David noticing the gash in his hand, he turns to Lawrence and Leon but they look like mannequins, David now thoroughly confused he looks around seeing all the people there are now mannequins.
While scanning the room trying to figure out what was happening, he discovers that the windows were blacked out with no view of the outside world.
David hurriedly gets out of his seat, rushing past the manikins sitting before their meals still warm, David briskly makes it to the door of the restaurant David attempting to open the pushing it with all his strength with no luck, “well crap!, hey I know someone is there!” David shouts loudly in the deafeningly silent space so empty echoes could be faintly heard.
David could feel something was off about the mannequins, he could sense a faint source of aura within them, ‘its either the mannequins are part of the marionette or’ David kicks a mannequin but his leg bounces right off as if there was a strong balloon he couldn’t see, ‘so this is still the same place but what's really happening here’.
David still couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing. Suddenly, a piercing crunch grabbed his attention. He spun around, only to find a piece of a chicken sandwich vanishing before his eyes, bearing unmistakable teeth marks. "Eureka! This must be reality," he thought, considering the possibility that he had entered a pocket dimension mirroring the real world. David's hair briefly stood on end in response to this revelation.
‘Wait why aren’t any mannequins moving’ David thinks, ‘is this a contradiction is this not supposed to be a mirror of reality’, David looked around for any more hints or clues when his search was abruptly interrupted by a force pushing him onto the floor.
Immediately all of David's senses sharpened to their full extent, he quickly jumped back up and twisted himself toward where he was, but he sees a mannequin there where he stood, looking around David saw that most of the mannequins had changed position and they all faced him.
‘What is going on why is it changing so suddenly and why are they facing me’ David trying to wrap his head around the whole situation, but he knew whatever was happening he would need to find the master of the marionette and fast.
‘The mannequins might move again and if one touches this could mean serious trouble’, David looks all over his body front and back as if looking for injuries that may have occurred,
‘Well I forgot about you’ he says looking down at the large gash in his hand, zero he mumbles, summoning the cold marionette he’s had as long as he could remember.
David reaching his hand into its mouth pulling out a white cotton cloth from within it, he quickly wraps it around his wound tightly to stop the bleeding.
David looks to the counter where he sees the back door to the kitchen, ‘he should definitely be somewhere in there, but I need to be careful’, he walks towards the door.
But before he could get there he is intersected by a force pushing him to the wall next to the door.
‘They moved again’ looking around David sees a group of these mannequins hovering in front of the door, ‘this definitely won’t be easy, but why would someone want me dead this bad’.
‘I will have to lure the out of here before I get to the door’ David runs across the floor making sure to avoid the mannequins in the way, now on the other side David has to wait for them to take the bait.
The mannequins moved aftrer a few seconds of waiting, a bit shorter than David expected but he had no time to think, the mannequins formed almost a solid wall all crammed together, but all he had to do was jump over them,
Once on the other side the path to the door was empty with nothing but the counter in the way he ran as fast as he could yo the door but it was too late the mannequins changed position and he was his by one of them, his back hitting the edge of a table, ‘what! Are they getting faster, this is really bad, if I can’t find the user I could die here’, “Zero, open the door”.
The pale figure shoots out of Davids body toward the door, when it touches the door it's arm crumbles like a clay pot hitting the ground, ‘so it was a trap, and I amost fell for it, but more importantly’ David orders Zero to punch the window only for it's other arm to shatter, ‘so he isn’t behind the back door as it's out of bounds, so that means he is in this area of the restaurant, but where!!’.
David looks around for any abnormalities but yet again the mannequins move, now with multiple mannequins touching him he is launched upwards, ‘that's my blood I need to find them now or I’m screwd’ landing hard on the floor David crawls up a table using his arms to hold up his unstable legs looking next to him he sees a mannequin that's sitting while all the others had been moving.
Looking closely David noticed the mannequin had a lot of aura unlike the rest of them, David tries to touch the mannequin but, they all moved again, all the mannequins gathered around him except for the one with the strong aura, that one seemed to have gotten past the crowded ‘so that's the master he’s been hiding in plain sight all along , I have to end this now’, “zero attack that mannequin now” he shouts with an ecstatic voice.
Zero leaps in on the mannequin extending its leg for a kick but immediately as it’s about to land the mannequins move again crushing David’s body he could hear his bones crunch with wet splashes as well, he could see lots of blood spewing, “come on if I die I will take you down with me” David shouts with a large smile on his face.
Even though he can’t see Zero attacking the mannequin he could feel that he had done it, his view of the mannequins vanished now looking at a light fixture on the ceiling,and within his view he could see a tiled wall, “where am I?” David turns his head to see zero throwing a barrage of punches at a woman with a grey head band and wrapping a leather jacket and ripped jeans, “so you’re the marionette master, first explain your abilities”, David says standing up and checking for wounds.
“And why should I tell you I am Tengoku a proud member of the Bucciarati family” she barks with blood dripping out of her nose and mouth, “and damn your marionette is pathetic”, she scoffs whipping blood of her face”, David shows a shocked expression hearing that name looking at he her in disbelief.
“Hey what’re ya lookin’ at huh? Don’t tell me yer haven’t heard of the Bucciarati gang, oh boy can’t wait till boss hears about this” She says chuckling, “how do you have that name” David says in a more serious tone.
“What do you mean, my dad gave me that name, you’re one weird guy” she says mockingly stretching, then she pulls a hidden knife from her sleeve and is about jumps David, “stop” he commands in an authoritative voice, Teseji then falls to her knees as if her body just crumpled then and there with he face on the floor.
“And who exactly was your father?” David questions squatting, “I don’t know much about him, but I know this much, his name is Drako Sin Geo, he’s the chief of a clan or something and his last words to me was to kill a man named David D Rose which is you” she says with her voice shaking with fear.
“So he's the current chief the Geo clan, then I’d need to take it up with the old man, do you know anything else about him” David retorts, “uh well I don’nt remember much about him as the last time I saw him was 12 years ago when I was 13 and he only visited me very few times, he was a stern man and he was a powerful man able to go anywhere and all who knew his name revered him, and my mom barley ever talked about him”.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Revered ha! Don’t make me laugh, that man is no more than a coward, what about this mom of yours” David says pacing around,
“Well she barley ever spoke to me and spent most her time drinking and watching the telly after work and gave me a few dollars for the little food I could buy” Teseji stamers, “and do you know the true meaning behind your name” David questions with his pacing getting faster and louder.
“It means heaven in Japanese thats all I know” She says atrying to keep calm her head never lifting to face David, “oh so you don’t know about her” David mumbles, “and what is your marionette ability” David asks his glare intensifying,
“I-I have the ability is to transport a target to an alternate dimension when blood is spilled in an enclosed space, in this alternate dimension all people of the real world are reflected as mannequins that have a timed delay that reduces over time, and if they touch you it hits you with a strong force, so die there you die in reality, but if you touch the body of my stand called Puppet Quintet you escape fully healed, and well you come back to a location of my choosing.”
“I will only ask you this and chose your answer well, who do you work for” David demands with a cold calm authority that rivals that of a king so far above like a different world from the commoners, Teseji clenches her teeth petrified to answer, “I will not rat out my family” she barrels out her mouth.
“Alright you can go now” David says his voice returning to its happy tone, Teseji gives a puzzled look, "aren't you going to finish me off for trying to kill you".
"You are loyal to those close to you and that's a good vertue to have, and if you did rat them out then I'd have killed you" David says with a cheerful smile, leaning closer he whispers"if you ever try to kill me again I promise you death will be a relief".
She jumps up and voiced a thank you before speeding off slamming the bathroom door open, 'I have only been here 2 days and I have been the target for assassination twice and being spied on' David thinks pleased with himself.
David then leaves the washroom going back into the restaurant seeing a crowd gathered near a table close jumping trying to get a cheque hanging on a string in the ceiling, a man jumps up to grab the cheque, “suck it I have the 5,000 dollars”.
‘Wait is that seriously why they were following me, a 5,000 dollar cheque over my head, gotta commend the creativity’ David chuckles, “hey where were you, you just disappeared on us” Leon shouts, his expression sour and distressed.
“Well its a bit of a long story but there was an attempt for my life nothing to worry about, plus I don’t really want to talk about it” David says casually, Lawrence looks at him bewildered, “what do you mean, why don’t we call the cops" Leon says bewildered by the situation.
"Woa, I have things under control and this is personal business so I don't want any authorities meddling" David says pating Leon on his shoulders, "Leon as your mentor I have to give you advice, never and I mean never get involved with a monster hunters business" Lawrence says.
"Things like this happen often and when they do turn a blind eye" Lawrence forcing his words into Leon's head, Leon sighs, " yeah I think I' m better off not knowing anything about this.
"Well our break is ending soon, so I guess tomorrow this time, is that good with you?" Leon says still feeling like a boiling egg in an ice bath, "eh sure as long as nothing comes up" David responds.
"Right, here's my business card" Lawrence says handing it to David, "oh yes this'll be far more effective, thanks", "well we'll be off now, bye" Leon says beginning to walk away with Lawrence, "seeya next time" David says.
David notices a sign on the reception counter reading, -out of service for today, to order wait for a server-.
After a bit of waiting at his table a server come around to his table "I am so sorry for the delay," the man says with a hurried smile, "what can I get for you today".
"Do you have anything better than the grim burger" David asks returning the smile, "yes I would personally recommend that you order the Big Bad Betty aka B.B.B as it has a the same calorie count but has much more flavor and spice".
"And it pairs well with the Boy Smells cat boy energy drink for only 25 dollars" the server says cheerfully wearing the bright pink uniform with pride.
"Yeah sure sounds good" David replies with a smile, The server quickly writes on a note pad and goes on his way.
David checks his phone and sees he got a missed call from Xander, “wait wasn’t I supposed to meet up with him by 1, and I didn’t even tell him where” David mutters ‘how could I make such a simple mistake’.
Just as he put his mind to rest he heard a womans voice repeating the words oww in rapid succession, “could you let go now” said a strange voice entering the fast food chain, he looked to see Xander and a strange woman wearing all black with a black turtleneck dragging Teseji by the ear.
David waves his arm without questioning the scene that conspired Xander seems to notice David and the lady starts walking toward him trawling Teseji behind him, she then pushes her toward David, “Sir I’m sorry could you please find it in your heart of hearts to forgive me” Teseji Pleiades, “eeh jeez you moron I’m your partner why would you run off like that, we look out for each other” the strange woman mumbles.
“Oh sure I forgive you, but it looks like you’re more scared of her” David points to the woman in all black, “Oh pardon me I’m Silas Black, my partner but she ran off and attacked you, even though you aren’t a target”
“Oh so do you wanna join me and Xander in our lunch o~~r” “No no, it's fine this little mut left in the middle of a very important mission,” she says growling at Teseji “I’ll try my best to salvage the mission boss, oh and I will make sure to tell Bruno about the incident,” Silas says to Xander before dragging Teseji along.
The attention of the whole place was now on them, “ugh we can’t eat here there are too many people looking” Xander mumbled tugging Davids's sleeve, “but my food” David mornes, “but I’ll wait outside too many eyes right now” Xander mumbles exiting.
David waits a few minutes before his sandwich arrives, “hey something came up so can I have this to go,” David says politely. After paying and tipping well David goes to meet Xander.
Xander's texting someone with a sneering look, “Hello! Who ya texting” David's voice brimming with curiosity, “And you’re acting like a kid who's never seen a guy use a phone,” He remarks “It's just a jerk co-worker”.
“Let go to my place, It’ll be quieter” Xander leads, David nods his head, “So when were you going to tell me you are a mafioso” David suddenly bumps into Xander, “Its best you don’t know about my business” Xander continues walking.
“Ooh mysterious and so charming” David chuckles just loud enough for Xander to hear, David notices Xander's face jerk, the rest of the walk was mostly silent between the two in the hustle and bustle of the city streets Xander kept a fast pace without ever looking back.
They enter the looming apartment complex, “Hey, Xander would you be a dear and help me with fetch some groceries later” said a frail old man clutching his walking frame.
“Yes, Mr Yami would you like anything else for you” Xander says politely, “no dear you’ve been sweet enough” The man gives Xander his list and slowly lumbers away, “oh the stoic hero has a soft spot” David remarks dramatically with a small chuckle, Xander elbows Davids stomach hard, but David doesn’t budge.
Thye get to Xander's apartment David first sees the cluttered living room filled with parts of machinery and metal shells as well as assortments of tools, weapons, and prosthetic parts, the floors, the walls even the ceiling has machinery parts.
The two walk in with Xander swiping away the obstruction David sees a disheveled man weaning adjustable goggles on a graphing table messed with pencils pens and rulers, scrapes of paper surrounding the chair, and smoke hovering over a man's head his hair silky smooth.
“Hey you mech junkie when do you plan on cleaning” Xander shouts, “you watch your tone I am the one who makes all your tech and gives you shelter” The man turns and shouts, “Oh did you finally get a friend after all these years, and I thought it would be impossible," the man says quizzaciously.
"Haha comedy gold" Xander snarls, "well it's a pleasure for you to see me, I'm Lark a freelance mech engineer," The man says glaring at Xander, "oh, uh, well I'm David," David stutters feeling the tension between the two, "well then we'll be off to my room" Xander retorts finally ending the conversation.
"Ok don't do anything naughty" Lark waves, Xander leads him down a much less crowded hallway to get to a door across a washroom, Xander swings it open revealing a meticulously organized room far different from the living room.
"What's up with you and Lark? If glares could kill you two would be in a savage duel to the death" David questions, "it's complicated alright" Xander snaps, "geez can't a guy be curious" David pouts, "look there's a difference between curiosity and pushing boundaries and right now you're pushing boundaries".
"Well we should get back on track," Xander says, closing the door.