Sometimes the loops can be silly, and sometimes they can be serious. Today, there's a lot of the latter, and not so much of the former. But don't worry, we're just setting the stage for the next parts of the Skullgirls Encore Loops!
2.1 XeroM52
[Skullgirls][Marvel]
"Well, it seems we aren't in New Meridian anymore!" Peacock commented out loud as she stood on top of a very tall building and observed the city around her. It wasn't like she was really that impressed by it, what caused her slight whiplash was the lack of familiar architectural design.
"Apparently we are in a place called New York City in a country named The United States of America!" Avery, the small bird-like parasite that resided in Peacock's hat, informed her.
"New York? What a goofy name…" Peacock said, wondering what the hell was up with this Loop. She had never heard of New York City or this U.S of A. country. And by the lack of ferals on the streets down below, she concluded that she might not even be on her own world.
"What should we do now?" Avery asked. Since this place was another world that meant there was no Lab 8, or a place they could call home. No, Dr. Avian, no Big Band, no Leduc, no Hive, no Stanley, not anyone they knew.
"I guess first he have to find a place to crash around here!" Peacock suggested, before her stomach made a rumbling sound. "But first we found something to eat!"
"But we have no money!" Avian reminded her. "And I'm not sure they accept our currency here!"
"Don't worry your tiny little head; I know how we can get some money!"
2.2 XeroM52
"Marie! Marie!" Peacock called out to the current Skullgirl as she made her way down the catacombs beneath the Grand Cathedral of the Trinity.
"Patricia? What are you doing here?" Marie asked, confused. It was too early for anyone to know she was underneath the Cathedral and before she even started her killing spree of the Medici Family.
"Marie! Forget whatever plans we had for this loop! I discovered something incredible!" the human weapon said excitedly.
"What?"
"This Loop, Halloween exists in our world!" Peacock announced cheerfully. "Think about it! A day filled with costumes, candy, and screaming children!"
"I don't know…" Marie said, not entirely convinced about the holiday.
"And to top it all out, we can pull the biggest prank by, maybe…" Peacock finished her sentence by whispering into Marie's ear with a smirk that would've sent shivers to any normal person. Luckily Marie wasn't a normal person.
"That sounds delightful," She answered with a sweet smile. "You really know how to plan a date, Patricia."
2.3 XeroM52
'This is certainly strange…' Marie thought as the small pink haired girl hugged her with all of her might. If memory served her right, the child hugging her was Parasoul's younger sister Umbrella.
"Mama…I love you Mama," Umbrella kept on saying, over and over again.
It was quite heartwarming, and Marie didn't have it in her to correct the child and tell her she wasn't her mother. Children usually recognized their mothers by their faces, but for Umbrella something more was what she used to identify her mother. 'It must be the emanating power of the SkullHeart from her real mother.' Umbrella was very young when Nancy Renoir went through her Skullgirlfication. It was probable that the child bonded with the power of the Heart through the time she spent with her mother. 'And because she associates the Heart for her Mother, she is completely blind to the fact I look nothing like Nancy.'
"Mama, please stay with me…"
Marie would be lying if she said that she didn't feel some sort of affection for the girl on her arms. Either because it reminded her of the children back from the orphanage or because of some residual love from Nancy still on the SkullHeart, Marie would look out for the child and see that nothing bad would befall her.
"Of course my child… I'll stay with you."
That was a white lie and Marie knew it. Any minute now an unawake Parasoul will come down running to the catacombs and fight to recover her little sister. And for both sisters' sake she would have to throw the match.
Well, that was the plan if not for the inconvenient fact that Peacock had to arrive first and screw things over.
"Marie?! Is it true? Are you the Mother of this child?" Peacock asked, way too overdramatically to it to be taken seriously. "Woe is you! A mere child yourself tasked with taking care of a child on your own!"
"Patricia, what are you doing?" Marie deadpanned, not finding any humor on her friend's attempt at a dramatic scene. "Cut this out."
"Well I shall not stand for it; I'll take responsibility for the excuse of a man who abandoned you and your child!" Peacock continued, ignoring Marie's interruption.
"What?" Marie asked again. "Umbrella is far too old for me to…"
"I shall help you raise your child as if it were my own!" Peacock declared in a grandiose manner.
"What?" Marie repeated her question, completely baffled by Patricia's words.
"Mama! Is this person my new Daddy?" Umbrella asked innocently enough, not really seeing the absurdity of it all.
"I…" Marie was about to refute and put an end to this ridiculous scene, but Umbrella's big pleading eyes were enough to made her reconsider. "You see…"
"Yes, I am your new daddy!" Peacock said before Marie could say anything. "In fact why don't we all go for Ice Cream to celebrate!"
"Yay! I want strawberry!" Umbrella cheered happily as she went over and gave a big hug to her new father.
"And after that we can go to the amusement park! That is if your Mommy wants too," Peacock added, making the pink haired girl to jump up and down excitedly.
"Can we go to the Amusement park, Mama?" Umbrella pleaded once more. "Please! Mama, I really want to go!"
Marie was between a rock and a hard place. If she refused she would disappoint Umbrella and have her cry, but if she agreed she would have to put up with Patricia and her 'joke'. Either way it was bad for her. But, finally, she gave into the lesser of the two evils.
"Very well, we'll go to the amusement park."
"Yay! You are the best Mama!" Umbrella celebrated by giving a big kiss to her 'mom' on the cheek, making Marie blush a little. "Come on Mama! Let's go." And with that she began dragging the maid away excited for ice cream and the amusement park.
"Yes. Let's go!" Peacock said with a big cheeky grin plastered on her face.
2.4 XeroM52
"Marie! Marie!" Peacock called out for her friend as she came down running down the stairs to the catacombs beneath the Grand Cathedral.
"Patricia? Why so early?" Whenever the two would awake together in the same Loop, they would meet at night so that they didn't have to deal with Double. For Patricia to come so early and go through the trouble of defeating the eldritch abomination meant that there was something really important.
"Marie! You have to come quick! Hurry!" Peacock insisted as she dragged the maid away. "We must go!"
"What's the hurry?" the skullgirl asked worriedly. Was there some sort of troubling variation going on up in the surface?"
"Just mask your appearance and come along! It is the best thing to ever occur!" the living weapon said excitedly. "Hurry or we gonna miss it!"
"What is it?" Marie asked once again as she turned her appearance from a Skullgirl to her regular form.
"You'll see…"
In Canopolis, the capital of the Great Canopy Kingdom, lay a building where people gather to watch the most awe-inspiring spectacle. It was a place where legends were born and would die in an explosion of light and glamour. And the exploits witnessed within would forever pass down from generation to generation.
And tonight the greatest of heroes was fighting against his most fearsome rival yet.
Beowulf vs Scythana!
Tonight Only.
At
THE SKULLDOME!
"Wrestling? Really?" Marie asked to her friend, who had an enormous grin on her face.
"Not any wrestling! The best kind of wrestling!" Peacock said enthusiastically.
"Isn't Scythana supposed to be a jailed terrorist?" Marie, of course was referring to the incident when the Half-Gigan attacked the Renoir Grand War Memorial. Although she never understood why she attacked the place to begin with. 'Maybe I should dedicate a Loop to find out that answer.'
"Nah," her friend denied. "In this Loop Scythana went into wrestling instead of having a criminal career. Now the world is better for it."
"Of course it is." If one ignored the existence of the Skullheart, the skullgirls, eldritch abominations, organized crime, slave trading, the raging racism against ferals, discrimination against women (because of the Skullgirls), illegal human experimentation, crazy parasite hosts, Eliza, cloning, soul fusion, robots, cyborgs, the undead, cursed artifacts, illegal use of magic, and the underlying tension between the 3 nations that could spring into war anytime soon.
'But as long as we all had Wrestling, everything is fine with the world,' Marie thought sarcastically.
"Shh! It's starting!" Peacock said without taking her 'eyes' away from the ring.
Marie couldn't maintain a sour mood after seeing such child-like emotion from her dearest friend. It was just so damn cute and charming. Still, it didn't mean she was 'down' for a night or wrestling, so she took out some liquor from her pocket. She might have been technically just 13 years old, but she was an undead abomination that was this world's equivalent of a walking nuke, and she had a severe case of sadism against Mafia goons, so underage drinking or developing an alcohol addiction wasn't on her 'Things to worry about' list.
After the names announcements at the grandiose entrance that both fighters had, Marie had expected them to started fighting right away. But instead they delved in the ancient practice of 'Trash Talking' something that had been going on for already 20 minutes. And to tell the truth, it was really engaging.
"Admit it Beowulf! Your time of glory is over," the half gigan, who was literally two times as tall as Beowulf by standing around 12' 3'' (3.74 m), said into a gigantic microphone designed just for her. "Since you defeated Grendel all those years ago, you haven't had a decent fight in years," the blond pointed out. "All because Canopy is filled with weaklings and it will always be!"
This of course got the audience to Boo at her, Patricia being one of the most vocal ones. "Shut that tramp's mouth shut, Wulf!"
"Hey, wait a second there!" Beowulf pointed over dramatically. "You can't just come here to Canopy and insult the whole kingdom!"
"And what do you care about your pitiful Kingdom?" the half gigan shot back.
"I served my country!" Beowulf declared proudly. "I fought against not One but Two Skullgirls!" This statement made the whole crowd go wild. There was no greatest service to one's country but to fight against the Skullgirl. And Beowulf had fought two!
"You may be hailed as a hero in Canopy, Beowulf!" Scythana admitted as the crowds cheered slowly died down enough for them to hear what was going to be said. "But tonight, there is someone here that regards you as a monster."
"What do you mean?!"
"You expected me to come alone to this Smackdown?" she said with a smirk. "I brought someone that has a bigger beef with you than me!" Then from where Scythana entered the ring, another gigantic creature appeared.
"Remember me?" The gigan said making Beowulf flinch in fear.
"It can't be! GRENDEL?!" This made the stadium explode in shouts of disbelief. "I thought you were DEAD!"
"Yes! And I came from the depths of Hell to have my revenge against you Beowulf!" Grendel growled. "Not because of what you did to me!" He pointed out to his new metallic arm. "But for what you did to my MOTHER!"
"Patricia! What happened between them?" Marie asked completely invested on the narrative of the fight.
"Grendel was the previous Champion and everyone thought he was invincible, that is until Beowulf came along and stole the title from him alongside Grendel's arm," Patricia explained the deep lore behind this new epic fight.
"But what about Grendel's mother?" Marie asked again and her answered was question right on the ring.
"I had to put a stop to your mother, Grendel!" Beowulf said apologetically."She was about to eat all those innocent spectators when you were declared dead on the ring!" That day was a dark day for the newly crowned champ, and left a bad taste on his mouth. And a great mark on the history books of Wrestling.
"I don't care! You took my mother's life and my title! And tonight I shall take both your life and my tile back!"
"I defeated you before, I can defeat you again!" Beowulf said without fear.
"Yes, but this time I had Scythana as my partner!" Grendel pointed at the blond half gigan. "With our might combined, you are nothing but a bug, Beowulf!"
"I think not Grendel!" Beowulf stood his ground valiantly. "You may think I'm alone against you two. But what don't know is that you walked into the Wolf's Den and the public tonight are my Pack!" he said as he put on his wolf skin.
"For the strength of the pack is the wulf, and the strength of the wulf is the pack." This made the entire crowd go crazy and started chanting his name over and over again.
"BEOWULF! BEOWULF! BEOWULF! BEOWULF! BEOWULF! BEOWULF! BEOWULF! BEOWULF!"
And in one of the seats, a certain skullgirl was watching the whole spectacle with new eyes.
"Patricia…"
"Yes, Marie?"
"I love Wrestling!"
"I knew you would!"
2.1 (con't) XeroM52
BOOM!
The bank doors exploded as Peacock made her escape in the 'Bandwagon'.
"Boss! Are you sure this was a good idea?" Avery asked from inside Peacock's hat.
"It's fine! It's fine! I left an I.O.U back at the bank!" Peacock said, driving on the sidewalk since New York's traffic was a nightmare.
"I really don't think they're gonna accept that," Avery pointed out.
"What can I say? We needed money. And you know what they say: Gotta get the cash gotta get the dough!"
"People don't really say that, though."
"Well, it's not like-"
But before Peacock could make another clever observation to set up a good joke, a body fell from the sky and landed on the trunk of the Bandwagon.
"Stop right there!" ordered what looked like a female squirrel feral.
"Ok!" Peacock stepped over-comically on the brake, making the car to come to a complete stop in disregard of the laws of motion and sending this squirrel person flying away towards the asphalt.
Luckily for the feral, she had the natural-born abilities and agilities of a squirrel, so she landed gracefully and without injury. "Hey! Watch it!" Still, that didn't mean she wasn't angry about it.
"Sorry, no need to go 'nuts' about it," Peacock said with a cheeky smile.
"Did you just…?!" the squirrel person asked back, insulted.
"That was nuttin'! I got plenty more that will 'crack' you up!" Peacock dropped all pretenses and started to laugh.
"I was just going to stop you and return what you stole from the bank, but now… it is personal." The infuriated squirrel cracked her knuckles.
"Oh yeah. Bring it on sister!"
A few minutes later…
"Impossibru! I cannot be beaten!" Peacock said in disbelief.
"That'll teach you!"
"Gah! That's not fair! Attacking off screen is prohibited, you furball!" Peacock ranted as she struggled to get out of the ropes she was currently tied with.
"Not, when I'm around! And the name's Squirrel Girl!"
"You…you truly are The Slayer of All That Breathes!" Peacock admitted as she was carried by what clearly was the most powerful being in this strange new world.
2.2 (con't) XeroM52
[October 31st , Canopy Kingdom]
All over the Kingdom, people were preparing to celebrate the spookiest of holidays. But none were as excited as the occupants of Lab 8... well except for one.
"I can't believe you aren't letting me go to that sexy-costume party!" Hive, one of Lab 8 experiments created to combat the Skullgirl, said angrily. "I'm already old enough!" she complained to the caretaker, Ileum, whom all referred as EliMom, since everyone thought of her as their mother.
"If you have to say that, then you clearly aren't old enough!" Ileum countered back.
"The worst thing that has ever happened in one of those parties was when a sexy nurse got in fight with a sexy schoolgirl and a sexy catgirl!" Hive tried to argue back with no results.
"I failed to see the point you are trying to make, Hive," Ileum deadpanned. "Not to mention, that scene you just described sounds like something we see a lot around here."
"Why do I have to go Trick-or-Treating with you and the rest of the lab kids?" Hive complained once more. She wanted to spent the night having fun, not spent it with little kids.
"Because, the rest want you to come along, it wouldn't be the same without you," Ileum explained. "And you wouldn't want to sour their night, do you? On one of the few days they are allow to leave the lab?" the caretaker nurse said, expertly guilt-tripping the rowdy teen.
"O..Okay! I'll go." Really, the nurse did know how to put people on the spot. "But I'll keep my sexy devil costume, I you can't say anything about it!" Hive said referring to the skimpy red dress she was wearing.
"As long as you don't expose yourself to the kids, I don't particularly care," Ileum deadpanned again. "Now of you excuse me I have to help the others get into their costumes!" And with that she left the surly teenager alone.
"Gah! Why do I have to go! Every one of my age will be going to parties and having fun! Really, the only ones who enjoy Trick-or-Treating are little kids!"
"Hey! Hive!" A voice called out for her. It was another Anti-Skullgirl creation, a blond boy her age named Leduc. "Are you excited for Trick-or-Treating? Because I can't wait!" the blond said excitedly as he showed off his costume. "This year I'm a Vampire! Do you like it?"
Hive just stared at Leduc for a whole ten seconds before face palming. "Leduc, when I thought you couldn't possibly be lamer or nerdy…" she trailed off without finishing her sentence, and walked away from him.
"Was it something I said?" the blond asked, confused, as he scratched the back of his head.
2.3 (con't) XeroM52
For Marie walking down the street to the Ice Cream Parlor and ordering their treats had been easy enough, but having a child cling to her who constantly called her and her best friend Mama and Daddy, prompted a lot of awkward stares from people passing by. Thankfully most people assumed they were just a bunch of kids playing 'Family' or something. It also helped that Peacock had forgone her usual dress for a nice suit that make her look like a sophisticated young man. Except for one thing…
"Patrici…I mean, Patrick!" Marie corrected herself and used Peacock's male name just to keep up the act. "Is the Pimp cane really necessary?"
"Of course! How else I'm going to get them 'Female dogs' to move out of the way, huh?" S/he said good-humoredly as if s/he was talking about the weather.
'Well, at least she is watching out for her language.' Marie gave her that.
"Female dogs? You mean Bitches, daddy?" Umbrella asked innocently, making Peacock laugh out loud. "What about boy dogs?"
"Well for those I have something else, but you'll just have to wait 'till you're older for you to understand!" Peacock replied with a knowing smirk. "But what I basically do is that I-"
But before she could corrupt Umbrella's mind with some 'Rated-M' tale, Marie took her vanilla ice cream cone and shoved it in Peacocks mouth making her choke a bit. "Here, have a taste of my Ice Cream, Dear!" Marie may let Patricia get away with a lot, but robbing Umbrella of her naiveté and innocence was out of the question.
Except this backfired for her when Umbrella, trying to imitate her, shoved her ice cream onto her Mama.
"Mama! Taste my Ice Cream too!" she said as she splattered strawberry Ice Cream on Marie's face.
"Ha ha! Strawberry looks good on you!" After recovering from her choking fit, Peacock laughed at the look on Marie's face. "Hey Umbrella! Want to have a taste of my Ice cream?" she said as she turned to the pink haired child, who nodded in consent. "Here you go!" she proceeded to smear her chocolate ice cream all over Umbrella's mouth.
"Ha! Ice Cream fight!" Umbrella declared as she took more ice cream and threw it into the air hitting some other costumer.
What followed was too hectic to describe, but it involved, Ferals, Parasites, Living Weapons, Cyborgs, Robots, Magic, Dagonians, lots and lots Ice Cream and one zombie. Needless to say the three of them were banned from entering that particular Ice Cream Parlor ever again.
2.5 XeroM52
After Awakening alone, Peacock decided to go for a 'walk', and by that she meant going around painting the town red with the blood of the Medici. She usually did this when she defeated Marie and destroyed the heart, because she would be damned if she let anyone else but her hurt Marie and use the Heart for some stupid reason. Besides, Peacock always promised the unawake Marie that she would continue to kill the Medici in her name. On the plus side it was lots of fun to kill people as long as they were bad guys.
Peacock was on her rampage through the Medici tower on her way to meet Lorenzo Medici, the head of the Medici Mafia, like she always did, but then she was stopped by the most unexpected of individuals.
"Halt right there you criminal scum!" said a mysterious horned figure.
"It can't be…" One surviving Medici goon, who currently was dying of blood loss, recognized it. "Deep Violet!"
"Deep Violet?" Peacock asked confused. "Who the hell is that?"
"A vigilante that was a pain in the Medici ass for many years…I thought she retired," the goon spewed convenient exposition before she spew blood and finally died.
"That's right, but I have come out of retirement to put a stop to you and your senseless murder!" the purple vigilante declared as she took out her golden serpent whip out. "I know that the Medici are scum and rotten to the core, but murder isn't the answer!" D. Violet was a firm believer of a punishment that fitted the crime.
"Look, don't you come here and claim to have some sort of High Moral Ground over me when you are dressed like that, Grandma!" Peacock pointed at the revealing… um… outfit was such a strong word… let us say it was more of a… thing that covered what needed to be covered. "Look at you, I seen pornos with more decency than you!"
"Well, I'm not ashamed! In fact I think it is empowering," D said loud and proud.
"That's not the point! What are we, the impressionable young girls of the world, think when our feminist idols exposed themselves the way you do? Do you realize the damage this causes? Girls everywhere want to be like you and will grow up with unreachable expectations! Not to mention the fact that they would think that the only way to feel empowered is to dress in skimpy outfits for the benefit of the male audience!" Peacock chastised the older woman. "And don't tell me it is as a distraction, because that excuse doesn't fly with me; you clearly wear that to be seen and lusted after!" It wasn't like Peacock really believed in any of the things she was saying, she just liked to put people on the spot.
"I…I…" D. Violet tried to rebut the girl's accusations but couldn't come up with anything. "It doesn't matter! You are still killing people and I shall put a stop to you and punish you accordingly!" She emphasised this by whipping the floor with her golden whip.
"Well, come and get it, Grandma!" Peacock taunted. "But let me warn you, I'm not alone!" As she said that, her Gang suddenly appeared next to her ready for fisticuff. "Come on guys! Let's beat up this pervy granny!" Then the entire gang rushed towards the vigilante to gang up on her.
"Pazuzu Whip!"
"Goddamn! I didn't expect that." Peacock rubbed her head as she picked herself off the ground and looked around to see where they were. "Where the heck are we?"
"Squack! I think we are in No-Man's Land." Avery informed from atop of Peacock's hat.
"How the hell did we end up here!? We were in the middle of New Meridian!" And now they were in the middle of nowhere several miles away from any Canopy Kingdom or any of the other Nation for that matter.
"It was that D. Violet woman. She sent us blasting off into the distance," Andy the anvil said as he too rubbed his sore extremities. "I can't believe she beat us boss."
"No way, she must have cheated!" Tommy tried to convince himself they didn't really loss and that the boss wasn't defeated. Next to him Lenny nodded in agreement while George waved a magazine around but he was ignored.
"It's the only explanation, I mean, she was nothing at first but suddenly she became like super strong out of the blue!" Peacock tried to come up with some sort of explanation. Did her 'Living Weapon' give her some sort of boost or something?
"Damn, when was the last time we ended up like this…?" she wondered out loud. "Who was the last one who sent us flying of the distance…?" She tried to recall. "It was…it was…"
"The Hulk!" Andy said surprised.
"No! The Hulk couldn't put a finger on me last time we were on the Marvel Loops!" Peacock declared, sounding almost offended.
"No, no, no! I was referring to this comic book!" Andy shoved the magazine that George had been waving before. "Look, here it says that D. Violet grows in strength the 'Hornier' she gets, just like the Hulk gets stronger the angrier he gets."
"What?! Give me that!" Peacock snatched the comic book from the Anvil hands and read it in detail. After a while the girl lowered the magazine and asked in a low voice. "Do you guys know what this means…?"
"That someone among us accidently made D. Violet horny enough for her to send us blasting off, squawk?" Avery offer.
"No! I mean yes, but besides that!" Peacock demeanor then changed into something chipper. "We have to test the limits of her strength! Let's see how horny we can get her and see the results! Heck, we have to pit her against Marie and see what is more powerful! The Skullgirl or the Power of Horniness!"
"YES LET'S DO IT!" Tommy agreed as the faithful yes-man he was. But Andy had some reservations.
"Boss, we better not. Or we will end up in that Eiken place, that everybody keeps talking about," Andy warned his boss.
"Don't you worry Andy, we had done some crazy stuff before and we haven't crash a Loop a single time!" Peacock reassured him and the rest of the gang. "Heck I'm positive this Loop is un-crashable!"
[Two Loops later]
"Uncrashable you say. Never going to Eiken you said," Marie said, completely livid against her friend Patricia.
"How I was supposed to know the Loop was really going to crash?" Peacock tried to defend herself. "Besides it was all on the name of science!"
"Pairing D. Violet, the woman who gets stronger the hornier she gets, with Z*NE, the 'Goddess' of Perversion, is not science! It was doomed to bite us in the ass the moment you suggested it!" Marie with her eyes flashing red. "The Universe collapsed on itself and worse of all I was on the receiving end of their combined attack!"
"Come on Marie, don't be angry!" Peacock said trying to calm her friend down. "Besides, Eiken wasn't so bad. Just boring as all hell," Peacock pointed out.
"That's because we are so screwed in the brain that all the stupidity and perverseness of Eiken neither bother us nor pleases us." So much that the universe had no other choice but to put both of them in detention while the whole thing happened outside their window. "But the principle of the matter still stands! We got punished by your reckless behavior!"
"But I thought you loved my reckless behavior." Peacock said.
"Only when it sends us to Eiken, I don't!" Marie crossed her arms and turned away from her friend.
"Ah come on Marie! Don't be mad!" Peacock pleaded as she tried to embrace her friend from behind. "Let's me make it up to you. Anything you want I'll do. I swear."
"Anything?" Marie turned around with a glint of her eye that could only spell trouble.
"O-Of course…anything." Peacock gulped nervously.
"Well I want you to…"
"Please Marie, I can't go on like this anymore." Peacock pleaded while covered in sweat.
"Not until I'm completely satisfied." Marie answered coldly.
"But we had been doing this for 12 hours already!"
"Well, I want you to go on for another twelve, Patricia!"
"Mou…" Patricia moaned in complaint as she took a pain roller and kept painting the walls of the city.
Painting the town red wasn't as fun when one did it literally.
2.1 (con't) XeroM52
Director Nick Fury walked down a long hallway inside the SHIELD Helicarrier, towards the detention facilities. Apparently, a Looping Squirrel Girl stopped a bank robbery and dropped the crook here with them. Doreen knew SHIELD didn't care for small things like bank robberies, so that meant that the criminal she stopped must be a very big menace or a Looper.
'Probably both.'
"Director Fury!" Agent Maria Hill saluted him as standard protocol dictated.
"So, has anyone found anything about this felon, yet?" Nick asked, knowing that there wouldn't be any background intel if it really was a looper.
"None sir!" Maria answered. "We tried to interrogate the prisoner, but there had been some difficulties…" She trailed off, unsure.
"What? Does she refuse to talk?" Knowing how sturdy some loopers were, normal interrogation tactics didn't work on them.
"…No…just the opposite…" Maria answered, troubled. "She hasn't stop talking since she arrived here," she explained. "In fact, we had to change guards three times already, because they can't stand her for long periods of time."
"I see…" Nick said. He was collected on the outside, but on the inside he was cursing. 'Just what I needed, a nutcase Looper.' And by the sound of it, she was Deadpool level of annoyance. "I shall interrogate the prisoner myself!"
"Of course, Director Fury." Maria nodded before she led him towards the interrogation room.
SHIELD'S interrogation rooms were varied. There was the classic one with the one-way window, but others were very cramped rooms that instigate a sense of claustrophobia. The Prisoner was currently been held in the second kind.
Nick Fury didn't know what to expect to see from their prisoner when he entered alone, but seeing a small child dressed in an old timey outfit with a top hat and gobbling down donuts wasn't exactly it.
"So the big palooka finally shows up!" the child said with a smile that looked too metallic. "You know, by your name alone I thought you will be dark skinned or something. Not that is anything wrong with that. I mean, Nick Fury isn't a name that invokes the image of an old bitter retired beach lifeguard/detective look alike."
Nick stood silent and just stared at the girl, not wanting to show any reaction of annoyance on his face.
"So! You came to interrogate, right? Well… I better start at the beginning, I was born in November 13th, it was a very cold Friday and…"
"Drop the act and just tell me…" Nick slammed his fist on the metal table. "Are you a Looper?" It was way too direct for his liking, but when dealing with nutcases, subtlety was just wasted time and effort.
"Looper?" The girl repeated back. "I may be a dangerous crazy person with propensity to reckless and violent behavior, but there is no need to call me that, old man!"
"I mean that if time keeps resetting and you're living your life over and over again," Nick explained, letting the old man comment slide.
"Ah! So that is what they are called… the more you know!" the increasingly annoying girl said as she put another donut in her mouth. "So, are you one as well? Can you tell me why I am not in the Canopy Kingdom or in New Meridian?"
Nick Fury sighed as he took a seat. Things kept getting 'better' and 'better' for him; not only he had a crazy looper, it was also a fairly new one too.
'How much I hate being the one to give this talk.'
2.2 (con't) XeroM52
Little Innsmouth, a small but bustling residential and business district by the coast of New Meridian, was mostly populated by the Dagonian, immigrants from the Dragon Nation; and inside the famous Dak'kull Dubu, a cat-burglar was preparing to head out into the night.
"Come on Minette! If you don't hurry up I'll leave without you!" Nadia Fortune aka Ms. Fortune, zombie cat girl and thief extraordinaire, was waiting inside the closed restaurant for her Dagonian Friend.
"I'm coming!" Minette, one of the many daughters of the River King and waitress for the Dak'kull Dubu restaurant, said as she walked down from upstairs. "I'm ready to go!" But when she came downstairs, the restaurant was all alone. "Nadia?" she called out for her friend, but received no answer. "Did…Did she really leave without me…?" she wondered sadly before a shadowy figure jumped at her from behind!
"RAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWHHHHH!" The dark figure with a pumpkin head growled as it's arm around carrying the bloodied head of her friend.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Minette screamed in terror as she felt down to her butt.
"Meow! I really got you good!" The head on the monster's hand said in a joking manner.
"Nadia! Is that you?!" Minette asked still a little shaken by the scream. "You…you meanie!"
"Oh, come on! It's all good fun!" Nadia said as she took the pumpkin head off and put her own right back on her neck. "Besides we are going to pull this prank on other people all over the city!"
"But why me first?" The dagonian waitress asked as she stood up.
"Because I wanted to know if it would actually work!" the cat-girl explained. "You've seen me without my head multiple times! So if it worked on you, it would work on anyone!"
"I still don't like it."
"Come on! Let's not waste more time and head out to scare some people!"
2.3 (con't) XeroM52
After the crazy fight inside the Ice Cream Parlor, which lasted hours, Marie decided not to head to the amusement park, which Umbrella and Peacock didn't mind since they had so much fun in with the Ice Cream fight, and decided to go back 'home'. And by home they meant breaking and entering a fancy house in the suburbs at MapleCrest, whose real owner wouldn't come back since they were 'indisposed' for working with the Medici.
After some dinner, Marie struggled to convince Umbrella to take a bath. Only after promising that they would all go to the amusement park tomorrow did Marie got Umbrella to clean herself up. And with that she sent her off to sleep to the only bed on the house since this was apparently a bachelorette house, with one big bed at the master bedroom. Of course, Marie had to change the covers for some clean ones beforehand.
"I have lots of fun today, Mama," Umbrella said as Marie cover her with the bed sheets. "Do you think maybe that tomorrow, big sis can join us?" she asked hopefully.
"Maybe…" Marie responded, not wanting to disappoint her. "You know how busy she is all the time." With the Egrets and managing the kingdom Parasoul had little time to spent with her little sister besides having her tag along to debriefings and boring meetings; something that Looping Parasoul deeply regretted and constantly tried to make up to her sister. "But I'll make sure to ask if she can join us tomorrow."
"Mmm…I love you, Mama," Umbrella said as she drifted off to the lands of dreams.
"I love you too," Marie said as she bent down and kissed the little sleeping girl on the forehead. It was strange to say those words to someone who she had no direct relation to, but Umbrella opened her heart to her, so it was appropriate for Marie to do so too, even if Umbrella wouldn't remember any of this when the loop ended.
Marie watched Umbrella sleep for a few minutes before leaving the room and walked down the stairs to the first floor and into the living room where she found Peacock out of her suit and in pajamas, fiddling with the remote control.
"So our little bundle of joy is finally asleep, huh?" Peacock said as she turned her gaze away from the TV to look at Marie, who also donned away her maid dress in favor of black pajamas. "That means Mommy and Daddy can have their fun!" she said, wiggling her eyebrows in a knowing manner.
"I'm not in the mood." Any other day Marie would have been intrigued by the proposition but today she was tired, more so mentally than physically, after this long day. "Have fun all by yourself."
"No way! I even made popcorn and put on 'Annie: Girl from the Stars: the motion picture.' On the DVD. Come on, join me! You know you want too." She invited her over to the couch.
"Huh. Fine." Marie gave in, mostly because there were no other places to rest besides the couch where Patricia was seating on. Instead of sitting, Marie laid down on the couch with her head resting onto her friend.
The two of them then watched the movie about Annie, a magical girl that could summon the Power of the Stars, and together with her cute magical white rabbit Sagan, had adventures and try to stop a Skullgirl from destroying the world.
2.6 XeroM52
[Skullgirls][Loony Toons]
"Well…this is certainly new…" Peacock couldn't help but say as she looked at herself in a hand mirror. "I am monochrome…" She looked exactly as if she was a cartoon character of the times of yore. It wouldn't bother her so much if the environment around her wasn't much more colorful than what she was accustomed to.
"Where the heck am I?" Peacock wondered out-loud.
""Eh... What's up, doc?" asked a voice from behind her. She turned around only to find a very tall rabbit munching on a carrot.
"All of my life savings!" Peacock answered. A big safe came from up above and crashed on top of the rabbit, before spilling out coin bags with a dollar signs on them.
"That was pretty good." The rabbit commented as he came out of a rabbit hole on the floor. "You must have some experience as a toon!" he said, experience since he didn't recognized the monochrome girl from any cartoon he had seen.
"What can I say? I love cartoons; especially the slapstick!" Peacock smiled showing her sharp metallic smile.
"Well, you'll find plenty of slapstick in Toon World," the Rabbit informed her as he munched on another carrot. "The name's Bugs Bunny, by the way," he introduced himself, which was a rarity since almost every looper that visited knew who he was or at least heard of him.
"T…Toon World…?" Peacock face distorted and the black dots for eyes she had became gigantic and showed sparkles in them. "I think I found Heaven…"
'Hm…she got facial expressions down to a T,' Bugs thought. 'She is definitely going to fit in.'
"Come on Wiley! Step on the gas!" Peacock demanded as both her and a coyote were driving a heavily modified Bandwagon, now with a giant rocket engine, chasing after a speedy roadrunner.
"Drive me closer, I want to hit it with my chainsaw!" Once they were near the birdie, Peacock took off her hat from where Avery came out with a chainsaw on its hands. Avery swung the chainsaw several times but the roadrunner would move its neck out of the way every time.
"You infernal bird! I'll have you as lunch!" Peacock shouted. Unfortunately for them, they were nearing a steep curve, which they wouldn't make with the speed at which they were going.
'Oh no!' Wile E. expressed both their sentiment with a white sign.
"You said it, man. You said it," Peacock said, before they flew of the road and into a very long fall to the ground.
2.1 (con't) XeroM52
"Wow, that is quite heavy, man!" the girl said.
"Indeed," Nick agreed, despite the lingo. "Now, I think it is only fair that you tell me who you are, and where you come from."
"Of course! Everyone should have the honor of knowing who I am!" she said with a smile before looking at him questioningly. "Mind if a smoke?" she asked as she pulled an already lighted cigar from what Nick assumed was her subspace pocket.
The director of SHIELD would've objected a minor from smoking a big fat cigar like the one she was holding. "Only if you give me one of those." But he also needed a smoke for what could be a long talk.
"Yeah, man! The best of what Meridian City has to offer!" The girl pulled out another cigar and give it to Nick. "Want me to light it for you?"
"No," Nick answered as he pulled a match and light it himself. "So, tell me…"
"The name's Patricia. Patricia Watson. But I only let few people call me that, and you aren't one of them!" Patricia said. "You may call me Peacock!"
Nick remained quiet, but he was wondering where the heck that alias came from.
"As for where I come from…" Peacock trailed off as she took a puff of her cigar. "That is quite the tale…" Then she blew the smoke out, not from her mouth or nostrils, but from her eye… no, eye socket. Now that Nick paid enough attention, he realized that the girl in front of him didn't have eyes, just empty eye sockets.
"In my world, there is this artifact called the Skull Heart, an ancient relic that can grant any wish to any woman that possesses it. But there is a catch: if the woman's heart is impure, the wish will be twisted and she will become a Skullgirl."
"Skullgirl…?" Nick repeated. This Skull Heart thing reminded him of another wish granting monstrosity by the name of Kyubey. "Does it work exclusively with women, or you mean any female?"
"Well, any female with the ability to announce a wish." Peacock explained. "Although I never understood why it never worked for males…maybe it's because our gods are all female," she wondered out-loud. "Not that I really believe in the Trinity and stuff."
Nick cleared his throat to make Patricia return to her original idea. "So, the Skullgirl…"
"Oh yeah, well… as you may have guess, this artifact is very dangerous and cannot be destroyed." Nick nodded, if it could be destroyed that easily, someone would've done so by now. "Even so, entire wars had been fought over the possession of the heart, and it was during the most recent war that I was born. According to the History books, it was the bloodiest war ever waged by the Canopy Kingdom with the surrounding countries. Then the Queen of Canopy, Nancy Renoir used the heart to wish for peace. Her wish was granted, there was peace in the three kingdoms…only after they had to unite forces to defeat a greater enemy, the Queen herself who had transformed into the most powerful Skullgirl yet."
"So the heart grants Monkey Paw wishes…"
"Anyways, I hailed from an area outside of the Canopy Kingdom known as No-Man's Land, a wasteland that used to be a country but fell during the war with Canopy. And because of the war, I grew up as an orphan alongside my best friend Marie, Marie Korbel."
Peacock then stop for a second to take another puff from her cigar. Nick could imagine how difficult this next part was for her. During his life and all the wars he had witnessed, he had seen what the horrible consequences war brought, especially to children.
"We both ended up in a living in an old mansion that was turned into a makeshift orphanage that housed all sorts of war orphans. We both used to dress as maids, since the house used to belong to a nobleman and we had to use what we could find. I never liked to wear that thing, but Marie loved it, it made her look more mature and made the other kids listen to her…"
Nick cleared his throat once more, to prevent her from trailing off.
"Well, we lived like that for a while and it was a decent life, but one day the orphanage was invaded by slave traders who killed our caretakers and captured all of us orphans. These slave traders worked for the Medici Mafia from the Canopy Kingdom and they were planning to sell us for a profit... Of course us girls were worth a whole lot more."
Fury didn't say anything, but the grip on his cigar got a little tighter. It was another horrifying truth for countries devastated by war.
"As we neared Canopy where they were going to store us before they shipped us to who-knows-where, I stood up for all of us foolishly thinking that between all of us we could take them out. Unfortunately, the rest wussed out and the traders decided to make an example out of me." Peacock then put away her cigar before lighting another one.
"They beat me up real good; they broke both of my arms and legs, leaving me crippled. But that wasn't all, after they pulled out all of my teeth."Peacock gave Fury a smile to show her metallic smile. "As the cherry on top of a turd sundae, one of the traders grabbed my face, made my look at him and then plunged both of his thumbs into my eyes and ripped them out of my eye sockets." Once again Peacock let the puff of the cigar came out from the empty sockets from her face.
"I don't know what happened then or where they dumped my mutilated body, but I have the fortune to be found by this nice, slightly kooky scientist that decided to experiment on my half dead corpse and turn me into what I am today! An anti-skullgirl superweapon, named Project Peacock!" She said with a frankly crazed but honest smile. "And now I am all better, thanks to the Doc."
Nick now understood where her crazy behavior came from. He had seen some shit back on the old days and he had been personally subjected to torture before, but to survive what this girl told him and at such a young age, it was a wonder that she wasn't worse than she was.
"So? What now, Nick?" Peacock asked him after he was silent for a whole minute after the end of her tale.
"That depends…" Nick said pensively. "As you have confessed, you are a super weapon. I may not know what you are capable off, but that doesn't matter, you are too dangerous to be let loose wandering around the city."
"Can blame you for that, I'm pretty strong if I say so myself!" Peacock praised herself. "But I'm sensing there is a 'but' coming in…hehehe, butt."
"But, you can prove yourself useful as an operative for SHIELD." Sadly, it wouldn't be the first time this organization hired the skills of a superpowered nutcase before, and that wasn't taking the Loops into account.
"I don't know… I have a record back home that says I have a big trouble with authority!" Mostly she did what she want and just followed orders when she felt like it. "Besides, I want to see what is on TV in this world. I doubt you'll have 'Annie: Girl of the Stars' but I'm sure there might me something cool airing."
"You won't be a formal operative," Nick explained. "We will provide you with some monetary compensation for whatever job you do for us, and access to some weaponry and intel."
"So, like a Merc?"
"Yes, but I will remind you that if get in trouble under your own volition, Shield will not recognize you as one of your own and we are not obligated to bail you out," Nick explained. "So it is either the job or jail for super powered people like you."
"Hm…" Peacock thought for a minute. "Before I say anything else, I want to ask you something?"
"What is it?"
"If I accept, may I be 'unofficially' allowed to keep killing Mafia members? Because that has become sort of like a hobby to me."
Fury blinked a few times at that question before answering. "Only if you don't kill people that may have info that may be vital for SHIELD." It was the same compromise he made with Frank Castle when he invited him to join in a few missions with SHIELD.
"Very well! I accept but with only one more condition!" Peacock said raising one finger.
"What is it?" Nick wondered what else would this crazy girl could want.
"That besides paying me, you also paid the rest of my gang and squad mates," Peacock said. "Avery, Andy, Tommy, Lenny and George! My parasite and imaginary friends."
Nick looked at her as if she was more looney that he already thought she was. "Aren't you a little old to believe in imaginary friends?" that or she was talking about the voices on her head.
"You are never too old to believe in imaginary friends, as you are never too young to have Vietnam War Flashbacks!" she pointed out, "In fact I think I might have one right now!" she announced as she sat still with a crude expression on her face.
'How the hell does she know what 'Nam is?'
"Don't mind the boss!" said a small bird that came out of the girl's hat. "And don't mind us! Just pay us minimum wage! It is way more than the boss ever pay us! Which is nothing at all."
Nick Fury just stared at the bird wearing an exact replica of Patricia's dress and hat for just a second before shaking his head. "Very well I'll pay the rest of you too," he answered reluctantly.
'Why did visiting Loopers always have to be so damn weird and crazy?'
"Johnny?! Johnny?! JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHNNNYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" Peacock screamed as she finished her 'Nam Flashback.
2.2 (con't) XeroM52
"Peacock's House of Horror?" Two goons looking for a good time read as they walked down the street. "What do you say, Lawrance? Wanna go in?" The taller of the two asked.
"No. Haunted Houses are stupid, Riccardo!" Lawrance, the chubbier of the two, rejected the idea.
"Oh come on! Don't tell me you're scared," Riccardo teased his partner in crime.
"No! I just think they are just for dumb little kids, you know!" Lawrance denied. "Don't tell me you wanna go in?"
"Yeah," the taller admitted. "There are probably girls in there that may need a pair of tough guys to lead them thru." He elbowed his partner wiggling his eyebrows. "You know what I mean?"
"Yeah, I know what you mean…and I liked it!" It was a great opportunity to pick up some nice young girls to spend the night with.
The two goons didn't waste any more time and entered the house.
Like they had expected it was mad creepy inside. But for two 'tough' guys who worked for the mafia, it was all child's play. But what they didn't expect was the massive quantity of gore.
"Wow…Like at all this crap." Lawrence said as he looked at all the gory displays. "Damn, it almost look real," he said as he picked the guts of a 'zombie'. "Man, the guy who made this, really must have some serious cash." Or a really disturbing fascination.
"I know…" Riccardo agree as he picked up a bloody skull. "Damn, feels authentic too." Too damn authentic, it was giving him the creeps.
Suddenly a bunch of girly screams startled the two of them.
"What was that!?" Riccardo shouted as he dropped the skull.
"That must be some chicks," Lawrence said. "Come! Let's go towards them."
The two goons ran past all sort of gory displays, ignoring them since they were more focused in chasing some skirt. Miniskirts preferably. They march led them to a lighted room that had nothing inside.
"Hey! Where're all the girls?" Lawrence asked to his partner before a small figure jumped in front of them and sucker punched them right in the gut.
"Hello there fellas!" the figure, who turned out to be a young little girl, said with a metallic looking smirk on her face. "Now empty your pockets and give me all of your cash and valuables!"
"Fuc…" Lawrence was going to say something but he was interrupted by another strike, this time in the nose and with the butt of a gun "GAH!"
"Now, now, fellas! No need for such language." Peacock said as he pointed the gun at them. "Just give us them Bones and we will let you go!" As she said this more figures appeared from the shadows and surrounded the two of them.
"You better do what the boss said." Andy said while cracking his knuckles.
"SQUAK, give us the Bones!" Avery tried to look mincing by flipping in and out a switchblade.
"Yeah, Give them to us or we'll murderize you!" Tommy said ever so eloquently.
"…" "…" Completing the circle were both Lenny and George who couldn't talk but they posed and waved their arms menacingly.
"Ok, Ok! Just don't punch my face!" Riccardo pleaded as he took out his wallet. But his partner with a bleeding nose stopped him.
"We don't have to give them crap!" Lawrence shot angrily. "Don't you idiots know who we work for? We are part of the Medici!" he said hoping to instill fear on their assailants.
"You don't say!" Peacock answered with a gleeful and frankly creepy smirk. "You should've said it soon!" she said waving a finger at them. "In Peacock's House of Horror, we offer the Medici and their associates a special treat. Don't we, Marie?"
"Exactly," answered a creepy white haired girl in a bloody maid outfit, who just suddenly appeared standing behind them. "They get to be part of our Horror show…." She smiled menacingly. "…as displays."
It was just then when both Riccardo's and Lawrence's lives came to an painful end. But their memories would live on in the minds of many as the heads beneath the silver platters in the spooky dining room.
"I have lots of fun tonight." Peacock said as she and Marie sat beneath a tree with a hanged-man 'decoration', while eating some candy.
"Yeah, me too." Marie said as she rested her head on Patricia's shoulder. "This Halloween was truly special."
"That it was." Peacock agreed as she chomped down on another chocolate bar which had a rusty blade inside. Yay! Free prize! "Let's do this every Halloween." Or more specifically, every Loop in which their world celebrated Halloween.
"That would be nice." Marie said as she too bit on a piece of Candy, but this one had poison on it.
"Happy Halloween, Marie."
"Happy Halloween, Patricia."
2.3 (con't) XeroM52
Around 20 minutes in, Peacock turned to Marie and asked, "Ne…Marie? You remember how some loops exists within others as fiction, right?"
"Yes, I remember. Why?" Marie asked curious as to why she brought this up.
"Well, that got me thinking…" Peacock trailed off for a second. "Do you think Annie could be a Looper, and that her cartoons, movies, and videogames are just parts of her Loops?"
"I don't know…" Marie answered frankly. "That would mean there is another Loop out there that has Skullgirls." With Annie and Sagan being a Skullgirls hunters and all.
"I guess I'm just saying dumb things again…" Peacock said, disappointed that Annie was just a Cartoon character played by an actress in their world, and that there was no Annie: Girls of the Stars, out there having adventures.
Meanwhile in space.
"Come on Sagan! We have to defeat the Alien Armada before they reach our world!" TV and Voice Actress Annie from Annie: Girl from the Stars, secret Skullgirl Hunter, protector of the world, and Stealth Anchor for her world Loops, said to her Remote Parasite and partner Sagan, who just nodded in Agreement.
"SHOOTING STAR BEAM!"
"I don't think it's dumb…" Marie said softly. "It could probably happen… with the multiverse being infinite, there's the possibility that one day you could meet a Looping version of Annie. Then maybe you can stop hanging around me so much."
"What are you saying? When I meet Annie you'll be right next to me and the three of us are going to have an adventure." Peacock said as she put her arm around Marie and brought her closer to her. "You and me, we are a team."
"Patricia…!" Marie fought the embrace of her friend and tried to move away to no avail. "Patricia…" Marie repeated again sounding really tired. "What are we doing…?"
"Besides, watching a movie after kinda kidnapping the princess of our Kingdom by pretending to her parents?" Peacock answer jokingly trying to make her friend laugh.
"No… I mean, you and I… today… why? Why today?" the white haired girl managed to asked, despite not been sure what answer she was seeking.
"Mm? I just wanted to us to have fun by doing something you enjoy," Peacock said earning a questioning look from Marie. "I mean, do you remember back when we were in the orphanage? What we use to do when we finished our chores?"
"Yes. We played games together and with the other kids." The Skullgirl could still recall those days, thought it wasn't a carefree life they were still fond memories.
"Remember when we played House and we pretended to be grown-ups? What role did everyone make you play?"
"I was always the mom," she recalled.
"Exactly. For many of the kiddies back then you were the closest thing to a mom besides the care-takers. Everyone listened to you and everyone went for you when they were scared on in trouble. And I know how you enjoyed it, being looked up like that, because it made you feel like part of a big family," Peacock explained, making Marie teary eyed for a second. "When I saw you with the kid back there, I remember the fun times we had when you were the mom so I thought: why not play house again?"
By the time she was finished, the usually cool headed Marie, who rarely showed much emotion, was already crying. "P..Patricia.…" She sobbed; something she hadn't done in a long time.
"Shh… It's fine, it's fine! Let it all out!" Peacock patted the sobbing girl on the back trying to console her. In the back of her mind she remembered doing this exact same thing many years ago when they were on the Orphanage. While Marie had always been the most 'Mature' of the two, she was also the most emotional. At least it was like that before fate separated them and made them into what they were today; a Skullgirl and a Weapon designed to destroy them.
With the movie totally forgotten, they remained embraced on the couch for a while, as Marie slowly calmed down. They remained in total silence until Marie finally decided to speak again.
"So…why did you decide to play the Father?" she asked surprising Peacock who wasn't expecting that question. "You were always the aunt, never the father," Marie remembered from the times they played.
"Well, isn't it obvious?" Peacock answered as she took off one of her gloves to expose the thin metallic hand underneath. "I distinctly remember making a promise back then…" she said as she took Marie's pinkie finger with her own. "No matter what, Patricia and Marie, together forever, till the ends of days," she repeated the oath they made so many years ago. "Before the Loops, I thought I've broken this promise, but thanks to them I have another chance to keep this promise to you."
Once again Marie was moved by her words. "Patricia…I…I lo…" But before she could finish Peacock silenced her by placing one of her fingers in Marie's lips.
"I know," she said with a small smile. "I do too."
Then the sounds of footsteps were heard rumbling from the second floor. A few seconds later, Umbrella had come downstairs and into the living room. "Mama… I had a nightmare…"
"It's okay." Marie reassured her. "Come on, let's go back up. We'll sleep together so that Nightmares can't get to you."
"What about Daddy? Is he coming too?"
"Sure, the movie's already over." Peacock pointed to the TV which had gone back to the menu screen after the movie ended. "Come on, let's go get some sleep."
And with that, the 'family' walked up the stairs and get in bed together, the three of them enjoying a good night's sleep.
2.7 XeroM52
[Skullgirls][Castlevania]
Soma Cruz 'awoke' once again inside a coffin, which wasn't weird at all, but what was weird was that this time his awakening was caused by the loud sounds of a vacuum.
Stepping out of his coffin, Soma noticed a maid vacuuming his main chambers.
"My deep apologies Lord Dracula, did I wake you from your slumber?" The maid and turned bowed to him.
Then Soma realized something about the maid. "Hey, you aren't the usual one!" he said, referring to Persephone, the demonic maid of Dracula. "Are you a Looper?"
"Indeed." The small maid nodded. "My name is Marie Korbel, but people often refer to me as Bloody Marie," Marie introduced herself very politely. "It is my pleasure to serve you Lord Dracula."
"No, No, no need for that!" Soma waved his arms. "Just call me Soma, Soma Cruz!" he introduced himself.
"Nice to serve you Master Cruz!" Marie bowed again. "If you may excuse I shall return to my cleaning duties."
"Hey, wait up!" Soma stopped her. "You don't have to serve me! We are both Loopers, so there is no need to go to such extremes to keep up the charade."
"Sorry, but don't mind yourself with me, Master Cruz! Cleaning keeps my mind off of things," Marie said and once more returned to her vacuuming. "Besides, now that I don't have to kill you, I don't have anything else to do."
"Eh…Good to know…" Soma said with a nervous smile. Somehow, despite him been used to be surrounded by bloodthirsty monsters and demons, this little maid managed to give him the creeps with the nonchalant manner she spoke of murdering him. "Although I have to warn you, these Loops will sometimes last a while."
"Well, it is a very big castle."
Compiler's Commentary:
2.1: Squirrels, Superheroes, and Storytime. Peacock, welcome to the Multiverse.
2.2: How would halloween be any different then a usual day in New Meridian? The only thing I can think of is the candy!
2.3: Sometimes a family is a princess, a lich, and a cyborg who are all little girls and two-thirds bloodthirsty killers.
2.4: You know, when you think about it, fighting games are basically digital wrestling competitions...
2.5: Yeah, part of being a compiler is accepting snips you feel really uncomfortable with.
2.6: She's certainly loony enough.
2.7: We all have our own ways of relaxing.
And of course, fair reader, should you wish to contribute your own snip, you are welcome to join us on the Indie Games Infinite Loops thread over on Spacebattles.