PRIMORDIAL SONG: MELODY OF UNEASE

CHAPTER 6:

THE DUBIOUS OLD MAN

Harry had never been so glad that Tiamat could still fly. She'd caught Harry as they fell, slowing their descent, while Drake summoned the Golden Hind to catch Ritsuka and the Servants. As Tiamat brought them in to land on the deck, Arturia grimaced. "Damnation, it's like Babylonia all over again."

"Not an experience I wanted to repeat," Ritsuka muttered. "Thanks, Drake."

The buxom, red-haired woman in the naval outfit was actually, according to Hermione, Elizabeth I, who had looked identical to Drake. However, she preferred to be known as Drake. "You're welcome, but sink me, this was off to a great start. You two all right?" This was to Harry and Tiamat.

"Fine enough," Harry said. "Free fall is so exhilarating."

Medea frowned, the lavender-haired Greek witch looking to the night sky. "In Babylonia, it was because our Rayshift hit the Bounded Field around Uruk. I don't know what could have caused it here."

Atalanta and her children were peering over the side, as were EMIYA and Mordred. EMIYA appeared to be a Japanese man with white hair and tanned skin, his eyes steel-coloured. A Counter-Guardian, he had been Arturia's Master in another timeline, though he ended up making a deal with the Counter-Force, a deal he regretted. Chaldea was a nice change of pace for the cynical, sardonic young man who reminded Harry of himself in too many ways.

It was EMIYA who noticed something as they flew over the rooftops of Shinjuku. "On the rooftop, down there. I think we have a Servant. He's watching us."

"Bold of him to advertise his presence," Atalanta remarked. "Still, is he ally or foe? Either way, we should approach with caution."

The ship was brought in to land. Aside from the aforementioned Servants, Ritsuka, Harry and Tiamat had brought along Jeanne d'Arc, Saint Martha, Quetzlcoatl, and Hundred-Faced Hassan, with a view to bringing in more later if need be. As they disembarked, the Servant in question remarked, "Oh my word…is that the Golden Hind? I saw a picture of that once in a book."

Harry's eyes narrowed in suspicion. The speaker was an older man, perhaps in his fifties or sixties, his grey hair immaculate, as was his moustache. His eyes were sharp, piercing with intelligence, and despite his friendly demeanour, there was something clinical, even calculating about his gaze. He looked superficially dandyish, his fine clothes nonetheless having a vaguely militaristic bent to them. His deep, plummy and refined voice held a British accent, albeit with a touch of what could have been Irish, to Harry's ears. "And who are you?" he asked.

"A Servant, of course," the man said with a wry smile. "Archer, if you need my class. Let us call me, hmm…Archer of Shinjuku for convenience. And let me be the first to welcome you, Masters of Chaldea, to Hell on Earth!"

"Hell on Earth?" Ritsuka asked, before he hurried over to the side of the building's roof, and peered over the railing. Harry and Tiamat soon followed, and looked down.

Harry noted that a lot of the inhabitants looked either thuggish, or were dressed in weird paramilitary dress with helmets…those that were human, anyway. Harry noted some automatons, ones not dissimilar to records Da Vinci and Roman kept of their times in Victorian London. "I'm guessing this isn't normal for Shinjuku?" Harry snarked.

"No, of course not," Ritsuka said, before turning to face the mysterious Archer. "What's going on? Thugs, paramilitary troops, automatons…"

"The paramilitary troops are known as 'Hornets'. Ex-police, particularly from the NPA, and also from the JSDF, I believe," the man said. "The thugs are also spellcasters. And aside from the automatons, we have demonic beasts roaming the streets to boot. Most of the better parts of society have died off, or else are in hiding, whereas…well, scum rises to the top, as they say. A fin de siècle in every sense of the term, I dare say. It has been isolated from the rest of the world, and thus became a prison, no, a cesspool. Shinjuku, now a quarantined territory filled with malice."

As they stared at him, Tiamat seemed to notice something. "…Look around this part of the city."

Harry looked, and noticed what she had. "Ritsuka…there's a wall around Shinjuku! What the hell is this, Arkham City?"

"I don't understand the reference, but no transmissions come in or out of the city," Archer of Shinjuku said.

Ritsuka activated the comms. "Are you getting this?"

Da Vinci's voice came through. "Indeed we are. We're unable to analyse anything beyond Shinjuku in this Singularity, but we can glimpse using SHEBA ruined buildings in the immediate surrounding wards. However, the wall is virtually at the border of this Singularity, so we can't discern much else."

Ritsuka then noticed something. "That building over there, to the west…I've never seen it in Shinjuku."

Archer looked over at the massive, tiered building, and nodded. "Yes, very observant. I believe you'd call that the lair of the final boss, as it were. Of course, in stories like our own, getting to the villain is oft a circuitous route. And there are a number of Servants guarding approaches from both street level and the rooftops."

"You know a lot about this," Harry said, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. "A British Archer…one who looks relatively recent too. If I didn't know any better, I'd say your outfit was maybe Victorian or later."

"Ah-ha! Well, who could say? However, I will concede that I lived in Victorian England," Archer of Shinjuku said jovially. But then, his eyes narrowed. "As I am sure you realise, knowledge is power, especially when it comes to the identities of Servants. This is especially so in Holy Grail Wars, but even while dealing with Singularities, a misstep could lead to trouble. I am not asking you to trust me wholly by any means, but trust that your agenda and mine converge, for I have issues with the one lurking within that tower, so we are allies of convenience at the very least."

Harry and Tiamat exchanged looks, but Ritsuka nodded. "If that's the case…well, let's work well together…"

Hermione looked at the visual feed, peering at the older man. "Victorian dress…British older man…calls himself an Archer," she mused with a frown. "What do you reckon, Hinako?"

"I can't say. If it weren't for the British accent, I'd have pegged him as John T Thompson," the vampire remarked.

Lord El-Melloi turned to face them. "Who?"

"The inventor of what became known as the Tommy Gun," Hermione explained. "A veteran of the Spanish-American War of 1898, and helped develop a number of weapons, including that gun. Thompson nicknamed his own weapon the 'Trench Broom', as it was intended for use in the First World War. That being said, he doesn't need to be a historical figure. Many Servants, even those close to our era, come from works of fiction, or else figures who were turned into fiction. From the 1800s alone, we have Eve, aka Frankenstein's creation, and Henry Jekyll, and we met someone claiming to be Sherlock Holmes in the Camelot Singularity. Of course, these could be red herrings, either part of a persona or an actual physical disguise, designed to throw us off the scent. I'm still trying to consider a British sharpshooter from Victorian times, and only two names come to me, both from fiction. Indeed, they come from the same works."

"And they are?" Waver, the human one, asked.

"John Watson and Sebastian Moran, both from the Sherlock Holmes stories," Hermione said.

Svin Glascheit frowned. "I know who Watson was. Wasn't he Holmes' sidekick?"

"And an army veteran. Admittedly, not a sniper to my knowledge, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was, as he is often portrayed as such in modern media, which would shape his being on the Throne of Heroes. But Moran is the one that worries me. Sebastian Moran was one of the enforcers of Moriarty, Holmes' nemesis, and definitely a sharpshooter, and like Watson, is ex-military."

Waver, the Caster version, nodded. "Not bad hypotheses, but he doesn't seem to carry himself as military. That may mean little, but…until we get confirmation, it's like Holmes would say, that it is dangerous to hypothesise ahead of the facts. However, did you notice the way he observed everyone? It was very like Holmes himself. He is intelligent and observant. And he recognised the Golden Hind, and from a book. None of the replicas were built until after Victorian times. We'll need to scrutinise everything he says, just in case he lets slip a clue."

"Assuming it isn't misdirection," Olga said quietly. "While he may be telling the truth, he's also choosing his words with care. Note how he said that his agenda and our ground team's coincided. He knows he's untrustworthy, and is trying to appeal to our pragmatism. Da Vinci, there's no sign of the Demon Pillar or the Grail holding this Singularity in place?"

"None so far. There rarely is, anyway, not until later," Da Vinci said, looking at the monitor as a group of thugs surrounded the ground team. "However, it seems we may just see our mysterious Archer in action. There's something off about him, as if he is caught between being an Archer and a Caster, and not in the way EMIYA is…" Her eyes widened when she saw the man materialise a massive weapon, vaguely coffin-shaped. "Well, that's certainly no Tommy Gun," she added with considerable understatement.

"I think that's thrown our hypotheses out the window," Hermione said. "That is not a remotely normal gun…"

The same thoughts were running through Harry's head in the aftermath of the brief battle against the thugs. Shinjuku Archer had fired off missiles from the strange, coffin-like gun, or else fired bursts like a machine gun, or even bludgeoned his foes. Even now, the remaining thugs were fleeing. Archer of Shinjuku was rubbing his back. "Ah, damnation," he muttered. "I really feel my age after a battle like that."

Ritsuka frowned, looking the Archer. "You weren't summoned in your prime?"

"Well, technically, I'm sure you could call this my prime," Archer of Shinjuku said. "I'm in quite good shape for my age, and my gun hits whatever I aim at, so I can't complain that much."

Harry noted EMIYA scrutinising the old man. He remembered that the Counter-Guardian was a specialist in Projection magecraft, allowing him to copy weapons of all kinds, including Noble Phantasms. As part of that, he was good at using Structural Analysis, which meant he could 'read' the history and identity of a weapon. He may have identified who the Servant was already. Harry resolved to ask EMIYA about this later.

"In any case, I am sure you want further details about what has happened here. I will give you that, in exchange for trust. I am sure you would find it hard to trust me, but as I said, trust that our goals align, and thus treat me accordingly as an ally."

"…I want to trust you," Ritsuka said, "but I'm not sure yet. But we can work in that way, can't we?"

"Hah! Good answer, young Master of Chaldea," Archer of Shinjuku said. "Agreeing to trust me wholeheartedly would have had me packing up and leaving you to your own devices. But it's certainly wise not to trust me wholeheartedly. And neither of us want Shinjuku to remain as it is, with evil rampaging through the streets unchecked. So, allow me the opportunity to earn your trust, and show me what the Masters of Chaldea are capable of…"

From a nearby rooftop, a pale man in a wide-brimmed hat and a cape over a suit watched them. So, we meet again, Ritsuka Fujimaru, the man thought. And with company, different Masters to Hermione Granger and Hinako Akuta. I know one of them, the one called Harry Potter. The other…I am sure I can find out. Still…your situation is now even more perilous than it was before. Your new ally has a heart of purest evil, and even your pragmatism in speaking with him may not be enough. But I cannot help, not yet. Nobody knows who I am or what my agenda in this hive of scum and villainy is, and the moment I reveal myself, the advantage of surprise is lost. Still…what is his game, doing this, when he is the one who I am sure planned this abnormal Singularity? I need more data…but time is against us…

With that, the pale man left the rooftop. If Ritsuka or anyone else at Chaldea saw him, they would have recognised him as Edmond Dantes, an Avenger Servant version of the man known as the Count of Monte Cristo. But appearances were often deceiving…

CHAPTER 6 ANNOTATIONS:

Moriarty has made his appearance, and Hermione has made some interesting, if false, hypotheses as to who he is.

No numbered annotations this time.