Heatwave 9.x
Dienstag, 21 Brahmanod, Year 0080
"I take it your idea was a success?"
Teana nodded at Admiral Tucson's question. "Yes sir. Taylor was more at ease on her own world and no longer in uniform and opened up about some of the details that she otherwise would have been more circumspect about. I also had Cross Mirage take images of all the displays and text plaques, which will give us more background information on Earth Bet-12."
"Very good. And your primary objective? Have you figured out what these Endbringers are?"
"Not for sure, obviously, but as much as I can. My analysis is in the full report I sent you, but in brief I feel confident that they can be classified as Class-2 Lost Logia. There should be no issues getting approval to intervene, especially as we have a ready-made cover story in claiming that we are parahumans in our own right. If some of the super-engineers on this world, these 'Tinkers', are any indication, no one will doubt our explanation for a minute.
"I am also more certain than before that there is a connection between the Endbringers and the source of parahumans' powers."
"Explain," the admiral ordered, but his expression was not one of doubt. It was more as though he wanted to be sure her rationale matched his own conclusions.
"The first Endbringer activated ten years after the debut of para-magic," she said with a slight grin at the name, earning a groan from Erga who was undoubtedly unhappy solely because he was not the one to come up with it, "and when it did so, it had a set of abilities that were very similar to the more immediately advantageous powers. Absurd durability, an aura of radiation and heat to cook anyone trying to get close, control over various forms of energy. In the parlance of their law enforcement, 'Brute' and 'Blaster' primarily. The second was faster, more agile, with a greater focus towards area attacks. By itself this means little, but the third? The third was the one to appear when Tinkers were truly coming into their own, and it has the ability to feed off the styles and ideas of nearby Tinkers. It also brainwashes individuals and appeared in a time when other pseudo-telepathatic manipulators were becoming more and more feared."
"And I would bet my last credit that this… 'para-magic' is the result of a fourth Lost Logia, and of Al Hazardan make, too," Erga added with a nod. "From what Taylor told us, the specific abilities that manifest are related to the circumstances of the new parahuman. Wish-granting artifacts were Al Hazard's bread and butter. Might explain why the Endbringers leave after taking so little damage. It isn't enough to really hurt them, but if they really are corrupted planetary defenders, it might just be enough to jostle their memory banks and remind them that they are supposed to be protecting these people, not trying to kill them. Then the corruption comes back as they regenerate, and the cycle starts all over again."
Tucson laced his fingers together.
"I was thinking along similar lines. How do we explain this golden man, then? This Scion of theirs."
The Enforcers looked at each other for a moment before Teana hazarded a guess. "If we take the name literally, then he claimed to be the inheritor of someone or something. Perhaps he was the person who activated the wish-granting Logia, and it bonded with him? That would explain the variety and strength of his abilities. His disappearance two years ago could be that the Logia finally detached itself, or more likely it exacted a demand on his body that he could no longer sustain."
"Yet it has stayed active even without an obvious host." Admiral Tucson rubbed his chin.
"Focus on the Endbringers for now. It sounds like this… para-magic Lost Logia may actually be working as intended. If that is the case, I doubt anyone on that world would appreciate us interfering with it. They can work that out themselves.
"Good work, Lanster. Keep me informed as the situation progresses."
A quick salute, and the communication ended. "Not gonna lie, kinda envious of you getting to walk around and stretch your legs around other people for a bit," Erga said with an exaggerated sigh. "Meanwhile I have to stay holed up in an old building sifting through their data. Interesting stuff, don't get me wrong, but after a while even that gets boring."
"We could trade if you really wanted," was her dry reply. "I'll sit back and read their 'Internet', and you can try restoring our credibility with the mage we nearly killed and who still doesn't exactly like us. There were a couple of times yesterday when I said or did something that I was worried she was going to blow up over."
"Eh." That was as close as Erga would get to admitting he was wrong, and he gave her a short wave as he walked out. Now alone in the communications room, Teana tapped her fingertips against the console. Taylor was their only local contact on the planet, and Admiral Tucson had made no secret of the fact that he would like to recruit her into the Navy when this mission was complete. Not that that was a surprise; Taylor had power, adaptability, and a different way of looking at things that would serve her well as a member of the TSAB. Joining would also give Taylor the resources and support she needed to truly grow into her full powers that Earth Bet-12 just couldn't provide. They just had to figure out how to overcome that gaff of a first impression.
That combination of thoughts sparked an idea, and a smile grew on her face as she told her Intelligent Device whom to contact. A long moment passed, and then a screen manifested to show a brunette woman standing in front of a sink, another woman and a little girl with heads of blonde hair sitting at a table behind her. Blue eyes sparkled with delight.
"Teana-chan!"
"Hi, Nanoha," she replied with a smile. "How are things going out there?"
Nanoha laughed awkwardly at that question.
"They're fine, they're fine. Sometimes I miss the action, but it's been nice just to spend time with Vivio-chan, even if Fate-chan tells me I'm pushing her too fast. Only once or twice, though!"
"Once or twice per week, maybe." Nanoha squeaked at the sudden voice behind her, and Fate winked one red eye at Teana.
"She's been getting more and more impatient as the date for her to return to active duty gets closer." The elder Enforcer dropped her voice into a stage whisper.
"Just between you and me, Teana, I don't think she's cut out for the life of a housewife."
"…Can I join you out there, Teana-chan? Fate-chan's so mean to me."
Teana could not help but laugh at the by-play between them. She could still remember staring in awe at the two Aces who had inducted her into Riot Force 6 all those years ago, but it did not take long for her to start seeing her then-superiors as friends. Especially not after Fate took her as a personal assistant and apprentice prior to joining the Enforcers in her own right. That had opened a whole new horizon of seeing how the Blitz Ace and the White Devil acted when they were in the casual setting of their own home.
The women smiled at her laughter before Fate continued,
"Not that we mind you calling, but what's the occasion? Normally you only call when you need some advice, and I would have expected you to reach out to Bardiche for that."
"I need to talk to Nanoha this time, actually." That comment earned her the flight instructor's undivided attention. "I can't go into all the details right now, but the short version is that our current mission involved looking for a Lost Logia that was lost on a low-magic world. We had a local contact who we thought was a self-trained mage, but it turns out that she has the Lost Logia in her possession and has been using that to tap into her magical potential. Our first meeting… didn't go well. We thought she was an enemy and fired upon her, she had no clue who we were and why we were attacking; that sort of thing."
"Is everyone okay?" Nanoha asked immediately.
"Yes, we're all fine. We're okay, she's okay, that's not the problem. The problem is that because of this we didn't get off on the right foot, and now we're stuck trying to restore the goodwill she had towards us before we strained it with our screw-up." She sighed. "I just don't know how to fix it."
"Teana-chan, look at me." She raised her eyes to meet Nanoha's.
"You're a good person. Impatient, stubborn, entirely too self-critical, but good nonetheless. I saw it immediately, and so did everyone else. You made a mistake, and that makes things harder, but it doesn't change who you are. It sounds like this girl is still upset about your actions, and not without reason, but tempers eventually settle and leave clear heads behind. Once she calms down, she'll start to see that you just want to help."
"As someone who has been the bad guy in a similar situation," Fate added with a small, wry smile,
"I'll tell you now that there isn't much you can do to make things better. Not immediately, anyway. You fix what you can, obviously, and you apologize for your mistake, but after that you have to wait for her to forgive you. You can't make things better until she lets you."
Nanoha nodded.
"Don't lose hope, though. Just because you start off badly doesn't mean it will stay that way. Arisa-chan, Fate-chan, Hayate-chan and the Wolkenritter, the Numbers. We were all enemies at one time, but now look at us."
"That was the reason I wanted to talk to you about it," she said with a tiny smile. She was not the most social and gregarious person, Subaru could attest to that, but if anyone had the advice on how to turn an enemy into a friend, it would be Nanoha.
A wicked thought crossed her mind as she thought of her best friend and old partner and some of the jokes she knew Subaru would have made in this situation, and she added with just a hint of nonchalance, "Well, that and I figured you two would be the best people to ask for advice on how to interact with your lovechild."
"…Whah?"
She sent a few images through the link so they could see what she meant. Most of them were images from Cross Mirage's recording during their fight, but a few she had picked up from Earth Bet-12's data network. "You should have told me you had a kid together when you were younger. It was obvious as soon as I saw her that she had to be yours. She has the same dark design to her Barrier Jacket and the same mana scythe as Fate, and Nanoha, her Shooter skills and Buster are pure you. Even her magic color matches; that bright a shade of orange can only come from mixing pink and yellow."
Nanoha stammered something unintelligible, and Fate looked like she was one comment from passing out. Vivio wandered over and looked at the various images floating next to the live feed.
"Nanoha-mama, is she my sister?" she asked with all the innocence of an eight-year-old.
"She looks like you, like I look like Fate-mama. Can we bring her home?"
That snapped Fate out of her shellshocked stupor, and she shook her head.
"No, Vivio, that isn't your sister. It's just someone Teana met on one of her missions and decided to play a very mean joke on us with," she added with a glare at Teana.
"I never thought I'd say this, but you've clearly been spending too much time with Subaru."
"Sorry, I couldn't help it. Besides, I know she isn't your and Nanoha's kid." She laughed lightly and doubled down. "Like I said, she tamed the Lost Logia we were looking for, so the only way she could be yours is if you had a 'party' with Captain Hayate once upon a time."
She expected the women to roll their eyes or make some dismissive comment. She did
not expect both of them to blush bright red and immediately look away from the screen and each other. Her thoughts screeched to a halt as she realized how badly this had blown up in her face because now she had those thoughts stuck in her head too. Ugh, she did not need to be imagining three of her former commanding officers in bed together.
"Aunt Hayate had a party? You didn't invite me. Can I bring my friends to the next one?"
…Clearly help was not coming from that corner.
"Look, Teana-chan, it wasn't like that," Nanoha finally said, and Teana let out a tiny sigh. Her relief was short-lived.
"Hayate-chan had just come back from her first big command mission, and we went out to celebrate, and we got really really drunk, and—"
"Thanks! I… I'm good. Don't need to hear any details I have another call I have to make thanks for the advice
bye!"
Now how's THAT for some on-the-nose bad guessing? 
And good god, the Takamachi-Harlaown household has the potential to be comedy gold. Pity Seven Arcs squandered the opportunity ViVid gave them.
