A Brass Night Ballet

Lady Delina

Coco was going to defer to Aries's superior judgement. "You are not an automatron. But your hearing is exceptional," Coco told the woman. "Musicians have very keen ears. I can even hear your springs down there - that's how I know you're a robot," the woman replied.

This woman was dressed in fine linen clothing, a white buttoned shirt with tight red pants and a matching red corset. Her face, covered by a fox mask, one side black the other side, grey.

That surprised Coco. An automatron's springs barely gave off any noise. Even Father had to stand close to her in order to hear if anything was off. But if what the woman was saying was true, then musicians really did have some excellent hearing. It also explained the music.

"I'll be going now," Coco told her, keeping her arm blade on at the ready. "So soon? We've yet to be acquainted," the woman told her, and this time, Coco heard something very distinctly off about her tone. There was the slightest bit of etiquette in there, but it was also laced with multiple things that Coco couldn't identify, but she knew the tone was very inappropriate for the situation.

"I seek the Brass King. No one else," Coco told her. "Oh, but of course you want to find the him. Why else would you even be here?" the woman replied, her tone now stuck with a permanent edge. "New orders, maybe? Wanting to find out who else you can kill?" "I do not serve the Brass King," Coco told her firmly. "Oh, and a liar too? The uprising really did a number on all you machines, didn't it?" the woman told her in a tone that was almost sweet, and Coco did not like it.

"I have no wish to fight you. But I will defend myself if necessary," Coco warned the woman. "Oh, make no question robot. We are going to fight. But by the end, you will scream like the rest in your final moments. And I have a feeling the sounds of your cries will be especially sweet," the woman told her.

Coco readied her arm blade. She could have no desire to fight any human, and despite her lack of hostile intentions or willingness to fight, she was thrust into one all of the time. Humans could be maddening sometimes. Couldn't they be more like Serafin, Génie, or Venetian? Like Father, who was not to blame for this situation, yet was working to solve it? She didn't initially agree when Aries told her that meeting new humans was a coin flip, but now she understood how foolish of a statement that was while knowing so very little about them.

"Let's have an encore performance of pain. For the Red Lady, Delina Cordey," the woman continued, unperturbed by Coco's thought process. "Wait, Lady Delina Cordey? She..." Aries didn't get to finish his sentence as the woman jumped down from the stage scaffolding, the force of her landing shattering the remainder of a dead automatron in front of her. "I dedicate this performance to my sister, Iona!" the woman yelled before she attacked Coco.

Coco had to admit. Out of all the humans she'd fought, Delina was the most skilled one so far. Her style of combat was more elegant than Coco's. She preferred a simpler approach to her style of combat. No wasted movements. Precise attacks. Quick dodges. Efficient parrying. And what she didn't have in raw strength, she made up for in pure technique. This woman had all of that besides the pristine parrying skill, but managed to make it look better as a trade off. If Coco had an ego, she'd probably be jealous. Instead, she was rather impressed despite that elegance being focused on destroying her.

The pace of the fight made it feel less like a fight and more like a fencing match. The tips of their blades clashed rapidly, creating a loud noise that could've been nearly everything Coco heard if it wasn't completely overpowered by the speakers constantly playing the song she heard earlier. Regardless of how much Coco liked music, she ignored it and focused her audio on everything that had to do with the battle. The sound of the woman's clothes when she spun out of the way. Their boots displacing rocks and bricks on the ground when they repositioned themselves. The woman's breathing remaining steady and calm even in the midst of battle. Even with the unknown emotion swimming in her eyes that Coco could see through the mask.
Though there could only be one winner. And Coco was determined to be that winner.

So when the woman went for a stab, Coco held her arm blade sideways and pushed forward in order to use her likely superior strength in order to catch the woman off balance. She pulled her sword back while ducking, thrusting it forward to catch Coco's exposed torso. Coco merely turned her body to the side to avoid the stab. Against a broadsword, Coco would have to fear the sharp edge coming back around to slice her in half. She had no such worries with a basic short sword.

Though the woman dipped her body down even lower to catch Coco with a sweep, knocking her off of her brass feet. Coco caught herself with a hand and immediately pushed herself back upright, bringing her arm blade up to deflect the thrust aimed right at her eye. And with that, Coco, thrust herself forward with her foot to kick Delina in the face, knocking her onto one of the sharp, pointed pikes from the desecrated automatron's.

Coco heard her wince, even if the noise was very slight. She allowed the woman to get to her feet, lowering her arm blade. But not her guard.

"You may still walk away," Coco told her. Lady Delina put a hand on her back, her glove coming back around with a hue of red. Lady Delina was bleeding profusely from her stomach wound. The emotion in her eyes seemed to grow in intensity, and Coco knew she was not going to take her offer of mercy.
They never did.

"I refuse to walk away from a rotten automatron! You stole my sister from me!" Lady Delina exclaimed before thrusting at Coco from a surprising range. She deflected it still. "I did not. There have been no female humans to fall by my hand," Coco told her calmly. "I would like it to remain that way."

"Please, you don't have to do this!" Aries exclaimed with an unusual emotion for people Coco's fought before. "I'm sure your sister wouldn't want you to get yourself killed for her sake! Please-"

The next blow Coco had to block was anything but elegant. There was nothing but sheer force and emotion put into the blow. It was odd to be locked in a clash with a short sword, which further proved it to be an emotional move.

"Leash your pet, robot," Lady Delina snarled at Aries. Coco didn't know what feeling filled her at that moment, but she definitely did not like the way she called Aries a pet. Coco pushed Delina out of the clash, and she steadied herself only to immediately thrust forward. She was fortunate enough that the stab didn't touch her, but it did rip her blue Victorian dress even more from how smooth the stab was. Being that sloppy was never a good idea.

Coco refocused herself and started to deflect Delina's attacks, which had become far easier due to how rapid her attacks were coming. But there wasn't a lick of her usual elegance present. Aries's statement had clearly upset her, and it was affecting her combat prowess. On top of the fact that Lady Delina's wound from the pike was bleeding even more now.

The elegance was gone - replaced by an unusual amount of ferocity fueled by emotion. And Coco did not feel emotions. So her performance remained unchanged.
Coco deflected a stab aimed at her cute brass face with more force than usual, knocking Lady Delina off balance before stabbing her in the shoulder and kicking her in the face to get her off of her arm blade. Delina only growled before shrugging of the stab and attempted to stab Coco with far less success due to her injury. That only ended with Coco easily able to stab her in the chest with her arm blade.

Lady Delina released a pained groan from the stab, and Coco gently removed the short sword from Delina's grasp while also removing her blade from Delina's chest. She looked at her injuries, and saw that blood was quickly leaking from each of the points Coco had stabbed her. Coco knew about human anatomy, so it was likely she struck at a blood vessel or a vein somewhere.

Soon, Lady Delina's white shirt became red with blood. Coco only sheathed her blade before turning around to move towards the exit. But before she did, she could hear Lady Delina's last words.

"Same red attire as you, sister...we... always... match," Lady Delina said, giving off one final groan before falling silent.