Chapter Seven: Reflections IV

Twintelle stepped out of the shower, steam rising all around her, as she hummed a heartfelt tune she had heard in a cheesy romance movie she had watched earlier that evening. It was nice to just relax sometimes - a nice hot shower, some aromatic candles, a soft and warmed towel to come out to...

She draped herself in the fine silk dressing gown she had picked up the past weekend at a rather high-end store and made her way back into the penthouse's living quarters. This whole place was a little too spacious for just her, admittedly, but the peace and quiet was undeniably relaxing. No one to bother her. No one to dress up for. She could afford to just be herself, rather than putting on a persona.

At least, that was how it usually was.

A rather generic knock came to her door. Very generic, actually - three perfect thumps, as if each movement of the wrist was specifically programmed in a certain way. In other words, her visitor was almost certainly mechanical.

With a deep sigh, Twintelle made her way to the door and opened it, to be met face-to-face with a familiar policebot.

"Hello citizen."

Twintelle rolled her eyes. "Let me guess - Coyle sent you. So you could look after me, since incidents involving this 'Mimicutie' woman and other fighters have been becoming commonplace?

"...Affirmative." BYTE confirmed without more deliberation.

"Fine, whatever, come in then." Twintelle sighed, making way for him.

The policebot shut the door behind him as he watched Twintelle make her way over to a small minibar in the corner of the room, where she began to prepare a drink for herself.

"So." Twintelle began. "Where's BARQ today?"

"BARQ has other objectives to attend to tonight." BYTE replied. "I am to patrol alone."

"Mm. Sure." She turned around and leant against the table she had just been working on, with her drink now in hand. "And you say Coyle sent you here?"

"Affirmative."

"Despite the fact that Coyle has no jurisdiction over you? Shouldn't you say that Coyle requested I be protected or whatever, and that request was granted by the police commissioner?"

BYTE paused for a moment. "...That is correct. That is the situation as I understand it."

Twintelle rolled her eyes. "I really did think you'd be better at this."

"I do not understand your statement."

"Oh, you can drop the act already." She glared. "You really weren't good at it from the start. BYTE would have said 'good evening', not 'hello'."

BYTE, from where he stood, engulfed himself in smoke and returned to form that had addressed herself the night before as Mimicutie. "Robots are hard to do." She shrugged as the steam dispersed. "They're a little too predictable to copy."

"I'm surprised you even can copy a robot." Twintelle admitted, putting her glass to her lips.

"Robots have reflections too!" Mimicutie smiled. "So..."

Twintelle didn't rush her enjoyment of her drink, enjoying the sip fully before putting it aside on the minibar behind her. "So at this point you have how many faces, exactly?"

"Of you and your friends?" Her head cocked to one side. "About seven, I think. I'm halfway there."

"Right." She sighed. "And, from what I heard, you had to actually fight Spring Man to get his?"

"Yes." She inhaled deeply. "I take it you're asking for a fight too?"

"Oh, no no no, you misunderstand..." She picked up the glass again and brought it back to her lips. " Quite the opposite. "

Mimicutie raised an eyebrow as she awaited Twintelle to finish taking another long, drawn-out sip.

"See, here's the thing... I'm really not interested in getting all banged up right now, or having my penthouse torn asunder by a pointless squabble. You want to do your little mimicry? Just make it quick and clean."

...Was this some sort of trick? Did she have a secret weapon she'd pull out at the last second, getting an unexpected first strike? But she doesn't even have her mask on... Hm. "...Alright." Mimicutie cocked a smile. "It'll just take a second and then I'll be on my way."

She took a step forward but stopped when Twintelle put up two fingers, as if beckoning a pause. "Am I right in thinking your copying process, or whatever, mirrors you to exactly how the person looks at the moment you copied them...? Because I'm not sure how much use to you I am in my dressing gown. And personally I'd rather you didn't copy me like this either."

Mimicutie opened her mouth as if to reply, but nothing really came out.

"...Shall I get dressed, then?" Twintelle sighed, walking over to the nearby corner of the room, where a fancily carved panel screen stood before a series of clothes racks.

"I-If you could just... Put on your regular League gear - including your mask, of course - that'd be... Great..." Mimicutie mumbled, stepping aside and waiting. It felt odd to have someone so cooperative in a moment like this. Surely this was just the lead-up to a sudden attack, right? It must be.

"So..." Twintelle began, from behind the screen as she changed. "What exactly are you collecting the faces of ARMS fighters for?"

Mimicutie laughed slightly. "It wouldn't be right to just tell you. I'm pretty sure you'd update Coyle and her little investigation team right away, after all..."

"I would, yes." The gown she had been wearing flopped up over the screen, making Mimicutie blush a little. "I'll be telling them you stopped by tonight, of course. Though I'll likely tell them I put up more of a fight than I did."

"That's fair."

"So you're aware of the Scooby Doo crew, then?"

Mimicutie paused. "Uhh... Yeah, I guess? I never watched it much. I think Shaggy was my favourite. I often found myself siding with the villains, though. They're only ever dressing up to-"

A very audible sigh came from behind the screen. "I was referring to Coyle's investigation team, genius. Though, for the record, Daphne was the best."

" Ohhh, right! " Mimicutie cringed, embarrassed. "Uhhh, y-yeah, I figured they'd start grouping together to try and 'stop' me. She's pretty predictable, Coyle."

"I suppose she is. She can still be quite the handful, though. Are you sure you're prepared to take her on?"

Mimicutie shrugged, despite not being in Twintelle's line of sight. "I have my plans and preparations. That's all I can count on."

"Mm." Twintelle seemed to understand, before coming out from behind the screen, fully clothed in her recognisable outfit.

"A-Ah!" Mimicutie smiled. "Shall we, then...?"

Twintelle glared. "Be patient. I still have to put my makeup on - it takes time to look good." She walked slowly over to the nearby vanity mirror and began to rummage through the assorted makeup supplies there.

"Ah, right. Sorry." Once again, Mimicutie just awkwardly stood to one side and waited. "Never really experimented much with makeup, so..." She was still fairly sure Twintelle was hiding something - maybe she had tripped some silent alarm and was now just biding her time until others showed up to help her? They're up on the highest story of this apartment complex, though. The only way to safely escape would be through the only exit of the room... This isn't a great situation to be in, if backup was on the way.

"So..." Twintelle mumbled as she began to powder her face, cutting Mimicutie's mind straight back to the present for a moment. "What exactly is your end goal here...?"

Mimicutie smiled. "That's just a fancy way of wording the same question again. You're trying to press me for information, aren't you?"

"I suppose." Twintelle shrugged. "It'd save me an earache from Coyle when I call her later. But in all honesty? I don't care what you intend to do." She sighed again, softly. "Of course, I do wish you'd keep me out of it for the most part, but in the big picture?" Another shrug. "I'm sure you have your reasons."

Mimicutie paused for a moment, having not expected such an understanding response from Twintelle. She looked rather solemnly at her. "I do."

"Mm." Twintelle looked at herself in the mirror. "People don't do things without a reason to. You clearly have a motive of some sort - one strong enough to warrant all of this as a means to your end. The rest of us may view it - whatever it is - as weak, or pointless, or childish, but I doubt you'd be here right now if it didn't mean a whole lot to you." She flicked her eyes to the corner of her head, to look at Mimicutie directly, rather than in the mirror. "And I'm sorry for that. I don't know what drives you, but I hope you feel it's worth it when this is all said and done. Finding out it wasn't, well... That'd certainly sting. "

Her eyes were a touch watery now, though thankfully that was hard to notice in the white voids they appeared as. Twintelle, oddly enough, seemed to understand. At least to some degree. Better than anyone else certainly would. It was a nice change, and perhaps if the other ARMS fighters had reacted this way... Well, maybe none of this would have been needed to begin with. Mimicutie was, for the first time in a while... Getting cold feet.

Twintelle put her makeup aside and got to her feet, picking up the mask hanging beside the vanity as she did so. "Breaking into the ARMS Lab, stealing equipment, framing others for it... Well, we've all been there, haven't we?" She smiled warmly. "They'll vilify you for it. And quite rightly, too. But I really do hope it's all worth it, in the end. I hope you find what you're looking for." She placed her hand lightly on Mimicutie's chin and looked into her shining eyes, solemnly. "There's a lot of sadness behind those eyes."

Mimicutie looked away, giving a small sniffle, and trying not to look emotional. "I-I have work to do..."

Twintelle gave a small, sad smile, and then folded her arms. "Well, I'm ready when you are. Quick and clean, understand?"

Mimicutie nodded and grabbed her gently by her shoulders, raising her slightly as the fog began to appear between them. A small part of her was concerned, still, that this all may be suddenly interrupted - but Twintelle stood true to her word, and by the time her feet reached the floor again she was looking at her perfect duplicate.

"Hm." Twintelle pouted. "I could have done a touch better on the foundation, but oh well. I do still seem rather striking, I must say. Just don't let anyone get any close-up shots."

Mimicutie, now in Twintelle form, ran her eyes around the room a bit as she got used to her new body. "This... Feels... Weird. "

Twintelle glared. "If this is an ass joke, I-"

"No no, the hair ARMS!" Mimicutie interrupted. "I have ARMS but I also have... Arms. At the same time? And my ARMS are up here ..." She twirled her new hair-ARMS around while keeping her arms stationary.

"Weren't you a robot just a moment ago?" Twintelle smirked.

"Yeah and that was weird too, don't get me wrong!" She insisted. "Helix is probably the strangest to switch to, though. It's weird not having bones." The fog engulfed once again and she was suddenly back to the young woman she was before. She cleared her throat. "Thank you for your cooperation, a-and have a nice night."

Mimicutie turned to walk away, but something in Twintelle needed to stop her. "Mimi..." The young woman turned around, puzzled. "...You aren't to tell Coyle that you received this from me, understand?" She turned and rummaged through some of the boxes on her vanity, before removing something small and silver, and passing it to Mimicutie. "Whatever you're planning to do? Might as well look good doing it. It may be a little Coyle-like but I figure that colour suits you best."

She took what Twintelle had handed her an examined it. Lipstick, huh? She's never really worn lipstick before, but... Well, it was a pretty thoughtful gesture. She looked back up at Twintelle, and for a second gave a genuine smile that wasn't tinged with spite. "Th-Thank you. Y'know for, uh... Being nice to me."

Twintelle shrugged. "Good luck out there, kid."

And with that, Mimicutie walked out of the penthouse, into the elevator, and disappeared back into the night. The thought may have occurred to her briefly that this lipstick could somehow be bugged with a tracking device from Coyle or something, but throughout her interactions with Twintelle, nothing really gave her reason to believe that. Upon inspection it did seem to be an ordinary tube of purple lipstick, too.

But now, after all of this, something else weighed on her mind. Was what she was planning really going to be worth it, in the end? It was a thought she hated to consider, because deep down she kinda knew it wouldn't be. She knew it wouldn't work in the long-term - it'd be her who'd be remembered badly for it. Doesn't that defeat the point?

Bah! No use thinking about it, right? It's too late to turn back now.

They'll pay for what they did.