by N X Hunter
"This is just what he wants, though. He doesn't know that Rayna already got approval to defer her retirement, so he thinks that having taken Jacinta and Courtney out, soon it'll be a team of all new girls. Maybe he was even trying to get rid of Kitsuna with whatever he pulled down there, because he was disappointed that Jacinta's replacement wasn't a bewildered kid as well. He thinks with a team of frightened teens and no experienced fighters, me, James, and whoever else he knows about that supports the team will be under too much pressure and make mistakes or something, something that will lead to our exposure. Maybe he's got other things in mind to destabilize us, too. But it won't happen that way. Whatever happens with Courtney, Rayna will keep fighting, and you'll be strong in no time, Kitsuna. You're already doing so well," Soren said, his voice sincere.
"I like what you're saying, Soren, but it's not so simple, is it, Rayna? Not with the way those things target me. We were lucky last time that the set-up of the domain made it possible for me to fight them on my own and for Rayna to find the core, but in a bigger domain where it would take longer for her to do that, I'd probably get overwhelmed badly like I did the first time. It would only take something stopping Rayna from finding the core, and I'd probably not make it out of there sane. My weapon is great, but it's not versatile at all, and firing off single bullets into massive crowds of creatures will never be enough, no matter how strong I get. My gun needs to be used in conjunction with other weapons - with other fighters - to be useful in all but a few situations."
She was trying to explain it as calmly and rationally as she could, but in truth it was terrifying her. The last fight had gone well, but it had been so clearly down to the luck of the draw in terms of the monsters and environment. So clearly in fact, that it just highlighted how many disadvantages they would have in so many other domains.
"Maybe it'll evolve into a machine gun or something, but yeah, she's right. Two girls is never really enough - you know how tough me and Courts had it the night Kitsuna blacked out - but now there's this weirdness going on where Kitsuna seems to aggro the monsters, and also the limitations of her weapon against multiple adversaries to think about... I don't like to say it but it would only be a matter of time before we got in a fight we couldn't win. A new girl might fix that, eventually, but at first..."
And if Rayna's admitting we can't win every fight this way, then it's definitely not just me being a coward.
"Speaking of the weirdness, I actually checked up on that to see if any other teams had reported similar phenomena in their own storm domains. Nobody has," James said.
"Anybody reported any other kind of weirdness?" Soren asked.
"No, actually, it's been pretty quiet on the intranet. Strange, given we've been having a lot of storms lately. Usually when we get a few close together like that, so do other regions, and people will be bitching about it, but it seems like it's just us," he said, his tone foreboding.
"Do you think that's connected? Do you think they're attacking us more frequently because of something to do with the Kitsuna weirdness too?" Rayna asked.
Kitsuna wasn't sure she liked the sound of this. Why would she be the cause of weirdness of even one variety, let alone more? What had she in particular done to piss off the Big Emptiness?
"We can't rule it out, though we've had a bunch of storms close together before, so it could just be coincidence. If it isn't, then..."
"Then the next storm will be soon," Soren finished.
Chapter 22
Mel wasn't on duty anymore when they made their second trip down to the prison the following morning. None of them had slept, but they hadn't had a productive night either, with most of it spent going over various versions of why they were completely screwed if they couldn't free Courtney. There was no other plan that was satisfactory, and yet, there was no real plan to achieve Courtney's freedom either. As the hunky blond man who was now overseeing the prison lead them to the same visiting room as before, all they could do was hope that the Courtney who was waiting inside would be able to give them something to work with.
Once again, Kitsuna was the last to enter the visiting room. Once again, she was the only one who hadn't met the person they were here to see before, and was feeling somewhat awkward that this was how she was to be introduced to the girl who was supposed to be her comrade. It should have been a funny scene in a strip club, with Rayna winding up her brother, not this.
Courtney didn't look like a sex symbol or a magical warrior right now, her loose, shapeless indigo prison jumpsuit making it impossible to tell what kind of figure she had, and her pretty face and dark eyes clearly showing signs that she'd been crying. She had dark skin, making Kitsuna think of middle eastern or perhaps south Asian people she had seen in pictures from the past. Her hair was long and black, with a thick slice of a bright greenish-yellow color in the front.
Jet chartreuse. So she's like Rayna, dying her hair to match her mahou shoujo persona. I bet it looks really cool when she's her usual self.
"Hey guys," Courtney said, her voice depressed in tone and croaky in quality.
Kitsuna was expecting James to say something to open up the interview, being their professor and all, but before he had a chance, Rayna plonked herself in a chair directly opposite Courtney.
"Courts, man. What the fuck? Why did you come and see that asshole in the first place?"
Kitsuna glanced sideways at Soren, and he met her eyes with a look that said 'don't worry, Rayna's got this'. Kitsuna wasn't convinced, it sounded like she was just going to make poor Courtney feel worse. To her surprise, though, Courtney just laughed. A bitter, regretful laugh, and one aimed firmly at herself, but a laugh nonetheless.
"I know, right? I am such a tool."
"Everyone knows that, bitch, even Kitsuna knows that and she hasn't even seen you drunk, yet. That isn't even up for discussion. But even a tool like you would have to have a reason in their stupid brain to come and see that asshole in this... hole. So what was it?"
"Someone came to see me. At the club. This woman. Said she'd tracked me down at last, whatever that meant - it's not like I'm a hard person to find, they advertise my naked ass all over the web round here. She claimed to be Parker's sister, Charity Klein. I don't know if she really was, he'd never mentioned a sister before, and she was giving off definite 'I ask too many questions and pry into shit' vibes so I'm now thinking she was more likely one of his old journo friends, but anyway, she was looking for him. I toed the line, said I had no idea where he went, and that he'd probably moved away after we... broke up on bad terms."
"What, and she asked you to give him a message or something? Seriously Courtney, you should have come to me straight away if someone was doing that, not just acted on your own and --" James began.
"It was nothing like that. I don't think she believed me that I didn't know anything, but she left without saying any more, or asking me to do anything."
"So why did you visit Klein?" he pushed.
"Seeing her, it just really made me think, you know. I hated what he did, and I hated him, but a punishment can outweigh a crime, can't it? It just seemed harsh that, well, what if she really was his sister, or, she wasn't, but someone out there was, or his mom, or his, I don't know, weird uncle Jeff or something? It's not their fault, any of what he did, but they'll probably be spending the rest of their lives wondering what happened to him, and he'll be in a place where the only people who know he's alive all hate him... It just sorta hit me that the situation is... gross. And so for whatever fucking reason, I thought I'd be doing a good thing if I visited him just once, and at least let him know that some people out there did remember him and care about him, even if I'm not forgiving enough to be one of them. This is how it ended up, so I guess, life lesson, don't try and treat sociopaths like humans."
Kitsuna's throat tightened a little in sympathy. This had been one of her theories, too. Courtney was just trying to be a good person.
"So, there was no reason at all, really? Just a whim
because you felt bad for him? But, you hate him so much! I just, I can't see why you'd feel that way," Rayna said.
It hadn't occurred to Kitsuna, who was ready to believe Courtney was just nice, and so she was surprised when James was just as skeptical as Rayna.
"Yes, it does seem unlikely. What did it feel like, this urge to come and visit him?" he asked.
Why do they find it so hard to believe she just felt bad about things? Is she not normally like that, or are they just both really cynical?
Courtney looked as surprised by their reactions as Kitsuna felt, her mouth open as if she was about to say something, but a thought had struck her first.
"Oh my god, you're right," she said, gravely.
Right in what way?
"I... I just couldn't stop thinking about it. Not for a second. I was completely convinced that I absolutely had to come and see him and it was the right thing to do. No doubt in my mind, no reservations, didn't even think of telling you guys. I was sure I was right. Just like I was somehow sure I was right and everything would be fine when I refused to leave yesterday... Fucking Charity Klein, or whoever she was, she can do the same thing Parker can to people's minds. God, it's so obvious now!"
"Kitsuna, is that how you felt, when you went all weird on us yesterday?" Rayna asked, swiveling around to look at Kitsuna.
"Yeah. It was sort of like that, only I could also kind of feel myself questioning it, like one part of me was sure that I agreed with Klein, but the other part was like, why am I arguing?"
"Wait, he did it to you too?" Courtney asked, looking at Kitsuna properly for the first time.
"Ha! Yeah, she snapped out of it though, I was gonna slap her but James kissed her, it was hilarious!" Rayna said, laughing at the memory even though nobody else was.
"Yes, that's why we knew that something like that was definitely behind your actions yesterday," James said, ignoring the red haired girl.
"Ah, OK, I thought the fact you didn't ask me about that first was just because you trusted me," she said with a wry smile.
"Of course we trust you, Courts, we already suspected something like that, but we saw it first hand. I don't suppose you have any idea of how he did it, or if he ever did it to you before... or Jacinta?" Soren asked, looking uneasy as he said the name of she who must not be named.
"Honestly, I've been questioning everything ever since I snapped out of that trance or whatever and realized what I'd done. I kinda lost it, so they tranqued me, but when I was lucid, all I could think was, how often was I under his control? Did I ever really love him, even? Did he use that thing on me all the time? And yeah, of course I thought about... her. Of course I thought about how, maybe she didn't really mean to betray me, maybe she is even a worse victim in all that than I was... I mean, what if he got her pregnant as part of his plan, and she didn't want to... it's too horrible to think about really. But even knowing that, thinking that she might not have been in control of any of it, I just... I still feel like I hate her," Courtney said, tears welling up in her already reddened eyes.
"It is really confusing. Don't feel bad though, it's probably normal not to be able to sort out your own feelings in this situation. Maybe once we get you out of here it'd be a good idea to... you know, therapy and stuff," Soren said, since nobody else seemed to want to say anything.
"Do you think there's any chance of that? Of getting me out of here?"
"We were told not to get our hopes up, I have to be honest," James replied, "but if we can find any kind of evidence that you were under mind control, then we may be able to convince them. I don't think anybody wants you to be locked up, Courtney, you know how Calibre feels about its home team, and I think anyone who's aware of Klein and his case knows he's... of dubious character. But they have to play it safe when it comes to the secrecy rules, and even safer when it comes to mahou shoujo failing to perform their duties. I have a feeling that in a trial, they'll be more than willing to hear us out, but if we go there with nothing, there'll be no way they can release you. So that means, I think, that we need to know everything you know about this supposed Charity Klein person. She's the only lead we've got."
Chapter 23
"So, there is a person named Charity Klein, and she is Parker's sister, but I'm pretty certain she's not the woman who went to see Courtney at the club," Soren said, tapping away at his laptop.
They were back in James' office, and while James was on the phone to the club, trying to get them to send him the video footage of the evening 'Charity' had shown up, Rayna, Kitsuna and Soren were trying some basic detective work online. Kitsuna hadn't yet seen the intranet that Calibre Academy had, which it seemed, had a lot of information that wasn't available on the wider web. Information probably scraped from government systems, though she wondered how, and whether hacking and obtaining access to stuff they weren't supposed to have was one of the main roles of all the people who worked here. Soren was certainly tech savvy, but was this part of what they studied and researched at Calibre?
"Yeah, that ain't her. Courts said she was about 6ft tall, this woman's measly," said Rayna, who was proud of her height and often referred to people like the diminutive Charity Klein, who the web said was 5ft 2, as 'measly' or 'puny'.
Kitsuna was just glad that, at 5ft 8, it was one less area for Rayna to find her lacking.
"She also lives in Barbados, where she works as a marine biologist. She's published a load of scientific papers about coral and shit, I don't think she'd have time to be involved in Parker's exploits," Soren added, "plus she's married to another scientist, she really doesn't seem like someone who would be ghosting around doing weird investigations."
"Your insightful profiling aside, man, none of that matters. A woman can't grow ten inches, so it ain't her."
"I was thinking that we can't rule out the possibility that she's a mahou shoujo and she transformed before she saw Courtney, and her transformed form is taller... but actually nah, there's way too many things wrong with that idea, and it wouldn't make sense anyway - we'd know all about Parker if he was the brother of one of us," Soren said, giving up on trying to defend the fact that he just kind of enjoyed researching people and trying to figure them out.
James pocketed his phone and came over to the corner of his office where the other three were sitting around Soren.
"OK, so I lied to the terrifying sounding woman who runs the strip club and said that Courtney had reported being harassed at work by someone at the university, and that as her professor I'm doing a formal investigation about it. I've persuaded them to find and send me any video they have of Courtney and our target. It also meant I was able to say Courtney wasn't in a good mental state at the moment and wouldn't be coming in to work for the time being. She might not be happy that I've fabricated some kind of bullying scenario, but it's probably better than saying she's in jail and me pretending to be a cop, or any of the other stuff I could come up with this fast..."
"Until we have a picture of this woman it's going to be hard to do much more to try and identify her, but I'll start probing into people Parker might have worked with in his journalistic career. Might be able to put together a shortlist of women around the right age - and height, Rayna - so when we can get a look at her it'll be easier to know where to start," Soren said, to which everyone nodded.
"Is there anything me and Rayna can do?" Kitsuna asked, feeling as though the men were going to carry on with the online part of the investigation without them.
"We should probably talk about our strategy for the next storm. There's a very good chance we'll have to do it without Courtney, whether we find Fake Charity Klein or not, and I don't know about you but I am pretty fuckin' worried about that..."
Kitsuna frowned. She was worried too, but what was there that they could discuss, without having any idea what type of domain it would be?
"I guess maybe if you tell me about all the different types of domains you have seen, and we try and work out how those would be if everything was targetin
g me, and we just had the two of us and my gun, maybe we could at least come up with plans for some types of scenario..."
James surprised them both, however, by advising against it.
"There might be some value to that, or it may just make you even more afraid. I think what you should both do is go to the nurse's office and try and sleep for a bit. Until we get the footage back from the club, we'll just be doing research on Parker Klein's associates, and there's no real advantage to all of us being here for that. Go and sleep - we''ll come and get you when we have the security images. And don't worry about the storm, we can... talk about that later."
Kitsuna supposed that he had decided, in his role of taking care of the girls, that they needed rest more than they needed to be planning an event they knew so little about. Yet, it still seemed a bit odd that he'd almost written off her plan of discussing different domains as a waste of time. She'd seen him as someone who valued preparedness. Nevertheless, as she saw Rayna stretch and yawn theatrically, as if in gratitude for the suggestion that they should sleep, she realized just how tired she was, too.
***
It was several hours later when Kitsuna felt James gently rock her shoulder, and opened her bleary eyes to see Soren doing the same to Rayna on the other bed. They'd turned the digital windows back on, after Rayna had switched them off so they could sleep, and the room was filled with the glow of a tropical sunrise. The real time, she saw by looking at the digital time display next to the bed, was just before 7pm.
"Did you get the footage?" she asked, as James passed her a glass of water, and sat on the bed beside her.
He exhaled slowly.
"Yes, yes we did. And I'm sorry to wake you up with disappointing news, but, well, we can't use it to identify the woman who visited Courtney at all."
