Okay, wow. The day after I posted this, I got a bunch of updates, which, honestly, made my morning.

Since it's already happening, I decided to continue the list idea from my other story. :D

Favorites/Follows: doglover1290, IluvWinxandRandyCunningham, and Shouhei Narumi.

Reviews: doglover1290, and Shouhei Narumi.

This. This makes me happy. And that means I write.

I will warn those who have this story on alert - I'll probably be posting these chapters on Wednesdays unless something happens, so that means any errors I see when I look at it will be fixed and you'll get updates.

Sorry.

Disclaimer: The witch is mine. Everything else isn't. And now I'm sad. :(

~~~~MSFF~~~~

I woke up as my alarm went off. I groaned and whacked it, frowning unhappily.

Being a witch could be hard.

With that, I rolled out of bed and got dressed before padding near silently out of my room. I was on a mission - grab my talismans and get them in my closet before I was caught.

It was just after four and the moon had about fifteen minutes left before it vanished completely. No one had told me I couldn't wander around at night, but I didn't want to get caught, just in case.

Forge might actually have thrown me off a cliff and, as I was not TURBO powered and hopefully wouldn't be (too close to being el diablo for me to actually wish for that), it would be a long fall followed by an abrupt stop and a lot of pain.

I paused, struck by a sudden thought. "Why don't they ever attack at night? It's always during the day time. Weird."

I shook it off and continued down the hallway, slipping silently out of a door that wasn't wired to let someone know it had been opened. An oversight, I was sure, but one I had planned on exploiting as much as possible without making it a weakness.

I stopped at the edge of the weak light, watching carefully to make sure there was nothing that would spot me, then dashed to the open outcrop that hid my talismans from sight but still gave access to the moonlight. I ducked into the opening I had found on my scouting and grinned at the paper talismans hanging on a line, alternately flashing kanji and sigils. Quickly unhooking them, I hightailed it back to the door and then to my room.

I breathed a sigh of relief once I was safely there, heading to the closet and opening the door to hang them on the waiting line. The four energy nullifiers were slid into the waiting page protectors - made using tape, because of course I couldn't request page protectors - and I shut the door firmly, staggered back to the bed, and passed out.

~~~~MSFF~~~~

My secondary alarm went off at seven thirty. If it had been my choice, I would have slept 'till noon - anything magical drained me, as it was just essentially the manipulation of energy - but it was not my choice and Forge wanted me up that early to brief me.

As I hadn't changed clothes, it was easy enough for me to roll out of bed and go brush my teeth and my hair. Straightening my clothes, I walked out of my room and headed to the com room, only to find no one was there.

"Welp," I sighed, "time to ask for directions."

After stopping several grunts, I finally got a complete set of instructions and headed off to Forge's office. I pressed the buzzer and waited a few minutes, darting in when the doors opened.

"You wanted to see me?" I asked, twitching slightly.

I didn't do well with sleep deprivation and it had been hard to fall asleep, what with the lump on my head. It felt better this morning, and by better, I meant it no longer felt like someone was stabbing me in the head with a knife every time I shifted. It was more of a low level ache, and I resigned myself to at least another four days of headaches before it was mostly gone.

Forge looked up and pointed to a stack of paper. "That's how we'll resolve this situation. On paper, you're my daughter. You'll be staying with your 'cousin' Max and your 'aunt' Molly. You'll be enrolled in the school and your first day will be on Tuesday."

I twitched more violently. "¿En qué universo es que una buena idea?"

He glared at me. "It's not my favorite idea, but it's the best one. All you need to do is sign the papers, then scram."

"Yes, sir," I said sarcastically as the little Sue-meter in my head slowly ticked closer to the red danger area.

Several signed papers later and I was outta there and heading to Berto's lab to whine.

~~~~MSFF~~~~

I walked in, took one look at the three empty cups, and seriously contemplated walking back out. Unfortunately, Berto saw me. Fortunately, it appeared that coffee was helping him function, and not actually making him hyperactive.

"Ryn!" he waved. "Max is coming in later and I wanted to get cytro finished before he got here. Mind helping?"

I grinned and bounced over. "Sure! What do you need me to do?"

He shrugged. "I'm going with the rack system, but I'm taking your suggestion and adding a layer of plastic around the electronics, just in case."

I reached over and snagged the surgical masks, tossing one to him. "Airbrushing?"

He smiled evilly. "Airbrushing."

~~~~MSFF~~~~

It actually didn't take that long to finish the upgrade to cytro, and we closed him up and got him on his feet just in time for Max to wander in. I took myself over to a corner with a book that I'd found and my alphabet convertor, in an effort to familiarize myself better. I was hoping to get my fluency with it up to the level of the other two codes I knew, so that I could just scan it and not have to actively translate it.

School would be very hard for me if I couldn't.

Berto watched me curiously as I worked quietly, before turning back to greet Max. They did their guy thing and I worked quietly, only glancing up when Max shorted out cytro.

My head snapped up when I heard the words "TURBO touch proof", however, and with that, I was up and moving, shooting past the startled pair.

I ignored their surprise, retracing my steps to the com room, checking in for Forge and heading to his office upon finding he wasn't there.

I slapped the button and bounced in, interrupting Forge before he could blow up. "It's today."

His mouth snapped shut and his face instantly went into battle mode. He nodded curtly and turned to Jefferson and Kat, who looked confused. I left immediately, heading back to my room. There wasn't a lot I could do for now, and if I was in the lab, I would be too busy pacing and upset Berto and Steel. At least in my room, I could pace without disturbing someone.

~~~~MSFF~~~~

I had finally managed to settle down and get back to my book, which was actually pretty interesting once I got the hang of it, when the alarm went off. Even though I was expecting it, it still startled me.

I shot off my bed and headed to the area I had made sure to wander past a time or two. The rest of the common group were already there.

Forge looked at me. "Where do we look?"

I smiled faux cheerfully. "Bathrooms. Also, be careful. Max, Steel, Berto, head to the waste plant on the outskirts of town."

With that, we split up. I followed Forge, as he was the only one without a partner.

"Why a bathroom?" he asked as we ran.

I shrugged. "By this point, one of the goop monsters has gotten his hands on cytro's remote, which means he's hiding in a bathroom as cytro heads for the vault. You replaced the bomb?"

He gave me me a short nod and kicked open a bathroom door. I dropped to the ground and checked for feet and/or goop, shaking my head in a negative when Forge looked at me.

We moved on to the next bathroom. It, too, was empty and I could practically feel the frustration roll off my temporary partner.

"Where is it?" Forge growled.

I skidded to a stop, my eyes wide. "Oh, crap! It's near the Chemi-Vault! I forgot that cytro whacked Max through a wall into a bathroom!"

Forge slid to a stop and ran in the opposite direction. I pelted after him and poked the communicator I had been handed.

"Search teams, head for the Chemi-Vault! Our target is in a bathroom near there!"

We slid around a corner and Forge kicked open a door. I dropped and felt my eyes widen - there was our target! I scooched to the side and nodded, holding up three fingers.

In went he, kicking the stall open, swiping the control pad, and shooting the goop monster.

I poked the communicator. "Berto, you there?"

He answered almost immediately. "We're almost there. How are things there?"

I looked back into the bathroom, where Forge was gleefully flushing the goop monster down the toilet. "We found the goop monster and it was neutralized. Once Forge is done, there will be reinforcements coming your way. See ya."

Berto acknowledged and I turned back in time to catch the tablet and jump at an explosion. "I guess cytro got the tox-bomb. He's got rockets, which means we need to head to the plant ourselves. Well, you. I'm useless."

Forge nodded. "Head to the com room. Be on hand."

I saluted and took off.

~~~~MSFF~~~~

I slid into the com room and trotted to the station one of the grunts pointed to me. It basically was just a continuous monitor of casualties, as well as information on Max's body readouts, as well as Forge's and Berto's.

I flicked the current screen to the left and got a map of N-Tek, with red areas highlighting damaged sections. I also noticed three squads on standby, apparently waiting for orders.

I touched one and nearly jumped when a comm link opened. "Um, okay, then. Squad four, head down the hall to your front and left. At the end, there is a collapse blocking… what appears to be a med bay. Go ahead and clear that, if you can."

To my surprise, they instantly set off. I grinned and deployed the other three squads quickly before flicking that screen to the left to see damage and personnel reports from the three med bays, including the blocked one.

I touched it and smiled victoriously at the comm link that appeared. "Medical two, squad four is on their way to clear your entrance. Are you currently available to accept patients?"

There was a pause, and then someone responded. "Affirmative, Command. What is the ETA of squad four?"

I flicked the medical screen to the right, revealing squad four was just about there. "Less than a minute, Medical two. If possible, please move personnel away from the door."

"Affirmative, Command. Medical two out."

I flicked the two screens to the left, revealing another screen, which was an aerial map of the area showing N-Tek forces out in the world. I figured it would be for seeing who needed to be pulled out and where reinforcements were needed. Right now, it wasn't necessary, but coming up, it would be.

A flick left put me back at the casualty reports. I sighed and got to work decoding it, relieved to see that it was majorly structural damages and that no one had actually died or gotten seriously hurt.

Medicals one and three were handling the injuries that were present effectively.

A beeping noise caught my attention and I saw that it was squad four checking in. I tapped the icon.

"Command."

"Command, this is squad four. Medical two is clear. Awaiting orders."

I flicked to that screen and looked over the map. "Squad four, there is a collapsed section to the south. Please clear it."

"Affirmative, Command. Squad four is heading out."

After that, squad three checked in and I sent them to help squad two, who had messaged me seconds earlier to request such help.

Squad one was sent to clear the area near the Chemi-Vault and to see what could be done about the holes blown in the walls.

I descended into a bit of a haze, working to get the base back to, if not completely the same, as close as possible.

~~~~MSFF~~~~

I nearly jumped out of my skin close to three hours later when Berto touched me on the shoulder. "Ack!"

He laughed at me. "Chica, tienes que relajarte."

I scowled at him. "Yo estaba concentrado! ¿Por qué estás aquí? Pensé que estaría jugando con CY.T.R.O."

He shrugged. "The commander is looking for you."

I sighed and did a last check through the screens. Medical had treated everyone and the squads were finishing up the last of the repairs. Casualty reports had been read and sent to the appropriate persons (which took one of the other grunts helping me, to be honest). I nodded and tapped the handy button I had found which let me speak to all the squads at once.

"Alright, once you're done with your current tasks, you're done. Well done, all."

I turned back to Berto and grinned. "Lead the way."

Forge was sort of happy to see me. In the "you're now my responsibility and if something had happened to you there would have been a lot of paperwork" sort of way.

He was not, however, happy about my temporary assignment to the Casualties Station.

"That was not what I meant when I told you to go to the com room and be on hand."

I shrugged, sinking a little more down into the chair. "It needed to be done. Besides, it kept me from getting bored."

He groaned. "You could have messed something up."

I smiled. "But I didn't. And now that I've done that, I'm going to pester one of the grunts into telling me where all the protocols and regulations are located and go look up what I should have done so I can do it better if it happens again."

I could practically feel him wanting to slam his head into the desk. "You aren't actually an N-Tek operative."

I stared at him. "Um, neither is Max. Soooo…. you know, there goes that argument. Hey, I'm actually useful for more than just smacking stuff, although I can't really smack stuff."

Berto, who had been listening in amusement this whole time, added, "She has a point. Unless you want to send her out to fight?"

I cringed. "I'm a pacifist of the highest order. Please don't. I will be all the support you want, but please do not make me fight."

They both stared at me. I looked at the ceiling.

"Really?" Berto sounded surprised.

I nodded, still looking at the ceiling. "It's one of the obligations I choose to hold myself to. Don't curse people unless they deserve it, protect those you can, work with the environment, and don't use violence unless you will die otherwise."

Forge and Berto looked at each other, then Forge shook his head. "Well, that complicates matters. Ryn, dismissed. Try not to destroy anything."

I scowled and left. It didn't really matter what I did, it was nearly impossible to destroy the base. I could, however, activate my talismans and tie them to stone charms.

I grinned and bounded towards my room.

~~~~MSFF~~~~

I waved at the door duty guard as I casually strolled by, shoulder bag full of my current magical supplies. I was going to set up a dozen bind tags to charge, mainly because I wasn't sure if there were any malevolent entities, and also because they were good practice for drawing things the exact same way every time.

I knew he'd tell Forge I was leaving base, and I knew Forge would tell Berto to track me, but I was hoping I'd have enough time to activate all of my talismans.

With that, I ran over to my outcropping and got to work setting everything up.

It didn't take me very long, and I chose to spend the rest of the time waiting for the sun-charging talismans activating those that were moon-charged only, which was one of my protection charms, my don't notice me charm, and my misdirection charm, and transferring them to quartz stone charms.

There were better stones to use, but there was quartz everywhere and quartz was naturally good at storing spells, so quartz I used.

Afterwards, I sat there, watching the sun set. Surprisingly, there was no very mad Forge appearing, or a curious Berto, or an even curiouser Max.

It was relaxing.

Of course, I remembered I had to go to school Tuesday, which made me a little sad.

At least Forge wasn't making me go tomorrow.

As the sun set, I climbed down and set up my moon talismans to charge as I took and activated my sun and moon-and-sun charged talismans. There were only a few - another protection charm, a charm against negativity, and a talisman to warn for those with ill intent.

All in all, it was standard fare against the things that go bump in the night. Usually I would go about setting up a larger array of protections, but as it stood now, this was the best short notice stuff I could get.

I collected my stones and my completed, non-stone needing talismans and trooped inside just as the moon appeared over the edge of the canyon.

Forge was waiting for me just inside the doors. "What were you doing?"

I looked at him. "Magic."

He scowled at me. "There is no such thing."

I stopped and faced him fully, raising an eyebrow. "You're trying to prevent a full-on war with an alien guy that eats planets, has an army of tiny highly intelligent robots that take over and reconfigure whatever they choose into fully automated weapons, your sister married an alien, and you get a cybernetically advanced arm that replaces the one that gets eaten by a centipede monster, and you don't believe in magic. Right, cuz that's logical in the face of everything you've seen."

I shook my head and walked away, missing the stunned stupid look on Forge's face.

~~~~MSFF~~~~

I checked my handy dandy moon app and set my first alarm for about twenty minutes before the moon went down, a little after four thirty. I inwardly whined - getting up early was evil.

It was worth it though, so I went to sleep almost immediately.

I was a little disoriented when my alarm went off, but followed the pattern of yesterday, slipping out to collect my recharged talismans and make sure the necessary sun talismans were ready to be hung before heading back inside.

This time, however, Berto was waiting for me. "What were you doing outside so early?"

I held up the paper talismans. "It's bad to leave them out there. Most of these are moon-charge only, so leaving them out to be hit by the sun can mess up the magic."

I started walking back to my room and Berto trailed after me. "You're a pagan, right?"

I nodded and yawned. "Pagan doesn't necessarily mean witch though. It just so happens that I'm both."

He tilted his head. "¿Por qué usted se convierte en una bruja?"

I shrugged. "Es parte de mi herencia."

Berto frowned at me. "Being a witch is part of your heritage?"

I laughed, shaking my head. "I'm of Irish and Scottish descent. Both islands had their own peoples, called the Celts. The Celts had their pantheons. Besides, people do scary things in the name of Christianity."

We stopped outside my door. I shifted talismans around so I could get a hand free to enter my code, waving goodbye to Berto as I entered.

After hanging them up, I fell into bed and passed out, content.

~~~~MSFF~~~~

*collapses* There we go. I have done my authorly duty and am going to go sleep till next Sunday. Translations below.

el diablo - the devil

¿En qué universo es que una buena idea? - In what universe is that a good idea?

Chica, tienes que relajarte. - Girl, you need to relax.

Yo estaba concentrado! ¿Por qué estás aquí? Pensé que estaría jugando con CY.T.R.O. - I was focused! Why are you here? I thought you'd be playing with CY.T.R.O.

¿Por qué usted se convierte en una bruja? - Why did you become a witch?

Es parte de mi herencia. - It's part of my heritage.

It's not as long this time. It would've been longer and out tomorrow, but alas, I was denied laptop time. Unfortunate, really.

Ten pages, which is my new lower limit, but it's done and out!