A/n: hello! Snow here again attempting to make a decent fanfic. oh and apologies for my grammar and English, its not my first language. :D so now for my apprciation to the reviews:
hinagiku13: Wel trigger happy devil does suit Nanoha perfectly and I'm thinking of making it that way in this story
xDVxNightfire: hehe sorry about the flashbacks. i do hope it's still up to your liking and continue reading my fic.
Asuka47: thank you :3
FrostyAsian : yes there'll be more. Please tune in and continue reading. i hope you find this new chapter interesting too.
EXpERieNCed : Thanks! yeah this is AU, though not really a pro in making fics so i can only hope you fnd this good as the chapters go by..
Eidorian999 : oh my, i bow to your review. :) no worries not offended. yeah I know the story of Nanoha (from 1st - Vivid) and as i said, this is AU. and as far as my understanding goes, AU means alternate universe and does't really comly to the original story. so yeah, no 'Jewel Seed' incident and the 'Book of Darkness' incident. Story goes as the Ace of Aces is an unknown mage that just came to the stop Jail and disappeared without a trace. so i do wish my fic would pass your standards :) oh and i added some minor 'flasback' regarding the JS incident in this AU story. thanks and i hope ya enjoy.
Chapter 2: Too many questions
0800hrs – warship Claudia
"Are you saying that one of the numbers in prison escaped?" asked by a male officer wearing a black barrier jacket with spikes on the shoulder pads. He scanned the paper on his hand that stated the recent report regarding a sighting of combat cyborgs and some gadget drones, which looked like the ones, Jail had created. His brows knitted together as he read the paper. "What prison reported the jail break?" he asked to the green-haired male wearing overall white clothing.
Verossa Acous, the long time friend of the admiral of warship Claudia, Chrono Harlaown. He took a sip of the tea that he had prepared himself, knowing that his friend hadn't inherited her mother's taste in Earth's beverage. "Prison Gerda."
Chrono looked surprised when he heard the name of the prison. If he recalls correctly, one of the prisoners there belonged to the 'Numbers' naming Quattro. The girl who can be called the female-version of Jail himself in terms of personality. He sighed and rubbed his now throbbing temple. "Uno, Tre and Quattro. Those three never revealed what Jail had planned during that incident and even Jail didn't show any signs of other illegal actions. Our forces, RF6, just got there, arrested Jail for the creation of Combat Cyborgs and the start of project FATE. But the incident itself…" he gestured for the screen to appear before him and showed the article of the J.S incident and a picture of a woman in white with white half-faced mask.
"The Ace of Aces." Verossa stated, noticing the image on he screen.
"She came and left like a typhoon. Destroying Jail's base like it was a sheet of paper." Chrono said. he stared at the picture and sighed. He made sure to keep all information remained classified to anyone. Even his sister, Fate.
Being an inspector of TSAB and one of the few who have the rare skill of ancient Belka, he can tell that Chrono have a deep information on the so-called 'Ace of Aces'. "You called that young lady the 'Ace of Aces'. I know I shouldn't poke my nose and even my magic, but I would like to know why did you call her that and denied any information of hers to the public and even to TSAB itself." He said with an assurance of no one able to hear them.
The young admiral sighed again and leaned back to his chair. He closed his eyes and stopped himself from remembering his encounter to the said woman. "Her ranking, as estimated, is of S+. Lower than Lt. Col. Yagami but nuking aside, the Ace can defeat her." His voice is cold and his expression is stoic. Same expression whenever he answers confidential information.
"Well, knowing you, I know you won't leak any of your information unless its in a brink of life and death. But still, the Jail incident… I think we need to strengthen the security at Gruen." Verosaa suggested, taking another sip of his drink and smilingly offered some to Chrono. The dark-haired admiral declined and silently agreed to his plan. "We'll keep the Riot Force 6 posted. For now, make sure the imprisoned numbers are kept in tight security aswell as that madman."
Fate woke up around mid-morning by a certain brunette commander. She groggily looked straight at blue eyes, gleaming of mischief. She ignored her superior and turned to her side, burying her head under her pillow. "Hayate… morning still… Out." She muffled from under the pillow. She blindly tries to wave her hand to shoo away Hayate, which she can tell is up to no good.
But the commanding officer grinned and started to stir the blond enforcer awake. She poked, tapped and shook the body of Fate. Her attempts were in vain. The blond only groaned and buried herself deeper in the pillow and blanket. "Fate~ wake up! I have to ask you for a small favor!" she whined, shaking Fate's body again to the point the bed was rocking aswell.
The blond, tired from Hayate's continuous disturbance of her peaceful slumber and supposed to be dayoff, sat up with a pillow clutched between her arms and body. Her tired eyes looked at the cheerful commander and she groaned again in frustration. "Hayate.." she looked at the clock that showed '10:00AM' and frowned. "Early… Better excuse?" she asked narrowing her eyes as if piercing the RF6 commander with her Bardirche Zanber form.
"Now, now Fate don't be so grouchy. I just came by to ask for a small favor." She chuckled a bit by the look of Fate with her golden hair all disarrayed and her black nightgown showing a bit of her skin than needed to be. She can feel some flirting is needed to be done but the fact that Fate just woke up may not be a good idea.
Fate now reached by the side table, aimlessly looking for her triangular device, while keeping her glare at the smiling fox. "Bardirche…" she said in a threatening tone while still looking for her device.
A nervous laughter from the brunette commander gave Fate the notion to stop looking for her device. She held her hands up to the level of her chest and a nervous look etched on her face. Even if she is a SS rank mage, battling a newly awaken Fate on her dayoff is not a good idea aswell. "Ehehehe, easy now Fate. I was just wondering if you can take Nove's place in fetching my cute niece later in the afternoon at St. Hilde Academy of Magic? She's currently in fourth grade elementary there. I think…" she asked in haste, taking a step back incase Fate decided to 'Plasma Smasher' her out of the blond's room. She closed her eyes, waiting for any yellow blasts from her device but none came. Taking a small glance at the Lightning Captain, she was surprised to see her surprised aswell.
"You have a niece?" Fate asked, flabbergasted with her focus now on the brunette than the bed. "First you told us you have a cousin from that non-administered world, may I add that we all thought your only family is the Wolkenritter and now a niece? Next thing we knew you will be telling us that the 'Ace of Aces' is another family member of yours." Fate tried to make a joke about it which just made Hayate laugh nervously again. She raised a brow as she gave the nervous brunette a questioning look. 'She's hiding something.' She positioned herself on the side of her bed, slender legs now hanging at the edge of her bed and her hands fixing on her disarrayed nightgown. "Hayate, you do know that you are getting nervous. Is there something you need to tell me?" she inquired, giving the brunette a small serious glare.
Hayate laughed and gently hit Fate on the shoulder. "You're just imagining it Fate. So, you okay with watching over her?" Hayate asked again, now giving the tsundere blond a puppy pout she learned from Vivio. She noted before that Vivio's puppy pout is one of the child's powerful arsenals when it comes to gifts and favors.
Fate looked at the clock again and sighed in defeat. "Alright, alright. This 'niece' of yours. I'll pick her up but tell me first, why me?"
Hayate placed an index finger above her chin and thought of a good excuse. A good excuse that won't reveal her plans for Fate and Nanoha. A minute or two later, she smiled widely at Fate and grabbed the Enforcer's hands. "Because I know Fate will not fail me as her commanding officer and I'll be comfortable knowing you are with my niece. Oh and I might add you will find this kid cute~" She gave Fate a wink which the blond only blushed.
"Okay you made your point Commander. Mind you today is my dayoff so you need to give me another one this week." Fate informed her superior, opting to prepare for the day and do Hayate's request. She didn't mind if her commander is still in the room as she went straight to her personal bathroom to take a shower and changed to a simple black slim pants and white shirt with a black hooded jacket. Plain choice of clothing for the famous Enforcer but didn't cease to show her feminine figure that can make any man or woman alike ogle at her slender body and beauty.
Fate turned to the fullbody mirror, looking to check if her choice of clothes is decent enough. Glancing at the other occupant of her room, she saw the devilish smirk on Hayate's face and it only meant that the woman enjoyed the mild show she had unintentionally provided. A sigh escaped her lips and a defeated shake of her head. "That's why RF6 is being called 'Hayate's Lesbian Army'. Am not sure if I should be thankful that I'm not romantically attracted to any of the crew in this force." she asked to her commander in a deadpanned voice. She was being sarcastic and the gag-name for their team is known to almost everyone in TSAB.
The commander of RF6 giggled and gave Fate a knowing smirk. "C'mon Fate, you know almost 85% of the crew members in my force is awe struck by your beauty and want to date you. The rest of those 15% are my knights, your two adopted siblings and Subaru." She informed the Enforcer, counting the people who are not 'romantically attracted' to Fate. "My, my Fate. You are one popular lady. Almost everyone if fawning over you." Hayate added. She corssed her arms and pretended to be upset. "No Fair! I want my own set of harem! This is my army!" she protested childishly.
"Not true!" Fate blushed. She still remember how some crew members asks her out and even Ginga Nakajima, Subaru's sister from the 108th battalion is fawning over her. She, being the nice and gentlewoman, (as Hayate once told her she is) couldn't have the heart to reject Ginga's advances. She sighed and tried to think of any other women not going gaga over her. "How about Tea? Isn't she Subaru's girlfriend? And what about you?" Fate defended herself with a frown. "Tea has a long time crush on you so she doesn't count. And as for me…" Hayate winked and gave Fate a flirting smile before leaving the blond haired Enforcer on her own, not giving an answer to her question. "HAYATE!"
1530hrs, Long Arch training area. The forwards are having another punishment/training under their instructor and Sub-commander Vita. Well more of Vita giving them a lesson on how to evade and construct a clear and calm strategy under the multiple raid attack using Graf Eisen's Schwalbefliegen (Flying Swallow) attack. And the number or spheres had ranged from 24 – 40. This gave Tea a hard time to cover and give support to Erio asthey battle the short Loli knight. Subaru on the other hand was now under the 'Gefängnis der Magie' magic that Vita casted on her with Nanoha and Caro, and can't even telepathically communicate with her girlfriend.
"Erio! Don't get caught with her binds!" Tea shouted as she continued to shoot at Vita. She already cast 'Fake Silhouette on her an Erio but the knight quickly noticed the real from the illusions as her projectile spheres came ramming on every illusion Tea made and successfully capturing Erio when the redhead attacked Vita with his 'Speerschneiden' move.
With the only male of the forwards caught in a bind magic, Tea opted to charge her crosssmirage, emitting a burning sphere from the tip of the barrel. She hoped that the small sub commander will be hit by the straight forward magic she is about to fire, narrowing her eyes to lock on her target. To her surrise, Vita was just standing a few meters away from her, not even showing any signs of evasion. She took this chance and fired her magic. 'Variable Shoot!"
Vita awaited for the right moment and when the magic was now a meter away from her, she smirked and cast her own barrier. [Panzerschild] her device, Graf Eisen said, covering Vita in a red coating and shielded her from the attack. Seeing how Teana was surprised on her sudden move, she tighten her hold on her metal hammer and cocking a few cartridges and the silver sphere on the middle of the hammer gleamed. [Gigantform] the device chaned mode, making it grow larger and its sides turning octagonal in shape. "Giganthammer!" The short loli-knight shouted as she swung her giant ahmmer to Teana which the forward hadn't got time to dodge. by the last minute, Vita halted the attack, making her hammer a few inches away from Teana's head. "That's it for now!"
meanwhile, inside the enclosed barrier. "Tsk! You okay Aibo?" Subaru asked her device after lashing out wing road and the combination of her shield break and Knuckle duster. She tried to break her instructor's round shield with the help of Caro's Boost up spell. [I am fine.] the device assured her partner. The device gleamed again and auto casted 'Protection' on Subaru as it sensed the oncoming 'Divine Shooter' spell from Raising Heart. Subaru blinked a few times upon realizing the blasts that came to her and Caro.
"Oh my, don't forget you still have an opponent Subaru." Nanoha pointed happily at Caro who is now captured by the 'hoop bind' magic, passed out. She had thee of her pink 'Divine Shooter' spheres targeted Caro and hit the pink haired girl. She giggled when Subaru surrendered to her and she motioned for Vita to release the barrier around them.
Emerging from the barrier, Nanoha saw Vita poiting Graf Eisen at Teana, who was now frowning and full of dust and some scratches. "Vita-chan?" she tried to grab Vita's attention and the small instructor looked at her and nodded her head. "Work on your evasion and reflexes when it comes to stealth attacks. And you, Erio." Vita pointed her metal hammer on the sole male in the forwards and she smirk when the guy tensed up. "Fast you may be like Fate but remember to guard up. Sheesh, your defense is still low."
Teana mumbled some incoherent annoyance from her failed battle strategy again and huffed. She glared at Subaru who was now close to Nanoha. She knew that her girlfriend admired the instructor due to the fact that Nanoha reminded her of the 'Ace of Aces'. She crossed her arms and pouted. 'Really now? Nanoha and the Ace of Aces rae just similar to their choice of color clothing and magic color. Aside from that, Nanoha is a B rank mage.'
Caro an Erio stood side by side, watching how Vita and Nanoha are discussing their training improvement then their focus strayed to the two lovebirds who are now bickering over on how Subaru had admired Nanoha even more being a cool instructor even though the said instructor is scary in a hellish way. 'Who can even think Nanoha-san is a Rank B mage…' both thought of, wondering if Nanoha has any limiters placed on her. But still, they too admire their instructor. Even if she is a little-err-harsh than the normal military/navy/airforce instructor.
Subaru and Tea's small jealousy bickering came to a halt when a call from Nove suddenly interrupted them. Subaru answered the call and the voice of her little sister, Nove, came to her hearing. Sounding panicky. "Umm, Nove? You do know I'm in training with Nanoha-san…" she responded to the caller who was now sounding desperate. She nodded her head, acknowledging her little sister's explanation on the call and once Nove stated the exact reason of her call, Subaru's eyes had opened widely in shock. "You lost WHO? Nove! Seriously, don't joke about losing Vivio." Her answer caught the attention of her co-forwards and turned pale when they heard the words 'Vivio' and 'losing' used on the same sentence. "Look Nove, I care for you but that news is BAAAAD news. Seriously. If Nanoha-san found out about Vivio she-"
"Found out about what Su-ba-ru?" an icy voice had cut Subaru's continuous panic ranting and she stiffly turned around, only to see her instructor, smiling at her maniacally. And it gave her an intense goosebumps and she even heard the other forwards gasp in fear. She grabbed hold of Subaru's shoulders tightly, still smiling at the blue haired tomboy. "What did Nove say about losing Vivio?" her voice was like ice daggers that pierced Subaru on every word. Subaru looked behind Nanoha to find some
Subaru tried to step back but the hold on her shoulders and the fact that her friends already took distance at them was not a good sign. "U-umm… N-Nove Nanoha-san needs to talk to you." She said in panic, handing the communicator to Nanoha. Once she felt the grip on her loosen a bit, she took this opportunity to jump back, away from her instructor in 'White Devil' mode.
"NOVE!" Nanoha's voice caused some birds from the nearby tress to fly away and Vita, immediately calling her mistress to inform of the oncoming disaster.
At a park a few kilometers away fromSt. Hilde Academy of Magic, 2 blonds are having a small bonding time while eating some ice cream. The older blond smiled at the ten year old lovingly as she watch her happily eat the cold dessert.
"Vivio is it? Why were those other kids bullying you? Don't you have any friends at school?" Fate asked the child who looked up to her with a sad expression.
Vivio shook her head, denying the inquiry about her friends. "I have. But they went home already. Those boys are teasing me that's all." Vivio then continued to eat her frozen dessert.
The enforcer recalled her encounter with the child upon arriving at the school. She saw a bunch of kids ganging up on Vivio, teasing her about being an adopted child and that she doesn't have any real parents. That struck some vein to her and she opted to defend the child. To her surprise, the child wasn't even crying or even fighting back. She just stood there, taking all the insults as if it's the normal thing to her. She defended the child and lightly lectured the kids who teased the blond child. When the child looked at her, she was awestruck when a pair of heterochromatic eyes stared back at her own crimson ones. "Why didn't you react to those kids Vivio?" She asked again. The child tilted her head to the side, as if she was thinking.
"Mama said that I shouldn't fight to other kids. Especially those who are weaker than me." She said to Fate, remembering how her mother always tells her to never to fight unless needed and a stronger opponent.
"You have a weird mother Vivio. So, you're Hayate's niece eh?" the child nodded her head. "I see. So do you know who I am?" a nod of affirmation again. This time Fate smiled and patted Vivio in the head. "Then can you tell me who am I?"
The child smiled widely when she saw Fate's smile at her. "Enforcer Harlaown. Auntie Hayate told me that you are a strong mage and I really think you are cool!" her tone was full of adoration and enthusiasm. Her eyes gleamed of amazement as her mind processed that she is now talking with the famous Fate Harlaown.
Fate smiled gently. Seeing the child's gleeful smile was a relief to her. And the fact that the kid she found happened to be Hayate's niece since the RF6 commander gave her only the hint of the girl having heterochromatic eyes. She find it very luckyof her for finding the child she had no idea on how she looks aside from the coloration of the eyes or even the name as her commander had forgotten to inform her of it. "So what time does Nove take you home?"
Vivio chuckled a bit, noticing that the older blond kept asking her questions. "You ask too many question. umm, Harlaown-san. Nove always teaches me some strike arts before mama, auntie or auntie's friends come to pick me up."
Harlaown-san. Hearing the name made Fate feel uneasy when she heard it from the child. "Vivio, you can call me Fate if you want. Hmm, let me call Hayate then since its already 5." She took out her device and instructed it to contact Hayate. The device robotically obliged and contacted the head of RF6.
[Sir contact cannot be reached. Call routing to Raising Heart.] Bardirche informed its master which made Fate raised a questioning brow. "Raising heart? I'm not familiar with that device." She said audibly, wondering who is the master of the device that Bardirche is contacting. She turned her attention to Vivio who tugged her shirt. "Yes?"
"That's mama's device. Can I talk to her? I'm scared she might be worried about me."
Fate gave the child an affirming nod and waited fr the master of the device to pick up the call. After a few minutes, a voice from the other line came to hearing and to Fate, the woman, assuing it is a woman since Vivio said it was her mama, sounded both angry and worried. "Um, hello?"
"Yes? I'm sorry, I'm kinda busy at the moment…" silence and cursing from the other line. "Sorry about that again. Can you call back later?"the voice was now a little calm after hearing some explosives and other female voices sounded like in a panic, groaning in pain and asking for forgiveness.
Fate, being oblivious of the current situation, was about to answer back to the master of the device when Vivio had beat her to it.
"MAMA! Calm down okay? I'm safe with Fate-san. Fate Harlaown, auntie Hayate's friend." Vivio assured the receiver of the call, sounding very cheerful.
The voice of the master of Raising Heart suddenly changed from raging concern to just plain concern. "Vivio! where are you? wait, did you say Fate Harlaown?" the tone of surprise and relieved mixed together resounded from the triangular device. there was silence yet again and a small 'eep' before the loud "HAYATE!"