Chapter 3: Freebird!

Inside of Mahora Middle (Girls) 10 minutes later

Kasumi Asakura was afraid, very afraid. So is the majority of the class, so don't freak out! The thought caused her to settle down a bit and start to observe their captors, like any good reporter. The terrorists seemed to know their stuff, to her admittedly inexpert eye. They each carried a small machine gun that she had seen on several shows on T.V. and several carried a shotgun of some kind. They all had body armor and helmets plus some kind of equipment webbing that she had seen used by US soldiers. However they all had Chinese and Russian accents and the fact that they carried themselves with a cool professional manner made them ex-Chinese and ex-Russian special forces.

Kasumi had seen the leader and had pegged him as a former Spetnaz operator (Kasumi kept up with world news). Kasumi and the other girls had been moved from the class room to the admin section in the middle of the building. They had been split into half a dozen groups and placed into five different rooms. She was currently in Takamichi-sensei's office with at least four other girls and four "guards".

She did not know what had become of the other girls and that was starting to worry her.

Outside the security cordon

"Alright now that we got that out of the way, we can concentrate on coming up with a plan to get to the others and a way to get them out." Johns voice echoed in the silence. Mana looked at the Spartan like he was crazy. "What do you mean, its over? You're telling me your from the future and that you where trained at the age of six to be a soldier. I mean come on! Sure I was the partner of a mage awhile ago, but both he and several scientists I know tell me time travel is impossible."

The Spartan looked down quickly in thought. A few seconds later his head shot up and his face had a deadly serious look. "I was summoned here by Negi on accident and from what I understand I really didn't travel through time. I merely had a copy of my soul made and that was placed into a shell created by Negi's magic. So, to a extent, I am merely a magical clone of a man born nearly five hundred years in the future."

Mana could plainly see the hurt in John's eyes and decided to relent a bit. "Alright, I'll drop the subject for now, but you and I will have a talk later."

"Okay, now that is out of the way, lets think of a way to rescue the class."

Chacamaru was a bit stunned by what the Spartan had told them. She shook her head and decided to ask, "I'm inclined to believe you, but I have to ask, are you really that strong? You said you have the ability to lift three times your own body weight, can you show us?" The Spartan looked back and forth between the suddenly intent face of both women/android and saw determination in their eyes. The Spartan sighed and looked at Chacamaru with a calculating eye, "I guess you weigh about 600 pounds, do you not?" Chacamaru blushed a bit and looked away causing both John and Mana to raise a eyebrow.

Chacamaru squeaked a affirmative and John nodded then swept the android up in his arms causing her to blush even further. After a awkward second or two the Spartan lifted the 600 pound android above his head and held her there for about five minutes without so much as a arm twitch then he gently placed the android on her feet. To the Spartan, the android had felt way to light and thinking back, the fight today and the fights yesterday he had moved faster then he should have been capable of without his armor.

The Spartan thought about what the Principle had said' "I also wouldn't be surprised if some of your... enhancements haven't received a slight boost to reflect to teen mindset (you know, super heroes and such)." The Spartan mentally shrugged and filled that little factoid away in the back of his mind.

"I can lift nearly one thousand pounds above my head and hold it there for about eight hours before even getting tired. I can run at nearly 50 KPH for about four hours. I also have nearly telescopic sight and night vision that a cat would envy. Now if you two are done, let's get to rescuing the class."

John turned his back on the two and continued to study the situation below. After looking at the way the terrorists had manipulated the situation, he came to a conclusion. "These guys are pro's." Mana, still a little shaken by what she had seen, turned to John and raised a eyebrow, "I agree, but why do you say that?"

"Well, the way they sealed off the building with their van's tells me that they had intimate knowledge of the floor plan. Those van's are also loaded with explosives, and that tells me that they are very familiar with them. The men on the roof are staying away from the edges which tells me they are familiar with snipers and since the building is in a flat area they know if it all comes down to a fire fight that height will give them a advantage against said snipers. Also they are there to impede a helicopter insertion so any tac team that goes in will have the advantage of surprise taken away from them. The terrorists inside aren't getting shot at and that tells me that they have moved to the middle of the building where they cant get picked off and that means the admin area. If they are as smart as they seem, they also have probably split the class into a couple of different groups. I'd guess in groups of five."

"The van's, if I where to hazard a guess, probably have a remote driving system and a remote detonation system that only the terrorists can access inside each van. The insides of the van's are probably also booby trapped. Now, what confuses me a little is their extraction plan. If I where to make another guess, I'd say they have a heavy lift helicopter somewhere on campus that they plan to use to escape. The remote driving systems in the vans, if I where to make another guess, are there to help get rid of the girls and provide a distraction as they make their exit."

Mana's respect for the silver haired teen rose considerably at the precise, and professional way he took apart the tactical situation and Mana started to believe a little of what John had told her. He looked down for a couple of seconds thinking hard. When his head rose both Mana and Chacamaru saw a bit of fire enter his green luminous gaze.

"Here's what we'll do..."

Same place, 10 minutes later

John, Chacamaru and Mana all agreed on their assigned parts started to get ready. John turned to Mana and asked, "Can I use one of your pistols?" Mana thought about the request for a few seconds then nodded and handed one of her air soft pistols to the Spartan butt first with her fingers well away from the safety and the trigger.

The Spartan took the weapon in a firm grip making sure to keep the barrel pointed up in the air. "How many rounds?"

"Fourteen and you won't have to change the CO2 canister until your out of rounds."

"Velocity? Duration?"

"450 feet per second. 14 hours."

The Spartan nodded and carefully tucked the weapon away in one of his school jacket pockets. John and Mana stepped up to Chacamaru and each grabbed a arm and stood on the androids feet. Chacamaru activated her leg, back and arm jets with enough force to hover a few feet off the ground. Chacamaru slowly gained altitude and emerged from the cluster of trees that dotted the hilltop and continued upward until she was about two hundred feet off the ground. The android started to move forward once she reached the designated height from the plan and quickly accelerated toward the school holding both John and Mana in her arms.

The android picked up speed and in a few seconds they where speeding toward the side of Mahora Middle. At the last second Chacamaru pulled up and they where hovering over the building. The Spartan jumped down pulling out the air soft gun and flicking off the safety while still in the air and the android took off once more with Mana held in her arms.

There where four terrorists/kidnappers on the roof when John started his decent toward the roof. By the time he landed after falling from a height of about three stories (causing a small crater to form) four terrorists with darts in necks and faces fell on the roof unconscious. The Spartan took a few seconds to scooped up one of the terrorists (part of his training was military history and historical weaponry) H&K MP-5's and a few clips of ammunition and sprinted toward the roof access stairway with the extra weapon slung over his shoulder.

Four down.

Chacamaru made another high speed run at the building from the opposite side with Mana held tightly in her arms and both smashed through a window on the second floor and both merc and android hit the floor running. There where two sentry's in the hallway who where taken care of by Mana with precision shots to the neck with her air soft pistols. Another terrorist was just closing the door of his assigned room when Chacamaru activated her jets and shot down the corridor and slammed her palm in to his mid section, knocking him unconscious. Both headed for their assigned rooms to clear and secure.

Seven down.

John bypassed the three flights of stairs that where between him and the second floor by jumping down the first flight then garbing the hand rail and hoping over it while using his forward momentum to propel him to the next flight below, then he simply jumped the last flight and sprinted toward the door to the second floor.

As soon as the Spartan was in range he lashed out with a foot, causing the door to crumple, rip off its hinges, and fly about a dozen feet. About three terrorists where in the hall running toward the rooms that Chacamaru and Mana had been assigned to clear. The door was still in the air when three puffs sounded out in the hallway. A second later the sound of three unconscious bodies hitting the floor was fallowed by a large crash. John noticed there where three other bodies in the hallway with darts in their unprotected areas. The entire string of actions had taken about three seconds.

The Spartan sprinted toward one of the rooms he was assigned to clear.

Ten down.

Mana kicked the door of the room she was meant to clear and spotted a terrorist sitting on a desk across the room and one in the corner. Acting quickly the ex-merc raised her weapon and shot the man on the desk just as he was coming to his feet then turned and fired off a quick shot that lodged itself into the vest of the terrorist standing in the corner. The man was just unlimbering his MP-5 when Mana corrected her aim and shot him in the neck. Mana stepped into the room spotted two more terrorists just coming to their feet. Shooting one in the face right below the eye in a two handed grip, the ex-merc turned and snap shot the remaining guard in the neck one handed.

"Clear."

Fourteen down.

Chacamaru charged into the room she was to clear with her jets going full blast. She smashed through the door as if it wasn't even there. She flew toward the man that she had spotted from the doorway and launched a shattering blow into his rib cage, breaking some and knocking him instantly unconscious.

Three more men where coming to their feet when Chacamaru picked up a nearby desk and threw it at one. The improvised missile slammed into the man with the speed of a speeding truck and broke several of his bones and the pain caused him to pass out. The android repeated the same trick as she was flying toward the last two men and the desk smashed into one of the two remaining men and broke his knees, causing him to fall to the floor screaming in pain, gun forgotten next to him.

The last terrorist was just starting to turn to run when the android planted a fist into his lower back also knocking him unconscious. Chacamaru deactivated her jets and the android smashed her heel on the gun, crushing it.

"Clear."

Eighteen down.

Takamichi-sensei's office

Kasumi Asakura had been laying on the floor with her hands bound by zip ties for about 30 minutes at this point and was starting to get a little sleepy despite her predicament. She was just about to nod off when she heard a sudden influx of noise outside the office. She was looking at the door when it blasted off its hinges and slammed into one of the terrorist knocking him unconscious. A blur entered the room while the door was just falling off the terrorist and a single puff was heard and the three other terrorists hit the ground. The blur stopped for a second and Kasumi saw who it was...

Twenty two down.

John stood for a half second and looked around to see if any of the girls where injured, and seeing none where, lowered his shoulder and charged the wall to the next occupied office like a bull. The Spartan collided with the wall like a bull-dozer and tore through the drywall and wood like it was tissue paper...

Negi-sensei's office

Ako Izumi had been scared out of her mind as men with guns rushed into the classroom and told them that they where going to be hostages. She had calmed down a bit when they separated the class and took them to different teachers offices. She was still scared but had herself under control for now. For the last half hour Ako had laid on the floor and worried about her classmates when she too heard the noise out in the hallway when something burst through the wall in a shower of saw dust and debris.

The four men in the room where just coming to their feet when a faint puffing noise was heard once. The four suddenly sported what looked like darts in their necks and started to fall. The thing became a person as the sawdust cleared and Ako, looking hard, saw who it was...

John made sure that the girls where not injured then repeated his bull-in-a-china-shop impression.

Twenty six down.

Shizuna-sensei's office

Nodoka Miyazaki was a shy girl by nature, especially around men, so when armed male strangers entered the class, she did what any extremely shy girl would do, she fainted. Upon wakening she started to freak out a little bit until Asuna took charge of the situation by telling them to calm down and offering some encouragement.

"It's alright Hoya-chan, everyone, we'll get out alive of this one way or another. Right now some SWAT teams or something are going to charge in and save us. Just you wait!"

The last 30 minutes, Asuna, Setsuna, Konoka, Nodoka, and Ayaka had huddled on the floor in fear but slightly more in control of their emotions. The terrorists leader had left his second in command in charge when he had left to make sure everything was in tiptop shape five minutes ago. The little greasy man that was watching over them now had been eyeing Nodoka intently ever since the leader had stepped out. Nodoka was no fool, so she had moved as far away from him as possible.

Nodoka had been laying near the door, so she was the first to hear the chaos happening in the hallway. The little man rushed over and grabbed Nodoka before whatever was happening happened here and held a knife to her throat. What the little man had been expecting was a breaching charge on the door or the door to be kicked open and a flash bang to fallow it up, what he got was someone smashing through the hall side wall and another smashing through the wall that lead to the office next door behind him. Turning toward the intruder who ripped through the hall side wall the little man reached for his side arm while keeping the knife on the girl so he was unprepared for the office door flying open and someone pointing a gun at his head.

The little man heard a single hissing noise behind him and heard two thumps hit the floor and knew that the two terrorists behind him where either dead or unconscious. He saw the girl who had smashed through the hallway wall throw a piece of the wood that had come loose from the wall at the third terrorist. The chunk of wood pegged him right between the eyes, knocking him instantly unconscious.

The little man slowly turned his head so that he could look behind him. Behind him stood a very tall man with silver hair pointing a gun at the back of his head without so much as a muscle tremor and a grim look on his face. The little man, head still turned so he could watch the stranger behind him, said slowly said in English, "One move and the bitch dies!"

The Spartan raised his hand in a blur of motion and shot him right between the eyes with his dart gun. John blurred forward, dropping his gun, then grabbed the little man by his knife hand and wrenched it away from Nodoka's neck. Using his other hand the Spartan leaned over and between Nodoka and the diminutive kidnapper and snatched the little man's right foot with his free hand and lifted. The end result was the little man hanging upside down in the air about two feet above the floor with a foot in the unyielding grasp of the Spartan.

John dropped the unconscious kidnapper on his head, dusted his hands off and offered Nodoka a hand. The Spartan spoke in a soft voice, "Are you alright?"

The short purple bangs hid Nodokas eyes as she looked at the floor and replied, "Y-yes, I-I'm alright..." She suddenly started to cry and John kneeled down then ripped the twist ties binding her hands and cradled her in his arms. John, while not prone to emotional displays, had lived through one of humanity's worst wars for nearly three decades. He knew how some people dealt with fear and the young women before him was coming to grips with what just happened to her by just letting it all out. A minute or two passed before the sobs started to die down then ceased entirely.

The Spartan let go and stood up then held out his hand again with a small smile. The purple haired girl slowly and shyly took his hand and stood up, blushing all the while. John sensitive hearing picked up the sound of a gun cocking from out in the hallway and sprinted toward Mana. He simply grabbed the front of her shirt and chucked her into the office behind him. A gunshot thundered in the hallway a piece of the door frame exploded. Unlimbering his captured MP-5 John flipped off the safety and drew it to his shoulder and quickly leaned around the corner and spotted Mana's would be assassin.

Out in the hallway stood a very tall man holding two gun's, one pointed toward John's position and one at Negi's head. The man was at the head of the stair way that lead to the lower floors. The ten year old stood in front of the tall red headed man with a determined but slightly fearful expression. "Not to sound cliché, but if anybody moves the boy dies, oh and the building explodes. Wonderful thing modern technology, for example if I don't call a particular number in about five minutes all the van's blow up and collapse the building." The terrorists voice echoed down the hallway.

John could tell that the man was bluffing by the tone . "I'm coming out unarmed, so don't hurt him!" He threw his captured weapon into the hallway and two clips. The Spartan quickly flashed a few hand signs at Mana then palmed the CO2 canister for the dart gun. John walked out into the hall with his hands behind his head and heard Mana and Chachamaru work their way through the holes he had made.

"I want you to lie on the floor."

John had started to kneel down when the arm holding the small gunmetal gray cylinder cracked like a whip, hurtling the impromptu projectile right at the tall mans face. The cylinder impacted just below the terrorists right eye with the force of a pistol shot. Before the terrorist could pull the trigger Chachamaru burst through the wall, all of her jets going full blast. The projectile ripped a large chunk off of the man's right cheek and broke the bone beneath and caused the mans head to twist sharply to the right.

She swooped down and snatched Negi away from the terrorists arms just as the gun near his head went off, missing his head by inches. John raced over and scooped up the sub-machine gun and threw it to his shoulder.

The Spartan fired off a three round burst that caught the tall man on his bullet proof vest.

Mana fired her dart gun through the hole Chachamaru made and scored a hit on the kidnappers shoulder.

Negi and Chachamaru crashed through the opposite wall and landed in storage room.

The terrorist leader teetered back and forth and fell flat on his face, guns falling away from his unconscious fingers.

Silence reigned.

John quietly placed the MP-5 on the ground with its safety on and looked at the myriad faces of class 3-A as they peeked out at him from the various doorways.

John flexed his shoulders and neck, then cleared his throat, "Well that was a bit tiring." More then one jaw dropped at that.

Thirty one down.

30 Minutes Later

In the relief area that Campus Security had set up, class 3-A sat around and stared at John as he reported what happened to the Principle. Asakura looked at John and wondered how he was able to stay so calm. She had never been so afraid. What had scared her most had been the complete loss of control. As a member of the Mahora Newspaper club she always knew when something was going to happen.

The fact that she had known nothing about the attack had left her with a feeling of emptiness that wouldn't go away. What helped was Negi-sensei's and John's attitude about the situation. They seemed so collected, so sure.

She remembered John's face as he burst through the wall and dispatched the four terrorists. He had had a look of serene confidence. As she looked at him now she noted several things in his stance and how he seemed to know where everything was. Absolute situational awareness. John finished reporting to the Principle. They both turned and walked over to the class as they huddled around in blankets that Campus Security had handed out.

The Principle cleared his throat and declared in a strong voice, "As you all now know, the terrorists had planed to blow the vans with you in them. All of should also know that the terrorists had a helicopter ready to take them away. What you don't know is that those terrorists have been arrested and anyone who helped them is either captured or on the run. As you all have guessed John here is more then he seems. John, if you please, tell them who you are.

"I have, for various reasons, been assigned as his bodyguard. Negi needs protection from the family's enemies and I am here to provide that protection. While I am related to him, I am from a distant branch of the family; A branch of mercenaries. For the past fifth teen years I have fought on every continent and in some of the worst wars imaginable. This is my first time in a school and I ask that you forgive any strangeness on my part." John bowed and there was a moment of stunned silence as the class digested the lie that the Principle had told him to parrot off to the class.

John felt no qualms about lying to the class about his origins. It provided a layer of security for Negi and himself in case anyone tried something like this again. It also gave him a more reason to step up security for the class. Asakura stood up, blanket falling off her shoulders and said, "Why did you lie?"

"To protect myself and Negi. The more someone knows about a bodyguard, the easier it is to hurt or kill him or the person he's supposed to protect. I am sorry for the deception it was necessary. "

Asakura looked into the Spartans green eyes for a few seconds and could tell that he while he was sincere he was not telling the whole truth. For various personal reasons and for the Newspaper club Asakura decided she would dig a little bit and see what turned up.

She would get to the bottom of the enigma that was John.

In A Cave Somewhere, Mundis Magicas, Same Time

The cave by itself was not all that special. The tunnel that connected to the back of the cave was nothing special either, that is until one looked a little deeper. If one looked at the tunnels entrance for a while the eye would start to see things, like the opening seeming to take on a predatory cast. The shadows would also seem to change and take on shapes that danced to some otherworldly tune.

If one was inclined to enter the tunnel they would start to hear things just out of ear shot. They would hear whispers of power beyond the ken of mortals, of riches untold and delights unimaginable. Eldritch laughter would occasionally from echo in the shadows. The shadows would beckon them to continue while gaining more substance and influence with every step.

Eventually the terrified soul would find himself in a cavern of epic proportions. The geometry of the cavern would strike some as non-Euclidian and to others normal. In the center of the cavern a tree stood, vast and dark. As tree's go it was a giant of its kind, standing about seventeen stories high. The leaves of the tree where darker than shadows around them and yet shone with a light that was black as pitch and yet brighter then. Every branch of the nightmarish tree was beset with blood red fruit. Each fruit carried tiny faces on their surface and all of them where screaming in agony, a sound only heard if one listened closely. The bark of the tree was like midnight made manifest with little stars swirling where knots and cracks would be in normal wood.

The base of the tree was encircled in chains and each link as thick as a human torso. What the chains contained was a man, or what looked like a man. The... thing defied description because it constantly changed it's shape. It looked like a man one second, a dragonish form the next and a squid mixed with a horse if one looked at it from a different angle. The only constant was a mask that beset the face of each incarnation

The mask seemed to be grafted to the creatures face and resembled a shield. The mask was sectioned off into four pieces that all bore a different color that constantly shifted in the darklight. The only thing that remained the same where the four eyes on each section. The eyes each where darker then the shadows around . Each eye also was stylized with a single brow and four tears falling away from each eye.

The air sung with power around the creature and the shadowy beings danced around the tree endlessly. Insanity ran hand in hand with the madness around the cavern. The only thing that remained the same for any period of time was the two man that stood before the thing before him.

The taller of the two stood in front of the creature and bowed low. Looking up he said in a language dead before time began, "My lord, a new Caller is born."

Two word's echoed oddly through out the cavern, as if the air itself was afraid to carry along the sound.

"Snicker snack."

The creature bound to the tree smiled, mask cracking in half to reveal a mouth stacked with row after row of razor sharp teeth.

End of Chapter 3