Kade and Sugar walk into town, some few look at Kade, as he was a fresh face, as Kade kept to himself. “So many…different kinds of people…this is already very surreal, sweets!” Kade said to her as she could only chuckle a little.
"As I said before, Kade, this is my hometown, it’s a very diverse one compared to the other towns, although it seems that you are quite new to these people, probably because it’s been a while since a new human came by, most usually are found at Morning Town" she said as they pass by what Kade could tell was a Minotaur and Centaur holding hands while talking to an angel looking humanoid.
"So like…what kind of people are there then?" Kade asks as they walk through a market area. "Well, we have your classic 'fictional' things like demons and ghosts and whatever, but we have a few…interesting people as well…" she slightly points at very tall lanky man with empty eye sockets full of what appears to be stars, his unhinged maniacal smile behind the short brown hair makes Kade a little uncomfortable before the man walks away after paying for some groceries.
"Gorgeous People, that's the name of their race, very strange looking and unsettling, I know, but trust me, they are some of the sweetest people I know. In fact, one of the guys we'll be seeing has a co-worker who's a Gorgeous Person. You use that term for singular purposes. Language lesson number 1." They continue walking around as she sees a cafe. "There. Magnetic Cafe, that's the name, quite an attractive spot for everyone. The two we are meeting are Alexander and Jafk, they are the owners of the cafe.”
"Uh-huh…" Kade nods along as he follows her inside, waiting patiently at a small line as Kade stands behind her. "Don't be too alarmed, alright? They are good and useful people, especially for you and your case." Sugar said to him.
"I'll try not to be more alarmed than I already am, hehe…" he said as he overhears the front lines.
"One cup of Tempus Coffee, please, extra sugar and milk, please" a small lady asked a strange man behind the counter. His strange empty eye sockets stare into her eyes as he nods. "O-Of course, ma'am…" he said nervously. A much younger voice not fitting his strange, unnaturally lanky tall body and empty eye sockets that were filled with what looked like tiny stars, a Gorgeous Person as Kade has determined easily. He brushes away the long black hair from his face behind his ears as he starts to prepare the coffee.
"You've been working here for 10 years, J, and you still get nervous with every customer who comes. Never change, buddy" his co-worker chuckles a bit as he prepares the order of another customer. He was careful not to spill even a single drop of anything, his muscular red hand kept it completely steady as he serves it, fixing his short black hair as he looks at his left arm, making sure the red part of his hand didn't creep up when he wasn't looking as he gently caresses his two horns on the top of his head.
"I-I can't help it…people make me n-nervous, Alex…" The shy man sheepishly said as Alex chuckled more. "And I wouldn't mind it staying it that way, J" he gives a smile to the sheepish boy, who gave one back, if you can call an unhinged maniacal smile a small one as he goes to clean a cup.
Once Alex was done cleaning a cup, he turned around to serve Sugar. “Hello hello, what can I get y-oh! Hello, miss~” he said as she sighed annoyingly. “Wir haben einen neuen Mitarbeiter, lass uns jetzt reden (We have a new employee, let’s talk now)” she said in a different language as he nodded.
“Aber natürlich! (But of course!)” he would pull out a small device as he spoke into it. “Break time for us, Situation 2, thank you” he said as the kitchen door opens, a golden eyed gray skin girl walked out, while 5 identical girls also appeared behind her, although they had silver eyes, as they began to take the two’s positions of work as Alex walks out from behind the counter to a hallway, turning to Sugar and Kade, gesturing them to follow. “Let’s go, J”
The sheepish boy turns around from his station to Alex as he nods. The employees presume their work as they follow Alex down the hallway into a room, the door labeled ‘Break Time!’. And as they entered, from a table in a corner, a boy in a blue hoodie watched as he quietly spoke into a radio device. As Kade enters the room last, a grouped whisper goes off in his head again. ‘Three colors…’ it said, but Kade ignored it for now, simply noting it down.
Kade follows suit inside the room before Alex closes the door. "What's your assigned name as of right now?" Alex asks Sugar as he leans against the wall close to the door. The tall boy simply sat down with his head down as he fidgeted with his fingers. "Sugar. I'll have you explain the situations to Kade, the human detective next to me, to both give him info and determine if he should continue his own investigation down here at least, as far as that strange machine told me”
"Alright, Sugar…Kade, a nice name, I'm Alexander Pirt Hollow, owner of this cafe and assistant to our town's leaders. I am half demon and angel, although it seems like both don't like each other and neither does my body. You may call me Alex. Our shy Gorgeous Person sitting down right now is Jafk Arbx Nickeel, co-owner to the establishment, although he would've been the sole owner if he wasn't so nervous when it comes to social things, despite always wanting to run a cafe. He is, as said, a Gorgeous Person, both in species and appearance" a small wink to Jafk as he simply blushes a bit. Kade nods, although Jafk still creeped him out a bit, he does a small bow to the boy. “A pleasure to make acquaintances~”
"Get to the point, time is against us. Literally" Sugar rushed Alexander as she went to make herself a cup of coffee at a counter.
“Alright, alright…I’m sure you are familiar with the basics already, right? Living Machines and Angels, the Timeless Man, Lake Children, all that?” he asked as Kade nodded. “Excellent, that’ll quicken things up. So, our main concern is the one Lake Child he has in his possession, the Korpse Child as some of the machines’ radio mention her as”
"You mean he had her. Silvia, brave girl as she is, has escaped his custody. I have her bunkered up with my mother in our detective agency in Raiden City." Kade mentions as Alex nods in relief. Another grouped whisper speaks again in his head. 'This room has poor sound cancellation, you know…’ he tilted his head as Alex continued.
"So she is safe for now…excellent, that’s a lot of time on our hands now, but…we have to begin an assault on the clock tower soon…he's taken over the city before and he is not scared to take over our towns and Heaven next. And for what? We don't know…the best we can guess is at the protection of the Korpse Child, who is his daughter…but that's all…he has a lot of machines up there patrolling every nook and cranny, killing anything on sight that is not within its hivemind database…"
“Protection of his daughter? I quite doubt it, sounds like it’s really rough in there, but…who knows” Kade adds as he shrugs, Alex putting his hand into his pocket.
He pulls out a photo from said pocket. It shows a train system in pristine condition, a train was in the image, its name scratched out from the side "The Timeless City was a beautiful city, you know? It was like Heaven but somehow more. Good people, good leaders, good life…this train, this picture, was the last one taken before the disaster. That Timeless Man came out of it with thousands of machines, things beyond our initial comprehension and further for the police force and guardians. Our leaders had to resort to The Tempus Protocol and abandon the city with as many people as they could into the underground towns. They are split among the towns but are a collective group of powerful Knowledge wielders known as 18 Seconds."
"Knowledge wielders? If I may ask, what is that?" Kade asks curiously as Alex thinks for a moment. "Knowledge is…information beyond the sky, allowing those who wield it to do certain things no else could do. Like…I can universally translate all languages to whatever is needed perfectly, and have control over ice and fire…Jafk can see, hear and speak with the voices of the dead, and flood places by causing water to multiply rapidly…or Sugar…if you want to explain…"
"I rather not, but if anything happens, I would advice remembering this place so you can ask Alex or Jafk when desperate enough…" she said while looking away.
"Of course…personally, I believe everyone wields Knowledge, just it's so weak it's only really, well, wisdom at best…”
“Knowledge…” Kade whispered under his breath. Is that what he has? As quick as he thought of it, Alex continued speaking again.
“But of course, the train, we sidetracked a little, but it would take too long to explain, so I think it would be better if you could see it for yourself, Kade" Alex would look at the photograph before setting it aflame, sending the smoke to Kade's direction as he began to feel woozy.
It started to get dark around him, before he could feel…fresh air, breezing through him…hundreds of people…talking…and one more singular whisper in his head…
'Naughty, naughty…'
-
Kade opens his eyes to see himself sitting on a bench in a train station next to someone with a camera, an orange slime lady of some sort as she gets up. People of all kinds walked by, talking with one another as one of the trains leaves the station. The name 'Shooting Star' was on the side before it was out of his sight. The air was fresh as perfume as he got up. Another train enters the station, with its name scratched out by what looked like millions of claw marks. Some of the civilians looked curiously at the newly arrived train as one of the train cart's doors opened, but it was incredibly dark inside until a metal hand creeped out, keeping grip onto the door as it slowly showed itself. It was the Timeless Man, but he looked ruined and broken, that same gas mask he had covering his face, the eye glasses not yet broken, and before anyone could say a word or offer a hand, he simply points at Kade with his dying eyes that hid behind the gas mask before hundreds of metallic monstrosities poured out of all the carts of the train, attacking everyone on sight as the man walked forward, very slowly toward Kade. The screams of those who witnessed and those who were attacked echoed through the tunnels and rooms as alarms went off. Police force and what he could assume to be the 'guardians' that Alex mentioned appeared at the scene, only to be outnumbered and outmatched by the metallic beasts as anyone still alive fled the scene. The place dissipates into smoke as Kade appears in the sky, watching from a chair, a table in front of him with another chair on the other side, all of them floating with him like they were on an invisible floor, although The Timeless Man kept marching towards Kade still, slow as ice in Antarctic waters. The city was breaking before a loud announcement in a cryptic language he didn't understand spoke, presumably leading everyone to certain buildings, which began descending as any who could fight, fight with fury, making sure not a single metallic monstrosity got onto the descending buildings.
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And when the dust settles…the buildings were gone and locked completely as the sun began descending down on the city. What survivors there were on the surface left the city as quick as they could. The clock tower gives out its final chime, the forcefield he now sees shatters into dissipating electricity.
The Timeless Man reaches the table, sitting down on the chair on the other side, looking towards Kade. "And on the tower of god will a man decide the fate of his people, blinded by memories and powers, trapped in a cage…" the man spoke. Kade was confused by the message, but continued listening silently. "A Timeless Man…in a city no longer governed by time…poetic…ever so poetic…" the man fades into smoke, as do the table and chairs, and then the city fades, leaving Kade in the complete dark once again.
"Kade…" he can hear his name, echoing in a damp room. "Kade.." again, but louder.
-
"Kade!" he wakes up with a jolt from a chair as Sugar sighs. "Christ, Molly's smoke photographs are effective but you shouldn't have been out this long in it…it is exactly 9 minutes for this one but it's been 13 minutes…" she sighs again in pure relief as Kade scratches the top of his head, yawning a bit.
"Every turn of event keeps getting more interesting every time" he gets up from the chair as he fixes himself a bit. "So…hm…I could do this"
"Really? Are you absolute? I’m sure I don’t have to mention how…messy it was at the beginning" Sugar was surprised as she tilted her head. "Of course I am absolutely sure, as my mother always said, 'Help those helpless souls or the stars will forever scream your name'...I know, she scares me a bit too, but I love her the same, now then, explain your raid plan, but only after we deal with a couple of…troublemakers" Kade said, pulling out his pistol from his holster towards the door as 3 small figures who were looking through the tinted glass immediately started running away. "We better deal with them first," Kade suggested as they all nod along. “Go then, let’s see how you deal with them” Alexander pulled out the small device again, speaking into it. “Lisa! Stop the 3 running in the hallway, please and thank you!” he said as Kade put the gun away into the holster, running out the room to give chase. He sees 3 of the silver eyed girls block the way of 3 familiar youths. One in a red hoodie, another in a blue hoodie, and one more in a yellow hoodie.
"Come on now, stupid worker, we have places to be at!" one of the younger ones said, a girl with short red hair, hiding her mouth behind a white surgical mask as she also held back the boy in blue.
"I'll rip you to pieces, I know you aren't real!" the other young one said, a boy with blue hair and gills on his neck. "Now now, this isn’t how we deal with being caught…" a yellow hooded figure said. They appear to be older than the other two with glimpses of long yellow hair. They tossed a coin behind themselves as the three employees suddenly walked to the coin, curious about it as the 3 left the cafe.
"They're getting away!" Kade said as he begins sprinting, jumping over the crouched employees as he gently slams open the door, giving chase to the three younglings who immediately notice, running away as well. "Get the hell back here, you have a lot to explain about your privacy-breaking selves!" he said towards them.
"Not like you can catch us, old man!" the blue haired boy yells back as they turn around into an alleyway quickly. Kade turns the corner as well, only to find a dead end instead. "I am not…old…the hell…"
Kade takes a deep breath as he examines the alleyway…nothing was different with it. Someone had followed him, the golden eyed gray girl he saw as she tilts her head. “Predicament spotted. Attempting Spatial Research…” she said, a very robotic voice that gave away what she was. An Android. He didn’t even question it as he sighed, putting his hands over the dead end.
“Think they escaped this way?” he asked the android, who he assumed was this ‘Lisa’ figure Alex called as she nodded.
“Paradox solved, remembering Memory 34548, playing audio” and her mouth stays open as audio plays through.
“Hey, ever heard of that workshop?” A deeper feminine voice spoke as a woman giggled, her voice a bit higher pitch. “Well, despite being supposedly hidden, it seems like everyone knows it by now” she said.
“Of course, no rhythm in the knocking on the wall, just so long as it is 4 knocks, in a weird pattern, very easy”
“Haha! Of course, of course…”
Lisa closes her mouth as she nods. “Memory Complete, returning to cafe duties, good luck, sir” she said, doing a small bow as she turned right around, walking back to the cafe.
"...Huh" Kade was confused but nodded. He walks up to the wall, staring for a couple of seconds before he knocks once. Then he waits for a second and knocks 2 times immediately, and then a fourth time after 3 seconds have passed. The sound of a door unlocking was heard as the wall vanished, revealing said door, opening up for him.
"I wonder how many well known secrets I’ll have to learn as well down here…" Kade kept a close hand near his pistol as he entered. Voices spoke from afar as he walked through what appeared to be a hallway, the colors were as strange as the situation as he got a door on the other side.
"Master! Are we safe???" a girl's voice spoke as another spoke back with a giggle. "Darling child, do we have anything to fear? You three were just being curious children, I say we are in no such trouble. I offer my house and wealth for you three to be free, not scared" it was a higher pitch voice as they giggled again.
"Are you really sure, Master?" a boy's voice spoke out now. Kade got closer to the door as he quietly opened it, peeking inside, spotting the three rascals he had seen before yesterday and a very small flying figure. A pixie.
The girl sat on a table as the boy simply sat on the floor. Another small figure simply stood by them as the fairy nodded. "Always sure, Popoto" her eyes peek over to the door, spotting Kade as a soft smile appears on her little face. "We seem to have a customer," she said as she flew over. Kade opens the door fully, revealing himself with a small bow and smile.
"Welcome, welcome, to Master's Works, what's your name, darling?" she asked. The three younglings seem to immediately hide away at the sight of him. Kade would clear his voice a bit as his hands got away from the holster, feeling at ease already.
"Kade Gears Wonder, human detective of the Steel Rooks Agency in Rai-...in Heaven, miss, a pleasure to meet a fairy like you" he said a little charmingly as she giggled. "You fluster me, Kade. You may call me Master, yes that is my actual first name, fairy naming is a rather strange thing but rest assured I am a lot softer and kinder than most would think…"
"U-Uh, is there perhaps another name you may go by?" Kade asks a little nervously as she chuckles. "Bonny, dear, now, what made you come to the shop today? Was it my rowdy children?" she asks as Kade nods. "Yes actually, they might have stolen a couple things, you know? A tablet with highly important evidence?” he said as gently as he could.
"Oh have they, huh?" Bonny looks over to a large piece of machinery the three were hiding behind as she calls them out.
"Emily? Popoto? Alzo? Come out now, stealing is a bit bad, you know?” The three pop their heads out one by one as they nervously step out. The red-haired girl and blue-haired boy hide behind the yellow-haired hooded figure.
"They are just a small cute trio of youths, curious about the world here and out. I'm sure a tablet with highly important evidence is not too important…Anyways! How about some introductions, sir~? The little mask-wearing gremlin is Emily Nightheart, a half vampire who was abandoned. The sharp-toothed rascal is Popoto Sharpheart, a boy with shark features. His only parent died from one of the attacks in one of the towns from The Timeless Man's machines. And the soft hooded figure they are hiding behind is Alzo Greatheart, a shapeshifter, they have no memory of their past when I found them. I took them all in one by one because they had no home, and they collectively decided on a little cute group name: The Butcher Kids, and taking on a new cuter last name, Butcherheart"
"H-Hey, The Butcher Kids is a very menacing name, no one would dare to mess with us!" Popoto spoke up. "Yeah, we're terrifying and messy at our crime scenes" Emily spoke afterwards.
"The only mess we leave behind is empty ice cream boxes in Master's kitchen…" Alzo softly said as Kade simply chuckles at all of this. "I see my fear is unwarranted then, forgive me for the intrusion then, Bonny.” he said as he did a small bow. “However…I would need the tablet back, you know~’
“But of course…dearies, could you please return the tablet”
“Nuh uh! We were told to take it back after only Kade sees it, Master!” Emily said to him as Bonnie giggled.
“Back again with that Good Machine I see? Well, then sorry, sir, but…I believe we can’t~” Bonnie continued as she chuckled.
“It's like everyone knows of something I don’t…hmph, can I at least see it again? Here?” Kade asks as Bonnie nods, Alzo would get up, leaving the room already.
“Well…while Alzo goes to get it, how about a little…look around my workshop, hm~?” she suggested as he nodded. “But of course, ma’am” and not even a second of looking did something catch his eyes.
Something familiar. Something gold.