Chapter 91: First Patrol.

There was something surreal about the city at night. The wisps of fog that rolled along the ground. The heaviness in the air that pressed on the shoulders. The feeling of being watched, hunted.

In some ways, it reminded me of the times I had lived in poorer neighborhoods. Or when I had to work in less than stellar places. In other ways, it felt nothing alike. The fog was clearly alive. Clinging to the tires of my car, rushing to avoid the beams of my headlights.

Inside the car, I felt like I was a whole world away. Even here though, I couldn’t escape that surreal air. Especially since, I wasn’t alone. In the passenger seat, was one of my two knights. Luna, and in the back was Estrella. They were on the taller end, but they weren’t built like Cobalt had been, which allowed them to slide into my aged vehicle. Inside the trunk were their weapons.

In my peripheral vision, I caught Luna reaching and messing with the rearview mirror. Whenever I looked over, their hand would snap back to their lap, as if they had done nothing. At the back, Estrella was no less a problem as they messed with the window crank. Like two children in a car, unfamiliar with their surroundings. Making it all too difficult to focus on the road.

It didn’t take very long to find a place to park or find the meeting place. I arrived early. The sun had only just begun to set, and yet, the fog was already beginning to roll in. A glance at my watch showed that time was slowly stretching. Parts of a second, that slowly grew. Just as the sun hit the horizon line, a final blast of sunlight washed over the fog, pushing it back, if only slightly.

Not a moment later, the last ray of sunlight faded away, plunging me into darkness. The fog pressed in, my ears popped. The world beneath my feet seemed to shift, the surroundings grew and twisted. The side street I was standing in, expanded, the buildings towered into the sky. The numerous statues and gargoyles adorning the buildings looked gnarled and dangerous. Their eyes gleaming as if alive.

“I see you made it here on time and it seems you brought friends.” A voice cut through the fog. Wearing her police uniform, Taylor came in, with the new recruit beside her. Neither looked out of place here, even in their police uniforms.

“Couldn’t be late to my first patrol and you never said I couldn’t.”

“No, I didn’t.” Taylor replied back, with a bit of bite. “Regardless, the task is easy. You’ll be given an assignment, typically over the phone of what streets we want you to walk. Simply walk the route a few times and clear out any monsters you see. If you find a civilian, escort them to safety if possible.”

“Safety as in?” I ask.

“A building, indoors preferably where they can wait out the night. If you’re worried about your identity getting out, don’t. Unless you give them your name, they’ll typically forget you, come morning. If you do give them your name, they’ll just think they had a bad nightmare. It’s not complicated.”

“And what if it’s not possible?”

“Then don’t waste your time. We don’t pay extra for saving civilians, and its entirely up to your discretion if you do or don’t.”

“And where are we patrolling? Am I going alone?” I ask.

“We’re not here to help, but we will be following you. Not unless something wild happens. We’re just here to observe and see if you can or cannot handle this on your own. As for the task, we need you to walk these streets.” She points and gives me some basic instructions. It was a simple loop, though, with how the road had expanded, a single block might as well have been many.

“I can handle that. Should I start then?”

“That would be great.” Taylor said, her tone as caustic as ever. Any retort I had died well before it got anywhere near my tongue. Instead, I summoned my rifle and loaded up. I didn’t bother transforming, rather, I wasn’t sure I could last the whole patrol if I did transform. I only had one session with Éclair, and I was going to need a lot more training before I could even efficiently use my uniform.

Hopefully, I won’t need it tonight.

Without any fanfare, we started. Estrella and Luna took the front, with me just slightly behind. At the far back, Taylor was walking beside the new recruit, Mori. Though quickly, their figures vanished from view.

The streets were empty. Our footfalls echoed ominously. The air itself seemed to breathe around us, making it difficult to discern what was real, and what wasn’t. Minutes ticked on before we encountered our first foe.

Scratching at a door, with long, knife-like claws. A hunched figure, with a humanoid appearance stood. The moment we approached, I shot at the monster. The bullet struck but didn’t hit anything vital. The monster reared back, claws glistening in the night, but before it could even swing, my knights crashed into it. Their blades swung down from above, bashing into the creature, over and over.

I watched as the pair beat the monster down with their blades’ blunt edge. Up until it became nothing more than a pile of meat. They swung their swords, more like a pair of thugs with an iron pipe and most definitely not a knight with a sword. Lacking any decorum, or grace.

I could feel Taylor’s gaze on me from further back even if I couldn’t see her, but I didn’t say anything. I just ejected the spent casing, letting it clatter to the ground before chambering a new round and continuing my patrol.

The monsters had a theme. Mutated beasts, whose origins could be guessed at a glance. Rats, dogs, cats, and whatever else may have called a crowded city home. The magic in the air, the fog, having twisted them, made them far stronger than their unmutated kin. They tended to look alike, with small differences between them. They also did not look kindly at different species, fighting over food and the likes, however when presented with a better meal, in the form of a magical girl and her knights, they would unite.

The oddest bunch, were the former humans. Twisted into shadowy figures, hunched, bloated, with long arms and short legs, fingers like knives, unhinged jaws, misshapen heads, were just a few of the oddities. Each human twisted slightly differently, nothing like the shades of the sewers and the waterworks below.

In some ways, they had more resemblance to nightmares than living humans. Even as twisted as they were.

Regardless, they all died the same. As we pressed through, the more came. Sensing perhaps, the shifting fog, or smelling the blood in the air. When dead, their corpses were swallowed and dissipated into the fog. Oddly, the more we killed, the more the fog thinned out.

Where the fog was thickest, stronger monsters lay. Where it was thinner, the weaker they were and lesser in number. As we continued onward, Neither Taylor nor Mori had to get involved, both were silent and judging as I worked my way through.

My bullets sang, punching through mutated flesh with ease. My knights bashed and stabbed with their blades. The occasional monster that came to close, was cut open by my bayonet, or had their skulls bashed in with the butt of my rifle.

It was all too easy, even with the occasional bronze rank monster tearing out of an alley, fog clinging to their form, as if it had literally just been birthed from its depths. As we neared the end of our patrol, I couldn’t help but speak up. Not for the first time ejecting a spent casing, listening to that crystalline ting as it hit the concrete.

“Is there a reason you don’t like me?” I asked, my words directed towards where I felt Taylor’s gaze. Since I had first met her, she had been hostile. “I don’t think I’ve done anything to harm you, or the police department.”

There wasn’t an immediate response, nor any warning when her voice came from right behind me, nearly scaring me out of my skin. “No, you haven’t.” She replied back, calmly, “But that doesn’t mean I have to accept you.” She continues.

“Does this involve Grim?” I ask, knowing that was one of the possible reasons, or perhaps… “Or is it due to my connection with Éclair?”

“Both are problematic. That wild dog is more trouble than she’s worth and has caused far too much trouble for this city.”

“I’m assuming that her restoring the city wasn’t enough?”

“Hardly.” She says with a notable huff. “If anything, that was the absolute minimum she could have done. After all, leading up to that fateful battle, she had caused no end of trouble for us and the citizens of this city. Merely restoring the city, and the lives of those lost in that apocalyptic blast would never make up for what had happened.” She said, though, there was something else in her tone I couldn’t quite place.

“She told me she still had enemies. Which is why she lives in the lower quarter.” I say after a momentary pause.

“Saying she had enemies would be putting it lightly. There are a number of magical girls that would do anything to have her head. The most prominent being the head of the women’s shelter in town.”

“And not the head of the Dragon Gang?”

“Lucre cares little for the past. He has his men keeping an eye out for her because the girl is a walking jinx. Wherever she goes, trouble always follows.”

I said nothing to that, though maybe Taylor wasn’t wrong. Trouble did seem to be attracted to Éclair. “And what of Grim? Does she have a bad reputation?”

“Grim’s reputation is spotless.” Taylor replies with firm conviction. “She is a role model for the station, and for the people as well. She routinely goes above and beyond to serve the community and beyond.”

“That’s rather high praise. So, then I’m the issue, is it?” I ask, not bothering to look back. My eyes alert and stuck fast to the path before me.

“That you are. I know Grim, we all know her. Not everyone thinks the same, but I know that Grim has a habit of fixating on a certain type of person.”

“And what kind of person is that?”

“Someone lost. Floundering in the dark, searching for a path forward.”

I let those words sink in. Was I lost? Perhaps. Even if I had a goal, Grim was like a shining star. A burning sun that sought to bleach away all the darkness of the world. At least, that was what I felt whenever I met her. Like she was trying to make a difference. To change a fundamental law of the universe.

Even now, I felt envy for her conviction.

On processing all of that, I spoke up, “I suppose, it never ends well?”

Taylor shakes her head, a sigh leaves her lips. “No, it does not. Every time she fixates on someone, it always ends the same. With her burned.”

“And you think I’m the same? That I’ll end up hurting her?” I say.

“I know you will.”

Again, I paused. The surety in her tone wasn’t something I could take lightly. A quick glance back, and I could tell Taylor wasn’t lying. Her eyes were focused on me, before shifting back to keeping an eye out for trouble. At her side, Mori was keeping his mouth shut, but I could see his stance firm up slightly, his hands clenched at his side.

“I don’t think your wrong.” I inevitably said, my feet came to a stop. I turned to face Taylor. “She is a burning pyre, a shining beacon in some ways. Those who approach her like moths to the flame, inevitably burning themselves in her fire.”

Taylor’s features soften slightly at my words. “So, you realize that much?”

“How could I not?” I say back. My thoughts ring back to the most recent fight. How burnt out she seemed when I found her, and yet, how her eyes still burned. Grim, had conviction. Her eyes ever set forward, and yet, even then, she did not hesitate to lend out a hand in aid. That, and the conviction she held when she told me of her goals, to go against even the mascots.

In many ways, I was inferior to her. I knew this, envied that. A part of me wished that I could be like her, so firm in my way of life that I could walk forward with my head held high like she does. The more I interact with her, the more I know that our ways of life, that our goals were not entirely aligned.

For now, we were allies, but I just knew, that eventually, inevitably, that we would be on opposite sides of a conflict. That I would be forced to fight her. I also knew, without a doubt that when that happens, it would hurt her.

“I never wanted to be associated with her.” I say, more of a slip of the tongue than anything I meant to voice. “When I first saw her, I knew she was trouble, but fate has other plans it seems. Our paths keep crossing against my will, and each time it feels like our bond grows, slowly, but explosively.”

Each word I say, I could tell, fills Taylor with growing frustration. Her mouth moved as if to say something, only to clamp it shut. Her eyes avoid my own.

“In the end, against my own will, I worry for her.” I finally say. Grim has helped me too much. All throughout my life, people who have helped me ended up as mere stepping stones for me…

Surely, this was a new life. A new chance. Surely, the cycle must be broken, perhaps? It really was all I could hope for…

Though, when we inevitably did fight, I couldn’t help but wonder… would she be able to pull me out of the icy depths? Or would I drag her down with me? It could even end in mutually assured destruction. She seemed the type.

“She has that effect on people…” Taylor says. Her voice wavered ever so slightly. She lowered the cap of her uniform, to block her eyes a beat. A moment passed, then the surrounding fog stirred.

The fog thickened rapidly, and a number of monstrosities tore out of the fog fearlessly, with murder in their eyes. They came too fast. In an instant they had closed the distant between them and the knights, their claws and teeth, ready to scrape the ice of their shields…

Then there was a snap. The snap of a line. All at once, I saw a sliver of light run across my vision, followed by a crack, and the sickening sound of flesh being torn. The alley was filled with red. The monsters vaporized into bloody mist, leaving behind only the smallest chunks of meat.

I stared as silver wires danced before me, before floating off like strands of silk in the wind.

“Consider us even.” Taylor said, adjusting her cap.

“It can be a start.” I reply, and she laughs in turn.

“Very well, how about this. You’re learning under Éclair, is that right?”

“I am. I was training with her just yesterday on how to better manage my transformation.”

“Sounds about right, if you hadn’t had any training, you would’ve transformed right away. A lot of magical girls, after their debut don’t quite realize how taxing the transformation is. Not only that, but it does take time to learn how to manage it properly.”

I nod along, not quite sure where this was going.

“I’m sure Éclair will teach you this eventually, but there is a way to speed up the transformation.”

“Gold coins, right?” I say, ask.

“Yes, you can use a gold coin for a special perk, but it’s not an effective use of a coin. Especially when you consider that each subsequent perk gets more expensive. Instead, when you’re transforming, focus on your magic and let it circulate through her body. It’ll take about half your reserves, but the transformation will be instant. Good for when you’re in a pinch.”

“That is valuable information.” I say.

“Isn’t it? It’s more of an emergency option, and typically if you’re caught outside your transformation, it’s better to flee. Now, feel free to lay claim to all the bronze coins. You won’t get paid for this patrol, but whenever you complete a patrol in the future, just head over to the station and we’ll get you sorted out.”

“I passed then?”

“Easily, especially if you can bring more familiars with you. Future patrols will tend to go like this one, just keep going until the mist thins out. Once done, just head home. It shouldn’t take long.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, and… I suppose that I can forgive you for being so rude.” I say, and she smirks in response.

“Good, but we aren’t friends, understood?”

“Of course.”

With that, we shared another short look, followed by a nod and separated. I looked around and, true to her words, the fog had significantly dissipated. Enough that I could even see where I had parked from here. The streets had mostly returned to their original form, along with the surrounding buildings.

With the coins I had received, a pretty sum for what was a normal patrol, my finances were secured for the time being…

Still, getting into my car, my mind was on a whole other subject. After all, tomorrow, I needed to figure out what I was going to do with the body in my cold storage.