'Cause God knows we tried

Nick found himself in a rather strange position. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was sitting on his lap, smiling cheerfully while holding a spoon up to his mouth. He’d already eaten a lovely breakfast prepared for him by his wife, but the assassin was adamant.

He went along with it, because she was cute, and because he didn’t want to hurt his feelings. After Dakota left them alone, he was the one who suggested that they spend a little more time getting to know one another, and even if this wasn’t exactly what he meant by that, it didn’t help anybody for him to reject the proposal for a little bit of bonding.

Plus, dessert never hurt anybody.

“Ice cream for breakfast?” Dani shook her head incredulously. “While I’m glad she’s not freaking out again, that’s definitely not healthy.”

“I think it’s sweet!” Dawn commented. The girls were all sitting at a neighboring table, watching the exchange.

“You got that right,” Carly agreed. Marley nodded along with her, and Holly just watched with an adoring smile on her face.

“It’s so hot, seeing them feed each other like this,” she swooned, and everyone looked at her like she was a crazy person.

“…What?” Holly frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not allowed to think that’s really cute?!”

“You didn’t say ‘cute’ you said ‘hot’,” Carly pointed out, cracking her eyebrow. “Those are two very different things.”

Holly stuck out her tongue in response.

“I’m so jealous,” Rose sighed, resting her chin in her hands. “Look at her, getting fed like that… I want Nick to pamper me, too…”

“Come on, Rose, you can’t hog him to yourself,” Dani chided. “Nick’s gotta spend time with the other girls, too.”

Rose knew that, of course. But it didn’t change how she felt.

“Plus, you got enough of Nick yesterday,” Marley pointed out. “We both did.”

“I know, I know,” Rose sighed. Yesterday’s outing had been enough to tide her over for the time being, so she was okay with handling things maturely. For now, anyway.

“I’d be a lot more concerned about the fact that she’s getting him soaking wet,” Dawn pointed out. “She could at least sit across from him instead of in his lap. His clothes are going to get ruined.”

“I think her being wet makes it even hotter,” Holly stated bluntly, licking her lips.

Again, everyone looked at her and sighed in exasperation.

“So she took the wet shirt bounty, huh?” Rose stroked her chin thoughtfully. “I checked that one out earlier, but I didn’t grab any. I wonder if anyone claimed the other one…”

“Other one?” Carly asked curiously. “The Bounty Board hadn’t refreshed when I went down to check it out.”

“It was empty when I stopped by my room this morning to get changed,” Dani volunteered. Holly nodded in confirmation.

“And when I woke up this morning,” Dawn added. “So someone must have grabbed it. What was on it, do you remember?”

Rose cringed. “Uh… yeah, I do, actually,” she said, turning a little green. “And let’s just say, it’s not going to be good.”

She pushed away from the table and hopped to her feet, suddenly looking like she was in a hurry to get lost.

“Rose? What’s up?” Carly asked, concerned.

“N-nothing, it’s just… well, maybe I should get going,” Rose mumbled. “See, the bounty on that sheet, the other one… it said that you have to touch one of the mirrors in the Hall of Mirrors, so if someone claimed that one…”

“Ah!” Dawn gasped and she turned pale. All the girls could remember what had happened the last time someone had touched the mirrors, but Dawn in particular had put pieces together that even Rose hadn’t yet.

She turned to Dani with a shaky expression on her face. “Dani… you said that Kim wasn’t in her room this morning, right?”

Dani shook her head. “No, she wasn’t.”

“So… Morgana went to the Master’s Suite, and Gina went off on her own somewhere this morning…” Dawn began listing off the other girls in the harem on her fingers. “Vivian already had a bounty, so it couldn’t be her… Amelia and Sylvia are together… and none of us claimed the bounty… and since Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin has that one… then the other…”

It all happened so naturally for her, counting off like that. Narrowing down suspects. She made a better detective than Mary!

And this was not necessarily a good thing.

Cringing, she jumped to her feet and pushed her way over to the other table, where Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was busy getting pampered by Nick. It might have been awkward, cutting into the middle of that, but she had to know.

“Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, can I ask you something?” Dawn asked cautiously.

The slender girl, frowning at being interrupted from her bonding time, raised her head and pointed at the impatient frown on her lips.

“Yes, I know you can’t talk,” Dawn replied with a shake of her head. “But you can nod and shake your head, right?”

In response, the assassin shook her head.

Cheeky girl.

“Hey now,” Nick said gently, patting the assassin’s wet back. “If Dawn’s asking, then it must be important. Can you answer her?”

Immediately, the girl’s frown turned into a cheerful smile and she flicked her gaze back to Dawn with an exuberant nod.

Dawn sighed in relief. “I just wanted to know, about the other bounty. You know, the one you didn’t claim? There were two on the board, right?” She guessed. Judging by her math, there would have to be, unless Gina doubled back or something.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin nodded, dispelling that theory.

“Did you see who took it?” Dawn asked cautiously.

Another nod. Dawn winced, and the hair on the back of her neck stood up.

“Dawn, what’s this about?” Nick asked, not sure what was going on.

“In a second,” Dawn shushed him. The next question was important. “The person who claimed that bounty… was it Ella?”

This time, a shake of the head. Relief escaped Dawn’s lips in a sigh as she slumped her shoulders. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin kept staring at her questioningly, and Nick looked more confused than ever.

Then Dawn had a really bad thought.

“Was it… Cinder?” She whispered.

The assassin’s smile widened and she nodded vigorously.

Oh, no. Oh, fuck, no. Dawn felt the room start to spin around her. Cinder had claimed a bounty that required her to go to the Hall of Mirrors and touch one of the mirrors there!? She had no idea what they could do! They would transform her, and who knows what would happen then?

We didn’t even think to tell the new girls about that place! Dawn mentally punched herself in the face several times. Even though we all agreed not to go near the Hall of Mirrors again, I can’t believe we never thought to tell the new girls about it!

“Wait… Cinder? You mean, Ella’s… her other…” Dani blanched as she remembered Cinder losing control last night. Who knows what she could do with a transformation from the Hall of Mirrors.

“Oh man, this is bad, this is really bad…” Rose paced back and forth in a fright, remembering what happened last night as well.

“What’s wrong?” Carly asked, looking around. “What’s the big deal? Cinder, she’s… you’re talking about Ella, right? Isn’t that what she calls herself?”

Marley glanced at her sister in confusion. Both girls knew very little about Cinder and Ella, having not spent much time with her yet. But it was clear that their friends were very concerned.

“Cinder is Ella’s dark side,” Holly answered, showing a rare bout of seriousness. “This isn’t good. If that’s the case, then it means she’s in control, and she’s gotten a transformation…”

The twins shivered. Gaining context from how everyone seemed to be acting, they could put the pieces together, and it didn’t make for a good picture.

Then, as if on cue, the door to the Banquet Hall swung open and a certain latina walked inside.

Rose tensed and Dani immediately jumped to her feet. Cinder calmly strode into the center of the room, wearing a new outfit in red and gray. Nick recognized the way her messy hair fell over her right eye that this was Cinder in control, but something about her seemed… off.

She was smiling.

Nick remembered Cinder’s smile from their “date” and it wasn’t a pleasant one. It was harsh and loathsome, and it made her current expression look much tenderer in contrast. She politely approached their table, and as she got closer, he saw something else was off.

Cinder had a glassy shimmer in her eye, and her smile looked a lot more **** than it had at a distance, almost like it was frozen to her face. He didn’t know what to make of that, and his mouth seemed to refuse to work, even when he tried to greet her.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin had her own thoughts on the matter. She leapt to her feet and planted herself between Nick and the other girl, and narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Although she didn’t consider Cinder a threat, she could sense from the atmosphere that Nick was frightened- and if Cinder frightened Nick, well… that wasn’t going to fly with her.

But Cinder didn’t make any moves. She just stood in the center of the room, smiling that crooked smile at everyone.

“Good morning,” she greeted the others with a wave. “It is such a pleasure to see you all again. I have come here for the morning’s repast. Is it too late to enjoy a meal with you all?”

Everyone stared dumbfounded at her, Nick most of all. Having had the most exposure to Cinder so far, he had gotten used to her foul mouth; like Gina, only with spite, aggression, and hatred.

In other words, nothing like the person standing in front of him.

Cinder’s smile seemed to shake and her eye was twitching. It looked like she wanted to explode, but she was still forcing that smile.

“Cinder,” Dawn said quietly, approaching the other woman. An act of bravery on her part, though it was nothing compared to what she’d done before, when she had intentionally goaded Ella into transforming into her alter. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything is just fine,” Cinder responded politely. Her smile looked like it was about to split her face in two.

“I know a fake smile when I see one,” Rose said, narrowing her eyes. “There’s definitely something up about her.”

“I think it must be the mirror transformation,” Dani guessed. “It must have altered her somehow!”

“That was my thinking too,” Dawn nodded, remembering her own experience with the mirror. “Remember what it did to Morgana and Gina?”

“And you,” Rose unhelpfully reminded her.

“Is that true?” Marley asked Cinder, deciding it would be best to hear from the other girl directly.

“It is absolutely the truth,” Cinder nodded in confirmation. “This morning, I journeyed to the Hall of Mirrors, where I selected a mirror to transform myself!”

“And… do you feel any different?” Dani pressed.

“Not at all,” Cinder replied, shaking her head and tilting her head to the side. “Internally I am exactly the same as I was! Only now, I can express my thoughts in a positive way, to bring peace and pleasure to those around me! Is there any way I can be of service? To any of you?”

It took a second for all that to sink in. Nick and Dawn were the first ones to recognize the implications there.

“Oh my gosh! She’s like a brainwashed sex ****! Why couldn’t that be me!?”

Holly figured it out too.

“Ugh, great,” Dani groaned, rubbing her temples. “Brainwashing, just what I didn’t want to have to deal with today.”

“That is not quite accurate,” Cinder replied with a shake of her head. “I am not brainwashed, my brain is working perfectly fine! My body is simply filtering out all the unpleasant thoughts I have, and turning them into more palatable conversation topics!”

She turned to Nick with a fake, beaming smile. “For example, Nick, I am very happy to see that you are doing well!”

If Nick had to guess, the real Cinder meant something completely different. He winced.

“Uh… yeah…” he stammered, averting his eyes.

“Hopefully, this transformation will allow me to better get along with all of you, so that we are able to become better friends!” Cinder said, turning and looking at the other girls. “Is there any way I can be of service?”

“So wait, she has to follow orders now?” Dani felt sick to her stomach. “Like, anything we say to do, and she’ll just do it?”

“That is correct,” Cinder nodded.

A wave of horror and disgust fell over everyone in the Banquet Hall, with the exception of Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, who didn’t really seem to care one way or the other.

“This is worse than what happened to me,” Dawn said, shaking her head. She took off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“I like brainwashing and mind control stuff, but even then, that’s just a fantasy,” Holly said, making a face. “Seeing it for real like this… ugh, it really saps the fun out of the whole thing.”

You had to really mess up to come up with a situation Holly couldn’t twist into being something hot and sexy.

“Well, obviously, we can’t just take advantage of her,” Rose sniffed, shaking her head. “That would be just awful!”

“So what, we just let the clock run out then?” Carly asked. “That would probably be for the best.”

“Cinder, is there anything we can do for you?” Nick asked, approaching the enslaved girl. “Any way we can get you some help?”

Cinder blinked, and a look of confusion managed to pierce through the frozen expression on her face. “I do not understand, why would you want to help me?”

“Because it’s wrong that you’re being controlled like this,” Marley bluntly stated.

“Completely wrong!” Rose echoed. “We need to find some way to break you out of this!”

Cinder was still smiling, but she only looked more and more confused. She tilted her head to the side, and looked at each person in turn, studying them cautiously. Behind the veneer of her **** smile, her brain was filled with strange thoughts.

Why would they be doing this? She wondered as she pounded against the polite prison her consciousness had been trapped within. Why would they be offering to help, instead of taking advantage of me? What’s in it for any of them?

The cynical half of the Ella/Cinder duo was unable to process the notion that people could genuinely be concerned for her and want what’s best. It just didn’t seem to register in her mind. So when she was confronted with exactly that, she couldn’t handle it.

She tried to run away. Both retreating into the cage of her mind, and physically running away from where she was standing.

But thanks to the mirror’s enchantment, she couldn’t do either.

It was hard to tell because of her frozen smile, but Nick knew that Cinder must be freaking out right now. And he was determined to do something about that.

So he played the only card he ever had at his disposal.

“Dakota!” He loudly called for the host, knowing that she must be watching what was going on with her usual amused look.

And once again, the host popped into the Banquet Hall, looking just as energized as he’d expected her to look.

“Yes? What is it?” She cooed, batting her eyelashes at him.

Nick glared at her in return.

“You’re responsible for this, aren’t you?” He snapped.

Dakota shrugged.

“I wouldn’t say that,” she replied, shaking her head. “All I did was post the bounty on the Bounty Board. Cinder over there is the one who claimed it. And even then, she had her pick of mirrors to choose from, I didn’t make her touch that one. All I did was have Nola send her over here to get a nice breakfast.”

Nick rolled his eyes. It was one thing to BS him, but Dakota was really getting lazy with her gaslighting. “Come on, Dakota, we both know this is exactly what you wanted to have happen.”

Dakota responded with a shrug and a look that said “yeah, well, what are you gonna do about it?”

Honestly? He didn’t really know.

“Dakota…”

“Nick, Nick, Nick, if the next thing you’re going to ask me is ‘how do we undo this’ I think I’m going to stop you right there.” She held up her finger and wagged it back and forth. “We went over this last time. The mirror transformations only last for 12 hours. Once that time’s elapsed, Cinder will go back to her normal self!”

She glanced disdainfully at the other girl. “…Assuming anybody here actually wants that, of course.”

While no one could deny there were positives to Cinder not flying into a rage, everybody was on the same page that this wasn’t the right way to keep her in line.

“Dakota…” Nick repeated, and crossed his arms over his chest.

“…Fine,” she scoffed, and rolled her eyes. “Fine, fine, fine, if that’s really what you want, I suppose I could make an exception…”

She lifted her cane, but it didn’t glow. Nick waited to see what she was going to do, but all she did was keep staring at him.

“Well?” Dani impatiently asked, breaking the silence.

“I’m gonna do it, but it’s not so simple,” Dakota said, shaking her head. “Cinder over there, I already gave her the bounty reward. 2500 BP. And that’s not cheap! No, if you want her back to normal, well… there’s a way to do it. But I doubt you’ll want to…”

She batted her eyelashes at Nick, and he knew right away this wasn’t going to be good.

“Come on, don’t give me that look!” Dakota sounded wounded, even though she was wearing a wicked grin. “Remember, Cinder and Ella have the Faerie Tale transformation path! I can work with that. Right now, our sweet little lass is enchanted by mystifying magic, and I’m sure our charming prince here knows exactly what to do when the witch has enchanted the beautiful princess, don’t you, Nick?”

She made a kissing face and Nick blanched.

“…You can’t be serious,” he said, shaking his head.

“Deadly serious!” Dakota chirped. “That’s my deal! If Prince Charming gives Cinderella a kiss, then I’ll break the curse 12 hours early and she goes back to normal! …Or you could just keep her like this. I’m not gonna **** you, or her, or anybody to do anything. SHE claimed the bounty, SHE gets the consequences. That’s only fair.”

And with that she tapped her cane and disappeared, leaving Nick with the enchanted Cinder and the other girls in his harem, all of whom were filled with discomfort at what Dakota had insinuated needed to be done.