Solenoid Flux
An Evangelion / Fate Zero Crossover
Snippet #2: Involution

There were situations where foreknowledge could jeopardize a mission's success. Assassin knew this, and was faintly aware that the Nefesh had denied him specific intelligence concerning the mark. Until now, it hadn't seemed like a problem.

"Curious," he muttered to himself, studying the garden of the Tohsaka Estate.

The boundary magecraft that he'd been told to expect had collapsed, even though the gems that had anchored it remained intact - intact but empty of prana.

'I was not the only one sent?' he asked himself.

The Nefesh responded in resounding negative, and Assassin narrowed his eyes beneath his mask. There was an unexpected interloper, somewhere on the grounds.

'Abort mission,' said his Master across their link. 'It seems that Archer has been engaged in combat. Find out what you can about the opponent.'

Assassin nodded, dematerializing himself.

Kawamori Sayuna, age twenty-four - an attractive young woman who had worked as a maid for the Tohsaka family for over five years. Tokiomi deemed her trustworthy enough to permit her presence when he spoke to guests on matters of magecraft.

Presently, she was repaying his high estimation of her with armed assault.

Gilgamesh had hoped against his better judgment that the Grail War would be worth his time, but already disappointment was setting in - and the conflict had yet to even properly begin! The girl, his opponent in this first engagement, was at best a rank amateur, and a normal human at that. It was of barely any consolation that she possessed enough martial talent to nonlethally dispatch the useless guards his Master employed. As an indicator of what to expect of the future, though, this wasn't promising at all.

"You should be more discriminating in your selection of help, Tokiomi," said Gilgamesh, easily parrying the girl's spear-thrust.

"Decent help is hard to find these days, my lord," replied Tokiomi impassively, watching the fight from the safety of the grand staircase. "That crimson lance she's using - it may be a Noble Phantasm that influences behavior. It is unlikely she's acting of her own will, and so I beg again that you refrain from using lethal attacks. "

Tokiomi was soft-minded fool, Gilgamesh was reminded - a product of this wretchedly placid backwater. It was because he was refraining from lethal force that he hadn't simply opened the Gates to bombard the wench to bloody bits. An opponent of this caliber was hardly worthy of any serious attention. Could the magus truly not discern his restraint?

Still, Tokiomi was correct in judging the lance to be a Noble Phantasm. To have withstood his strikes without so much as a scratch, it would have to be - but he was certain that it wasn't related to or based on any weapon he had obtained in life. Why the aura it gave off so damnably familiar, then? It irked him mightily that he couldn't place it.

Somehow ignoring the disabling bone fracture he had purposely induced, the maid forced herself to her feet, readying her polearm. Gilgamesh made a noise of displeasure with his lips. It would have been far easier to simply execute her.

"Show yourself, puppeteer," he bellowed. "You cannot expect that this mere thrall of a girl would be sufficient to defeat one such as I!"

In response, the maid leapt at him, propelled by some unnatural strength. Gilgamesh, though, had had quite enough. With a somewhat larger fraction of his strength, he struck the lance with his sword, sending it out of her hands. Reversing his grip, he struck her in the solar plexus with his hilt. The maid collapsed like a marionette bereft of strings, and Gilgamesh regarded Tokiomi with a disdainful sneer.

"If your high regard for the wench is unfeigned, Magus, you would do well to heal her quickly."

So saying, Gilgamesh turned to examine the lance - only to catch the telltale dematerialization of a Noble Phantasm.

In a small playground five blocks away, Berserker got off his swing and looked in the direction of the Tohsaka Estate with a grim expression.

Kariya had instructed him to force Tohsaka's Servant to reveal his characteristics - but Berserker was insufficiently skilled with Kaworu's remote manipulation technique to turn a normal woman into a significant threat. Even with all of the changes the Third Impact had wrought in his physiology in life, completely replicating the Angels' feats of AT-Field manipulation had always been somewhat beyond him.

Berserker doubted that Kariya would truly mind the failure, but it didn't stop him from feeling useless. He'd shielded the maid from injury where he could, but allowing an uninvolved, innocent woman to be seriously hurt hadn't been his intention in the first place - it was a consequence of his inadequacy. Before the War concluded, he would have to make it up to her somehow.

Now wasn't the time, however. Pocketing his hands, he walked out the park without demanifestation, maintaining an unrushed pace. Kariya had warned him that the other participants in the War would likely be drawn to this district by the engagement, and the sight of him turning into glowing dust would compromise the advantage of his anonymity. Identification was something he couldn't risk this early into the War - not if Kariya's plans for him to pose as a Servant of a different class were to be successful.

'Poker face,' he thought, aware that his heart was still pounding from the rush of combat. 'Act normal.'

It was a pity that the Grail hadn't manifested his SDAT as a Noble Phantasm; it was something he could really use right now. Maybe he could pick one up at a store?

"Assassin was unable to identify the interloper," said Kotomine into the horn of the workshop's phonograph. "He reports, though, that at the conclusion of hostilities, some sort of presence was lifted from the area. I wasn't able to detect anything of the sort myself."

"Neither was I, I confess," said Tohsaka Tokiomi's voice through the horn. "It appeared to me that the assailant was being manipulated through the Noble Phantasm she held. I would presume that this removal of presence may have merely come of its demanifestation - a difference too fine to be felt by humans."

"You mentioned that the Noble Phantasm in question was a lance?" asked Kotomine. "It could be an indicator that the Lancer of this War masterminded the attack."

"Or Caster," countered Tohsaka. "It's said in Celtic legend that the witch known as Scathach was a capable wielder of the polearm. The geas magecraft she was famous for is linked to the foundations of the modern tradition of thaumaturgical puppetry."

"A cursed lance and a magus associated with polearms," mused Kotomine. "This really isn't enough to confirm our opponent's identity."

"We do know one thing for certain, though," said Tohsaka.

"And what's that?"

"The Noble Phantasm was used to collapse the security perimeter that I set up about the grounds. I can't see a reason something like that would be necessary, unless our mastermind were incapable of imposing manipulation through a bounded field."

Kotomine rubbed his chin.

"Perhaps this can be used to construct a defense ..."

"I'm not paying any more than ten thousand yen for this," said Kariya. "It's been in your window since last year, and you haven't managed to sell it off. This is the best offer you're going to get."

The shopkeeper, a punkish youth with blond, heavily greased hair, pulled his lips thin and gave Kariya a dangerous glare. For a long moment, their eyes locked, and Kariya thought he might get violent - but in the end, the shopkeeper backed off and sighed.

"Fine, freakshow," he said, lifting his hands in defeat. "You win. Take the damned thing and get out of here."

Kariya laid the bills across the counter and picked up his purchase. At a pained hobble, he left the antiques shop. When the door clinked shut, the shopkeeper ran a hand through his hair.

"Fuck me and my charitability," he said to himself. "A genuine bone mask used by the Hashshashin for a mere ten thousand. Pops is gonna rip me a new one."

Somewhere, a black monolith appeared in an empty room.

"Katsuragi indicates that an S^2 phenomenon has been detected in Japan," said a voice. "Please advise."

Moments later, several more manifested, forming a rough circle.

"The time of revelations is not yet at hand," said another voice. "We must investigate this."

"Where did the disturbance occur?"

A satellite image lit up in the center of the circle.

"The city of Fuyuki, southwest of Tokyo," replied the voice of the first monolith.

"The Einzberns' pet project, then ... Something must be done about this. Can we make use of the Overseer assigned by the Vatican?"

"If my recollection does not fail me, Kotomine Risei is a loose cannon. He cannot be trusted."

A smooth, black pulpit appeared in the empty spot at the head of the room. At the top, there was an elderly German man in a business suit, sitting with his hands folded before his face.

"Let us send Ikari," he said. "Even if she knows nothing of the truth of this world, she should be resourceful enough to contain the situation."

"A test for her?"

"Indeed."

End Snippet.
Draft: Nov 11th 2011