Section Thirteen
Chapter Twelve: Seeing Stars
Planet Gardius – Museum Hallway – 1033 Hours
"Um…now, look…"
"Hm?" Just for a moment, the crackling knife halted. Somehow that didn't reassure him much. Katie leaned in closer. "Did you say something, Mr. Paper Pusher?"
Anton would have liked to say he'd moved quickly when she had ambushed him, but even if he had she probably would have moved quicker. At the moment he was pinned up against the corridor wall, both knives poised to make things very unpleasant for him if he moved, or eventually, whichever came first. He wasn't stupid enough to think there were any other options, and she probably knew it. But she was Alyssa's sister, right? How different could they be?
"I know we seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot, but-" he flinched as one knife was suddenly below his chin.
Katie stared into his eyes. "Why do you think that, I wonder? Because you stuck your nose in where it didn't belong? Because you made me look like a rube? Because you ruined something I put work into?"
She sighed, tapping the other knife on her chin. "It's not your fault though, I suppose – the Bureau does teach you all about meddling, doesn't it?"
So, she wasn't the biggest fan of the TSAB. Fair enough; if you wanted to feel that way, there was plenty of evidence for you. But even so-
"No, you're wrong." Anton watched her eyes open in surprise. She hadn't expected back-talk, but he needed to say this. "I would have done it anyway, even if I wasn't a member of the Bureau. Killing someone in your family is wrong."
He half-expected her to hit him, and as it turned out he was all right. The hard metal of the handle hit him square in the mouth; he stumbled, tasting blood.
Katie's gaze had become a glare. "You think you're better than me, don't you, little man? You don't need to hide it; I've seen that look in your eyes too many times before for that." The knife came closer, down at his neck this time. "My dear sister can pretend to fit in with you as much as she wants, but I'm sure sees it too: there's no way someone like you has ever had to work to put food in your belly, or just to get through the day. What right do you have to say something I do is wrong?"
Anton lifted his eyes to look into hers. "I…don't think you know very much about your sister anymore."
It was only a guess, but even if there really was nothing left between them he got the feeling someone telling her what she didn't know would hit a nerve. It did.
The lightning mage hit him harder this time, but she probably didn't expect him to get flung more than a foot down the hallway. Just one of the benefits of being a light weight – and knowing when to roll with a hit.
Katie realized her blunder quickly, but in that time Anton had already flipped to his feet and disappeared down a corridor, firing a burst of wind at her as a parting shot.
Making one gesture with her knives, the criminal took a deep breath as the attack scattered everywhere but at her. There were a lot of possible ways to deal with what the boy had just said to her, and how he'd used it. There was always the option of a brief moment of intense outward anger, but she took a road just as familiar to her: a prolonged session of intense inner anger.
It wasn't like he could get away from her anyway, really. She set off after Anton, tapping one knife on the wall as she went.
0
Gardius' Moon – Skies Nearby the Crater – 1031 Hours
"So, Arturia, what do you make of this guy?" Alyssa thought (no way could it be anything but a guy – what kind of girl would act like that?). They'd taken to the skies along with their new opponent – he'd allowed it, but no way was he going to be still for long. Their argument could wait.
From behind the armored figure, Arturia shook her head. "I am unsure. I was unaware technology like this was even in development."
"…well, duh," Alyssa thought back with a snort, "that's kind of why they're called secret weapons, Arturia. What the hell would be the point otherwise?"
Before the knight could retort, she tightened her grip on the spear. "Anyway, we're not going to learn anything about it standing around, and that's what he wants! C'mon; I got the front, you take the back!"
If Arturia couldn't halt her captain's words, stopping her from charging was an impossible task. Giving Bowie a spin, Alyssa flew toward the armored mage.
She'd learned to watch a person's body-language during that first rush – how they reacted to a sudden charge could tell you a lot about them. 'course, it didn't work so well with armor covering every inch of them, but without that experience she wouldn't have noticed him twitching one covered hand slightly. She barrel rolled to one side, the move giving her a good view of the attack as it shot by her.
Another thing Alyssa had learned to watch was spells, and that was how she knew what the red sphere would do a second before it did – not that that helped her much. Before she could make another move the bullet picked up speed and made the kind of turn only magic could, slamming into her shoulder and sending her spinning.
It could have been a shot to the chest, the captain knew as she righted herself. So, he wanted to keep them busy and play around, huh? Punk. Well if he thought he could play that game with her he had another thing coming.
Over his shoulder she could glimpse Arturia being harassed by a few more of the spells. Fine by her: that idiot would only get in the way.
A growing whine attracted her attention as two flaps spread open near the armor's shoulders: jet engines. What came out of them wasn't burning fuel and exhaust, however, but twin streams of magic, almost invisible to the naked eye. Not that she had much chance to evaluate this, as they produced enough speed to let him close the distance in scant seconds.
Alyssa snorted. Trying to surprise her with speed, huh? These guys hadn't really done their research. She moved her arm, heated up the ti – moved her arm…
She flicked her eyes down just in time to see the bind pinning her arm before he struck her. It was a crude tackle, but with how fast he was moving an unprotected human would have some of their bones pulverized. As it was, part of the upper part of her jacket broke, and she felt something crack within her.
The guy could have pressed the attack easy, but he had other plans. Turning the momentum into a sharp backward turn, he descended upon Arturia.
While her captain was under attack Arturia had weathered her own well enough, slashing one of the orbs in twain and withstanding the others far better than her commander had. She looked up and narrowed her eyes as the armored mage neared her. There was no hope of dodging if Alyssa could not, but for her this was unnecessary. Bringing the flat of Frangir's blade out in front of her, Arturia concentrated, summoning a gleaming shield. Even the corporal would find himself hard pressed to break one of these.
And what a coincidence that she should think of him now. As their mysterious foe pulled back his hand, she noticed a glow running underneath the suit's arm, heading for the knuckles. It manifested in a crackling aura, and he made a fist.
But while Ace certainly had speed, he had never been able to obtain the momentum an aerial mage was capable of, and perhaps this mage (or at least his suit) was more than merely his equal in strength. After a moment or so cracks formed on the edge of her barrier, and soon after broke entirely. Alyssa would have been able to slip aside when this happened, but Arturia was caught as the left-over force of the attack washed over her and her device, knocking her away just as easily.
Again, rather than take his advantage and run with it, the armored mage retreated, ascended slightly to look between his two opponents. Then he shrugged.
"I'm gonna kill this guy." Alyssa thought.
"…I am somewhat vexed now, as well."
0
Gardius' Moon – Teleport Chamber – 1033 Hours
The pad glowed for a brief moment, projecting a silhouette that gradually became Cashim's suited form. She stepped off, shaking her head slightly – that wasn't something she would ever grow used to. "Ryusei, Lacerta," she murmured once her helmet's transceiver had tapped into their frequency, "what's your status?"
"Keeping these two busy like you said, boss." the former said cheerfully. "Man, heh, these two are totally…uh, not people you should underestimate. Doubt I'll have any problems, though."
"I appear to have done away with the officers going through the rear entrance. There was no sign of them following the tunnel's collapse. However, the archeologist was present among them; I will be on the alert as well." The girl paused. "I am entering the air-lock to where Dr. K's experiments are kept. I will keep you informed, Commander."
"Same here."
Cashim nodded. "As you were, then."
Despite Lacerta's report, she found her legs taking her toward where the charges went off. It hadn't surprised her that the Doctor's daughter had done something like that; she'd always been the pragmatic sort. Odd, really – you'd expect Ryusei to fit that mold better, given where he'd come from.
"Think about yourself before them." the agent reminded herself as her footsteps disturbed the first bits of debris from the new collapse. The ceiling was still mostly intact, but through a few holes stars could be seen. There was no sign through them of Ryusei's battle, but of course, it could be happening a few feet away and she might not notice in this environment.
The scattered rocks grew larger until the passage simply dropped away. It looked like a long fall, but Cashim didn't intend to get close enough to find out. Leaning up against one larger boulder and crouching, she panned her gaze across the space between it and the chasm, not giving any inch of it a careless glance. After it passed the opposite wall, she glanced away – then raised her rifle.
"Just what you'd expect from a Bureau sniper." she thought with some approval as her shoulders hit the dirt from the roll. A second later the whine of an energy shot reached her ears, followed by the sound of another small leap.
Almost unthinkingly Cashim's hands double-checked her rifle. "Seems I'll be here a while." she thought calmly. There had only been a small chance of it, but the fact remained a problem was still here. Her duty was to take care of problems.
0
Planet Gardius – Blockaded Museum Hallway – 1034 Hours
Jeanne backed away, free hand on Flashpoint's temperature gauge, and frowned as she ended up with her back to the barricade. On the other side of the room, Barnes smiled.
It wasn't that she had a problem fighting the damn attack dog; Dwight was the one who'd been shaken up by him, not her. But whoever was holding his leash this time knew how she fought pretty well. She was fine from far away, but when they got within arm's reach, well, that was where it got tricky. Trying the axe trick against a familiar probably wasn't the best idea, either, especially not one like him.
The hybrid cracked his neck back and forth, the popping noise butting in on her thoughts. "You know," he murmured, "you're trapped between two walls you definitely don't have the time to bust through, with someone who could snap you in half without that jacket of yours on, and help probably not coming in time."
By this time his glasses had come off, and the inhuman eyes beneath narrowed. "But that look on your face, the way you're standing…you don't just think you're going to survive this, you know it." One lip curled back, exposing his fangs. "Speaking as someone in my line of work, that kind of ticks me off."
"Oh, really? Dear me, I definitely didn't mean to do that." Jeanne swished around something in her mouth before spitting it on the floor. "Next you'll be telling me I disrespected how you chase cars, and pee on old newspapers."
The lip curled up a bit more, and Barnes charged.
Jeanne quickly angled Flashpoint downward and fired, the spray aimed toward his legs. Snarling in contempt and annoyance, Barnes leaped forward, swinging a fist that sprouted claws right for her throat.
But the captain was already running forward herself, and now dropped low, ducking into a slide underneath him. And by coincidence, the floor had just gotten a lot more slippery.
By the time Barnes had righted himself, Jeanne had gotten to her feet at the other end of the corridor, and now fired again. The familiar snarled, leaping again.
Not the best move. Jeanne slammed the gauge straight down to the heat side with a clang. The stream of water heated up, and then burst down the middle, sending red-hot droplets scattering throughout the corridor like a shotgun.
The captain perked her ears up to listen above the sound of the stream; she'd used this a few times before, and things tended to get noisy for one reason or another when it hit. She shut off the water, peering through the slight cloud that had formed. Nothing, not even an outline.
Jeanne took a step backward, looked down intently toward the water now coating the floor – and then lifted Flashpoint and fired one shot toward the wall next to her. It hit something mid-way, and with a grunt a shimmering patch fell that became Barnes as he hit the ground.
"Now I've got a dog thinking I'm an idiot." Jeanne muttered. "I'd be offended if I still cared about that kind of thing."
Growling, Barnes flipped back to his feet, and the fight was on again.
Gardius' Moon – Ambush Corridor – 1033 Hours
"This isn't good."
In his line of work then and now, Dwight made it a point not to think along those lines. Self-fulfilling prophecy, after all: if you ever started thinking you were going to screw up it probably wasn't too far behind. So it took a lot for him to start down that road, but in this case he felt the situation called for it.
One, he was facing a professional, with no-one at his back whatsoever – and the two people who had been until a few minutes ago might be seriously injured. Two, the terrain was working against him as well as it could. A massive drop behind, and perfect cover ahead for the other shooter. Three, he'd wrenched his leg during the explosion. Would that work against him if the guy got into arm's reach? You betcha. Which lead into four: there was no way he was going to play for anything but keeps now. Last time he'd been an afterthought, but now they were on his turf.
Another flash of movement made him fire. The guy ducked back down, but sooner or later he was going to get closer. And only one of them was able to retreat here.
"This isn't good." he repeated.
0
Gardius' Moon – Cave-In Aftermath – 1032 Hours
"…ugh." Daniel said. Well, not exactly said, since what had just come out of his mouth was more like a mix of a pained grunt and a gurgle than those three letters.
Before finding out where he'd landed, the archeologist took stock of things. Arms? Present. Legs? Accounted for. That didn't put it above the incident at the space port, with the tar…still, it hurt like hell. Forehead was bleeding, too.
He struggled to his feet, head ringing, and looked around. He couldn't see the ceiling, and jagged walls rose up on either side of him, except for the small shelf he had managed to land on.
Lithic had done the same; lucky him. "Not gonna try climbing, are you, chief?"
"Does it look like I lost some brain-cells in that fall, pal?" Daniel growled back. "Tunneling's out too, in this place." But there was always another opportunity. He edged up to the drop and looked down: He thought he could see something down there, but safety first. Scooping up a loose rock, the digger dropped it over the edge and cupped his ear. The thud came after two seconds. Not too bad, but he wasn't going to just drop down all that way. Gripping Lithic's handle, he eyed the opposite wall. Wasn't more than a hop away, really, no problem.
Backing up in what space he had, Daniel took a running start and leaped, thrusting the shovel into the wall ahead of him. With a clank the device sunk in, and held for a moment.
He felt the shudder before he heard the noise. "Oh, well shi-"
There was no time to grab onto anything else, or even finish his swear. Daniel fell, tumbling head over heels, unable to get another hold before he landed-
-softly. Still feeling himself vibrating from the fall, he slowly opened his eyes.
"You are alright. That is good." spoke a quiet voice before his eyes had quite stopped spinning: Otavi. She smiled down at him, looking practically spotless from the fall. Down…the next thing Daniel noticed was that he was being held bridal-style.
"Uh, thanks." he replied, hoping he didn't squirm out of her arms too fast. "Dwight with you?"
He frowned as she shook her head. "Let's hope he got down as well as we did." Daniel looked around. "More importantly, where are we?" He took a step, and blinked as the clunk of metal sounded beneath his foot. Beneath the rocks around them was a steel surface. "Some kinda bunker?"
It looked pretty damn sturdy, too. And air-tight. So the question was, what was up on this moon that needed a set-up like this?
"And more importantly, is it something I'm gonna regret finding?"
Otavi pointed over his shoulder. "The entrance is over there."
Sure enough, there was a short drop a ways away, leading to a door that looked like it was designed to take punishment from a captain. Ahead of it another crude hallway twisted, with no end in sight.
Daniel scratched at his chin. There was probably at least a mile's worth of tunnel between them and the surface now, and no way was he digging straight up, especially not with Otavi. If this bunker needed air, maybe there was a map of this place in there or something. Maybe even the big bosses – that would solve the whole thing right away, wouldn't it? Maybe even get him a medal. "Or a nice inscription on my tombstone, anyway."
Well, nothing could be all bad, could it? He dropped down, offering a hand for Otavi to do the same. They both stepped up to inspect the door.
There was no window, and no handle either, but what looked like a hand-scanner on the front. Daniel reached out when Otavi did the same, touching the door's surface lightly. "Someone went through here. Not one of the machines, but someone who can think."
Sometimes he wondered if there was anything his partner couldn't make sound creepy. He shrugged, and put his hand on the scanner. Daniel had a second or two to wonder if there might be an alarm or something before it slid open with a hiss. Beyond was a small chamber, and another door. Otavi stepped through quickly, and he paused to offer a quick general prayer that this wouldn't end with him in pieces before he followed.
Unknown Base – Computer Room – 1034 Hours
"You know, I can't help but notice that we're running a bit low on troops down below."
Leonard paused in watching the screens. The way Grace had said that made it seem the farthest thing from an idle observation. "Well, it's not as though we have a customer guarantee." he said carefully. "This business is only a façade, after all."
Grace pursed her lips. "Still, though. If this distraction gets broken up too soon, it might cause trouble up above. I doubt Cypher would appreciate that much." She flexed the fingers on her right hand. "These two in particular could be a problem."
The other doctor swiveled around in his chair sharply. "Grace, that unit isn't designed for combat!"
"It has arms, doesn't it?" she replied, almost dreamily. Leonard gulped.
0
Planet Gardius – Museum Hallway – 1034 Hours
Anton paused, looking between the intersection he'd found himself in, and slipped into the one on his left. Leaning against the wall, he listened carefully: nothing, for all that meant. But he probably had a few moments even so.
"Akashic," he asked down at the book, "what would you say my chances are of getting out of this without fighting?" He could have asked for his chances overall, but somehow that didn't seem like it would give very positive results.
"Approximately twenty-eight percent, young master, with a margin of error."
He didn't ask what the margin was. "And with?"
"Close to forty percent, young master."
"I see." he replied, breathing out. "That's not very good, is it?"
Without a word from him, Akashic's pages began to flip, stopping at some recent entries. Anton stared at them: somehow they hadn't seemed so hare-brained when he'd written them down. He took a deep breath from his inhaler. "Alright, let's try."
He settled down and listened carefully, preparing a spell… "I hope you're doing better than I am, Alyssa."
0
Gardius' Moon – Surface – 1035 Hours
Speed, power and durability: when you got down to it, they were the three biggest qualities looked for in any mage who served a combat role. It didn't matter if you had more of one than the others, or an equal amount of all of them, there was always some niche available for you. And then, of course you found the ones who had ample amounts of all three. They made their own niche.
There was no telling how strong this guy actually was, because any weak spot he had was probably covered up by the armor he was wearing. It made sense: a physical defense meant he had more energy to devote to everything else, and it had none of the flaws their barrier jackets did. It let him move faster, take more hits, and deal out bigger ones of his own. No small operation could have made anything like it, so the Major's thoughts were probably confirmed. He was going to be pretty happy about that, if they managed to get back in one piece.
"Goddammit!" Alyssa cursed in frustration as the punk (that was gonna be what she called him even if she did learn his name at this rate) broke away from Arturia and spun around quicker than she could have on her best day. She drew back quickly, hurling a fireball straight for the visor. Her teeth bit together as he powered straight through it, extending one hand.
She prepped a quick shield, but he ignored that too, flying straight through it and wrapping one gauntlet around Bowie's shaft.
That gave her a close look at the armor's helmet, and even if the visor was tinted she could see the smile behind it clear as day. "This…is gonna suck."
It was a pretty good guess. Tightening his grip the armored mage swung back around before Alyssa could think of letting go, hurling her back the way he'd been facing – and where Arturia was charging in now.
She didn't hit Frangir point-first, but that was pretty much the only good thing Alyssa had to say about it. Arturia's armor was meant to stop a lot of things, and that included people, even if they happened to be her boss.
"But, hey," she thought as she bounced off slightly, her lieutenant doing the same, "at least she felt it, too. Maybe. A little?"
It took Alyssa about one second too many to realize it was a good time for them to move. Glowing chains leapt up around the two and squeezed, pressing the two of them together. This sent her back slamming into Arturia's armor once more, and the knight's head crashing into the back of her neck as a bonus.
"You couldn't be even a little taller?" she growled.
"I could say the opposite regarding you." Arturia replied with a good dose of venom. Like a lot of people height was a touchy subject for her.
Alyssa shrugged, looked back toward their enemy, and frowned. He hadn't moved, but only because he had something a lot better in mind. His palm was held out toward them, more of the red energy gathering there. It didn't take a combat genius to see what kind of move he was preparing.
It was more than that for Alyssa, though, far more. For a moment she stared, oblivious to Arturia's struggles, remembering this from both long ago and just recently. Then she began to struggle too, frantically. "No, not like this; I won't let you do it to me again!"
But what you wanted and what actually happened were often very different things. Here, for instance, the chains held unflinchingly, while the charging beam grew larger, and larger…
"…dammit." Alyssa thought, and closed her eyes.
The beam crossed the distance between them in just a second or two, smashing into them full force. The impact broke the binds, but that was small comfort for the two of them: the beam pinned them in the air just as well as it engulfed them. With only their passive defenses able to stand against the laser, the two felt pieces of their barrier jackets burn away completely. When it wore off, the first direction they went was straight down.
Arturia was the first to recover, tilting herself before the impact so that her armor took most of it rather than her head. Even so it wasn't a very soft landing, and she skidded for a few feet before managing to rise.
That was a stronger hit than many she had taken before, but her captain was another story. Personal distaste could not override a knight's duty, after all. Adjusting her armor and taking flight again, she turned, and took in a sharp hiss of breath.
Alyssa had been in the front, of course, and their foe had clearly not been interested in holding back. Her over-jacket had shattered completely, and her arms and face had been burned from what it couldn't block.
But one hand still clutched Bowie – intact even with the cracks he had gained – and, shuddering, the captain began to rise.
Arturia flew closer quickly. "Alyssa, you cannot-"
The spear came down, shattering a rock so cleanly it almost produced a crack even without an atmosphere to do it in. "Shut up. I decide when something is over." Alyssa's gaze travelled up toward the armored mage, who hadn't moved. "And even if he doesn't know it, he just decided he wants to play hard ball. I was going to ignore it before, but he had to go and use that trick, didn't he?" She rose into the air, fire beginning to crackle around her.
"What trick?" Arturia said, frowning. Alyssa sounded a good deal more than angry. "What do you mean?"
Her captain turned and glared. "You mean you haven't noticed? Sure he might have an arsenal, but he's been outmaneuvering us since this fight started. Just like her! Almost every move he's used against us was lifted straight from her playbook. And I'm gonna make him pay for it!"
"Do you think I am clairvoyant? Who are you talking about, Alyssa?"
By now she had risen to the same height as the armored mage, glaring straight at him. "You really haven't seen it when it's been right in your face this whole time? He has the same moves as the most recognizable face in the whole Bureau! I'm talking about the White Devil, the Ace of Aces, the person everyone in Midchilda wants to be!"
Fire gathering around her, she raced toward the armored mage.
"NANOHA TAKAMACHI!"
To be continued…
Next time, Alyssa unleashes an attack of pure rage on her opponent – one that unleashes some of Ryusei's own. The kid gloves are officially off, and it's up to Arturia to keep her captain in one piece, if she can. And back down on Gardius, a new combatant makes things a good deal trickier for Ace and GD, while Anton inacts his best laid plans. But more importantly, what will Daniel and Otavi find within the bunker, and will they regret it?
Find out all this and more in Crystal Thorns.
I'm sure some of you probably know where I'm going with this already, but for those who don't, the shoe will probably be dropping next chapter. I hope you'll be looking forward to it.