When A Snake Recovers Its Skin

[Alphard]

Day 4, 2:14 AM; Building Storm.

She'd almost fallen asleep, that single arm was laying under her chest while the sleeve of the opposing limb remained completely empty and laying flat against her side. Some of the rain was finding the side door beside her a easy avenue to invite some of its presence on the air born vehicle. The woman didn't seem to mind, it was actually a little refreshing, as was the sound of it beating on the armor of this iron bird. If it got much worse her pilot wouldn't be willing to stay at the higher altitudes which meant their chances of being detected would also rise.

She wasn't oblivious to the factions that wanted her hunted down, among them being Iron Strife; this move was a risk but she wasn't the type of woman to pussy foot her way through life. Risks are what made someone stronger that and the proper motivation. Combine those two concepts and the tools to become more than human were right there at your disposal. She'd time this flight based on how she knew the typical routines ran in the local military's. Well that wasn't completely true, it was based on how the Japanese ran their skies and a hope that Italy wasn't too different. Normally she put a great deal more research into such information, but her sources were dwindling ever since closing Hebi down.

"Lady Alphard, we are almost at the drop off point."

Before saying that, the pilot had given 2 rough knocks on the wall to announce he needed her attention. Opening her eyes when the announcement was made, she gradually rose up to her feet; using her only arm to grab onto the frame of the door supporting her weight and gaining quick balance. She'd chosen a location half a mile away from her mark. This section of Lucca was mostly residential and they'd draw less attention landing on one of the flats on the rim. All the buildings in the area were close together and rather high up so there was less turbulence as well. If a military picked them up, they would have been here by now so it looked like it was mission success. Alphard was convinced the hardest part of this was over after the chopper began its decent.

The bird was clearing the final distance between itself and the roof top when turbulence found a way to present itself anyway. Sneering a bit, she saw no reason for that to have happened so blamed it on a piloting error. " Need to work on your landi-..." She didn't even get to finished the line before the cause presented itself... and it wasn't an enclosed building. That wasn't to say it wasn't made from rock though. From the sudden shake she fell back from the opening as what appeared to be some rock based creature swooped under the propellers and made a entrance attempt on the plane itself. After hitting the back wall and acting on pure instinct that FN Five Seven was slipped into her hand and pointed directly at the creature.

While screeching and yelping trying to get more of its body inside the opening, Alphard didn't question its existence and instead put 2 bullets into its chest... only to have them barely chip pebbles off the things skin. Having a bit of a inward growl she'd adjust her aim firing on the hand that the beast was using to keep its grip on the plane. It didn't seem bothered it in the least, its weight was going to throw the whole chopper to the ground too fast. " Tip with its weight, lean left now!" A logical pilot might have question her orders, but everyone in her service knew better than to second guess Alshua. As if her words made the command happen on their own, the bird shifted to the demanded side. This was not enough to throw off her opponents balance though.

Right before losing her own footing from the shift, she'd fire the USG once more this time into the eye of the creature making it finally show signs of discomfort as it lashed back. The gargoyle braced itself once more while falling back on the opposite side of the frame, losing the ground it had gained. Alphard kicked off the ground using the dropping rate, the creatures lose of balance and her own strength to land both of her feet square against the chest of the grails monstrosity. The impact was enough to give her the desired result, launching the gargoyle out of the cockpit. It wailed in protest and put its reliance back in its wings. As for Alphard, she had grabbed the top of the door frame and partially swung out but her one hand seemed to have enough strength to keep her from falling the distance bellow them. It strained her arm and hurt like hell, but at least she wasn't dead.

Groaning a little she'd wait until the pilot righted the chopper again. Now she could finally make the mental question of " what the hell was that?!" her battle instincts no longer auto-piloting her body. She'd let out an exhausted breath putting a great deal of her power into that kick. Her gun... shit where was it? She must of dropped it when grabbing the frame. Only having one arm was a major inconvenience. Now she had no long range weapon and was facing things way out of reach. "Get on the ground now god da-..." Cut off again as the rest of the gargoyle community decided to join the game of tearing apart the shiny bird. She hated being in positions where there wasn't shit she could do. This chopper was fucked and so was the pilot... and judging by the drop she wasn't any better off.

The rotors were struggling to keep spinning, showing signs of quitting in dead acceleration sounds. They were about to be a chunk of metal in the sky without propulsion. Maybe she could set up the rail gun, but with only one arm she wasn't going to be able to keep balance and fire... the recoil might throw her out too. Like she had so many options right now anyway? Maybe she did... actually. Grabbing up the weapon she could make a accurate guess on where the thing was based on the shaking. She take aim on the back end of the cockpit squeezing the trigger letting loose a volly of bullets that ripped through the armor of the chopper in not time and eventually they were striking the beast itself. The denting of the metal made loud resounding clicks that actually were able to beat out the sound of the gun firing itself.

She'd actually shot up one of the wings pretty bad, unlike her hand gun the rail was a constant punishment. Losing its grip the stone manifestation dropped off to the will of gravity, which deemed that a 400 foot drop was enough to shatter stone, those Alphard wouldn't get the pleasure of seeing her advisory take the final plunge. Instead she slid to the opening in the bay once more taking aim at the ones approaching outside. Emergency sounds were starting to blare around this thing, it wasn't going to stay up much longer. In fact the propellers were making there last few desperate spins like it was suffocating right now. The fall was now survivable... but it was going to hurt like a bitch. Setting one foot on the landing skid, she'd throw herself out the side.

As her feet impacted the ground, she'd roll forward with the momentum. It didn't top her from taking a world of pain, but it helped made less of it. Alphard felt like she'd just jabbed her ankle bones into a new permanent position. Tightening her jaw shut, the woman was finding the motivation to move to come up lacking. But the only weapon she had left was a tactical knife and she doubted highly how much effect it would have on a rock. They were going to be coming down, that helicopter lead these things straight to her. Are these some kind of city patrols? Pain in the ass, she never thought that trying to get her arm fixed would become a gauntlet for her life... she might end up losing more than an arm now. Then again by all rights she shouldn't be alive anymore anyway. She needed to get low and get there fast.

As expected the beasts were beginning to fall down on her location, ignoring the pain in her legs and arm she'd demand speed from the limbs. Alphard wasn't the type to run, but she also knew what fights were worth actually fighting. It didn't harm her pride non to not engage in suicide, she couldn't beat them but that didn't mean they could catch her. As if her legs hadn't objected to it enough she was jumping once more, though the distance was considerably shorter this time. Had they been in optimum condition the jump itself would have been a solid landing with no harm done, but since her heels were raw she landed in a stumble in which her hand had to come down to shove off the gravel to get herself back in running balance. She didn't look over her shoulder, that loss in speed was bad enough.

Leaping forward, her hand shot out to grip the bar of a fire-escape leading downward. Swinging her body into a quick drop she'd barely avoid the claws of her pursuer which sliced their attempt at a place that she'd been barely a second ago. Now the creature was forced to swerve back upward into the sky in order to align itself to go into the ally way that Alphard was clearing the steps to arrive to the bottom of. She didn't bother climbing, rather she just dropped herself from one balcony to the next until finally reaching the street. How the hell did anyone stay alive in this city with shit like that in the sky? Right now she wanted to stop and catch her breath, but that luxury was going to be deprived until she was sure she was clear.

Staying close to the buildings while running the street, she'd stop at every corner to take a quick cautious glance down every ally. These briefs stops held her with the breathing issue, but it wasn't enough to satisfy her stamina which was wearing down as the snakes legs made quick work of it. It should only be a 3 minute run to this Aozaki chicks place... but her runners high was giving out. Alshua could endure massive amounts of pain, but if her body wasn't willing to work it didn't matter what her mind could endure. It could do some real damage, or she could end up passing out but the distance was too close to stop now. It was like scrapping the bottom of the barrel, but she was going to finish this. Taking a look at the distance in front of her, she'd breath out one time before taking into a focused sprint forward.

It was probably 2 minutes before she was knocking on the woman's door, but after taking all the damage she'd just had inflicted; it felt a hell of a lot longer. Bracing her only arm against the wall beside Aozaki's door, she'd finally let herself start to recover some of lung capacity. So after her first 10 minutes in Lucca Alphard had to say... THIS CITY SUCKED!

[Aozaki Touko]

Normally Touko would had her usual bounded field around her current residence as a mean to keep unwanted visitors away, it sure helped at keeping a low profile if only a few selected people knew where she was living at the moment but this time it was different, Touko cover would be to hide herself among the many magi that are gathered in this town, the best place to hide a tree is in a forest, Touko had to save up her prana for her Servant and a bounded field would not hide her connection with Solomon. Even so, Touko still kept a low profile to escape not just the watchful eyes of the Association but also to avoid rival masters so it was clearly very strange to receive a visit in the middle of a rainy night like this.

It's a given that without the bounded field, the sleeping Touko had no way to know that she had a client looking for her on the other side of her door, much less about her injured state or the fact that she had faced a grail beast and survived, albeit knowing nothing about the world of the magi yet she had found out about Touko. Surely some sort of twisted charisma was in work here, to always pull in the unique types toward herself, usually without having any connection to the supernatural prior to they meeting with 'Orange'.

The night would be a long one, for both of them.

[Alphard]

Events were merging in with one another, at some point she'd done one thing out there and at another something different. Usually her mind jumbled rather badly when the impossible started fire shots at the woman. She'd seen shit and caused shit that only the big screen could make real, but there were no cameras rolling. Normally she was highly adaptive, instead of thinking "that's impossible" and standing their like a stationary bitch waiting to get cut down, Alshua had the mind set of " oh well, still can't kick my ass."

Siam warned her about those that surpassed the limits of physical restriction and became a being of complete despair. How ironic, that fuck was building girls that could do the exact same shit. She didn't know how to be a normal citizen or hell even a woman, all Alphard knew was kill or be killed. Everyday was war, everyday was another chance to die. Shit she was taught how to make an accurate head-shot before she'd even started wearing bra's. That was just her life right? It was the burden of being the Promised Land, Canaan... what a joke. Stabbing that guy in the back was the best choice she'd ever made in her life, though it also became the most haunting experience too.

The thought of her adrenaline taking its leave was a bit scary, she knew how much damage her body had taken and knew exactly where it was going to hurt the most. Once the high left it'd be her alone dealing with the damage of jumping out of a damn helicopter and onto a solid platform. It'd take days to heal and the pain would be pretty constant for at least the next 5 hours... and that was assuming she could take it easy after the time limit was reached.

How long had it been since she'd been in a situation this intense before? Certainly not since her fight with Canaan on that train... the day she finally escaped Siam's ghost. Hell how this false princess had managed to survive that fall was still unknown to even her. If god still wanted her ass for something, then he better make his intentions a little more clear. Maybe this commando bitch was supposed to become someone elses light... yeah right, if that was true the supreme over lord in heaven really didn't know the kind of chick she really was.

Epinephrine's were wearing off, she'd coil a bit as the pain was starting to work its way from the outside in like she was being devoured by ants. Anywhere pressure was being made against raw points that recently had taken a hard hit, Alphard was starting to feel its effects. Pain didn't last forever, she could subside it once it was present... however the initial effects were always the worst. After that it was about mind over matter, her training in that regard was also quite potent. At this point though it still had her full attention, there wasn't really much that was good enough to distract her mind from it. But she wasn't some whiny bitch either, she'd deal with this as time took its sweet ass progression helping out.

It'd been about 3 minutes since she'd pounded on the door, this meant a couple of things. 1 Touko was dead, 2 ignoring her... or 3 sound asleep because it was 2:30 at night. The problem was she had no idea what type of person the red head was, so all 3 were very possible. How could anyone be alive in this city with mutants running a muck out there. Maybe she took this as a good time to skip town, with the chaos out there it wasn't like Alphard could blame her. So what now? Kick down the door? Not the best way to break the ice with someone she was about to ask a favor of was it.

"Shit."

Alshua threw her right fist into the wall, feeling a bit of frustration well up after working so damn hard with no results. 5 hours, she'd wait 5 hours knock again then if there is no answer that door was coming down. Her body needed time to heal anyway and she'd rather not confront someone while being in considerable amount of pain. So lowering herself to sit against the wall, she'd put her head down starting to hum Siam's Hajimaru Monogatari to herself in a eerie kind of hollow tone.

[Aozaki Touko]

Living on the run was not the life style that Touko had pictured for herself when joining the Association, something that grew up that big should not be expected to be as nice as it sounds but even so, a magus have to take they chances in that place as there are no other options, thanks to that, Touko learned many things, included how to look after herself, although some of this started with her sister but that is another history.

Normally the bounded field that Touko set up to hide herself from the world would give in the first sign of someone getting close to her home but no matter how good a sign may be, it is useless if Touko can't grasp it and being asleep usually does hinder one awareness of they surroundings for most obvious reasons, living on the paranoia that Touko could be attacked at any time, specially at night is a unhealthy habit that Touko did not wanted to develop but in order to remain alive, Touko had to become a light sleeper. As in, light enough for a knocking on the door in the middle of the night to wake her up.

The newspaper sure arrives early in Lucca

Definitely not the case but since Touko had no idea of who would be so kind to pay her a visit in the middle of the night, as she confirms the time after raising herself from her bed, doubtfully a rival master since there is not much of a need to be polite towards someone you will be killing right after but also not just your average neighbor asking for some sugar either. Whoever it was, it would wait a bit until Touko got herself up and ready to present herself in front of someone else, although it would be unlikely for her guest to be in such a hurry as to not be able to wait a few minutes, it was also uncommon for someone to wait too much in front of a unresponsive door.

"Isn't it a bit too early to be asking for borrowed butter?"

Albeit not being in her best shape, Touko managed to get herself as tidy as possible in that small time, although if she would get to be face-to-face with said guest or not was still a matter to be decided as she made herself know from the inside, door still closed.

[Alphard]

With any pain, there was a form of "contractions" that triggered every so often. They were minor twitches that tried to get Alphard to give them some attention like a nagging child pulling on her pant leg. Well her maternal instincts were shot so the ex-terrorist wasn't about to give into that irritating yank either. It wasn't enough pain to make her stutter in her song at least, while the vocals remains steady her brows partially sunk down. Honestly with all the damage she'd taken tonight the woman had to wonder if anything was broken. Landing that large fall on her feet was bad enough, but then running on them directly after taking so much punishment was probably the worst thing medically she could have done.

Was there a reason those things hadn't tried to break through the walls yet? How many people could really be in this city if they were about? How were any buildings standing? What were they some kind of police force to enforce curfew? Who cared about logic in a world as fucked up as this. Siam spoke a lot about super humans but he'd never said anything about super beasts. Oh well, she'd taken the best course of action for handling the situation. Until she gets a new weapon or maybe a little information on what the hell those things were, she didn't plan to try and go for a round 2. There was a part of this woman that always longed for a powerful challenge, but this was a little more then she'd gambled on.

Sleep wasn't going to be possible, there was just too much pain that she mentally had to suppress. This was a pretty debilitating circumstance that was pushed on her. Who the hell was she fooling, Alphard came to this city of her own free will to get the quick fix. There was always a way that life liked to find balance, if not be normal means then it will chuck giant stone gargoyles at ya. Where does something like that even come from? She'd been in the know for a lot of bizarre research in this world, but she never seen gene splicing or anything on this level. Just like restoring an entire arm, this almost seemed like magic was the root cause.

The hum stayed constant, though her mind really wasn't in the situation right now. Figuring out the origin of those creatures seemed more pertinent than anything. Iron Strife? The US? Did someone else find out about the magic bitch she was here to see first and turned this place into a battle field for the sake of obtaining her? Well it'd make sense, how else could the existence of something as impossible as entire limb replacement exist. Someone like this Touko chick isn't going to be trusting, especially to someone to someone she finds sitting outside her door waiting for her like it was some kind of hit.

While Alphard's senses were sharp, hearing her behind a door wasn't someone she could pull off from here. On top of that the chick was exhausted and distracted by reflections on the past.

[Aozaki Touko]

The silence that paired upon the building after Touko finished her line was strange, as it would be expected to hear a answer by now, could had she imagined things and no one had knocked on the door? It was in the middle of the night after all and as far as Touko was aware, no one should knew where she was staying.

There was not much to do in a case like this, returning to bed is a option but as Touko know better than to shrug this event off as just some trick of her mind. Taking a look through the peephole did not revealed anything either, visually that is it, as Touko could hear something else this time, coming from the outside but she couldn't make out what the sound was, not through the peephole alone thus the door was opened in order for Touko to peek at where the sound was coming from, which was closer than she thought. It was dark to see clearly who was there but it was human and probably not feeling well, hitting the light in the hallway on in order to have a better view, Touko address the woman.

"I take that you have business with me, correct?"

The figure of a battered woman lying close to her door didn't left much space for guessing, the limp and loose sleeve of her jacket also made it clear that the woman had some injuries, a few recent ones and at least one older one, as there was minimal blood in the armless sleeve. Touko night of sleep had ended right there and the day of work and questions just started, with the main one already formed in Touko's mind . . .

How did she knew where Touko was living?

[Alphard]

Eventually Alphard's senses did get aroused, even over her own musical sonnet. Well maybe it wasn't fair to call it that, but the hymen had a great deal of meaning to her and Canaan, it was a concept that didn't need words and probably carried a deeper message then anything that could be said anyway.

Still talking with the naive little girl was a little too fun to pass up just by singing the whole time, besides people like her and Canaan responded better to the sounds of gun fire than a rich melody. Actually Canaan could taste, see and touch sound so who knows what kind of music that girl was always hearing. She could live in her own personal fantasy world and her mind could make her believe its real. At the same time that was a weakness that could be exploited, being super human wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Without a left arm though, Alphard really wasn't going to make a good border line human.

The more she thought about it the more it made logical sense that Touko was already dead. Even if she assumed that being in buildings was safe, what would the woman do for food? Well she was no gargoyle expert but the basic concept of they turned to stone during the day was well known enough to reach her ears. So was it only stone demons that were terrorizing this place? If there were other species besides them, then the whole sunlight weakness may not always apply. Clipping their wings and letting gravity do the work seemed to do the trick though, too bad the rail gun strong enough to do it was burning at the bottom of a building right now in a FUBAR chopper.

So yes the woman now could hear Touko, looking up as the door started to crack. Well the bitch was alive huh? Wonders never seize. She must be able to do some crazy shit to survive in this town. Well maybe at the very least Alphard could get some answers. Aozaki more than likely had quite a few of her own though. Well there would be plenty of time for that wouldn't there. After sitting down though, getting up felt a lot harder.

When the light flicked on, Alphard didn't even flinch. Though her pupils obviously worked to adjusted themselves, she wasn't someone that had to gradually let them take in the light. Smirking a little at Touko's "outfit" she'd brace her single arm against the floor pushing off as she rose up to be a little taller than Touko herself. First impression? She seemed like someone of grand intelligence, but also a sleeping tiger that had a lot of power hidden away. Very mature in her look, dignified and maybe a little elitist. So basically what Alphard would be in about 10-15 or so years? Pretty girl, probably hard to trust though... not like she had much choice though.

"How'd you guess?" Tossed on a amused expression lifting up the slack of her left arm sleeve. "I guess that makes you Aozaki Touko."

[Aozaki Touko]

"Yes, I'm."

At a first glance, it seemed like the wounds in this girl were fresh, a more calm analysis would be needed to confirm that but this would depend on the reason for this late visit, hostile or not, albeit the former becoming more unlikely as this situation progress, although the extent of knowledge that this woman may have about Touko is worrisome.

Touko was too close to the association, more close than she would like to be normally but the Grail is worth the risk and so, Touko came in prepared to fend off Enforcers if needed, of course only as a last resort, having made preparations to legally hide her presence here as her first and most important means of defense. How did this girl managed to get hold of her location? A question that definitely needs answer.

"And what would your business with me be, that cannot wait until the morning?"

[Alphard]

No shit, she had the air of someone she'd expect when it came to mysterious doctors. Working with Ua plenty of faces showed up wanting to study its abnormalities on the human body. All they saw was profit and the chance to play god, no matter how dangerous the risk was they'd put it all on the line to feed that creature conjured by their own narrow minded indulgences. Still if they could prove useful then there was no reason for her to become involved in whatever they wanted to do... well within reason, there were still lines that shouldn't be crossed.

Aozaki didn't strike her as that type, in her line of work she learned to read people pretty well. Canaan wore her emotions on her shoulder, she was a little kid and even if she didn't, the way she used her powers made her thoughts and state of mind completely transparent. She'd slip in and out of reality based on a certain smell or just thinking too hard on a concept that her mind started to assemble the physical senses required to make them seem real. Maria Osawa was the core example of this weakness, one mention of the girls name and Canaan left the world behind rejecting reality and conjuring a new space that just her and her minds understanding of Maria occupied. In that sense, she wasn't much different from a child.

Aozaki was casual though, collected despite the situation and almost seemed like she expected it in a way. On some level it reminded Alphard of herself, which meant she could also be dangerous and manipulative. She'd need to pick her words right and not give Touko the material needed to make accurate assumptions about her. If there was one weakness with the sand princess, it had to be her hatred of people understanding what and who she was really. A lot was put into this facade and it had to be believed.

Touko replied in the same manor in which Alphard was, she answered questions plainly without anything extra to work off of. All she had was her physical responses and this woman was completely composed. " I'm Alphard Alshua, requesting a routine medical examination doc." Routine as in, restoring a limb completely to its original function. Of course she could ask for help with falling out of a plane and shit, but she was one of those "chews on nails" types who let her body handle such recovery... a severed arm though was a different story, an aspirin and Robitussin wasn't going to give her the ability to use two upper appendages for combat.

" If you want to check me for a weapon go ahead, i'll put my arm over my head and you can feel around to your hearts content." She was being a smart ass, it was clear Aozaki wanted no part of the typical police pat down routine. Besides, it was also clear Alphard needed medical attention, there was no reason to believe she'd have any reason to attack Touko.

[Aozaki Touko]

Whoever this one was, she was not your common civilian unlike a certain boy who also found her seemingly out of nowhere and this opened a wide range of possibilities in which worries Touko but that will be dealt with later on, the door was still open so Touko grab a pack of cigarettes by her door to light one up as this situation requires a smoke. Touko is not a medic but her knowledge about the human body can be used to help injured people too but this is by far not into her vast list of occupations nor had Touko ever done this kind of dealing as treating people who can't go to a public hospital.

The point is if this woman, Alphard, was aware of that!

"I take that the help you want does not involve these wounds you got to get here."

"There is no need for this check-up."

"Let's continue this inside."

If this ever took a turn to the worse, waking up her neighbors is what Touko want the least nor to take chances of anyone seeing her receiving a night visit like this, specially since some surely woke up from the helicopter crash. The time for the drawing of a gun for persuasion purposes was gone, Alphard is being cynic but not pushing her way, Touko only reason to have a foot behind in this is about her payment for helping this woman.

Either way, the 'medical examination' would had to happen inside and the collection of the spoils wouldn't be today either, Touko had time and interest on her side, for now at least.

[Alphard]

Alphard was quite aware of the price of getting to her feet, pain in the present became much easier to deal with then pain that was yet to come. Still with her kind of training, she didn't complain about such things; her decisions had lead to this point and now this was there result. All things considered the ex-terrorist leader should be pleased just with being alive. The most the threat of the incoming nerve stimulation was going to get from her was an eye roll, it was more of an irritation. Not to sound all temple monk or anything, but the concept of mind over matter was actually quite accurate; someone who was capable of shooting off their own left arm could attest to that.

One of her larger pet peeves was being seen as weak, mostly because Siam had taken so much pride in this girl as a weapon on the brink of human physical and mental limitations. There wasn't much else she could do to get stronger in terms of combat. So for that reason, she didn't want Touko offering her a hand or anything of the sort. Alphard made a mental assessment of the easiest way to get back on her feet with taking the least amount of damage and followed that directive. Still with so many injuries there wasn't much she could do to avoid it. Right now the front of her feet felt like she'd just been drug bare foot through a mile of gravel. She even had a couple holes in her clothes, mostly from sliding a crossed the roof top.

So since the right arm was still pretty much fine, that's what she used to shove off the floor and get enough heft to recover back on her feet, though she was focusing on keeping the pressure off the balls of her foot. It was a good thing she wore combat boots or else the bones might have taken a lot more damage. That annoyed wince caught her face, but passed soon after. It almost made her regret taking a seated position in the first place. Her body was going to ache for a while longer, but the only thing she was here for is a left appendage.

Progressing into her apartment she'd pretty much ignore the fact that Aozaki was smoking. That was actually a weakness whether she knew it or not, people that needed drugs and oral stimulus usually were deprived of such things in their life, Alphard couldn't give 2 shits less about it; she found her own ways of escaping reality. Still in response to Touko's question, one might think Alshua was insulted that the magus even mentioned anything outside of the left arm. "What wounds?" Seeing, denying reality.

The inside of her apartment certainly didn't scream that she had the equipment to restore someones limbs. It could mean she didn't operate inside this building, which would be a pain in the ass because right now walking sucked.

[Aozaki Touko]

Being waken up in the middle of the night to be pulled a prank would be quite the terrible end to this event, on Touko's side at least since it would had been a success for the prankster, who may be a bit too old to still be doing such things, surely a possibility considering the last words from the late visitor but Touko was sure that it was not the case when this woman knew her name and where to find her.

"The wounds that you require medical examination, of course."

Be it pride or stubbornness or even a combination of both and some distrust on whatever she heard about Touko, the woman would had to see to believe in Touko abilities but there would be nothing to see if the patient did not wanted to tell the medic what was wrong with her, even if that was visible as the sunrise.

"I can only help you after you reach your hand towards me."

Be it her missing arm, the wounds all over her body, something else completely or all of it, privacy would be a must so the door to the outside was closed once again, leaving the two women inside, and a servant Caster that would remain a unaware presence to the special client.

[Alphard]

Zaki wasn't going to be at the top of her game, or have much patience if she just woke up. Alphard had no idea how long she'd been in business. It wasn't even really a business, her informant said he had to dig deeper then hell in order to find a trace of information based on artificial limbs. There had just been a couple of cases where someone with a severed limb ended up with a fully functioning one later. Those bread crumbs eventually lead back to Aozaki herself. Its not like she was sloppy or anything, Alphard just had connections with probably the most powerful terrorist organizations including her own; it takes a lot to stay under the radar when there was information they wanted.

Still if she was tired and groggy it wasn't the best idea to have her working on the arm ( or lack there of ) yet. Honestly it might be best to wait a while so that Alphard herself was recovered enough for the whole examination process. Something like this couldn't be easy, manipulating god never was; though snake seemed to take a valiant stab at pulling it off.

Viral war fair, a kind of combat that made it possible for a group of 5 to take out a group of 500. Numbers didn't really help in some situations and it could be a grand disadvantage at the same time. Life was a lot easier when people relied on just me myself and I... of course she thought that, rejecting the notion of needing a "light" as Canaan put it; but here she was accepting aid from Touko. Couldn't be helped, if she wanted back in the fold this was necessary.

"Your only concern is my stump that used to be a left arm; the rest of this shit will heal on its own." She wasn't trying to insult or be rude to Touko, honestly the message was simply that she wasn't a weak child that couldn't handle a few cuts and scrapes. A left arm missing was a different story all together though. Actually she was a little pissed at herself for not being able to operate smooth enough where Touko could notice it wasn't just her left arm that was in need of attention. As a soldier she'd hoped to be more deceptive than this.

After saying some line she'd expect a religious nut to say when talking about accepting gods grace, Alshua took her trench off revealing the bandaged stub from beneath it. Having a feeling that Touko needed to see the actual end itself, the princess used her knife to cut away the wraps, setting it aside in order to use the right hand to peel the clothes away which showed from her elbows down a mess of dried blood and a cauterized wound. What stood out most was probably where the bullets had torn the bone away.

[Aozaki Touko]

The guest had finally extended her hand out for help, as much obvious as it would be the actual case, Touko wouldn't be able to do a thing if Alphard didn't cooperated with her, having to cast pride aside for it, even if the woman remained in a defensive approach as she made a point to not have Touko touch her other wounds, and the customer is always right.

Having a look at the stump of a arm, anyone could tell that it was lost in a very ugly way and treated in a even worse way, the wound had been closed in a very crude way, which would make the replacing and adaptation job very painful to the 'user' but feasible, considering that Alphard lived through the loss of said arm.

"It's possible to replace the limb that you lost."

"But as you are now, it will be quite painful to you."

It was now a question if Alphard could endure it and also pay, in some way at least, and also with how much urgency does her customer want a new arm, Touko 'business' on replacing missing limbs was not a vast one for a reason and she would like for it to remain like that and no matter how tough people may be during they life, it is at time like these that you find a crack on them.

"If you still want to go on with this, you will have to stay here with me for the time that it takes to finish your new arm."

Touko's servant could remain hidden for a day or two while Alphard stayed around or at best, she could say that it was her father or uncle that was staying with her while visiting town.

[Alphard]

Asking for help didn't come natural to her, she was used to dealing with her own body on her own; or with a elite team of her own hand picked doctors. But non of them were going to get her limb back, that's why she needed this woman. Touko was very complex it seemed, she was what you saw but you didn't really see much of anything. It was deceptive, but pro's new better then to assume anything based on outside appearances. She was cautious, smart but still seemed to have a mild hint of compassion. Well Alphard wasn't so great with sharing that, so Aozaki was going to need to accept money instead. Hopefully this transaction will only cost her an arm without charging for the leg.

"Those things outside, can't exist... and neither can the ability to fully restore someones arm. How these kinds of talents stay under the radar, I can only assume there is a massive body count for those "lucky" enough to find out."

In fact she'd bet her right arm on it, which also meant Alphard was going to be attacked by freaks with abnormal abilities all over again. Her gun did shit to those bats and they were probably only summoned minor minions. Damn it, if she was going to get hunted; this was going to get really messy. Normally she'd jump at the challenge, but her instincts told her even at her peak; she was in way over her head.

It seemed she'd be able to pull this miracle off, at the cost of what; pain? Alphard was half tempted to role her eyes, did she think someone that operated with their arm in this condition wasn't used to pain? As much fun as it sounded to just go through the countless times she'd been pushed to her limit in dealing with pain, Alphard wasn't going to brag to a woman who could probably deal with the enemies she just fought in a single action. That's right, this chick could kill her in an instant, the Sand Princess could look as dangerous as she wanted; Touko was the real power here and she knew it. That didn't mean Alshua was scared of her or the challenges she was to face, anyone who shoots off their own arm and lets themselves drop 400 feet is already prepared to die.

" That's the way I like it." Sound sadistic, put Touko's mind at ease. Last thing she needed her thinking is that Alphard would shrivel up or flinch doing the procedure. Still Aozaki was going to need to strap the arm down. She was going to more than likely shave the bone and even out the surface. Then her power would work as some kind of glue that causes the rest of the body to accept the arm as natural existence. That or she was going to carve out the remaining chunk of her forearm to the elbow. THAT would hurt like a bitch, yeah it put a little fear in her... but she was the one that put 4 bullets into her arm in order to sever the thing.

" Sounds fun, I always wanted to stay over at another girls house." It was a sarcastic pun, but thinking back on it... Alphard never had slept over at another girls house growing up. She was in a mansion and then she was in the military in mostly tents and huts, from there it was an office building. The closest she had is when she spent the night with Xiang Chi, but that wasn't at her house or anything.

[Aozaki Touko]

Just like how Touko is curious to know how Alphard got to know about her, Alphard surely will be curious about the surrealistic things she heard about Touko and about what she saw outside, whatever it may be, although considering her choice of words, it was probably a servant fight or some grail monsters, the latter being more likely since Solomon hadn't come to her to let his sleeping master know about a possible servant fight and also the wounds that Alphard had on her, but the better way to be sure was to ask.

"By those things, I take that you mean creatures that should not exist but yet were there to hurt you like that, correct?"

It was a question that barely needed a answer, just a reaction from Alphard would be enough to let Touko know what happened close by to her new home.

"And you are mistaken about the corpse count."

"Current science cannot prove or disprove what you just said, our common sense also tell us so, that such things should not exist, your mind should be telling you that right now but your body tell you something different."

"You are free to believe in any side, the one that makes you feel more comfortable."

Magic was only a item on fairy tail nowadays and any proof of it existence is well hidden or taken as exaggeration made by people from the past as to make legends and myths more appealing, what science cannot prove is deemed as non-existent after all.

"Your beliefs aside, we should get onto your request right now, your arm is not in conditions to be wrapped up again or to be left in the open anymore."

It was a miracle that Alphard arm hadn't developed some infection or something of that sort so far when she clearly had not treated it properly and probably just made some first-aid bandages by herself, a crude work in all effects and that would just make it more painful to Alphard in the end.

[Alphard]

Information was power and all that, but really right now it seemed pointless to try and pursue it all. Everything had a source or root, it was much easier to start from square one and work down the latter then just jump in the middle of it and try to figure out the facts surrounding it. Besides if her theory was right, Gargoyles and arm replacement was near the very bottom. Touko had to know the cause and foundation for all of this. But a lot was already being asked of this woman, Alphard would look dangerously ignorant if she just started asking rapid fire questions. She was the type that preferred to just look at the paper work and figure it all out herself. But this kind of world wasn't meant to be known, the paper work would be rare and protected.

"Yeah." Keep it simple, words were a waste of breath if they didn't have a purpose behind them. All Touko needed was a affirmation so that's all she got. As expected the concept didn't shock her at all, which meant she was prepared for that kind of assault herself. How does someone get THAT kind of power? Even Canaan would be hard pressed to deal with stone based opponents.

What did surprise her is Touko was insistent that there wasn't some organization taking out the public by standards that happen to wander into this kind of knowledge. If that was the case, why hadn't Alphard heard about it before? Was it only in Lucca? If so did everyone in Lucca know and just keep it a secret? That was too far fetched, there was bond to be many who seen such abnormal creatures and reported it. Maybe she'd be right about it if no one believed the crazed ranting... but evidence wouldn't be too hard to get. Even now if she was so motivated Alphard could just walk to the crash sight and recover a body fragment of one of the beasts she'd taken out.

" I don't buy that part." There was a strong difference between belief and proof. Regardless it seemed like a moot point, Alphard survived her aerial assault and knew that the impossible was here. It was something far beyond the UA virus mutations, this was nothing short of magic.

The way she treated her arm wasn't much different than a soldier would. Clean it, wrap it and cauterize if necessary. She'd done that much, but Alphard hadn't sought professional help for it till just now. "You know what you have to do, don't tell me to brace for pain or how much its going to hurt; just do whatever you need to." Tough as nails attitude was easy for her, she could say it all she wanted but there was still the little girl inside that was scared of the pain that was soon to present itself.

[Aozaki Touko]

Alphard confirmation of Touko's guess another point toward the facts that surrounded this Grail War, the grail beasts are attacking people unrelated to the war which will make the act of keeping this background war a secret harder as more cases like Alphard's happens and unlike her, common citizens won't live to tell the tale, of course Touko wouldn't let things get that far and the more hands on it the better.

"The truth is what you choose to believe in and according to your choice, it would not be a wise move to confirm that out by yourself, don't you agree?"

"Getting aware of that will also mean that you will become involved with this world, making it another choice that you have to do."

The Association was more interested in preventing anything from escaping they grasp, people or knowledge, rather than preventing new entrances when there was the 'barrier' of common sense dominated by science that dictated that magic was nothing more than a fairy tale item and refusing to accept the other side of the world, labeling it and it's practitioners as odd people that lived in a fantasy world rather than on reality, Alphard was most likely too shocked with the revelation of the supernatural to notice, or remember that now, but she would eventually do so while waiting for her new arm.

Touko led the woman to the back of the apartment, which unlike the first room that was what would any person would expect from a house, organized and clean, with nothing out of the normal standing out from the rest, the back room was the opposite, empty and unfinished dolls all over the place, piles and piles of paper and artifacts that non-magi people would call junk spread all around the room but still leaving enough space for people to walk around the room with minimal ease, in short, a total mess.

"I will take some samples from you first, your new arm should be ready by the day after tomorrow, we will take care of what was left of your arm when the time of the replacing is nearby."

[Alphard]

Those bastards, trying to introduce her to despair. She already knew its cruel hand and it wasn't going to reach her again. No one could see her truth, she couldn't allow them to know what she was really. This lie was everything, she'd sacrificed her true emotions for it and it was the face that only one could penetrate. She was Alphard Alshua, weapon forged from the heart of a man who wanted to see the promised land. A land where he unleashed the perfect soldier, a demon that would haunt all those that carried the name Canaan.

Touko was a brilliant woman, though given the same environment Alphard might have known more than Aozaki does. The issue there was Touko experienced this world of impossibilities her whole life and took part in it, a major issue for Alphard would seem insignificant to her. No military power could touch her power, not if it was capable of effortlessly dealing with stone gargoyles. It might be overestimating her, after all; the only thing Alphard could confirm was that this woman could replace limbs with something almost as genuine as the real deal. Still she didn't see any guards and based on her movements, she sensed Touko was willing to respond violently if need be.

"Confirmation is only needed when their is a lack of evidence. I don't see any reason to think my assumptions are off." They weren't going to get into a philosophical debate about the nature of proof were they? Seemed like something pointless to talk about, but she'd humor Touko with it since bad manors to the one restoring her limb might have negative draw backs in the future."The moment I receive this arm I'll be in this world." If she wasn't already, still she used Touko's wording right back to her though a sly smile was spread on her face as she glanced at the woman over the right shoulder. " Wouldn't you agree?"

Honestly she knew anyone who said " magic is real" would be laughed at and mocked... Of course she knew, her own research lead to a woman that could kill with her vocal cords, a twin hearted man and Canaan herself. No one believed in the borners and their disbelief made it easy to operate without suspicion. But there was a certain burden of truth that Touko seemed to be missing, expose enough people and get the same story with the same flow of events that match other cases and information would go from fairy tale to reality quite quickly.

This room they entered, Alphard's eyes had never seen anything like it; so they took it in at its integrity. Her arms measured and examined unfinished bodies, switched to look upon organs in jars, darting to another half of the room sizing them as well. She was photocopying this room and imprinting it in her mind because it wasn't possible for it to exist yesterday. "Quite the hobby." Some of them aligned with her own measurements, Alphard's eyes narrowed on Touko's body. Just how much could she replace? Could she create an entire body?... if that was the case, was this even Touko Aozaki right now?... Man kind dreamed of immortality, this was one way of going about it.

" It will take more than a day because I have a request. What you design in this room is fit for the reality outside. So that means you could design an arm that levels the playing field. Aozaki, I want something greater than an arm with human limitations."

This is my choice Siam, you said that someone like me can only know despair against a demon. But you never said what would happen if I became one myself. What do you think of your promised land now? Is it everything you had hoped for?

Slyly smirks with the shadows of her hair blocking the woman's eyes from view.

[Aozaki Touko]

Anything that is new to people, either scare or excite them, Alphard seems to be the later case although excitement may not be exactly what is driving her to know more about what almost killed her this night.

"Assumptions about events like the one you went through are rarely off, the telling of said events may be twisted as they are spread around but they are mostly true, what make people to not believe in them is the lack of proof."

Fairy tales, myths and legends all followed that same pattern, since science couldn't prove the feats and existence of the creatures mentioned in them, those details were rubbed off as nothing more than fiction of a old age but that surely would change when people had first-hand encounters with real monsters like Alphard just did and when someone like that try to prove to the world what he or she saw is real and exists, that is when the person must be permanently shut up.

"If so you wish, so it shall be."

The choice to stand up and face the supernatural was, like any other choice in life, something you must do yourself, having her arm back in a way that she can't explain don't make Alphard a part of the magi world on it's own but if the woman herself want to jump in, what can be done is to show her the way in.

"Picked up better dolls to play with after growing up."

Most people would be terrified with the sight of make-up body parts spread around like that, even when most were looking more like oversized doll parts but now and then some strange one would appear that react in a opposite way, becoming fascinated with them, it felt like having the best toys among the kids in the neighborhood and only a few were capable of recognizing such.

"A arm for fighting back . . . "

Touko was surprised with Alphard request, not because she wanted to fight against grail beasts, it was her life, her choice of how to live it but Alphard wish for something inhuman to be added to her so that she could fight inhuman enemies, a pretty simple logic but throwing away any consideration for her own safety, putting up her her goal above herself.

"That will cost you more and I don't mean money only."

Surely, there was a chance of Alphard body being able to accept such modifications without problems, like a certain past employee but that was something that Touko would have to see after collecting her samples, which she approached Alphard in order to do so.

[Alphard]

Touko did seem to grasp a lot of the psychological concepts that she'd learned about through her trial of existence. Still there had to be differences in a world of magic, would they really repeat the same mistakes all over again? In the limitations of man politics becomes the strongest, capitalism, greed and liberalism alike. An ideology that is meant to control the masses and manipulate them into conformity. The issue became once they all molded, those in power would begin to corrupt themselves and want more powers for just themselves. Freedom could only be maintained by creating your own path.

" I knew someone who had a room like this... she died in it." Silly girl, if she'd learned to rule her hate instead of let it consume her, she could have had so much potential. What made someone that addicted to the idea of being near herself in the first place? Was it just a fangirl obsession from watch her work on the war fronts? Xiang was quite clear in her position, she loved Alphard... that was a rather annoying emotion. The desire to be connected to someone? Thinking about Canaan, maybe... it wasn't so hard to believe that love was real. That idiot Cumming's was willing to die for it, on a woman that didn't give two shits about him.

" Only incompetents let someone else's beliefs guide their actions." She certainly wasn't the type to do or not do something based on what another person wanted her to do or not do. It showed a lack of existence to be guided by an outside opinion. Real strength lies in self actualization, knowing who and what you are and why you do what you do. Without conviction an emotion has no strength and without a purpose conviction had nothing to stand on. People fall when their convictions are shattered, that's why she had to keep her true self concealed to everyone. Canaan was the only one that knew it...

She wasn't some 9 year old boy who felt the need to touch everything in the lab, but her eyes were taking it all in. Some of it was self explanatory, the rest she imagined only Touko could decipher. If she was smart about her research, she'd hide its evidence in complex ways that only her mind could unlock while reading. This kind of power was the type that required the up most care, once the concept of magic entered the scene; calculating the best course of action became a lot more complicated. With human factors alone there were limits, but when the impossible was involved... well then those had to be countered with other impossibilities.

" Dolls? I can't even be sure if you're one or not yourself. But even if you are a fake, if I get my arm back it wont really matter to me what you are." Honestly she'd think it impossible, but there were brains in here too, organs, all the necessary parts to make an exact replica of life. A part of her didn't believe from what she learned that Touko this was the real her. She didn't come off as a coward so something like that would only be needed in battle situations. But she could be wrong and it might be dangerous to trick Touko into revealing such information. " If you want something done right, do it yourself. I'd say you've found a rather impressive way of pulling that off." That said maybe she was wrong, not to sound all Christian or anything, but duplicating a body didn't mean she could duplicate a soul.

She'd glance back at Touko while having that single arm crossed. More than money? She wasn't adopted to the magic world yet but she was guessing that it was unique to their body. If such was the case, Alphard being someone of non magical origins meant that the arm might reject her and thus take her out. Still she was the peak of human performance, if anyone could take it it'd have to be her. Maybe she shouldn't take Siam's words at face value, but she'd already tempted death before and it seemed stubborn to accept her.

" Like what? My soul? Never had much use for it anyway. I only intend to experience life once, if there is an after life I got no interest in it."

[Aozaki Touko]

So it seems like Alphard is the type to live in our world but by her own rules, a socially unapt person that mold her surroundings to her will as to protect herself from the outside world, probably having a long backstory of her own albeit being quite young, the crude way in that the arm have been separated from the body does add some truth to Touko assumption but still nothing more than that.

"Your own beliefs are being reworked from they very basis by the reality you saw this night, not everything will make sense from now on."

"But you made your choice to leave your ignorance behind and face the truth head on."

It all depended on how well Alphard would take the new information that she was going to receive in the next few days, Alphard made her choice to be a part of this world, even if for revenge on something that should not exist in magi terms.

"You will have a lot of time to ponder whether or not a replaced part is real or not after you get your own, after you understand that, I might tell you about me."

It was quite the nice observation from Alphard to notice that Touko could had used her specialty on her own body, although the girl was just speculating basing herself on the impossible things that were dropped on her all in a single night, she got closer than anyone else to the truth about Touko body but a speculation is nothing more than that, aside Touko herself, not many knew the truth of the fruits of her work.

"Your help! I'll teach you how to use the arm and you will help me to get rid of those monsters you just saw."

"Those things weren't meant to be and they are part of the reason as to why I'm here, your wish for revenge against them is helpful to me and I can guide you at that quest in order to keep you alive."

As to how much Alphard would get to know about the grail beasts and the grail war would depend on her answer now, aside the bonus of getting her arm back, there was nothing that could hold Alphard together with Touko and the girl already knew the danger of facing grail beasts head on, it was a obvious choice for any normal human, there was no need to ponder on it at all but Alphard wasn't your average human . . .

[Alphard]

Those eyes, she hated when eyes did that. When they stared and studied, it should have been expected. No doubt Touko was the type to keep trust reserved until the very end. Alphard was a little different, she talked to people in ways that would make them slip up if they were betraying her. But that typically required a degree of suspicion. There were 3 levels it had taken in order to end up in her organization, first the test to see what someone could contribute, second was a giant analyze of if they can be trusted and third their position was decided. It weeded out spies and made sure her soldiers were all worth their salt. But she knew she could trust the people around her because of this process.

Alphard was very complex, Touko wasn't going to figure her out anytime soon... no what got to her was the fact that Touko had the kind of eyes that could potentially do it. How much did she know, it was the first time she'd felt genuine rage for a while. Siam first, then Canaan... She'd get thrown off the trail like everyone else though, even the top rated shrinks in the world couldn't crack her case... not without knowing her history first anyway. However she couldn't die working on Alphard's body she was going to notice war wounds and its conditioning which would give away some large hints... She needed this arm though.

"Once I learn this world, the nature of the evidence will make it clear where I stand." That was true, though there wasn't much limitation to work back from. Without knowing what couldn't be done or even what was rare, it was hard to decipher anything. Gargoyles came to life, whole limbs could be restored... no this was nothing short of cloning then taking the pieces that were needed then using the rest for scraps. She wasn't going to judge the scientific mind though, it was the reason for the Ua project that ended up giving her all this power in the first place. Strength didn't mean much without a position to use it properly.

"Fair enough." Touko made her point clear " stop prying into my life." But she was making something else clear, there were alterations to her own body. She just admitted their was a story to her didn't she?... and furthermore admitted she could design an arm that allowed Alphard to survive in this reality. If Touko could do it to someone else, there was no reason to think she hadn't done it to herself already. These invention types were always the same, they didn't let a limit exist on their research and were always willing to push their results to the next level.

Then Touko said something that FINALLY showed a limit in this world. She didn't like dealing with Gargoyles either, they were a threat to her. Was she hiding from them in here? With her kind of power it shouldn't be an issue. She'd just admitted to being able to forge weapons that could handle them didn't she? That was it, Touko was hands on when it came to doing the work... but hands off when it came to fighting for it. Her battle prowess must of been a stationary kind, she needed someone else to do the fighting for her. Well a little pay back did sound fun, but it was a blow to her pride to go from terrorist leader to lackie. Well if Canaan could stomach it, she supposed she could too. It's not like Aozaki was an incompetent or anything.

"Fine, but a left arm wont reach them in the sky. After I get it, your going to need to point me in the direction of someone that can give me bullets that can harm them." She might be pushing it to keep asking for favors, but Alphard wanted to see just how much this world could offer her.

[Aozaki Touko]

Having collected the samples that she needed from Alphard while they talked, Touko start to close the severed arm back up again, in a more proper manner, as to not let it get worse while she get to work on the arm replacement. A arm that could take on the necessary strain to put enough power behind it to hurt grail beasts, sound convenient but no matter how strong the arm may be, it will all depend on Alphard body to be able to pull it's full potential out, no normal human could do that nowadays thanks to the self-preservation limit that everyone have to prevent people from exerting more power than what they can handle, however, now and then certain individuals that could cross that limit showed up, who knows if Alphard is one of those. Considering that Alphard agreed on working with Touko to stop the grail beasts, she would had the chance to confirm that first hand.

"Making bullets is not my specialty but we can look for someone who knows how to make those. Although that could take some time and I can't guarantee success on that request."

There aren't that many magi that make use of modern weapons and even those that do, they use the same bullets as any other firearm user would since there is no real need for special bullets nowadays, this does not mean that special bullets do not exist but that they are rare and usually made by the own magi that use them, meaning that a trade would need to be done in order for Alphard to get what she want.

"The first step you need to know about this world is that magic exist, it's not just a fancy fairy tale item."

It was now a matter of letting everything that is new, sink into Alphard reality, allowing her to enter this back room had been the second step to show to her that there is more to the world than what science can prove and that said world would open itself to Alphard from now on.

[Alphard]

Well Touko had one of those touches that as long as it didn't disturb too much, she really didn't feel it. That was just some dead cells on the surface though, beneath that were ones that were used to a limb that extended out much further. She did this shit to herself, really bright move Alphard. The next time she wanted to end something, it might be easier to just aim for the head. Some might chalk this whole incident up to fate and destiny, but somehow breaking apart some rocks didn't seem all that fate worthy. What Canaan and her had, that was closer to a concept in which she held no belief. This reality was caused by events set in action trying to replay twice over, something that Canaan didn't allow to happen. Such a child, always wanted things her way. Way to innocent to have ever become the professional killer she was today.

Having her stump handled felt strange on its head. It was like Aozaki was reaching through an area that should normally be blocked off by a great deal more flesh. It was similar to when a tooth is first pulled out, always slipping your tongue into the empty slot expecting it to magically come back some how. The weight difference could throw off fighting patterns too, not to mention it meant only a right hand punch was possible. The best her left could do was a shield. Apparently while having two arms she was no match for Canaan anymore, so one was just asking for trouble. Her new light right? Yeah adolescents sure took its fine ass time winging off that girl.

Mindless beasts were nothing to seek vengeance against, this was going to be a clean up job. It must say something about her faith in Touko if she was already making plans for what she'd do with this arm, like it was feta accompli that she'd have it soon and start leveling grail beasts with it. While it did even up the odds, she wasn't going to really be able to do some damage without that gun. Just asking questions seemed to start to show the limits of this world, maybe she could ask some that would have no relevance and only serve to find out more restrictions, but Touko seemed smart enough to pick up on a attempt like that. She'd be putting too much on her plate anyway, all she knew about her would be opponents is that they were called "things." Touko wasn't fourth coming with their weaknesses.

"Just point me in the right direction, i'll handle the rest." Typical Alphard answer, once she knew the basics the rest of it just kind of fell into place. Magical or not people were still people and they were willing to share their talents at the right cost. As long as Alphard knew where to look, she could handle getting the job done. It might take an ass load of preparations, but anything worth doing is worth doing right. Touko was thinking about it though, either Alphard sparked her interest or she was really hard up for pest control.

"No shit." That was a nice way of asking her to skip the obvious crap, magic existed? It's not like she was going to believe those were some freaky animatronic theme park gargoyles that were went to protect the city. Those things were stone through and through, she knew the difference between hitting stone and metal. " Why is there magic, how is it formed, where did it come from are more the kinds of questions I wanted answers to."

[Aozaki Touko]

Discovering which magi make use of guns wouldn't be a problem since it will be one of the first thing that Touko will see when facing against another master, the problem lies in getting said magus cooperation and not just in a tag team to raise the chances of winning the war but to help a complete unrelated person with the use of magic even, that would be a lot of trouble but something for after Alphard adjust herself to the new arm.

"Why there is magic? For the same reason as there are humans on Earth. It's a part of the universe we live in just like everything else that you know."

"Like air, just because you can't see it, does that not mean it don't exist."

Adding the particularities of true magic and magecraft, mana and prana could wait until another time, Alphard wasn't becoming a apprentice under Touko guidance or under anyone for that matter.

"Considering that magic is a part of the natural order of things, we can say that it also come from the same source, which is the planet itself, every living being have magic in them, also know as life force, us humans, animals, plants and even the planet itself."

"From there on, it's just a matter of application of that raw energy, although it use is not limitless, there are plenty of ways to make use of it, from making Tv show tricks to giving life to stone gargoyles."

A demonstration surely would make this explanation easier to swallow and starting right away on Alphard's new arm wasn't exactly the idea of magic to common people but more like a mad scientist thing, yet using runes inside her own room would be troublesome, hopefully Alphard will not be the type that have to 'see to believe'.

[Alphard]

One thing Touko probably already picked up on, Alphard was not the submissive type. Despite being the one ignorant of the situation, one would almost think the girl was absorbing in keywords and then just figuring out the rest on her own. It was kind of like in the movies when the big bad asked one of his troopers to crack a number, once they said their piece they were dismissed and the spotlight came right back on the boss. Although that was her personality type, really Alphard tried to keep her sentences small believing more in the concept of "brevity is the soul of wit." Maybe not even that, she wasn't trying to be witty; she wanted to get the shit out of her mouth and move on. Words had to have a reason and function, if nothing was being conveyed then shut the hell up. While Touko didn't seem to follow that philosophy 100%, she didn't seem to needlessly babble either.

This request might be harder then just saying the words though, she wasn't all up in this magic stuff but something told her Touko's gift was very very unique. It hadn't been easy to find her name, but Alphard already operated in a world where human knowledge wasn't allowed to acknowledge. While the "magic" Alphard was involved with was all just very advanced genetics, Aozaki's just admitted that this magic wasn't something science could ever support. A whole new field then, it was just some massive undercover group that more than likely had harsh guide lines on how and when to use their powers. She had to wonder just how well one of these mages could stand up to someone like Canaan.

So it was more of the same huh Siam? A world built on despair, where peak human ability was now just a slapped aside nuisance at best? Maybe she was just a bug, but she planned to piss off the rest of the colony regardless. Magic fine, it was just another weapon... people were still people and thus had human error, instead of firing bullets they fired a... blast of lighting or some shit? Bullets still killed faster then lightning, shit she always ended up fighting total freaks didn't she? Even at parties the disgusting rich pigs that loved their capitalistic little utopia seemed to flock toward her. Couldn't these sick fucks pay off some 13 year old boy to get their rocks off? Hell if she could understand why the sick types were always into that... maybe some kind of twisted sexism or something of having power over another man... shiiiiit.

There was nothing really to say to Touko, she made her point pretty clear. Magic existed just as naturally as everything else. It was just an element that only a select few could tap into she guessed. As basic as air huh? Yeah, but if it was cold enough you could see your own breath. Touko obviously didn't want to go into the genetic and method used for extracting out said element... which was fine since Alphard still needed to digest other pertinent information first. Actually the next part was unnecessary, she'd gathered it already. There was nothing to comment on until she started on the gargoyles. Instead of approaching the magic aspect though, Alphard hung the conversation back to the psychological so that her and Touko stayed on the same page of understanding.

" So what you're saying is, someone or something summoned those gargoyles to keep all this shit a secret? Or at the very least weed out the weak from the strong?" Aozaki made it sound like this magical energy was a living essence, like a parasite or something. Borrowing power from a greater being, sounds like something humans would do.

[Aozaki Touko]

Apparently, Alphard took the revelation quite well, regardless on how she dealt with the shock of the new possibilities that have jumped at her tonight, the young terrorist kept her cool, not allowing herself to be swept away by the fresh knowledge and sticking with what was important to her at the moment, that was a excellent trait for a helping hand, sharing a similar goal.

"What would be the point of using such a flashy method to keep supernatural facts a secret?"

It would be like trying to hide a forest fire by with more fire, countering that problem is the reason why Touko is helping Alphard and asking for her help as compensation.

"Those gargoyles are just a small part of the bad side effect of a larger ritual, a unexpected side effect and we will be getting rid of them in order to keep all of this a secret."

"There is also the problem that we won't be the only ones doing that and magi are not exactly a group that like to cooperate with each other, although you should be familiar with this side of the business already, you should try to avoid getting into contact with any other magi on this hunt."

As a normal human, Alphard would be only putting herself at risk when carelessly approaching another magus who could either eliminate her for witnessing a bit of the Grail War or erase her memory or worse as Touko location and status could be revealed to the enemy, in any case, it is a bad end for Touko and Alphard as well.

"In short, you shouldn't make use of your new arm when around another magi as they will be able to tell where you are and a gun is no match against magic."

[Alphard]

Life was still life, if she was expecting any of this to shock her; she'd missed the chance on the whole "magic is real" train the moment she was assaulted by flying rock goblins. Alphard was the type of person that accepted reality once it was right in front of her, a lot of what she was involved with could be seen as impossible as well. Still this was a whole new level of it, but like all things in life; she realized when it came down to holding real power... a woman was at the reigns.

That wasn't too surprising, in a world without the impossible a mans physical power gave them the edge... but in this one where it seemed the mind forged the craft; a woman's empathy made more sense to reach deeper into the roots of it. Besides even on the physical scale, Alphard would put any man that wanted to try her in a serious world of hurt.

Touko was only a small part of this world though, she didn't carry herself like she owned all things magic. Maybe small part was a bit of a understatement, she had to be better then average if her power allowed her to breed life off its machinations. She really had the ability to replace a limb and have the full function of it again?... No even better then that, she could improve it. Maybe she wasn't in charge, but she housed plenty of authority from where Alphard was sitting, that coming from a terrorist leader.

" Depends, those bastards were hard as hell for me to kill. I imagine someone else who was supernatural would have a easier time with it... while those who weren't, never get to live to talk about what they saw." A dead man tells no secrets, that wasn't part of her philosophy but she did kill men for less. Then again Alphard never directly said anything that would reveal anything of value about her. If someone did know what she was underneath it all, then a bullet between the eyes would sound just about right.

Rituals and effects? She just had told Alphard that the world of magic relied on a principle of purpose hadn't she? "So the planet is a thinking living entity and it can give life." What kind of ritual was that? She said the gargoyles were a side effect, which means a main effect still took root. What was that she wondered? Those things nearly killed her and they were just trash from some other more potent spell of some kind? Shit maybe she got lucky only facing off against some rocks. Still she'd been in a helicopter, not exactly a choice place for maneuverability; on the ground level she probably could have defended them off a lot easier then she had.

"Lets not get ahead of ourselves, i'm not hunting super freaks without something super on my side too... and I need more powerful bullets so i'm going to have to get in contact with another magi for that. " It's not like she was trying to defy Touko, more or less it was Alphards way of " I do shit my way." True a doctor could say "eat less of this, take these 3 times a day" but at the end of the day the patient still made the decision whether to do that or not. She wasn't the type that could be controlled, her authority was still the only one she followed.

It was clear now actually, she was trying to save her own skin. Shaking her head Alphard was a little upset with herself for thinking for a moment a magi might have found a way to conquer fear like she had. " I'm not going to tell anyone about your little turtle shell so as long as this new arm doesn't say " Made by Touko Aozaki" you wont have any problems as far as where i'm involved."

[Aozaki Touko]

Certainly, from a practical point of view, destroying the grail monsters current body would count as killing them and though that is not true, the act of fending grail monsters off was just postponing the inevitable until the actual Grail were to be destroyed, thus terminating the source of the monsters but that is knowledge that someone like Alphard should not have albeit being a matter of time until she discover the reason for those monsters.

"You got the basics already, as there isn't much of a difference between what you and I do when it comes to keep it out of the spotlight."

"And I guess you agree with the plan then, leaving only the preparations yet to be made."

The arm was being handled by Touko so that was already one certain point, which unfortunately the same could not be said about the bullets as those would give Alphard the edge she will need to win, the arm will just be a counter measure to help her to survive if a monster get too close and Alphard is unable to run away at the moment, even 'miracles' have they limitations.

"There are a few magi we can try to approach for the bullets you will need but perhaps would it be better for you to approach them on your own . . . "

A meeting between magi is usually a tense one on it own, it escalate to a complete new level when both are masters, who should be aiming at each other lives but to send Alphard alone, she would need to have enough knowledge about the Grail War to be considered a useful ally but not as much as to be considered a spy for another master and not just that, depending on who she meet with, the prosthetic arm will be a give away of whom had sent Alphard there.

". . . guess it would depend on who you would ask for the bullets, someone who does not know me would be preferred."