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 39, The Seven Schools Competition: Time marches on like the beating of a heart.
Monday, August 9th 2094. 1:30 PM
Newcomer Monolith Code..
Tanya and Doctor Schugel stared at each other over the desk while Visha looked back and forth with a worried look on her face. Visha cleared her throat and then shrunk back a bit as the other two looked at her.
"Can.. Can you tell us where she is?" Visha asked as she looked everywhere but at the doctor.
The doctor shook her head. "I can't, not right now."
Visha gave Tanya a worried look, and noticed Tanya's eyes had swept the desk and the floor before she relaxed slightly and reached over to take Visha's hand in hers as she looked at the doctor.
"You can't tell us because you are not sure where, exactly, she is right now. Just like we can't reach her because she doesn't have her handheld terminal with her at the moment, correct?" Tanya said then shook her head as the doctor gave her a curious look and nodded.
Isha looked at her girlfriend with a puzzled look on her face. Tanya grinned and took a picture from the desk and handed it to Visha. It depicted a rather surprised Jane jumping a bit backwards.
"You took her picture with that ridiculous antique of yours." Tanya said with a smug grin.
Dr. Schugel huffed at that. "It is not ridiculous. It's a genuine Polaroid!"
"A ridiculously old Polaroid. One with a bright external flash. How do you even get film for it?" Tanya asked as she continued to hold Visha's hand.
"Being the director of a secret government project with a full lab has its perks." Dr. Schugel said as she watched Tanya.
"And no one has been able to get a hold of Jane because she broke her terminal, correct?" Tanya continued.
Dr. Schugel narrowed her eyes as she looked at Tanya. "And what makes you think that? Maybe I had her liquidated."
As Visha tensed Tanya shook her head. "No, because our cleaners are better than this." She said as she leaned down and picked up a piece of red and white plastic.
"And that is?" Dr. Schugel asked.
"A piece of Jane's terminal's case. She broke it when you surprised her with that archaic camera, and you missed this piece. Now, I'm almost willing to bet she is being checked out right now, either here or somewhere else." Tanya said with a grin
"Well, since you have everything figured out, I only have two more questions for you, Tanya. One, why is Ms. Serebryakov turning such an interesting shade of red? Two, what is in your other hand?" Dr. Schugel asked.
Tanya blinked, then turned her head to the side and looked at Visha, who had blushed herself a very bright shade of red, then she looked slowly down at her hand and blushed herself as she realized that she had been holding Visha's hand the entire time. Tanya coughed once into her free hand, then laced her fingers into Visha's and gave the doctor a challenging look.
"As the two oldest teenagers alive, we decided it would be beneficial to pursue a relationship with the only actual peers that we have." A rather red Tanya said in a defiant tone.
Doctor Schugel chuckled and smiled at the pair of them. "So, you two decided to finally admit how you felt for each other. It's about time, honestly."
Tanya stammered a bit and looked flustered while Visha tried to just melt into her chair.
"What do you mean? How… Why…. How did you know?" Tanya finally said
The doctor chuckled and shook her head. "It was obvious to me, and I'm rather clueless when it comes to such things. Still, let me say congratulations to you two. Now, shall we discuss what we are actually here to talk about?"
Tanya looked to Visha, then back as she nodded and straightened in her chair. "Yes, please. What are the plans regarding Ms. Donner?"
The doctor nodded as she reached for a folder and laid it out. "For the moment, we will just observe her. We have to make sure that she isn't planning on playing the double agent with us, and supplying her handlers with information. That is why we are observing her potential actions with the Oracle system."
"I see. And if she is clear? Then what?" Tanya asked as Visha watched the interplay between her and the doctor.
"Well, at that point we start using her to funnel the information we want them to know through her. It's probably about the best use for a known asset." The doctor said.
Tanya nodded and eyed the doctor. "And if she decided to fully switch sides and claim asylum?"
The doctor steepled her fingers again. "Well, then we would have to consider sheltering her. Of course, as long as they have leverage over the young lady, that seems unlikely to happen."
Tanya nodded, then looked at Visha who hesitated then nodded as well. "We will keep that in mind, in case we ever have the chance to take possession of the leverage."
The doctor sighed and looked at Tanya. "We can't sanction a covert operation to infiltrate the United States and extract a person at this time, Tanya."
"Understood, Doctor Schugel." Tanya replied.
Visha sighed and relaxed. "So, then Jane is going to be okay?"
Doctor Schugel smiled and nodded. "She will be back on site in about an hour. We really can't keep those that are trying to observe her distracted for any longer than that."
Tanya nodded as she stood. "We had best get back so that we are not missed. We will go over the finer details later, then?"
The doctor chuckled and nodded as she eyed Tanya. "I sometimes wonder who is really in control around here."
Tanya just smiled and gave Visha's hand a gentle tug. "Why, you are, of course. Take care, Doctor Schugel."
"You two young ladies have fun." The doctor replied, and waited for them to leave before she rubbed the bridge of her nose for a minute before she replaced her glasses. "That young woman will be the death of me."
Doctor Schugel looked up as there was a discreet knock at the door before her assistant opened the door and informed her. "The young lady has been dropped off, and the access point into her terminal is working."
"Any chance they will detect it?" Doctor Schugel asked.
"Not likely, shall we proceed?" Her assistant asked.
"Proceed. Allow ORACLE access." Doctor Schugel ordered.
Her assistant nodded and offered another folder to the doctor.
"The results of ORACLE's predictions?" The doctor asked as she started to flip through it.
"Yes, ma'am. It appears that the odds of convergence increase as she interacts with Alpha and Beta more." The assistant supplied.
"And the odds of convergence increase with Alpha and Beta being sent to Japan?" The doctor asked.
"Yes ma'am. Next year seems to be the ideal target." Her assistant confirmed.
"So, just as the journals said." Doctor Schugel mused.
Yes ma'am. Shall I pass along the confirmation order?" Her assistant asked.
"Go ahead. I will be observing the finals. For scientific reasons, of course." Doctor Schugel said as she stood up and grabbed her camera.
"Yes ma'am." He said as he held the door for his boss, then shook his head as he headed out.
As Tanya and Visha walked, Visha reached out and took Tanya's hand in her own. Tanya looked at her with a sheepish grin on her face.
"I should have been more aware of what I was doing, and where." Tanya said apologetically.
"It's fine, you just… Surprised me a bit." Visha said with a shy smile.
"I really should have at least asked you before I outed us both to her." Tanya said.
Visha smiled and laced her fingers through Tanya's. "It probably would have happened sooner or later anyhow. How would you put it? Best to pull off the bandaid now, so that we have more operational flexibility later?"
Tanya chuckled and nodded. "I taught you well."
"Only the best of things." Visha said with a happy smile.
A gentle cough interrupted them, and the pair looked forward to where Jane stood with the others. "We aren't interrupting anything, are we?" Jane asked impishly.
Tanya shook her head and held onto Visha's hand as she felt her girlfriend start to let go. "Of course not. Glad to see you could be bothered to attend."
Jane shrugged. "I had to replace my terminal, it got broken and I have to keep it on me or the parents get freaked out."
"Well, we are glad you could be back in time, right Tanya?" Visha said as she gave Tanya a look.
Tanya smiled and nodded. "Of course. Let's get to our seats, the match will begin soon "
As the group walked together towards their section, Visha cast a concerned look towards Jane, who just smiled reassuringly at her while Tanya carefully observed her in silence.
"I'm fine, really. Shouldn't you two be too preoccupied with each other to worry about me?" Jane said jokingly.
Tanya and Visha shared a look, then Visha grinned and bumped her shoulder into Jane's. "We have watched out for and concentrated on each other for years. We can include you in our concerns." Visha said while Tanya just nodded.
Jane blushed and smiled. "Thank you, both of you… For everything."
Tanya smiled and nodded. "We could say the same, of course."
Visha sighed as she looked at Tanya. "You are being too serious again." She grinned at Jane and tilted her head to the side a little. "Welcome back, we are so very glad to see you again."
Jane laughed as the teens took their seats, and almost everyone turned to look at Tanya. She just gave them a blank look in return.
"What? Why is everyone looking at me?" Tanya asked innocently while Jane sighed and looked at Visha.
"Do you want to explain it to her, or do I have to?" Jane asked while Visha grinned and shrugged impishly.
"You have spent too much time with her, Visha." Jane groused before she addressed Tanya. "They are all wondering what dirty tricks or questionable tactics they are going to be using this time."
Tanya blinked and looked at Jane with a curious expression. "They haven't done anything of the sort yet. Everything has been exactly by the rules."
Jane sighed and shook her head. "Only you could answer like that, and mean it."
"Why? It's the honest truth of the matter. It's not our fault if they didn't foresee all the possibilities." Tanya answered while Visha just stifled her laughter.
"You are both horrible people, but we are all glad you are on our side." Jane conceded.
"That's how most people end up feeling about Tanya." Visha said proudly.
Jane laughed and went back to watching the match.
As the doctor watched the match, she could see the glimmer of Tanya's genius in the mayhem that had unfolded before her. She calmly reached up and keyed her earpiece as it beeped at her. "Yes?" She asked as she tried to focus on what exactly had happened.
"It seems that there are still elements in okay, doctor. ORACLE predicts movement within the next twenty-four hours. There is a high probability they will attempt to neutralize one of our assets.
"Do we have a location yet?" Doctor Schugel asked in a calm tone of voice.
"We should in the next six hours, ma'am." Was the answer. "Should we prepare a strike package?"
"Yes. Prepare a delivery. We will send A and B to deal with our party crashers before they can knock on the door again." The doctor confirmed.
"As you wish." The voice on the other end of the line confirmed before it cut out.
It seemed that things were going just as predicted, mused Doctor Schugel.
How accurately events were predicted over a hundred and fifty years ago was a bit disturbing, at times, but the timelines of events that were written correlate to a degree that was well out of statistical probability. Not happenstance, or conjecture, but provable fact. The existence of the project, the discovery of the entropic event… All of it, laid out in clear writing. The events become more and more sporadic after the noted time and date of the entropic phenomena's collapse, but they still correlated at a degree that was disturbing.
Even the existence of the ORACLE could be laid at the feet of that worn, neatly written journal. The samples that were used to create the components of the ORACLE system were obtained from the founders, after all. And how, exactly, they got them in the first place? Sometimes it was best not to speculate.
Yes, all of it was going according to plan.
Why did that fact sometimes fill her with a thrilling sense of dread, though?
The doctor pondered all of this briefly, before the action on the field once again pulled her attention away from her ruminations. Time enough for speculation after the match, and after the operation.
For now, though, she would observe… For scientific reasons, of course.