Endless Waltz

By: Daishi Prime

-19 – Prophecy-

Hayate handled the teleport into Yellowstone herself. Folding the fabric of reality to make the overlook and the target coordinates the same place for just a moment, then releasing the two to separate again, the far point taking her and her group with it. She moved her entire group in under a second, arriving in clear air a kilometer above and twelve kilometers northeast of the coordinates Hughes had given her. Laura provided the twins with flight, going another half-kilometer higher, while Nanoha, Signum, Vita, and Reinforce fanned out, scanning the area for immediate threats or signs of ambush or trap.

There were none, just the carefully preserved wilderness of America's most famous nature preserve. The only people they found were waiting right where Hughes had told them to meet, just at the southern edge of the park. Circling their way closer slowly, the students remaining at high altitude, Hayate kept close touch with everyone, even after they identified Hughes, Schuster, and Hughes' new aide standing next to one vehicle. There were several other mages standing next to a pair of different vehicles, that entire group so painfully formal and corporate they screamed 'look at me!' like a neon sign.

Signum and Vita touched down first, near Hughes. After a brief conversation with him, the two moved over to the unknowns, and proceeded to question them, then inspect the vehicles. Hayate and the others remained at altitude. They were technically exposed there, but it gave them the clearest possible lines of sight, and no attack could reach them before a shield could be raised.

'Mistress,' Signum sent, after inspecting the vehicles, 'the Circles have provided transport. The vehicles are safe, however the windows in back are covered and sealed, and there is a fixed divider between passengers and drivers. They patently do not wish us to know precisely where the facility they are taking us to is located.'

Hayate mulled that over for a moment, then shook her head, 'Inform them, politely, that we will provide our own transportation. They will guide, we will fly, but we will not trust ourselves to an enclosed vehicle.'

'Already done, Mistress, but they are being insistent. If I may try an experiment?'

'Go ahead, Signum.'

There was silence for a few minutes, then Laura announced on a more general broadcast, 'Got 'em, Sensei, two miles north-north-west, inside the park. Looks like they're underground, pretty deep. Can't tell how deep, though, there's a lot of stealth stuff up. Only other activity around here is a small town further south. Want me to see if I can break through their stealth?'

'That won't be necessary, Laura,' Hayate told her, 'Signum?'

'I'm informing them of their subterfuge's failure now, we should be on the road shortly.'

The Containment team quite obviously disliked Signum's revelations and insistence, but soon gave up the argument as lost. In the end, though, Laura's estimation was off by more than half a mile, the facility's shrouds making it seem much further away than it was. The outside was almost as unimpressive as the original landing site, though it was less artificially 'normal' than the escort team had been. A small cluster of twelve log cabins, little different from any other set of cabins scattered through the park, were nestled against a low cliff under old forest. Several more anonymous vehicles were present, but the small number of people walking about were all clad in hiking clothes more suited to the area. Once Signum and Vita had conducted another personal check of the area and the Containment mages, Hayate and the rest finally set down near Hughes, just over an hour after the teleport.

"We'll have to wait out here a few more minutes," Hughes told her, "while they make sure no one followed us in."

"Is all this really necessary?" This close, Hayate could feel the facility beneath them, an odd humming resonance like a number of electrical transformers none quite on the same frequency. "While I admit, your Circles are very good at hiding these places, I can't imagine it will be too difficult for anyone brought here to triangulate their position again later."

Hughes shrugged, "That's harder than you might think, for those of us stuck on the ground. But even so, you're partly right. Thing is, it's standard procedure when non-Containment people leave a Containment site, for their memories to be... fudged. Don't ask me how, I haven't any clue, but the Containment Division believes it is protecting those artifacts from the rest of us, as well as from the world."

"Actually, sonny," a gravely old voice called in English, "we're protecting you from the artifacts."

Hayate turned to find an elderly woman leaning on the porch rail of the nearest cabin, giving all of them a sort of judgmental but undecided look. Her face was heavily lined, her hair long since gone to wispy white, but she was wearing the same rugged jeans and boots as everyone else here, the same leather jacket and flannel shirt, and looked tougher than the soles of her boots. Hayate was about to say something, when she hard Laura's mental voice, 'Man, she looks like she could give Wilderness Girl lessons in hardcore.' Hayate had to pause for a second to prevent saying something undiplomatic. She was not sure if she was going to yell at Laura, or burst out laughing, but neither would have been appropriate.

Instead, she asked Hughes, "Would you mind introducing us, Grand Master?"

Hughes grimaced slightly, "She is Master Adept Alice Esien, boss of the Yellowstone Containment Facility. She is our host for the day."

"And you, little miss, would be Hayate Yagami, with Signum, Vita, Reinforce, Laura Sims, the Marterosian girls, and one woman I do not know," Esien added. "Since we're making introductions..."

"I'm Nanoha Takamichi," Nanoha told her, "one of Hayate's allies."

"Hmm, allies, huh? Could be useful, given the trouble you kids are causing these days. Saeryn, Rhys, your mother's in cabin four," she waved off to her left, "that way. She's waiting for you, but you're not allowed to leave the cabin with her. You'll leave with your teachers. Go ahead."

"Laura," Hayate said, "go with them."

Esien glared slightly, "You intruding on a family reunion?"

"I'm insuring the safety of my students," Hayate replied. "I don't mean to be insulting, but I have no reason to trust anyone here save my people. So Laura will go with them, and insure that when we leave, Saeryn and Rhys return to school with us."

Esien glared at her a moment longer, then nodded slightly, "Good, you're not as dumb as you look. Go ahead, you three, cabin four. The rest of you, come on in here, we'll head down now. There are a few more representatives on their way, I'd rather you didn't meet them out here where someone might notice the fireworks."

She turned and vanished into the cabin, and Hayate followed, Hughes falling into step beside her. She was somewhat amused at how the rest of her people and Hughes' fell in behind them, neither group quite willing to trust the other, but more willing to trust each other than anyone else. Inside the cabin, things looked as rough and local as one would expect, until they passed through a door into the rear half. There the log walls passed into the stone cliff face, and a solid steel door was set in a heavy frame. Locked by magic and electronics, it took Esien several minutes to unlock the construct and open the door.

As soon as the magical seals released on it, however, Hayate knew there was far more to this facility than 'old artifacts'. The queasy rocking sensation she associated with dimensional instabilities, the nauseating instability to everything, especially her magic, told her this place was damaged, though not the worst she had ever seen. She had to restructure and add to her shields, protecting herself from the effects of the place before the door was even open.

"You do remember that you are not to use magic here," Esien commented, door open just a crack.

"Unless you wish for whatever is stored here to react to my presence," Hayate responded, "stronger shields are required."

"We will provide such protections," Esien insisted.

"Do you make the world shake with your merest step, Master Adept? Because of my form of magic, I do. Your people cannot protect me from what you guard, or what you guard from my presence. They are only shields, nothing more."

"I did warn you, Esien," Hughes commented, "her magic is too strange to follow the normal rules."

Esien looked like she was going to argue, then growled, jabbed a finger in Hayate's chest, and ordered, "Shields only, girl. You do anything else, we'll hold you in violation of the safe passage. Shields only."

"All I intend to use," Hayate assured her. "Shall we?"

Inside was quite plainly an artificial cavern, marks of human work obvious in the walls, but weathered. The passage continued straight back into the cliff face for nearly a hundred meters, before turning left and spiraling downwards. That let out into a large chamber, low-ceilinged but long and wide, lined with statues of what Hayate presumed were Circle or Containment heroes. No two matched, and the appearances and manners of dress were widely varied, seeming to come from all over the world, and all times.

She was puzzling over the varied statues when, as they neared the far end of the chamber, she saw the lone painting, hanging on the back wall between two archways. The woman pictured, more specifically the marks on her hands and forehead, brought Hayate up short. "Who is that?"

"A myth," Hughes grunted, "a legend from the cataclysm."

"Actually, boy, she's a prophecy," Esien countered. She moved to stand in front of the painting, staring up at it. "Before the Cataclysm, the original Grand Circle – all the Circles, actually – had powers beyond even your ken, miss. Among these was the power to stand outside of time, to watch its flow, all the pasts, all the futures, all the presents. They looked into the future to plan their actions. Their vision was not always perfect, for time changes everything, the very act of seeing the future changes its course, but they saw well enough. In the Cataclysm, all those who could do so, saw the return of the Lords of Light. One, and only one, saw hope in the form of this woman. The Goddess of Light, she is called, marked by chains of fate on her left hand, the strength of life in her right hand, and the light of heaven on her brow."

Hayate took all of that in, while studying those marks, and shook her head, "I have no faith in claims of seeing the future, but I know those marks." Gesturing as Esien turned, Hayate traced the first symbol in light, "On her left hand, three vertical lines, beneath a down-ward half-circle, the circle ending in points. It is the rune of anchor and binding, used to stabilize and support a spell." She traced a second symbol next to the first, "Her right hand, a pair of contrasting half-circles, one up and one down, crossing twice at one-third the distance from each end, with a point in the center. The rune for life and healing, the center of spells which save lives." She traced the final, simplest symbol, "On her forehead, a plain circle with a point in the center. Rune for the Sun, and for power in its most raw form.

"All three of them are Deva runes, Master Adept, created fifty years ago by Sara Shimazu. While she was Terra-born, she had no knowledge of any Terran mage traditions, certainly not of this 'Goddess' figure of yours, and she never returned to Terra from Bureau space."

Esien stared at the glowing runes in silence, waiting a minute or so as they faded into nothing, then turned her attention to Hayate for another few moments. Then she smirked, "Well now, there's points for one interpretation of the prophecy."

Hayate frowned, "What interpretation?"

"According to the prophecy, the Goddess of Light will be known before the Lords' return. Some of us take that to mean you are the Goddess."

Hayate sniffed, "I am a woman, Esien, not a goddess. There is nothing divine about me. Also, I have no interest in saving the Circles, except where doing so allows me to save everyone else."

"It's a prophetic reference," Esien replied, "not a literal description. Besides, I never said the Goddess would save anyone." The smirk widened to positively vicious levels, "all the prophecy states is that she will end the conflict. The precise term, accurately translated, implies only an end to the battles and factions, with no connotations of either victory or defeat, salvation or destruction. She could very well end the conflict by wiping out all of realty, just as the resistant factions in the Circles fear you will.

"Now, the other children are down the left hand corridor, I'm returning to the surface to retrieve the next group."

As Esien strolled back towards the stairs, Nanoha asked, "Why does she keep calling everyone 'children'? I mean, she's not that much older than you are, Hughes."

Hughes chuckled darkly, "She claims to be over a hundred years old. Says the energies in places like this extend and preserve those who guard them. Given how... reliable... Circle personnel records have been proving recently, I'm not prepared to comment whether she actually is that old or not. Regardless, the people we're here to meet are down this way. Shall we, Hayate?"

00000

Rhys was surprised at just how nervous she was, walking towards the indicated cabin beside her sister, Laura just ahead of them. She had thought, on those few occasions when she thought about it, that seeing Mother again would be a time of nothing but happiness and excitement. Taking Saeryn's hand, she whispered in Latin, "Are you sure she would be doing this now, Saeryn? We are not ready."

"We do not have a choice, sister," Saeryn whispered back, "Mother is here, and we will not have another chance to speak to her for months, possibly years, especially now. We are not ready, so we will not discuss the project with her, just as we do not discuss it with Father."

"But Mother always knows what we are up to."

"Because Mother and Father both spied on us constantly," Saeryn reminded her, "something they cannot do while we are at school. Do you not want to see Mother? You were excited about it yesterday."

"I am," Rhys said, "but... we have not seen her in months, and last time was frightening, and now we are at the heretic's school... what if she rejects us now, just because Father sent us to Miss Yagami's school?"

"She is Mother," Saeryn answered, "she will never give up on us, just as we will never give up on her. Relax, Rhys, she will be happy to see us, and possibly attempt to take us away again."

Rhys nodded to that, then asked, "Will we go with her?"

Saeryn gave her a surprised look, then frowned, "I do not know. It would be... difficult... to escape Miss Yagami's tracers, and to leave our project unfinished. If we go with her now, we may not be able to return to Father, ever. But if we do not go with her, we may never see her again. I... do not know."

Then they were there, and Laura was holding open the door to the cabin for them. It was plain, one large room set up as a common area around a fireplace, with stairs leading to open balconies, though that was peripheral. The woman standing in the center of the room was too precious not to stare at. She was average height, willowy, with a sharp face and short brown hair. Rhys did not even make it through the door before breaking into a run, Saeryn following slightly more sedately.

Part of her was mightily embarrassed, naturally. She was Rhys Marterosion, she did not get all weepy and start sobbing over anything. But this was Mother, whom she had not seen in months, and had last seen in a confusing and frightening exchange of buster spells and hateful words, so the embarrassed part of her was very small and very silent.

Then Mother, wrapping both twins in a hug, made it all better with a simple, familiar, English phrase, "how are my little roses?"

"Oh, that's a nice one," Laura commented from the doorway, "they are cute, but man do those two have some thorns!" Rhys felt Mother stiffen, the arm around her shoulders pulling her tighter, but managed to turn and glare at Laura, who merely laughed back. "See? Trying to stab me even at range."

"Go away, witch," Mother growled, "you are not welcome here."

Laura chuckled, "Don't mind me, I won't intrude." She faded from view even as she pulled the door closed. Something about the motion made Rhys' eyes itch, but she let it slide in favor of burying her face in Mother's shoulder again and ignoring everything else.

It took them several minutes to calm down enough to let go, and even then neither Rhys nor her sister let go of Mother's hands. They moved to the couch, and promptly ran into a major problem – what to talk about. They had to dance around their project, especially how close they were to Laura. Mother, obviously, had to avoid saying anything that might reveal where her circle was, or what they were doing or planning on doing. It made finding anything to discuss difficult, but they managed by talking about Japan and the non-magic side of their classes. They avoided anything to do with magic as long as possible, but Mother was insistent.

"Girls, I know you aren't comfortable with what they're teaching you, and that's a good thing," she told them. "You have to be very careful, and I am so sorry your father put you in that position. Whatever Yagami tries to teach you, you have to consider it very carefully, weigh it against what we taught you before. You're both so very smart, but this is at a level you should not have to test yourselves against for many years yet."

"There are differences between what Miss Yagami practices and the Lords of Light," Rhys argued.

Mother's eyes went wide with shock, but Saeryn carried on. "Miss Yagami does not replace any part of herself, Mother. There is separation, distance, between the mage and the machine, always."

Mother shook her head, "There is more to corruption than the physical signs, Saeryn. The mind and soul can both be corrupted just as easily, and that is precisely what Yagami is doing." She paused, then sighed, and slid a hand to cup their heads. Rhys felt the touch of Mother's magic, missing for so long, and leaned into it happily. "She's very subtle, and not as reckless as the Lords themselves, but all the more dangerous because of that. I don't like leaving you two there, but..."

She cut off with a hiccup, and Rhys' eyes snapped open to find a glowing white blade under Mother's chin. Tracing that back, she found Laura standing in the middle of the room, Hicho at half extension, glaring at the twins' mother. "I'm the forgiving type," Laura growled. "If you manage, by talking and arguing alone, to convince the girls that they should leave with you, I'll let you take them. Hell, I'll help, and you'd never get rid of Hayate-sensei's trackers without my help. But you talk, you cajole, you treat them like the intelligent people they are. You do not try any compulsions or binding tricks like you just did, or so help me, I will beat you like a red-headed step-child. You don't have a wolfpack backing you up, lady. Don't make me show you why you need one."

Mother lifted her head back off the blade, glaring at Laura the whole time. "You have no right to interfere between me and my daughters, little girl."

"Hayate-sensei put them in my care," Laura replied, withdrawing and dismissing Hicho, "and I'm not going to let her down. Now, I don't particularly care about the legal side of things, but I do care that you're ignoring their right to choose. You convince 'em, that's one thing, but you trying to force them to do what you want? Tche, you're such a Circle mage. Now, you play nice, I'm going to be right over here."

Rhys looked over to Saeryn, to find her sister frowning back at her. It as easy enough to figure out what she was thinking, the same thing Rhys was. "Mother," Saeryn said slowly, "was she correct? Were you placing a binding on us?"

"You're my little roses," Mother said, pulling them into another hug, "Whatever your Father thinks, I have to protect you, and you're not safe at that so-called school."

"You were," Rhys said, pushing away, "you were trying to compel us! You've never done that! There's no reason to!"

"Rhys Jessica Marterosion, you do not take that tone of voice with me! You are very smart, very mature for you rage, but this is beyond anything you have ever dealt with..."

"No," Saeryn interrupted. "You tried to bind us, Mother. Without asking, without explaining. Deception and lies to lull your target into a sense of safety and thus make them vulnerable. You treated us as an enemy."

"I treated you like my little girls, that need to be protected from a threat they don't understand," Mother countered angrily, then paused, sighed, and dropped her gaze. "I'm sorry, girls. I shouldn't have done that, but... you have no idea just how insidiously dangerous that place is for you. I cannot, for the life of me, understand why your father sent you there. You need to be someplace safe, someplace with kids your own age who are learning true magic, someplace we can protect you from people like that witch in the corner. I was trying to protect you." When she looked up, she had a small smile, "but you're not going to let me do that, are you? So stubborn, my little roses. Come here, one last hug, then I have to go to work. No tricks, I promise."

Rhys was quicker than Saeryn, but just a little. Mother never broke her promises, no matter what, with one painful exception, so Rhys trusted her this time. She hugged Mother tight, wishing she did not have to let go. Rhys did not cry, not at all, despite what Laura insisted afterwards, but realizing Mother was leaving again so soon hurt, almost as much as loosing her the first time had. It was almost enough to make her regret coming in the first place. "We miss you, Mother," she said in their last hug.

"I know, rose, I know," Mother replied, "and I'll come for both of you as soon as I can. That is also a promise." Then she was gone, and Rhys could only sit there dejectedly, holding onto Saeryn, wondering how long it would be before they saw either of their parents again.

Laura padded over, settling into a crouch to look them in the face. For a change, she was not grinning or looking devious, just sympathetic. "You know she still loves you, right? She may have tried something underhanded, but..."

"She is Mother," Saeryn interrupted.

"And if you threaten her again senpai," Rhys continued, "we will hurt you."

"Fair enough," Laura nodded, then cracked a slight grin. "You'll forgive me if I fight back when she starts something, won't you? You two going to be all right?"

"Yes," Rhys said softly.

"It was not entirely unexpected," Saeryn added, then sighed. "At least she didn't find out about the devices."

Laura chuckled at that. "Yeah, that one's not going to go over so well."

"By the time Mother finds out about them, we will have all the information necessary to determine if they are safe or not."

"Also the best methods for combating and disabling them," Rhys continued. "The Circles will need what we learn, however it is put to use."

Laura shook her head, "Man, you two are thinking way too deep on this one, or not deep enough. You want your mother to come around to your Father's view? Building devices won't do it. You have to convince her of Hayate-sensei's history, the Bureau and all that jazz. Best way to do it? Help us figure out how to work with the Circles to handle the Lords, like Tai-yu-sensei is doing, now that she's not panicking.

"But, for now, we've got a couple hours to kill, and we're in Yellowstone. Wanna see if we can bait a grizzly? Hayate-sensei took Snuggles away from me, so was thinking, a grizzly bear'd make a great pet!"

00000

Hassed watched the forward team go in with a critical eye. There were only two of them, but they had the most dangerous, most failure-prone, portion of the missionWatching the advance team go in was saddening, but thrilling. The Lords had established a perimeter around their floating city that they did not permit anyone to cross. Beyond that perimeter, however, they exerted no obvious authority. The Egyptian Army had moved in, and established their own perimeter a little further out, keeping the curious outside of that, but allowed two places where 'visitors' could approach right to the Lords' perimeter, one on each side of the city.

The two areas were substantial, but nowhere near substantial enough. Everyone wanted to come see the 'amazing' floating construct, ignorant of what its appearance meant. No one in public power had any idea how to handle the Lords, or even where to begin, but people were still curious. Even worse, some of the Lords were coming down themselves, approaching the perimeter on foot, and working out the rudiments of local languages by talking with the tourists and journalists. There was no way to stop the contamination, but it still sickened Hassed, even if most of those down there had no idea what they were doing.

Despite his worries, the lone jeep with two occupants was hardly even checked. The soldiers at the gate had them open the obvious camera case on top, then waved them through and moved on to the next vehicle laden with reporters from all over the world, tourists re-routing from the Pyramids, or locals looking to make a buck off the visitors. The jeep worked its way up to the perimeter slowly, struggling against those who had arrived first and those that arrived second and everyone else trying to get as close as possible.

Major Hassed watched them through his binoculars until they stopped and dismounted, moving cases around to get at their true cargo. Silently he commended their souls to Heaven and thanked them for their efforts. Then he turned back to the men with him, and nodded. "Prepare the weapon."

The men moved with a will, hauling the tarp off the back of one of the trucks in the line. They were, ostensibly, here as part of a supply and transport force for the troops maintaining the actual barrier, close enough to 'the enemy' to be useful, but not close enough to be vulnerable. Which mean they were still in the city's shadow come late afternoon, but they were still several kilometers from being beneath the construct. Most of the trucks with them were just what the papers claimed. But this one contained a second artifact, drawn from a nearby cache south of Tripoli, of a far more brutal bent than the one below.

Hassed's men had been in place for days, plenty of time to line up the weapon with its target. Against the city's shield, the weapon was useless. But the two men in the jeep below were mere tens of meters from that shield, and when the two of them combined their magic to trigger their artifact, the shield would cease to be a problem. Preparing the weapon took mere minutes, opening the access ports and vents, verifying the demolition charges, and making one last check of the aim.

"Ready, Adept," one of the men announced.

"Stand to, soldiers," Hassed ordered, "I will activate it."

"Adept, we do not know..."

Hassed clapped the man on the shoulder and smiled at him. "I know the risks, Master San'a, and my responsibilities. But I will do this. Be prepared to blow the charges and evacuate the area. Do not forget the evidence of the Witch's involvement."

The weapon occupied most of the bed of the truck, and Hassed had to lean awkwardly over it to reach both contact points. He sneered and spat once on the Lords' symbol engraved on the weapon's spine, then turned his attention back to the jeep. One of his men had taken over watching with the binoculars, and was holding up one hand. Seconds ticked past, as Hassed called up his magic and twisted it into the weapon.

A flare of color in the distance caught his eye, and the spotter's upraised hand clenched into a fist. A moment later one finger appeared, then the second after a long pause third. All the while, the weapon charged, shivering under Hassed's hands, generating a distasteful actinic taste in his throat, a weird vibration in his vision. Sound swelled in the distance, the crowds reacting to the flare of power in their midst and the Lords reacting to the threat.

The man's thumb rose, fingers spread, and hesitated there for a moment. Then the hand snapped flat and cut sideways, and Hassed released the contact-points, reaching further forward to slam both fists down on the hated symbol. The weapon discharged, and for a moment Hassed thought it had exploded. It was certainly old enough, and no one had the least idea how to check it for age-induced faults. The mages who brought it to him had only known it was a weapon, and theorized how to set it off.

He was mildly surprised that he did not die instantly in a fiery blast. Instead the heavy crystal on the far end flowed, forming a flat disc facing the target, just as he had been told it would, and a beam of concentrated power shot from that surface. It lanced out, as thick as his thigh and whiter than he could believe, an arrow-straight line aimed at the nearest of the city's power generators, the abominable foundation for the city's heresies. Destroying one would cause a chain-reaction to the rest, bringing the city in an orgy of fire and destruction.

The beam passed through the city's shield, through the undulating opening created by the men in the jeep, and Hassed smiled viciously in anticipation. Then, just as it should have impacted, the beam twisted sideways, arcing around the crackling spine of the targeted tower, looping around the tower crazily for a few seconds, before crashing into a dangling tower deeper in the city. There was a massive explosion, certainly, fit to shake the entire daunting edifice and send debris flying over the desert. But the power generator was untouched, and even as Hassed screamed in denial, the shield was reforming, the interference from the other artifact fading.

He almost tried for a second shot, almost. But the instructions had been perfectly clear. One shot, then blow the weapon in place and evac. Leave carefully prepared materials that would point any investigation at the Yagami woman, and make sure none of his people were taken. So instead of trying again, he shoved off the weapon and jumped down, cursing the whole way. "Blow it," he ordered, "then get to your safe-houses."

His own exit was another jeep, along with two other men. They were out of the supply depot and mingling with the fleeing spectators minutes after the blast, anonymous in the crowd of vehicles. Hassed saw a number of Lords flying overhead, converging on the weapon, but their reaction time was slow enough that he and his men had no trouble fading into the background. Enough people were fleeing, rather than running to go see, that no one noticed a couple more jeeps.

They certainly noticed the explosion that came five minutes after the weapon fired. Ten pounds of carefully placed Semtex eliminated any trace of the weapon, the truck it was mounted in, and the neighboring vehicles, scattering the 'evidence' in what should be a convincing pattern.

Seven hours later, Hassed pulled the jeep into a small compound. One of the men with him jumped out to close the gate, while the other went to check the house, leaving him a minute to relax. Someone else came out of the house first, however, and Hassed tensed, until he recognized the Master Adept that had brought the weapon to him. The other man, European, not Arabic, but not too rude about it, leaned on the passenger side of the jeep, and smiled. Extending a hand, he waited until Hassed took it to speak.

"Welcome to the True Circles, Adept Hassed. We have missed you."

00000

"I am not willing to engage in whole-sale slaughter based on ancient myths, old grudges, and a potential for dislocation," Hayate repeated slowly, already tired of making the same arguments. She had been arguing, with Hughes and his people almost as much as with the Revenants, for almost two hours. While some steps had been made to resolve the Modern/Revenant split, they all remained adamant on the need for immediate assault on Al Hanthis. Esien had at least kept the various representatives from pushing for an attack on her or her school, but Hayate could tell most of those at the table would love any excuse to attack her, as well.

"Whatever the danger they represent, the people of Al Hanthis are still people. They are entitled to the same respect and opportunities as any other sentient, and that includes the right to decide whether or not to conform to the will of their neighbors. So much of the damage their technology caused happened after they disappeared, or after Terra was cut off from the other colonies, that they may be legitimately unaware of it. Even if they are, now that they have experienced that danger first hand, they will probably be far more willing to talk, to accept strictures or relocation, or something. I will not countenance an attack upon Al Hanthis until non-violent means have been given an opportunity and have failed."

"Fortunately for the human race," Jessica Marterosian commented, "we don't need your permission, your Majesty. The Circles dealt with the Lords once before, and the best way to deal with them now is to kill them before they get their feet under them. The delay already has been interminable!"

Esien, at the head of the table, laughed, loudly and derisively. "The Circles are going to deal with them? And just how do you propose to do that, girl? Ask nicely? Spit on them? Cry until they go away? The original Circles, the men and women that created the Circles, knew things about magic, about the structure of the world, and about Al Hanthis itself, that you're half-trained little mind can't imagine, let alone comprehend! Yagami wants to talk to them, I'm perfectly willing to let her. Because those same founding members of the Circles?" Esien leaned forward and smirked at the Revenants as she rasped, "Lords of Light, every one of them. Don't you idiots remember your lessons? The Grand Circle was created by Lords of Light who woke up to the dangers they faced, who understood the vileness of the Lords, and acted to save their fellows. Lords learned their place in the past, some of these new kids could learn as well. So, let Yagami have her negotiations. While the rest of you plan how to defeat the Lords without the knowledge or powers used to defeat them the last time."

"Fire with fire," one of the other Revenant commented. "Containment has caches of artifacts all over the world..."

"And you'll get access to them over our dead bodies," Esien's aide snarled. "You don't destroy the world just because you're afraid someone else will!"

"Calmly, Harlan," Esien said slowly, then fixed the Revenant with a basilisk glare. "You, idiot babe, may leave now. You are patently too unstable to be trusted within our defenses, and just as obviously have nothing to contribute. Inform those you represent that they may accede to the decisions of this counsel, or be outcast as heretics and exterminated. Containment will never permit what we safeguard to be used, by anyone."

The Revenant met Esien's stare with a sneer. "Fortunately for the war effort, not everyone in Containment is as foolish as you are. Some of them are willing to accept that the only way to destroy a monster, is with that monster's weapons." He pulled out a cell-phone, and read from a text-message. "Mission active on time, first stage successful, second stage failed unanticipated interaction. Minimal damage to target." Dropping the phone on the table, his smirk became superior, "Ten minutes ago, the True Circles struck the first blow against the Lords. It was not as successful as we had hoped, the city was not destroyed, but the Lords' weapons are apparently quite effective against them. All we need is more of them."

Hayate felt a sinking sensation as she listened to that. Just as she had feared for months, a lone Circle had acquired, deployed, and used, a terrible weapon. It was not a nuclear bomb, nor against her school, as her worst nightmares had predicted, but it was bad enough. "You foolish little man," Hayate murmured, mind racing through what information she had on the Lords and the various Terran governments. "The Lords will act to prevent a repeat of your attack, secure all territory in line of sight to Al Hanthis. Egypt will deploy its army, with support from allies in the Middle East and North Africa, who will themselves be afraid of Al Hanthis taking their land. Al Hanthis will reply in kind, and to protect their oil supplies, the rest of the world will join in. Congratulations, Revenant – like Gavrilo with his pistol, you have brought magical warfare to Terra, when no one is prepared for it."

"We fought them off before, and they do not have…"

"Your ancestors fought them off," Nanoha interrupted, "you did not. You have, for thousands of years, avoided military action. You have much experience at subtle espionage and politics, but no experience with operations on this scale, not with magic involved. We have more experience with large-scale operations, even disaster relief which has some of the same issues of scale. But we do not train for war, which is what you probably now have.

"When we go into battle, we face criminals, thieves and scientists, pirates when we can catch them. We have numbers on our side, and enclose the battle area in barriers, shift it out of phase with the rest of reality, to protect the people and property in the area. But we hold a handful of people, none of whom have the power or time to counter the barrier. The Lords will not sit still for that. They will bring military formations, military mages, and will fight for military objectives."

"They will lead with the Seed," Hayate said, "they have thousands in stasis in their city. Behind them will come mages, possibly hundreds of mages at a time. Everyone in that city is a mage of some sort, and they have a standing military formed of some of those mages. Mages who remember, personally, fighting your ancestors. They have experience, they have power, and they have an utterly secure base from which to attack."

"I thought you could crack that shield," Hughes commented.

Hayate cocked an eyebrow at him. "Crack it? Certainly. Bring it down? It would take a few minutes, but I could bring that shield down with ease. The spell, if you are interested, is called Armageddon. An apt description. Sara never dared use it, not even a small-scale test of it. But I could crush that shield in a matter of minutes. But Armageddon would have only a fifty percent chance of destroying everything under the shield, and would destroy everything within as much as a hundred kilometers of the target point. Sara estimated that, if she put enough force behind it, she could crack a planet's crust, and she routinely underestimated her spells. But as I have repeatedly stated, I am not willing to slaughter millions of people. I am also not willing to take the chance that Armageddon would fail to destroy everything under that shield. If any of Al Hanthis' lost logia get out of control, it would result in a dimensional dislocation. Given the rampant paranoia of your Containment teams, we have no way of knowing what else is hidden in Northern Africa, the Middle East, or Southern Europe, that would react badly to such a dislocation."

She turned back to the Revenants, addressing all of them, "Thanks to your precipitous actions, your childish temper tantrum, there are now two options we may pursue – surrender or war. We may give the Lords precisely what they demand, dominion over all Terra, or we can fight them every step of the way – with only our own resources, our own people. The Bureau will only watch, for months yet. How much damage do you think the Lords can do in a few months? How many people do you think will die in that time? Because you could not exercise a little mature patience.

"I came here hoping that, since February, you had learned that violence, that murder, was not the only option to a disagreement. I had come here in the hope that you had all gained enough experience, enough maturity, to look at an untenable situation and realize that throwing a lit match onto spilled gasoline was a foolish and unnecessary action. I have given you all multiple chances, now, to grow up. Instead, I find that the most troublesome of my kids are more mature and better controlled than you."

Hayate stood, slowly, and looked around the table slowly, taking in the faces. "You have resumed the war your ancestors lost. Congratulations. Grand Master Hughes, if you wish to assist me in protecting this world from the depredations of the Lords and the war the Revenants have brought upon us, I will take your assistance. But you will be assisting me, subject to my orders. If you wish to do this on your own, best of luck, but do not interfere with me or mine. You know how to reach me."

She was out the door before anyone else managed to speak, and then the entire chamber exploded into shouted arguments. Nanoha was right behind her, Signum and Vita guarding their exit. Then Esien appeared in the hallway ahead, leaning against a wall. She waved sarcastically, then fell into step with Hayate. "Well, that put the cat among the pigeons. Even if they won't admit it, those silly children understand that you and yours are our only reliable weapon against the Lords. There aren't enough mages to form enough wolfpacks to handle the Lords, even if we could get them all close enough together to manage it."

"I have some ideas about the wolfpacks," Hayate told her, "or rather, Tai-yu and Signum do, that should allow you to increase their support range. Use of runes and more efficient structures. We'll pass that on to Hughes, along with some other suggestions. But I was not kidding, Esien. I will not submit to Circle leadership in this, I will not trust my people, or my kids, to your plans and attitudes. Make sure they are aware of that."

"Hughes and I will do that," Esien reassured, "it shouldn't be too difficult. Armageddon? Really? You should test that at some point, just to scare people. Maybe carve your initials in the moon. Just be aware, miss, Containment will not allow what we safeguard to be used. No matter what claims you make to authority or leadership."

"Good," Hayate shook her head, "I have no more interest in doing that than you do. Less, probably, I have personal memories of what a dimensional dislocation looks like when it occurs in a populated area. That will not happen on my watch."

"I have my own memories of such things," Esien replied grimly, "but so long as we are in agreement there, we should not have any problems. Here's the Memorial Hall, straight up those stairs and out the cabin, your students should be waiting. Without the grizzly bear the older one was looking for."

"Laura," Hayate muttered in exasperation, "she never stops."

Esien left them there, but Hayate waited until they were in the entry passage before carrying on in Japanese. "Nanoha, when we get back, please help Shamal verify the spare devices. Signum, take the Liezes and check the perimeter wards one more time, and put together plans for reinforcing them to a war footing. Vita, you and Fate get the kids together. Tell them to push ahead on their devices, and talk to them about the differences between what happened in February, and what's going to happen now. Talk to Laura and Yussef, work on tactics for their classes and see if they have any ideas."

Vita asked doubtfully, "You sure, Hayate? A war is a whole 'nother animal from anything we've been teaching the kids."

"Logistics, strategy, and tactics," Hayate replied. "Tactics to fight the troops, strategy to guide the battles, and logistics to win the war. As I told Reian last night, my kids won't stand for being kept out of this, so I am more concerned that they know how to keep themselves alive when the war reaches them, so focus on tactics, on how they fight. Yussef and Laura are the best for that, given his background and her creativity. I'm not expecting miracles, Vita, but having you talk to them will get them thinking and convince the rest of the children that this is serious. Now, let's get out of here before someone decides our departure removes Containment's protections." Plans running through her mind, she could not help sighing one last time, "I just wanted to be a teacher."

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Author's Note 1: 'Gavrilo', mentioned by Hayate above, is a reference to Gavrilo Princip, the man who shot Archduke Ferdinand, thus providing the excuse/spark which was the immediate cause of World War One. The Archduke's assassination triggered a chain of events and bad decisions that resulted in war.

Author's Note 2: more of a clarification regarding how they refer to each other than critical information, but the Circles and the Lords use some of the same terms for their mage ranks, but they apply those terms slightly differently. Each rank has ten subdivisions, tiers within the rank similar to the Bureau's +/- system, but more detailed and stratified. The ranks are listed below, in order from lowest to highest, with approximations of Bureau ranks. Do keep in mind that comparative ranking is in large part impossible due to the Circles' refusal to use enhancements.

Circle: Apprentice – Journeyman –Master – Adept – Master Adept – Lord – Grand Master (new rank since February)

Al Hanthis: Apprentice – Journeyman – Adept – Master – Master Adept – specialist command ranks, such as Lord Protector, General of the Army, etc.

Bureau: below C rank – C-/C/C+ – B-/B/B+/A- – A/A+/S-/S – S+ and up

Note that while this does give the Circles and Lords a rather high percentage of S class mages and up, both face other limiting factors, not the least of which is a lack of devices, though the Lords have their lost logia to make up that lack. I do have my reasons, and I swear it's not just my munchkinish tendencies running amok.

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Kell Shock: The Revenants crashed the party, but not in the way you were expecting, it appears:). The fallout's going to be very bad, though, as the Lords were the target. At present, you are correct that the first of the devices will be completed next chapter, should be fun. More 'disgruntled' Bureau personnel will show up, but not hordes of them, and there will be some friction with the kids, for a couple of reasons. It'll be fun.

pfeil: The devices from Aignu will have a variety of uses, but are mostly cover. Not everyone who comes to Hayate from the Bureau will have commanders as understanding as Aignu, and Hayate has other plans for some of them. Thing is, the fifty are standard Bureau devices – not 'intelligent', not as fine-tuned as the students' custom-made devices, and thus not as powerful. As for StrikerS, I'm finding it more and more difficult to work up the interest to watch. Part of it is spoilers, but I'm just not feeling the hook that the first two series had. Eh, c'est la vie.

CrimsonDX: Always glad to hear from anyone, especially a regular. The next device unveiling will be next chapter, probably towards the end, with the rest shortly after that, as things heat up. To be honest, I should have handled the Circle team's planning differently last chapter, but it was used above – the 'shield disruptor', limited to close range and brief period of effect, but thorough. At present, the closest I plan to get to Leviathan is the Seed – the critter itself would be a story in and of itself. Thanks for the review!

Ray Venn Hakubi: Glad you liked last chapter. With the ranks, given my avoidance of StrikerS, I will admit to winging it a bit in matching navy ranks to mage ranks. That being said, Reian is the bottom of the heap, both as an officer and as an officer-mage, as Ensign / B+. The other officers... it's not that important to the story, so I haven't detailed them as much. And however many people it has, the Bureau can't do everything with officers, or there's no reason to be an officer, so a ship probably has quite a few people aboard who are the equivalent of modern navies' enlisted ratings and petty officers – mages, but not as strong as the command ranks and enforcers. Conversely, I would be willing to bet that the Enforcers themselves, the ones who actually go out and go toe-to-toe with threats or criminals, probably average stronger than their officer-rank should match, simply due to experience and danger out-pacing record-keeping and official testing. Either way, there'll be plenty of experience to go around on Earth soon enough.

Baughn: As I told CrimsonDX, always glad to hear from a regular. Just remember, no one else can take time off for you, though I would be willing to give it a try:). I'm glad you're enjoying it, but I'm curious as to what you think is going on? Not so much worried about being too obvious, as about being too obscure. There are some twists coming that I want to keep mysterious, of course, but not everything.