>> 2041
>> Continent: North America
>> Country: Old New York
>> City: Mega City New New York
>> 9:48am
Beatrice yawned big, a hand covering her mouth just the way her mom had taught her. She blinked a few times, and tried to stay awake, but it was hard. Every time she rode the metro, she found herself being sapped of energy.
There was just something about the sticky seats, the constant rumble, and the cloying scent of hydrocarbons that did a number on her.
The train car was quiet except for a crying baby cradled in their mom’s arms, and a junkie a few rows down muttering to himself while rubbing at an exposed arm covered in needle traces.
‘We really should consider a new means of travelling around,’ Chys said from where they were cuddled against Beatrice’s chest.
“Yeah. Maybe later though,” she replied. She was planning on buying a set of shoes that would let her fly. Or giant deployable angel wings. Those would be appropriately magical-girl-y. She really wanted a halo that hovered over her head and which acted as a laser array.
Beatrice blinked. That was a fantastic idea! She sat Chys down on the seat next to her, where the unearthly creature stepped gingerly on the plastic bench, then she pulled out her notebook of ideas from her backpack and started making some quick drawings of what her magical-girl angel look would be like.
She liked using paper and pen, there was just something about it that felt very classy and fancy, even if it was a little less convenient than using a tablet or just making things on her augs.
The train pulled to a stop and Beatrice checked her augs. This was her stop. “Oh, shoot,” she muttered as she started stuffing things away in a hurry. She rushed to the exit, Chys hopping along after her.
Commander Carpenter had sent her an email the previous evening with their meeting spot for the day. Surprisingly it wasn’t at the Wraith Ranger headquarters.
Instead, Beatrice found herself exiting the subway station using a long set of stairs that disgorged her and almost no one else onto the ground level of the city.
To her left were rows and rows of mega buildings and skyscrapers, all packed in close. The roads at this level were congested with automated traffic, mostly large trucks that were little more than an engine and a bed for the cargo they carried.
To her right, the city was a ruin. It was almost possible to draw a line across the area where the devastation started and ended. Pristine buildings gave way to megabuildings with holes blown through their sides, with multitudes of broken windows and even a few buildings which had tipped dangerously to one side or the other.
Construction crews were crawling over the buildings, with multiple cranes at work dismantling things already.
Beatrice listened, and was able just barely make out the sounds of the coastline less than a kilometre away. “Do you think we’ll see the coast?” she asked.
‘It’s plausible.’
Beatrice secured her backpack, then scooped Chys up. She tsked and pulled out a used napkin from a pocket and started to wipe Chys’ little paws free of grime.
Her augs updated her with the location of the meetup. It was one of the buildings nearby, just on the bad side of the line of destruction. She had to walk a little ways, but that was fine. Crossing the street was tricky, but Chys told some of the trucks to stop, and she scurried across and into the building where she was supposed to meet the others.
The ground floor had a large lobby space, with several stairs and elevator access, and, at one of the counters, a Wraith Ranger. “Hello,” Beatrice said.
The ranger looked her up and down. “You’re our VIP?” she asked. She was a woman about the same age as Beatrice’s mom, though probably in better health.
“I think so,” Beatrice said. “I’m Starfire Twirl Cuddle Angel.”
The woman blinked. “Alright, cool. I’m Emma, Emma Harper, with Magic Squad. You’re with me.”
Beatrice rushed to follow the woman as she took off deeper into the building. It didn’t take long before she shoved an Employee’s only door open and lead Beatrice down an echoy staircase. “Where are we going?” Beatrice asked. “And I need to change.” She was still in her normal civilian clothes. A nice t-shirt with some old magical girl show art on the front, and a zip-up hoodie. It was a far cry from her costume, which was shoved into her pack.
“Just down here,” Emma said. “Have you been briefed?”
Stolen story; please report.
“Not yet!” Beatrice said. “I read the email, but it didn’t say much.”
Emma nodded. “Titan will go over things with the full squad.”
They got to a landing and Beatrice worked hard to pretend that she wasn’t out of breath. Emma shoved another door open and they found themselves in some sort of access tunnel place under the building. There were pipes all over and wires and several things that beeped.
“Want to get changed before seeing the guys?” Emma asked, her voice pitched a lot lower now that they were closer together.
“That would be nice,” Beatrice said.
Emma nodded, then brought her to a small employee bathroom. Beatrice thanked her, then slipped in. It was gross, the kind of place that probably hadn’t been washed out in years, though it probably hadn’t been used much in that time either, which was a small comfort.
Beatrice set her pack down, then changed as quickly as she could. She made another note to get a magical transforming outfit sooner rather than later. Still, it only took a minute or two for her to change into her dress then stash away all of her gear. She stepped out, feeling weird about having a backpack while dressed as a magical girl. “I’m ready,” she said.
Emma nodded, then looked her over. “You really are a samurai, huh?”
“I guess so,” Beatrice said. “Did you think I wasn’t?”
“Well, the higher ups weren’t all that clear about what was going on today. Just that we’d be getting help from an expert. All I had to work off of was one security camera image of you.”
“Oh,” Beatrice said. “I guess I’m a bit young to be an expert, then?”
Emma shrugged. “We’ve worked with some interesting people over the years. A couple were on the younger side. Hell, some clients were young too.” She gestured ahead to a door off to one side that was open. “The boys are in here. Hey guys.”
Beatrice followed Emma into a tightly-packed room. It was warm, with several racks of dusty computers to one side that were humming along. A large monitor setup to one side showed rotating camera images of the inside of some sort of facility while others had readouts that she didn’t have time to make out.
Her interest was pulled towards the two men in the room. Both of them were on the bigger, more muscley side. A tall dark-skinned man, and next to him a slightly shorter but bulkier white guy with a well-trimmed beard.
“Guys, this is the expert,” Emma said.
“Hello,’ Beatrice replied. She was feeling rather nervous until she reminded herself that she was a magical girl, and magical girls shouldn’t be shy. “I’m, uh, Laser Heart Fluffypants Cosmic... uh, Giggle Time Princess.”
The men looked at each other, then the shorter of the two nodded. “Pleasure to meet you, Laser Heart Fluffypants Cosmic Giggle Time Princess. I’m Lieutenant Hayes, Callsign Titan. This is Ranger Specialist Thorne, callsign C4. And you’ve met Ranger Specialist Mouse already.”
She glanced at Emma who nodded back.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Beatrice said. “So... uh... is this everyone?”
“This is everyone,” Titan said with a friendly smile.
“If they didn’t send us, then they’d need to send in an army,” the other man, C4, said. “But we’re the best at taking care of big problems. Don’t you worry.”
“So, what kind of problem are we dealing with?” she asked. “The email mentioned a rogue AI?”
“Let’s get all of our bases covered,” Titan said. “Mouse, want to break down the history here? I’ll brief everyone on our mission right after.”
Emma fired off a quick salute. “Can do, boss,” she said before standing with her arms folded at the small of her back. “A year ago, a company by the name of Mythtech started experimenting with advanced AI. We don’t know much about their experiments. They’re a branch of Nimbletainment that does AI research and development for commercial uses. During last month’s incursion, their facility located in sub-level B3 through to B8 of this building were cut off from the mesh. Something went wrong, and the people working here can’t establish communications with the central systems anymore. Automated security is set to dispatch any intruders, which means that someone, us, needs to go in and either shut security down, or reboot it so that the facility can be manned again.”
“Succinct,” Titan said. “That’s our job. We go in, we get to the main server on B6, we boot things up, then we get rich.”
“That sounds easy,” Beatrice said. She wasn’t sure they even needed a magical girl for something like this, but she supposed that being given an easy job to start with was just normal. In any case, she was getting a little excited to start!
***