Chapter 35: Scene 35 – Strung Along (suckers)

"Venus is mine, Gaia is yours. I want to ask what you next intend of me." Amanda flexed her gauntlets, sprawling out atop her throne. Her metal wings beat with amusement at the distress of her victims. Holly bonding Venus to the roof of a library was an excellent touch. Keeping the magical warriors on their toes was the key to bluffing past them. "I desire some measure of security? I'm not sure how to ask about it."

"Well, tha' all depends on yer actions here, lass." Mercury narrowed her eyes. "It's clear that yer more of a threat than acknowledg'd. We have to keep yeh in line if we're gonna keep yeh around."

"Oooh. We're going to make her a Perpetual Tyrant?" Luna sounded excited at the concept of new presents and monsters to fiddle with. "I don't know. Don't you think she overlaps a bit too much with Lease? What if she doesn't have any unique resources?"

"One's a circus troupe, the other an amusement park. They'll diverge meaningfully, even if they change their themes." Mars interjected. "We could gather aspects of mirrors and wax from this place. That's already a meaningful difference, and Dr. Bright would be ecstatic to get his hands on those."

"I can offer more than just mirrors and wax," Amanda pouted at the girls talking behind her back. "You want resources in exchange for my life? That seems agreeable, if not particularly villainous. Who's Lease?"

"Not important." Mercury cut Amanda off before she could gather information on other Neverlanders. "If'n we agreed to this, ye'd be subordinated to us. Just a dungeon for us to farm in our downtime. Yer gonna fill this place chock full of chests and weak minions to train on, and we won't smash your core into lotsa little bits."

"You're not going to hurt Holly, are you?" Amanda added her concerns to the brewing pile. Something about this Lease was making the droid uneasy. A circus troupe, was it? "I won't agree to this. You're going to kill Holly and Venus, and those two are mine." Holly looked touched by the declaration of love and glad to learn she was immortal. With that, she could play things riskier.

"Bah. Yer a dungeon, ain't yeh? The only way to kill Malice inside a Tyrant is to kill the Tyrant. So at most, we kin put the two of 'em down for a day." Mercury snapped her fingers. "Those two'll be safe, so agree to our terms and become a Perpetual Tyrant belongin' to us."

"..." Amanda bit her lower lip. "Fine, but you must leave me to my own devices. We don't require perverts strutting their stuff around my dungeon."

"No can do." Mercury leaned in. "Being a Perpetual Tyrant means yer our respons'bility to manage. So we hafta prune yer branches when yeh act out of line. Think of it like a fun game of cat'n mouse, eh?"

"It also means that you'll have all kinds of magical warriors filtering into your dungeon," Luna added. "You'll be popular! You can, like, perform to an audience whenever you like, and we'll come to watch. Doesn't that sound fun?"

Amanda's mouth felt dry. There was a budding thirst she could not explain; a desire for attention that seemed to drive her following words. "It does sound fun." Amanda wanted these perverts out of her dungeon at the soonest opportunity, but if she could slake her thirst for engagement, she might consider keeping them around a bit longer. "Fine. But all entrants must pay for their tickets."

"As long as you promise tha' you and yer ilk won't be turning any more of us into Neverlanders, ye can charge anyone you like." Mercury was confident that the price of a ticket would be set low and not high. Neverlanders, Tyrants included, had an intense need to be seen by an audience. It was time to ask for the most important term of the Accords.

"Wait, you added that last term before I could ask about it!" Amanda pouted. Two flames shifted their hue to a vibrant and otherworldly purple, and one shifted its hue to a lighter shade of sky blue. "What do you mean, I can't convert Divinity into Neverlanders?"

"Aye mean tha' ye can't be goin' about killin' us." Mercury pointed a finger to the roof. "No more a that, and no more turning magical gals into monsters. Yer gonna be plenty full of those without makin' the lives of magical gals worse."

"If I can't kill you, how am I supposed to keep you out of my dungeon core?!" Amanda hissed. She was strongly considering denying the Accord as it stood. Her claws hovered above the letter N, pending a good reason from Mercury to accept the deal.

"Well, you can still kill us for getting too close. Right?" Mars glanced at the more experienced magical girls. The two sat still, silent and sullen. "Why aren't you two answering?" Mars voiced her suspicion.

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"The thing is, lass, Divinity can't be killed. That ain't the way of gods." Mercury frowned.

"Yep! N/AS does this thingy where she stuffs us into these artifacts and puppets our corpses. We don't really like talking about it? Cause, like, it hurts our recruitment efforts. But you won't ever have to worry about losing your teammates, since they'll still be around and in your nightmares! Dreams. Right, I meant dreams." Luna beamed at the now-very self-conscious Mars. Oh, geeze! She'd have to reassure Mars and make her feel more comfortable with the concept.

"--of course, you're free to think of that thing left behind as your po soul. Your hun soul should go to the Heaven of your choice! Probably? I mean, we don't really have evidence that Heaven exists, besides, like, the Firmament, and that would be the WORST Heaven to go to? Since, like, they consume souls to power their angelic engines and... I'm digging a hole, aren't I? Gosh." Luna toyed with her bangles, shying from her teammate's gaze. That had not helped her case; she was going to be written up for traumatizing Mars, wasn't she?

"So I can't kill you because you'll turn into a Neverlander artifact, and I can't corrupt you because you'll be Malice. I do not hear a good reason to agree to these accords!" Amanda grumbled, her screen crackling and popping. "Give me one good reason, please!"

"Lass, just because yeh can't kill us doesn't mean yeh can't boot us out of your dungeon." Mercury glanced at her side of the Accords, noting that Stargarden Sol had already signed off on their end. Good; she was tired of negotiating. "As long as the magical warrior is out of plot armor, you can eject them. Just stop short of killin'. Ain't that enough?"

Amanda took her finger away from the menu, seriously considering her options. Finally, she glanced at Holly, who straightened out and offered a question of her own. "What about humanzz? If they wander into the dungeon, they should be fair game."

"Now that's a statement aye kin agree with," Mercury laughed. "Those brats at SKIPH give you trouble? Let 'em have it. We ain't got good blood with their kind."

"They're just humans trying to defend themselves," Mars disagreed vehemently. "We should protect them."

"You should be protecting Martians, not Earthlings." Luna sighed, twisting her manicured nails through her hair. "You're getting way too concerned with creatures that don't belong to you."

"If you haven't noticed, I'm half-human. I have a right to protect my species," Mars growled at the other divine.

"So what? Are you going to add more terms? Stargarden Sol wouldn't approve it, you know. She's already agreed to the terms as they stand." Luna shook her head. "Give up. SKIPH isn't our problem, and humans aren't yours."

Holly exchanged a glance with Amanda and nodded her approval. "This deal izz as good as we'll bee able to get. Plenty of targets to hit."

Amanda clicked 'yes', agreeing to the terms. "Well then, ladies, you have yourself a deal. Now... get out of my amusement park." Amanda flicked her gauntlet, and five intruders vanished. Gaia, Calico, and all the rest were booted from the dungeon. The doll slumped on her throne. "SKIPH. Lease. Firmament. Plenty of targets, you said?"

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