Emma's repairs finished quickly. Ayane was found by a slightly panicked nurse soon afterwards, and given a vigorous scolding for running off. The group had a good laugh at Ayane's expense, before dispersing to leave Emma and Ayane in the hands of the medical personnel.
The two of them were quickly herded off to separate places. Both had mandatory psychiatric evaluations to attend, but Emma went to be debriefed first. She and Ayane bid each other farewell, then went their separate ways.
Emma's debriefing was several hallways over, in a sparsely furnished but well lit room. One of the intelligence officers from Division HQ greeted her as she entered, and quickly began sending a battery of questions her way. It was a standard physical debriefing, and Emma reported the facts as best she could. It was all saved for later use.
After what felt like an entire eon, Emma was dismissed and sent to her psych eval. She hovered apprehensively outside the door of the consultation room for her appointment, keeping it from opening specifically to put the appointment off a bit longer. It was a bit irrational of her, but for some reason she felt nervous. The only other time she'd been to a psychiatrist had been for her initial evaluation, back when she'd first contracted. She hadn't been nervous then though.
Ugh. Screw it.
Emma keyed the door, then stepped through. The room was small and sparsely decorated, belying its transitory nature. It had been left largely unfurnished, with a pair of comfortable looking armchairs surrounding a table in the center. A small synthesizer stood at the end for any drinks that might be asked for.
"Uh, hello," said Emma, closing the door behind her. It sealed out the noise in the hallway quite well.
"Hello," said the psychiatrist with a smile. She was part of the MHD as a matter of course. "How are you? Please, have a seat. My name is Jessica Valenti."
"I'm uh, I'm doing alright," said Emma as she sat across from Jessica.
"That's good," said Jessica. "Would you like anything to eat or drink?"
"Um, could I have a cup of tea, actually?" asked Emma.
"Sure," said Jessica. "You're British, so you'd want an English Cuppa, right? Tea from that one particular blend and milk?"
"Oh, yes, and two sugars please," said Emma, pleasantly surprised. "A Cuppa" was a British anachronism. She hadn't expected someone to randomly know what that was.
The synthesizer whirred and extruded two mugs.
"Here's yours," said Jessica. "I like my tea black though."
Emma raised an eyebrow as she took a sip. Mmmm… "It's so bitter though."
"Even if you adjust the strength?" asked Jessica.
"Well then it just gets bland and boring," said Emma. "You can't win with black tea, is what I'm saying here."
"Hmm, I suppose," said Jessica thoughtfully. She took another sip of her tea. "Well, maybe I'm just strange then."
"Mmm. Thanks for the cuppa, though."
"Don't mention it."
The drank in silence for a bit, Jessica apparently waiting for something. Emma stared at the contents of her cup, then looked up and to the left at the corner of the room. Then she looked down at the table, then back to her cup. After a moment, she took a deep breath.
"So, what are we doing today?" Emma asked.
"It's nothing to be worried about," said Jessica. "The MHD just wants a basic diagnostic. I'm sure you're fine, and this will just be a formality."
"Well, what do you need to ask me about?" asked Emma. She bit her lip and looked away. "I uh, I'd like to get this over with."
"Just a few questions about your experiences lately," said Jessica. "Your debrief's covered basic details, of course, but there were a few places I'd like to go over again."
Ah yes. This was the reason Emma had been nervous.
"…might as well get it over with," said Emma finally. She set her tea down and braced herself. "What do you want to talk about?"
"Well, let's start with your decision to have your platoon pull back without you," said Jessica. "It's a very interesting decision. The rationale you've provided makes sense, but can you tell me more about why protecting your platoon is so important to you?"
Emma raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I mean… how could it not be?"
"Can you elaborate?"
"Not really," said Emma, scratching her nose. "I mean, sure, there are times when it's not possible, but shouldn't you do everything you can? Do people think that it's not important?"
"Well, yes," said Jessica. "There are many who'd argue that the survival of a magical girl is worth a platoon of soldiers."
Emma frowned unhappily. "I… guess? In theory? But it's like, you can't just call one girl enough to cover an entire square kilometer. You need more people with experience who know what to do. Especially if you don't have the experience necessary."
"I see. Doesn't that seem kind of denigrating to you?"
"I mean, I'm not going to sugar coat this for myself," said Emma. "You can't do that, especially if you're put in a leadership position with a team to run. If you're not honest with yourself, you're just going to tear the team down."
"Can't you rely on the network's predictions and updates to keep things going?" asked Jessica. "Or even let your warrant officer worry about it all. You're young, as you said."
"I guess I could," said Emma. "But then what's the point of being an officer? I may as well resign and re-enlist as a private."
"You would say, then, that your rank is important to you?"
"I feel like I should act to deserve it, yeah," said Emma. "If you're going to be a leader, then you should lead."
"And do you think you can do that successfully?" asked Jessica.
"No," said Emma. "I mean, well, kind of? But I… I didn't do that great of a job, this time. Like I said, I think that I just don't have enough experience to deal with stuff on the scale of open combat that well. I'll get better though."
"Hm, I see," said Jessica. She blinked thoughtfully. "That's an interesting way of looking at things. Is there anything else you want to add?"
"Umm… not really."
"Alright, we'll move on," said Jessica. "Would you like more tea?"
Emma shook her head, fingering the edge of her hoodie. She suddenly felt like she'd said too much.
"Alright. Well then, next question, can you tell me more about your reaction to finding Third Platoon in the position they had been holding?"
Emma gulped and drank from her mug. She took a long time. Jessica shifting in slight impatience finally prompted her to stop stalling.
"I uh… I was upset," said Emma. "I… I…"
Jessica waited patiently.
"…Can I skip this question?" asked Emma, blinking rapidly. "I'd… I'd rather not talk about it."
"That's fine," said Jessica, nodding. "I will note, however, that most girls find it beneficial to talk about it eventually. Your friends will be more than willing to help, I'm sure, and the MHD is always open to listening."
"I— yeah, okay," said Emma. She licked her lips. "I'm just… I'm not ready yet."
"I understand," said Jessica. "In that case, can you tell me more about working with the Black Parade?"
"Oh, they were pretty cool," said Emma. "Though, I'm not sure how much of their innuendo I should take seriously."
"Like what?"
"Well, Nodoka called Maria the 'team uke'," said Emma. "If you're uh… well uh, it's kind of awkward…"
"I know the term," said Jessica, pressing her lips together firmly. Emma was almost certain the psychiatrist was blushing, but the lighting was just dim enough to make it ambiguous. "I wouldn't think too much of it. MagOps teams can be… unusual."
"I know, right?" asked Emma rhetorically. "Agapita played the bagpipes. It was a little creepy."
"How so?"
"She's got the ability to sort of directly force squid to drop dead or something," said Emma, shivering. "It was kind of cool at the time, but now that I think more about it..."
"Isn't one of your friends a mind controller though?"
"What, Rebecca? Rebecca's different."
"Can you elaborate?"
"I mean, it's a really just sort of a, uh, a tickling feeling," said Emma. "We got bored once and she led me on a dance. Like I said, it sort of tickled. But Agapita's power feels like… well it makes you really happy, I guess."
"Isn't that a… well, not unpleasant thing?"
"Normally, but its more subconscious than Rebecca's powers. You can't really feel Agapita's, and that's kinda freaky."
"I see," said Jessica. "Well, I've not had that experience, but you've taken it in stride it seems. How do you feel about your life in general then?"
"I mean… it could be better," said Emma. "I found out one of my teammates died today. That sucked."
"But overall…?"
"I guess in general, I'm sort of falling into the average newbie, aren't I?" said Emma. "You know, screws up a lot, has to get rescued by older girls, generally behaves unintelligently…"
"Well, all new contractees go through an acclimation period," said Jessica reassuringly. "Don't worry. It will get better."
"I hope so," said Emma. She sighed. "I've been making a right hash of it lately."
Jessica nodded sympathetically. "If it helps, you've been doing much better than I did."
"I mean, not really, but thanks for the sentiment," said Emma. She smiled a little at Jessica. "I measure myself against what I expect from myself is all."
"You're a footballer, if I recall?"
"Yes."
"That would explain a lot then," said Jessica. "Sports people tend to be like that. The drive for self improvement, right?"
"Yeah, exactly," said Emma.
"How do you feel about going back into combat then?" asked Jessica.
"Pretty good, I'd like to get moving," said Emma with a decisive nod. "It's… I dunno, I don't like sitting for too long."
"I understand," said Jessica. "If that's the case, then I think we're done here. I'll see about getting you something to do while the administration spins."
"Do you think, uh, that it's going to be alright?" asked Emma hopefully.
"I do, actually," said Jessica. "You appear to be coping well, even though you've had some trying experiences. The adolescent mind is more malleable and adaptive, so that's to be expected."
Emma grinned as she got up to go. "I'll uh, I'll look forward to my approval for combat duty then."
"Well, don't get your hopes up," said Jessica. "This meeting has been recorded, and someone senior to me will review it. If they decide that I missed something, they'll want to have you do another eval."
"Oh," said Emma, deflating. "I see."
"But we'll see," said Jessica. She sent Emma her contact information. "If you ever want to talk, send me a chat request, okay?"
"Alright," said Emma. Her TacComp filed it away for her. "Thanks, I guess."
"You're very welcome," said Jessica. She gave Emma smile and a handshake. "Have a good day!"
Rapid transit in the redoubt was almost entirely identical to rapid transit on Earth. The only difference was that on Earth, you could see outside. Here, everything was up-armored and windowless in case the squid exploded something nearby. They were also all identical single person pods, since the extra space to have multiple types of vehicle was better utilized by supply drones or reserve materiel storage.
Emma's TacComp pinged, informing her of new situation updates. She told it to bother her later. She had no desire to deal with it right now. It was guaranteed to be unpleasant reading, and after going through debriefing and psych eval, Emma really just wanted to have a nap. Maybe another cup of tea.
She was headed to Residence Block 4E. It had been built just like every other residence block in the redoubt. The entry way was narrow and low ceilinged, only wide enough for four transport pods to drop off their cargo or passengers. According to her TacComp, Emma's entire training cohort had been assigned there, along with a multiplicity of other girls from different units. Emma would be rooming next to Ayane, Varsha, Rebecca, and Renee. The idea, apparently, was that they'd give each other moral support as the fight continued.
The ride was short. Stepping out of her transit pod, Emma was greeted by two large, multi-paneled concrete blocks. Thick enough to withstand an AT Missile, the blocks were large enough to provide cover for several people in case of an attack. The surface of each block had been painted over with graffiti. It ranged from scribbled words of vague legibility to oil paintings, still slightly damp and crafted by a devotee to the art. Both stretched onto the floor and the walls, then reached up to span across the ceiling in a spray of color. Each step taken treaded across a flower or animal or hand or face, all rendered in myriad shapes and colors.
Emma paused to look at one of the paintings. It was a portrait of a magical girl, smiling melancholically at the viewer from the surface of the concrete. Her face was delicately boned, like you would expect of someone from Asiatic descent, but her eyes were a clear and vibrant hazel. Curling brown hair framed her face, and freckles dotted across her nose. The city of Helsinberg could be seen in the background, along with the rest of the valley. It had been rendered as it had been before the war, in full sun from the star overhead. An inscription had been written in the bottom corner:
Ashley Fong
Born: July 17, 2436
Deceased: April 15, 2452
Abruptly, Emma recalled who she was. Ashley had been one of the older contractees in her training cohort. She'd been slated for Magi Caeli training, actually, given her ability to fire streams of plasma out of her hands. Renee had been unspeakably jealous, resulting in not a few spats on the training field. Their instructor had finally banged their heads together and made them get along.
"Did you know her?" asked a passing girl.
"I… not really," said Emma. "She had it out with a friend of mine though."
"Hah, yeah?" said the girl. "Bellamy or whoever?"
"Bellanger," corrected Emma, smiling. She looked over to the other girl. "Renee Bellanger."
"Ah, right," said the girl, who had been identified by Emma's nomenclator as "Elise Mandel", with a shrug. "Ashley used to complain about her all the time. I never understood what the problem was."
"You were friends with Ashley?"
"Yeah," said Elise. She sighed and reached out, brushing her fingers over the face painted onto the cement. "Yeah, I was."
"I'm sorry."
"Thanks."
The two of them stared at Ashley's portrait for a while.
"Well anyway," said the girl. "I need to go. See you around Emma."
"See you, Elise."
Elise wiped her eyes once before she got into her transport pod. Emma sighed again and went up the steps past the concrete blocks. The paint continued, trailing off a few feet from the steps just before reaching a second set of blocks for defense in depth. Past this was a small open space, then the first of many large pillars.
As Emma walked, doors opened to admit or emit a magical girl. Some of them were going to combat duty, either on the surface or for demon patrol. Magical girls were usually kept in reserve, however, so most of the girls were either going to, or coming from, the chuen.
The chuen was the commercial space next to the redoubt's production centers. Most everyone went there in order to relax and hang out with friends. Emma hadn't been by yet, obviously, but her TacComp had helpfully pulled up a catalog as she traveled from her evaluation to Block 4E. There were a variety of bars, restaurants, and coffee or tea houses she could visit. Hell, there was even a library, swimming pool, and a scattering of rentable private rooms.
But for now, as was typical of her, Emma fancied a nap more than anything else. She made her way to the pillar her TacComp had highlighted. The door opened automatically as she approached. A streak of color swung past with a whoosh of rushing air. Emma had a moment to take a breath before the gravity elevator lifted her in and let her drop straight down.
It was an exhilarating ride, heightened by the ability to pinwheel as she wished. The elevator pushed her upright, just before depositing her gently onto the landing of her room cluster.
Each pillar opened onto a hexagonal landing, surrounded by six rooms. Each door was numbered and had the resident labeled holographically on the side. Emma looked around. The first door was Rebecca's, with Varsha's to her left and Renee to her right. Emma followed around to the left, circling past Ayane's room to her own, and then…
…the room belonging to Tracy Geyeller.
Emma stopped short, blinking at the text hovering beside the door next to hers. The text blurred, and Emma hurriedly rubbed at her eyes. The indicator ring just behind the text was red, the room's occupant absent. She must not be out of the hospital yet. A search confirmed this, and said that she'd be elevated from a comatose state in two days, following successful body restoration.
Emma immediately sent a request to attend Tracy's reawakening. There was a momentary delay, before a voice call request came through.
"Hello?" asked Emma, sniffling and wiping her eyes again. Damn.
"Hello, my name is Megan Chavez, I'm a psychiatrist with the MHD," said the girl on the other end. "I just wanted to ask you a few questions about your relationship with Tracy."
Emma narrowed her eyes, confused. "I was her commander during the attack where she lost her body."
"Why do you wish to be at her reawakening?"
"What do you mean?" asked Emma. "Of course I have to be there!"
"That… may not be advisable," said Megan delicately. "While your motivation makes sense at face value, the MHD is very cautious about reawakenings. We would like to ask you a few questions to do a deeper analysis before we approve your request."
Emma flinched. That was- seriously? What, did they think Emma was doing this purely as a formality? She shot the girl herself! She wasn't going to just leave Tracy adrift after doing something like that!
But if Emma had learned anything from working with Ingrid, it'd been how to hold her temper and work the problem, not just yell at it until it stopped being frustrating.
"I understand," Emma managed after a moment. "I… I still want to be there. What questions do you need to ask me to make sure I, uh-."
"Your post-mission evaluator was Jessica Valenti, right?" asked Megan. "I've sent her a notice, and she will make an appointment with you within the next few days."
"Alright," said Emma. She rubbed her nose frustratedly. "I just- I just want to be there, when she wakes up."
"If it doesn't work out," said Megan. "You're allowed to be in the waiting room, where we send her out. It's just the immediate moment after waking that we're cautious about."
"Yeah," said Emma, voice strained. "Yeah, I- thank you for telling me that."
"You're welcome. Have a good day."
"Yeah."
The call ended.
Emma sighed unhappily and let her head clunk against the wall over Tracy's name. Goddess above, that had been annoying. It took a moment, but Emma was able to shove her frustration into a corner of her mind for later disposal.
With a frustrated huff, Emma turned and went into her room. It's interior was plain and laid out in a hexagon the same size as the landing. The walls were the same shade of lime-cheesecake-green that she'd set when she'd just arrived. Emma's backpack and armor plates had been cleaned and stacked to the side.
The majority of the room was taken up by the bed, which started near the center and then extended back towards the far wall and terminated in a table/desk surface. Four drawers were underneath the mattress, allowing her to store whatever she ended up needing to store. The blankets were black, oddly enough, but then black did match any color other than dark navy.
Emma sighed and sat down on the bed, then fell backwards with a thump. She closed her eyes, trying to sleep. That's why she was here, wasn't it?
...nope, not happening. A glance at her chronometer told her that yes, it had, in fact, only been one minute. Emma knew herself well enough to know that this meant she was never going to get to sleep, especially now that she didn't even need to. She sent out a quick telepathic ping.
"Heyhey, didn't you say you were going to bed?" asked Rebecca. "Couldn't sleep?"
"Yeah," said Emma. "I… I had an annoying conversation with an MHD shrink just now. Too annoyed."
"Hehe, well, if you need to blow off some steam~"
"Rebecca," broke in Varsha, sounding extremely unamused. "You are not starting a harem."
"Bleh, you're just jealous."
"Anyway," said Ayane, clearly rolling her eyes from her room. Her tone turned more somber. "Don't you have some stuff to catch up on about your company? I uh… well, I know that the infantry had a bad time of it."
Emma paused. She didn't really want to do that right now, but... "I guess, yeah," she said eventually. "I should do that."
"Do you… want to work on this in a group?" asked Ayane. "The rooms aren't that big, but the news might not be good, so…"
"I'll come find you later, if I need to," said Emma. "Thanks for the offer."
"Yeah. I… good luck."
"Thanks."
Emma licked her lips apprehensively, then opened her update queue. It had been stashed to the side, but now scrolled translucently across the right hand side of her vision.
…Goddess, it'd been complete destruction. C Company was down to only twelve percent of its maximum readiness, with no replacements available to bolster its strength. In fact, the entire 12th Division had effectively disappeared in the fighting. The remainder had been squashed together with the remnants of an armored division to form the 2nd Armored Cavalry Division. It was a frankensteinian thing whose command structure was still being sorted out.
A message caught Emma's eye. "C Company Command Restructuring."
That was… ominous.
Emma opened the update and immediately gasped. Mei Ling had died, burning into oblivion after she managed to stop a squid SpecOps raid on the mobile command post. Fatima was on temporary leave to mourn. She'd been fighting with Mei Ling for nearly a decade by now, it would be more alarming if she hadn't taken the leave.
That left Alanis as the only commanding officer available to lead C Company, meaning that Emma and Emily were the only magical girls on standby. Tracy was apparently going to be assigned as further fire support within a week, but Emma and Emily might be asked to block an enemy attack or something in that interim.
Of the mundanes under the command, the ranks had been filled with militia replacements. Their equipment was outdated, their training adequate, but their experience minimal. It was a far cry from the disciplined and well equipped troops that Ingrid had been working with, a few… a few days ago.
Goddess, they were falling like… hell, flies had a longer lifespan than the soldiers on Samsara.
Emma swallowed back rising anxiety. It would be fine. Or, well, it would probably not, but it wasn't as if magic could raise the dead. Emma would probably not even get much time to interact with the soldiers that were technically under her command, since they'd probably be deployed on the surface while she stayed down here, so she shouldn't worry about it too much.
…Dammit, now she felt guilty. Because if she was on the surface, maybe she could help, but no that was stupid. It was a waste, a massive waste, of her powers to just throw them about willy nilly. And the infantry had an experienced officer to lead them up there anyway. It would be-
"Hey, guys?" asked Emma, quickly sitting upright on her bed. "You, uh, feel like a vid or something down at the theater?"
"Sure, I'll come," said Ayane immediately.
"It is pretty boring in here anyway," said Renee. "Have you seen that new vid about the Shizuki and the Kuroi?"
"Oh Goddess, is it one of those horrible sappy romances?" asked Emma, laughing. "Am I allowed to laugh if we see it?"
"Hey, I like those movies!" scolded Rebecca.
"Do you want to go over anything?" asked Varsha cautiously. "If you want, I can help."
"Nah, it's fine," said Emma, pushing cheer into her telepathy. "I uh, I'd rather not dwell too long on it, when I'm not on duty. Thanks though."
"Okay," said Varsha. "We'll meet you up top?"
"Sure," said Emma. She headed out of her room, Ayane and Renee leaving almost simultaneously. The three of them lingered before the elevator. "Uh, any particular reason you two will be slower?"
"Our hair's stuck," said Varsha with a sigh. "Knots, you know."
Emma glanced at Renee and Ayane, all three of them grinning. "You sure you don't need any help?"
"No, thank you," said Varsha flatly.
Stifled laughter. "Right. We'll see you up top."
