"First off, as the previous leader of Ash Town, I thank you for killing the Man sent by the Tork family."
Ester paused as he tried to understand what it was that the pickie(?) in front of them was saying.
First off, the Pickie had just declared themselves the previous leader of Ash town meaning that the Greenie named Borl was most probably the currently deceased leader of Ash Town
The second part is that the pickie seemed to say that Borl the now dead green idiot wasn't the leader of the Borl family but was instead a pawn.
In conclusion?
'This is nothing but trouble that I don't want to get more involved in.'
Eyes roaming across his surroundings and lingering on the three figures holding guns pointed directly at their vital spots, Ester couldn't help but notice how all three of them were pointed at him.
'Flattering.'
Feeling all the more flattered at how they deemed him more of a threat than Eva who would thrive under the lack of attention, Ester redirected his attention to the man who continued to keep their hands up in the air despite the strain it was no doubt putting on his shoulders.
"If all you have to offer to me and my friend here are compliments for killing someone who you definitely wouldn't have struggled against." Ester gestured towards the locations of the gunmen.
"Then you would be disappointed to find out that me and my friend here aren't exactly impressed.."
"Heh." The man let out a small laugh before lowering his arms, the proclaimed leader of Ash town gestured for all the gunners to lower their guns with two raised fingers. "Guns down men."
"How about you make the last one raise their gun?"
"Sharp." The leader of Ash town chuckled quietly before raising a third finger and lowering it.
Ester glanced upwards where the gunman still aiming down the sights at Ester's vital organs, he watched as they raised their gun and raised it up.
In the case that they wanted to shoot him, it would give him at most half a second before he was riddled with bullet holes.
But considering half a second was more than enough time to find some cover either organic or inorganic, Ester had little qualms with using the bodies of those surrounding him to his advantage.
The leader of Ash town continued. "I don't suppose you can forgive me for testing you?"
A calculating smirk oozed out of his words as eyes stared at the duo from beyond a pitch black pair of goggles. "I just wanted to see if you had what it takes to be the Kid of the Gravesmith."
Ester froze in sync with Eva as they heard the old nickname that the Old man had before he kicked the bucket
Instinctively wanting to deny any connection that he had to that cranky old man, Ester hurriedly pulled himself back.
'At this point, its to late to try and deny any connection to the Gravesmith.' Ester thought as he shook himself out of his shock.
That shock only came back even harsher when Eva ran past him.
Hurriedly grabbing her by the scruff of her neck, Ester was distinctly aware of how her sudden actions had sparked a wave of vigilance throughout the entire crowd currently swarming their surroundings.
Even the three gunners had pulled out their weapons again and were pointing them at the two of them.
And something of note was that they pulled it out at exactly 0.43 seconds, which wasn't ideal for finding a human shield.
A tense silence filled the entire place as Ester hissed into Eva's ear. "what the void do you think you're doing?"
Trying to make him a hostage so that we can leave this place alive came the reply when she rapidly tapped at his arm.
"Bullshit, you just want to know how that guy knows we're connected to the old man" Ester cursed under his breath.
Don't you want to know to? Came Eva's reply, and despite how much he wanted to refute it, Ester knew it was true.
But as if the chaos currently floating about within Ester and Eva's skulls was nothing more than an insignificant event, the leader of Ash town clapped his hands during the silence. "Ah silly me, I forgot to introduce myself."
Bowing towards Ester and Eva as if they both weren't contemplating the best way to scoop out his brain for more info, the leader of Ash town introduced himself. "My name is Fork, now may I have the names of you two?"
Ester glanced at Eva and stared at her eyes for a brief moment, receiving an answer through that gaze and the rapid tapping of her fingers.
"How about a no?"
Fork tilted their head like a lizard. "How about if telling me your names comes with the reward of a map around Ash town and a car?"
"Sounds to good to be true so... no."
"How about if I give advanced payment." Rifling through their pockets and throwing something at them, Ester tensed for a brief moment before seeing that it wasn't a danger to him or Eva.
Catching it in his hands, Ester narrowed his eyes to assess what it was that was in his hands before he realized what it was.
It took a few moments to realize since it had been some time since he had interacted with the fobs of vehicles other than the Driller, but this was the fob to a car.
It might've been to a vehicle that was already destroyed though, but a click of the fob and the lighting of a car behind Fork silenced his doubts.
'Well now. I have absolutely no idea what to say.'
Stun locked at how absurd this was, Eva finally couldn't take it anymore as she shook off Ester's grasp and dusted off her shoulders. [I don't get it Fork, what's your aim here?]
"Don't want to get on your bad side."
[Heh. The bad side of two idiots who don't know what the void they're doing?]
"Most of the time, idiots aren't aware of the fact that they're idiots, I would say you're smarter than most."
Eva let out a mechanical hiss.
---
Deep underground, Fork glanced back at the column of monitors depicting a network of dots scattered on a map that continued to have patches of it flicker as it updated the location of all the numerous of dots.
But even among all of these colorful dots that periodically shifted on the map, a singular grey starred dot slowly moved along the map in real time.
Staring at the grey dot, Fork turned to look at a camera
"I regret that I have to bring you bad news Master" Fork kneeled in front of the unblinking gaze of the camera transmitting the image to some place unknown. "Your great grandson was killed in Ash town."
The camera's lens focused and unfocused with a buzz and whiz, the light at the corner of its body blinking a soft crimson red.
"Unfortunately, the one who had killed your Great Grandson has escaped with the help of their female companion, hot wiring one of our cars and driving it off, losing the men I sent to guard your Great grandson in the process."
The buzz of his respirator sounded increasingly loud to Fork as sweat beaded on his forehead as he bowed towards the camera, his gaze hidden by his hood as he bowed lower
"Fortunately Master, after great sacrifice, my men were able to apply a Mark onto the car that they had stolen and have additionally uncovered the identity of the one who had killed your Great Grandson."
The red light above the camera continued to pulse softly.
"The identity of the one who killed your son is none other than the Gravesmith's kid who was thought to have been killed alongside his master when the Smithsonian's attacked him."
The speaker crackled to life in that instant, a heavy baritone and basal voice filling the room with its sound as it struggled to receive the radio waves through the polluted environment.
[I-I-Is wha-aat yoooou say-say tru-true?]
"I swear on my life."
[I-I-I see-see]
The camera lens whirred and hissed as it widened its focus.
[R-raise you-our hand-and]
Fork closed his eyes in acceptance as he raised his right hand.
*CRACK
The sound of shattered glass echoed from behind fork as a black rift in space spewing out purple mist appeared, a sword leaping through the black tear as it sliced through Fork's pinky and ring fingers, the rip reforming to the sound of crunched tin foil as it sliced clean through the sword.
All those events happened in a singular moment, several beats passing by before Fork dropped to his knees and clutched at his hand.
[Y-your punish-unishment fo-for ta-taking to-to long to-o t-tell m-me som-ething l-like this-is]
The camera's whirred as the lens refocused, the dull crimson gaze blinking softly as the uncaring and unfeeling camera lens seemingly stared into his soul.
[K-keep t-the sword-d as-as a remin-minder of y-your fail-failure. D-don't disappoin-point me-e]
The red light signaling its activation blinked off as Fork kneeled on the floor, seemingly convulsing from the pain of losing two of his fingers.
That was until he started to laugh.
"Hehehe... hahaha... Hahaha. HaHaHa. AHAHAHA!"
It was a laugh filled with the madness of someone who discovered the mountain that was as tall as the stars themselves was nothing more than a mountain that was as tall as the clouds.
They were both difficult to climb, but one was a whole lot more realistic to climb.
Letting his hand fall to the ground, the plastic hand with metal bones collided against the ground as Fork revealed his real hand hidden within his sleeve, his hand bearing the signs of several stitches and restitches from all the times a blade had cut it apart.
Picking up the blade, a manic look appeared in Fork's eyes as he removed his hood, grey hair slowly rolled down their shoulders as grey eyes peered at the large map
Holding the blade in his hands, Fork held the blade tight enough for his hands to bleed as manic laughter began to bleed out of his mask.
It was strangely modulated.
As if someone was using a machine to speak.
+++
Tree that didn't save their Sh*t and had to rewrite the already completed chapter