it may well have also replaced ley lines as the primary power source for the Grail."
Kiritsugu scowled. "I can't help but notice a running theme with all of these facilities. Hardened, well-hidden, defensible. The exact opposite of this boat."
"Ah, now I suppose is the time. Lancer, if you would be so kind?" Tohsaka gestured to his Servant and stepped back as Lancer took his place at the head of the table.
"Very well. This vessel in which we currently reside was not brought here without reason. Indeed, the Salvation plays a critical role in this affair, inexorably tied to my Noble Phantasm. You see, as the great Builder-King of Bablyon, I constructed many great works in my time, grand temples to the gods, renovations to the Palace and the Ishtar Gate... and the greatest of all was the Hanging Gardens of Babylon." Lancer raised a hand, and a fully 3-dimensional image rose up from the map, showing a strange structure, shaped sort of like a great wheel, with a wedge removed near the front and a large spire extending from its bottom.
"While I can manifest the memory of my Hanging Gardens as a simple Noble Phantasm for a short time, a simple True Name Release is not enough to ensure its permanence in the world. To truly reforge the Hanging Gardens, I need materials, rare and particular, gathered from the site of Babylon itself... materials that this freighter is carrying."
"All of this was just to build some monument? You're joking!" Assassin interjected, slamming her hands on the table.
"No, not a monument." Lancer patiently explained, "A fortress. One unlike any this modern world can even remember. When completed, the Hanging Gardens shall serve as a mobile palace from which we can strike at our foes at our leisure, secure under far greater protections than the Association alone could ever provide."
"And in the meantime I suppose you'll be remaining here?" Rider asked.
"Indeed, King of Conquerors. Without my own two hands at work, the transformation from mundane rock into supernatural flying fortress would be simply impossible no matter the ritual. It is only I who can unlock the true power of the Hanging Gardens... no matter what that pretender might believe."
"So we're going to be down a man then?" Assassin asked, "You're kidding me! How long is it going to take you to get your sky fort ready?"
"Given the sufficient resources we have arrayed here, assuming I am able to work continuously without interruption, it would take me about two weeks of work for the Hanging Gardens to be complete." Lancer answered.
"Then you will have two weeks." Caster stated, "A short wait to acquire overwhelming strategic superiority is one of the least costly decisions I have ever made. Since it seems even defensive action would disrupt your timetable, I suppose the task of defending the land once more falls to me."
"WHAT!?" Assassin shouted. "YOU'RE BOTH STAYING HERE!? I THOUGHT THIS WAS A HOLY GRAIL WAR, NOT A HOLY GRAIL VACATION!"
Gilgamesh spared only a look of total disdain for Assassin.
"A king does not make moves that expose him before the true form of the enemy has been revealed. To do so invites only disaster. I had already intended to abstain from this affair until the guessing game of the Grail's location had been resolved, mongrel. That I can accomplish a productive strategic objective while doing so is merely convenient happenstance."
"That's- aaagh!" Assassin spat. "What do I need enemies for with allies like you!?"
"I must admit, I'm not much of a fan of passive tactics myself," Rider mused. "It cedes the initiative to the enemy. I think I will be striking out to assess our enemy tonight, whether I have back-up from any of you or not."
"At least someone has the right idea!" Assassin shouted. "Why can't you all be more like him?! C'mon Rider, let's go kick over one of these anthills! I'm done with these clowns!"
Assassin pointed dramatically at one of the facilities on the map.
"There! Let's go blast that thing into rubble and see if we can't find the Grail in the wreckage!"
The Russian raised an eyebrow.
"Are you sure we should go after the facility in the Carpathians first? The Sea Fort is barely outside the city limits here in Constanta."
Assassin crossed her arms.
"It doesn't matter! We can get to any of them quickly enough, and I'm not going back on what I said for something like that!"
Rider smiled. "A fair statement! I think I shall be joining you in this battle! Come, let us ride!" He drew his sword, and struck a dramatic pose with one foot on the table, swordpoint thrusting into the ceiling.
Rider's tagalong didn't even get a say in the matter as the giant practically bounded out of the kicked-in exterior door.
(Dramatic summoning of the chariot here)
"Come Assassin! Let us ride!" Rider bellowed from his reigns.
Nobunaga and her Master hardly needed encouragement, a bloodthirsty grin shared between the two of them told all that needed to be said as they joined Rider in his chariot.
There was a thunderclap as the chariot lept into motion, and quickly vanished across the sky to the West. Extremely subtle of them.
"Hmph, well that's at least half the arrogance in the room dispersed," the Black Knight quipped.
"For someone so dead-set on complaining about your betters, you seem to have quite the ego on your own shoulders, Knight." Caster shot an irritated glance in the Black Knight's direction.
The Black Knight, in response, promptly smashed both fists into the table hard enough to dent it.
"You glorified relics can make all the pithy remarks you wish, but I have no reason to waste my time listening to them."
The Knight's sword came out, and stabbed into the holographic image of one of the other facilities.
"There, the mine complex. That seems like enough distance. I shall engage the enemy there, well away from useless prattling. Do with that what you will."
The Knight turned on his heel, and marched right back out the door he came through, before promptly leaping off the walkway outside with such force that he catapulted himself out of sight entirely.
And then there were four.
"Well Tohsaka, I'd say your presentation went swimmingly," Lucius smirked. "After all, you managed to make sure only a little under half our team stormed off like idiots without any better plan than trying to blow something up to see what happens."
Tohsaka spared the child a disdainful glance of his own. "It was not my choice to replace El-Melloi in this endeavor at the last minute. And before any of you ask, no, I do not know why Rider was carrying that child around, nor why he was here without El-Melloi."
Kiritsugu hadn't even been planning to ask, but it did at least answer questions about what the head of the last great family knew about the goings-on here... little more than the rest of them. Normally it hardly bothered him to be out of the loop when it came to the details of Association politics, but when the Association's internal power plays might threaten the lives of his wife and child, that was another thing entirely.
"If we are quite done here Tohsaka, I do still intend to examine the defenses El-Melloi put in place on this vessel. After all his tampering with Bounded FIelds, I will be highly disappointed if I can find a place where I could plant a single explosive charge to bring the entire place down... but also very unsurprised." Kiritsugu stood from his chair, and quietly departed to go make use of the great amount of time he now had.
...perhaps it was time for a visit to that fast food joint he had seen on the drive in. He needed to get out of this place to meet up with Maiya anyway.
A/N: Thank you to AshlingWaltzes for actually helping me out a bit with one section in particular here. You know which one.
Also, for the rest of you, that is the last of our exposition chapters out of the way. Not every card is on the table yet, but our next chapter will be the last Servant being summoned via a method that only requires slightly more reaching on the Grail's part than Shirou's did in FSN. After that things should pick up with some actual action scenes.
