"Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All Westcott's horses and all Westcott's men
Couldn't stop Dumpty from fa~lling then"
Maybe I can reproduce a scene from that show my grandfather used to watch? What was it called again.... Du-ragon Ball Zee? With the Spirit bomb.... Spirit.... ha-ha-ha-ha-HA-HA-HA..
Murdoch's assistant simply looked at him with pity. His sanity clearly was gone when it came to Westcott. Not that anybody could blame him..
...
"I don't know why I even came along here..."
Natsumi grumbled while looking at the various people around them. Naturally, she didn't have her adult form on right now, meaning her true appearance was exposed for all to see.
"You promised to listen to us, remember?"
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I have to do.. this..."
They were on the date that Shido had asked Natsumi for. It took a bit of convincing, but she eventually folded with them reminding her of the bet, along with how nice she looked.
Shido smiled upon seeing her pout, causing her to become angrier.
"Why are you laughing at me?"
"That's not it, you just looked... cute."
Natsumi coughed, almost choking on her glass of water.
"What is wrong with you?! What kind of cringe person even says those lines like that? Do you have a ment-"
"May I take your orders, please?"
"Eh?!"
Natsumi whirled around to see the waiter standing there, notebook in hand, wearing an awkward expression. He clearly was fed up with waiting and didn't want to watch the squabble continue.
"I'll have the salmon filet, with fries on the side."
Shido quickly pointed to his dish of choice. Seeing as Ratatoskr was paying, he had no reason to hold back.
"Understood. And for the young lady?"
"Ah.. sure. I'll have this... number fifty-five. Mixed grill."
Natsumi's face twitched when she heard what the waiter called her, but ordered anyway.
"Very well. Would you like a side dish?"
"Huh?!"
Natsumi froze.
Would you like a side dish? --> You should probably eat a little more... --> You thin as hell lmaoo
How dare he!
She rapidly turned red with anger, and opened her mouth to give the poor waiter a piece of her mind.
"W-Mmph?!"
Shido had reacted quickly, expertly sliding a piece of bread into her mouth.
"Calm down. She doesn't want side dishes, thank you."
The last part was directed at the waiter, who hurriedly nodded and left with a drop of sweat trickling down his neck.
"What did you do that for?!"
Natsumi glared at Shido after she finished eating the bread - it would be a waste to not eat it now that it was in her mouth, after all.
"That waiter was trying to call me thin!"
Shido sighed, and calmly explained.
"Natsumi, that waiter wasn't saying anything about your weight....
It's just standard to ask for side dishes. Look at the menu."
He tapped the menu, which clearly showed the possible side dishes for the mixed grill.
"O-Oh...." Natsumi fell silent, her voice trailing away. "G-Got it..."
...
"Welcome back. How did it go?"
Reine welcomed the pair as Shido let Natsumi back into her room on the Fraxinus.
"You know exactly how it went.."
"True."
Natsumi simply entered her room and was bid farewell by the blue-haired boy.
She laid down on the bed and immediately grinned, holding out a hand.
"Haniel."
Reiryoku converged in her hand to form a weakly glowing broom.
"It's a little weakened, but it'll do."
Natsumi dived under the covers, making it look like she was sleeping.
From there, she transformed one of her pillows into an exact likeness of her. The organisation behind Shido Itsuka would definitely figure out that it wasn't the real Spirit once they compared the vital signs with the actual fake, but it would suffice for a few hours, at least.
She tunnelled under the floor of the room, sneakily getting out in a place out of view of the cameras setup outside. She had to confirm her suspicions. They were definitely not giving her this room, letting her live a comfortable life, trying to make her happy without an ulterior motive. The kindness they showed on the exterior was undoubtedly a facade, hiding their ridicule and laughter behind a mask of warmth.
She was going to figure out their true intentions and get the hell out of here.
"Haniel."
Natsumi- no, Kotori smiled.
She dusted off her clothes as she stood up and began to walk out of the hallway, pretending that she knew exactly what she was doing.
That was the key to fitting in - be confident. If she appeared like she knew what she was doing, people would fail to question her actions.
First up was finding out what this organisation was. Natsumi opened a random door, almost bumping into another person.
She had short and wavy brown hair and had a somewhat concerning atmosphere around her. Like one of those Yanderes in fiction.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Commander! I didn't see you there..."
Natsumi assumed a very tired face. Hopefully that would help explain any mistakes she made...
"It's fine... I haven't been sleeping much lately... who are you again?"
The woman let out a nervous chuckle.
"Commander? You feeling alright? It's me, Kozue Minowa.... you know, Deep Love?"
"Oh, right, yes, uh... How's the relationship going?"
Natsumi silently prayed for her guess to be correct. There was no other reason she could be named Deep Love, right?
Suddenly, she felt like she had made a mistake.
Minowa's face brightened considerably upon hearing her question, letting a fanatical light enter her eyes.
"Oooh yes, I managed to follow him for a whole 12 hours yesterday!"
"What?!"
"He didn't catch on at all until the end! Not even that restraining order could keep me away from him, never!"
Natsumi's face paled rapidly. What kind of insane stalker was she facing right now?? She had to get out of here.
"Ah... yes.... Sorry, but I'm feeling a little out of sorts right now, I have to go."
She turned to walk out of another random door.
"Uh... that's the closet..."
"I knew that."
She hurriedly exited the room, searching for another way out.
...
"Shin, we've lost track of Natsumi."
Shido was walking around the city when he got the message.
"What!? How did she use her Angel so fast?"
"She presumably managed to use it in a partially weakened state. She could be disguised as anybody. We'll ask Nia about her whereabouts, but it could take a little while with her weakened Angel."
"..I think I ran into her, disguised as Kotori."
"What? Where? Kotori's up here, in the Fraxinus"
"Well, I guess you know who she was disguised as now..."
...
"Commander! We've spotted a DEM satellite making an unscheduled appearance above Tengu City!"
An image appeared on the big screen, showing a small dot floating in the sky, barely visible.
Kotori grimaced.
"Send Yggdrafolia up there. Get me a better image ASAP."
"Your wish is my command!" Kannazuki energetically put on a headset, taking control of a number of Realizers simultaneously.
The image changed to show the view of the Yggdrafolium's onboard camera, slowly moving around the satellite, revealing the figure of a Bandersnatch unit plastered to the surface.
Kannazuki furrowed his eyebrows with an unusually serious expression.
"Commander, this.... The Yggradrafolium is detecting a Territory surrounding the Bandersnatch. It seems to be setup to defend the satellite. Also, there is a bomb strapped to its chest, but.... It seems to be using Realizers.."
"What?!"
The reason for Kotori's shock was the bomb itself.
Strong Realizer bombs were incredibly difficult to create, but the sheer destruction they could unleash would exceed even nuclear bombs, if need be. These explosives used a super powerful Realizer, with its Territory compressed to only cover its insides could convert mass inside itself directly into energy.
Sadly, there was no way to control the released energy quite yet, making it impossible to stop the produced energy from going wild and causing an explosion.
On the other hand, it made for an extremely effective bomb, able to create a massive explosion with only a Realizer.
Thankfully, the bomb was much smaller than usual to fit onto the Bandersnatch, and the satellite was still high in the sky, so there was no problem with destroying it here. There would be no damage to the city.
"Everyone, we're using it here! Prepare Gungnir!"
"Commander? But wouldn't Mistleteinn be more than enough?"
"Just do it. I have a suspicion that DEM has countermeasures against a normal Maryoku cannon. Meanwhile, I'm going to warn Shido."
...
Shido's phone rang, revealing the caller as Itsuka Kotori. He picked it up and held it to his ear.
"Kotori? What's up?"
"Big problem! DEM's dropping a satellite onto Tengu city. Get the hell back here!"
"They're what?! What about Natsumi? Did Nia find her yet?"
"The bomb surprised us, so no. The idiot switched her phone off, so we didn't have time to pick her up yet."
"... Pick up Nia and the others first, then I'll go."
"But-"
"I can find Natsumi and bring her back! Just have Nia tell me where!"
"Got it. Estimated time till impact is around half an hour, maybe shorter, but we'll try to intercept it."
...
"Ike!"
Ellen barged into a hotel room, rudely shoving open the expensive door.
The man seated on the couch beyond the doorframe looked the same as always. Relaxed.
"Ah, Ellen. What's wrong?"
"Murdoch and the others are planning to murder you."
"I am aware."
"What?"
Westcott tilted back his head and chuckled.
"The idiots mobilized two satellites, an airship, and several high-powered explosives. How could I not know? They tried to hide it, but it was a sloppy job, really. Also, he sent me a message just now. To be honest, he was angrier than a Call of Duty lobby..."
Ellen was speechless for a second. If he knew all that, why were they still here? What was a Call of Duty lobby?
They could have been gone from Tengu city hours ago!
"If you know that, let's go already!"
"No need. We'll be staying right here."
Ellen's expression changed to exasperation.
"Stay here? My Territory might withstand a single nuke, but that alone would be risky, let alone three!"
"Aah, but aren't you forgetting a certain someone? Woodman certainly wouldn't let Tengu city be destroyed, would he?"
"That may be so, but..."
"No need to worry. If you insist, why not let her take out Mordred for a whirl?
How does that sound to you?"
The last part was aimed at a different person in the room. She was sitting on the couch opposite Westcott's, wearing a brand new CR unit.
Origami Tobiichi nodded mutely.
...
"Commander! The bomb increased its speed again! We have to intercept it now, or we're screwed!"
"Do it!"
Kotori responded to the panicked crew member by pressing a very conspicuous red button in front of her.
Immediately, her seat descended, bringing her into an enclosed space that was brimming with Maryoku.
She took a deep breath, and concentrated.
"Camael."
Wisps of smoke around her burst into flames, feeding off of the thick layer of Reiryoku surrounding her Astral dress, which had appeared at some point.
"Megiddo!"
She thrust the Angel forward, priming Fraxinus' trump card, Gungnir.
Reiryoku held power, while Maryoku had fine control. Combining the two was extremely difficult, as you had to have a Spirit to generate enough Reiryoku, while simulatenously generating enough Maryoku to control it.
However, Ratoskr had succeeded after an incredible amount of effort, finally producing the Spirit Cannon.
It could tear through practically anything with ease, requiring massive amounts of energy to deflect.
Energy that almost every Realizer on the planet failed to generate.
This made the cannon practically unstoppable, making it an easy task to destroy the bomb.
"Alright, it's ready! Fire!"
Immediately, a massive pillar of light approached the Bandersnatch, completely swallowing it up in a flood of Reiryoku.
A Territory had appeared for an instant, but shattered instantly upon coming into contact with the attack, which continued further, seemingly striking another invisible object in the sky.
The sound of metal groaning reached everyone's ears, and a DEM airship flickered into view.
Kannazuki's smile twitched.
"That... if we had used Mistleteinn, it would have been deflected. That was an amazing call, Commander!"
Kotori only gave a small smile in response. She was exhausted from controlling her powers so precisely.
That was, until another alarm started going off.
"Commander! We've detected a second satellite!"
"What?!"
The entire crew turned their heads at that. A second one? They had only barely managed to stop the first damn one!
Kotori struggled to resummon her Angel.
"Commander, don't!"
"What other choice do we have?! We need to intercept that thing! Shido is down there!"
"We'll help!"
Suddenly, the Spirits all came in through the door. They had clearly all been waiting outside.
Kotori gritted her teeth.
"I'll leave it to you."
------------------
To be continued
So Natsumi is quite different in this chapter from vanilla DAL
It is kinda hard to write her, and I felt like making her a little more chill would be nice. Please tell me if you liked the change or not.....
Here's chapter 28! Natsumi arc has been going on for a while now, but chapter 29 should be the last one for it.
Tbh I did slightly mess up my planning for this chapter so some events may noy match up perfectly chronologically...
As always, cya next time!