Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Cerberus

Part VI

A flick of a switch turned off the scanning laser, and the flicking of another switch opened the scanning chamber. Cerberus reached in, and took out the spent .223 Remington. Raising it into the air, she peered at it closely using a hand lens.

"Well," she began. "This is an interesting specimen. My analysis says that it was apparently made with alchemy. Looks like Mister Emiya or whoever provided this for him condensed the concept from a sample of…something, I haven't been able to figure out yet, and then transmuted it into something that would appear to ordinary people as nothing more than a .223 Remington round."

"What is the concept the weapon embodies?" Assassin asked.

"Severing and Binding…strange concepts, and unusually for a conceptual weapon, two, and not just a single concept is embodied." Cerberus answered, before scratching at her head. She then placed the bullet inside a specimen container and sealed it. "Though it does explain what happened to Lord El-Melloi, and Mister Emiya's methodology."

"Master?"

Cerberus smiled at her. "You might remember how Mister Emiya shot Lord El-Melloi through his mystic code with a heavy round." She said. "And in the process, injured Lord El-Melloi. Both breaking through his defense and injuring the man provoked Lord El-Melloi into going all-out, using all his available magic circuits to push his magical defenses to maximum. In short, Mister Emiya used Lord El-Melloi's pride against him."

Assassin nodded thoughtfully. "That much was evident." She said. "But how did Mister Emiya fully take advantage of it?"

Cerberus smiled wider, and glanced at the container with the bullet inside. "Simple," she said. "He shot Lord El-Melloi with this conceptual weapon when the man was using all his magic circuits to maximize the power of his mystic code. And that same mystic code allowed the conceptual weapon to affect the magic circuits powering it."

Assassin blinked, and then narrowed her eyes in realization. "I see." She said. "The concept…severing and binding, were they? They crushed his magic circuits."

"Precisely," Cerberus nodded. "But the really insidious part about this are the concepts involved. 'Severing' would have shredded Lord El-Melloi's magic circuits…and 'binding' would have taken the resulting ruins and fused them into an incoherent mass. It would be like taking a fine gold mesh and then melting it down before cooling it as a shapeless blob."

Cerberus snorted, and then laughed before shaking her head. "I'm honestly surprised Lord El-Melloi survived the experience." She said. "Our magic circuits are tied to our nervous systems. Such damage inflicted on them would cause similar effects on his nervous system. Though, I wonder if survival is a word that can be used here. The degree of damage…he might very well be brain-dead, or if not that, suffering from permanent paralysis at least, and various other nervous ailments."

Cerberus snorted again and shook her head before narrowing her eyes. "How very brutal," she said. "And how very…hurtful, against a magus. Especially someone like Lord El-Melloi…I know his type. They see people's worth only as a result of their ability to use magic, and base their own characters, their whole being on their own oh-so miraculous ability to perform magic. To lose it…how very…painful…"

Cerberus smiled, and nodded. "Mister Emiya," she said with an awed tone. "You are truly worthy of my respect."

Assassin said nothing, and after a moment Cerberus looked at her wristwatch. "Oh wow, look at the time." She said. "It's almost morning, and I haven't gotten any sleep yet. Looks like I'm just going to have to sleep-in this morning."

"Then I shall inform our hosts that you were…indisposed, during the previous night," Assassin said. "Dealing with business matters and regretfully cannot attend morning meals with them."

"Do that, and thank you."

Assassin bowed, while Cerberus activated her omni-tool. "Hmm…" she hummed while tapping at the glowing, holographic gauntlet over her left forearm and hand. "Interesting…while I was trying to figure out how Mister Emiya's conceptual weapon worked, it seems that there's been some developments over at Lord El-Melloi's place."

"Perhaps he has died?" Assassin asked.

"Let's have a look, shall we?" Cerberus said, projecting recent events as recorded in her familiar's memories through her omni-tool as a hologram between herself and Assassin.

"Lady Sola," Lancer asked as he walked up to where she was looking up at the Moon. "How is my lord's condition?"

"I'm not certain to be honest." Sola-Ui replied, and then she noticed Lancer's downcast expression. "Don't be so hard on yourself! It wasn't your fault that he got himself hurt so badly fighting Saber's Master."

"No, but…"

"Diarmuid," Sola-Ui began, while turning to and walking towards him. "He is unworthy to be your Master."

Lancer's eyes widened, surprise showing on his face before turning to sickened horror and realization. "He has abandoned the contest." Sola-Ui purred, while pulling up her sleeve to display command spells now engraved onto her forearm. "I am your Master now."

"…it seems that Lancer has a new Master." Assassin observed.

"So it would seem, Assassin." Cerberus agreed. "But, it seems there's more to this. And considering what we know of Lancer, no, Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, I have a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach what it is."

"I have already pledged myself to Lord Kayneth." Lancer said with a sigh. "On my honor as a knight, I cannot acknowledge you as my Master."

"But why?" Sola angrily demanded. "Have you not been sustained all this time by my prana?"

Cerberus raised an eyebrow at that. "Isn't…wasn't Lord El-Melloi Lancer's Master?" she silently asked herself while making a note on her omni-tool. "If so, what's this about Miss Sola-Ui sustaining him with her prana? Hmm…something to look into later."

"I am already sworn to one lord!" Lancer said.

"Are you saying that I'm unworthy to be your Master?"

"That's not what I…"

"Look at me!" Sola screamed, her eyes tearing at Lancer refusing to look at her. "Lancer…please…win the Holy Grail by my side. Protect me…"

Assassin and Cerberus alike wore deadpan expressions on their faces, as their worst suspicions were confirmed. "…this has all the taste of a second-rate drama." Assassin finally said.

Cerberus made a sound indicative of disgust. "Yeah, no kidding." She said. "I love my mother, but this reminds me of all the trashy, brain-rotting, soap operas she watches every afternoon back home. Damn it, mom!"

"More to the point…" Assassin said before shaking her head. "It seems as though the woman before us has allowed herself to fall prey to Lancer's infamous 'love spot'. Hmm…interesting...if I remember correctly, she is Lord El-Melloi's betrothed, is she not?"

"She is." Cerberus confirmed.

"Ah…then it could be assumed that if she allowed herself to fall prey to the love spot, then she may have been unhappy with her arranged marriage with the lord."

"That is a likely hypothesis." Cerberus said before shaking her head. "If that is the case though…then fate truly has a twisted sense of humor. This is essentially what happened to Lancer in life, when the unhappy wife of Lancer's lord allowed herself to fall for him in order to escape what she saw as an unfulfilling life and future. Long story short, they eloped, and bad things went down. Damn it…"

Cerberus shook her head again, her face twisted in disgust. In the meantime, Lancer was finally convinced to acknowledge Sola-Ui as his new Master, though only to obtain the Grail in order to restore Kayneth to full functionality. Cerberus shook her head at the sight, and deactivated the hologram.

"I need a fucking drink." She muttered while stalking out of the room.

"Might I join you, Master?"

"By all means."

"There's something bothering me."

"What is it?"

Kiritsugu looked up from where he had been bent over a table, its surface covered with maps. Colored pins marked key locations across the maps, along with notes written with grease pencil or colored pen, and here and there strings connected pins together. Irisviel walked over, and looked down on the maps for a few moments before looking at her husband.

"Assassin," she said. "If she'd infiltrated the castle and was watching in person as you and Lord El-Melloi were fighting it, why didn't she assassinate you both when the chance presented themselves? I mean…isn't the Assassin Class specifically meant to target the Masters themselves as opposed to their Servants?"

"Luviagelita probably ordered her not to." Kiritsugu immediately answered. "Though the 'why' is worrisome. It could just be that Luviagelita is too…honorable, for that, like her cousin Tokiomi…but I wouldn't count on it. Edelfelt are too pragmatic to act on that kind of reasoning."

"You think she has a plan?" Irisviel asked.

"I definitely do." Kiritsugu said with a nod. "What it involves though…I don't know. Not right now, and it makes me worry even more."

"Kiri…"

"First things first though," Kiritsugu said with a sigh. "We need to find her hideout. It'll probably include her field workshop, and much like what she said with regard to Kayneth's own hideout, it's where she's strongest. We take it out, and we cripple her."

Kiritsugu paused, and then smiled. "And since her Servant is Assassin," he said. "Once we take it out, it shouldn't be too much trouble to take her out afterwards."

Irisviel looked troubled. "Aren't you underestimating her?" she asked.

"No, I'm not." Kiritsugu assured her. "I already know my typical bullets won't work against her, so I'll just have to take things up a notch."

Irisviel raised her eyebrows at that, and looked on as Kiritsugu walked over to a wall and came back carrying a large and heavy bullet. ".50 BMG," he said, setting it down on the table. "Usually used by heavy machine guns, it's also used by anti-materiel rifles. With an effective range of two kilometers, it can shoot through anything less than twenty inches of reinforced concrete."

Kiritsugu paused, and then chuckled. "In short," he said. "Unless her defenses are comparable to a hardened bunker's walls, Maiya or me just need to get her out into the open. That will be enough."

"And if that still isn't enough?"

"It should be."

"And if it isn't?"

"Then I'll just have to bury her alive." Kiritsugu said with a stony face. "Explosives underground should do the trick. We've come this far, and are putting everything on the line. Not just our lives, but even our family. Our daughter's future…even lasting peace for the whole world, and no stubborn hyena is going to get in our way of winning this."

Irisviel sadly and silently nodded, and embracing her husband pressed her head against him. Kiritsugu embraced her back, and turned his head to look at the map. "But we have to find her first." He thought. "Until then, we focus on getting Kayneth off the board, once and for all."

Cerberus yawned as she wandered through her sanctum, having slept through almost the whole day. Indeed, the Sun was already beginning to set by the time she woke up. Walking to a nearby pantry, she prepared some coffee for herself, and wandered back out with a steaming mug in hand. Making her way to her central terminal, she took in the various screens with a glance, and then blinked at a blinking red light on the control panel.

Pressing the light, Cerberus' eyes went wide as she spotted Rin Tohsaka playing hooky. No, more than that: she was wandering down towards the dock area, no doubt having picked up and tracking Caster and/or his Master's trail and the children they'd abducted. One or more of whom included Rin's friends.

"Assassin!" Cerberus said while lifting her mug to her lips. She choked on the heated liquid as Assassin shimmered into existence.

"Master?" she asked.

"Rin Tohsaka is on the move." Cerberus answered. "Time to set our plan into motion. You know what to do."

"Indeed I do, Master." Assassin said with a bow. As she rose up, she looked several years younger, if not more so, only slightly past ten-years old if even that. "Should I proceed in advance?"

"Do that." Cerberus said with a nod, and taking another drink of her coffee. "I'll rendezvous with you on the field."

"By your command."

Assassin bowed and then vanished into astral form, Cerberus feeling her presence vanishing from both presence concealment, and the growing distance between them. Cerberus finished her coffee while observing the situation and confirming that nothing further required her attention, and then rushed off to freshen up in a shower.

Twenty minutes later and she was biting down granola bars while pulling on her bodysuit, and then strapping armor plating above. Air hissed as she put her helmet on, and then clipped her sword to her waist.

"Let's go." Cerberus thought, as she shimmered into invisibility before sweeping out of her guesthouse and then through the temple grounds and down the staircase to the city beneath.

It was time to go to war.

"This is an unusual find, Ryuunosuke." Caster observed, as he met with his Master, both accompanied by entourages of entranced children behind them. The Servant's bulging eyes were focused on an older child in his Master's entourage, though he could see why Ryuunosuke had brought her along.

"Yeah, she's older than I prefer my material to be." Ryuunosuke admitted, approaching the child in question. "But, look at her face, master! She's so cute! I couldn't pass it up!"

"Indeed, indeed," Caster said with a nod, also approaching the child and stroking his chin while closely regarding her. "It would be such a waste to let such beauty go unappreciated. And even her age might be a blessing as well. Think of it as…adding something new, to our work. Like adding spice to a stew to make the taste richer."

"Oh, now that you mention it, that works!" Ryuunosuke enthusiastically agreed. "I never thought of things like that! You're so cool, master!"

Caster preened. "Such flattery does not become you, Ryuunosuke." He modestly replied. "Though I would advise you not to forget my centuries of experience ahead of you."

"Yes, yes," Ryuunosuke said with quick nods, before giving a salute, grinning all the while. "I understand, master!"

Caster nodded, and turning away from his Master made to walk away…

…and then blood flew and Caster staggered, as the tip of a long-bladed dagger punched its way out of his chest, the rest of the weapon going through his heart and body, having been stabbed into him from behind. "Master!" Ryuunosuke shouted.

Caster gagged, choking out blood before turning his head to see. Behind him, the child stared with cold, icy eyes, and then shimmered as she cast aside her deception to expose the dark-clothed, silver-masked visage of Assassin. "A-A-Assassin…!" Caster gurgled in rage. "Shameless cur! Cthul…!"

Before he could finish casting his aria, Assassin drew two blades in the blink of an eye, and swinging both at once, parted Caster's head from his body. At the same time, a blast of blue energy struck a patch of shadow nearby, high-pitched squeals of agony erupting into the air as Caster's creatures were blown apart.

"What…?" Ryuunosuke had time to say as he took a step back, and then he cried out in pain, as something or someone cut his knees out from behind him. The young man fell to his knees, a white-armored figure stepping around him swinging blood off her wakizashi. As she stepped before him, she brought her wakizashi up to one side, held two-handed, and in one swing, took Ryuunosuke's head clean off, an execution in full.

For a moment, Ryuunosuke's body tottered where it was, as though his shade couldn't quite comprehend its body's death, and then it toppled backward, blood spilling from the stump of the neck and pooling on the ground.

Cerberus raised a hand as the children began to panic, Caster and his Master's numbing hold on their minds broken. "Hold," she said, using the word to bolster her mental interference. Normally, she would use these mysteries as single-action ones, but children's minds needed more refinement and thus effort to avoid causing unwanted complications. Altering their memories to remove herself and Assassin from them as well as to make it seem as though Ryuunosuke and Caster were just ordinary serial killers who had run into vigilantes who'd killed them before letting the children go, Cerberus added a mental command for the kids to go home. Or, if they didn't know how to go home from the docks area, how to get to the nearest police station to be escorted home.

The vast majority of the children were done in short order, and began moving home in haste. One of them however, resisted Cerberus' hold, and indeed, simply played along, just like she'd played along with Caster and his Master.

Hello, Rin.

Rin Tohsaka stumbled as the thought slipped into her mind, and she turned…

…just in time for Cerberus to walk over, and gently but firmly press a needle coated with a potent knockout agent to her forehead. Rin staggered, crumpling to her knees and almost falling to the ground if not for Cerberus catching her, and though she weakly struggled, it wasn't long before her eyelids closed and she fell limp.

"Mission accomplished." Cerberus said with a grin, standing up with an unconscious Rin held bridal style in her arms. "How are things on your end, Assassin?"

As though in response, Assassin cut another one of Caster's creatures into four, ichor hissing and boiling away into foul-smelling gas as it reacted with Assassin's poisons. "That's the last of them." She said. "We may proceed."

Cerberus nodded. "Very good, very good." She said. "Let's get this girl back to Ryuudo, and then we'll come back immediately."

"Master?"

Cerberus gestured with her head at a nearby storm drain leading into the undercity. "Caster's lair," she said. "There are other victims inside, no doubt. Let's save as many as we can, and then burn the rest to ash."

"Yes, of course. By your command, Master."

Cerberus nodded, and then shimmered into invisibility. Assassin also faded into astral form, and then unseen and undetected, Master and Servant left the area, sweeping back through the city towards Mount Enzo and Ryuudo Temple. And then leaving Rin there, back again, to the docks and thence the undercity, to Caster's lair.

This is fucking messed up.

Cerberus' face was like stone as she strode through what had been Caster's lair, blood and ichor staining the gold trim and white finish of her boots as she proceeded down the dank and echoing corridors. Rotting corpses lined the walls, bearing evidence of horrors inflicted upon them and in such a way they had lived in the aftermath, their screams and cries of pain and pleas for help merging into a horrendous orchestra that had tickled the fancies of the deranged Servant and his equally deranged Master.

Foul-smelling ichor dripped down from the ceiling, from innards cut out of the victims with chilling care, and rearranged into frescoes of bone and flesh. Cerberus didn't dare look. Once was enough.

Never thought I'd find someplace more twisted than Zouken Matou's lair.

Though maybe I shouldn't think that.

Cerberus shuddered as she remembered some of the other places she'd been through, bringing fire and death to the horrors within, horrors that she could still remember clearly, thanks to a magus' eidetic memory. She could forget, but she didn't want to. She mustn't.

They were a reminder of what lows magi of exceeding intellect and potential could sink to in pursuit of their goals, of what unconditionally surrendering to one's nature could lead to, of letting it rule one instead of the other way around. It was the one thing she feared the most.

And so Cerberus proceeded through Caster's lair, her helmet removed to better burn the sights and sounds and smells and feel of the place into her mind, her memory, the better to ensure she would never forget. And more than that, it was to honor the souls of the fallen, not with a cold mask of finished metal, but with a Human face, twisted with revulsion at what had been done here in the dark.

Every so often as well, a small and twisted figure would twitch at Cerberus' approach, and extend withered limbs and gasp out feeble, unintelligible pleas. A swing of Cerberus' wakizashi ended their lives and agonies, the only mercy she could give them, along with a compassionate glance.

Finally, she reached the end of the gallery of horror. Fingers tapped on Cerberus' omni-tool, which she swept out before her. "This is the end of it all." She said softly. "Fuck this place."

"It should burn." Assassin remarked, her voice as cold as the winters of the mountainous steppes she had grown up and lived at in life.

"I was always planning to burn this place down." Cerberus answered, tapping once more on her omni-tool. "Come on, the mechs are on their way. We'll need to supervise the placement of incendiaries."

"Yes, Master."

Cerberus and Assassin proceeded back the way they came, speaking softly as they focused on a holographic map of the galleries they were in, and the best place to position the incendiaries at. Cerberus had already an idea of the positioning, but mindful of Assassin's experience in assassination, infiltration, and sabotage, sought her advice as well.

Assassin provided it, and with some reflection on her part between the nature of the incendiaries to be used and her greater understanding of the modern architecture and engineering of the place, Cerberus adopted some of her Servant's advice as well. Master and Servant alike then came to a halt at the sound of mechanical limbs in the dark, and minutes later red lights could be seen approaching in the distance. Finally, they emerged into the light of the glowrods Cerberus had deployed around them, bipedal machines with a generally-humanoid appearance.

Most carried shotguns with them, though a few had their weapons strapped behind their waists, instead carrying large and bulky cases with them. "Arriving at zone of operations." The mechs chorused as the came to a halt, and lowering their cases. "Awaiting new orders."

Cerberus ignored them at first, instead opening the cases and examining the thermite charges and magnesium fuses inside, her preferred tools for destroying magi workshops. Nuclear weapons – neutron bombs preferably – would have been more thorough, but those tended to be impossible to get much less build on her own, and their explosions (understandably) attracted too much attention.

Thermite and magnesium, though…

…they still attracted plenty of attention, but were easier to acquire and previously-mentioned attention was not nearly as troublesome compared to what would happen if a twenty-kiloton ordnance went off.

"Alpha Team," Cerberus said while getting to her feet after examining the charges and fuses, and activating her omni-tool. "Your orders are to affix thermite charges at the following locations within this area. Wire them with magnesium fuses, and link them to the central detonator at this location. Bravo Team, same orders except within this area. Charlie Team, again, same orders except within this area. Delta and Echo Teams will provide security, while Assassin and myself set up the central detonator. You have your orders, proceed!"

Whirring sounds indicated the mechs' acknowledgement of their orders, and whining mechanical limbs echoed in the gloom as they proceeded. Meanwhile, Cerberus and Assassin hefted the detonator and carried it to a central area, where Cerberus checked the charge on the battery. "Battery's good." She said, before checking the receiver. "Same for the receiver."

Reaching down, Cerberus unclipped the remote detonator and conducted a trial, sparks flying happily from the detonator and which, in a non-trial event, would ignite the magnesium fuses. "Very good," she said. "Now we wait."

Master and Servant waited in silence, only the dripping of liquid and the sound of mechanical limbs to be heard in the dark. The minutes ticked by, mechs coming and going as they placed thermite charges everywhere and wired magnesium fuses to the main detonator.

"Charges are armed." Cerberus said as they finished. "Let's get out of here."

The mechs followed Cerberus and Assassin as they walked out of the galleries, Cerberus and Assassin giving silent prayers as they left. Cerberus to the gods of her people, and Assassin to her one God. They proceeded through dark tunnels, until they emerged into the open once more through a storm drain.

Above, a few stars glimmered through a sky made hazy with light pollution, and Cerberus pushed the button on her remote detonator. There was no rumbling or shaking, no boom of an explosion, but minutes later and foul, acrid smoke began to waft from the storm drain. "That did it." Cerberus said. "Let's go back to the temple. I want to light some incense for the poor souls who met their ends down there."

"I too would offer prayers." Assassin said. "Theirs…were not good deaths. Allah grant them peace, and may the souls of their tormentors burn in the hells for all time."

"I completely agree." Cerberus darkly said. "Let's go. I've had enough of this place."

A/N

And so Caster is once again the first Servant to fall, by the blades of the Old Man of the Mountain. Ryuunosuke meets his death executed by a twenty-first century ninja, and their lair gets burned to ash.

Rin is also now in Cerberus' hands, which means that she is now able to operate more actively than before. We shall see what plans she has for Rin.