Chapter Text
“Stop!” Reed shouted as he ran. Not that the thief was listening. Just once, he'd like someone to actually stop. He was gaining on him, but wouldn't be able to keep it up for long – with his wife pregnant with their fourth child, his stamina was pretty drained these days.
The thief charged through the doors of an apartment building. Reed followed, far enough behind to just see him run up the stairs out of sight. He sighed between heavy breaths.
I'm getting too old for this, he thought to himself. But who else was going to do it?
Through the stairs he saw the thief run onto the third floor as he started to climb behind. Crap, he was going to get away. Maybe he could corner him, if there wasn't another way down and he couldn't hide in someone's home.
He pushed himself to the third floor landing and had to prop himself against a wall to catch his breath. Well, here goes nothing, he thought as he stepped into the corridor.
There, on the floor at the end of the hall, the thief lay unconscious, his hair standing on end. Reed approached cautiously, but the guy was definitely out for the count. How?
Behind him, he heard someone run out onto the stairwell, and caught a glimpse of pink disappearing out of sight.
Well, shit. He we go again.
“Hah! Triple kill!” Steffi cheered as the three bird-monsters fell to the ground.
“Not bad,” Ben said. “Maybe you're getting better at this.”
“Of course I'm getting better!” Steffi huffed. “We've been doing this for months now!”
“Your control could still use work, though.”
“I don't see you doing better,” Steffi said with her nose in the air.
Ben gave her a look.
“Fine,” she sighed, “I'll keep practicing.”
“Can you sense anything else around?” Ben asked.
“Hmm,” Steffi closed her eyes and tried to feel the magic around her. “Not yet,” she said.
“Guess we should get moving then.”
They walked together through the streets. Ben kept alert for any signs of monsters – if something came for him he had no way to defend himself. It wasn't exactly normal for a guy to come out at night with a magical girl unless he was filming her. But Steffi was reckless and foolhardy. He'd seen her get herself injured out here too many times to let her keep coming out without support. He might not be able to protect her, but he could at least be her eyes. And, let's face it, her brain too.
“Hey, Steffi,” he said. “Where were you this afternoon?”
“Oh, I was... you know. Around,” she said. Steffi had always been a terrible liar.
“So when I went to visit you, and your dad said he thought you were with me?”
“Hey, I think I sense a monster over that way!” She said, running away.
“S-Steffi! Hey, wait up!”
She couldn't find a monster. Eventually Steffi had to stop trying to evade the questioning.
“You aren't going out and picking fights again, are you?” Ben asked.
“I'm not picking fights,” she said indignantly. “I'm fighting crime!”
“...by picking fights.”
“What's the point of having these powers if I don't use them?” Steffi cried. “And it was so cool! You should have seen the look on that cop's face! He was all, whoa, I just got my butt saved by that awesome magical girl!”
“Somehow, I doubt that,” Ben sighed. “He didn't actually see you, did he?”
“No, of course not! I think.”
“Steffi, do you have any idea how much trouble you can get into using your powers on people?”
“Yes! None! I'm a magical girl, Ben. Everyone knows I'm fighting for peace and justice! “
“You're starting to sound like a foundationist.”
“Hmph!” Steffi pouted, crossing her arms.
“Look, if there were magical girls out here committing crimes at night I'd be all for you doing your vigilante thing, but during the day it's only a matter of time before you get someone hurt.”
“Oh, really? You promise?”
“Uh. Promise what?”
“That you'll support me if there's magical girl criminals!”
Ben had only said that because there weren't any. What was she playing at? “If it means you're not going to go after normal people? Sure, I'll stick to that.”
“Hee hee!” Steffi grinned. “It's a deal!”
Heinrich Frohlich opened the front door to find an unfamiliar girl waiting patiently, and sighed. He might never have seen her before, but there was no mistaking who she must be.
“Ishinomori, huh?” He said.
“Yes,” the girl replied, and handed him an envelope. Her polite smile expressed nothing whatsoever.
Heinrich opened the envelope and read the letter inside.
“What has that madman got himself into this time...” he mused.
“Papi?” Steffi said, peeking into the hallway. “Wer ist das?”
“Oh, Steffi!” Heinrich replied, reading through the note. “Looks like we'll be having a guest stay with us for a while. Her name is-”
“Please call me Forty-Two,” the girl interrupted.
“...alright then. Her name is Forty-Two. Her father is an old colleague of mine that I owe a big favour, which I guess he's calling in.”
“What kind of name is Forty-Two?” Steffi laughed.
“One that I chose,” Forty-Two smiled.
“Don't be rude, Steffi,” her father chided. He turned to his guest. “Anyway, I guess you'd better come in and make yourself comfortable. Can I help you with your luggage?”
“Oh, I don't have any,” Forty-Two said as she walked in.
“Wait, you didn't bring anything?” Heinrich asked.
“I had to leave in a hurry.”
“Damn it, Ishinomori...” he muttered. “Alright, I guess we'll be going shopping tomorrow. I'll sort out the spare room for you. Steffi, would you mind lending Forty-Two some clothes until then? I know you've got an old uniform you don't wear any more.”
“What!” Steffi shouted. “Why should I have to?”
“We don't have another choice right now. It's already nine and you'll need to be going out soon.”
“I appreciate it very much," Forty-Two said. "Thank you for your hospitality.” She gave a polite bow.
“Um... you're welcome. I'll go fix up the room – Steffi, could you show her around the place?”
Steffi grumbled. “Fine. Welcome to My House. This is the front hall. Here is where people rudely call by in the middle of the- hey, wait!” Steffi finally noticed Forty-Two's purple hair and amber eyes. “You're a magical girl!”
“Am I?” Forty-Two feigned. “I hadn't noticed.”
“Hey, do you want to join my-”
“No thank you.”
“You didn't even let me finish!”
“You wanted me to join your team. Which is to say, you and that boy. I appreciate the offer, but I am not interested.”
“But why? And – how do you know about Ben?”
Forty-Two simply smiled silently.
“Who does she think she is?” Steffi ranted. “I bet she doesn't even have a team of her own, why wouldn't she join ours? Ugh! I hate her!”
“You hate her, but you want her to join the team?” Ben asked.
“It's the principle! Team Blitz should be bigger! And it's not like you're any good in a fight.”
“This girl has really got to you, hasn't she?”
“Well how would you like it if some weirdo turned up at your door, and your dad invites her in and tells you to give her your clothes?”
“If she was really in need? Sure, I'd help out. You would too.”
Steffi grumbled.
“Have you tried talking to her?” Ben offered. “Maybe you just got off on the wrong foot? You'll probably like her once you get to know her.”
“Anyway!” Steffi said. “Are you ready to beat up some monsters?”
“So you're just going to ignore that, huh,” Ben said, as Steffi transformed.
Chandra checked her watch. Ten minutes until the barrier went down. She looked over at her target. It sat squat and wide, two stories tall, in its silent vigil over the street. She'd been watching it all night, from her hiding place by a rooftop garden on an opposite building, except for a few moments where she attacked some nearby monsters that might mess with her big score.
Idly, she took a bite of the vegetable she'd taken from the garden. Bleh. She barely tolerated broccoli even when it was cooked.
Five minutes. Her target hadn't moved. It was, after all, a building. You wouldn't know it to look at it, but there was a jeweller's workshop on the upper floor. One of those bespoke places, the only signal it existed was a discreet sign by the front door. Rumour had it that they had natural diamonds in there. Chandra wasn't too sure about that – everyone knew there weren't any natural diamonds left in the city – but a sample would make a great addition to her collection anyway.
“The inner barrier will now deactivate,” the announcement recited. “Please make sure the streets are clear of monsters and take care on your way home.”
Time to go. Chandra swung across the street and landed on the windowsill opposite. The windows were locked shut, of course, but the upstairs ones weren't so secure. She unsheathed one of her hook-claws and slid it under the window pane. A little jiggling and she'd managed to hook the latch. Carefully, she pulled the window open and climbed in.
It was dark inside without the glow of the barrier, and she didn't dare turn the lights on, but Chandra's night vision had always been pretty good. There was the workbench, up by the next window – the jeweller hadn't left any projects out, it seemed. Ah well, more fun this way.
A cabinet of little drawers stood next to it. She pulled out a few. Some fiddly little tools, some raw materials, a couple of uncut gems – nothing that really stood out to her, although she did take a little pair of pliers. A desk by the other wall had untidy paperwork on it. Boring! But under the desk was a metal box with a serious-looking lock on it. Now there's something...
She untransformed, and pulled her pack of lockpicks out of her pocket. She knew her way around these kind of locks. All she'd need was a few minutes.
Some careful scraping and tugging later, the lock finally yielded, and she opened the box. There was some assorted cash in there; Chandra didn't want any of that. But under it, four jewellery boxes.
Something caught her ear. Very faintly, distantly – the sound of footsteps. Crap, someone must live here! Quickly, she grabbed the first jewellery box and opened it. Inside was a beautiful golden ring, exquisitely decorated, with three diamonds set in. She couldn't tell if they were artificial, but she didn't really care either, it was beautiful. She stuffed the box in her pocket and closed the box – no time to re-lock it, she had to get out of there. She grabbed her picks and transformed.
She was just managing to get out of the window when the door opened. Before the resident could get a good look at her, The Raccoon grappled the edge of the rooftop and swung out of sight.
From atop the roof, she scanned the streets. Good, no other girls were around right now. A hop across the rooftop and she'd be indistinguishable from any other magical girl heading home after a night on the front. And no one had seen her!
From the rooftop garden, a small purple fly watched, unnoticed.
Forty-Two had already set off for school by the time Steffi left, and she didn't see any sign of her on the way. Good, at least that meant she was out of her hair for once. Steffi had barely had a moment to herself since she moved in.
But that wasn't right, was it? Forty-Two had kept to herself for the most part. After showing her around the house, Steffi had barely seen her. But her presence was everywhere. It was like it wasn't her home any more!
But it wasn't Forty-Two's home either. She'd just turned up, with nothing but the clothes on her back and nowhere else to go. Her room didn't have any of her stuff in it. She didn't know what snacks she could help herself to. She probably didn't even know how the shower worked. And Steffi had just been a huge butt to her, hadn't she? Under that fixed smile, how was she actually feeling? No wonder she'd been avoiding her.
Steffi punched her leg. This was no way for a hero to treat someone in need! She owed Forty-Two an apology.
Just as soon as she could find her.
The two girls didn't share any classes – Steffi didn't think she'd ever even seen her before yesterday. She couldn't find her at lunch either. By the time the bell rang at the end of the day, she was starting to wonder if Forty-Two even came to this school, despite wearing the uniform.
She was surprised to find her dad waiting by the school gates.
“Papi?” She asked. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, hi there Steffi. I was... actually here to pick Forty-Two up. We're going clothes shopping.”
“Oh,” Steffi said. “Well, I haven't seen her all day. Are you sure she's even coming here?”
“Well, yes. She has been for years.”
“Well I've never seen her here. And I was looking for her today!”
“Hello Mister Frohlich,” came her voice from behind.
Steffi grumbled under her breath. Of course she'd turn up right now.
“Forty-Two-” she started to say.
“I am very sorry for troubling you both,” Forty-Two said. “Shall we get going?”
“Yeah, okay,” said Heinrich. “I'll see you at home, Steffi?”
Steffi crossed her arms and pouted.
They'd been gone for hours. It was already half past seven, and Steffi was getting hungry. Lunch was a long time ago now. How long does it take to buy some clothes? She could get away with just one outfit 'til the weekend, surely? She'd tried to distract herself with homework, and that was all done now. Her teachers probably wouldn't believe that she'd actually finished it, for once. But her desire to patch things up with her new housemate was running into the limits of her patience.
At long last, she heard the door open, and rushed down to greet them. Forget Forty-Two, what she really wanted now was dinner.
“Papi!” She cheered at her father. “What took you so long? I'm starving!”
“Starving?” Her dad said. “Didn't you see my note? We already ate, there's food for you in the fridge.”
He might as well have thrown a brick at her. Mortified, Steffi rushed to the kitchen to see a neatly written note posted to the fridge door. Yep, there it was – her dad had said he was going to eat with Forty-Two in town and to heat her own food. She opened it to find a packaged ready meal.
Incensed, Steffi slammed the food into the microwave, hammered randomly at the buttons until it turned on, and stormed back to her room. What the hell! How could he do that to her? Leaving his own daughter hungry while he takes some random out shopping! Surely he could have guessed she wouldn't bother to check the kitchen!
Forty-Two quietly stepped in holding a neatly-folded school uniform.
“What,” Steffi demanded.
“Thank you for lending me this outfit,” Forty-Two said crisply. She placed the bundle gently on Steffi's desk and quickly left the room before she could outstay her welcome.
After a few minutes, Steffi finally emerged to retrieve her food from the microwave, bringing it back up to her room. She didn't want to see anyone right now. Still grumpy and ashamed about missing Papi's note, she swept the returned clothes to the floor, where all her dirty laundry was kept. Something in the pile crinkled unexpectedly. Looking down, there was a sheet of newspaper tucked between her blazer and skirt.
Steffi picked it up and read the headline.
“MIDNIGHT JEWELRY HEIST”, it read. And below it, “Could the infamous “Raccoon Thief” be a magical girl?”
Steffi's eyes gleamed. All her upset was immediately forgotten. She held the page up high and cheered.