Chapter 8: Contact
"RRRGGHHHHHH!" Chisame's hands shook as she resisted the urge to tear out handfuls of hair, instead slamming them down on her desk. "Why isn't anything working!-? No IP address, no digital trail, no other record that this idiot even exists anywhere on the entire Internet! It's not even possible! There has to be something somewhere!"
She slumped in her chair. The outburst had burned through what little energy she had left. Fortunately, on the corner of her desk sat a half-empty twelve-pack of Red Bull. Sure, after half a dozen of them, the jitters made it a bit tough to type anything, but it beat falling asleep. The only real downside was that they didn't taste all that great, a downside that was rather exacerbated by the fact that they weren't really cold any more. Chisame sighed, mentally berating herself for not putting the cans in the mini-fridge. Her bumbling attempt to open the can was interrupted by the a loud beep from the computer.
temporalJellyfish messaged eternalSeptember on May 27 at 3:47 AM.
TJ: How goes the tracking?
TJ: I presume you have made some progress since I last checked on you?
ES: You presume wrong.
ES: Completely wrong. -_-
TJ: Have you found anything?
ES: Take a wild guess.
TJ: Are you serious, Chisame?
TJ: I thought that you were the best.
ES: Oh shut up. :[
ES: I am the best, dammit.
ES: It's not a total loss.
ES: The stuff I didn't find is pretty important.
ES: It's obviously not what I'm looking for.
ES: But it still tells me something.
ES: Like it's pretty telling where all the holes are.
ES: You of all people should have some vague idea of what I'm talking about.
ES: Being all sciencey and smart and whatever.
TJ: Of course.
TJ: It's a bit like the concept of negative space.
TJ: I admit that the arts are hardly my strong point
TJ: But the idea of defining an object based on absence rather than presence is quite intriguing.
TJ: It reminds me a bit of deriving the trajectories of mana particles.
ES: Shut up already.
ES: You know I don't give a crap.
TJ: My, my, aren't you cranky?
ES: It's four in the freaking morning
ES: And I have Red Bull running through my viens
ES: Because I've been spending all freaking night
ES: Tracking this ass that you weren't able to.
TJ: You misspelled veins.
TJ: The "I before E" rule apparently doesn't count here.
TJ: English sure is a quirky language.
ES: I don't give a rat's ass! :(
TJ: You sure are cantankerous when you're tired.
ES: I'm only awake because you're paying me to be awake.
ES: Why the hell are you awake now anyway?
ES: No way that you decided to bother me now just for a status update.
TJ: I couldn't sleep, and I had an idea that might make this whole thing move faster.
TJ: But first inform me of what you've found.
TJ: Or haven't found, as the case may be.
ES: Fine.
ES: This "jackassTrancendance" person is a total non-entity on the internet.
ES: No email, no IP, no other accounts anywhere.
ES: No traces of him anywhere.
ES: And that shouldn't be possible.
ES: Any time you do anything on the internet you leave stuff behind.
ES: But this guy has nothing.
ES: Nothing links to him.
ES: So either he literally doesn't do anything on the internet except bother you.
ES: Or else he's very very good.
ES: As in, he's at my level.
ES: If I were a professional.
TJ: Wow, so you admit that he is better than you?
ES: No.
ES: He's just more experienced.
ES: And connected, I'd guess.
ES: His chat account is a dead end.
ES: And I'm guessing that it's because he's connected.
ES: He's stopping the account from linking to any of his other online activities.
ES: If I could hack into the chat server I could access his information.
ES: That would take forever though. Major company and all.
TJ: Then I guess it's good that I thought of a possible shortcut.
ES: What is it?
TJ: I will tell you tomorrow when I get the details ironed out.
TJ: I will meet you in your room tomorrow after class.
TJ: Right now I have some arrangements to make.
ES: What, I don't even get a hint?
TJ: Nope.
ES: :[
TJ: Get some sleep. You can get back to work tomorrow.
TJ: Ciao!
ES: You can be a real bitch.
ES: You know that, right?
temporalJellyfish is offline at 4:04 AM.
ES: Dammit.
Chisame's eye was twitching so hard from the combination of frustration and caffeine jitters that she could hardly see. Whatever it was that Chao was up to, it was an excuse to stop wasting her time accomplishing absolutely nothing. She slammed the laptop shut and crawled into bed. Maybe she could get enough sleep in that she wouldn't nod off in class again.
Homura couldn't sleep. She could blame any number of things for that; the stress of being thrust into a new world, unpleasant memories forcing their way to the surface of her thoughts, Makie's squeaky snoring...but she knew that that wasn't the case. It was the smell. It lingered on the sheets, the pillow, hung in the air. It wasn't a bad scent by any means. Just the opposite, in fact; there was something light about it, something that made her jittery and energetic. Even after Ako had brought a new set of clean sheets in, the scent still lingered. Every time Homura inhaled, she could feel her heartbeat pick up a little.
She needed something else to focus on. Her hand rose to her chest and slipped inside her shirt. Her fingers wrapped around the gem that dangled around her neck. The light from the digital clock on the far wall bounced off of it and shattered, glittering softly in the darkness. The gem itself was a cool violet, the size and shape of an egg, wrapped with golden bands. Even in the dark, she could tell that it was flawless, totally clear and smooth. She cupped her hands around it, blocking out the light that shimmered off of it. Without the illumination, the gem was all but invisible. Her eyelids began to droop as she stared at the stone, wondering why it was so dark and whether she should be afraid or relieved as a result. She was still debating the matter in her head when her fatigue finally won out.
Twilight cocked her head as she perused the massive stack of flash cards on the end table next to Yue's bed.
"So you're studying these because in this world, magic tightly linked with language?"
"My knowledge of the exact mechanics of the magic are limited, but I believe that's the case," Yue answered as she picked up a handful of cards and began to shuffle them. "I've also been told that the potency of the spells is increased if one uses more archaic language, hence why I'm studying this rather than Latin. I have no idea why things work that way; you would be much better off getting that sort of information from Negi. I'm really quite an amateur as far as magic goes."
"I've been meaning to discuss it with him, but he's been pretty busy lately." Twilight said. "Trying to find out what's going on and find places for everyone who ended up here. I've been trying to do research about it, but I'm only really familiar with how pony magic works. Your world's magic is a bit different, and I haven't quite figured out how pony magic interacts with it."
"Okay, how about this one?" Nodoka took advantage of Twilight's pause to hold up a card.
"Umm..." Yue furrowed her eyebrows, as if focusing harder on the letters on the card would somehow help her comprehend the meaning. "Wind?"
"No. Sorry." Nodoka flipped the card around for Yue to see.
"Ugh." Yue flopped back onto the bed. "I can't concentrate like this!"
"I'm not bothering you, am I?" Twilight asked.
"You're fine," Yue muttered. "It's that that's making it difficult." She pointed at the television. Explosions filled the screen, and the volume was so high that it rattled against the shelf it sat on. Rainbow Dash sprawled across the couch, munching loudly and messily on a Twinkie. Fluttershy was curled up in a ball at the end of the couch, flipping through a stack of animal-themed picture books that Nodoka had retrieved from the library.
"Rainbow Dash, can you make that a little quieter?" Twilight had to half-yell over the sound of the movie.
"Fine, fine..." Rainbow mumbled through a mouthful of junk food. She fumbled awkwardly with the remote, poking at the buttons with her hooves. The television went completely silent, and the explosions disappeared, replaced with a blank blue glow. "Aw crap. What button was that?" She jabbed at the remote again, knocking it off the sofa. "Dangit." She leaned over. "Crud, it rolled under." She leaned further, pawing around under the edge of the couch with her foreleg. "Whoa!" Rainbow screeched as she tumbled over the edge, landing on her head with a thud. "...Ow."
"Are you alright?" Fluttershy poked nervously at Rainbow Dash's prone form.
"I'm fine," Rainbow groaned. "Ugh, my head..."
"Maybe you should lay off the movies for a little while," Nodoka said softly. "I mean, you've been watching them almost nonstop for the past few days after all."
"I agree," Fluttershy said, in an equally low voice. "I did like some of the movies that Nodoka brought for us, but all of your explodey things are starting to give me a headache."
"What are we supposed to do then?" Rainbow Dash grumbled as she righted herself.
"Maybe we could play a game," Nodoka offered.
"What, like those things Haruna was playing?" Rainbow Dash lifted her forelegs and wagged them to emphasize her lack of digits. "That could be a problem. I bet Twilight could manage it, but I don't think I'm up to it."
"I'm quite sure that she means like a board game or something of that nature," Yue answered. "Monopoly, perhaps?"
"How do you play that?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Well, it's based around basic economic concepts-"
"Booooorriiinnngggg!" the blue pegasus interrupted.
"I think it actually sounds sort of interesting," Fluttershy said.
"Oh come on. Economics? Bleaagghhh." Rainbow Dash made a mock gagging noise. "Don't you have anything cooler?"
"I suppose you could play Risk..." Yue said with sigh. "That was based off of strategic warfare-"
"Okay, now that sounds awesome!" Rainbow Dash rubbed her hooves together in anticipation. "How do you play? Do we shoot stuff at each other?"
"Actually, the outcomes of each conflict are determined statistically via dice rolling," Yue said, assuming her exposition mode. "The players must attempt to maneuver themselves into favorable position."
"That sounds...kinda boring."
"It can actually be rather interesting," Yue continued. "Especially if one examines the long term effects of one's early actions over the entirety of the game."
"How about we don't do that?"
"I think it sounds sort of interesting," Twilight said.
"I don't think so," Rainbow Dash grumbled.
"Um, I have an idea..." Nodoka raised a hand. "How about this?" She held a up a bright red box. Twilight arched her neck forward to get a look at the words written across it.
"Apples to Apples? Huh..." The unicorn's ears drooped a little.
"Are you okay, Twilight?" Nodoka asked, noting Twilight's sudden dejection.
"Yeah, it just reminded me of one of my friends from back home."
"I'm kinda surprised that she didn't bust through the wall or something when you pulled that out," Rainbow Dash said. "Wouldn't surprise me if Applejack already has that game, though."
"Applejack?" Yue raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You have a friend named after a cereal?"
"Huh? Applejack isn't a grain." It was Rainbow Dash's turn to be confused. "What does a cereal have to do with anything?"
"Well, there's this breakfast cereal called 'Apple Jacks'..." Nodoka began to explain. "It's known for the – actually, that's not really important. Why don't you tell me more about your friend?"
"Of course," Fluttershy said with a nod. "Applejack's family owns a big farm. They grow a couple of different things, but mostly they grow apples. She's a very hard worker; she and her brother do almost all the work on the farm themselves."
"Yeah, I'm not sure how they do it," Twilight added. "Especially when they have to take care of Granny Smith and Apple Bloom." She glanced pensively into the air. "I wonder if the rest of our friends showed up here too. They were right there when the whole...thing happened. I hope they're okay."
"I'm sure they're fine," Fluttershy said, putting a reassuring hoof on Twilight's shoulder.
"Yeah! Applejack is tough. She can take care of herself." Rainbow Dash leaned back on the couch, folding her forelegs. "Pinkie Pie is probably okay too. She's...Pinkie. If she's around, she probably pulled a cake out of her hair and started a party or something. Rarity, she might be in trouble."
"Rarity is probably okay," Fluttershy offered. "She was okay when she was kidnapped by those dog things."
"I didn't mean trouble trouble." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "I mean that she probably freaked out because she landed in a tree and ruined her mane or something with no way to fix it up."
"Yeah, you're probably right," Twilight sighed. "I just wish I knew where they were or what they were doing." She looked wistfully into space for a moment before rapidly shaking her head. "Well, no use dwelling on that." She turned back to Nodoka. "Why don't you know us how to play that game? Then when we finally get all this figured out we can teach Applejack how to play it."
"Okay!" Nodoka smiled as she carried the box to the table. "See, everybody gets seven red cards-"
A loud knock on the door interrupted her. Yue started to get up to open it, but it opened on its own, and Chao's head popped through the gap. She grinned.
"I'm not interrupting, am I?"
"Well, you kind of are..." Yue grumbled as she returned to her seat on the sofa.
"Sorry about that," she said, smiling in a way that indicated she really wasn't. "I just need to borrow Twilight for a few minutes. Do you mind? I promise that it'll be worth her while. It won't take long."
"I suppose I could come along," Twilight answered. "You can start the game without me. I'm sure I'll be able to figure it out when I come back."
"Excellent." Chao rubbed her hands together. "Well, you'd better come along, then. I'd hate to waste more of your time than I have to."
"Will you get the hell out of my room already?" Chisame glared at the ermine that lounged on her sofa, a comically large pipe in his mouth. "Or at least get rid of that thing? This is a no-smoking dorm, and I don't want to get in trouble over it."
"Nah, this is just a bubble pipe," Chamo said, puffing a few bubbles into the air. "I'm only in here because that Chao girl told me to meet her here."
"Oh joy, the talking weasel is in on this big plan of hers," Chisame grumbled. "This is going to be a winner."
"Give me a break, neesan!" Chamo said. "Just because I'm a talking ermine doesn't mean that I can't help you out."
"It has nothing to do with the fact that you're an animal, and everything to do with the fact that you were rummaging around in my underwear drawer. At least Twilight has some sense of decency."
"You really do have some fancy stuff in there." Chamo wiggled his eyebrows. "Never would have pegged you as the type to have something that frilly, and I'm usually pretty good at figuring that out."
"I swear if you weren't Negi's pet I'd throw you out a window."
"I'm here!" Chao burst through the door, Twilight in tow. "And I brought Twilight along. Let's get this show on the road. Now, Chisame, you've been having trouble tracking down information on our mystery subject, correct?"
"Of course. What are you going to do to help me?"
"Well, I figured that you could use something of a...let's call it a power boost. You're still pretty new to the magic thing, so I'm assuming that you aren't familiar with the magical contract that's known as a Pactio."
"Nope, I have no idea what that is," Chisame deadpanned. "Please enlighten me."
"Well, long story short, a mundane can make a contract with a mage, and they get a power boost; and if the mage is powerful enough, they get a magical artifact that grants them special powers. Those powers are usually dependent on the personality of the person in the contract. Because of this, I think it's highly probable that if you make a pactio, you'll receive something that will allow you to hack a lot more effectively."
"Really?" Chisame narrowed her eyes at Chao, trying to hide a spark of genuine interest under a veneer of skepticism.
"Of course." Chao threw an arm around Chisame's shoulders. "Think about it. Your already formidable skills supplemented by magic. It would be spectacular!"
"I see your point," Chisame answered, trying not to sound too enthusiastic. "But what's the price of this setup? Do I lose seven years of my life or get turned into a monster or something when I run out of power?"
"No, no. I wouldn't ask you to do something like that for such trivial purposes. It's not like I'm asking you to sell your soul or anything. Several of your classmates have already placed themselves in these contracts with your teacher."
"Really?"
"Yes. You can ask any of them about it. There's no real downside to the procedure."
"So, saying that, theoretically, I was willing to do this. What mage am I going to make a contract with? Negi? I had thought you wanted to keep him out of this."
"That's exactly why I brought our dear unicorn friend along." Chao thrust a finger at Twilight. "You can make a pactio with her!"
"Me!-?" Twilight blurted. "I'm not familiar enough with how magic works here to do something like that."
"That shouldn't be a problem," Chao said, releasing Chisame. "Believe it or not, the only thing required for a pactio is someone with sufficient magical power, and someone to make the pactio circle. Chamo here is a specialist in drawing the circles, and you have such an impressive amount of magical energy that Chisame is guaranteed to get an artifact out of the deal. The process works with any kind of magic, so the fact that you're a unicorn shouldn't be a problem. Besides..." Now she put an arm around Twilight. "This is a great chance for you to learn about our form of magic. What better way to learn it than to experience it firsthand?"
"I suppose that would be quite interesting..." Twilight said. "As long as you're sure that it'll work..."
"The worst case scenario is that the circle just won't do anything," Chao said with a shrug. "Even if it fails, it's not going to do anything to you."
"Are you sure?" Chisame narrowed her eyes. "I don't want to explode or anything."
"I assure you, it's perfectly safe," Chao said, rolling her eyes. "Listen, as long as you even attempt it, I'll give you an entire wholesale-size box of Reese's Pieces. You'll get it even if the pactio doesn't work. There's no downside here, Chisame. You stand to gain magic powers, and lose nothing. You should at least give it a try."
"Fine, fine, I'll give it a shot!"
"Good!" Chao clapped her hands. As if on cue, Chamo leaped off the couch and scurried back and forth across the floor, dragging a chunk of chalk along behind him.
"So, uh, what exactly do we have to do to make this work?" Twilight asked. "Is it complicated?"
"There are only two steps," Chao answered. "The first is to stand in the circle." She pointed at the complex pattern of runes that Chamo had somehow already completed.
"Okay..." Chisame stepped into the circle, followed by Twilight. "Now what?"
"It's easy!" Chamo gave the Chisame and Twilight a thumbs up. "All you have to do is kiss!"
"Well, at least it's not – wait. WHAT?" Chisame spun around and grabbed Chao's shoulders and began to shake her. "What the hell are you trying to pull? I don't care if it gives me magical powers, I'm not going to kiss a horse!" She looked back over her shoulder at Twilight. "No offense."
"None taken," the unicorn answered. "That would be rather awkward."
"Please, Chisame, I thought you were more rational than this!" Chao broke free of Chisame's grasp. "Step back and look at the big picture for a moment. Yeah, kissing her will be kind of awkward, but the magical artifact that you'll receive as a result will more than make up for any of the embarrassment. The awkwardness is only temporary."
"I'd prefer to keep my dignity, thank you," Chisame snorted. "I have no idea why you thought I'd actually go through with this."
"I figured you'd be more logical," Chao said, shrugging. "By any measure, it's a small price to pay for the advantages it offers. I hate to say it, but you're kinda being an idiot."
"You're not the one who has to kiss a horse!"
"Now that's just unfair. I realize that the two of you aren't the same species, but there's no reason to make a big deal out of it. We're all mature enough to realize that it's obviously not romantic. I'm not going to assume that you're a furry or something just because of this."
"What's a furry?" Twilight asked.
"You don't want to know. Trust me," Chisame grumbled. "And I get it. It's just weird, you know? You could have actually told me everything that this would entail?"
"I didn't tell you because I knew you'd reject the idea without giving it a second thought," Chao said. "I won't lie, I waited to tell you so I could put more pressure on you. It's much easier to get you to see how immature you're being when I'm here in person. For instance, I'm assuming that Twilight would be more than willing to go through with it. Isn't that right, Twilight?"
"Well, it is a bit odd for magic to require something like that to work, but if it would help Chisame out and help me understand how this world's magic works a bit better I don't see why not."
"See? If the purple magic unicorn pony is mature enough to do it, why not you?"
"It's just – I – FINE I'LL DO IT!" Chisame clawed at the air, trying to think of something tangible that she could turn her frustration towards.
"Excellent. Then let's proceed, shall we? No point in dragging out your misery, after all." Chao patted Chisame on the shoulder.
Chisame grimaced and stepped back into the circle. Twilight was already sitting there, eyes closed, head held forward a bit, lips slightly pursed, waiting. Chisame forced herself to kneel, putting her face level with the unicorn's. Her eyes clamped shut, and she tried to imagine that she was about to kiss a really handsome boy. But there would be fur. It had to be a guy with a mustache and beard then. Who was a handsome guy with a mustache and beard? She stuck her lips out and slowly forced herself to move her head forward. Every inch was a battle. She couldn't tell how much space separated the pony's mouth from her own. She froze. It was too risky. She could feel Twilight's breath on her cheeks. The promise of magical powers seemed empty now. It was impossible. She couldn't do it.
"Oh, for goodness' sake!"
The next thing she felt was a hand grabbing the back of her head and shoving her forward. Something warm, fuzzy and slightly moist pressed against her mouth. Even though her eyes were closed, she could see a brilliant flash of light. Then she heard a voice that sounded not unlike a Latin American soccer commentator with a slight Boston accent.
"!"
The hand released Chisame's head, and she immediately scuttled backward. She opened her eyes to see Twilight, who was blushing so hard that it showed through her fur. Chisame turned to Chao, who was whistling quietly, hands in her pockets, staring into space as if she were oblivious to what had just happened.
"What the hell are you doing!-?" Chisame screeched.
"You were taking too long," Chao answered. "I just helped it along."
"You miserable-"
"Oh please, you should be thanking me! Why don't you talk to the ermine. He's got your magical artifact."
"Screw the magical artifact! I need mouthwash!" Chisame barged past Chao into the bathroom. As she rummaged around in the cupboard under the sink, her head began to clear a little. She hadn't really thought too hard about what kind of aftertaste she'd be left with after kissing a pony. There had been a vague expectation that it would taste not unlike the smell of a barnyard, but that wasn't the case. It wasn't at all horse-like. In fact, it had almost tasted a little sweet.
Chisame stood up, turned on the faucet, splashed the cold water on her face, and smacked herself on the cheek. Anything to stop herself from dwelling on what the kiss had tasted like. She all but tore the cap off of the mouthwash bottle, and took an enormous swig. Never before had she been so happy to feel her gums burn. She rinsed her mouth out a few more times before emerging. Twilight was sitting on the couch, fumbling absentmindedly with one of the pillows. Chamo sat on the other end of the couch, puffing on his bubble pipe. Chao was nowhere to be seen.
"Um, hello." Twilight chuckled awkwardly. "That was...uh..."
"Don't wanna hear it," Chisame said. "It was weird, and I don't want to talk about it. We never speak of this again, understand? I have nothing against you, and you can keep coming over here, but you never bring this up. Tell no one."
"Okay," Twilight said with a nod. "So, do you still need me for anything, or can I..." Her voice trailed off as she indicated the door.
"Nah, you can get out of here," Chamo answered. "I'll explain the pactio stuff to you later. Right now I gotta tell Chisame how her artifact works. Chao had some other stuff to attend to, so she had to run. I'll catch you later back in Negi's room."
Morgan finished off yet another cup of coffee. He began to pour himself another, but stopped halfway as he realized that the pot was empty except for a lukewarm quarter-cup or so at the bottom. It dribbled into his mug, and he shoved the pot back into the coffee machine. He began to spin his chair away from it, noticed the "He who kills it fills it" post it stuck to the side, and spun back towards it. Mana had told him that the can of coffee and the filters were in one of the cabinets. He had no idea which one, so he picked one at random and began to rummage through it, mumbling to himself.
"Man, this is so boring! At least you guys get to be out and about. I'm just stuck here staring at a bunch of screens."
"Oh, shut it, Grimes," Casey's voice crackled out of the speaker. "You've stayed in the van on enough missions that you should be used to this sort of thing."
"Well...yeah..." Morgan grumbled. He began to measure out a spoonful of coffee grounds, shrugged, and poured a roughly equivalent amount into the machine. "But at least those were, you know, actual missions. Not just sitting here watching a dozen different cameras. None of them are even pointed at anything interesting." He punched the ON button on the Mr. Coffee and swung his chair around so that he was facing the screens he was supposed to be watching.
"Come on, Morgan, it can't be that bad." This time it was Chuck's voice that came over the speaker.
"You don't have to listen to nonstop yammering during the whole time," Casey grunted.
"At least you get to explore the place a bit. I'm stuck with these screens. I can't even see you on any of them. Where are you guys anyway?"
"Uh..." Morgan could hear crinkling paper as Chuck unfolded the map. "We are...here."
"I can't see the map, Chuck," Morgan said.
"We're standing in the plaza in front of that giant tree. The World Tree. That." There was even more rustling, probably Chuck attempting to refold the map. "Is there a camera around?"
"Let me check." Morgan ran his finger down the list of security cameras that was taped to the side of main monitor. "Let's see, train station, sports complex, food court, here we go, World Tree Plaza. Camera #6. Where are you guys?"
"Uh, we're at the bottom of the stairs, just a sec." Morgan turned to the bank of screens, specifically the one with the #6 post-it note in the corner. It showed a wide, oddly-angled view of the now-empty plaza and the surrounding balconies and walkways with the World Tree just barely visible in the top corner. At the bottom of the screen, two small figures were proceeding up the massive stairway that led into the plaza. Despite the monochrome feed and lousy resolution, Morgan recognized the figures instantly. No amount of pixelation could prevent Casey's jawline from being distinct.
"Alright, I see you!" Morgan chuckled as he saw one of the figures, the non-Casey one, wave at him. "How much longer are you guys on patrol anyway? I'm tired, and it's what..." He looked at his watch. "Whoa, two fifty-four in the freaking morning! How the heck did we get roped into this?"
"Because if we don't work security, we get charged for housing," Casey barked. "We have no idea how we got here, and all of our CIA and NSA contacts seem to have disappeared. Working private security while we get this mess figured out is just about the best thing we could be doing at the moment."
"And our shift is up at four," Chuck added. "You can make it another hour, Morgan. Remember our all-night Quake marathons? This should be easy."
"Right, because looking at a screen with precisely nothing happening on it is just as interesting. Instead of blowing stuff up, all I have on these monitors are things like the plaza, soccer field, clock tower, the bridge, giant mechanical scorpion, some random stree- GIANT MECHANICAL SCORPION! HOLY CRAP!"
"Morgan, what are you talking about?" Chuck asked, the confusion in his voice evident.
"There's this giant scorpion robot thing! It's like right by the- the, uh..." He looked back to the security camera list. "Right by the train station!"
"Grimes, you call that girl and tell her something's up." Morgan could detect a slight hint of excitement in Casey's growl. Go figure. "We'll get down there and see what the heck is going on."
Morgan snatched up the headset and began poking at the intercom buttons, hoping that he remembered the number for Mana's room correctly. He sighed in relief as he heard her voice on the other end of the line.
"Mana Tatsumiya. What is it?"
"Giant hostile robot scorpion!"
"What?"
"A big robot scorpion spider thing has appeared near the train station. Requesting backup!"
"Fine, fine," she sighed. Even though Morgan couldn't see her, he could tell that she was likely rolling her eyes at him. "I'll be there shortly. This had better not be a false alarm."
"Don't worry, it isn-"
She had already hung up on him.
Homura shuffled along the unfamiliar sidewalks, hands in pockets. The air was a bit cooler than she would have liked, but at least it was clear. She had lain in bed for hours, staring at the ceiling, staring at the wall, staring at that gem that she had hanging around her neck. But she could only distract herself for so long. It was the scent. Or rather, it was the litany of memories that the scent triggered in her brain. She both loved and hated those memories, and the sheer amount of mental energy she was forced to expend just to figure out how she felt about her own thoughts was starting to give her a headache. Eventually she'd have to learn to ignore the smell, but for the moment getting out of the room sufficed to clear her mind.
The campus was even larger than she had realized. Granted, she was no stranger to wandering labyrinthine streets and alleys; before being inexplicably swallowed by the darkness it hadn't been uncommon for her to spend her evenings and nights alone in the city. For that reason, despite the fact that she had barely any idea where she was or where she was going, she felt no fear. At least, no fear of anything or anyone that she might meet. A mild apprehension was gnawing at her gut, but that was all.
She turned a corner and found herself in the wide open courtyard in front of the World Tree. Its branches glowed dimly in the darkness. Homura took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, leaning against the railing. This place was so different from her home city. Everything there was glass and steel; the only old buildings were the factories. But here, everything was cobblestone and vaguely medieval architecture interspersed with patches of grass. She tried to think back to the days before her lonely city life, but she couldn't recall having ever seen anything like this place. How long had it been since she had been able to just sit and absorb the world around her...?
Suddenly a loud stomping sound split the silence. She spun around to see two men hurrying towards her. One of them was a bit older, and had a square jaw. The other one was younger and a good deal more nondescript. Both of them looked agitated and were dressed in semi-official security style.
The older one whipped a security badge out of his pocket.
"It's past curfew. You need to get back to your room."
She sighed. Just when she had finally gotten away from it all... Then from out in the distance, there was a rather loud crunching sound, something like a car slamming into a brick wall.
"What was that?" she asked. As soon as the words left her mouth she realized that she probably should have sounded more worried, but the two men didn't seem to be paying attention.
"Nothing. Nothing at all," said the younger man. "Just some...construction. They wanted to get the work done at night so that it wouldn't get in everyone's way. But yeah, you should probably get back to the dorm now. It's not safe out here at night."
Homura resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She was quite sure that she could put up a fight with pretty much anything that might show up, and it was fairly obvious that the guy had made the "construction" thing up off the top of his head, but the last thing she wanted to do was get in an argument. She had spent most of the day fighting her own brain; no point in fighting with somebody else. And getting on the bad side of some security guards wasn't the best way to make a good impression on the people who ran this place.
"Okay." She made an effort to sound as meek as possible. A year ago or two ago it would have been trivially easy. Then again, a year or two ago she never would have ventured outside of her home by herself. She bowed respectfully to the two men and ambled back in the general direction of the dorms. As soon as she was out of their view, she ducked pressed herself against one of the walls and listened. There was definitely something odd going on. At worst, it would be something boring, and as soon as the security guys had left, she could resume her contemplations. It had been too long since she had had the time to think.
"That was close." Chuck breathed a sigh of relief.
"Yeah, the last thing we want is for someone to get injured on our first night on duty," Casey answered. "I wish we had some sort of more powerful ordinance. If we actually had weapons that did something, maybe we could take care of this ourselves rather than having to call for backup."
"Well, the guns Mana gave us aren't totally useless. They did stop that thing from moving. It took a couple of shots, but at least it isn't rampaging around."
Casey grunted in reluctant affirmation.
"I suppose they aren't completely worthless, but I'd have preferred a grenade launcher. This is only a temporary solution. Those magic bullet things can't last forever. Taking it down wouldn't have been much of an issue if we had some actual firepower."
"What, have you fought a giant robot like that before or something?" Chuck stared incredulously at his partner. "I mean, really?"
"Well, not this exact model obviously, but there was this prototype tank-"
An enormous crunch sounded from down the road, followed by a series of only slightly quieter smashes.
"Ah crap," Casey grunted as he drew his gun. "Should known those magic bullets weren't going to stop it." He strode resolutely towards the plaza staircase, in the direction of the noise.
"What the heck are you doing?" Chuck shouted at Casey's back. "The magic bullets only held it for a few minutes!"
"I'll figure something out," Casey answered with a shrug. "Beats having this thing rampaging around the campus. Maybe the Intersect will kick in and you can hotwire it or something."
"I really doubt that the CIA database has any information about giant robots."
"You never know," Casey sniffed. "I wouldn't have expected salsa dancing to be in there either."
"Fine, fine. I just hope that those reinforcements show up. We're almost out of ammo."
"Doesn't look like we have much of a choice." Casey nodded in the direction of the stomping, which was now even louder. The reason for the loudness was that the scorpion was already halfway up the stairs, and would be in the plaza in a matter of seconds.
Chuck swallowed hard as he got his first good look at the thing in the glow of the plaza's light posts. It stood about twenty feet high, give or take, and was just as long if not longer. In fact, if one counted the rather massive tail, it was almost half as long as it was tall. Six massive legs protruded from its body, which shone a dull orangey-red. Rather than pincers, it held out two disturbingly large machine gun turrets.
He took aim at one of the scorpion's legs. At the moment, his gun contained a mere three bullets. If he wanted to stop the rampage, he couldn't spare any of them. His eyes narrowed as he lined up his shots. A flurry of images flashed in front of his eyes, and everything seemed to shift into slow motion. He popped off three shots, one at each leg.
The bullets sparked as they struck the machine. The sparks exploded into a ball of light. As it faded, a disjointed circle of glowing runes was etched into the metallic service. The joints clicked uselessly as they tried to move, held still by the runes. The scorpion slowly dragged itself forward with it's other three legs, the frozen limbs screeching shrilly against the cobblestone.
"Well?" Chuck turned to Casey. "Are you going to shoot it, or what?"
"Nah. I only have two shots left, and I want to save them for if it breaks free again."
"Makes sense. I guess it can't really do much if it's stuck like..." His voice trailed off as the air was filled with a loud whirring. "What's that sound?"
"Gatling gun," Casey answered. He pointed at the two large guns mounted atop the scorpion. "We should probably run."
"Yeah..."
Both men spun around and sprinted towards a nearby alleyway. Just as they turned the corner, the ground where they had been standing moments earlier was torn up by gunfire. And the sounds of the machine dragging itself grew steadily nearer. The two men retreated further down the alley. The front end of the scorpion turned the corner and stopped, unable to fit between the buildings. The guns mounted on its back were still whirring.
"See, this is where a grenade launcher would have come in handy," Casey grumbled, half to himself. He raised his gun. If he wanted to avoid being turned into Swiss cheese, he had to freeze both the turrets. He was a half-second away from squeezing the trigger when he heard a very familiar sound. "Whoa!" He threw himself to the side as a rocket blasted past from behind him. The explosion hit him like a punch to the chest as the rocket landed right between the machine guns.
Casey and Chuck spun around to see Homura standing still as a statue, a smoking RPG launcher on her shoulder. She smiled slightly as she lowered the weapon.
"I personally prefer a rocket propelled grenade."
"Wha- where did you get that!-?" Chuck babbled.
"I just happened to have it on hand."
"See, that's the kind of thing I'm talking about," Casey said with a smirk. "You really did a number on that thing." He nodded in the direction of the scorpion, which was reeling from the explosion.
"Uh, I don't think it's dead yet," Chuck said.
The joints released a metallic squeak as the metal creature raised its tail into striking position, and then it was still. Casey raised his gun once again and waited. For a long moment, the only movement in the alley was the smoke drifting away from the remnants of the explosion. Then Casey sighed, and blasted his last two shots into the foe.
"What did you do that for?" Chuck asked. "It wasn't doing anything. I thought you wanted to save your ammo!"
"It's obviously preparing for something," Casey said, shrugging again. "It's so badly damaged now that it probably won't be able to break free."
As he finished speaking, there was a flash of light, and the tip of the scorpion's upraised tail began to glow.
"That's...probably a bad sign," Chuck mumbled. "We should get out of-"
A gust of air blew past him as Setsuna flew past him, wings extended, sword in hand. Light glinted off of the blade. There was a metallic clang as she whipped past the scorpion. Everything was still for a moment before the tail suddenly fell with a clank, no longer connected to the body. From above, on one of the buildings, was a nearly silent pop. Suddenly the entire machine was covered with enormous runic circles. They were the same type as the ones that Chuck and Casey's guns were loaded with, but they were much larger and even more complex; they covered nearly the entirely of the robot's body, freezing it entirely.
Setsuna glided slowly into the alley, landing in front of the trio. A moment later, Mana dropped down beside her from one of the buildings, a sniper rifle slung over her shoulder. She glanced at the damaged and now magically bound remnants of the robot, and then to Homura, who still held the rocket launcher. Mana's eyes narrowed.
"Who are you, and where the hell did you get that?"
.
Eaugh, I had planned to go further than this in the story, but it got too long. The characters I was going to introduce will have to wait until next time.
The robot that Casey and Chuck (and Homura) are fighting is the Guard Scorpion from Final Fantasy VII.
And yes, Chisame made a pactio with Twilight. I needed her to make a pactio with someone, and this was the most hilarious available option.
Anyway, I'm glad I finally was able to give Homura and the Chuck team something interesting to do. They were on the verge of being sidelined, so it was fun to write something that wasn't ponies or Negima.
Hopefully the next chapter won't take forever to get posted, but what with my other projects and school, and my job, I can't promise anything.
Thanks for reading.