----------------------------------------
Fate groaned. Her mouth tasted as if something had crawled inside to die there, and she swallowed repeatedly against the bile that threatened to come up right where she laid. Wait, what? She was prone. Was it night? She couldn't see anything, it was so dark. An attempt to rub the gum out of her eyes met with resistance and she realised with a panicked start that she'd been strapped down to a stretcher and was blindfolded.
The last thing she recalled was a foreigner speaking to her in Italian, asking if she knew of any good restaurants in the area. She'd been about to recommend Hayate's establishment to the woman with sharply angular features and yellow eyes when she felt a mild prick in her neck. The world had begun to spin just as she had turned to confront a smugly grinning brunette in glasses and she felt her legs give way under her.
"The Principessa is waking, Doctor." Fate recognised that voice as the woman who'd approached her in the ladies and the severity of the situation she was in was beginning to send her heart rate spiking. Already, she was shivering, cold sweat beading her forehead and dripping into her hair as she struggled for calm.
"No matter, we're almost there." They were conversing in Italian, and Fate wondered what had happened to Nanoha. Her breath hitched at the thought of the woman being hurt because of her and she was ironically glad for the blindfold; it helped absorb the tears of worry. Still, she made no sound, feigning a much slower resurfacing into consciousness. Ears peeled, she attempted to deduce where she was being taken, despairing all the same over how she might get herself out of this.
The vehicle she was in didn't sound large and she guessed the engine to be one typically used in mid-range sedans. Soon, it slowed to a stop and the engine was killed. She felt the surface she was laying on tilting, and she found the need to fight back the nausea being shifted so roughly brought on again. Whatever these people had used on her appeared to have some significant side effects and she guessed that whomever they were, the use of illegal substances was the norm.
She had to endure this, survive it. She couldn't imagine the worry Nanoha was experiencing, if she was even able to. The rising tide of panic threatened to overwhelm her again, and it took every ounce of her self-control to wall it off. There'd be no way Fate could function if she allowed the thought of Nanoha being incapacitated to take over.
One of her arms was bared and Fate could smell the alcohol on the cold ball of wet cotton being wiped over the inside of her elbow. Struggling would've made no difference and with rising dread, she felt a needle being inserted into her arm, kept in place with a few strips of tape.
The tilted yellow gaze of Jail Scaglietti watched his assistant hang up the bag of spiked solution by their captive's head and nodded. The procedure would take no longer than a day with his special serum thus he didn't bother disguising himself or those with him as he slowly removed the blindfold over Fate's eyes.
The blonde blinked under the bright lights of the make-shift cell she'd been brought to. It had been set up like a parody of an operation theatre, only the operating table she had been laid on could be tilted to an almost standing position. There was a broad leather strap around her torso, with another strapped around her thighs. Pinning the man hovering in her line of sight, shrouded in darkness, with a blood-red gaze, she surreptitiously began tensing and relaxing the muscles of her arms, chest and legs. A thin wrap had been draped around her body, probably because of how damned cold the room felt, which helped mask her actions.
"Who are you?" Fate croaked, all semblance of her usual articulate grace robbed by the strange chemicals coursing through her veins. Smirking, his white lab coat swishing as he paced closer and out of the shadows surrounding the table, the lights revealed a man with dull lavender hair and tilted yellow eyes. Looming over his 'patient', Fate shivered at the possessive look he ran over her imprisoned form.
He gave his latest lab subject a cold smile, "The man who will remake you," he declared with smug arrogance. Fate made no response, bloodshot eyes merely boring into his. Refused the pleasure of her protests or struggles, he pouted but moved closer to begin fitting a thin cap around the blonde's head. She could make out strange protuberances on the cap before it was put over her unresisting head. They seemed colour-coded and spread all over the cap at even intervals.
The man stepped away, preparing a syringe of red liquid that he had pulled from a vial marked with nothing but the letters JS and a series of numbers. The brunette she remembered confronting was attaching wires to the diodes covering Fate's head and the blonde's glare was split evenly between the two. It was getting harder to accomplish even this. Things were leaping in and out of focus in unnatural ways that had nothing to do with what her mind wanted to concentrate upon.
"Memories are such malleable things," the man pompously intoned while flicking at the needle to get out any bubbles in the solution. Wide-eyed, Fate stared at the dripping needle approaching ever closer. Her throat bobbed nervously.
"You're lucky Her Majesty only asked for three years," Three? That was her entire time in Singapore and then some! "Enough of this and I could reduce you to your infancy."
"So it was mother after all," Fate ground out with acerbic disdain. None of her captors bothered to refute her and she wished she had the power to break free. She'd had to cease tensing her arms to avoid giving away her desperate plan when the man lifted the blanket to inject her with whatever he had prepared. An unnatural heat began travelling up her arm, tendrils of fire that crept up her neck, something she was helpless to fight back.
"It's too bad you had to reveal your… proclivities, before running away to Singapore…" The mocking voice sounded distant as flames licked into her mind screaming for help. Images of her recent past were dredged to the fore against her will, every scene marked with emotion melting away like so much wax in a fireplace. Her body tensed as images of Nanoha began cycling before her eyes. That lopsided smile, the adorable giggle, eyes of deepest ocean blue holding her in the safe regard of purest belief, the ineffable sensation of strong arms wrapped around her.
"No…" The straps around the blonde began to strain, the woman's sudden struggles pulling at the anchors the leather pieces had been bolted to. "No!" Fate was yelling now, the veins in her throat standing out in stark relief as she pulled and heaved, heedless of the leather's edges cutting into her arms. She could feel the creeping emptiness, mental fingers scrabbling desperately to cling to the love she had for Nanoha.
"Feito-chan, can I hold you?"
"Feito-chan cheated!"
"Counting scars?"
"Nyahaha…"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOooooooo!" Fate's scream was raw with anguish as she felt her memories of the auburn haired woman being seared away under the influence of the man's concoction.
----------------------------------------
Skulking along the northern side of the suspected warehouse, Nanoha exhaled a tightly held breath when a familiar sedan was spotted parked near the rear entrance. Her father and brother were coming in from the other side to sweep the surroundings while she did so on her side with her elder sister in tow.
Her clan had seen some surprising upgrades in terms of gear loadout since she'd last participated in a raid, and her eyebrows would still be residing near her hairline had they not been cemented into a perpetual frown of worry. For instance the earpieces that they all sported now, along with night vision goggles and smoke grenades she had strapped to her belt, were all new additions that even her old-fashioned father had no problem utilising. Perhaps the old fart was becoming more practical in his old age.
She and Miyuki had encountered one rotund and not very alert Regius Gaiz having a smoke outside. He had a walkie attached to his belt and seemed to be sending regular updates to someone on the receiving end. Creeping from shade to shadow, Nanoha noiselessly closed the distance between herself and the man. In the cover of oil drums stacked against the warehouse, Miyuki watched her little sister embody a shinigami, or god of death, lying in wait to reap its rightful prey.
"South quad is clear." Came Kyoya's voice, deliberately lisping the 's' in south to reduce the sibilance of his communication.
"Nanoha is making contact, solo hostile. Ten minute interval." Miyuki muttered back in a similar lisp.
Once Gaiz sent his latest all-clear, Nanoha surged forward, kicking the man's legs out from under him. Gaiz bounced onto the hard cement with a pained grunt, immediately finding his arms and legs entangled in an unbreakable hold.
"Hello, Tourist-san." The dark purr sent shivers down his spine and he tried to yell, only to find his throat closed in an ever-tightening vise. "Give me the all-clear code." This woman was far beyond what any of their data-mining had revealed and he swallowed, or tried to. "Try anything and a ball is losing its socket." The pressure on one of his shoulders increased and the threat became very clear and present to the man.
When she finally gave him enough air to speak, he snarled, "Kiss my hnrrgh!" A dull popping sound accompanied the slipping of his shoulder out of its socket as the she-devil coldly dislocated it. His scream was muffled by cement as she flipped them over. "Let's try this again, Tourist-san…" He could feel his other arm being raised to an unnatural angle and the woman's frigid alto didn't change in register, "Again. The code, onegai shimasu~" The pain was beginning to make him see stars and he whimpered, "G-Glory to Midchilda! Please, n-no more…"
In one smooth move, Nanoha drew one of her shortswords and before Miyuki could react, the blade flashed in the dimness of the moonlit night. The body crumbled noiselessly onto the cement, the man out cold from the sharp blow the auburn-haired woman had directed to his head with the pommel of her weapon. Sheathing it again, she easily dragged the bearded man like he was a sack of potatoes to dump him behind some scraggly bushes. Snatching the walkie off of his belt, she rejoined her sister.
Miyuki shook her head. "Hostile neutralised." She hadn't recognised the moves her sister had employed, but they were certainly proving effective. "Eight until next call in." Nanoha added quietly once back with Miyuki, lowering the volume on the walkie-talkie now that they were approaching the back entrance.
The four rendezvoused at the back door and Nanoha could see her brother pulling out a device smaller than two fingers in width. Extending legs from one end of the device, he began to fiddle with it, pairing it to the watch on his wrist. "Motion detector," he explained. Miyuki meanwhile, was crouched by the door, painstakingly sneaking in a minuscule camera attached to the end of a thin wire. Flicking on the low saturation screen, she turned the camera a full 180 degrees. "Five, door, far end," she shared tersely. Each of them took their turn to see what the camera had revealed to Miyuki.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The walkie-talkie screeched softly to life, "Report in." Deciding her father had the closest voice to Gaiz, she whispered the code to him before passing the device over. "Glory to Midchilda," he grunted, affecting a cough as he said it. It seemed to satisfy the person on the receiving end and the now-useless item was tossed aside by her father.
Miyuki tucked the scope away safely and everyone situated their goggles back down over their eyes. Every bit of sound they made felt deafening to Nanoha and the only thing louder was the erratic thumping of her heart that screamed Fate's name over and over. Suddenly, that was not the only scream she was hearing.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOooooooo!"
Fate! That was Fate's voice! The screams cut through the night and slashed mercilessly into the auburn-haired woman's soul. She HAD to get to the blonde, NOW. It was imperative.
Starting forward, Nanoha felt the steel clamp of her father's hand around her arm, holding her back. He held up three smoke grenades, their pins already pulled. Kyoya was just done picking the simple padlock that had been employed by the hostiles. The group had obviously not anticipated such a swift response.
Silently counting down with his fingers, Miyuki and Kyoya pulled open the heavy metal door, allowing just enough space for Shiro to throw in the immediately hissing grenades in a spread pattern. Shouts, and the sound of running footsteps, greeted the four of them as they burst in, bodies low to avoid the haphazard shots being fired at the entryway.
'Fuck, how did they get firearms?!' Nanoha thought frantically, ducking even lower to reduce the size of the target she made. Things had gotten far more complicated and dangerous and her worry extended to cover her father and siblings in a far more acute manner now. Regardless of the heightened hazard guns presented, the Takamachi family demonstrated little hesitation in their advance, silently sweeping forward to engage the hostiles they had seen earlier. Their goggles were an invaluable boon, displaying infrared heat signatures while their opponents fired blindly into the thick haze permeating the warehouse grounds.
Nanoha was making a beeline for the closed door when she found two women in full body suits with armoured plates blocking her way. One had long hair close in shade to Caro's pink, her fringe held back by an armoured headband. More plates covered her vital areas and she wasted no time directing vicious blows towards Nanoha's head. The smoke was thinner at the back, rendering her night vision goggles less useful, and so the auburn-haired woman tore it off. She was going to need her peripheral vision for this.
The other woman was just as tall, a brunette with a sneer who brandished what looked like a Walther P99 though she couldn't get a clear shot while Nanoha was engaged with her accomplice. Nanoha blocked the blows with her plated forearms but found herself being pushed back. There was no chance for her to do a takedown with the other woman hovering close by and her growl of frustration was audible even in the chaos surrounding them.
The woman engaging her was good, and had the weight of her armoured limbs to add momentum to her attacks. That meant she was slower, however, an advantage Nanoha swiftly pressed as both tanto appeared in her hands in a flicker of movements. The blades were held flat to her forearms, their lengths just enough for their tips to protrude two inches past the assassin's elbows. Their weighted pommels were now acting like knuckle-dusters and Nanoha could see their effects as she pounded hits past the woman's guard in a mix of taijutsu and muay thai that confounded the woman who had obviously trained in a more classic style of martial arts.
Sweat poured down Nanoha's back, the need to get to Fate felt like a spiritual geas that drove the shinobi forward. Reckless with desperation, she accepted a knee to her gut, grunting into her mask as her stomach exploded in pain. As she was lifted up from the ground, the wind leaving her lungs, her flinty gaze spied the opening she sought and with all her weight bearing back down to the floor of the warehouse, she slammed the ball of her pommel into the side of the woman's knee.
'CRACK!'
The woman screamed and fell, hugging her shattered joint. "Sette! No!" Lips curling, the brunette pulled the trigger of her weapon that had always been trained on the women, waiting for her chance. Nanoha felt the first bullet slam right into her ribs, robbing her of breath. Good thing she had trained to work without breathing.
Shunting the intense pain aside, she dodge rolled clumsily to present a moving target, dropping the tanto in her left hand. Unfurling, just enough to allow her arm some play, Nanoha's hand snapped forward, burying a throwing knife hilt-deep into the brunette's armpit. Screaming, the brunette's finger squeezed convulsively, spraying the immediate area in front of her with bullets.
A second slug found its way into her waist and Nanoha let out a low cry as she fought to keep herself moving. She could feel the spreading dampness and the edges of her vision were beginning to darken. No! Fate was still in danger! The rest of the Takamachi clan members had subdued the hostiles they had initially engaged with, disarming all thoroughly before gagging and trussing them up. Each was forced to inhale a mixture of doctored salts that knocked them out for the time being, effectively neutralising any further threat from them.
Nanoha couldn't stop and mustering all of her flagging strength, she kicked open the door to find a man in a lab coat, his tilted yellow eyes staring at the form strapped to an operating table with unconcealed glee. Fate's eyes were staring into nothing with horror, tears streaming down her pale face. Her lips were blue-tinged and the diodes attached to her head seemed like a scene out of Nanoha's worst nightmares. Worse even than the accident that had taken Yuuno's life.
A wash of red slipped over the assassin's vision and she paid no heed to the gun the gibbering scientist had pointed at her, the man screaming curses at her in Italian for ruining his work. Spittle dripped from his lips as he held up a revolver, demanding that Nanoha stay back. It meant little to the devil advancing on him, as long as it wasn't pointed at Fate, that was all she cared about.
His hands were shaking, it was clear he had never fired a weapon before. He squeezed the trigger, eyes averted in fear of the coming recoil. That was all the chance the assassin needed. Feeling the inside of her left shoulder burn from the shot, Nanoha flashed forward and chopped the revolver out of the man's hand. The weapon fell from fingers rendered numb and clattered uselessly onto the floor. Clamping her right hand around the man's neck, azure eyes a midnight black from fury, she snarled in english, "What did you do to her?!"
He was taller than her by a few inches, but it meant absolutely nothing to the adrenaline-fueled woman as she lifted him, slamming his head against the wall of the 'operating theatre' when no answer was forthcoming. Lips peeled in a silent growl, she drew her free hand back and backhanded the man, the armoured plate on the back of her glove breaking his nose in the process.
The claw of her hand tightened, and he began to choke. His legs kicked helplessly at the woman's torso, the blows shrugged off under the influence of adrenaline and a consuming fear that made rational thought impossible for Nanoha. Heedless of the blood streaming down her form, she bore his weight as if he were a mere rag doll.
The man was turning blue, red-stained froth spilling from lips split open by the assassin's blow. "Talk!" She bellowed, slamming his head once more.
"Stop it! He'll die before he can say anything!" Kyoya wrapped the rigid form of his younger sister in his arms. He could feel the bowstrung tension in the powerful form and it was like wrestling with a rabid beast. Nanoha shrugged him off as if he were a mild annoyance and he leapt forward again. "Mi-chan, help me!" He called in desperation. In concert, the two older siblings peeled Nanoha back and away from the broken man.
Shiro had left his youngest to his other children to deal with. Instead, he hurried forward to unstrap the person who was obviously the individual his youngest had briefed them about. The cuts on her arms were superficial. What worried him was the seemingly catatonic state the blonde was in.
Tearing off the disgusting-looking brain cap, he found more blankets to cover the woman. "We need to get her looked at," he muttered urgently, "They've been pumping her with something." Finding a fresh cotton ball, he soaked it in antiseptic solution and pressed it to the IV stuck in the woman's arm. Whipping out the needle, he applied pressure, ripping some surgical tape with his teeth to secure it to the bruising wound.
Miyuki was already tapping into their communication network, "Kaa-chan, we need an ambulance at our current location. Imouto-chan's bleeding and her friend isn't doing well. Hai, give us fifteen to clean up and you can get the authorities in, too."
Nanoha reluctantly released the man after her siblings managed to prise her away from him. He wasn't going to be of help. Leaving behind a trail of her own blood, she limped to where Fate lay, tearing off her mask while she did so. Shiro had lowered the table's incline so the blonde could rest. Taking one coldly limp hand in her gloved one, Nanoha brushed away sweat-soaked strands from the blonde's face. "Feito-chan…"
Crimson eyes shifted to look at the face hovering over hers, but there was no recognition in them. Those shimmering blue eyes were dark with worry. Was the worry for her? Feeling like she had inconvenienced this person greatly, she lowered her eyes, then glanced back up at a face contorted with emotions she couldn't read, "I… apologise. Have we met?"
Rearing back as if from a physical blow, Nanoha was staggered, held upright only by her brother who had been trying to wrap her middle with a pressure bandage. "She's in shock," Shiro pointed out gruffly, disturbed at how affected his youngest seemed, more so than the many wounds Nanoha bore. "Let the doctors look at her." Pale from more than blood loss, Nanoha slumped in quiet defeat. She would not demean her family's efforts with unseemly displays of emotion. "I was too late…" She whispered guiltily.
"Too soon to tell, Imouto-chan. You're getting in with her, by the way." Dull blue eyed Miyuki, Nanoha not quite getting what her older sister was saying. "Aside from someone trying to turn you into swiss cheese, you took more than one hit to the torso. These things aren't magic, you know? You're lucky if you can stand tomorrow." Kyoya was still busy with the hole in their sister's waist, leaving Miyuki to do her best binding the one in Nanoha's shoulder. It was the kami's own blessing that the bullets had made clean exits out the other side.
The sound of sirens was drawing closer, and Nanoha lacked the energy to fight the suggestion. Her siblings swiftly helped remove her gear, leaving her in just her mesh top, leggings and shoes. Kyoya and Miyuki proceeded to clear the area of any prints or damning evidence.
There was no helping the blood spilt but at least it was clear that Nanoha was a victim of illegal firearms. Shiro had found a foldable chair for his youngest to sit in. It was positioned next to the table her blonde friend was lying on. The woman they had rescued had fallen into a fitful sleep, and from the way Nanoha was nodding and fighting to stay conscious, his wayward child was not far behind. It must have been excruciating for her to keep a hold of the blonde's hand with her injured side, yet she persisted, never letting go.
Soon, two stretchers arrived and the pair were loaded into the back of the emergency vehicle. The warehouse floor was wide enough for the ambulance to reverse in through the back entrance, saving EMTs time which all the Takamachi members were grateful for. All save for Nanoha, who was barely conscious by then. Bowing to the departing personnel after handing them all the syringes, vials and IV solutions he had found, the Takamachi head proceeded to help his older children clean up.
An unmarked car arrived soon after, divulging a sombre middle-aged man with his black hair slicked back. He wore a trench coat over his simple brown suit and lit up a cigarette the moment he exited his car.
"Takamachi-san, can't say I'm pleased to see you again." The man's voice was a ruined husk from all the death sticks he sucked on in the course of his work, not that it hid the distaste in his tone.
"Ueda-san, you know I do not venture out lightly." Shiro grunted, peeling off his headscarf to wipe the perspiration from his face. "This involved Midchildan royalty. I suggest the utmost discretion if you wish to preserve the dignity of our nation."
Ueda's cigarette hung loosely from his lower lip as his mouth dropped open. "No shit? Well, fuck, I suppose this counts as a worthy cause."
"Why else would we risk our lives thus?" Shiro asked bitingly, "My youngest left half her life's blood on the floors of this forsaken place. It is my most unpleasant task to inform my wife of the outcome of this. I leave the rest in your capable hands." Bowing, he departed with his older children, leaving the police commissioner to begin making calls.