Rin awoke to the sound of running water and off key humming, evidently Shirou's morning routine as he splashed around in the small motel shower. The singing and splashing cut off and Shirou emerged some minutes later toweling his hair off. To Rin's regret he already had his shirt back on, by this point she was confident enough in her own feelings to admit that she'd hoped to catch a glimpse of him shirtless. Instead she bounced off the bed and headed in to the bathroom herself.
"You'd better not have used up all the hot water." She griped good naturedly, pausing to reach up on her tiptoes and give Shirou a kiss on he point of his chin as she passed him.
Shirou's features spread into a grin and he caught her on her way past. He gathered her up in his arms and planted a kiss on her lips before setting her back down.
"Don't worry I...um...er..." He blushed a little and tried to look anywhere but the neckline of her nightgown.
"I actually wound up taking a cold shower. Which I do...sometimes. In the morning. To wake up. Yeah."
To cover his blush Shirou spun Rin around, bustled her into the bathroom, and shut the door behind her.
"I'll go get us some breakfast!" He called through the thin walls.
Rin heard the front door slam and heaved a sigh.
By the time she was finished with her morning routine Shirou had returned with bagels and coffee. Well, coffee for him, tea for her. Rin was surprised at how happy and energetic Shirou was. The morning before they had gone to confront Kotomine he had been the picture of grim determination. Focused. Angry.
This morning he was as happy and talkative as ever despite the conflict looming closer than ever above them. When Rin asked him about it he gulped down the last of his breakfast and took her handover the small table.
"I should've thought that was obvious." He said with a smile, giving her a deep look.
"I've been a solo act since, well, forever. I've had allies and partners, even friends before. But it was always...temporary. Convenient. This is the first time I've had someone like you in my corner. The first time I've had a...a sweetheart. It changes everything. Makes me feel like I'm not alone anymore. I mean...to me you're more than...oh!" Shirou said as something suddenly occurred to him.
"I guess that's a little presumptuous of me without asking. Do you, um, do you wanna be my sweetheart?" He asked nervously.
Rin couldn't help but giggle which made Shirou blush all the harder, but he didn't let go of her hand. For someone who was comfortable going toe to toe with resurrected heroes and supernatural monstrosities his heartfelt query sounded like a middle schooler nervously asking a girl to be his valentine.
For her answer Rin rounded the table and plopped herself down in Shirou's lap and garlanded her arms around his neck and showered his face with kisses.
"Does that answer your question?" She said breathlessly, resting her head against his chest.
She could feel him panting beneath her and they held each other for a long moment. When they finally broke apart Shirou kissed her and set her on her feet.
"Okay then. Well...that's...okay then." He said at a happy loss for words..
"Well, it's time for business. Are you ready?" He said, his tone dropping to seriousness.
Rin nodded. It was time.
They left their hotel and went directly to the street that Magnus had told them the safe house was on. It was relatively close, Rin assumed that's why Shirou had chosen the location that he had to hole up in. As they walked an all too familiar sense of trepidation welled up in Rin. But she fought down all the old fears and insecurities that threatened to overwhelm her. She knew what the opposition was. She knew what was at stake. But right now, with Shirou at her side, she felt like she could face anything.
At last they stood in front of a run down apartment complex, number 6 Revelacion Manara. The familiar smell of mildew and rot permeated the air. The building reminded Rin of the first of Kotomine's safe houses that they had discovered and she could definitely see a pattern to his operating doctrine. He ran labs in innocuous looking abandoned buildings and coordinated his extensive organization from the shadows. Would this be another dead end? Another clue in a long string of clues that had led them precisely nowhere?
There was only one way to find out.
Rin was already familiar with Kotomine's common security procedures. Subverting the monitoring spell on the mundane electrical alarm system was a relatively simple matter now that she knew to look for it. A popping sound and a thin thread of smoke hissed from the door frame as Rin overloaded the alarm and Shirou cautiously pushed the door open. The interior was unlit, dark and yawning like a cave mouth. Shirou felt around inside the door for a light switch but couldn't find one. Rin summoned a tiny hovering ball of light above her outstretch hand and led the way inside.
They passed sagging hallways and crumbling door frames, working their way deeper into the building as they looked for the correct room. And there it was. Number Eight, the paint flaking off of the old style metal numbering riveted to the door.
Shirou raised a finger to his lips and tried the door.
The interior of the room was a far cry from the brown stains and green mildew of the corridor. It looked like a hospital or a laboratory, all white linoleum and the steady buzz of fluorescent lighting. Against one wall a blinking array of medical equipment glittered. The center of the room was taken up by a large flat freight elevator surrounded by a waist high safety cage. Evidently it descended through the floor of the room into unknown chambers below the earth. Rin's heart beat excitedly. This had to be it, the secret underground research facility that Kotomine used as his headquarters.
She moved forwards excitedly but Shirou put a restraining hand on her shoulder. She followed his gaze to a corner that she hadn't noticed at first. There was a large metal tank there, hooked by snaking wires to the blinking array of medical monitoring equipment against the wall. It was tall and barrel shaped, covered up and down with rivets and electronics. It looked like a sensory deprivation chamber or a massive steel coffin. A large bold Ʃ, the latin symbol sigma, was stenciled on the front.
As if it detected their scrutiny the pod began to emit a hiss like a high pressure valve being released. A jet of steam shot out around its seam as a large, heavy lid swung forward on automated hinges. Shirou cautiously stepped between Rin and the coffin as it swung open to reveal its contents.
Rin wasn't at all surprised to see that the pod's lone occupant was Sigma. He leered out at them from behind Shirou's face, his features twisted into a mocking grin. He looked like a corruption of everything that made Shirou noble and good. He sneered where Shirou smiled and smirked where Shirou laughed.
He stepped out of the pod and performed a mocking little bow.
"Welcome home, brother." He said.
Shirou bristled.
"This isn't my home. And we aren't brothers." He snapped.
He dropped into a combat stance but Sigma ignored him, meandering around the room at a leisurely pace as he addressed them in a tone of sardonic amusement.
"Tsk tsk, Is that any way to speak to family, Omega? I suppose you're here to see Fath-"
"Shut up!" Shirou barked.
Sigma responded with a cruel laugh. He had positioned himself between Shirou and the elevator. With one hand hanging loosely by his side he raised his other towards Shirou, palm up. He looked relaxed but Rin could see the tension running through his body. The readiness to attack.
"Hit a nerve, did I? No matter. I'm afraid I can't let you do that. You see, the project is nearing its final, critical stages. It's your doing, in a way. With you gone there was nothing that could be done with the Omega weapons. Father switched all his research efforts into perfecting the Alpha weapon instead."
For the first time Shirou hesitated.
"Is that what he's up to? Blast it Sigma, tell me! Or I'll tear this place down around you until I get answers!"
Sigma tsked again.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that either. Not while Alpha is so close to activation." He said.
Shirou gritted his teeth.
"You're forgetting one thing, Sigma." He said, his voice grim. "I've always been stronger than you. You may taunt, or boast or try to delay me. But in the end only one fact matters. You can't beat me."
For the first time Sigma's mask of patronizing mockery fell away and cold rage suffused across his features. His jaw clenched and unclenched. It looks like it was Shirou who had hit the nerve this time.
Sigma's reply was deadly quiet. Calm. Almost a whisper.
"Can't I?" He said softly.
The words hung in the air for one long heartbeat. And then, with a terrific roar, Sigma charged forwards. Shirou pushed Rin out of the way and grunted as Sigma plowed into him. Instantly a torrent of magic filled the air as both he and Shirou were engulfed in their twin vortexes of power. Their strength and speed increased exponentially and Rin had trouble following their battle with her eyes. They clashed and rolled about the room, feinting, maneuvering, and trying to get a punishing strike in on the other. Each rained blows strong enough to shatter concrete on the other, and each fortified their bodies so that concrete shattering hits glanced off like feather pillows.
Rin retreated back into the doorway. She knew that one stray blow would be enough to pulverize her. She also knew that at the speeds they were moving at she didn't have a prayer of hitting Sigma with a spell without running and equal chance of hitting Shirou. But she also knew that all she needed was one chance, one opening to get spell off and she could turn the tables in Shirou's favor.
The two combatants were extremely even matched and Rin could see that they were identical in nearly every way. Physically, mentally, and magically they were almost perfectly equal to each other. But Shirou was a touch stronger, a hair faster, a tiny bit more cunning. And slowly, little by little, the tide of the battle shifted in his favor.
Battles between Grail Servants were high speed, graceful affairs. Two weapon masters with the strength and speed of gods dancing around each other trying for a single blow that would end the battle. This fight was different. It was a brutal, barbaric brawl between two unarmed superhumans. Each landed blows that rocked the other to his core. Here Sigma seized Shirou by the back of his head and slammed his face into a counter top hard enough to shatter it. There Shirou struck Sigma a blow powerful enough to send him crashing half through the wall and into the next chamber. They battered each other with anything they could get their hands on, turning pipes and shards of glass into weapons as deadly as anything manufactured by modern man. But in the end it was Sigma, bruised, bleeding, and panting, that dropped to one knee.
Shirou stood over him, blood dripping from his knuckles and from a dozen wounds covering his body. His fists were clenched, shaking. Sigma held up a warding hand.
"Wait...just wait." He coughed.
Shirou paused but didn't lower his guard.
"You give up? This is pointless, I don't wanna hurt you." He said.
Sigma's shoulders began heaving as he went into a coughing fit. His shoulders continued to shake as his coughs morphed into chuckles that escalated into a manic cackle.
"He, hehe, ha...hahahaha, HAHAHAHA!"
He reached slowly into a pocket on his gear and pulled out a small object. Shirou brought his hands up instinctively but Sigma tossed it at his feet. Keeping his wary eyes on the chuckling assassin Shirou bent to retrieve it. It was a small cell phone, shattered in the fighting.
"Oh no..." Rin breathed.
"You called it in." Shirou said flatly.
"The second you walked through that door." Sigma confirmed gleefully.
"The other masters will be here any second. And...cough...when they do...it won't matter how strong you are." He hissed through gritted teeth.
Rin ran forward and grabbed Shirou's sleeve.
"Come on. We need to go. Now!" She said urgently.
Shirou looked torn. He looked at the hallway behind him. He looked at the elevator that led to the answers that he needed.
"NO!" He cried, anguish tearing the word from his throat.
"Not while we're so close!" He said.
He marched forwards past Sigma's kneeling form. Rin hoovered in the doorway filled with uncertainty. Did she follow Shirou? Could she convince him to escape with her?
But as he passed Sigma pushed himself to his feet. He wavered there, looking like he was on the brink of collapse. But his eyes were full of hatred and he blocked Shirou's path.
"You were...never willing...to do what it took." He grimaced.
"Get out of my way." Was all Shirou said in reply.
Sigma gave one last smirk. His shoulders relaxed, tension flowing out of his body. Rin though he would collapse but somehow he stayed on his feet. He began to chant tonelessly.
"Burst limit override initiated." He said in a flat, hollow voice.
Suddenly Shirou's attention snapped to him. To Rin's surprise he immediately began backing away.
"Oh no. Sigma...don't!" He pleaded.
But Sigma ignored him and continued his chant.
"Steel take my body. Fire burn my blood..."
Shirou whirled and sprinted towards Rin. He grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her behind him. Sigma continued chanting but Rin couldn't make out the words.
"Run!" Shirou yelled, and Rin did just that.
She didn't know what was going on but she did know one thing. Never, not even in the very face of death, had she seen a look of fear on Shirou's face like she saw right now.
Just as they burst out into the street Rin gasped. Behind them in the building she felt a massive surge of magical power. It felt like a miniature supernova had exploded in the building.
They hadn't run twelve steps before Sigma burst through the side of the building behind them. He didn't bother following them through the corridor. He just waded through the bricks and steel that composed the frame of the building like they were tissue paper and smashed through the wall into the street. His face was a mask of pure, insane hatred. He threw back his head and roared like a wild animal. Shirou turned to face him, putting himself between Rin and the beast that was wearing Sigma's skin.
His magical energy was astronomical, maybe even as strong as a fully fledged Servant. If his powers had the same origin as Shirou's, and Rin suspected that they did, he must be burning through his lifespan an a horrifying rate.
"Sigma stop this! You'll kill yourself!" She yelled.
"Don't bother. His mind is gone. He's nothing more than an animal now." Shirou said grimly.
As if to lend credence to his words Sigma charged. Rin didn't even see him move. The only thing Rin had ever seen move that fast was Lancer. One instant he was standing in the rubble of the wall, chest heaving, eyes wild, the next he had seized Shirou by the throat and slammed him into the sidewalk. He continued his charge and dragged Shirou along with him, the concrete crumbling and bunching up as he dragged him through it. He threw Shirou into a street lamp hard enough to sever the steel pylon and send him crashing through it to the other side. He struggled to his feet just in time to meet Sigma's next assault. Sigma swung a fist and Shirou caught it. And then the other when Sigma swung again. And so they stood, eye to eye, straining against each other, locked hand to hand.
But even drawing on his powers at their maximum capacity left Shirou with only a fraction of the strength that his bestial assailant possessed. And while he could hold his own for one hit, or even two, the third rocked him to his core as he desperately tried to defend himself.
Once again Rin tried to find an opening to cast a spell that wouldn't hit Shirou, this time her actions fueled by desperation. She threw up a shield between them which Sigma shattered with a casual backhand. It gave Shirou an opening to scramble away and regain his feet. Rin could see that he was disoriented from the blow and she tried again to shield him. Between her shielding and Shirou's dodging the battle turned into a deadly game of delaying tactics.
If Rin switched from defensive to offensive spells Shirou would be crushed in a matter of moments. And his constant defensive fighting left him with no openings against the ravening Sigma. Their only saving grace was that Sigma was intent on pursuing Shirou with single minded fury. He ignored Rin entirely and focused all his attention on catching Shirou, doing nothing to disrupt her casting and giving her free reign to exert as much control over the battle as she could.
As the battle unfolded Rin could see the desperation of their tactical situation. Either she would run out of mana and her spells, the only thing keeping Sigma from obliterating Shirou outright, would fail; the hits that Sigma did manage to get in would wear Shirou down and take him out of the fight; or, and Rin hopped against hope for this, Sigma would burn though is remaining lifespan so quickly that all they'd have to do is survive until he burned out on his own. The only problem with the last eventuality was that they had no way of knowing how fast Sigma was burning through his reserves. Or how long his reserves were in the first place.
But as the fight began to stretch out it became apparent what would happen. Even with Rin helping him, even with his powers burning at full blaze, Shirou was no match for the enraged Sigma. She was desperately casting about for another option when out of the blue the shield that she had been conjuring dissipated. There was a burst of magical energy from behind her and Rin felt an expertly crafted counterspell suck all the mana out of the ward she had been crafting.
"No!" She cried and whirled around.
Rider and his short, chubby master Emil stood there. Rider looked as boisterous and energetic as ever. Emil had a look of grim concentration on his face.
Rin didn't have a chance to react as Rider charged past her, her attention was taken up as Emil tried to blast her with a fireball. Rin wove a quick counter spell but didn't retaliate as she glanced behind her. To her surprise Rider had interposed himself between Sigma and Shirou. With the impregnable defense afforded by his Fleece he had little difficulty warding off Sigma's ravening assault.
"I had heard that your Servant was dead. Obviously I was misinformed." Emil said.
Rin stared at him blanky for a moment before everything clicked. Of course! He assumed that Sigma was Rin's servant! He had never seen either of them and for all he knew the ravening construct behind them was Berserker. He was certainly powerful enough to be mistaken for a Servant.
"You've got it all wrong." Rin panted, dodging to the side and quickly deflecting a mana bolt.
"That isn't Berserker. I have no control over him."
Emil paused and dropped his hands, a puzzled expression falling over his face. Still, his eyes held a note of suspicion. If there was one thing that always governed the dealings of mages from rival families it was suspicion. His hands ignited with energy and Rin could sense him readying an attack.
"Why should I believe you? I was told that your Servant was defeated when he killed Saber. I was told that you had access to the Omega weapon." He said, holding his spell ready to sling.
"That is the Omega weapon. One of them, anyway." Rin said.
She glanced behind her and was heartened by what she saw. Rider was having no trouble holding off Sigma's attacks. Sigma's strength was in his speed and brute force. But his mind was little more than an animal drive to destroy and all the brute strength in the world yields little against a magical barrier that ablates all force applied to it. Sigma didn't try to get around Rider's defenses, or lure him into a vulnerable position, or even get around him to attack Shirou. He simply attacked head on again and again and was easily repulsed, Rider scoring a number of deep slashes with his shortsword in the exchange.
Behind him Shirou was struggling to regain his feet.
"Believe me or don't, either way it's in your best interest to put him down." Rin said.
With that she turned her back and rushed to Shirou's side. She expected at any moment to feel Emil's readied spell come crashing into her but to her relief he ignored her as she exposed herself and moved to support Rider instead. A couple of quick snares turned the battle even more firmly in Rider's favor. Sigma attacked with a crazed overhand smash and Rider met the blow squarely on his golden fleece, following up the recoil from the blow with a quick stab into Sigma's thigh.
Rin rushed to Shirou's side and helped him up, hooking his arm over her shoulder to support him. He wasn't in nearly as bad shape as when Berserker had almost killed him but he was still very battered. This time Rin had the better part of her mana reserves available, however, and it was the matter of a quick spell to heal up the wounds he had received. He drew in a sharp intake of breath as two cracked ribs popped back into place and shot Rin a thankful grin. Unlike Caster's reverse-time healing Rin's healing spells worked by accelerating the healing process. Shirou would definitely have some new scars from the experience but at least he was alright.
They turned back to the one sided fight before them and Shirou's face once again fell stony. Sigma was a pitiful sight. His direct attacks couldn't hope to penetrate Rider's shield and he spared no thought for his own defense. Between Emil's support magic and Rider's calm, collected battle strategy he was quickly being worn down. Wounds in his legs limited his mobility to a shuffle and blood flowed from a dozen cuts that would be fatal to a normal human. But despite his injuries he attacked as ravenously as ever, crawling when he couldn't stand and dragging himself along the ground in a ferocious, mindless bid to destroy Rider despite the damage to his own body.
With Rider handily containing the threat Emil backed off several paces and addressed Rin and Shirou.
"Now, would you care to explain what's going on? If this...creature is related to the Omega weapon I'd rather not destroy it out of hand." He said.
To Rin's great surprise it was Shirou who answered.
"Yes, he's a version of the Omega weapon. A prototype, actually. But his mind is gone now. He's nothing more than a beast. You'll get no answers from him." He said grimly.
Rider looked to Emil, fending off another futile attack from Sigma at the same time. Emil nodded. Shirou averted his eyes. With a grunt and a swift thrust Rider dashed in under Sigma's defenses and rammed his blade into his heart. Sigma's eyes remained twisted with hate and rage even as they clouded over and faded into lifelessness.
As Sigma's corpse tumbled into the dirt and his intense magical aura faded Rider marched to Emil's side.
"Hardly a death becoming a warrior. And hardly a battle worthy of my skills." He said distastefully.
Emil silenced him with a gesture.
"Now that that's settled," He said, addressing Rin. He assumed an accusatory stance and Rider mimicked his master, pointing his blade at Shirou and Rin. Shirou dropped imperceptibly into a combat stance but Rin put a hand on his shoulder.
"There's the matter of the Omega weapon. You have it. I want it. And as you can plainly see the only way you're going to get out of here alive is by giving it to me." Emil said in a businesslike tone, idly adjusting his cufflinks. He had none of Kirill's vindictiveness or Magnus's arrogance. For him the War was like a business transaction to be conducted as swiftly and professionally as any other.
"I can see I don't have much choice. How much do you know about the weapon?" Rin asked carefully.
"As much as I need to. It's dangerous and powerful, it's the key to winning this war, and judging by our late friend here I'd guess that it boosts physical abilities, perhaps at the cost of higher reasoning skills." He said.
"Well that's..." Rin began.
"It's a little more complicated than that. The weapon isn't something you can just strap to your hip." Shirou said.
"Yes, we do have the Omega weapon. But it isn't something we can just hand over, even if you do have a Servant aimed at us. But about twenty yards behind you there is an elevator that leads to all the answers to all your questions. And mine too, incidentally. What do you say to a truce?"
Emil snorted.
"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Why would I risk you two leading me into an ambush?" He said.
"So say it's an ambush." Rin chimed in.
"What would that accomplish? While you have a Servant there really isn't anything we can do to you. As long as Rider is by your side we really can't ambush you. What have you got to lose?" She said.
Emil considered for a long moment, his eyes narrowed in thought. Rider seemed content to either cut them down where they stood or follow them into the building. At last Emil nodded and Rin heaved a mental sigh of relief.
"Very well, show me. But I warn you, one sign of treachery and Rider will have both of your heads before you can think. Is that clear?" He said.
"Crystal." Shirou replied and lead the way.
They marched back in through the rubble that Sigma had strewn about in his madness, past the blinking row of equipment in the safe room, and onto the industrial elevator in the center of the room. Shirou thumbed the clunky control box and with a sudden jerk that quickly smoothed into a rapid decent they sunk into the floor. The dark tunnel enveloped them like a mouth, the air rapidly cooling as they descended.