Journey into Nightmares

7 days later   

Haneda Airport was the busiest airport to serve the greater Tokyo area, serving as the primary domestic base for Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airlines, along with several regional airlines. Serving as the hub that connected Tokyo to most of the rest of Japan's domestic flights, the airport had consistently maintained one of the top-rated facilities by Skytrax's airport reviews, a record the administrators were justifiably proud of.

The three tall men from Russia arrived along with the other passengers from Moscow, paradoxically on a Chinese airline. Coming to Japan required a forged visitor's visa from their embassy; as far as the world was concerned, they were here to conduct a business deal with a local Japanese company. Well, that wasn't a total lie, Boris thought with a smile. Acquiring the Princess of another World most definitely was strictly business... no, the humiliation the three of them had endured... of course it wasn't personal... It wasn't as if their failure had made them a laughing stock within their own organization... or that it had flattened any chance of advancement in their careers... no... not personal at all...

Once they got their bags, they made arrangements to head into the city. While Tokyo had some international presence, having three tall Russians trying to run any kind of operation in a small town like Fujikawa would have been laughable. They may as well have been wearing hats with neon signs flashing "spy". No, for this, they would need to work with local assets; agents who had been recruited by their fellow officers in previous operations to gather intelligence and execute field operations. First though, they needed to head to the Russian Federation Embassy located in Minato City, just north of the airport. They would need a home base to operate and coordinate and the Embassy's protections would be just the thing to keep them safe from any blowback.

The embassy station chief Dmitry Ivanov greeted the three men and verified their credentials. He looked at the briefing packet and frowned. "Bringing a person out of the country isn't a trivial matter."

"We understand," Boris agreed. "But this person is a high-value asset to the Federation. She's the key to a vast reservoir of resources that are of strategic value to the country. Getting her back under our control should be considered a matter of vital interest ."

Ivanov nodded; it wasn't the first time he had been handed a difficult assignment. "I'll arrange to have some local assets activated and standing by to receive your instructions. Your best chance for passing through would probably be as a tourist cover. Many people from overseas come to see Mount Fuji, so that's about as plausible a story as the three of you are likely going to be able to pull off on short notice."

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Mitsuha slowly opened her eyes. Her mind was foggy... another unfamiliar ceiling... where was I...? She struggled to recall anything but came up blank. Lifting her head, she was momentarily frozen in shock. She was in her old room in Japan, but everything was different... or more accurately... everything was as it was before. Before the Cat-God... before Zegleus... This was crazy... was this some kind of fever dream... my memories must be playing tricks on me! I'm reliving my past, that's all!

"Mitsuha... breakfast!" came a voice that caused Mitsuha's heart to skip a beat. Okaasan...!? This...! This...can't be...! She tried to world jump... nothing. She looked around the room, with her heart pounding, then spotted the calendar on her desk and froze. November 10th... halfway through the second academic term... Friday... that was the night they all... her blood froze as the memories of that awful night returned in their full strength. If things stayed the same, they were about to have breakfast, pick up Micchan, drop the two girls off at Mito Koutou Juku, and then... She forcefully closed her eyes... and that would be the last time I would ever see them again...

Mitsuha ran into the kitchen of their home, where her parents and Tsuyoshi were already seated. Her eyes looked wild and panicked, which was immediately noticed by the family.

"Mitsuha, what's wrong?" her mother asked. Just the sound of her voice; it was bliss and torture at the same time.

"I... I... " Mitsuha struggled to voice her thoughts. Was this memory...? Or was I in some kind of strange alternate timeline...? With all the weirdness that's happened in my life, I can't discount anything... including... was it possible to... change how this plays out...? Do I even want to change it... before she shook her head. If there was any chance that her family lived... "Okaasan... I... I'm not feeling up to going to school today," she said with a shaky voice. And for once, I'm not fibbing at all!

Her mother came up to her and put her hand on Mitsuha's forehead. "You don't seem to have a fever."

"It... it's my stomach..." Mitsuha claimed, putting her hand on her abdomen. "Something I ate last night... I'm feeling really nauseous." Again, not entirely false...

"Well, if you feel that way, I guess it can't be helped," her father said. "Just stay here and rest for today. We'll ask Micchan to take notes for you," as the three of them prepared to leave.

"W-wait...!" Mitsuha exclaimed as she continued to silently screamed in her mind. D-don't go...! She racked her brain... what do I do... tell them about the accident...?! If you go out today, you'll never come back...?! That sounds crazy...! They'd never believe me! I don't even believe it!

"Hey Mitsuha," Tsuyoshi assured with his trademark confidence, "it'll be alright. You'll get over whatever ails you and be just fine. We'll be back tonight and the two of us can go out to have a sweet dessert, my treat!"

"O-Oniichan...!" Mitsuha watched helplessly as her family headed to the car. What can I say...?! How do I stop this...?! If things go as before, her parents would drop off Tsuyoshi at college, work their normal jobs, pick him up in the evening, then on their way back to pick her and Micchan, they would... would... if she remembered from the police report from that night... be crushed by a truck running a red light at an intersection only three blocks away from Mito Koutou. She debated wild scenarios like waiting by that very intersection and blocking the road or calling her parents to come back early, claiming a faked emergency... anything to throw off the timing of that fateful rendezvous. Sure, I might get in trouble with the first one, or get yelled at by my parents at the second, but... but...

But then what happens... Mitsuha continued. If I continue my normal life here on Earth, that means I never make it to Zegleus... which means the capital city and all its people are overrun by the Aldar Empire and the dragons... or the Vanel navy makes landfall... She shook her head. Do I really have that kind of choice? My life... and the lives of my family... verses the lives I would have saved in my normal timeline?

Mitsuha squeezed her eyes tight and felt her world turned sideways. She then opened them and she was elsewhere. It was evening and she was standing on the streets next to Michiko outside of Mito Koutou Juku.

"Mitsuha, are you OK?" Michiko asked.

Without a word, Mitsuha took off running towards the street, leaving behind a dumbstruck Michiko. According to the police report, that accident took place... she ran until she reached that fateful intersection, but could already see the truck making the turn and heading towards the intersection. In the window, she could see the driver looking down at his phone. Of all the stupid...! she seethed. At the opposing intersection lane, she could see her parents' car coming and the street light turning green. It's happening all over again...! She ran towards the point of intersection... it was coming again and there was nothing I could to do stop it...! The truck crashed into the mid-sized sedan, crushing it mercilessly into a wreck, and igniting the wreck into flames.

Mitsuha screamed as the world seemed to shatter into glass shards.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Dr. Shuhei Nishimura and Yuta Ishii took the former's car down National Route 20 west from Otsuki to Fujikawa. Nishimura had been in contact with a Dr. Hatsuka Minatsuki at Fujikawa Hospital the past few days, discussing their "Yamada Hanako". During their talks, he explained that their patient was a regular of his, and that her case was fairly unique. Well, that's not a complete lie, right...? She did see him on occasion for medical issues, and she certainly was unique... He shook his head... OK, I'm stretching the truth enough as it is... no point in lying to myself. That said, he and Ishii had rehearsed a story that they would be bringing to Dr. Minatsuki and hoped she would buy it.

It had taken a few more days to convince his own hospital administration accept a patient transfer from Fujikawa; even with medical emergencies, paperwork ruled the world, he lamented. He had also reached out to a colleague who specialized in toxicology and gave him a heads up that he would be needing help on a unique case involving an unknown toxin. He left out the part about it coming from an unknown world, per his oath to the Viscountess.

Pulling into the parking lot of Fujikawa Hospital, the two of them first checked in with the hospital administration to let them know they had arrived, showed their credentials and the purpose of their visit. As they walked down the hallways, Dr. Nishimura tried to get a feel on the subject at hand.

"... and glad that someone was able to identify our mystery patient," Dr. Yoshihiro Uchiyama said, as the three of them walked down the corridor. He was the hospital administrator for the Emergency Services department. "We've moved her from ER to ICU for the time being, but we can't keep her here, unless someone claims her for insurance purposes," he admitted. The dirty little secret that all three men knew was that ICU care was extremely expensive and realistically, someone still had to pay the bill.

"The last report we got was that she was in a medically induced coma," Dr. Nishimura asked.

"That's still the case," Dr. Uchiyama acknowledged. "No change there. We've tried a variety of standard anti-venoms to counter the toxin in her blood, but so far, no effect. It's like nothing we've ever seen before."

"Do you have the toxin isolated at least?" Dr. Nishimura asked.

"We have samples of her blood, but it's proving to be a slippery agent to pin down," Dr. Uchiyama admitted. "Like I said, it's not like anything we've seen."

Dr. Nishimura quietly kept his council. In the past few months, research of the "other world" materials had slowly made its way throughout the greater scientific community, something he had made himself aware of because of his personal connection. Of course, no one here would have done the same, so he wouldn't have expected them to be familiar with what to look for. From what he remembered, some of the plant-based spores and compounds from that world reacted differently than their counterparts of this world. There had been papers published already suggesting that some of the plants from that world had the potential to be highly dangerous, and that extreme caution would be called for, lest they escape into the wild. "If we can get that toxin isolated, we can possibly work on developing a proper anti-toxin," he suggested. I have a colleague who specializes in this kind of work on stand-by back in Otsuki if we can arrange the transfer."

"Um... and there's been a possible problem with that," Dr. Uchiyama equivocated.

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Dr. Nishimura crossed his arms with a mix of impatience and frustration as Sergeant Kobayashi finished his report. The latter man then stared at the doctor, with curiosity and suspicion. " So, you say this girl is a patient of yours? Then maybe you can explain why she would have had a pistol in her possession. I shouldn't have to tell you how serious a matter that is."

"Do you have definitive proof that the pistol was hers?" Nishimura challenged. "Powder burns? Fingerprints? DNA of any kind?"

Kobayashi's jaw tightened. "That's... still being investigated."

So that's a no , Dr. Nishimura thought to himself. He already didn't like this officer; while he understood and respected the Police for what they did, this man was acting like a dog with a bone. Truthfully, he was gambling that the Viscountess hadn't used the weapon nor handle it recently enough for prints to stay viable. But he needed to get her under care before some clue did end up dropping that would complicate matters more. Why did you bring a gun with you, Lady Yamano...? They may allow you to have it in that other Kingdom, but surely you knew the complications of bringing such a weapon into Japan... unless of course, you had no choice in the matter. Given how grievous her injuries were reported, she must have teleported in panic, possibly while still under attack. Regardless, he needed to take some action.

"Sergeant, I understand you have a job to do, but so do I," Nishimura allowed. "Given how critical the patient is, could we at least begin our medical exam? I would think your investigation would be helped immeasurably if she lives than if she dies. I promise you, given her current state, she's in no condition to flee any legal issues she may be facing, if it comes to that."

Sergeant Kobayashi grimaced as he could feel all the medical personnel staring at him. At some point, he knew he had no leg to stand on, so he nodded his assent, but then added, "I would much prefer that she remain here in Fujukawa Hospital, at least until this matter is resolved."

"Fine," Dr. Nishimura agreed with a little exasperation. He made a mental note to contact his colleague in Otsuki to let him know he might be needing to take a trip.

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Inspector Takaharu Aozuka donned his policeman's uniform from home as he got ready to head into his shift at the police precinct in Chuo City. Another small town of approximately 30,000 people, it was also located in Yamanashi prefecture and a half hour's drive from Fujikawa. A few years ago, he had gotten into financial trouble, but managed to dig his way out with some help that was made available by some businessmen who were setting up offices to support the local wineries. They said they needed help with security matters and he didn't choose to ask questions at the time. Looking back, perhaps I should have , he thought, but choices often had consequences that weren't immediately apparent until it was far too late. He did have a few brief uncomfortable conversations about conditions that would be need to be met, but was told not to worry about it, unless he received specific instructions. As the months faded to a year, he began to think that perhaps he was worrying over nothing. After all, it hadn't come back to haunt him just yet.

The morning had begun like so many; breakfast with his family, and getting ready to leave the house and head into the precinct. Just then, the phone rang.

"Hello?" Aozuka answered, picking up the phone.

"Hello, is this Fenix Brasil restaurant? I'd like to place an order for ground beef and pickled onions," the voice replied.

A chill went down Aozuka's spine, but he quickly calmed himself. "I'm sorry, this is a private residence; I think you have the wrong number."

"Oh sorry, please excuse me," the voice apologized, then hung up.

Aozuka gritted his teeth; the message was intentionally oblique and plausible. The real Fenix Brasil restaurant was a few blocks away; if by some small chance someone was listening in on his phone, that message could easily be passed off as an innocent mistake, but inwardly he knew better. That message meant that he could expect a dead drop instruction package waiting for him at the prearranged location at Kabukibunka Park between his house and the precinct. He feared this day would come; it meant it was time to pay the piper.

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Mitsuha kept her eyes shut; her mind still fresh from reliving the trauma... this had to be a nightmare... that night... as awful as it was... was in the past...! She was a Viscountess! She had achieved greatness in Zegleus to earn that title!

She opened her eyes, and was immediately assaulted by the stench of blood and smoke. Looking around, she was on her hands and knees on an open plain that was marred with craters and burning shrubs. All around her were smoldering and mutilated bodies of men in armor. She shuddered slightly as the corpses' open eyes seemed to glare at her from the afterlife.

"Oh, it's you."

Mitsuha turned towards the voice and froze. She saw an anthropomorphic figure of the 招き猫* holding a pair of bodies. "Wh-wha...what's going on...?" she asked with shock.

* Maneki-neko / Beckoning cat - A common Japanese figurine which is often believed to bring good luck to the owner.

The floating Cat-God tossed the bodies in its paws onto an improvised burning funeral pyre and looked at Mitsuha. "I guess you came around to check your handiwork, little one. It's all going according to your plan, of course. You've become a far more brutal figure than I could have imagined."

Mitsuha recoiled at the accusation as she looked around, before she realized where she was... this was outside the Capital City, the day the Aldar Empire tried to invade. "B-brutal? They invaded us! I was defending our city!" she retorted.

"Hey, I'm not judging!" the Cat-God blithely replied. "I mean... with the power you were granted, you could have just sent them all away without a shot fired... or taken their weapons away... or any one of a number of options. But I guess killing does have its advantages after all... they can't come back and try again, I suppose... easier all around too."

"I... I never said it was..." Mitsuha shakily said. Did I really think about all possible choices? I mean... I showed mercy to as many of the Vanel navy as I could ... why not here? She told herself that she hadn't developed the experience with her powers at the time, but... did I really just make the easy choice?

"I heard you were made a noble because you killed all these men, little one," the Cat-God continued as he picked up a few more bodies. "Maybe if you had killed more of them, you may have been made a higher rank?"

"Wh-What a terrible thing to say!" Mitsuha shouted back. "It was your power that let this happen!"

The Cat-God shrugged. "Power... maybe. But all the choices were yours, little one. Everyone who died here was by your decision. Me? I just work here," as he tossed another pair of bodies onto the pyre.

Mitsuha shook her head, then looked at her hands, and for the first time, realized they were covered with blood. She closed her eyes in denial and shook her head again. This can't be happening...!

____________________________________________________________________________________

Dr. Nishimura had finished his initial examination of the Yamada Hanako. For starters, now that he had a chance to examine her up close, he was positive this was Viscountess Mitsuha Yamano, but kept that information to himself. From what he recalled, she kept that information very private, and the recent scientific research coming out from "the other world" made the reason clear. He had heard a rumor that the materials were coming from "a magical Princess from that world", and he didn't need to be a doctor to put the clues together. If the rest of the world found out that "Princess Nanoha" was laid up here helpless, there would no doubt be more than a few agencies with bad intentions making their presence known.

To that end, he had quietly let Yuta Ishii know that he was calling her "Akiko Ishitobi" so their stories would stay consistent. If the Fujikawa Hospital or Sergeant Kobayashi ran that name, it would show up as one of his patients back in Otsuki. Of course, if they dug in much deeper, they'd find out that Ishitobi-san was eighteen years old, and Mitsuha didn't look anything near that, so he'd have some questions to answer if they pressed that hard.

His initial examination had been just as grim as Dr. Minatsuki's; multiple penetrations with an unusual weapon, leaving metal fragments throughout the body, along with delivering an unknown toxin to the body. He had already sent an electronic recorded sample to his colleague in Otsuki and was hoping for some response soon. For now, his first thought was that his patient would need laparoscopic surgeries to remove those metal shards with as little trauma as possible. Each of those shards would need to be removed with care, lest they cause additional internal bleeding. By this point, he had a chance to see the weapon that was used. He hadn't seen such a weapon while he was in that other world, but he suspected it was some kind of specialized assassin's weapon, judging from its design. It couldn't have been anything else; no warrior would ever use such a fragile design.

"Do you have anything, Doctor?" Minatsuki asked.

Nishimura sighed. "Nothing besides what you've already charted. Any chance we could at least start removing some of those shards?"

"We tried," Minatsuki noted. "One of our surgeons tried a procedure to remove a shard where we believed to be a less critical area and nearly killed her. Apparently, that toxin has anti-coagulant properties; those shards are the only thing holding some of her capillaries from bleeding out. If we start removing them carelessly, or for that matter, even try a conventional surgery..."

Nishimura nodded; he could see where this was going. The toxin was the dragon that needed to be slain first before any additional aid could be delivered. "I have made some progress on that front though," he announced, and produced a vial of reddish liquid.

"Is that..." Minatsuki wondered.

"Yes, the toxin from her blood," Nishimura confirmed.

"How did you...?" Minatsuki asked dubiously.

"We've... had some cases like this in Otsuki. Not stabbings like this, of course," Nishimura equivocated. "But there have been some strange cases with poisoning we've had to deal with." That wasn't true, of course, but his expertise with the other world's poison was. Unlike the rest of the staff at Fujikawa, he knew what organic chemical reactions would be cleanly soluble to the plant-based spores that wouldn't work on Earth compounds. "I have an expert who should be here in a few days. If you can keep Sergeant... um... "

"Sergeant Kobayashi," Minatsuki prompted.

"Keep him from getting in our way, I think we can make some progress on saving her life."

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Inspector Aozuka arrived at Kabukibunka Park on his way to his precinct and headed towards the public restrooms. At this early morning of a working day, the park was sparsely populated, with the restrooms completely empty when he entered. He entered the third stall and closed the door. It was highly unlikely he was being watched, but he knew he needed to keep up appearances, just in case. Under the toilet tank, he slid his fingers around and pulled up a taped lump that revealed itself to be a thumb drive. After a reasonable amount of time, he stood up and flushed the toilet and headed into work. While walking, he plugged the drive into a portable audio device and listened via a Bluetooth earpiece.

It took an effort of will to keep his face calm... what was this...? They wanted me to extract an unconscious patient from Fujikawa Hospital and bring her here? What kind of madness was this? He thought about what kind of procedure could possibly accomplish this task... he would need a warrant or criminal conviction to justify such an action. Coming up with something that would pass official scrutiny would take some time and possibly outside help.

Arriving at the station, Aozuka greeted his fellow officers, picking up his usual paperwork that gave him updates of events that happened the previous night and the overall state of the precinct. As an Inspector, he rated his own office, which allowed him some measure of privacy. He logged onto his computer and did a quick look up on the town of Fujikawa. He sighed... none of the names that popped up were people he knew, which gave him some small relief. It would be easier if he didn't have to look into the eyes of someone he considered a friend while he was doing criminal activities for another nation.

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Dmitry Ivanov hung up the phone and looked at the three officers in his office. "It's been delivered. Our asset has received their instructions and should be ready to commence operations. All you need to do is be in town to receive the package once it's been secured."

Boris, the lead agent nodded and smiled. "Thank you for this. If you have anything else for us..."

Ivanov continued, "As I said before, go as tourists. That means lose the suits; no one vacations in suits. If anyone converses with you, speak English. Very few people here speak it fluently, but they do recognize it and they'll assume you're European if you speak English. If you speak Russian, the gig is up." He handed the three men some additional papers. "Here are your passports and identifications; memorize your new names and cover stories. We'll have supporting documentation at those business cutouts in case any authorities attempt to run a background check. We've also booked you a room at the Fuji Kawaguchiko Onsen Hotel Konanso, where you'll be able to operate. Be aware you don't have Embassy privileges there, so if you get in any trouble, we won't be able to help you legally, so keep it quiet."

Boris nodded; the last thing he wanted was a messy incident that could blow out of control. Worst case scenario, he could be looking at costing his country any access to Princess Nanoha's resources once and for all, if his team botched this up, not to mention their lives. "What about exfil?"

"That's going to be tricky," Ivanov admitted. "I'm going to be trying to work out something with a delivery vehicle while the three of you are heading down there. Don't do anything other than tourist activities until you hear from me. Don't even contact the asset; the less you're seen together, the better. We might be looking at a cargo ship to get her out of the country."

Great... Boris groused. He could just imagine the idea of the three of them needing to babysit an unconscious and concealed package sitting in a cargo container for weeks on end. Oh well... the things we do for the Motherland...