Fate/Resistance pt. 7

Jason held up the scroll he received as he and Victoria arrived at a manor on the outskirts. He scoffed as he shoved it into the pocket of his coat.

"Rather luxurious." She murmured.

"Still, for all intents and purposes, it's an effective place. Anyone trying an invasion would have to run through the gauntlet." He commented.

"You sneak!" Victoria said with a smirk, "You only came here to see what defenses she'd have."

"If I told you, then it'd take away from my aura of mystery."

"D-did you just make a JOKE?"

"Anything we need to be wary of, Rider?" Jason asked.

"The basic defense is not much of a problem. With the right maneuver, I could easily shatter it."

"Thanks." Jason murmured.

The barriers began to fade, Jason and Victoria walking up the stairs of the mansion.

Inside, Caster and Jade were sitting across a table. Caster was moving her hands over a crystal ball, her hood still up.

"Like I told you, Master. He brought Rider with him." Caster stated, "I can feel his aura from here..."

"But now you know what it is and that could prove to be our advantage." Jade replied, "We know who he is, but we still have the advantage of anonymity."

Caster still watched through the crystal ball. She felt the shudder from Rider's presence. She didn't actually encounter Rider the first night, but she still felt the result of his Fearsome Mein. Her Master could not have picked a worse opponent to fight--the King of Generals himself.



PART 7: War Games

"Come in, come in, come in, Mr. Knight." Came the voice of Jade Regina, "It's been too long, my friend."

Jason and Victoria had come to a large door. The detective opened it, seeing Jade sitting in a satin chair. Right behind her was Caster, confirming his suspicions that she wasn't killed that first night.

"Take a seat." she gestured to a sofa. Jason looked at her suspiciously before sitting down, followed by Victoria. She remained upright as Jason hunched slightly. Jade seated herself down across from them with Caster standing behind her as she poured some tea, "Tea?"

"Not my thing." He stated.

"Pass." Victoria stated.

"So, what causes Jason Knight, the prodigal son of the Clock Tower, to come to the Grail War with an Enforcer?"

"To make sure he behaves." Victoria stated.

"And I thought that having the great Hannibal Barca was enough." Jade looked at them with a smug expression on her face, "Yes, I know he's here."

"You would do the same thing under similar circumstances." Jason commented, "So, why would you call two people who will go out of their way to make sure you go out as quickly as possible?"

"To try and come to a compromise. We're both travelers on the same road, Jason. We both have our own goals to pursue that have nothing to do with the Association. We're both accomplished magi and our interests are ones that only the Grail can accomplish. It would be beneficial for both of us."

"Hmm...I think I WILL take some tea." Jason said, taking a cup, "Earl grey?"

"Scented with the finest jasmine in China." Jade said, a smirk on her face.

"Jason..." Victoria said in a warning tone. By taking the cup, Jason was essentially considering her offer.

"Victoria, this is between Masters. YOU are not a Master." Jason put some sugar and took a sip, "Tea's not my thing, but this IS good..."

"I accept nothing but the best."

"Out of curiosity, if I were to accept your offer, then what would you request from the Grail?" Jason asked, "I seek the restoration of my home city, but what about you?"

"I would aim for the larger picture. The total elimination of crime from the world." She answered.

"Is that why you've been running a crime syndicate all this time?" Jason asked, "To eliminate crime? Yes, I know what you've been doing behind the association's back all this time."

"Your approach was ineffective, detective. Crime cannot be stopped in its entirety. It can be controlled, however."

"And if you use the Grail to eliminate crime? What would the ramifications be? What is crime but a series of choices one makes? An elimination of crime is just an elimination of choice."

Jade's eyes narrowed, beginning to realize that Jason wasn't as compliant as she had assumed, "If it puts a stop to people harming others, wouldn't that be a small price to pay?"

"The ends justify the means. It's a pretty little thought, but completely contradictory. You cannot do what is wrong to do what is right. It always ends in totalitarianism and genocide. Chairman Mao, Joseph Stalin, and Pol Pot. Not even Adolf Hitler believed in that." Jason said, putting his cup down. He stood up, "Thank you for the tea."

He then left the room. His action so sudden that it took Victoria a solid five seconds to register what he did before she followed after him.

"I think that could've gone better." Caster commented.

"It doesn't matter." Jade stated, looking at the contents of the tea pot, seeing something inside, black and swirling, "You could have made him agree with my position."

"Hypnosis doesn't work that way, Master." Caster said, looking at her staff, "I can make people see things, even influence their actions. But I can't make people do things that they wouldn't do by themselves. Drinking tea? Yes. Agreeing with your position? Clearly, no."

Jade's eyes narrowed. She had hoped that Caster's natural affinity for hypnosis would bring her old friend to her side. But she would take what she could get. The tea had been spiked...not with poison, but with something just as effective.

"Victoria." Jason said as the two left the building. She glanced at him, "I'll be needing to keep my distance for a while. The tea had something in it."

"Wh-what?! Why'd you drink it?!" she shouted, completely taken aback, "IT COULD HAVE BEEN POISON OR-?!"

"Low profile." Jason said as they entered a crowd. His face was casual, but his voice lowered, "I don't know why I drank it. I just had the compulsion to do so. It wasn't poisoned, don't worry. It's more likely something to track me. Hence, keep your distance for a while."

"Not for long, since the spell wouldn't last long and should work its way out of your system eventually." She murmured, thinking.

"Then we get her where we want her and remove the threat." Jason said, "I ran it over with Rider beforehand on the different angles of what would happen."

"You should've told ME about that."

"Yes, I should have. But it didn't occur to me. And I'm sorry about that." Jason murmured. Victoria tried making eye-contact with her cohort, but his expression remained unreadable.

"Are you serious about that?"

"Where's the fun in just telling you? Removes from my air of mystery."

Victoria smiled, "Well, now, the great Jason Knight has a sense of humor."

"I'm all about surprises." Jason shrugged.

--

With a loud laugh, the massive man stood on a mountainside, a set of donkey jawbones clutched in his fists. At his feet were the bodies of an entire army of enemy soldiers.

"WITH AN ASS' JAW, I MADE ASSES OF A THOUSAND PHILISTINES!"

In a town, he kissed a woman. It was a Philistine woman, but he still found himself longing for her. On his way to ask for her hand, he was attacked by a lion. He made short work of the beast, killing it with his bare hands. Later, he found bees had made their nest in its corpse. He told nothing of it, but used it as a riddle during his wedding.

He went into a rage as he discovered that his bride-to-be was given to one of the groomsmen as wife. He tied torches to the tails of foxes, burning the wheat fields and olive groves of the Philistines. They burned his would-be wife and father-in-law in retribution.

"I have done to them what they have done to me."

Later, his heart was won by another Philistine woman--a harlot of all things.

The two met in a tender embrace, their lips meeting in a passionate kiss.

"Find the weakness of the Hebrew Judge." A Philistine soldier said to the woman.

"I can't. He's not some beast. He's kind, gentle, and..." the soldiers interrupted the woman's objection by dropping a bag of coins at her feet.

"Eleven thousand in silver if you can find it." The soldier stated. The woman looked at the coins, a torn expression on her face.

"I'm sorry..."

"If I'm bound in fresh bow strings."

The man broke free of the strings as if they were nothing.

"If I'm bound in new ropes."

Just as easily, the man broke through them.

"If my hair's woven in a weaver's loom."

He woke up and smashed the loom.

"Alright...alright. If ya want me to tell you...if my hair's cut, I lose my strength."

When his hair was cut, he was surrounded by Philistines and caught in chains. When he tried to fight, he found his strength was lost, "YOU! YOU BETRAYED ME!"

As they dragged him away, the woman fled, crying to herself.

He was put to labor and had his eyes put out. All the while, though, he waited. When the Philistines put him on display as an act of humiliation, he brought his hands, renewed with his incredible strength to bring the pillars crashing down.

“Let me die with the Philistines!”

Aaron yelled as he sprung up, looking around. He was in an unfamiliar setting, but saw Berserker sitting in a chair much to small for him, snoring like a wild boar. In his lap was Laura, also asleep. The difference in size, the choice of location, and the fact that he had seen the giant man in action made Aaron grin slightly and wonder if there was a camera nearby. He briefly wondered where he was...and what the heck that dream was about.

"Well, look who's decided to rejoin the land of the living!"

Aaron yelled as he saw Saber floating over him, a mischievous smirk on his face.

"Nice to see you, too, fly-boy." Aaron muttered.

With a snort and grunt, Berserker seemed to wake up. It was hard to tell, since his eyes were covered by his cloth. He stretched and looked around...spotting Laura on him.

"What're ya doing? Get off." He said to her. She woke up and got off.

"Oh, hey, partner." She said to Aaron, "Berserker drained a chunk of your mana, so you passed out. Brought you to my safe-house."

"Oh gee, thanks ya big dope, it's SO swell." Aaron muttered, glaring at Berserker.

Berserker took exception to that...

"You have five seconds to rephrase that before I flatten you with a punch. Four, three..."

"Hey, hey! Servants aren't supposed to injure their Masters!" Laura shouted.

"Wasn't supposed to drink grape products or do the women of my enemies. Look how well I did THAT. Two, one..."

"Okay, okay, I take it back!" Aaron shouted, "Just don't hurt the sick man!"

"Good boy." Berserker said, smirking to himself.

"Well, you seem to be getting along well."

With a shimmer, two figures appeared--the Tohsaka and Caritas.

"Day one of the Secret Grail War, Tohsaka." Laura said, "We've already fought the Archer and Rider classes and made an alliance with Berserker."

"Yes, Chaplin said that the Berserker class had finally been summoned." Tohsaka said, "And I assume that the man in the bed is his Master?"

"Yeah, Aaron Biserim. Attorney." She said.

"You're hot, doing anything later?" Aaron asked, smiling in what was his version of a suave or seductive look.

"Fresh." Caritas said with a smile, "But I'm not your type."

"That's what they all say, but if you have just one night-"

"The Rider's Hannibal and Saber says that the Archer is Jesse James." Laura stated.

"The King of Generals and American King of Outlaws. Interesting opponents." Tohsaka murmured, putting a finger to his chin, "We might need some more information on it."

"Done. Saber?" Laura asked.

"One step ahead of you." Saber grinned, flicking a finger. A shadow flew across the floor, flying away.

"Ah, I see. That shadow's your Noble Phantasm." Berserker stated.

"One of them, anyway. I've got two more, packed safely away for later." Saber said with a playful smirk.

"Well, ain't that nice?" Berserker asked.

"I've never heard of a Berserker-Class Servant who could speak coherently. His Mad Enhancement level isn't anywhere near that size." Tohsaka commented.

"Don't know, either." Laura said, "But I do know who he is...Berserker?"

"Free country." Berserker shrugged.

"He's Samson, The Mightiest Judge." Laura said.

"Wait, I summon that guy who got his hair sheered by a woman and died?" Aaron asked.

"YOU." Berserker stated, not looking at Aaron, "QUIET."

Aaron suddenly realized that he struck a nerve. Hard. REALLY hard. Struck a nerve that his previous comment of "dope" hadn't even come close to striking.

"I see." The Tohsaka said, "Well, this will help us formulate a strategy. Until then, maintain a low profile until absolutely necessary."

With a flicker, the two faded from sight.

"Okay, why didn't either of those guys get into this War thing?" Aaron asked, "Why'd they send a little girl?"

"FIRST OFF, I was trained to use magic all my life, making me more qualified to participate than YOU." Laura said, defensively, "Secondly, I've got a good knowledge of magical arts and spells. Tohsaka isn't involved in this because HE'S too busy trying to fix the Holy Grail. Caritas...I'm not entirely sure. She just says she wouldn't be fit for the role."

Elsewhere...

In the floating castle, Tohsaka and Caritas walked out from a room with a single crystal ball in the center. As they left, though, Caritas faltered.

"Caritas? Are you...?"

"I'm...fine. It's just wanting out, but I can keep it in for a little while longer." Caritas said, regaining her composure.

"How much longer?" The Tohsaka asked, concerned.

"Two weeks, at most." She said.

The Tohsaka grit his teeth, "Damn it...I was supposed to have purified it long before now...how could it be going so awry so quickly?"