Deva 04: Endless Waltz

by Daishi Prime

Deva Series 04. Sequel to Academy Blues. Hayate, her family, and their students face new tests, new challenges, and a deadly civil war. AU.

6. 05 Instigations

Endless Waltz

By: Daishi Prime

-05 – Instigations-

As the second week of classes started its down-hill slope, Laura had to admit she was cautiously optimistic about the year. Her friends from last year were still friends, and not as twitchy and sappy as they had been towards the end of last year, Riko-chan was still Riko-chan, and Signum-sensei was still the greatest thing since Saturdays. Sure, Yu-chan was still annoying, and the Rich Girl was bidding fair to be a whinier version of Yu-chan... but he always would be, and someone had to follow in his footsteps. Even better, Laura had minions now, someone to spar with, and new victi... people... to practice her skills on.

The twins were proving to be her most entertaining challenge. They fought so hard against anything she got them to do, but the instant they agreed, flipped completely around and bulled through it with a relentless determination to get it over with. The fact that they complained the whole way just made it funnier, and poking holes in their 'we already know magic' airs was just downright hilarious. Kaemon was almost as much fun, though as of today he was no longer providing entertainment by fighting the inevitable. He still insisted he wanted to learn the sword, nothing more, but Laura was confident she could loosen him up. At least sparring with him was not as frustrating as sparring with Signum-sensei could get, though she suspected it was close to that bad for him.

Her only real problem at the moment was how boring classes were. Oh, sure the science stuff and the languages were fun, and magic was magic. But Hayate and Lotte were still essentially reviewing last year's studies prior to moving on, when they were not helping plan everyone else's devices, so there was nothing new. She had thought that the call to Egypt, especially coming so early in the year, would be a riot, but that had proven to be a bust.

She was actually seriously put out with herself for that. She had not felt a thing from Egypt since February, not a twitch, though Paradox had been maintaining steady shields against such things. She had expected those shields, reinforced by her training with Signum, would suffice, but the instant they arrived in Egypt, she could feel it, a singing nauseating emptiness that had almost made her lose her lunch before the teleport even finished. It had taken everything she had to stay airborne and not vomit then and there, and the failure was embarrassing and aggravating. Sure, Signum had been nothing but understanding, and so had everyone else, even Yussef, but that only made it worse.

She was still focused on that as she tromped up the steps into the dining hall, waving distractedly to the twins, Juliet, and Ichigo, studiously ignoring Yu-chan and Mercedes. She had been in the Library, looking for more information on how to protect herself from her ability to sense dislocations, but found herself thinking in circles. So she decided to get a snack, then hit the sparring ring – She thought she had seen Kaemon over there, and was idly looking forward to working out some frustrations on him. She wended her way through the tables, and stuck her head into the kitchen behind.

"Hi, Kobayashi-san," she called to the elderly woman puttering away in there, "mind if I snitch something to munch on?"

The tiny old Japanese woman looked up, glaring for a moment, then smiled and shook her head. "Anyone else, I'd send packing. You, Laura-chan, can snitch something. Small! Anyone else, you would be ruining your dinner, but you! You are too small, a little bit of fluff! You need more meat on your bones!"

Laura laughed at her fussing, "Thank you, Kobayashi-san! I can't help it though, it's mom's fault. Everyone on her side of the family's built like me." There was more to the 'lecture', as Laura put together a sandwich, but it was all good natured and delivered with a smile, despite the acerbic tone. Early last year the Kobayashi's had been friendly. After February, they had become much more so, and started treating all the kids like their own grandchildren, nagging and spoiling them by turns.

Sandwich on a plate in hand, Laura headed back out towards her room to get changed. She hesitated at the doors to the Girls' Wing, though, feeling a tingle of magic that should not have been there. Frowning, she put together a quick scan, and found the entire door laced with a well hidden but crude version of her own 'dye-job' spell, targeted on her specifically. Smirking, she looked back over her shoulder, "Nice try, Yu-chan, but you've gotta be better than that."

She disassembled his trap easily, and pushed the door open. As she stepped through, though, the door caught on something, not quite all the way open, and she tried to lunge backwards, just a second too late. The fall of water and ice crashed down over her head and shoulder, drenching her completely, the near-zero chill making her shriek and drop her sandwich. Stumbling back at least got her clear of the plummeting bucket, but she still could only stand there in shock for a minute, dripping icy water.

The dead silence behind her was broken after a few seconds by a single person clapping, and Laura turned around to find Mercedes smirking at her from the middle of the room, a towel under one arm. The Italian girl extended the towel, asking, "What's the matter, Laura? Fall in the pool?"

Laura realized instantly how they had gotten her, hiding a basic trap behind a complicated one. It was impressive enough she was surprised she had not thought of it, and resolved to add it to her list of tricks. So instead of yelling, she met Mercedes' smirk with one of her own. "You realize," Laura told her slowly, "this means war."

"Bring it on, little girl," Mercedes replied. "Bring. It. On."

"Wrack, Ruin, make sure she knows the rules," Laura ordered, then spun back around, scooped up her now-soggy sandwich, and marched to her room to get changed, plans and ideas for her payback already rolling through her mind. Oooh, she's going to pay for this, Laura promised herself, she's going to pay in spades. So much fun!

00000

Vita met the small car at the overlook, inwardly debating if she should actually follow through on Hayate's orders. On the one hand, they were orders. On the other, Vita no more trusted the woman she was here to meet than she liked the color blue. To Vita, alliances and information or not, this was a major violation of the campus' security, which meant Hayate's security, and she was sorely tempted to take Graf Eisen to the taxi, consequences be damned.

But she managed to keep her more paranoid impulses under control as the taxi rolled to a halt, and a single figure in military uniform climbed out of the back. She looked around for a second, then closed the door and walked over to Vita. "Sergeant Teri Maunders, US Army," she said in English, "Circle Journeywoman. But you already knew that, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I knew that," Vita muttered. "You're shorter than I expected."

"So are you," Maunders shot back immediately with a small grin. "You want to carry on insulting each other, or shall we get this over with?"

Vita glared and growled for a second, then shoved off the drop-gate and jerked her head around. "Just follow the path, I'll be right behind you."

It was a long quiet walk, but to her disappointment, Maunders gave Vita no reason to summarily eject her from the campus. They reached the quad, and followed the path around to the Library, where Vita had to take the lead. She gestured to the kids present to keep studying, but shared a grimace with Allison. Hayate's office took far too long to reach.

Hayate was, naturally, significantly more polite than Vita had been, almost friendly. There was an undeniable tension, but unlike the last time a Circle mage was on campus, there was no feeling of imminent violence. There was no small talk, however, Hayte got right to the point, asking in English, "So tell me, Journeywoman, what is important enough to get you to request a meeting with me?"

Maunders settled a briefcase in her lap, opened it very slowly, and pulled out a manilla folder. She looked at it for a second, then reached out to set it on Hayate's desk. "That, Miss Yagami, is all the information immediately available on the Seed of Leviathan. It's not much, I'm afraid. Colonel Hughes has some people doing a deep-archives search, but most of the really old archives were in Europe and Asia. We have no access to the ones in Asia, and the ones in Europe were pretty thoroughly looted or hidden back in March and April, so I don't expect there'll be much more than what's in there.

"The bad news is, the Seed are very bad news. Magical immunity, scales equivalent to modern titanium, skin like Kevlar, bones like steel, and muscles like a ripped grizzly bear. Similar temperament to a wounded Grizzly as well, and about as controllable. Can breathe air up to a couple kilometers in altitude without any loss of function, and under water down to an indeterminate depth of at least forty meters. The Lords used to use them as shock-troops, unleash them before an attack, or when retreating. A very, very small number of weaknesses are known. Get something deep enough in the eye, you'll penetrate the brain, but good luck hitting a target that small moving that fast. Expose them to certain toxic gases, they'll die just like a human being. Pitch them off a very high cliff, and if they don't catch themselves on the way down, they'll die when they hit bottom. Other than that, hit them with siege weapons, stuff designed to bring down armored walls and the like. Basically, they're nearly impossible to kill, and do nothing but kill when they're let loose."

Flipping through the folder as Maunders spoke, Hayate asked, "Why are they called 'Seed' of Leviathan? Did the Lords have something worse?"

"Yes and no, and unfortunately this is where we hit what is essentially outright mythology." Maunders paused, closing her eyes to help her memory, "the Seed are supposedly a derivative, constructs based on prior creations. Those prior constructs were one-offs, experiments the Lords created for no better reason than to see if they could. Supposedly, the Seeds are based off one of their more extreme experiments, and the thing they created had to be launched into the sun to keep it from destroying Atlantis on its own. They took that thing's design, carved out what made it utterly uncontrollable and unstoppable, and what was left over became the Seed of Leviathan. The really nasty childhood stories say that a Seed, if left loose long enough, will mature into the actual Leviathan. But, like I said, that's essentially all mythology."

"You said that was the bad news," Vita quipped, "Is there any good news?"

Maunders gave her that smirk again, "yeah. There are no more Seed. The last was destroyed three hundred years ago, by Containment and Ops teams. The intel weenies guarantee it."

Vita managed to convert her laugh into a snort, catching the unstated joke about military intelligence. Hayate, however, asked, "Then what attacked the teams in Egypt?"

Maunders shrugged. "Based on the reports of everyone present, a trio of Seed. Only problem is, they can't exist. The Seed were one of the Lords' most devastating and hated weapons. Even more than their mages, we hated the Seed, and every one of those things was hunted down and killed. Every stasis chamber was destroyed, every growth facility razed, every Seed killed and burned to ashes. There was nothing left. There has not been a confirmed Seed sighting in three hundred years. Back then, what is thought to have been a Seed popped up in northern Russia, attacked some fishing villages along the western shore of the Kamchatka Peninsula. Locals still refer to it as 'the vengeance of the sea' or some such. Current thinking is the same as on the attack in Egypt – they came out of an undersea storage site our ancestors missed, woken by storm or earthquake. Before that, there are spotty records of a Seed slaughtering a Roman legion in Egypt, one decimating a city in China during their first empire, similar sketchy local legends. One at a time, they appear, attack villages and cities until killed, and are worked into local stories as monsters out of mythology. Partly our doing, of course, partly the same natural human cussedness that's kept the reaction to your announcement last March so understated.

"Our best bet, our operating hypothesis, is that someone in the Revenants found a cache under the Mediterranean, an old Atlantis outpost, and woke the Seed. It was probably someone in Containment who knew about where the site was, told his fellow Revenants, and they decided to wake them up to wreak a little havoc. Once woken, Seed are impossible to control, so their attack on the site in Egypt was probably just them tracking in on the magic. As for why they jumped into the fracture," she shrugged, "no clue. Those things are supposed to have major survival instincts, and be able to recognize magic. They may have been confused, disoriented, thought the null was more mages. They may have been programmed or driven, somehow. We just can't tell. No one ever sat one down and did a psych-eval. Everything we know about the Seed is from fighting them, from combat."

"Nothing else could have activated them?"

Maunders shook her head, "Nothing we know. We sure as hell wouldn't wake something like that. Even if you ignore the moral implications, it would be counter-productive. For Revenants, though... a lot of them were hard-line to begin with, and being on the loosing side of a civil war is making them desperate."

Vita could not resist asking, "Do they even realize it's the losing side?"

"They have to," Maunders answered, "there are more Moderns than Revenants, and thanks to your ultimatum, we're better organized. We don't have the operational capacity they do, but what we have is more efficient and the lack of numbers is being made good very quickly. Riding along right behind that, is you people. Even if the Revenants somehow manage to win the war within the Circles, they can't stand against you, and they know it."

"Which only makes them willing to try more extreme tactics," Hayate added. She shook her head, "Human beings are human beings, and the blind remain the blind. How likely is it that they can do this again? Do this someplace with more people?"

"Unknown at this time," Maunders said, then shrugged helplessly, "If you'd asked me last week, I'd've said it was flat out impossible they could do it once. A second time? I still say they can't, but we don't know if they have any more Atlantean sites under their control. Containment was always one of the more secretive divisions, for good reason. There are things they keep an eye on that literally cannot be destroyed, things that, if anyone tried to use them, would ravage the world. Hell, some of our own Containment people remain in close contact with some of the Revenants' Containment teams – they claim they're separate from the conflict, above it, in order to fulfill their responsibilities. There could very well be more Seed out there, and until we capture someone who knows where, we won't be able to tell."

Hayate sighed softly, "yet another unknown. Always reacting to another's attacks. And here I thought I was out of law enforcement."

Vita asked, before Hayate could get distracted, "You guys have any chance of capturing some of these Revenants? Sounds like we need intel, and fast."

"We have something in the works," Maunders replied. "Hughes has been concentrating our best Ops people into teams, the first of them was what met your troops at the Egypt site, seconded from an intercept in Cairo. The general brief for the teams is to capture if it can be safely done. Frankly, though, I'm not too concerned about Seed. There just can't be that many left."

"And we can't do anything about them, until they turn up," Hayate added.

"Well, no, unfortunately. But if any more do turn up," Maunders hesitated, then leaned forward to rest her elbows on her knees, "Colonel Hughes mentioned this to me, but didn't specifically ask me to mention it to you, so he's trying to be subtle. Way back when, there were two ways of killing a Seed. One was, like I said, siege weapons. Get a lucky shot with a weapon built to crack walls, and even a Seed'll sit up and take notice. These days, we figure a tank gun or anti-tank missile should do the job, if we happen to have one handy wherever the construct attacks. The much riskier method was to use a wolfpack. The focal mage put all the available energies into physical enhancements, making themselves strong enough to overcome the Seed's inherent toughness. If she had enough power, and was quick enough, she could take the Seed down before its magical immunities drained her and left her vulnerable in turn."

"You think our devices would let us do the same," Vita said, unable to keep from grinning at the prospect. She turned to Hayate, trying to manage the pleading look Lotte used to get out of trouble, "Please say we can, Hayate-sama! Please?! I haven't had a real fight in ages!"

Hayate gave her an amused smile, "I'll think about it, Vita. Would the Colonel be willing to call us in if more Seed are encountered? We can probably respond faster than any of your own people, and I have to admit to a little curiosity myself as to how well we would fare against one of these. We have encountered enemies who were 'immune to magic' before, and there is almost always some weakness to magic, or to more direct assaults."

"I'll ask him," Maunders agreed, "and if I ever run into one of these things, believe you me, I'll be hitting every panic button I can find, whoever's on the other end of it."

"Is there anything more on Egypt?"

Maunders shook her head, "not specifically, no. Since I'm here, though," she pulled another, thicker, folder out of her briefcase, and set that on Hayate's desk. "The latest appreciations of the Revenants' operations and resources. A bit over my head, but it boils down to what I told you before. They've got more Ops, we've got more of everything else, and they're loosing what little public support they had. Strange as it may be, it seems the common man doesn't care for magic-fueled bombs going off in his back yard."

"No, I don't imagine he does," Hayate agreed absently, most of her attention on the folder. I take it there are no special causes for alarm?"

"Not right now," Maunders said, "just the usual."

"Well, then while you are here, I was wondering if you might be willing to answer a few questions?"

"Certainly, ma'am." Maunders chuckled, "Is there a Circle mage you've run into that you haven't 'asked a few questions' of?"

"Li."

Maunders blinked, then nodded once, "Touché. Ask away."

00000

Once Maunders was gone, Hayate leaned back in her chair, and dismissed the illusion covering the back of her office with a wave. The gray wall and comfortable chairs wavered and vanished, to reveal the exact same wall and chairs, one of them occupied by Tai-yu, the other by Takashi. Hayate rose from behind her desk and went to join them, floating a chair from a side wall to a comfortably close position. "Well?"

"She was honest enough about the Revenants' capabilities and desperation," Takashi said, "though I have to question her claims regarding the Seed. If ancient siege weapons were capable of killing them, the chemical-energy weapons these Terrans are so fond of should be more than enough to handle one, yet they patently failed."

"Don't forget, sir, that the siege weapons she mentioned were frequently magical artifacts in their own right, roughly equivalent to modern arms," Tai-yu countered hesitantly. "Larger weapons, armor-piercing weapons, those will certainly have better luck against a Seed. The guards in Egypt, though... their heaviest weapon was an old World War Two era light machine gun. The guards themselves carried sub-machine-guns only a little newer. Those are anti-infantry weapons, mostly light pistol rounds, and far from the most advanced versions of those. They wouldn't have the punch to handle modern body armor, let alone a Seed. And Journeywoman Maunders was not lying about the Seed. What she related was a good bit more realistic than the stories my parents told me." Tai-yu shivered all over, "they are supposed to be unstoppable killing machines, like Great White sharks given human intelligence and immunity to magic. If you do go up against one, Hayate-sama, do so carefully."

"We will, Tai-yu," Hayate promsied, "but what I meant was 'well, what do you think about her'? I have now met Maunders three times, and each time she has proven to be different than I expected. I originally thought her nothing but a military enlisted woman, the second time that she was a very efficient subordinate. This time, though... she did not sound like a Sergeant, she sounded more like an old officer."

"The American military trains all their personnel to a higher standard than is really necessary," Tai-yu said, "even the enlisted troops are expected to meet some surprising standards of education and ability. It makes some sense, given how reliant they are on their technology at all levels, but they tend to take it too far. Also, American career sergeants, such as Maunders, function as officers in their own right, in many ways. From the other direction, Journeywoman Maunders could also probably achieve Master rank, if she were not dividing her attentions between the Circles and the Army. Rank in the Circles, especially at the borders of each rank where she is, tend to be as much about dedication and connections as about actual strength. She has the strength for Master's rank, from what I could sense, but her skills and focus are lacking what would be necessary to pass the tests."

"She knew we were here," Takashi rumbled. Then waved off questions, "Oh, not Sandoval and I specifically, but she knew someone was here, and roughly where. Part of that could simply be logic, expecting you to have more guards than just Vita, and where the best places to hide them would be. But she was very much aware of Sandoval and I as two distinct presences. She was too tense, she kept her head moving to watch this area out of the corner of her eye, and she had energies ready for shields only after she came into the office. Good instincts.

"She was also, essentially, telling the truth. The Circles would not use something like the Seed, it's heresy to them. The Revenants are desperate enough to try 'fighting fire with fire', but not Hughes' sect. I don't see this changing our own plans and defenses, however. Further Seed attacks are too much an imponderable. We will simply have to keep their capabilities in mind, and make sure whoever we send to intervene in a situation has been informed of their existence and how to defeat one, on the off chance a Seed turns up."

"Sounds like a plan," Hayate said. "Tai-yu, could you please review what Maunders brought on the Seed, and put together a presentation on them? I'll want the children to see it as well, in case the Revenants find a way to loose some of these things here at the school."

Tai-yu nodded, "It should be ready by tomorrow, Ma'am."

"Takashi, continue monitoring the Circles. See if you cannot find a Revenant base before Hughes' people can. I want to be certain they aren't going to unleash any more Seed, or something worse."

Takashi smirked at her and bowed without rising, "Your will be done, My Lady." Then he faded out of view, making Tai-yu start.

Hayate huffed at that, annoyed that he had not actually been present. "Him and his holograms," she muttered. "I wanted to ask about studying his dragon form again." She stood from her chair as Tai-yu did, moving back to her desk. "How are things going with the girls? They haven't been giving you any trouble?"

Tai-yu shook her head, "Not at all, ma'am. It's taking some getting used to, watching over a dorm full of students, but they haven't given me any trouble. Aria-san and Lotte-san have been a great help."

"I keep telling you, Hayate is fine."

"Yes you do, ma'am."

00000

Looking about the empty dorm room, Allina frowned, wondering just where its normal occupant was. Shutting the door, she trotted down the hall, then down the stairs, giving the common room a quick once-over as she took the corner to the dining hall. She almost tripped over Mercedes, who was heating the carpet with Yussef's help for some strange reason, but filed that away for later inquiry. Niranjana was not in the dining hall, nor was she in the kitchen.

Juliet stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, "She's in the Library, helping Ekavir catch up with Signum-sensei's math class. How'd you two get separated, anyhow?"

"I wanted to ask Aria-sensei some questions about device-programming," Allina muttered, annoyed that Niranjana was somewhere else, "thanks for the directions!"

Trotting across the quad, Allina was a little surprise to find herself aggravated with Niranjana. It was the first time she could remember when something her friend did actually aggravated her. It was a novel – and distinctly unpleasant – experience. She soon let herself get distracted from it as thinking about Niranjana automatically brought along thoughts of their half-finished device designs. The answers Aria had given her that afternoon fit into place, if not how Allina had hoped, which meant the two of them could begin working on the main programming already, despite having yet to begin construction of the physical devices.

Their plan was fairly simple, compared to Laura's Paradox. Normal Midchildan style devices, with integrated communications systems, allowing the two devices to both act in unison, and – if they could find some way around Aria's answers – function as the super-computers they so resembled. If everything came together properly, the two of them would be able to directly utilize their devices to hack any computer in the world – including another mage's device.

The problem was, despite the design document she and Niranjana had studied over the summer, they still had a lot of work to do. As Hayate-sensei had indirectly told them the first day of classes this year, no one ever designed their devices to be networked. The closest anything they could find came to that was the diagnostic interfaces used to diagnose and repair damaged devices. While those interfaces were omnipresent, they lacked the bandwidth to allow for proper networking, and were heavily defended. That would be a problem trying to hack someone else's device, but more immediately, made it impossible to network their devices in the first place.

Now, armed with more information from Aria-sensei, including some specific books and articles to look up for more concrete information, Allina was eager to get moving again, even if they had only been 'stumped' for a couple days. The Library was a good place to start, but Allina found herself unaccountably disturbed by the idea of Niranjana having gone ahead without her.

She reached the Library, and sure enough, there was Niranjana, sitting at one of the main tables with Ekavir, a terminal placed where both could see it. Their backs were to the doors, but Allina could recognize that hair anywhere, and she felt a warm little bubble of happiness and unaccountable relief at seeing it again. Her annoyance faded pretty much instantly, but she decided to have a little fun with her sister anyhow. Ghosting up behind them as quiet as she could, counting on 'Jana being absorbed in what she was doing, Allina got right up behind her and – in her best imitation of Mãe about to explain why she was excruciatingly mad – said, "'Jana-chan. You disappeared on me, 'Jana-chan."

She was a little disappointed when Niranjana only straightened, turning slightly in her chair, and gave her a small smile. "Hello to you to, Allina-chan."

Allina pouted at that, "You're supposed to flinch, 'Jana-chan."

"Why?"

"Because you disappeared on me again."

Niranjana gave her a confused look, "I did not 'disappear on you'. You knew perfectly well all along that I was here in the Library. I told you I would meet you here."

Allina almost glared at her for that, "Oh, come on! Last year you pitched a fit if I turned a corner without you! I walked out front of the dorms to see Mãe and Pai, and you yelled at me! So I get to yell now." She could not help smiling at her impeccable logic.

Niranjana regained her smile, but shook her head. "No, you do not. These are completely different circumstances. You disappeared on me, I told you where I would be. Have a seat, Allina-chan, you can help me tutor Ekavir."

There's something utterly wrong with her argument. There has to be, Allina thought, turning the debate over in her mind as she settled next to Niranjana. Try as she might, though, she could not come up with a counter before being distracted by a stack of math problems. She glanced them over, then grimaced, "Ick, math."

"And you call yourself a hacker," Niranjana chided.

"I am! It's just... if it isn't binary, why bother?"

"Because binary is just a trick to make math intelligible to a computer," Ekavir said, "and because I need to understand if I want to still be here next semester."

"Nah, Hayate-sensei wouldn't kick you out for flunking math," Allina said. "Signum-sensei would do something worse, though. Probably make you 'help' Laura train or something."

Ekavir's presence made her feel a little off-balance, an intrusion in what had become a comfortable routine. But Niranjana had offered to help him with math, which meant Allina was obliged to do the same. So she shuffled all her thoughts on device programming to the back of her mind, and poked fun at Ekavir while Niranjana reminded him what he had already learned. She was surprisingly happy when he took off to do other work, and she finally got Niranjana back on subject.

00000

Mariachi felt the sensor trigger, and looked up from his guitar to see one of the first-years exiting the Library. Raising one hand, he waved her over, "Got a minute, Esmeralda?"

She hesitated just a moment before strolling over, looking around for something. "Sure, what's up, senpai?"

The respectful term caused Mariachi's thoughts to stumble for a moment, then he grinned. "I dare you to call Laura that."

Esmeralda grinned back, "already did. She threatened to hit me if I did it again."

"Yeah, that's Laura all right. Demanding respect one second, then threatening the next if you give it to her. Listen... Vita-sensei says you're a dancer. Is she right?"

Esmeralda nodded, shifting her footing and hips like she was dancing right then, "Yeah. Not as much as you're a musician, but yeah." She got a far-away look in her eyes as she continued, "My mother's a Flamenco dancer, wants me to follow her footsteps. I want to, it'd be so lovely to perform all over Spain."

Mariachi could understand where the tone and look came from. While his musical aspirations had never been as grand as hers, he shared the feeling. "Yeah, I couldn't give up music for anything. Thing is," he resumed his interrupted playing, but this time focused on using the music to bring up his magic, forming a little sphere of light that shifted colors and pulsed in time with the music, "my magic interfaces with my music. The second draws out the first, and the first sounds like the second. I can hear magic, sort of. Not tunes or songs, but music all the same. No one else here has quite the same dedication to something that influences their magic as strongly. Sure, Laura's got her martial arts and Na-chan have their computers, but not to the degree of me and my magic."

Esmeralda settled to her knees next to him, giving him a questioning look. "You're wondering if my dancing will have a similar effect?"

"Not me, no. Vita-sensei and Hayate-sensei are, though. I thought I'd give you a heads up and, since I'll no doubt get dragooned into helping, see if you wanted to try a few experiments before you get accosted by Vita-sensei."

"That bad, huh?"

Mariachi nodded, as his tune continued, "Yeah. First time she caught me doing this, I wound up spending two hours in a workroom playing the same song over and over and over again. Not the most fun, though I did learn a lot."

"So, what," Esmeralda asked, "were you thinking of just having me dance around out here?"

"No, that would be a bad idea. I shouldn't even be doing this," he said, gesturing towards the guitar, "not outside a workroom, at least. No, I was thinking we'd grab a workroom, probably Noriko as well."

"Wouldn't a stereo be in order?"

"You don't think I can play the music?"

She shrugged, "just thought it would be easier."

Mariachi shook his head, "recorded music's never as good as live. I'll play, and watch, since I'm most likely to notice the shifts of magic. Noriko will just watch. Want to give it a try?"

She thought it over for a minute, eyes scanning over the quad, then nodded slowly. "Sure. At the least, it'll give me a chance to dance again. Can you play Flamenco, or will this be 'informal'?"

"I'll try it," Mariachi said, "but you'll have to forgive me if I mess it up. I've only played it a little. I prefer Mexican folk music, and old-school American Jazz and Rock. You know, heavy guitar music."

Esmeralda chuckled at that, "Don't be silly, senpai. Flamenco's all about guitars."

"Give me a second to find Noriko." Telepathy took focus, but he could manage it if he was not distracted. 'Hime-sama? I was wondering if you've got an hour or so free to help Esmeralda and I with an experiment?'

Noriko's reply was instant, 'Not if you keep calling me that. The experiment Hayate-sensei mentioned?'

'Yeah, figure Workroom Six should be fine,' Mariachi told her.

'I'll meet you there in a few minutes,' Noriko agreed, 'I just need finish transferring these notes.'

Mariachi came out of trance to find Esmeralda rising to her feet. "Going somewhere?"

She gestured at her uniform, "If you think I'm dancing in this, you're crazy. The shoes alone would kill my ankles. I'll go get changed, meet you back here?"

"Workroom six, please. Noriko will meet us there in fifteen to twenty." While she headed back to the dorms, Mariachi stood himself and began strolling to the Classes Building. Given what Noriko was doing and what Esmeralda was going to do, he figured he had a good half hour before either of them found the workroom.

In the event, he was proven wrong. The two girls arrived together not ten minutes behind him, shortly after he finished setting the room's sensors to report to a display. He nodded to them, finalized the settings, then stepped away, swinging his guitar around front from where it had hung on his back.

"I figured we'd start with just dance," He told Esmeralda, "with me, Noriko and the sensors watching for any magic. If nothing happens, we'll try having you draw on some magic while dancing, see if that is any different."

"That might not be such a good idea, Mariachi," Noriko said. When he looked over to her, she continued, "Esmeralda doesn't have our experience at recognizing her own magic, yet. It would make more sense for you to show her how it works, do something with your music, and then have her see if dancing has the same effect for her. Give her an example and guide so she knows what she is supposed to feel."

Mariachi turned that over in his mind for a minute or so, then nodded slowly, "Right, I can see that. You two ready?" The two girls nodded, so he settled his guitar again, "we'll start with minor. It won't be a direct effect, just an enhancement."

He started slowly, just making up a song as he went, folding the music to fit his magic, and his magic to fit his music. Light gathered before him, and slowly coalesced into a dancing figure, similar to that Hayate had shown the world the previous spring, though his was somewhat larger and lacking in the clear lines of her illusion. Nonetheless, it moved with his music, and focused Esmeralda's attention.

After a minute of nothing but music, he managed to explain, "The basic illusion is formed normally – a human figure a meter tall. The motion is all music, though, the magic I put into the illusion reacting to the music I'm playing, more than any conscious decisions on my part. For instance, changing the style of music changes the dance."

He changed the song, from a personal creation to one with a more driving beat. As soft but nameless Mexican music flowed into Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song, the dancing figure's pace accelerated, and the dance itself altered from gentle floating motions to a frenetic mixture of stamping turns and leaping acrobatics. Mariachi was actually impressed, both by how smooth the transition was, and how extreme the difference, though it was the first time he had done this.

"While I thank you for the compliment," Esmeralda said, "There's no way I can dance like that."

"Nobody can dance like that," Mariachi agreed with a chuckle, "the human spine doesn't bend that way. But you see how the music alters things? I made no changes in the actual spell, just the music. Feel anything in your own magic?"

"Just the urge to dance," Esmeralda answered, "but I feel that whenever there's good music playing."

Mariachi smiled at that, "Thanks, but focus on that urge. For me, last year, it was a matter of feeling the urge to draw on my magic when I was playing. See if that need to dance is at all related to your magic."

"Mind if I dance?"

"Always best to go with what you're most familiar with," Noriko advised. "A lot of what we came up with on our own last year was by doing that."

So Mariachi let the music flow to something closer to Esmeralda's preferred Flamenco. She stood and began moving through the steps, slowly at first, but gaining speed. It soon became apparent to Mariachi that, like him with music, she found it very easy to slip into a trance where there was nothing but the dance. He also noticed, shortly after Noriko, that Esmeralda's magic was, in fact, rising and shifting, but he could not tell if it was her dancing, or his music.

"Noriko," he whispered, trying not to break Esmeralda's trance, "the control panel next to me has a music set keyed up. Could you start it, and bring the volume up slowly?"

"Sure thing," she replied, "you'll fade out at the same time?"

"A little later," he replied, "have to make sure she doesn't notice."

Switching out the source of the music was a challenge. First he had to remember where the set he had put together started, then he had to change what he was playing to match that, and then slowly fade his own playing until it was just the computer's canned music for Esemeralda to dance to. He was impressed that it mostly worked, and he was just taking his fingers off the strings when Esmeralda whirled to a stop, blinking at him curiously.

"Why'd you stop?"

"To see if it was me or you who was activating your linker core," he explained.

"I'm afraid I couldn't tell," Noriko said. "We sensed some activity, but it faded before I could tell if it was all you, or his fault. I'd suggest, Esmeralda, that you dance again for a few minutes, to the list playing now, and we'll see if see if we can sense anything?"

It took another half an hour before Noriko was satisfied, alternating live and canned music. Unfortunately for Mariachi's hopes, she came to the conclusion that what they had sensed had only been a reaction to Mariachi's own music-magic. Dancing alone produced no discernible reaction in Esmeralda's magic, and she lacked the control, the focus and experience, to attempt deliberate use of her magic while dancing.

"Don't feel bad about it," Mariachi tried to reassure her. "Cid-chan and I are the only second-years who developed strange abilities like these."

"Oh, I'm not feeling bad at all," Esmeralda told him. "I had an excuse to dance, the magic would have been nice, but just dancing again is wonderful. But the special abilities, what about Laura? And doesn't Noah do something with shields, and Allison with stealth?"

"Laura's and Noah's abilities are fairly common," Noriko explained, "and so is Cid-chan's, though a gift as powerful as hers is vanishingly rare. But Hayate-sensei says no one has ever recorded anything like what Mariachi does."

"Someone has," Mariachi argued, "we just don't have the records here. Vita-sensei has a request in to the Infinity Library at the Bureau, but it's not mission-critical, so it'll be a while before someone gets around to it."

"You should revel in your uniqueness, Mariachi," Esmeralda countered, "it's something to be proud of."

He just shook his head, "not when I don't have the least clue what I'm doing. But... I've got some ideas from today. Your magic was reacting to my music, and I think Noriko's was as well. I need a couple weeks to think it over, but would both of you be willing for future experiments to see if that means anything?"

"Certainly," Noriko agreed.

"Hey, so long as I get to dance, you can play whatever you like," Esmeralda answered.

00000

Hughes looked up at the knock on his door, then nodded to the man standing there, waving him in. Leaning back in his chair, he asked, "So, Schuster, how'd they do on their first real mission?"

Edward Schuster settled lightly into one of the facing chairs, "Not bad, sir, though it wasn't as much of a test as we had planned. We completely missed the intercept in Cairo, unfortunately. But getting the men some exposure to Bureau personnel will help, in the long run. Uriel kept them in hand well enough, and from Sergeant Maunders' report, they gathered almost as much information from the initial site survey as the Witch's people did."

"Don't call her 'the Witch'," Hughes ordered. "Hayate may be dangerous and an enemy, but don't ever make the mistake of belittling her. Doing that to an enemy is a good way to underestimate them."

Edward gave him a jaundiced look, then shrugged and nodded, "Understood, sir. It helps the men, though. 'Hayate Yagami' brings up terrible memories of Asia and New Delhi. 'The Witch' is just a monster to be destroyed."

"Just don't call her that," Hughes repeated. "I understand all the mental tricks, Schuster, but that is one I disapprove of on every level. Dehumanizing an enemy removes any options for dealing with a human. You don't belittle someone you respect, but it's very easy to misjudge those you belittle. Speaking of respect, I'm curious... why did you leave Uriel in charge of the interception?"

Schuster shrugged, a little uncomfortably, "The Dogs may be my idea, but you gave me a bunch of lifers. I'm not military, and they all know it. If I tried to lead them in the field, they'd be watching me more than the Revenants, worrying about if I could hack it. I can, I've been conducting operations longer than some of them have been alive. But they wouldn't accept that, and I'd rather they don't have to deal with that. Dealing with that, earning their trust, will take too long. Uriel's doing a fine job as field leader, and this way I can keep an eye on the larger picture, let Uriel focus on the team's immediate tactics."

"Smart man," Hughes agreed.

"Worried about that, were you?"

"Somewhat, but not particularly. So long as you kept control of the team, I wouldn't have said anything, but your current arrangement is the better one. Regardless, I doubt that's what you came all the way up here to talk to me about. It's a long way to give me a report on an aborted op."

"Correct, sir," Schuster replied, "though it's not all that far. A lot closer than Washington."

Hughes grimaced, "The further away from Washington I can stay, the better. You wouldn't believe how fast I had to talk to convince the Joint Chiefs and those idiots in Congress not to tie me up at a desk back there, giving one meaningless briefing after another. Adept Rodriguez can handle the politicians, and Adept Heller can handle the Joint Chiefs. Which leaves me to handle whatever it is you're about to drop in my lap."

"I came to talk to you about this," Schuster smirked, and very carefully placed a file on Hughes' desk, nudging it across, "again."

Hughes grimaced again at the folder, with a single word on its tab: Shanghai. "I thought you wanted to blood the Dogs before taking on a serious target."

"No," Schuster shook his head, looking amused at Hughes' exasperation, "you wanted to blood them. Uriel wanted to blood them. I think you gave me ten of the best soldiers in the Circles, and I want to use them."

"Shanghai's going to be a tough nut for one team," Hughes argued. "It's not their new headquarters, but the Revenants are firmly entrenched."

"True, but they're also exposed there. It's a busy port, with lots of traffic and immediate access to international air travel and deep water. Japan is relatively close, as is Russia. We can be in and out in under twenty-four hours, no one the wiser."

"No one except the Revenants and all of China," Hughes countered. "You know they'd pursue, no matter where you tried to lead them. Doubly true if you actually capture anyone."

"Let them," Schuster said, then chuckled. "The baseline plan there? Egress is by way of Kansai International Airport, a little ways south of Kyoto. Think the Wi... Yagami woman will sit back and watch if the Revenants try something in her front yard?"

"I think she's liable to do just that," Hughes said, "if she doesn't take you down herself. Hayate is not a forgiving enemy, Schuster. Don't ever forget what she did to Asia."

"I'm not, but the Revenants aren't going to forget either. Look at Law, the man talks about being tortured by rebels in Tibet a couple years ago without batting an eye, but practically passes out in a dead faint if you name one of Hayate's people. They won't dare follow us into Japan. The details are in the folder, however. Complete strike plan, including suggestions on how to handle Hayate's inevitable 'observers'."

Hughes stared at the folder for a few more seconds, then shook his head. "All right, I'll look it over." He pushed a button on his phone, "Addler? Step into my office for a second, please."

He didn't even have his finger off the button before the door opened and a young lieutenant stuck his head in, "You called, Colonel?"

"Mister Schuster here's going to be staying on base for a couple days. Could you please get him set up in the BOQ?"

"Certainly, Colonel. Whenever you're ready, Mister Schuster, I'll be at my desk just outside."

"He's certainly efficient," Schuster chuckled as the lieutenant disappeared again, closing the door silently.

"Too efficient," Hughes muttered, "I'm still breaking him in. Damn Pentagon took away my aide and my sergeant at the same time. Go ahead and get settled, reviewing this monstrosity's going to take me a while."

"Very good, Grand Master. I'll see you tomorrow for final approvals."

Hughes shook his head, but was chuckling as he said, "get out, before I decide you're being insubordinate."

Schuster left, and Hughes finally flipped open the folder to begin looking over the plan. Despite his comments, he knew that, if the plan had any solid reasoning behind it, he would probably approve the strike.

00000

Author's Reminder: Mãe is the Portuguese word for 'mother', Pai for father. They are used here as how Allina refers to her parents verbally & mentally, even when speaking other languages. Sort of like how I would be afraid for my life if I ever called my mother anything other than 'Mom':).

Author's Note: BOQ is military shorthand for 'Bachelor Officers Quarters', a pseudo-hotel most bases have for unmarried officers who do not or cannot live off base.

Author's Excuse: My apologies to all of you, but this is the last of the chapters I that I will be able to post 'every week', as I have been doing. I have chapter 6 half finished, but I've been working on it for a week and a half now. Just so you have a frame of reference, I started writing this story in the middle of December 2007, and I finished this chapter the fourth week of March 2008 – fourteen or fifteen weeks for five chapters. Not my best rate, but not my worst either. I will promise to work on this as quickly as I can do so without sacrificing the story, but that rate will unfortunately be variable. From here on out, my schedule for posting new chapters will be 'as finished'. Trust me, everything works about better that way, despite the inconveniences.

00000

Kell Shock: As usual, thanks for the typos, though I was right on one for a change! 'Initialed' is a diplomatic/business term (I've seen it used in both circumstances). It's what is done to an agreement when the negotiators are done with it, but it has not yet been formally approved. As an example, in American diplomacy, when the diplomats finish arguing out and writing the treaty, it is 'initialed' and sent back to Congress. It remains only 'initialed' until Congress passes it and the President signs it. There are other terms that mean the same thing, but that's the one I'm most familiar with. Mercedes will be working to join the Myrmidons, no sure if anyone will manage it in this story, but yeah, her revenge was not long in coming, was it? I'm generally familiar with the Strikers prologue manga, and some of those methods would work. But from what I gathered, the drones Nanoha and Fate fought were physically minor threats – a Seed is not 'minor' in any way, shape or form. Most of those who fought the Seed in the past were not flight-capable – remember, a Circle mage does not have a device to handle multi-tasking, so even if a said mage knew how to fly, they would just be abandoning those who could not fly. Admittedly, a Seed won't be much trouble for Hayate or her Knights, because they have experience against such things, but what about the students? Other than Noriko, Yussef and Laura, the best they could probably manage at present is to run. As for the magic immune dragon, allow me to direct you one Shimazu Takashi:)! Only problem is, he can't fly as a dragon. Thanks for the review!

TheWhiteMonk: The conspiracies have only just begun, only just begun. The twins definitely want both their parents around, but you're mostly right, it isn't going to be easy, though 'tragic' might be a bit far… depending on what I end up having the twins' mother involved in.

Eternal-Longing: I'll try to keep the twists comprehensible, though I've got a doozy planned – sneaking it in is going to be difficult. I'd apologize about the umber of OCs, but frankly that's what I have the most fun with. I've put an updated list in my profile, along with an updated timeline. I may eventually move those to a 'last chapter' of this story, but until then, the profile's easier to manipulate. As far as the difference between Allison and Allina – the former's taller, has red hair, and a temper fit to make me look calm and collected, the latter goes ga-ga over computer parts. I'm afraid that Zafira and Reinforce are falling victim to the number of characters. I've got a bit of a Catch-22, in that to make the school believable, I need new students, but that costs me time to focus on other characters. I'll do my best to give everyone their moment, but I am only human. Kell Shock's & your points are valid, but remember the Seed hit Circle mages first, and had surprise on their side. I'm afraid that, after this chapter here, my update schedule's going to fall back to the normal two weeks or so. I might get Chapter 6 up next week, but please don't hold it against me if it isn't.

Natimus Prime: I'd argue that the Seed aren't lizards, they're closer to sharks. As for larger – that would be what Maunders referenced above as being 'launched into the sun'. The Seed are definitely Atlantis remnants, but as for who set them loose? Read on, good sir, read on! I always was partial to Batman, but I'm afraid most of my exposure to him has been via the various cartoons, so I missed a lot of the classic comic book versions. Laura never would have functioned as 'Bat Girl', the boss put too many restrictions on her. She'd've made a great Harley Quinn, though…:). The twins' device project will progress through the story, though more peripherally than the Trio's project did in Academy Blues.

Advent00: no problem, always glad to answer questions. See my profile for a somewhat different list. The Seed were fun, to come up with and to write, but they'll get better, trust me.

notcroaker: You are correct, sir! The first person to guess here-in the route Allina and Niranjana will be using to attempt to hack another's device. I'm sorry you don't like that I married off Yuuno and Nanoha, but the dude deserves something, given how he got shafted in A's and Strikers. Besides, I just see him and Nanoha together me easily than Fate and Nanoha, since Yuuno's literally been there for Nanoha from the instant he met her. I know, I know, I can hear the screaming mob with pitch-forks and torches already, but we're all allowed our opinions. As for the relationship violating canon… I should have put up an AU warning in the summary, my apologies. Thanks for reviewing!

CrimsonDX: still haven't watched much of Strikers (I'm working on it, I swear!), but the short-hands easy to figure out, given the context. Yes, the Seed are nasty customers, but frankly, they don't represent that much of a technology/power leap from where Hayate (or even the Bureau) is right now. If she had a reason, Shamal could probably create something very similar to the Seed. As for the Seed jumping into the null, as mentioned 'in story above', what better way to hide the evidence? Without actual Seed to study, tracing them back or figuring out how or by whom they were activated is difficult to impossible. Chen-chi (It's not Chun-li! That's a Streetfighter character! Gah!) is going to be fun, especially later on when she gets her network up and running.

Baughn: In all honesty, I've yet to talk to anyone who's read The Prince that did not think Machiavelli was a right bastard. I know how he was actually pretty good for his era, and how we can't judge past generations by modern standards, but his common reputation remains, however unfair to him it is. If I recall Chrono's explanation from the original Nanoha series, things can survive just fine in a null space – there's just no way to get out of one.

SpaceBrotha: You almost missed this chapter, too:). For Chapter 03, Yussef's class for the first years was an extension of the one he put together for the boys in Academy Blues, thought remember, it's also teaching him (both how to teach, and how to keep disparate personalities working together smoothly). As for his first lesson, you're right, from a certain perspective – it was unfair of him, and splitting up might have worked against just him. But that lesson was set up to drive home a single point about teamwork, with a minor lesson that life's unfair. 'Rabbiting' is a general term for fleeing from a hunter without doing anything else, whether it's simply running fast, or bolting from cover to cover. Kaemon did stand up to Laura's challenge fairly well, but like Signum said, he did well for someone who's used to a different set of rules. Mercedes' thought on the twins was due to how they've been acting since arriving – always together, always dressed the same, always speaking in unison (or close enought to it, at least). Seeing one of them walking around with a knife would be like watching the creepy guy who talks to himself wandering about with one, not so much a common steak-knife as a bush-knife or other large blade. The 'seeing one alone' is entirely because Mercedes has never seen one without the other, so if there's only one, something is terribly wrong with reality. The twins in general are fairly rude and abrupt, because as their father mentioned, they have never been very social. They are really only used to dealing with each other and their parents, and they prefer people not being able to tell them apart, especially Rhys, so to them, it isn't rude if people can't differentiate them, it's comfortable. You are right that Laura's spoiled in her own way, but she's not irredeemable (though I will admit to being partial on her behalf). In a way, I'm glad you don't like her, it argues that I've made her more realistic (no one is liked by everyone, after all). The illusion was something Laura worked on over the summer, partly in furtherance of her oath not to kill, and partly as a tool for her pranks, but remember how basic an illusion – it was a strictly visual illusion, no scent, sound or touch. Visually complicated, yes, but nothing more. More on Allina's plan to hack a device above, you'll see she's already running into problems that will be difficult, at best, to overcome. For Chapter 04, Yussef's simply uncomfortable being alone with girls without a chaperon, though Laura will probably regret picking on him for that, his reaction would not be a good one. Laura's comeuppance was above, though you'll not it didn't turn out entirely the way Mercedes hoped. I would argue with you on the soldier/warrior point – a soldier is trained to kill at need, yes, but a warrior is generally trained only to kill (without the 'at need' part). Signum is teaching Laura better than that, yes, but warriors in general weren't the sorts to show mercy. As far as the Seed, your first impression was closer, but the head is more ape-like, and obviously, more info on them above. As far as anything surviving in the null, see my reply to Baughn – things go in, but nothing's ever come out. Hayate managed to injure Takashi's dragon form with a Deva magic attack, not normal magic, though you are right about how dangerous that form is in physical combat. No comment on your thoughts about Noriko's reaction to Kaemon's politeness, though regarding calling Shamal 'baa-san', no one has dared do it where she can hear it. Kaemon's comment about Batman was another example of someone giving Laura a taste of her own medicine – he was quite familiar with Batman, thought not as familiar as Laura, and just pulling her chain. The Black Dogs are complex, almost as much so as the students, though Early is probably the worst of the lot. As for how they think they can take the Bureau, to paraphrase Uriel, 'all in good time'. They don't plan to do it now, but all in due course. A long review, but thank you for the time!