"Huh… is that really necessary?" Mimete asked.
The witch was solidly tied up to a chair, as well as blindfolded for good measure.
"We can't risk having you running around and causing us any more trouble," Mars replied. "If Sailor Moon can't purify you for now, then we can't trust you to keep your word."
"That's so rude, I would never… and is the blindfold really necessary!? What are you, the sailor perverts?"
"W-What…!?" Jupiter exclaimed.
"It's so you can't see where our hideout is, you weirdo! What were you even thinking about!?" Mars replied, offended.
"Pff, I'm not the one kidnapping girls, tieing them up and blindfolding them in some unknown place," Mimete retorted.
"You're one to talk! You literally stalked celebrities to steal their pure heart crystals! And how many men did you assault and send to the hospital?" Mars said back.
"I…! Huh… whatever! Ugh!" Mimete pouted. "Could you at least remove the blindfold? I didn't see how we arrived here, so it's not like it matters if I see what this place looks like from the inside…"
"I guess it's fine if she just sees the inside and not the outside of our hideout," Minako said. "And I kind of feel bad to leave her blindfolded like that…"
"Ugh… fine," Mars complied, removing the blindfold.
"Well, finally…! Eh… this place doesn't look as shady as I thought, but it could benefit from some relooking. The decoration is pretty lame."
"Oh, hush you!"
Minako sighed. This might be more difficult than she thought. But she had faith that deep down, Mimete wasn't a bad person. They just had to find a way to purify her without killing her in the process.
"Mercury, are you making any progress?" Sailor Moon asked.
On the computer, Mercury was making some analysis from a scan she took from Mimete.
"It does seem like she is indeed some kind of daemon variant, as she does have a daemon egg inside of her, but with a human appearance… or rather, her body is very similar to a human body…"
"But she's not human, is she?" Jupiter asked.
"No, I'm not!" Mimete suddenly shouted. "I'm way too cute to be a mere human! No human can compare to me!"
"Oh, would you shut up!" Mars started to lose her patience.
"Unless she is some sort of advanced form of humanoid daemons, unlike those we used to fight," Mercury proposed. "One that developed a sense of self, really close to ours… and a certain form of humanity."
"Is there a way to remove the daemon egg inside of her without killing her?" Minako asked.
"I don't know for sure, I would need to do more research… but for now, I wouldn't suggest it. Her body seems to run on the egg's energy, it's her power source. Without it, she would die-"
"Then no thank you, I'm gonna keep that egg!" Mimete interjected.
"This is not up to you!" Mars replied. "You should already be grateful we haven't eliminated you already, given the danger you pose…"
"Can't you help us figure something out instead of complaining?" Jupiter said.
"... Fine. If the egg is the source of my energy, that's probably because… I don't have a heart crystal."
There was a silence for a moment.
"Huh?" Sailor Moon said.
"I don't have a heart crystal. What you humans have as a source for your life force. I don't have that! We daemons used to have our energy from the Taioron Crystal, but since it's gone, I'm… running out of energy. All I have left is what I have in my daemon egg, and it's… not much."
"So this is why you were draining people of their energy, because you are running out of energy yourself?" Mercury asked.
"Exactly! I told you, I'm not hurting people because I want to, but because I have to! My life is on the line here!"
"Even so, we can't have you hurting people anymore, no matter your reasons," Sailor Moon replied. "But… we can't just let you die either… so there has to be another way, right guys?"
"Yeah! I can't believe those are the only options she has," Minako concurred.
"I'll try my best to find a solution to this!" Mercury added.
"I suppose we are best to keep this from the outer senshis? At least until we find a way to make Mimete not a 'threat' anymore?" Jupiter said.
"Oh… yeah. I forgot they are aware. They might not be as willing as us to redeem Mimete," Minako said.
"Never mind that, I still have questions for her!" Mars suddenly exclaimed. "Mimete! I still have the feeling you are hiding something from us!"
"Eh? I already told you everything I know! I made myself way more vulnerable to you than I'm comfortable with, what could you want more!?"
"Are you the only Witches 5 still around?" Mars suddenly asked.
This sudden question threw everyone off guard. Even Mimete remained quiet for a moment before she answered nonchalantly.
"How should I know?"
"Ah? What do you mean 'how should I know?'. Are you working alone, yes or not!?" Mars insisted.
"I already told you I am! I just don't know if the others are still around! That's up to you guys to keep me updated, I was kind of trapped in a device for a while!"
"Speaking of that device," Mercury wanted to ask.
"What about that witch before you, Eudial? We never saw her again before you showed up," Mars interrupted her.
"Oh… uh… yeah she's definitely not around anymore," Mimete replied, evasive.
"How do you know? She managed to escape last time we confronted her, she could still be ali-"
"Nope. She's dead. She had… a very tragic car accident on her way to our headquarters."
"... Really? I know she was a reckless driver, but even for her, this seems pretty anti-climatic," Jupiter said.
"Yeah, how could you even know that? You weren't even there, were you?" Mars asked, suspicious.
"Uh… I may or may not have… removed the brakes from her car?"
All the senshis were now looking at her with shock. Minako was starting to have second thoughts.
"You sabotaged her car and murdered her!?" Minako exclaimed.
"What? No! Well, I did sabotage her car, yes, but that's not murder! I didn't kill her! She had an accident!"
"Because of you! She wouldn't have had that accident if it wasn't for you!" Mars snapped.
"Eh, we can't know that, given her history of reckless driving… her and her damn station wagon. She nearly ran over me once! I'm telling you, she would have had a fatal accident one day or another. It's not like what I did really changed anything… right?"
"You directly caused someone else to die, how can you not see it!?" Jupiter let out.
"Uhh… that's just a normal witch thing to do, I guess. You humans are way more strict on what you call 'bad', huh."
"Obviously murder should be frowned upon!" Mars said.
"Right… but I swear I had good reasons to do so!"
"I'd love to hear those…" Jupiter said.
"Well, you see… I really wanted her job."
There was another silence, this time mixed with bafflement and consternation.
"Because… you wanted her job?" Sailor Moon repeated as if she couldn't believe it.
"That's insane! This is literally murdering someone to get a promotion!" Mars fumed.
"Hey! Said like that, you're making me sound like the bad guy…!"
"Because you are. You killed Eudial over such a petty reason…!?" Minako exclaimed.
"Well… okay now I'm starting to see your point. Maybe it was a little bit of an overreaction on my part, oops… my bad. Sorry?"
The other senshis glanced at Minako, who was really starting to have doubts regarding Mimete. The way she could disregard having killed her own ally and act so nonchalant about it sure didn't play in her favour…
"So, are we really sure helping her is worth it?" Mars suddenly asked.
"H-Hey…! I changed! I've been living among you humans for a while now without causing too much trouble…!"
"You literally drained people of their energy just recently," Jupiter replied.
"Yeah, but I didn't kill them, did I? Isn't it what you consider to be bad? In fact, I could have drained their entire life force and left them to die and it would have been way more convenient for me, but I didn't! I only took what was necessary to survive! I've been really trying hard to become a better person and cause less trouble to people, I swear!"
"... Hurting people even if you aren't killing them is bad too," Mercury added. "But, it is true that you showing restraint while you could have killed them might show that you did change, after all."
"R-Right…!"
"And you basically admitted being a heartless being with an egg filled with evil instead of a heart," Jupiter added.
"H-Hey, said like that…! But it's true! Going against my own nature is hard, I'm making a lot of efforts, you know? You should at least praise me for that!"
"... Okay, before I change my mind and actually eliminate you, how about your other buddies? Since Eudial is dead, have you seen any of them lately?" Mars asked.
"I already told you I didn't! In fact, I have no idea what happened to those three- or those four, if you wanna count Ptilol…"
"Speaking of that, why are you called the Witches 5 if you are actually six?" Jupiter suddenly asked.
"... Beat me. Cyprine and Ptilol are weird twins sharing the same body, so they count as one I guess? Anyway, Witches 5 sounds way better than Witches 6 if you ask me…"
"Enough with the distraction!" Mars interrupted. "As far as I know, all three of them met their demise."
"What? Even Tellu?" Mimete asked.
"She self-destructed with her own monster plant," Sailor Moon said sadly.
"Ah… Haha! Serves her right! She stole my job and tried to trap me forever into that device!"
"... But you literally did the same to Eudial?" Jupiter commented.
"If you ask me, you're the one who got what she deserved! That must have been karmic retribution," Mars added. "When you betray people, you should expect to be betrayed in return! Take it as a lesson."
"What!? Nobody told me about this!" Mimete protested. "You humans and your moral rules…"
"As I was trying to ask earlier, about that device… how did you get out, exactly?" Mercury asked again. "Tellu said if the power is shut down when you're still inside, you'll be trapped forever in it…"
"Well, guess Tellu wasn't so smart after all and didn't know as much as she thought about that device," Mimete replied smugly. "As for how I escaped… I actually don't know how exactly. It just… happened."
"... What?" Sailor Moon reacted.
"Yeah, I just sort of… got out eventually? Like I was ejected from the device and I reappeared right where I first got in- Mugen Academy. But here's the thing: the whole place was a wreck! The Death Busters were no more when I got out, so I just, didn't really bother myself with the why and how and went on to live my life, you know?"
"That's… highly suspicious…" Mars said.
"I'm not lying!"
"I'm not saying you are lying, but… I have the feeling someone got you out, and whoever this someone is might be the enemy I keep having premonitions about. I thought it was about you at first, but it doesn't feel right. There is someone else behind this, and that's why I was suspecting another Witches 5… but it seems you're the only one left."
"Yep! The only one left standing is me, Mimete, the greatest witch!"
"..."
"S-So, you didn't see the device near you when you got out?" Mercury questioned.
"Nope. I looked around a little but everything was just a bunch of ruins anymore so I didn't find anything of much importance. I didn't want to stay there too long, the site looked quite dangerous."
"Hmm… I'm thinking that, maybe someone replugged the device and, unlike what Tellu said, it was possible to get you out that way. Even when a computer is forcefully shut-down, some data can be preserved if there is a backup disk. But who got you out and why is the real question now…"
"Eh, who cares? Obviously, they can't be my enemy if they saved me," Mimete said nonchalantly.
"But they could be our enemy," Jupiter replied.
"And how is that my problem?"
"Because you are our problem!" Mars yelled.
"Ah, geez… maybe this person isn't even your enemy either! Maybe they were just a kind-hearted person who felt bad for me and wanted to get me out. You're all so quick to assume the worst of people…"
There was a collective sigh coming from the sailor senshis. Mimete definitely wasn't interested in this mysterious individual, no matter how suspicious they seem. And since she seemed genuine about not knowing who it is, there was no point in insisting.
Then suddenly, Luna burst into the room.
"Girls, bad news! Uranus and the others are gonna arrive here at any moment!"
"That's really bad! If they see Mimete here they might eliminate her on sight," Minako said.
"What!?" Mimete exclaimed, terrified.
"We have to move her then. Minako-chan, bring her with you," Jupiter said.
"Huh? No way! I can't bring back a random, tied-up girl to my place! What would my parents think?"
"That'd be a pretty bad way to come out to your parents indeed," Mimete commented.
"Oh, you don't you dare- you're the one who wanted to kiss me!"
"...What?" Sailor Moon simply said.
"Urgh, whatever, I'll take her to my place!" Mars proposed. "There's plenty of space there and nobody to bother us-"
"I don't like the sound of it."
"Will you shut up for once in your life!?"
Having no patience anymore for Mimete's attitude, Mars simply blindfolded her back and got her out of the chair, still tied up.
"You're coming with me," Mars said. "And if you complain again, I'm gagging you next."
"Come on, untie me at least! It's not like I'm going to try anything! I'm completely outnumbered! And how would you look like, dragging a poor, restrained girl?"
"You…! Fine. But you are keeping the blindfold until I say so, or else, you won't like the consequences."
"I swear, I swear! Just untie me already, this is getting very uncomfortable!"
"I'm already starting to regret it…"
Once finally untied, Mimete actually kept her word and didn't remove the blindfold as Mars led her outside the hideout, followed by her fellow senshis. When they entered the regular arcade, they headed for the exit. Thankfully, at this hour, there wasn't anyone anymore inside, so they wouldn't have to worry about curious gazes on the, wondering why they were walking around with a blindfolded girl. Once outside, they'd just have to walk a little, hoping to not see any passerby, then let Mimete remove the blindfolded. That should be well enough to cover their tracks about their secret hideout.
But of course, things didn't go as smoothly as expected.
Without warning, one of the walls literally collapsed loudly, as if something had collided with it.
"Ahhh!"
The girls cowered instinctively to avoid the wall's rubbles from hitting them.
"W-What's going on!?" Mimete let out, panicked. "I can't see with this damn thing… arg, screw this!"
And just like that, she removed the blindfold. Mars was way too preoccupied with the recent event to care that much about Mimete breaking her promise, and likewise, Mimete couldn't care less about the place she was in this situation.
In fact, she was way more concerned about what hit the wall. Coming from the wreckage was the front of a white car- a station wagon, to be precise. And even more precise, there was a very specific black star on the door.
As the sailor senshis looked shocked by the sudden intrusion, Mimete looked absolutely mortified.
"No… it can't be…" she mumbled.
"That car, it's…!" Sailor Moon reacted.
The door suddenly opened. A red high heel hit the ground as the driver exited the car. With her signature crimson outfit and her hair that almost seemed to be made of flames, she was standing there, gaze filled with a fiery desire for retribution.
"H-How…? I… I killed you!" Mimete screamed out desperately.
Eudial grinned at that remark, but there was no joy in her smile. Her eyes only expressed pure anger as she reached for her flamethrower.
"I've finally found you… Get ready to pay for your sin, MIMETEEE!"
Phew, I actually managed to finish this chapter! This weekend I was so busy with my Mimete in-depth analysis that I barely had time to work on this fic, and with my new full-time job I usually try to get everything done on the weekend. I even wrote some of this chapter in the bus on my way to work today xD
So, second witch to show up! Eudial is not happy about what Mimete did! What's your thought and expectation for the showdown? Please let me know!
Also if you are interested in my Mimete in-depth analysis, check out my tumblr blog incorrectsmvillainsquotes !