Chrono X Angel, Book 5: Winds of Change

Chapter 3

Over the next several days, more and more reports of monsters and psychos came across Modred's desk, and the knight was about ready to jump on her own sword from the sheer frustration of GARDNA's inability to handle it. If it was not a hockey mask-wearing, machete-wielding freak slashing at people by Lake Watanabe; it was a scar-faced, knife-gloved turtleneck-wearing ghost man chasing teenagers down alleys and streets near Vakama Bakery. Every time she would send agents to investigate, they came back with the same story: nothing there, and no sign anything ever had been.

When the most recent incident finally came across her desk; a group of girls who had been accosted by something they could only describe as "the shape", with a physical description resembling yet another famous movie slasher, she finally had all she could manage. Planting both hands firmly on the under side of her desk, she simultaneously lifted and pushed the desk away from her, sending it flipping across the room to land inches away from an opening door. In walked Lydia a few seconds later, eyeing the desk, whose contents now littered the floor of her office.

"You really need to work on that temper," she sighed, "Anyway, we have some good news. A couple bits actually."

"Oh thank god," groaned Modred, already working on cleaning up the papers and other office debris that had gone flying from her desk, "What is it?"

"Firstly, Nonami and Kristina believe they've located the living quarters of one of our suspects. She had Kristina track the faint scent left on Usoko's shirt when the guy touched her, and it led her to a nearby apartment building. In fact, by now an agent should have infiltrated the place and begun questioning him. If all goes well, we'll have a big break in this case by sundown."

"Wonderful," sighed Modred, and Lydia could almost see the stress melting from her friend's face. "What's the other bit of good news?"

"Your brother's in town."

Modred shrieked bloody murder.

After a moment, once the ringing in Lydia's sensitive feline ears had subsided, she looked over at Modred who seemed to be incredibly shaken up by what should have been great news.

The Pendragon siblings were known to be very close, of course being twins definitely contributed to that. From the time they could walk they almost always stuck together, working as a team and training side by side to become the next leader of GARDNA. It had been their hope that when their father, Arthur IX, passed the mantle down that he would pass it to both of them. That had not been the case, though Modred was sure to place her brother in a high spot worthy of his skill. They had made a deal then, that if Modred got to the point where she could not accomplish her duties as leader, that she would step aside and allow him to try.

The fact that Mordred was coming now, meant that he would see the state Modred had left GARDNA in, and while he was not likely to attempt a coup of any sort, Modred was too ashamed of the current state to let her brother see it.
That, and with her prior treatment of Elisabeth from when the Dhampir had been imprisoned kept on file...

"S-send him home," stammered Modred, "Do something, please he can't see this mess!! God above, it's bloody terrible here!!"

"It's not that bad," sighed Lydia, rolling her eyes, "We're after something that isn't exactly quantifiable here, it's not like we messed up catching a rouge bakeneko. Wait, scratch that, I forgot about the Ichigo incident..."

Modred roared pathetically, curling into a ball on the floor.

"Maybe if I shrink down to a tiny speck he'll think I'm out of town."

"Wot."

Both women looked to the doorway where stood a man in a blue suit with gold epaulets, long silver-blonde hair down to his mid back, and the same piercing blue eyes as Modred. Though their physiques differed, one look at the man's face told you that if anyone on Earth was Modred's twin brother, it was he: Mordred Leo Pendragon.