Hayate sat in her darkened office, fingers threaded in front of her face as she stared at her monitor. She had given strict instructions to be informed of any information regarding the Saint Church as soon as it was received. She didn't know how long she had waited, but she eventually got a call.

"Yagami speaking." She answered right away.

"Commander Yagami, this is Schach." The nun appeared on screen.

"Sister, you're all right." Hayate sighed in relief. "Where are you right now? What about the others?"

"I'm at a field hospital right now." She answered. "Verossa suffered a blow to the head and was knocked unconscious, but he'll be fine. Sisters Otto, Deed and Sein are here as well, but they're unharmed."

"What about Carim?" Hayate ventured cautiously. "Where is she?"

"I… I'm sorry." Schach hung her head. "I was unable to fulfil my duty and she was taken."

"Taken?"

"Yes… Otto, Deed and I were trapped and were running out of air… That's when Knight Carim made a deal with the man who attacked us. In exchange for letting us go unharmed, she surrendered herself to him… I… I failed her. I was supposed to protect her, but she ended up protecting me…"

"Don't be too hard on yourself, Sister Schach." Hayate said, hiding her clenched fist under the desk. "I'm sure Carim knew what she was doing. Since he bothered taking her as a hostage, I doubt he's going to do anything to her right away. She can handle herself until we can get her back."

"I hope you're right…" Schach sighed.

"I want you and the others to standby for now. I'll contact you if something comes up."

"… Roger." With that, the sad nun's face disappeared. When it did, Hayate slammed her fist against her desk.

"If he does anything to harm her, I swear he won't get off easy!"

X-X-X

Carim fixed her eyes on the man in front of her as he led her somewhere. All she could tell was that they were in some sort of underground fortress, but she had no idea of the location as he had taken her there via long range teleportation.

"What exactly do you intend to do with me?" She asked. He glanced idly over his shoulder, his now helmetless red eye peering back at her.

"You'll see in a minute." Volvo smirked as he stopped before a door. He opened it to reveal a room that contained large bureaus, large screens, and a very large bed. "How about this for starters?"

Carim glared at her captor. "How dare you make such a suggestion with that face."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He laughed as he opened one of the closets. He took out a bundle of clothes and threw them at her. "Change into that and get to work. This place is a mess."

Carim blinked and then looked at the floor. Littering it were various wrappers and other assorted junk. "… You want me to clean this up?"

"That's right. What did you think I was going to do?" He grinned slyly as he put a hand under her chin. "Oh I could ravish you at any time I pleased. You are very beautiful and it is quite tempting, but it wouldn't be as much fun. You're a strong woman, so I'll enjoy myself much, much more slowly breaking down your will. You'll stay here, forced to watch the terrible things I'm going to do to the world until eventually you'll offer your body willingly to me. I'm so looking forward to it."

He shot her a wink and then left her alone in the room. When he exited, he found a cloaked figure waiting for him.

"Why did you bring that woman here?" She asked.

"You're the one who complained about the mess." He shrugged and continued on his way.

"Where are you going now?"

"I have a rain check to cash." He smirked.

X-X-X

Nanoha leaned her head to the side, narrowly avoiding the fist that brushed past her ear. She jumped away from her attacker, but then a kick came at her from behind. She swirled around and blocked it with the shaft of Raising Heart, but couldn't react fast enough to the next assault. The punch connected with her side and sent her flying into the nearby wall.

"Ah! Nanoha-san, are you ok?" Subaru asked, quickly rushing over to her idol. "I didn't think that blow would land…"

"Don't worry about it, Subaru." Nanoha laughed it off, pulling herself out of the simulated building. "I just underestimated how out of shape I am…"

"Shouldn't we take it slower, then?" Ginga suggested. "You were just released from the hospital and all…"

"We don't have much of a choice right now." Nanoha shook her head. "We don't know when our enemy will make his next move, so I have to get ready as soon as possible. By training with you two like this, not only can I get my body gradually used to magic again, but I can familiarize myself more with fighting an opponent that uses hand to hand."

"That may be true, but…"

"Anyways, I'm also surprised by how much you two have improved." Nanoha smiled. "I can't afford to take you too lightly. Now, let's keep going!"

"Yes m'am!"

X-X-X

"Seems like I've become quite popular recently." Jail grinned at his visitor. "I'm so glad you decided to visit, my darling Fate."

"Don't call me that." Fate narrowed her eyes at the man. "I'm sure you're already aware of why I'm here."

"Volvo, was it?" Jail chuckled. "Quite the little speech he gave there. Though I must say, my attack on the ground forces HQ was far more impressive a feat than taking over the Saint Church."

"I don't care about that." Fate had to struggle to contain herself before the man who had caused her so much trouble during her life. She opened up a display and showed him images of Volvo's robots. "What do you know about these?"

"Hm…" Jail studied the images intently. "I see she's changed her design philosophy… Or maybe that's his taste, and not hers."

"So you know who's responsible for these?"

"Of course," He grinned. "I'm the one who gave the referral."

"What?"

"Oh yes, he paid me a visit not too long ago. He offered to break me out of here if I worked with him, but I refused. He reminded me a little of myself, you see, so naturally I hated him immediately. But he asked if I knew of anyone who would help him, so I gave him a name."

"And what name would that be?"

Jail's grin widened before answering.

X-X-X

"Hey Nove, come look at this!"

"What is it Wendi? Did you find somethi… Don't show me stuff like that!"

"Haha, but Nove, you need to study your human anatomy more!"

"Damn it Wendi! Get back here!"

"Quiet down you two. We're in a library."

"But Cinque-nee!"

Vivio sighed and hid her embarrassed face behind a book. Maybe asking the Nakajima sisters for their assistance in researching Volvo was a bad idea.

"I'm sorry about them, Arf." She told the small familiar next to her.

"Don't worry about it, Vivio." Arf gave a slight smile. "It's been so gloomy around here ever since Yuuno died, so it's nice that's it's gotten so lively."

"But we're not making much progress…" Vivio sighed again. "I can't believe we haven't found anything on Volvo yet. If he was some one strong enough to defeat the Saint Kaiser, you'd think there would be plenty of mentions of him."

"Here's something." Dieci called from her corner, prompting even Nove and Wendi to shift their attention. "It says here that Volvo was the greatest warrior to serve under Saint Kaiser Olivie. He had fought and won many battles under her name, and was said to be her most loyal of subjects."

"Huh? But I thought this guy killed the Saint Kaiser?" Wendi wondered. "Why did he turn against her if he was so loyal?"

"It doesn't say." Dieci flipped through a few pages. "Not much is known about him otherwise. He was most active on the battlefield, but there were never any survivors from the opposing forces. Apparently his fighting style was so brutal even his allies couldn't bring themselves to look at it. The only person he was seen confiding in was the Saint Kaiser herself… Huh? That's odd…"

"What is it, Dieci?" Vivio looked over the cyborg's shoulder to see blank pages. "There's nothing written here…" She reached over and put her hand on the page, but when she did there was a flash of bright light. Vivio's eyes widened as it felt like something was being crammed directly into her brain.

"Vivio! Vivio!" Her friends' calls managed to reach her ears before she passed out.

X-X-X

Nanoha sighed contently as she entered her house. She was exhausted from a lengthy day of training, but it had been such a long time since she gotten a good work out so she couldn't help but feel good about it. Subaru and Ginga were also dead tired, so she told them to get to bed early. Nanoha would have followed suit, but she remembered that she didn't have a change of clothes with her. Since she was going to stay at the base for who knew how long, she decided to quickly pop in and grab her stuff.

She made her way through the empty house and up to her room. Grabbing an overnight bag she kept in her closet, she loaded it up with the essentials. When she prepared to leave once she got all she needed, she paused when she passed her drawer and hesitated slightly before opening it. Inside was the ribbon she had placed in there the day before. Nanoha picked it up and slightly squeezed it in her hand.

"I'm sorry I wasn't a good friend, Yuuno-kun." She whispered. "But I swear to you I will bring Volvo to justice for your sake." With that vow, she pulled the tie she was using out of her hair and replaced it with the ribbon.

She made to leave her house and head back to base, but the sound of china on china made her freeze.

"I hope you don't mind, but I made myself at home."

Nanoha slowly turned around to see that there, sitting on her couch and sipping a cup of hot liquid, was the armoured clad man she knew as Volvo.

"You…"

"Good evening, Nanoha." He said cheerfully. "I'm here for the continuation of our date."

Nanoha cursed her own carelessness as she clutched the jewel under her shirt. She should have never left the base on her own.

"Aw, you don't look happy to see me." He mock pouted. "I'm so hurt." He finished off whatever had been in his cup before he got to his feet. "Well, enough of the pleasantries, I suppose. Let's get down to business."

When he assumed his battle stance, Nanoha weighed her options. She could make a break for the door, but from what she had seen in their previous battle, Volvo would certainly be able to catch her. Did she have no choice but to try and fight?

"What? You're not going to transform? I can't have my fun unless you do!" Volvo paused to consider something. "Oh, I guess you wouldn't want to fight here, lest your pretty little house get destroyed. Why don't I ease your mind a bit?" A magic circle appeared at his feet as he raised his hand to the ceiling. When he did, the surroundings were stained with an off-colour light. "There."

"So you've put this area under a barrier?"

"I sure did. Now we can wreck the place and it can easily be fixed."

'Good.' Nanoha thought. 'This will alert the others, so now I just need to hold him off for a bit.'

"I wonder how badly I can beat you up before reinforcements arrive." He grinned, seemingly reading her mind. "Only one way to find out!"

Nanoha barely had enough time to activate Raising Heart before she was kicked through the wall and rolled out into the street. She got to her feet and took to the air moments before Volvo's fist sunk into the asphalt where her head used to be.

"Divine Buster!" She called as she fired the blast before he could pull his hand out of the ground. Prior to the explosion dying out, she quickly spun around and cast a protection spell. Sure enough, Volvo appeared in front of her, his double axe handle swing bouncing off the pink wall. Nanoha used the opening created to stick the Exceed Mode muzzle into his chest. "Divine Buster!" She called again, firing point blank. The stream of energy sent her foe into a neighbouring house which soon collapsed from the damage.

"That certainly smarted." Volvo winced as he pulled himself out of the rubble. "But that's good. You'd shame your father's legacy if you weren't at least this talented."

"What do you know about my dad?" Nanoha's eyes widened.

"I do my homework." He simply smirked. "I know a lot about you, Nanoha. You're from a planet called Earth, and are the first daughter of Shiro and Momoko Takamachi. Your family also includes your older half brother Kyouya, and your cousin from your father's side named Miyuki. While Miyuki may be your cousin, you still consider her your beloved older sister. How touching."

"If you even think about harming my family…"

"Your father was gravely injured on the job, and this put him in the hospital for a long time. Miyuki would stay with him, while Momoko and Kyouya tended to the family shop, the Midori-ya. This left poor little Nanoha all alone at the house, with no one to care for her."

"Shut up!"

"As a result, you became very independent at a young age. You feel like your family's fifth wheel, so you try your hardest not to trouble others. You keep all your problems to yourself, determined to solve everything on your own with your own power. However because of that, you disregard your own well being and end up pushing yourself too far, often with disastrous results. This, in turn, causes others to trouble themselves and worry over you. Such a paradoxical life our darling Nanoha leads."

"What do you know?" Nanoha growled through clenched teeth, her knuckles white from gripping Raising Heart too hard.

"A lot! I told you I do my homework." He looked skyward, as if contemplating what to say next. "Let's see… You are very well liked by your friends, but if they had to point out a flaw of yours, it's that you're dense enough to draw in black holes. Your first kiss was with your friend Hayate when you accidentally fell on top of her while going through rehab together… Oh, and your three sizes are…" Volvo leaned his head to the side to avoid the pink orb that had been shot at him. "It's not nice to interrupt other people when they're talking."

"I've had enough talking." Nanoha glared. "It's clear even to me that trying to talk things over with you is no good. I'll defeat you and then you'll be locked away for a very long time."

"Ok then, let's resume our dance, shall we?" Once again he vanished.

"He'll attack from behind again!" Nanoha uttered as she spun around to counter.

"I can't help it if you have such a cute backside!"

Nanoha gasped as the voice came from behind her and she felt his fingers dig into her shoulders.

"If you think your opponent is too predictable, they can use that against you." He whispered into her ear before he dug his knee into her back and launched her across the street. When Nanoha looked at her destination, she saw that Volvo was already there waiting for her with his arm pulled back.

Activating her Axel Fin, Nanoha redirected herself skywards, but once again Volvo appeared in her path.

"I'm not going to let you get away!" He declared as he brought both his arms down and they connected with Raising Heart's shaft, sending Nanoha crashing into the ground.

"Are you all right, Raising Heart?" She asked as she got to her feet.

"Damage is minimal, my master."

"You know, a thought occurred to me. Mages are basically witches, right?" Volvo descended with a flying kick, which Nanoha dodged by taking to the air again. "And from what I've heard, one way to kill a witch is…"

Nanoha noticed a large shadow begin to grow beneath her, and she looked up to see a structure emerging from a Mid Childan circle directly above her.

"… Dropping a house on them."

Nanoha quickly pointed Raising Heart towards the house she recognised as belonging to her neighbour as it fell on her. Gravity maintained its grip on the building as it impacted the ground and burst into a cloud of splinters and concrete.

"Looks like it worked." Volvo mused as he approached the rubble. When he did a pink beam shot forth towards him. He managed a weak shield at the last moment, but the attack still knocked him away.

"I guess today's training is catching up with me…" Nanoha panted as she emerged from the path she had carved out for herself.

"So even throwing the kitchen sink, and the rest of the house, at you isn't enough." Volvo chuckled. "I wonder if there's a steamroller around here…"

"You like hearing yourself speak, don't you?" Nanoha huffed.

"Not really," He grinned. "I just like annoying you. Being unnecessarily chatty like this is a great way to throw off your opponent, especially when you know where to prod. Shall I tell you in more detail what I did to your poor friend, what was his name again, Poono?"

Nanoha held her tongue, trying not to let his comments get to her. She had allowed herself to get drawn into his pace enough already, so she needed to calm down and rethink things. She took a deep breath, but immediately spat it out when a knee connected with her gut.

"You kids are so easily to manipulate." He laughed as Nanoha dropped to her knees. Volvo reached down and lifted her up by the throat. Nanoha tried to swing her device at him, but he caught her arm.

"This is my favourite method of killing people." He said as he began to squeeze. "Using my bare hands to wring the life out of some one, to see as their eyes bulge out of their heads as death creeps in, to know that the last thing that goes through their mind is me… Ah, it's pure bliss. It's been fun, Nanoha, but it's time to say good b…"

He frowned as he tossed Nanoha away from him and leapt backwards, avoiding the energy blast that shot between them.

"I'm always getting interrupted at the good part…" Volvo frowned as he turned to the new arrival. "This is the second time you've spoiled my fun, Fate Testarossa Harlaown!"

Fate glared at her foe as she aimed Bardiche at him. "I won't let you lay another hand on Nanoha!"