StrikerS: Pursuit of Perfection 20

"KUSO!" The boy's fist slammed into the wall.

"Well, that is it then. Game over."

"One mistake… it was just one mistake. How was I supposed to know that he got to Ginga before he was captured? And because of that everything's blown. I hurt Gin-nee horribly, and Subaru will probably find that out too. Plus Tea heard everything Gin said to me."

"That was another mistake."

"What was I supposed to do? It was the only way to get them there without her knowing."

"You should have done what she asked and killed her."

"NEVER!"

"As usual, you humans are too soft."

"Jor…."

"So what now that your perfect plan is ruined? Should I release the prisoners? They are a drain on my resources anyway."

Soran's watch beeped. "An e-mail? From Tea?"

'I haven't told anyone what I heard. I'll give you one chance to explain yourself. You deserve that much for being kind to Subaru, and sparing Ginga's life. Contact me, and we'll meet face to face. –Tea.'

"Teana…."

"Humans are far too soft."

Subaru sat down in the chair, Tea looking at her in a serious manner. "So, Gin-nee was a pregnant cyborg too?" Tea nodded. "And she was hiding in Soran's apartment? And he signaled you to catch her? And she's okay?"

"Physically, she'll recover, but mentally… she's in bad shape. I think you know why."

"Unh." Subaru nodded. "She was kidnapped, raped, converted into an obedient brainwashed cyborg, and when she finally felt she was free, she found out she was pregnant by him. Being forced to go through the entire pregnancy and birth to a baby she despised… had to hurt her. When can I see her?"

"Not for a while, Subaru. She has to go through a lot of tests and diagnostics to see if her personality will be able to handle that." She looked into the corner of the room. 'And she'll blab about how Soran was at fault for everything.'

"I see." Subaru sighed. "But at least she's alive, ne?"

"Thanks to Soran."

"Where is he, anyway?"

"Oh that? Um… I dunno." She scratched her cheek. "I-I've got to go make a report. Get some actual sleep, okay?" The door shut in front of her and she balled her fist. "Soran…"

Hayate sighed, shaking her head as she monitored the cells that had the steadily growing Scagliettis. She pressed a button and the images switched to their respective mothers, strapped to their hospital beds, screaming in rage for their children. "To be honest, we didn't expect the maternal instinct programming." Shari said. "We probably should have, considering it was the perfect safety to assure a successful pregnancy."

Nanoha sighed as she scrolled through the medical report. "Can it be overridden or shut down? It's almost as if they've lost their personalities to this… programming."

"Essentially they have." Shamal said. "Since they haven't had anyone other than each other and Scaglietti for most of their lives, they didn't really have a solid anchor like Ginga has."

"So she's doing better than they are?" Fate raised her head, feeling partly responsible for her ordeal.

"At least partially, yes. Her personality fights off the override constantly, but as a consequence she goes into a form of mania, babbling about him ruining her in a vicious rage. We've had to sedate her for now, but if we can get Ginga back to normal, we can use that as a basis to restore the Cyborgs."

"That's good at least ~desu." Rein closed her terminal.

Hayate frowned. "Everything that Scaglietti does leaves a massive wake to clean up after." She stood up and stretched. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I've seen enough birthing to completely convince me never to have one of my own." Most nodded in agreement.

"Sorry to interrupt." Tea said as she entered the conference room. "Fate-daichou, I need to see you for a minute."

"Uh? Unh." She stood up and walked outside.

Tea took a wall and waited for the door to shut. "You and the commanders have been withholding something from Subaru and me, and I think it's high time we need to know. And I want to know it now."

"I'm sorry, Teana-san, but I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm not dumb, Fate-san! There's been something going on in those classified debriefings that you're not divulging, and I'm telling you that now is the time that I need to know."

"Teana Lanster, you are out of line and in violation of TSAB code. If you don't stop making such criminal accusations, I'll have you thrown in the brig!" Fate stood up straight and balled her fists before whipping around to face the door.

"Starwind." Fate's hand jerked back from the panel. "There's something there, in that keyword. If you can't tell me, I'll just find it out somewhere else. You know what happens when I get determined enough." Tea got off the wall and put Fate's hand down to her side. "Now, once again, who is Starwind?"

Fate let out a long breath through her nose before raising her head and turning around. "Gene Starwind was the foremost expert on Casters from Perseus. He and his family were killed during the Persean War during an attack on a residential area."

Teana struggled not to gasp, biting her lip tightly. "And what about the debriefings?"

"That's what we were discussing."

"You're lying. You've had too many classified debriefs just to remind the sub-commanders of that."

Fate gritted her teeth. "I'm breaching more regs than I can count, Teana…. The kidnapper uses Casters, and more than the ones we've seen Soran use." Tea's face was in shock, and she backed away, hitting the wall and shaking her head. "Now I'm going to ask you the same. Is there something you need to divulge to me?"

Tea gritted her teeth. She shook her head and a tear ran down her cheek. 'Forgive me… Subaru.' "Soran Starwind."

Fate shut her office door and sealed it with bind magic, turning the lights down and expanding her terminal screen to the size of a theater's. All of the information she had researched through the entire case popped up, and her eyes ran through it at top speeds. "Why didn't I see it before? I was so careless. It was the only missing link."

The picture of Gene Starwind's family came to the forefront, his near-due wife with that sad smile on her face. "Hello Soran, so this is where you came from."

"It all links up now. Everyone is connected to the Casters. Gene taught the technique to Soran. Gene and Melfina died in the conflict, and Soran was also presumed dead. Mustang Berkt rescued him and adopted him." Fate paused on Berkt's profile. "But at the time Berkt didn't have enough resources to get Soran a new arm…." Her eyes went wide. "Scaglietti! That's how Soran knew him! He must have created his cybernetic arm!" Digging deeper into the file brought her to the bright red restricted access page. She sighed as she called Hayate. "Why hadn't I done this before? Hayate-chan, I need your security clearance to unlock the file I'm sending to you. Whatever you do, don't open it just yet. Leave that to me, but hurry."

"Unh. Give me a couple of minutes, this has quadruple protection. Rein…." The transmission cut out.

Fate got up and traced an evidence board on the screen, linking them all together so far. Then the unlocked sub-contract file appeared. "Thank you, Hayate." She whispered before opening it. She gasped and swallowed. "No…. Subcontract One: Research and Development of Third Generation Clown Warriors. Subcontract Two: Collection and Research Towards the Use of Projectile Singularities. The Berkt family owns a dimension where a chunk of the destroyed universe fell?! That explains how Soran got the Casters." She bit her lip. "This is beyond illegal."

She paced back and forth. "Okay, that links Soran to Starwind and Scaglietti and Berkt. But how does that link to everything else?" Fate pointed and expanded the news coverage on the Penal Colony disaster. "That piece of the destroyed universe could only be moved by a used Caster, towards the person that is doing the focusing. Then Scaglietti had a Caster? How'd he get it." After she thought for a minute, she smacked her forehead. "Of course!"

"He used a type 0." Fate explained to the audience, which consisted of all the Commanders and Sub-Commanders in the Omega-Classified room, sealed up tightly. "As we know, a type 0 opens up a portal to another location. If Soran used a type 0's Extra Shot, he could have easily teleported another used Caster into Scaglietti's room."

Nanoha was gripping her skull tightly. "I can't believe this. I won't believe this. Soran isn't the kind of person to do that. He hated Scaglietti!"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't be willing to use him for his own gains." Vita turned around. "Admit it, Nanoha, we were played."

"No!" She slammed her fists into her table. "I'm not convinced at all! There was no reason for him to do it!"

"On that I disagree." Signum stood up. "Because of the mass chaos and resources we used due to the aftermath of Scaglietti's death, he might have wanted to seize the opportunity to kidnap another one of our team."

"But there wasn't any opportunity." Zaphila opened his jaw. "Because of Ginga's disappearance and the lockdown, no one was separated."

"Which leads me to believe that it was his biggest error in judgment." Fate nodded. "None of us expected for Ginga to fall pregnant, so I doubt he would have either."

"I'm still not convinced!" Nanoha stood up and pointed at Fate, her voice hissing through her teeth. "Soran had an alibi at every kidnapping, and no motive!"

"Or did he?" Hayate bit her thumb hard enough for it to bleed.

"Hayate-chan!" Nanoha snarled at her.

"Think about it, Nanoha-chan! All we ever heard was a first-person account from Soran as to what happened!" Nanoha's eyes shot wide open. "We never saw him except for when we got there, when this so-called kidnapper had already left with his teammates!"

"But what about the Clown Warrior's head?!"

"Mustang Magitech has been undergoing a secret project to recreate them. As if they wouldn't have some of the old ones in stock." Fate pulled up the evidence. "Plus the way that Fried uncharacteristically attacked him made it look like he knew what Soran did to Caro."

Nanoha shook her head slowly, pushing deep into the back of the chair. "Soran-kun… Then what about the motive?"

"Revenge." Shamal said. "The drive from such pure hate can push people to madness. Our military killed his family, and now he wants to get even."

"Soran-kun… SORAN-KUN!" Nanoha slammed her forehead into the desk and began to bawl.

Fate wanted to go to her side desperately, but the meeting was still going on. "One thing is bothering Rein ~desu." The little woman raised her hand. "Why Section 6? And why kidnap Caro-chan and Erio-kun instead of killing them?"

"I haven't worked that out yet. Maybe it's out of convenience that he's attacking us, since he got into our ranks. Maybe he's trying to flush someone out. I'm not really sure."

"I knew we should have killed him when we had the chance. Damn it." Vita gripped her part of the desk until it creaked in strain.

"Another thing that worries me are the Casters themselves. So far we've seen Soran use types 0, 1, 3, 6, and 8. He's had access to both the Slipstream Asteroid, and the one that Mustang Magitech holds claim to." Nanoha raised her head as she realized what Fate was saying. "We have no way of knowing what shells he has now, and there are still five that we haven't seen. Plus if he's obtained shells 2, 7, and 9, he could quite possibly destroy us all."

Everyone muttered to themselves before Hayate managed to collect her thoughts. "Well now that Soran's gone AWOL, what do you suggest we do to prepare, Fate-chan?"

"For now, I think we should keep Subaru under lock and key. She's his weak point. There's no doubt in my mind that he genuinely loves her." Fate sighed. "That makes it difficult for us though. She was supposed to sit Vivio this week."

"I'll take that up." Vita raised her hand. "I'm a really loose cannon right now. If I get too involved in this, I'm sure to explode."

"I feel the need to accompany her as well." Zaphila raised his furry head.

"Thank you." Fate bowed. "The other thing we should do is keep a round-the-clock watch on Teana Lanster. I have reason to believe that she's already been in contact with Soran." The murmur started again. "If I'm right, she might be the next target for kidnapping. This will be the opportunity to close in on and snag him before he gets away."

"What if Teana isn't his target though?" Shamal raised her hand. "Soran's cover is blown, he's gotten desperate. What if it's Subaru he wants?"

Hayate bit her lip. "Then we set two traps."

Teana stood there in full barrier jacket, Cross Mirage in her holster in card form as to not scare the civilians. She surveyed the address that Soran had sent to her. There were plenty of bystanders going in and out of the mall in front of her. She entered warily, but well trained enough not to arouse suspicions. "This is good." Fate watched from a terminal monitor. "There's too many civilians to get hurt and become witnesses. Soran won't try anything here."

"But that will make it hard for us if we try to take him into custody." Nanoha clicked her teeth. "He really thought this one out."

'Go to the second floor food court bathroom.' Tea reminded herself of the message as she went up the escalator. 'My exact location is hidden behind the third bathroom mirror. Come alone, and I'll tell you what you want to know. -Soran'

She found the bathroom and entered, quickly heading to the third mirror and pulling a celluloid tab sticking out of it. It was a negative of a photograph from a last generation camera. "Damn it." Fate whispered. "No cameras in the bathrooms."

"I'll activate Cross Mirage's tracking beacon." The 3D Blueprints came up and marked her as a dot in the bathroom.

"He's at the watch repair shop." Tea said out loud, instantly regretting it, knowing that her tails probably heard it too. They had. She opened the bathroom door and headed out.

The security cameras got replaced with electronic snow. "Damn it, what happened? Get it back!" Nanoha tried pressing buttons.

"I can't. I've got no connection. Soran must've cut them!"

"No! I'm going in!" Nanoha turned to the door.

"No, wait!" Fate grabbed her quickly. "They're still in a heavily populated area, and we still have the beacon and audio tap. We can do without the cameras for now."

Tea rounded the corner, past unconcerned, uninvolved individuals just being themselves. Then she saw him. He was sitting on a bench directly in front of the repair shop, his head down, his eyes covered by an uncharacteristic hat. She stood there for what seemed like forever, the space between them filled with all the worries and fears that had been racing through her head since she heard what Ginga had said. She waded through them, ever so slowly willing herself towards him, the knot in her stomach growing so heavy it felt like she was pregnant herself. Then she found herself next to him, and she sat down.

The sound stopped. All the chatter in the mall went away as she sat there, waiting, begging for him to say something. "I wanted to keep Subaru out of it. She had nothing to do with it, Tea."

"I figured as much. You really love her, don't you?"

Soran just sat there, clenching and unclenching his fist. "I never wanted Gin-nee to get hurt either. What she went through… was never supposed to happen."

"So you were at fault for that…. What were you trying to gain out of killing Scaglietti, Soran?"

"I wanted to find a way to get you to investigate it on your own."

"Why would you… wait, 400 people had to die for that? Soran, you're out of control!"

"Probably." Soran stood up and turned away, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Tell Ginga that I am sorry, and that she has every right to despise me."

"Soran wait!" She stepped between two trash cans as she reached out to him. "Are you the one responsible for kidnapping Caro and Erio?"

He turned to look over his shoulder. "Come with me. I will release them into your custody."

As he turned back around, she didn't move. "I was next on your list to capture, wasn't I?"

"No. Come on, Caro could use Shamal right now."

Tea's brow lowered. "Soran, I'm glad I don't like you." Cross Mirage expanded into a single handgun and she whipped it out, firing a bright blue bullet. "Because I don't have any regrets shooting you either way." It hit his left arm and exploded into bright blue mirror particles, spreading from the impact zone and revealing some thick black armor with a blue ID orb at the shoulder. "I knew it. Drop the charade already, we're both illusionists."

"That stung you know." Soran turned around, and the disguise dropped, revealing the dark Soran, completely covered head to toe with black armor. She couldn't even see his eyes through the menacing black helmet, mask, and visor.

The other people in the mall hadn't run away when Tea pulled the gun on him. They hadn't even noticed. Now Tea understood why as they all began to disappear one by one. "It was all a hologram? But… how did…."

"Come now, you are a smart girl. You can figure this out." He mocked, crossing his arms.

"You warped me here somehow, into a set modeled like the mall. Of course, you used a type 0 to rig the bathroom to warp me here!"

"WHAT?!" Nanoha gasped, bursting out the door and using her ACS to explode into the mall and land in their exact location. "Gone? Fate-chan, they're not here!"

"How's that possible? I've gotten a signal ever since we turned it on! It's reading right next to you!"

She kicked over a trash can and rifled through the contents. In it was a green ball that flapped its ears at her. "Haro. Haro."

"Kgh!" She crushed it in her grip. "It was a remote decoy!"

"I'll try to reaquire." Fate expanded the search area to city wide. "SHIT!"

"What is it?" Nanoha said as she returned, looking over her shoulder. There were red blips from 100 different places around the city.

"So in the end I really was your target after all. Trying to separate us, one on one, just to make absolutely sure you'd win." Tea crouched as her second gun appeared in her other hand. "I think you'll find I'm tougher than the others. I'm not going to lose to an asshole like you, Soran."

"Ksht." Cross Mirage glowed nearest to her ear. "Tea, it's Fate. We've been following you with your tracking device, but he's put up decoys throughout the city. Nanoha is disabling them one by one, but it will take some time. Hold him off till we get there. Fate out."

"Kgh." Tea snarled as she eyed the black armor.

"By now you have figured out that your tail is rather busy, and that you are to play cat and mouse with me while they track us down. Too bad it will be over before it begins." He unfolded his arms and pointed his clawed right hand towards her. "Now, come and see your friends." Soran tweaked his index finger. The trash cans exploded and two Struggle Bind spells whipped out from where they once were.

"Engh." Tea's left hand was snared. She brought her right pistol down and shot the bind off before her right arm got caught. Mirage quickly went to level two and she sliced it off.

"Crossfire Shot."

Ten magical orbs appeared around Tea, and she unloaded her cartridges at them. Soran's left wrist cocked a shot and punched forward. The air rippled around it and warped as it hurtled towards the energy bullets. They ricocheted off the air lens and its nearly unstoppable force intersected the girl. "KYAH!" She was sent flying back. Her pigtailed mop lifted up and she fired a round in reverse to slow her down, and then turned them towards the enemy and unleashed hell.

Soran crouched, the verniers in his boots powering up before leaping high above her barrage. "Nice try, but I am a little bit faster than…" Two orange bursts of light curved in on him from the sides, slamming him in the shoulders at the same time.

He fell to the ground in a heap as Tea skidded back on her heels. "Bullet Type F. I've mastered seamless loading of it, Soran. Even if you dodge my shots, they won't all miss."

He rose up like a zombie, not even using his arms for leverage as he stood up. He tilted his head back and forth in his helm. "You are if anything persistent, Tea."

"I'm also better than you." She quickly reloaded. "And I'm surprised you're this stupid. Your cover is blown, your plan out in the open. What do you even hope to gain by capturing me at this point?"

Soran's revolver locked another shot. "If I told you that… ENGH!" He punched the floor hard and it buckled under him. He disappeared from Tea's view. "Then it would not be any fun."

"Tch." She changed tactics, going defensive as she prepped for his next attack from below. "They won't stop you know. Nanoha and Fate will hunt you to the ends of the universe for what you've done, even if you manage to escape me."

"Who is to say that is not what I am counting on?" A giant chunk of ice burst through the floor near her. She rolled and somersaulted away, but not before some shrapnel caught her cheek. "That is my new Chill Pulse modification. Like it?"

"Not particularly." She went down to one knee, closing her eyes.

"Pity. Then I guess I will have to move on to my next invention. Storm Pulse!"

Tea's floor was electrified. "NnnGAAAAAAAHHHH!" She screeched, her eyes still tightly shut.

"And it ends." Her paralysis held her in place as an ice chunk exploded through the floor she was under, sending her flying to the rafters.

Before she hit the roof she opened her eyes, and she disappeared. The real Tea hooked her legs around a rebar beam sticking out of the original hole and went upsidedown. She slammed the muzzle of her pistol into the butt of the other. "Agni Burst." A large red blast hurtled towards the armored teen, consuming him and sending him flying into the back wall.

Tea dropped down to the lower level, wiping off a trickle of blood from her cheek. "So I was right. You're after the commanders. You've just been kidnapping the forwards so they won't get in your way."

"Do you really think it is as simple as that?"

"Oh come on! What does it take to put you down?!" She fired two shots in succession into the smoke.

"ENGH!" A large hunk of tile hurtled towards her through the smoke.

Cross Mirage spread its level two blade and cocked three cartridges, extending it into a full blown sword. Lifting her arm up quickly, she sliced the rock in half. As the pieces flew past her a ball of energy was on a direct course with her forehead. "EH?!" It exploded into a burst of pure white light. "Agh!" She covered her eyes tightly as Soran came up to her and gave her a hard ACS Strike Fist to her rib, sending her flying into a pillar, which she clipped before skidding along the floor.

"A student learns from the teacher, just like a program is written by a user."

Tea groaned, forcing herself to roll onto her stomach. "You…'re learning from us…." She got up slowly, stumbling as her senses recovered from the pain of her broken rib. "By… fighting us at our strongest, you're learning… how to beat the commanders."

"I told you you were a smart girl." He took a few steps towards her.

Tea cradled her broken rib as she backed up into the wall. "But why kidnap Erio and Caro? You beat them, so what's the point of keeping them alive?!" She cringed as he got closer, unable to lift her weapon.

"There is only one person I am after. You are merely the tools in which to get her. Though I may be done with you does not mean others will not need you."

Fate smiled a bit. "He still values life. Erio and Caro are still safe. Soran, I see a side of you that wasn't a lie."

He gripped her by her jacket collar. "Teana, it is time to sleep."

Teana looked at him in fear as his right hand came closer to her face, until she quickly looked in the other direction. Cross Mirage was pressed against his temple. "I agree." She pulled the trigger and he fell to the side. Her double disappeared as she pressed her hand to her heart. "Subaru, I hope you'll forgive me someday." The verniers on Soran's boots lit up and his leg slammed into her knee, sending her to the floor. "Guah! That didn't kill you?!"

His legs' momentum swung him up to standing position, his back towards her. His arms were slumped and he was staring at the floor, before he slowly began to raise his head.

"Then how about this?!" She rushed him and slammed her blade into the base of his spine. He slumped again, and then started to raise his head. "Kgh!"

"Agni Burst." At point blank range, her strong attack went off.

Soran slumped again, but then he began raising his head for the third time. "Impossi…." She never finished her statement as Soran's left fist plowed into her chest, sending her flying. The reverse-jointed arm reverted to its original direction and Soran continued to raise his head until he cocked it to the left and right. The hole in the armor sealed up.

"For the record, that does hurt quite a lot." He turned around, to see ten aghast Teas.

"This is impossible. I killed you three times. How can you be standing here right now?!" He took a step forward without answering. "You're not human. You can't be. What are you?"

Fate began to tremble from what she was hearing. "Fate-chan…. Fate-chan!" Nanoha's voice brought her out of her stun.

"G-go ahead."

"I've taken out 25 decoys, but it's taking too long! We need to find a way to narrow them down. Can you look for buildings that are close to or bigger than the mall?"

"Unh." Fate turned to her monitor and typed like mad. "I'm sending them to Raising Heart now. Nanoha-chan, you have to hurry. Tea isn't going to last much longer."

"Tea-chan…. Raising Heart, output 250 percent!"

"Okay, my master."

Soran's revolver clicked three times, and the hilt of his energy sword popped out. Grabbing it in the claws of his right hand, the beam spread and he dove forward, coasting on his boots' thrusters, sliding back and forth, cutting each separate Teana in half before they disappeared. In the end, there was only one left. He silently put the sword away as he turned towards her. "Fighting you was a disappointment. I did not even have to use a Caster. There was very little I learned." He raised his right arm to neck level and cocked a cartridge with his left. "This is where it ends." An ACS burst sent him forward, immediately clenching her neck in his clawed fingers before sending a heavy blow to her midsection. That Tea disappeared as well. "WHAT?!"

"Cross Mirage Level Three…." She stood up next to him, the magic cloak she was under disintegrating. Teana shoved the muzzle of her rifle into his neck, surrounded by a purple targeting ring. "Phantom… BLAZER!" The blast consumed his head and neck, disintegrating the armor and everything with it. He went down, crashing backwards with a clatter and scrape of his armor, smoldering. She went to her knees, panting heavily, tears in her eyes. "Subaru… I'm sorry… I'm so sorr-GK!" Soran's hand snared her neck tightly. The armor rose up and lifted her into the air. She struggled against his grip, kicking him and trying to wrench away his fingers before she saw that he didn't have a head. "E-empty."

"Now you know why you did not win." The blue crystal on his shoulder blinked.

"You're… not Soran…. You're… a…" She got a look at the crystal. "A sentient ID...." The world started to go black. "Nanoha… san…."

Cross Mirage clattered to the floor. "Tea! TEA!" Fate yelled into her headset. "TEANA LANSTER, RESPOND!"

"She cannot hear you right now, Fate T. Harlown." Then the line went into static.

"TEA!" Fate's composure broke, and she began sobbing into her console.

"Divine BUSTER!" Nanoha drilled a hole through the roof, and within a half second she was in the battle zone. She went to her knees in shock as soon as she saw Cross Mirage on the stone. "No… I'm too late…. Tea-chan…." A tear streamed down her cheek as she heard Fate's sobbing over the radio.

Then suddenly Cross Mirage started broadcasting again. "Nanoha-san. Oh, Nanoha-san."

The woman's eyes shot open. "Soran… Soran!"

"Guess where I am, Nanoha-san." She could almost hear the smirk on his face.

"Ah… mah…." Fate's crying stopped immediately as she heard the voice, she stood up, blowing her chair back so hard it made a dent in the van. "Mama… save us… Mama."

"Vivio…." Fate gulped. "No! Not Vivio too!"

Nanoha's body went down. "Mama… Vita-nee… Sig-nee… Zaphi… Shami… they…."

Her shoulders trembled, her fingers clenching tightly into fists. And with a huge burst of strength, she reared. "SOOOOORRRRAAAAAAAAAAAN!"