A Saga of Tanya the Evil/The Irregular at Magic High School crossover.
I do not in any way, shape, or form lay claim to either of these works.
This is just a work of admiration from one fan, to those others that share the same interest.
The only characters or places I lay claim to are those solely of my own creation
Chapter: 29. The games we play when we seek to deceive.
The next morning Tanya awoke feeling warm and refreshed. She had her suspicions, as she gazed at the back of her for her adjutant who was already brewing that blessed black gold that have her life and the perseverance to fight on.
"How do you always manage to bring enough coffee, and the tools to make it, while never going over the allotted weight and space?" Tanya inquired as she slipped out of bed and stretched.
Visha smiled over her shoulder, then quickly faced forward. "Ummm, many years of practice? I learned just how much I had to carry, how much space I really needed, and how to fit everything in. You are much more, well, you with coffee in you."
Visha glanced over her shoulder again, breathed a silent sigh of relief seeing Tanya seated at the table and walked over to place both of their morning drinks on the table. "And as I figure it, our chances of survival increase when you have the proper amount of good coffee in you, ma'am."
Tanya chuckled and nodded. "Indeed, I always seem to be much sharper on the days I get to enjoy your coffee, Visha. I would even say you should have received a medal for your diligence in making sure I was at my best for the Empire.". Tanya grinned at the blushing Visha and laughed. "Maybe the Silver Cup of the Order of the Ground Bean."
Visha shook her head fondly. "Your a brilliant tactician, Ma'am. But, perhaps, it would be best if you left the jokes to someone less… ummm… terrifying?"
"Terrifying? I'm hardly terrifying, am I? I know very well what I look like, and terrifying is far f I'm how i would describe myself." Tanya .a scowl.
"Tanya, anyone who has faced you, even in mock combat, finds you terrifying. Your the most capable aerial mage the Empire, or the world, had ever known.". Visha said cautiously.
Tanya contemplated that for a moment, the eyed her companion closely. "Does that include you, Visha?"
"Intimidated, yes. Afraid? Never, or at least not in a long time. You were a bit terrifying at first, Tanya. Now, though? I have never felt safer." Visha said earnestly.
Tanya coughed and blushed. "We had best hurry, or we will miss breakfast. I think that Jane even said she would save us a pair of seats."
Visha nodded happily as she rose and held the door for them both, then fell in behind Tanya as they headed for the dining hall.
Jane sighed as she sat in her room, reading over her decrypted and protected orders. The agent had delivered them to her at an opportune time at the beginning of the competition, and she still couldn't believe the orders she held in her hands.
Visha, a strategic class mage? It seemed beyond the scope of possibility. Even a tactical class mage seemed a stretch. She just wasn't what she would expect, to be honest.
Now, more than ever before, she hated the position she had been put in. They were friends, real friends. Even the downright terrifying young mage, Tanya. If anyone had the potential and presence to be a real threat, she had to imagine it would be Tanya.
She said as sure the mastermind behind the incredible and rapid improvement in the first years had to have been Tanya, not Visha. Visha be okay a supporting role, making Tanya's plans transition almost seamlessly into reality. That was the sign of a good subordinate, not a military mastermind.
That also brought up the fact that both of them, more Tanya than Visha, had a distinctly military bearing to them. Where had they received that kind of upbringing or training while staying off the radar for so long?
The more she had to think about it, the less sense it all made. Jane shook her head as she finished getting ready for breakfast. It was going to be interesting, she feared. She hoped that all of this would just blow over. She didn't want to lose two friends to the machinations of the global powers.
And she didn't want to incur the wrath of Tanya. And she knew without a doubt that anything that affected Visha would quickly draw the attention of the Beast of Berlin.
Jane shuddered as she finished getting ready and made her way down to the dining hall. She had to reserve a table for Tanya, Visha, herself and two of the boys. Hans Frieber was already waiting for her outside of the dining hall, talking to Hans Sieber.
The two Hans discussed the plans for the upcoming matches in an animated manner, the two strong personalities clashing as they often did.
"I honestly don't care what you advise, Sieber. We are sticking to the plans of the Beast. They have worked well in training, and we think that they will give us an edge." Frieber said heatedly.
"You should listen to me, Frieber. I was on the Monolith Code team before, and I know what I am doing much better than some first year girl who can't even compete." Sieber said in an almost condescending manner.
"Regardless, we will be doing our best to execute her plans. I suggest you focus on the official team, and hope they can do fairly well." Frieber said before he pointedly ignore the other boy to nod to Jane. "Jane, good to see you. Sieber and I were just having a friendly discussion."
Sieber nodded stiffly, then held the door open for the tall redhead, as he smiled his most winning smile. "So good to see a reasonable face, Jane. You are looking quite fetching today." He said winningly.
Jane laughed as she walked past him and patted him on the shoulder. "Save it for the younger girls. I know you too well, Sieber." She said as she scanned the room and picked out a table for them. Jane nodded and led the two boys, who had resumed glaring at each other, over to the chosen table. She knew that the pair would be there presently, and had arranged the others to meet her a few minutes ahead.
Always best to try to make a favorable impression on Tanya and, of course, the new subject of her espionage, Visha.
She still thought that was ridiculous. But, who was she to question orders. Even if she in no way agreed with them.
She sighed as she thought about how disappointed the other members of the League would be in her if they knew.
Jane is pulled from her ruminations by the arrival of the pair, both dressed for the day already. Jane shook her head as she looked down at her exercise wear as she contemplated how the pair would get ready in time for the 'light and refreshing' run that they had been told to make sure the other first years were ready for.
Jane had volunteered to join them, something she was already sure she would come to regret.
"I am glad you made it on time. I was worried that it would be too early for you." Tanya said as she sat and placed her tray before herself. Visha followed suit, and Jane could almost swear she heard the table groan from the amount of food on Visha's tray.
Frieber didn't even blink, much as Jane knew that she and Sieber had both stared at the small mountain of food, before they both looked at the pleased, rather slender young woman who set about destroying the food like it was an enemy formation.
Tanya continued, as if it was completely normal. "I called you here so we can do a quick post-mortem of the first day's events before we move into the official crowd ball later today. Visha and I have prepared a few files for you, they will already be on your handhelds. Oh, and here are the more thorough ones, that actually have our conclusions and the actions that we should take to improve our own performance." Tanya said as she slid a hand-written sheaf of papers to each of the representatives that she had gathered together.
"Why the paper copies? Couldn't you have just sent it all to our handhelds?" Jane asked curiously.
"Why, my dear Donner, because you never know who else is looking at your handhelds. Physical media is actually safe in this day and age, and I have always found that it seems to be easier to retain if you have a physical copy to reference." Tanya answered as she sipped from her coffee.
Jane blinked at her, then nodded slowly as Sieber just looked on with a confused look on his face. "So, you sent us briefs that could be decoys, on our handhelds, while you and Visha hand-delivered the actual papers?" Jane asked as she started to flip through the neatly written, easily read documents. "How did you even learn to do this?" She asked half to herself.
"Oh, I did the writing and correlating. It is how we usually do these sorts of things." VIsha said between mouthfuls of pancakes and sausage. "This time it was easier than normal, though."
Jane looked at her with narrowed eyes. "And why is that? I would think that trying to write out this, by hand it looks, in the course of one night would be challenging. Doing it multiple times would be even more so. And, let me guess, you didn't make copies of any of this, did you?"
Visha looked at her blankly for a moment, before she turned her eyes on Tanya who laughed softly. "No, we didn't use a machine to replicate them. You never know who has access to the buffers, after all." Tanya explained as she took another drink of her coffee. "It would completely ruin our preparations, after all."
Sieber looked at her, as he tried to wrap his head around it all. "And, what preparations would that be?" He asked as Tanya reached over and tapped on the packet. "Page 3, paragraph 2. We are going to provide those who are clearly watching and observing us false intel, so that we can properly gauge the level of infiltration."
Jane swallowed a bit as she looked at Tanya. "Infiltration? Watching and observing? Why… Would anyone do that?"
Tanya leaned a bit towards Jane, and the taller girl had to fight not to flinch away. "Because, my dear. They are. They are watching us, and possibly plotting to use that intel in some way. I always prefer to be the one who is doing the watching, rather than being watched. It just works better that way. They usually manage to find some way to bungle it, and ruin all the work they put into the operation. Much more efficient to be the one who is leading everything."
Jane nodded nervously as those cold eyes swept past her and pinned Sieber and Frieber to their chairs. "Now, what I would like to do with you two, is make sure that we are running different strategies between the two divisions. Wouldn't do for them to figure things out for one group by watching the other." Tanya took another sip of her coffee, and looked at Frieber. "We will start doing some remedial training every morning, as well. If possible, I would prefer to do it before breakfast. Just something light, a brief ten klick jog and calisthentics to get them into fighting trim. Now, if they seem to be slacking, well, then we might have to get a bit more serious, after all." Tanya said with a grin that sent a shiver down the backs of everyone present, except for Visha who was too busy eating to really notice.
The next thirty minutes were spent on a very thorough breakdown of the previous days events, with the promise of another meeting like this evey morning until the competition ended. Tanya then looked at Jane and nodded to Frieber. "He will take you to where the other students are. We will be joining you all presently."
As Jane and Hans Frieber made their way towards where the first years were gathered, Jane looked over at him and asked. "How long will we be waiting for them to go change?"
He laughed and shook his head. "More than likely, they will beat us there. And no, they don't have their workout clothes under their others. They will make it to their room, get changed, drop doing to the ground, and be here all too quickly. I have watched them do similar things before." He said as he shook his head.
Jane nodded slowly as they entered the clearing, and Tanya and Visha were already arranging the other students to their liking.
"Ahh, just in time. Shall we, then? Nothing like a little exercise to start the day off right." Tanya said, before leading the other students on what she had termed 'A light jog.'
By the end, Jane was winded and sweaty, as she looked at the other students who didn't seem to be phased in any way by the ten click run. "Aren't you tired after that?" She asked one of the other girls, who just shook her head.
"No, should I be? If the Beast tells you to run, you had best figure out how to do it. You never want to be the recipient of her remedial training. I was terrified of her at first, now though….." The girl left the rest hanging as she turned to face Tanya with a happy, almost hungry look in her eyes.
"Okay, I think that my dead grandmother could almost beat you, so I guess you have improved a bit. Go get cleaned up, remember your assignements, and we will see you at oh-five-hundred tomorrow. Now, dismissed!" Tanya ordered as Visha and her started to walk off, before they both stopped and looked back at Jane. "Are you coming?"
Jane nodded as she fell in with the other two. "Of course, I wouldn't miss a moment with you two if I can help it."
Jane sighed as she walked along, once again sure that her superiors were idiots. How did they miss Tanya, and the potential she had?
Not that she WANTED anything to happen to them. They were her friends, after all.
Jane sighed as she felt even worse about the situation.
It was going to be a long week.