Littlest Agent First Case

So when I started typing this I didn't think it would end up this long. So it ended up being long and will appear as a series, the later parts will come later. Takes place in Victorian England, so there is plenty of the slang. Course it is current or close slang so don't expect to read something like great grams diary if you are british.

There is a little magic in this, and it will be explained a little eventually, maybe. Do hope I have not gotten the slang wrong, apologies if did there are not that many websites that have brit slang. I think about half of what I put in comes from watching the telly shows.

No children are involved in any sex, the main character is four feet tall so there may be confusion. I didn't do any little girl phrases or anything but it is obvious she is lots shorter than everyone. All it means is she is short, well there is more that ties to the magic but not explaining. So there. :p

**

"Here now you little vagabond get out."

"I can work, all I want is some food and a roof." He looks me up and down and shakes his head.

"Not here you won't, got all the cooks I need and you are too young for anything else."

Sigh and step out the door, my stomach rumbling. Get washed in a sudden venting of gasses as a motor carriage wheezes past. Look up when a dirigible moves along the street, sigh when it pauses above and can see the copper inside peering down at me. Stuffing my hands in my pockets and swishing my skirt about to make sure it is not caught, I move along.

Not a child but I am not blessed with enormous breasts and short is a good term. Kids are taller than I am, and am not one so it makes for finding work difficult. Got to help out in the markets some, when I could stay out of orphanage, pay is not good however so I need to find something else. The something else is eluding me sadly so walk along avoiding the venting of gases.

Many of the vents are supposedly safe, but they are not designed with a child in mind. Waist high to a regular adult is at my head. Not for the first time I complain about my parents. Being abandoned as a babe and then the treatment I received from supposedly caring adults, it is a wonder I made it to adult.

Dirigible still follows, which is fine on account I am just trying to find work. Perhaps he is one of those blokes that takes delights in a child for adult pleasures. Looking more like a child than adult has that perhaps benefit at least. Then I hear a sound, it is not a good sound but a bad sound. Takes me a moment to resolve on the nature of the sound.

I am hearing a person's hand meeting the body of another. This will not do, I may look like a child but I am an adult. Adults are to take responsibility for themselves and others. Beating up another bloke is not something adults are supposed to do. Wave up at the dirigible and point then head that way myself.

Copper above does at least follow, I don't want to think on why he is following. I am just glad that he is because I am not a bloke, stopping a fight or murder is not something I should attempt. My stomach rumbling reminds me I have not eaten today, means I doubly should not stop a fight or murder, not that I listen I keep going.

Get to weave my way through the alley, room for three or four abreast and sky above is good. The copper keeps up with me as I avoid vents then round a corner and find the fight. There are two blokes, one dressed well. He is in a suit with a dandy bowtie and a lovely hat, well was in a hat on account it was just knocked off his noggin.

Other fellow is wearing a loose fitting shirt and holey trousers. His shoes look to be on their last legs. Still gamely he fights on with the other bloke, neither looking to stop soon. Then there is a whistle above and the copper is dropping out his dirigible on a rope. Down he comes, on the ground he hands me the rope and pulls out a pistol.

"Hold this please my lady. Here now what is the meaning of this?" I'm beaming on account he called me a lady and not a vagabond or scamp.

"Oh excellent, I was feared of having to beat this bloke down then drag to headquarters." This from the bloke in holey trousers, he also pulls a wallet out of his pocket that is tossed to the copper.

"Heaven's above, royal police. You sir are to stay right there, I don't know the meaning of this but you are facing charges for attacking a member of Her Majesty's forces."

The bloke in a suit looks at pistol pointed directly at him and sighs then slumps. Cuffs are tossed to the royal police to then be put on the other bloke. Seems we have a small problem now, copper needs to stay on the ground but has a dirigible. Finally we tie it off here and head for a street, hopefully with a motor carriage to take custody of the prisoner.

"I can only assume you lead the copper to me and thank you." Look up at the royal policeman and smile then curtsy.

"Am an adult, look wise aside, so felt it best that I take responsibility for myself and others. I heard a row or murder happening and had a copper following along above so waved and ran." He looks me up and down, does not take long I am very small.

"You are an orphan?"

"As far as I know, what little information I could get says I was left on a doorstep." Walk on a step and it comes to me he knew that. "How did you know?"

"The dress you are wearing says as much." I am confused now, I have looked at the dress and it does not have words written or sewn in to it.

"There are no words." All of the blokes snort.

"Orphans are put in clothes that are different from what others wear. I was following you along to make sure you were not trying to break laws. If anyone put up a fuss I could come down and check papers but not allowed to just do that." Sigh and pull my papers out of the shirt pocket to hand to the royal police.

"Well you are an adult, I imagine finding work is difficult." Take the papers back and fold up again before I say anything.

"I am being called vagabond and scamp. The few times I get any response besides get out is I am too young."

"Orphans are supposed to be taught a trade." Look at the prisoner and sigh then shake my head.

"I learned how to cook a little, small orphanage so what few child there were helped out. The blokes went and did work, us gals stayed there and cleaned or made meals."

Reaching the street we do have a motor carriage waiting. Two blokes hop out and take possession of the prisoner to put in the carriage cage. The copper touches me so I look up at him.

"See if you can get a new shirt. Only a few pennies and it will make getting work easier. Help out at the market some and you should have enough." Nod and he heads for his dirigible.

"Come with me, need to file a report and you witnessed some." Look up at royal police and shrug.

"Alright, do I get monies for it?" He snorts and shakes his head then waves as the motor carriage gets going.

"No monies but we may have work for you."

Well that is good news so I move along with him. Sadly this requires me to fast walk to keep up, his legs are almost as long as all of me. Don't get a chance to ask him questions, like why he is dressed as if he is poor like me. We walk much to fast for me to do much besides breathe to keep up the strength to move with him.

Not that it causes any problems for me besides unable to talk. Likely could if I really wanted though don't. He is a police officer and above a copper, no point in questioning a copper. Stands to reason he is the same so I just keep up best as I can. He looks over at me a time or two and it is a long walk.

Plenty of vents spewing to duck under as we go along. Not that it is bad to be hit, just slightly warmed air and moisture. Still it is better to not be hit, makes your eyes water and cuts down on visual acuity. This is important for me, small and a gal so blokes would take the loss of acuity as a chance to attack to rob or other less pleasant things.

Takes a while, at least an hour, for us to reach his headquarters which is not an impressive building. Unlike most around with golden pipes running up and down, along with signs, this building is rather drab. It is simply a tall building, at least five stories all brick with windows at regular intervals. Not even a sign saying what is here.

Still he takes my hand and pulls me along with him into the building. The door opens in to a rather sparsely decorated entrance hall. There is a bloke sitting behind a desk wearing a uniform. I recognize this immediately, he is wearing the uniform of the Queen's guard. He looks at the bloke with me and nods then focuses in on me.

"Here now, are you taking in a child?"

"I am an adult." I say before royal police says anything, it is tiring to be called a child, I am just short of stature.

"She is a witness, have a prisoner being taken in and she assisted in the capture." My stomach rumbles then so I groan and look down. "Round up a runner and fetch a sandwich, she is staying for a bit, need to do report and see if we can find a use for her."

The bloke nods and turns to a voice pipe that is covered. He flips up the cover and leans in to the pipe then shouts for a runner. Get pulled along past the guard to stairs then up we go. We get off the stairs at the third floor. Opening the door there we are in a hallway with doors. Not very many doors, three doors in all, two on the wall as we pass them and one at the end of the hall.

Last door opens to chaos, there are desks and blokes all over the place. At least none of the blokes are walking around. Instead everyone here is sitting at a desk and typing, fitting a sheet of paper in to a tube for the mail tube or just sitting. Am lead through the confused jumble of desks to an empty one then he sits down to type.

Click clack of the keys are all of the noise at this desk for a while. At least there is a second chair so I can take a seat. Just look around at the other blokes in the room with us while he types away. Finally the click clack stops so turn to look at him.

"I'd like to know what you saw, but first tell me how you found the fight."

"Well was just walking along on the walkway..." He put his hand up so stop there.

"Little louder please." Nod and take in a deep breath.

"Was just walking along on the walkway with a copper floating above in his dirigible. Looking for work so paid him no mind, then heard a bad sound. Took a moment then realized it was a man being beaten so waved to the copper and tore down the alley. Rounding a corner I spy two blokes having a fight, one was dressed nicely, the other looked to be as poor as me. Copper saw the same so came down and bid me hold the rope to his dirigible. Believe you witnessed the rest."

He nods and resumes with the click clack of typing. Continues on with the typing then a bloke is brought in covered in chains and cuffs. He has cuffs on his wrist and ankles with a chain connecting both sets with a third chain running down to the ankle chain. As the three blokes get closer I retreat in to the chair more and more.

Do not understand it but the chains and cuffs are almost repelling me. As the prisoner is led past I am curled up in the chair as fully as possible. Then they are past and the repulsion is lessened, though I remain curled up. Practically leap out of the chair when the royal police touches my arm.

"Do you know that bloke?" Shake my head then wipe at my sweaty brow.

"No, it was the oddest thing, the chains and cuffs were almost pushing me away."

"Well that is an odd thing. This typewriter does not bother you?" Shake my head.

"No, the typewriter and the pistol the copper had did not bother me, the chains on the other hand."

"That is most peculiar, not all metal affects you but your reaction to the iron chains was severe. Yet pistols are made with steel, this is made with iron so it's almost the same metal."

"I do not understand this either." He goes back to the typewriter and click clacks for a little while.

"Here let me see your papers again, need to input the information." Pull my papers out and unfold then hand over.

"I hope my papers are proper." He looks over at me.

"Do you think they are not?" Just shrug.

"I was not exactly treated well and the papers were thrown at me as I was shoved out the door yesterday, my birthday is today officially." Get a frown and shaken head for that.

"Not supposed to do that, but not against the law either." He goes back to my papers and looks them over before more click clack. "Your name is Marigold Fay?"

"What I was given, no one knows if it was from my parents or not." He nods and keeps typing.

"Suppose in a way it fits, golden hair and green eyes."

Not real sure what to say so just sit there. Finally he finishes typing, I know this because he pulls the thick sheet out of the typewriter and looks it over then rolls it up. Paper goes into a tube and then shoved in to a mail tube and it whooshes away. Just sit there a moment then he is standing up, I stand with him since he grabbed my hand.

We make our way to the stairs again then up two more floors. This hallway is longer than the previous and more doors. Plenty of turns as well because I am completely lost by the time we stop at a door. He raps on the door twice then barely hear a come in. Door is opened and I get ushered inside first.

Rather nice bow to etiquette on his part, ladies are supposed to enter a room first. The man sitting in this room is older and staring at me. His jaw works a few times as I am lead to a chair and perch atop it feeling uneasy for some reason. Look around then squeak when I notice the model train sitting on the shelf, has to be iron.

"Iron has a strong effect on her." The new man looks at royal police then at me and frowns.

"That is unusual, why did you bring her into headquarters?"

"Orphan as you can see, was passing by the alley containing me and a prisoner. We were fighting and he was holding his own until she came in to the alley with a copper following in his dirigible."

"Well that is a proper reaction from the populace." Royal police snorts and shrugs.

"Not normal, I figured we would see if we can give her some work."

"We don't employ a child." Stand up, pull my papers out of my pocket and slap them on his desk.

"I am an adult." He picks up the papers and looks them over while the royal police stutters a few times.

"Do you have two of those?" Look at him confused.

"No, why would I have two?" The new man is looking at him now as well.

"Because the papers you had in that same pocket are still on my desk, I never gave them back."

Deflated I fall to the chair, that is all sorts of incomprehensible. Then it gets worse, in a matter of speaking. The papers I handed over in a huff disappeared. They were there one moment and gone the next. This is all sorts of unbelievable, a person simply can't just produce papers that are not actually in their pocket, and yet I just did.

"Can you make anything else?" I can't do anything but shrug.

"Honest I had no idea I could produce papers out of an empty pocket." The two blokes trade a look.

"You were agitated and expected the papers to be in your pocket?" Nod unsure on where this is going. "So let's try it again, expect something to be in your pocket. Something you really want."

"Well I'd really like to have some monies, and there was a sandwich coming for me wasn't there?"

"Blast I forgot about that, likely it will be delivered to my desk." The new bloke puts up his hand.

"I will call for it up here. To have me call for it you little lady need to pay me a quid." Sigh and stuff my hands in my pockets and no money.

"I believe you need to believe the money is there like the papers." Look at royal police then sigh and expect to have a quid in my pocket, and I do.

"Well here is your quid." I hand the quid over and watch as he turns to a voice cone and talks in to it.

"Now you did not have a quid?" Shake my head and the quid disappears.

Just stare at his hands all sorts of flummoxed. This is not possible, and yet I am doing it. I did not have a quid and then I did and put it in his hand then it disappeared, this is not possible. Machines flying in the air like a bird does is possible if only they can get the machine right. Making things out of nothing because I think they are there, that is not possible.

Yet I am doing it. To call me shocked isn't even a strong enough word. This is beyond anything that is known, and there is no explaining.

"Have you ever done that before?" Shake my head.

"Up until today the only wishing I had was for my parents. It was never a belief they would come, I wanted to know them. Being an orphan is the worst possible, you don't know if your parents are alive. If they are alive then I was a horrible daughter as an infant. If they are not alive do I not have any relatives, do they even know I am alive."

"It is not unknown for the child of prisoners to be placed in an orphanage. Course in those instances the child knows they have parents who are unable to care for them." Shake my head then royal police waves his hand.

"Chief don't be giving her false hope like that. What we need to do is figure out if she has work here with us." Chief looks me up and down.

"I would think so, small as she is we can have her watch over places of ill repute." Royal police shakes his head.

"That is a matter for the coppers. We can use her as a spy for the groups we suspect of plotting against Her Majesty. If she can make weapons that work she can join them with nary a weapon and still be perfectly safe." Both look at me, after a moment I look down.

"I would like to have a new dress first."

"Speaking of that, let us try something. Describe your new dress and be sure you are wearing it." Just look at him for a moment, then recall the quid that I did not have then did.

"Since we are talking about what I would like, I would dearly love to have a high society dress. You know the kind with two skirts, the outer skirt open in the front to show the under skirt. A combination of gold and green I would think. Like my eyes and hair, with poofy shoulders, short sleeves and a dandy little hat stuck to my cultured hair with a pin. I daresay the hat will be green and red with a bit of lace falling over my brow, a large pearl at the back of the pin pointing over my head. Also would really like to have heeled boots so that I am taller for once, be a little closer to a regular gal." Trail off and look at both of them for a moment, their mouths are gaping open.

"Perhaps you should look at yourself." Look down and squeak, I am wearing the high society dress as I envisioned it.

It is beautiful and I twirl realizing I have heels on my feet, mostly notice because I never have worn them and you don't move the same. Fall into the chair and giggle happily, I am wearing the dress I had no hope of wearing and it is still there.

"You watched the dress appear about me?" Both nod.

"Also still there, even though we know it could not be there. You have changed your appearance in front of others and it is staying." Royal police reaches over and touches the poof at my shoulder.

"I felt that and it was silk. If we had a changing room for you I would ask you to take the dress off and make a new one." I am unsure on that one.

"I made the quid and papers out of nothing and they went away." Chief puts his hand up.

"I see what you are getting at, you had dress on already. This dress is staying because there is reality underneath it." He rummages around in his desk a moment and holds up a sheet of paper. "See if you can make a knife and cut this paper."

Unsure on what sort of a knife I should make I ponder it a moment. Brighten when I think of the cutlery knife I used at the orphanage I close my hand and think of my hand closing on the knife. I get the knife in my hand then stand up to reach the paper. Close enough, I would imagine, I swipe the knife down the paper and cut it in half.