Prose Magica: The Ballad of the Seventeenth Part 7

Odette groaned. Rain pounded on the steel hide of Sleepy Sue. Her phone was ringing somewhere. All she could remember of the previous day was being frustrated at a lack of leads and getting drunk out of her mind with Lotte. She'd found her culprit - Fennel Vance - but little more than that. Fennel had been one of the Officio's top 'liquidators' as Fubey gently put it. Her speciality laid in terminations, assassinations, eviscerations and a host of other unsavoury ations that would drive any sane girl mad. Odette was only left to wonder why the incubator hadn't kept a closer eye on someone so deep in blood.

The one-eyed magical girl stretched her arm out, feeling around the floor of Sleepy Sue for her phone. After a few moments of unintentionally feeling up, then rolling over, the blonde Callidus, Odette grabbed hold of her smart phone and rolled back into position. For god's sake, she thought, had they really ended up sleeping together twice in one week? Odette sighed to herself. She must have been even lonelier than she thought.

"Yo," she muttered into her phone.

"Odette, it's Therese," the warmaster greeted. "We've got something about the case that you need to hear. Something big."

"Whatimezit?" The silver-haired girl mumbled.

"It's- It's almost noon," Therese replied. There was the distinct burst of static as she let out a long sigh. "I even waited until I was sure you'd be up. I told you that you should stay in warmaster suite. You're starting to slip again."

"'m not slipping," said the small Eversor as she hopped out of her cot and scooped up a pair of jeans. "Just frustrated 'sall." After a moment's thought she added, "'nd maybe a bit hungover. What's the news?"

"Two of our Eversors were investigating a murder," the warmaster answered. "Looks like they've found where your mystery girl is hiding."

"No shit?" Odette gasped as she threw on a bra and fresh white t-shirt. "Where is she?"

"A club downtown, it looks like. Working for a small-time gangbanger. But you really should hear the rest of this in person. That, and I don't think you've gotten a chance to see my office yet. Isn't that right?"

"Alright, alright," the one-eyed girl grumbled. "Your office in the same place mine was?"

"There's only one warmaster's office, Odette."

"I'm not slipping. I promise," Odette smirked as she threw on her jacket. "See you in a few."

"I'll see you then," the warmaster giggled just before the line went dead.

Sleepy Sue's engine revved as Odette pocketed her phone and took a seat at her make-shifted desk. The case files were stilled splayed out across it with lines and paragraphs circled and underlined with red pen. The former warmaster's gaze swept over each page as she let out a long breath. It all seemed so worthless now. After spending nearly a week pouring over the notes, everything seemed to just fall into her lap. With an inward chuckle, she suddenly recalled that working assignment's as warmaster was mostly the same way. She could have others running around gathering information and it still counted toward her own quota. Somehow.

Perhaps, Odette thought, it wouldn't be so bad to try an earn her position back. Therese already came dangerously close to treating her as if she were still her superior. Far too many people did. Odette couldn't decide if it was flattering or troublesome that so many still held her in high-esteem. You don't sit as warmaster for three years and expect everyone to just accept your abdication, it seemed. No matter how callous and irresponsible she had grown.

Odette's thoughts were interrupted by her blonde companion's stirrings, no doubt roused by the dull thrumming of engines. With a strong yawn, Lotte propped herself up with one arm and ran a hand through her hair.

"Mornin," Odette called out, barely bothering to look up from her work. She'd already cleared off the desk and taken out her poetry notepad, lightly tapping her pen against the wood.

"Yo," the blonde greeted. "Where we going?"

"Terry's," the one-eyed girl replied. "Said she has something for the case."

"Can I come?" Lotte asked, grinning from ear to ear.

Odette shrugged. "Up to you. Didn't think you two got along."

"Either that or I stay in the car," the Callidus responded, returning the shrug. "It's creepy to be in Sue alone."

Odette spun around, mouth agape. "Did you just call my baby creepy?"

"Yeah, I mean," Lotte waved a finger around lazily, "you hear that? Engines. WHERE ARE HER ENGINES?"

Odette blinked her one eye several times. "Okay, point."

The blonde gave a knowing nod as the two settled into a comfortable silence. They didn't have much to talk about anymore, it seemed. They'd told each other every story they had, didn't share much in the way of interests and hadn't worked together on any assignments in months. After a few moments, Odette glanced over, only to find the other girl quietly staring at her with an implacable grin on her face.

"What?" The silver-haired girl asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"You're really pretty," Lotte responded almost immediately, almost as if she had been waiting for the question.

Odette's pale face turned a bright pink as she forced herself to look back down at her notebook. "Don't be weird, Lotte. You promised you wouldn't make things weird."

True, Odette had always been told she had a pretty face. It had a certain mature charm to it despite her small stature - the kind of face that seemed liked that of a caring older sister. Or, at least, it would were it not for the near constant scowling and ill temper.

The one-eyed girl found herself tapping her pen and drumming her fingers faster and faster as her mind wandered. She was suddenly made painfully aware of the busty blonde lying buck-naked in her bed.

"Hey," Lotte prodded. "Want to go another round?"

Odette thought about it for a good second before shaking her head and rolling her eyes. "I just got dressed," she huffed. "And we're almost there."

"Ah come on," the blonde drawled, laying the covers over herself in just the right way to show off her curves while keeping the important bits hidden. "Just a quick one."

"I'll throw you out in the rain, Laufson," Odette grumped. "You know I will. And I'll keep your clothes."

"Y-you wouldn't really throw me out naked," Lotte laughed nervously, "right?"

The silver-haired girl simply smiled and turned back to her poetry, humming to herself.

Lotte grunted and lifted herself out of bed, crawling over to the pile of clothes left on the floor. As she looked around the interior of the armoured car, the Callidus couldn't help but shiver and hold herself.

"Do you have the AC on or something, O?" She asked, quickly throwing on as much clothing as possible.

Odette shook her head. "Nope."

Lotte looked around, still holding herself, suddenly looking even more nervous than before, then nodded silently.

✱✱✱

The tall Callidus and the short Eversor breezed through security at the Officio's headquarters, making for the first of the Violet-clearance floors - the warmaster's office. The two stood silently in the elevator, dripping wet from the rain, for several minutes until Odette felt a hand prodding her shoulder. She turned her head to find Lotte toying with a crunchy, wet and white substance between her fingers.

"Hey, O," she started, examining the stuff inquisitively, "is this frost?"

Odette shrugged and mumble a quick "I dunno" as the doors slid open.

There were several doors in the corridor; each one an office for the rank leaders. Most were empty for the time being, with higher-ranked magical girls handling business in the other major cities within the Officio's territory. In contrast to the incubator's barren hall, the office corridor was decorated with potted plants and modern art. Odette silently questioned exactly how much Therese had changed. She remembered dimmer lights and muted tones instead of bright pastel shades.

The silver-haired girl knocked firmly on the door furthest door, while her companion cried "ROOM SERVICE!"

After a moment, the door was opened, not by Therese, but by an incredulous looking Megan Laurie. The short, black-haired girl blinked a few times as her bangs fell over her eyes yet again.

"You're not the warmaster," remarked Lotte.

The small Eversor - but not quite as small as Odette, she noticed - floundered about for a few seconds before she was rescued by Therese calling from within.

"Odette?" She shouted. "Is that you?"

"Yo," the one-eyed Eversor greeted, gently worming her way through the door and past the star-struck magical girl.

Therese's office, Odette noted, was rather different from the one she used to call her own. It was modern and chic, with the walls painted a light grey and all the furniture in black. She even had a sofa pushed into one of the corners closest to the door, which was currently occupied by the second member of the Eversor duo, Mona Bernard.

Odette furrowed her brow and scanned the room as the warmaster stepped up to her.

"Was this room always here?" She asked, a look of confusion on her face as she shook Therese's hand.

Therese tilted her head, just as confused. "What do you mean?"

"This room," the silver-haired said, cautiously pointing all around, "was this always here?"

"Yes," the warmaster answered, nodding much in the same way one would to a mental patient. "This used to be your office. Remember?"

"Nah, nah," Odette laughed. "My office had those sweet woodcarvings and a throne and..." Her voice trailed off as her face contorted into a look of sad understanding. "What did you do to my office?"

"It looked ridiculous, Odette," Therese replied with a slight roll of her eyes. "You don't expect me to work in an office that looked like something out Lord of the Rings, do you? You want me to sit in a throne carved with YOUR greatest moments?"

"What did you do with my stuff?!" The one-eyed magical girl whined, clearly distressed.

"I threw it away," Therese stated bluntly.

Odette's mouth opened and closed several times as she tried to form words. All that managed to come out was, "Buh-but my throne..."

The warmaster let out a long sigh. "Look. If it's that important, your throne is still in storage. It's," she waved her hand in the air, trying to find the right words, "an icon, I guess. All of the girls from back then recognize it. I couldn't just throw it out like that."

"Good, goo-"

"But I sold everything else," Therese added with a stern look.

Odette nodded to herself, conceding the point. "Fair 'nuff."

It was then that the warmaster suddenly turned her attention to the Callidus, who had taken a laid-back position on the couch with both arms wrapped around the two junior Eversors as she regaled a story of Odette's earliest days.

"And so Snake says to Odette-"

"Laufson, what are you doing here?" Therese butted in, maintaining her serious demeanour.

The blonde looked up and blinked innocently. "What? I'm not allowed to hang out with an old friend?"

"It's fi-" Odette started, but was suddenly silenced by Therese raising her hand.

"The time when we were friends has come and gone, Lotte," the warmaster growled. "If you have no relevance to the case, I would kindly ask you to leave."

"Terry," a calm, cold voice rang out. The room temperature took a dive as all eyes were suddenly on Odette. The small girl took a step forward until she was practically standing on the warmaster's toes. "Lotte's with me," she hissed. Therese felt one of Odette's delicate hands gently alight on her shoulder, then violently pull her down to the smaller girl's level. "Warmaster or not, you do not shush me like a child."

There was a delicate clinking of chains as Therese's hammer materialized in her hand. It had always been a stark contrast to her usual demeanour - and a good reminder of her temper - to see the enormous slab of metal. The hammer was small enough to be comfortably wielded in one hand, but large enough to be used with both for a little extra power. Most striking of all, however, was the shining silver chain attached to the end of the haft, which snaked up the warmaster's forearm and coiled around it.

Odette's eye shifted to the weapon for a moment before returning to glare at Therese. "It's just Lotte. Calm down," she said, her voice coming out soothing yet stern.

The rusty-haired girl glanced down at the hammer, then took a deep breath. A chill went up her spine as she noticed that she could suddenly see the air escaping her lips. With a nod, she stepped back and the hammer disintegrated. "You're... You're right. I, uh, I'm sorry."

"Atta girl," Odette said, grinning as she slapped a hand on the warmaster's back. "Gotta keep that temper in check. If we're gonna rumble, we better make sure to sell tickets first. So what are we waiting for?"

Therese adjusted her cap and cleared her throat loudly, still slightly embarassed about losing herself so easily. "We're, erm, just waiting on Fubey. The incubators were supposed to be having a meeting. He should be here any second-"

As if on cue, there was a soft knock on the door, sounding as if it came from a mere foot off the ground. The occupants looked at each other, as if each expecting someone else to open it. Odette caved first, giving a reluctant huff as she pulled the door open. With a dull whirring sound, the Seventeenth incubator rolled in atop his mighty steed.

"Odette, how lovely to see you," he said as he entered. "I apologize for my tardiness. I was a few minutes late to the meeting and had to stay behind for the Eighth to fill me in. Ah, Miss Laufson has joined us? I trust you are finished with your previous assignment?"

"Oh," the Callidus piped up, "yeah, was going to go see you about that. All taken care of."

"Excellent, excellent," the incubator said, beaming with a look nearing contentment. "A pleasure to have you on board then."

"Fubey, I didn't buy you that for you to ride on," Therese grumbled.

The incubator made the Roomba do a quick three-sixty as he entered the room, then hit a button causing it to go about its usual vacuuming route.

"Ah, but this way I can clean the office everywhere I go."

Odette couldn't keep her eyes off of it as she took a seat on the sofa's arm. "What did the Eighth say about it?"

"He," the incubator started, making a point to avert his gaze, "thought it was a bit silly. In much stronger terms."

The one-eyed girl smirked. "I give him two weeks before he gets one."

"One," Lotte added. "He won-"

The blonde was interrupted as Therese loudly cleared her throat. "Ladies," she said, sweeping her gaze across the room, "I believe we're all present."

Mona shared a brief look with her partner, then nodded as she pulled her phone from her pocket. "This was recorded last night at about, uh," she flipped the phoen around and squinted at it, "just after eleven. We thought we were interrogating a man about a gang-killing. We got a bit more than we bargained for."

With a swipe of her finger, Rossi's testimony began playing. The room was silent - save for Fubey's Roomba going about its route - as the terrified man describe Charles Helk, Club Mist, the girl with the golden chain and finally the soul gems being sold on the black market. No one said a word for several minutes after it ended. Odette nodded to herself as the information processed, each piece slowly falling into place.

"Meg and Mona, was it?" The one-eyed girl finally asked.

"Y-yeah," the taller Eversor answered.

Odette turned to Therese and the incubator. "These two are getting promotions, right?"

"They have only been with us for a month and a half, but," the incubator pondered, stroking his chin with his prehensile moustache, "I suppose something could be arranged."

Therese nodded in agreement, then turned her attention back to the recording. "So I suppose that's it then. We hit the club and see what we can find."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, kiddo," Odette laughed, making a calming gesture. "Hold your horses here. We don't just storm the castle without a plan."

"O's got a point," Lotte added. "That just ain't the way things are done."

"Then what do you propose we do," the warmaster asked, adding a stressed nearly growled, "Odette?" as she cast a glare at the Callidus.

The silver-haired girl paced around the office for several minutes, deep in thought, before finally leaning back on Therese's desk with a satisfied look plastered on her face. "Alright, here's what we're gonna do," she started. "We'll hit them tonight. After we're done here, I'll take Lotte and check out Chuckles' apartment, see if we can dig anything up. That note left at my place still doesn't make sense. I'll swing by when we're done and pick you up. We get Lotte to scout the club, figure things out. We make our plan and then, and ONLY then, do we bust this thing open."

The rest of the girls sat stunned at the sudden strategy laid out before them.

"That... that works," Therese mumbled.

"Odette one," Lotte smirked, chuckling to herself, "Ter-Bear zero."

Odette snapped her fingers and pointed at the blonde. "You shut up."

Meanwhile, the two juniors were whispering amongst themselves, slowly drawing the attention of the rest of the room. After a few moments, the taller of the two cleared her throat while the other twiddled her thumbs nervously.

"We, um, we were just wondering," Mona said, taking a nervous gulp, "if we were still on the assignment. Just, cause, y'know, the thing with Helk is technically ours. I mean, it's okay if you don't want us-"

"That's fine," Odette nodded and shurgged. "I'll pick you two up after we're done too. It'll be a party."

"Actually," Therese said, glancing at the clock on the wall, "I just remembered I have an appointment later. You four okay to hang out until I'm done?"

"We can take care of them until then," Lotte smirked, sidling up to the two juniors. "I can tell them the story of Odette's sweet sixteen party."

"Oh hell no," the one-eyed girl groaned. "Come on, Lotte. Nobody wants to hear that one. Let's get going."

The blonde stood up, then turned to Therese after a thought crossed her mind. "You go on ahead. I need to talk to Ter-Bear in private about something."

After a look of collective confusion, the two junior Eversors left the room followed shortly by Odette and the incubator. Therese sighed as she stepped around her desk and took a seat.

"Well?" She asked expectantly, folding her hands and cocking an eyebrow. "Make it quick."

"Listen," Lotte sighed, taking a moment to collect her thoughts. "I know you don't like me. Jealous that I'm fucking Odette and you're not or whatever the fuck it is. That doesn't matter right now."

"Lotte..."

"You had to have noticed it," the blonde stated firmly. "The cold. You felt it, right?"

The warmaster nodded slowly. "What of it?"

"'What of it'," Lotte groaned and rolled her eyes, "you fucking know 'what of it'. Today the rain was freezing on her damn jacket." Lotte threw down her arms and shook her head violently, her words panicked. "She's coming back."

Therese glared at the Callidus as understanding suddenly struck her. "So what is this? A warning? A threat?"

"Dunno," the Callidus made a sly grin and giggled to herself. "Maybe both, maybe neither. But I'd watch out if I were you. Even I don't know if I should be afraid or not."

✱✱✱

Odette pulled her ear away from the door and stepped back, trying to lean against the wall and act natural. She took a deep breath and looked up and down the hall. For a fraction of a second, she could swear she saw a girl with long silvery-white hair and a black baseball cap grinning at her from the end of the hallway. The one-eyed girl shoved her hands into her pockets, suddenly aware that they were freezing cold.