Endless Waltz
By: Daishi Prime
-26 – Operation Fortitude-
Mercedes managed not to run from the dorm to the library, but only just, not wanting to miss any more of the battle than she already had for her little project. Part of her was seriously put out that she and the other first years had been left behind with Tai-yu-sensei, Lotte-sensei, and Aria-sensei. She may not get along with all the second years, but the Myrmidons were all friends, even if Toushiro did not know when to shut up and Ichigo needed to learn how to talk. But she knew that she and the other first years would be a bigger liability than help in Hong Kong. So instead of helping in Hong Kong, they spent the days leading up to the battle in ad-hoc classes, half paying attention, half worrying.
No one thought they would learn anything the day of the battle, though, and Aria-sensei had declared it a 'special vacation day'. They were free to do whatever they wished, but Aria would have screens up in the Library's main room, showing each of the second-years and teachers. There was little question where the first years would be, even the twins. Unfortunately, the battle began so early Mercedes was still setting up Laura's 'welcome home', and almost missed the opening.
Slipping into a free seat, she said, "Jun, Esmeralda, I miss anything?"
"Fifty-two Guard mages just teleported in over Hong Kong Island," Jun told her.
"There's got to be another force in the city already," Esmeralda added. "Hayate-sensei tried to bring up a containment barrier, to separate the Guard from the Seed, but someone's disrupting it."
"That could be the Seed," Mercedes said. "That many of them in one place may generate an area effect, instead of personal fields."
"But they didn't do that last time," Jun argued, "when they went after Rhys and Saeryn. They only nullified the magic that actually hit them."
"Could be a numbers thing," Mercedes argued, "like a couple fish don't make much difference, but a whole school is visible for miles."
They started arguing the point back and forth, a friendly debate on a subject they all knew none of them had the knowledge to really win. But arguing a random point was better than worrying about the second years and teachers, about people who were friends – mostly friends, Mercedes qualified, remembering the invisible ink in her pens the day everyone left for Hong Kong – but were now so very far away and in more danger than anyone she had ever known. For all her family's connection to the sea, modern shipping was far safer than any other sea-going endeavor, and she was not used to people she knew being in imminent danger.
00000
Laura's stomach was a singing pit, achingly empty despite the large breakfast Sensei had insisted she eat. She was not nervous about the Guard, not even about her role or her friends. She was worrying about her oath, if she would be able to keep it in this place, against this foe. The mages Sensei had brought back from Cairo had not been impressive, but questioning them had raised doubts about their relative position in the Guard. The troops coming here to Hong Kong would, Sensei was certain, be far more skilled.
"Stay close, Laura," Signum reminded her, "you're my backup."
Laura was a little insulted Signum felt the reminder necessary, but not all that much. She did have a reputation for being a little stir-crazy, after all. "Ready to go, Sensei."
The Guard arrived in style, she had to give them that. The first mages through did so under large shields, and expanded them as she watched. Even as the second wave arrived behind those shields, the first wave deployed some sort of platforms that began generating more shields. Laura could feel the power of them, even at several miles' distance, strong enough to deaden the sense of the mages beyond as thoroughly as the workrooms did.
'Everyone, be advised,' Hayate warned, 'they are disrupting my attempts to bring up the containment barrier. I will continue working on it, but we're going to have to fight them in normal phase. Please be careful of collateral damage. Remember your missions, and stay safe.'
"We're second wave, if they refuse to talk to Nanoha," Signum continued, "behind Fate's alpha strike. Watch the Circle mages backing us up. There are more wolfpacks than Guard, but don't rely on them."
"And treat every Guard Mage as if she were you," Laura added, "I know, Sensei. I'm here, I'm steady, I'll be careful."
"Don't be too careful," Signum countered, giving her a slight smile, "you're unpredictability is your greatest asset. Just don't overextend."
Laura grinned back at her. Sensei was patently worried about a repeat of the China battle. Laura was nervous about that, but now, as the Guard finished teleporting in, her nerves were fading. In their place came that shivering feeling she got when she pushed her limits, when a challenge came up. It was a lot stronger now than it had ever been since fighting Li. She had experienced flashes of it, with Mercedes, in her 'group study' project, a few other times since February, but never this strongly.
Today's the day, Laura promised herself. Today I prove I'm not just some thug, not a berserker. Today I keep my oath, and prove I'm a Paladin.
00000
Nanoha approached the Guard's barrier cautiously, wrapped up in her own shields and Yuuno's. Her job was simple enough – talk, and see if the Guard would back off in the face of determined opposition. Despite Cairo, despite the unprovoked nature of this attack, all of them still hoped to stop this before it got out of control.
As such, Hayate was deliberately making a tactical mistake – letting the Guard complete their teleport unmolested. Nanoha and Fate had been fairly certain that, between them, they could break the Guard's shield, and if she gave up on forcing a containment barrier up in the face of the Guard's interference, Hayate could bring it down by herself. But in the interests of talking rather than fighting, they left the shield alone.
Almost two minutes after their first members appeared, two women approached the shield near her position. Part of the shield flickered, and Nanoha let her own shield fade. Yuuno did not, but he was maintaining several peripheral shields that would not interfere with conversation.
"You must be General Szash," Nanoha said, drifting right to the edge of the Guard's perimeter.
"And you would be the Takamichi's, if Kriegsen's information is accurate," Szash agreed in Japanese, smiling at the shock Nanoha could not suppress. "We've been talking to him for some time now."
"Wilhelm is a criminal," Nanoha told her, "and driven by his own personal vendetta. He is using you to engineer the murder of an innocent man, as he used the Circles before you."
Szash shrugged, "One life is a small price to pay for the security of millions. We're aware of Kriegsen's bias, but his goals and ours are currently aligned." Then she laughed, "Once that changes, of course, I'll hand him over to whoever, bound and gagged with a pretty little bow on. Now, though..." she straightened up, and assumed a far more formal tone, "You stand in armed opposition to the Al Hanthis Guard. This city has proven to be the origin of weaponry and personnel used to attack our city, and is thus forfeit to the Conclave of Masters. Lower your weapons, let go your magic, and you will be permitted to depart in peace."
Nanoha recognized the formal phrasings, but something in Szash's tone was wrong. 'She's not invested in this,' Yuuno told her, 'not personally. If Hong Kong really was the source of the Revnants' attack, she would be angrier. She's not, she's anticipating, happy, excited.'
'Well, we figured they would come up with some sort of excuse,' Nanoha answered. Her reply to Szash was just as scripted as Szash's warning, "General Szash, if you have evidence of such offense, the People's Republic of China will view that evidence and initiate proceedings in accord with their sovereign laws. Your presence in this city is an act of war, and you must withdraw, both the Guard and the Seed, before the full military might of the People's Republic and their allies is brought to bear upon you."
She could not retain the formal mask completely, though, holding out a hand, "Please, General... don't do this. No one on Terra will benefit from this conflict, from a wider war. You have not given any chance to negotiations. If you have critical needs, we can provide them until some arrangement can be negotiated. You do not have to start a war."
Szash shook her head, "We are not starting a war. We are continuing your war, and bringing it to a just conclusion." She gave grin of her own, half regretful and half excited, "I do not relish the damage we are about to inflict, or the casualties all of us are about to take, but we have no choice, Takamichi. The rebels were utterly determined to wipe us out before, and have demonstrated that they are still so determined today. We must take steps to secure our people, just as you would in the face of such a threat. We cannot retreat, but you do not have to protect these barbarians."
Nanoha shook her own head, "We are not protecting the Circles, we are protecting everyone on Earth. The people of this city did not choose to attack you, only a few individuals. Yet you would punish millions."
Szash shrugged, "Such is the war forced upon us. Very well, Takamichi... if you will not yield, you will be destroyed. Good hunting."
The Guard's shield closed almost before Szash finished speaking, so Nanoha fell back with Yuuno, taking up position a short distance from Fate. 'They won't back down,' She told Hayate. 'Szash seemed to be looking forward to this.'
'A soldier who has never faced war,' Hayate replied. 'She is looking to prove herself, I think. Fate, if you and Nanoha could please do something about that shield, Reinforce and I are going to try and do something about their barrier-suppression team.'
00000
Luke watched the first of the Seed climb up the coast wall just as a double flash of light overhead slammed into the Guard's shield. He had to be careful building his opening spell, keeping far enough back to avoid the Seed, but close enough to reach the water and keep the shore in range. Even more worrisome, the stutter of assault rifle fire, punctuated by a few cannon rounds, was quite clear, and Luke could see where the misses were ricocheting or exploding.
By the time his spell was ready, the lead elements of the Seed were ashore and moving into the buildings. They were canny, going from cover to cover, but focused on the ground forces positioned to block them. "Megan, you with me?"
'I'm here,' She replied telepathically, 'I'll watch watch your back.'
Luke glanced back to see her in her war-form, Longinus held loose in her right hand, an impressive bundle of rebar rods bundled on her back, tips shiny from being sharpened. He nodded to her, then turned back to the Seed, and reached through Catalpa to finish the spell. "Rainbow Serpent, rise!"
What had been a disturbance in the bay beneath him suddenly spiraled, and a column of water rose up. It twisted around as it rose, and Luke could feel it moving to his will. It was harder to manage than he expected, harder than the test runs back in the workroom, but that was hardly surprising – there he had been manipulating around fifty gallons of water, here there were thousands of gallons in the column, and more to come.
Arcing the column over, he channeled even more power, triggering a cartridge for the boost. The waterspout shifted, looping over and mimicking its namesake. The end of the column slammed into the shore, catching the Seed up in its momentum and roaring down the city's coastline. The Seed caught up in the flow destabilized it, more so as more of them were hit, but Luke had expected that, and even as the front end began falling apart, more water was being sucked up out of the harbor and sent spilling across the Seed in a miniature, semi-controlled tsunami.
Marcel and the others had been somewhat dubious of this, when Luke suggested it. Luke himself had some doubts about how effective it would be, though he did not think it would be useless. Hitting an amphibious creature with tons of water was slightly counter-intuitive. Watching the column of water smash down Hong Kong's waterfront, though, Luke knew he had been right. He doubted he would be able to stop the Seed, or even take out more than a couple. But where they had been making a unified infiltration of the down-town area, he had just scattered their lead elements over the better part of two miles.
'Good shot, Luke,' Yussef told him. 'Keep it up, but watch below you. There's a dead-zone headed for the base of the Serpent.'
'On it,' Luke replied. "Megan, incoming underwater."
Her chuckle in that form was odd, half-growling and half-purring. 'Okay, time for spear-fishing.'
Trying to maintain the Rainbow Serpent, Luke spared just enough attention to watch for trouble as Megan floated closer to the harbor's surface. Several of the rebar strips floated free from the quiver on her back. One began to glow, moving to float before her upraised free hand. A few seconds later, she made a throwing gesture with that hand, and the impromptu spear shot into the water. At almost the same moment, something large and gray exploded out of the water directly beneath her. Both Megan and Luke reacted to that, Megan getting altitude just quick enough the Seed's reaching claws missed her foot.
His instinctive dodge for altitude also cost Luke the focus he needed, and the Rainbow Serpent collapsed. Cursing softly to himself, he gestured for Megan to follow him, and took off for Hong Kong Island. He would need distance from the Seed to try that again. 'Yussef,' he sent, 'lost my hold on the spell. I'll try again from further out.'
'One more shot,' Yussef said, 'then the troops will need you overhead. Watch your top-cover, the Guard's ripping through the Circles faster than we expected.'
'How are our senseis doing? And Laura and Noriko?'
Yussef actually laughed, 'Laura's complaining about having to find new nicknames for Takamichi-sensei and Testarossa-sensei. Both of them fit 'Goddess of War' too well, and Signum's already claimed that nickname.'
'Luke, we're being followed,' Megan interrupted, 'Seed, underwater, three or four of them. Too deep for me to reach with the rebar.'
'They'll come up when I start the next Serpent,' Luke said, to both Megan and Yussef, 'we'll draw them up then, get rid of them, then try the Serpent.'
'Sounds good,' Yussef answered, 'Watch your ears, Mariachi's kicking off his distraction.'
00000
Nestled in a comfortable leather lounger, surrounded by a quarter dome of floating screens, two mice, and three keyboards – counting HAL – Allina watched the opening moves of the battle with a thrill. It was almost like playing a video game, except for the fact that she knew most of the people on her side. Even with that nervousness, the energies she had a front-row seat for were tremendous, and exciting because of that.
After the briefing on the defense plan, Allina had looked up a few terms to be certain she understood them. The definition for the term 'alpha strike' had sounded more than a little ridiculous – 'a sudden all-out attack with no consideration for defense or conserving reserves.' Given what Takamichi-sensei and Testarossa-san were capable of, Allina was half afraid their 'alpha strike' would punch a hole in Hong Kong Island.
In the event, however, the two leads proved to have a slightly different interpretation of the term. The two spells – a massive yellow sword blade the size of a skyscraper, and column of pink energy surrounded by rings of containment seals, were awe-inspiring, but not world-ending. They put-paid to the Guard's shield easily enough, at any rate, without doing more than ripple the surface of the harbor.
The Guard was patently ready for that, though, and reacted faster than Allina would have expected. They scattered, forming sixteen triads and a quartet with Szash. Szash and six triads moved to engage the teachers and Reian's volunteers, but most of Allina's attention was on the other ten triads. They executed a short-ranged teleport into the Circle's lines, and began hammering the wolfpacks.
Thanks to Laura and Noriko, a lot of the conversation in the girls' wing the previous week had been about the Circles and the Guard, their probable capabilities, and what to do about them. Allina had no idea how accurate their information was, but Laura's prediction of the Circles looked to be spot on – solid, coordinated, but green. The Guard triads moved with vicious speed, each triad focusing on a single Circle mage, hammering their defenses back. The Circles' response, especially compared with the teachers and volunteers, was slow and uncoordinated. As Allina watched, two targeted mages were abandoned completely, as their closest fellows moved to assist other targeted mages.
A chime in her ear distracted her. "Anomalous readings detected in predicted ranges," HAL told her. "Source identified: Guard mages and shield platforms."
She glanced down at the unit on her arm, then up at a screen flashing off to her left. It was not a video feed, as the other screens were, but a tactical projection of part of the battle. It showed Szash and her three protectors, with a series of identifiers and codes listed next to each. They were easy enough for Allina to interpret, given that she was the one who came up with them, and showed that each of those mages was communicating, continuously, with each other, with the generator platforms, and with someone else, someone not in Hong Kong. Pulling back the display to a static view from seconds before, sure enough, every Guard mage had the same set of connections.
Had anyone been there to see it, the vicious smile would have made them shiver. "Now that is what I call a target rich environment," she said. A gesture switched one of the screens to the field hospital, and Niranjana's face appeared a moment later. "Hey, 'Jana-chan. We were right, the Guard's vulnerable. I want to go try something. Watch my back?"
"For a little while," 'Jana replied, "but there are already wounded, some of the Seed got in ahead of Luke's Rainbow Serpent. I only have a couple minutes before the ambulance coordinators will need me."
"Shouldn't take long."
While she had not had much chance to seriously experiment, hacking through HAL was a radically different experience from normal. The interface was immediate, the information she needed or wanted presented instantly and clearly, her programs modified and executed with a thought. It was not the full-immersion VR so beloved of sci-fi, but it was as close as Allina ever wanted to get.
She picked out one Guard mage, one of those harassing the Circles. It took her thirty seconds to filter the channels by traffic volume and participants, and find the one she wanted. One communication channel was used by all the mages to 'talk' to one another, though Allina doubted it was actual conversation. Another went to the platforms, though Allina felt that was a monitoring channel. It was the main channel, one that went somewhere other than Hong Kong, that attracted Allina's attention. That channel had traffic, and a lot of it, but was carrying just as much power as information. It was the busiest of the channels, and the strongest, and therefore the most likely to be important to the mage.
Allina started small, a magical equivalent of white noise in the line, introducing chaos to the ordered communications. The line shifted almost instantly, changing somehow, and her interference was gone.
'Ooohh, active real-time response,' she sent to 'Jana, 'sort of like Yggdrasil.'
'Chaotic cyclical interference should work, if all you are attempting is to shut it down,' 'Jana answered.
'I'd really like to get in there, though,' Allina said. 'Think how much havoc I could wreak on them!'
'Think how badly injured Noriko was,' 'Jana countered. 'You are not that closely linked to HAL physically, but who knows how close you are mentally?'
'Fine, fine, one little attempt, then I'll back off to sowing confusion in the ranks,' Allina agreed.
00000
Several thousand miles away, deep in the most secure reaches of the city of Al Hanthis, an apprentice second lieutenant looked up from her displays and said, "Colonel Gali? We're getting an odd interference around Master Haen."
Gali looked up from his own screen, frowning at the young woman, one of several young officers monitoring the Guard channels while enlisted mages maintained the power and data feeds. "What sort of interference?"
"I thought it was localized jamming, at first," Solerin answered, frowning at her display. A gesture created a duplicate of her display for Gali, and he frowned at the data as Solerin continued, "but it just switched to an active interface and invasion protocol, of some sort. It's very, very strange, though."
"Can you localize a source?"
Solerin grimaced and shook her head, "No, sir, not yet. There's a distinct signal, but there's a lot of traffic in the area, and distortion from the spells – there's some sort of effect distorting all sensor and comm readings in the area – that seems to be coming from two sources, the Warlord trying to separate our forces, and something else on the main island. This, though… it's targeted on Captain Master Haen, but I can't localize the source."
"Keep working on that," Gali ordered. "Captain Wenar..." a severe looking young man halfway down the monitoring bay, known for being stricter about the rules than any Protector but equally creative about those rules, raised his head, "we have a subtle knife on the grid. Prepare an appropriate response for when Lieutenant Solerin locates them, please."
One eyebrow rose. "How... appropriate, sir?"
Gali chuckled, "Appropriately unpleasant that they won't try it again, Journeyman. This is war, and we are not taking prisoners in Hong Kong."
Wenar smiled slightly, "Understood, sir."
As Wenar bent to his new task, Gali turned half around in his chair, to survey the other half of the Guard's monitoring bay. "Losius, how's the easy work going?"
The man sitting behind him growled back, then answered, "Easy work my ass. You've got one city to worry about, and Eri's there to hold the General's hand. Me? I've got four hundred mages in ten teams scattered over half a continent, without the stand-up fight the General's enjoying."
Technically, as one of Szash's two adjutants, Eri should have been doing what Losius was – overseeing the primary mission forces. Instead, she got to go watch the General's back at Hong Kong. Not that Losius would have denied her that, precisely, he just would have preferred to go in her place. But the Guard's four senior colonels had agreed that the short straw got to choose, and Eri had cheated better than the rest of them. Gali chuckled at his acerbic response, "So it's going about as expected?"
"Yeah, the primary operation's on time and on target. Some real resistance, about what we faced in Cairo, but it doesn't appear to be organizing itself as rapidly. Should have all initial objectives secure by the end of the day."
Gali had not really expected any different, but it was still reassuring to know that their plan was working so well. "Don't push your luck," He advised, "even if you only secure the close half of the objectives, we'll still be well positioned for future operations."
"Yeah, yeah," Losius replied, "want to teach me how to make light, while you're at it? Go worry at your own kids. Make sure the General doesn't stub her toe, while you're at it. You know how she whines about little things."
00000
Laura tried, she really honestly tried, to stay close to Signum. But Sensei was in fine form, Laura's own worries held her back just a little, and the mages Szash brought to Hong Kong were orders of magnitude more dangerous than those at Cairo. While Sensei made short work of her first opponent, and all the Guard seemed unwilling to engage in close-quarter combat, Laura found herself rapidly cut off and separated by a triad.
They were cautious of her at first, and she gave them good reason to be. The clouds of shields they maintained were more effective than Laura had expected, and more than tough enough to handle one of her enhanced punches or kicks. Two of them even stood up to the first time she detonated Hicho. But the Guard had trouble with predicting her, and her Bolt From the Blue gave them fits. But Positron Buster took too long to charge, and Zipper was too light to get through their shields. She needed to close to really go to town on them, and they weren't letting her.
Another attempt to get at one of the supporting mages almost worked, she feinted at one of the two support mages, distracted the leading mage with a Bolt and Zipper, then lunged at the third. The woman looked surprised enough, was moving to follow her attack on the other support mage. Laura thought, for a moment, that her target was completely open, and shifted Hicho. Instead of sending the glowing blade in first, she spun it, aiming the blunt end of the naginata at the woman's head – only to have her shields shift to block it, and a fireball slam into her armor. Paradox absorbed and deflected most of the blow, but it still sent her tumbling for a moment.
The trio's leader floated to a halt in front of her. "You're good, girl, but a child does not belong here. Go home."
Laura chuckled at him, "Go home yourself, bastard. You come against Hong Kong with no reason but you're own desire for war and destruction. I'm a Paladin. It's my purpose to stand between the innocent and monsters like you, and I'm going to do that no matter what."
"A Paladin?" He seemed faintly amused by that. "Children and their fantasies. They have no place on a battlefield, little girl."
Laura found she was not so much insulted, as annoyed that he failed to understand. "You have no purpose, do you? Nothing to protect but yourself."
"I protect Al Hanthis and my people," He snapped back.
"Then why aren't you doing that? Instead you're out here, trying to kill people whose only crime is growing up without your presence, and not submitting to your whim when you finally showed up again."
"I am protecting my people, and yours, from your own..."
He cut off with a grunt, as a multi-colored burst of light appeared behind him, and a line of black flickered through his chest. Then his shields vanished, and he tumbled out of the sky, leaving Akira standing behind him, grimacing distastefully, Hellblade dangling negligently from his hand. "Disappointing," Akira sneered, "I expected better from these children."
As she watched the mage plummet towards the water, shock held Laura still. It had been so fast, so clean, she had barely felt a thing magically. Then the rage came, boiling out, and fast as thought she had re-conjured Hicho and slammed it into Akira's guard. "What did you do?! Why?!"
Akira quirked an eyebrow at her, "he was an enemy soldier. His death simplifies my Lord's mission. He planned to kill or capture you, as his two fellows do now."
"I could've taken him! Captured him! You didn't have to kill him!"
Akira actually laughed at that. "You? Little Laura the killer? The Black Witch of Rhode Island? Capture an enemy? Please. You were either going to let him go, or cut him in half, and we both know it. You lack the skill and control necessary for a capture."
That hurt, viciously so, but Laura tamped it down, flowed the rage into her muscles instead of her mind. "Damn you, Akira, if you're going to kill people, go away! Go grovel at Ta-chan's feet or something, but don't you interfere here again!"
His grin grew wider. "Make me."
Then he rolled around her, faded through her reverse kick, and launched himself at one of the other mages of the triad she had been fighting. Laura could see in his motion, as the Hellblade floated back over his shoulder and bindings flared around Akira's target, that the hologram was aiming to kill. Between the Innocent and the Vile... that was not quite what she had said, but it floated through her mind with all the certainty she knew.
Paradox nudged the back of her mind, and without thinking about it she agreed, "Wormhole," and a distinctly unpleasant sensation took hold of her, like she was being rendered down into nothing and pulled through the eye of a needle. Nasty as it felt, in the blink of an eye, she was between Akira and his target, Hicho flickering out to intercept Akira's strike.
The Hellblade passed through Hicho, passed through her like an illusion, and the Guard mage behind her let out a god-awful shriek as the vicious thing slashed him across the chest. Laura could still feel the mage airborne behind her, so he was still alive, but another strike, if Akira spelled it right, would kill him. "Back off, you bastard," Laura growled, interposing herself once more, but Akira and his weapon merely phased through her.
"You aren't strong enough to stop me, girl," Akira chuckled, "your only options are to watch me kill them, or take them down before I reach them. Which will it be, little killer? Watch me have my fun, or live up to your claims? Two down, one more to go in this little threesome."
Laura cursed as Akira's grinning face vanished, and launched herself at the last Guard mage. The woman was fast, already breaking for her nearest ally, but Laura knew Akira was faster. This time there was no one distracting Laura, no one cutting her off or forcing her to turn aside. The cartridge in her left shoulder triggered, and she put all that energy into speed, sheer speed. Her vision narrowed to Akira's too-bright form and the Guard mage. Then Akira was behind her, and Laura barely had time to bring her arms up before ramming head-first into the mage's barrier shields.
The woman reacted fast, and she was almost as quick as Sensei, twisting and rolling to avoid even as her barrier shields failed. But Laura had always been fast and adaptable, and had spent the last year training herself not just in martial arts, but in being, completely, in three dimensions. When the woman tried to roll with the attack, she did it in plane with the ground, but Laura's Escher Step meant that – to her – the woman was falling right into line with a round-house kick. White and black flickered in Laura's peripheral vision, Akira trying to get past her, but Laura flowed in between him and his target, aiming a series of trip-hammer punches at her torso. Another shield interposed, but collapsed under the magic-enhanced blows, and for a few seconds after that, the poor woman was about as tough an opponent as a punching-bag. Then the last shield failed, and Laura flipped her hand open, slammed her palm into the woman's stomach, and bound her with Struggle Bind and a self-sustaining levitation spell.
As the woman gently floated towards the sea, Laura floated there, panting with reaction. Power made her shift at the last second, and her hands flashed through a series of blocks by reflex, but Akira's hand phased through her arms and he grabbed her by the collar, and jerked her right up to his face. "That is what you are here to do, girl," he growled. "This is war, not the game you were playing. I don't care if you kill, but if you don't fight, you must leave, because you are endangering everyone here, including my Lord and my Lady."
Laura almost – almost – tried to bite his nose off. He was certainly close enough, and she was angry enough with him to do so. But the feel of him trying to tower over her told her something. She matched his sneer with one of her own, and replied, "Bang, baby."
Gaussian Field detonated, the stored energy in the protective armor converting into an explosive wave-front the radiated out from her body uniformly. It was abrupt enough and powerful enough to blow Akira back, especially as the part of her armor he was holding was part of what detonated. But as he went, Laura snagged his free arm, still solid from while he had held her, and twisted. When they came out of their tumble several meters apart, she lifted the Hellblade between them. "If you kill anyone else here today, for any reason, I'll destroy this thing. Thanks to Tai-yu-sensei and Riko-chan, I've figured out most of Judgment of the Fallen, and I'll be more than happy to test it on this."
Akira looked rather shocked for a few moments, then chuckled. "You don't give me orders, girl." He vanished in a flash, and was abruptly behind her, arms around her shoulders to hold the Hellblade, "and never forget, I am my Lord's weapon. Wherever it is, I am."
"And whenever it is destroyed, so are you," she replied. "You aren't alive, Akira. Hayate-sensei's made that very clear. You aren't protected by my oath."
"I'm protected by my own power, child. Now, I believe he'll be my next target..."
Then he was gone, the Hellblade with him, floating towards another Guard mage in an almost leisurely manner. Laura took a moment to look around, checking on everyone. Most of the Circle mages were gone – down or fallen back to cover the core of the city. The teachers were still going strong, and Testarossa-san was raining lightning down on everything that moved like a gender-reversed Zeus, but most of the volunteers had been pushed back with the Circles. The Circles' resistance had finally stiffened – those that were still up had already known what they were doing or learned quickly – but they were fewer in number.
Not that the Guard was getting off lightly. They had to have altered their triads, for there were a number of triads hanging back now, some obviously injured such as the man Akira had slashed across the chest. The sheer number of Circle mages was telling, slowly but certainly, and Laura suddenly appreciated Tai-yu's warnings from before Al Hanthis' return – there were far more wolfpacks here than had been present at Langzhou when she faced Li, and that quantity really was telling, slowly. The Guard was also having a great deal of trouble with Sensei, the Wolkenritter, and the Bureau Aces. The in-your-face style of the Wolkenritter, much as Laura reveled in it, was obviously unusual for the Guard, and the Aces were living up to that title, even if none of the volunteers could quite match them.
It was far from over, but it looked to be following – roughly – the plan Hayate-sensei had given them over the preceding days.
Then her eyes returned to Akira, and she snarled. The bastard was dawdling, playing, on his way to his next victim, daring her to intervene again, actually pausing to wave at her. He still had that superior spiteful sneer on his face, too. "Fine, you bastard," she muttered, "you want to see what I can do? I'll show you the Quantum Knight. Paradox, Gaussian Field." Her armor returned in a flash, while she brought up a recent memory. The spell she had used to teleport was brand-spanking-new, mere minutes old, and she had no idea how Paradox had put it together, but she used it again without hesitation. No one was going to die where she could stop it. "Wormhole."
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Liu was, all in all, impressed with how well his troops were doing. Yussef's comments had been spot on the mark, and he knew a lot of his men were dead and dying, but they were doing their jobs, and doing it better than he expected, standing up to an enemy they had never even imagined facing. The kids floating overhead were making a huge difference, even with the Guard mages pushing their 'air cover' back on top of them. Down in the streets it had rapidly devolved into vicious close combat, but his troops were living up to their part of the job. He would have to make sure they all knew how proud he was of them.
"Sir," Mao got his attention, "Security patrol just reported in. They've found a group of what look like Guard mages set up near the northern shore here on Hong Kong Island."
Marcel twitched at that, staring at Mao for a moment, then turning to Liu, "Sir, that is probably the force suppressing my teacher's attempts to raise a containment barrier. If we can disrupt them..."
"We'll only have to deal with the Seed," Liu said, staring out over the harbor. His command post had, through some trees, a good view of the city, and he could see mage-strikes going home among his positions. Not many, but enough to be worth getting rid of. "Husan, get the headquarters defense company saddled up. Get the coordinates from Mao, they can get a briefing from the patrol in route."
"I'll go with them," Marcel offered, rising from his seat.
Liu stopped him with a raised hand. "You'll be more useful here, son. You're my only reliable communication with your mages, since the girl on the cameras disappeared."
"She didn't disappear, sir, she's trying to get information out of a Guard mage... it's complicated."
"I'll go," Maunders said, "and I'll take the Dogs with me. It's what they're here for, after all."
"Reian is on his way as well, Journeywoman," Marcel told her, "he's the closest of the Volunteers."
Maunders nodded, but was already halfway to the edge of the tent. She paused long enough to grab Thorngrave's men, before they headed over to the security company, which was just beginning to get into motion. Liu watched her go for a second, before turning back to his map. "Mao, it looks like the Seed are focusing on Kowloon, not the airport or islands. Get third battalion's reserve forces moving back into the city. Marcel, if you could have a couple of your people provide them cover along the coast road, it would be appreciated."
Marcel was silent for a moment, then nodded sharply, "Yussef and Toushiro will cover them, sir. Noah and Allison are on their way with Reian as well."
"Good," Liu nodded, relaxing back into his chair again. While he was familiar with the complaints of other generals about being removed from combat, having nothing to do while his men fought and bled, Liu himself had found he preferred the calm and quiet of higher command. He was well aware of the life and death struggle, but from here he had the luxury of time, relatively speaking, to think and observe. There was less adrenalin, yes, but he could be more certain than he ever had been as a lower officer, and, like chess, there were only so many moves available, so many threats and counters he had to worry about. So as men scrambled to fulfill his latest orders, and other men fought and died, he picked up his tea, and continued trying to predict the Guard's next move.
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Cidela looked up as Rafiq brought another wounded soldier into the triage tent, and grimaced slightly. Barely an hour into the battle, it was getting harder and harder to hold onto her power as more wounded were brought to the field hospital, especially as she was trying to use it at the same time. Each man she healed was stable and out of pain in moments, most looking at her with a discomfiting combination of awe and worship, and she did not begrudge that. But it was getting very difficult not to simply let her power loose, and given how many wounded were nearby, Cidela knew that would kill her.
The awe and worship in the faces of those wounded who retained or regained consciousness was only mildly discomfiting, as Cidela was getting used to such things. She just let Natalia organize moving them out to field hospital proper, and turned her attention to the next injured. The looks from the doctors and nurses in the triage tent were worse, but Okaa-san had told her how to handle that – stay calm and business-like, don't acknowledge it and none of the doctors or nurses would be able to either.
The injuries themselves were surprisingly varied. She had expected mostly claw and bite wounds, based on the Seeds' natural weapons. There were a few of those, but also a shocking number of strains, broken bones, contusions, crushing injuries, even bullet wounds and burns from friendly fire and near misses. Cidela took no pleasure in those wounds, but she could not help being intrigued, interested, and delighted to find that, no matter how terrible, they all responded to the spells Okaa-san had been teaching her. These men would have been spending months in pain, possibly have died, yet thanks to her, they were going to be fine. Thanks to her, the only men in the 'hopeless' category were those few who died before reaching her. Even limiting herself to life-threatening injuries and relieving pain she could tell what a tremendous difference she was making. It finally gave her completely objective proof that, whatever the cost, she had made the right decision in leaving behind her entire prior life to learn from Hayate-sensei and Okaa-san.
She was turning to the next injured soldier, Rafiq already heading back to the ambulance, when she felt a hand on her back. She started to turn, and heard, "I'm sorry, Cid-chan. Core Breach."
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Niranjana, set up in the communications tent next to the triage center, heard Cid-chan shriek, and Rafiq howl something unintelligible. The accompanying shiver of weird magic told her instantly that a Guard mage had to have found their way past the battle lines and attacked the hospital. 'Allina-chan, I have to go help Cid-chan, someone's attacked her.'
'Go ahead,' Allina replied, 'I'm almost in, I can handle it from here.'
Niranjana let the contact fade, feeling a little less warm without the shared link to Allina through their devices. Then she ran out of the tent, past several confused looking soldiers and nurses. Just inside the entrance Rafiq was struggling with a hazy figure of pure magic, but had reverted to his serpent form. The seven foot snake was coiled around the figure, and it was fading and turning hazy as its energy was drained away, but Rafiq was patently flagging. Niranjana rushed past, trusting the familiar to handle whatever it was, and went looking for the Guard mage.
Cid-chan was sprawled out towards the back of the tent, Hippocrates lying a meter or so away from her. Natalia was crouched over her, checking her, so Niranjana scanned for the Guard mage as she moved to protect Cid-chan and Natalia. Instead of an attacker, however, she only saw several more hazy figures pushing back the doctors and nurses. The familiarity of those figures was just occurring to her when one of the nurses shouted, "The Russian! She attacked Cidela!"
Niranjana stared at the woman blankly for a second, then turned slowly to face Natalia, who was rising to her feet, Koschei in hand. Natalia refused to meet her eyes, but said, "I'm sorry, Niranjana, but I… my brother… well, you probably won't accept my reasons. I don't want to hurt you, but I can't remain here."
"Y-you... you h-hurt Cid-chan?" Niranjana could not understand that, could not believe it. Her eyes fell to Cid-chan, who was now radiating uncontrolled power. "W-what..."
Natalia's hand reached for her, and Niranjana reacted by instinct, blocking and stumbling backwards. She got her hand around just in time to keep Natalia's palm from striking her chest, had a shield half-ready, when Natalia completed her spell, "Core Breach!"
As agony roared up her arm and her connection to Saraswati suddenly destabilized, Niranjana reached for the one protection she trusted completely, 'Allina, help me!'
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Allina was a little sad 'Jana-chan had to go, but there was no question. If Cid-chan was under attack, of course 'Jana-chan would go help her. But it would have been nice to have 'Jana-chan helping her get the rest of the way into the Guard mage's device – or whatever it was, it felt like multiple cores instead of a device's single core. It would be even better, however, to present her a Guard mage as a present.
Allina felt the moment the mage's defenses failed, and for a brief moment she gained access, saw the entirety of the device's structure and programming, and knew that it was far more complex than anyone had expected. Then active counter-intrusions triggered, and suddenly she and HAL were struggling with a foe that was half magic, half programming, and intent on doing her serious harm. It was nothing like hacking, it was more like what she had seen of Laura's training class, and utterly terrifying.
Despite that fear, Allina was confident. She and HAL were operating in total unison, HAL countering the CI's efforts while Allina found its weaknesses.
Then 'Jana-chan's voice intruded, screaming for help in pain and fear, and for a split second, Allina's attention was wrenched away, and with it HAL's attention. The CI struck, and through her link to HAL, hostile programming and power exploded into her mind. Icy fingers sought HAL's core programming and her own thoughts, and her world went painfully strange. HAL's safeties cut in as fast as the device's core could act, terminating their connection to the Guard mage, but darkness claimed Allina before that could happen.
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Hughes had made arrangements to be on hand in the Pentagon's crisis monitoring center to watch the Hong Kong battle. The Chiefs were not going to be there – they had their work, and however important Hong Kong was not a US matter, officially. But their people were, and the battle was being monitored in real-time, and would benefit from his knowledge.
He had been surprised to find that Admiral Dahvid's suggestion had worked, to a degree. It felt distinctly unnatural to be out of uniform at work, but switching to suit and tie turned Hughes into a highly-connected civilian expert, instead of a somewhat shady colonel from the boonies. When he arrived at the CMC, he was given a preferential spot at the observer's conference table, and treated slightly better than the two other non-military observers – both CIA, by his guess.
Between Maunders and one of Hayate's students, the CMC had been provided with live video feeds from several points around Hong Kong, and the PLA General had agreed to include them in his situation reports to his own high command, in thanks for several tons of readily available missiles the Army had seconded to the Circles for 'anti-mage evaluation', which Hughes had passed on to Hong Kong in turn. So they had a view that was almost as good as Hayate's students.
Hughes was caught up in the action, feeling a great deal of pain as he watched his mages – Revenants, but still his – being hammered so badly. He paid little attention to the messengers that came up every so often, until an Air Force colonel swore loudly. Glancing over, like everyone else at the table, Hughes asked, "Something wrong, Walezcky?"
Walezcky shook his head, "We've been had. Completely suckered." He slid the folder he had just been reading into the center of the table, "Marrakech, Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, Nawakshut, N'Djamena… Al Hanthis strike teams, with Seed, are attacking every capitol city across North Africa. While everyone who might help, every mage who could intervene, is in Hong Kong!"
"Bait and switch," someone muttered, then swore as well.
"All the time, the warnings, the Seed being so obvious," Hughes said, then slumped back in his seat, and actually chuckled. It was funny, in a morbid sort of way. It was blindingly obvious, everything leading up to Hong Kong had been such unsubtle bait, it had never even occurred to him it was not serious.
"Someone would still have had to react," someone else said. "Seriously, Hong Kong? The city's one of the lynchpins of the world economy, millions of people, half the shipping companies in the world route through there. We wouldn't have been able to ignore the threat."
"But the Circles could have responded to North Africa, if we weren't too focused on Hong Kong to make contingency plans," Hughes said, brain already turning over. Despite his comment, the Circles had been putting together contingency plans, and he began pulling together memories of what he would need to know to execute any of them. "We screwed up – I screwed up. So now we fix it. Walezcky, let me know what sort of transport you can get together, US and NATO, to move my mages to Europe and central Africa." He looked around, and found the ranking Army officer, "Colonel Freich, the Chiefs and I will need an up to date report on NATO troops in Europe and Africa, and timetables on how quickly more troops can be moved in. Colonel… Darvish?"
The Marine at the far end of the table quirked an eyebrow, "Darvisk."
"Sorry, science geek, I can't read anything past arms length. Get together a report of what the Marines can contribute. Look at hitting Algiers or Tunis, one of the coastal cities the Guard is attacking now, but put together a separate plan for attacking Cairo or Al Hanthis directly. We may not get the chance…"
"But better to be ready if the chance arrives," Darvisk agreed.
Hughes nodded, "Someone get me information from the State Department, what diplomatic resources we've got in the area. You two," He pointed at the other two civilians, "you're intel?" They frowned but nodded, and Hughes continued before they could speak, "Don't care which, I need two things from intel – everything you can get on the Guard, and any local contacts and forces who can be relied on for guerilla activities."
He reached for the phone next to his post, and had the receiver half way to his ear before realizing that only Walezcky and Freich were moving. "Now, please, ladies and gentlemen. We are here to evaluate this crisis and formulate initial response recommendations, all of which are based on the information I just requested. You've got phones, get moving."
He waited long enough for everyone else to start picking up phones and making their own calls, before dialing his office. "Miss Trudeau," he said, "have Lucius come down to the Pentagon with our latest personnel appreciation. The whole thing, planet-wide, as well as the précis we've been putting together for counter attacks. Also, if you could, please get me the contact information and protocols for Master Adept Oberth's munitions plant. We're going to need him to step up production."
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Author's Note: Operation Fortitude was the Allied deception-operation leading up to Operation Overlord, the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Fortitude consisted of false radio traffic, inflatable 'landing boats' in some harbors, false troop encampments, inflatable tanks in likely staging areas, planted intelligence info, and the crowning touch - putting General George Patton in charge of the notional forces. All of it was aimed to convince the Axis that the Allies would invade at Callais. The operation was so effective, Hitler refused to authorize the movement of reinforcements to Normandy for several days, still expecting Patton's invasion.
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Spells
Rainbow Serpent: The spell is named for and inspired the Rainbow Serpent of Australia's Aborigines' creation myth, the Dreamtime. The Serpent wandered over the land, and the tracks it left became the rivers and streams of Australia. Luke's most complicated spell, it generates what is essentially a directed waterspout. With Catalpa, he can generate a waterspout up to a kilometer long containing thousands of gallons of water. That much water, moving at speed, will inflict terrible damage on anything in its way. Even though they are amphibious, Seed are no more capable of standing up to a waterspout than a shark or turtle caught by one and dashed on the shore.
Wormhole: this spell is an evolution of the method by which Laura summoned the original Hicho, used to send her to the target point, rather than summoning an object. It is not a true wormhole, but is psychologically experienced as such. Compared to standard teleport methods, especially short-range teleports, it is very fast, but severely disorienting and painful.
Core Breach: will be detailed later, but you should be able to guess.
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CrimsonDX: Last chapter was supposed to be somber, as the lead in to this chapter... which I'm afraid was probably the realization of most of your fears. I'm somewhat ambivalent about Allina's and Niranjana's scene last chapter, I meant to work it in earlier, but couldn't figure out what would push Niranjana to finally push Allina short of an upcoming battle. I wanted it earlier mostly because of what happened to them in this chapter & what will happen next chapter – it's pushing clichéd as it is, and having the 'confession' last chapter feels forced. This isn't quite the low point of the story, so I can't promise nothing worse, but we're getting close.
Lady Sekhment Ka: Poor Natalia indeed, though I imaging there's less sympathy for her now? I have less for her, and I've been planning her betrayal since I started this story. Allina and Niranjana is a good thing, but there are more complications, I'm afraid. Hope this chapter lived up to your expectations.
Kell Shock: thanks for the 'no errors' compliment, though I'm surprised. Maunders roughing up the Revenants was more a matter of working out her aggressions on the safest target, though there's more to come on that front. The Revenants do have a problem of 'who are we fighting today', as do the rest of the Circles, and those issues aren't completely resolved. Liu is fairly decent, and I have some nebulous ideas for him, but I'm not sure if those'll gel. Natalia does have it rough, but she just picked the wrong course – her reasons will become clear soon if they aren't already, but this still isn't the best idea she's ever had. As for changing the future, that would require believing that fate can be changed, having hope, which she doesn't, not really. Allina was pretty much trapped last chapter, but it was partly her own fault for being so stubborn. The reliance on the PLA is due to the Seed's immunity to magic – Yussef's analysis was pretty accurate in that the best weapons against the Seed are conventional anti-armor weapons, which are most readily available in PLA hands. Your thoughts on Al Hanthis knowing about Hong Kong being evacuated and reinforced, and alternate transport for the Seed, are both accurate, but you're looking at it the wrong way. Hong Kong is not and never has been Al Hanthis' objective, it is simply a massive and deadly distraction.
Fidelas: I wouldn't call them 'lesbians' yet, neither Allina nor Niranjana is really thinking in terms that advanced. On the other hand, I'm glad you enjoyed last chapter, and the other stories, I hope you continue to. Thanks for the review!
The Sandman: The Guard implants are hardened to a fair degree, but they're also more complicated in execution than a mage device. There is some city-to-surface activity but most of it is the Guard and Protectors securing the area. There was a mention a couple chapters ago about some citizens making business moves (the specific reference was regarding he Suez Canal, if I recall), but Egypt is still being secured, so civilian traffic would be drastically limited. The general citizenry is past the point of 'stir crazy', and a number of their citizens have actually never known any life beyond Al Hanthis in the Void (fifty years, even if Al Hanthis practiced total population control, is a lot of time for kids), but they've had fifty years to get used to it, and were under siege before that, so while there is pressure to let people out of the city, it isn't enough to overcome operational realities. The first years, as the first scene of this chapter is meant to show, are staying on campus, as safe as Hayate can make them. The other Terran mages are reacting roughly the way the Circles did, but with their own twists. I'm not sure how much detail I'll get in to regarding them, but they face the problems the Circles have (no way to match device mages) without the Circles' wolfpacks and sheer numbers to make it up. As for Israel, they are doing what any intelligent nation in uncertain but violent circumstances would do – keeping their heads down and calling up their military forces. Israel would not necessarily be a target, because Al Hanthis makes their targeting decisions on different criteria. Geographically Israel is close, yes, but the government is also stable and the people loyal, making the country difficult to pacify. For all Egypt's pride in its history, the structure of its government makes it inherently less stable (fewer legal ways for the opposition to express that opposition, thus making the opposition more likely to collaborate), thus making it easier to conquer. As for shielding against the varied effects of a nuclear blast, mage shields can be calibrated to shield against any and all such effects, or just a few of them. I will say I have a plan for the use for nukes I may throw in, and I think it's fairly creative given the varied problems in employing WMD, but it's not in an anti-mage role, or in a strike on Al Hanthis.
Skyfall 2.0: I'm glad you enjoyed last chapter. The Al Hantheans didn't change their target for the same reason they attacked Hong Kong in the first place – their objective in attacking Hong Kong isn't conquest, per se, but to sucker in and pin in place Terra's strongest defenders. Part of their reason is the 'show of force', and Szash would not object to stomping on Hayate, but Hong Kong is inherently a distraction. The soldiers aren't just a meat-shield, and never will be (I may not like the PLA personally, but I respect soldiers in general too much to do that to them). Yussef's interactions with Liu were carefully planned, both by me and by him (and Zafira, Signum and Hayate), but it's also where Yussef is most comfortable – remember, he's grown up expecting to be a soldier and officer his whole life, so dealing with soldiers is easy for him. As for Hayate expecting a 'weaker' enemy, she's had time to question the mages captured in Egypt, and Signum is too paranoid to make that mistake (witness her comments to Laura above). Natalia's visions being proven true(ish) is driving her character, and she will have some more development to go with the above drama, but I'm still not sure which direction that development is going to go. There are a couple decision points later in the story where she could become much worse, or much better without drastically changing the plot, and I'm still trying to decide. I'm sorry you don't care for the Allina/Niranjana relationship, but I am going to have to spend some more time on them in the future, both for drama and the plot. There's no reason for me to disregard your opinion, it's true for you, and will help me keep from boring all my readers – for instance, I know now I haven't been as clear as I thought regarding what Allina's problem with the relationship is, so I'll have to work on that – but not to exclusion, don't worry. And while shoujo ai is a tradition in the Nanoha-verse, it's not the only relationship – the other one I've tried to be obvious about is Mariachi and Cidela (though it hasn't come up recently), and there are a couple more of various sorts buried in the background. Gah, well, relationships will play a part, but not the major focus.
AluciusDawn: Showing the kids interacting outside of school was interesting, and there will be much more of that in the future. Yussef was in his element with Liu, even as uncomfortable as he was with his own orders. I'm aware of the 'hide-bound muscle-headed warmonger' stereotype, and generally despise it – modern officers, if they fall into a stereotype, usually come closer to the 'politician-officer' stereotype instead, and that sort of officer isn't going to be put in a situation as delicate as defending Hong Kong, not with the entire world watching. China chose their very best to protect Hong Kong, and he's doing his job as best he can – which includes putting up with the foibles of foreign specialists he can't do without. The infantry won't get shafted, though they are in a tough situation. More on them in next chapter. The thing about Natalia is, if it was me in her shoes, I would have taken having a relative come up and thank me for that as comforting, helpful – finding the good in a terrible curse. But Natalia lacks hope and optimism after everything that's happened to her, and took it poorly. As for Niranjana and Allina, a question first – was it awkward because of the situation, or awkwardly written? If it was the first, well, it was supposed to be – neither girl has any experience with such things, and it's an inherently embarrassing and private thing to go through. If it was awkwardly written, that means I screwed up – which I half expect is the case – and need more practice with such scenes. Regarding Didier's side story, I had his background plotted out before he showed up, but it would not work well in the main story and he would never bring it up for any audience – he's better, but not healed or 'over it'. The Green Lady wasn't 'of the Lake' (I'm not using Arthurian myths, I swear), but as for who she was... that'll show up here in Endless Waltz a little later. There is a connection to the original Circles, though, and even to Al Hanthis, but it's complicated and actually tied in to how Natalia's eye works, Atarsamain's scene in the prologue, Kessenra – and it's probably going to be the most controversial deviance from canon that I've come up with.
boomer sooner: yes, the fecal matter has now reached the rotary air impeller, and it's getting worse:). Yussef was talking about any and all anti-tank weapons, but his intention was rockets (from the humble RPG-7 on up) and tank cannons. The M82 would have some effect on Seed, but you would need several hits from several rifles to put one down. I'm putting together an analysis of the Seed that I'll post soon as a Side Story. Ordinary humans will make a great deal of difference in fighting the Seed, so long as they're properly equipped. The best weapon would actually be a high-rate-of-fire anti-armor gun (such as a Bradley IFV's cannon, or an Apache helicopter's cannon) – some armor penetration, enough output to hit a Seed several times in quick succession, and fast enough traverse and aim to keep up with a very maneuverable dodging target. Thanks for the review!