Vita hadn't been prepared to fight this many people. Not that she couldn't, but she was already down to two Cartridges, and if any more enemies came crawling out of the woodwork she'd be in trouble. Her eyes flicked to the head of Graf Eisen as she considered, halfway tuning out the newcomer blonde's dialogue. Something about being on probation with the TSAB.
"... Fate Testarossa. Throw down your weapons and come quietly, and I guarantee you a fair trial."
Vita's eyebrow twitched. "Who would agree to that?" she snapped, and threw herself backwards, out of the shattered window. Her quarry would have to be abandoned for the moment.
Fate glanced back for a moment, meeting Nanoha's eyes, and smiled gently – then followed, gone in a heartbeat.
"Yuuno..." Nanoha, for her part, was having a hard enough time keeping her vision focused, but Yuuno's healing magic was already paying dividends, strengthening her body if not her rattled mind. The boy smiled at her.
"When we couldn't get through to you, Fate got worried, so we came down to check. Arf's here, too." Yuuno assured her. "Just take it easy, okay?"
"Okay..."
Over the city, red and yellow clashed, scythe on hammer. "Persistent little bitch!"
"Hm." Fate's response was non-committal at best, more interested in testing the limits of Vita's strength. She shifted her grip on Bardiche and pushed the red girl back, then twirled her blade back, holding it closer to the haft. "Arc Saber!" Fate swung the weapon out, actually hurling the golden blade through the air towards Vita – not only a quick attack, but the thing curved and wobbled on its arc in mid-air, making it hard to tell where it was going to land. Rather than risk evading it, Vita's hands came together, forming a red glow in the air.
[PANZERHINDERNIS]
She'd anticipated that the boomerang blade would hit her shield and dissipate, but instead, it bit in, slowly grinding its way through the heavy barrier she'd flung up. Are you kidding me? Who the hell are these people?
"Barrier...!"
Vita jolted and twisted to seek the source of the new voice, looking around and then up to see an orange streak descending on her; she could just make out one fist raised. Damnit!
"Break!"
The red knight didn't stick around – she abandoned her barrier and fell back, and the orange lightning crushed it in a single punch; the magic crystallised into brittle shards and scattered into the air, worthless. Her new aggressor didn't stop there, though; she raised her hand, fingers spread. Vita recognised the motion.
"Oh no you don't!"
[PFERDE]
As Graf Eisen spoke the words, Vita's greaves were wrapped in golden wind, and she shot loose of the rapidly-closing binds the woman had attempted to throw around her limbs, aiming to get some distance. This is bad...
"Tch, missed her. She's quick." The wolf-woman who had come swinging in rolled her shoulder, which had the unfortunate side effect of making her threaten to damage her too-tight top. Given the tight outfit, the shorts, and the leather driving gloves, she would have looked every inch the street brawler if she could have got rid of the Big Sister vibe hanging around her.
"I'll engage her directly. Arf, circle around her." Fate instructed quietly. Arf nodded and moved out, while Fate flew after Vita, blade raised.
Sparks flew as they locked up again; one on one, the red knight's sheer power was a good match for Fate's speed, and they kept coming to a deadlock. This time, though, when Vita tried to shove her away, Fate dug in and shifted her grip, parrying the blade aside and making Vita sway badly in the air, overbalancing with a yelp. "Now!"
"You!" Vita snapped at her, bringing Graf Eisen around to try and take Fate's head clean off her shoulders, but before she could get there she found her limbs locked and then snapped out, as if crucified. Looking down, she spotted the reason why: she'd lost track of the familiar, Arf, in the melee, and the wolf-woman was holding her down with a basic bind. D, damnit!
Fate held Bardiche ready; the golden blade hovered uncomfortably close to Vita's face. "Now, come quietly." she murmured, her voice just barely above a growl. Now that they'd caught her, she could finish this quickly and rush back to Nanoha.
Naturally, this was the exact moment everything went wrong.
Arf picked up on it first. "Fate! Something really bad is coming!" she called up, right before a blue-and-white blur flickered into being in front of her and nearly decapitated her with a high kick that sent her flying in spite of her blocking it with both hands.
Fate, on the other hand, had to contend with a purple flash. She did slightly better, blocking the first hit and resolving her target into her vision: tall woman, easily twice her height, armour somewhere between actual armour and a longcoat, long pink hair, wide-bladed sword. Same style of clothing as the red one. The hammer knight had allies.
The new woman smiled, placed a hand on the back of her sword. Fate's eyes flicked down and she instantly realised her mistake: the sword was still in its sheathe. By the time she realised it, it was too late; the purple knight had grasped the handle and drawn her blade, bringing it around in a high arc.
"Laevatein, Cartridge Load!"
The swordblade extended briefly and slammed back, issuing a gout of steam. [EXPLOSION]
Fate's guard had come across, but it was never going to be anywhere near strong enough, not for the flaming blade that dropped through the air like a swung guillotine. "Shiden Issen!" The slash cut through her barrier like it wasn't even there, then caught on Bardiche's haft. Fate thought she was safe, just for a moment, that maybe she'd stopped it with the combined block.
Then the blade arced down and through, and Fate was sent hurtling down into the city below, crashing through the top three stories of the skyscraper below, clutching both halves of Bardiche near to her body.
"Are you alright, Vita?" The swordswoman turned to her red compatriot, who pouted so deeply that she could have tripped over her lower lip.
"You didn't have to help me. I was about to turn things around and beat them up." Vita complained. The lady raised her hand and shattered Vita's bonds.
"I see. Sorry to get in your way." she replied, straight-faced, and held up Vita's red hat, lost in the melee with Nanoha. "Here. I repaired it for you."
Vita took it, looking mildly bashful. "Thank you, Signum."
"Now, let us return to the fray." Signum turned away, holding her blade near. "In a one-on-one situation, we Belkan Knights..."
"... will never lose!" Vita completed.
"Are you okay, Fate?"
Fate had taken a few moments to recollect herself after suffering a tumble through no small amount of steel and concrete. Still, her scanty Barrier Jacket had barely been touched, and as for Bardiche...
"Yes. We can keep fighting; Bardiche's main body is undamaged." Fate told Yuuno, who had indeed scurried over to check on her in the meantime. "How's Nanoha?"
"Stable. She's not getting back into this fight, but she's still okay." Yuuno assured her.
"Yuuno. Could you transfer everybody inside this barrier outside?"
That made him blink. "I... with Arf, yes."
Fate turned her attention skywards, mentally calling out to her familiar. Is that okay for you?
Yeah, I can do that! Arf replied, harried from her ongoing battle. Fate licked her lips, considering.
"Then. I'll engage them and buy time for Yuuno and Arf to transfer them outside. Yuuno, will you look after Nanoha?"
"I'll set up a barrier for her." Yuuno nodded and the two moved upwards, Fate up and out, Yuuno onto the roof where he and Nanoha had been viewing the fight from. He touched down next to her. "Did you hear that?"
"Yes." Nanoha confirmed, looking distinctly on edge. "But, I want to help..."
"Just stay here for now." Yuuno smiled and made a series of symbols with his hands, fingers blurring together as they were knitted, unknitted, crossed and uncrossed. A green magic circle sprung up around Nanoha's feet, then coalesced into a dome over her head.
"Yuuno?"
"Whatever you do, don't leave the circle. It will protect you and heal you as long as you're in it." Yuuno smiled and turned to leave.
At that moment, a gloved hand descended on his shoulder. "Stay here and watch the White Devil. I'll square off with that red knight."
Yuuno jerked and, tense as he was, came pretty close to attacking her on the spot. The woman had taken him completely by surprise; she hadn't made any noise and he hadn't even sensed her approach. Nanoha just looked on curiously, ready to intervene even in her damaged state if she had to. The newcomer was tall and lithe, probably late teens or early twenties, and her sparse outfit of leather pants, tank top, and heavy black longcoat did little to conceal her fit body. So not your average mage, then. She didn't react to Yuuno's jolt beyond a small smile.
"It's okay, I'm not with them." The woman turned so that Nanoha could see her properly; rich red eyes and black hair with white tinges that suggested the black was dye... and then there was the pendant hanging around her neck, the Jolly Roger with eerily glowing golden eyes. "Well, we can do introductions later but you can call me Alexis for now." She stepped forward to the edge of the roof, grinning. "Turn it up, Skull Heart! Our concert starts here!"
[IGNITION]
The transformation wasn't as involved as for Nanoha – rather than a full clothing change, it simply blazed her coat white and marked it in with an emblem of the Jolly Roger spreading across the back, plus another patch on the chest and on each wrist. The rest remained as standard; she didn't even get a weapon. With one last wink back, Alexis leaped from the edge of the building and took off, rocketing into the warzone.
"You have good senses for a mage. What's your name?" In the interim, Fate still hadn't been able to make headway on Signum. The sword knight seemed able to either parry away or just straight up not care about her attacks, putting her at a serious disadvantage. She hesitated before she replied.
"... Fate Testarossa. And, this is Bardiche." she gestured with her weapon. Signum actually smiled gently.
"I am the Knight of Sword, Signum, and my blade is Laevatein." she span her sword offhandedly, reseating the blade. "Your senses are good. But, that isn't enough for fighting a Belkan Knight!" Signum flickered and blurred out – not in just one direction, but to both sides simultaneously. Fate whipped around in the air, thankful that she had her back to one of the higher-rising buildings, but it wasn't until she looked up that she realised the whole setup was a feint and Signum was coming down on her like purple lightning.
Rather than blocking at the haft, this time Fate swung Bardiche and locked blades with Signum directly, power to power. Sparks flew, but as it stood, it was obvious who the victor would be: Laevatein ground in through Bardiche's external armour and smacked against the golden gem itself, putting a solid crack through the surface. As they parted, the sword knight lashed out with one of her long legs, catching Fate by surprise in the ribs and smashing her back into the concrete between rows of windows. Fate groaned and forced herself to move, dodging Signum's follow-up strike by millimetres and taking off straight up the face of the building at a pace that cracked each row of windows in passing. She could hear Signum pursuing her, shattering the already-weakened windows. This was bad. Where had such powerful enemies even sprung from?
Signum! More came out!
Signum didn't peel off her pursuit, but she did track the red flash Vita made in the air out of the corner of her eye, seeing her clash with a mix of white and black. I can't sense anything.
That's because there's nothing to sense! She's not like the other ones... Vita made a sound of annoyance. I don't want to waste time fighting something that won't fill pages.
Just deal with her quickly then. Signum advised, and turned her attention back to Fate. Vita growled.
I know that!
"Stop dancing!" Vita snarled at her opponent, who seemed to be amusing herself by staying just out of reach of Graf Eisen – but every time Vita started to pull away, Alexis pursued her, keeping her at an uncomfortable distance.
"I happen to like dancing. But, hey, if you'd like me to fight seriously..." Alexis flicked her left hand out. "T-LINK Saber, Set On!" The coat blazed for a moment, covered in multicoloured lines, which rapidly converged on that same arm, forming a sword held in a blue sheathe strapped to her forearm – wide-bladed but one-handed, and presently locked into the sheathe, handle towards her hand. As an added touch, from the collar of the coat burst a rich, if ragged, crimson cloak, whipping in the wind. Vita snorted as they clashed; Alexis blocked her with the raised sheathe.
"You plan to fight me with that tiny sword in its sheathe?"
"I'm thinking pretty seriously about it." It was hard to tell whether or not the tall woman was being serious, but Vita hissed and withdrew, bringing Graf Eisen overhead for a crushing blow.
"Weakling! Get out of my way!"
The cape got in the way, but she smashed through it, only to overbalance as she hit nothing but air. Alexis' voice was right in her ear, smirking. "Where were you looking?" she purred, and hit Vita square in the chin with the hilt of the blade, using it like a baton. Vita recoiled, snarling. It hurt, but it didn't actually injure her; from a hit like that, she wouldn't even bruise.
"I told you, stop dancing and fight seriously!"
"Oh, this is serious." Alexis replied, smiling as they met again. Vita was really strong; each hit was cracking the sheathe – reinforced with the blade itself – in a pretty serious manner. Vita's blue eyes zeroed on it and she hissed.
That's why she didn't draw it; she needs the extra mass to block me! So, she's kinda weak...!
"Smash through it, Graf Eisen!" Vita yelled, turning her body to put even more force on the cracking sheathe, looking to break the weapon completely. Before that, though, Alexis' free hand went to the hilt itself.
"Saber: Active!"
Vita only just moved in time to avoid potentially losing her arm. As it stood, as the blade came out of the sheathe, it sparked off her armor, so maybe she could have taken it, but the sneak attack wasn't very endearing to her. "You...!"
[PFERDE]
Taking no more chances, she cast her quick spell and backed off as quick as she could, leaving Alexis in the dust. With a flick of her wrist, Vita drew forth another set of orbs, preparing another bombardment attack. Alexis, on her hand, span her sword in her hand, but didn't come closer. Instead...
"Oxtongue Rifle!"
The sword, sheathe, and cape disassembled, reforming in her hands as a huge, boxy, purple rifle, dual-barreled and almost as large as herself. She leveled it as Vita flicked the metal balls out and smashed them with Graf Eisen, triggering another shot-type attack.
[SCHWALBEFLIEGEN]
"B-Mode!"
Compared to Vita's magical attack, the Oxtongue Rifle really did just appear to be any oversized rifle – a pump style, oddly enough, ejecting a shell with each shot. Still, Alexis managed to pick off each one of the incoming attacks before they'd even crossed half the intervening distance, and her smile hadn't wavered. "You are... really strong." Too strong... I can't beat her with Skull Heart, so I can't beat her at all. Good thing I didn't get singled out or I'd be dead by now...
"You... I don't have time to deal with you!" Vita snapped back, raising Graf Eisen as if she was about to load another cartridge.
Don't, Vita.
Vita didn't physically react, but she didn't load her cartridge, either. Instead, she silently rejoiced at the voice that flowed through to her. Shamal!
I have the book. I'll do something about this, so just hang tight!
Vita smirked and lowered Graf Eisen at Alexis. I can do that. "Your weapons are too easily broken; you shouldn't have stepped up to me like that!"
"Is that so?" Alexis just smirked back, keeping the Rifle leveled at Vita's face. "Well, I happen to be fond of these kinds of weapons... you're a Belkan Knight, right?"
"Yeah, that's right. And we're the strongest around." It didn't come out like bragging.
Alexis' smile grew, going from gently mocking to 'completely crazy' as it spread across her face. "Then... as people who only feel alive in the heat of combat, let's have ourselves a friendly little fight to the death!"
Nanoha watched on silently. Yuuno had left her there to not draw attention to her while he quietly set up a transfer from the shadows – Arf, of course, was busy clashing with her own opposite number, the bronzed wolf-man who had attacked her previously. She didn't need a close look to tell that, even with the numbers advantage and the woman who had randomly stepped in to help them, they were still losing. She looked up at the barrier.
Yuuno, Fate, and Arf were here... that meant, almost without doubt, that there had to be a TSAB ship nearby. At the moment, the barrier would of course be blocking that out... that's why Fate wanted to transfer everyone outside. If she could break the barrier... but, that was impossible, looking at the state of both her own body and how beaten-up Raging Heart had become. So there was really nothing she could do to help...
[LET'S SHOOT IT: STARLIGHT BREAKER]
Raging Heart's voice jolted Nanoha from her thoughts, and she stared at her Device incredulously. Raging Heart was all but crumbling in her hands. "No way! If we do that, you'll..."
[I CAN BE SHOT]
As Raging Heart said it, it spread its wings, as if to enforce its will. Nanoha grit her teeth, but in reality she barely had to think about it. Two seconds later she was out of the magic circle, planting her heel on the edge of the rooftop for stability.
[COUNT: X. COMMENCING COUNTDOWN]
Everyone, look out! I'm going to use Starlight Breaker and blow straight through their barrier!
Elsewhere in the fight, Fate, Yuuno, and Arf looked to Nanoha in a hurry, then redoubled their efforts, clashing hard with their opponents to prevent them getting anywhere near them. For the Belkans' part, they recognized the issue, and fought harder still, turning the sky into a collage of sparks and blasts.
[IX. VIII. VII. VI. V. IV. III. III. III. III...]
"Are you okay, Raging Heart?" Nanoha couldn't help the worry creeping into her voice. Right now, Raging Heart was the focal point for a rapidly-expanding orb of pink light – pure, compressed magical energy, gathered from all over the area and pushed into one spot. If she fell apart now, there was no telling what could happen. The red orb at the center of Raging Heart sparked, turning static-y for a moment before it stabilized.
[RESTARTING COUNTDOWN. COUNT: III. II. I.]
Nanoha was one breath shy of launching her ultimate move when a hand exploded out of her chest.
In a heartbeat, the situation was reversed. Where before, Nanoha's friends – and Alexis – had been denying the Belkan Knights access to the injured girl, now it was the Knights who were blocking them from rushing to her side. The hand shifted, as if groping for something.
"Oh, no... I missed... then, this time!" Shamal, Knight of the Lake, had ensconced herself behind the outcropping of the downstairs on a nearby roof. The groceries she'd collected sat by her side, bagged and untouched; what mattered right now was the portal in front of her, generated by the pendants extending from the rings on her right hand. Her left hand was extended through the portal, where it reappeared from Nanoha's chest... she withdrew slightly, making the girl wince and groan in pain, and tried again. This time, she held in her hand a small, pink light: Nanoha's Linker Core, the source of her magic. Shamal ran her free hand against the back of the heavy tome floating in the air before her, brown-backed and marked with a golden cross within a circle. "Capture Linker Core... begin collection!"
[SAMMLUNG]
As the book spoke, it glowed as if backlit with purple light, and each blank page filled with warped runes. It leafed through itself automatically, turning to a new page as each one before it was filled; Nanoha's Linker Core shrank.
Nanoha felt like she was going to be sick, between the sensation of having someone's hand shoved through her chest and her Linker Core slowly dying out. It didn't actually hurt, but the fact that the idea of having a hole clean through her chest that didn't hurt just made it worse. She looked at the spell charging in front of her, almost completed. Draining her Linker Core should have put her out on the fight on the spot, but her aggressor's lateness to the party had caused them to make a fatal flaw:
Starlight Breaker gathered together magical energy spread about the area, and only required the barest minimum of magical talent to actually execute. Nanoha could do it even if she'd already bled herself dry over the course of the fight. She raised Raging Heart, gritting her teeth. "S... Starlight Breaker!" she screamed, and smashed Raging Heart against the pink orb in front of her.
The blast bordered on the indescribable. The first wave simply rushed up and smacked against the top of the dome, a kilometre above the city. The second expanded worryingly at the point of eruption, briefly threatening to simply wipe out everything within the barrier, but at the last second it punched through the dome and exploded outwards, becoming a pink meteor rising into the sky, simply shattering the barrier Vita had created like so much cheap plastic.
All fighting had ceased at this point just to watch in amazement – especially Alexis, who had never seen anything on this scale before; had that blast been angled at the city below there just plain wouldn't have been anything left over. "Fuck me..."
Then Shamal withdrew her hand and Nanoha collapsed; Raging Heart clattered away from her hands. Signum raised her sword, quickly rallying the other Knights.
The barrier's down, so we're exposed; we're getting out of here.
Sorry, Shamal; you saved us. Vita threw in as she accelerated away from Alexis, leaving her in the dust.
Shamal smiled and withdrew from the rooftop. It's fine; let's just meet at the usual spot!
"What's wrong, EnBey?"
Normally, at this time of night, the doors and curtains would be shut and the blonde would be in bed, but her partner was pulling a late shift at work to get set up for next week, so she was alone... almost. The little fox-thing on her balcony – halfway between a cat and a fox, blue-eyed face set into a permanently pissed-off frown – had been curled up there all evening, narkily talking about not-much with her. Now, though, he was on all fours on the balcony railing, body squared as if on edge, long ears shaking right down to the thorny rings wrapped around their extremes.
"Something's coming." His voice wasn't exactly heard by her ears as much as her mind. "Something real fucking bad."
"A Witch?" the girl rose from her place at the table, leaving her teacup behind and coming to his side.
"No. I..." EnBey wriggled, setting the blue octagon on his back rippling. "I don't know. Not a Witch. Worse than that." he hissed. "Don't... make a move yet. It's not close, and it's not focused on us. But something's definitely fucking wrong here." the critter turned to look at his companion directly. "Things are worse than ever from here on, Mami."
"Well, that was a fucking bust." Alexis muttered. The group had conjugated around Nanoha, who was fortunately still breathing and didn't seem especially injured beyond being beaten up. Yuuno, as ever, was busily applying a healing spell to her, almost silent. Fate, too, was totally focused on her wounded friend... which left Arf to question Alexis.
"Who are you, anyway? You just randomly turned up... you don't even smell of magic."
"Like I said, my name is Alexis... Alexis Weaver." she put her hands on her hips. "I'm, well, that's a long story, but I'm not your enemy."
Arf folded her arms. "Sure, you say that... well, you helped us, so I guess that'll do for now."
"So you're her... what, big sister?" Alexis half-turned to acknowledge Fate, although her eyes never left Arf.
"Her familiar... hey, stop eyeing me up!" Arf snapped.
"Sorry." Alexis smirked, completely insincere. And then, as before, everything went wrong again.
The air around them hazed, as if turning to static – only slightly, but right at the edge of their vision, and Alexis winced and looked up to the sky, hissing. "Are you fucking kidding me? They're onto me already...!" she growled, pointing out four shapes in the sky, descending fast.
Each one was like a metallic skeleton, stripped down to the barest bones. The head tapered to a sharp point, with a thin visor that glowed bright pink, while of its arms, one terminated in four brightly-glowing claws and the other finished in a huge shield, as if to provide attack and defence. It didn't take a genius to pick their flight pattern; they were definitely locked onto Alexis. She whipped around, talking quickly.
"I'm sorry to put this on you, but can I ask for your help?"
Fate stood up from Nanoha, glancing at the ruined Bardiche and licking her lips. "What are they?"
"... they're the heralds of a force called the Memory Recorders." Alexis said after a moment, looking back over her shoulder. "The worst enemy... I'll explain later, I promise."
"I can't move Nanoha like this." Yuuno chimed in. "I can look after her here, but moving her would be bad, so you need to at least draw them away." he looked at Alexis, not acknowledging their possible support.
She nodded and turned away. "I can do that."
"We'll help." Fate stepped to her side and glanced up at her. "At least, we'll repay you."
Alexis smiled at her. "It's been a while since I fought alongside allies. Ready, Skull Heart?"
Her pendant glowed brightly, letting loose its brash voice.
[IT'S CLOBBERING TIME]
I'm not normally big on Author's Notes or whatever, but I'll justify myself on one thing: Signum's move, Purple Lightning Flash, was rendered as 'Shiden Issen' in this because it's a four kanji idiom, a very archaic speech style meant to play up her samurai theme (see Sanger Zonvolt in SRW for a comparable example). It's just as archaic and unusual to the characters who natively speak Japanese, so I left it in for that reason.