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 45, Time flies: The secrets we keep….
Tuesday, August 10th 2094. 2:08 AM
Point Two.
The pair of temporal refugees moved with a heightened sense of purpose and how little time they might have to finish the operation. The activities of the night had grown far louder than either of them were comfortable with, and the likelihood of additional dance partners didn't make either of them happy. Especially Visha, who had become all too aware of the price her Tanya paid for cheating time of it's due.
She was going to have to stuff her girlfriend full of calories later. Purely for Tanya's health, of course. And then a long session of… Contact psychological stress reduction.
She desperately needed a good cuddle after tonight.
Tanya's thoughts were no less serious, but she also couldn't help the feeling of pride that welled up in her. Visha had handled an opponent particularly suited to fight her with all the grace and savvy that she had come to know so well over the years. The awkward, nervous and shy young soldier that she had known in her first command was not gone, but had matured into one of, if not the, finest mages, soldiers… And personthat she had known in two lives and three worlds.
In many ways it was almost a shame that they couldn't just end up back in her original world. The parents who had raised the previous incarnation would certainly love the current one's girlfriend.
Tanya shook her head and wondered if her brain had been rattled more than she had thought, for going off on tangents like that. They were both happy in the here and now, and they had found a place of relative safety and acceptance.
Even if people still seemed intent on killing them.
Tanya signalled silently to Visha that she was okay, and the pair started to move faster. They used magic to skate along the ground, low and fast. Surprise had been lost, so it was time for the second most important facet to successfully penetrate enemy territory. Mobility was the second pillar of the holy trinity of war. Anyone who thought it was armor was counting on being able to wage a defensive war, and at that point you gave up initiative, you were stuck in a reactive campaign and were at a severe disadvantage against any competent enemy.
Soon it would come to the third of the holy trinity. Firepower, overwhelming focused force. Three aspects that the aerial mages of their old world possesed in spades, and that the mages of this age could bring to bear, as well.
The pair moved through the corridors quickly, and used the HUD with its almost uncanny amount of information to be prepared for what could lay around the next corner, the next crossing of halls.
As they came up on one such choke point, blips began to appear and the pair quickly exchanged hand signals as they both pulled one of the diminishing supply of grenades from their harness, and primed them before they bounced them into the chokepoint, and a moment after the explosions they rolled around and finished off the stragglers with quick, controlled burst of fire.
The pair scanned the faces of those that were handy, and nodded to each other as the data continued to update and they moved off in the direction indicated for one of the larger warehouses, the one that the pair of operatives seemed to be trying to stop them from reaching.
The pair neared the last section before they would penetrate the warehouse itself, and something warned them to stop. There were no blips on the HUD, but both of them were veterans of the most vicious war that either world had known, and had learned to trust that gut feeling. In Tanya's case, it was years of logical examination of engagements and the psychology of war, and her brilliant tactical and strategic mind. For Visha, it was instinct and insight. Regardless of the methodology, the end results were the same.
Neither one of them trusted things to be this easy. The pair exchanged a look, then Tanya sent a quick message through the data link to the C&C.
"Expect heavy resistance at the next point. Clearing the point." Tanya tapped into the datalink, then looked at Visha as they each changed out their magazines for one of the ones that Tanya had prepared. Mage rounds were never easy to make, and seemed to be even more difficult here, but you did what you needed to when the situation demanded it. And the ability to fire full seeking, piercing or, as they were about to do, explosive rounds, added a level of tactical flexibility that most mages in this world would have difficulty replicating without a truly dedicated CAD.
Tanya cloaked them with one of her optical camouflage spells. If they were using anything but visible light, especially infra-red, they would be spotted immediately. But against the unaided eye, there would only be a faint ripple as the spell compensated. Tanya peeked around the bend, and confirmed what they had both thought. There were six soldiers at the next chokepoint, all armed with four of them behind a low, reinforced set of barriers.
Against a pair of Imperial mages with defensive shells and mage rounds, it was far less intimidating. Tanya's hand rested for a moment on the Type 95, and she was tempted to activate it again, to rely on the effortless power and superiority it brought. But that feeling of unnatural elation, almost ecstatic joy stifled that urge. Instead she entered the combination to unlock the virtual computation jewel that they had developed. It made using the revised spells with a CAD far easier, even if it did impose a heavier drain on the devices. Tanya cast a brief glance at Visha and bit her lip.
Visha smiled and shook her head as she pointedly tapped her chest where her mechanical heart resided and then smiled before she gave a thumbs up.
Tanya blew out an exasperated breath and nodded before she executed the series of spells, and checked each one as they resolved while she also watched as Visha went through the same process. A moment later, Tanya launched herself around the corner, and began to close the distance. As the guards opened fire, Tanya evaded the majority of their fire as Visha stepped out and opened fire herself.
The two guards out front were shredded as Visha's fire tore into them, the penetrating rounds passed clean through their body armor. Afterwards, Visha started to provide suppressive fire as her girlfriend closed the distance and dived between the barricades.
The guards barely had time to react as the little angel of death appeared between them, a submachine gun in one hand, and her combat knife in the other. A round from behind skipped off of her shield as she felt the minute fluctuation in her mana. Tanya dived under the rifle of the soldier in front of her as she opened him from the sternum down, and rolled behind his falling body before she shot the guard's partner with a controlled burst of tightly grouped rounds
The guards opposite of her reacted quickly, one of them swiveled and fired into the falling body of the guard Tanya had eviscerated, the other made the mistake of starting to stand to get a better line on the little mage. His head exploded into a cloud of blood and gore as Visha sniped him. The other one ducked down and looked up just in time to see the serious face of Tanya as she slid to a stop in front of him, and the flash of a blade ended his threat.
The pair of mages exchanged a look as Visha walked up and swapped out the magazine for a fresh one as Tanya wiped her blade clean before she slid it back into its sheath with a practiced, smooth motion.
They moved towards the door and remained low as Tanya checked the door, then nodded to Visha as they both made sure that they were ready to breach the door into the warehouse proper. There was no telling what lay on the other side, so it was best to go in hot. A steady advance, keep low and keep the protective shells up.
Tanya slid her blade from its sheath and encased it in entropic power before she slid the kni9fe slowly through the back hinges, then sliced through the lock itself. The two ex-soldiers looked at each other before they laid the door down and moved to opposite sides of the door, each covering a different quadrant as they quickly surveyed the expanse of the bay they were in.
The warehouse had been turned into an armory, with neatly lined up and stacked crates for ammunition and weaponry of all sizes. The real eyebrow aiser though was the collection of powered suits along the back wall, each nestled into its own armored alcove.
The pair forwarded the video they had started to record back to the C&C as they slowly moved around the bay. The armory was arrayed in a neat, professional manner and each of the suits was a previous generation Chinese model. They didn't have any unit markings, but both of them were sure that these were not mercenaries for hire. Too organized, and the mages that they had run into so far screamed government.
The pair looked at each other and nodded as they continued to scout. A blinking light on a support pillar drew Tanya's attention, and what she saw sent her running for Visha at her full enhanced speed. As time seemed to slow more and more, she reached for the Type 95, and activated it without disengaging the CAD. A sudden surge of heat washed over her as her CAD overloaded, and she felt the jubilant elation as the power flowed through her.
When Tanya collided with a surprised Visha, she spoke the forced prayer to ask for power. "Lord, shelter us in Your protective hands. Deliver us from the foul machinations of those that have turned from Your light.". The last thing they heard as the black bubble of stolen time wrapped them in it's protective embrace was the initial boom of the charges detonation.
A short time later, in a sealed and secured room in the C&C, Dr. Adeline Schugel opened the metal box that she had pulled out of a secured and locked case. It folded open at the two hidden hinges at the top and bottom of one side, and revealed what it truly was. A book, it's spine attached to the metal box opened before her. The pages within were pristine, even though the book itself was well over a hundred years old. That, along with the two other books that actually showed their age were the only items in the case. They were some of the legacies of the founders who had entrusted later generations with carrying out the task that they, themselves, would never see done.
The same task that had fallen on Dr. Schugel as the last director of the project, according to the Book. The book that should never have existed when and where it did. Yet, here it was. The guide that had led them to this place, this time.
To the events that had to happen. She took a breath, released it, and turned to the page that was marked.
'Tuesday, August 10th 2094.
On this day, the Bloody Angel and her loyal Handmaid shall breach the den of the invaders, and shall face three challenges. Death shall be the first, and shall test the strength of their bond.
Next shall be the Earth and the Sky, and they shall test the faith one has in another.
The final test is the one of Self. Does the Angel of Battle retain who she is, in the face of great need?
These events lead ever onwards, to the Trial, when the fortitude of the Pair shall be tested, and a choice shall be made.'
Dr. Schugel read the page once more, then closed and locked the Book once more before she rested her hand on one, then the other of the ancient books that sat on her camp desk. The pair of diaries were the other legacies of the Founder's, and detailed the events that had brought them here, as they had brought Tanya and Visha to them.
And they mentioned the supposed author of the Book. The one that had set them on this path.
Titania.
Dr. Schugel looked up and placed the books once more into the case and locked it at the knock on the door of the room she sat in. She walked over and palmed the door open and looked at the soldier who stood outside.
"Report." Dr. Schugel commanded as she shifted slightly.''
"We have recovered them, Ma'am. They are still encased in the entropic field, but we were able to extract the sphere from the building it had embedded itself in. They are on their way back to Facility One as we speak." The soldier reported with a sharp salute.
"Good, good. Break down the C&C, and we will meet them back at the facility." Dr. Schugel said as she stepped out of the room in the back of one of the trucks and palmed the lock to seal it once more.
"What about the facility, Ma'am?" The soldier asked.
"The rats have surely scurried out of what remains after they blew the section that had the incriminating evidence. We will send in a team after we know the site is clear and see what we can gather." Dr. Schugel said as she made her way towards the cab of the truck, and left the actual work to the rest of the team.
She had important work to do, herself. She had to set the events in motion that had to happen, after all.
They were running out of time.