This is the real thing. If you work, you lose; I've been losing a lot recently. Misfire's proof enough of that.
@saganatsu has the right of it: Momo sitting out would be ignoring someone clearly in distress and not actively bagging criminals. Neither of those are super helpful.
[X] Midnight Rescue
***
The choice is clear.
You are a police officer.
You want to be a hero.
You're going to save that girl.
Sure, she's a match for Mitakihara's most dangerous woman, and bringing her in would make the Chief leap from her wheelchair and tapdance, but that's not why you're doing it.
Okay, partially why you're doing it.
That's the
mental reasoning for it. But the gut reason, the soul reason, is because it's the right thing to do. Cop or crook, Maj or Mug; you help someone in need.
You watch Usagi toy with her, dreamily smacking her around with waltzer's timing. Fists and feet keep the beat, you hear Usagi humming.
"Have you chosen me to finally commit suicide upon?" Usagi says airily, almost sympathetic. "You poor devil."
The girl who looks like Homura staggers and falls, over and over, getting to her feet each time. She says nothing, merely glares at Usagi through watery, heavily ringed eyes.
You notice Usagi is focused completely on the girl who looks like Homura. Your hand twitches, your Shadow eager to strike at the nape of Usagi's pale, exposed neck. You smell cherry blossoms.
Banishing those thoughts from your mind, you point to the opposite wall. Your Shadow flows above and behind the two Maj, landing where you point. It circles in on itself, a shark in an oil slick. With a swipe of your finger, you let it expand, Shadow in shadows, until it's large enough to engulf a girl.
You wait for an opportunity.
Usagi gives you a perfect one.
She backhands the girl who looks like Homura with enhanced strength, sending her flying into the wall. Into your Shadow.
With a mental command and an admonition to your Shadow, you have it swallow, but not digest, the girl who looks like Homura. It bristles at not getting a meal but obeys.
[Momo Success With Style!]
Usagi is none the wiser.
"Ara?" She looks around, putting a hand on her chin. "She must have fled."
You dive under the shadows and swim to the extraction point, allowing yourself a small, proud smile. "As expected of an eminence of shadow," you think. Smooth, decisive, elegant.
Before you can praise yourself overmuch, you hear a voice in your mind. The girl who looks like Homura's. It is soft, sweet and cold.
+Are you a Witch?+ She asks.
+I'm a hero of justice...in training.+ You reply warmly.
+You're nicer than the last one,+ she pulses. +The last one was kind of...+
+Dogmatic?+
+A bitch.+ She chuckles awkwardly.
+Oh.+ You struggle with your next words. +Well, erm, I hope she didn't sour you on heroes of justice!+
+It's fine.+ She says. +Thank you.+
+All in a day's work,+ you say.
[Homura Akemi(?) joined the party!]
The two of you, riding your Shadow, breach outside to a dog day afternoon. Your heroic daydreams burn into a heat haze.
Your Shadow sizzles and peels away from over you, cowering under your feet at the sun. You flinch in the light and the heat, shading yourself with a hand. You notice the girl do likewise, having fallen out of your Shadow, and giggle at the situation.
The girl who looks like Homura recoils, hiding behind bloody-knuckled hands. "I'm not used to so much sun..."
"I'd loan you a parasol, but I left it at home." You step close to her, so your Shadow melds with hers. The merger gives it just enough strength to give her shade.
She flinches, then shuffles beside you."...You smell nice," the girl says. "Like cherry blossoms. What's your name?"
"Momo Sakura, with the kanji for 'peach' and 'cherry blossom'." You smile. "And yours?"
"Homura Akemi, with the kanji for 'inferno' and 'beauty'." She fidgets. "Although I'm neither of those things..."
You wipe at her face, cleaning off the grime of battle. "Now why would you say that?"
"Well, I'm not," she mutters, her head down. "Not like Madoka."
"It took a blazing, beautiful soul to endure blows from Usagi Tsukinoura." You poke her cheek. "And you've got a cute face, battle scars notwithstanding."
She turns away from you, turning beet red. You hear her mutter "Cute?" like a madwoman's mantra.
Before you can check on her, you hear sirens blare and cop cars rumble. The Maj-spec riot van is here, emblazoned with the symbol of Riot Force 6: a pentacle in a shield, lightning bolts crossed behind it. You move to it, keeping Homura safe in your shadow.
She tenses at the sight of the police. A little shadow play keeps her face obscured; she's skittish enough without thinking you've arrested her.
Even though you kind of have.
You calm her down and hide in the shadow of the riot van. You want to be out of sight and mind of the criminals you were infiltrating. Your Shadowlings wriggle from behind the tires and under the chassis, you have them fan out and be your eyes.
They see the full glory of Riot Force 6 stride out of the van. There are five women, dressed not in standard police blues but crisp white and regal black. Each of them wears a golden badge, the RF6 insignia in miniature.
Natsuko "Lady" Alpine, riflewoman. Lush, plush and languid, swaying with her Browning .50 cal rifle like a lover.
Asami V. Yagami and Kaori S. Yagami, entry officers. Asami, five feet and feral in her bunny-eared police cap, dragging a battering ram tall as she is and half as wide. Kaori, tall and Takarazura handsome with her samurai-ko ponytail, arming sword resting eagerly on her hip.
Nana Haralaown-Takamachi, entry officer. Sprinter lean and dancer fluid, a black and yellow scythe draped over her shoulders.
Beside her, Yukari Takamachi, negotiator. The perfect
Yamato Nadesico, the softness of motherhood hiding steel sharper and harder than anyone else's.
The five of them enter the Millenium Suites in silence.
Criminal magical girls leave the Millenium Suites screaming.
It's over in minutes.
You see someone smash through the stained glass windows of the Suites. It's Nakajima-senpai; you can tell from the turbine whine. She lands on the van with a horrible crunch. You near leap out of your skin.
Homura doesn't flinch.
"Oh, Momocchi! Catch yourself a kouhai?" Nakajima-senpai looks over the top of the van. You notice she's got a broken arm.
And an unconscious Aoi Tachibana underneath her.
And that unconscious Aoi Tachibana's fist through her abdomen.
"Something like that," you say, motioning to your stomach. "Er, senpai...Are you okay?"
"Until the adrenaline wears off!"
Your Shadow crawls out from under the van, sucking Aoi Tachibana into its depths. You give it another admonition, it grumbles at not getting fed once again.
"Nakajima-senpai," You say. "You're still undercover. You shouldn't be seen with the police."
"It's cool, Momocchi," Nakajima-senpai laughs you off. "I feel the adrenaline wearing off, so just push me into the van and let it slip to Big Sis Shirayuki we both got nabbed." She laughs, long and hard, before collapsing in a heap.
You sigh, gently lifting your senior partner off the roof of the van. You control tendrils of shadow with puppeteer hands, maneuvering her into the back of an undamaged police car. You slip in behind her and offer a hand to Homura.
She hesitates, eyeing you like a rabbit. Slowly, warily, she gets closer. She stops a step away from you, nods to herself, and takes your hand, a small smile on her lips.
"...Your senpai's an idiot."
[Aoi Tachibana has been arrested! The Marui-gumi approves. The Idol Threats will remember this...]
[Homura Akemi(?) has been befriended! The Marui-gumi approves.]
[Prolog in der Holle complete!]
***
[Smooth Unlock!]
Once the madness is over, Nakajima-senpai is thoroughly knocked out, and the police cars head to the station, Homura tugs on your untransformed black blouse.
"Sakura-san?" She half-mumbles. "Back there...you were really cool."
You blush a little. "It wasn't
that cool."
Silence passes. Homura breaks it.
She places her hand over yours, gives you an aside glance because she's too embarrassed to look at you directly. "Sakura-san? Can I...Can I be your-"
[How does Homura(?) finish that sentence]
[ ] Friend
[ ] Disciple
[ ] Shield
[ ] Dog
***
Author Note: The next update will be in the bird's eye CKII voting style. Just a heads up for people who haven't fled due to false advertising.
![:V :V :V](/styles/sv_smiles/xenforo/emot-v.gif)