FATE\Deus Decipit

Chapter 18: Monsters and Men

...

Aaron lowered the gun to his waist. His arm felt like rubber from holding the heavy rifle in such a way. He wouldn't put it down, not yet, but it seemed that the situation had deescalated enough for the moment.

He had worried when this girl, Heping she had called herself, had offered to go with him. Of course Rider had been by him the whole time if things had gotten hairy, but he still expected some sort of trickery. She must have had some kind of plan, some source of confidence, and there was no reason to think that he was another Master, unless she was the Master of Caster. That's what he had thought, but the Servant next to her was certainly not Caster; Lancer apparently.

'Lancer is one of the knight classes, but can you really call that thing a knight?'

Rider spoke telepathically, 'T'would be'est unwise to judge it by appearances.'

What was so special about it?

Examining Lancer more closely, there was one thing he noticed: it was as if he could see wind blowing around the creature; six distinct streams. Rider had told him that Masters could see the parameters of other Servants, and that he'd know what he meant when they encountered another Servant properly. Sure enough, Aaron could now tell exactly what Rider meant. These winds were Lancer's parameters, and he could tell the strength of each by the wind's speed and ferocity. Of the six, three were physical parameters, Strength, Agility, and Endurance, and the other three were magical, Magical Power, Luck, and Noble Phantasm. Of these, the winds representing Noble Phantasm were much, much more ferocious than the rest...

Aaron would have to ask later. For now, he was still negotiating with the mystery girl.

"And what would that be?"

Her accent was thick, how long had she even been in Athens? No, that was the wrong question: how long had she even been outside of her home country?

"Where were you around two weeks ago?"

Her stance, which had relaxed somewhat, began to tense again as her eyes closed in on him, "I do not think you need that information."

"Well I think I do."

She watched him closely, "I was at home."

Whatever tension had dissipated returned in full force- things were going downhill fast.

'Master, if thee truly desire them as our allies, may I suggest we move passed this particular inquiry?'

It hurt his pride, but this wasn't going anywhere, "Fine, whatever." He rubbed his temple with his unarmed hand, "Look, do you know about the Temple of Zeus?"

She seemed slightly confused, "The meteor?"

'Is this chick even a mage?'

"So that's a 'no' then?"

"I suppose so."

He was back in control of the situation, "We," He nodded his head to Rider, "had a little encounter with Berserker over there."

"You destroyed the ruins?"

"No, Berserker did."

Her brow fell into a scowl, but she said nothing.

'Is she really going to get so pissed over those ruins?'

Rider piped up once more, 'Stay calm, mine master. This is in our favor.'

'And how's that, exactly?'

'Allow me.'

Rider moved forward slightly. Heping shifted back, and Lancer, the pig-thing, followed her lead, trembling slightly. Rider raised his hand to stop them. His charisma was undeniable. His cues were somehow perfectly clear and yet impossible to read.