20! WHOO WHOO WHOO!
Milestone is milestone. To reach this amount of chapters is a achievement for me. Great thanks goes to you, my awesome readers. Your reviews and the very fact that i have people reading my stuff kept me going. of those, i want to thank some special guys have helped me a lot.
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THANK YOU!
"Saber! Come in Saber!" The radio blared.
Dutch groaned as he dragged himself off the ground. Goddamn, he was hurt all over. At least it reminded him that he was alive. He preferred the pain over the alternative.
He stumbled awkwardly and fell in the loose sand rolling down the dune. At the bottom, he came to a stop among the torn remains of his parachute.
Vaguely, he remembered detaching the parachute right before he landed. Otherwise, that damn weapon bag that had caused his fall would have come crashing down on his face.
Speaking of the bag...
Dutch checked under the parachute. The bag was still there, its straps still tangled up in the wire of the chute. He tsked, took out his diamond knife and cut through the mess of wires.
"Saber! Come in Saber!" The radio cut in yet again.
Reaching up to the helmet speaker he depressed the talk button twice. Now on speaker, he answered.
"Control, this is Saber. Stop that racket will ya? I got a damn jackhammer crew all over my body." He answered as he reached the bag. He unzipped the black duffel bag and rooted around inside it.
"Thank god. Listen. The situation now is FUBAR. Hammer and Sickle have both been picked up by hostile forces and your GPS beacon is screwed. We don't know where you are and latest force estimates conclude that you got at least a battalion of soldiers looking for you." The radio said, the news making Dutch grin.
"600 men? All for me? I'm flattered. But where do I go from here? Can't you triangulate my position and find out where I am?" Dutch asked as he took out the bullpup KH2002 rifle and stripped it.
"It just finished. Alright. You are currently 10 miles from your target and 3 miles from the cache. I sent the info to your helmet. Command has decided to give you free rein. What do you plan to do next?" The radio asked.
Dutch expertly assembled the rifle and pulled the charging handle. It slid back with a loud click. The sound made his grin widen.
"I'm getting a hammer and sickle." He answered.
Dutch awoke.
He got up from the head on hands position he was sleeping in and leaned back on the chair he was sitting on. His project, displayed on the interface in front of him, froze in its paused state that he left it in hours ago before he surrendered to sleep.
Beside him, Vault floated, as if staring at the screen itself.
"I see that you have started quite an undertaking. Such an endeavor for the child. She is blessed to have you." It said, its voice impressed.
Dutch gave Vault a bemused look.
"Hardly fair that she has to see the world around her through the eyes of another, don't you think? Now that she is a fully fledged living being, she should experience what the world has to offer. It would be a fair shame for her to have to live her life confined to the vault."
"Such idealism. The young viewpoint of the youth." Vault snickered, a slightly mocking tone underlying it's voice.
"And why would you say that?"
"Nothing. The child is approaching here. I will take my leave now. Goodbye...oh dear." Vault said, surprised by something.
Dutch frowned. "What?"
"AHahahahahaha..." Vault laughed as it disappeared. Dutch frowned deeply at the entity as it faded.
The door leading to the sleeping quarters opened and Vale floated in. She was wearing a white apron along with her normal clothing and she carried a tray, occupied by a plate. Her face was bright with joy.
"Daddy!" She shouted.
Daddy?
Dutch jaw-dropped at the greeting of the entity. His mind raced at fast speed as he tried to process the word.
Daddy. He definitely heard her say that. As his mind worked to formulate a denial to her words, the logical part of it worked even faster to develop a reason for such a statement.
He made her. That was a given. The vault had told him that and he did not believe that it would lie to him. So legally, if modern laws could be used here, he was her father.
The other part of his mind sought to remind the logical part that Dutch only gave her a name. The other components were created not by him. So he was not her creator.
But there were laws regarding families with non-biological parents. And since Vale had no biological parent, Dutch would be the parent since he 'made' her. So in theory, he was her father.
The other parts of the mind struggled with the proposition but could not find any problems with the logic. It backed down and Dutch was left all alone with the logic.
He was frankly at a loss. He treated Vale as a person in her own right but he never viewed himself as her father. In his head, Vale was a being that already existed. He simply facilitated her name.
'But the gist of the matter is that you made her. You gave her a name and with that, she is a full-fledged living being, subject to emotions and instincts.' He remembered Vault saying. So he was her father. Without a doubt.
Mind break!
Vale looked with curiosity at her father's stunned face. He just sat there, jaw agape with an 'I am unable to process this' look on his face.
It looked so funny she giggled.
She expected this would happen. In her mind, he was already her father. No excuses and with all the things he had done for her, it cemented his position as parent figure in her mind.
But she knew that Dutch did not see it that way. The first experiences he had of her spoke of a master servant relationship and he treated her as such, albeit more kindly than such a relationship would normally permit.
However, things had changed since that first meeting and Dutch could not get the hint. So she decided to give him a little push. Love, whatever kind it was, should be a two way street, her young mind felt, and she was going to lay the foundation for the road.
Even if it did cause his to mind break...A little.
Smiling evilly, she set down the tray on the interface table and looked up at the screen. The different numbers, multiple windows as well as random colors would have looked like a puzzle to anyone else but to the entity, it made perfect sense.
She squealed in delight as she read the screen. In great joy, Vale hugged the still frozen form of Dutch. The sudden almost violent contact managed to snap Dutch out of his trance.
"Thank you thank you thank you..." Vale said repeatedly as she treated Dutch again to her inversely proportional strength. Dutch, being human, gasped as his torso was subjected to Vale's strength again.
"Can't...breathe..." He breathed out. Vale, smiling happily, lowered the pressure but did not release her grip on him. Dutch breathed in deeply and looked down at the blue haired young girl that attached herself to him.
"I see you have seen the prototype settings for you to venture outside." Dutch stated. Vale nodded and smiled as she snuggled against Dutch. Dutch winced as the entity lightly pressed against his just squeezed body.
'She has accepted you as her father. Get over it and start acting like one.' Dutch thought to himself. Maybe at a later time when he was alone, he could think this through but now's not the time for it.
"Can you not call me daddy? It makes me feel old." Dutch said as he returned Vale's hug.
"Papa!" Vale answered in a slightly teasing tone. Dutch winced at the cry.
"Not that either please."
Vale looked thoughtful as she released Dutch. She wondered but could not come up with a proper answer.
Dutch smiled. "How about simply using my name?"
Vale shook her head. "It's too normal." She said.
Dutch folded his arms . "Normal is fine for me."
Vale pouted. "No. It should be special!" She cried out, stubbornly holding on to her belief.
Dutch sighed, half in exasperation and half in humor. "Why don't you go think about it?"
Vale grinned, nodded and flew off into the room from where she came from. A glimpse through the open door yielded the sight of cooking tools and a stove.
'Now how did she get that?' Dutch wondered. A smell of food turned his attention to the plate Vale carried. On top of it was a well cooked beef steak, seared to perfection. A knife and fork lay to its side.
'Hot damn!' Dutch mentally cried out. Smiling, he reached for the utensils and dug in.
Morning
Dutch stood at the windows, staring at the slivers of sunlight cast by the sun cresting the horizon. He chewed on some nuts he had found in the kitchen.
As he looked, he reviewed the past events at the vault. What happened had changed his outlook, Dutch realized. It's not major but Dutch could see that the things he regarded as priority were slightly changed, some actively done by himself. Including the addition of a house.
He had come to terms with Gensokyo. There was no way he could forget and with Vale, absolutely not. So he needed a place to base himself during his short stay.
Dutch did not want to use Yukari's place because quite frankly, she would probably use the resultant favors to troll him. So it was up to him to find someone willing to help him build a place.
Perhaps he could refer to the tengu for help. They were bound to have something that could help him. But how would he contact them?
Caw!
Dutch looked down on the sill. A crow stood there, staring at him with intelligent eye. It had a letter stuck to its leg. Cawing, it lifted its leg and offered it to Dutch.
Dutch, curious, took the letter and opened it. Inside, there were two pieces of paper, one written on, while the other blank. There also was a small brush, fitted with a cap and small ink reservoir. Lastly, a separate compartment contained a small bejeweled golden pin carved in the form of a feather.
Dutch reached for the feather and brought it into the light. The light bounced off the gold, radiating a dull glow. The jewels sparkled in the light and as Dutch moved his finger across the feather, he noted that he had seen this before somewhere, he felt what appeared to be words etched onto the feather. Looking at the apparently valuable gift, His mind began to sift through his memories of the last couple of days. Where had he seen that feathery pin before? A flash of silvery hair like silk, intelligent eyes of a burgundy hue...Lord Tenma? He placed the gold pin in his pocket. Next, Dutch took the written piece of paper and read it.
I'm sure that you will find this letter very irregular. I personally do. However with little to turn to, I have written this letter to you. In recent time, I have been inflicted by an urge of the heart. I require help. My heart is with my people but I have been feeling the burn of adventure. I fear that if to quench this burn, I will have to leave my people and as a leader, I cannot do that. I ask you for your view, in the good faith that you will kept this matter between the two of us. Also in the package is a seal of the house of the lord of the tengu. It will grant you entry to tengu establishments and certain youkai establishments should you decide to enter them. I await your answer.
Blinking at it contents, Dutch read it again. And again.
Lord Tenma asking him for advice? What logic drives this land?
Dutch stood there for a minute. NEVER in his experience in the outside had such an occasion happen to him. Oh yes, he had been asked for his advice before but never for such a personal thing.
It was mind-boggling to say the least.
Dutch folded the paper and returned it to the letter. Taking the blank sheet of paper as well the brush and ink reservoir, he proceeded to write an answer. The crow fed on the now forgotten nuts. Dutch ignored the bird as cracks echoed. He answered while Including a bit of an extra.
Dawn
Sunrise
Sanae flew towards the mansion.
If the shrine guests were correct, their companion turned in this direction. If he managed to fight off the youkai, then he would have make his way here. If he had not...
She preferred not to think about it.
As she followed the road, a glint of white caught her eye. It was a beam of light from one of the sun rays, reflecting from a bone still wet with blood. She pulled a disgusted face. Gensokyo disposed its dead fast.
Then she saw the road.
Youkai skeletons, some of them in lying in pools of blood littered the mountain ground. Stripped of all their meat by scavenger youkai and birds, they lay strewn across the ground, skulls showing off macabre grins.
She counted twelve. Whoever Maribel and Renko companion was, he was good. The bodies were arranged in a loose circle as if the defender was attacked from all sides.
Sanae was partially disgusted and partially impressed by it. Disgusted because her weapons, including the lethal charms, were clean, so to speak. They left little to no mess to clean. This was messy.
She was impressed because the guy managed to bring down 12 flesh eating youkai in close combat. Sanae doubted that she could match the close combat skill this man had. Some of the skulls displayed slits as if someone had knifed through them.
Now she couldn't help but imagine that Maribel and Renko companion was a dude with a hoodie and hidden blades on his forearms. She really should lay off of the outside world technology.
Leaving the skeletons, Sanae followed the path up to the mansion. She had a good feeling. Unable to find any human skeletons among the bodies was a good sign. It meant that whoever he was managed to survive the encounter.
Coming up to the mansion, Sanae landed gently at its front door. She rang a small weathered bell hanging to the side of the doorway before entering, the procedure that Kasen had told her to do when she wanted to enter.
Inside, she headed to the dojo of the mansion where she knew Kasen would usually perform her daily mediation. As she traveled to the dojo, a flap of wings made her pause.
A crow flew out from a side door. Sanae recognized the bird as a tengu familiar from the letter tied to the legs. Curious as to what made the crow appear from the door, she took a detour to investigate.
It lead to a window, facing the rising sun. Sanae marveled at the rising ball of fire. It lit up the land in its heavenly light, the river the color of molten gold, the land a stunning fusion of green and orange. Everyday, Sanae tried to catch the sunrise, simply for the sight of the land it showed.
"Wherever you are, it never gets old, does it?" Dutch asked, hidden by the light and dark shadows of a pillar.
Sanae whirled around, surprised by the hidden outsider. She was greeted by a friendly smile.
"Dutch Kotozaki, out of place outsider." Dutch introduced.
The shrine maiden bowed. "Sanae Kochiya, mountain shrine maiden."
Dutch answered her bow with his own. "Did my companions make it?" He asked, his voice laden with concern.
Sanae gave him a reassuring smile. "They are okay. In fact, as I was leaving, they were in preparation for training."
Dutch gave a thankful nod. "Are you my pick up?" He asked.
Sanae nodded.
Dutch walked into the sunlight. "Well then, I won't want to impose on the hermit any further. I shall give her my thanks and we can be off."
Mountain road
Dutch walked, talking to Sanae as she flew slowly above him.
"So you are from the outside too?" He asked as the ground crunched under his boots.
Sanae nodded. "Originally. Kanako-sama and Suwako-sama could not get enough faith in the outside world so they relocated here. I was their shrine maiden and followed them."
"Do you miss the outside?" Dutch asked.
Sanae answered with a smile. "We do have technological items and Yukari gave us internet capability so I still can communicate with the outside."
"I see." Dutch returned, a thoughtful look on his face.
The pair continued up the mountain path until the roof of the shrine peaked over the road.
"So what were my lovely companions training on?" Dutch asked.
Sanae chuckled. "You'll see."
At that moment an intricate black hour hand zoomed out of the sky and struck the spot which Dutch had only seconds before vacated. Dutch looked at the pile of disturbed rock with wide eyes as Sanae grinned evilly.
"Shes not entirely pleased with your self-sacrifice." The shrine maiden cautioned just as a rain of hour hands fell around him.
Dutch took off running as hour hands pelted the area around him, exploding into small blasts of energy on impact. They all missed Sanae who watched the outsider run for the shrine, bombarded by the long range danmaku. The emerald haired shrine maiden smirked.
'If only he knew she was there.' Sanae thought.
The continuous rain of hour hands continued, some of them missing him by centimeters.
A sense of danger alerted him to the pressing need for an immediate halt, a second later a dense cluster of hour hands landed where he was about to be. More hour hands landed around him as well. Dutch looked up only to see another dense cluster fly straight for him.
'Trying to box me in! Activate fast sight!' Dutch thought.
...
/Fastsight activated/
...
Dutch sped through the still striking wall of hour hands in front of him. He effortlessly registered each intricate hour hand and moved in-between them, avoiding the danmaku.
To those watching, he appeared to blur through the seemingly impervious wall, somehow unscathed.
Soon, the tori gate reared up ahead of him. His attacker stood beneath it. Dutch skidded to a a stop as he regarded her with surprise.
Renko stared back, her face a picture of anger. She stood on the ground, a magical circle the shape of a clock surrounding her. As Dutch watched, another cloud of hour hands drew themselves into existance before streaking upwards.
He dived away as they rained on the place he had been standing but a second ago. He phased in his carbine but held his fire, aiming it at his companion.
"Why are you doing this?" He hissed through gulping pants.
"Why must you stand in danger for us?" Renko answered his question with another. She jumped off to the right, breaking the circle. It disappeared as Renko aimed her hand at Dutch and fired off an electric blue minute hand danmaku.
Dutch rolled out of the way of the danmaku and aimed his carbine at her. Renko launched another couple of hour hands in return and Dutch was forced to avoid the rain of contained magical energy, breaking his aim.
Renko continued her assault, firing minute hand danmaku from her hands while launching hour hand danmaku skywards and sending them back down onto the earth. Dutch had to constantly avoid both the direct and indirect fire, one coming from the ground and another from the sky. It succeeded in breaking his aim constantly, the only shots he could fire being poorly aimed.
Dutch tsked as he avoided another burst of minute hands. He needed to end this fight quickly before something happened. He glanced at his bandaged right arm. At least Kasen knew how to make herb and magic-infused bandages that prevented the wound from reopening. He need to repay the hermit one day.
Dutch phased away his carbine and materialized his anti-material rifle. At the same time, he brought in a flashbang on the other hand. He gritted his teeth as he felt the weight of the rifle pulled down on his arm and wound.
'In hindsight, I should have just brought the flashbang first.' He thought as he hooked the pin around his fingers. Dutch pulled the pin and threw the flashbang at Renko.
Renko tried to avoid the blue stun grenade but It was faster. It exploded, Renko, caught just within it's blast radius felt slightly disoriented.
She recovered in a second, turning back to Dutch. By then however, Dutch had crouched down, aimed up his rifle and looked through the scope. Renko blanched.
BOOM!
The last Dutch had fired the black arrow, it sent Flandre crashing through the wall. Of course, Renko was not a 500 year-old vampire. So he aimed at the ground close to her instead. It didn't stop the explosion from sending her flying.
Renko landed on the ground, groaning in pain from the impact. Dutch was no better. If firing the black arrow with its bipod attached to a solid surface hurt, then firing it crouched with just your body supporting it was a new definition of pain. He phased away the weapon and walked up to Renko.
"Interesting new danmaku." He said as he offered her his hand.