Chapter 32

Turbines screamed as the helicopter ripped out across the Victoria beachfront, but the headset and Bentley reduced them to a tolerable whine. I stared down at the waves crashing on the beach and at the other two helicopters flying in formation with us.

Li Mei held her knees against her body. “Flying is fine, but helicopters are new for me,” she explained.

I reached out to pat her shoulder, then stopped. “This is my second flight, and I was on a stretcher the last time,” I said instead. Then I gulped and continued. “Overclock and Sora were worse off than me, though. It’s…hard to be flying back toward West End High, even if we’re only going halfway.”

Sam coughed into her headset and looked away from me. “Luciole, I’m sorry. I–”

“It’s fine. I get it.” I didn’t get it, and the way she’d just let Candice walk all over her wasn’t fine, but we were about to fly into battle–or at least lots of scared and angry people–and for the team’s sake, I was going to fake it. “Let’s talk about that some other time, okay? Overclock, you wanted to talk public relations with us while we flew?”

“Yeah, kids.” Overclock’s voice in my ear was reassuring. We’d been through hell together at West End, and knowing that she had my back–and James, of course– was comforting. “So, like Sam said, Sooke’s not usually insanely dangerous. But we’ll have to put on polite faces and make sure everyone sees us looking confident. A lot of teams would have an Orange or an experienced Girl to take care of that, but your Orange is at the very least getting a few stern talkings-to, so you get me.”

“Ten minutes out, Misses,” a voice butted in on the headset.

“Thanks. Give us one-minute and thirty-second warnings, ” Overclock said. “With ResCute, Jasper and Sunny took care of all the public stuff, but I know a couple of tricks. For example…”

Overclock breathed and composed herself, and I saw the same Overclock who’d stood on the West End stage and started a keynote speech. “If you use a polite, bright tone like this and phrase your orders as hopes or suggestions, many people who’d normally argue with you will be more civil and listen better! It’s my hope that you’ll use a voice like this and open, positive body language–”

“A customer service voice? Really?’ Same interrupted. “You want me to go back to that?”

“Well, that’s certainly one way you can get people to listen–or at least not get angry with you when you tell them the bad news.” Overclock breathed out a sigh. “Sunny’s real good at that one, kids. The other play is to use your authority. As Second Lieutenant-equivalents, you’ll outrank most HANAF soldiers on the ground. During an emergency, you can use that authority to order folks around.”

“Wait, we’re Second Lieutenants?” Sam asked. When Overclock nodded, she continued, an edge of glee in her voice. “My brother’s going to be so mad. He’s just a sergeant.”

As we flew west, I stared out the window at the towering white mountains across the waves. Mount Olympus peaked its head over row after row of fog-covered peaks and hills, its glaciers glistening in the sun.

“If you’re going to use your military rank, kids, you need to be confident. There’s no hemming and hawing, Luciole. You have to speak like you know what’s best, even if you don’t. So let’s talk about what’s best. What was the plan for Sooke in an Emergence event, Sam?”

“Um, there’s a shelter in each tower’s basement and one at the Prestige building. We’re supposed to use whichever tower’s shelter is closest and use the Prestige if there’s no other option. Shelter in place and follow the Emergence Survival Guide if the shelter wasn’t close or if it happened too fast.”

“Alright, Girls, so when we land, we’ll have about two hours–a little less, actually–to make sure everyone’s safe. Strategy ideas, Li Mei?”

“Uh, we’ll need to cover lots of ground. How many towers are there?”

“Twenty-three,” Overclock said after a moment.

“So we’ll split up. Let’s do eight towers each for us three, and Overclock can take the beachfront and the last tower. Does that sound fair?”

“It’s not about fair, Li Mei. It’s about what we can do quickly. Seven towers for each of you, the beachfront and the last four towers for me,” Overclock said.

“Then we’ll meet near the Prestige building,” Li Mei finished.

“One minute!” The voice from my headset said.

“James sent you coordinates,” Overclock replied. “Put me down at number one, Li Mei at number two, Sam at three, and Luciole on the far side.”

“Copy that, Overclock. Thirty seconds!”

The helicopter dipped back toward shore, and I could see Sooke for the first time. A few dozen residential towers loomed over what was otherwise a picturesque, scenic beachfront. Their squared-off corners and concrete faces contrasted with the thick evergreens and old, moss-covered shacks that lined the shore. We howled over a long, thin bit of land and started touching down.

“Point One, Misses!”

“Remember, if anything goes wrong for you, have your Operator contact ours! Good luck, and stay focused, Girls!” Overclock pulled her headset off, ducked out the helicopter’s open door, and started sprinting toward the nearest house. My stomach lurched as we soared up and rocketed toward the next drop point.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Not to bother you, Luciole, but you leveled up during your training over the last few days,” Bentley whispered. “One more to go until your class!”

“Really? Show me,” I said. Level up screen, then stat block, please.”

Level Up! Congratulations!

You have reached Level Nine! Consult your operator for help assigning points to your statistics.

Basics

Name: Pendleton, Alice (Luciole)

Level: 9

Class: _____

Color: Red

Mana: 32/85

HP: 60/60

Statistics

Str: 4

Agi: 6

Vit: 10

Will: 17

Soul: 14

Points: 3

Sigils: 0 (1 used)

Rank: _

Skills

Perk: Fogform

Mana Surge: Feu-Follet

Spells: Blazing Light (2/2), Moonray (2/2)

Operator: Bentley (Tags)

“Let’s do one to Agility, one to Soul, and one to Will,” I said. “Accept! It’s weird that I’m leveling from a little bit of training, though.”

“Point Two!” Li Mei flipped her hood over her head and hopped off the helicopter, which started flying deeper into the Sooke towers.

“It’s not that strange, really,” Bentley said. “Your teammates are close to level five. Training experience is actually more efficient than combat experience until close to seven or eight. The combat experience from your baseline assessment counts for a lot, and you’ve been learning here and there on the side. Training experience only counts toward leveling until ten, though; after that, Sanctuary wants you helping people and fighting Macks.”

“Do I have any missions? Actually, just show me the mission menu, please.” I said.

Mission Menu

Mission

Difficulty

Status

Rewards

Priority: Civilian Shelter

Easy Cheese

Accept?

1 Exp.

Security Patrol

Challenging

Accept?

2 Exp., 1 point in Vit.

“Accept, accept,” I said. The helicopter started to dip again, and I nodded to Sam. She was out of the door even as the pilot said, “Point Three!” into the headset, running toward a tower. And then, I was alone as the helicopter faced toward the coast and a nearby elementary school.

I took deep breaths as the helicopter descended. Sora was fine. Dad and Claire were fine. The team was doing what it was supposed to under Overclock’s leadership. All I had to do was pretend to be a confident, in-control Magical Girl for a few hours, and everyone would listen to me. I could get people into the shelters quickly, and then it’d just be waiting for the strike teams on the east coast to mop up the Emergences.

There was just one problem. I wasn’t sure how to be a confident Magical Girl.

“Point Four!”

I stood up and stepped off the helicopter. Grass squished beneath my feet, and the early afternoon breeze ruffled my hair. The nearest tower was only a few yards away. But I stopped.

“Bentley, I need inspiration. How do I get these people to listen if they don’t want to?”

“One second, pulling up a video for you. It should help–just don’t ask how I got it.”

“Should I be concerned?”

A moment later, a video popped into my optical augment. A girl in a white schoolgirl shirt and skirt stood over a badly-injured Magical Girl. She put her hands on her hips and squared off toward the injured girl. “No, Miss. The tables have turned! I’m Magical Girl Maiden Voyage, and I’ll be saving you!” The video paused, then replayed.

“That’s not funny at all, Bentley,” I shouted. I reached back toward my chip. “I should pull this out for a bit!”

“It’s not meant to be funny, Luciole. That didn’t work on Overclock, but if you show up at a tower and do something like that, it’ll absolutely be in line with their expectations of what a Magical Girl does. Especially if you’re actually in uniform. Try it on this first building, and we’ll devise a different plan if it doesn’t work. But it will. Trust me.”

I sighed. “It’s a better plan than winging it, I guess.”

I marched up to the automatic doors, which opened for me. The foyer opened to a flight of stairs and an overworked-looking woman behind the desk. She looked up from her phone momentarily, looked back down, and then stared at me.

“Go for it, Luciole,” Bentley whispered in my ear.

I nodded, smiled with as much confidence as I could, and put my hands on my hips. Then I stared at the surprised lady, watching shock turn to something else. Something…like adoration? That wasn’t the right emotion, but respect didn’t fit either. I cleared my throat. “Don’t panic, Miss. I’m Magical Girl Luciole, and I’m here to make sure everyone gets in the shelter. Could you make an announcement, please?” I channeled every corny Magical Girl show I’d ever watched with Sora, even though I knew no real Magical Girl sounded like that.

“Nice job,” Bentley said as I stared at the poor woman.

I just stood there and pushed down my embarrassment. The whole thing was ridiculous. The front desk lady’s face drained of color. Then she reached for the building’s phone and held it out to me. As I took it, I heard her muttering something. I leaned in. She pressed a couple of buttons and nodded at me to start. Then she whispered, quiet enough that I almost couldn't hear it. “Oh shit, you’re for real.”