"So, how are you feeling?" I asked Troper as we headed back to the Inn the following morning.

"Like all of my nerves were set on fire." He grumbled. He moved with a slightly unsteady gait, but he still managed to keep up with the rest of us as we sneaked through the streets. We still had to keep an eye out for anyone who might have been looking for us. "I'm sorry to say that I probably won't be able to use my magecraft for a day or too. Nothing wrong with my circuits, but I sorta have to get my head back on straight before my abilities work again."

That was a little problematic, but I sincerely hoped that we wouldn't be getting back into combat anytime soon. It was true that the Mage's Association was increasing their presence throughout the city, but I was hoping that the lot of us could hunker down at the Izumo House for the next few days to recover and plan our next move. For starters, I wanted to get to work fixing Chiho as soon as possible, and for another thing I wanted Matsu to check if MBI had noticed of all of out altercations yesterday.

My brow furrowed as a thought came to me. Why was it that no one tried to call Rin when we didn't return to the Inn? I had a lot on my mind at the time (plus I had lost my phone in the water) so it never occurred to me, but surely someone must have wondered where the lot of us went for the night. And I knew for a fact that Matsu had given Rin a phone before we started the operation. "Saber, how were things when you left the inn last night?"

Saber looked back at me curiously. "Everything seemed to be in order. Why?"

"I would have thought that Matsu would have tried giving us a call by now." I said. "I mean, when you left you were trying to find us, and as far as they should know we all just sort of disappeared."

The rest of the group paused at this and frowned. "You're right…" Rin said. "Something about this doesn't quite add up."

"Do you think something happened to them?" Tohsaka asked.

I tried to ignore the knot in my stomach as I replied. "I don't know. But for the moment we need to be extra careful. It's possible that the Inn might not be as safe as we hoped."

When we got within sight of the Inn, we were still a fair distance off as we decided to climb to the roof of a tall building a fair distance away, and we were using a pair of binoculars that Rin had purchased. It was also looking like my original assumption was unfortunately correct.

"There are defiantly several holes in the walls." Rin said grimly. "I don't see any activity at the moment but it doesn't mean that there isn't anyone lying in wait."

"I don't see how this could have happened." Saber said. "Miya-dono is an exceptional warrior. She would not have been subdued easily."

"What about that Karasuba lady, and the rest of the disciplinary squad?" Tohsaka asked. "From what I've heard she's pretty tough, and MBI has had a rather tense relationship with the landlady."

"Sure, but why attack now?" I said. "I know for a fact that the director didn't particularly care for Higa, so I don't see how rescuing Chiho would have caused him to go gunning for her."

"Not only that, but we had the pleasure of fighting said woman yesterday." Troper said with a grimace. "Karasuba is undoubtedly powerful, but I don't think that even she could take Miya on. There has to be someone else at work here, and the only one I can think of…"

He trailed off, but we all knew what he was thinking: the Clock Tower had found the Inn.

"What do we do now?" Rin asked. "If they were taken by magi, I won't be able to track them." She glanced at her counterpart. "Do you have any ideas?"

"Nothing immediate." Tohsaka replied. "I might be able to come up with something, but I'm not sure how long that will take."

"There's something we can do." I said as I reached out to Rin. "Give me your phone, I'm going to call Matsu."

The two Rins blinked in surprise at this. "What?! That would give away what little advantage we have of them not knowing we know yet!" Tohsaka exclaimed.

"Can't be helped. Like you said, time is likely a luxury we do not have. If they think it will take a while to find us, they might turn their attention to the Sekirei, and we already know what they would do to them. If we divert their focus back on us, that could by them some time."

Rin grumbled at that, bust she eventually fished the phone out of her pocket and handed it to me. As I dialed the number and put it to my ear, I hoped beyond hope that I would hear the playful hacker respond.

I felt no small amount of disappointment (if not surprise) when instead after a few rings an unfamiliar female voice responded. "Might I assume that this is the infamous Shirou Emiya?"

My face became harder and my voice was cold as I said "What have you done with the Sekirei?"

"Very well, straight to the point then," she said crisply. "Your Sekirei are unharmed for the moment, as are the rest of the assorted residents of that inn. I think it's safe to assume that you didn't just walk in to the trap we had set up there. A shame too, as this would have made things easier."

"Yes, well, I'm afraid that I've found the Clock Tower's attempts at capturing me rather lackluster thus far."

There was a snort on the other end of the line. "No need to convince me. Honestly, this whole operation has been one disaster after another ever since The Clock Tower got this city. Not only did the magi here vastly underestimate your competence for some reason, they also didn't bother to acquaint themselves with the corporation that controlled these blasted creatures. I swear, if magi these days didn't have their heads so far up their asses we wouldn't have to be compromising like we are now."

I blinked in surprise at the woman's rather frank and critical statement. "You're… not a very typical magus."

"Neither are you from what I've heard. I would make a 'birds of a feather' pun, but I think it would be in bad taste all things considered. Now, what I want is for all this nonsense to get resolved as soon and quietly as possible. It is only a matter of time before I hunt you down, including your doppelgangers if I'm reading this report correctly, but I would rather that you and your allies turn yourselves in to the MBI tower by midnight."

I frowned in confusion at this. "Wait, why do you want me to go to the MBI tower? What did you mean when you said comprises?"

There was a drawn out sigh. "Because of the lack of foresight at the beginning of this operation, we are not able to deal with the company like we should. Instead we've managed to reach an… arrangement with them."

"You're… working with MBI?" I asked incredulously.

"Unbelievable, I know." The woman remarked dryly. "Quite a few of my new subordinates disagreed with me on this decision, something about 'magus's pride' or whatnow. However, they now know better." The statement was completely casual, but the implication sent a shiver down my spine. "In any case, there are things in motion which will keep things under wraps."

I was silent for a moment before I said "And what if I don't turn myself in?"

"Then I will have to start doing terrible things to the people you care about." She said in the same causal tone. "Make no mistake, I may be much more affable than most magi you'll meet these days, but I am fully willing to do whatever I have to in order to fix this mess. And to show you I'm serious, I promise you that the first one's I'll start with are your mother and sister."

I briefly felt a cold pit in my stomach at how she knew of my family before it was quickly replaced with hot rage. "If you-!"

"-harm them in any way, you'll make me suffer, ect." She said in an almost bored tone. "Yes, I've heard such threats before many times. Understand that I have no desire to do so, or harbor you any ill will. In fact I have almost a grudging respect for what you have managed in spite of all you have against you. Of course, as I have said, that won't stop me in the slightest from accomplishing my goals. So, I except to see you here within the next 15 hours or so. Any questions?"

I grit my teeth and racked my brain to think of something that might tip the scales more in my favor, but the woman was clearly a professional and knew what she was doing. I had gotten out of similar binds so far, but that was mostly due to luck. I asked the only question that I thought might be helpful and that she would actually answer. "Who are you?"

There was a pause on the other end of the line before I heard a slight chuckle. "Well, that is a very involved question. I have borne many names throughout my lifetime, but in the interest of keeping it brief and making you understand why it would be a bad idea to try something tricky, I will give you the name you are most familiar with. You may call me Gazamy."

I blinked in surprise. "You can't mean… you're the Wraith?"

"Got it in one. Don't keep me waiting, Shirou Emiya." And with that, the line went dead.

I sat alone in the living room of the empty apartment we had broken into. Troper had pointed out that it would be prudent to get off the streets for a while, so we had done so in order to come up with a plan. Of course, given what I was up against, I had no idea how to do that.

Gazamy the Wraith, one of the three supposed disasters of the Mage's Association. To be perfectly honest, that was the absolute entirety of information I had on the person. Sure, there was plenty of rumor and speculation, but the truth was no one in the Clock Tower had anymore idea about it than I did. Gazamy was like the boogeyman in stories, appearing out of nowhere to cause ruination before disappearing just as suddenly. The woman I had spoken to could have of course been lying, but a gut feeling told me that I shouldn't just assume that.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I noticed Troper walking towards me. "Are you sure you don't want to just leave?" I asked him. "With your Rin here, I'm sure you could just-"

He held up his hand to cut me off. "No. You're going to need all the help you can get and I would not be happy with myself if I left you just dangling in the wind."

I gave a sigh. "Thank you, but to be honest, you still should probably sit this one out. You still can't use your magecraft."

Troper shifted a little before saying "Actually, I've been thinking about that, and I think I have a way to still be useful in a magical regard."

I cocked my head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"My Reality Marble is still recovering, but my circuits are just fine. And your Rin mentioned how the two of you ended up forming a magic contract during your War, so I was thinking-"

"What?!" I exclaimed. "You want to- No! No, absolutely not!"

Troper looked confused. "What? Why not? This way I can give you extra prana that I'm not using. What's wrong with that?"

"That's not the problem I have! The problem is what we'd have to do to make it happen!"

"We wouldn't have to do that much. I mean, I know it requires a bond-" he cut himself off as a thought occurred to him, and his eyes went wide. "Wait, you mean that you and Rin… to make that bond… Oh no! No no no no! That is not what I meant!" He said frantically, waving his arms in front of him. "I was going to say that we would just exploit the bond we've had since I got here! There's not need to go and do… that."

I breathed a sigh of relief. He was right in that it would be both useful and smart for him to give me prana that he wasn't using at the moment, but I would not have wanted getting it in… that particular manner. Especially after all the comments made to that effect by the various females I knew.

"What's all this yelling about?" Rin asked, walking out of the room where she and the other two females had been planning.

Troper turned to her. "Oh, well I was just telling Shriou that I think I could give him some of my prana by making a magical contract with him-"

"What?! Y-you're going to do t-that?!"

Troper gave a weak chuckle. "Ah, don't worry, I was just telling him that I'm pretty sure we can manage it without the… you know."

Rin however did not seem to hear him. "I-I mean, Shriou always insisted that he was never into that sort of thing, but if he's willing to do it now…"

Troper frowned. "Uh, no, as I was saying, that will not be unnecessary-"

"Of course, if it was just the two of y-you, you'd probably screw it up somehow," Rin said as she continued to ignore what Troper said, a blush rapidly growing on her face. "Therefore, the only sensible thing to w-would be to have… tohavemejoin." She said in a rush as her face became the color of a tomato.

Troper's alarm matched my own as he said. "Ok, this is starting to go to some really uncomfortable places, and it's totally not necessary because."

"My expertise in this matter is crucial. I'll be able to act as a c-c-conduit between you two."

I felt my eyebrows twitch as the mental image caused by that statement inevitably entered my head.

"Ok, what's going on over here?" Tohsaka asked as she walked over to the three of us, and Saber was looking at the group from a short ways away as well.

"Well, Rin seems to think that Shirou and I are going to form a magical contract with her assistance using intercourse, but I-" Troper began.

"What?! What make you think that I'll let you just sleep with my Shriou?!" Tohsaka exclaimed.

"Well I can't just let them do it alone! They need someone to make sure their doing right!"

Tohsaka of course was not taking this lying down. "Well, of course they do, but why should it be you?"

"Why is no one listening to me?" Troper asked weakly.

Rin retorted at her counterpart. "Because I have more experience with this particular ritual!"

Tohsaka gave a dismissive wave of her hand. "Perhaps, but I'm older and more experienced in general. And there's no way I would just let my Shirou do something like this without getting involved."

As so I was treated to the very uncomfortable sight of my old girlfriend and herself from another dimension haggle over the specifics of the lot of us having sex, in excruciating detail. Though Troper and I tried numerous times to tell them that it was completely unnecessary, they flat out ignored us and kept at it. I wasn't sure if it could get any worse.

Then Rin said "Saber of course will be a participant as well and mediate."

Tohsaka nodded. "This is a given and I am surprised that you even needed to mention it."

I face palmed as Saber began blushing furiously. Never mind, of course it could get worse.