Signum knew that if she waited then the TSAB would find her, so she made a point not to bother hiding in Japan. Sure enough, once they picked up on her face it took little time for someone representing the Bureau to come by. Shamal was waiting patiently in a cafe away from any cameras. Hayate really knew how to design a good disguise.
She was currently in a deep black wig, wearing contacts behind sunglasses and a rather chic-looking dress. It was highly unlikely that the mages from the Bureau would realize she was Signum's back-up until after she brought Klarwind out.
"My name is Enforcer Chrono of the TSAB," stated the boy simply.
Signum only half recognized him, and then she remembered where she had seen him before.
The last time they were active, there was someone who looked quite a bit like this boy in the ship that was taken out by a rampaging Book of Darkness. They had checked the records under a disguise.
"You're not my first choice of people to register a complaint to the Bureau, but I suppose I shall have to work with what we've been given," said Signum bluntly. Chrono blinked.
"Register a complaint?"
"There have been two attempts to kidnap my master illegally, one of which succeeded and the only reason we were even able to get her back is because of outside help. The second time they had the audacity to come in acting as the agency who's job is to relocate children from abusive or unfit homes. Unfortunately for them, the woman currently taking care of my master knows a fake ID when she sees one. I want to know why the Bureau is deliberately coming after our master when she has never once ordered us to attack anyone for their cores," said Signum.
"You came after one of ours a few months ago," Chrono pointed out.
"Nice try, but we were told to ask first and get permission before we absorbed any cores, and if they didn't agree to leave them alone. The girl agreed to let us absorb some of her core and we insured she made a full recovery," said Signum.
Chrono gritted his teeth. If Nanoha hadn't mentioned the odd encounter then they wouldn't have even known that the Book was active again. And by all accounts, the Wolkenritter had not attacked anyone so far, aside from the one encounter with Nanoha in which the girl openly admitted she gave permission first.
Legally they had no reason to go after them just yet, despite the fact that the Book of Darkness was a dangerous Lost Logia. And the allegations of kidnapping were extremely serious, especially when the one taken was a minor.
"Do you have any proof that it was a TSAB agent who attempted to kidnap her?" asked Chrono finally.
Signum reached into her bag.
"Would this count as proof? Our Master's aunt, who is the one acting as her secondary guardian, confiscated this on the second attempt, and our master was able to identify who had taken her the first time," said Signum.
Poor Chrono looked at the picture on the plastic card in shock. He knew that face very well himself.
It was Lotte. Her ears were hidden but he still recognized her.
"Can I have a copy of this?" he asked. He doubted that Signum was willing to part with her only evidence that someone had tried to kidnap her master. He could work with a copy.
Signum handed him a photocopy of the card itself, once he handed the original back.
"Why are you collecting the pages for the book?" Chrono asked, before he was about to leave.
"To prove that the Book of Darkness is no longer cursed. My master's family recognized what it was that plagued it and were able to purge the book. The easiest way to prove our story is to complete the book itself and show that it's not about to go on another rampage," said Signum.
Chrono could acknowledge that. If they really had fixed the book, then there was no legal reason they could go after Signum's new master. She would be labeled like any other mage and left alone.
A week later Signum went back. This time she had Zafira with her.
"We would need to confirm your story about the book being fixed. As for the allegations of kidnapping, there is a small problem," said Chrono.
"I'm guessing the ones responsible have a well connected master?" Signum said dryly.
Chrono nodded. He was trying to keep that investigation quiet because his former mentor had taken note when word spread about the book being active again. Gil Graham was very well connected and if Chrono handled this wrong then he could get away.
Fortunately he had a very willing witness and a piece of evidence that was very hard to explain away. Both of which would be difficult to get a hold of since they had no idea who Signum's master was or what she looked like.
"Exactly how many pages are left in the book?"
"Most of it was filled by someone who donated their large core to the cause. At this point we have less than fifty pages left to put in the book, and our master was very clear that we take no unwilling cores. She doesn't want any more trouble with the TSAB later," said Signum.
Signum tactfully didn't mention that they had been taking cores from monsters. This kid didn't need to know Earth had issues with demons of all things. The TSAB might get in over their head and Hayate would be upset with her.
"We might be able to scrounge up some volunteers... but we want your word that if something does happen that you'll help us reign the Book in," said Chrono.
"Would you like that in writing?" she asked sarcastically.
"Yes, actually."
Signum rolled her eyes... she had spent large amounts of time around the Winchester brothers and something about Dean's personality seemed to stick to her. In this case his flippant sarcasm. Still, she took out a spare piece of paper from Hayate's bag and a pen. She made a sworn statement that should anything happen to cause the book to go out of control that the Wolkenritter would help to deal with it. Chrono accepted it rather gracefully.
With any luck, the book wouldn't go berserk and they could put the entire case behind them.
Dean and Sam were nervous, and understandably so. They were in a country they had never been before and there was a chance that things could go catastrophically wrong. However when Signum told them what was going to happen, they wanted to be there for Hayate just in case.
Signum had the book with her and Chrono brought two volunteers who had agreed to let her absorb their cores.
They were both just kids, easily Hayate's age if not slightly older.
Shamal drained the girl first, and she produced nearly thirty pages on her own. The boy gave ten, leaving five pages left. And there was no way Chrono was agreeing to having his core drained.
"Only five pages left. But I think it might be better to make sure these two properly heal from having their cores drained before we try to finish the book first," said Signum once she checked it.
Chrono was surprised that Signum was being so considerate of their victims.
Shamal examined the two blonds (though one was a bright blond and the other was more of a sandy blond) and said "A week at most and they'll be good as new."
"How do you plan to fill the rest of the book?" asked Chrono.
"The same way we've filled ten pages. Hunt monsters and stop them from harming innocents," said Signum.
"I thought you said that all of your victims agreed to have their core drained?" said Chrono sharply.
"Don't look at us that way, gaki. I said we don't attack mages. Monsters that target innocent civilians are free game according to our master, and it gives her family time to get rid of them before they kill again."
Nanoha, who had come with Fate and Yuuno (the bright blond and sandy blond respectively), spoke up.
"Um... are your master's family Omnyouji?"she asked, raising her hand.
"Their American equivalent, yes. They hunt down the creatures that attack normal humans and put ghosts to rest permanently, all without being paid. They weren't exactly happy when the book was awakened so abruptly," said Signum dryly.
"Nanoha, what are Omnyouji?" asked Chrono.
"People who specifically hunt down bad spirits, demons and creatures who otherwise make a nuisance of themselves. It's not exactly a popular career choice and it takes years of training before you can hunt the spirits down properly," said Nanoha.
"If you want a basic description of what her family does, I can put you in contact with someone who speaks Japanese fluently... unless you have someone in your crew who speaks English. Her grandfather is someone who gets contacted regularly by people wanting to know more about how to take out the monsters," offered Signum.
Bobby might be pissed with her offering his number, but frankly she didn't care. The sooner they got the TSAB off their backs, the better.
"So how are you really going to fill the last five pages?" asked Dean the next morning.
"Both you and Sam have linker cores. They've grown small from disuse, but they're still there. They might be enough for five pages... and if that doesn't work we'll go after a vampire coven or something similar," said Signum. She was clutching her morning coffee like a life-line.
Hayate was still asleep next to Vita, who was clutching her rabbit doll. They were all at Bobby's house, since it would raise less questions appearing there than it would at Ellen's, where a civilian might see them. Besides, Bobby had a panic room they could stash Hayate in that was layered with spells to keep it invisible from any ships orbiting the planet.
"We have magic?"
"We might be able to get you and Sam devices, depending on how this plays out. Once the TSAB realizes we're not a threat anymore it would make getting around much easier. Though I have to warn you, they don't exactly take credit cards."
"What would they take?" asked Dean.
"Silver. Gold might be valuable on Earth, but outside it you'd get more for silver," said Signum immediately.
"...Think they would object to slightly used silver weapons?" asked Dean.
"Clean off the blood and they might accept it," said Signum just as easily.
Werewolves and shifters were highly vulnerable to silver weapons.
Dean heard a certain grumpy red head wake up. Vita hated mornings, which Dean was perfectly fine with because he hated them too. Especially when he was hungover. Hayate was soon to get up as well, since Vita getting out of bed usually woke her in the process. It was always funny to see the two disentangle from each other in the morning.
Vita somehow managed to make her way downstairs after washing her face, still clutching the rabbit doll Hayate had gotten her when she was kidnapped.
"Need... caffeine..." said the zombie-like chibi.
Dean slid over a mug of tea, since Bobby firmly said no to handing Vita any of his precious coffee. It was cool enough that Vita could drink it without burning her mouth.
Everything was peaceful... right up until Signum got a transmission from the ship orbiting the planet.
"What's up?" asked Dean.
"Apparently the one who tried to grab Hayate has taken notice that we've made contact with the Bureau. Our contact has advised us to stay hidden for the moment," said Signum.
"Which means that we're going to be staying here for a while," said Sam.
"So have you heard from the two who volunteered their cores?" asked Shamal.
"Their names are Fate and Yuuno. Chrono said they were recovering at a rather fast rate, probably because they're so young," said Signum.
"How are we going to get the rest of the pages? Hunting werewolves and vampires barely rates one," said Vita.
"I may have a suggestion," said Shamal.
"Let's hear it," said Dean.
"Both you, Sam and Bobby have linker cores. Weak ones, but they're still there. Ellen and Jo however don't have one," said Shamal.
"How big are they?" asked Signum.
"More than most of the creatures we've taken out at least. Probably enough for two pages each if we're lucky," said Shamal.
"And that's just enough to finish the book off, isn't it?" asked Dean.
Shamal nodded.
"So how does this work?" asked Sam.
"I use Klarwind to locate your linker core, and then I use a little magic to activate the absorption program. It will drain the core and at the same time register any spells you might have. Now for most mages this also means they can't use any magic until the core replenishes, but since neither of you use magic at the moment it just means that you'll be sleeping in for a few days," said Shamal.
"If that's the case then we should probably do it one at a time. That way one of us will still be able to fight in case something happens," said Dean.
"I'll go first," said Sam.
Like Shamal said, it was slightly uncomfortable but nothing compared to how he felt after some of the hunts he went on. It took Sam two days of mostly sleeping before he was back to what Dean considered his functional state. After which Dean allowed Shamal to do the same to him. It took him three days before he was back up and ready to fight again.
The book was one page away from being filled completely.