Nanoha StrikerS: Pursuit of Perfection 18
SMACK! "Kgh!" A raving Fate pulled her hand back for another strike, her victim too shocked and stunned to do anything.
Before she could swing her palm again, Nanoha came behind her and grabbed her wrists tight. "That's enough, Fate-chan! He's already hurting as is!" The two fought against each other as the rest of the room stared, not quite sure what to do. Hayate, Rin, and Subaru all were standing there, trying to figure out what actions to take.
The one in the bandages shifted to the side of the bed, grabbing a crutch with his left hand and standing. He hobbled up to them, favoring his wounded left leg. "Let her go, Nanoha-san."
"Eh?" Nanoha was still fighting Fate with everything she had. "Are you sure?"
"Please, let her go." He nodded.
Nanoha released the blonde, and Soran's purple eyes stared up into hers from the few inches difference in their height. Her maddened tears rolled down her cheeks as she gritted her teeth. "Egh!" She slapped him again, this time using her nails to scrape his cheek.
"Fate-chan!" Hayate was the one to protest this time as everyone started forward.
"DON'T!" Soran yelled quickly, stopping them in their tracks. He returned to staring into her eyes, not even showing that he knew blood was running down his cheek.
"You… little!" She started to swing again.
"We wanted her back." He stated. She halted. "That's all any of us wanted." Soran said it unflinchingly, even knowing that her hand was an inch from his face. "You can slap me until my head rolls off, but it still won't teach me anything. We went there to save Caro. We love Caro, but we also love everyone else in Section 6. We went because we thought we'd be enough, that no one else had to risk their lives when we could do it. We were wrong, and I'm sorry that we were. Now if slapping me makes you feel better, then you can just keep on doing it, but isn't getting them both back what would really put you at ease?"
Fate's hand shook, flattening and curling as she sobbed. "KUSO!" Her long hair flew back as she plowed her fist into his cheek. Before the blow sent him backwards though, she grabbed him and pulled him into a tight hug. "Aaahhh! Ahah uhuah!" She cried loudly into his shoulder.
He closed his eyes, his own tears running down his cheek as he raised his good hand to pat her back. Without even hearing it, he knew she was sorry too, and that was enough. After a moment, Nanoha took the woman out of the room to work her own magic in dealing with the grief. Once they were gone, Soran wobbled and went to the floor, spitting out a wad of blood. Someone sprayed a stinging aerosol on his right cheek, shortly followed by a bandage. "Geez, you're such a glutton for punishment, Soran." It was Subaru. She handed him an ice pack for the other cheek. "It doesn't feel like there's anything broken, is there?"
"No… I just had dropped my defenses before the punch. I didn't think she had another strike left." Su and Hayate gingerly put him back in the bed. "Hayate-san, the search…."
She shook her head. "The trail's gone cold. We'll have a full debriefing when you're feeling better."
"Who's going to take care of Fried?" Soran sighed, drawing the sheet into his fists.
"We've called in an old acquaintance who handles summons ~desu."
A young girl with long purple hair and a permanent look of suffering in her eyes watched Fried from the opposite pillar in the morphing field. Between them was a giant checker board with huge insects on the spaces. Fried barked and squeaked. One of the beetles opened its wings and leapfrogged over another.
Lutecia pointed to one of the beetles and it moved, hopping over three of Fried's. "King me."
"Aaarrrrh." Fried sighed in disappointment.
"Engh…." A voice winced in the darkness. Every so often a flash of whitish-blue light appeared, lighting up the room. In the end, the red haired boy could no longer sleep because of it. He opened his eyes to see a robot, its wires reaching towards him. The boy followed the cords until they reached his hand, where they were shoved deep into the skin. A third wire once in a while whipped against the bars, discharging the flash of light. "What are you doing to me?"
"Subject Erio Mondial confirmed conscious. You will not be harmed in this facility unless you attempt to use any magical abilities, which will be punished. The food polymers delivered to you twice a day are formulated for the proper nutrition for your biological functions. Eat them. You will be released when the master gives his permission." The robot turned its cameras to the task at hand before raising its head again. "Currently removing excess electric charge from biological extremity. Movement is prohibited until completion."
"Well that's awfully nice of you." Erio rolled his eyes before shutting them as he lay there.
"Erio-kun!"
The boy's eyes snapped open. "C-Caro?! Caro is that you?!"
"Oh thank God, you're alive!" Her voice came from down the hall, sobbing a little. "I was so scared that you… that you…."
"I'm sorry, Caro." He looked at the wall. "I thought I had him, but it wasn't enough."
"Erio-kun… that doesn't matter right now. What matters is that you're safe." She pressed her hands to her heart. "That's what's really important to me."
Vita appeared on Hayate's screen. "It's just like you thought. We found another Caster." She held it up for her to see. "It was hard to find because of the damage at first, but when the skies cleared up, it got easier."
Hayate bit her lip. "What's the number on it?"
"6. It's one we haven't seen yet. We're gonna have to get the brat's description on this one too."
"Vita." Signum came up next to her, off camera.
The young-looking Wolkenritter's eyes practically popped from their sockets before she jumped backwards, drawing out Eisen. "Th-that thing is deactivated, right?!"
"Yes. It's completely inert."
"Vita-chan, Signum, what is it?" Hayate was straining to see.
"Get it through decontam and rush it to the briefing room quick! Hayate, you'll want to call that debriefing early!" Vita put Graf Eisen away. "We've got a lot more to look through here, so I probably won't make it. You'll have to fill me in later. Vita out."
"You know, being doted on by a pretty girl is one of man's universal fantasies, but somehow this situation really isn't doing it for me." His eyes motioned to the pistol pressed against his temple.
"Look Soran, the only reason I'm doing this is because Subaru has a report to make." Tea twirled a fork through some pasta with one hand and held Cross Mirage against him with the other. Multiple veins on her forehead were throbbing. "I also happened to make this as a get well present. So if you want to keep your brain in your head, I'd suggest you quit it with the embarrassing and insulting and start chewing!" She shoved the fork into his mouth. "God, why can't you do this anyway?! I know your right hand is burnt, but what the hell happened to your left?!"
"If im na thop." She pulled the firing pin back and he swallowed quickly. "I said it's in the shop. It needed to be reset and recalibrated."
"I can't wait until it's done…." She grumbled.
"I can." She flashed him a glare. "Not in that way! I don't think you realize how much it hurts when I have to reattach it. It has to connect to all the nerves and bond with the bone, meaning it has to cut into the skin and everything. It's very unpleasant."
"Great. Now I've lost enough appetite for the both of us." Tea gave up and put the plate onto the tray and slumped, Cross Mirage returning to card form.
"Well I suppose that's good timing after all." Hayate came in with a wheelchair. "Sorry Soran, but we have to bump up the debriefing."
"I'll get Subaru then." Teana got up.
"This is S-rank classified, Tea-chan. I'm afraid you and Subaru can't attend."
Tea balled her fist. "I understand." She quickly turned and stormed off, her pigtails flying behind her.
Nanoha and Fate were already sitting in the briefing room with Rein pacing on the table when Hayate and Soran came in. Shortly after that, Shamal and Akito filed in, with Signum bringing up the rear, with something covered in a black sheet. She placed it on the center table as Hayate sealed the room with her password.
"Is that what Vita wanted rushed down here?" She asked as she sat back down.
"Ah." She went up to it. "First let me say that it is completely deactivated. There are no residual energies whatsoever."
"Hssh!" Soran hissed as he lifted Barrage level to it, a Variable Bullet prepped to fire. Everyone gasped. "It fooled me once already."
"Soran-kun, put that away!" Nanoha reprimanded. "That's an order!"
Soran grumbled as Barrage returned to a key. "Yes ma'am."
She sighed, grabbing the sheet. "So what the heck is this thing we're dealing with anyw- AH!"
The three commanders stood there, paralyzed in shock and fear. Staring up at them was a head, half of it was a blank ceramic-looking metal expression, but on the other half that looked at them was Nanoha's face, the mouth upturned into an evil smirk. It was obviously a robot by the wires coming from it, but no one could shake how the girl's face just clung to it. The first one to move was Fate, her barrier jacket materializing on her as she slowly closed her armored gauntlet. "DAH!" She slammed her fist into it with all her might, splitting the table in the process, completely obliterating the mechanoid. "Geh, heh heh." She panted hard.
Nanoha swallowed now that its gaze was broken. "That's the last straw." Gulping again, she grit her teeth. "If it wasn't before, things just got personal."
"URGH!" Tea slammed her fist into the table, making her empty cup topple over.
"Tea!" Subaru chastised. "What's the matter with you today?"
"What's the matter? For two meetings, two, we've been kept out of the loop! Stupid classified regulations. Caro and Erio were taken away right under our noses, and they refuse to tell us the whole truth! Ugh!" She stood up and started pacing. "You know that not even Soran is allowed to tell us what happened? That's how classified it is! Meaning it has to do with something surrounding him! Even then, I'm the superior officer, and they still won't let me in on what's going on!"
"Tea… It's obviously something very important, probably more important than we could even begin to imagine. I don't think it's fair to complain like…."
"But I'm an Enforcer! This is the type of situation that I've been training for! It's like they're not giving any consideration to anything I've done!"
"You know that's not true, Tea."
She sighed through her nose. "Yeah, I know… it's just I really want to help, and I'm the perfect person to help." She tapped her foot before turning for the door. "I'm going to talk with the subcommanders again."
"Tea!"
"Wait, you know what that thing was?!" Soran went wide eyed.
"Ah…." Nanoha said as she sat down, trying to calm herself. "Hayate-chan, if you could…."
She nodded. "Soran-kun, what you just saw is a very dangerous Lost Logia that was used in the dimensional wars called a Clown Warrior. It's an android that seeks and steals information to improve itself. It also has the ability of one way psychocommunication." She pulled the file from the computer system. "A few years ago, while Nanoha-chan was undergoing recovery from an illness, Fate-chan was sent after a data thief. It turned out that it was one of these androids. Cornered, it read her mind, finding information about the one opponent she couldn't defeat."
"Nanoha-san." Soran completed the thought. The commanders nodded. "And it gained her physical appearance, voice, and abilities… just like what happened to me."
"Unh." Fate cracked her knuckles.
"Fate-chan almost died that day." Nanoha pressed her hands to her heart. "If it weren't for Yuuno-kun finding out about the thief's true identity and ability, I never would have made it in time to save her."
"I had no idea…" Soran whispered. "So that's why you said it was personal."
Nanoha nodded. "Soran-kun, please tell us what happened. You fought this thing, didn't you?"
He nodded. "I'll have to start a little further back then that though, to where Erio and I got separated."
Erio and I had just made it up the ramp to the grandstands. I had gotten fed up and lost my temper, taunting to try to draw him out. "Feel better now?"
"Maybe just a li…." The tiles cracked under our feet. "…ttle." We both fell through, and that's where I lost sight of him. It was a split second, but that split second made all the difference. Before I could react, I was snared in a net. While struggling to get free, HE hovered over me, Caro's kidnapper.
"UH?!" The rest of the room gasped. "You mean he showed himself to you?!"
Soran nodded. It couldn't have been anyone else. Covered in black armor and a barrier jacket… and just looking at him gave off a sense of malice. He had bright green hair with darkened streaks in it, and these bright red eyes. He smirked at me… before he turned into me. It was like I was looking into a mirror, the illusion was that perfect. "I'll be borrowing this." He said it in my voice… mine!
"So he was an android too." Hayate paced.
"That can't be right ~desu! Soran-kun said that Casters need life force as a catalyst to the reaction. An android couldn't provide that ~desu."
"Rein-san is right. He wasn't an android. He was so close I could feel his breath. He was without a doubt alive." Then he waved at me before cutting the net loose, and letting me fall the rest of the way down the shaft. "You bastard!" I wrestled with the net until I managed to get loose enough to have Kiryu slice it up. "If you touch a hair on Erio's head I'll kill you, you prick! ACS Mode!" I jumped up, ready to bust through the chimney I fell down until I saw a glint of something from my ACS backwash. "Kgh!" Thwp. BOOM! The ceiling exploded as I banked to avoid it, tossing a flare bomb into the darkness.
The ball exploded and lit up the room. "De-deet." It was that android, holding a sniper rifle with explosive ammo. It shielded its face for a second before mounting the rifle on its back and leaping away.
"You again?!" I gave chase.
"Hold." Signum raised her hand. "You knew your comrade was in danger, and you decided to chase after another enemy? That's irresponsible."
"It might seem that way, but I had a specific purpose. That thing was a sniper that rounded up Caro and I when she was kidnapped, and when Erio and I entered the stadium. The one you fought was using internal programming. Someone was pulling this one's strings."
"I see ~desu." Rein nodded. "If you could capture it or keep the memory core intact, you could find out information from its programming, such as the location of its home base ~desu."
"Exactly, Rein-san. If I had gone after Erio, it would have just come after me again, so I did what it wanted and followed." And follow I did. I quickly caught up to it with my ACS as it leaped on all fours through the pipe-laden basement.
At one point I lost sight of it as it rounded a thick drainpipe. I came to a halt and looked around carefully. "No energy readings. It must be in silent running. Barrage, switch to nightvision." No sooner did I say that then I saw its blank face diving at me. It tackled me to the ground before I kicked it off, flipping over and drawing Garyu. We circled each other in the darkness, it could see me as it crouched on the ground in all fours. "Not bad for an overgrown crash test dummy." There was no response. "What's wrong, weren't you built with speakers? Now where's your memory core?"
It leapt again, and I ducked under it, rolling. It pulled out its gun again, aiming at me. "Rainbow!" Rainbow swapped with Barrage on my back.
"Lightning." She shot a bolt at the android, the shock made it twitch and short like mad. The rifle shells also detonated, effectively disarming the robot when the rifle itself exploded.
I didn't give it the chance to recover. "Engh!" I slammed my foot hard into its torso and flung it into an armored pipe. Dashing forward I caught its neck and pinned it, and I put Barrage right at its midsection. "Let's see if you react to Asimov's three laws. Robot, you are in violation of robot law 1: Thou shall not harm a human. Power down and surrender your memory core for reprogramming." I felt for sure I had it beat.
"But then you felt it… you felt something that was off." Fate clenched her fist. "You could feel it touch your mind, and hear its monotone voice in your head. 'Searching for probable candidates. Selected. Terminate.'"
"Not bad, boy. But you know…." Nanoha-san's face materialized over the blank. "It's going to take a lot more than that!"
"EH?!" I was in shock, seeing Nanoha-san in front of me, using those same words from our first spar. She… I mean it… the android… I don't know, I'll just call it she, used the opportunity to throw me to the side.
"If this is your way to ask for my approval for dating Subaru, you have it." She said as I stood up. The rest of her body changed in height and proportions to match Nanoha-san, and her barrier jacket washed over her. And out of nowhere, Raising Heart Excellion was in her hand.
"What are you?! You're not Nanoha-san!" I set Kiryu and Garyu to Flashform and prepped Barrage.
"To even the field, I could use a standard device." She dove straight for me with a demonic smile on her face. "Now let's see what you can do with those upgrades of yours!"
"Ergh!" I swung Barrage hard, deflecting the dive, whirling it to the shooting end and fired as she slid to the side. "Kgh!" Both missed and I kicked to the side as well to parallel her, pipes and cables passing between us. Then she disappeared. "Uh?!" I whirled around and lifted my right arm just as a Divine Buster stream went under it. "Kisama!" I slid to the side before she could move the beam and dove at her full throttle, Kiryu and Garyu on my wrists.
She lifted her free hand and caught the blade. The materialized code started to float off. Garyu turned the blade straight forward and I plunged my right fist into her chest. All she did was look down at the wound and looked up again, giving me a headbutt. I staggered back, instinctively raising Barrage and firing. In a flash, she raised Raising Heart and deflected it away from her head. "You'll be deducted points for that, Soran-kun."
"It really is a horrifying sight, seeing that." Soran slumped in his wheelchair, his good arm desperately begging to grip something. "I knew it wasn't Nanoha-san, but she was standing there in front of me in every detail, with a hole straight through her chest, smiling at me like I hadn't done anything to her."
Nanoha put her hand in his. "Soran-kun, this is what's real. Try to think of the difference when you're facing that memory." She gave a quick look to Fate, who nodded. It was the same thing she did for her after facing that demon.
"You have no right to use that voice." I snarled as my weapons returned to key form. Tossing them in the air, I was beyond angry. "You have no right to say those words." They materialized onto my arm in level two form, and I pointed it at her with bared fangs. "Now, fake, taste the power of the original's successor!"
"Inferno." My fire stream drove towards her, and she raised her hand, creating a Round Shield.
"Then I'll just go around it!" I kicked off a pipe, using them like bumper pool while trying to get past her shield.
She swept Raising Heart to the side. "Arc Shooter. SHOOT!" I didn't see any energy bullets come from her though. Then I caught it out of the corner of my eye as I slid around a drainpipe, one was following me like a homing missile.
"Egh!" I turned around and opened my left hand.
"Glacier." I fired a chunk of ice at it, slowing it down, but it was too late.
"Chain Bind!" The fake yelled, and I suddenly found myself wrapped up by chains as the spell I attacked hit me straight in the chest. She smiled that hideous warped smile as she walked up to me. "Thank you, Soran-kun." She patted my cheek and gave me a hug. It was cold. Everything about her was cold. Then she hopped into the air and rose as high as she could. "Burst 3."
"Hah?!" Hayate gasped as the others leaned forward.
"Strike Flame." She pointed the weapon at me and rotated it horizontal. Raising Heart loaded four cartridges and spread her six wings, opening her strike spear. "Excellion Buster ACS!"
"But you had no shield! That should have canceled the command!" Nanoha's body was rife with tremors.
"It's based on memory alone. Soran didn't know about that condition, so she never had it." Signum lifted her head.
"Drive!"
I had to do something quickly. Looking at my left arm armor, it purged itself, my keys reverting, giving me enough time to slip out of the chains. "KIRYU!" She expanded to shotel form and I slashed the chains holding my arms. "ACS FULL THROTTLE!" My ankle wings glowed brighter than the sun I pulled straight up, dragging the chains with me, the one on my right leg breaking.
"Strike Flame!" The blade plunged into my left leg.
"GAAAHHHRYUU!" I screamed through the pain, and Garyu dropped down to my right boot and spread. I gave her a swift deep-cutting kick to her chest. She stumbled backwards, pulling out her blade in the process, beginning to raise it again.
"But how? Sustaining such a deep cut should have at least affected some of its motor skills." Hayate mused.
"I think I can answer that ~desu." Rein flew over and poked Nanoha's breast.
She turned red and covered her chest. "For once I'm actually regretting being well endowed."
Soran side glanced them and rolled his eyes. "Now that we've established for the Nth time that Nanoha-san has a voluptuous frame…."
"Axtform!" There was no time for pain as Kiryu and Garyu formed my axe.
"I'll be taking your head!" I leapt up, swinging the axe at a horizontal level. She stopped it with Raising Heart and slammed a hard kick into my chest. "Dwaaa! Hgk!" I decelerated quickly, both my wrists were snared by another Chain Bind. "Heh. You left two Chain Bind spells unactivated. In all the commotion I didn't notice. Well played."
She rose again. "Arigato, Soran-kun! With all the magic in the air from your attacks, I can attack at full power!" Nanoha-san's signature magic circle formed below her as the magical particles in the air became visible, beginning to collect in front of her.
"Or maybe not!" Barrage and Rainbow finished their expansion between the chains and my wrists, shattering them. "Now it's my turn. Struggle Bind!" The plumbing pipes burst around her, the balls of energy I had secretly laid into the drainpipe exploding into ropes that snared her.
"SORAN-KUN!" She gritted her teeth, struggling to break free. Her attack had dissipated completely.
"Rend this world with eternal plasma. Encase this world with eternal ice. Ignite this world with eternal flames."
"Lightning. Glacier. Inferno."
"Elements of Destruction!"
"Trinity Buster."
"May this enemy be cleansed!" My buster hurtled towards her at breakneck speeds, consuming her in the multicolored light, also punching a hole through the roof above her.
The fake's barrier jacket started to disintegrate at the edges, as did her hair. Even so, she still smiled at me with that face. "You'll have points docked for that, Soran-kun."
My Struggle Bind was weakening from the attack. I could already see some holes in the energy web. If I didn't do something quickly, she would have been free again, so I crouched down low. "Kiryu! Garyu! Mole Mode!"
"Stonesser Form."
They combined into my energy drill and landed in the ground. "ACS Critical Drive!" Everything I had went into my ACS as I stopped the Buster and grabbed the drill with both hands. Blasting off, I reached her just as the bonds snapped. "This ends now!" I slammed her into and through the stomach with all my might, the momentum pushing us through the hole in the ceiling. "HeeeaaaAAAAAHHHH!" We launched into rainy night sky and I slammed what was left of her into the turf of the field, leaving a big hole with my drill as well.
"Kgh… hah hah." I slumped, out of breath. The android wasn't moving, but she still had that same twisted grin on her face. I looked around. "Erio…" An entire wall of the stadium was destroyed, and the rest of it showed massive signs of battle damage. "I'm too late…" I tried to stand, but pain shot through my left leg and I went back down again, once again level to her demonic face. "At least I have this thing. The memory core is bound to…"
Her limbs came back to life and wrapped around me in a tight lock. Her head slowly lifted in a jerky fashion to meet me eye to eye. "Get ready for a surprise!"
"But I don't remember ever saying…."
"GAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Everything was consumed with white and heat and pain. The next thing I remember seeing was Hayate-san rushing towards me through the fire.
"So it self-destructed." Signum shook her head. "It's a miracle you even survived that."
"So that's why you said it fooled you. It played possum." Nanoha sat down next to Soran as he nodded. "Soran, there's one more thing." Soran said nothing, still trying to shake the pain from reliving that moment. She placed her hand on his. "We found another Caster shell."
His eyes shot open wide. "What's the number?"
"Six." Fate answered. "Soran, what does a six do? Is it one of those helpful ones or a weapon?"
"A weapon… a very powerful one. Now I see, then the stadium wall was… but to even get a six?" Soran muttered to himself.
"Soran. Please answer her." Hayate spoke quickly, breaking his train of thought. "What does a six do."
"Uh? Oh. It inverts the polarity of a singularity and creates a White Hole. As opposed to a black hole that sucks matter and energy in, this thing sends matter and energy out. If Erio was near that thing when it fired, he would have been bombarded by pure energy and mass. If I'm right, that's what brought an entire wall of the stadium down." The others began whispering and muttering. "And there's still a second Clown out there." Soran gripped his knee tight, despite his aggravated burns.
"And we don't know what happened to Erio-kun either ~desu." Rein sat on Soran's shoulder, full of worry.
"I don't believe he's dead." Nanoha stood up, pressing her hand to her heart. "This enemy kidnapped Caro for a reason. I don't think it was to draw you and Erio out. It's too complex for something like that. There's something else going on, something that he wants to keep his victims alive for."
"But what?" Fate sniffled.
"Unfortunately all we can do is wait and see." Hayate stood up and went to unlock the door. "Until then, everyone stay alert and ready. Soran, go get some rest."
Soran nodded as he was wheeled out the door. "I don't understand why you won't listen to me!" He heard something coming from around the corner, and he peeked around, finding Tea shaking a fist at Shamal. Hayate also looked around it. "This is exactly what I've trained for. How am I supposed to become a full fledged Enforcer if I'm not entrusted with one rescue mission like this? Caro and Erio are gone, and I'm the best person for the job to find them and help get them back! This should be my assignment! Why won't you help me convince the commanders of that?!"
Hayate sighed as she pushed Soran down the hall, back to his room. "Are you just going to leave it like that, Hayate-san?"
"No, but that's a private grievance that Teana has. I'll take care of it when I'm finished bringing you to your room."
"I see…" Soran lowered his head, the right corner of his mouth curling slightly. "Good luck with that."