A little later than 24 hours, but I had previous engagements.
***
You make your choices, Blazing Maiden Heart and Millefeuille Arsenal. They fit you the best, you think.
While it was tempting to be so awesome it is a tangible force, and to eventually have a squad of adorable Youkai delinquents dressed like you, being able to get your DBZ on felt the most proper. You're not really a Card Captor, more of a Crime Captor. It also kinda feels like cheating again to get a magical boost to your presence.
The other option was simple; you weren't willing to abandon your trusty bat. Not now, not ever. It was your friend, and you never abandon a friend.
You hope your friends back in Springfield hold the same belief.
Any case, you look back to Alice and blink, dismissing the little blue notification in your eye. +This Magical Girl interface is kinda...+
Alice looks upon you with understanding. +Ah, so
that's what you meant. It's a shared interface with some other tech, helps streamline the process. Is it too intrusive?+
+Nah, although the way it jiggles is disrracting.+ You pause. +It wasn't the kind of magical I was expecting. Like, Nanoha is cool and all, but there's a reason the genre's heavy hitters still keep it fantastical, you know?+
Aaaaaand Alice is back to looking at you like a crazy person. +I'm afraid I don't, love.+
"Haaah?!" You blurt out. Your lip curls into a sukeban sneer on blind impulse. "What kinda mascot doesn't even know magical girl anime?"
Alice cringes, fear making her reply out loud. "I'm a new recruit from another department since the previous one went rogue please don't hurt me!"
Your anger turns to worry, then succor. You crouch down in a sukeban squat, careful to give other people space to pass you on the sidewalk. +Didn't mean to scare you. Run that by me again?+
Alice shivers, cowering in fear, before composing herself. +Right, right. Stiff upper lip.+ She gives you an embarrassed look before continuing. +I was tasked to track down a fellow...mascot, codename DAJI. They absconded with an experimental Magical Girl Raising Device and a Youma-creating artifact to do God knows what. I was to find suitable Magical Girl candidates and use them to bring DAJI to justice...but then
things happened and it's all gone a bit tits-up.+
You start smiling again, lips parting enough to show a satisfied predator's grin. This Magical Girl thing kept getting better and better.
+Well your tits aren't all the way up.+ You hook a thumb at yourself. +Suitable Magical Girl #1 right here, baby!+
Alice takes a few steps away from you, pacing in a circle. Her floppy ears raise in contemplation. After a few laps, she turns to face you. There's concern again, for her own safety this time. +About that...Don't take this the wrong way love, you're absolutely talented, but...+
You tilt your head. +But?+
+You're, to put it mildly, fucking mental.+ Alice's ears pin back, another fear response. +Yes, you have heroic instincts, but girls who act like you did are ticking time bombs for Inversion Impulses.+
You click your tongue. Even the mascots in your dream come true act like cops.
You can't help how you feel when the blood pounds in your ears, singing sweet songs of victory and violence. You do your damndest to satisfy yourself only on those who invite or incite violence. You use these urges to protect the weak, employ violence for those who cannot.
Your senpai taught you that much.
You frown and look Alice dead in her yellow button eyes. +Look, out there? That was me enjoying being a fuckin' hero. An ally of justice! Not just some bitch with a nailbat, a dream, and Super Hero Time brainrot!+
Alice wilts under you, for bristling. +I'm sorry love, you just...you just scare me. Between your actions and your initial wish.+ She steels herself, upper lip stiff, and puts a tentative forepaw on your thigh. +But you saved from something dreadful, and you're my first commissioned Maj ever. Having you Invert would be gutting.+
The corner of your mouth twitches between smile and frown, before you will your mouth into a neutral line. +Look. I get it. I'm scary as fuck. But I'm serious about this hero shit. I'm going to help someone I just met save her girlfriend, even though the sitch feels sketch af. I'd do it even if I wasn't a Maj. Helping's what I
do. It's who I
am. And I just wanna rip out my fuckin' heart sometimes, pull out my soul, so people can
see that.+
You're crying a little now, metaphorically baring your soul to this cabbit.
Alice hops on your thigh so she can pat you on the head. +There, there, love. Stiff upper lip.+ She looks dead in your puffy red eyes. Her fear is replaced by compassion. +You'll get your chance. You're a Magical Girl now. A bloody hero. If you promise not to lose yourself, I'll do everything in my power to keep you one.+
You sniffle and chuckle. +Even though I'm "fucking mental"?+
+Of course, love.+ Alice nods, hopping off your thigh with a Chesire Cat grin. +Everyone's a bit mental nowadays, aye?+
"Guess so." You give her one right back, full of loving-kindness. "You got a deal. Sailor Scout's honor."
***
After a long walk home and a disgusting amount of In-and-Out for dinner, you hit up Chiaki on LIME. You reminded her how sketchy this was, how you couldn't leave someone with so much love in the lurch. She politely thanked you for trusting her, then revealed shit got real. Her worst fears were confirmed shortly after school; her girlfriend had been nabbed by thugs and locked up in a warehouse by the docks. Reluctantly, she showed you a picture of what they'd done to her: tied to a chair with her clothes disheveled, face swollen, cinnamon skin knotted up in black and blue.
You were going to
enjoy fucking up whoever did this.
From context clues in the picture, Chiaki managed to narrow down which warehouse one it was. She sent you the coordinates over LIME, you did the rest on your phone's map app.
Which is why you're at the docks now, cloaked in late night's velvet embrace.
It's a good thing your folks trusted you to be out late, even with the delinquency. They'd raised you to be independent, to know right from wrong. It's why they trusted you, even when cops, teachers, guidance counselors, the whole damn world seemed not to.
It's why you believe in justice enough to be its ally.
And justice is why you're upon the threshold of Warehouse 2 Blue, where Chiaki's coordinates led you. You hear the murmurs and movement of very bad men inside. The grip on your bat tightens, your lips curl into a grin.
Alice scampers out of the darkness, her white fur a dirty yellow in the flickering warehouse light. +Coast is clear, love. How are you planning on doing this?+
She stands on her hind legs, ears up and out, to double-check her work. She exhales, confident she wasn't followed or compromised. +There's an unguarded back entrance you could use to infiltrate, extract the girl, and exfiltrate without incident. Not sure if that's your style, though.+
[What do you do?]
[ ] Go quiet: Listen to Alice and sneak in through the back.
[ ] Go loud: Walk through the front door and beat some ass.
[ ] Go sparkly: Transform, blow a hole in the front, and tell these punks Bancho Lily's gonna punish you.
