Chapter 7.1 - The Anger of Suzumiya Haruhi

The Anger of Suzumiya Haruhi
There was a sudden wrench of metal as Haruhi smashed her fist down onto the holodesk in fury, the desk snapping clean in two. The hologram was produced by displays under the transparent centre of the table so, apart from some temporary flickering, was unaffected.

Moments earlier, when the Thunder Child had successfully entered Gensokyo, Haruhi had impatiently forced the entire SOS Brigade back to the holodesk, full of positive energy. But once Cirno had frozen the Thunder Child in place her attitude changed dramatically.

The others attempted to act as though nothing had happened though they were all clearly unnerved. "The Thunder Child had its guns pointed at Cirno," pointed out Itsuki, "I wonder why it didn't fire. It had no hesitation against Yukari."

"She had a passenger on her back," commented Kyon, "Who looked injured or at least unwell. Maybe it was an act of sympathy."

Haruhi regained her composure, "I don't have time for this. Kona-chan is calling for me. Just have Shepard keep the Normandy in position." She instantly disappeared.

After a short moment of silence, Kyon's expression turned to one of annoyance, "Isn't she going to fix the table?"

Itsuki folded his arms with a weak smile, "She'll fix it when she returns."

Kyon sat on the ground, leaning against the back wall. The conference room had no chairs and usually required everyone to stand. "Why is she even annoyed?" he asked, his dissatisfaction clearly present in his voice, "She got exactly what she wanted, didn't she? Solace found something that will get through both Barriers."

Yuki spoke up, "If Solace is captured then it will all be lost. We require Solace to have opened her backpack and be in open space."

"You see," continued Itsuki, notably talking only to Kyon, "The Empress feared that the Vocaloids could reverse engineer the technology Solace possesses but as we can see with the Temple of Gaia, Gensokyo clearly has the ability to do so too."

"The Empress doesn't want a full scale conflict between Yamaha and Gensokyo," added Mikuru, "She wants minimal casualties. But neither faction will ever go against North High without proper preparation."

Kyon frowned, completely aware that he was the only one being lectured, "I'm sure I've mentioned this before but how everyone calls Haruhi 'The Empress' really annoys me."

"You mentioned it three hundred and sixty one times since Doomsday," informed Yuki, with her usual unemotional demeanour.

Ignoring Yuki, Kyon changed the subject, "So where did Haruhi go off to now?"

Yuki answered, "Izumi Konata's responsibility is Naluri."

Naluri's anger-filled eyes rose to watch Haruhi enter her living room of her residence in District 9, Johannesburg, South Africa. She was sitting on a couch, sniper rifle by her side, with Izumi Konata, North High's Enforcer of Order, sitting front of her on a dining chair. Tainaka Ritsu, North High's Captain of the Guard, was also in the room but was wandering around, looking at the trinkets that Naluri possessed. Unlike Ritsu, who was wearing casual clothes, Konata was wearing her summer school uniform.

"I can take care of this from here," Haruhi said calmly, approaching Konata, who promptly stood up. After offering her seat to Haruhi, Konata left the room, followed by Ritsu, who closed the living room door. The two of them paced down the hallway in silence, leaving the apartment through the front door. Konata walked up to the balcony and took in the sight, leaning on the windowless ledge. They were in one of the many residential skyscrapers, known as Arks, of District 9, that dwarfed all other buildings in the area. The night sky was lit by lights shining through windows of the Arks.

"Naluri's a tough nut to crack," commented Ritsu, now out of Naluri's hearing range. She placed a hand on her hip as she looked both ways down the balcony that led to other apartments. There were no other people around, being night time after all.

"Heh, you don't say," sighed Konata, "I've been trying to get her to join the armed forces for almost a year now but she constantly refuses." Konata's childish voice made it different to tell if she was being serious or not. However, the residents of North High Colony knew that it was safer to take the second-in-command seriously than not.

"She refuses?" Ritsu rose an eyebrow in curiosity, "For what reason?"

"She says that she'd rather not work for brainwashers."

"... Uh huh..." nodded Ritsu slowly with a blank expression. As the Colony's fifth-in-command, under Yuki and Ayu, Ritsu was aware of the practices Haruhi exercised over the territory. "Why is the Empress putting so much effort into recruiting a single person?" she blinked.

Konata looked at Ritsu, lowering her voice, "The Empress considers Naluri a threat. Naluri seems to be immune to the Empress' powers so we want her to at least fight by our side."

Ritsu frowned and looked around before leaning on the ledge next to Konata, "Immune?" she whispered, "How's that possible?"

"I'm not sure on the details but Naluri, apparently, constantly changes canon. The Empress' powers seem to be limited to the world she's in. When Naluri changes canon, any control the Empress has is completely reset."

"Can't we just lock her up? Both Genokyo and Yamaha do that for potential dangerous newcomers."

"Well, actually, that's that's what we would have done but Sousuke had the idea to use this to our advantage." A smile spread across Konata's face, "We've been monitoring her this past year for data. The project is almost complete but unstable. We just need some combat data."

"That can't be hard," commented Ritsu, "Can't you punch her in the face or something?"

"Well, if we get her to join the military, that's two birds with one stone. She caught the Empress' attention during Doomsday with her combat skills."

Ritsu tilted her head to the side, "Is she really that-?"

The apartment door suddenly opened and Haruhi walked out, her face failing to hide her fury, "Konata, get your data. I want Naluri in carbonite within twenty-four hours." And she disappeared.

As the door slowly closed shut by itself, Ritsu spoke up again, "Our first outlaw."

The door promptly opened again and Naluri walked out, carrying only her heavy sniper rifle on her back, barrel pointing up. She kept her eyes on both Ritsu and Konata as she closed the door behind her. Konata looked at Ritsu, smiled and walked further down the corridor to Naluri's left. Ritsu, meanwhile, kept her eyes fixed on Naluri. There was silence as the two stared each other down. Unamused, Naluri blinked and walked to the right towards the Ark's stairs and elevator.

Ritsu frowned and brought down her right hand on Naluri's left shoulder. With a swift motion, Naluri turned her whole body left, grabbed Ritsu's right wrist with her left hand. Her right hand quickly pulled up the handle of the sniper rifle, the barrel lowering as the rifle turned anticlockwise on her back. As soon as the barrel pointed towards Ritsu's head, Naluri pulled the trigger, something striking the middle of Ritsu's forehead.

The impact bounced straight off with a flash of purple light, Ritsu's personal and usually invisible body shield instantly breaking. Without hesitation, Ritsu threw an underarm punch with her free left hand. The punch immediately stopped before making contact with Naluri as though there was an invisible solid object. A low boom of a drum filled the air and Naluri was thrown backwards head over heels a great distance down the corridor, hit by the heavy force created by the punch. She managed to land on her feet, sliding back several metres, but she had no time to regain her composure as a blue cloud of biotic energy slammed into her, once again launching her off her feet. The blue cloud dissipated to reveal Ritsu in the centre, having executed a full body charge. There was a light glow of purple as Ritsu's shield recharged. Caught off guard, Naluri landed on her back but rolled backwards onto her feet. Then to Ritsu's surprise, Naluri jumped over the ledge, off the building.

Ritsu looked over the ledge to see Naluri grappling rapidly down the side of the Ark, the grapple's hook holding onto the ledge of the floor below. Before Ritsu could do anything, Naluri swung onto a floor considerably lower down, the hook unlatching and quickly retracting after her.

"A tough nut to crack?" commented Konata, walking back up to Ritsu.

Ritsu continued to look over the edge though there was no trace of Naluri, "That wasn't a normal sniper rifle was it?"

"She brings some of the best technology of her universe as well as other canons she's been thrown into. It's a railgun, at least in concept, with no need for ammunition. It can shoot air fast enough to be fatal. Bullets only make it stronger. And she has access to her own personal Hammerspace so who knows what other gadgets she possesses."

"Hmm... It's impressive but nothing the Empress can make herself," Ritsu climbed onto the ledge, "I know it's your job to go after her but I want to join the fun."

"Don't push too hard, Ritsu," warned Konata, "We need the information more than we need a corpse."

"Gotcha," noted Ritsu, jumping off. Konata shrugged before vaulting over the ledge after her.

Statistics
Count
 * Words:
 * Characters: