Chapter Twelve: Safe House

Min Min flipped through the magazine she had taken from the nearby pile. "This stuff is ancient. What's the date on this?" She flipped it over to the back and examined the small text. " Ninety four?! "

Coyle shrugged, across the room. "I cancelled all my subscriptions when I stopped being a loser and started being a bruiser. Those are just the ones I vaulted."

"Couldn't have hurt to stop by the corner shop on your way here, y'know..." She grumbled under her breath.

Ribbon Girl and Mechanica were equally nearby to Min Min, and were playing a casual game of Connect Four. Across the room was Coyle, at a desk that had been dragged to the back for her. Between Coyle and the other three? Twenty feet of empty space.

A thick yellow line was drawn on the floor with paint, about twice an ARMS-length away from Coyle. If anything with a heart beat - or a sufficiently strong battery, like in Springtron or BYTE - crossed that line, a roof-mounted tessla coil would instantly blast them with enough electrical energy to short-out their ARMS for a good while. The exception to this rule, of course, was Coyle herself.

This was the method through which Coyle intended to keep herself free from Mimicutie's grasp. Brass and Springtron, both currently out-and-about and unaccounted for, could very well be Mimicutie's next targets. But Coyle was assured she wouldn't be caught - and without her? The collection was to be left incomplete.

The three across the room, in the designated 'safe' area by the bulkhead door, were simply there to keep Coyle company. And to help her brainstorm, she supposed.

"This is so boring." Min Min groaned, laying back on the small sofa she had to herself. "You'd think a safehouse would have more stuff to keep you busy or somethin'."

"There used to be a pool table, I think." Coyle mumbled back. "We started using this place for storage after twenty-ten. We realized we never really used it, so we started making use of the space." She took a sip of her coffee. "Had to throw all that junk out last night to set this all up, though."

The bunker they resided in was originally designed as a fallout shelter, in case of an attack during the Cold War. Its walls could withstand a hearty dose of radiation, its entrance had two separate bulkhead doors that couldn't both be opened at the same time, and the electricity was hooked up to two generators faaaar underground. It was the perfect place to set up a safehouse.

Mechanica put a red circle down into one of the gaps on the vertical plastic board. "That's four!"

"Huh?" Ribbon Girl peered closer. "Wha-?! Mannn, no fair!"

Mechanica giggled, smiling brightly to herself.

Hearing the end of that session, Min Min rolled over slightly to address her girlfriend. "Yo, uhh... You wanna bring that up with Coyle?"

Ribbon Girl looked uneasy.

Coyle's ears perked up, and she looked over at the three. "Hm...?"

With a deep breath, Ribbon Girl turned to Coyle. "Min Min and I were talking last night and, uhh..." She nervously adjusted herself in her chair. "...We think you should reconsider the Distant Future Funland angle."

Coyle stared blankly. " You're kidding me. "

"We put some more thought into it last night and we really think Min Min might have been onto something." Ribbon Girl insisted. "I didn't believe it at first either, but now I really think it's a possibility!"

With a deep inhale, Coyle, leant back on her chair. " Fine. Impress me!"

Min Min leant up a bit on her sofa. "Okay, well, same deal as last time - I propose Mimi is the daughter of some dude who owned Distant Future Funland. She was particularly into the hall of mirrors, so she wound up with mirror ARMS! The League shuts 'em down and builds a League-themed park on top of it. That explains the hatred for the ARMS League!"

"So far this is all awful and that's still a stupid motive." Coyle glared, leaning back on her chair.

"Okay, well, let me address your complaints from last time, then!" Min Min smirked. "Why's she 'collecting' League faces? She's not. " Her smile fell. "...Or maybe she is? I've got two angles on this, hear me out."

Coyle rested her head up with her elbow, already fed up with this explanation.

"First theory is that she's not collecting faces. It's all just a distraction so that our team here - which she's aware is trying to stop her - would wind up hiding away come Friday in the fear that she'll still be after the faces she needs. With us set aside, she can wreak havoc on ARMS League World when it's open without us getting in the way. Perfect vengeance for Funland being closed. And if that was her plan? She succeeded! "

Coyle didn't seem much amused. "And your second theory?"

"It ties into that first one, hear me out..." Min Min smiled coyly. "She is collecting League faces, but she doesn't need all of them. She's not gonna bother going after yours because she predicted and wanted the whole safehouse shebang. But when she's tearing up ARMS League? The more faces she has, the more League fighters she can pin the damages on. People will be runnin' and screamin' from Master Mummy and Ninjara and Kay-Cee, so they'll assume it's the League who attacked them."

"Which is still easily disproven after the fact once we show the mimicry footage from Kid Cobra's stream." Coyle reminded.

"Y-Yes, but..." Ribbon Girl interjected. "We don't think Mimi's acting in the long-term here. Maybe she hasn't thought that far ahead...? What you said about seeking revenge for ruining our careers, well, neither Min or I would do that..." She shrugged, a little uncertain but still dutifully believing what she was proposing. "But maybe Mimi is a little unhinged. I mean, I think you'd have to be to do all of this in the first place." She still felt a great deal of pity for Mimicutie, so talking about her like that honestly felt a little mean. "So maybe Funland closing is enough of a reason for her, a-and she's simply not thinking long-term with all of this, because she's not really all that sound in the head...?"

Mechanica nervously shrugged her shoulders. "That... Does all kinda make sense to me."

Coyle pouted for a moment. "...Fine, I'll tell you what..." She leant forward again. "Kid Cobra got released from the hospital last night and, if I know Kid Cobra, he'll be at ARMS League World today regardless of his lasting injuries. Master Mummy also said he'd be taking his son there today. Both of them know full well that Mimicutie is a threat, so if they see anything out of the ordinary? I'm sure they'll call us." She shrugged. "Is that fine, then?"

"Sure, I guess..." Min Min sighed, feeling like Coyle was just trying to shut down that idea once and for all.

"Good!" She smiled, taking her coffee mug in her hand again. "Any other wild theories you want to throw out?"

Mechanica cautiously raised her hand.

"Mm?"

"...Sorry, but it has come to my head before..." She smiled nervously. "Um... Mimi's not, um, got a grudge specifically against you, does she? Like... You haven't ever experimented on an unwilling person before, having you?"

Coyle squinted. "That's... Possible, I'll admit. We've had a history of, well... Things in this Lab. Perhaps I have some things I regret. Some things I'm not proud of..." She scratched the back of her head. "But I don't think Mimi's related to the Lab in any way. I don't recognise her, certainly. No one of her ethnicity and age range comes to mind."

"Hm." Mechanica quietly nodded.

"You're whack, doc." Min Min sighed, laying back on the sofa. "Wake me up when-"

The red light above the door began to flash suddenly. "O-Oh?" Mechanica jumped. "Someone's opened the outer bulkhead...!"

Coyle tapped at her laptop quickly. "...Key card entry from Springtron. Hm." They had, since the incident earlier in the week, disabled the retinal scanners. But Springtron's key card system was a built-in process and they had already learnt that Mimicutie was capable of mimicking robots... Hm. "Right, well, you three be ready for any surprises."

With all eyes on the large mechanically-controlled door, it soon rolled back to reveal Springtron behind it... Carrying an unresponsive Brass.

"H-Huh...?" Coyle sat up in her chair.

He thunked the hulking man down to the floor, where the three nearby quickly dropped down to check on him.

"H-He's breathing but he's out cold...?" Ribbon Girl panicked.

"Check his neck." Coyle stared. "Look for a small purple circle."

"Uhhhh..." Ribbon Girl looked around. "...A-Ah, yeah, there is one?"

Coyle sat down again, somewhat relieved. "Springtron's sedated him, then. That's fine - I told him to do that if he needed to bring Brass here for whatever reason. Keeps me focused." She clapped her hands toward Springtron. "Give me your report."

Springtron walked to the yellow line, stopping just short of it. He puffed his chest out and a small compartment slid open. A large cartridge shot out from within and launched over to Coyle, who caught it and slipped it into a reading device beside her laptop.

She ran her eyes back and forth over the screen, a finger to her chin. "I had him watching Brass from a nearby rooftop, just in case our little friend showed up... Good lord. Looks like she threw him from a building. "

Min Min, who had been staring wide-eyed at Brass's unmoving face, turned to Coyle. "She threw him from a building? She wasn't that extreme with any of us! "

"Springtron boosted forward, caught him, and crashed the two of them through one of the lower floors. Saved him hitting the ground, but it did a number on Springtron's leg plating and-" She stopped suddenly, her eyes jumping wide at what she had just read. She turned immediately to face the others again. " He's been stabbed. Check his belly."

Ribbon Girl and Min Min looked at each other briefly as Mechanica clamped her hands over her mouth. Min Min pulled back Brass's gown and checked around for a- "Oh god, yikes, yeah. " She muttered, horrified. She ran two fingers over the wound. "I-It's all kinda... Icy?"

"Springtron patched him up after catching him. Nothing too repairing, but it'd certainly have stopped the bleeding and helped out internally." Coyle drummed her finger tips to her chin, rather nervously . "...Shit. Shit, this is really bad." She mumbled. "The way she's been acting this whole week, I never actually thought she'd use that weapon. But now she's just tried to kill one of us..."

Ribbon Girl and Min Min did their best to lift Brass, but boy was he heavy. After some struggling, Springtron walked over and began to help out too. Together the three of them placed him down on the sofa, where they figured he'd be better off.

Coyle sat down again and continued to read the report Springtron sent, and then reread it over once more. "Looks like she never found Springtron. So he's not been copied yet either." She mumbled. "Doesn't look like he was close enough to see if Brass got copied or not, though. He says something about seeing his back to the window shortly before his fall, so he was clearly talking with her, but... Hm."

The tension in the air was rather rough. Things were pretty extreme now, and while Coyle may have been safe at the end of the room, each of the other three had a lingering worry that Springtron may very well be Mimi in disguise. That'd be possible, right? She could have copied him and ejected a fake report, no?

At the very least, nothing could lighten the mood here now. Had Lola been here her constant jokes would meet the ire of each of them, earning her a death glare from the corner of every eye in the room. The most likely-

Ribbon Girl's phone rang.

Coyle gave an audible grunt, while Min Min side-eyed Ribbon Girl. "S-Sorry..." She mumbled, retrieving her phone from her pocket. She felt pretty embarrassed to have her phone going off at a time like this, and even more so due to her ringtone being her own eccentric singing. It was a bit surprising, though, that phone coverage extended all the way down here - it really was the best place for a safehouse possible, huh?

Ribbon Girl flipped her phone open and quickly put it to her ear. Before she could give a greeting of her own, a voice on the other end immediately began to shout at her. "YOOO, WHADDAP CHAMP!"

She rolled her eyes, not really feeling his enthusiasm right now. "Hey, Cobra..."

"YOOO, DUDE!" He yelled. "I'M IN LINE FOR THE Ki-Ki-Ki- KING COBRAAAAA! IT'S GONNA BE WILDDDDD! "

"Cool, dude." She replied flatly. "I'm kinda dealing with something right now, so we'll have to talk l-"

"YO, BUT HOLD UP A SEC!" He interrupted. "I'M CALLIN' YA FOR A REASON!"

If this was about getting Min Min to come share the fun, the answer was still going be a firm no. "Go on..."

"YOU AIN'T AT THE PARK RIGHT NOW, ARE YA?"

"No." She sighed. "I'm with Coyle in a bunker like a billion miles underground. I wouldn't be caught dead there anyway, honestly."

"OHHH SHIIIT, DAWG!" He yelped slightly. "AW DUDE, BUT MAN, I SEE YOU RIGHT NOW!"

"...What?"

"YOU'RE OVER THERE BY THE LAGOON, MY DUDE! YOU AIN'T EVEN GOTCHA PHONE TO YOUR EAR, MAN, AW SHIT!" He groaned. "THAT'S GOTTA BE BABYGIRL, HUH? WHAT'S SHE DOIN' HERE?!"

Ribbon Girl put the phone flat against her chest and turned to Coyle, a look of deathly seriousness in her eye. "Mimi's at the park. She is going after ARMS League World."

" What? " Coyle perked up, getting to her feet suddenly.

She put the phone back to her ear. "What's she doing right now...?"

"I DUNNO MAN, SHE'S JUST KINDA STANDIN' THERE. SHE'S, LIKE, LOOKIN' AROUND A BUNCH. DOESN'T LOOK HAPPY, THOUGH. GUESS SHE DOESN'T LIKE PARKS?"

"Cobra, you need to keep an eye on her. If she draws her ARMS you have to fight her back from doing... Well, anything . We'll be over as soon as we can."

"AWWW MAN, I'M ABOUT TO GET ON THE KING, THOUGH!"

" This is more important. " She insisted. "Do not let her out of your sights. If you see Mummy, tell him to get his son out of there as quickly as he can. Hell, if you see any children you have to get them out of there. B-But don't cause a commotion! We can't set her off."

"FFFFFFFFF, ALRIGHT SIS, I'VE GOT THIS THEN."

Ribbon Girl flipped her phone shut and addressed the room. "She's idle right now but we may not have much time."

"We'll have to hurry." Coyle nodded, coming back across the yellow line. And using her personal key card to open both bulkheads at once. "Mechanica, you stay here with Brass and watch over him. Try and get him some medical attention from upstairs."

"B-But I can come help!" Mechanica pleaded.

" No. " Coyle shut-down, firmly. "She's already tried to kill one of us, I'm not putting you in that situation. She likely has the weapon with her. It's not safe. " She turned back to the door as they waited for it to open. "Besides... Better to have Brass in good hands."

Min Min raised an eyebrow uneasily. "You think she'll have the weapon with her...? How would she have gotten it in there?"

"She's disguised as the League champion. She probably bypassed all the entry stuff entirely. A lot of parks have hidden walkways underground, so she could have had it moved there without telling anyone what it was." Coyle sighed. "Time we start taking this Funland theory seriously, even if it is a weak motive. We'll do some research on the way there." She still didn't really believe it, though. No one could really be that hung up over a theme park closing, right?

Over in ARMS League World, Mimicutie stood in the central plaza with a dry glare on her face. All the colour and fast-paced thrill rides, all the little cutouts of Helix and statues of Max Brass... It was all so disgusting.

Was this really what the world needed? A massive park to glorify these assholes? Over-the-top rides based in the likeness of fifteen people that represented everything wrong with overly popular trends?

And all of this... Built here. Over the remains of her father's pride-and-joy. Her family's legacy. The place she grew up. The place she called a home. They just steamrolled right over it.

She wiped a small tear from her eye and brought a sad smile to her face.

Well... Today's the day~