As we looked around the corner, we were confronted with a scene from a horror movie. One woman and one man were working on an unconscious girl, whom I recognized as Ladybug. The woman was busy shaving her head, while the man was wrapping her in heavy chains and securing those with heavy padlocks.

On a trolley a few steps further back, a person of indistinguishable sex readied a set of surgical instruments. Indistinguishable because of the metal robot mask, combined with a wide, flowing set of what looked like a mix of surgical scrubs and a priest’s robe.

I could see from the door that they had not bothered to clean the instruments the last time. Also on the trolley sat a contraption that looked like a hood dryer with fine metallic filaments sticking out of the bottom.

At the side of the room, another man lay in a pool of blood and bile. As I watched, he vomited up more of the bloody mix. Not with much vigor though, he already seemed pretty weak from the blood loss.

This time both of my friends were furious beyond belief. Wendy went straight for the person with the mask, while Arina took on Chain Guy. That left the woman with the electric shaver for me.

It turned out that she was not much of a fighter, and even my modest Taekwondo skills were more than enough against her. I slapped her around a bit and kicked her in the stomach, which made her curl up on the ground with a whimper. Thus without an opponent, I checked on Arina and Wendy.

Arina had backed Chain Guy into a corner and kicked and punched him left and right. He managed to block most of the strikes, but some got through and he did not like it at all.

Once again, Wendy was the most violent among us. She had Robot Mask on the ground and stabbed him (or her?) enthusiastically with one of the bloody scalpels from the trolley. More bloody now that his fresh blood was added to the mix.

“STOP, WENDY!”, I hollered. Wendy seemed not to care, so I added “WE NEED HIM FOR INTERROGATION!!”

That brought a bit of self-control back in Wendy, and her frenzied rage receded a bit.

“Of course, need to catch his bosses too…”. But she still clenched the scalpel in a tight grip.

By now, Chain Guy begged Arina for mercy. He had at least one bloody eyebrow as far as I could see, a split lip and his nose seemed broken. Mercy was not forthcoming, but as she seemed not intent on killing him I chose not to intervene.

With my own phone broken somewhere in the street outside, I grabbed the one from the still groaning would-be hairdresser instead. I called 911 and asked for one or more ambulances with room for at least two severely wounded, then I added that a Magical Girl was involved and they might want to inform SHOCKS.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Within minutes, a whole chorus of wailing sirens arrived. As well as a helicopter from SHOCKS with Maybelle-1, another senior MG, on board.

In the meantime we had liberated Ladybug from her chains, and she was slowly coming to.

The cultists did not look so good. The guy who had been puking blood was not moving anymore at all. Robot Mask was still weakly wheezing but clearly incapacitated. Chain Guy was thoroughly cowed and all it took to chase him back into his corner was a threatening gesture from Arina. I had Shaver Girl in a chokehold as she had tried to run, but she was the least injured of all of them.

Of course, police arrested all of us for the moment, except for Ladybug as the obvious victim and the two cultists who needed an immediate trip to the emergency room.

For Arina, the arrest was over quickly. Apparently, SHOCKS had a lot of clout and Maybelle used it to make the police release Arina into her care.

Wendy and I had a somewhat more difficult time, with a lengthy interrogation and an overnight stay in jail. And in Wendy’s case the additional complication of her battery running out. At this point, hiding her robot body was no longer possible.

Monday, September 28th, 2048

10:00 AM, in court

SHOCKS and Ladybug had come through for us and convinced the judge that we were probably not the bad guys. I still had to post bail for my release. As the cops were unsure about what to do with a robotic suspect, the judge agreed to let Wendy stay at SHOCKS for the time being.

With nothing else to do, I spent the rest of the day designing an enlarged version of the Avian Eliminator with two Shivs instead of the 5.7mm guns. Strictly in theory and simulations though, as the fabricator was still occupied.

Wednesday, September 30th, 2048

The DataSilo was finally complete, so if Wendy wanted she could get a backup now.

The lawyer I had hired in the meantime, a Mr. Dewey, informed me about various things he had picked up from his police contacts.

First, Robot Mask and friends had a history of violence and the police had found evidence that they might be involved in an earlier kidnapping. That would make it more believable in court that they did, in fact, try to kidnap and enslave us.

Second, the press had already gotten wind of the affair and I’d better be prepared for visits from reporters. This was followed by some advice on what better not to tell them.

Third, the guy who had been puking blood had expired on the way to the hospital. Robot Mask, who turned out to be a man, was still in critical condition.

Fourth, Chain Guy and Shaver Lady had been released on bail as well.

Thursday, October 1st

Elya notified me about a small and unusual emergence.

A group of Macks are attacking the police station where you and your friends have been interrogated. They are supported by a single Type 21 and appear to be accompanied by a male human. The description matches the person who chained up Ladybug.

Two minutes later, I received a call from B.S.O.D who told me in no uncertain terms to stay out of that particular fight. A group of mid-level MGs was already on the way, and they were considered more than capable of handling a handful of Macks.

I agreed but secretly told Elya to grab any footage of the incident she could. Soon she showed me a video where Chain Guy was arrested next to a wrecked Type 21.

I found some more footage that shows the Macks tried to break into the server room of the police station.

Trying to destroy evidence, huh?

Friday, October 2nd

The incident from Sunday was all over the news, apparently the press had finally found some witnesses and someone from the police had leaked additional information. People started to demand the heads of Robot Mask and Chain Guy in particular.

Magical Girls were major celebrities. and if someone tried to make them into slaves of the enemy, it made people angry.

In the words of one popular blogger: “Beheading is too good for them.”