[Author's Note: I feel it's important to explain that Shattered Skies hasn't been canceled or put on hiatus... The reason it's been months since my last update is because the last two months have basically been Hell for me. I'm dealing with a serious health crisis in my family, among many other disasters, so I've been prioritizing my mental health rather than my writing. Now that I'm feeling a bit more stable, I can only assure you that I still intend to continue (and finish) this story, but I must ask for your patience as I get my life and my head back on track. Thank you for understanding. - BHS]

Chapter 44: The Trees Are Bare and Everywhere

La Fin de Toute
(formerly Galactica Palace)

Communications Hub

"She WHAT?!"

"E-e-escaped, M-Master Joker," said Moerumba. His knees failed him, and he collapsed at Joker's feet. More lithe and graceful than many of the muscleheaded brutes in Dead End's service, Moerumba was a fire dancer, and proud of it. His knees had never failed him, even all the times he fought against the two Splash Star Precure. The prospect of facing Joker when he was in this state, however...

Joker's signature too-wide fanged grin was an expression they were all familiar with, as was the thin-lipped scowl that indicated something that wasn't to his liking. All of Dead End knew his sarcastic sneer, and the skin-crawling, curly-lipped smile that usually meant someone was about to suffer horribly. Less common were Joker's teeth-clenched grimace, or the faraway expression of boredom he wore when he lost interest in the minutiae of directing his army. Joker only hid his emotions when doing so could give him some advantage over his victims. What Moerumba was seeing now was a sight so rare as to be almost nonexistent: Joker wasn't smug, or satisfied, or displeased, or bored... Joker was livid.

The eyes of the harlequin's mask were wide, yawning black circles. How it was possible for empty sockets (or were they?) to bulge grotesquely like that, Moerumba didn't know. The more he looked at them, the more he feared those eyes would somehow open even wider and swallow him whole. That was a ridiculous fear, but this was Joker. When Joker was properly motivated, he made things happen that were as ridiculous as they were horrifying. Defiance of reason and logic were specialties of his. For all Moerumba knew, Joker could eat people with his eyes... hence, his attempts to avoid their gaze as much as possible. Hence, his groveling. Joker usually enjoyed his underlings' groveling, perhaps he would show some mercy.

"Explain." Joker delivered the word in a hiss like tongues of fire. Moerumba loved fire, it was his element, in both the literal and figurative sense. It took a lot to make a sound that familiar into something terrifying.

"W-we're n-not sure how it h-happened," Moerumba stammered. "I-it sh-should have been impossible..."

"It is impossible," said Joker. His voice trembled with the effort of restraint. "No one, no one can simply pull themselves off the Merry-Go-Round. Not even her."

"Th-that's just it, S-Señor. All the data agrees with you. Doctor M-Mizuno herself said that the agony of trying to remove oneself from the Merry-Go-Round... it would kill anyone that tried."

"Then explain, s'il vous plaît," said Joker, "how it is that she's not only not dead, but escaped."

"When her s-segment was cut loose..." said Moerumba, crawling backwards, "It was G-Gula who was assigned to transport it to the nearest gate. She..." His throat shrank to a quarter of its usual size. He could only hope there was a spare Akumuda-model Droid available after this fiasco, it was the only way he would sleep tonight after what he saw back there. "She w-woke up... and e-escaped her se-segment."

"And what was Gula doing when this happened? Stuffing his face, I assume?"

"I-I don't know, Señor. I can't imagine that he expected that to happen."

"I'll need to have a talk with Gula then."
Gulp. "Th-that's going to be difficult, Señor. He t-tried to s-stop her... she snapped his neck."

"His neck."

"And his spine. In four places. In thirty seconds."

"Despite the fact that she should have been dead."

"Si, Señor. There was blood everywhere, b-but I'm honestly not certain how much of it was his—"

Clawed fingers flew down and seized him, digging into his collarbones. Moerumba wailed in terror and went limp, squeezing his eyes shut and turning his face away.

"Moerumba," rasped Joker, "are you aware of perhaps how collossal a thorn in my side she could be, given the proper motivation?"

"N-no, Señor."

"Try to think, Moerumba. I know that's difficult for you, but please, make an effort. We designed the Merry-Go-Round to inflict unthinkable pain on its victims. That goes double when anyone is foolish enough to attempt to remove them from it."

"Si, Señor! Brillante!"

"It is brilliant. But Moerumba..." Joker pulled him closer. His breath blasted Moerumba's cheek like an open furnace. "There's someone walking around out there who removed herself from it. That, Moerumba, is impossible. Rather than doing the decent thing and dropping dead on the spot, she was able to stand up, which is impossible, and break Gula's neck—"

"A-and spine, Señor."

"Also impossible. And then she escaped, which is—"

"Impossible, Señor?"

"Well done, Moerumba, good for you. And wherever she is now, if she's still being infuriatingly not-dead, I can only imagine said unthinkable pain is proving to be one hell of a motivator."

"Si, Señor, I'd imagine so."

Joker hurled him out of the hub like a living javelin. Moerumba struck the wall opposite the entrance to Communications with a resounding thud, and slumped down it in an ungainly tangle of slender limbs. He whimpered. At least he was still alive enough to feel pain.

"Gula is damned lucky he's dead," Joker growled, turning back to the bank of glowing monitors. "I'd have him revived and kill him again myself if it weren't a waste of resources."

Moerumba moaned in general agreement.

"Merde," Joker mumbled to himself. This was not good. Not good at all. "Merde..."

*****

-VERTEX FOUR: 8.36679-

Uminari City

"Wait, wait, wait," said Kyoko Sakura. "You lost me." She pointed at the little white-haired girl with the colorful ringed eyes, secured in Mami Tomoe's arms and not likely to leave any time soon. "You're telling me that Nagisa—our Nagisa, not the Precure one—got erased from time or something when Sailor Moon and the others fought her Witch. She was gone. But she was there all along, with three other people, inside the Stranger." On Kyoko's other side, the Chibi-Stranger waved from where she leaned against a cracked portion of standing drywall for support. "Until a few minutes ago," Kyoko continued, "When she came back out... and now she's not the Stranger, or a Witch." She blinked a few times, then rubbed her temples. It didn't help. "What the fu—"

"Language!" Mami shot a glare at Kyoko that could have tempered steel and clapped her hands over her charge's ears.

"Heck," said Kyoko, with uncharacteristic meekness. "What the heck."

"It's okay, Mami-nee!" Nagisa Momoe smiled an adoring smile up at her adopted big sister. "Nagisa knows that word already, and a whole bunch of others! Listen!" She took a deep breath, then launched into a gleeful and clearly very proud display of her extensive knowledge of profanity, loud enough for the whole deserted street to hear.

Tsubomi Hanasaki, Cure Blossom, made a sound that resembled "Meep," which went unheard, deafened by the little girl's volume. Her face lit up like a neon sign as she plugged her ears to protect her virtue.

Usagi Tsukino, Sailor Moon, and Minako Aino, Sailor Venus, merely stared, jaws agape. Even Minako and one version of Rei, the two hottest tempers among their friends, had never dared utter some of those.

That left Kyoko to grin fondly as more memories of Nagisa came flooding back. "Yup, that's our Nagisa-chan. Couldn't be anybody else."

Mami, of course, would not truck with her little sister disgracing herself, miraculous return or no. Ever the disciplinarian, she silenced Nagisa with another glare, severe enough to cause a collective cringe among all the Lights. "Nagisa-chan, honestly! Where on earth do you pick up things like that?!"

"Hey," said Kyoko, leaping to her own defense before the accusations could start flying. "Don't look at me, I didn't teach her most of those! I dunno what the hell a 'semprini' even is."

Venus's brow wrinkled. She had limited patience with little kids, especially the mischievous kind, and she found the feeling was often mutual on the kids' end. "[Whatever,]" she mouthed, speaking with the aid of the AMP Device attached to her fuku's choker."[She's here, so what now? What do we do?]"

Nagisa pivoted on the spot to stare at her. "Who's the crabby blonde lady with the robot-y voice? Is she someone's mom?"

Venus's eyebrows leaped up into her bangs, and her AMP pitched with feedback under the sudden strain. "[Excuse me?! 'Someone's MOM?!' Listen, you little brat-]"

"Easy, Minako-chan, easy," said Moon, patting her shoulder. "She's been through a lot. Ulp."

Venus was on the move before Moon's knees could begin to wobble, wrapping her arms around her for support. She knew what signs to look for. "[You too, Usagi-chan. Need to switch out?]"

Moon smiled, bleary-eyed. "No, no, I'll be fine, just give me five minutes..."

"[Usagi-chan.]" The AMP's electronic voice went hard. Venus put her hands on Moon's shoulders, gripping them hard. "[Look me in the eyes. Are you okay?]"

It was a system that Luna, Artemis, Chief Nurse Yugo, and the Arthra's piecemeal medical staff had come up with. The Morning Lights were too few to risk deploying longer than necessary. Given the gravity of the situation they faced, everyone, even those who had fought wars before, had a frightening possibility of developing mental trauma. They had no professional therapists or counselors on hand to offer sorely-needed help to manage that trauma. Only the agents of the TSAB were what anyone could call soldiers, and they were in short supply and hardly unaffected by the war themselves.

Hence, the "safety net", as they had taken to calling it. After deploying on a mission, if any Morning Light could not honestly answer that question Venus asked in the affirmative, they were to be sent back to the Lighthouse immediately for rest and recovery, no argument permitted. Even the Big Five, especially the Big Five, were not exempt.

"It's just the recon and clean-up left, isn't it?" said Moon, trying to rise to her feet. "I can manage—"

"[FuturequeenofCrystalTokyodoesn'tsaywhat?]"

Moon blinked. "What?"

A resonant, humming chuckle. "[Sorry, Princess. Benched. You know the rules.]" The second question, which varied every time, was also part of the test, designed to weed out the ones so tired—or stubborn—that they would go on autopilot and answer "Yes" to everything they were asked.

Usagi's lower lip jutted out like a balcony. "That's playing dirty, Minako-chan. But fine, I'll go. You've got it handled, right?"

"[Always do,]" said Venus with a smile and a playful wink. "[Been doing this longer than you, remember?]"

Someone tugged at Moon's skirt. It was the Chibi-Stranger, gazing up at her with the familiar, calming Chibi-Chibi smile that brought back so many bittersweet memories. "Are you saying you're ready to go?" said Moon.

Nod nod nod, went the Chibi-Stranger's head. She scrunched her tiny features together, her cheeks flushed. The battered wooden door with its peeling white paint and dented brass knob appeared a few paces away after a few seconds' pause.

"Thank you, Stranger," said Mami. "Please, take Nagisa-chan with you. I'm trusting you to bring her to the Lighthouse safely."

"But—" Nagisa began, setting up for a pout to rival Moon's. "But Nagisa can fight too! Remember? Nagisa helped save Homura-san—"

KNOW THAT THE DEVIL WALKS AMONG YOU...

Another collective cringe passed through them all, far worse this time. "Nagisa," said Mami once the pulse's effects subsided. The frequency of its triggering had faded over time; the mention of Homura Akemi's name didn't always bring the awful message and memories back, but it would most likely never be gone completely. "It's not that I don't believe in your strength. You know that's not true and never will be," she continued, ruffling her little sister's hair. It was times like this that Mami looked more motherly than ever, making it even harder to believe how young she really was.

"But—" said Nagisa again.

"I only just got you back, Nagisa," said Mami, husky and strained. "There's so much we have to do, so much we have to say to each other. I can't... I won't put that at risk. I'm not strong enough to lose you a second time. I'm barely strong enough to think about it."

Nagisa's features softened. "I understand." She spoke with a maturity that surprised the others present, like the childish little girl they thought they knew was only a shell and they had just glimpsed a peek inside. "It's okay, Mami-nee. You don't have to worry. For now, I'll rest. When the time comes, I promise I'll fight alongside you again. But you have to promise to be careful too, okay? No taking any unnecessary risks."

Professional as ever, Mami took Nagisa's change in stride. "I promise. And furthermore, I promise to make your favorite cheesecake when I return, okay?"

And just like that, the other Nagisa was back. "Okay!" Cheerful as ever, she leapt for the Chibi-Stranger's hand and reached for Moon with her free one. "C'mon, Usagi-san! Nagisa can't wait to eat cheesecake again, it's been so long..."

"Cheesecake," said Moon in a dreamy tone of voice. "You've got a deal. Let's go." Together, hand in hand in hand, they stepped through the door.

It wasn't long before the door reappeared, and Nanoha Takamachi stepped out of it. She wore a worried expression that she failed to disguise as she bowed to her elders. "Nanoha Takamachi, assuming command of the mission."

"[Nanoha-chan? Didn't expect you,]" said Venus. "[Thought you were staying off the field.]"

"I was," said Nanoha, "but we realized something. I had a hunch when we first saw footage of the Tower of Geddon, but I've collaborated with Fantine-san and the others and now I'm sure of it: it's center is Kohan Park, the exact place where I first met Yuuno-kun."

Kyoko sucked in a breath. "Damn. So what does that mean?"

"I have absolutely no idea. Our new orders are to scout the area and try to scan the Tower if we can."

"[Not destroying it?]"

"That was the original plan, but we're changing it up. Scout, scan, and recon only."

"R-Roger, Commander Takamachi!" said Blossom, snapping into a clumsy and unnecessary salute.

Nanoha giggled, and Kyoko guffawed. "High-strung, ain't ya, Blossom?" said the latter.

"S-Sorry!" Blossom sunk into a red-faced bow. "This is my first real mission, not counting the emergency with Mami-san. Sorry, I thought I needed to be formal..."

"Just 'Nanoha-chan' is fine, Hanasaki-san," said Nanoha. She certainly didn't blame the poor girl for being intimidated. There were—or used to be—enough adults in the TSAB who stammered and saluted her after word of her exploits got around. Nanoha generally didn't mind, but it was different with the Lights. They were all soldiers together, with command structure dependent on the situation.

That said, there was something special about Blossom, Nanoha thought. Blossom was gentle and kind in ways that reminded her so much of Fate. Also like Fate, she hid an iron will and undying passion underneath her soft-spoken exterior. It was a small hope of hers that she and Blossom would find time in all this madness to grow closer together.

Blossom smiled and rose from her bow. "Nanoha-chan. And you can call me 'Tsubomi-chan' if you'd like. I'll try my best... I don't know how useful I'll be without Marine, but." Her expression grew wistful and faraway. "She wanted to come too, to help save Mami-san and the others. Right in the middle of her rehab session, she insisted on trying to leave and she fell on her face. They had to threaten to put binding spells on her to keep her there. This..." She fretted with her skirt. "This is the first time in a long time that there's just one Heartcatch Cure, out fighting by herself. She's worried about me."

Now it was Venus's turn to rest a hand on her shoulder. "[Not by yourself, Blossom. You've got us.]"

"Indeed," said Mami.

"C'mon." Kyoko twirled her spear and pointed it at the twisted shape of the tower in the distance. "Let's scan this thing and go home. I wouldn't mind some Mami cheesecake too."

*****

Aoizumi Forest

Approaching Kohen Park Tower of Geddon

It began with Venus cutting her ankle, three hundred meters from the former site of the park. The wound wasn't serious, but the culprit gave them all a chill: a patch of clover, its formerly harmless rounded leaves were now transparent, razor-sharp glass. Irregular patches of distorted scenery dotted the landscape as they went on through the winding park trail: wooden signs gone soft and rubbery here, a fossilized park bench there. In a small pathside flower garden that captivated a horrified Blossom for a few minutes, the flowers were now fragrant soil formed into delicate sculptures, rooted in earth now made of greenery and flower petals. One of the victims of this particular phenomenon, almost invisible lying within the flower bed, was the garden's caretaker... or approximately half of him, which lay among the reversed tulips, afflicted with the same condition. The other half was nowhere to be seen.

Kyoko's skin crawled as they passed by the body. "Mami," she said, "any of this looking familiar to you?"

"Yes." Mami nodded. "It's similar to that city where we fought Miki-san... Jamais Ville."

"Good, so it's not just me thinking it."

"If I had to make a guess, the space-time distortion effect of the Tower of Geddon is spreading," said Nanoha. "Bleeding over somehow. Raising Heart, your analysis?"

Her Device chimed. "[I'm sorry, Master. I am unable to scan the phenomenon.]"

"Are your sensors malfunctioning?"

A pause. "[No, Master. Please let me rephrase: the phenomenon cannot be scanned.]"

"Wh-what does that mean?" said Blossom. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled.

"[It is unclear. I suggest using Device audiovisual recording software to capture irregularities. The Arthra's crew may be able to make sense of the data,]" said Raising Heart.

With little other choice, Nanoha nodded. "All right. Raising Heart, please initiate full-spectrum holorecording."

"[Yes, my Master. Recording now.]"

"I suppose the rest of us should too." Mami touched the golden ring encircling the Soul Gem housed in her hairclip. "Eleganza? Recording mode, please."

"[Right away, Miss Mami,]" said the AMP's deep bass tones.

"You too, Psalm 23," said Kyoko, tapping her cross.

"[Ready to raise hell, ma'am.]"

Next to them, Blossom fumbled with the pouch on her hip, which now held both her Heart Perfume and the potpourri satchel that was the active form of her AMP. "Um, Mugen Star? Same thing."

The satchel's voice was bright, cheerful, and calming. Exactly what she needed. "[Don't worry, Blossom. I'll handle it.]"

Lastly, Venus touched the eight-pointed brass star on her choker. "[Comeback Tour, you too.]"

A musical trill came from it, followed by another voice. It was very similar to that of a famous idol singer, one of Venus's biggest inspirations. "[Comeback Tour now live, Venus~.]"

An uneasy silence fell as they crept forward, allowing the Devices to do their work. The closer they came to the Tower's outer perimeter, where trail, forest, lake, and all twisted upward into the sky, the more the forest warmed and deformed... That silence grew more and more thick and oppressive, until there were no more of the familiar night forest sounds, no more singing of crickets and frogs, no more rustling of small creatures in the underbrush, no more wind in the trees...

"Oh no," Blossom moaned, breaking the stillness. "The poor trees..."

At first it looked like beads of sap on the gnarled trunks of oak and maple. Looking closer, they saw that it was not sap, but the bark and the softer wood behind it, running down like the melted wax from a candle, as if the trees were suppurating from infected wounds.

"H-Hey." Even Kyoko's tough front had its limits. "Are we done yet? This is enough, right?"

"It's more than enough." Four heads whirled to try to place the voice. To their astonishment, it came from Blossom, who despite shaking like... well, like a leaf... spoke in a tone they had never heard from her before, a tenor of barely contained fury.

Kyoko, more than a little disturbed, put a hand on her shoulder as gently as possible. "Uh, Blossom? You gonna be okay?"

Whatever her response was, if there was one, Kyoko never heard it. All any of them heard was the noise, like that of a brick being thrown through a glass pane, but ten times louder, accompanied by the howl of an engine as something punched an elephant-sized hole in thin air and rumbled through the resulting opening.

"[What the heck is that thing?!]" Venus attempted to shout over the din, her hands over her ears.

In the loosest possible terms, it was a tank. Parts of it were identifiable: a four-meter black cannon with a massive barrel that easily passed two hundred millimeters in diameter, a turret assembly about three and a half meters wide and a hull half a meter wider. Everything else was bizarre; its structure was half charcoal grey metal, half jutting formations of glittering purple crystals. Though they heard the engine's bellow and saw it move out of the portal, there were no wheels or tracks for it to move on. Neither did it hover; it chewed up the ground beneath it as it moved, like a normal tank would, but it simply had no visible means of doing so. As they stared, half-mad from its strangeness and its awful sound, the monster's turret swiveled... and pointed its ludicrously wide barrel right at Nanoha. The crystals lining the hull and turret crackled with power. Violet light built within the barrel, a dragon taking a breath...

"Run!"Nanoha whirled and barked at the others. Her warning went unheard, so she tried again with telepathy: "RUN!"

That did it. The five of them fled back the way they came, scrunched together on a path too narrow for all of them at once.

Behind them, the turret swiveled to follow. Its terrible engine powered down, replaced by a sound that escalated from hum to whine to wail...

"Raising Heart!" Nanoha gasped, already feeling the strain of unexpected movement. She took to the air to lessen the burden on her legs, but the narrow, winding path left precious little space to maneuver. "Multi-Defenser!" A dozen circles of pink light sprung to life in their wake. They had to be enough, they had to be...

The roar from the barrel was short, sharp, and deafening, a thunderclap next to an ear. The blast of heat and violet radiation shattered six of Nanoha's shields and cracked the rest, the shockwave threw all five of the Lights to the ground...

"Fuck!" said Kyoko over the ringing in her ears, spitting out dirt and loam. "Goddamn it, first Youma, then that Mockery thing, then a Great Youma, then zombies, now a fucking tank! This is bullshit!" Further complaints were silenced as Mami fell atop her, knocking some of the air from her lungs. She waited, bracing herself for the inevitable admonishment...

"I agree," said Mami. Muscles twinged up and down her back, and she cringed.

A soft patter fell on the team from above. "[Rain?]" said Venus, still dazed from the blast. "[No, wait—]" It was too solid for rain. Not painful, but sticking in her hair. As she shook it loose, her eyes widened at what fell from her golden locks... splinters and ashes.

The cannon's fire had leveled a square kilometer of the forest. The trees were not knocked down or toppled over; they were incinerated, their remnants falling upon the Lights. Within the blast area, of the picket fences, the roadside benches, and the flower beds, there was nothing left but scorched and blackened earth. There was only the tank, its engine churning to life again, the barrel already charging for another shot. As it corrected its course and advanced, the remaining trees broke like matchsticks before it, the flowers were chewed up into miniscule pieces and spat out heartlessly in its wake...

"You...!" Blossom stood up. Anyone watching would have seen her eyes wide dinner plates, pupils shrunken, alight with flames. She balled her fists, taking a fighting stance. "I won't stand for anyone harming flowers and plants! What you've done... this is unforgivable!"

"Blossom..." Nanoha panted from behind her. Her palms were on fire with backburn, but still she clutched at her comrade's shoulder. "Blossom, don't... we have to retreat..."

Blossom wasn't listening. Her body shone with a blazing pink aura, her ponytail blew out behind her with its force. "No! I won't run! My bag of tolerance has snapped!" She cupped her hands together and recited: "A lone flower, blooming from the earth! Cure Blossom! Tsubomi Hanasaki is your opponent, advancing on your position!" And she charged...

"Blossom!" Kyoko all but screamed. "Blossom, what the hell are you doing?! Have you gone nuts?!"

Blossom didn't listen. She didn't care. All she saw was the helpless flowers warped and twisted by evil. All she saw were stems breaking and delicate petals being consumed, the trees blown to bits by this monstrous mechanical thing... There was only one thought in her mind, to make it pay.

Ahead of her, the barrel lit up and turned toward her, building up its whine as it prepared to fire. She could almost picture it smiling smugly, and that only made her burn hotter.

The cannon fired. Heat and light and radiation hurtled toward her in a blazing ball... which she took head on, arms crossed in front of her face, trusting Mugen Star to protect her. Intense pressure pushed her back, her heels digging trenches in the blackened earth. She did not yield, she would not yield. Though the blast ate away at her shields, reddened her skin, and singed her hair, she stayed upright, standing proud for the flowers that could not fight back for themselves, just as she always had.

The cannon's smoking barrel cooled from white hot to cherry red to black. It lurched into motion, crushing all in its way beneath its merciless bulk. Four times her height and who knew how many times her weight, Blossom looked like little more than a stubborn pink ant before it.

Blossom didn't care. She was ready this time; when the cannon fired a third time, she raised her hand and slapped the blast, deflecting it to her left side to explode in a geyser of soil and ash. "Sprout, Mugen Star!" she called. Her AMP responded with a merry musical chime, channeling its power into her, swelling her aura to twice its size. Once more she cupped her hands, pulled them back, and cried: "Gather, Floral Power! Flowers, shine!" A pink orb of swirling light bloomed within her palms. "BLOSSOM... TYPHOON!" The orb detonated as she thrust it forth, blanketing the tank in a storm of a thousand cherry blossom petals, petals that gouged it like flechettes, leaving scores of tiny marks in its armored hide. Still it trundled toward its prey, charging for another shot... until Blossom launched herself through the cloud like a cannonball, grabbing hold of the oversized barrel. Her palms sizzled as she pressed them against the cooling metal, squeezing it until the plating buckled and collapsed, giving way to her superhuman strength. With it disarmed, she seized the gun along its length, and to the astonishment of her teammates, she lifted the entire machine off the ground. "Leave..." she growled through gritted teeth, "The flowers..." She brought the tank to a whirl, spinning on her heel as if about to throw an Olympic hammer, faster and faster until the world became a blur... "ALONE!" Blossom let go, and the tank flew, up and up and up into the cloudy night sky... "Mami-san!"

Mami had been watching in a state of mild shock, but not for nothing was she the great military mind of the Puellae Magi. Her original magic was over ribbons and ribbons alone; it was only through hours and hours of study of the engineering and workings of gunsmithing that she learned to fashion those ribbons into her trademark matchlock rifles. Modern firearms were too complex to replicate, and were more Homura's style besides.

Now, though? Now she had assistance in the form of Eleganza. Her AMP was less a weapon than a database, tying in with her magic to give her access to far more than she could build on her own. "Dance, Eleganza!" she said as she stood, smiling grimly. Golden ribbons took shape at her feet, forming not a rifle or a cannon, but something squat and angular, something that tipped upward and threw its doors open to reveal two dozen round ports. "Tiro... CRESCENDO!" It was a missile box, fashioned to look like an antique tea chest, complete with four squat clawed legs and delicate golden embossing. The box erupted, spitting twenty-four miniature rockets... rockets which ignited and met the tank as it fell, detonating one after another, so quickly that all the explosions chained together into one thunderous sound. Satisfied, Mami turned away from the carnage, fishing a saucer and her favorite tea cup from her beret with a flourish and taking a long, slow sip as the tank dropped like a meteor from the heavens. It crashed fifty meters away and lay blessedly still.

"Holy shit," Kyoko whispered. She couldn't decide who to congratulate first, but Blossom won out in the end. She hobbled in her direction, a small, pained smile growing into a genuine grin as she approached where Blossom sat in the dirt, trying to catch her breath. "Oi, you okay? That was some stunt you pulled... nice work, flower girl."

Blossom looked up at her. "I think I'm going to be sick," she said honestly.

"[Is that it?]" said Venus, her attention torn between Blossom, Mami, and the fallen tank. "[We done? Can we go home now?]"

"That's a good question," said Nanoha, gazing down at a holo readout. "Raising Heart?"

"[Yes, my Master. Scans of the vehicle detect multiple power sources,]" said her Device. "[All in fluctuation.]"

"[Come on,]" Venus groaned. "[Whoever was in there has to be pulp!]"

"[Reading two bio signs,]" said Raising Heart. "[I'm sorry, but the vehicle's armor prevents any further analysis.]"

"I suppose we'd better get over there," said Nanoha. "Venus, you and Kyoko-chan please take the front. Everyone else, behind them. We don't know what we're dealing with."

The Lights fell in line, Venus and Kyoko at the vanguard. They didn't need to wait long; from the tank came a shriek of tortured metal. The shapes of huge hands dented the battered hull, growing more pronounced with each blow. Four huge fingers broke through and spread apart, ripping a hole in the hull, and from the shadows within emerged...

All five Lights goggled.

The woman was wide and heavyset, but built like a weightlifter, or rather, like the tank she was presently climbing from. She wore a long-sleeved maroon blouse, a green cravat with a pink jeweled brooch, and a frilled collar... businesswoman's clothes. Her sausage-like fingers were adorned with an array of gaudy rings, her nails filed into claws and lacquered with yellow polish. Her hair was styled in a lilac pixie cut, one which only accented her prominent chin, considerable jowls, and small, piggish blue eyes. Neither the woman or her clothes bore a scratch, but nevertheless she dusted herself off and let out a bellowing laugh upon seeing the five mystified faces. "Well then!" she said in a brash voice. Her thick lips, shiny with a coat of ruby lipstick, spread into a wide, predatory grin. "You all certainly did better than I expected! For a bunch of puny little girls, that is. I was almost worried!"

Nanoha wasted no time. Shifting Raising Heart to Cannon Mode, she trained the business end of her Device at the strange woman. "This city and planet are under the protection of the Time-Space Administration Bureau," she said. "You have committed hostile acts that may be construed as—"

"Ohohohoho!" The woman's booming laugh grated on their ears again. "Nanoha-chan, right? I thought that was your signature on the readout. I'm so glad Master Joker deployed me for this mission, I really wanted a chance to pound you into the ground!"

The reaction was immediate: Kyoko brandished her spear, Mami drew two rifles, Venus threaded a length of her chain between both hands, and Blossom summoned her Tact, and all drew together around Nanoha.

The woman sneered, raising one eyebrow. "Oh yes, that's right. I am from Dead End, and I might as well introduce myself before I snap you all like twigs. You people do enjoy your introductions, don't you?" Putting a hand to her heart, she gave them a facetious bow. "Former Second Department Chair of Nightmare, Inc., current Infantry Commander for Dead End, I am..."

Blossom's eyes widened. She remembered. "Hadenya," she said, edging closer to Nanoha. "You're Hadenya, an enemy of Precure 5!"

Hadenya peered at her, blinked a few times, then burst out laughing. "Blossom-chan! It has been a while! Not since that incident with Bottom, right? It'll be so nice to get reacquainted." Putting emphasis on that last word, she punched her open palm. "And look, I've brought along another friend of yours!" With that, she reached into the breach in the tank's side, and hauled out—

Kyoko hissed through clenched teeth, and Mami gasped.

It was best described as a coffin made of diseased flesh, mingled so closely with iron grey metal and glowing lines of circuitry that it was impossible to tell where one ended and another began. The torn remains of pipes and tubing, both mechanical and biological, dangled from its sides. Its lid was translucent, and embedded in the flesh inside it was the still body of a girl wearing a blue Precure uniform. Her face was hidden by a horseshoe crab-like growth, clamped to her skin with yellowed teeth...

"That's right," said Hadenya, easily balancing the coffin on one shoulder. "One of your little friends, fresh from the Merry-Go-Round. I was supposed to give her to that twit Rubeus, but it seems he's no longer here. Too bad. Now, who wants to be first to try to take her back from me?"

END OF CHAPTER 44

NEXT...

CHAPTER 45: LITTLE PEOPLE

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