"Well, that worked out just perfectly," Robin growled as she tossed a rent-a-cop over the counter and through the barrier that normally shielded the tellers from the customers. She followed shortly thereafter, joined by Jen and Nena with Fate bringing up the rear. "Really, of all the days for a Coast Guard cutter to get suspicious, it's today? And with our ride back no less? I hope these damn rocks are worth it."
"A minor setback," Nena said. "For one thing, that hero back there and her escort were the only registered hero squad nearby due to a Rikti invasion in Talos. We get to the D and we're home free. Non-extradition and booze!"
"You only care about that because the number of drunks means it's easier for you to play with their heads," Jen pointed out.
"Well, yeah. But it's not like you're complaining," Nena retorted.
Fate just shook her head as she followed the bickering trio out, glancing over one shoulder as she did. Odd...was that a glint of metal in the glare from the sun...?
***
"Are you sure about this?" her partner's voice crackled over her helmet's speaker. "I know you're eager, but your paperwork hasn't even cleared with city hall yet."
"They're getting away!" Divine Sabre said as the armored girl rocketed through the air along the length of Independence Port for the bank. "If they get to the water, there's probably a submarine to take them back, right?"
"If they head that way, they'll get caught anyway. The PPD and the Coast Guard have an Arachnos minisub surrounded in the bay, and Lusca's blocking the other exit point. The only way they'd be able to get out of town would be a direct extract from an Arachnos gunship or..."
"The D. They're headed for Pocket D!" she said, silver and blue armor glinting in the sun as she banked to the side of a building and adjusted her flight pattern for the King's Row exit ahead. "I need a distance estimate between the bank and the Row tunnel!"
COORDINATES ESTABLISHED, CALCULATING....DONE flashed across her HUD as the map came up, highlighting the estimated position of the bank robbers and highlighting a least time flight path. Divine nodded, pulling a quick roll to the side as she fell into line.
"...fine, if you're doing this, I'll see what I can do since I can't talk you out of it, but be careful, will you?" her helmet speaker squawked again.
"Right. I'll be careful," she returned with a smile.
"Why do I not believe you?" the speaker sighed.
***
"We're being followed," Fate observed quietly as they ran, keeping low to prevent any Longbow chasers from picking them out from the normal hero population.
"What?" Nena blinked from ahead. "No way. I told you, there's no other registered heroes out...here....well, son of a bitch. Clever girl," the telepath trailed off. "We've got one coming in low over the construction area, flight capable. The local hero ID doesn't pull up any beacon coming closer. Possibly someone else with the same idea as us?"
"Either way, they didn't contact us. It's a potential threat," Fate considered. "I'll deal with it."
"Hey, I can fry whoever it is...." Nena started, before the black armored Scimitar held up a hand.
"Yes, but you'll be needed to get Jen and Robin into the D if there's trouble. I can get back independently if necessary. Keep with them," Fate said, almost sighing with relief when Nena looked at her for a moment and then nodded in agreement. As the other three Scimitars went on ahead, Fate took the sky, drawing her energy blades. This needed to be quick, and Nena enjoyed her work too much by half. The time she'd take to pursue and twist whoever this was to her will was time they needed to escape, and Fate wasn't about to let the group spend a few days in the Zig until they hijacked a ride out with Arachnos. That would anger Madigan considerably, and Fate really didn't want her sisters in trouble if she could avoid it.
Sunlight glinted again as she saw it coming this time. Burnished silver, almost white armor, traced in blue and gold. With the sunlight behind this one, she'd almost missed it entirely due to the reflections. Locking onto her target, Fate shot forward, weapons ready.
***
INTERCEPTION ALERT. INBOUND THREAT SOURCE.
Divine blinked at the warning and dove, barely saving herself as a light pole was sheared through and crashed to the ground below. Whirling around, her targeting systems coming up. "What was that?!"
"Sensors paint it as a Type-2 combat armor. Some kind of energy melee weapon from the looks of that pole. Keep out of reach and blast it from a distance."
"Got it!" Divine said, shooting for the sky and unloading energy blasts back the way she'd come. The black form turned, dodged, and then parried one blast before charging for her, giving Divine her first good look at her opponent: a sleek, feminine black power armor with golden highlights and a wicked looking pair of twin energy katana that glowed a brilliant gold. She darted to the side as the other woman shot past, firing again as she shot back into an alleyway.
The dark armored woman followed, jinking and weaving around Divine's fire despite the constricted space of the alley, mostly by skimming areas where she didn't dare fire too close to walls without risking hitting the buildings too directly. A fire escape fell in pieces as the enemy sliced through it, going right for her. Divine responded by grabbing a clothesline and pulling it back, snapping it towards her opponent as she shot forward....which resulted in one of the energy blades slicing through it clean.
"Yeah, that wasn't really going to work."
"Hey, I'm trying to think of something besides blowing up these people's houses!"
"Remember, she's as durable as you are and much faster....wait, I've got a hit on that profile....shit...Divine, get out of there, now. That's Zanbar Scimitar, and she's much more dangerous than you. Get out of there and let her go! She'll kill you!"
"R-right!" Divine said, pulling back and making a beeline for the nearest police station as the Scimitar pulled free of the alley and pursued.
***
Fate considered. The Sabre, and that was all she really could be, given the armor type, was retreating. However, she'd seen Fate, and Madigan's orders about secrecy were fairly explicit when it came to Paragon. Most of the time, they just had Nena wipe the minds of anyone that saw them, but this time, she'd sent the telepath on ahead. Sloppy. She'd have to do this the old fashioned way and get rid of the body.
The Sabre was proving hard to lock up, primarily due to Fate's lack of ranged weaponry which her opponent had in abundance. Ducking another particle beam, Fate darted along an apartment building, rattling windows with her slipstream as she forced the Sabre to take aim at buildings or essentially give up shooting at her. She was slightly faster, which she could use to her advantage...
Darting down another alleyway, she shot to the left as it T-branched, waiting for the sound of rushing air as the Sabre shot past, darting out as the girl flew by. She had the distance right. One blow would be all it'd take...
***
Divine missed death by millimeters as she turned around...and only lost the tip of one sensor antenna as the sword overshot her head. A blast sent the Scimitar retreating back a couple feet, but she was on the offensive again a second later, barely shaken. Divine frowned, coming to a decision as the Scimitar pressed the attack again. Stopping her horizontal momentum, she shot straight up before slowing to a stationary hover. She couldn't outrun this fight...so she'd have to try something more risky.
The Scimitar followed, accelerating towards her but obviously expecting her target to break off to engage at range again. Nonetheless, she seemed to rate her chances of catching up before Divine could retreat as almost certain.
"What are you doing? You need to get out of there!"
"I can't run away....not from this fight," Divine returned, even as she felt the heat around her arms become noticeable, the coolant systems not designed to deal with this level of output. Fifty feet...thirty...twenty....
***
Fate frowned. The girl had stopped running and was facing her head on. Regardless of whether or not she scored a direct hit, the Sabre couldn't hope to take out Fate in one shot. It was beyond her demonstrated capacity. Fate could see some building light around the armor's gauntlets, but she'd survived energy-based punches before. This was a fledgling hero, not a Crey Power Tank. Twenty...ten...five...now!
***
Independence Port was used to the sounds of super-powered combat. Heroes pursuing Family, Tsoo, or other criminals were a fairly common sight. However, an all-out brawl between two armored women of similar capability was less common...as were the explosive results that would've been more at home in Siren's Call.
"Now!" Divine shouted despite herself. Her arms came up as the stored energy released itself at the Scimitar, as committed to her swing as Divine was to her strategy. The blast nearly touched the other woman's breastplate in spite of her last second dodge, and continued on in a neon burst of energy that sliced through armor plating. Zanbar's trained reflexes prevented it from taking her head with the entire front of her helmet, and the overpressure seals ejecting the blasted remains to prevent the heat from boiling her inside the molten remains as the particle beam carved a single ruler straight scar through the Scimitar's armor from waist to shoulder. The physical impact of the blast sent Zanbar careening off into a nearby wall, trailing smoke and sparks.
Divine, however, hadn't come out of it much better. Only a last second hesitation, caused by Zanbar recognizing her gambit, had turned the blade's strike slightly to the left in an attempt to dodge. As Divine turned away from the strike herself, the blade had smashed through armorglass as if it wasn't there, slicing brunette hair and delicate electronics inside the helmet and cutting off the voice of her partner in mid-panicked request for a status report. Even poorly aimed, the energy blade had carved a jagged furrow across her chest armor, before being jerked away by Zanbar's involuntarily reversed flight path. The unexpected recoil of the blast overpowered the thruster compensation of Divine's flight systems, which were intended to handle her armor's standard specifications rather than this last ditch desperation maneuver, sending Divine crashing into a nearby fire escape. When the dust cleared, Zanbar was embedded 3 inches into a brick wall, armor still smoking, while Divine was half-limp on the edge of the wrecked fire escape, a crumpled heap of bruises and error messages.
She groaned, looking up as she hit the emergency release for her helmet and ejected the star-cracked faceplate so she could see where Zanbar should have landed. "D-did I get her?" she asked no one in particular....only to see a vaguely Scimitar shaped dent in the wall, but no armored woman a half-second before the Scimitar landed. She made a tiny cry as the armored woman's weight landed over top of her in a crouch, jarring her wounded body as the fire escape groaned beneath the additional weight. Looking up, Divine found herself looking into a pair of intense crimson eyes framed by slightly disheveled long hair. Between them, stopped just before her throat, was the Scimitar's energy blade, so close that Divine could smell the ionization rising off its containment field.
***
Fate stared down at the face of her opponent for long pair of seconds as she prepared to finish the job...before sirens sounded nearby. She glanced away from the brown-haired girl for a moment before looking back. She could still finish the jo-
Fate, where the hell are you?! Nena's voice sounded in her head as she blinked, her face switching from intent to surprised.
Tying off loose ends, she sent back.
Well, you took your sweet time. The cops are headed your way. Get out of there before they catch you! Nena remonstrated her.
..understood, Fate nodded, standing up. She didn't have time to hide the body, so this one would have to survive for now. She stood up, deactivating her blades and stowing the hilts as she stepped back into the air in a hover.
"W-wait!"
The protest startled her out of her tactical evaluation of how best to escape, as the young brunette Sabre looked at her with earnest eyes. "What's your name?!"
Fate blinked once, slowly, at the question. Why would this girl care what her name was? Her codename was on file with the FBSA, surely...and as for her actual name... Still, something about the girl's determined expression compelled her to answer. "Fate," she said simply.
The Sabre brightened slightly, looking up at her. "I'm Nanoha! Can't you..." she started before trailing off as she apparently lost track of what she was trying to say, if she'd known to begin with.
Fate turned, glancing at the oncoming sirens. "I have to go," she said again, unnecessarily.
"Wait, please-!"
But Fate was already gone, flying at best speed for the King's Row tunnel, what little parts of her mind weren't occupied by getting out safely confused as to why she'd given the girl her name...
***
Nanoha sat there for a long while, watching the empty air where the Scimitar...Fate...had vanished. Out of sight. Finally, coming to her senses, she reached back to pull out the backup communicator, bringing it up to her mouth.
"Yuuno, are you there?"
"Nan-..Divine! Are you alright?!" her partner answered, clearly relieved.
"I'm fine...a little banged up, but nothing serious," she said, glancing down at her armor. "The suit's another story...I think I'm going to have to put off my debut for a little while longer," she said with a tired giggle.
"...right, I'll try to get someone out there to pick you up. As long as you're alright, we should be okay."
Nanoha nodded slightly. "Sounds good," she said, leaning back against the brick wall of the building. The sirens were already getting closer and she was...really tired all of a sudden.
"Just stay where you are and I'll take care of it, Divine."
"Right. Whatever you say," she noted, exhaustion catching up as she dozed off. The sleeping Sabre didn't even stir when a pair of women in similar power armor arrived ahead of the sirens to move her far clear of the scene.
***
"Right. Whatever you say," the speaker said as Yuuno began looking about for an appropriately set up teleport beacon he could hijack. Most supergroup bases had less security than the average hospital, and with Divine not currently licensed, he didn't want to risk her chances too early. All he needed was a base suitably deserted. There were more than a few, either due to the supergroup falling on hard times, or just being so active no one was often in. A few were outfitted with AI monitoring that he couldn't bypass, but it wouldn't be that hard to find one suitably out of the way...
The young man was so focused on his task that he didn't immediately notice the blinking light at the bottom of one of his computers. It beeped in sequence a few time, the audio muted from an exterior command, before he blinked as a small cartoon weasel or ferret scampered onto his screen. It promptly slapped a small post-it note onto the center of his screen and scampered back off screen. Yuuno blinked, before clicking on the note, which extended into an IP address.
Frowning, he checked the access points to his computer and found...nothing. No evidence of forced entry. Nothing except a .exe file that hadn't been there ten minutes ago. He considered this for a moment before shrugging. If they could get in that easily, they couldn't very well do much more damage if he opened up his systems to a random IP address. Quickly, he disconnected all but his primary machine, whirs of tiny servomotors assuring him that the armatures were physically disconnecting the other machines for the duration of the link up. No need to be sloppy, after all.
Upon logging in, Yuuno stared at a blank screen with a single progress bar for a moment before a superdeformed figure in red power armor popped up on screen. He blinked as he immediately recognized the figure from reports, even through the cutesy rendition. Ohhhhh boy.
"Hi, Mr. Mystery Helper," Net Sabre chirped. "We need to have a little chat."
***
"...I couldn't just leave her there, so I took her home with me. When she woke up and told me about what had happened to her...I dunno," Yuuno said, leaning back in his chair, looking at the screen. "I've never been able to get a hero license myself ever since the accident. Apparently, as opposed to what comics will tell you, a wheelchair typically does keep you from joining in on the superheroics," he said, tapping one wheel on the left side of the chair.
"What happened?" Net asked, curiously.
"I got overconfident and I got stupid," Yuuno admitted. "Barely Security Level 5, and I jumped in without thinking to take on a Troll shaking down some old lady in Skyway. Turns out some major spinal injuries don't instantly heal via medicomm," he shrugged.
"But...I've seen exactly that sort of thing happen and it didn't..." Net started in confusion, before Yuuno put up a hand.
"Right, I forgot...you see, apparently, I have this rare genetic quirk," the blonde boy explained. "My biology doesn't play nice with Rikti science for some reason. Means I never have to worry about being infected with the Lost virus, but also means that a lot of that shiny medical tech that we got from them doesn't do much either, since it's effectively the same thing. The Lost virus is just manipulating cellular mutation with a new blueprint instead of fixing the original."
"Well, at least it made you prettier in the bargain?" Net giggled.
"...eh? What're you talking about?" he said, looking at the screen in confusion.
"...anyway! So when Nanoha admitted where she came from..."
"I tried to help her," Yuuno nodded, mentally shaking his head. "I never got any real support myself. I figured maybe I could help keep her from making the dumb mistakes I did. She'd probably recover faster, but Nanoha has a bad habit of trying to overdo things too fast. When it succeeds, she's brilliant. When it doesn't...she tends to get herself hurt. I think this latest fight with Zanbar was a case of a little of both, really."
Net nodded. "We did see damaged components all over the crash scene. She probably damaged her rather badly."
"That's Nanoha for you...all drive, full power ahead, and damn the consequences to her," he chuckled softly.
"You sound like you're awful fond of her....are you two...?" Net asked, a grin in her voice.
"No...mostly because she falls into the 40% of this city's women that aren't just into other women, but exclusively so," Yuuno sighed.
"...ouch."
"Tell me about it," he chuckled. "Given certain rumors on the internet, I'm tempted to wonder if all you Sabres are that way."
"Hey now!" Net laughed. "That's a dirty, dirty stereotype. In my case it's true, but shame on you."
***
Nanoha blinked as she woke up, looking up at an unfamiliar ceiling. It wasn't Yuuno's place where she'd been staying. While he kept the house clean, this was far too clinical. She wasn't registered yet, so it was unlikely that medicomm had picked her up. Maybe someone had found her out on the street after she'd passed out? Yuuno'd said he was working on something...
"Hey there," a familiar voice spoke up as she looked over, eyes meeting a familiar glasses-wearing face. She blinked and tried to sit up, before Yuuno put a hand on her shoulder. "Easy...easy...you're safe," he said. "We've got some new friends because of this, but they didn't want to scare you too badly by being here when you woke up."
"Friends? Who are they, Yuuno?" she asked, settling back into the bed, feeling slightly more reassured now that she saw her armor over on a rack nearby, small armatures working on cutting off damaged plating and repairing other sections. The red glow of the primary interface port on her left gauntlet was strong and steady, apparently undamaged unlike the rest of the suit.
"You remember when I told you there were other Sabres?" he asked, getting a nod from her. "Well, they found you after your fight with Zanbar. They used the suit to track down my number and contacted me to let me know. You've been sleeping off your injuries for a day or so."
"So we're..."
"In their base, yes," Yuuno said. "From what I understand, this upper level is limited to just the Sabres themselves rather than the rest of their supergroup. You're safe here."
"I see," Nanoha said quietly, gaining an odd look from Yuuno.
"Nanoha, are you all right?"
"Um...yeah...I was just thinking about that girl..." she said, hands fidgeting.
"Who, Zanbar?" Yuuno said, blinking at the non sequitir
"Fate....she said her name was Fate," Nanoha said, looking up at him. "...I'm not sure why I'm thinking about her now...it's weird."
"Weird how?" Yuuno said, as a niggling worry came to mind. Oh, please don't let it be...
"Well, thinking about her makes me feel funny. I get this weird feeling in my stomach whenever I remember what pretty eyes she had..."
"Oh god..." Yuuno groaned before he could stop himself, putting a hand to his face.
"What?!" she asked, slightly alarmed by the reaction. "Is something wrong with me?! Am I going to die or something?!"
"Much worse than that..." he mumbled under his breath before looking up at her. "It's nothing major yet, Nanoha. We'll see if it pops up again, but if everything turns out alright, you won't have to worry about it again."
"...okay then," she said, settling down but still unsure of his sudden reassurance.
Yuuno leaned back in his wheelchair. "In the meantime, there's some people waiting downstairs that want to meet you," he smiled.
***
"Are they still at it?" Robin groaned.
"If you have a problem with it, you go tell them to stop," the newest redhead to join the group said as Nao looked up from texting on her cell phone at a particularly loud thud from the ceiling above them.
"Yeah, right. I saw the reports on that loggerhead Nena brought home. You think I'm gonna get between someone who makes Deathsurge look like a spark plug having a bad day and the first whoop-de-doo she's had in however long?" Robin said. "Once they're done, I'm talking to Galatea about soundproofing these walls. I'm pretty sure I can bullshit a reason for it. Some kind of security thing."
"I really don't see what the big deal is," Jen said, a quintet of throwing darts impacting in the bullseye across the room and burying themselves two inches deep from the kinetic impact. "It's just some noise. It's not like you're trying to sleep or anything."
"Get used to it," Fate said, looking up from her book. "You didn't see how Nena was acting around the brain responsible for that containment suit."
"Who, that Acid chick?" Robin said, eyes narrowing. "She wouldn't...."
"She would," Nao said. "I've only been here two weeks and I can tell you that our little sister has many talents, but self-control isn't one of them," she said as she watched a small spider crawl across the table by her, before it fired a goblet of webbing at a fly and proceeded to devour it. This place had the weirdest bugs. She started to say something before blinking. "Hey...you hear that?"
"No..." Robin said, glancing at her. "Hear what?"
"Exactly," the redhead said, uncurling from her spot as she glanced at the ceiling.
All four inhabitants of the room looked over as Nena stumbled down the stairs wrapped in a bathrobe, made her way into the kitchen, and started ransacking the fridge with a vengeance.
"Your little battery operated toy finally run out of juice?" Jen asked with a chuckle.
"Not hardly," Nena groaned between gulps of caffeine and mouthfuls of whatever convenient food she could find. "She's dozing. She'll be awake again in less than an hour."
"No rest for the wicked?" Fate noted dryly from her spot, partially enjoying this after how pushy Nena'd been earlier about her needing to "get out more".
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. At least I'm not stuck thinking about some hero girl that I met by beating her up," Nena said with a half-attentive scowl, as the others glanced back over at Fate, who had frozen.
"I..."
"You can't get her out of your head, which means I hear about it all the time, remember?" the cranky redhead noted, grabbing a block of cheese. "Why don't you stop joking about my problems and embrace the idealistic brunette of your dreams. Save us both some of the trouble," Nena said, packing a box full of snackfood and supplies before ascending back up the stairs.
The rest of the girls looked at Fate for a long moment as the blonde girl sat there, frozen, eyes not looking at them...before finally they snapped back into focus, crimson glances returning the other three back to their activities. When Fate got that look, it was most emphatically None Of Their Damn Business, and not even Jen was crazy enough to risk Fate in that kind of mood.
Still, Nao began texting on her phone again, the results popping up on Robin's screen as Jen logged into the chat room as well via her personal WiFi.
***
*Juliet293 has entered room*GeekSmash! has entered room
*Sp33dPhR34k has entered room
Juliet293: So, we're totally going to find out what Nena was talking about?
GeekSmash!: of course we are.
Sp33dPhR34k: lol its what sistersd o after al.GeekSmash!: we'd just hate to see her heartbroken.
Juliet293: And, of course, the blackmail potential.
GeekSmash!: and the fact that for once, we'll know what interests her besides those books.
Sp33dPhR34k: so like dowe breing Nena into it? she knows already whats a goiwng on with er. lol
GeekSmash!: not just yet. I think I can dig some stuff up.
Juliet293: I have a few sources to check too. Best to keep this under Galatea and Madigan's attention.
GeekSmash!: right.
Sp33dPhR34k: liek totaly lol
Juliet293: Then let's get to work.
GeekSmash!: on it.
* GeekSmash! has logged out
Sp33dPhR34k: im totally allover it. lol
* Sp33dPhR34k has logged out
Juliet293: That was easy enough.
[*******: They aren't stupid. Remember that.
Juliet293: Of course they aren't. But even smart people can be manipulated. And you did want this investigated without Fate knowing.
[******]: Just ensure she remains unaware. If she were to find out...
Juliet293: She'd be upset. Got it, boss. You can trust me...
* Juliet293 has logged out
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
"A minor setback," Nena said. "For one thing, that hero back there and her escort were the only registered hero squad nearby due to a Rikti invasion in Talos. We get to the D and we're home free. Non-extradition and booze!"
"You only care about that because the number of drunks means it's easier for you to play with their heads," Jen pointed out.
"Well, yeah. But it's not like you're complaining," Nena retorted.
Fate just shook her head as she followed the bickering trio out, glancing over one shoulder as she did. Odd...was that a glint of metal in the glare from the sun...?
***
"Are you sure about this?" her partner's voice crackled over her helmet's speaker. "I know you're eager, but your paperwork hasn't even cleared with city hall yet."
"They're getting away!" Divine Sabre said as the armored girl rocketed through the air along the length of Independence Port for the bank. "If they get to the water, there's probably a submarine to take them back, right?"
"If they head that way, they'll get caught anyway. The PPD and the Coast Guard have an Arachnos minisub surrounded in the bay, and Lusca's blocking the other exit point. The only way they'd be able to get out of town would be a direct extract from an Arachnos gunship or..."
"The D. They're headed for Pocket D!" she said, silver and blue armor glinting in the sun as she banked to the side of a building and adjusted her flight pattern for the King's Row exit ahead. "I need a distance estimate between the bank and the Row tunnel!"
COORDINATES ESTABLISHED, CALCULATING....DONE flashed across her HUD as the map came up, highlighting the estimated position of the bank robbers and highlighting a least time flight path. Divine nodded, pulling a quick roll to the side as she fell into line.
"...fine, if you're doing this, I'll see what I can do since I can't talk you out of it, but be careful, will you?" her helmet speaker squawked again.
"Right. I'll be careful," she returned with a smile.
"Why do I not believe you?" the speaker sighed.
***
"We're being followed," Fate observed quietly as they ran, keeping low to prevent any Longbow chasers from picking them out from the normal hero population.
"What?" Nena blinked from ahead. "No way. I told you, there's no other registered heroes out...here....well, son of a bitch. Clever girl," the telepath trailed off. "We've got one coming in low over the construction area, flight capable. The local hero ID doesn't pull up any beacon coming closer. Possibly someone else with the same idea as us?"
"Either way, they didn't contact us. It's a potential threat," Fate considered. "I'll deal with it."
"Hey, I can fry whoever it is...." Nena started, before the black armored Scimitar held up a hand.
"Yes, but you'll be needed to get Jen and Robin into the D if there's trouble. I can get back independently if necessary. Keep with them," Fate said, almost sighing with relief when Nena looked at her for a moment and then nodded in agreement. As the other three Scimitars went on ahead, Fate took the sky, drawing her energy blades. This needed to be quick, and Nena enjoyed her work too much by half. The time she'd take to pursue and twist whoever this was to her will was time they needed to escape, and Fate wasn't about to let the group spend a few days in the Zig until they hijacked a ride out with Arachnos. That would anger Madigan considerably, and Fate really didn't want her sisters in trouble if she could avoid it.
Sunlight glinted again as she saw it coming this time. Burnished silver, almost white armor, traced in blue and gold. With the sunlight behind this one, she'd almost missed it entirely due to the reflections. Locking onto her target, Fate shot forward, weapons ready.
***
INTERCEPTION ALERT. INBOUND THREAT SOURCE.
Divine blinked at the warning and dove, barely saving herself as a light pole was sheared through and crashed to the ground below. Whirling around, her targeting systems coming up. "What was that?!"
"Sensors paint it as a Type-2 combat armor. Some kind of energy melee weapon from the looks of that pole. Keep out of reach and blast it from a distance."
"Got it!" Divine said, shooting for the sky and unloading energy blasts back the way she'd come. The black form turned, dodged, and then parried one blast before charging for her, giving Divine her first good look at her opponent: a sleek, feminine black power armor with golden highlights and a wicked looking pair of twin energy katana that glowed a brilliant gold. She darted to the side as the other woman shot past, firing again as she shot back into an alleyway.
The dark armored woman followed, jinking and weaving around Divine's fire despite the constricted space of the alley, mostly by skimming areas where she didn't dare fire too close to walls without risking hitting the buildings too directly. A fire escape fell in pieces as the enemy sliced through it, going right for her. Divine responded by grabbing a clothesline and pulling it back, snapping it towards her opponent as she shot forward....which resulted in one of the energy blades slicing through it clean.
"Yeah, that wasn't really going to work."
"Hey, I'm trying to think of something besides blowing up these people's houses!"
"Remember, she's as durable as you are and much faster....wait, I've got a hit on that profile....shit...Divine, get out of there, now. That's Zanbar Scimitar, and she's much more dangerous than you. Get out of there and let her go! She'll kill you!"
"R-right!" Divine said, pulling back and making a beeline for the nearest police station as the Scimitar pulled free of the alley and pursued.
***
Fate considered. The Sabre, and that was all she really could be, given the armor type, was retreating. However, she'd seen Fate, and Madigan's orders about secrecy were fairly explicit when it came to Paragon. Most of the time, they just had Nena wipe the minds of anyone that saw them, but this time, she'd sent the telepath on ahead. Sloppy. She'd have to do this the old fashioned way and get rid of the body.
The Sabre was proving hard to lock up, primarily due to Fate's lack of ranged weaponry which her opponent had in abundance. Ducking another particle beam, Fate darted along an apartment building, rattling windows with her slipstream as she forced the Sabre to take aim at buildings or essentially give up shooting at her. She was slightly faster, which she could use to her advantage...
Darting down another alleyway, she shot to the left as it T-branched, waiting for the sound of rushing air as the Sabre shot past, darting out as the girl flew by. She had the distance right. One blow would be all it'd take...
***
Divine missed death by millimeters as she turned around...and only lost the tip of one sensor antenna as the sword overshot her head. A blast sent the Scimitar retreating back a couple feet, but she was on the offensive again a second later, barely shaken. Divine frowned, coming to a decision as the Scimitar pressed the attack again. Stopping her horizontal momentum, she shot straight up before slowing to a stationary hover. She couldn't outrun this fight...so she'd have to try something more risky.
The Scimitar followed, accelerating towards her but obviously expecting her target to break off to engage at range again. Nonetheless, she seemed to rate her chances of catching up before Divine could retreat as almost certain.
"What are you doing? You need to get out of there!"
"I can't run away....not from this fight," Divine returned, even as she felt the heat around her arms become noticeable, the coolant systems not designed to deal with this level of output. Fifty feet...thirty...twenty....
***
Fate frowned. The girl had stopped running and was facing her head on. Regardless of whether or not she scored a direct hit, the Sabre couldn't hope to take out Fate in one shot. It was beyond her demonstrated capacity. Fate could see some building light around the armor's gauntlets, but she'd survived energy-based punches before. This was a fledgling hero, not a Crey Power Tank. Twenty...ten...five...now!
***
Independence Port was used to the sounds of super-powered combat. Heroes pursuing Family, Tsoo, or other criminals were a fairly common sight. However, an all-out brawl between two armored women of similar capability was less common...as were the explosive results that would've been more at home in Siren's Call.
"Now!" Divine shouted despite herself. Her arms came up as the stored energy released itself at the Scimitar, as committed to her swing as Divine was to her strategy. The blast nearly touched the other woman's breastplate in spite of her last second dodge, and continued on in a neon burst of energy that sliced through armor plating. Zanbar's trained reflexes prevented it from taking her head with the entire front of her helmet, and the overpressure seals ejecting the blasted remains to prevent the heat from boiling her inside the molten remains as the particle beam carved a single ruler straight scar through the Scimitar's armor from waist to shoulder. The physical impact of the blast sent Zanbar careening off into a nearby wall, trailing smoke and sparks.
Divine, however, hadn't come out of it much better. Only a last second hesitation, caused by Zanbar recognizing her gambit, had turned the blade's strike slightly to the left in an attempt to dodge. As Divine turned away from the strike herself, the blade had smashed through armorglass as if it wasn't there, slicing brunette hair and delicate electronics inside the helmet and cutting off the voice of her partner in mid-panicked request for a status report. Even poorly aimed, the energy blade had carved a jagged furrow across her chest armor, before being jerked away by Zanbar's involuntarily reversed flight path. The unexpected recoil of the blast overpowered the thruster compensation of Divine's flight systems, which were intended to handle her armor's standard specifications rather than this last ditch desperation maneuver, sending Divine crashing into a nearby fire escape. When the dust cleared, Zanbar was embedded 3 inches into a brick wall, armor still smoking, while Divine was half-limp on the edge of the wrecked fire escape, a crumpled heap of bruises and error messages.
She groaned, looking up as she hit the emergency release for her helmet and ejected the star-cracked faceplate so she could see where Zanbar should have landed. "D-did I get her?" she asked no one in particular....only to see a vaguely Scimitar shaped dent in the wall, but no armored woman a half-second before the Scimitar landed. She made a tiny cry as the armored woman's weight landed over top of her in a crouch, jarring her wounded body as the fire escape groaned beneath the additional weight. Looking up, Divine found herself looking into a pair of intense crimson eyes framed by slightly disheveled long hair. Between them, stopped just before her throat, was the Scimitar's energy blade, so close that Divine could smell the ionization rising off its containment field.
***
Fate stared down at the face of her opponent for long pair of seconds as she prepared to finish the job...before sirens sounded nearby. She glanced away from the brown-haired girl for a moment before looking back. She could still finish the jo-
Fate, where the hell are you?! Nena's voice sounded in her head as she blinked, her face switching from intent to surprised.
Tying off loose ends, she sent back.
Well, you took your sweet time. The cops are headed your way. Get out of there before they catch you! Nena remonstrated her.
..understood, Fate nodded, standing up. She didn't have time to hide the body, so this one would have to survive for now. She stood up, deactivating her blades and stowing the hilts as she stepped back into the air in a hover.
"W-wait!"
The protest startled her out of her tactical evaluation of how best to escape, as the young brunette Sabre looked at her with earnest eyes. "What's your name?!"
Fate blinked once, slowly, at the question. Why would this girl care what her name was? Her codename was on file with the FBSA, surely...and as for her actual name... Still, something about the girl's determined expression compelled her to answer. "Fate," she said simply.
The Sabre brightened slightly, looking up at her. "I'm Nanoha! Can't you..." she started before trailing off as she apparently lost track of what she was trying to say, if she'd known to begin with.
Fate turned, glancing at the oncoming sirens. "I have to go," she said again, unnecessarily.
"Wait, please-!"
But Fate was already gone, flying at best speed for the King's Row tunnel, what little parts of her mind weren't occupied by getting out safely confused as to why she'd given the girl her name...
***
Nanoha sat there for a long while, watching the empty air where the Scimitar...Fate...had vanished. Out of sight. Finally, coming to her senses, she reached back to pull out the backup communicator, bringing it up to her mouth.
"Yuuno, are you there?"
"Nan-..Divine! Are you alright?!" her partner answered, clearly relieved.
"I'm fine...a little banged up, but nothing serious," she said, glancing down at her armor. "The suit's another story...I think I'm going to have to put off my debut for a little while longer," she said with a tired giggle.
"...right, I'll try to get someone out there to pick you up. As long as you're alright, we should be okay."
Nanoha nodded slightly. "Sounds good," she said, leaning back against the brick wall of the building. The sirens were already getting closer and she was...really tired all of a sudden.
"Just stay where you are and I'll take care of it, Divine."
"Right. Whatever you say," she noted, exhaustion catching up as she dozed off. The sleeping Sabre didn't even stir when a pair of women in similar power armor arrived ahead of the sirens to move her far clear of the scene.
***
"Right. Whatever you say," the speaker said as Yuuno began looking about for an appropriately set up teleport beacon he could hijack. Most supergroup bases had less security than the average hospital, and with Divine not currently licensed, he didn't want to risk her chances too early. All he needed was a base suitably deserted. There were more than a few, either due to the supergroup falling on hard times, or just being so active no one was often in. A few were outfitted with AI monitoring that he couldn't bypass, but it wouldn't be that hard to find one suitably out of the way...
The young man was so focused on his task that he didn't immediately notice the blinking light at the bottom of one of his computers. It beeped in sequence a few time, the audio muted from an exterior command, before he blinked as a small cartoon weasel or ferret scampered onto his screen. It promptly slapped a small post-it note onto the center of his screen and scampered back off screen. Yuuno blinked, before clicking on the note, which extended into an IP address.
Frowning, he checked the access points to his computer and found...nothing. No evidence of forced entry. Nothing except a .exe file that hadn't been there ten minutes ago. He considered this for a moment before shrugging. If they could get in that easily, they couldn't very well do much more damage if he opened up his systems to a random IP address. Quickly, he disconnected all but his primary machine, whirs of tiny servomotors assuring him that the armatures were physically disconnecting the other machines for the duration of the link up. No need to be sloppy, after all.
Upon logging in, Yuuno stared at a blank screen with a single progress bar for a moment before a superdeformed figure in red power armor popped up on screen. He blinked as he immediately recognized the figure from reports, even through the cutesy rendition. Ohhhhh boy.
"Hi, Mr. Mystery Helper," Net Sabre chirped. "We need to have a little chat."
***
"...I couldn't just leave her there, so I took her home with me. When she woke up and told me about what had happened to her...I dunno," Yuuno said, leaning back in his chair, looking at the screen. "I've never been able to get a hero license myself ever since the accident. Apparently, as opposed to what comics will tell you, a wheelchair typically does keep you from joining in on the superheroics," he said, tapping one wheel on the left side of the chair.
"What happened?" Net asked, curiously.
"I got overconfident and I got stupid," Yuuno admitted. "Barely Security Level 5, and I jumped in without thinking to take on a Troll shaking down some old lady in Skyway. Turns out some major spinal injuries don't instantly heal via medicomm," he shrugged.
"But...I've seen exactly that sort of thing happen and it didn't..." Net started in confusion, before Yuuno put up a hand.
"Right, I forgot...you see, apparently, I have this rare genetic quirk," the blonde boy explained. "My biology doesn't play nice with Rikti science for some reason. Means I never have to worry about being infected with the Lost virus, but also means that a lot of that shiny medical tech that we got from them doesn't do much either, since it's effectively the same thing. The Lost virus is just manipulating cellular mutation with a new blueprint instead of fixing the original."
"Well, at least it made you prettier in the bargain?" Net giggled.
"...eh? What're you talking about?" he said, looking at the screen in confusion.
"...anyway! So when Nanoha admitted where she came from..."
"I tried to help her," Yuuno nodded, mentally shaking his head. "I never got any real support myself. I figured maybe I could help keep her from making the dumb mistakes I did. She'd probably recover faster, but Nanoha has a bad habit of trying to overdo things too fast. When it succeeds, she's brilliant. When it doesn't...she tends to get herself hurt. I think this latest fight with Zanbar was a case of a little of both, really."
Net nodded. "We did see damaged components all over the crash scene. She probably damaged her rather badly."
"That's Nanoha for you...all drive, full power ahead, and damn the consequences to her," he chuckled softly.
"You sound like you're awful fond of her....are you two...?" Net asked, a grin in her voice.
"No...mostly because she falls into the 40% of this city's women that aren't just into other women, but exclusively so," Yuuno sighed.
"...ouch."
"Tell me about it," he chuckled. "Given certain rumors on the internet, I'm tempted to wonder if all you Sabres are that way."
"Hey now!" Net laughed. "That's a dirty, dirty stereotype. In my case it's true, but shame on you."
***
Nanoha blinked as she woke up, looking up at an unfamiliar ceiling. It wasn't Yuuno's place where she'd been staying. While he kept the house clean, this was far too clinical. She wasn't registered yet, so it was unlikely that medicomm had picked her up. Maybe someone had found her out on the street after she'd passed out? Yuuno'd said he was working on something...
"Hey there," a familiar voice spoke up as she looked over, eyes meeting a familiar glasses-wearing face. She blinked and tried to sit up, before Yuuno put a hand on her shoulder. "Easy...easy...you're safe," he said. "We've got some new friends because of this, but they didn't want to scare you too badly by being here when you woke up."
"Friends? Who are they, Yuuno?" she asked, settling back into the bed, feeling slightly more reassured now that she saw her armor over on a rack nearby, small armatures working on cutting off damaged plating and repairing other sections. The red glow of the primary interface port on her left gauntlet was strong and steady, apparently undamaged unlike the rest of the suit.
"You remember when I told you there were other Sabres?" he asked, getting a nod from her. "Well, they found you after your fight with Zanbar. They used the suit to track down my number and contacted me to let me know. You've been sleeping off your injuries for a day or so."
"So we're..."
"In their base, yes," Yuuno said. "From what I understand, this upper level is limited to just the Sabres themselves rather than the rest of their supergroup. You're safe here."
"I see," Nanoha said quietly, gaining an odd look from Yuuno.
"Nanoha, are you all right?"
"Um...yeah...I was just thinking about that girl..." she said, hands fidgeting.
"Who, Zanbar?" Yuuno said, blinking at the non sequitir
"Fate....she said her name was Fate," Nanoha said, looking up at him. "...I'm not sure why I'm thinking about her now...it's weird."
"Weird how?" Yuuno said, as a niggling worry came to mind. Oh, please don't let it be...
"Well, thinking about her makes me feel funny. I get this weird feeling in my stomach whenever I remember what pretty eyes she had..."
"Oh god..." Yuuno groaned before he could stop himself, putting a hand to his face.
"What?!" she asked, slightly alarmed by the reaction. "Is something wrong with me?! Am I going to die or something?!"
"Much worse than that..." he mumbled under his breath before looking up at her. "It's nothing major yet, Nanoha. We'll see if it pops up again, but if everything turns out alright, you won't have to worry about it again."
"...okay then," she said, settling down but still unsure of his sudden reassurance.
Yuuno leaned back in his wheelchair. "In the meantime, there's some people waiting downstairs that want to meet you," he smiled.
***
"Are they still at it?" Robin groaned.
"If you have a problem with it, you go tell them to stop," the newest redhead to join the group said as Nao looked up from texting on her cell phone at a particularly loud thud from the ceiling above them.
"Yeah, right. I saw the reports on that loggerhead Nena brought home. You think I'm gonna get between someone who makes Deathsurge look like a spark plug having a bad day and the first whoop-de-doo she's had in however long?" Robin said. "Once they're done, I'm talking to Galatea about soundproofing these walls. I'm pretty sure I can bullshit a reason for it. Some kind of security thing."
"I really don't see what the big deal is," Jen said, a quintet of throwing darts impacting in the bullseye across the room and burying themselves two inches deep from the kinetic impact. "It's just some noise. It's not like you're trying to sleep or anything."
"Get used to it," Fate said, looking up from her book. "You didn't see how Nena was acting around the brain responsible for that containment suit."
"Who, that Acid chick?" Robin said, eyes narrowing. "She wouldn't...."
"She would," Nao said. "I've only been here two weeks and I can tell you that our little sister has many talents, but self-control isn't one of them," she said as she watched a small spider crawl across the table by her, before it fired a goblet of webbing at a fly and proceeded to devour it. This place had the weirdest bugs. She started to say something before blinking. "Hey...you hear that?"
"No..." Robin said, glancing at her. "Hear what?"
"Exactly," the redhead said, uncurling from her spot as she glanced at the ceiling.
All four inhabitants of the room looked over as Nena stumbled down the stairs wrapped in a bathrobe, made her way into the kitchen, and started ransacking the fridge with a vengeance.
"Your little battery operated toy finally run out of juice?" Jen asked with a chuckle.
"Not hardly," Nena groaned between gulps of caffeine and mouthfuls of whatever convenient food she could find. "She's dozing. She'll be awake again in less than an hour."
"No rest for the wicked?" Fate noted dryly from her spot, partially enjoying this after how pushy Nena'd been earlier about her needing to "get out more".
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. At least I'm not stuck thinking about some hero girl that I met by beating her up," Nena said with a half-attentive scowl, as the others glanced back over at Fate, who had frozen.
"I..."
"You can't get her out of your head, which means I hear about it all the time, remember?" the cranky redhead noted, grabbing a block of cheese. "Why don't you stop joking about my problems and embrace the idealistic brunette of your dreams. Save us both some of the trouble," Nena said, packing a box full of snackfood and supplies before ascending back up the stairs.
The rest of the girls looked at Fate for a long moment as the blonde girl sat there, frozen, eyes not looking at them...before finally they snapped back into focus, crimson glances returning the other three back to their activities. When Fate got that look, it was most emphatically None Of Their Damn Business, and not even Jen was crazy enough to risk Fate in that kind of mood.
Still, Nao began texting on her phone again, the results popping up on Robin's screen as Jen logged into the chat room as well via her personal WiFi.
***
*Juliet293 has entered room*GeekSmash! has entered room
*Sp33dPhR34k has entered room
Juliet293: So, we're totally going to find out what Nena was talking about?
GeekSmash!: of course we are.
Sp33dPhR34k: lol its what sistersd o after al.GeekSmash!: we'd just hate to see her heartbroken.
Juliet293: And, of course, the blackmail potential.
GeekSmash!: and the fact that for once, we'll know what interests her besides those books.
Sp33dPhR34k: so like dowe breing Nena into it? she knows already whats a goiwng on with er. lol
GeekSmash!: not just yet. I think I can dig some stuff up.
Juliet293: I have a few sources to check too. Best to keep this under Galatea and Madigan's attention.
GeekSmash!: right.
Sp33dPhR34k: liek totaly lol
Juliet293: Then let's get to work.
GeekSmash!: on it.
* GeekSmash! has logged out
Sp33dPhR34k: im totally allover it. lol
* Sp33dPhR34k has logged out
Juliet293: That was easy enough.
[*******: They aren't stupid. Remember that.
Juliet293: Of course they aren't. But even smart people can be manipulated. And you did want this investigated without Fate knowing.
[******]: Just ensure she remains unaware. If she were to find out...
Juliet293: She'd be upset. Got it, boss. You can trust me...
* Juliet293 has logged out
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
