Chapter 3: Hunter / Hunted Part 2

"Preston Garvey huh? Well, I'll make sure to pay you back for that cheap shot then in spades!" Lancer spat, holding his spear with one hand while one clutched at the wound he had received. The man knew that whatever had hit him was no ordinary gunshot if it could do so much damage and bypass his own ability to sense it via Protection From Arrows.

The stare down was frankly...quite terrifying now that Shirou was starting to get his wits about him. He was still clutching his sides where Lancer's kick had struck him. Rin was by his side at this point, confusion on her face as her own teacher stared down the servant.

Archer was the third party - caught in the middle and readying himself for whatever may happen. Many things were not as his memories said they were and the inclusion of an odd man and Shirou using a gun of all things was quite telling.

"We'll see about that, but right now…" he trailed off, looking to Shirou and Rin with a bit of an apologetic smile.

"...I suggest holding on you two"

"Hold on?" Rin asked with a dumbfounded look, looking like a fish out of water "Professor, what do you-"

"Oh no you don't!" Lancer cried out, eyes widening as he realized something was about to happen and jumped at the group to stop them. Preston catching the twitch in movement intercepted the spear wielder in time, landing a solid kick that took them both away from what happened next.

A thrum of energy, not unlike the device Preston carried finally caught Rin's attention before a bolt of blue lightning crashed into her and Shirou. Rin screamed out in surprise, raising her arms in an automatic response and with the full expectation to feel searing pain only to realize a moment later that nothing felt off after the flash other than the now blowing of wind against her face

"This is…" she heard Archer's voice call out in a bit of wonder before she opened her eyes to see what looked like a rather traditional Japanese home in front of her. To her immediate right, was a blue roofed storage building and to her left, a fence surrounding a small dojo of sorts.

"Nutsume we got them but Preston had to intercept – he's fending off Lancer right now alone!" a cry alerted Rin to someone else being with them, the master of Archer swinging her head around to see a woman in a red trench coat with a press hat standing in front of an odd contraption. It looked like a computer - albeit one that was built into a steep pillar that rose out of the ground with wiring connecting it to…

"What the hell…" she breathed out. She was just as stunned as Archer as her eyes followed the wiring leading up to what they were standing on - a massive raised, circular steel pad with odd protrusions jutting out every few inches or so around it, machinery and technology that was something very out of place in what should be a traditional Japanese home.

The door to the storage building swung open as a chestnut-haired woman rushed out with a quick glance to the pair before focusing on Shirou. She wore an odd uniform that looked like a cross between that of a traditional Japanese policewoman and a military officer's uniform. Formal yet also something easy to move in – a bit worn yet it exuded some sort of protective aura that Rin could not identify. Wrapped a bit loosely around her neck was a scarf that looked like it had seen better days while resting atop her head was an equally worn pair of goggles.

On the left sleeve of the uniform was the only clue the magus had to who this person was; a shield like emblem with a red silhouette of a long-haired woman whose hair curved in a circle around the head. Written in clear Japanese were the words 'Japanese Self-Defense Forces Overseas Troops – Special Forces Task Group Flying Bird'

Archer was immediately on edge the moment he saw the woman clearly and a telepathic message from the bond they shared soon came right to her that made her hair stand on end and quickly follow the man's words to put some distance even with no attack sent their way.

'Rin, that's a servant, back away now!'

"Shirou are you with me?" the now at least identified servant asked, kneeling down and looking over Rin's classmate, checking around the injury and seeing him hiss a reply that just confused her and her own servant even more.

"M-mom?"

"Stay with me kiddo, you took a nasty hit if what Preston told me is true. Facing down Lancer like that was brave. Stupid, but brave at least…" she chuckled as she took out a syringe of sorts - the back end of the tube topped with a dial and two metal protrusions. Flipping it around with little warning, she jabbed the needle right into Shirou's shoulder - the boy letting out a hiss of surprise as the device hissed out as well, injecting its contents into the boy.

The effects were near immediate from what she could see. Shirou's deep, labored breaths steadied out, the pained sounds fading away. The boy touched the spot where Lancer had kicked him with all the force of a runaway truck and was surprised himself to feel solid bone and untorn muscle. Rin's own curious look was now shared by her classmate as the Servant stood up and held the empty syringe. A moment later and it began to fade away into motes of lights, its job done.

"Lancer?" Shirou groaned out in question as things began to clear up for him.

"Yep, that wasn't some rogue magus you faced kiddo. That was an honest to goodness Heroic Spirit you shot at. Ballsy like I said"

The boy had the decency to at least blush in a bit of embarrassment as the words and situation sunk in though he did have a few questions now running through his mind. He rubbed the shoulder where his mom had injected him and without a word, Nutsume quickly answered.

"Stimpaks, the wonders of pre-war medicine that could nearly cure anything. Great for injuries in combat" the woman explained with a bit of a smile, holding one hand out and helping her son to his feet before finally turning to the other master and servant pair that had been dragged along for the ride. Archer was already in front of Rin before the woman's next words were out of her lips, the girl having followed the request to put some space between them.

"Now as for our guest..." she began with narrowed eyes, at least until Shirou came to Rin's rescue of sorts - the girl watching the interaction with guarded curiousness.

"Mom she's my schoolmate, they tried to help - look they're not-"

"I know, Preston gave me a quick rundown when he saved you, her and her partner from Lancer"

"…And we were doing fine until Emiya here got involved!" Rin quickly spoke up in defense for herself and to at least make a point about how things had been going pretty much normally until Shirou stepped out of the archery club's dojo

"And you did battle in a public area, in a place that could have gotten innocents involved. If it wasn't Shirou here and some other student tasked with the same activity that left him there that late then you might be dealing with a corpse instead" Nutsume shot back before rubbing her forehead with a slightly frustrated hiss, missing the slightly ashamed look that crossed Rin's face "Look what's done is done…" she continued, "We can't play a game of what if, since things had already happened "You can leave-"

A pulse of energy faintly washed over the place, making everyone look to the sky – the older woman gazing towards the direction she sensed it come from with a slight grimace.

"Er...Blue…" Piper called with a bit of worry and rush in her voice as she looked over something that only she could see on the computer screen.

"I felt it, Preston held him off as long as he could and left a few good shots but he's going to take a bit of time to reform and recover now"

"Not only that but Lancer must have tracked the energy returning to you - he's on the way to the source...here"

Nutsume let out a click of annoyance, refocusing her attention on Rin and Archer and nodding towards them "If you want to go, do so now - Lancer's on the way if you didn't just hear"

"And leave with more questions than answers?" Rin asked incredulously, "Look as the Second Owner of Fuyuki, I'm supposed to know who's operating in my city and the fact that Emiya here has been under my nose for god knows how long feels like a bit of a slap to my face" That and the girl had more than just questions about another magus slipping under her radar but the whole teleporting, mechanical wonder had piqued her interest. The fact that she hadn't been killed on the spot when they had arrived at least showed a friendly disposition that she was willing to bet Goody Two Shoes Shirou wouldn't break. "I'll offer my assistance then to you and your master for now"

"Er…Shirou's my son, not master" Nutsume clarified with a bit of a chuckle, the boy in question coughing with a slight flush on his cheeks.

Rin could only stare at the duo in disbelief before Piper whistled for their attention "Lancer's gonna be here soon so Nutsume...the plan?"

"Right, with Archer here to provide support alongside me we should be able to fend him off. I've got a few tricks up my sleeve that should help - that and Preston confirmed he had managed to nail him with the Last Minute a couple of times which means that he's somewhat underpowered now" the older woman replied as she ushered Shirou towards the shed.

"You mean that weird...cannon Mister Garvey had was able to do something to Lancer?" Rin asked for clarification, mentally talking with Archer at the same time and telling him to go along with things for now despite his cautionary stance.

'Alright but the moment anything goes south I'm pulling you out kicking and screaming all right?'

'Why Archer, I didn't know you cared~'

'Hah, I just don't want to have to go searching for a new master so early into the war'

"Yeah - it's not much but it should give us a slight advantage" Nutsume continued without missing a beat before turning to her son "Shirou, you on the other hand need to do something which will help us all out. If done right this should be the biggest boon our little group can ask for. Go into the shed and you'll find a circle that's ready for use. Codsworth has a few things to help you out - follow the instructions and we should be golden"

Shirou was just a bit out of the loop but guessed that this was going to be his own servant summoning that had been prepared by his mom and dad a long while in advance. They had been pretty hush about the details and it was only now after he had faced down Lancer did he realize something big was going down.

"Mom before I do that...is this going to be like 10 years ago?" he asked slowly, a few memories coming to mind and the eventual talks that had shed some light on what had happened.

His mother could only give him a small smile and shook her head "Heavens no, if we play things right we can avoid something of that magnitude...we just need to do our best here Shirou, now go - I have faith in you"

The young boy nodded, before jogging into the shed and closing the door behind him.

"You sure he'll summon her again Blue?" Piper asked as she raised a hand to the device she was standing in front, giving Rin another surprise as the whole contraption suddenly changed from something solid into a mass of blue lines that formed a sort of skeleton shape before vanishing with an audible 'thunk' to god knows where, leaving a normal backyard.

"I'm betting on it being the catalyst for her, the plan needs her linked up at full power like before. For now, Piper I need you to head to safety. I can handle myself here, losing you would put a lot of strain on things so best we take things carefully - link up with Cait and Nick, I'll give a call once all things are clear to move with the next phase" Nutsume replied, getting a nod of understanding in response before Piper went up to her and gave her a quick kiss that left the motherly woman chuckling and her present company either blushing for the third time that night, sputtering a bit at the sight or simply raising an eyebrow in surprise.

"For good luck" the reporter smiled before giving one last nod of confidence in her dear friend and jumping into the air - vanishing a moment later and leaving Nutsume alone with Rin and Archer to whom she turned back to with an innocent smile.

"I have no comment" Archer began before nodding to his red-faced master with a bit of an amused smile though his eyes showed their usual serious steely gaze "Though I think you broke my master here...Mrs. Emiya"

"I'll take that as a question you might want to ask later - oh and just call me Nutsume, I wasn't really married to Shirou's father though I did have a big hand in raising him" she answered casually which stumped Rin at the sudden revelation of the servant's identity "And before you ask why I gave you my name, trust me…"

"I'll be very, very surprised if there was any book about me"

'Lancer I need you to find that boy - he may not have been the simple bystander we thought he was at first'

'No shit!' Lancer thought furiously as he crossed inhuman distances with leap after leap, his blood red spear clutched in the grip of anger while his other hand tended to the slowly healing wound on his side. Normally something like a gun of all things shouldn't have done that much damage but that wound he received was persisting like a particularly annoying bug.

'Almost fucking feels like a curse, what the hell did that Minuteman hit me with?' he was still in fighting shape, moving a tad bit slower than he liked but he could power through the pain and handicap to beat the shit out of Archer's smug face and snatch the kid his master had a sudden odd interest in.

The only other problem the servant could think of was the possibility of there being another servant around the boy. While that Preston Garvey he had fought certainly moved like a servant, he didn't sense anything from the man that said he was one. Not only that but after finally getting in close past a myriad of traps that had taken him by surprise (and how he wondered how that man had set things up beforehand) and allowed the sniper to cheese a few cheap shots - his satisfied glee at driving his spear into the man was short lived when instead of a corpse, he was met with a smirk and the body vanishing into thin air!

'Whatever that man did though left a trail at least for me to follow' he thought to himself as he vaulted over another building and found himself crossing a massive steel bridge that linked the two sides of the city. When the man had vanished, it was like a blast of prana fired itself in return towards wherever it was linked to and it didn't take a genius to make a guess that it would lead him to wherever Archer, his master and the kid who had the balls had gone (and admittedly he had to respect the kid for trying to funnel him into a kill box while standing his ground)

'Had I been some sort of run of the mill magus of this day and age, that kid would have probably put me six feet under…' Lancer mused

'Too bad I ain't of that sort - bad luck for the kid to not only run into me as his opponent but now he's got my shitty master's interest too. Hate to know what happens after that and he meets that shitty bastard too'

His thoughts soon came to a slow as he noted a bounded field coming from the one Japanese house in the old neighborhood - a rather old family home he could guess from what the Grail had supplied his head. Inside though was the unmistakable presence of two Servants which gave Lancer a rush of excitement. He was going to have some problems fighting two on one but who the hell ever said battle was going to be easy, he was going to do his job make no mistake but he's still going to get in some payback and maybe kill one of them if he could!

'If he is a master – feel free to take him out of the equation…if you can'

Those words echoed out in his mind as he landed on the roof of the house overlooking a rather open garden where three people awaited him below. The master of Archer, a young woman with a bit of spunk in his eyes, the bastard servant himself and a new face; a woman in uniform wielding…an assault rifle? What was it with people suddenly wielding those damned things, they were coming right out of the woodwork!

Yet his frustration didn't cloud his mind this time around – without the frenzy of battle to lose himself in he realized quite easily the tell-tale signs of another servant. And since he knew the pigtailed master, that left the unknown woman being the only other possibility.

'Damn, did the kid summon already?' he thought – transmitting the view and info to his shitty master before he spoke up "So, which class are you supposed to be?" Lancer asked a bit jovially, shouldering his spear as he kept his spot on the high ground carefully.

"Single Mother" she replied with an innocent and warm smile, eliciting a bark of laughter in response from the man.

"Hah, don't suppose you'd tell me where the kid-"

A massive surge of energy and light came from the shed just to the side of the trio and Lancer's easy going smile slid off his face as a third energy signature came right into his senses – tipping the odds against him and making him swear silently as the situation went from 'manageable with a bit of a tussle' to 'manageable if you're willing to sacrifice a few limbs…' and Lancer quite liked having his arms and legs intact…

The door to the shed opened, to reveal a lightly armored woman of rather short stature, blonde haired tied up in a rather elaborate braided bun. A face that shone with a bit of elegance mixed with a small bit of naivete… and a weapon he could not discern held in her armored hands. There was no denying the newcomer's appearance; this was the boy's servant – the youth in question stepping out right after her with a determined look in his eyes and a freshly loaded handgun being held steady and at the ready.

The woman's eyes widened in slight recognition for the woman whose back was turned to her, the grip on her weapon tightening just a fraction even though she said no words and took no sudden actions.

The smile had still not left Nutsume's face as she had felt the summoning go off with nary a hitch, a nice steady connection having been re-established with a familiar…friend of sorts. "So… Lancer, three servants versus one. Do tell me…"

That smile lost its innocence turning into something more…sinister, the spearman twirling his weapon into a readying stance now that the cards had been stacked against him in a simple move.

"Do you feel like a betting man?"

"Oho? It looks like this war is going to be most interesting…"

"My king?"

"The woman who I declared to be mine and the one whose treasures she thinks does not belong to me as well…it looks like fate has brought our past up right up to the present. It will be a most wonderful thing to see their fire of defiance fade away under me, the one true king…"

"And Lancer? How should we proceed with our pawn?"

"Tell the dog to return, I've seen enough for tonight – let the fools enjoy their so-called war before I claim what is rightfully mine"

"Understood"

The air around the Emiya household was palpable to say the least. Tensions running high as either side stood at the ready – waiting to see who would make the first move or if Lancer would pull back…

The man in question held his ready stance before a flash of understanding crossed his eyes, eliciting an annoyed sigh as he once again shouldered his spear "You know...I would have damn loved to fight against these odds. Even if I prefer to leave a battle with all my body parts I'd have leapt at this chance. Thing is, my master is a coward and just ordered me to head back"

"You'd turn your back on us?" The blonde servant asked incredulously, speaking up for the first time that night.

As if to prove her right, the man indeed did turn around to present his back to the whole group – slowly walking away with a nod of his head "Yep, but hey you're free to follow me though if you do…be prepared to die!" he finished, flashing them one last look over his shoulder before leaping up into the air and away from them.

The group held their breaths, waiting for a few seconds – those with the power to do so, watching as Lancer kept dashing away towards the old city until he was able to break their line of sight and vanish, Archer being the first to relax the sign that no sudden surprises were heading their way.

The relaxed air soon vanished just as fast as it had come when Shirou's servant raised her weapon and pointed it right at Nutsume, the older woman letting out a rather tired sigh at the sight while her son turned to his servant in surprise.

"Saber what are yo-"

"I want answers for what happened before I returned…" the blonde responded in a tone of finality, a glare of anger marring her normally regal expression. Nutsume blinked a bit before understanding finally came to the woman.

"Wait you remember-"

"I'd never forget what you did"

"Saver"

AN: And that's a wrap, sorry for the delay really – had a few big changes in life that slowed progress. New job, new place... had to do a bit of rewriting here and there too.

Now for a few bits of extra info I thought I'd toss in – a slight reminder of sorts that this story was born of a modded playthrough of Fallout 4. It just goes to show; mods can change how one understands or experiences the story of the Boston Commonwealth. In case a few folks want to know stuff like why Nutsume isn't wearing a Vault Suit by default or how she had access to an Institute Teleporter, I thought I'd list some of those featured mods that make an appearance from chapter to chapter.

Just as a note, yes these are a few of the same mods I'm running on my own Fallout 4.

Mods featured this chapter:

1.) Animerace Nanakochan

2.) Immersive Teleportation

3.) Asuka Officer Uniform

4.) Eli's Armor Compendium (specifically Nutsume's scarf and goggles)

I'll be adding small bits like this alongside extra info here and there just for the curious folks.