Section Thirteen

by Justin91

The ongoing story of a squad of mages as they work to keep the peace on their assigned world. This is harder than it sounds.

5. Family Reunion

Section Thirteen

Chapter Five: Family Reunion

Planet Gardius – Angelo Corporation Ballroom – 1856 Hours

For the next few seconds, Alyssa stared at the man pointing the blade at her, wide-eyed and opened mouthed. "Glenn…you…"

Anton couldn't help but stare. From the moment he had met Captain Triad, it was clear she was a bold, confident woman. Seeing her shaken like this couldn't help but surprise him.

But fortunately-

"YOU BASTAAAAAARD!"

-it didn't last very long. Leaping out of her chair, Alyssa charged the man head-on, activating her Device mid-run. The scarlet dress disappeared to be replaced by her Barrier Jacket, and she swung Bowie's point forward, expelling a formless blast of heat. In response, Glenn swung his own weapon around, ice crystals lining the katana's blade as they clashed together.

Anton shut his eyes: the contrast between the two colors of warring magic was far too brilliant to view head-on. When it faded and he looked back, the two mages hadn't budged an inch. The carpet for several feet around them (which, fortunately, didn't contain any of the tables) was a bizarre pattern of scorched and frozen. The spear and katana were deadlocked, and neither combatant showed signs of moving despite the obvious struggle.

"I see not even working for the Bureau can make you grow lax," the man with the icy eyes said, gaze locked upon her, "Alyssa."

"Shut up!" Alyssa snarled back, pressing forward and making no headway, which only seemed to make her angrier. "Don't just act like it's the next day; where the hell WERE you!"

The cold leaking in from outside had nothing to with the shiver that ran up Anton's spine. He'd never seen Alyssa angry before, either. It was scary. He turned to the only person who might now something about this. "Major, what's-"

Destin held up a finger to his lips to shush the Secretary. "Just watch. It'll be a good lesson for you: this is how Aces battle."

Silently, Anton nodded, looking back. Alyssa and Glenn had detached from their deadlock and were now sizing each-other up. After a few oppressive moments, the latter nudged his head toward the broken doorway a fraction of an inch. She nodded grimly, and they both took to the air, disappearing from view quickly.

Anton stared at the absent floor stupidly for a moment. "Uh…" He looked around, but the whole crowd was staring blankly at the same. Shrugging, he picked up Akashic off the floor near his chair. "I suppose we're flying then, eh?"

"Don't ask me, Young Master." Akashic admonished lightly. Sighing, he activated his own jacket in a burst of wind and followed.

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Planet Gardius – Skies Above Angelo Corporation Ballroom – 1857 Hours

By the time Anton ascended to where Alyssa and this mystery man was, they were both already just about to attack. He couldn't help but shiver again: the mana pouring off them was nearly palpable. Subconsciously, he gathered up his own power-

"Anton. Stay out of this." Alyssa's voice resonated in his mind. Her tone said very clear that any interruption wouldn't be tolerated.

He gulped. "Y-yes, Captain, I'll make sure."

Twirling her spear over her head, she called over to Glenn, "So I guess this isn't going to be a happy get-together, huh? I see you haven't gotten over that samurai 'absolute honor' shit, so I know what you're here for."

"Of course." Glenn replied, shifting his grip on the katana. "I and Koshiro have not given up on our duel. The TSAB interrupted the day of our promised duel, but today we will settle the question: who is the strongest of the Triad's children?"

Alyssa smirked, stopping the twirl and tapping Bowie's shaft on the palm of her hand. "Well then, you'll be warming up to them after I'm done with you: they spared you years of humiliation, after all!"

"Beatdown time, katana boy!" her device crowed.

Glenn's eyes narrowed. "Yes…I've been waiting for the chance to wipe that attitude off with my blade. Prepare yourself."

"Same here," Alyssa replied coolly, "now that dad's not here to save your ass, I'm gonna beat that samurai-wannabe stuff right now! Let's go!"

"Flare Move!"

What happened next was similar to a flash move, but apparently with Alyssa's personal spin on it: her body lined with an aura of flame, she shot straight toward Alyssa, the heat blurring making Anton's eyes water slightly.

Her opponent reacted in only one way – with three spoken words. "Koshiro. Frost Wall."

"Hai." the Katana whispered as Glenn brought it in front of him. A shield of ice grew along the blade, stopping the spear the instant its blade touched it. The ice quickly engulfed Bowie's shaft, dispelling the heat as it climbed steadily upward.

"Oh no you don't!" Alyssa cried, pulling her free hand back. "Flare Smasher!"

The short range blast of fire left her palm and headed straight toward his face, but Glenn quickly brought his own hand, coated with ice, in front of. The attack was extinguished nearly instantly, but that moment of distraction was enough for Alyssa to free her Device and retreat upward. Her brother followed her path, shifting his grip on Koshiro as he watched her silently.

Alyssa clenched her teeth at the sight. "Go ahead and act as cold as you want, Glenn: it didn't rattle me back then, and it won't know." Twirling her spear in her hands, she jabbed it down toward the samurai. "I guess you remember how I fight close quarters, huh! Let's see if you these jog your memory, too! Crimson Arrow!"

Glenn continued to watch as a half-dozen shafts of fire came hurtling down at him. "I do. I remember how you used to hit me in the back with one I didn't notice," he pulled back the katana, "and then laugh about it. Hail Cutter."

Ice again formed on the sword's blade, in sharp-looking, spiky chunks. Slicing upward once, twice, thrice, he sent a storm of the ice spikes flying up toward the fire mage. The two barrages of bullets meet halfway between their senders, and the combination of the opposing elements sent up an explosion of steam up to cloud the air, growing to engulf the two fighters.

Silently, Glenn withdrew his extended sword, watching the obscuration around him silently. Then, without skipping a beat, he whirled around to parry a back-stab from Alyssa.

"You will have to do better than that," he said calmly, "if your intent is to defeat me."

"I thought I told you to shut the hell up!"

Anton gulped, hearing the venom in his commander's voice. "Aren't they related? How can they hate each-other like this?" Not that he was any stranger to awkward family business, but why was a reunion starting off with a deathmatch? His mind wanted to step in, do something about it, but his body stood rooted to thin air. He had a very good feeling that Alyssa wouldn't forgive anyone who interfered in this fight; not even someone on her own side.

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Planet Gardius – Angelo Corporation Ballroom – 1901 Hours

"You know, I think that snow actually improved this dish a little." Destin looked around at the varying looks he got from that comment. "No? Guess I have different tastes, then."

Munching on the…whatever-they-weres, Destin listened to the footsteps approaching his table. He looked up and smiled. "Oh, hey Quattro. What's up?"

The executive beamed. "Well, your men, evidently, ha ha." Instantly the surrounding party-goers broke into laughter.

Destin nodded. "Yeah, seems like it. I gotta apologize on Alyss's behalf: I had no idea this would happen. It's almost like that guy new we were going to be here tonight, or something?"

Quattro took on a look of mock horror. "Oh my, not at all, Major! As you said, this is a horrible coincidence: why, if someone were to attempt to kill me while I was dining at your abode, I wouldn't even think of apologizing."

"Of course not." Destin grinned. "You're just not that kind of guy."

By this time the onlookers had assumed the sight to be nothing more than two old friends having a few jabs at the other, and tuned it out in both sight and sound. Even if they were looking, though, they'd have missed the eyes.

"If you think this any scheme of yours is going to kill Alyssa, or any of my team, you're going to be sadly mistaken, Quattro." said Destin's, which had suddenly grown a lot more narrow.

Quattro's simply looked more amused. "Oh? You think you know exactly what I have planned here? I'll look forward to the moment when you actually realize it, Major."

With that, he turned and walked away. Midway back to his table, the man's cell-phone rang. Smiling, he flipped it open. "Yes?"

"Boss, you remember you wanted me to tell you if Captain Stromhold showed up?" Barnes' voice sounded subdued.

"Yeees, I believe I did," Quattro replied, finding he was adopting the same tone, "tell me, that young hot-shot named…Smash, I think, was there, wasn't he? How bad is it?"

"Crash, actually, Boss. And, uh…well, pretty bad, not gonna lie. That whole perimeter looks like a tidal wave hit it."

"My word."

"Yeah, that's probably along the lines of what Crash thought. On the other hand, that insurance you put there seems to be keeping her busy for now. Same for the guys at the other sites. Those other two from Water Squad haven't engaged yet, though – maybe we'll actually win there, who knows?"

Quattro shrugged. "That would certainly be nice…so it probably won't happen. Keep me posted, Barnes."

Switching off the call, he quickly dialed a number of his own. "Katie, how are-" he said.

The girl sounded very amused with herself. "They haven't progressed much beyond the opening posturing, but I think it'll be heating up soon. Oh," she laughed, "and Alyssa's new friend followed her out there, how cute."

"Oh?" Quattro smirked. "I didn't know you were into glasses, Katie. But I digress: make sure he doesn't get in the way like earlier. In whatever way you like."

Katie giggled. "Whatever you say, Mr. Quattro."

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Planet Gardius – Southern Signal – 1852 Hours

"Come on, come on! Just show your stinkin' face, you damn mage, so I can blow it right the hell off!"

This young man, Crash, currently resisting the urge to pull the trigger on the rocket launcher he held as he swept it around, was in a very good mood. After all, he was about to kill a Bureau mage – something that, pulled off successfully, gave you buckets of street cred, especially when you weren't one yourself. He was sick of how those wizards lorded it over honest, hard-working people like himself. Well, he knew exactly how to teach them a lesson, and that was by blowing up whoever walked or flew in here.

Not having magic wasn't going to stop them, either. They might talk about banning guns because of the dangers, or whatever, but he wasn't fooled. No way they'd be that obsessed with it if guns couldn't waste them easy. One shot from a good rifle, and they'd be done for – he knew it! And Kaiser knew he'd set up enough a perimeter to turn any of them into paste. Crash wasn't a mage, but he was very good with his hands, and a few leftovers from the Boss' stock had come up with this lovely arsenal of defenses:

The moment someone took as much as a step out of the alleyway into the small space between apartment buildings it led into, or flew down to investigate the signal, they'd trigger the dozens of remote sensors he'd stashed throughout the area. These were wired to an even greater number of explosions he'd fitted the area with. Once even one was activated, they'd all go off, turning whoever it was into paste. Even if they somehow survived the explosion, he had a switch near his foot that would trigger a few turrets on the rooftops and balconies nearby – they held two barrels; one an RPG, the other a machine-gun equipped with armor-piercing rounds. Even if they did survive that, this wasn't the only rocket launcher he held: an entire stock-pile of high-powered weapons was stashed all around this rooftop, and he had the perfect vantage point. No way anyone would get out of this alive.

Craning his ears, Crash heard footsteps approaching. Grinning, he took a step backward (better safe than sorry; he'd learned that a long time ago when dealing with explosives) and grinned as the conflagration of heat, noise and smoke came spiraling up from the dead-end a moment later. A chuckle escaped his lips. "Yeah, surprise, Mr. Mage!" Literally jumping with glee, he walked over to the lip of the roof, peering down.

"What the-!"

Rather than the Bureau Officer's charred, burnt remains, there was a large, dome-like bubble in the center of the dead-end. It was about two to three times the size of the average person, and as he watched, it split at the top, the water draining into the ground and vanishing. Crash stared down: in the center of where it had been was – "Uh…ain't she one of those Captains?"

Jeanne slowly reached up and removed her cigarette, slowly expelling a large cloud of smoke. The Rescue Worker's Barrier Jacket was a long, heavy coat that reached from nearly her neck to her feet, colored in vivid shades of blue and white. She didn't seem to have activated her Device yet: perhaps it wasn't necessary. Her gaze swept across the dead-end, but didn't come up toward the rooftop where Crash was crouched. Suddenly she walked over to one of the back walls of the surrounding buildings, which had naturally collapsed much of the way up from the explosion. Crash raised an eyebrow. "The hell's she doing?"

He watched as the Captain dug around in the rubble for a bit, coating her hands in water to make the process easier. After it became evident that this wasn't getting her anywhere, Jeanne stepped back, spreading her hands to summon a short stream of water that dislodged more of the rocks. Stepping past them into the body of liquid she'd created, she peered intently into the building.

It was then that Crash remembered that hey, he was supposed to be killing her, and doing it when she was busy looking nowhere near where he was would probably be a bit helpful. Raising his foot, he stamped down hard upon the switch, and watched as the turrets flipped up from their many hiding places, swiveling toward the magic signature of the TSAB Mage and firing instantly. She probably prepared that bubble beforehand; now there was no way for her to avoid this barrage! Crash snickered as he watched.

What he didn't take into account, and would probably have preferred to ignore, was the fact that almost any active spell, once released, could be controlled by its mage. "Whirlpool Suction." Jeanne said, throwing up both her hands. The stream gathered up instantly, swirling around her entire body as it quickly gathered speed. An ordinary shield might have been overwhelmed by the sheer number of bullets, but the whirling, dense barrier swept them up, dispelling them of their momentum nigh-instantly. Even the grenades' explosions seemed to be smothered by the water as she summoned more.

Crash didn't go into the specifics of weapons that often, but he'd hazard a guess that after the next couple of minutes, hundreds of bullets and dozens of grenades were fired altogether from the turrets. When they finally clicked empty and the swirling water went limp, splashing to the ground, the sound of the spent metal falling as well went on for several moments.

There was one difference from before, though; Jeanne's hair and jacket were dripping wet, and the cigarette hanging from her lips was ruined. Reaching up, she flicked it away, and then stared right up at Crash. He gulped.

"You just made me waste a perfectly good cigarette," she said, voice low, "but all things considered, you're actually pretty lucky."

Crash only stared, his mouth opening hesitantly but finding no words for it. He was realizing what many people had: Jeanne Stromhold might be a rescue worker who had saved many people's lives, but she could be scary. She jerked her head toward the damaged building.

"That building wasn't occupied. If it had been, this would hurt a lot more."

Reaching into a pocket on her jacket, Jeanne removed her Device in wrench form. "Flashpoint, Emergency!"

There was the usual flash of light from a Device activating, and Flashpoint fell back down into Jeanne's hand. Crash stared; the wrench had transformed into…well, a cannon. Almost as tall as the woman herself, its body was a cylinder, with two metallic protrusions on either side. A long handle was on top, which Jeanne grabbed hold of with both hands. As it was lifted up to point at him, Crash saw the cannon ended in three barrels shaped like the ends of hoses.

…of course, it didn't matter what Device she used with the weapons he had available. Hoisting up the rocket launcher, he sighted her down and pulled the trigger. "You're not talking like that to me! I'll blow you to bits!"

In response, Jeanne said nothing, building up a large bubble of water in one barrel as the rocket neared. Crash smiled; if she shot it now, the explosion would only engulf her. So…why didn't she look worried?

"Bubble Shot."

Despite the labored charging of the bubble, it moved quite quickly when it was fired, reaching the rocket almost instantly. But instead of colliding with the enemy attack, it suddenly opened on one side, slipping over the rocket and forming back together. The rocket was stopped cold, and as Crash watched, it was crumpled into a useless piece of steel, a sad puff of smoke rising up. The bubble opened at the bottom then, dropping the ruined shell to the

Crash watched as Jeanne made a motion with her hand, a cigarette appearing there. Popping it into her mouth, she did the same with a lighter, flicking it a few times.

Tightening his grip upon the rocket launcher, Crash fired off another shot. "No-one brushes me off like that! Eat this!"

Still messing with her lighter, Jeanne snapped two of her fingers. The bubble promptly burst noisily, the small droplets it separated into firing themselves like bullets up at the rooftop. The rocket in their way was swept up as easily as a pebble and ripped into shreds by the attack. Crash yelped as he leaped aside, his weapon getting ruined just as easily as its shells.

Finally getting her cigarette lit, Jeanne breathed out some smoke up at him. "I think I'm supposed to be telling you to surrender now, but well, I've had kind of a crappy week, so we might as well not waste each-other's time, huh?" She watched him as he picked up a new weapon. "Thanks for making this easy, though; not everyone's nice enough to use weapons that won't actually work on me."

The gun he held now was a large gatling gun, one that looked pretty powerful. Enough, Crash knew, to blew out the first-floor foundations of any of the buildings around them. Some uppity mage like this wouldn't be much trouble, right? Yeah. He tried to ignore the shiver running down his spine. The look in Jeanne's eyes was like how he'd imagined mages looked at him, magnified by about a thousand.

He pumped the trigger on the gatling gun, as if the bullets would get stronger the better he pressed it. This particular specimen of the weapon had an extended clip of about half a thousand rounds; more than enough to kill anything that moves, and spread its corpse around a very wide area.

Just before the bullets left the moving barrels, though, Crash saw something that made him gulp – Flashpoint's three hoses doing about the same movement.

"Stream," Jeanne's eyes narrowed as she tightened her grip, "Gatling."

Water droplets the size of bullets rushed out of the moving, hose-like barrels, indeed looking like a stream as they poured up and met the bullets coming the other way. To Crash's (or to be more appropriate, perhaps the person who had made the weapon in the first place) credit, it was a relatively even battle for a few moments…until, with a noise of pure dread, the gatling gun flicked empty. He looked down at it blankly. "Oh…oh yeah."

Then he threw the weapon aside and rolled, the droplets barely missing him. Snatching up his final weapon, Crash came to his feet holding the last weapon: a powerful laser, promised by Barnes to be capable of melting right through any mages' shields. And why would the Boss lie to him?

The barrel of the laser charged up with bright energy for a…looooooong few moments. Jeanne watched, and finally sighed loudly. "Actually, you know what?" Lifting one foot, she brought it back down in a loud stamp on the cobblestones.

Which, Crash noticed far too late as the rooftop underneath him began to heave upward, was conspicuously free of water.

This time it was Flashpoint who spoke up. "Backflow…Burst."

"Thanks," Jeanne said as she rearranged her cigarette, watching Crash spiral into the air as the water fountain hit him, "calling those gets old after you hit thirty."

She snapped her fingers. The water quickly followed the plummeting thug, catching up and spreading to engulf him in a bubble roughly one foot away from the ground and a very messy landing. Jeanne leaned forward; Crash's eyes had rolled up into the back of his head. "Not like I blame him."

Crash fell to the ground as the bubble burst, a low groan escaping from his throat. He probably wouldn't have gotten up in a long while, even if Jeanne hadn't walked up and kicked him in the head.

Setting Flashpoint down on the ground, Jeanne took a long drag and sent off a quick search spell. Nothing. Of course.

"Hey, Dwight," she thought, focusing on one person in particular, "I'm finished where I am. There's nothing here."

Dwight sighed. "Oh, really? That's a shame…" He paused. "…Captain."

Jeanne raised an eyebrow. "You alright there, Dwight?"

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Planet Gardius – Lieutenant Jacobs' Ambush Site – 1858 Hours

"Uh, yep, for now, definitely."

Dwight ducked back behind the pillar he was using for cover as one of the Diggers came stomping by. Riki was arrogant as hell, but he at least had some sense: he was standing in the middle of the room, making sure to keep himself in at least one of the droids' line of sight at all times. Not that Dwight imagined he had anything to do with their continued running, but the effort was admirable at least.

His Captain's voice continued in his head; oddly enough, Dwight had gotten over the whole telepathy thing pretty quickly after magic was explained to him. Psychics were at least something he was used to from back on Earth. They only came out at night, right? "I don't even know why I wasted the mana searching for it. This guy doesn't exactly scream 'cream of the crop'." Jeanne snorted. "Even tried using mass weapons on me – in a dumb way." She added generously.

"Guess your reputation didn't precede you for once." Dwight called back, calling up Gates' map of the room again. He concentrated on an area far away from him, and the red dot indicating him suddenly gained a twin that moved quickly.

Riki's voice called out. "I SEE YOU THERE, DWIGHT!" The Diggers quickly ran off in that direction, including the ones nosing around near his actual position. Dwight relaxed. "Well, before you ask, Captain, me and the Corporal are fine. You're better off heading for the ballroom and helping out Alyssa. Anton's a nice guy, but somehow I think she could use a hand other than him."

"Glad you see things my way then, Dwight. I'll hurry there right aw - dammit. I'll probably be a little while on that, actually, Dwight." Jeanne's voice disappeared abruptly.

Dwight waited for a moment and then shrugged. He had himself to worry about right now – the Captain was a big girl, she could handle whatever problems she ran into. She'd have to, considering how much she told him that fact everyday. By now Riki and his droids had figured out it had just been another decoy, and were fanning out to look for him again. Dwight didn't know how much longer he could keep that up, and hit and run tactics would just waste time he could be using to help the others. It was time for a more permanent solution.

Looking down at Gates' 'eye', he held up all four fingers on his left hand as wide as he could, and then flattened them against his palm. Gates registered this with a brief glimmer. Shortly after becoming acquainted with his Device, Dwight had realized that the voices on some of them were pretty distinctive, which was useful, but also an advantage for both sides. Not so much a problem when you were up in the air in broad daylight slinging around spells, but surrounded inside a room where your main strategy was silence? A bit more of one, yeah.

To that end he had come up with several non-verbal cues for strategies he and his Device had come up with together. And few people could have memorized them better; Dwight knew. He didn't even have to ask the gun if it understood – there wasn't a better partner when it came to pure memorization.

This one would take a handful of minutes to set up and get into position for, though. Standing back up as carefully as he could, Dwight began to move.

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Planet Gardius – Dead End By Southern Signal – 1859 Hours

Jeanne stared as the droids quickly stepped out from the alleyway and fanned out; two each of all the new melee types. She gave a deep sigh, picking up Flashpoint as they armed their weapons. "I'll probably be a little while on that, actually, Dwight." she said curtly, and shut off the telepathy without explanation. Dwight was a smart guy, he could figure it out.

"Not a bad plan, and you guys are at least one step up from an idiot like that," she jerked her head viciously at Crash's unconscious body, "but even if you're probably smarter than him by a couple hundred points, you're still in the way of the people who are actually important." While they ignored the taunt, the weapons certainly reacted to that, quickly moving to surround her. She didn't stop them.

"So," Jeanne said, adjusting her cigarette, "I'm gonna have to get rid of you quick. Sorry."

Water flowed in the alleyway once more.

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Planet Gardius – Corporal Spade's Rooftop – 1858 Hours

"D-dangit!"

Not many people would have applied the not-swear to nearly getting cut straight down across the back, but Ace wasn't most people. Dodging away from the Knight, he nearly ran into a thrust from its twin. The two, being far more adaptive than their lesser brethren, had switched strategies now that one of them was offline, taking advantage of Ace's lack of range and how most of his spells worked; they were powerful, but needed him to focus on one direction at a time, making flanking a very effective tactic against him.

Ace groaned when they boxed him in again, drawing back both their blades. "This is gonna be a pain…"

It is important to note that what Ace did next, namely flinging his hands up to catch both blades mid-swing, was only a feasible move for him due to the gauntlets he wore. More than a few young Strike Arts users had thought otherwise when fighting sword-wielding opponents, only realizing when they had to receive treatment for their cut hands that this wasn't a very good idea at all.

But by no means was it easy for Ace, either. One sword was difficult enough to block as it was, but adding another and putting them on opposite sides made it, well, harder. As the Knights increased the downward pressure in their arms, Ace bent lower and lower, gritting his teeth after a few moments of it. Yep, this definitely was a pain. But fortunately, Ace had a counter for attacks like this from Belkan Style practitioners. It had come to him one day while training – he hadn't even been thinking about Belka at the time, now that he thought of it. It had just…popped into his head suddenly.

"But that's fine," Ace thought quickly rather than let the implications spread over his mind, "if they wanted me to think up spells like that, then I'll just use them to help people!" As if from the force of this vow, he forced himself upright, electricity building up in both gauntlets' knuckles. The Knights reacted quickly, trying to pull back their blades, but Ace tightened his grip, stopping them cold. "Let's go, Bolt!"

"Yes!"

"Lightning Counter!"

The lightning inside Ace's device discharged itself, into the only two places available besides thin air: the droids' swords. Quickly they dropped their weapons and jumped back. A smart decision; the weapons' insides were quickly overloaded by the lightning and detonated, spraying shrapnel across the entire rooftop. Ace held up his arms far apart, gauntlets facing each-other. "Circuit Barricade!"

More lightning shot out of the Armored Device, quickly making a pair of wide, simplistic circuits Running between its two pieces. What shrapnel hit the electric wall was robbed of its momentum instantly, falling to the ground instantly. Some of it got around or over the shield, but was weathered well enough by Ace's barrier jacket.

The droids, on the other hand, weren't quite so lucky; their barriers were confined to only the shoulders, and while their heads were fine, several new holes were ripped into their legs, torso and parts of the arms. That apparently wasn't enough to put them down for good, though, as they lifted up their fists and charged, attacking Ace wildly.

For a few seconds.

"Sheesh," Ace sighed, looking down at their broken bodies, "you guys could definitely use some work. One of the biggest rules of a fight: never use a weapon you haven't trained with." He shrugged. "But I guess it doesn't really matter, now."

Standing up straight and exhaling, Ace called out for his nearest superior telekinetically. "Lieutenant?" No answer came. "Dwight?"

Again, silence. Being an optimist at heart, the Corporal sat down on the cement surface, resting his arms and legs. "He's probably fine: he wouldn't be a Lieutenant if he couldn't handle something I couldn't, right?"

"I wouldn't know."

"I guess not, huh?" Ace chuckled. He looked up at the higher building. "But you probably do know that we can't get up there ourselves, huh?" Teleports had never really been his specialty. "Suppose we'll just wait here, then."

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Planet Gardius – Lieutenant Jacobs' Ambush Site – 1900 Hours

That was one other thing about magic, Dwight thought from his cover near a vending machine as the Corporal's voice rang through his head: it took concentration, and there wasn't always enough of it to go around, even without bringing lasers and shields into the equation. Having someone call directly into your head while you were setting up something like this wasn't good, just for example.

Luckily, the kid seemed to get the point, and his fell silent a moment later. Dwight viewed the current situation with a careful eye. He was crouching in the room's southwest corner, as far away from the door as he could get; after all, why would he try to not leave the room? Riki seemed to think the same thing, and thus, so did the Diggers.

Still, Dwight had to wait until just the right moment. There were almost a dozen ways this maneuver could fail, and he didn't particularly feel like dying (or worse: seeing the look on Barnes' face when he was brought in front of him) tonight. But he wouldn't have become a sniper if he couldn't be patient in a tight situation. Maybe thirty seconds, a minute, or even two or more passed while he watched, until finally it happened; the Diggers and Riki all looked away from his position at just the right moment.

Lifting Gates up quickly, he snapped off a shot, aiming toward the back of the neck one of the droids. They only had skeletal knowledge of the things, but to someone with his training, headshots equaled one less target to worry about.

Sure enough, the wires and metal connecting the Diggers' head to its body snapping and shattering as it flew off from the four bullets that hit it at once. Only one was substantial enough to actually do anything, but Riki didn't seem to notice, likely because they had all come from a different corner of the room, courtesy of Gates. Dwight wasn't very good at multiple bullets, but his Device was a different story, thankfully.

As Riki was whirling around, shouting for the droids to go and check out where the shots had come from, another trick Gates had set up activated; a smoke bomb from near the north-eastern corner, which affected itself on the panicked, malleable criminal, instantly making him direct most of the Diggers in that direction. Carefully, Dwight stood up and began moving silently over to the north-western corner, while Gates prepared another round. "So far…"

…and so good, it seemed for a while. These tactics slowly but surely diminished the number of Riki's bodyguards, as well as keeping him nervous enough to ignore the pattern things were going through. But that was part of his job; disrupting perp morale and cohesion in any way he could.

Finally, the Droids, or at least what was left of them, were all accounted for, leaving Riki alone in the middle of the room. Now here was where it got a bit tricky; Riki, like most of those in Quattro's employ, wasn't exactly a talented mage, lacking any professional academy to hone their skills, but unlike the droids, his powers were genuine and not from any technology, making him much more versatile. And any criminal could be pretty damn desperate when they were backed into a corner.

"Okay, okay," he breathed, as Dwight began to pick his way closer to ensure a good shot against the comparatively thinner man, "you got them. Alright, fine. I don't need help to take care of your backwater ass!"

Dwight narrowed his eyes at the insult, but kept his cool. Crouching up against a desk, he slowly raised Gates' barrel up to aim at his foe's head. Riki was looking almost directly away from his position, still flapping his gums.

"Yeah, I heard about that from the Boss." His lips curled in a sneer. "Pretty funny that one of the guys who give us so much trouble is from an Unadministrated World, huh? I might just start laughing right here, it's so goddamn hysterical!"

"Keep talking, Riki." Dwight thought dispassionately, charging up a shot. It was then that he saw that Riki had folded his arms.

This would have been a difficult thing to safely while holding sais, so it was probably a good thing that he wasn't holding them.

Dwight's eyes, normally trained to focus on one spot at a time, swept his surroundings wildly, looking for-

There. Impaled straight up into the still intact parts of the ceiling were Riki's sais, a few feet away from both his left and right sides. This, with the same predictable luck that all decent people had to suffer through so often, meant that one was almost directly over him. As he watched, both burst into twin glows comparable to spotlights, throwing the room into brilliant light. But Dwight wasn't willing to be one dollar that was all it did.

He flung himself forward from his hiding spot in a roll, and not a second too soon as it turned out: bolts of magic shot down from both said in a ring, tearing the surrounding desks and photocopiers to bits, along with one of the legs and some of the back of Dwight's barrier jacket. Sprawling on the ground out of his roll, he looked up to see Riki's weapons slid back into his hands – the criminal quickly ran at him, smiling like a coiling snake.

Dwight snapped up Gates' body held sideways to intercept the first blow, but the second half of the opposing weapon was swung in from the left, its three prongs stabbing into his hand through his glove. The sniper flinched, allowing Riki to kick him right in the face (undoubtedly with magic lining his boot, judging by the way it got past his auto-barrier). He went sprawling back, Gates sliding out of his hands across the carpeted floor.

Speaking of the carpet, while it might have been comfortable for the feet, Dwight really doubted they'd put it in with people's heads in mind. To avoid cracking his skull he twisted himself to one side as he fell – landing straight on his right arm, but it was better than the alternative. Once on the floor, Dwight had the good sense to roll immediately, evading the follow-up lunge from Riki. Coming up to his feet, the Lieutenant thrust out a hand, calling up a Round Shield just as Riki thrust out with his sais. The twin blasts of magic that shot out from them struggled against it for a moment before rebounding off, the force nonetheless sending Dwight backward.

But Dwight rolled with the blow and snatched Gates back up, pointing it at Riki as soon as he was back on his feet. The intelligent device's body shifted as it did, changing from the sleek body of a sniper rifle to the bulky frame of a grenade launcher. Taking a step backward, he aimed carefully.

Riki sneered, running straight at the sniper. "You think I'm scared of that stupid gas, Jacobs?"

"Nope." Dwight replied. He'd been raised to be honest. He pulled the trigger.

By the time the gas bullet burst on the floor and engulfed Riki, he was almost right to Dwight, sais raised to stab down at the sniper. By the time he came out of the other end, he'd been reduced to a coughing, bent-over mess, tears swarming in his reddened eyes. He stumbled forward about two more feet before Dwight sidestepped, engulfing the criminal in a bind spell before swatting him with the butt of his device. Riki dropped like a rock, still coughing pitifully.

"Yeah, you'd be surprised what chemicals you can mix up using magic." Dwight said down calmly. "I was, too: you wouldn't expect magic to be capable of duplicating backwater weaponry, would you?" He tapped his device's barrel appreciatively. "Nice work, Gatees."

"Yes sir."

With that done, the lieutenant called out with telepathy. "Ace, you still there? I took care of the guy in here."

"Great! So did I." Ace said back. "It wasn't that hard, either, heh heh."

Dwight nodded. "Glad to hear it. I'll warp up to you, and then we can both head down to the car. I have a feeling Alyssa's gonna need some help."

"Lieutenant Lackland called just now, actually. She and GD finished up at their signal; it turned out to be a dud."

"Gee, what a surprise." Dwight said, letting out a sigh.

When Ace spoke next, it sounded a little confused. "Well, not really, Dwight. If you think about it, it seems pretty obvious that they'd all just be fakes."

"…right. What was I thinking?"

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Planet Gardius – Arturia and GD's Battle – 1902 Hours

It was somehow very appropriate, GD supposed, that he now found himself fighting a clone of one of two people he was most often partnered with. The Boxer Droid was a near perfect copy of the Corporal in terms of fighting style, mimicking his direct, rushing method of combat quite well, if not quite perfectly duplicating the magic behind it. Nonetheless, this one was quite a tenacious opponent, and would be even more dangerous against a lower ranked mage – or even simply someone who did not know Ace well.

The gadget drone wondered briefly how many similar copies of the Section Thirteen officers had been made, and if there were one of him. Likely not, in all probability: GD would be the last person to call himself weak, but the strengths he held were either through technology – his AMF Generator – or personality – his lack of a sense of 'fair play', as Lady Lackland called it – and not nearly as outwardly impressive as, for example, the Lieutenant in question's defense and splendid swordplay.

Blocking a punch from the Boxer with both hands, he swung himself into a position where he could see how she was faring. Rather well, as it turned out, not that he had expected otherwise: Arturia had long since dispatched the ordinary droids, and her duel with the other two Boxers seemed to be approaching its end. Their accumulated damage was plainly nearing its threshold, while her armor was still almost entirely whole, sporting only superficial wounds on the shoulders and arms.

Behind him, he heard the whine of the normal model's rifles charging up, and slid further back behind the Boxer to deny them a target, at least temporarily. Quickly, he shoved the other robot forward, and then lowered himself into a slide at its legs. This one-two punch threw it to the ground, and GD quickly flipped around and dove down with his claws to gut it while strengthening his AMF on the rear side.

Before his hands could pierce the opposing robot's armor, it rolled, grabbing him by the claws. GD could have directed the generator's output toward his claws, but the rifle shots pattering against the field spoke a lot toward how that would go. Apparently unwilling to let the gadget drone get a hand free (rather wisely, GD had to admit), it settled for kneeing him in the chest. A weakness of the gadget drones had always been their incapability of blocking physical-based attacks, and GD hadn't made any changes in that regard. A large inward dent formed on his armor from the blow, and the droid pulled back its leg for another.

But even while he was getting hit, GD had been setting things up to free himself. Stretching his feet out on their cables a short distance away, he dug them into the ground as tightly as he could, and now, retracted quickly. If it had been able to, the Boxer's eyes would have widened as it began to be dragged backward. It tried to let go, but by that point GD was the one not letting go. Flipping back into a standing position, the gadget drone used the momentum to throw the other robot straight over his shoulder. The other droids, naturally, scattered from the tumbling superior unit, but a few ones in the middle weren't able to react in time, getting crushed underneath the Boxer.

Before the others could react, GD was among them, his claws rending and slashing in all directions; three of the remaining droids were destroyed before they could fully register what was happening.

But these robots were machines of battle, quick to adapt: and when they did, in very deadly fashion. As two of his enemies stepped backward and lifted up their rifles, GD detected a growing source of magic directly behind him; one greater than the rifles. Judging the length and proximity in an instant, he flung up his hand, catching the hilt of the rifle-turned-sword the droid had swung at his head about an inch from it.

His other hand was thrust forward, palm out. "AS: AMF Attract."

The generator's power focused around the hand, coating it in energy, as with his attack from earlier. This technique, though, was more unique; the gadget drone had developed it only recently, and GD imagined there was currently no-one else who could utilize an AMF in such a way (largely because the TSAB Database's files on the subject were bookmarked on his onboard computer). By temporarily manipulating how his generator produced the field, he was able to draw magical attacks toward a localized and strengthened spot on the protection, thus providing a helpful protection for his allies.

Regardless of how it worked, it adequately protected him from the rifle shots, although GD was conscious of his hand becoming quite singed after only the first few blasts. Extricating himself from this position with all due haste would be ideal…especially as he noted the Boxer quickly advancing from the right, and the building magical signature far to his left, most likely from their absentee suspect's linker core. GD wondered why he seemed to consider him a greater threat than Lady Lackland; it seemed very illogical from where he stood.

Once again, like all computers, GD was forced to juggle a series of complicated, counter-intuitive actions almost in tandem to solve many problems at once, so quickly that it would take some sort of omniscient narrator to describe accurately.

First, sneaking his foot between the sword-wielding droid's legs and around the back of one of them, GD changed his grip from the droid's weapon to its arm. This of course gave it more swinging room, but the Sergeant twisted his arm as he did so, somewhat freely putting the arm in-between the blade and his more vital areas. Sparks flew off the metal as the magic blade hit it, and seeing purchase, the droid pressed further into the blow.

Which was exactly what GD wanted him to do. With a loud, metal snap, the arm came off, clanging to the ground as its owner dove to the left, the blade slicing through nothing more than empty air. The gadget drone's leg pushed it from behind as it stumbled forward, sending it into a trip toward the others – just as they fired. It went down with two smoking holes in its chest, giving GD a perfect shot for a one-handed variant of his AMF Bolts. They went down with two each in their necks.

GD quickly bent low and threw his head to one side, allowing a sneak attack from the Boxer to graze off his shoulder – the lightning-lined blow blew open his shoulder partially nonetheless – before he flipped into a quick leap behind the enemy, grabbing it by the shoulders in a full nelson. This maneuver would ordinarily be, well, impossible with only one arm, so it was a good thing that his legs were made to be flexible; one replaced the discarded appendage well enough.

He leaned forward, enough to speak directly into the space where the Boxer's ears would be if it had them. "Contemplation: I wonder if the people on your side will care about friendly fire as much as mine do?"

A moment later, he received his answer.

On the other side of the plaza, one of the other set of Boxers went into spasm as a magical shield and a shortsword went into its neck from opposite sides. With a battle cry, Arturia ripped the latter out with a vicious tug, before plunging it into the droid's chest with a mighty thrust. The device went through easily thanks to the light magic it was imbued with.

Stepping back as it fell to the ground, smoking and sparking, Arturia viewed the ensuing explosion with dispassion. A far different viewpoint was taken when another came a moment later from behind her. Whirling around, she stared at the burst of magical energy. "782!"

The knight started toward the attack's aftermath, but the sound of running footsteps coming from behind made her turn, lifting the shield to block an especially heavy blow from the sole remaining Boxer. The spell wavered, and finally shattered; Arturia stepped back as the pieces faded away, then followed the enemy robot's path as it suddenly leaped over her head, blocking the way.

She glared at its cold, metal eyes. "My Sergeant is in trouble: I have no time for you!"

Rising Frangir high, Arturia focused her energy on her sword as it enlarged, the device transforming back to his default claymore form, ejecting a cartridge as it did so. By the time it had done so, it was already practically a small beacon, and the glow only intensified. The Boxer paused for a moment, clearly wary of the growing power, until it seemed to decide the risk was acceptable by charging.

Arturia watched it approach, and…began to speak? "O' holy sword of the House of Verum, invoke thy light!"

The Boxer crossed the distance quickly with its artificial strength, sliding to the left just before it reached her. This target favored slow, powerful attacks, so the chance of her striking preemptively before it could dodge was indeed unlikely. The blow was aimed toward the right side of her head, with enough strength behind it to tear the head off any unprotected human.

But, prideful as they usually were, no self-respecting Verum Knight would ready an attack from their blade and not prepare things so that it succeeded. When the robot's fist, crackling with lightning magic, impacted on Arturia's cheek, it did nothing more than move her head to one side, the attack buffered by the lieutenant's excellent set of barriers. It was often a surprise to criminals when they found out just how much her defenses could withstand, all told, and sadly, Leonard had never really been able to gather data on what exactly their limits were.

Quickly the droid struck again, aiming toward her chest this time, but Arturia scoffed slightly, twitching the fingers on one hand to ensnare it in a full set of shining binds. "'twas an adequate blow, for something like you," she said as it began to struggle, "but your folly was in not ending it then and there. Now pay the price!"

Lifting the blade higher, she cried out, "SHINE! Lucidus Gladius!"

Before Arturia unleashed her blade in a mighty, horizontal slash, the Boxer broke free, quickly slamming its fists together. But the shield of lightning the action produced might as well have been tissue paper: it was sliced into two halves easily.

Striding quickly ahead, ignoring the sound of her former opponent bursting apart, she surveyed the site where GD had been fighting and frowned. Folding her arms, she stared at the single scorch mark on the ground with suspicion. Arturia had often trained with the gadget drone, and the utmost fact she had taken away from these sessions was this: if there was not a certainty that he was defeated, then he was still your opponent.

Sure enough, from above there came the sound of breaking glass, followed by piercing scream. Arturia looked up to find the suspect in midflight toward the ground. Quickly she flung out her hand, summoning a shield as a makeshift net to break his fall. Not softly, of course: training at the Saint Church generally did not involve kid gloves, whatever branch you were a part of.

Smacking off the shield with a crunch only slightly muffled by his barrier jacket, Nelson hit the ground rolling, tommy gun device somehow managing to stay clutched in his hands. Scrambling to his feet, he eyed Arturia like an animal caught in a trap, an expression only made worse when GD dropped to the ground from the broken window a good deal more smoothly, almost trapping him directly between two 'coppers'.

He nodded to his superior. "Greeting: hello, Lady Lackland. I assume you have finished with your duel?"

Arturia frowned, as she usually did when faced with an accomplishment by the droid. "Indeed. I see that you as well, and apprehended the subject as well. Good wo-"

The two flung up their shields and quickly dodged, respectively, as Nelson, seeing a supposed opening, let loose with a hail of attacks from his tommy gun before running in the opposite direction. It definitely wasn't the most sophisticated escape attempt from TSAB personnel ever conducted (the participants of that case had all wisely chosen to forget it), but it…

…didn't come close to working, even if one of the officers couldn't fly. Arturia raised her hand, but GD didn't need to move from his spot to do this. Slinging his arm forward on its cable, it quickly caught up to the fleeing criminal and snatched him by the back of his coat. Letting out a yelp, Nelson flailed in the grip enough to get his device pointed at the Sergeant, squeezing off a few spell rounds. Most were negated by the AMF, but one managed to sneak past the barrier and clip GD in the leg, cracking it open partially and dropping him onto one knee.

Nelson, despite the situation he was in, enjoyed a brief grin at this – until he was right in front of the gadget drone, single red eye turned up to meet his. Quickly GD let go of the man's back before reaching up, grabbing his arm tightly with an energized hand in a very precise way, and jerking it downward. Hard.

Letting out a sound comparable to a wounded furry animal, he collapsed, dropping the storage device as he cradled his arm (while falling on it, ironically), screaming incoherently about his arm.

Looking down at Nelson for a moment with a surprisingly, er, expressive expression of disdain, GD turned to Arturia. "Statement: Lady Lackland, I have apprehended the-"

The Lieutenant promptly hit him over the head with the butt of Frangir's pommel. "Exactly what was that, 782! I don't remember giving you an order to break a suspect's arm!"

GD scratched the spot with his claw a bit as he replied. "Explanation: I deemed that the most efficient method of containing him, Lady Lackland. A bind can be broken out of by anyone, given enough time, and there is no telling what may lie ahead to distract you. A clean sprain – not a break – meanwhile, cannot be undone so easily, and requires no extended drain on my part."

He indicated their former opponent, who had yet to move much. "Assessment: I doubt he will be much inclined to move, now, especially once I apply these."

Tapping a section of his armor, it popped up to reveal a pair of handcuffs sitting in a hollow there. Retrieving them, GD knelt, and paused. "Query: Lady Lackland, might you-" He nodded his head in the direction of the discarded arm.

Arturia sighed and walked over. "Honestly; I don't understand how a machine like you can be so uncivilized at times."

"Retort: one could say the same for much of the Bureau, Lady Lackland. When your weapons are non-lethal, it seems surprisingly easy to break many bones by accident, or worse."

Shaking her head, she picked up the limb and returned, conscious that 'worse' contained most Belkan users. "Talking like that is why many consider you dangerous, 782." Stepping around to his back, she reinserted the arm into its socket, certainly an easier job with a robot than a human. "You are aware of that, are you not?"

He looked up at her. "Confirmation: yes."

Arturia frowned at the blunt answer. "But then, I may be the only one who understands just how dangerous you are." Preparing to contact her superior telepathically, she glanced toward GD's wounded leg. "Shall I ask for a replacement, 782?"

GD put his weight on it gingerly, and then shook his head. "Analysis: it is only a scratch. I do not believe it is much cause for worry – a small amount of damage is meaningless to me."

The knight's displeased expression as she called in to the Major, a fact GD noted. The lady called attention to his artificial nature a handful of times per day, at least, but appeared disgruntled when he did so himself. He had yet to understand why, even after a month of working with her.

Suddenly Arturia's expression changed from a frown to shocked blankness, and then quickly to anger. "Alyssa Triad…!"

"Query: what did-"

"She told me to 'buzz off', then cut the connection! How dare she speak to someone that way! It's completely unbefitting someone of her rank! I don't know-"

As GD listened to the lieutenant go over the many ways Captain Triad had offended her, he tried to avoid thinking about exactly how much efficiency and time this was wasting. It wasn't always easy, being the only robot on the squad.

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Planet Gardius – Western Signal – 1907 Hours

"It's far too quiet."

Another of Barnes' 'crack' team, a rather large in a black barrier jacket man by the name of Aleksei, surveyed the area he had been assigned to lay a trap in – a small park dotted with trees set in the middle of several adjacent buildings. It wasn't anything expansive, just a place for people to take their kids. This explained why Aleksei was currently perched on the top of a jungle gym. Silly or not, it offered him a fairly decent few of the surrounding area, and in turn anyone entering it from the paths leading in from the street.

Not that it really mattered if he saw them or not. Aleksei cast his gaze up toward the rooftops, where, lying close to the ground and camouflaged on the surface, were models of the attack droids specializing in ranged assault. They each came equipped with a powerful rifle, strong enough to rip through the average mage's shields if they had a clear shot.

But he wasn't really expecting whoever it was to just come waltzing (or flying, whatever) in. The bureau didn't hire idiots. They'd definitely wait and see, surveying the terrain before cautiously approaching. It wouldn't work, of course. These things were damn good at detecting even slight movements from strangers. With nothing else to do for the moment, Aleksei stooped and picked up a small rock on the jungle gym's floor. Winding up, he tossed it at a spot visible from all of the rooftops and watched as the rough surface was turned scarlet by a multitude of laser sights. After a half-second they vanished. Aleksei nodded; if that happened with a small rock, a search spell would definitely set them off as well.

Despite what his appearance might indicate, though, Aleksei was growing a bit nervous. A lot of his colleagues would have been surprised at that, and that was sort of a problem for men of his size in organizations like this. If you were big and in charge (and thus, the biggest man, as the rules went), people looked up to you with respect – at least to your face, which was good enough. But be big and in any position below that, and people thought you were just some goon.

Aleksei clenched his right hand into a fist absent-mindedly. Present on it was his storage device, a rather deceptive form for one to take: a single brass knuckle. Nothing, after all, said devices had to be very noticeable in their unsealed forms, but not many people seemed to have gotten that memo. A lot of people he'd been assigned to…negotiate with had gone for their own, thinking he'd do the same, and bang.

Anyway. The other guys had all reported in when they'd met their opponents, and he had mentally ticked them off: the knight and robot, the sniper who'd made boss' shit list, that rescue worker, and the idiot kid with the gauntlets. That only left two people after the ones attending that ball Quattro Angelo was holding: – strong-arming him had been the best move Boss had ever made – the archeologist and that weird girl that usually hung around him.

There were a lot of stories around about Daniel, if you knew where to look and who to ask. Half treated him like some folk hero, while the other was spat through seething mouths, but they seemed to have equal ground in what he was capable of if pushed. On the other hand, there wasn't a shred of information to be found about his 'partner', and knowing nothing about someone could be just as bad as them being famous. The only thing they knew for sure was that she could control plants. He glanced around at the trees nearby for a moment before shrugging. They couldn't exactly go anywhere, right?

He hadn't received any messages from the other guys in a while now, either – had they all gotten caught? Well, it didn't matter. The same thing wouldn't be happening to him, rocks or no rocks, plants or no plants. He shifted, getting comfortable again, when a sound reached his ears.

It was faint, probably only carried over to him by the breeze blowing around, but he could tell it was some kind of music. Exactly what kind was beyond him, but Aleksei doubted a concert player had just wandered by here to practice. He strained his ears, trying to tell where it was coming from…

From behind him came the sound of a tree branc shifting with a loud crack. Aleksei whirled in that direction, leaning out and staring hard. But there didn't seem to be anything or anyone in that direction, and the trees there wouldn't nearly be enough to hide someone trying to sneak up. There didn't seem to be any spells coming, either. He relaxed slightly, just in time for another branch far to the right to move as well.

Aleksei frowned, and then settled back again. "Nice try. No way I'm going to let myself get spooked by-"

The bright-colored metal underneath him suddenly shifted violently. The man nearly fell, but steadied himself as he looked down to the ground, which was currently in the middle of a vicious upheaval. Frowning, he leaped off the jungle gym quickly, landing on the ground. Not to his great surprise, the shaking shifted almost immediately to where he landed, threatening to engulf him entirely. Grunting, Aleksei pumped magic through his legs and leaped away, clearing a good portion of the park in a single bound.

As he flew, Aleksei scanned the ground below, and found what he was looking for quickly: a small, travelling mound of dirt, like the kind you saw in those cartoons as a kid. Landing and leaping again quickly as the earth rose up on that spot, he came down with a magic driven punch swung directly at the head of the mound.

When his fist broke through the dirt and rocks, though, he frowned, not hearing the familiar sound of his device hitting a barrier jacket or flesh. Instead of Daniel within the mound, there was nothing but a long metal rod, now broken into two pieces. They vanished within a moment, but Aleksei was moving too quickly to notice, pulling his arm out before the tunnel could entrap it and running.

That wasn't the only trick Daniel had prepared, though. As he fled the tunnel practically exploded behind him, sending rocks flying at his back like bullets. Apparently that wasn't enough, either: with a chorus of whistling sounds similar to the wind blowing, the blades of grass around him uplifted themselves and shoot at him too. When they touched his shields, Aleksei saw the term was a lot more accurate than usual – the grass had become razor sharp, like needles.

His barriers didn't last very long under the barrage of terrain, and he grunted as the rocks began to bash away at the barrier jacket underneath, along with the slow but surely growing cuts on it from the grass. "Dammit, there's ammo all around for both of them to use! They're the worst people to fight in this kind of location!" That music was still in the air, too, just loud enough to distract him.

Luckily, ahead of him was a tree. Even if the girl could move it in some way too, it would hopefully give him a reprieve from the rocks, and possibly the grass as well. Jumping up, he caught hold of a branch and flipped himself up to the top, pausing to catch some much deserved breath as the attacks ceased.

"I can't just keep running forever, and they'll attack again soon." Aleksei thought. "Where the hell are they?"

He knew that jumping after more of those tunnels would just lead to more decoys, but there had to be some way of tracking the two down. Then Aleksei recalled one particular fact about Daniel: his nickname, 'Mole King'. Supposedly the guy could tunnel through rock like it was nothing – "And turf like this would probably be child's play, huh?"

Clenching the hand containing his device, he again sent more power flowing into his legs. This would be a bit more forceful than just jumping, but hopefully it would do the job.

Just before Aleksei leaped, the music caught on the wind and grew louder to his ears, and the branch underneath his feet suddenly gave an ominous lurch. He left the branch just as it lurched upward in a motion that would have pinned him forcibly to the trunk It was time to take control of this situation.

Not to his surprise, a pillar of rock came up to meet him from the ground, but the large man pressed downward, smashing it to bits before reaching the ground. The magic within his legs was expelled in an instant as he met the earth in a vicious stamp, sending a powerful shockwave out in all directions. The effect was immediate: a loud, muffled yelp sounded across the park grounds, and a hole in the dirt opened some distance away that Daniel hurriedly flung himself out of, Lithic in one hand. He was dressed in his barrier jacket, a functional, dirt-brown spelunker's outfit with quite a few pockets on it, and even a hard hat equipped with its own light somehow.

"T-twice in one week," he breathed, "who did I cross, exactly?"

Aleksei was on him in an instant, grabbing the shorter man forcibly around the neck, kicking the Device away, and hauling him up to his eyes. It required another injection of magic to his muscles, but the effect of the effort was all too noticeable on the tunneller's face. "Nice tricks, pal." he drawled. "Especially liked the hide and go seek parts. Well, guess what: you're it."

The Snipers' laser sights had been swerving around wildly during the chaos, trying to pick out some hostile target in the mess, but now they shifted over to illuminate Daniel's head with their pinpoint glows. The archeologist slowly gulped.

Chuckling a bit, Aleksei held up the five fingers on his left hand, and after a moment lowered one. "I guess you get the idea, huh? I wonder if your friend can help you out of this?" Another came down.

To his surprise, Daniel gave a weak smile. "A-actually – yeah."

The laser sights aligned on his head suddenly went wild, swerving all around. Aleksei looked around quickly, but there was no-one else nearby. Finally his eyes swept up to the nearest Sniper's position, and they widened at what had happened to it. Covering the robot and sprouting out from holes in its armor were thick vines that had engulfed and crushed it completely. It almost looked like some kind of weird sculpture; very avant-garde.

Aleksei didn't have to look around to know the same had happened to the others. He stared blankly for a moment as Daniel chuckled into his ear for a moment, and then uttered a low growl, turning to slam the archeologist into a nearby tree trunk. The criminal had the satisfaction of hearing him grunt in pain – his barrier jacket didn't seem to be very durable.

"Okay," the criminal said, pulling his arm back as the limb became aglow with magic, "how about from this?" The music had yet to disappear, and had even grown louder from his new position. Well, he could worry about her after taking care of this little punk.

The smirk on Daniel's lips hadn't faded, and he nodded despite the hand around his neck. "In a w-word…yeah."

Sneering, Aleksei replied by throwing his fist forward – only for it to stop midway. The thug might have pitched forward out of surprise, but the force suddenly gripping it was strong enough to stop him completely. Snapping his eyes downward, he saw what looked like a thick, brown rope wrapped firmly around his arm. Then he looked closer, and saw that it disappeared into the ground very near the tree.

And then, out of the corner of his eye, something seemed to move. Slowly Aleksei turned his eyes up…into a pair of holes that had appeared in the trunk. From their size and shape, one could be forgiven for seeing them as eyes, especially when they focused right onto him. It was an unpleasant gaze, but for all the wrong reasons. Rather than being full of hatred, anger or cruelty, it was simply the look of someone seeing something that didn't really matter to them at all, like an ant, or even a weed.

Abruptly another, much larger hole opened in the trunk, almost wide enough to split it in half. Certainly big enough to be what it clearly was: a mouth.

With his gaze locked and eyes wide as dinner-plates, Aleksei didn't notice the second root that sprouted behind him until a moment after the mouth opened, when it pushed at the same time as the first pulled. The tree was strong, far stronger than you'd expect foliage to be, and he quickly found himself splayed across the lip of the mouth, arms gripping the trunk as tightly as they possibly could. "N-no! No way!"

In the instant he had been pulled forward, Aleksei had let go of Daniel instinctively. Dusting off his barrier jacket, he walked around to the thug's back and stood tapping his foot. "I guess that's enough of an answer for you, big guy?"

Raising his arm, he called out, "Rock Armor: Arm!", and shoved his arm down into the ground, which parted like water and closed around it before he ripped it out, now with a sleeve of hardened dirt (and some grass and – eugh – worms, but mostly dirt) coating it like a gauntlet. Rapping on it with his free arm, Daniel grinned as it caught Aleksei's attention.

"You know, there are about ten different awful puns I could make here, but I'm just not that mean." Daniel said smugly, as he began winding up the arm. From the angle the criminal was at, it looked very large. "I'm definitely mean enough to do this, though!"

Aleksei began to stammer. "Now, now hold on a sec – could we talk about-"

"Nope." Daniel said cheerfully, bringing his arm forward in a mighty push. Aleksei sailed forward into the mouth with a brief scream that cut off as it slammed shut. The archeologist nodded in satisfaction before dismissing the enchantment and going to pick his device. "You alright there, Lithic?"

"Aye, boss."

Daniel nodded. "Cool." Looking around at the rather wrecked park for a moment, he set about repairing it as best he could. Part of the problem of using earth magic was the bad PR you got, even from little stuff like this. After tidying up the ground and resetting the jungle gym, Daniel dusted his hands off and then almost jumped out of his skin when someone tapped him on the shoulder.

Turning with a sigh, he folded his arms at Otavi. "So, Otavi, are you completely incapable of making noise whenever it would make me crap my pants?"

The enigmatic girl simply shrugged. Her barrier jacket was a simple red-on-green dress, relatively easy to move around in and seemingly designed for a female musician holding a concert. Matching it was her boost device, an elegant green violin currently held gently in her arms.

"Anyway," Daniel said casually though not unkindly, "good work with those plants: I might have been in trouble there without you around." The way he put 'might' said that this was a monumental occurrence…at least to him.

Walking up to the tree now functioning as a cell, he jabbed a thumb at him. "Anyway, let big green know to let the guy out when somebody knocks, and I'll get on the horn back to base, alright?"

He watched as Otavi walked demurely up to the tree, laying a hand on its trunk and locking eyes with it. A moment passed, but no words between the two whatsoever. Daniel watched with a curious eye: he seemed to be the only one who had seen this part of Otavi's powers. She didn't seem that interested in sharing it, so he'd kept quiet.

"Although I guess if you think about it, I kinda talk to the environment a little too." The digger shrugged and sent off the message before nodding to his partner. "Okay, let's get going."

Otavi nodded. "Yes."

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Planet Gardius? – Location Unknown – 1911 Hours

Leonard leaned back and sighed as the final signatures on the computer screen turned red. "There goes the last of them. Ah well, back to the drawing board again, I suppose…"

"Compiling methods of defeat by Section Thirteen Officers and sorting by levels of effectiveness, common ground, and the situations involved. I'll add it to what data we have in order to determine what improvements can be made." came Lacerta's calm voice from next to him as she worked her own keyboard.

The elderly scientist gave a weary smile. "Yes, thank you Lacerta." While she did that, he sent a transmission to the person who would be most interested in this. A second or two later the man in charge of their operation appeared on the screen. He said nothing, staring silently at Leonard as he awaited an explanation of what had been important enough to call him.

"Er," Leonard gave an uncomfortable cough, "Cypher, I'm afraid the new prototypes have all been-"

"Destroyed?" Cypher asked, staring right through him. "Foregone conclusion, in all probability. In any case, irrelevant: units served purpose of evaluating performance and gathering more specialized data." He nodded. "After tonight, commence work on streamlining models – and begin applying data into Commander prototype."

Leonard's eyes lit up a bit. "Ah, yes, I have been looking forward to-"

Cypher cut him off. "Keep posted on any extreme developments. Especially related to Cashim." With that, the transmission clicked off, the screen returning to its aerial display of the city.

"I really don't know how to talk to him." Leonard said with a sigh.

"Yeah, join the club." muttered Grace as she entered in time to hear that. Walking up to the computer, she propped her chin and hands up on the back of Leonard's chair. "So, how's it going?"

Shooting her a brief disgruntled look, Leonard waved a hand at the screen. "Well, as you can see, they've managed to destroy all of the new models and arrest Quattro's men who were being aided by them. Now they're all converging on the ballroom – very close by to where the Lost Logia seems to be." He indicated the artifact's signature with a point of a gnarled finger.

The old man took on a ponderous look. "They don't appear to have realized that at the moment, however. One of the Captains is fighting someone in that vicinity, and she hasn't even tried to break off yet." He shrugged. "Whoever it is must be a very exceptional opponent to hold her attention so."

Grace raised an eyebrow. "Someone strong enough to fight with one of the Captains just showed up?" She walked over to the side of the room. "Sounds like something we need to know about. I'll hop into that Recon unit and have a look see."

Leonard sighed, watching as she slipped on the VR equipment. "Just try not to damage it, please: making a model with those capabilities was very time-consuming."

"Right, right," Grace muttered, putting on the visor, "I'll be as gentle with it as my own child."

"That is not reassuring."

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Planet Gardius – Rooftop near Ballroom – 1912 Hours

"Dreadful. Nearly ten years and they're both still as boring as when I left." Katie sighed. "There's just no helping some people."

She'd been watching the fight from her position near a stairwell, and was now reflecting that, while certainly useful, there were plenty of things that would have been far more entertaining to watch. The paint drying on a wall, perhaps, or maybe Barnes ordering his men around – Barnes doing almost anything, really, which said all it needed to on how dull Alyssa and Glenn's matches always were.

Really, they didn't seem to know the difference between a spar and a real fight. Even as angry as Alyssa was (and given how many times she had been the cause of similar moods, Katie ought to know), they were still fighting as back on the ship: playing around like children. She'd fire off the flashiest, most 'impressive' move she could, he would block it, and of course have to match it with something of his own. "But then, haven't they always treated it like some game?" Katie frowned. Real fights couldn't be like that.

Throughout her thoughts, Katie had been idly tossing a small collapsible knife up and down. Catching it this time, she held it up to her eyes. "Let's show Alyssa what a true fight is, shall we Coltello?"

"Si." it purred. Katie allowed herself a smirk.

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Planet Gardius – Skies over Ballroom – 1911 Hours

"A-amazing…"

Anton had been thinking something along those lines perpetually ever since the battle had begun. It was one thing to be shown footage of a fight between two powerful mages, and quite another to be right nearby one. Alyssa and her brother were both amazing, at attack, defense and speed, racing across the sky in auras of blue and red before clashing together, spear and katana fighting for dominance. The former had reach, but Glenn swung his device in elegant strokes, cutting off Alyssa's thrusts and spins easily.

But while it was clear he held the edge in melee combat, whenever they broke off to fire respective volleys of spells, it became obvious that was Alyssa's advantage: Glenn lacked the versatility or speed of his siblings' projectiles. These respective skill differences were the cause of their barrier jackets' damage – also roughly even. The fight seemed to be just getting started, though: from Anton's perspective neither his captain nor her opponent were showing signs of exhaustion.

"Young Master," Anton looked down at Akashic, who had spoken up quietly, "should you not assist?"

The secretary lifted a finger to scratch his cheek. "Uh…I don't know about that, Akashic." When the book began an annoyed murmur, he quickly added, "She did tell me to stay out of it, remember?"

"What will the others think of that, I wonder?"

Anton flinched. "W-well…"

Before the discussion could continue, a computer window opened in midair next to him. Anton turned to view Doctor Forrester's frosted goggles. "Doctor? What's wrong?"

Forrester paused for a moment, tapping one finger on the arm rest. "Well, not purely wrong, per say; more good news and bad news." He brightened up. "The good news is, I believe I have come up with the answer of what kind of Logia we're dealing with!"

Anton smiled, adjusting his glasses. "That's great! What kind?"

"A bomb."

The secretary nearly jerked the specs right off his face. "…um. What?"

"A bomb," Forrester repeated, "and a fairly potent one, too. Ingenious, I'd go so far as to state. Whoever made it was truly a master."

"I don't know if being a master at blowing people up is something to compliment." Anton muttered inwardly. Aloud he asked, "Are you sure? How did you come up with that answer?"

Forrester steepled his fingers as he replied. "Questioning my calculations, eh? Well, I'll let it go this time. Essentially, I've been monitoring you and – er, no, everyone else besides you, actually. But anyway, I noticed some odd fluctuations in how the excess magic in the air from all the fighting was acting, and after some deeper scanning, found they were being suctioned toward a specific spot – namely, a spot right nearby the Angelo Corporation's building."

Anton's eyed widened. "Magic being suctioned?" He remembered reading about a few techniques involving absorbing the magic run-off from a mage battle…including one almost every cadet knew by name. But he'd never heard of one capable of doing it across an entire city!

The Doctor nodded. "Precisely. I had one of the boys nip along to the library and pick up that book on Lost Logia Daniel has. Sure enough there was one type that matched this phenomenon almost exactly. Essentially, the Belkans would bury one underneath a location they knew would see battle, wait for the soldiers to charge it up with their own magic, and BAM!" He clapped his wizened hands together. "No more army."

Recoiling like he'd been slapped in the face, Anton gasped. "That's insane! What would anyone have to gain from blowing up an entire city!"

"Oh, I doubt it would be the entire city. Some outskirt areas would probably survive, along with-"

"Not important!" Anton shouted. "Where is this spot? I'm the closest to it, right?"

Forrester shrugged. "You and Captain Alyssa, technically, but she appears to be busy at the moment."

Deflating slightly at this, the rookie nodded nonetheless. "Alright, if I have to take care of it, I will."

"Wonderful." Scooting aside a little, the scientist indicated a blinking building on the map, near a green icon marked with an A. "It's a very large building – on the same street you're above, I believe."

Anton looked around. Aside from the Angelo Corporation's building, there were numerous constructions home to other, smaller businesses, but the one that stood out most was a skyscraper nearly as big as it, a bit to the left from being right across the street from Quattro's headquarters.

"I think I found out where it is," he reported, "I'll head in now."

"Good luck!" Forrester said with some rather artificial cheeriness before the window disappeared. Retrieving his inhaler and taking a quick puff to steady his nerves, he prepared to swoop down toward the building.

Not for the first time, having Akashic around kept Anton from embarrassing – in this case, by electrocution and possible death. As he descended he ran into a strong, sudden wind current called up by the tome, and, too surprised to resist, let it sweep him right back up. This proved to be a fortunate decision, as it carried him out of the path of the thunderbolt that ripped through the path he'd been about to take, stopping before him in a short burst of lightning that broke through his defenses easily and singed his barrier jacket.

When the light from the attack died down, the very first thing Anton saw was the dagger blade tapping him gently below the chin. Letting out a loud yelp, he jetted backward frantically to the sound of laughter.

Katie's giggles died down soon enough, to the gratitude of his reddened cheeks, and she let out a happy sigh. "Ah, I needed that." She took a bow. "Thank you, Mr. Rookie."

The third and final Triad's barrier jacket was a two piece yellow-on-black ensemble, a vest and an undershirt above an accurate recreation of leather pants. The space between was bare, showing off her rather fetching midriff. Her hair was done up in a ponytail now, and she twirled the twin daggers Coltello had become with worrying ease.

":I was wondering when you were going to figure it out," she said smoothly with a smile, "good job. But I'm afraid I can't actually let you capitalize it, sorry!"

Nearby, both Alyssa and Glenn stopped, and the former glared at the new arrival. "Katie," the officer snarled, "thought I smelled something."

"Koshiro AND Coltello: two lamers too many." Bowie quipped.

Katie's smile grew wider. "Oh, hello there, Big Sister. I do hope I'm not interrupting anything, but I just couldn't resist wanting to see you again after so long." The grin gew into a smirk. "I hope you can forgive me."

"Hah," Alyssa sneered, looking between her and Glenn, "I guess you're the one who arranged this little reunion too, aren't ya?" Sucking in, she spat. "I always knew you were crooked, Katie, but I didn't think you'd ever run with trash like this."

This accusation was met with the same confident smile. "Well, people do change after many years, sister, and we have been apart for enough of them." Katie folded her arms, keeping the daggers in view. "Not that it's been all bad: I should really thank you for giving me the opportunity-"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" Alyssa yelled, rushing forward only to be headed off swiftly by Glenn, sending them into another deadlock.

"-with your little, hm hm, 'blunder'." Katie finished, and shrugged lightly. "I see that it worked out for you, though, Captain: every cloud has to have a silver lining, after all." She turned to the icy samurai. "How about you, Brother? Any thoughts on this?"

Glenn looked straight into Alyssa's eyes. "No." he stated. "Nothing at all."

Katie shrugged again. "Oh, well." Tapping one dagger on her own chin for a moment, she pointed the other at Glenn. "Speaking of, shouldn't you stop fooling around now, Brother?" Her smile turned upside down. "I would hope you'd remember what Father used to say about prolonging battles?"

A moment passed, and then Anton watched with growing dread as the air around the swordsman grew silver with frost. Strengthening the push behind his blade, he forced Alyssa backward. She went with the shove, sailing backward to make some distance between the two, about five meters.

Eying her across the expanse, Glenn slowly held his katana out horizontally in the air toward the left. The frost began to harden into arrow-like projectiles – a lot of them. "Sleet Arrow."

As their maker lifted his hand to point at his sister, the arrows began to fire themselves, with below average speed but also with gradual pressure; for every one that was fired another seemed to form within moments.

"If you think this crap is going to keep me from kicking your head in, you've got another thing coming, Glenn!" Alyssa yelled, firing off a volley of her own fire arrows and immediately charging. Watching, Anton cheered mentally as the fire and ice attacks cancelled each-other out and his captain began to close the remaining distance by weaving and slashing the ice arrows.

That was when he noticed something: certain spots in the air where Glenn's projectiles had passed through were now glowing with a small, dark-blue dot, not much larger than a pin-point. It was probably a miracle he'd managed to see them at all with the sky darkening as it was. Anton then realized two things quickly. That they were arranged in a very specific sort of pattern, and that all of them were right in Alyssa's path.

"Captain, LOOK OUT!" he shouted, forgetting telepathy for the moment.

"Too late." Katie said happily.

Glenn closed his eyes. "Frozen Gate."

"Shinu."

When Alyssa passed through the pattern created by the lights, it happened; massive ice-blocks burst up all around her from each of them. Eyes widening, she tried to pull back, but far too late – the elements swallowed her up completely within the glacier. Anton stared, as if hoping fire might erupt from the icy prison, but…there was nothing.

Floating up to the ice prison, Katie tapped it with one dagger, smiling. "And that, as they say, is that."

She backed away and motioned to Glenn. "Go right ahead, Brother. I think you've earned this."

Nodding silently, the samurai approached the icy cage that held his sister and raised Koshiro high, preparing for a downward chop that would undoubtedly shatter it and anything within. Then he grunted slightly in surprise as a blast of wind impacted against his defenses, doing absolutely nothing but certainly getting his attention. Lowering his sword, he looked over at Anton. Jerking up a bit less stoically, Katie did the same, staring at the secretary with surprise.

"Oh, right," she said, recovering quickly, "you're still here, aren't you?" She sighed. "I'm in a good mood right now, Mr. Rookie, so I'll make this quick and easy."

Katie pointed back toward Section Thirteen's headquarters. "Just head back there and out of our business, and I'll let you go." She smiled widely. "This is just between family, so there's really no reason for you to get involved, right?" Her tone of voice indicated she certainly thought so.

Anton had to admit with some shame that he had definitely thought about it for longer than he should have. But after a few moments, he shook his head and quaked out, "Not a chance. I'm…not going to let either of you kill her!"

The girl's eyes narrowed a fraction, and the daggers suddenly became more aggressive in her hands. "Alright, fine," she purred, "just don't whine in a minute or two that I didn't warn you. I could use the work-out for later, anyway."

Behind her, Glenn lifted his katana and glared at Anton, who was now feeling a pit of pure dread forming in his stomach. He gulped as auras of lightning and ice formed around his new opponents.

"I am so dead."

To be continued…

Next time, Anton finds himself in a world of trouble as he faces two opponents at Alyssa's level with his paltry C Rank; the equivalent of fighting two brush fires with a garden hose. Can he hope to rescue his Captain, or beyond that, even keep himself alive in such a situation?

Find out in Sudden Storm, coming soon.

Alucius Dawn – Really? Sometimes I feel like I overexplain things sometimes, and that some other people have a better sensation of speed. But thank you for the compliment. And I hope this chapter showed you that GD is nothing to…be…oh. Huh.

Tiresias-135 – Well, I'm not too versed on gangster movies, so those were mostly off the top of my head. And yeah, that's kind of a problem when you introduce so many characters this quickly, I suppose. It won't be as bad now, though, I don't think.

RedPBass – I've always tended toward writing long chapters, yeah. Maybe it's because I like putting as much stuff in as possible, heh. I've no intention of just stopping this out of the blue, so don't worry – I really should be getting back to those One Piece stories, though.

Until next time, see enough to be what it clearly was: a mouth.

e enough to be hatred, anger or cruelty, d right onto him. It was an