An actress in our midst! (web version)

Jessica never dealt well with embarrassment. She usually just ignored whatever embarrassed her, bulldozed through the matter, and distracted everyone with other topics. As long as everyone promptly forgot about the embarrassment, everything was good.

“-- which is why, if the demon lord finds out what happened here, even though he already knew I was friends with the magical girls, he might even have me killed just to appease the demonic spirits, in the worst case,” she finished her thought process.

Silence descended around the table as everyone took that in. Jessica still wasn’t sure why so many club members were still around, but she wasn’t going to throw them out now. Especially since they seemed to be taking everything in stride. Maybe they could even contribute something to the discussion.

“But… you said the demon lord isn’t a violent person at all, didn’t you?” Cody tried.

“He’s not,” Jessica agreed. “But he’ll still do what he needs to do when it comes down to it. He’s not going to risk it.”

“So… if you go back to the castle… you’ll die?” Hellen asked.

“I might…” Jessica shrugged. “It’s more likely that they’ll strip me of my demonic powers, erase my memory, and dump me back on Earth… but you never know.”

“Couldn’t you just pretend that you didn’t know your friends were the magical girls…?”

“Well, I could have… before I very openly fought by their side where people could see me.” She groaned. “Stupid past me. Wasn’t thinking.”

“Hey, none of that,” Olivia interrupted her self-hating spiral again. “We would have been in a serious pickle if you didn’t fight with us. We barely beat all of them.”

Jessica replied with a non-commital grunt.

“You know… I’m not sure what you’re so worried about. We’re not gonna spread this around,” Rick declared. “Even if you’re a total bitch and were secretly a demon general this whole time, you’re still part of the club.”

The demon general in question gave him a deadpan stare. “Gee, thanks.”

“Look, what I’m saying is that… maybe your identity isn’t completely shot yet,” he clarified.

She couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “If you didn’t notice, we had an entire audience watching as Forneus jumped me. There’s no way all of them would just stay silent about it.”

“Okay, fine, but… There was a lot of chaos and running around, so… people might not really know what happened. Maybe people thought you were attacking the magical girls instead?”

Jessica's frown deepened.

“You know, he's right. We should still have a window of opportunity right now, as long as we act quick,” Olivia agreed.

“Okay and what exactly should we do then? Storm the castle and kidnap Trish?” Jessica raised an eyebrow.

Olivia smirked and clicked her tongue three times. “Non, non, my little sister. Subtlety is the name of the game.” She raised a finger as if giving a lecture. “Here's my plan. The four of us, Cody, and you will head to the castle through the teleporter. Casually stroll in. You know, just the general and her minions, nothing to see here. We spread out and keep an eye out, maybe cause a distraction, all while you head to where Trish is to do your ritual and then casually leave with none the wiser.”

Jessica took a moment to contemplate the idea before speaking again.

“The first part is fine, but… I doubt I can transfer the attunement discreetly. There's gonna be a lot of magic flying and there is no way Baugh won't notice even if you distract him.”

Olivia hummed. “Well, then once you’re in, you grab her and run. Then you can do your ritual somewhere else.”

Jessica was about to retort when the door to the club room opened.

“Well, you two are definitely sisters,” Pretty Spark proclaimed, as the four magical girls entered. “I can’t believe a former magical girl is planning on kidnapping someone.”

Jessica snorted, before turning to Olivia. “You know, you were supposed to be keeping your identities secret.”

“So were you,” her sister pointed out.

“Touche.” Jessica turned to the four newcomers, ignoring the club members looking at them with sparkling eyes. “So?”

“We told the police that Tepes and some other demons appeared and started wreaking havoc,” Bloom recounted. “We managed to seal three of them, but Tepes and her minions got away.”

“Perfect. That should buy us some more time then.” Olivia hummed before abruptly standing up and slamming her palms on the table. “Well, no time to lose then. Let’s put this plan into motion.”

“Plan?” Flame asked as she looked back and forth between Jessica and Olivia, trepidation visible in her features.

“Operation: Kidnap the Snow White! Wait, no… Operation: Kidnap the Flame White! Perfect,” Olivia declared.

“Uh huh. What’s it about? Or is this one of your infohazards?” Spark asked.

Jessica and Olivia exchanged a brief glance.

Truth be told, Jessica wasn’t really sure what she was allowed to say to them. She had been worried about already telling them too much, but neither one of them seemed to be losing their powers just yet. Part of her thought that the infohazard didn’t even exist in the first place. Maybe Olivia’s theory about their proximity to demonic magic held some merit?

Either way, better stay safe.

“Long story short, there is an important person in a coma inside the demon castle. She’s the key to pretty much everything and Ol here is suggesting we kidnap her.”

The four magical girls frowned.

“Is that… related to what you told us yesterday? What you figured out?” Frost asked.

“Yeah.” Jessica nodded. “I have the solution… I think. All I need now is the comatose girl and some time.”

“But now you can’t get to her, because the demon lord won’t let you near her if you’re a traitor,” Spark finished. “This is really stupid. Can’t you just tell him the solution and then… run? Do you need to be there to do… whatever it is that you need to do?”

“Well… I don’t need to be there, but…” Jessica leaned back, raised her hand and stuck out her thumb before touching it with her other hand’s index finger. “The solution requires a human –” She stuck out an index finger and touched it. “-- who is used to handling powerful magic, ideally both of the demonic and the magical girl variety –” She touched her middle finger as she glanced at Frost. “-- who isn’t a magical girl already and never was one.” Ring finger, a glance at Cody. “And just to be safe, it needs to be a girl.” She paused for a second before sticking out her pinkie and touching it as well. “And, well. It definitely helps if the person in question knows exactly what to do, as if they were the one to come up with the solution in the first place. Just so… you know, they don’t accidentally cause an apocalypse again.”

She looked at everyone gathered and couldn’t help but put on a sad smile.

“So anyone you know who fits all the criteria?”

A moment of silence later, Spark groaned as she rubbed her forehead. “Okay, fuck it. You need to be there, got it. So, what’s the plan? How are we doing this?”

“We?” Jessica raised an eyebrow.

“We! Of course, we’re not letting you walk in there without backup,” Spark declared as she stomped her way to Jessica, glaring at her, daring her to contradict her words.

Jessica raised her hands in surrender. “Okay, fine! Jeez. This was Ol’s idea anyway.” She shook her head with a sigh. “Although… I can’t exactly take the magical girls with me into the castle. Even in disguise, someone might feel out your magic and raise the alarm.”

“Mine is overlaid with demonic magic,” Frost said. “I’ve been in the castle since I became a magical girl and nobody ever said anything.”

Jessica blinked. “Right… Then…”

“I’m going with you.”

“Alright…” She closed her eyes, mentally preparing herself for the upcoming stealth mission. “So me, Frost, Cody, and my black ops team will stroll into the castle, grab Trish, and run for the hills…” She glanced at the three remaining magical girls.

“Black ops team…?” someone murmured.

“And we –” Flame picked up Jessica’s line of thought, looking at her with determination. Her previous trepidation was nowhere to be seen. “-- will use your secret portal to go to the demon realm and then wait outside of the castle, ready to storm in and back you up, just in case something happens.”

Jessica nodded, mustering as much determination as she could.

It was a plan. Jessica wasn’t very confident in it, but it could work.