Chapter Eleven: Reflections VI

Max Brass took a long, deep look out the large window of his suite. The world of ARMS... What a place! Fifty years on and he's still finding new things to marvel at.

So a young woman can shapeshift into different people, eh? That's new. Man, you really think you've heard it all when a young lady gets ARMS in her hair, and then somethin' like this comes along. Crazy, crazy world.

He took another swig from the drink in his hand, which had just a moment ago been placed beside his dinner plate, which still lay at the table he ate at just to his right - stained with peppercorn sauce and uneaten veggies. By now the room service really should know not to bother with that part, but hey, the green does add a bit of visual flourish, he supposed.

He shut his eyes. The night view of the city was gorgeous, but... Well, he couldn't help but feel lonely. Perhaps, if he and Coyle had still been together, well, maybe she'd be here with him right now. Though - realistically - there'd be little chance they'd live together in a top-floor penthouse, really. Far too far from her Lab. Gosh... She really did love that lab, huh?

With a final big swig, he finished his drink. The ice cubes clattered around in the glass as he continued to stand there, simply watching over the city.

It was disappointing, admittedly, how every text he'd get from Coyle nowadays was always about some bizarre League happenstance that he should know about. Never anything casual, or thoughtful, or... Well, was it so wrong to hope for the day he'd see an "I miss you"? Sigh.

But hey, if it has to be all about mysterious face-collecting young women with mysterious motives, well, so be it! That's what he loved about this world, after all. All that craziness just made it that much more fun.

That's probably what he liked about Coyle, too.

A small dinging noise from the back of the room drew his attention, and he turned to view its source. The elevator had stopped at his floor... Ah. That'd be her, then.

The doors opened and a familiar policebot stepped out. Once more, without his canine companion.

"You can drop the-"

His beckoning proved unneeded, evidently, as she began to fade back into her usual self the second she stepped forward. She clearly wasn't trying to play sneaky - at least not with him.

She took a few steps more and paused a few feet ahead of him. She had a rather serious look burnt onto her face. No smile. No smirk. Only flat determination, and perhaps a tinge of disgust.

"Hello Brass." She mumbled quietly, though just enough for him to hear. She spoke with no enthusiasm. No snark, no hubris. Just plain resentment.

Brass raised an eyebrow to her. He had been told to expect a rather playful demeanour in her. Someone snarky and self-assured. This seemed... Uncharacteristic.

"Say something." She grumbled, her upper lip quivering ever so slightly.

"I-I..." He stared. "I don't know what you want to hear from me. Whatever struggles you have with my ex wife, well, I'm not entirely involved in-"

She laughed through her teeth. "With your ex wife? " She repeated, dumbfounded. "I don't have anything to do with her. YOU are the one I take issue with."

He stared blankly at her. "A-And why is that...?"

Her face fell and she shut her eyes for a moment, as if trying to keep her cool. "You were the champion, Brass. You were the one who signed off on it." She took a step forward. "Without a single thought to what it might have meant for the people you steamrolled over."

"I-I...?" He was genuinely confused.

"All you saw was an opportunity to stretch your damn ego even further. You and your little friends, basking in the limelight, but not content enough to stay put. You just had to have more and more reach, everywhere you could, until NOTHING that wasn't about you and your League remained."

He quietly extended an ARM down to his side and placed his empty glass to the floor. "Look, kid. I know what you've been doing with my associates. I know you take their forms and use them for your own. I may not know for why but I know damn well that you don't have a reason good enough to excuse it."

She glared at him angrily, her lip sharpening upward. Her eyes seemed to water slightly with every word he spoke.

"I'm not going down without a fight." He raised his ARMS upward. "If you want my face you'll have to really work for it. And I don't go down easy."

She laughed. And then began to laugh more, until she was having a decently long giggle-fit. "You- You want to fight me?"

"I've heard of your tricks." He glared. "I'm still tough-as-nails, and if you think putting on Ribbon's face will be enough to beat me, well, you've got another thing coming. It was her passion and confidence that gave her the edge. And I sincerely doubt you compare."

Mimicutie inhaled deeply. "I'm not here to fight you, Brass. I'm not even here to take your face!" She smirked. "Besides, I doubt you'd be willing to get dressed for me, and you're not much use in a dressing gown." Brass was only draped in a red gown and some lazy-day clothes, after all.

He glared at her, and for a moment a bead of sweat dropped down his neck. Something about all of this felt off. She was acting unlike how she addressed any of the other fighters - at least from what he had heard - and she seemed pretty upset. What exactly could she be here for, if it wasn't to duplicate him?

With a deep breath, Mimi calmed herself. "Y'know... My dad never had ARMS. He never needed them, though, he got by just fine without 'em." She wiped a tear from her eye. "And he used to say to me, Alison! " She sniffled, putting on a deeper voice to represent that of her father's. " One-a these days you could be a fighter! You'll getcha self in that League and I'll come cheer ya on every night you're out there! "

Brass tried to piece things together as quickly as he could. Did she want to be a League fighter, but then fail at the try-outs? Could that be what all this is about?

She sniffled again, some tears running down her cheeks from her bright white eyes. "I respected you people, y'know... I truly thought this was all a great sport, and no one really got hurt."

Okay, wait, did she get hurt? No... Did her dad get hurt? He'd never beaten anyone to the point of injury before, had he? Why was this so hard to figure out?!

"But you people..." Her teeth chattered. "You're like an insatiable hunger crossing all across the planet that just does. Not. End. "

"I-"

" I AM TALKING! " She yelled violently, some spit flying from her bared teeth. Her chest heaved up and down in anger. "SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LISTEN FOR ONCE!"

He closed his mouth, now somewhat afraid. She was only a small thing, sure, but this anger... Just what the hell had he done to her?

Her breathing slowed gradually, and she grew something of a defeated smile on her face. "That's just the thing, really... You never listen. We tried so hard - So. Hard. - to just have you hear us out, but..." She wiped her eye again. "It was all just for nothing. You just walked right over us anyway."

He remained silent. He felt as though he should try to talk back in some way, any way - perhaps this called for a sympathetic approach...? Perhaps he should continue to be commanding, and steal back the dominance in this scenario? But ultimately he did what he felt she would want most of all and stayed silent.

Mimicutie looked to the floor. " I'll talk to my people about it. " She quoted, solemnly. "That's what you told him." She wiped her nose. "And, I think, within the very next minute... You had forgotten he had even come to speak to you at all. You never talked to anyone about it. You never even gave it a second thought." She shrugged. "You just took. "

After some debilitating, he decided to speak up. "...I-I'm sorry."

She squinted at him.

"I-I'll admit, in honesty, that I-I really have no idea what you're talking about, but-"

She gave a short laugh. "I figured as much."

"...B-But that doesn't mean I don't believe what you're saying. I promise." He angled his hands flatly toward her, like a gentle sign he was no longer playing the offensive. His more sympathetic approach, for what it's worth, seemed to actually help.

Mimicutie stared blankly over Brass's shoulder and out of the window behind him, letting her eyes unfocus and blur as she felt empty inside. "...It's too late now."

" Please, " he urged, "if there's anything I can do to make things right with you, I'd be happy to. I promise."

She smirked sadly. "It's too late. For that. Now." She mumbled.

Without another word, she began to slowly walk forward. Brass played the defensive still, raising his palms to her as if to urge that he didn't want any trouble.

She paused, now within ARMS reach of him. She stared into his chest. "You'll just be the first of many, in the end." She then flicked her eyes up to him. "But, in honesty? Easily the most meaningful."

What happened next happened so quickly and suddenly that Brass had little time to process any of it until his eyes were blurring and his breath was tinged with the taste of blood. Mimicutie had grabbed the nearby steak knife left on the table and thrust it into his abdomen with enough strength to lodge the entire length of the blade within him. His breath instantly grew short, and he froze from the sudden pain.

She twisted the knife, causing Brass to grunt out in immense and searing pain. He pushed a hand to the floor to keep him on his feet, as he leaned slightly over Mimicutie, who's hand was still firmly on the handle, beginning to get soaked in his blood. "Part of me thought..." She mumbled, a little shakily. "That I might feel something at this point." She inhaled deeply, then slowly exhaled. "Success? Enjoyment? ...Regret, maybe?" She shut her eyes, some tears escaping down her cheeks in the process. "...But I really don't feel anything."

Brass could barely see now. His ears rang loudly, drowning out her voice.

She smiled softly, through her tears. "One of many."

And with that, she suddenly lunged back - removing the blade from within his body - and kicked her foot forward. Brass flew back and crashed through the window he had been stood at, shattered glass flying out into the open air alongside him, as he began to fall down to the street below.

Mimicutie dropped the knife and left without another thought.