Fate: Hammer Time

Chapter 35: The First Attempt

"Here we are." Bazett announced, stopping the car at a fair distance away from the field where Shirou had found the nest of the criminal Magi the previous day. "We are back, and I don't think anyone saw us."

"Very good, Bazett." Lord El-Melloi nodded, looking out of the window, watching as several other cars came to a stop right behind them. Enforcers came pouring out of those cars a second later, and they rapidly established a perimeter around their position, setting up several Bounded Fields.

It was the day after the evening at Frankfurt, and just as Lord El-Melloi had arranged, the seven of them, that being Shirou, Svin, Flat, Grey, Bazett, Caren, and the lord himself, had arrived at the field near Lykershausen with the Enforcers in tow.

The atmosphere around the small group was tense, as for most of them, it would be the first time that they'd ever participated in, or even been close to, the storming of a base of enemy Magi.

There were exceptions of course. Lord El-Melloi for instance had survived the Fourth Holy Grail War in one piece, meaning that a battle he was almost guaranteed to win didn't impress him anymore.

Bazett too was calm, as she was very experienced at battle, meaning that taking down a few labrats wasn't even in the top ten of the most dangerous things she'd done that year.

Shirou however, despite what might be expected of him, was not calm at all. Rather, he was frustrated and impatient, though not because he was nervous about the attack itself, but because the Enforcers were taking too long in getting ready.

He had more to do today!

As soon as the nest had been destroyed and the enemy Magi were either dead or captured, he would be heading to the Einzbern castle for the first time, to finally take a look at his sister's prison with his own eyes. In other words, every second wasted in this field was a second that he couldn't spend on scouting the Einzbern castle.

That was why it was very annoying to be unable to do anything but sit tight and wait until the Enforcers were done preparing, all while creating an uncomfortable silence in the car with his obvious agitation.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, Flat was always more than willing to break uncomfortable silences and provide distractions, and today was no exception.

"We're going to storm the nest today, huh?" The frail boy huffed, rubbing his thumb over his chin. "That's going to be a tough one, but I'm not worried."

"You aren't?" Svin asked, playing along with his friend. "Why not?"

"Because we have our super-jacked Asian with us!" Flat proclaimed, enthusiastically gesturing towards Shirou. "We are invincible!"

"But of course!" Svin pumped his fist, grinning widely. "How could I have forgotten?! His Divine righteousness will surely see us to victory!"

They roared in laughter together, and Shirou groaned, cursing both them for their jokes and himself for causing the situation in the first place.

The previous evening, he had saved Caren Ortensia and her tour group from a bunch of violent robbers, and not only had that resulted in a very embarrassing scene as miss Ortensia hugged him while proclaiming him to be some kind of agent of God, but the local newspapers had also run with the story, seeing in it a perfect opportunity for a grand sale.

No matter how old he might become, Shirou would never forget the moment when Flat came up to him that morning, just before they'd left the hotel, holding a copy of 'The Frankfurter Allgemeine' and asking him with glee whether he was the 'super-jacked Asian' who had saved a tour-group from a violent robbery that night, while shouting 'In the name of God' all the while.