Meanwhile...
"Thanks for meeting with us, Hayate." Quint smiled at the young commander as she, Ginga, Zest and Reinforce stood by in Hayate's office.
Hayate waved it off and smiled at her. "Not a problem." She nodded at Zest, who had a stony expression on his face. "You're a lot of fun, I see."
"I mean no disrespect for you or your organization, Hayate Yagami, however..."
"It's that mission that we had." Quint spoke up and looked at Ginga, who nodded. "You know that both Ginga and Subaru are..."
"Combat Cyborgs," Hayate nodded at Quint and looked at Ginga curiously, "you know that I personally don't care if she's a Combat Cyborg, a Dragon or anything like that, so why bring this up now?"
"Because the enemies that we've run into..." Quint took a deep breath, "are likely Combat Cyborgs as well." Hayate looked at her with shock on her face. "The two that injured Vita and Nanoha, the four that showed up in our last mission... Sein... And there's probably at least three others that I know of personally."
"Are you sure?" Hayate asked, narrowing her eyes. "So, there's ten others... Maybe more?"
"Considering that they seem to be named for numbers..." Ginga spoke up, catching Hayate's attention. "Well, Sein, Otto, Deed... Deed means twelve, doesn't it?"
"Not to mention she had a numerical symbol for twelve on her neck." Quint continued to speak to the room. "And my research..."
"Jail Scagiletti's behind this," Zest spoke up, causing Quint to sigh.
"Zest, you need to learn about proper delivery, but yes, Zest's right, Jail Scagiletti." Quint wanted to belt her former commander for ruining any suspense she had been trying to build up.
"Scagiletti..." Reinforce muttered and closed her eyes. "From what I heard, he completely disappeared, went so far underground that no one can find him." Even Vita's contacts, which, if Reinforce stopped to think about it, was rather scary, since she knew so many rather shady people, hadn't turned up anything about Jail Scagiletti in the past few years. "If this is true, then this is the first time he's made any sort of movements in years."
"I believe so," Quint nodded, "Zest and myself have unsolved issues with him, so we wish to partake in any mission that may lead us to him."
"I can authorize that on a couple of conditions," Hayate looked at Zest, "one, I wish to know just why you're interested in this and two, if any of your co-workers or subordinates are in need of help and you can give it, you are to give help. I don't want any crazy need for revenge to cloud your judgement."
"Agreeable, as for why," Zest narrowed his eyes, "there was a girl that took place in that last battle, her name is Lutecia Alphine," he gave Hayate a look that had even her shivering slightly, and the next words chilled everyone in the room, "and she is my daughter."
That, Hayate decided, was more than enough reason for anyone to want to fight against someone else.
"Ne, Signum-nee..." Rein Zwei said as she floated along-side Signum as they walked outside. "You think that there's going to be something bad happening soon?"
"I hope not, Rein," Signum narrowed her eyes as she looked out at the sky, "considering what happened to Testarossa, Scrya, Vita and that thing," Signum had a tight smirk on her face as she remembered the nick-name that she had given Nanoha, it hadn't been serious, but for some reason it just clicked, "I do think that something bad happening is likely."
"Mou..." Rein Zwei let out an exaggerated groan, "you're pretty bad, Signum-nee, can't you call Nanoha-san, Nanoha-san at least?"
"I'm ten years older than her, doesn't mean I don't have a childish side when it comes to her or any of our friends."
"Being somewhat selfish never hurts anything," a new voice spoke up and Rein grinned and zipped over to the speaker, slapping the offered palm, "then again, Signum was always selfish."
"Sure, Shamal," Signum smirked at her, "so, you ready?"
"Yes," Shamal smiled at her, "thank you for giving me the ride today."
"It's not a problem," Signum nodded as the three of them entered Signum's car, "as it stands, I was heading to the Saint Church today anyway, why are you heading there again?"
"A few supplies, nothing too much, plus Hayate wanted me to pick up some stuff that Carim had for her."
Signum nodded and looked at Zwei as the young girl took her larger child form and got into the car seat in the back. "Are you okay, Zwei?"
"I'll be fine. Even if I'm not that good at regulating magic in this form, I should be just fine. Besides, mommy says that I have to get used to being in my bigger form more often."
Shamal smiled at Zwei, "you wouldn't want to be small forever, you'll need to grow up like your mother has." She then giggled as Signum started the car up and pulled out of the parking lot. "Of course, a small Zwei is still a really cute thought." She turned and settled against her seat, grinning with her eyes closed. "A cute little Zwei who's smaller than a ripe tomato? That sounds so cute..." Plus the thought of Zwei actually trying to eat something so large compared to her was rather cute and adorable.
Had Signum not rolled her eyes at that moment, she may have noticed a pink blur zip past her car on the freeway. As it was, she never noticed anything, but for some reason, she had to fight the urge to hug herself. If only she knew why.
"So, what do you think of Cranagan?" Kuma said as he turned a corner rather fast.
"The ice cream is good." Kyrie grinned in the back seat. "Ami," she whined when her sister snorted, "why can't I be in the front seat?"
"Because I'm in the front seat." Amitie closed her eyes and leaned back in the seat. "Tell me, Kuma, what will happen to us?"
"Well, I don't know," he was uncharacteristically somber as he spoke to her, "but, from what you've said, I think I've got an idea," a grin came to his face suddenly, "and if I'm right, we won't need to work for that Mazoku for too much longer. HA HA!"
Amitie didn't want to admit it, but for some reason, this man, Straight Kuma, gave her hope.
Which was something she thought she had lost when she was only six years old when her father was brutally murdered in front of her and Kyrie.
See other episodes by Philip Weigel
(Posted Tue, 03 Jan 2012 06:00)
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