An actress in our midst! (web version)

Everything was going wrong.

From the moment Cody overloaded that artifact to set off an explosion, it was one disaster after another.

When Salem immediately showed up, it took all their effort to not shout at her for dumping all the responsibilities on them and jumping ship while mumbling about the explosion and swearing that they had no idea what had happened. At least they didn’t even have to fake being upset.

Then, when the demon lord showed up, everyone thought the distraction had been a success, but somehow, nobody noticed that he left almost as soon as he appeared for some reason.

When Devola had sent a warning message to Jessica a tad too late and she hadn’t replied immediately, Zero knew they had a problem.

And then…

‘Abort mission! Worst case scenario! I’m in the demon lord’s office and I need backup right now!’

Everyone heard it clearly. Including Salem who was still around for whatever reason. She immediately spun around and glared in Jessica’s direction where the telepathic message came from.

The black ops plus Cody and new Frost wasted no time, however.

“Plan B!” Agent Eye shouted, making Salem turn around in surprise.

“Snow veil!” Frost shouted the instant she transformed, surrounding Salem with a blanket of ice magic.

Naturally, the minions around them started screaming, but luckily, they were trying to run or hide rather than fighting them. With Salem occupied, nobody stopped them from rushing out of the room and into the halls.

“Iceberg shell!”

Frost even sealed the exit behind them for when Salem recovered and off they went.

Luckily, neither one of the other generals blocked them as they made their way to the demon lord’s room. They made it just in time to see Jessica screaming her lungs out in pain and subsequently crumpling down on the spot.

“Jessica!” more than one person screamed.

And then, all hell broke loose.

Snake and Cody shot a barrage of projectiles at the demon lord and the mantis-shaped spirit, forcing them to back away from Jessica, before Zero and Frost pulled out their swords and charged forward. In the meantime Eye grabbed Jessica and put her on her back, while Rose did her best to revert whatever the demon lord had done to her.

“You…” the demon lord was taken aback for a second. Maybe he recognized them, or maybe he was simply surprised to see Pretty Frost inside his castle. It didn’t matter. The two at the front used him being distracted to launch an assault to push them back.

Zero swung her sword right for his neck, but he managed to block with his armored forearm. That gave Frost enough time to launch an attack of her own as Zero jumped back.

“Winter’s crown!”

The swirling blast of icicles flew right past the retreating Zero and hit the demon lord head on, covering him in icicles.

“You!” his demon daughter shouted in disbelief. “You’re a minion and a magical girl?!”

Frost didn’t reply and instead turned her magic on the general.

“Iceberg cannon!”

“Wha–”

A massive piece of gray ice materialized itself from Frost’s Ice Aegis and flew forward at Hecate, hitting her head on. Zero didn’t expect this to injure her in any meaningful way, but it was good enough of a distraction for the moment.

“She’s completely out of it! We need to get out of here!” Eye shouted as the demon lord began to break out of his icy prison.

Nobody disagreed. They all moved as one, running in the direction of the main castle gate in order to meet with the other magical girls. Jessica was limply hanging off of Eye’s back while Rose still focused her magic on their downed friend, trying to resurrect her.

“Come on, Jessica! Tell me you’re fine! Tell me you’re okay!”

A pained groan was the only response she got.

Zero couldn’t help but swear out loud at the mess of a situation they found themselves in.

“Goddammit! This wasn’t supposed to happen! Argh! Jessica, you stupid… Why didn’t you call us earlier, dammit?”

“Shu’uap…” she managed to slur.

Everyone perked up at that.

“Jessica?! Are you alright?!” Frost asked, her voice full of panic.

“Jus’... peeshey…” she very obviously lied. “Ee fachin… lipped out… Nomed.” She groaned… before perfectly enunciating the last word, “Asshole.”

“He… ripped Nomed out of you?” Cody gasped in surprise. “That’s… bad… wait, didn’t you say you placed a seal on him?”

Jessica managed to nod. “Fragment… still there…”

“Oh… So you’re back to being something like a minion now…?”

“I guessh…”

Then, a dull electronic thump resounded in the castle. The speakers placed strategically around the place turned on and Baugh’s voice spoke through them.

“Attention all minions. There is…” A short pause, as if deciding on what to say. “... an actress in our midst!”

Jessica scoffed.

From what Zero had heard about the demon lord, she wasn’t quite sure whether him calling Jessica an actress rather than a traitor was a sign of respect… or a sign of disrespect.

Either way, they needed to get out. The minions might have been jumping out of their way before, but now…

“The demon general Tepes has betrayed us. She’s currently with Pretty Frost and five more minions. Capture them no matter the cost!”

“Shcrew yuu… Baugh…” Jessica growled.

Luckily, they were very close to the exit. Just a little more and…

Someone burst into the corridor right in front of them, blocking their path. A tall man clad in black and red armor, hefting a massive double-headed greataxe. Everyone stopped in their tracks and Zero couldn’t help but glare at her dad blocking their way.

The two had talked a bit beforehand, but obviously, he shouldn’t know much about the conspiracy or Jessica’s black ops. Right now, they were enemies. According to Jessica, he had even said himself that he hated the magical girls. And Frost stood right there with them.

“Faakch yuu… old man…” their charge mumbled as she glimpsed up at the man.

As… Merdis scanned their group, another demon caught up to them from behind. Salem flew in, pure rage visible in her features, her crescent moon staff raised for an attack.

This was capital B Bad. Pretty Frost and five people at the level of minions wouldn’t stand a chance against two generals. Especially not when surrounded like this. Especially while protecting the limp Jessica.

“Jessica…?” the man in front of them intoned before looking straight at her. “... Olivia…?” he said, with a touch of surprise in his voice.

Zero swore under her breath. Keeping a secret identity without the glamor magic was apparently impossible for her.

“Merdis! Good thing you are here. Pretty Frost is much stronger than expected,” Salem informed the man, much to Zero’s chagrin.

“... I see…” Merdis nodded to himself… although something told Zero that it wasn’t in reply to Salem.

The man then stepped aside.

“Go.”

That had taken Zero off guard. Everyone else, including Salem, seemed to be confused as well.

“Go!” he shouted, gripping his axe and glaring at Salem behind them. “I’ll hold her off!”

“Whuh…” Jessica seemed to be as gobsmacked as the rest of them.

“You’re…” Zero began, but was cut off by Merdis shouted even louder. “Go already! Dammit! I can’t even berate you two for being dumb and reckless!”

Zero blinked before realizing just what was going on. She turned to her friends. “Let’s go! Quick!”

“What do you think you’re doing, Merdis?!” the moon witch shouted while swinging her staff forward and firing a magic blast at Jessica.

“Iceberg shell!”

Frost stopped the blast with an icy barrier before Merdis side-stepped their group and charged right for Salem, freeing them to finally escape the castle.

“Whuh… jus’ heppen…?” Jessica asked the question on everyone’s mind.

Zero thought for a second, as the group burst through the main gate and out into the ashen plains of the demon world, the other magical girls just now making it near the castle. 

“I think…” she finally said. “I think that was his way of apologizing to us.”

Jessica scoffed. “Dum’ass…”

Zero couldn’t help but agree… There was no way he was getting out of there unscathed.

But at the same time, he had helped them get away.

Still, she didn’t want him to die just when she had begun trying to mend their relationship.