Chrono X Angel, Book 5: Winds of Change

Chapter 7

October 12th

"Well it beats me," sighed Lydia, slumping down in her seat.
"Which part?" Laughed Modred, kicking her feet up and reclining in her chair, "The part where our best agents just became a Sailor Senshi Squad, or the part where Usoko's dad shows up saying she's a living time bomb?"

The two had been going over the analyses of Usoko and her friends Yokai Crystals after they had been exposed to the strange lights which had altered their structures and given the girls their new magical girl forms. At first, the concept seemed superfluous to the Catgirl. Why would they need magical girl forms when they already had their regular forms and elemental powers? That was until the girls began practicing with their new forms, and then it all started to make sense. Certain innate abilities each girls race had, like Nonami's enhanced speed and agility in vampire form, or the Oni's enhanced strength, were drastically nerfed by their crystals to keep the appearance of humanity. These new "Magia Crystals" as Usoko had taken to calling them, allowed the girls full access to all the perks of their monster forms without needed to swap back and forth, which would definitely make operating in the human world much easier. On top of that boon, another was first noticed by Hyoka of all people. As the member of the group with perhaps the least control over her powers, she quickly discovered that when she was in Magia Form, she had nearly total control over her ice and water powers. Her precision was uncanny, as one of her first tests of this new control resulted in her creating a 1:1 ice sculpture of Lydia, complete to the tiniest and faintest of scars on the Cat's face.

"Both," replied Lydia tiredly, wincing as the kitten in her womb kicked a little, "I mean, this intel came from him sure, but Kousaka..."

"Yes, her presence there disturbs me as well," replied Modred professionally, keeping her hatred for the Dhampir at bay, "Can we be sure Roland's words were true? Could he have been manipulated by her?"

Lydia considered the possibility for a moment. True, Elisabeth had always had a silver tongue for as long as Lydia had known her, but Usoko's father was a Dweller through and through. Unless Elisabeth had some serious dirt on him, or more likely if were manipulation the case, a hostage, she strongly doubted Charles would have lied to his own daughter.
"And I like to think I'm the expert on that particular topic," thought Lydia in dark amusement.

"At any rate, we have a more pressing matter to attend to," declared Lydia, standing slowly and walking over to the window. Down below, in the motor pool, she saw two heavily armored vans being loaded with gear and material. They would be the transport Usoko and her team would be taking to the Tokyo International Airport. Their mission was as simple as it was potentially dangerous: escort Abigail to her home and defend her from Megáli Anarchía until a second group could be "vaccinated" against Tulpas and be instituted. Lydia did not much like the concept of leaving Fumizaki unguarded, liked the idea that Cryptidranger would be joining them rather than helping here even less. Least of all, she disliked the way that Iris Drake woman had managed to sneak her way onto the team. Lydia could not quite place her finger on it exactly, but something in her 7th sense told her that there was something... wrong about the woman. She claimed to be a gargoyle, yet displayed none of the human form characteristics: wing and tail nubs, six canines, ever so slightly oblong pupils. Aside from the faint glow of her eyes, and her above average height, Iris seemed to be completely... human. What was she hiding, Lydia wondered.

"Yeah, like who's gonna be our line of defense if more of these cult freaks show up," replied Modred, "I mean, I could probably take a couple, but you're in no shape to fight and... Oi who are you?"

Into Lydia's office walked a young woman with azure blue hair, who could almost have been mistaken for Usoko in a wig. Despite having never met her before, Lydia recognized her after a moment as the girl who had rescued Emiko from the Revenant form of Midori Suzumiya earlier in the year. At the time, she had claimed to be a member of Cryptidranger, Blue, but a later check of their active membership showed no such individual existing.