CHAPTER 4:
LEONINE CONTRACT(1)
Mami Tomoe, to put it mildly, was not a happy girl. Oh, she put a brave face on it, smiling a lot of the time, and her expression was almost always serene and calm, but when you looked at her eyes, she always seemed on the verge of tears. And to tell the truth, she had very good reason to. For Mami Tomoe was a Magical Girl.
The circumstances under which she became a Magical Girl are worth noting here, as they betray the malign nature of the Incubators, beneath their supposed noble goals and detachment. While they generally do not offer their Contracts under duress, they are not above doing so, albeit opportunistically. In short, while they generally would not actively put a candidate for becoming a Magical Girl into a situation where they needed to become one in order to survive, they didn't hesitate to take advantage of such opportunities.
Mami Tomoe was one of these unlucky few. Kyubey had been observing her for some time, and had even approached the girl once to offer her the deal. She asked to think it over, only to get involved in a car crash. Her parents died instantly. Mami was dying. And Kyubey offered her a wish: she would survive, in exchange for becoming a Magical Girl.
It was a Leonine contract. One where the choices were to die immediately, or die later, fighting a Witch. And that was without even considering the fact that Magical Girls were doomed to become Witches if they did not die in battle, though Mami was ignorant of this fact. Indeed, most Magical Girls were. Then again, if they did learn, in all likelihood, the despair would drive them to become Witches, or else take drastic measures.
In another timeline, Mami, upon hearing the truth from a well-meaning Homura (early on in her attempts to change Madoka's fate), snapped. She didn't become a Witch, but she murdered her fellow Magical Girls, trying to prevent them from becoming Witches the only way she thought she could. She had been stopped, but Homura had decided long ago that Mami was beyond saving. And the girl's serene attitude, masking her fragile state, had begun to wear on Homura. Then again, everything in the time loop had begun to wear on Homura now.
Save for Madoka.
However, such weariness and familiarity had not affected Moni. True, he did have a weariness about him, from long experience, and so many battles. But he also believed, fervently, that every Magical Girl could be potentially saved. Sometimes, he failed, and there wasn't a damn thing that he could do about it. But it mattered that he tried.
At least, that's what he told himself.
So it was by staggering coincidence that the two met. Moni had sensed the approach of a Soul Gem, and thus a Magical Girl, and so decided to intercept her. He hadn't realised that it was Mami Tomoe until he saw her, and realised she matched Homura's description. She stank of the Incubators' curse.
Blonde hair, yellow eyes, and a sad smile. Quite pretty, too. Dressed in the uniform of the local high school, rather than her Magical Girl costume. Moni reviewed what Homura had told him. Mami's magic revolved around using magical guns, mostly gigantic flintlock rifles, along with her ribbons. She was a good fighter, true, but there were occasions where her veneer of confidence proved her undoing in other timelines.
He needed close contact with the Soul Gem in order to determine her state fully, and unlike Homura, he intended to do so covertly. He also intended to expand the capacity of her Soul Gem covertly.
So, how to do this?
Moni hit upon a plan. He'd used it before. The Slip, Trip, and Flip. As they neared each other, Moni deliberately tripped himself up. He plunged with a yelp towards Mami, knocking her down to the ground. As they did so, Moni activated a special BTC ability to send the Soul Gem flying from where she kept it. Then, they were both on the ground, thankfully not entangled. That would have made things considerably more awkward.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Moni groaned, getting up off the ground.
"It's okay," Mami said, before she realised the Soul Gem was gone. "Oh no! Excuse me, Mr…"
"Moni."
"Moni, I dropped a precious jewel of mine," she said in a quite understandable panic. "Egg-sized and shaped, yellow in colour. It's…precious to me!"
Moni nodded. The BTC spell would stop her from being able to see it for a time, giving him enough time to find it (he had seen it plunge into some nearby bushes), but also to make the necessary modifications.
After some play-acting of searching the bushes near the Soul Gem, he found it, and carefully examined it. As Homura had explained, Mami had a certain fragility and sorrow to her that could be dangerous. And the capacity of her Soul Gem was somewhat lower than the norm. But there was still a strength there that shouldn't be underestimated.
BTC: Soul Expansion, he chanted to himself. The capacity of the Soul Gem increased. Not as much as it had done for Homura, but now Mami had a better chance of survival.
"Here it is!" he said, handing the Soul Gem over. "Sorry about that," he said, rubbing the back of his head in a display of faux-sheepishness.
"It's okay," Mami said, taking the Soul Gem back without any rancour or anger.
Now, could he risk something? Yes. Maybe he could. "Umm, excuse me…was that a Soul Gem?"
This certainly surprised her. "How do you know?"
"I…used to know a Magical Girl elsewhere," he said, once more sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "Unfortunately, well, we didn't get along well. I only recently transferred here."
"I'm surprised," Mami said, peering at him curiously (but without suspicion, he hoped). "It's usually only Magical Girls and potential Magical Girls who know."
"Yeah, well, what can I say?" Moni said, laughing nervously. "Sorry, I didn't mean to pry."
"That's okay," Mami said. "Are you coming to our school?"
"Probably. I might see you there. Be seeing you," he said, putting his index finger and thumb together, making a hole that he put to his eye, only to wave it away in a salute. Seeing her dumbfounded expression, he sighed. "Never mind.(2)"
Kyubey was relieved (or at least the nearest equivalent to a being like Kyubey) when Mami finally arrived. Kyubey sensed trouble, though. "What's the matter, Mami?" Kyubey asked in its high-pitched, androgynous voice.
"Hmm? Oh, I bumped into someone, a boy my age. I don't know how, but I lost my Soul Gem. He found it, and…well, he knew what it was, Kyubey."
He? A human teenaged male knew what a Soul Gem was? It wasn't unheard of: occasionally, boyfriends of Magical Girls found out about their girlfriends' double lives, and sometimes wished to help. Kyubey knew that this was potentially disastrous, given that its scheme relied on secrecy, but the emotional bonds of humans helped keep that secrecy, and a boyfriend killed by a Witch or its Familiars often proved a vital catalyst for turning a Magical Girl into a Witch. Even so, Kyubey knew of no such cases at this moment. "Did he give his name, Mami?" Kyubey asked.
"No. He was a bit weird. Left after doing this weird salute, and said, 'Be seeing you'," Mami related.
Kyubey's face was rather unexpressive, which was just as well, as Mami would have noticed the frown of thought had it been capable of frowning. As part of their plan, the Incubators infiltrated and observed the popular culture and tropes of this world's storytelling media. Some TV series other than those relating to their plan proved…diverting, even amusing in ways that the Incubators were loath to admit they had the capacity for any more.
Kyubey was one part of a hive mind, and it was from another part of that hive mind that he knew that the phrase came from a subversive television series originating in the United Kingdom. Curious that a Japanese boy would use a phrase and a salute from this very series. Not completely unheard of, but there was something itching at Kyubey's mind about it.
"He did say," Mami added, breaking Kyubey out of its reverie, "that he'd be at my school. A transfer student, probably, as I've never seen him before. He seems like a foreigner. He seemed to speak with a British accent."
A Japanese speaking with a British accent? Not out of the realms of possibility, and it might explain the phrase and salute, but there were few Magical Girls in Britain at the moment.
Of course, that didn't exclude another possibility. That the operation here had been discovered by those opposing the Incubators. There was that surge of artron energy earlier. And perhaps that lamp case housing falling on it may not have been an accident.
Kyubey didn't know for sure whether this newcomer was an active threat, or merely a potential one. Either way, threats had to be dealt with. One way or another…
Far away, a group of people were conversing, preparing for dark deeds.
"We have found the traitor. And another filthy Incubator project."
"Where?"
"Sol 3 in Mutter's Spiral(3). Earth. That planet the Doctor's so fond of."
"Heh. And he doesn't know. I don't think he'd care, either. Straxus and the Daleks really did a number on him(4). He's just wandering."
"Don't dismiss the Doctor so lightly," someone snarled angrily. "Too many have done so, including some of our number, and they paid the price for it."
"He's a mere mortal, like the rest of us. He can bleed, and he can die. We can even prevent regeneration, remember?"
"Of course. But remember, even if he is mortal, if he was easy to kill, he would have died a billion times over and more. But that's not the point. The traitor has been sent by the Time Lords to deal with an Incubator project. I say we can kill two birds with one stone. We will swoop in, and get rid of them all."
"But if the Time Lords have an interest…"
"Don't worry. Remember who I am. I know how to deal with them. The Time Lords in general don't care. Only the President seems to care, and she has less power than you think. As long as we don't do too much damage, we can act with some impunity."
A grin on one face. "Oh, good. It's about time we purged those little bastards from the face of the universe. For Logopolis!"
"For the Traken Union!"
"For Pellin!"
"For the Dead of the Entropy Wave!"
"The Bloody Hammers will smash the Incubators and their pets into nothingness!"
And, the leader thought to himself, a reckoning will be made. After all, we cannot allow traitors to run around unchecked. When you join the Bloody Hammers, it is for life. And when you leave us, your life is forfeit. I guarantee it, Moni…
In a dark, cathedral-like room, a man who appeared to be in his forties, but was actually significantly older, sat in a leather chair, brooding. Long and thin of face, his blue eyes filled with fatigue and pain, he was wondering what he could do. He was dressed in a jacket he got in the trenches of the First World War.
The room was vast, like a gigantic library of some stately home, panelled in dark wood. However, while there were bookshelves and filing cabinets, the room was dominated by a large structure that enveloped a strange control console, apparently made from wood, and yet, some of the controls belied a sophistication that the old-fashioned veneer strove to conceal. In the middle of the console, a glass case contained a mechanism where two sets of glowing blue crystals continually meshed and unmeshed, in time with the distant sound of a strange, grinding howl.
The man's contemplations were disturbed (for the nth time, given his annoyed expression) by a shrill beeping from the console. Only this time, he decided to do something about it. Grunting in annoyance, he reluctantly got up from the chair and looked at the console, and then at an old-fashioned television, hanging from a spring nearby.
He frowned, and muttered, "Presidential codes?" Sighing resignedly, he activated something on the console, and turned to the screen. As an unfamiliar woman appeared on-screen, he said, "I'm sorry, but I don't accept crank calls. Please try later."
"Doctor, you've changed."
The Doctor frowned, and looked back at the screen. The voice was different, but the attitude was somewhat familiar. Peering at the visage, his eyes widened. Time Lords did have a certain sense for recognising their fellows, even after a regeneration. "Romana(5)," he said. "I like the new body. Shame about the old one, but you seem to get the best ones. If this is about that business with Straxus…"
"It happened while I was regenerating. My successor…and predecessor, so to speak, was the one in charge during that whole mess(6)," Romana said. "Anyway, I'm calling to ask you for help on an unrelated matter."
"I doubt it," the Doctor said. "Tell me, in one word, what you want(7). Then I'll consider it."
Romana glared. "Doctor, we have no time for silly games…"
"Madam President," he said, slipping deliberately into formal address, "the Agency have done nothing but play silly games with my life. And I'm sick of it. One word. Choose it carefully." He didn't like doing this to his old friend, but he didn't like having anything to do with the Time Lords in general at the moment. The last time he had spoken to Romana, she had exiled him to another universe where proper time didn't exist. Admittedly, it was to prevent him from infecting the universe with Anti-Time, but their respective parting words had hurt each other(8).
Romana gathered herself, before she said one word. "Moni."
The Doctor's eyes widened. "Moni…the Incubators, am I right?"
"Yes, Doctor. They're on Earth. What's more, there's a chronic hysteresis involved. A Magical Girl is the party responsible."
"A Magical Girl, causing a time loop?" The Doctor ran a hand through his hair. Not so long ago, it was long and wavy, but now, it was cut short. It was part of the means of coping with his recent losses.
He had only recently had to deal with problems with time, caused by the Daleks and their ally Kotris. Now, he had another one. And he knew that Romana had made the right call. The Doctor couldn't trust the Agency an inch, but while his friendship with Romana was a little shaky, she nonetheless clearly trusted him enough to know that he'd help. Especially where Moni was involved.
"All right," the Doctor said. "I'll need coordinates and what we know of the situation. Are any of the other members of the Order of Maxwell's Demon available?"
"No. They're busy cleaning up after other messes made by the Incubators. Moni was the only one they could spare, especially with time travel experience. Can you help?"
The Doctor smiled. It was a tired, painful thing, but there was genuine pleasure nonetheless. "Madam President, you only had to ask."
CHAPTER 4 ANNOTATIONS
1. A Leonine contract is one made under duress. An extremely simple version of one is 'your money or your life'. Mami was faced with a choice of either dying in the car crash, or else living in the arduous life of a Magical Girl.
2. A reference to Patrick McGoohan's surreal spy-thriller series The Prisoner. Moni has acquired from the Doctor an enjoyment of Earth's pop-culture.
3. One of the many designations given to Earth in Doctor Who. The first time this designation is given, if I recall correctly, is in The Deadly Assassin. 'Mutter's Spiral' might be either the galaxy, or the spiral arm of the galaxy where Earth resides. I personally go with the latter.
4. A reference to the events of Dark Eyes, an audio drama miniseries by Big Finish.
5. Lady Trey is finally revealed outright as the third (or at least a later incarnation) of the Doctor's old companion Romanadvoratrelundar, aka Romana. This incarnation of Romana, played by Juliet Landau, has appeared in both the Gallifrey spinoff audio drama, as well as the Companion Chronicle Luna Romana.
6. I was a bit confused as to why Romana wasn't in charge of Gallifrey during the events of Dark Eyes. Of course, I heard that circumstances in the Gallifrey spinoff series could prevent it, but I decided on something a little more straightforward. I've decided, then, to set this story, and therefore Dark Eyes, after the main Gallifrey series (but before Gallifrey: Intervention Earth). I've probably screwed things up, though.
7. One wonders if Madame Vastra learned this trick, used in Doctor Who: The Snowmen, from the Doctor himself. I decided to have him use it here. He wants Romana to assure him that it is worth his time (he's in something of a bad place in this point in his life, and has a low opinion of the Time Lords at this point).
8. Romana had told the Doctor that if he ever returned from the Divergent Universe, she would have to kill him to stop the spread of Anti-Time (he did, she didn't, although he was no longer infected by Anti-Time). The Doctor speculated to her face whether she would, as President of the Time Lords, follow the same megalomaniacal route as Morbius, Omega, and Borusa, two of whom he had once admired as much as he did Romana. It wasn't a pleasant parting.