AN: WARNING, WARNING, HEAVY SPOILERS for two Megaman metroidvanias that are more than 14-years old. As well as some incoming infodump…

Robotics Timeline - Legion HQ, 25XX

"… And with the current events it would be best to remain calm and cooperate with each other so that we may get through this. Rest assured that law enforcement has already gotten the situation at Slither Inc. under control and that our judgment on the Cyber-elf situation will be made this evening, so please direct any stray elves to the nearest PDC station for their own safety until the Maverick attacks are suppressed. Thank you all for your time, we will get through this, of that I can assure you."

Albert let out a sigh of resignation from both of his bodies as Thomas finished his speech. The current situation was extremely vexing, and this meeting was not doing his nerves any favors either. Sure, it was better than their usual meetings, which mostly consisted of venting their frustrations over Maverick attacks, Raiders causing trouble, and more recently, the much-deserved execution of an idiot who caused an entire storage facility of Sawood to go Maverick and be set loose on the world. So at least he had something important to contribute too while filling out the hundreds of digital forms, paperwork and documents that his implants presented to him instead of a pointless (albeit sometimes enjoyable) discussion.

That did not make the current situation any better.

Things had started well enough yesterday. He had woken up to a rather light workload consisting primarily of resource allocation for science experiments and confirmation for new prototypes to begin testing, before finally ending with personally meeting with an aspiring Huntress who was convinced she had found a ancient one-eyed Mechaniloid in some ruins and practically begged Albert to fund her investigation, which he was more than happy to do. Kaisemine would enjoy the chance to test her new and improved body on a live target, or should he say Queenbee, as she had chosen to rename herself as?

The day had only improved when he received a status report from Prometheus stating that Serpent had finally narrowed down the location of the two remaining Biometals, and would be moving to retrieve them sometime tomorrow.

Things were all going well, the day was calm, the Model W Core would soon be retrieved and awakened, causing the rest of the fragments to begin their awakening as well. And he would soon have a brand-new set of Biometals for the Game of Destiny once Serpent finally fulfilled his purpose.

So of course, the universe decided to throw an unprecedented scenario to test his plans.

It was rather abrupt, all things considered. The day was going well, everything was peaceful, then, the exact moment the clock hit twelve, he received an alert that Model A had been removed from containment via teleportation using some unknown energy type he had never seen before.

That would have been a detriment to his plan on its own, especially since the tracking devices he had installed on it were not showing up on any of his scans. But then, not even 5 minutes after this anomaly, Albert received a call from Prometheus who seemed to be stuck between humorous, frustrated, and confused, claiming that the 8 Pseudoroids under Serpents command were now out of commission.

Turned out the Biometal fragments within each of the Pseudoroids had also fallen victim to the same phenomenon that had claimed his backup plan, leaving the two former Mavericks, Purprill and Fistleo, suffering major malfunctions, while the rest that had been using the Biometals as a major component had just bricked entirely. And that was at the time several of them were undergoing missions to remove incriminating evidence at the time.

Well, to simplify the complete disaster that had occurred: Serpent was now on the run with half the city screaming for his head; the surviving Pseudoroids had been arrested and were being transferred to a secure facility for emergency medical treatment; the hundreds of Cyber-elves had been set free and could no longer be gathered discreetly. And the cherry on top of this all was that people were now aware of Model W. Granted it was a bare bones understanding and the majority of the public were semi-convinced it was only one Core that existed, but it did not change the fact that he already needed to relocate several dozen models just to keep it that way.

Didn't help that the Core in Area M has also disappeared in the same manner, according to the disappearance of its signal, accompanied by the same anomalous energy as with the other cases. Even if one Model W were disposable, the possibility of that annoying phenomenon repeating itself while still targeting the rest of the Biometals in his possession could be potentially disastrous for his plans. Measures should be taken as soon as possible to prevent more potential damage. He's already dedicating a considerable amount of time and resources trying to contain the consequences of this joke of Fate. Ironically, this chaos is allowing him to discreetly redirect his own illicit activities before anyone has a chance to look any further than absolutely necessary at the moment. No recriminating traces directing to him should be left by the time a more thorough investigation is approved.

On a lighter side note, the emergency relocation also led him to discover that the aspiring Huntress had genuinely found an ancient Mechaniloid in the area in which he coincidentally hid one of the Model W Cores. Who would have guessed? It certainly made dealing with Queenbee's frustration at being called back worthwhile.

Regardless of Albert's personal feelings on the matter he still had a job to do, so he might as well bite the bullet since he just got his colleagues attention.

"Truly this is a vexing development, isn't it? To think we allowed something like this to slip past us entirely."

Mikhail nodded to his statement, his mouth stuck in a tired frown. "Indeed, and that's without taking the side effects of this disaster into account. Bad enough that the Snake was callous enough to execute a few dozen of his own employees, so he could scrub his more dangerous secrets from the mainframes, he also had to send his company's Mechaniloids on a rampage before he fled."

"You must admit that it was a smart maneuver on his part, Mikhail, especially since he was caught off guard in such a manner. Though I do wish it was not a terrorist who managed to best us."

Mikhail let out a small laugh before turning to Thomas with a serious face. "Alright, enough small talk as much as I want to continue it, we have a job to do. Thomas, you have the floor."

Thomas, ever the serious one of their group nodded towards Mikhail before launching into his explanation. "The situation is volatile as we are all aware, Serpent has been revealed to be the mastermind behind multiple Maverick attacks in the last decade as well as being guilty of Raider activity due to his usage of Biometals along with the potential murder of Dr. Ciel for her energy system, and had set all Mechaniloid units under his control to go Maverick in order to escape, leaving a majority of the city in a badly damaged state. Fortunately, law enforcement was able to get the situation under control with the help of the Guardians, but it still resulted in severe casualties in Innerpeace due to the unexpected nature of the attack."

"In addition to this disaster, all of the Cyber-elves that were in Serpents possession used the opportunity to stage a breakout, severely damaging the Slither Inc. headquarters building before fleeing into the city. The Elves of the recently deceased trying to understand what has happened to them, combined with the captive Elves either fleeing for their lives or desperately trying to find their families has caused further damages from the confusion, as well as the formation of several vengeful mobs that are demanding the heads of everyone who worked for Serpent after hearing about the torment their families and friends went through at his hands."

Albert noticed how Thomas tightened his grip on his blade while Mikhail was audibly grinding his teeth at that little reminder. Their reactions were understandable despite how unprofessional they were. Thomas was much like Albert in his attitude towards family but he did check in on them from time to time unlike himself, so it's logical that he would be aggravated that his great granddaughter nearly met such a fate. But that paled in comparison to the absolute seething rage that Mikhail was barely suppressing at the moment, being a very big family man and grandfather despite being away from them for generations unlike Thomas and himself.

So when he learned about their Cyber-elves' existence through several of his grandchildren who just got killed and through his niece and her wife that had died a few years back and thus spent some time in Serpent's care…

Albert isn't quite sure what Mikhail did, but the entire westside lobby was halfway melted and the other half warped into headache-inducing configurations. So it's safe to say that he did not take the news well.

"And of course, last on the agenda, the capture of the Pseudoroids and the investigation into the Guardians for keeping some very interesting pieces of information from the public, including Serpent's former membership. While the Guardians' efforts in the current disaster are appreciated, they are now being accompanied by a squadron of PDC troopers in order to make sure another 'surprise' such as this does not show up in the future."

"I doubt that it was intentional." Mikhail cut in. "It is rather clear that they did not expect such an event to occur. In fact, this seems to have been the first time a member betrayed them in such an outright manner."

Thomas inclined his head in agreement before continuing. "It is more for the people's peace of mind than genuine concern, but it does not hurt to have an extra set of eyes looking for trouble. Speaking of trouble, Albert was the one who helped me with the examination of the Pseudoroids, so perhaps he would like to share their current situation for the records."

A demand phrased as a question, typical behavior that Albert expected by now, but no less annoying. Why Thomas went out of his way to do this at times is beyond him, but it is no less aggravating than the first. The fact that he was the best one to give such information did not change his annoyance at the situation.

"Very well Thomas, since the court rulings have already been decided by us due to the 'unique' circumstances, shall I list them along with the condition of the individuals?"

Upon receiving his colleague's affirmations, Albert continued. "Then I shall start by stating that the method in which these Pseudoroids were constructed is severely flawed, and that even if the event that removed them is an anomaly, the Biometals being split apart and used as vital components was highly irresponsible in every conceivable way. I want it to be known that as I list the conditions of the Pseudoroids from least to most severe, they should be taken as examples of Unethical Reploid Construction violations and should not be repeated."

"With that said, let us start by discussing the two former Mavericks, Purprill and Fistleo. Since the Biometals were simply used to upgrade their original bodies the effects were rather tame, with Fistleo suffering from severe blackouts and hallucinations and Purprill's arms becoming paralyzed while causing the pain receptors to malfunction. Of course, considering the severity of their crimes as well as their preexisting Maverick status, they were immediately sentenced to death row. Unfortunately, some of their underlings managed to free them from their transport and they are now at large."

Honestly, retrieving those two was not worth the effort spent, but it was certainly better than letting that Baboon run his mouth, and the Lion was predictable enough to keep controlled.

"Hivolt and Flammole are in worse condition, but still fixable. Hivolt's is arguably the worst off of the two as the loss of his Biometal fragment caused his electrical powers to completely fry his wings along with most of his body. He was given a life sentence and was successfully moved to prison, though he managed to escape custody shortly after his arrival at the medical center through the use of his legs which turned out to be concealed combat drones."

"Flammole on the other hand, managed to realize the removal of his fragment due to digging for another Biometal at the time and running a self-diagnostic when the signal abruptly vanished, having assumed his scanner was suffering a malfunction of some kind. It is this fact alone that likely saved his life as his Biometal fragment was responsible for monitoring and controlling the fuel intake, exhaust, and motor speed of his drills, which immediately started to suffer cascade failure upon its absence. Needless to say, if he had not used his emergency override to eject his fuel tanks before the gas fumes in his arms detonated, or was even a second slower in doing so, he would not be in the emergency ward of his new prison right now."

Albert would be lying if he said he wasn't impressed by Hivolt's quick thinking, something he would definitely reward him for. It was unfortunate that he could not retrieve Flammole as well, but as loyal as he was, there was no way to get him out of his prison without showing his hand. Besides, he had enough data to create a copy of the Pseudoroid, which would be far less difficult than repairing the mole and dealing with any distrust towards having a new Biometal installed.

"Which leads us to the more critical cases, starting with Hurricaune the Wolveroid. The Biometal fragment was located in her neck and was used to both moderate electrical levels in her body while using the fragments power, and to serve as a connection between her brain stem and her spinal structure in order to protect them from the electrical surges. When the Biometal was removed, this connection was simultaneously severed while being exposed to lethal levels of electricity. While Hurricaune survived, she is now suffering from permanent body paralysis from the neck down and is only capable of blinking due to her voicebox being fried."

Thomas remained stone faced while Mikhail grimaced. "Nasty fate really, I wouldn't wish that upon anyone, not even a sadist like her. I'm assuming the plan is to make her comfortable and then wait out the inevitable?"

Albert nodded his head. "Indeed, it is impossible to attempt repairs with her neck's internals half melted, the best that can be done is to make her departure as peaceful as possible. Though I did authorize a memory download so we do have access to more information that could help the investigation."

And allow him to remake her, which his colleagues did not need to know about.

"The next critical case, and the last of the Pseudoroids that are still alive, is Lurerre the Abysroid. I do not know why Serpent thought placing the Biometal fragment in the one part of the Pseudoroid that was specifically designed to be shot at was a good idea, and I definitely do not want to know why he made it the main processor for sapient thought. Regardless of why he made such a foolish decision, the consequences of its removal are the most devastating of the injuries."

Albert paused to take a calming breath, while the other Pseudoroids failures could be dismissed as bad luck from an unforeseeable event, there was no excuse for the way Lurerre was designed. It was frustratingly stupid, simple as that.

Having calmed his nerves, Albert launched into his explanation. "You see, Lurerre was designed with two brains, one in the lure and one in the central body. Her system was designed so that the central body would identify everything in its surroundings before sending it to the lure, which would then process the information and after double checking with its own sensors, sends identification of targets and objectives back to the central body. In addition, the two brains would continuously create updated copies of the other's condition, letting both minds retain all information gained while also allowing them to load a backup copy if one of the current iterations becomes corrupted."

"Since the Biometal fragment was being used as the lure's brain, its sudden removal lobotomized the lure in addition to creating the usual system failures that occurred in all other cases. Having detected this, the central body attempted to access its backup in the lure which resulted in damage to its mental coding when it could no longer connect to it. Damage which was only further compounded when it attempted to bring the lure backup online by regenerating the lure, only for the process to fail due to its system recognizing the damaged lure as still intact and missing the data to restore its processor. As a result, the errors and malfunctions in the central body's mind continued to build until its logic engine failed, causing its coding to implode, reducing it to a more primal state. Now being little more than a rabid animal, the central body tore the lure off of its head, having identified it as the source of its pain, before fleeing into the depths of the lake."

And wasn't retrieving that unruly thing the definition of "fun". He was using that thing as a guinea pig for his teleporter once he got a lock on the Biometals location, consequences be damned.

"Of course, when law enforcement arrived and spotted the discarded lure, they assumed it was the Pseudoroid and brought it into custody. It was not until its data was analyzed that we found out about its other half, though at that point the lure was given medical treatment leading to the current situation."

Mikhail looked at Albert expectantly, but when he continued to remain silent, he turned to Thomas who was kind enough to explain the awkward situation in Alberts place. "You see, while each of the Abysroid's brains only had up to date copies of the others personality, the original coding is still present within each body, allowing for a hard reset should the need arise. Of course, this coding is stored in the brain, which would make such an action in this scenario theoretically impossible. Practically, however, the hardware would still contain fragments of the core programing even if the primary processor was removed. So if you were to put a completely blank processor within the machine and then have it run a diagnostic check to gather all the data in the system."

"Then you could create a rudimentary, albeit incomplete, copy of the Pseudoroids personality from when they were first brought online." Mikhail finished, his expression unreadable.

"Indeed, which is what happened to the lure. We are still questioning her at the moment, but all signs indicate that she has not retained any information concerning her previous life, not to mention her docile behavior unless directly threatened."

Mikhail turned back to Albert, which prompted him to continue. "Indeed, as far as we have been able to tell, 'Lurerre' is a completely new individual that enjoys dressing up and playing the role of a maid. A rather strange outcome, but it is rather fascinating. Of course, she is still under arrest due to her actions, we just simply disguised it by having her help take care of Hurricaune since she enjoys playing the role of a maid so much… Besides, she is still linked to the primary body despite being removed, so the moment it is found and terminated Lurerre will perish alongside it, so there's no point in pressing charges on someone who will only last a day at most once the Maverick is eliminated."

Mikhail clearly didn't approve if the look on his face was any indication, but he understood the logic behind the decision.

"The last two Pseudoroids, Leganchor and Protectos are deceased. Leganchor's turbines malfunctioned in such a way that it started to suck in water before kicking its cryosystem into overdrive, freezing both the water that was drawn in followed shortly by his internal fuels. If he had been smaller, he might have been able to be saved, but sadly, his size proved to be his undoing. By the time the PDC got the equipment needed to haul him out of the water, his central processor had frozen over, leading to brain death."

"Protectos' death was far more violent. His Biometal was responsible for his defensive capabilities, so when it was removed, he lost his invulnerability to his own weaponry. Something he learned the hard way when he unleashed his more powerful ordinances against the authorities who found him."

Albert did not even try to hide his grimace from his co-workers, out of all the Pseudoroids, those two were the only ones that were completely beyond saving. What little he managed to extract from their remains was barely coherent anymore. Honestly, they were better off being used as blunt instruments once he rebuilt them, considering they could only just be considered sapient in their current state.

"A rather unfortunate outcome: three escaped Mavericks, three jailed that are lacking anything useful for the investigation and the remaining two dead before we could retrieve anything." Mikhail muttered bitterly. "And not a single lead as to where Serpent has disappeared to?"

"Unfortunately not." Albert replied, and if he had his way, no one would ever know, considering Serpent was currently at his lab alongside Hedgeshock until he figured out what to do with him. It would be rather concerning if someone did know… Hm, perhaps he could use the Snake in the retrieval of the Model W and the other Biometals that got taken?

And if it killed him in the process? Well, nothing of value would be lost, though perhaps he should send the siblings with him regardless. They would be more than capable of retrieving the Biometals back in his place, intact, preferably, though that's wishful thinking.

"Well then, I do believe we have covered everything that we could about this situation." Thomas proclaimed. "I will start drafting a more structured response to the overall situation. Mikhail, you start organizing several archaeology teams to start searching for the Biometal Flammole claimed to have detected, an unknown is the last thing we need right now and I do not want any surprises. Albert, I will be sending you the documents and paperwork for all the Mechaniloids that were under Slither Inc's purview, we are going to have to comb through every single one in order to press charges for Deliberate Maverick Construction fines against the factories."

Albert immediately tuned out the rest of the conversation at that. Great, a new batch of paperwork that was going to cause a backlog on his other projects.

Albert swore. One day, he was going to throw one of his coworkers out of the window. He would have to speed up his plans tremendously, but if his plan ever goes completely wrong, he won't hesitate to do it.

FKZX:OMMAMG

Timeline of A? - Emiya-Einzbern residence, 2007

After that whole fiasco at the old Emiya state, the unwilling Magical Girl, the confused superhero Otaku, the trigger-happy Tsundere and their talking transformation trinkets agreed to return to the former two's house to discuss things in a much less chaotic environment.

It just took jumping to their respective last known locations for the siblings (who were still not fully believing their situations, especially Shirou who just ninja jumped over multiple roofs until he arrived at a first floor window without any difficulty); Rin knocking to the door, giving the excuse that she was visiting her former classmate due to him offering himself to help guide her getting acclimated with Homurahara again (which was completely predictable for someone as gulli- helpful as the Homurahara Brownie); Illya bringing downstairs a 'somewhat groggy' Shirou in order to confirm Rin's alibi.

Predictably, Sella panicked and got angry at Shirou getting up after such a grave head injury. Fortunately, the Biometals' auto-repair systems translated into an accelerated healing factor when merged with their Biomatches, so Shirou was genuinely better in the head (physically, at least). So they were able to convince a begrudging Sella to have their own private students' meeting in Illya's room, though she warned them to be brief, under the understandable belief that Shirou would need more rest soon.

"Well, it went better than expected." Rin commented inside the 10-year old's room. "Thought they would have been more reluctant to agree with us."

"About that…" Shirou sheepishly chuckled while Illya sighed in mild exasperation. "Let's just say this isn't my first time getting hit in the head."

"I… don't think that's something to laugh off." The cause of the last cranial trauma and current hypocritical record holder of People Not Dying When Killed let out in concern.

"Don't worry about the details~ Besides, we can always repair everyone's nogging with our combined talents any time we want." Ruby lackadaisically assured the red Biometal.

"Except yours, unfortunately, you pink pervert." Fefnir sniped.

"At least I don't go out there enabling pyromaniacs to blow up little children!"

"Wait, you did WHAT to Illya!?" The big brother turned incredulous to Rin.

"Well, huh… It was Ruby's fault! She was making herself impossible to separate from Illya, so I had no other option but to, ah, escalate… a bit. Besides, I was holding back! I am not a maniac!" An embarrassed Rin let out, which didn't help things for her.

"That doesn't make it any less scary…" Illya couldn't help but shiver at the memories of the Orange Devil chasing her, digging Rin's and Fefnir's holes even deeper.

Of course, any trace of civil conversation devolved at that point with incessant guilt blaming and other accusations, with the only sane person/trinket/whatever, having an imaginary facepalm at the idiocy of it all.

"Guys… Guys! Can we get back on track?" His only response was more wasted decibels. "Screw it." Just like in his past life, it seems there's only one universal language that everyone always listens to…

BONK!

CLANK!

WACK!

CRACK!

BONK!

… Directed violence.

""Not agaiiiin…"" The two siblings lamented their new bumps, which unintentionally would help with Shirou's cover, at the cost of probably being forced into bed for the next few days.

Rin could barely let out muttered curses from the pain she was in, a logical consequence of being hit by a chunk of floating metal.

"... The hell?" Fefnir's muffled voice came from his embedded position in one of Illya's walls, surprise tinged on his voice. "I've never expected YOU, of all people to do a stunt like that."

"You mean, he isn't the type to hit people out of the blue?" Sarcastically commented a similarly stuck-in-the-wall Ruby.

"Yup, he's more the type to cut you down if you're considered an obstacle to his objectives. Never cared much for looking out for fights himself from what I've learned from the reports. Perfectly suited for surgical strikes, completely infuriating to fight in person when you're not the one that got tagged for elimination." Fefnir sighed in disappointment.

"Still don't care for any rematches whatsoever, sadomasochistic musclehead." Zero deadpanned.

"I AM NOT A GODDAMN MASOCHIST!" Fefnir exploded (metaphorically thankfully) only to get grabbed tightly by a recovered Rin.

"Couldn't you get even louder!? Not only will the rest of the house hear us but the neighbors, too!" She hissed.

"Okay, okay! I stop, I stop! Just stop squeezing me, jeez!" Fefnir pleaded before getting free from Rin's magically reinforced gorilla hands. "Besides, that whole BDSM thing fits Levi more than me, anyway." He metaphorically rolled his cybernetic eyes.

"Ignoring that those terms have been spoken in the direct presence of a 10-year old, I also agree that we must regain focus." A diplomatic Shirou with a twitching eye (while being completely ignorant of how his sister was somewhat regularly exposed to sexual lingo due to her being friends with a fujoshi or two) also agreed with Zero. "So why don't we start with the Biometals?" He proposed.

"Alright, before I start explaining, what do you know about our current situation, Fefnir?" Zero asked the fiery Biometal.

"You mean, aside from somehow getting stuffed into this 'Biometal' and time-traveling into the past? Nothing." Fefnir paused. "And why is there a forward 200-year difference between my internal clock and the date I last remember, now that I notice it?"

"Wait, I thought you were from the 24th century." Rin commented quizzically.

"That's because individuals like me or Fefnir were reconstructed into Biometals in the 26th century." Zero explained. "In the 24th century, a mad scientist turned dictator, Dr. Weil-" "Urgh, of course it would be him." Fefnir grumbled upon being reminded of that name. "- was in possession of an orbital weapon named Ragnarok that he planned on using in order to destroy any possible habitable areas left in the world ultimately to solidify his despotic rule over the inhabitants of Neo Arcadia, the only surviving state in the world at that time."

"Question!" Illya raised up her hand as if in a classroom. "Are… are you saying that the world ended, or will end, in the future?" She gulped, while Shirou and Rin pale at the implications, both of a future apocalypse and an orbital weapon.

"It's a long story, but yes, it did." Fefnir tiredly sighed. "What happened to Weil, Zero? As well as Neo Arcadia?"

"Neo Arcadia… was destroyed in an attempt to kill Weil with his own weapon." Everyone could hear a barely restrained "Dammit" from the orange Biometal at the old news. "He survived and teleported back to Ragnarok. He fused with its core to fight me when I had to return there to stop him from crashing it to Earth like what happened with Eurasia."

"And considering you're here to tell the tale, you won, right?" Ruby guessed.

"Correct, or at least, we hoped so at the time…" Zero sighed. "A couple centuries after the destruction of Ragnarok and the recovery of civilization on the global stage, an expedition into Ragnarok's crash site led by Ciel-" "Wait, she's still alive!?" "She transferred her mind into a bionic body, I'll explain later."

"As I was saying, in that expedition, they discovered from the remnants of Ragnarok that Weil's body nanomachines became intrinsically fused with the satellite's scraps on a molecular level, making them not only 'alive' in a sense but also somehow capable of influencing with the thought processes of Mechaniloids and Reploids but also humans, turning them into a new generation of violent cybernetic beings that we call Mavericks." "Seriously, Mavericks, again!?"

"That corrupting living metal… is also known as Biometal Model W."

The room fell completely in silence after that bomb was dropped.

"You mean… that one of you Biometals are actually the remains of some evil scientist who may not actually be dead and is creating a bunch of killer robots!?" Rin summarized, trying very hard to not shout but failing at the very end from panic and disbelief.

"Yes." Zero bluntly affirmed.

"Wait a goddamn minute! Does that mean that motherfucker, Weil, could probably be here too!? This place isn't prepared at all for whatever he might do!"

"I know, but there's also the possibility of the others being here, too, given both of us are here."

"Wait, others?" Ruby asked. "You mean, other Biometals?"

"Yeah. After studying Model W, Ciel used its data to use the remains of some powerful Reploids familiar with Weil to revive their DNA data and consciousnesses and use the unique biomerging properties of the M.E.G.A./R.O.C.K. System in order to create Megamen capable of fighting it." Zero sighed. "Problem is that Ciel disappeared, most probably due to a traitor, before she could distribute the Biometals she made. I was the exception, due to being the first one to be reconstructed and thus, making me privy of most information related to the subject as well as having had a Biomatch of my own before this mess."

"I… am sorry." Shirou said guiltily.

"Don't worry, this was out of your control. I doubt Giro would be angry at you." Zero assured the redhead teen. "In fact, I should apologize for both nearly cracking your head and using your body without permission."

"I knew it!" Illya jumped from her bed. "I knew this was like Kamen Rider!"

"Illya! Why did you have to bring tokusatsu once again!? This was supposed to be a cute Magical Girl story, not a show about spandex helmeted weirdos!"

"Because it IS like a Kamen Rider show. Especially the part about the heroes and villains sharing an origin or at least a power source!" Illya exclaimed. "Besides, a live-action Magical Girl show would still count as tokusatsu!"

"You're right!" Shirou agreed. "Though I don't think anyone, at least in this time, would imagine life becoming like a superhero setting. Which reminds…" He turned to Rin. "Tohsaka, what was that about magic existing?"

"Magecraft, actually. And as much as I would like to learn more about the future, especially about this Model W, I think it would be vital for everyone here to know about the secret side of our world." She put on some glasses.

She activated (Nerd) Teaching Mode.

"I am who is called a magus, or mage, whichever you prefer: a human being born with magic circuits capable of generating and harnessing the magical energy necessary for the artificial reenactment of miracles, or magecraft. And before someone says anything, True Magics are considered miracles that not even modern science has never been able to replicate, and probably never will. It's a common yet infuriating misconception made by novices in our world."

"Of course, unlike a hag like her and many others, I am a product of one such True Magic~!" Ruby cheerfully interrupted.

"As much as it infuriates me to admit-"A pissed off Rin grabbed Ruby with an iron grip in an instant. "-her powers, or the source of them, the Root, is the goal of many magi, up to the point of dedicating innumerable resources over several generations in order to reach that seemingly unreachable goal."

Everyone else nodded in (more or less/somewhat/has smoke coming from their head) understanding.

"So you practice not-quite-magic while you want to learn True Magic or whatever?" Fefnir asked to clarify.

"That's right. In fact, I was going to study under the Wizard Marshall, user of the Second Magic, when a certain someone-" Rin unconsciously gripped Ruby tighter in anger, making the poor stick cry out in underserved pain (this time). "-made a mess of the campus, which I was involved in against my will, so I had to return to Japan to fulfill a task as punishment.

"Oh? Weren't you as gung ho as Luvia at that moment, Rin-chan~?"

"Mega-!"

"Okay, okay! I get it! Please, don't turn me into a Ruby pancake!"

Everyone else sweatdropped at that attempt of further violent abuse.

"So that's why you're back from London…" Shirou muttered. "And what 'task' were you assigned to do in Fuyuki? I have no idea what would interest a mage out here, aside from maybe Ryuudou Temple."

"Well, Emiya-kun, as it happens, Fuyuki is constructed over a leyline nexus, or a red of subterranean channels of magical energy for those with no idea, which has been supervised by my family for centuries. Which also means I'm responsible for anything that happens here, like this." She took out a card with a depiction of an Archer.

"... That's just a card, Rin." Fefnir deadpanned.

"This isn't a normal card, but an artifact containing the power of an entity known as a Heroic Spirit. Basically, people whose deeds were so impressive that they got immortalized in history or myth and ascended into a state that reaches divinity after they've died due to the masses idolizing them. Like Hercules or King Arthur."

""Wow."" The siblings awed at the now really important card. "And what does that have to do with Fuyuki?" Illya asked.

"No idea!" Ruby shrugged. "We're still looking into the 'how' and 'whydunnit' but we know that a while ago, these Class Cards appeared in this city, hiding themselves in alternate dimensions and causing disturbances in the telluric flows of the leylines."

"Our job is to collect the Class Cards before any major irregularities occur. We have recovered two of them though five are still out there."

"So what you're telling us… is that you're basically Cardcaptor Sakura." Shirou deadpanned at the realization.

"Cardwhat now?" Rin was clueless as to whatever the hell Shirou was talking, unlike Illya and Ruby, who of freaking course knew about the aforementioned subject. Zero and Fefnir were just plain confused.

"No wonder you've got a Magical Girl wand with you." Shirou sagely nodded in self affirmation. "And I guess you'll be able to use the Cards' power after beating them. Right?"

"Well… you're right about using the cards but I would live without the Magical Girl part…" She tiredly sighed while blushing. "The only damned reason I was given Ruby and reluctantly willing to put up with her bullshit is that she's able to access the alternate dimension where the Cards are residing."

"Oww, don't worry, Rin-chan~" The pink menace condescendingly turned to Rin. "You may not be born to be a Magical Girl, at all, but right here's a cutie that can do your job much better than you, cheap hag- GAH!" She felt Rin's drilling fist beginning to emit smoke on her star from the noogie the raging red magus was subjecting her to.

"In other words, we've got both the Biometals as well as the Class Cards to take care of." Zero said. "Tomorrow we'll begin to investigate, Rin, do you know where the Cards could possibly be?" Rin nodded, then continued with Ruby's torture. "Are you alright with this?" Everyone more or less agreed, though in various degrees of doubt.

Especially when one of those doubts were: If Model W was also transported, where could it possibly be?"

FKZX:OMMAMG

Dying Timeline - Ainsworth Castle, 2013

Angelica stared at the…thing currently pulling itself out of the blood-like 'tear' that had been shed by the chunk of pale metal that had suddenly smashed right through the roof of the castle and landed directly in the main hall. She did not know where it came from and despite her loss of emotions, the strange artifact's mere presence was enough to invoke discomfort from her emotionless shell. A quick gaze to her side revealed that Beatrice was visibly disturbed by what she was seeing, even as 'Darius' watched the whole process with fascination.

Eventually, the purple metallic figure pulled itself completely free from the bloody tear, the rest of the awful blood-looking liquid soaking into it as if it was a sponge, before it finally activated, gazing around the room before predictably aiming its weapon with killing intent the moment it registered their presence.

Just like the last three, Angelica swiftly beheaded the…thing that this artifact had created, all while Darius hummed to himself.

"Well then, it seems you are correct Angelica, this artifact creates a new entity roughly every one and a half hours… Beatrice, please, move this to my study, I do believe I want to study it for a little while longer.

And as Beatrice moved to perform the task, Angelica could not help but feel that a horrible omen had just been given about the future.

She would have no idea how right she was.

AN: The Legion and Ainsworth scenes were courtesy of Wyran cost, with minimal editing. Well, Albert's and Serpent's plans got unexpectedly interrupted; the Illyaverse got infodump from both sides of the crossover and something resembling a plan; and the Ainsworths got a free Model W Core delivered to their home!

And why's the Illyaverse classified as 'A?'. Well, that's a surprise!