Muriel and Jenny had arrived at the vacant lot in Muriel's own car, so as not to draw attention, but the policewoman had brought her sidearm and radio, just in case. She stepped out first and had a look around, keeping a hand down by her holster.
It looked much like any other long-vacant lot; large areas of densely-packed soil with a little grass, and corners piled up with old debris and weedy overgrowth. There wasn't any visible sign of another crack, but the way Jenny was clinging to her made her wonder if there was something a magical girl could sense that she couldn't.
"Are you okay?" she asked. "You look scared."
The young girl nodded. "There's somethin' scary here...I can feel it..."
The little cat-girl thing, Jenny's self-proclaimed mentor, nodded. "Whatever is behind the crack here, it's a higher level than those goons from last time. If it's had the crack open and hasn't attacked, it's probably observing something..."
Muriel frowned. What was here that these things would want to spy on? "Are you sure there's a crack here?" she asked. "I don't see anything..."
Jenny nodded. "It's here...I just wanna make it go away..."
Muriel nodded. "Of course you do. But I want to have a look around and make sure it's-" She stopped, catching a movement off in one corner of the lot. "Stay here," she whispered. Jenny let go of her arm, reluctantly, and she slowly walked towards the movement.
She stopped when she came in sight of a fox-woman, no taller than Jenny, in a business dress. "Who are you?" she asked, a little tersely.
Jay looked the woman up and down. Mostly human with splotches of armor plating, and bug-like antennae...a strange sight, but not the strangest she'd seen. "Jay Warner," she said. "I'm with channel 7. You must be Officer Walsh; Toby said she was going to call you. Is that Jenny?"
Muriel frowned. Stupid nosy news types...but she seemed harmless. "Yes," she said. "That is Jenny. What are you doing here? Going to try and get another invasion for a story?"
Jay sighed. "No, I'm following up on something else. I think one of your 'numbers' has been here recently, and I'd like to find her. I gather it's kind of important."
"Her?" Muriel asked. "How do you know it's a girl?" But if one of these others had been here...that would explain what the enemies were hoping to observe.
Jay chuckled. "Let's just say I saw it on TV. Unfortunately, I can't follow the scent far enough to find her...I might just have to canvass the neighborhood."
"Huh. Well, just stay back; I don't know if anything's going to come out when Jenny tries to close off their peep-hole."
Jay nodded and retreated to the far corner of the lot. Muriel returned to her ward. "Okay, Jenny," she said. "It's safe. Go to it."
Jenny nodded and began to count to four. The rhythm took over and she began her dance. Jay watched with interest as a stiff breeze whipped at her clothes, sweeping them into new shapes like a mixer beating egg whites. She felt a brief pang of nostalgia, like someone recalling the strains of an old familiar song.
The end result was hardly Sailor Moon, though. Jenny now wore a white coat with four tails over a light grey dress, wth long stockings and charcoal grey shoes. Her crisp, snowy hair was, as before, divided into two front locks and two long braids in the back, but now they were held in place by golden barrettes with a symbol of two perpendicular lines crossing. Four quadrilateral wing shapes of bright white light hovered behind her back.
Muriel stood ready with her gun drawn, wondering why that cat-thing - what was its name? - hadn't given the kid some kind of magic weapon yet. But Jenny was apparently able to seal off the microscopic crack without anything coming after her. She breathed a sigh of relief as Jenny finished and returned to normal.
The girl ran back to her side,and she smiled; the way Jenny stuck to her, it was like she had an adorable, shy ten-year-old for a shadow. "You did good," Muriel said, squeezing her shoulder. Jenny beamed.
"She's right," Jay said, sauntering up. "Not a lot of girls your age would face something like this so easily."
"W-well, I was pretty scared..." Jenny said.
Muriel nodded. "Of course you were. But you didn't let it get in your way, and that's the important part." She turned to Jay. "Look, as long as I've got you here...you haven't gotten any tips on anyone going missing in the warehouse district, have you? We're still trying to get a positive ID on Jenny here, but we're coming up with absolutely squat."
Jay thought for a minute, then shook her head. "Sorry, no. As long as I've got you here, we're trying to put together a story on the Anderson Collins trial, and it's my understanding that he hired a, uh, high-ranking professional for the job; anything you can tell me about that? Off the record, of course."
Muriel snorted. "I wish. The 'professional' in question is an expert at switching identities; we're not even sure who he was 'doing business as,' let alone who he really is. And he caught wind of us long before we got to his hideout; wherever the bas-" She caught herself; there was a child present. "Uh, wherever he's hiding now, he hasn't made so much as a peep since Collins's arrest."
Jay nodded. "I see. Well, thanks anyway. Jenny, it was nice to meet you, and thank you for doing such a good job."
Jenny blushed. "Um, nice t'meet you too!" she said. "Bye!"
Toby sighed, helping her wife-turned-husband clean up the supper stuff. The sun was down by now, and Charlie and Anna had headed off to school, starting their day just as their parents were finishing theirs.
She knew that it was only sensible for the kids to be going to night school, but...it was hard; having their children on a schedule offset twelve hours from theirs left them preciously little time together. It almost made her wish they'd...no.
No, she wouldn't wish that on her kids just for her own sake. She was old enough that her self-image was defined more by her actions and relationships than her physical shape, but for kids their age, when even the body's natural changes brought confusion and stress...
"Hey," Terri said. "What're you thinking about?"
"The kids," she said. "I wish we had them around more..."
Terri nodded. "I know what you mean," he said. "It's going to be hard having both of us on day time and them at night..."
They stood there for a moment; then Terri wrapped his arms around his wife's waist. "You know," he said, "we could have a couple more..."
Toby gaped. She...she hadn't thought of that. The possibility simply had not entered her mind. It was true, but...even now, she couldn't wrap her head around it. "W-what?"
Terri grinned, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "Hey," he said, "I put in my two pregnancies, it's only fair that you do the same."
Toby caught his look and smiled in spite of her confusion; she'd always loved Terri's sense of humor, and this - what a whopper of a joke. Still, there was a certain part of her mind that found the idea... "Mm, you've got me there," she said, winking as she pressed against him. "But maybe not just yet?"
He nodded. "Maybe not just yet..."
Lisa sighed. It was 12:30 and she'd just got back to her apartment for the first time in two days. She'd had to pull long shifts now and again all throughout her career, but now she was having to time things so that she got back under cover of darkness, or else sleep at the station.
She was sick of it. Maybe it was S.A.D. getting to her, but she was just so tired of having her life ruled by the sun but never feeling its warmth, never getting to do anything outside because it was too dark, and only seeing her transformed friends for brief periods unless she had slept at the station.
Part of her mind told her to slow down and think rationally about all this, don't be too hasty, there's no second chance, but she was done with this. She grabbed her bedclothes and stepped out onto the balcony, setting up a makeshift cot on the reclining lawn chair and trying to get to sleep in the cool night air. Whatever awaited her in the morning, it couldn't be worse than living in the dark.
