“Who are you?” she asked, her voice weak and unsteady. The blood loss was making her see things, she swore there was a small talking red ferret sitting on her chest.

“I have no name but more importantly I can save you. But it comes with a cost…”

“What do I need to do?” she interrupted.

“I was expecting more questions.”

“As I see it I either accept or die. So what do I need to do?”

“It’s simple. Give me a name.”

She pondered for a moment settling on a name she always liked but not one she would pick for herself.

“Your name is Erica,” she said, a burning red light bursting forward from her partner.

“Speak your name, and take your place as a magical girl,” Erica said, hopping off her partner.

“I am Azalea,” she said, her voice coming out strong and powerful. 

The red light then enveloped her, wrapping her in its warm embrace. Her body was lifted, broken down, and reformed, knitting itself back together. As her body settled back on the ground, the light covered her with its passionate fire. Forming a dress with a short skirt. Gloves with frills coming off the side formed on her hands. The light continued downwards as a pair of leggings enveloped her legs and thighs, before finally settling as a pair of high boots. A tiara with a ruby cradled her short curly red hair.

“Whoa, this is…” she cut herself off, her voice was different. No longer deep and gruff, it was warm and comforting. “This is so cool!” She examined herself, based on the height of the door she figured she had shrunk though her voice suggested she had actually regressed in age.

Her body was small, soft, and flexible. She did some stretches, testing her limits. It was able to do all the stretches she asked, and she figured she could even do the splits, however she didn't want to try on this dirty floor.

“What's this?”

“Your battle form. It will protect you from the outsiders, as well as most mundane threats. Bullets like you were shot with before will simply bounce off. Blades won't be able to cut you.”

“That's so cool,” she said, throwing a few punches and kicks. “What are outsiders?”

Erica explained the outsiders while Azalea dug through her old clothes for her phone. Realizing that the outsider was what she had encountered before. She fiddled with her phone as Erica explained magic, her powers, and the outsiders.

“Can you get me out of here?”

“Yes! I can move you anywhere you want.”

“Just to the other side please, I want to try something really quick,” she said solemnly. 

“Very well,” Erica flew over to her shoulder and sat on it before complying.

Azalea reached for the light again and projected it outwards, her power pinging through the facility as she looked for the two men. She found them a couple rooms over sitting on something. Quietly she made her way over there, her footsteps making no noise.

The men were sitting on a pair of couches in what looked like a break room, a tv hung from a wall on the opposite side of the door. The wall to the right had a sink, fridge, and microwave. With some cabinets presumably with the stuff you would expect.

“It's a shame what we had to do to her,” Edward said.

She set up her phone on record and set it in the small window and simply watched them.

“The Chief knew it was happening,” Price replied. “He pleaded for Jake to be spared when taking him off the case. But the bastard just had it coming. He just couldn't keep his nose out of our business. Besides, we dug into him and he has no family, friends, or a lover. No one will miss him.”

“Still killing a fellow officer is not something I wanted.”

“Suck it up pussy, we have to protect ourselves.”

Silence fell between them for a moment.

“When is the boss coming?”

“In a few hours, he wants to see his body before turning on the furnace.”

The topic shifted to some sports event they had gone to. So she picked up her phone and stopped the recording.

“Seems like you weren’t liked,” Erica said.

Azalea shrugged her shoulders and stood up, accidentally knocking a small piece of wood over. The wood fell and hit the ground with a soft thud. Both men jumped up and looked over at the small window she was looking through.

“Who's there! Show yourself,” Edward ordered.

She stood up and dropped her costume. Putting on her best act she stepped around the corner. Acting shy and frightened as she opened the door. 

“Help… I got lost,” she sniffled, hiding her smile behind her hands.

“Come here sweetie, we can help. My friend and I are police officers.”

She stepped forward as she thought of a way out of this. She figured she was stronger than them but would rather not deal with the hassle. Edward circled around and closed the door behind her. A lecherous smile on his face as he looked her over.

“Hey, the boss would like her,” Price said. “Maybe he’ll let us play before he sends her away.” The look he gave her made her body shiver, and her stomach threatened to purge its contents.

“Settle down, you’re scaring her. Do you know where you are?”

She shook her head, feigning ignorance. 

“Do you know where your house is?” Edward continued.

She shook her head again. Technically she knew where her old self lived but that wasn’t something she wanted to share.

“Then we’ll take you to the station. I'm sure someone is looking for you. Go ahead and sit over there and I'll put on some cartoons.”

 She sat in the chair as instructed and the two men sat between her and the door. He turned on the TV and brought up some magical girl show. Their heads together as they whispered. She wasn't sure why, probably her new body, but she could hear them clearly. 

“Dude really? We're just gonna take her back?” Price said, clearly agitated.

“No, yes… I don't know. I don't like this.”

“Just let me take her to the boss, we’ll have our fun and no one will ever find her.”

She tried to hold back her anger when she felt something. Whatever it was was coming closer, trying to reach her, to break through some invisible wall. Even the men seemed to sense it as they began to look out the break room windows.

“An outsider is coming, get ready.” 

“What?!” she jumped up.

“Hey! Sit down!” Price said.

“Sorry I can't do that.”

He walked forward and put his hand on her shoulder. “I said sit.” He pushed her, only to frown when she didn't move. 

Without saying a word she grabbed his hand and twisted, forcing him to his knees.

“Bitch!” he swung at her, his fist colliding with her face with a sickening crunch as he pulled it back. Screaming in agony as she let go of his arm. He stared at her in shock as she was once again enveloped in red light. Her battle form reappeared as a black tear formed outside the room. The air shattered and a shadow monster stepped through. It was twisted, giving off a malevolent air.

“What the hell is that?” Edward asked.

“Nothing you need to worry about,” she said. Looking at her partner she continued, “can you take them out of here?”

“Right away,” Erica said, both the men and her vanishing. 

“Alright let's get this party started,” she said, hitting her fists together while a pair of gauntlets materialized on them.

Taking a stance she swung at the Outsider, the monster flying backwards as she struck it. It thrashed wildly as it crashed through several pillars. Stones and dust fell around it as it stood back up. The thing lashed out with a tentacle of darkness. The whip-like appendage tore through walls like they were paper. She rolled under it and ran in the opposite direction, leading it into a part of the factory with a high ceiling. 

It crashed after her, smashing through anything in its path as it roared. Its voice was distorted and made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She jumped as it lunged towards her with outstretched claws. She kicked it in the back and slammed it into the ground, cratering the concrete under its body. Flipping out of the kick she landed nearby and frowned at the outsider.

“Why won't you just die?” 

“You need to infuse your power into your strikes,” Erica said appearing on her shoulder 

“Oh,” she said, her cheeks going slightly pink.

She reached for the light again and infused her weapons with it. They started to slightly glow. She began to pummel it, taking off chunks of the monster as it scrambled back to its feet and began to lash out wildly. Dodging its frenzied blows she kept hitting it until it stopped moving. The thing dissolved into a cloud of smoke at the same time the building began to rumble.

“Time to go it seems,” Azalea said.

“Right away,” Erica said, teleporting them back to Azalea’s house. 

She appeared in her bedroom. A reminder of her old life. It was filled with memories. Pictures of her lost family, friends, everything she left behind in her reckless pursuit of justice. A monument to her loneliness.

“So what do we do now? No one would believe that me and him are the same person,” she said pointing to a picture of herself from when she was a detective.

“Well to answer that I believe it would be prudent to pretend to be the little girl you are. I can use my magic to set it all up. As of right now you are an unperson.”

“Being a little girl… sure, let's do that. This place holds nothing for me anymore. I’m not going to waste this second chance.”

“Very well, I will get things going, if you will excuse me miss,” she said, disappearing with a bow.

Azalea turned on her TV, there was a news broadcast talking about the auto plant collapsing into a heap of rubble. She sat at her computer and began to draft an email to the press, CC’ing several different stations. She just attached the video of the officers and scheduled it to go out in a few days.

After taking a shower she went back to her room and went to bed. 

 

*****

 

“Are you excited Azalea? Today is the big day,” the headmistress said. 

“Yes, I can't wait to live with my new family,” she nodded. Erica had worked her magic; she was now legally a person. They had decided to go with an orphanage and adoption. Fulfilling the wish of a young couple who wanted a daughter. But were unable to conceive on their own. It had been a few weeks since that fateful night. Her video was turned into an exposé which resulted in the state stepping in to conduct an investigation. Most of the branch was arrested and the police department was dissolved pending state intervention.

She had spent most of the time getting to know her new family. They were nice and she genuinely cared for them and had already begun to think of them as her parents.

“Hi sweetie,” her new mom said. “It's official.” She smiled and held up the adoption papers. “Are you ready to go home?”

“Yes… mom. I'm ready,” she said with a smile.