Authors Note: short chapter, please R & R
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Strikers
Telepathic speech
Mystery Within Mystery
The battle on the training grounds is as intense as ever, Nanoha watch them from the shore through the viewing screens, "their growth is processing at an impressive rate master," the floating red pearl states, the brunette nods in agreement, "yes, they'll be ready for active duty soon," at the back of her mind she still wondering about Kaze.
It's been two days now since he came to their dimension, orders from Headquarters are currently investigating all databases regarding any information they could find about the man, for security purpose he is to remain at section six under surveillance.
His injures have healed well, the only indication of the wounds he suffered are the scars that are slowly fading, unfortunately he hasn't regained anymore of his memory, his device Anemoi is currently undergoing an overhaul by Shari.
The technician wizard is finding some surprising features in the device that seem a little advancer than their own, for instance the cartridge they uses are much more efficient, it even breaks down the entire casing as well to convert into magical energy meaning that spent casing won't get in the way of fighting.
Other features built into the device is been investigated, one such component seems to be keeping a location of some sort stored away with a list of encrypted items, Shari has not attempted to break the records in fear she might harm the device further in some unforeseen way.
Test results from Shamal regarding the Nano machines inside Kaze has been confirmed, they seem rather intelligent as they reacted to Shamal when she quire why would they be inside him by spelling out a few words for her.
She's now having a lot of fun trying to find a way to communicate with the nano machines who are responsible for the rapid healing of the man, the forwards have been briefed on Kaze, she remember Tia asking why don't they place him in a prison cell, Fate gave an explanation, "we don't want to give him a reason to fight us if we place him in the prison cells," the young girl try to argue back but was instantly silence as an order.
That was yesterday, the brunette let out a long sigh, having a man with no knowledge of his motives made her feel very uneasy, but they can't do anything about it right now unless do what Tia said and lock him up.
She heard foot steps from behind her, "so this is the training ground?" she turns round to find Kaze staring at the training ground with wonder, he wore a pair of black combat trousers with black boots with a white shirt, his green eyes looks round with curiosity, his light brown hair reached just past his shoulder blowing gently in the wind, now that he can stand she has to look up ever so slightly as the man is taller than her, maybe slightly taller than Fate by half an inch.
Behind him stood Vice who looks on guard for any sudden actions Kaze might make, "yes, currently the forwards are using it to practice," she gesture to a screen displaying Tia shooting down a few practice targets, she didn't want him to observe for too long for fears he might use what he saw to plan a counter attack should he fight Tia.
The brown hair woman smiles inwardly at her caution, she wonder is she overreacting to his presences, "pretty intense training," he comments, she didn't gave a reply as she turns back to overseeing the collection of the combat data from the forwards.
The man remain silent as he survey the battle on the screens, "the one with the Spear is pretty quick, but needs to work on his swings a bit more," she heard him remark with a dissatisfied look, Vice speaks up, "you can't expect much from a boy of his age," the brunette man nods in agreement
Then chuckles, "maybe I should ease up on my evaluation of people," he mumbles to the last part to himself, Vice watch the screen of the trainees process, "anyway I'll be taking me leave," he turns to look to Vice, "can you guide me the cafeteria, I'm starving," the pilot gave a chuckle as he guides the man away from them
As the two leave Vice gave a quick report, "we've visited the lounge, living quarters and the Gym," he pause for a moment making the woman wonder is there something else about Kaze, "he don't seem like a bad guy to me, he smiles and jokes with some of the staff, I'm beginning to like his company as well," despite herself she has to agree.
The man seems to know what to say to make them smile, "I know Vice-kun, but don't let you guard down," she heard the affirmative from the other end as they broke their telepathic conversation.
The two men made their way towards the canteen, Vice would stop and salute to some passing officers, they return the gesture, they stop when an officer asked about Kaze health, the man didn't seem to mind to give his reply and manage to make a joke out of it making the officer laugh before departing.
Halfway there the injured mage stops, he began to stumble for a moment using the wall as a support, he presses his hand to his head, "Should I call the doctor?" Vice asks sounding a little concern, after a few moments Kaze shook his head, "I'm fine, just a little light headed from the sight seeing," he replies with a smile.
Pushing himself off from the wall he walks forward, the guide sighs then runs off to catch up with him while sending a report to Shamal through telepathy.
Once they arrived at the cafeteria the two ordered some food and sat down close to the windows, Vice had ordered a coffee having ate just two hours ago, the man opposite him is munching on a baguette with some slices of bacon, lettuce and tomatoes, "pretty good," he praises then took a sip from the cup of orange juice, the smell of the bacon and orange juice made Vice consider ordering them for tomorrow lunch.
The pilot nods in approval as the man eats his food quickly, a few of the other staffs watch him warily as the brunette man gave a content look as he drink the juice slowly, "so, will they deport me to somewhere?" Kaze asked all of a sudden while Vice is in the middle of drinking his coffee.
The pilot set his cup of coffee down while he considers the question, "I don't know, it all depends on Headquarters," the man opposite him looks down at his drink, they remain in silence while they sip their drinks.
A blonde hair woman stood next to their table with a tray of coffee and some food, "mind if I join your gentlemen?" the two men look up to see Fate standing there, "no, we don't mind," Vice answers after a moment, Kaze simply sip his drink silently, the woman watches him carefully half expecting him to do something hostile.
She mentally wonder why do she feel the need to feel cautious round him, the man is still not even able to form magic let alone fight her, but somehow she feels that Kaze might be more dangerous that he appears, which is why she's feeling uneasy.
None of them spoke, Fate finished her sandwich quickly and is in the process of finishing her coffee, "what do you think of the base?" the blonde woman asks, the silence is slowly causing her to feel nervous, the recovering man considers his answer for a moment, "interesting," he simply replies, unsure how to answer her question without causing trouble.
Vice wonders what's going through his mind at the moment, "I was thinking of making a small feast for Nanoha and the forwards," Fate announces to the pair, both men looks at her wondering why is she telling them this, "I'll be need some help with preparing the feast," the two men got the hint that she wants them to help.
Fate know Vice won't object, but Kaze on the other hand would be asking questions of why is she asking him to help with the preparation for the food, after all he's still a stranger on their base, and possible enemy, so why ask him to help?
She gave an answer to the question he's asking but didn't voice them verbally, "I thought it would be good for you to become more familiar with everyone, after all we didn't throw you into a cell did we?" he looks at her for a moment, wondering how should he answer her, the pilot watches carefully as Kaze thinks deeply of the answer he's going to give.
Finally the brown hair man sighs, "guess you're right, I haven't got anything better to do either way," despite the cheerful smile she's giving him she would probably watch him like a hawk in case he might try something, truthfully he isn't planning on doing anything like poisoning them, but then again if he was in their shoes he would probably watch them carefully.
The thought wasn't pleasant so he dismisses the thought and listens to the plan Fate has of preparing the feast for her friend and subordinates to the two men.
By evening the forwards are standing before their instructor, using their force of will to keep themselves standing, they used all their strength during the last training bout that left a few of them still smoking from the battle, their instructor stood before them with a smile.
A few of them didn't want to say it out loud but they all agreed that despite their instructor smiling so harmlessly they knew that she can be very cruel during training, as they found out first hand for the last forty eight hours, "good work everyone," their instructor informs them.
She smiles partly at how well the forwards did, but also at her handiwork in managing to make them look like the walking dead as they gave grunts of acknowledgement with a few nodding to her, "training has ended for today," they seem relived, Tia slouch her shoulders to relax while Subaru smiles as if someone told her she won't be dying that day, yet.
Caro is slowly nodding off to sleep as she tries her best to remain on her feet, she felt a hand on her shoulder give her a gentle squeeze, her eyes snap open and glance down at the hand that grips her thinking it's her instructor who caught her dozing, she let out a sigh when she found it's Erio who was holding onto her shoulder.
The boy looks equally tired from the way his entire body is leaning forward and his eyes half closed, "anyone feeling hungry?" Nanoha asks seeing a few of them looking ready to turn in for bed, they all shook their heads to say no but the sound of rumbling tummies said other wise.
A soft giggle escape her lips as the forwards looks down embarrassed, "let's go to the Cafeteria for something to snack on," she took the lead as her students follow her.
One officer who was doing some work look out of the window from the corridor he walked in the living quarter section and spy the ace of ace leading the forwards, he couldn't but help notice how they shamble behind her with one of them swaying a little too much for his liking to think they are either very tired or they died and following their teacher for revenge.
He quickly walks off, his mind trying not to think of the rumours from the training camp of the woman on the ground that is known in the training corps as the "White Devil", if rumours are true she manage to go through five classes of trainees and decimate them under minutes, each.
He heard something coming from down the corridor, glancing behind him he thought he saw something ran past in the T-junction of the corridor, cautiously the man walk to the intersection and glance to the left finding no one then glances to the right, not a soul in sight.
For a moment he consider calling security, he shook his head and read his watch, "eight past ten," shaking his head the man reason with himself that he's tired and is just seeing things from the lack of sleep he's been having, last night he only mange three or four hours.
The thought made him feel a little better as he continue back with his journey to his office, while behind him at the intersection something watch him with two copper coloured eyes.
When Nanoha and the forwards reach the cafeteria they found a table filled with dishes of food, "did someone organise a surprise party?" Erio asks, Subaru stare at the dishes while her mouth begin to water at the sight of the food, "I don't recall anyone mentioning about a party," Nanoha answers.
The door of the kitchen swung open, Vice came out looking exhausted, "Vice-kun?" Nanoha asks, the man quickly came to attention at the mentioning of his name "can you explain what all these food for?" Vice was about to answer when the door behind him swung open, "thought you might want some food after you skipped breakfast and lunch," Kaze answers while leaning against the door that lead into the kitchen.
For a moment Nanoha wonder how did the man know, that she skipped all her meals today.
They look to the two men then to the table, "did you guys made all these?" Tia asks, the forwards are now wide awake from the smell of the food, "couldn't have done it without the two lovely ladies," on queue from inside the kitchen stepped out Fate and Shamal, both of them wore an apron.
The doctor smiles when she saw the state at the forwards are in, "I see she hasn't changed one bit," the instructor scratches the back of her head while laughing nervously at the comment, a long whistle from the brown hair man by the kitchen door as he watch the youngsters slump down in their seats, "if that's training I hate to see what a battle looks like," he muses before going back into the kitchen and returning with a few more dishes.
Before all of them could seat themselves another group of people walk in, "Hayate-chan," Shamal greets as the head of section six walks in while flanked by vita and Signum while behind her padded along Zafira, seeing the collection of food on the table Hayate smiles happily.
Everyone sat down, with Hayate sitting at the head of the table with her knights arranged closest to her, Fate and Nanoha sat opposite each other then their squads sitting next to them, lightning with Fate and Stars next to Nanoha, at the very end of the table sat Vice and Kaze.
Hayate is digging into the food as the rest of the others did the same, "is it this lively?" the auburn hair man asks while watching Subaru tell a story of what she and Tia did back in the training days, "when they're together for a meal it tends to get rowdy," a beer can is handed to the other man by the pilot as he expertly pops one can with one hand, the other man replies in kind and opens his can with one hand as well.
They click their cans together, "heh, want to take a bet?" Vice asks, Kaze smiles, "what kind of bet?" setting his recently open beer down on the table, "let's see who can win in a race to down one beer can in one go," Kaze thinks for a moment, "what's the stake?" Caro sitting next to Kaze watch him glance at her and give a playful wink causing her to back off away from him a little, in fear or embarrassment he didn't know.
Vice thinks for a moment, "OK, winner can order the looser to do anything the winner asks him to do," both men raise their cans, each one looking confident in their own skills as they locked with their opponents eyes, slowly they raise their beer to their lips while they kept eye contact.
The tension between the two made a few people at the table turn to see them get ready to duel, "are you planning on drinking?" asks Shamal from behind Kaze with a kind smile, the man glance over his shoulder, "is there a problem with me drinking?" the doctor points to the person sitting next to him.
Looking to his left he found Caro and Erio staring at him, "any other reason beside them?" he asks, Fate watch him as well as the doctor gives him another valid reason, "you haven't fully recovered, so I cannot allow you to take any alcohol until you made a full recovery," he looks ready to argue, "no means no," she firmly tells him giving him no room to argue.
Reluctantly he puts the can down, "so you chicken out of our bet, huh?" Vice asks while grinning at the man who took a glass of juice beside him and down it in one go.
The chatter between the others on the other end made the man listen in on their conversation, idle talk of how their day went didn't interest him one bit, Vice kept poking fun at the man in front of him every so often, Kaze teases the pilot in return.
Despite the happy conversation the two men are having Vice is giving them a detailed report to the others through the use of telepathy, "as much as befriending him might be a good thing, it might be wiser to distant yourself, we still don't know his true motives," Hayate tells the man while she laughs when Nanoha told her what happened on the training field.
Caro looks very tired by now, despite her initial excitement of the meal she's slowly beginning to show how tired she is as her head is slowly swaying back and forth, the man next to her watch as she looks ready to bury her face into the plate of food, smiling he place a hand on her shoulder.
This gesture woke her up straight away, then her eyes looking down at his hand then to his smiling face, "as much as I appreciate people showing me how good my meal is, I think burying your face into the food isn't a good idea," the little girl blushes while her hand fidget, Erio saw her fingers began to fidget looks to the man next to her, "might be a good idea to turn in before your friend here do what your comrade is about to do."
He points over the table to Subaru who has her head leaned against Tia's shoulder, her happy expression coupled with Tia's red face as she tries in vain to wake up her partner caused a few of the people at the table to laugh at them.
After the meal is over they all returned to their respective rooms, Kaze has also been assigned a room within the living dorm, he already knows that he's under surveillance, he didn't need to be told since yesterday when he could finally move around on his own.
Despite having all his injures healed his body still requires a large amount of time to recover before he could make a full recovery, the thought didn't sit well with him that he's weaker than he was before he entered their dimension.
Taking a deep breath he let out a sigh that might not be able to regain his memory as easily as he hoped, his own device is still undergoing repairs, Shari told him that he might be able to hear her AI tomorrow but the device itself will require a further day or two to repair it's frame.
He press his hand to a panel to the right side of the door frame as it read his hand print, the light switch from red to green telling him the door is unlocked allowing the door to slide open, stepping in he glance round the room.
A single table with a light stand stood to the right corner next to the glass door that has a small balcony he could walk out, to the left side of the room sat the single bed, it's bolted to the floor so it didn't allow it to be moved, the duvet dark cover the neatly tidied bed with a matching colour pillow.
Next to the desk is the door leading to the bathroom where a shower stall and toilet with a sink and mirror, this room is located a floor up where the officers reside, placing him in the officer floor meant he didn't have to move about too much to get to the bathroom because of his lingering injures, but it also meant keeping an eye on him would be easier.
He steps into the room, "lights," he commands as the lights in the room flicker on, the door behind him slid shut silently, he whirls round all of a sudden and glares at the door as it finally shuts, he stood there unmoving while his eyes cautiously scan the room for anything that might be threatening.
The thought his host are up to something pass through his mind for a moment before he dismiss it as been absurd, walking slowly he looks into the bathroom, his hand already gripped into a fist ready to hit anything that might spring at him.
A few minutes of searching through the bath room provided nothing, next he approach the bed and look underneath, despite having found nothing he felt his nerves on edge, when he entered the room he felt something slip pass the door a split second after he entered.
For a long moment he debated asking the surveillance team to let him look at the footage to be sure, he shook his head knowing it'll be much to ask the people whose monitoring to show him where they set up their cameras, plus if there was anything remotely threatening that entered his room they would more than likely come down ready to capture it.
Shrugging his shoulder he went into the bathroom and took a shower, unknown to him something peered from behind the curtain of the balcony door.
In the device room, Shari has been compiling the information of the device she's been repairing, she frown at the list of parts that have been requested in the last twenty four hours, the parts she manage to get this morning took the better part of the morning to swap out with the old parts with the new ones.
She's still surprised at the parts that came out were nothing more than slag of metal, or in one case just cinders, but those components were none essential while the more battle orientated parts are at peak condition, some required some repair and swapping, but the majority didn't require any maintenance.
Despite not allowing Shari access to the devices main core program, she manage to slip in to some of the defence programs, she try guessing how sophisticated the system is by using only a small part of the program she manage to crack, but found it too hard for her to even guess.
What's more she's found that the device's AI has made more than seventy five percent self repair in the last two days, yesterday it took the entire day to process up to forty percent while today it manage to hit seventy percent in the morning and just seventy five just now.
Whatever repairs it's making is either very big or complicated, which ever way Shari has been examining the data regarding the barrier jacket, the information refer to a location of retrieval of the armour to be used by it's wearer,
This is unlike those of a normal intelligence device that creates the armour from magic that is solidified, this enables to regenerating the armour through magic should they be destroyed during battle, this makes it very useful but with the current enemy been gadgets with field that neglect magic this might cause a few problems.
Kaze's barrier jacket seem to pull solid parts from an interdimensionsal space which assemble the armour while his body is partially in this pocket space, Shari began to theorize that the information of the barrier jacket data is a blue print.
The schematics for the armour she found, with the majority of the data corrupted, show the layout of the weapon and even their power output, she began to calculating the power of the piece of armour and the weapon's embedded in it, "let see, a power amplifier in strength by twenty point eight percent, three sheathed blade with some kind of power matrix inside them to enable energy from an external source to be used…"
After five minutes she close the file down, "he's packing a lot of weapons, and that's only two pieces of his barrier jacket!" she thought with surprise as she sat down on a nearby chair, a cup of tea has been set their by an assistance a few hours ago, she sips the cold tea and grimace a little, "I really should get a coffee machine here," she thought while she finishes the drink and sets the cup back down before letting him mind work with what she found.
She wonder should she make a report of the finding she's made, a look at the device in it's sword form, that is now finally whole, with still nicks here and there on the blade that still needs repairs administered to it, she sat there for a few more moments then pushes herself off the seat, the report can come later, the repairs to the device frame and AI would need to come first, she makes an estimate of the time it will take before she's completed the repairs, "tomorrow morning," she cringe at the thought but has no other choice as she braces herself on an all night job in repairing the device left in her care.
She only hopes that more answers will be shed upon the man, who knows that one man can have so many questions about him been asked within the last forty eight hours.