Van looked at the Jayden doll in his hands. Talon threw his Carlos doll in the air, making it do a somersault, and caught it.
"You like 'em?" Talon shot Van a goofy grin. "They're pretty neat if I do say so myself."
"Kind of looks like Jay," Vandal allowed.
Just like before, thought Van as he remembered the old dolls that were given to them by a, at the time, mysterious source, if what this man Talon said was true, then how many times has he given these little things out? Van shook away the thought, focusing on the matters at hand, I need to just follow along, Talon even saved me, but if anything happens ... Van gripped Leonette, hoping he wouldn't have to use it against someone or something he wouldn't expect.
The pair set out into the street. Luckily, there were not many monstrosities to block their way. They went down a road for a few blocks, this one named Summer Street by the signs that hung next to the rusting three-colored lights. They came at an intersection. The buildings surrounding them, crumbling and quite easy to see through, Van could see to the west, there was a big white-walled building. A sign said it was a hospital. To the east, was a store, its once lurid colors and exaggerated, silly, characters welcoming in their customers.
Van felt in his heart the hospital was the way to go. Perhaps it was his new eye, or rather his own natural intuition. But before Van could even turn his heel towards the hospital, Talon said something loudly.
"Oh!" Talon pointed at the gaudy structure, "look! A toy store!"
Vandal moved his lips, but the words for his argument didn't come out. Just follow along, Van reminded himself. Why argue with one who knew much, much more than he did about this realm? Van hoped Talon was going off of intuition rather than puerile amusement.
They were at the foot of the door when the creature roared. It bellowed something at Talon's approach and it moved its paws.
"Tal! Look out!" Van fired one bullet into the monster with decaying fur. It was some kind of bear with an alligator tail, a shiny metal skull beneath. It wore a wide-brimmed hat where a little blue bird sat. Their joyful grinning spoke of its lack of fear.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Talon raised his hand in surrender as if Van was about to blast him as well, "it's a robot, man! Relax. Something for the kiddies, you know?"
Talon was right. It stood in place, and Van, by looking its feet, could see it was attached to the floor. Behind the blast's hole, the gunner could see it was filled with wires and bits of metal and plastic.
"We-zzz-we-zzz-WELCOME, KIDS!" The mechanical sentinel died doing its duty as a guard, entertainer, and welcomer. Sparks flew out of its mouth, its jaw ready to fall off. "Build-zzzz-ing blocks ... zzzz ... d-d-dancing-zzz-MUSIC BOX ... WE HAVE IT ... " For a moment, Van and Talon thought the bot was out of juice, but then it suddenly finished its statement. "ALLLLLLLLLLL!" The pair jumped as the final word petered out, its pitch decreasing.
A giant toy. Van couldn't help but chuckle, that shot had lightning imbued within. Must have given it more life but took it within the same moment.
"You should have seen the look on your face!" Talon laughed louder than him as they walked through the threshold. Van shrugged and smiled, still chuckling at his own mistake.
More of the same character out front decorated the inside, as if this was a temple devoted to it. There were still some candy bars and sweet things on the shelves close to the check-out lanes. Van took some and so did Talon.
"So you think Mag and Nu are here?" Van unwrapped his chocolate bar and took a bite.
"They could be." Talon had a mouth full of what was in the little box of candy. "If they are I hope they're here so we can get the hell out. This place is giving me the creeps." Talon eyed one of the Loveable, Friendly Allie-Bear (Van concluded for its name, judging by all the banners and displays) statues. Its plastic eyes were missing out of their sockets. The ones it used to have, at one point probably moved in their holes, to imitate life and surprise the children.
On top of that, there were these strange undressed baby dolls scattered everywhere who oddly had their heads turned in the pair's direction as they walked by.
Beyond the rows of shelves, Van heard laughter. It sounded like it belonged to a little girl.
Talon and Van glanced into each other's eyes; they silently knew who had come to play with them.
"ooooooh, what does this do?" The voice came through the speakers, buzzy and weak. "Hello? Hello, Hello, Hello? Can you hear me? Yay!" Ravage giggled as she played with the microphone.
Van and Talon kept their silence and moved slowly.
"Stay by me," Van told Talon as he loaded in a new charge to fill Leonette.
"Right," Talon agreed as he upended his box of candies into his mouth.
"Beetle and Exit, I know you're there," she addressed sweetly, "but I want to see Blue! Wait, are you here to buy me toys? I want toys!"
As Ravage started listing her favorite playthings, some of which sounded more like weapons and instruments of torture than childish trinkets, Van crept closer to the front of the store. Behind a register, he could see the mischievous little creature, standing on the conveyor belt. She had found a pink coat, one that was too big for her. She held a big chef knife in a languid hand, her wrist moving back and forth as she named the things on her wishlist.
Van took aim, as much as the thought of shooting the image of a little girl bothered him. It's no child, Van told himself, so take the damnable shot, why don't you? The new eye helped him see a little better in the darkened gloom. Unfortunately, with his eyes straight ahead, he didn't see the rubber chicken as he stepped on it; it let out a loud, obnoxious sound. Ravage's head snapped in his direction, her needle-like teeth shown as she smiled. Van fired, his intent to incapacitate so as to question her once she posed no threat.
The girl, as quick as ever, leaped from the belt, and the bullet collided with the register. The fire-enchanted shot made the dollar bills light up in a cloud of paper and embers.
"Hey!" Ravage shouted as she jumped onto the shelves and swung on banners. "I didn't even say I wanted bullets yet!"
"Where'd she go?" Talon asked, his hands ready to make portals, " Was that her? Maybe she went—"
The pink demon slid down a shelf, tumbled, sprang up, and slashed at Talon's face. She missed flesh but did manage to cut down a yellow spike from his head.
"Ha-ha," Ravage ridiculed, "Now, your ugly, Exit!"
Talon made a portal on the floor to trip her, but she jumped over it as if it was a muddy puddle.
"You little—" Van snarled as he fired, but missed.
The shot shattered one of those strange dolls. With one obliterated, the others began to cry from their plastic maws.
"Too, slow!" Ravage giggled. "Tell Blue to come and play or you'll never see Butterfly ever again! Never-ever, nev—" She heard the crying of plastic babies get louder and louder. "Shut up!" She angrily sliced one of the heads off the squalling toys.
A big mistake, it was.
The toys came to life, surrounding the girl. One jumped on her and clung to her coat. She cut that one down with her chef knife. Van would have taken advantage of Ravage's distraction, but the dolls wanted to take their vengeance out on Talon and himself, it seemed. Van grabbed one doll by its legs and smashed it against a metal shelf. Talon kicked one and sent it sailing down the aisle.
The dolls then began to laugh and crawl towards one in particular. As they huddled, the plastic seemed to morph and melt, dozens of guffaws being let loose at once by the amalgamation.
"You don't scare me," said Ravage to what was becoming a giant twin of the dolls that formed it, "you're just a big, dumb—"
On its way to merge, one of the toy babies knocked over a music box.
It played a pretty little tune. Pretty, but with a hint of tragedy. Within, two plastic lovers spun, their hands locked as the turntable they stood upon spun slowly to the music.
"a big ... dumb ... dumb." Ravage was entranced as if the melody spoke to her. She stood there muttering to herself.
What's wrong with her? Van mused, her cruel eyes becoming dreamier by the second. Is it the music?
"Let's get the hell out of here, man!" Talon said quietly, also suspecting the music's effect on the pink demon. Talon made an entrance portal on the floor and peered around a shelf to make an exit portal near the doors that lead out into the street. Talon urged Van, shaking him in case he was under the spell as well. "They're not here! We gotta go! Van!"
Van finally came to his senses and jumped into Talon's portal. Before Van could step out, he took one last look behind him into the store. Other monsters were flocking to the giant babies aid: A wooden puppet, about three feet tall, skipped merrily, its arms sharpened into long splintery spikes; a heavy glob of green modeling clay crawled before its legs could form; and finally, the biggest Allie-Bear in the store came to life; the mascot grew real fur and scales from between the cracks of its plastic. Its savage roar was anything but welcoming.
Van almost felt sorry for the little fiend, seeing her have a sliver of a soul moved by gentle tones. Though, the little girl wasn't a beast to play with; Van would be grateful to have her eliminated as a threat, nonetheless. The pair moved on, continuing their search for stolen friends.
ns 18.68.41.146da2
