Etta unpinned the brooch she had on her dress. Piper, Polyxena and Piritta held their unpinned brooches in their hands. The brooches that they had were round and glassy, and framed in metal. This was the beginning of a ritual; the four Programmable Darling Patrol members said a magical incantation!
What appeared to be a magic circle materialized on the floor that surrounded them. A column of white light surrounded them, with smaller bursts of light and magical energy in orange, yellow, and blue. Their forms appeared to be shrouded in light as glowing silhouettes, and their hair styles changed, the lengths of their skirts changed and billowed out from them, and their weapons formed from small balls of light.
After about a minute, the light subsided. Piper's hair had a blonde streak in it, and reached to her knees; she had a red ribbon tied in it. The bodice of her dress was gray with blue trim down the middle, and large light yellow frills around the neckline. She had a blue chocker necklace that had pearls on it, wore gray gloves, and wore a blue and yellow skirt. The pleats on her skirt that alternated colors and reached just above her knees. She wore gray socks and red dress shoes. The bodice and skirt were trimmed with light yellow lace. In her hands, she held a large war hammer that matched her outfit.
"Our outfits are awesome, aren't they?" She boasted, and nonchalantly swung the hammer. The others carefully stepped away to not get hit by the swing. The other Programmable Darling Patrol members had similarly styled outfits with their own personal touches.
Etta's hair was in a ponytail with a large, looping gray ribbon that was shaped like a sideways "8", and she had round, red earrings on her ears. Her skirt had orange and yellow pleats, and she wore gray and orange roller-skates with red wheels, and she wore orange gauntlets over her gray gloves.
Polyxena still had her hair in a flip-do but her hair was longer, and she wore dangling wire-wrapped earrings and a wire-wrapped necklace, each which had blue gems on them. Her skirt and the sleeves on her outfit were longer than her teammates'; her skirt reached just past her knees and her sleeves reached just past her elbows. The bodice on her outfit was dark gray down the middle with blue sleeves that reached just past her elbows.
Her skirt was blue with black lace, and reached just past her knees. She wore gray tights and red boots that had armor plating on the front of them. She held a large wand that had a "7"-shape on the top of it, and was wrapped in gold wire that matched her jewelry. Light from the wand glistened off of the armored plating on her gloves. In her other hand she had a shield.
Piritta was wearing a gray bodice that was black down the middle with blue buttons, a knee-length pleated skirt with alternating lighter and darker blue pleats, and gray and red knee-length boots with armor plating. She wore a dark blue cape over her outfit, and held a large sword with a dark gray blade, and alternating dark blue and light blue stripes on its hilt. Her gloves also had pieces of armor on them. Her hair was longer and was a lighter shade of blue at the ends.
"Are you ready?! I heard the warning!" Another person yelled in excitement before opening the door. Why would someone be excited about this?! This doesn't sound like someone I should trust to avoid a conflict!
From her outfit, she looked to be another Programmable Darling Patrol member with a red and purple outfit. When she stood next to me, it was clear she was a few inches taller than me and not just because she was wearing platform boots! Her body language and her tone in her voice sounded like an overly excited commander.
She had shoulder-length teased green hair with light green streaks, and wore a red bow in her hair. Her outfit had a red and purple pleated skirt with dark gray frills. A chain belt wrapped around her waist, she was also wearing a chain necklace and also wore long gray platform boots that looked like they were from a disco nightclub! She carried a long metal pipe in one hand.
"Perfect!" She cheered. "Oh! Are you a guest?" She asked me.
"Yeah-- my name is Damien and I was summoned earlier today--" I hesitantly tried to introduce myself.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Piroska." She introduced herself. "Do you want to tag along with us on our mission?"
"You're not the only leader." Etta reminded Piroska.
"Did you recently start co-leading?" I asked both of them.
"She and I have been co-leading for 7 Human World years now." Etta bluntly stated to me. For a moment it looked like she was going to facepalm, but she didn't.
Piroska sighed. "What does the co-leader say?" She deferred to Etta.
"I'm wary of him tagging along because he'd get hurt more easily than anyone else." Etta said, sounding calm but concerned. Piritta, Polyxena and Juna nodded in agreement while Piper looked like she was thinking something over. Etta walked a few steps, thought for a few more moments and walked back before her next answer. "I'd leave that to you and Juna to decide, but if both of you don't decide now, you'll stay here." She said to me, sounding more stern.
This such a tough decision to make on the spot! I was starting to sweat. Juna and I were expected to immediately agree. What would we miss out on if we didn't?
"If you were already initiated, I would've immediately let you join, but you must decide if you want to. I'm sorry for putting that on you, but it'll be my responsibility the most either way to make sure that you're safe since I summoned you here." Juna said to me.
"I will partake in the mission if you and Juna also partake." Gerald said.
"I'll be there in a supporting role, but can use my full power as a last line of defense." Piritta added.
"Yeah! You'd demolish those enemies! Unleash that power!" Piroska cheered. I chuckled nervously but felt somewhat assured but Piritta seemed hesitant.
"That power isn't meant to be used lightly." Piritta said to Piroska.
"Oh! If you'd rather not do that, I could demolish them for you!" Piroska eagerly offered. She posed and pointed at herself.
While they were bantering, I looked and saw that Etta was sternly looking at me and giving me only a few seconds more to make the decision. Juna made her decision which was based on my own.
"Argh... Why not?" I asked a couple of seconds later. "I doubt I can help but I'd like to see more of this place while I'm here." I said. I immediately got nervous. Did I make a mistake by deciding to go with? Just a few moments before, I was confident enough but I'm immediately second-guessing myself. Am I putting myself in danger in this world and would be unable to tell anyone about my disappearance?
"Getting up close to the action would be a a great experience for you! This'll show you what it's like to be an Operating Superstar in combat!" Piroska cheered before she bolted out of the hallway. She sounded excited but I felt more nervous!
While I ran to follow her and the rest of the group down the hall and through the entrance to the headquarters, we quickly crossed paths with a blue-haired woman who appeared to be in her mid- to late 20's, and was wearing red pants and boots with a light gray shirt. She gave a quick jealous glare.
"Sorry, Valencia! Maybe you can join our next mission, and no time to explain this newcomer with us!" Etta said in a hurry.
She looked frustrated that she couldn't join us, but she was also glaring at me in particular. "Why couldn't she join us?" I quickly asked Etta.
"It's not her public debut yet, but you're a human who's joining us for this mission. It'll be just a few more days before her debut." She answered. "She might assume you're malware or an intruder because we couldn't introduce you to her." Etta said. I felt a chill down my spine.
"We can clear that up when we return." Priita said assuringly.
"Valencia is one of my apprentices and she has a lot of potential... although she gets a bit reckless! Stay a while, and you can see her be part of our team!" Piroska excitedly said. "If you join us, I'll also be happy to help train you!" She offered.
If I stayed here, what more could I accomplish?...
I ran outside of the headquarters with the team and was immediately greeted by a landscape that was covered in falling leaves, and it was quite chilly for a fall day.
"It's a little cold." Polyxena said. "Oh, you're shivering!" She said when she glanced at me. I had briefly shivered and drew my arms together.
"I'll get a heavier jacket and a hat for you for you." Etta said, and she quickly skated back to the headquarters; the wheels of her skates were magically charged and let her cut through the pile of fallen leaves as if they were nothing. A large blast of leaves flew from behind her skates, and I was in the path of it!
A minute later, Etta returned with a winter coat and a hat. It was a large red and gray coat. The hat was a gray knitted hat.
"Thank you!" I said to her, and I put on the hat and coat. "Where are we going?" I asked.
"There was a bank robbery downtown!" She said.
"I can take us there quickly." Piritta said. "This is a technique that my apprentices and I have been developing." She waved her magical sword slightly. There was a glowing aura around each of us. I looked down at my arms and legs and saw that it surrounded me too.
"What's this?" I asked.
"This is a power to temporarily boost our speed, without any of the danger that power can have!" Piritta cheerfully said.
"This will take us right there! We could've taken the cars but it might be hard to find parking." Etta added. "All we need to do is start running!"
They began running and I ran alongside them. For a moment I was feeling sick, and realistically I should've immediately suffered from overexertion because the speed we were running at wasn't humanly possible, but I wasn't in pain. It felt thrilling to run so quickly and to kick up a large trail of snow as we ran. Luckily there was no one behind us to get hit by it like I would have without Juna's summoning that blocked it!
Everything to our sides when we were running was a blur and we may have been running for just a few seconds until we arrived.
We stopped in the middle of the city. People were yelling for their money back, and other people were yelling and running, chasing thieves for other items that they stole; watches, rings, necklaces, books, and purses. Something seemed unusual though; many of the people in the crowd clearly had weapons of their own in holsters; swords, ray guns, wands or staves.
"There they are!" A few people stopped and cheered." They were cheering at us.
"Yeah, it's us, but we're going to catch those thieves for you!" Etta boasted to the crowd.
"Please sign my postcard, Clementine!" A young woman begged.
"Decker Clementine, please sign my… This old receipt?" An old man asked, pulling any slip of paper he could find from his wallet. Etta took it, signed it and handed it back to the man. Several more people could be heard clamoring for Etta's autograph, and some people approached Piroska, Piper, and Piritta for theirs.
"Priorities..." I muttered. She witnessed thefts or had something of her own get stolen, but an autograph is more important?
"Decker Clementine is my codename." Etta quietly said to me. Just as I assumed; each of the Programmable Darling Patrol members have codenames along with their costumes, like comic book heroes. Unlike the world of comic books, a lot of civilians in the crowd look like they should be able to stop those bank robbers, so I asked Etta "Why is the team out here fighting bank robbers? A lot of those people in the crowd look like they could too."
"I was told that the robbers are malware made from corrupted code, and we're among the few people who can affect them. They're immune to other types of combat." Etta said.
"Delighted to meet a fan, but my apologies I must keep this quick." Piritta said when she was giving an autograph to another person and she tried to step out of the crowd.
"Who's the new guy?" One of the onlookers snarked.
"He's our guest who is tagging along with us! If you don't mind, we're going to chase after those thieves and stay here if you want an autograph!" Etta cordially and sensibly said to the crowd, and began skating to chase the thieves. Piroska, Piper, and Piritta followed, and I tried to follow along, but I couldn't keep up. I fell to my knees. The others were too far ahead to see me fall, but Juna, Polyxena and Gerald were far enough behind to run towards me to check on me.
"THUD!" Before they could, someone knocked me to the ground!
"You didn't tell us that you brought a human along with you!" The person who knocked me down sneered.
"What's it to you, jack***?" I said while I tried to stand up again, but just as I did, Juna used her wand to fire a small bolt of magic to knock back another person who was behind me, who was trying to ambush or pickpocket me.
"I'm sorry about this." She quietly said to me.
"He's my apprentice and you will stay away!" Juna fiercely said at the ambushers. Polyxena also began to cast a spell.
"Damien, you'll need to dodge this!" Polyxena warned before she fired a small blue burst of magic. I quickly dodged it, Juna quickly cast a barrier around me, and the burst hit the ambushers.
Etta, Piroska, Piper, and Piritta returned with several items in hand, and approached the crowd that waited for them.
"That's my purse!" A woman pointed at the purse that Etta was holding, and she handed it back. "Thank you!" The woman said, and she brought out a slip of paper. Etta smiled, took the paper, signed it, and handed it back.
"You're wonderful and my friends will be excited to see this!" The woman said before she walked away, waving to Etta. It's still not the best time to be taking autographs, but it was better than delaying the chase! More people in the crowd spotted their things, and were overjoyed when they were handed back.
Juna and Polyxena apprehended the people that attempted to attack me, and cast a magic circles around them. Juna said an incantation that teleported the attackers away.
"Where did they go?" I asked.
"They're restrained and away from the fight. We'll banish them." Polyxena explained. Her answer reminded me of heroes in comic books again, but with more of a fantasy twist.
Gerald looked stern, and turned away as if he was suspecting another threat. "They're going to get caught off-guard signing autographs. I just know it..." He said as he facepalmed. He had a point.
"In my world there are stories of heroes with powers they use to fight crime, and they've had to balance publicity and practicality but I think some of the stories I read even pointed out this wouldn't be a good time to give autographs." I said in agreement.
"This is a part of being an Operating Superstar when we fight." Juna added. "It can be glamorous but it can be frustrating."
