Magical Atoner Lyrical Alicia

Chapter Fifteen

"AMBASSADOR?!" the woman blurted in surprise.

The office on Midchilda was bathed in sunlight, on the upper level of a tower complex that housed mostly governmental branches. Officers from the TSAB had offices there, along with other planetary branches as well as diplomats for other dimensions.

Hundai Lowran smiled back as the older man said, "Yes, we believe you to be quite qualified, Ms. Aston-Martin."

Veronica Aston-Martin met his gaze, her own expression rather dubious. "Professor Lowran, I'm a police Captain, not..." she started.

"You're a career civil servant with nearly fifty years service," the professor pointed out, "as well as scholastic experience. You're quite well rounded, and our current ambassador is retiring this year."

Veronica gave him a look, picking up something in his tone of voice. "And?" she asked him thoughtfully.

Hundai hesitated, then shrugged. "Lady Venus had also suggested you as the replacement," he admitted after a moment.

Veronica blinked. "I thought she HATED me?!" she asked.

"And we don't normally take suggestions from planetary governments," Hundai agreed, "but it is a... unusual situation, bluntly."

Veronica snorted at THAT understatement.

A teenager had stolen two items of INCREDIBLE historical significance, fled across dimensions with them and landed on a non-aligned world. Dimension 2207 was a independent universe that was stuffed full of powerful beings, and worse refused to admit the authority of the TSAB. So a powerful strike team was sent to 2207, if they needed to take back the artifacts by force.

THEN things got more complicated. The 'thief' was in fact Alicia Testarossa, sister of legendary heroine Fate Testarossa, and arguably the legal inheritor of one of the Devices she stole. Worse, the other device had also found a owner, and the two girls had used them to kick the assess of the formidable local police forces.

Fate and Subaru Yagami were, bluntly, a potential threat and a lure for anyone seeking power. Worse, both were now under the protection of 2207 Earth's self-styled Queen, a figure thought to be MUCH more powerful than even the legendary Saint Kaisers of Mid. Which meant, bluntly, that the TSAB needed to tread VERY carefully around the whole mess.

"Can I have some time to consider?" Veronica asked after a moment. "To be honest, I thought I was going to be disciplined when you called me here. I very much wasn't expecting to be offered the ambassador-ship."

"Certainly, take a few days," Hundai agreed readily. "We would like to know in a week or so, though," he cautioned, "if you do not want the role we need to look for other candidates."

"Understood," Veronica agreed as she got up and left the office.

Her Device chimed, the circular disk she wore on a necklace glowing softly. "Incoming call," the feminine voice said, "Signum Yagami."

"Of course it is," Veronica muttered as she stopped outside, looking around. There was a park nearby, with benches, so she went over and sat down as she said, "Accept call."

The holographic image of Signum, pink hair and all, appeared beside Veronica. "Morning," she smiled, "how did the meeting go?"

Since Veronica hadn't told the woman about her meeting, she jumped to a immediate conclusion. "Did you have something to do with it?" she asked.

"I whispered in a few ears," Signum admitted frankly. "You cooperated quite well when we asked you to help out, after all."

Veronica made a face at that, "And wasn't that fun."

Signum snickered softly. "Somewhat seriously, we need someone better at the Crystal Tokyo embassy," she told her. "I hate to speak ill if a retiring man, but he let himself get badly uninformed. The whole Asgard mess happened under his watch."

Veronica grunted softly in annoyance. SOMEONE in the TSAB had illegally shipped weapons into that universe, endangering relations between them. Worse, Veronica had been somewhat drafted by Signum to help deal with it. And by 'deal with' it pretty much amounted to pointing the Crystal Tokyo secret services at it...

"I told him I needed time to think about it," Veronica told Signum, "and I meant it. If I take the job it's a big commitment."

"Fair enough," Signum nodded agreeably. "Still, I do hope you'll take the job," she added and signed off.

With a soft sigh Veronica stretched, then got up off the bench. Is she WAS going to accept she had some calls to make... and oddly, she DID feel fairly certain she would.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Keep up with me!" Alicia Testarossa called cheerily as the slim blond teen weaved through the obstacle course.

"Trying!" Subaru answered her breathlessly as the brown haired girl zipped along holding Raising Heart.

"Sorry, Master," the staff apologized.

"You're doing your best, Raising Heart," Subaru reassured her device with a smile.

"Faster!" Alicia laughed as she bobbed and weaved through several hoops.

The civil defense base was out on Tokyo Bay, a artificial platform out over the water. Distance from the city coupled with force fields allowed them a certain degree of freedom with weapons testing and so on. And, out over the water, they could have a very challenging aerial obstacle course for the Hardsuit pilots and, occasionally, their guests.

From a nearby viewing platform several hardsuit pilots watched, some of them more than a bit annoyed. "Have I said lately that I HATE magic?" Nanoko Chiki asked aloud, the busty redhead watching the fliers disgustedly.

"I think she just beat your course time," Haruhi Azuna noted mildly, the brown haired woman looking with amusement at her fellow pilot.

Nanoko just made a incoherent annoyed sound.

"I heard Sylia Stingray took Alicia kicking our asses last time as a personal affront and is working on a upgraded mass produced suit," Kyo Yamada added.

Rockuro Yamada (no relation) snickered, the redhead pointing out, "I wouldn't wanna be test piloting those. The current suits already push human/machine interface reaction times."

"You wonder how those two manage," Haruhi noted as the flying girls pulled off a turn that would have been too sharp even for a custom hardsuit.

Nanoko made another growly noise. "I'm going to go suit up," she stalked off, "some of us have work to do."

"Bye!" Kyo waved as she walked off.

"Smart ass," Haruhi whapped him lightly on the arm.

"Hmmmgh!" Subaru grunted as she raced through the route again, this time edging a bit closer to Alicia. 'And she's not even using her top speed,' she thought with a sigh.

They both came to the end of the course then Alicia held up a hand. "Time for a break," she ordered cheerfully.

"Why," Subaru wheezed a moment, "do you say that?" She tried to catch her breath, looking determined.

"Because your parents would kill me if I hurt you, for one," Alicia pointed out as they descended to where the Hardsuit pilots were watching.

"Heh," Subaru smiled tiredly. "Why does using a lot of magic run me ragged but not you?" she asked curiously.

"It's.. not exactly like a muscle, but similar," Alicia shrugged, "once you start using it a lot, you get used to it."

"Nicely done!" Kyo yelled as they came into range. "You set a new course record, Alicia."

Alicia blushed. "Thanks, but it's not really fair to count us, considering..." she said as she and Subaru touched down on the platform.

Rockuro grinned. "Don't worry," he said, "I understand Doc Stingray is working on something that'll blow you away."

"We should get Ran out here, have her custom suit race you." Haruhi suggested cheerfully as the group headed inside, walking to the cafeteria.

"That WOULD be cool!" Subaru agreed enthusiastically, having mostly caught her breath.

"Oh no!" Alicia shook her head firmly.

Deciding it would be cruel to keep pushing Alicia, Kyo changed the subject. "How's the staff training going, Subaru?" he asked.

"Well, I'm not getting beat up as much..." Subaru replied dubiously.

Rockuro laughed, "You're going pretty good, according to Shoko. You fought her to a draw last time, right?"

"I kinda figured she was going easy on me," Subaru admitted.

"Nah, she wouldn't do that," Kyo agreed.

They headed into the cafeteria where both Alicia and Subaru got drinks and a snack. "Ah," Subaru sighed gratefully.

"It may be magic, but is sure takes it out of you," Haruhi noted thoughtfully.

"Yeah, tho I'm hoping my endurance improves," Subaru shrugged.

Kyo made a mental note to pass that on to Ran, their immediate boss. He personally hoped they'd never have to fight mages in battle, but if they did it was nice to know they had a weakness or two. "Are you two sticking around to spar?" he asked curiously.

"I have school," Subaru whimpered.

Haruhi patted her on the shoulder, having forgotten she was juggling civil defense AND school...

To be continued...

Notes: Yes I decided to keep using Veronica as a OC character. Sorry, everyone who hates OCs. But it occurred to me Midchilde would probably have a ambassador to Crystal Tokyo. It may not be a major Earth, but it has a LOT of superhumans banging around...