by N X Hunter
Kitsuna nodded, unsure what to think.
***
"Yeah, we're just about to land, where shall we meet you?" Rayna asked James, who'd just called her.
"No luck getting in to see her so I've gone up to my office, it's as good a place as any for us to figure out what to do," came his disembodied voice through the speaker.
It was beginning to get dark outside now. As they made their way across the west wing's roof from the landing spot to the elevator down, Kitsuna wondered if Soren had managed to find a way to keep Lee from suspecting anything strange was going on. She'd have to trust him on that. She and Rayna had enough to worry about. If Courtney was in jail, what would that mean for their team? Would they have to fight alone until a replacement transformed? Train up a new girl, possibly a kid, while Kitsuna was still clueless herself? And what did Courtney actually do to get arrested? Was it something that was going to cause wider reaching issues?
"You'll have to lead the way, I've never been to James's office before."
"Oh right! That's so weird, given you have been in his bed, am I right!"
"Only to sleep! So far..." she admitted, with a little smile. She was really glad she was starting to be able to joke around a bit with Rayna, especially given it seemed to be her team mate’s preferred way of dealing with tense situations.
Kitsuna could already see James at his desk through the glass wall between the hallway and his office. He was staring at a monitor and rubbing his temples, looking tired. It still made her feel good to see him though - she couldn't wait to tell him about the small victories of her improved gun and her more powerful transformation, and the fact things were better with Lee (assuming that Soren managed to keep things under control with him now). She wanted to see him look at her approvingly, proud of her for doing things he'd recommended and making progress. She wanted time alone with him in a situation that wasn't some kind of crisis or emergency, in all honesty. She was beginning to get a sense that moving their relationship into being a physical one was becoming long overdue, and that this was only for want of a normal, appropriate moment. Maybe normal moments were a scarcity in the world of mahou shoujo.
Rayna pushed open the door and marched into the office, plonking herself down on one of the two leather office chairs across from his desk. Kitsuna followed, taking the other chair and giving James her best 'I'm OK' smile.
"So, what the fuck is the situation, man?" Rayna asked.
James exhaled wearily, as if the mere thought of talking about it was exhausting.
"So, to start from the beginning, because I doubt Kitsuna knows any of this given she hasn't spent any time with Courtney yet and we all decided not to talk about it behind her back - a decision I now seriously regret, by the way - Courtney's ex, who you may also remember as the guy who got Jacinta pregnant and broke up the whole team, is being held for life in the jail on site here at the Calibre Academy, having been found guilty of espionage."
Now it was Kitsuna's turn to let out a long stream of air, this time in a whistle of disbelief.
"Woah! So, he was someone from the outside trying to use Courtney and Jacinta for information about the mahou shoujo?" she asked, coming to that conclusion.
"Precisely that. First he won Courtney's trust, even getting engaged to her, thinking that with time, she would try and bring him in to the organization which - unbeknownst to her - he already knew about, and he would have access to all of the evidence he needed to expose us. When Courtney showed no signs of broaching the subject with him, we can only assume he got impatient, and began trying to use Jacinta instead. Whether Jacinta becoming pregnant and retiring was part of his plan we can only speculate about, but it did seem odd - mahou shoujo are usually very motivated to avoid unplanned pregnancies, as you can probably imagine."
That was true. If Kitsuna hadn't already gotten up to date on her birth control injections before going away to college, she'd definitely be making sure she was covered before she went anywhere near a man. Having a baby was a big enough decision as it was, but when it also meant introducing a child into this whole scenario, it was a gargantuan one.
"You think he manipulated her?"
"Oh, he definitely manipulated them both, in various ways, but we really can't say for sure whether Jacinta falling pregnant as a result of the affair was one of them."
"Why was he trying to expose the mahou shoujo world to the public? That would cause mass panic, wouldn't it? If people knew there were those creatures trying to invade, and girls, sometimes kids, forced into fighting them? It's hard enough to understand or justify it from the inside, so to anyone else... I mean, I just figured anyone trying to infiltrate us would be doing it to try and blackmail the organization or something, but you said his goal was exposing us?" Kitsuna said.
"He was a journalist, and true, he would have made a lot of money out of exposing something this big - though he would also have been risking his integrity in doing so, which as I understand it, was why he was in search of concrete proof. He was by no means the first person to find something out and try to expose it online, but our network has ways of suppressing that kind of thing and making the people involved look like insane conspiracy theorists, while also of course, quietly removing them from the general public... It is one of the roles of the support guys here. But he was different. I haven't spoken to him since we found out what he was doing and he was imprisoned, but from the records of his trial, which was held behind closed doors, naturally, it looked as though he was some kind of activist. He believes the people of the world have a right to know about the world of mahou shoujo and the threats that they are facing, and he saw himself as a hero, fighting for the truth."
"Well, he thought it was worth ruining Jacinta and Courtney's lives over, clearly," Rayna said, angrily.
Kitsuna wasn't sure how much of this Rayna already knew, or whether she'd spoken to this man much herself, but the way she was balling up her fists and leaning forward in her chair suggested she really wasn't a fan.
Kitsuna wasn't sure what she thought, though. She could see why the secrets needed to be kept. She could only imagine the hysteria and fear the people would feel if they knew about the existence of the creatures, and of course, their imaginations would run wild, given that even if the mahou shoujo were allowed to speak publicly, they wouldn't be able to truly explain or describe the denizens of the Big Emptiness. She could imagine the terror of the people every time there was a storm, if they knew what it meant. Everything would change for all of the world. Militaries would wonder if they could stop these things instead, or resent little girls being sent in with special powers and weapons that they didn't have knowledge of. Maybe mahou shoujo would even be seen as a threat Would they have to report to world leaders, and make statements after every battle? Would they become famous, with all the weird shit that goes with that? It would introduce so many problems, and at a global level that would be impossible for anyone to keep control of.
But yet, hadn't she too felt, when she was told about this all for the first time, that there was a horrible injustice to this organization deciding what she could know, and when? Making her own mother lie to her for her whole childhood? If the public were happier and the world more peaceful in ignorance, was it still really fair to deny them any right to choose that? Wasn't it just the same as the rule about not telling mahou shoujo what they were until they began to transform? Soren had said that many of the mahou shoujo he knew had wished they'd known earlier, so they'd been prepared for it, and so the happy, carefree childhood perhaps wasn't worth the cost. Really, she didn't want to have the weight of such decisions herself, and was just trying to accept things as they were now. And yet, she could remember her rage at first. She could completely see why somebody else, somebody like a journalist who had the resources to break the story, might passionately believe that they were doing the right thing.
But he was still an asshole for using Courtney and Jacinta, that much she was happy to accept.
&nbs
p; "OK, so, we could probably talk about what his motives might have been all night but it doesn't get us anywhere. What we need to know is, how did Courtney suddenly get wrapped up in all of this? What has she been arrested for? Do they think she was willingly helping him?" Rayna asked, breaking the thoughtful silence in which it seemed, both Kitsuna and James were thinking about the more philosophical implications, rather than the matter that was truly at hand.
"Unfortunately, it isn't something that simple. They haven't let me in to see Courtney yet - though they said they would tomorrow. They said that she wasn't in 'an appropriate state' for a visit or legal counsel at this time, which I guess probably means she's sedated or something. But they did tell me the circumstances of her arrest, and I am allowed to pass that information on to you as her team, and to Soren as your key support guy, but nobody else," he said, a serious, confidential look darkening his handsome face.
"Well, I don't even know anyone else that I wouldn't be breaking every other rule by talking to, so you can trust me," Kitsuna said.
"And you know you can trust me, come on, what happened?"
"Sorry, I just had to be sure you understood that, because it could well be that you two - and me and Soren - will have more eyes on us than usual while this matter is ongoing. OK, so, earlier this afternoon, Courtney came to the Academy to have a planned, approved prison visit with her ex."
"What? Why would she do that? Why didn't I know?" Rayna exclaimed, visibly startled.
"I don't know. Prisoners at his security level are allowed visitors, and she has the right to keep it a secret if she wants to visit someone in jail. It could have been for any number of reasons - perhaps she wanted some kind of closure, perhaps she felt sorry for him, perhaps she wanted to gloat about how he's going to spend the rest of his life in a cell underneath the college - your guess is as good as mine, and we'll have to find out the answer from her. But anyway, the protocol for mahou shoujo visiting the jail is effectively the same as when they visit the insulated lab room. It is known that they are in an insulated location, and if a storm comes, the people working there have to notify the girl that she needs to leave so she can enter the storm domain. It seems that when the storm came on this occasion, despite the efforts of the security staff, Courtney refused to leave the prison premises."
"What? What does that even mean? They have a bunch of strong guys down there, couldn't they have just carried her out the door?" Rayna said.
"Well, it seems there are no rules against that, but instead they chose to tell her in no uncertain terms that if she didn't get out there, she would be detained in the prison. For whatever reason, she accepted that outcome."
"Fuck..." Kitsuna said, trying to imagine the scene, though it was hard because she had no real sense of what the prison, which she'd only found out was right under the Academy today, was like. She wondered if it was like a regular prison, or something more sinister and... well, magical.
"I can't believe it - why would she go to jail for that asshole? What the fuck did he say to her? Were they planning something behind my back this whole time? Man, we have to get in there and talk to the both of them."
"You're right, maybe it would pay off to talk to him as well as Courtney..." James said. Apparently Rayna had suggested something he hadn't thought of.
"Well, if they won't let us see Courtney til the morning cos they had to tranq her or something, maybe they will still let us see this guy - what's his name, by the way? Seems like nobody likes to mention him by name..." Kitsuna said.
"Parker fuckin’ Klein," Rayna said in a disgusted tone.
James said nothing.
"So, I will give them a call and see if we can get in to see him tonight. The prison is a 24 hour facility so the time shouldn't matter, but there could be many reasons why they'd refuse us. I can try saying that we are preparing a case for Courtney's freedom as her team and the professor responsible for them, although, then we would actually be tied in to representing her, whatever we find out..."
"Oh, come on, it's Courtney, she isn't some weird activist type - there's no way she is really responsible for anything. We've known her for years and there's never been any hint of her having those kinds of views or refusing to go into a fight before. Even when she was a rookie she was actually happy about it, since she wanted to work with Jacinta. And she was one of the few people who knew about the mahou shoujo before actually becoming one - she had an opportunity to betray us back then, and she didn't."
"But we don't know what has gone on with her and Klein, it is possible he's turned her. I just don't want you girls committing to defending someone who could well be guilty, without understanding the implications."
"I don't know Courtney, but as I see it our team is in a very bad shape if we lose her permanently. We did OK this evening but there are strange things going on with the monsters - we haven't had a chance to talk to you about it yet but tonight, they still swarmed me and ignored Rayna, even though my transformation was a lot stronger," she smiled gratefully at him as she said the last part, "we have a lot of stuff to work out, and being down a team member is... less than ideal for that. And if Courtney is to remain in jail then won't that count as retirement? So won't another girl transform, and join us? Rayna's got it tough enough training me when I seem to be plagued by weird quirks like my metal type and my gun and the odd way the monsters seem to be drawn to me, and I'm also weak as shit, so.... we really have to do all we can to get her out."
"Yeah, the newbie is right. And like I said, Courts just wouldn't be involved in something like this of her own free will. Something is up with Klein, I mean, how did he even manage to get both Courtney and Jacinta in the first place, he ain't even that good looking. He's got to have some weird way of getting people to do what he wants, it's the only explanation," Rayna said, as if it was a simple fact that there could be no other way a guy could sleep with one, let alone two mahou shoujo unless he looked like a movie star.
Though, Kitsuna realized, that wasn't as shallow as it sounded. Mahou shoujo could essentially have their pick of guys from within the Academy and the wider network, and most of them were of the mahou shoujo bloodlines with their added sex appeal. Many girls probably also thought like Rayna - that there was little point dating someone that didn't understand their world. So, for two mahou shoujo to get involved with the same outsider guy, well, she'd have expected him to be something special. If it wasn't his good looks, what was it? But of course, Rayna's opinion on him was all she had to go on, and she wasn't exactly unbiased. Maybe he was actually gorgeous and Rayna just couldn't see it because she hated the guy, or maybe Rayna just had very different taste to the other two.
She had to make up her own mind, and that too meant that she had another reason to agree to whatever it took for them to be able to interview him.
"I pretty much agree, Rayna, I also suspect he has some power over Courtney, but something like that could be hard to prove. I'm with you both though, if you're comfortable with it, I'll tell the Academy prison administrators that we need to talk to him because we'll be representing Courtney at whatever trial she needs to have.," James said.
"Don't you have, like, proper lawyers, though? Versed in whatever justice system and rules you people... Uh, I mean, we people... have?"
"There are people who specialize in that, and I will take advice from a professor I know here with better knowledge of the law than me, but because our most important rules are enforced by old magic we don't really understand, the justice system is a bit... bare bones. A lot of the time it's heavy handed, when it comes to the keeping of the secrets. Life imprisonment is seen as a humane way to eliminate the risk to our society - they don't get a bad life down there - so it's used perhaps a little too readily to deal with problems. The justice system such as it is deals more with cases where someone may be sentenced to an execution."
"An execution? But, that won't happen to Courtney, right?" Kitsuna said, horrified that the stakes might be higher than she had prev
iously thought.
"Oh god no, we're nowhere close to that sort of territory, crimes involving espionage and betrayal of the organization are dealt with using incarceration. Execution would just come into the realms of possibility where violent crimes were involved. I think you can imagine the kind of thing."
Kitsuna could imagine the kind of thing. She supposed it made sense. If a mahou shoujo decided to do something highly criminal, against the public, not just the organization, there would be no way the normal legal system could be allowed to deal with her - having a woman in a normal jail who disappeared for a moment whenever there was a storm would soon be noticed, and the organization would struggle to keep tabs on her and know what she was telling other inmates. Perhaps execution was just in their system as a very strong deterrent to stop mahou shoujo going 'bad'.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to freak you out, by mentioning executions - it is something that hardly ever happens. I was just trying to explain the legal system a little bit, and why it may not be easy to get them to free Courtney just by trying to pull some lawyer type stuff."
Kitsuna said nothing.
"OK, well if we're in agreement, what are you waiting for, call them and get us in there! In the meantime, I'm gonna call my brother - hopefully he's kept Lee from suspecting anything is up, but maybe if he can come here too it'll help. How long was Lee planning on staying originally?" Rayna asked.
"I hadn't really said, particularly, I was gonna let him stay the night if he wanted to but there was no real plan. I kinda wanted to see how things went first..."
"Good, so maybe he'll decide that since you're not home he could just go back, then Soren can come help us. But it's super important that he doesn't start to think anything odd is going on - as you can pretty much see here, that kinda shit causes big trouble... so if Soren has to stay with him to make sure that doesn't happen, we'll have to make do without him."
