Chapter 7: Trail Gone Cold

Nomad-117: Hello everyone, I apologize a thousandfold for the delay. More on that in the end notes. Until then please read the chapter and hopefully enjoy, I admit I just finished it and only checked it over once. I still hope that the errors arent to significant after more than a few rewrites.

"Do you think that Kiritsugu actually had a daughter? Or… at least actually tried to raise her?" Natasha asked Clint as she sat down her tablet. "His psychic evaluation seems to contradict such a notion."

"But we can't rely on them one hundred percent either. The shrinks can miss stuff, if all they had to go on for me was my MO in the field, they'd claim that having kids wouldn't fit me either." Clint was quick point out as he steered their vehicle through the streets of Sana'a. "Besides, knowing Fury he'll look into that." He snorted as he said such. "Although it is still a better lead than some woman who calls herself Saber."

"We haven't been able to find any family of Kiritsugu Emiya, so it seems unlikely that she was related to him in the first place." Natasha mused as she flipped through the reports on her tablet. "Records indicate that he lived with his father for a time, but both of them soon disappeared and became untraceable, until Kiritsugu resurfaced working as a hired gun."

"You think he worked for the same guys as Shirou did?" Clint asked casually, eyes sliding sideways for a brief moment as he mustered her. "It was your case to find him isn't it? So what do you think?"

"I don't know." Natasha admitted, feeling all too familiar frustration well up inside her at that confession. "There are some similarities, such as the fact that both of them managed to seemingly just disappear from our radar, multiple times even, but Kiritsugu worked as a mercenary and assassin. We haven't managed to identify all of his contractors as of yet, but we had definitive proof that this was the case. Shirou though… he seemed to just do these things."

"You think Tohsaka is right?" Clint asked quietly, hands gripping the steering wheel tightly. "That we are blind to the truth?"

"Perhaps" She conceded after a moment of contemplation. "They seemed honest when they answered our questions, of course, that just means that they are either pretty good liars, or told us what they believe to be true. Perhaps we aren't the only ones, blind to the truth."

Clint merely hummed at that, not offering anything else as their car left the city limits and accelerated the refugee camp was still some few dozens kilometers away. It was no longer as large as it once was, the fighting had decreased in the past year and with the end of the war was supposed to have stopped completely. Of course there were still some regions where the fighting had yet to cease, but peace had returned enough for people to attempt and try to return to their lives previously. Still the government had tried to keep the refugee camp at arm's length, to their credit they sent what help they could spare towards their people in need, but at the same time they had warned them to stay away from the capital. A part of her even understood, thousands of people, without anything to their name and desperate to stay alive would have indubitably done their part, even if they were not aware of it, to bring civil unrest to a population that was already on edge.

Keeping that in mind, she busied herself with what intel she could get her hands on. The pictures Hawkeye had taken of the circle in the shed were still being analysed. Thus far their researchers concluded that it might have served some unknown ritualistic purpose, though they requested more time for a more in depth analysis.

Natasha wasn't particularly optimistic about their future chances. If the trend of this continued their science department would soon enough meet a dead end. Or, if one were to be slightly more optimistic, find at least something that could be of use, but whether or not they could use that was another matter entirely. Personally she had thought the investigation of the drawing to be a waste of time, there was nothing to be gained from it. Though she supposed that S.H.I.E.L.D. was desperate enough for answers to chase even phantoms.

Which lead her to the second part of the report. A small unit had already been assembled and sent to Fuyuki City. Their primary objective was to investigate the Einzbern castle thoroughly. The traces of what ever fight had taken place there seemed to indicate superhuman prowess as well as advanced technology, perhaps even a combination of both. For all they knew it might give them a hint, a lead towards what allowed Emiya to perform his own inhuman feats.

Perhaps it was that line of thinking that had led to the decision to try and get samples from the bones of Illyasviel von Einzbern. Some small hope that it would give them a new lead, or perhaps even the beginning of an answer. The fight had taken place within their castle after all, and the incident had been kept quite, so it was logical to assume that they too might be involved in this. Unfortunately Fury had, as he claimed the Einzbern family to be reclusive, understated things if anything. Outside of records of their supposed existence there was surprisingly little known about the Einzbern family, a fact that frustrated Fury to no end, they had practically no digital footprint to speak of. The only thing they had been able to put to their name was an old and seemingly abandoned castle in Germany. In fact S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't even certain as to who was part of this reclusive family, whether by blood or marriage, or perhaps even mere claim. With some luck the remains of Illyasviel von Einzbern could answer some questions at least, perhaps these remains would show signs of alterations, perhaps a prototype of some sort, which would lead further credence, even proof, to their theory that Emiya might have had been more than an ordinary human.

Time would tell, though until then they surely wouldn't just sit around and wait for, hopefully, helpful results. She took note as Clint steered the Vehicle from the wellbuilt main street to paths more akin to trails of dirt. It would have been foolish for the refugees to live too close to the traffic ways. Aside from the danger of someone less than friendly using those streets there was, as always, the risk of getting involved in an ordinary accident. Considering that there were children present within the refugee camp made such precautions even more important. Her childhood might have been anything but normal, and thus she could hardly judge but she had spent enough time with Clint's family to conclude one thing. Children could achieve a lot of things if they set their minds to it. In particular they seemed to excel in sneaking and hiding, though that might have been Clints influence shining through. Yet, some watchful eyes on the lookout probably were needed to keep them all together.

Natasha was surprised when she saw that the refugee camp didn't just have people on the lookout, but that those very same people seemed armed and behaved in a fashion that she would almost call professional. Little hints gave away that they weren't as accustomed to this as they tried to appear, but their overall organization, placing, and behaviour was shockingly competent. Perhaps, the government had supplied them with guards, though that seemed unlikely. Their faces appeared weary as if they had been here for a while, coupled with the fact that the cessation of hostility had been only a relatively short while ago, and there yet remained places of greater importance, it would have been a waste of resources for the government to send trained personnel to a place such as this.

Another question they could ask once they had the chance to talk to the staff, though to be fair there was a good chance of them staying here only for a very brief time. It seemed more likely that they wouldn't find someone from the time when Emiya was here, if so they would have to ask if someone knew who was, or simply look into the documents that would detail such information. The only reason why they hadn't done the latter already was because it seemed like those very same documents were kept on an accessible computer. Thus they had to take a more direct approach.

Eventually they reached what passed for an entrance into the refugee camp, it wasn't much, just a black colored tent right next to the dirt road and a few additional guards but then again there was no need for something more elaborate as the guards fanned out, taking up position around their car. Never once blocking the line of fire of one of their comrades and posting in a way that would make sure that they wouldn't hit one another if they suddenly had to fire through their car.

She had seen cops that were less efficient and professional than that, and with a sinking feeling she dared to guess who had trained these guards, or at least their predecessors who than gave this knowledge to others should they have died or left by now. Emiya, she was certain of it for some reason, and not only because the raising of multiple militia had been among the many charges leveled against him. It simply fit, he had been here, he had the ability, the probability of someone else possessing the same preconditions were low to say the least. Not impossible, but unlikely.

"What do you want?" The leader of the guards questioned brusquely, his face and eyes hard as he stared them down. Natasha couldn't blame him for his weariness, there were precious little reasons for people to simply approach the refugee camp unannounced, even less for two foreigners.

"Easy, we just wanna talk." Hawkeye said softly and kept his hands on the steering wheel, visible even as she held up her own. "We are looking for answers, and we think we can find some here." He slowly removed his right hand from the steering wheel and gestured towards his breast pocket. "May I?" The guard nodded curtly even as the postures of him and the others grew more tense. Calmly and without hurry Clint pulled a photo from his pocket and offered it to the leader of the guards. At the sight of the photo, one that depicted Emiya, a flash of recognition lit up the mans face for a moment before he suppressed it. "We heard that this guy has been here some time ago, we are trying to retrace his footsteps."

"Why would we want to talk to you?"

"Because if you help us, we'll help you." Natasha cut in smoothly, brown eyes flickered to her as she offered him an USB-Stick. "Our superior authorized the transport of additional supplies for you, provided you cooperate, the details are on this stick."

The man clearly was torn, his desire to protect the people behind him from a potential threat, coupled with the rearing of his pride at essentially being extorted it made for a compelling reason not to talk with them. Yet the promise of additional supplies was in the end too tempting to let pass and so he nodded once. "We'll talk, but I'll check this Stick first. If you lied to me…"

"Yeah, we get it." Clint assured him with a smirk. "We'll wait while you make sure it checks out. A couple more minutes won't matter to us." Without another word, the leader of the guards turned and vanished into the black tent next to the road. Probably checking the contents of the USB-Stick she had given him, before deciding on anything else. So far all was going according to plan. Even should they decide that the offer wasn't worth their time it wouldn't matter overly much. Along with the data there was an advanced virus on the Stick, one that would swiftly infect any electronic device it would come into contact with. Thus gathering any and all digital information within the refugee camp that thus far had been denied to S.H.I.E.L.D.. Or at least that was the plan, of course the virus would still require a stable Internet connection to extract the data, something which was spotty at best within the refugee camp, if that had not been the case S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hackers would have scoured the data already for clues.

After a few short moments the guard returned and nodded at them briskly. "Your car stays here, but the doc and I will talk with you."

"Sure, no problem." Clint agreed easily as he got out of the car. "And don't worry, as soon as we are done talking we'll leave. No sense in bothering you guys more than we already did." The guards seemed to relax miniscule at the easy going attitude Clint displayed. Undoubtedly the reason why he had chosen to do so in the first place, though it certainly helped that every word he said was true. Even so, they wouldn't delete the virus anytime soon, S.H.I.E.L.D. was ever hungry for more information and anything that could help with that was just another weapon in their arsenal.

"Dr. Reiche and I will answer your questions." The guard and now, guide, informed them as hte led them deeper into the camp. "Most of the others who spoke to him are gone now, and we knew him best."

"Why is that?" Clint wondered softly as he glanced at their guide.

"Because he often helped the doctors or else was busy beating some of us into shape." He admitted freely as they walked past a tent where some kids were busy playing something. His words confirming their suspicions. Emiya had trained them, had turned refugees into a militia, and they in turn had trained others.

"So it was him that trained the guards." Natasha commented, more to get a definite answer than anything else.

"Yeah, though most of the guys you already saw are new here, so me and the old guards tried to teach them after Kojiro was gone." His words were casual, but his eyes mustered the two of them attentively. Just as much trying to decipher their true feelings and intentions as they tried to do the same with him. It seemed strange. After going through all this trouble of turning civilians into an effective fighting force Emiya just moved on.

Had he recruited, or at the very least, used or exploited them Natasha would have understood. At times it didn't matter how skilled the individual was, they needed more manpower to get the job done. Emiya certainly hadn't been any different, and yet instead of making use of what he had built up he had just left, never to return or contact them again. Perhaps he would have if he had not been captured, but even then he had been here years ago. He would have squandered valuable manpower for all that time, and Emiya had been many things but being inefficient had not been one of them.

Hiding her thoughts behind an impassive mask Natasha asked instead. "Kojiro?" Another fake name then, he had employed many, but perhaps they would be able to track his activities down further with this latest alias. Even then she doubted that they had discovered all the names he had chosen for himself.

"That's what he told us to call him, Raiga Kojiro or something like that." The guard answered swiftly, his eyes narrowing minimally, he indubitably suspected now that the man who had trained him had used a fake name, or perhaps that Clint and herself had not known his true name until now. If such thoughts bothered him he didn't say anything as he went up to a dirty grey tent and knocked on its right post.

"Come in." A female voice with a slight german accent answered in response and he pushed the flap aside, motiong for the two of them to enter first. No doubt so that he could keep an eye on them from behind, neither of them hesitated. Confident enough that the prospect of violence was unlikely.

The woman that awaited within appeared to be in her late forties perhaps early fifties. Dark brown hair streaked with grey, wrinkles visible on her face as tired, overworked, green eyes focused on them from behind her glasses. As she stared them down the woman who was, according to the nameplate on her dirty white coat Dr. Vanessa Reiche. Member of Doctors without borders, admirable no doubt but given the state of the woman in front of them it also seemed to be a most taxing endeavour.

"So you are the ones that promised us to redirect some supplies towards us if we answer your questions." She noted, her voice cool as she gazed at the two agents. "I understand that this matter is of great import to you, but I am certain that you will understand that I will not in any shape or form breach my doctor-patient confidentiality."

"Of course not, Dr. Reiche." Clint jumped in with an easy-going smile. "We aren't interested in something like that. We are more concerned about what you can tell us about one Raiga Kojiro, I believe he introduced himself as to you?"

"Raiga… that is a name that I haven't heard in years." The ageing woman muttered her eyes sliding sideways as she recalled something about Emiya's time with them no doubt. "If you don't mind me asking… why are you so interested in him? He left years ago, and none of us have seen him since."

"I am afraid that is mostly need to know." Clint replied smoothly with an apologetic smile. "Though what I can tell you that… Raiga Kojiro is dead, and we are investigating the circumstances of his demise. I am afraid that is all I am allowed to tell you."

The doctors eyes widened at that as she nodded in response. "Of course… what do you need to know." Unlike the previously cool reception she now seemed almost eager to help, most likely due to the fact that Clint had made it seem like she would help bringing the murderer of an old colleague to justice.

"Well, for one if you could tell us what exactly he did here? We have been following his life as best we could but there are some empty spots and he did so many different things that it is hard to get a concrete picture." Clint asked politely as he graced the woman with another smile. "I know you probably expected something more orderly but… things have been difficult." He scratched his cheek in embarrassment, and if Natasha had not known him she would have been completely fooled by the awkward mask he put on.

"I can tell you some things." Dr. Reiche agreed easily enough even as she nodded towards the guard from earlier. "However if you wish to know specifics about his training and combat experience you should ask Mr. Aamer. He will be able to give you a far more accurate testimony than I could regarding such things."

"That is fine, the two of you have thankfully agreed to speak with us." Clint assured her with an understanding nod. "Now then, if you could tell us what you know of him, from the beginning preferably."

The older woman leaned back in her weathered chair and sighed. "I think it was… almost four years ago by now. The war was at its height, we didn't have enough supplies or personal for anything. So when he Raiga Kojiro came, with nothing but the clothes on his back, his ID and passport and offered to help we saw no reason not to accept." She smiled wistfully. "He wasn't a doctor, but according to him he studied a bit medicine in London once and had experience as a first responder."

Natasha silently nodded at that even as Clint gently motioned for her to continue. Emiya had, according to their knowledge, never studied medicine or had even been enrolled at the university of any kind. What exactly he did in his one year in London was unclear, though given the apparent medical training it could very well be that he received some training in that regard during his stay in the metropolis. Of course, depending on how much information they found or didn't find this might be a question to press Tohsaka on. It was entirely possible that the black haired woman didn't know herself, but Natasha couldn't shake the feeling that Rin Tohsaka knew more than it first appeared to be the case. She focused her attention back onto the doctor as she began speaking once more.

"We of course started out carefully, not everyone willing to help is actually capable of doing so after all… but he proved his worth. Performing triage when a new wave of wounded refugees arrived, monitoring the patients, keeping them stable until help could get to them. Honestly speaking, coupled with his apparent combat expertise we suspected him to be some kind of ex-soldier or mercenary but… he never gave us any reason to complain." Dr. Reiche admitted with a wry shrug. "There were some times I'll freely admit that I have no idea what we would have done without his help, and I don't mean in combat. You have to ask Mr. Aaman for that as I said. However, whatever he did before he came here he must have had some experience with psychological traumas before. He… became something of a camp counselor if you will. He just… listened to people and then tried to help them however he could. He helped more than his fair share of young women to work through their trauma after they had been raped, and more than one young man as well. Of course he also took care of other forms of mental trauma."

Both Clint and Natasha blinked at that, to them Emiya had been an impeccable foe, highly efficient, unpredictable and utterly lethal. It was one thing to hear the reassurances of his former guardian and his friends that he was a decent person. It was something else entirely to hear those things from someone who hadn't even known his real name. To hear that Emiya wasn't the cold blooded killer they had believed him to be, to hear proof of that claim, was… surprising to put it mildly. If he had just wanted to disappear he could have simply become a face in the crowd, if he simply wanted to recruit people for his cause the training of a militia would have made sense. Medical knowledge, could have been simply applied to buy himself goodwill. Attempting to deal with the psychological problems of his patients, especially when no one would have so much as batted an eye if he didn't make the extra effort was something else. It went beyond any practical reasons for whatever he might have conducted, furthermore while it was easy to treat physical problems the matters of the mind requires a more gentle approach and a greater amount of care in most cases at least. Something which neither of them had thought Emiya capable of as long as it didn't play into his goal, whatever that was.

Now though it appeared as if the residents of Fuyuki City had been correct, at least to a certain degree, that much Natasha was willing to concede. Emiya had apparently truly tried to help people in his own misguided fashion it seemed. Unaware of their thoughts the doctor continued on. "Outside of his duties he tended to keep to himself, he was certainly polite when you talked to him but… he was something of a workaholic if you will. If he had the choice between resting after a twelve hour shift or playing with some kids just to put a smile on their face he would choose the latter whenever possible. I admit sometimes I almost got the feeling that he couldn't be happy unless he made someone else happy but… I'd like to think that it was not that extreme. He stayed here for a few months, training Mr. Aaman and his cohorts during his stay."

"And why did he train you? What did he teach you?" Natasha threw in her own questions decidedly more pointed than Clints had been. If Aaman was bothered by her tone than he didn't allow it to show on his face or in his body language.

"I'll answer the second question first." He muttered as he made his way over to the side so that he now stood beside them rather than behind. "The very first thing Raiga taught us was discipline and how to work together. 'If one of you loses the team loses', he used to say back then. If one of us fucked up the whole team got punished, made for a pretty good incentive to help one another if you ask me. After that he forced us into shape, if we weren't by then, and taught us trigger discipline. Pretty sure I'll never be able to look at a gun without hearing him berating me, so I guess he did alright by that. Afterwards came what to do, and what not to do in combat, team work, the whole nine yards. According to him it was pretty standard boot camp stuff, can't say if that's true or not but it certainly worked."

"And why? Just to make sure this camp had a few guards?" Natasha pressed on narrowing her eyes slightly at the man before her.

"We didn't just stand guard you know?" He shot back, this time with some heat in his voice. "When the war was in full swing we sometimes moved out to intercept the refugees and bring them back with us. Traveling back then was more than a little dangerous, so we got into our fair share of fights… and after he left, we kept on going till things settled down."

"Do you know why he left?" Clint cut in, genuinely curious by the looks of it as he leaned forward. "I mean from what I've heard he had not too bad a life here so…" The doctor and her guard shared a quick glance before they focused their gaze on the two agents once more.

"We… are not sure." Dr. Reiche said slowly as she leaned forwards herself. "However, before he left there were… some unsettling reports."

"Unsettling reports?" Clint pressed as he frowned at them. "Could you… elaborate?"

"I can try." The woman sighed as she shook her head. "Shortly before he left there were reports of… remote villages and communities disappearing if you will. One day they were there, the next gone. At times people would manage to get a glimpse at them from afar, ghost towns. No damage visible from the distance but… deserted. More often than not these buildings were shortly after found to be razed to the ground, often evidence of fire could also be found. Like someone trying to hide their tracks I'd guess, though I honestly don't know."

"And that's when he left?" Natasha pressed on, her mind whirling with possibilities. Had Emiya known what caused this destruction or had it simply triggered his apparent desire to be the hero, to try and save everyone as Tohsaka had put it.

"No, he was deeply unsettled by it and tried to get more information but he didn't leave then." Aaman murmured from the side, his own face pulled into a frown.

"Eventually we received new reports." Dr. Reiche continued on after a small pause. "About, well livestock and wild animals being attacked, drained of blood and left to rot in the sun. It was after he had heard that, that Raiga Kojiro packed his meager possessions and left in the dead of night."

End Notes:

Nomad-117: Now then as for my apologies regarding this chapter. First regarding the delay. I fear that my real life currently and in the near future as well, requires me to read large quantities of text as well as write a lot. After such a day I hope you can forgive me if I wish to spend my free time differently than writing yet more. In addition to that I had a few problems with my muse, not entirely fixed to be honest. I had originally intended for an action sequence to be in this chapter. However after rewrite number x I decided it might be better to leave that for next chapter rather than force it into this one. That said I can unfortunately not tell you when the next chapter is coming. If possible I would very much like to get it done soon, but need often collides with desire. On the other hand, I might be able to get my hands on Fate/Stay Night the visual novel to increase my knowledge and understanding of the series. Though of course it being a novel I cannot guarantee that I will read through it swiftly, not with my current activities at least. I belief that concludes this for the most part. I apologize for the indubitably many mistakes left over in this chapter. Hopefully these errors do not take away too much of the enjoyment you have hopefully felt while reading this.

That said, if you enjoy this story allow me to recommend a few others that you are most likely already aware of but just to make certain.

First: Man off the Moon by FiendLurcher a Fate/Extra/Mass Effect crossover

Second: My Ideal Academia by Saraak a Fate/Stay Night/My Hero Academia crossover

Third: Swords and Sorcery by Susanoh13 a Fate/Stay Night/Harry Potter crossover. Currently two stories and thus in the second year of Harry Potter.

All of these recommendations are infinitely superior to my own work so if you are unfamiliar with them, I cannot recommend them enough. Now for last, one final recommendation though unrelated to Fate.

Journey to the East by kedrann a Rosario+Vampire/Harry Potter crossover. Exemplary world building as the author continues to mesh the two worlds together. Well worth the read and once again far superior to my own works. Until next time then.

PS: I suppose all of you can guess who or rather what Clint and Natasha will eventually encounter from the Moonlit World