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Rania Lorpar, known as the Dark Magical Girl Morgana Ravena, saunters into the bar, tugging the wide brim of her witch's hat down her forehead. The Dark Magical Girl licks her lips as she studies the clientele packed in the Heavenly Imperial Club tonight, relishing in the sight of so many nubile young women packed in such a tight space. So many adorable baby Dark Magical Girls, freshly corrupted and-
"Ugh, the pedophile's here," a grumpy voice calls out, and Rania sighs.
Well, Blaze Inferna's looking as pretty as ever, at least. Those pretty eyes, the horns, the wings. Such wonderful wings this corrupted beauty has. It's truly a shame she keeps toting that man around with her. And that her body's slightly too developed for Rania's tastes.
"Blaze! Hey Blaze, how are you doing?" Rania decides to wave anyways, just to see Blaze scowl.
"Saji, the pedophile keeps trying to talk to me. Make her stop."
"Yes, milady. Miss Morgana - " Blaze's attendant begins before Rania waves him off.
"Yes, yes, I heard that. I'll stop… If you apologize for the pedophile comment!" Rania huffs. "I resent that implication."
"… You de-aged two girls last month and left them in a ditch after you finished with them," Blaze replies, arching one of her elegant eyebrows. "I heard the brothel on floor 89 had to take them in. Real class act there."
"Oh please, we're in New Vegas! A little depravity never hurt anyone, shit, I'd do it again if I had the chance!" Rania declares. "It's so much more fun to rape them when they look young and innocent and… And, it's not pedophilia if they're of age mentally anyways, so, there!"
"… You're disgusting."
"And I relish in your disgust, truly," Rania ripostes. "Your disgust nourishes me."
"…" Blaze Inferna huffs, before turning back to the assembled crowd. Rania does the same. Truly, it's a vibrant assemblage of Dark Magical Girls standing in front of Rania.
There are a lot of old faces here, quite a few actually. Nocturna Eden, lurking in the shadows like she always does, the gloomy goose. Fractal Shard, off to the side slugging away a few shots of tequila. Then there's Lune Luna doing… Well, Rania's not really sure what Luna's doing.
"Luna, what are you doing?"
"Sitting in my chair. Don't bother me, I'll bite your fucking hand off if you bother me," Luna snaps back before reclining back in her comfortable arm chair and curling up in the cushion.
"Fair enough!" Rania calls out, chuckling softly. "Is it a nice chair?"
"… Cushion sucks. And I could use a plate of fresh meat too, and maybe some mead," Luna grumbles. "But the chair itself is nice enough, sure."
Ah, Dark Magical Girls. So… Exuberant and passionate. Only in New Vegas could you find a gathering of this many girls, looking for work. New Vegas is a truly lawless place, after all. The Dark City, the Capital of Sin, the Witch's Haven; the port where all Dark Magical Girls gather at some point to ply their trade and sell their services.
Their services being horrific slaughter, wanton torture, and other nasty, nefarious bits of dark magic, of course.
Even Dark Magical Girls aren't immune to the consequences of living in the capitalist money-driven society of 2137. Dark Magical Girls still need to eat, for the most part. To fill their bellies, satisfy their greed, their newly awakened lusts and desires. And while it's possible, for a time, to survive by preying on the worthless sheep that populate this planet…
The girls who managed to survive past their first year without flaming out discovered that it's a lot easier to just buy whatever you need. Much cleaner too, which is important when making waves typically means that the MGA will send one of their hit squads to your location.
So the instant that the first fallen Magical Girl learned she could get paid for murdering the shit out of some poor fucker, well… The Dark Magical Girl mercenary trade kicked off with a pretty spectacular bang. Of course, it isn't just murder that Dark Magical Girls engage in.
Rania dabbles in potions and poisons on the side. She knows Blaze Inferna creates magically-binding contracts and acts as an arbitrator. Luna moonlights as a bodyguard for some corporate stooge with a condo in Terminus City. So it isn't just murder that compels people to seek out a Dark Magical Girl's services. If you want something magical done that's illegal or in the gray area of legality, who better than a Dark Magical Girl to get that job done?
Rania watches more girls file into the bar, and whistles under her breath. "Lot of new faces with the old tonight, too. Isn't that right, Luna?"
"…" Luna cracks open her eyelid. "I guess. Heh. New meat. Wonder how long they'll last."
"We'll just have to see, won't we. Kind of weird though, this is… An awfully large number of girls. What, did they just call up everyone they could for this meet?" Rania hums as she starts to contemplate… Murder. "Hey, Luna, hypothetically if some of these girls were to die, would y-"
"No, I'm not going to fucking eat people just because you want to bump off the competition for this contract," Luna growls. "Odin damn it, you bite off a girl's breast one time and people keep calling you a fucking cannibal. It was one time! Once!"
"Oh come on! It'd be such a neat way to dispose of the bodies!" Rania pouts. "Besides, you did eat that girl's boob that one time, didn't you? So that totally makes you a cannibal - "
"Fuck off!"
Ooh, temper, temper. Rania leans back, eyeing the door. Well, it doesn't look like any more girls are going to be showing up here... "Alright, alright, sorry. I'm just playing with you, you know how I am."
"Fucking hell," Luna swears again. "Thor give me strength, if the proposed payout for this contract wasn't as massive as it was I'd have already fucked off to go drown myself with mead. Death by alcohol poisoning would be better than another hour of having to put up with you."
Rania pauses and considers that fact. "… Yeah, that's fair enough. Considering how many girls are even here you'd be what, getting 25 mil after divvying up your share?"
"There are thirty girls in the room, it'll probably be a whole lot less," Luna points out.
"Contract's 500 mil overall Morgana," Blaze interrupts, flouncing up and flopping down into another comfortable armchair, followed silently by her attendant. "500 mil split thirty ways, use some basic math why won't you? It's more like 16 mil, 17 mil if everyone signs on."
"That's still a whole shitload of money to be throwing around," Rania turns to eye Blaze suspiciously. "Hey, why are you talking to me? I thought you hated me."
"I couldn't pass up an opportunity to lecture you, you damn pedophile," Blaze drawls out.
"… Prissy soulless lawyer," Rania grumbles in response.
"Saji, call her a pedophile again," Blaze orders her attendant. Saji clears his throat.
"Miss Morgana, my lady wo-"
"If you call me a pedophile I'll slip a potion of impotence into your next meal," Rania says, and Saji's mouth clicks closed.
"… You wouldn't. You wouldn't dare - " Blaze Inferna says.
At that moment, the doors to the bar swing open for a final time, and a woman steps in, quickly walking to the front of the bar through the throng of lounging Magical Girls. Girls who go quiet as they watch her pass.
Rania runs her eyes across this nameless woman's form, taking in the neatly-pressed suit dress she's wearing, the shine of her heels, her plain jewelry and severe demeanor…
"Oh shit, this contract's from a fuckin' corpo-cunt," Luna curses under her breath as she realizes exactly what Rania just realized.
"… Fucking corpos," Rania mutters bitterly, and Blaze and Luna nod in agreement because there's one thing almost every Dark Magical Girl can agree on.
Fuck the corporations.
"Good evening. Thank you all for assembling here," the corporate representative says at the front of the room, her tone clipped and professional. She adjusts her glasses as she begins to speak. "My name is Mina Harper, and I represent Mendesdyn Security. You've been called here tonight to-"
"Just get to the fucking point!" A Magical Girl yells out from the back of the room to raucous cheer and applause from the other girls.
"Yeah, stop wasting our time! We ain't getting paid to sit around!"
"Say your piece or fuck off corpo-cunt, nobody here likes corpos!"
"Yeah! Yeah! Fuck the corpos!"
"… Yes, very well," Mina says, keeping her composure. Rania sneers. Damn soulless corporate stooges with blood as cold as ice. Ugh. Say what you will about the MGA, but at least even their shitty heavy-handed administrative style's far better than when Magical Girls worked directly for the corporations. "I'll get straight to the point then. My client would like to hire as many of you as possible for a contract. Once you agree, you'll be airlifted to-"
"Just tell us what the job is, lady," Rania calls out. "Stop dancing around the subject. What are we supposed to be doing, and how much will you pay us to do it?"
"Your job is to provide security to… A certain facility of ours where we research subjects of an arcane nature. After a period of time, the nature of your contract will shift to assassination and disposal of targets we've pre-selected. The overall payment after this contract has been completed will be one billion credits, split between however many of you take on th-"
"A billion?" Rania blinks. Holy crap, a billion? 500 mil would've been plenty, but a full billion?!
"Yes, a billion credits. My client has agreed to increase the reward for fulfilling this contract after certain complications arose within the city."
The room goes silent momentarily before the assembled Magical Girls break out into hushed whispering. Not that Rania can blame her colleagues, she's a little taken aback by the ridiculous amount this corpo-cunt's offering.
A billion credits? What kind of lunatic just drops a billion credits like that? That's fuck-you money. It's probably the gross profit of the entire corporation for a year, for god's sake. It'd be enough to hire a thousand regular assassins or a hundred thousand regular bodyguards.
"… Shit, that's a lot of money," Luna whispers.
"Yeah," Rania agrees.
"… It's too good to be true," Luna continues.
"Yep, there's a catch here and I think I already know what it is," Rania agrees before raising her voice again. "This facility we're supposed to be guarding, where is it exactly?"
"You'll be stationed in our corporate headquarters. Terminus City. That is where the bulk of your work will take place."
Yep, there it is. There's the catch, as clear as day. Rania watches in real-time as the rest of the room catches onto what she's about to say.
"And will we be expected to engage with any of the local Magical Girls? Maxine Steele, Luminous Libromancer, the adorable new rookies they've got under their wing?" Rania asks casually. Far, far too casually for those familiar with her.
"Yes. As a matter of fact, the Magical Girls in the city are to be your assassination targets-"
"Including Infinity Princess?" Rania presses, and the corpo-cunt hesitates upon hearing the edge in Morgana's voice.
"As a matter of fact, Infinity Princess is the primary assassination target-"
"Nope, fuck you, I like living. Eat a bag of dicks; I'm out," Rania flops back in her chair, crossing her arms underneath her chest and huffs. What a waste of time.
"You can't be serious. I haven't even finished explaining-" Mina begins to say before Rania cuts her off.
"Lady, you've explained enough," Rania drawls out. "You're a corporate asshole working for an enormous, gaping pus-riddled corporate asshole. But we're in the business of doing things nobody else is willing to do, which is why we bothered to hear you out. Why we let you sweet-talk us with the idea of making a whole shitload of money. But the thing is, we aren't in the business of committing suicide, and being on the opposite end of Infinity Princess and her sword? That's suicide. So thanks, but no thanks."
"I assure you, we have every confidence in your abilities to-"
"As much as it pains me to admit it, Morgana… Is right," Blaze Inferna speaks up now, thinning her lips. "A fight against Infinity Princess would be a one-sided slaughter. It doesn't matter how many credits you're offering us if we can't get the reward. It's bad business."
"You're asking us to fight against Infinity Princess," Luna grunts. "Infinity fuckin' Princess, little miss Armageddon herself. No way, not a chance in Hel I'm taking a deal that shite."
"I'm finding this quite preposterous!" The idiotic corporate bint sneers and Rania finds herself rolling her eyes.
"Lady, I was with Infinity Princess five years ago, back when I was still a card-carrying member of the MGA," Morgana says, slowly. "I saw the shit she was capable of with my own two eyes."
Blaze tilts her head, studying Morgana curiously. "Five years ago… That would've been the Counter-Invasion of Hell, wouldn't it?"
"Yeah. Some bigwig Duke of Hell decided to open up a portal and tried landing his army in Los Angeles. The MGA took exception to that, so they threw together a hitsquad of volunteers and sent them in to slow the demonic army down while the rest of the heavy-hitters got their shit together to assemble. I was part of that scratch squad, and Infinity Princess came over from Terminus City. Except the thing is, I didn't do much," Rania waves her hand irritably. "No, no, it was Infinity Princess who did all the work."
Rania remembers that day vividly. Standing in an ever-growing sea of blood, the stench of sulfur in her nose, the endless screams of the damned and tormented. The ones who had to face her.
"She butchered her way through an entire demonic invasion force without breaking a sweat," Rania states flatly. "And after she single-handedly curbstomped their sorry behinds, she charged straight through the portal the Duke fled into so she could finish the job. She came back after all of that without a single speck of blood on her armor. And she did all of that by herself, we were basically there for cleanup."
One of the more junior room members stirs, a pale-haired girl with yellow eyes, dressed in a pristine white uniform. She blinks languidly, crossing and uncrossing her legs as she leans forward to study Morgana.
"You have to be exaggerating. The MGA's official reports-" she says.
"The MGA's official reports are lies. Fucking lies. I was there, I saw what happened. One second the demons were there and then the next Infinity Princess was going through them like a blender. It was a fucking bloodbath," Rania snarls. "Five thousand demons in the invasion force and who knows how many on the other side of that portal, and she took them out like it was a joke."
"… That tracks. I watched Infinity Princess cut through a building once," Luna grunts. "Ended up on the wrong side of a contract one day. Stupid asshole thought that he could get away with his bullshit in Terminus City. Not with Infinity Princess there. Idiot tried summoning a shoggoth as a distraction and sicced it on the civvies. Infinity Princess took exception to that and dropped a building on it. And the prick. By cutting it in half. Only time I ever bailed on a contract and I'd do it again if it means not having to face her."
"She's just one woman. Even with her team-" Mina grits out, only for Blaze Inferna to laugh and cut her off.
"Her team doesn't matter. We could take Luminous Libromancer. We could take Maxine Steele. We could take both of them at the same time with enough support, possibly. That fight would be hard but it wouldn't be suicide. Infinity Princess though?" Blaze's lips twitch into a mocking sneer. "Infinity Princess is blessed with invulnerability. There's not a single weapon in all the realms that can scratch her, much less kill her."
"Well, I think that's defeatist's talk," a new voice says. Rania lets out a weary sigh at the sight of that smug, smug face.
Rania's reaction is mirrored by many other Magical Girls in the room.
"Oh no, who invited Bitter Blossom…"
"Bitter Blossom's here? Welp, now I'm definitely not taking this contract, screw working with that bitch."
"Ugh, fuck, it's Bitter Blossom, why does crazy have to be hot and powerful too, this is the Void Heart dilemma all over again..."
"Oh, hush, you peasants," the demonic Dark Magical Girl sniffs, puffing out her chest. "Morgana, Luna, Blaze, aren't you being too pessimistic? I, for one, feel like this is a wonderful opportunity.
"… Are you shittin' me?" Luna gets up out of her chair, her hackles raised. Talons sprout from her fingertips as she bares her hands like claws. "I know you're an arrogant bitch, but are you seriously thinking about taking Infinity Princess on right now?"
"I think I'll be the one to kill Infinity Princess, yes," Bitter Blossom nods, giggling like the vapid empty-headed girl she is. "It'd be a nice feather in my cap, wouldn't it? All that fame, all that notoriety… And all I have to do is kill one old maid of a Magical Girl. How hard could it really be?"
"You can't be serious?" Morgana blinks at the sheer, willful, arrogant stupidity Bitter Blossom's putting on full display right now.
Bitter Blossom sniffs. "What else am I supposed to call some has-been who's been puttering around her quaint little city in her boring routine. Seriously, she's supposed to have been around since the very beginning, and what's she done with her life? What's she really done? Killed a few worthless demons, killed some worthless monsters? I could do that. Anyone could do that. It's a shame that you're all so weak you think th-"
"When Infinity Princess first Pacted," Nocturna Eden speaks up for the first time this meeting started, and every single girl in the room quiets down to listen to her. "It was when Lokwyn the Demolisher made landfall on the outskirts of Terminus City. You weren't there for that fight, so you wouldn't appreciate what a horror he was, but I remember. I was there for that fight. I was one of the dozens of Magical Girls that tried, and failed, to stop that engine of destruction."
Nocturna shifts, wrapping her cloak a little more tightly around her body to try to hide her burn scars. "Lokwyn was a monster. To this day he's the most dangerous Kaiju on record. His claws were spears, his scales an impenetrable hide of armor. His nuclear firebreath torched entire city blocks, swatted whole squads of Magical Girls out of the sky. They threw every conventional and unconventional weapon at the beast, and yet he lived. He lived until he faced Infinity Princess. Then he died."
Morgana finds herself perking up for Nocturna's speech. It's not every day one of the most taciturn Dark Magical Girls speaks, and it's almost always worth listening to Nocturna when she has something to say.
Nocturna swallows. "He died when Infinity Princess broke his back over her knee and hit him so hard his massive corpse flew into deep space. She was Pacted for less than three hours, but she managed to accomplish what three dozen Magical Girls, a USNA Carrier Battle Group, and two tactical nuclear weapons couldn't with nothing but brute force. Do you know what the public used to call her, before her alias was released to the press?"
"The White Devil," Blaze mockingly raises her glass and mimes a toast. "The monster who kills monsters."
"I saw Infinity Princess fight when she was newly Pacted. She saved me, you know. Dragged me out of the boiling ocean after killing Lokwyn, and put me in a hospital. I had a front-row seat to her debut, and I can assure you her moniker was well-earned. I remember…" Nocturna shivers.
"Oh please. Am I supposed to be afraid because one old, worn-out biddie's going out of her way to defend her friend?" Bitter Blossom sneers.
Nocturna looks at Bitter Blossom, pity flashing across her face. "… You're young. Freshly Fallen. Still grappling with the way your body's been altered, the new desires that have overtaken your mind. You have no idea what it's like to face Infinity Princess. To fight a foe who's truly invincible, truly inexhaustible."
"Nobody's truly invincible."
"No, Nocturna's right," Morgana favors her old friend with a nod, one which Nocturna hesitantly returns. "It doesn't matter if she's actually invincible. What matters is that she's functionally invincible. There's not a thing you can do to scratch her. You have no idea what it's like to throw spell after spell at another Magical Girl only to watch your magic fizzle out. And she wouldn't just be standing there, letting you cast at her. When she's in combat, oh man, that's a sight to behold. Her swordplay's perfect. Every strike oriented to maim or kill, delivered by a sword capable of cutting through most things."
"Add on her strength and her speed," Luna says. "Her strength and speed are unnatural. When she swings her sword, it's so fast you can't see her cut you to the bone. And then there's the way she talks, and acts. The way she looks at you…"
"Stares at you, really," Blaze Inferna downs another shot of whiskey, before motioning to her manservant to pour her some more. "One of the prettiest Magical Girls there is, but she has eyes that are as cold as stone. And she doesn't take prisoners easily. I have a friend who's currently on ice in orbit right now because of Infinity Princess. Did you know the MGA operate their personal space station? They call it Purgatory, it's where they send all of the girls like us. My friend got sent there with two broken legs and a broken jaw. Not to mention the pulverized rib cage, the fact that she had to have her arms reattached, the ruptured organs... She still has to drink her food out of a straw. To this day."
"This is ridiculous," Bitter Blossom throws her hands up. "You're throwing away the chance at worldwide infamy because you're scared of one insignificant girl? And you call yourselves Magical Girls? Pah, more like Infinity Princess' lapdogs who lick at her boots."
"Yes, we do dare to call ourselves Magical Girls," Nocturna says, glaring at Bitter Blossom. "We are Magical Girls. Individuals gifted with power because of the strength of our desires, the purity of our emotions. And so we cling to life, because emotion and desire spring from life. We do not throw our lives away carelessly for foolish concepts like honor and glory."
"You're courting death, old woman," Bitter Blossom replies. "You think I'd be foolish enough to die so easily?"
"Look, Bitter Blossom. You're young, you're powerful. Shit, you could give me a run for my money. But you're forgetting something, all of your seniors? Me, and Blaze, and Luna, and especially Nocturna? We've been around the block. Blaze's couped governments. Luna guards CEOs and Presidents. I've personally poisoned a king once and fucked his wife and daughter at the funeral, and Nocturna over there's seen some shit. We've seen death before, experienced it firsthand. Seen it coming for our enemies, seen it take our friends. So trust me when I say from the experience I have that antagonizing you? That isn't courting death. Fighting Infinity Princess is. We go in, we briefly inconvenience her, and then she kills us," Rania declares. "That's what'll happen."
"Or she puts us in traction then forks us over to the MGA," Blaze Inferna mutters. "I don't know about you but I'd prefer not to spend the rest of my life sipping food from a straw."
"Even if she is all that, the reward is worth it," a new voice says.
"Didn't think you'd prostitute yourself for money like this, Vanguard," Rania sighs.
Vanguard Sentinel sheepishly shrugs, resting her rifle on her shoulder. "… I got debt to pay, what can I say?"
"This is suicide, girl. Don't do it," Rania pleads.
"… Sorry. Kind of have to. Think the odds are actually better than what you're imagining too. We'll be getting support for this op, yeah?" Vanguard Sentinel asks the corporate representative.
"Indeed. Mendesdyn Security will pay for all your expenses and needs. Whatever equipment you need - "
"Sometimes you have to take a contract that's too good to be true," Vanguard Sentinel shrugs.
"Ah, so, one of you peons deigns to join me in my glorious crusade," Bitter Blossom laughs, and most of the Magical Girls in the room sigh. Rania slowly runs a hand down her face. God, why does crazy have to be hot when it comes to Magical Girls? It's the Void Heart conundrum all over again…
"I'll sign on as well," the white-haired girl with the yellow eyes stands, leaning on her partisan. "… I need the funds as well. And I doubt the veracity of the stories you've been telling us. There's no way she could be scarier than…"
"… You're all idiots, and I'm going to laugh when Infinity Princess fucking murders you, and your stupid faces are plastered on the evening news," Luna shakes her head, her wolf ears flattening from sheer disgust.
And Rania can't help but agree.
"Yeah, you know what? Go ahead and take this poison pill of a contract. I'm going to bet that Infinity Princess will stomp your collective asses to the curb within two months. You know, if the corpo-cunts don't screw you over in the middle somehow.
"I'll take that bet," Blaze Inferna mutters. "Trade you that house in Aspen?"
"Sure, why not?" Rania laughs. "You damn soulless leech."
"Stupid pedophile."
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