Chapter 7: Angels Of The Night
Night witches were an important breed of witches in the war against the Neuroi. The fact that they could accurately detect Neuroi during adverse weather conditions or the night skies was what earned them their name sake. Their ability to generate magical antennae allowed them to generate and detect long-range radio waves made them a very valuable resource. Despite this, they had to patrol all hours of the night and they usually end up exhausted by the time they return to their respective bases and the sun has begun to rise. Because of this, they appeared to be reclusive or introverted compared to other witches but this was far from the truth. In fact there was a large 'Night Witch Radio Community' in which Night Witches could communicate with one another during the long patrols. One example was Sanya Litvyak of the 501st JFW.
She was flying towards the Junkers Ju 52/3m transport plane whose passengers consisted of Minna, Mio, and Yoshika. The former of them was reading, the middle of the three was silently fuming, and the latter of which was watching for their escort.
"Grumpiness is written all over your face, Major Sakamoto."
"They called us all the way out here to tell us that they're only raising our budget by a tenth. So of course I look grumpy."
"They're feeling frustrated too, especially considering the fact we're the only ones producing the results and we've stumbled upon what might be a new enemy."
Mio scoffed.
"The only thing they care about is their position."
"That's just how these warmongers are. If the Neuroi had never appeared in the first place we'd be fighting each other at this very moment."
"It'd be a World at War...its scary idea once you think about it."
"Just be glad that it isn't happening now, and also be glad that they're at least taking us seriously. That reminds me, the council contacted us before we left our base, we need to talk about it once we get back."
Mio nodded before turning to the young women she recruited from her homeland.
"Sorry Miyafuji."
Said girl perked up upon hearing her name.
"I had hoped that I'd show you around a nearby town or city while we're here, but-"
"No, it wasn't that...I was uh...thinking about how the military has all sorts of people!" As she finished she heard a sound from one of the nearby radios, it was a beautiful soft melodic voice that seemed to be...singing or humming?
"Ummm, do you hear that?"
"Ah, that must be Sanya's singing. She probably came to escort us since we're pretty close to the base."
It was in that moment that Sanya approached the right flank of the transport plane where Minna and now Miyafuji were watching. She saw the young fusoan wave and she heard a quick 'Thank You!' before giving her a small nod and then breaking off to the right and diving down to the clouds below.
"She seems shy..."
Minna chuckled.
"She's a real sweetheart and she has a beautiful singing voice don't you think?"
There was a sudden pause in her singing, which caught the attention of everyone else on board.
"What's wrong, Sanya?" Mio asked.
"Something or someone is watching us..." The night witch said quietly.
"You need to speak up Sanya, we can't hear you that well."
"Sorry. An unknown is aircraft is approaching from Sirius."
"Is it Neuroi?"
"Yes, I'm sure of it."
Mio quickly lifted her eyepatch, revealing the purple glow of her magic eye.
"It's not moving at the speed of a regular aircraft."
"I don't see it anywhere." Mio muttered as she scanned the night sky.
"It's using the clouds as cover, so it can't be seen by the naked eye."
"Hmm. Figures." Mio muttered as she replaced her eyepatch while Miyafuji was having a minor panic attack.
"W-What can we do?!"
"There's nothing we can do, Miyafuji."
"Y-You can't be serious!"
Minna turned to the nervous witch from Fuso and tried to placate her.
"Miyafuji, I know this looks bad but there's nothing we can do when we don't have our strikers with us."
Minna paused for a second before turning back to Mio.
"You don't think they planned that do y-"
"The Neuroi would never try anything that roundabout, Minna. Although I'm not sure about those th-"
"The target is continuing to approach at high speed, three minutes to contact." The sound of Sanya's voice managed to break through the tenuous atmosphere that seemed to be inside the transport.
Minna turned to the window to face Sanya who was once again flying alongside the transport plane.
"Sanya, you'll need to buy us time until backup can arrive. But avoid engaging it as best as you can."
"Yes, ma'am." Sanya quickly flicked the safety off of her Fliegerhammer rocket launcher before breaking off and rising above the position of the plane.
She closed her eyes and focused on the radio waves of her target with a somewhat peaceful expression gracing her face. She continued to slowly drift towards where she could hear the radio waves coming off of the Neuroi's core. When she locked on, she quickly opened her eyes, raised her Fliegerhammer and shot off two rockets into the clouds below. Balls of fire lit the night sky before they faded away into darkness. She fired another rocket as she listened for alien's signal.
"It's not fighting back?" She asked inquisitively, her eyes narrowing, as more rockets flew out and darted through the clouds before exploding leaving more holes in the clouds below her. She panted as she tried to track it down again before she heard the Major's voice.
"Sanya, that's enough. Come on back."
"But-"
"It's all right, you managed to protect us all by yourself." Sanya sighed, a small frown forming on the snow-like skin of her face. She wasn't able to shoot it down but she at least managed to ward it off for the moment. 'At least it wasn't one of those monsters that attacked us a couple days ago.' She shuddered a bit, trying to forget the sound of warped irregular gears grinding against each other like the hearbeat of a warm-blooded animal. She shook her head before tiredly meeting up with Eila. Although she wouldn't admit it, she was hoping that the witch from Suomus would share her bed again.
Shortly after everyone returned to the base it was decided that Sanya and Miyafuji would be assigned as the full-time nighttime team although Eila graciously volunteered to join in as well and was accepted. The next morning came and the breakfast for that time was a bit...different than usual.
"Blueberries? Why do we have so many?" Perrine asked curiously as she drank her morning tea. There were three wire bowls that were filled with the tiny blue fruits while Lynette carried the fourth.
"Ah, my family sent them! Blueberries are good for your eyes!"
"Down the hatch!" Erica said enthusiastically as she quickly ate them out of her bowl.
"I have heard that British Pilots on night patrols eat them often." Gertrude said, not noticing how her teammate was scarfing down her breakfast without a care in the world. Lucchini sprang up out of nowhere in front of two of her teammates and their young male guest with a small grin on her face.
"Hey Yoshika! Shirley! Danniel! Stick out your tongues!" The three of them stuck out their now purple-colored tongues before Lucchini did the same. All four of them broke out into laughter shortly afterwards.
"How trite can you get..." Perrine muttered under her breath as she wiped her lips off with a napkin, she wasn't amused by their childish antics. Unfortunately for her she didn't notice a certain girl from Suomus grab the sides of her lips from behind and stretch them open to reveal her purple teeth and gums. Mio saw Perrine's formerly pearly whites with a neutral expression before sternly advising her about 'Moderation' much to her displeasure.
As Perrine started yelling at Eila angrily, Sanya continued to eat her blueberries. 'Delicious...' She thought to herself.
While the three witches of the night team were sleeping, Minna and Mio were having a short meeting.
"So what did the council want?"
"They were looking through the old archives for information on this new threat, they didn't find anything conclusive yet but they did find references to creatures similar to what we've encountered already."
"Oh? So what have they found so far?" Mio asked curiously.
"All they've found so far has determined that these creatures are not man-made nor were they made with any form of alchemy or magic. Ursula has confirmed this when she examined the remains we sent her, she also said that the mask-like...devices inside of it were capable of some form of telepathy." Minna said, her brows furrowed with worry.
"Telepathy? Could that explain why Danniel could be having those nightmares?" Mio asked with one of her own brows raised.
"Possibly, there are records of some ghosts and phantoms reaching out to others through telepathic or empathetic communication and there is the existence of entities such as Incubi and Succubi reaching out to others and manipulating their dreams." Minna shuddered a bit, she remembered in her youth how one of her classmates had a bad encounter with an Incubi many years ago and how her mother had to force the damned demon from her dreams and back to the realm from which it came.
"Well do we at least know who to go to if his...symptoms get any worse?" Mio asked with her eyes closed to hear a hum of confirmation from her old friend and fellow officer.
"They said if his nightmares get any worse or if he starts experiencing hallucinations or flashbacks of what happened in Neue Eutin to seek help from Laura Toth."
Mio's eyes quickly opened with uncertainty plastering the rest of her face.
"Pilot Officer Toth? Why her of all people? Didn't we transfer her to the Isle of Wright due to some...disagreements we've had with her?"
Minna nodded.
"Yes, but the thing is she could sympathize with what he's going through."
Mio paused for a moment before smiling sagely with a hum of interest.
"Things might start getting interesting..." Mio muttered.
"Indeed." Minna said.
"By the way, do we even have a name for these creatures?" Mio asked. Minna closed her eyes and sighed.
"We don't really have an official designation for them but there was a word that was found in the documents uncovered so far, in the documents these creatures were referred to as 'Bohrok'."
Later that day, when the dark of night had descended over the country of Britania and after drinking Marigold Herbal Tea provided by Perrine (Much to the displeasure of Sanya, Lucchini and Danniel.) the 501st JFW reported to their stations as needed while the nighttime team took off from the runway and darted off into the night with a incredibly hesitant Miyafuji who now regretted her decision of joining Sanya and Eila for a nighttime patrol.
The rest of the night at the base was uneventful with the exception of Danniel having to dart to and from his room to the bathroom a few times in the night, the Marigold Herbal Tea having not agreed with his stomach had to be purged from his bowels and he did it in the only way that he could. Minna and Mio hoped that Sanya, Eila, and Yoshika would be able to hunt down any Neuroi that they would possibly encounter that night although they were worried about an encounter with the Bohrok
Both fortunately and unfortunately, nothing of interest would be found that night.
The next morning came quickly with yet another unusual breakfast being served.
"Whats this?" Perrine asked, eying the odd yellow liquid in her teacup. She turned to the right to see Miyafuji carrying a jug with a white label written in Kanji.
"It's Lamprey Liver Oil! Its full of vitamins and its very good for your eyes."
Erica took a few sniffs of the substance in her tea cup before bringing her head back in slight disgust.
"It almost smells like fish..." She muttered.
"Well, it is fish oil. The flavor and smell don't really matter as long as its nutritious."
Perrine let out a quick laugh before mocking Miyafuji for her choice in breakfast before Mio piped in with a shake of her head.
"Actually Perrine, I'm the one who brought it."
Perrine froze with a nervous grin on her face before demanding some for herself...but when took a gulp of it her eyes widened out of her sockets, she was blue in the face, and part of her glasses had unusually cracked.
"What is this?!" Lucchini asked, her disgust both audible from her voice and visible on her face. Shirley had a thoughtful look on her face as she sipped on her cup of Lamprey Liver Oil.
"Hmm...There's engine oil that tastes like this..."
Eila was coughing out her serving while Sanya was frozen in place with her cup still in her hand and her hair overshadowing her eyes. Mio scratched the back of her head nervously with a small laugh.
"My superior officers used to force me to drink this when I first joined. I was at a real loss."
"I can completely sympathize..." Perrine whispered as she tried to regain her bearings.
"Refill please!"
"Oh, can I have some more too!"
Erica's mouth gaped as she looked at Minna and Danniel who were unaffected by the substance everyone else just drank. 'What...the...hell...' Those were the only words that came to her mind as Minna and Danniel continued to smile as Mio came over with refills.
In the depths of an island off the coast of Britannia, the Bohrok continued their work. Their so-called base of operations was an expanding network of caverns and tunnels which had large chambers filled with a mysterious metallic liquid, but the central chamber was different. This one cavern had an unidentified being hanging from the ceiling, several dark root-like protrusions having wrapped around several stalactites while a metallic torso with two limbs and a head hung upside-down nearly limp like a corpse.
One of the Bohrak, this one bearing the same appearance as the one who marked the boy at that pathetic excuse for a town that the humans called 'Neue Eutin'. It tilted its head towards the being and bowed respectfully to it.
Two red lights like a pair of scowling eyes flashed at it, the Bohrok shuddered once and fell to the ground trying to stand back up. It could feel the anger and hate coming from the hive's core. It wanted to be revived sooner rather than later, it wanted the so-called 'Neuroi' eliminated and their presence removed from their territory. They WILL not be allowed to stand in its way. Oh no, the extraterrestrial interlopers would fall to the darkness as would those damnable witches.
The red glow flickered for a moment before it finally faded away, conserving its energy to direct the rest of the Bohrok. The one in front of it had new orders and would use any means necessary to do so.
Somewhere far in the forested mountains of Britannia, there was a lone women in a dark green cloak walking along a dirt path with a black staff that had golden ornament with two claws, one taller than the other and in between them was a cylinder that ended with a short rounded tip. With the staff in her left hand she used it as an improvised walking stick of sorts, while her right hand was covered in somewhat worn white bandages. She continued along the path, only to suddenly stop when she noticed the stone steps in front of her covered by sediments of dirt and a few leaves. She raised her right hand and with an open palm she moved it in an arc to her right and the dirt and leaves were blown away by a quick gust of wind.
She looked up the stairs for a moment, the moonlight reflecting off her neon green eyes and parted to reveal the pale skin of her face. She began her trek up the stairs with her staff tapping against the stone steps below her feet, she took a glance to her right and left and noticed the remains of corroded, rusted, and worn machines that were partially buried beneath the dirt of the hills. Finally, she reached her destination. There was a stone walkway in front of her, several flower beds stood around it before they went around a circular shrine that had six tall stone spires aiming towards the heavens. She nodded to herself as she continued forward and once she reached the shrine she looked at the small opening in the center of the shrine before pulling the hood off.
She was a tall, buxom women, with blonde hair in a long bob cut, pale white skin that seemed to shimmer in the darkness, and a burn scar that encompassed the right side of her face. She wore an aged light-blue uniform of a Suomi witch with the standard issue snow white tights that were in relatively good shape and standard issue white snow boots with dirt and various debris covering the soles of it.
She took out the staff and held it in front of her with both hands, with the bottom point facing the opening below it. The ears and tail of a Great Dane emerged with a blue glow around her body, the left ear had a bite taken out of it and the tail was broken at the tip. She breathed in and out as the wind around her started to pick up and spin around the entire shrine. The staff started to glow as the air seemed to become more active and the wind twisted about around it. With a determined expression she chanted three words that she always remembered.
"Unity...Duty...DESTINY!"
And with that she slammed the bottom end of the staff into the opening and a yellow light spread throughout the shrine until it reached the pillars. One turned red like the embers of a fire, one turned a deep blue like the depths of the oceans, one turned black like the solid foundation of the earth, one turned a dark brown like stones in a pond, one turned a bright white like fresh snow, and finally one turned green like the leaves and vines of the jungle. Slowly the lights shimmered together until they became a kaleidoscope of colors that bathed the top of the hill in a bright rainbow. Then suddenly the lights were pulled into the shrine and then suddenly shot towards the nighty sky in a beam that burst through the clouds, darted past the moons and the planets of the solar system before reaching a destination beyond anywhere humanity has been so far before the light suddenly cut off. The witch looked towards the heavens as her familiar faded away and saw one of the stars in the sky glimmer brightly several shooting stars split off from it.
A small smile graced her lips and she nodded once, pulled her hood back over her head, and turned around. It was only a matter of time before the darkness would try to emerge here on Earth. The Bohrok were just the servants of an evil that had long been thought dead. However, wherever there was darkness there was always light and with her duty complete she now had to prepare for her next task. Soon the darkness will be vanquished and hopefully she would see her child again.
Sorry for taking so long to work on this chapter, I've been busy with other stuff in real life but hopefully I'll be able to update my multi-chapter fics more often.
Cheers,
-VentXekart.
EDIT 11/20/15:
The poll has long since been closed and after going through the results the 31st Joint Fighter Squadron Afrika 'Storm Witches' will now have a major role in this fanfic after they make their appearance in one of the future chapters!