Biz-ness As Usual

"Everyday feels unique, does it not?" Biz asked as the trio followed behind her as they reached the basement floor of her mansion, revealing a large weapons room, filled with every type of weapon ever even conceived. "Yet when the time comes, I shall be on top." 

Avis and Vinea looked stunned by the weaponry. but Senshi, Senshi looked excited, quickly scuttling off, examine every piece she can reach. Biz was a true craftswoman when it came to weaponry, and Senshi was one of the few people to recognise the true extent of Biz's skills, muttering to herself in giddy joy. 

Biz laughed slightly, covering her mouth as she helped Senshi examine her works better. "Is your little friend always this excited by fine arts?"

"Nope. She just messes with mist, we didn't figure she knew weapons." Vinea said as him and Avis where staring at a fancy looking heart resembling the sub-minds. "Hey, what's this?" Avis asked. Biz turned to them with a dismissive wave. "That is a failed prototype based on those Domain Hearts. Rat had me try to recreate it, but I only found failure with every iteration. I could go on for hours about the theoretical intricacies of how they function, yet all I know for certain is... They run on a person's heart." 

Avis pulled out Tophina and Arachne's hearts, showing them to Biz. "Can you do anything with these? We've just been using them as phone chargers." Biz darted over, grabbing them off of Avis, dropping Senshi to the floor, though she kept examining weapons.

"Where did you get these!?" Biz asked with an almost excited tone. Avis awkwardly laughed. "Well, Ven defeated Eido, Wendy and Tophi, and Rat stole them for us." Biz snickered slightly. "Of course the rat got them..."

"Let me show you a little trick to them." Biz smirked, grabbing a device off one of her shelves and placing Arachne's heart inside and activated it, summoning a digital version of Arachne, who looked confused. "W-Where am I? A-Am I dead? H-Help me! H-Help me! H-Help ME!" The digital Arachne yelled, scaring Senshi who quickly yelled for Biz to shut it off. Biz didn't listen, instead quickly grabbing her tools and began working on her device, causing Arachne to glitch out and fade away in a pained screech. 

"W-What the hell was that!?" Avis yelled, snatching the heart away from Biz. She snapped her robotic fingers as she grinned, placing the device onto her revolver and firing it at a target dummy. Instead of a bullet, a sharp spider's thread pierced the dummy at high speeds, leaving a hole in its head. 

"I've cracked it! Haha, you beautiful bird, I've cracked it!" Biz yelled excitedly, beginning to tinker on her device. Vinea, meanwhile, was comforting a shaken up Senshi. Avis nudged Biz and asked about what happened.

Biz laughed again as she took apart her device, explaining that the sub-minds don't actually contain anything until a person uses them as a beating heart, taking and storing their ability. She also off handily mentioned it also contained their took their souls as well.

"S-So... Eido is trapped in here? B-But Ven said her body still had a pulse?" Avis asked as she stared at Arachne's heart. "A person can live without a heart, but they'll just be a hollow shell of a person. Look at Rat. She still functions despite being heartless. So, think of it more as... Feeling more empty then usual."

Senshi was in shambles, as she had been trying her best to ignore what happened to Eido for awhile now, but hearing her cry for help sent shivers down her spine. Avis began to think of what to do, but just as she was about to speak, Rat and Fox arrived with Biz's 12 other mercenaries. With Zamtika and a more rugged looking Vex behind Rat.

Biz sighed, realising her time to work had to wait. She shot up, placing her revolver on her hip as she began her usual speech she had done every time before a mission "Today, my children. Today we shall be dealing with Ami. I say we need information first. So..." She pointed to Wreck and a now unpetrified Lez, who both sighed. "Let me guess, we have to get your info?" Wreck sighed, pulling Lez by the wings as the two grabbed a pair of shotguns and left.

"Pop and Blast." Biz pointed to a large minotaur woman with blonde hair and a goofy smile and a cute, cowboy with black hair and a smug smile. "You two are on perimeter duty. Guard our home with your life." The two nodded and scampered off.

Biz then pointed to Vex, Tika and Fox. "You three will guard our new guests. The rest of you are dismissed. Thank you for your time." The rest of Biz's mercenaries quickly left as Biz motioned for Avis, Senshi and Vinea to leave.

After everyone left, Rat laughed a bit, flicking Biz's ear. "So... What do you think of em?"

Biz snapped around, a cold scowl on her face. "You didn't tell them about the hearts, did you?"

"Relax. I told them all they need to know."

"The centipede nearly had a mental breakdown. Why did you not tell them?"

"Because if the rabbit knew what he really was, I have no real idea how he'd react. Now, why don't you go back to tinkering and I go and relax with my new partners. Okay, Biz?" Rat said with a grin, walking away, not before using her tail to knock over a shelf of weapons.

"Holy Mollia..." Avis muttered, walking into Biz's garden to see a gigantic pool. Tika shrugged, sitting down on a beach chair next to a twitching Vex. "Yeah. Biz says you can relax here for a bit."

Vinea awkwardly put a vine into the water, letting it drag around. "Can you even swim, bird?"

"Uh... Shut up." She said with an embarrassed chirp. "Can you?" 

"Nope. What about you, Senshi?" Vinea asked as he turned to see Senshi already on a plate and drifting solemnly on the empty pool.

"S-Should we...?"

"Nah... I think she needs to be alone for a bit." Avis sighed, sitting next to Tika and taking off her jacket, letting her feathers soak up the false sunlight of Pandora's Tears. "So. I heard you're Tika." She asked with a slight wave.

"Yeah. What's it to ya?" 

"N-Nothing... It's just, Ven always said you were big... I just didn't think you were... Ya know?"

Tika stared down at the harpy with a cold glare before laughing. "So you're that harpy he went on about... You're the "bird named bird lady" as he called ya." She laughed, giving Vex a pat on the back, only to cause her to dash away. "HOLY############### DON'T TOUCH ME!" she yelled, quickly walking off to the other side of the pool. 

"Is she... Alright?" Avis asked with a nervously laughed. "She's... Currently experiencing really bad withdrawal right now. She drank what I assume was pure liquid cocaine. I think most people would have died, but... She's my kid after all." 

Avis nervously laughed, not expecting a whole explanation. She shuffled about in her seat before looking at Vex. "Is... Is she related to Ven?"

Tika looked stunned before sighing. "Yeah, yeah. It's pretty obvious ain't it? I don't know how she ain't figured it out." She snickered. Avis and Tika continued chatting idly as Biz stared down at them from a window, enjoying the little moments of others lives.

Meanwhile, Fox was trying to teach Vinea how to swim, only for him to almost drown. Senshi had left the pool at this point and was drinking with Vex at the poolside bar, the two wallowing in their own problems. 

Eventually Biz came outside, sitting next to Avis. "Tell me harpy. You were not always this way, and yet you have accepted it. Do you not miss being human?"

"Uhm... I guess not? I grew up on Pandora's Melody, but moved here out of a need for change.... If I'm honest, I don't even remember my actual name." She let out a melancholic chirp. "I suppose that's the saying of this city. "Once you weep till slumber, you will wake up without worry". Quite the saying is it not?" Biz smiled, though Avis looked a bit confused. "How'd you know anyway?"

Biz tapped her ears. "I know every happening in this city... And I always had someone tailing you. You were in possession of a heart after all."

"Fair." Avis shrugged, looking around before a question raised in her mind. "If... If a sub-mind needs a soul to function, then who's soul was Desire's?"

Biz almost seemed nervous, but got in close and whispered: "No one actually knows. On record it is stated as Unknown. Rat said it was no one special. When I checked it, I only found a whisper of a name... Mollia."

Avis looked a bit baffled before laughing. "Mollia? Yeah. And I'm a phoenix. She's been dead for like, what? Thousands of years?" Biz looked away, laughing to herself. "Yes. But if you think about it, what if she were still around? I assume even Panila has considered the idea, yet I suppose I we shall never really know. Much like what Rat says; "The show continues even after the actors die"."

After a few more hours, Fox, Vinea Tika and Avis were now drinking with Senshi and Vex. Though Tika motioned to Biz that Wreck and Lez had returned. Biz began chatting with them, soon getting all the info she needed to come up with a plan. 

She gathered everyone around her bar, pouring a drink. "It appears Ami is planning on showing off the sword on Memorial of The Lost. So, you shall sabotage Ami's speech and steal both her sub-mind and Mollia's sword."

Everyone drunkenly nodded, and began cheering as they began drinking the night away. A common tradition among Biz and her mercenaries.