(Twi) Twilight XI: School Days

[Colesign]

Leavenworth Smedry

"Mmm?" Leavenworth says, looking up at Archer as he jogs back to the Transporation point. "Sorry: I've been distracted. Sorry for being curt, but..."

As they emerge onto the platform outside the castle walls where the Transporter's Glass station is, another one of those human USBs accost them.

Smedry slashes at it with the sword in his hand.

"...it's that sort of situation!"

[Does this assume too much?]

[darkblade]

Smedry and Archer

Before you go the guard hands you a sealed wooden box. "For the alien."

The dopant reels back as you slash it with the sword. It doesn't have enough force to dislodge the memory from it's body. It retaliates with a strike from it's mirrored claws towards your face.

***

Dynamite

"Relax, I don't eat live humans. Blood banks and deer." Charlise says as you get in his face.

"As for who would arrange this I cannot say for certain but I would suspect it to be Project Deuy Decimal." Project Deuy Decimal was a black ops arm of the Britannian military that popped up around the time of the second Euro-Asian war. Some people have said it had something to do the sealing of Atlantis but no one could ever confirm that it rose in the first place during the war.

***

Gary

"She has no paper trail prior to her adoption by Bruce Wayne either. That's mostly why we suspect her. Talk with her during class to see if you can find anything else about her."

***

[Cracklord]

Lelouch
"It would seem there are more powers between heaven and hell then dreamed off by philosophers." He says to C.C when the two have a moment alone. "And they all seem to know everything about me, while I know nothing of them. I think we're going to have to rethink our plans of attack a little, if we are going to survive."

[Draxx]

Archer
The servant steps into range, conjuring the Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi as he did, an ancient blade forged in japan. He swings it vaguely, not even at the attacker, the blade cutting a gleaming line, and the attacker falls into three pieces. The blade was nowhere near him, your fairly sure physics don't work that way, but as the blade could control the winds it struck wherever it's wielder decided it should.

Archer rolls his red eyes, and walks past the corpse. Smedry is beginning to get a bit worried about his erstwhile companion again. He didn't even hesitate, and apparently the powers he had to bring to bear were considerable. You should be alright, as long as his goals happen to coincide with yours.

[Colesign]

Leavenworth Smedry

Smedry accepts the box gratefully.

Later, at the Transportation Station, he notes Archer's swift, strong lethality.

That's Heroic Spirits for you: fast, strong, able to vault across buildings and deflect bullets with their weapons, possessed of numerous magical powers...

And all of that would be nothing were it not for the fact that they were, all and one, the manifestations of Heroes.

That grit, that drive to succeed, that never ending determination and cleverness borne of bravery, of not accepting the easy choices...that was what made their tools of Magi so dangerous.


...But Leavenworth was a Smedry. And he has a trick up his sleeve.

But he still trusts this Archer. Because ruthlessness aside...he is still a hero. And Heroes deserve the benefit of the doubt at least once.

Smedry throws some levers at the console, and the Transporter's Glass starts to whir.

"Come on, Archer!" He shouts. "We're about to take off!"

[darkblade]

Lelouch

"Don't be so melodramatic. I have some information about them too." C.C. dismisses your melancholy as she wanders to the other side of the room to retrive the cold pizza that has been sitting on the table since this morning.

***

Archer and Smedry

You return to Ashford with no further difficulties.

[Colesign]

Leavenworth Smedry

A jaunt to Smedry Castle, and thenceforth to Ashford.

Smedry steps out of the Transporter's glass, and snatches a Purple Teddy Bear from a shelf.

"Take cover." He remarks, and pull and pin and tosses it into the wardrobe.

There's a 'boom', and three/fourths of the cabinet simply disintegrates, the remains slumping in on themselves with sparks of energy pouring out.

Smedry exhales.
He inhales.

"There's some study notes on the coffee table, Mr. Archer. Feel free to memorize them for tomorrow's class."

Then he takes off in a sprint.

[...]

Hank McCoy looks up in shock as Smedry bursts through the door, 18 minutes having elapsed since his departure.

"His life support system in wrecked: alone, his mind, his body–they're only half of what they could be!" Smedry shouts, opening the wooden box to reveal one of the Fleshstones of the Knights of Crystallia.

He picks it up from it's velvet case, eying it feverishly, then plucks an identical stone from his pocket, where he had nicked it from a creche back in Crystallia.

"No wonder's he's fading. But these stones: they're cut from the Worldspire itself! They link the entire Knighthood together, allowing them to draw from a great pool of strength and mental fortitude. And bonding with these stones causes a great surge in regenerative energy! Which means that if we're lucky–if we're very, very lucky..."

He grasps both stones with his hands, reaches under Zim's neck, and rams the prickly flat sides onto his skin with a sharp push. The two Fleshstones sink into Zim's neck and take root, takes on the refractive hue of his olive-green skin. They begin to glow, brighter, then brighter...

"This is horribly nontraditional, but blast it!" Smedry shouts, raising his broadsword high in both hands–

Then, he gently lowers his blade, and touches the flat of it to Zim's left shoulder, then his right.

"I, Lord Leavenworth Smedry, Occulator Grand, and Noble of the Free Kingdoms, do dub thee Knight of Crystalia, a defender of liberty, a protector of the innocent, a paragon of honor."

He suddenly slaps Zim across the cheek with the back of his hand: gently, but enough to irritate.

"Now..." Smedry shouts, spreading his hands wide, as the light from the Fleshstones builds. "Arise...Sir Zim!!!!!!!"

[Do you want to narrate the effects, or shall I?]

[Corvond]

Smedry
Your half through your rant when you bother to look at the read-outs, and find that no, he's dead. Very very dead. It would be difficult to be more dead without special training. However, a tiny light is flashing. Though you have no clue what it is, the light is in fact the physical representation of a signal that is even now broadcasting across the cosmos. Mayday, mayday. Invader down.

Souske
He remains perfectly still, letting the intruder come closer and reveal itself. His heart-rate is level, his breathing even, his eyes are blank and clear and pitiless as any machines. There are no outward signs whatsoever that he's just made the mental preparations to kill someone. He's long past all that.

[Cracklord]

Lelouch
"Melodrama? It's just you and I, C.C. You and I against the better part of the world, and you accuse me of melodrama." He shook his head, then conceded graciously. "Well, perhaps, but through no fault of my own." He sighs. "Well, the only question that really matters is how dangerous are they all, and what can be done about them if they are?"

[darkblade]

Lelouch

"Light Yagami, the young man who saved Nunally has quite a lot of power behind him." C.C. explains.

"He has contracted his soul to a demon of quite some power and his girlfriend..." She trails off for a second as if this were particularly painful. "Can see people's true names. Including mine."

She takes a deep breathe to regain her shaken composure. "I don't know for what ends he intends to use this power but if a demon would join him I doubt it is anything good."

***

Elsewhere in the Universe

The Irken Tallest are enjoying a small lunch of rotisserie Ewok when a much shorter messenger burst into the room carrying a small computer. "My all mighty tallests! We have an Invader down!"

"What? Who could possibly slay one of our greatest warriors? What sector?" One of the Tallest demands of their servant.

"Sector 324, sirs." The Servant says cowering afraid his masters would take out their rage at this news on the messenger.

"324? We didn't send an Invader to that sector..." The other tallest considers as he pulls out a star chart. "There is nothing there but a green mudball full of monkeys."

"Mudball...Zim!" The first tallest exclaims joyously as if a painful sliver had finally been removed from his foot.

"Oh right, that's were we sent the little freak. He probably just fell into some water and shorted out his PAK. You..." The tallest proclaims as he points to the tiny servant.

"Yes, your supreme tallness..." The tiny irken says cowering again.

"For bringing us such glorious news you have been promoted to Invader. Report to the next Great Assigning for your assignment."

***

Souske

The intruder is now on the roof. He bypassed you entirely. He's going for Bella's window.

***

Smedry

Nope, Zim is dead. Not even your glass based techno-magic can save him and it's at least 75 percent your fault.

[Cracklord]

Lelouch
"It's not who you are, it's who people think you are." He says, quoting the legendary media mogul Ron Burgundy, who had very much heralded the more unsavory side of social war through controlling information through the filters of public perception.*
"And judging by his attempts to sink seamlessly in and effectively vanish in the crowd, he has more to hide then almost anyone save myself. But he's not the one who particularly worries me. If there is anyone to be concerned about learning more of, it's the stranger who attacked said demon, Alice Cullen, and Smedry. I have found a little myself today, and it's very important you tell me everything you can remember about the Brittanian soldiers who captured you before we first met."

* A possible head librarian conspirator? He has many rare, leather bound books and his apartment smells of rich mahogany. While we're at it, I imagine Rupert Murdoch would want a piece as well...

[Colesign]

Leavenworth Smedry

Leavenworth stares at the still lifeless Zim.

He'd assumed...he'd assumed that McCoy could keep him alive for enough time that he could fetch the Fleshtones...what was all that surgery for, if not to buy some time?

After all he'd done to safe Zim's life, why...why had it just not mattered?

Leavenworth stares for a moment.

"Damn." He says to himself.

He pulls out his Bestower's Lenses. The math makes sense. He's an old man nearing the end of his life, trapped behind enemy lines, a man whose foolishness endangered the life of one of his student, a student at the beginning of his own life. He'll bestow a year or so of his life, and then a bit further, as long as it takes for this alien to live and think again–

Someone might want to stop him.

[darkblade]

Lelouch

"Cullen, that name sounds familiar but I can't place it." She says trying to remember where she heard it before but the centuries have buried the memory.

"As for the men who caught me, they weren't Britannian soldiers. I was still in China with Mao when they took me. Such an action would be an act of war on Britannia's part and I'm not worth that much."

***

Smedry

Your indirect suicide is interrupted by a hot air balloon landing right outside the classroom window. You recognize the people on board, it's Royal Guard of the Free Kingdom of Kinkow, only one of their two teenaged Kings disembarks.

[nanobot_swarm]

Black Dynamite
He nods, and then leans back to give Charlise more breathing room. "I apologize, it's just it's been difficult for me to trust a vampire ever since Blacula. Project Deuy Decimal you say? I heard a bit about them during the time when I worked for those crackers in the CIA, not much, it was the usual hush hush bull**** they get off on. I didn't take it seriously at the time, but you know your mystical mumbo jumbo more than I do, so if you think they've got something to do with this, then I'll believe you. Now all we have to do is figure out where they are, and teach them some proper manners." He cracks his knuckles, and smiles at the thought of getting some real practice out of his kung-fu.

[industrious]

Steph and Cass

Neither of them are particularly renowned amongst the Bat-clan for their eating habits. Neither had ever really much time for sit-down meals, so this...would be an experience.

They don't get any food on them, of course. Well, maybe a little.

[Cracklord]

Lelouch
"And yet you were then escorted through Japan by Brittanian soldiers, to a destination we still don't know. Strange bedfellows, yes?" He crosses his arms. "No substantiated metahuman sightings in three decades, and suddenly I transfer to Ashford Academy and everyone seems to be one. Someone is gathering them together for something. And I don't trust it even slightly."
He pauses another moment, considering matters. "Really, it's not the ones we can see who are the problem. It's the ones we don't know even know are there."

[Colesign]

Leavenworth Smedry

[Hot Air Balloons make plenty of sense, and are awesome: but aerial transportation from the Free Kingdoms tends to take the form of craft shaped like flying animals, levitated by anti-gravity thingies: craft shaped like dragons, or hawks, or butterflies.

All made of glass, of course]

Leavenworth blinks, then with a deep, deep sigh, walks outside to meet the representatives from the Council of Kings!.

"Nattering Nivens! What are you doing here! This is a dangerous place, you know! Dangerous!"

He says in the middle of an idyllic College Campus, with the sun shining.

[darkblade]

Smedry

((Kinkow, and it's characters originate from the Disney sitcom Pair of Kings and traditionally use a Hot Air Balloon to travel.))

Mason the abnormally large head guard approaches you, it's a badly kept secret that he is one eighth Sasquatch on his Mother's side. "Not as dangerous as Kinkow is thanks to your indiscretion. It's overrun with Librarians and the Tarantula Men took the opportunity to strike against the Castle. King Brady has already fallen."

***

Lelouch

"You knew from the beginning that this school had some powerful magic. So you must have some sort of plan?" C.C. asks.

***

Black Dynamite

"That is everything I know at the moment, talk with me after the staff meeting tomorrow morning. I'll keep you in the loop." Charlise says as he looks out the staff room door and see a small group forming, his adopted children (probably also vampires) no doubt.

"I have to head back into town now though."

***

Soul Eaters

You all suddenly sense two large magical surges, one in the girls dormitories and the other in the courtyard.

***

Gary

You manage to finish decrypting the file. It says that Deuy Decimal is a black ops organization within the Britannian Military that draws it's resources from anonymous backers around the world for the purposes of keeping life ordinary by extinguishing magic and metahumans.

Dr. Rosen has one final question. "Anything else you got to report Gary?"

***

Archer

You can suddenly feel a massive draw of mana from the world around you. Another Servant has been summoned somewhere nearby.

***

Sabastian

You also feel the sudden surge of magic that is reconizable as a servant being summoned.

***

Stocking

Porter excuses himself and heads back to his dorm room.

[AnimeKid]

Soul Eaters

Maka and Kidd's eyes widen as the feel the surge of energy. They then nod to each other as Maka and Soul head to the Girls dorm and Kidd heads to the courtyard riding on his flying, high speed skateboard Beelzebub.

[Colesign]

[Cool!]

Leavenworth Smedry

"King Brady!" Smedry snarls, clenching his fist. "It cannot be! I helped set up the Castle Defenses myself...it's twice I've failed..."

Smedry shakes his head, then straightens himself, pulling a pair of Lenses out of his pocket.

"When you say that he's Fallen, do you mean literally, dead, or taken prisoner? If it's the third...why, I'm more than glad to join in on a rescue mission. Or find some of the family to help you...there's a secret Librarian Weapon I need to defuse in this highly dangerous university."

Gary Bell

Gary sends off one more ciphered email with the tail end of the information he'd just learned.

"Nothing much more to say on this line. We should hang–"

Gary frowns, and ***** his head to the side. There's bussing noise all around. All the signals, something's causing them to go all staticish.

"Something's wrong with the humming. It's like being in front of a microwave, expect it's nothing like that, but something unique."

[darkblade]

Kidd

You are witness to Smedry's conversation with the Kinkow royal council.

***

Smedry

"He is dead, the Tarantulas take no prisoners." Mason confirms grimly.

"Yeah and about that security, we might have disabled it to sneak off the Mermaid Beach last beach to get a little tail, if you know what I mean." King Boomer says with a knowing nod. The other free kingdoms all used to mock Kinkow for it's twin teenaged kings who were to say the very least inexperienced.

"Enough, Smedry. I know you are in the middle of something here but I must request since the state of Kinkow is partially your fault that you take King Boomer and my daughter Makala into your protective custody while I lead the remaining guards and what troops I can rally from the other Kingdoms to reclaim the island." Mason says.

***

Maka and Soul

You make your way to the dormitory to see a surge of light cross through a doorway in the middle of the hall along with the telltale brimstone stench of a summoning.

Panty is there too but she's yet to react.

[Cracklord]

Lelouch
"Indeed I did, but what we expect is seldom what we get, and it has never been more true then in this case." He replies.
"I have, however, began to uncover the first signs of some greater conspiracy within the Brittanian nobles, an inner circle perhaps. It makes sense, we know some of the more highly placed viceroys and viziers have supernatural resources of their own, is it really strange that they'd want to hoard them?" He tapped his lip thoughtfully. "And what's more, I keep running into signs that point to the Kira investigation. These things are all connected, and if I can uncover them, I can do some real damage."
Then he sighed. "And I know where we can get some real answers, too. Come with me." He's made a decision. He's going to learn all he can from the delusional old man Smedry. Chances are it won't teach him anything, but he'd be mad not to follow any leads he can find, and as strange as the man's ramblings might be, they did seem to have a surprising closeness to the truth.

Light Yagami
He rolls over, muttering something about pancakes in his sleep, then the restlessness passes.

[darkblade]

Lelouch

Smedry is not in his classroom or office. You spot him outside talking to a large tanned man in an Hot Air Balloon.

***

Touga

You have long since become aware of some of this new school's weirdness, but as of yet it has left you alone. No more are you involved in plots to bring mad gods back to power through incest and blood sacrifices. As you prepare to settle into bed for the night you hear a knock on your dorm room door.

***

Alex

It's something of a miracle you are not locked up in a tiny cell away from all civilized life. Even more of a miracle that like so many criminals, some of your drogues even that you have yet to suffer a mysterious death at the hand of Kira, Britannica's new god of "justice". None the less you are free and are wandering the halls of the school as you pass by a beautiful blonde young woman. Instantly recognizable as Mily Ashford, the daughter of the school's founder and student council president. She turns to get a second look at you. "I don't think I've seen you around here before. Are you new?"

[The Tygre]

Touga

Touga lets out a sigh. It would be more work than it's worth to let whoever it is stay there. He really needs to get another mansion. Or at least a private dorm. Touga buttons up his shirt (because isn't it always unbuttoned?) and calls out, "Yes? Who is it?"

Alex

Alex smiles. The charming smile, not the psychotic smile. Hair combed down, still in his school uniform, Alex introduces himself; "No, I don't believe we have. A pleasure to meet you."

[Cracklord]

Light Yagami
He's at his computer, making a special recording using the software he uses to make Kira's voice untraceable. Normally he'd then give it to the media, but he didn't want this broadcasted. He was about to make another deal, in order to get something he was going to need for the first stage of his plan.

Lelouch
He raises an eyebrow, then shakes his head. Well, it was hard to track, he'd give the transportation that, though it was slow, and hardly subtle. The fact that it seems to be working, well that was only because it was midnight.
For the moment, he lets Smedry talk to his contact. He could wait.

[Draxx]

Emiya Shirou
He sits back and watches after finishing his own small portion. Shirou might be a little dense, what with his sheltered life, and trusting nature, so doesn't find what would be a little strange, to say the least, in polite society the slightest bit discouraging. After all, they were both adopted to privlege.

"So, I have not lived in the Americas for long. I admit I'm a little confronted by many of your customs." He says, his way of opening conversation.

Archer
Fascinating. He assumed he was an isolated incident, thanks to his connection to Shirou. Apparently, not. Which would suggest that a game was about to begin. Lovely, he hadn't even begun yet.

He resolves to track the master and kill him as fast as he can, before he can upset things too much, then resumes his thinking. Most things were in place, but there were a few irregularities. Perhaps there was something wrong with his memory. Perhaps his changes had already stretched beyond his ability to control, their ripples upsetting time. Or perhaps he did not yet have a large enough comprehension of what he was tampering with.

Whatever the truth, he had to be careful. The next days would be important.

[darkblade]

Panty, Maka, Soul and Archer

From the room a short cloaked figure wielding a large golden key springs out pointing his odd weapon at the Shinigami. "It's not nice to spy on people..."

The sound of breaking glass can be heard in the room, presumably as the summoner tries to make a break for it.

***

Touga

No one replies to you but a envelope is slip under the door. From the faint aroma of blood and rose petals you know who it is from without even looking at it. It is a letter from End of the World.

***

Alex

"Well that won't do. I'm supposed to know every student in this school. I'm Mily, what's your name?" She says holding out her hand to Alex.

[AnimeKid]

Kidd

Kidd watches the conversation from his hidey hole. He listens about how some king was murdered. Sounded like it was his own fault for disengaging defenses. Hmmm, using his Soul Perception he could see that Smedry had a kind soul but it was suffering a dilemma from a recent tragedy. He might not be up to the task of keeping this king and girl safe. He nods to Patty and Liz who accompanied him and they practically read his mind as he stands up and walks out into the courtyard. Huh, this would also mean that the Libraians that he had heard about from passing classmates were real and not just a delusion of Smedry. Go figure.

Kidd walks out as he says, "In a school this big, it's going to be hard for Mr.Smedry to protect two students. Not only are his classes long but there are many students here that are not what they seem. Add on the trauma that Mr.Smedry went through and it will be very hard indeed."

(didn't know if you wanted me to use Japanese suffixes or not.)

Maka and Soul

Maka steps back a bit as Soul says, "Che, I can't believe this b*stard was able to sneak up on us."

Maka then says with a steely voice, "Soul, the other one is getting away." Soul smiles revealing his abnormally sharp teeth.

He then says, "Well then, we better finish up here quickly hadn't we?" With that Soul transforms into a burst of white light that shoots into Maka's hands before forming his scythe mode. Maka spins him around a few times before settling into a battle stance. She then uses her Soul Perception to see what kind of soul their opponent had so she could decide whether to kill or knockout.

[darkblade]

Kidd, Twins, Lelouch and Smedry

Mason looks over Kidd as if to gauge if he could be trusted. He is a hushlander after all. Mikala speaks up first though.

"Listen, Kid. I don't really need Smedry's protection and diffidently don't need yours." She says drawing a machetee and a pineapple from the balloon.

"Oh, I've seen this trick. You're in for a show." Boomer nods enthusiastically.

She tosses the pineapple into the air and then quickly follows it with the large blade. The weapon impales the fruit and leaves it embedded into the wall.

Mason nods approvingly. "It is really more of a formality. Mikala is to protect King Boomer while Smedry completes his mission. It is protocol to put him in the custody of someone with a more formal rank among the Elders though. If perhaps you were a Britannian Noble we could work it as a loophole..."

***

Archer, Maka and Soul

The cloaked figure has a noble, soul. The soul of a just King of a great kingdom. His soul is connected by a thin strand to the fleeing summoner. Also his soul seems to be all there is, while he does have a physical form it's not sitting in symbiotic relation to the soul it seems to be more of a biproduct of a very powerful spirit.

"You are not my enemy..." He says looking at Maka and Soul. He leaps through the air and flips over aiming to bring his keyblade down upon Archer's head. "He is. Servant."

[Colesign]

Leavenworth Smedry

[A Second thing that's all his fault? WHEN WILL IT ENDDDDDD!!!!!!]

Smedry nods gamely.

"I will project King Boomer and Makala, my Lord." He replies solemnly.

"With my life, if necessary."

Redemption?He smiles gamely. "And who knows, maybe they can help me with some library infiltrations...In This Dangerous Place!!!!"