Solenoid Flux
An Evangelion / Fate Zero Crossover
Snippet #4: Zabaniya

In an electrical closet behind the Ristoranto Skyline, an aging technician cussed, moving the beam of his flashlight across the circuit breaker that serviced the hotel's security systems. Five such units were installed in the building - each situated to protect a separate subdivision of the power infrastructure. A little more than seven minutes ago, something incredibly sharp had diced this one to bits.

"Locks to the guest rooms are goin' haywire," said a grainy voice from the radio in his hand. "Hard-drives for security footage are all fried too. How are things lookin' up there?"

Depressing the talk button, the technician replied, "We're gonna have to replace the breaker. It's a total loss. I'm supposin' whoever did this had a staff key, because the card-reader on the door ain't physically damaged."

There was a brief silence before the radio crackled to life again.

"Management's being unreasonable," said the voice on the other end. "Says she'll be holding us responsible for any complaints if we don't get things up and running again within the hour."

The technician sighed tiredly before depressing the button again.

"Tell her," he said, "that it's her own damn fault for switching everything over to digital."

Assassin was not an enemy with whom Lancer cared to exchange words; there was nothing to be said to a low villain who had discarded honor and respect merely to attain his ends. Abruptly thrusting forward the Gae Buidhe, he directed the blade at his opponent's neck, thinking to land a critical injury before astralization could occur.

The strike never landed.

The enemy Servant had delayed in raising his own lance to defend, but mere centimeters before the crimson spiral shaft, Lancer's blade-tip was met with a shimmering plane of translucent orange - a barrier as unyielding as stone. Defensive thaumaturgy? Doubtful - Assassins, in accordance to the rules of the Grail, were unqualified as users of magecraft. This was more likely a feature of the Noble Phantasm; perhaps a different expression of whatever principle it had exploited to destroy his Master's Command Seals.

'No apparent verbal invocation in either usage, though,' Lancer coolly observed, breaking the standstill and backing out of range as Assassin artlessly swung his double-pronged polearm. 'It would suggest that like my spears, the weapon has a passive or responsive effect.'

"F- fervor ... fervor, mei sanguis," said his Master breathily from the bed, clutching a profusely bleeding hand.

From a decorative porcelain vase by the windows, a silvery fluid oozed into the air, forming a perfect mirrored sphere - the pride of Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi; the Mystic Code Volumen Hydragyrum. Warily, Assassin backed away, stepping toward the wall.

Glaring upon the Servant with unquenchable rage, the pureblood steadied his voice and lowly uttered: "Automatoportum defensio. Automatoportum quaerere. Dilectus incursio ... Scalp!"

The surface of the sphere rippled angrily in response - and suddenly burst with countless blade-tipped tendrils, each the width of a jackknife. Initially arching outwards, their trajectories self-corrected and converged upon Assassin's location. The wall that had been behind the Servant was instantly obliterated, exposing the bedroom to the elevator hall - but Assassin had scrambled aside in time to get away with only a few scratches.

'I erred in my haste,' thought Lancer, noting the injuries. 'The effect of the Noble Phantasm is neither passive nor absolute. It requires a minimum level of attention. If Assassin cannot notice an attack, the barrier fails to respond.'

He'd intended originally to pierce the barrier with the Gae Dearg, but the unexpected weakness of the Noble Phantasm permitted him to utilize a far more permanent countermeasure. Taking advantage of Assassin's preoccupation with the Volumen Hydragyrum, Lancer astralized and flitted to one of his blind spots, readying to again deploy the Gae Buidhe when the chance presented itself.

'Incomprehensible that a Servant so unsuited to combat would choose to stand his ground against two relatively strong opponents,' he thought, 'but these past minutes shall not be ones he lives to regret.'

Attempting and failing to impale the floating mercury with his weapon, Assassin overextended himself momentarily, opening his unarmored torso to attack. Lancer wasted no time in rematerializing and driving his yellow spear into the boy's gut. The Volumen Hydragyrum followed his lead, piercing Assassin with multiple tendrils.

For a moment, Lancer thought the enemy vanquished. Then, Assassin slowly turned his head. In a rough, rasping voice, he said one word.

"Zabaniya."

Throughout the engagement, Assassin had exhibited roughly the same odic pressure as a normal human being - something Lancer had attributed to his class ability. Now, though, the presence exuded by the smaller Servant had suddenly become something indescribably wrong. As if the surface of the boy's black skintight garb had taken on the characteristics of a bog marsh, the Gae Buidhe began to sink deeper, seemingly of its own accord. It dawned upon Lancer that he'd misjudged the reason Assassin hadn't merely astralized and escaped. It wasn't out of foolhardiness or some misguided pride in his combat abilities.

'He was trying to deprive us of our weapons.'

In time with his Master's panicked withdraw of the Volumen Hydragyrum, Lancer forcefully yanked the Gae Buidhe free of Assassin's black, viscous flesh, falling back to his Master's side. The boy Servant regarded them, and by some trick of the light, Lancer felt as if the eye-slits of his bone mask were tilted in diabolical amusement.

Assassin did not attack again. Holding the double-pronged lance behind his back, he gave a theatrical bow, and exited through the hole in the wall to the corridor beyond the suite. Moments later, Lancer felt Assassin's presence vanish entirely.

Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi was close to hyperventilating.

"P- pursue him, Lancer," he said. "This ... this insult ... We cannot let it rest ... Go forth and destroy him!"

"Lancer will be doing no such thing," said a new voice.

Kayneth Archibald's fiancee, Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri, entered from the adjoining suite, smiling predatorily.

"I haven't the patience for your moods, Sola," said Kayneth, gritting his teeth. "I am commanding Lancer as his Master, and you shall not interfere."

Sola bared the back of her right hand. On her skin, a stylized crimson seal had manifested.

"I'm afraid you're no longer his Master, dear."

In the basement of the Hyatt, Berserker removed Kariya's bone mask and the remains of the Assassin costume from the basket of a laundry chute, haphazardly shoving them into a cloth knapsack. Through with his task, he allowed himself to collapse against a wall, experimentally brushing his hand to the injury on his stomach. Wincing slightly at the pain, he sighed when his palm came away wet with blood.

It wasn't a wound he couldn't forcibly heal, but it definitely wasn't regenerating as usual - most likely, because of some curse effect imposed by Lancer's Noble Phantasm. Purging and reconstituting the damaged flesh the way the Angels did it would consume a large portion of his energy stores, and they were already significantly depleted from the Leliel trick he'd pulled during the fight. Any more than this, and he would be burning through prana faster than Kariya could comfortably provide.

He wondered if he'd be able make it out of the hotel without being noticed by enemy familiars in this state.

'Do you feel any pain when you're astralized?' asked Kariya over their link.

'Much, much less,' thought Berserker. 'Why?'

'Don't bother going home,' said Kariya. 'Hide the costume somewhere, and then rest up while astralized. I'll call you in a few hours.'

'Did you plot out our next step already or something?'

'Yeah,' said Kariya. 'If you're willing to go along with it, I'm making my debut in the War tonight ...'

Crossing the ticket gate at the Fuyuki JR Station, a brown-haired young woman pulled along her luggage, searching the crowd in the station lobby for her party.

"Ms. Ikari?" asked a female voice. "Ms. Ikari Yui?"

She turned. The person greeting her was a slightly older woman, who had the looks of a foreigner about her - possibly half-Japanese and half-Caucasian.

"That would be me, yes," she said.

"You're a lot younger than I imagined," replied the older woman, laughing a bit awkwardly. "My name is Kyoko Sohryu-Zeppelin, and I'm an intern with the local branch of the Artificial Evolution Concern. I'll be your go-to person during your stay with us."

Behind Kyoko's skirt, a red-haired little boy peeked at Yui, who waved her hand at him.

"Hey," she said to him, smiling. "What's your name?"

Shyly, the boy ducked his face behind Kyoko.

"Let me introduce you," said Kyouko. "This is my son, Shirase Sohryu-Zeppelin."

Timeline A: Evangelion Canon
1992: At age 18, Kyoko receives artificial insemination. Sperm Donor is Japanese. Shirase Sohryu-Zeppelin is born.
1997: 4th Grail War. Shirase goes missing shortly before the Fire of Fuyuki. Later, presumed dead. Kyoko falls into depression.
2000: Katsuragi Contact Experiment / 2nd Impact
2001: Kyoko receives artificial insemination for the second time. Asuka Sohryu-Zeppelin is born.
2002-2003: After dating for some time, Kyoko marries an American by the name of Langley. Becomes involved in development of Evangelion Unit-02.
2005: Kyoko goes insane in activation experiment. Commits suicide.

Timeline B: FSN Canon
1997: 4th Grail War. Shirase goes missing shortly before the Fire of Fuyuki. Later, presumed dead. Kyoko falls into depression.
2000: Katsuragi Contact Experiment does not occur.
2001: Kyoko receives artificial insemination for the second time. Asuka Sohryu-Zeppelin is born.
2007: 5th Grail War.

End Snippet.
Draft: Nov 12th 2011