Hello everybody, welcome to the third chapter of MSLOS Redux! Alright, first battle against the Wolkenritter, part 2, and the aftermath thereof! Let's see how this plays out.

Disclaimer: See first chapter.

Alright, let's go!

Vita was having one of her worst nights yet. All she had done was try and get a couple of extra pages for the damned Book of Darkness, and what had happen? She had fought with a little girl, got her favorite hat damaged, been kicked in the ass, caught by a pair of idiots, had to be rescued by her leader, been unable to crush the blond kid in front of her to relieve her stress, and now someone was throwing swords at her right when she had been about to succeed in just that.

Needless to say, she was pretty damn pissed.

She growled in barely contained anger as she gripped the blade that had pierced her barrier jacket and stabbed her arm, wrenching it out and tossing it aside. "Alright, who has the balls?!" she shouted, her eyes landing on Yuuno, who looked just as dumbfounded as she was at his sudden save with his hands raised in preparation for a blow, before scanning the roofs and air around them. It couldn't have just come from-

[Eingehend]

The warning from Graf Eisen came just in time to see two more approaching swords. "Shield!"

[Panzerschild]

The red shield winked into existence and blocked the attack, sending them spinning away. Her eyes followed their trajectory back to a building not far away, where the weirdest looking mage she had ever seen was currently standing. Seriously, who wore a cape with such a high collar?

Right now though, she didn't care about that. All she cared about was beating this mage up as brutally as possible.

[Schwalbenflug]

She fired the metal spheres at Yuuno, forcing him to bring up his shield to block the explosion, then made a beeline directly for the rooftop, narrowing her eyes as she watched five more swords being hurled her way. "Enough of this shit! Graf Eisen, cartridge load!"

[Explosion! Gigantform!]

With that, her hammer transformed, gaining a more octagonal shape as it got larger.

Much larger.

As in, the size of the roof her enemy was standing on.

Overkill perhaps, but Vita was tired of playing around. She wanted to see something get crushed, and if her new enemy was too slow to get out of the way, well too bad. This wasn't even the full size anyways.

She smirked as she saw her enemy's eyes widen in shock as she smashed aside the swords like toothpicks, then brought her hammer up for the crushing blow. "Hate to do this," she called out, "but I don't have the time to waste on you!"

She brought it down, only to blink when she realized that it stopped cold several feet above the roof, and it wasn't budging. 'What the-'

She looked behind her, eyes widening in both surprise and anger. The blond boy was gone.

'That little bastard...' she thought venomously, as she pushed down even harder, imagining a green barrier right underneath her weapon. "I'll show you!"

"Uh, thanks for the save."

Yuuno glanced behind him at his mysterious savior, his brow sweating from the exertion of making sure that Vita's hammer didn't crush them both into paste, and managed to shrug his shoulders.

"Y-Yuuno Scrya. H-Hey, just repaying the favor, Ms...?"

"Sayaka. Sayaka Miki."

"Well, Ms. Miki, I'd like to talk more," Yuuno continued in a cheery tone that was somewhat at odds with the sweat dripping down his face and his occasional grunts, "but with this hammer coming down on us, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to cut this a little short before we both end up as smears..."

He was cut off as the pressure suddenly increased, and he felt his knees start to buckle. 'Crud!' he thought desperately, already running the chances of being able to pull off what he did before and teleport both himself and this Sayaka person away while also maintaining this shield before they were crushed. The results were less than positive.

"Arf, Fate, can either of you run a distraction for me?" he telepathically asked. "I'm pinned down right now."

"I'm a little busy at the moment," Arf, sounding like she was in pain, replied. "I'm not gonna make it."

"I'll...try," Fate slowly said, definitely in pain. "But Bardiche is too damaged to do much of anything right now...give me a few seconds."

Yuuno gritted his teeth. "I don't think I have that long..."

"Hey."

He looked back, noticing that Sayaka was now staring up at the barrier and the hammer, her face set in a line of concentration. "If that hammer let up, would you be able to get us away with that teleporting thing you did to get in front of me?"

"...Yeah," he answered her. "But how are you gonna attack her from in here?"

She smiled in response to that. "Just get ready."

Yuuno was about to say something, but he was interrupted by a sudden yell of pain, followed by the hammer above them letting up on the pressure. Blinking in surprise but not letting the opportunity pass, Yuuno quickly dropped the shield and cast the transporter spell, teleporting them both off the roof into midair.

"AAAHHH!"

And then he found himself grabbing the girl before she could plummet to her death below. "What's wrong with you?" he asked her in confusion.

"What?!" she shouted at him like he was insane. "You think I can fly like you?!"

He blinked. Honestly, considering how confident she had sounded, that was exactly what he had thought. "Uh, yes?"

"Just get me to a rooftop or something," she growled, right before her eyes widen in shock. "Watch out!"

Yuuno threw up his free arm to form a barrier the moment he heard her speak, and just barely avoided getting hit by the transformed spiked hammer of Vita, who currently had two broken swords sticking out of both her left arm and leg and glaring bloody murder. Yuuno stared at them in confusion, wondering where they had come from, before he remembered the two blades that had been knocked aside by her shields earlier.

'How did she-'

"YOU'RE SO DEAD!" she roared, lifting her hammer up again, and Yuuno braced for impact.

Before either of them could continue to fight though, a bloodcurdling scream echoed throughout the sealed-off battlefield.

Nanoha gasped as she felt like her entire body was being drained of all its energy. The feeling of pure agony wracked her senses and nearly made it impossible for her to even stand up straight, but she pressed on. In her shaking hands she held the damaged Raising Heart, covered in cracks and its jewel core missing a chunk in the center, slowly gathering a massive ball of pink mana that was the basis of her Starlight Breaker spell.

Against her better judgement and Yuuno's insistence, she had decided to step out of protective circle to charge up her most powerful bombardment spell with her damaged Device. Her intent was to try and blast a hole through the interference field that was keeping them from contacting the outside world and possibly even more help. Normally she wouldn't have tried to do so the way she was now, but she could tell her friends were having trouble, and even with the help of those two new persons who were apparently(?) on their side, she realized that at this rate there was a very good chance they were going to lose without more help and they needed it now.

[Count Four...]

The sight of a pale arm wrapped in a green sleeve sticking out of her chest was not doing her mentality any favors though. In the palm of the outstretched hand of said arm was a small spec of pink light that was releasing pink sparkles that were being absorbed by said hand, and with each sparkle she could feel her energy drain and the pain increase even more.

But she wasn't gonna let that stop her.

With rapidly fading strength she raised her staff, ready to launch her strongest attack with the nearly broken Intelligent Device.

Shamal sighed to herself, a dark brown book covered with golden crosses and lines floating right next to her as it eagerly absorbed the mana she was getting from the girl through the portal. She despised doing this, but it was the only way.

She just wished she could make this go quicker.

Edgar's eyes snapped down to the rapidly growing light down below, certain that was where the scream came from. Faintly, he could also make out a young girl charging the spell and he didn't have to be any closer to guess she was in pain while doing it.

His eyes snapped back up just in time to counter another of Signum's blows. He took notice of the fact that her smile from before was gone, replaced with a stone mask that seemed to hint at some inner displeasure.

A change that coincided with the scream.

"I take a friend of yours has something to do with that?" he asked her as he pushed her back.

She didn't say anything, but her silence was as clear an answer to him as if she had shouted it.

"Well, I guess I'm just gonna have to stop it," he stated simply as he turned his back to her.

[Schlangeform]

Suddenly, he felt his entire body become wrapped by a metal chain whip, snapping his arms to his sides to prevent using his sword and his legs together to keep him from moving. He heard Signum's quiet sigh from behind him.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that, not until Shamal is finished," her tone was laced with a strange mix of regret and resignation, as if she would have preferred not to do this.

He glanced back at her. "Good thing I wasn't asking for permission."

Ignoring the look of confusion that crossed her face, he concentrated upon his crystal blade, Belderiver, and reached within for a power he hadn't used in over a decade, not since the climax of the Fifth Holy Grail War. He found it, grasped it, and unleashed it.

"Behold!" was all he said before his body grew as cold as ice, then a sense of unbridled freedom surged through him despite his restraints as shadows crept into his peripheral vision. He noted with almost dark amusement as Signum's face turn from confusion to growing horror as she no doubt watched the shadows across the rest of his body and face like wildfire.

"Like the new look?" he asked, voice distorted as if he was talking through a long tunnel, or perhaps with another him speaking at the same time.

"W-What are you?" she whispered, and he noticed how the whip about his form seemed to tighten even further.

To him now though, it was like someone had wrapped him in a blanket. And he reinforced the fragility of the analogy as he literally forced his limbs free from the metal whip with a powerful jerk of his muscles and jumped through the space before she could react fast enough to close it. He then swung his transformed arm directly at her, feeling his shadow claws raking along her armor and forcing her back.

He was certain he felt them also cut through flesh and draw blood, but he didn't stop to find out.

With that, he jumped off the roof and unleashed a surge of mana through his legs, which exploded behind him with enough force to damage the building as he rocketed towards the girl down below.

A glance around himself showed that the red-clad hammer girl was still struggling with Sayaka, who was hurling swords willy-nilly one-handed and using her telekinesis to keep them on her as much as possible while the green kid kept putting up shields with his own free limb. He was also certain he saw two people with wolf ears and tails currently fighting one another, staying out of his way for now.

That meant the only one he had to worry about was Signum, but unless she could teleport there was no way she could catch him at this speed-

The sudden feeling of something smashing into his back cut off that line of thought, along with the explosion of purple mana that followed. Edgar just barely managed to twist his head around to see the pinkette wielding some sort of bow before he collided with the ground. He didn't let that stop him from moving though, and he forced himself up through the pain to sprint across the ground. Another arrow impacted and exploded right where he had vacated, but he didn't slow down to look back, even as the force sent him forward uncontrollably for maybe a dozen meters or so before he got back control.

He crossed two hundred meters within seconds, stopping directly in front of the white-clad redhead who looked at him with fearful eyes, which quickly changed to determined ones as she brought her staff upwards with newfound strength, crackling with pink mana. All the while, the orb of light in her chest grew smaller as the hand seeming absorbed it.

[Count Zero]

He did the only thing he could think of. He swung his left arm directly at the hand, praying that if he could stop it, he could stop whatever was happening to the girl.

Three things happened at once.

The girl fired her charged mana ball, which transformed into a pink laser that blasted upwards in a magnificent display of raw power, smashing against the barrier in the sky and shattering it like glass.

The hand snapped back through the girl's chest, leaving a green-looking portal that rapidly closed behind it. The pink orb stopped being drained, reduced to but a small sliver of what was no doubt once a powerful ball of light.

Edgar's left arm went into the hole even as it began to shut, and he was certain he felt his hand collide with something solid on the other side. He was then aware of a distinctive feeling of draining, as if whatever it was on the other side was absorbing his power into itself. This wasn't a typical feeling of draining as in his power was being absorbed though. It was as if his hand was literally being sucked into whatever it was on the other side.

Sufficient to say, it was agony.

Then the portal snapped shut, and Edgar pulled back what had now become a stump of an arm at the elbow as the girl fell to her knees, her staff falling to the ground next to her as she weakly raised her hand to her chest as if feeling for the hole.

He himself was suddenly aware of distinct feeling of vertigo as his body began to return to normal, even his armor vanishing to reveal his usual clothes, along with an intense weakness in the knees as he swayed back and forth and a screaming amount of pain from his now whole normal left arm as if it had been broken every possible way. He was also aware of someone rushing towards him, and he turned enough to see that blond girl from before coming towards them, hand still gripping that polearm that now looked like it was in better condition than from what he had seen of it before.

And right now, her face looked something between both concern (likely for the girl near him) and guarded wariness, and he noticed that the axe-head was pointed not so subtly in his direction.

'Oh crap, she's some sort of officer, isn't she?' he managed to think as the ground rushed up to meet his face. 'I hope Sayaka can explain things so we don't go to jail for this misunderstanding...'

Then he thought no more.

Zafira was suddenly aware of an intense feeling of pain that suddenly lanced through his chest, as if someone had just driven a stake through his heart (and yes, he was familiar with the situation), causing him to double over in pain as he clutched at the area. Across from him, he was vaguely aware that his opponent had paused in mid-strike, probably wondering what the hell just happened to make him do that. 'What's going on?' he wondered to himself. 'What did that man do?'

"Zafira, help Vita now! The barrier's gone and we need to retreat!"

Signum's commanding voice cut through the haze of pain like a razor, forcing him to ignore the agony and look over to where his fellow Wolkenritter was. With widening eyes, he realized that the redhead was falling through the air towards the ground, seemingly incapacitated. With a growl, he forced himself to straighten up and swing his fist directly at his opponent, who to her credit recovered from her surprise fast enough to counter it with a shield. However, the force behind it, coupled with the fact she hadn't been able to completely raise it in time, allowed him to knock her back.

With that, he flew directly for Vita, ignoring or blocking the swords flying straight at him from the other mysterious person and grabbing Vita by the arm, careful to try and avoid grabbing an injury. He heard a sudden cry of alarm and looked up to see Signum had joined the battle, her sword cloaked in flames no doubt a result from her last cartridge and swinging it at the two mages to keep them off of him.

"I got her. Let's go!" he contacted her. She didn't answer, but she did break off combat and rushed to join him as they flew away. Thankfully, none of the enemy decided to pursue them, no doubt going for the girl, and they pushed on for a minute or two in silence, Zafria occasionally casting glances at Signum.

"Are you alright, General?" he finally asked her, noticing that she was still clutching her chest where her armor had been breached. His eyes widened as he then realized there was blood around the area, and it was still wet.

"I'm fine, Zafira," she replied, her face not betraying any pain she might have been feeling. "We need to find Shamal."

"I'm nearby," said Knight's voice, suddenly echoing in both of their heads. "Keep going just a little further and...now! Head to the alleyway on your left!"

They obeyed the command, ducking down into the streets and rushing towards the area in question on foot. They were greeted by Shamal's worried face, her green clothing standing out among the filth of the alley in question. Zafira noted the groceries in the bags right next to her in the snow.

"Please tell me none of that touched anything in here."

She gave him an unamused look. "Make jokes later, now get Vita over here!"

The Guardian Beast complied, knocking aside a trash can to make room for their comrade to lay on. The redhead was currently clutching her chest in pain, bleeding from multiple areas on her arms and legs as well as a nasty cut across the face and on her shoulder. Her breathing was fast but still consistent, and her eyes were shut with her teeth bared.

"What happened?" Shamal asked, already summoning her Device, Klarwind, and casting her signature healing spell. The young Knight was bathed in a green glow, and her face slowly changed to be more peaceful as the injures began to be sealed up. A similar glow surrounded Zafira, and he allowed a sigh to escape him as he felt the claw marks along his sides, arms and head heal over and stop being so painful.

"The girl Vita was chasing had friends," he grunted. "Members of the Bureau. We fought them, and then two more mages showed up when we were dealing with them. Vita got double-teamed and ended up like this."

"Those last two weren't from the Bureau though," Signum added, getting both of their attentions and causing Shamal to gasp as she caught sight of the injury on her chest. Three jagged, claw-like marks rang down from her neck area to her upper belly, and while not deep, they were definitely long and bleeding despite the cold night air. In addition, there was an angry red mark almost like that of a curved blade along her upper belly in a diagonal. "They were outsiders. The one I fought didn't seem to even know what the TSAB even was. He was also strong, far stronger than a normal Bureau mage."

"He did that?" Zafira asked, his eyes narrowing. While the last looked like it came from that yellow-haired girl she was fighting, those other marks looked more like those of a wild animal, not a blade.

She nodded. "He has magic like nothing I can recall seeing before, even in all our centuries. And his skill with the blade was impressive enough."

Shamal cast another healing spell, and a similar green light surrounded the pinkette, quickly restoring the curved mark, though sealing the claw wounds at a much slower pace. The green knight's brow furrowed in confusion. 'Why isn't the spell working faster?' she wondered to herself. 'They can't be that deep, can they?'

"Focus on Vita and Zafira, not me," Signum ordered Shamal, breaking her out of her thoughts. "I can hide my injuries from our Mistress with clothes while they heal on their own. Vita can't, and I don't see how Zafira will be able to wear headgear for extended periods of time before she becomes curious as to why."

Shamal reluctantly nodded, then flinched as a lance of pain went through her chest, causing her to raise a hand there. Both of her comrades took notice.

"You too?" they both asked at the same time, then looked at each other. Shamal nodded, then looked down at Vita, noting that now her injuries were gone but she was still clutching her chest.

"Yes, and no doubt Vita did as well, and the sudden shock, coupled with her injuries, must have left her like this."

"But how and why did it happen?" Zafira growled. "Did that man do something when he attacked the girl?"

Shamal was silent for a moment, unwilling to say what had happened when she had tried to drain the redhead's Linker Core, but then realized she had to. "Well..." she began reluctantly, catching her fellows' attention, "before I could shut the portal that allowed me to drain the girl's Linker Core...an arm came through the closing gate."

"What?"

"I barely got out of the way in time and it was cut off when the portal closed, but...it struck the Book."

Signum looked Shamal dead in the eyes, her own struggling to hide a growing fear. "Did something happen to the Book?"

"It...absorbed the arm," Shamal replied quietly. "Literally unraveled it and sucked it inside like it was pure mana."

"Impossible," Zafira remarked, shaking his head. "The Book can't absorb physical matter like that."

However, Shamal hadn't seen a normal arm. It had been like a living shadow, molded into the shape of a dark arm with deadly claws. Not unlike the ones that had probably given Signum her injuries.

'What in the world are we dealing with now?'

"Where's the Book now?" Signum asked.

Shamal simply reached into her coat and pulled out the object in question. Without a word she opened the tome and showed her comrades the inside. Both of them started in shock.

"Forty pages?" Zafira asked in shock. "Vita only said twenty from the girl."

"If the difference came from that arm alone, I believe it is a good indicator of our new foe's power," Signum remarked. "We have to be careful from here on out. Now that the Bureau is involved, things are just gonna get harder for us to collect the pages, especially if these two new opponents join them. But we will not fail our mistress."

The others nodded, their expressions grim but resolute. Signum glanced back down at the book. "Does it look in any way damaged?"

"Not that I can see," Shamal replied. "Maybe the pain was simply a reaction from absorbing an entirely new type of magic? You did say it was unlike any you had ever seen before."

Potentially true, Signum had to admit. She could actually feel the pain in her chest from whatever had happened to them fading, though the wounds she received in battle still ached.

"Perhaps," she finally said. "There's no point in worrying about it now though. We need to get home before Hayate begins to worry."

They nodded and set about to their tasks. Shamal grabbed her groceries after finally ending the healing spell. Signum looked down at her armor and concentrated, replacing it with with her street clothes while Zafira slowly stretched before returning to his wolf form, minus his gauntlets so that he looked the part of a pet.

"I'll carry Vita," he said simply, and the others agreed as they laid the now calm Knight on his back and arranged her so she wouldn't fall off by mistake. Finally, Signum took the book from Shamal, giving it one final glance before shutting it and placing it in her coat pocket.

Her thoughts went back over the events of tonight. Despite having both herself and her comrades injured, she found herself...strangely satisfied with it, all things considered. Perhaps it had something to do with her battles with those two mages?

'Fate Testarossa...Edgar Silverstein...'

A part of her hoped that she would never encountered them again...and yet another part couldn't wait for the next time their weapons clashed.

TSAB L-Class Investigative Ship, Arthra (In orbit around TSAB maintenance dock to undergo refit and repairs)

Sayaka, back in her normal clothes, shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she glanced over at the person across from her, trying to avoid the urge rub her Soul Gem's ring form nervously. Even though she was just sitting cross-legged in a surprisingly nice room (there was an indoor waterfall for crying out loud! It was like one of those fancy inn rooms that cost an arm and a leg to rent for a night) that lacked any sort of bars or items of extremely dangerous origins, with a cup of tea in hand and without even being in restraints, she still couldn't shake the feelings of worry that had plagued her ever since she had been brought aboard this spaceship along with those other mages and Edgar, who was still unconscious apparently.

'Apparently' because she hadn't seen hide nor hair of him since they were separated and she ended up in this room, having nearly been forced to give up her Soul Gem beforehand before they had reluctantly allowed her to keep it after she told them in no uncertain terms it was going nowhere. She had then been told to sit down, with two people on the other side of the door and a woman sitting across from her, who offered her the tea and asking if she was comfortable before moving on to asking her questions as to who she and Edgar were, where they had come from, what was their purpose for being in the city and reason for being at the scene of the battle at the time, that sort of thing. She had answered all of them as best as she could and from what she could remember Edgar telling her to say about these things from so long ago when she first became a member.

"I've found that sometimes we have to bend the truth a little bit when comes to things like this. We can't just say that we came from an entirely separate dimension. For example, if they ask you where you came from, answer honestly by saying 'From Japan'. Don't specify a city because there's no guarantee it exists in this reality, but a region is good enough. Our abilities are another thing: If they use magic but not one we're familiar with, just try to pass off your abilities as magic that's not that common, or your own original spin on the concept. However, it's always wise to be completely truthful about some things: Names if you feel that they're not the type of people to use that information against us, at least not unless we somehow give them reason to, as well as about our purposes. We help others, and there's no reason to lie about that. But our mission, if we have a specific one at the time, must be kept secret until we can be sure we can actually trust whoever we're speaking to."

In her eyes, people in spaceships that weren't from Earth yet still clearly human certainly qualified as not to blindly trust. Especially when they weren't even near Earth anymore but in some sort of space station who-knows how many light-years away without any chance of escape. Though she had to admit, if it weren't for the worry going through her mind at the moment, she would have probably been geeking out. An actual spaceship like out of those sci-fi movies she used to watch back in her original world? The sight alone would have been enough to make her brain blow out in awe in any other circumstance.

Back to the matter at hand though, she had said their names, where they were from (North America, as that was where their base was located), their purpose for being in the city (vacation to her homeland of Japan for sightseeing, which was a lie but one that could hold up to scrutiny: She genuinely was curious about what was different about this version of Japan and she knew it was Japan because she saw several signs with Japanese writing on them on their way through the city.) and their reason for getting involved with the battle (helping people in need, though she didn't add about the fact it might have been a clue for their mission). When it came to how they knew that there was a battle going on, she said that both of them had enough experience with magic to sense large disturbances (true). As to how they got inside, she told them Edgar had a knack for breaking barriers (also true).

From there, it had seemingly dissolved into casual questioning about her personal life, which she answered as best as she could without giving too much away (she changed around city names for example. There was always a Tokyo in every alternate Japan, and they were always massive enough to use as excuses for hometowns). Finally, the woman questioning her had stopped and folded her hands, seemingly in thought about everything she had been told.

"...Well, that's about it." Sayaka finished lamely, trying to ignore the way her mouth seemed to be way too dry, even after taking another swing of the now cooler tea. This was why she never liked being questioned; she got way too nervous. Even if these people weren't exactly being cruel, it still didn't change her opinion on the subject, especially given who was questioning her.

Her 'interrogator', for lack of a better term, was a tall adult woman with long mint green hair tied into a ponytail that reached down to her waist and also framed her face in bangs, as well as showing a weird looking mark in the center of her forehead, though Sayaka couldn't tell if it was a tattoo or a birthmark. She had introduced herself as 'Lindy Harlaown' and was wearing a white and dark-blue uniform that seemed to scream professional and important, but even if she hadn't been wearing that Sayaka could have told from the way she seemed to exude command and prestige that she was very likely a senior officer aboard this spaceship, or perhaps even the captain herself. That alone was enough to leave her on edge, as she was attempting to sell her story directly to the person who had most likely had the authority to authorize her being thrown out an airlock without a fuss.

However, the officer seemingly recognized this, as she suddenly broke out a small grin, her dark blue eyes giving her an 'are-you-serious' look as she unfolded her hands and stood up. "Well Ms. Miki, you seem to be telling the truth, and we have three reliable eyewitnesses that can vouch for your statement of helping them when they needed it, so that definitely gets you brownie points," she said in a cheery tone. "We can't exactly throw you in the brig after something like that, now can we? We'd be setting a bad example for future would-be rescuers if we arrested you for helping us."

Sayaka blinked. That wasn't exactly the response she was expecting. "Um, I suppose not...so we're not under arrest?"

"Well, I didn't say that..." Lindy admitted, her face suddenly gaining a frown, though it seemed to be at something else rather than Sayaka. "There's a whole bunch of questions I still have over the nature of both your and your comrade's magic, not to mention that damned liaison from the Bureau breathing down my neck would probably have a heart attack if I just upped and let you both go...despite the fact I don't need a babysitter on my ship..."

"Uhhh..."

"...But I like to think of myself as a good judge of character," she continued, her foul mood passing. "And I can say that while you seem to be holding back some things even now, I feel inclined to trust and believe you wouldn't try to harm anyone aboard this ship."

"Of course I wouldn't, and neither would Edgar," Sayaka replied, feeling like she had to say something for her leader. Lindy took notice of this and smiled.

"I don't doubt that, but I would like to meet him face-to-face first," she answered in turn, then held out her hand. "Would you like to come with me for a grand tour of the ship?"

Sayaka blinked. For a moment, her inner fangirl screamed out 'YES!', especially since she was seemingly out of trouble. Still...

"Um, what about that bit about-"

"For now, let's just say you're under probation until otherwise proven," Lindy replied with a wave of her hand. "That should keep you out of any cells and it gives me the clearance to allow you to walk about on the ship and station with an escort."

She nodded. "Okay...could we stop by where Edgar is while we're at it?"

"Most certainly," Lindy answered. "There's someone I need to check on in the medical ward anyways..."

A knock on the door caused both of them to turn in that direction. "Enter," Lily called, and a brown, short-haired young woman dressed in a white and blue uniform that was less fancy than the one she herself was wearing walked inside and saluted.

"Ma'am, I came to inform you that Nanoha's tests have come back, and Mr. 'Edgar Silverstein' has awaken as well. Should I inform Fate, Arf, Yuuno and Chrono to head to the medical ward?"

"Thank you Amy, and yes you may," Lindy replied, then looked over at Sayaka. "Unless you believe Mr. Silverstein would have objections to visitors?"

"...Nah," Sayaka replied. "He's the kind of guy who could stand most any audience."

Lindy nodded and waved Amy out. However, the cadet paused and looked back with a doubtful expression. "Should I also inform Enforcer Valentine about the tests-"

"If you must," Lindy replied, though her tone seemed to get colder as she said that. "But feel free to label the message as 'not important' if you so desire."

Amy nodded and left the room. Sayaka gave Lindy a confused look. "Umm, is something wrong-"

"Nothing to be concerned with," Lindy replied, though a frown still crossed her face. "Let's just say some higher-ups from where we're from were...less than pleased about the results of my last mission to Earth and seem to be under the impression that I need someone to watch over my shoulders." She then shook her head and gave Sayaka a smile. "But enough about that; shall we be going?"

Sayaka nodded. She wasn't sure exactly what all that was about, but Lindy seemed like a nice enough person now that the threat of being thrown in jail was averted, for now at least. All she could now was just hope for the best.

'This is strangely familiar for some reason, but I can't quite get why...'

Edgar slowly looked about in confusion, his eyes taking in the blank white room he was currently in along with the machines he was currently hooked to by various wires that were checking his vital signs constantly. He was also aware of the fact he had somehow been changed out of his armor and into a green-white hospital gown while he was unconscious, as well as a host of bandages around his left arm from the elbow down.

If it weren't for the fact he was aware of the feeling something restraining him to the bed in question and that his weapon was nowhere in sight, he would have swore he was just a patient at some hospital. He could only hope that the fact he hadn't woken up in a jail cell was due to the fact that Sayaka had managed to explain the situation (or as much as she could, that is).

"Well, at least this is an improvement over the usual circumstances of collapsing in unknown territory," he said to no one in particular, only the beeps and hisses of machinery breaking the silence. "I'm usually waking up to a beating or something terrifying in front of my face."

He glanced over at the single door that lead into the room, curious as to when someone was gonna walk inside. He couldn't hear anything from the outside, though for all he knew the room was soundproofed to prevent anyone inside from hearing when people were talking outside of it. If so, it would certainly mean he was somewhere different from the standard hospital, but that would just be adding more proof to what he already knew. He also looked around for a clock but could find no trace of one, meaning he was in the dark as to how much time had passed.

'I wonder how Sayaka's doing,' he wondered to himself quietly. She was no doubt nearby, of that he was certain. Probably waiting for him to wake up so that they could verify whatever she had told them.

'And that little girl...'

He hoped she was doing all right. No doubt that arm had done something to her, but he was sure that she would recover. He'd seen kids take worse than hands through their chest before. She was probably being treated right now just like him...minus any sort of restraints of course.

He just hoped that no one blamed him on that, especially when he had stuck his hand in her chest to grab at whatever had attacked her. That probably wouldn't endear him to anyone if they found out.

Before he could take his internal questioning any further, the sudden sound of the door to his room opening caused him to turn his head in that direction, catching sight of several different people entering his room single file save for the first three who were side by side. Edgar sized each of them up respectively.

The first one he recognized was the pigtailed redhead from before, now looking remarkably better than their previous meeting had indicated. She was wearing a white jacket over an orange shirt, along with blue shorts, white stockings and brown shoes, though he noticed that she seemed to have some difficulty walking, relying on the two children next to her to help stay fully upright. Still, that didn't stop her from having a small smile on her face as she entered and looked at him, though he wondered how much of it was just an effort to hide her nervousness that was visible in her blue eyes.

The one on her right was the long-haired blond he saw fighting that Signum person from earlier, now dressed in a black shirt with white shorts, black socks and red shoes. She had pigtails as well, though of much longer length, and her red eyes stared at him with that continued wariness from before, though softened somewhat.

The one on her left was the ash-blond boy who he ordered Sayaka to help against that red-wearing knight. He was wearing a pale green sweatshirt with a hoodie, brown shorts and shoes. His green eyes looked at him with the sort of expression that brought to mind one about to make a grand discovery, though again it was tempered by a combination of both wariness and nervousness.

Swiftly behind them were four others, two of which Edgar recognized. The first was Sayaka, who was back in her casual wear and giving him a worried look. He quickly gave her a nod of his head and a smile to show that he was fine, and she visibly relaxed, though still nervous and stressed. The second, though he only saw her in passing, was the red-haired wolf-woman who was fighting that other wolf-man, currently clad in a rather revealing outfit of a pink top and dark pink bra combo that only covered her breasts, twin pink bands on her upper arms, dark pink short shorts and a pink skirt that was wrapped around her waist, red belt-like garters, black gloves and black shoes. She noticed his look and seemed to give him a wink in response, quickly showing him that that she seemed to have a pretty easygoing personality...or it could be that she just thought he wasn't much of a threat in his current state, which wasn't really wrong.

It was the last two who entered the room who interested him though, and not just because he had no idea who they were. The first was the younger of the two, a boy perhaps Sayaka's age in terms of appearance. He had mid-length dark blue, almost black hair, and was wearing a black uniform of sorts that completely covered his body save his hands. It was the boy's eyes that interested him most though: They were hard and serious, the eyes of one who had the ability of a leader and experience under his belt. When the boy looked at him, it wasn't with awe, but wariness and calculation, as if he was already devising a plan for fighting him if it came down to it, though curiosity was also visible in some amount. Edgar immediately realized this was one he didn't want to make an enemy out of.

The other one, the green-haired woman, put even him to shame. She was the tallest person in the room, which made sense as she seemed to be the only adult, and was clad in a white and blue uniform of far fancier appearance than the boy's. He blinked when he noticed the mark on her forehead, but decided to let it go, having seen far weirder in his time. Either way, she exuded a sense of command and prestige, and it didn't take a genius to realize that this lady was the one in charge.

Which meant that their fates were in her hands.

As if she could read his thoughts, she suddenly smiled and raised her hands in a peaceful gesture. "Please, please, don't be frightened, Mr. Silverstein. We just heard you had awaken and came to see you. You were very much out of it when we brought you here. I take it you had a good rest?"

He gave them all another look and then nodded. "Yes, I did," he replied, gesturing towards his bandaged arm. "Well, I suppose I should be glad that you were all kind enough to place me in this medical ward to treat my injuries, which I am, but I do have a bit of a problem when my benefactors know my name I and I don't know theirs."

The green-haired woman nodded. "Of course. I am Admiral Lindy Harlaown of the TSAB investigative airship Arthra, of which you are currently a resident of." She then gestured towards the others in the room. "And this is Nanoha Takamachi, Fate Testarossa, Yuuno Scrya, Arf, and my son, Chrono Harlaown."

The named persons all either waved, said various forms of greetings, or both, with the exception of the boy Chrono, who just nodded respectfully. Edgar nodded back at them all in return, then looked over at the redhead, Nanoha.

"You're looking rather well, Ms. Takamachi," he stated simply, startling her. "I take it a few hours of rest was all you needed to get back into shape?"

Nanoha blinked in surprise, then nodded. "Um, yes...thank you, Mr. Silverstein, for helping my friends when they needed it...but please, you can just call me Nanoha."

"The pleasure is mine, Nanoha," he answered with a grin, which put her more at ease, then looked over at Sayaka. "Something wrong, Sayaka? You look a little out of it."

"Idiot," she replied, ignoring the confused looks sent her way by the others in the room. "I sweat off my ass telling these people what I can, hoping against hope they don't throw us both down in a jail cell or out an airlock for being called liars, worried that whole time about you waking up, and all you can say when you do is 'You look a little out of it'?"

"Well you do."

She groaned, though it sounded more out of relief than anything. "Good to see you're back, sir."

"Good to be back, Sayaka."

"Any more questions?" Lindy asked, cutting off their banter, though she seemed somewhat amused by it regardless.

"Yeah, am I under arrest for anything?" he asked her plainly, then gestured down at his body. "I noticed that I can't exactly move from this bed."

"Simply a precaution," she replied. "We weren't exactly certain if we could trust you, even in your wounded state, when Fate, Yuuno and Arf brought you and Nanoha on-board with your companion," she gestured towards Sayaka. "However, her testimony on your behalf seems to indicate you don't mean any harm and you did try to help Fate and the others when they were under attack, so I'm inclined to trust you both."

"I'm sensing a 'but' here now."

"But I would prefer to hear it from your mouth first, just to see if your stories match up."

He sighed, but complied, telling them essentially the very same things that Sayaka had said, minus any questions about his personal life. He looked at them after he finished. "That about right?"

Lindy was silent for a moment, and then shrugged. "Nearly word-for-word what your partner said...which means you're both either extremely talented liars who've had a lot of time to practice together...or you're telling the truth."

"I prefer to think it's the second one myself, but the first isn't too bad either," Edgar remarked, earning a small snigger from ash-blond (Yuuno) and the wolf-girl (Arf), while the dark-haired one (Chrono) just rolled his eyes. "But since we're on the subject of truthfulness, mind telling me what exactly this whole TSAB thing you guys are all apparently a part of is, and who exactly were those people we were fighting off?"

Lindy breathed in and sighed. "Well everyone, let's pull up a chair. Those two questions, especially the last one, might take a little bit of time to explain, if no one minds."

No one complained, though Chrono seemed to give Lindy an exasperated look before shaking his head. Probably just wanted to get all of this over with, Edgar figured.

Lindy held out her hand and several video screens appeared in front of her. "Well, to start off..."

And that's that for this chapter. And no, I don't get off on watching Vita get the crap kicked out of her or being humiliated, it's just strangely appropriate for it to happen to her. It shouldn't become a recurring theme...hopefully.

Vita: Asshole.

Well, Edgar (Oswald) and Sayaka have finally joined up with our favorite magical girl and her friends (though there's probably some paperwork that needs to be filled out before that becomes official). What will happen to them next, and how exactly does the Book of Darkness relate to the threat Zelretch had them come here for? And what is the significance of the Book absorbing some of Oswald's power?

All these questions will be answered in time, but until then, review, fave and follow people! Tell me what you guys thought.

Important Note: I may occasionally use Japanese honorifics when I feel it's appropriate, but since most of the cast here isn't native to Japan (and even Sayaka grew out of using them due to her days as an OSG member), don't expect them to be used often, even among the Japanese-related people. I'm sorry, but I don't want to offend anyone with their misuse.