Books And Covers Thereof (1.22)

“Maybe you could bore him with in-depth literary analysis?” whispers Annie.

“What?  But that's not boring.”

“I know, I know!  But there’s a lot of people who disagree.”

“Fine.  Sir?” says Kitty, raising her voice.  “Do you like books?”

The thug considers this.  “I love books.”

“Damn!” Annie hisses.

“Ah, good, good...Uh...”

“Hold on, Kitty,” whispers Annie, pulling her back.  “Let me try something.  I’m going to use my feminine willies.”

“Wiles.”

“Willies.”

“It’s pronounced wiles!”

“That’s a stupid way to pronounce it.”

“No it isn’t!”

“This isn’t going to work, you know,” says Mindy.

“Says you.”

Annie clears her throat, adjusts herself, and sways exaggeratedly over to the thug.  She plays a hand against the wall and speaks in an incredibly deep voice.

“HELLO!” she says seductively.

The rest of the group just kind of stares.

“Is that where you learned seduction from?” asks the French woman, who Kitty realizes still hasn’t told her her name.

“...Yes.”

“I can’t imagine how you could have messed up with the bartender, then.”

“Shut up, miss Grabbyhands Mcspaceinvasion.”

The thug has mostly failed to respond.

“YOU LOOK, ahem, you look real tired.  Why don’t you and I go some place and-”

“I’m gay,” says the thug.

Annie continues smiling.

“What a coincidence!  So am I!  We’ll have so much to,”she drops into her seductive voice again.  “TALK ABOUT.”

The thug’s mouth twitches.  “Ma’am, I did not mean happy and enthusiastic.”

“I’ll make you so gay.  I am filled with gaiety.”

“Ma’am, I like guys.”

“Guys are boring.  Try girls!  I do!”

The thugs eyes are wide and incredulous.

“...So you’re a lesbian.”

“Yep!”

“Trying to seduce a gay man?”

“How am I doing?”

“Marry me,” he says dryly.

“My goodness, this is all moving so fast, I-”  Kitty grabs Anilin’s arm and pulls her back.

“That’ll do, Annie.”

“I told you,” says Mindy.

“Anyone else have any good ideas?”

“I do,” says Officer Kiplin.  She walks up to the thug.

“Official police business,” says Kiplin.  “Let us in.”

The thug smirks.  “That’s funny, ‘cause I’m guarding this door on official Ilucis business.  Guess which one I care about?”

The thug stares at Kiplin.

Kiplin watches the thug thoughtfully, through the helmet.

“Back o-” says the thug, interrupted by a helmet to the face.

The thug’s mouth shuts.

He stares at Kiplin.

He opens his mouth to make a smart comment, and promptly collapses onto the floor.

***

Pamela walks into the ballroom looking around through her mask.

“Where’d those dames go?  I should’ve made them promise to meet me somewhere...”  She sighs, putting her hands in her pockets and looking around.

“Pam?”  says a familiar voice.  “Pamela, is that you?”  Heels clack against the floor, rapidly approaching Pamela with all the predatory skill of a...

Pamela turns on her heel.

She looks into extremely familiar eyes.

“Oh, no.”

***

“...Did you kill him?”

“Nah, he’s still breathin’.”

“He almost looks peaceful,” says the French woman.

Kiplin steps over the body, walking straight into the VIP room.  The French woman follows.  Mindy does too, but kneels down and pats the top of the thug’s head.  “Sorry.  Though that was pretty funny,” she says, before following.  Annie follows too, but Kitty pauses at the body.

“I am so, so, so sorry.  Um...”  she takes out a notepad and scribbles down a long-winded apology and some notes she once read on how to treat a concussion.  And a broken nose. She gently rolls him over.  “...Oh god I hope you don’t die I am so sorry about-”

“Kitty!”

“Coming!”  Kitty gets up and hops over the poor fellow, walking into the VIP room after them.  The group has stopped in front of a small side room overlooking the ballroom floor through glass.

Inside a figure sits in shadow, sipping from a glass.  He seems mostly unaware of the intrusion.  Unfortunately for the group, the rest of the occupants of the VIP room disagree, surrounding them.

Somewhat more surprisingly, they appear to be four young women.  All of them share vivid green eyes and pale skin, their faces both beautiful and yet too symmetric, subtly off.  Two of them, one black haired and the other blonde, are wearing french maid outfits, though - mercifully, Kitty reflects - they are at least mostly covered.  The third, a short haired, more teenage-looking redhead, appears to have recently walked out of a Victorian novel judging from that long black dress and boots.  The fourth one has vivid blue hair, a hairstyle not particularly common in this particular reality.

“Hello,”  says the black haired maid, cheerfully.

The group collectively murmurs out a series of indistinct and uncomfortable greetings.

The maid turns her attention to Mindy.  “Hey, Mindy.”

“Hi, Mindy,” says the blonde maid.

“Mindy,” says the redhead.

“(Fornicate your life with a spoon,) Mindy,” says the blue haired one.  Kitty gasps in horror.

“Thank you, Haruka!”

“(You don’t even know what I’m saying, idiot.  You are a cucumber!  Half off diseased foodstuffs.)”

“(I speak it too, you know,)” says Kitty, suddenly.

“(Fuck),” says Haruka the Blue Haired.

“Why are you here?” says Red Hair.

“We’ve come to see the wizard,” says Annie.

“...The wizard?” asks Blonde Hair.

“Yes, the wonderful wizard of Oz.”

“...What?” asks Red Hair.

“Sorry, she’s always wanted to say that.  Um, we’re not actually looking for a wizard,” says Kitty.

“Or are we?”

“We are not, Annie.  We’re looking for-”

“Father,” interrupts Mindy.

“Ah, of course,” says Red Hair.  “I thought so.”

“Wait, they’re all Dante’s robots?”  Kitty gasps.

“We are our Father’s children,” says Blonde Hair, failing to reassure anyone that this isn’t creepy.

“But you’re so...human.”

“We’re a different line from our Brothers.  Far more expensive and complicated,” says Blonde Hair.

Kiplin yawns, bored.  The French woman remains quiet.

“I am the First, Diana,” says Red Hair.  “My sisters were all built from my initial design.”

“The rest of us were built on commission to wealthy patrons, but were all returned or rejected.   I was the Second, Fiona.”  Blonde Hair curtsies.

“I am Maria,” says Black Hair, “And my owner didn’t want me.”

“...So what’s up with th’ blue haired lass?”  asks Kiplin.

“I was commissioned by a weeaboo,” says Haruka.

“...Oh.”

“So...Can we meet him?” asks Kitty, hesitantly.

“Father doesn’t want to be disturbed.  He is thinking.”

Mindy clears her throat, stepping forward.  “Really?  He’s too preoccupied for a small horde of attractive fan girls?”

“Yes.”

“Yeah, right.  I know Dante, he’s not exactly going to mind.”

“He is busy,” insists Diana.

Kiplin begins to walk forward, pushing her way past Diana.

“You cannot go in there,” insists Diana, getting around in front of her.

Kiplin pushes her aside again.

Diana walks in front again.

Kiplin pushes her aside.

“Um,” says Kitty, as the other androids move in on Kiplin.  “Incidentally I believe the room’s guard needs medical attention.”

“He’s hurt?” says Maria, a certain amount of uncertainty even through her slight monotone.

“Yes. He’s unconscious.  I think he got hit in the head.”

Maria suddenly rushes out of the room.  Fiona follows.  “Maria, wait!”

Mindy turns and whispers to Kitty:  “That elevator will take us right to Dante’s penthouse.  Just say the word and we can try and take it.”

There are now only two obstacles: Diana and Haruka.

Kitty has a few choices here.  She can either attempt to follow Kiplin into meet Dante, or she can try to get into the elevator and bypass him entirely.   Either way, she’ll have to get past Haruka and Diana, whether or not she take her friends.

What will she do?