Chapter Seventeen: Hero Time Part #1

William POV:

"Damn it William let go of my arm already what's gotten into you all of the sudden," Shirou exclaimed pulling his arm out of my grip while Saber closed the door.

"Sorry but not sorry because Saber and I might have possibly found another master one that is attending our school," I explained taking a seat from the nearby desk. Shirou goes silent his eyes harden "who is it?" he asks I glanced outside near the window seeing the distant figure of Kuzuki-sensei walking off campus.

"...we suspect that Kuzuki-sensei might be a master in this holy grail war," I reply Shirou frowns turning to Saber "did you sense any mana from him Saber?" he asked as Saber nodded "I will admit that man did not smell of malice or of blood but even so I could faintly pick up a thin trail of mana when I was near him," she explained.

I clicked my tongue "no he's not a mage I am sure of it...if anything he's more like a trained assassin it's possible that the leftover presence of his servant is just lingering off of him not to mention the recent 'gasleak' incidents we can only assume that since he's not a mage then his servant is most likely feeding off other people," I said with a slight tint of anger.

Shirou sighs rubbing his hair "still..to think Kuzuki-sensei would be a part of this how bizarre I mean I know the man is a bit weird, but never once did I think that he might be a mage much less an assassin of all things," he said.

"I believe that we best observe for now before attempting anything just in case," Saber said before stretching her lips into a small smile "but enough talk we should continue touring the school for more clues," she continued.

Shirou raises his hands in surprise "what you mean even after all that you still want to look around?!" he exclaimed.

Saber nods her head "yes it's best to check further for any possible threats," she declared in a firm tone that left no tone for arguments with a stifled sigh Shirou agreed I put little fight to it because as the saying goes it's better to be safe than sorry.

-timeskip late that day-

"After a thorough amount of investigation, I can finally say that the school is all clear," Saber declared with a brief smile for a moment before it went away.

I nod tossing the cig that I had been smoking without much regard of the sign nearby that said no smoking allowed "alright now we just need to wait for everyone else to finish up then we can get back home," I said looking down at my phone reading the scout report from Raiga-jiji apparently someone's been trafficking children for the past couple of months reports from his spy say that the traffickers are going to set up here in Fuyuki .

My hand clenches around the phone with suppressed anger Saber seems to have noticed this as she asks, "is something the matter?" I shake my head placing my phone back in my coat pocket "it's nothing Saber," I quickly reply Saber looked like she wanted to say something but held back "if you say so then William...but if something is bothering you, you can tell me if you wish," she finally said I nodded absentmindedly.

Time soon passed and now we were walking down the street Fuji-nee and Sakura kept glancing back behind to where both Saber and I were walking both of us maintaining our distance from each other but still keeping up with the group ahead of us.

The two along with Shirou conversed I couldn't make out what they were saying but from the way Taiga is gazing back at us with suspiciousness I can only assume that she has mistakenly believed us to be a couple I thought taking a momentary glance at Saber before looking back straight ahead I don't have time to think about the strange unease I feel from my chest when I glance at her.

When we finally made it back home the five of sat down together ready to eat the dinner the Shirou had premade before we left the house.

I only ate one serving of food compared to my usual amount surprising everyone minus Saber who looked in wonder why everyone was staring at me weirdly "alright who are you and what have you done with William there is no way you would only eat one bowl of Shirou's food," Fuji-nee exclaimed.

A smirk made its way onto my face as I stood up "well unlike certain people who know only to eat like a slob I can actually refrain myself from doing so most of the time today just happens to be one of those day's...besides I actually have to do something important tonight so if you'll excuse me," I said with a small head bow to excuse myself from the room.

"Wait what do you mean you have something to do at this time of the night?! Young man if you think I will let you out at this time of the night then you are sorely mistaken-" Taiga was about to rant when I turned back at her with a restrained look of annoyance "good grief woman did you already forget I have a late-night shift at the bar today," I said making her pause until she smiles bashfully "whoops your right I totally forgot about that for a second there hehehe," she replied hiding her embarrassment behind a small chuckle.

I shake my head walking over to the door I slip my coat and turned to leave when I found Saber all up in my face looking at me with an emotionless gaze "just where do you think you're going at this time of the night William?" she asked in a whispering voice to make sure no one could hear us although I could see Shirou glancing at me with a small frown.

"I have work that needs to be done," I reply gently shoving her out of my way exiting the door I headed around towards the shed and entered my personal workshop.

I grabbed my utility belt placing both my contender and dual origin knives in their respective holsters along with a few stacks of smoke bombs, some explosives, plus the altered grapplehook that I used earlier against Berkserker.

My eyes drift to the prototype weapon that I had been making for up close kills a hidden blade attached to a bracer made out of the finest material I could get "time to see if this baby can work," I said out loud while slipping the hidden weapon beneath the coat sleeve of my right hand.

Finally, I went towards my desk grabbing a black metal like mask that I've been using since last year in order to properly conceal my identity instead of just wearing a black hood to cover my hair and eyes.

The mask could do many things such as recording and capturing images, x-ray vision, night vision, and had a gps function built into it. I would have liked to have more things installed into it but the technology for some of the things I want haven't been made yet, so I'll have to make do with what I have I thought slipping the mask onto my face.

Time to go kill some traffickers I thought locking the room out and was about to head out when I heard his voice call out "I thought we might would find you here seems like I was right," Shirou said looking at me with a steel gaze while Saber stood a few feet away from him.

I gave a sigh "you two shouldn't be here go back to the house I'll be back later," I said trying to walk past them, but Saber grabs my shoulder "William you shouldn't be going anywhere by yourself especially with the war going on what if someone attacks you and I am not there by your side to protect you," she said raising her voice slightly. 

"All this time you've been going out saving people just let the two of us come with you we can help!" Shirou said after Saber finished giving her piece. 

I turned to look at them searching their eyes only to pure utter determination seeing this I caved into their demands "alright you can come Saber, but Shirou I want to see if you've improved your tracing if I see that you have then you can come as well,"

Shirou nods taking a deep breath his hands glowed greenish blue showing the activation of his circuits "trace on!" he chanted as a pair of beautiful Chinese blades appeared in his hands, I couldn't help but raise a brow underneath my mask "those are Archer's swords if I am not mistaken," I remarked. 

"Yeah, just something about his swords that grabs my attention kind of hard to explain really," Shiro replied furrowing his eyebrows. 

I pulled out a normal dagger from the depths of my sleeve holding it in reverse grip "alright then lets see if the structure of your blade will hold or shatter!" with that said we charged swinging our blades I had expected his to shatter since I knew that he had trouble mastering the creation of the basic structure and framework.

But imagine my surprise when my dagger was the one to shatter when I looked back, I could see the smirk on his face "...how?" I breathed out with the smirk still on his face Shirou replied, "earlier today when we had our argument and I stormed off to work on this and after an intense session I finally managed to make the improvement that you just witnessed today," he explained.

Standing up from my rigid stance I nodded "I see...well then what are you just standing there for we need to get the two of you some disguises to hide your identities I have a backup pair of clothes that will help disguise your figures unfortunately I only made this mask for myself so you two are going to have to go with some of the old out dated domino masks that I used a while back," 

-cliffhanger- 

Alright so I am going to end the chapter here so as to catch a break for myself and save the last few amounts of writing breadcrumbs for the next chapter.

Kind of been feeling my motivation drop but I am going to keep posting just not as frequently so that I can maintain a fresh mind. 

I'll get to the romance eventually, but I can't just rush that otherwise it'll just end up looking bad. I've taken some dedicated notes from both the Deen adaptation and the visual novel in order to hopefully capture Saber's character a bit better than what I have written so far.