Eeekkkk I deeply apologize for the severe lateness of this chapter and hope it's not too boring for you! To those who favorite and followed aww thank you so much! You guys are great and I appreciate every last one of ya! And OMG! Are you excited about Puppet Master Axis Termination! I sure as heck am! Anyways I hope I didn't make too many errors but thanks for those of you who read this and like I said if I make any mistakes please point them out, I am in no way perfect or even professional so point them out and help me out! Blade thanks you for it :p Anyways let's review the usual I don't own Puppet Master or anything cause if i did I would make movies not write about em! :) Have a good weekend guys! And thank you again! 3
Lilly gathered all the old dusty ingredients off what looked like an ingredient rack and shrugged while she set them side by side on top of the wooden table a foot away.
She had gathered all the proper ingredients just as the book instructed and yet she felt she was still missing something. She couldn't place her finger on it and yet the instruction did not mention anything either.
"Now what's next?"
She wondered aloud as she flipped over to the next page and her eyes widened as she looked once more at the page then at Torch. A weird feeling about the next step made her arch a brow but nevertheless she was already in this and she might as well go all the way though and see.
What was the worst that could happen?
She did as the instructions told her and made the serum concoction by mixing a few of the ingredients together, it caused a weird smell in her opinion but she figured she must be doing something right because it was a neon green and the instructions stated it was luminescent.
"Here we go" She murmured to herself as she removed a dusty syringe from its clear plastic wrap, inserting the neon green liquid into it and placing Torch on the table face down. She let out a shaky breath as her palms began to get sweaty, she was getting nervous for some reason and it was starting to affect her steady hands as they began to shake.
"Get it together" She whispered to herself as she closed her eyes briefly to take in a deep steadying breath, after a minute she reopened them with determined eyes and injected the liquid into the back part of Torch's neck.
She turned him around and set him on the table sitting up, she waited for what seemed like ten minutes but still no movements had been made. She let out a bark of laughter at how she actually thought it would work.
"I'm psycho" She muttered to herself as she shook her head and exited the room still giggling at her own foolishness.
Once the door to the room was closed Torch turned his head and hopped off the table, his small feet padding against the dusty hard floor until he reached the door and looked both ways of the hall to make sure it was clear then he headed to the right.
He grunted a bit as he saw a couple of humans to the far right of the end of the hallway, he had a choice to make: incinerate the humans or let them live. He went with the former as he ran towards the humans and prepared to launch a scorch attack.
"Torch?" A soft feminine voice caught his attention to the right as he saw a human resembling Leech woman and hesitated for a moment before another human dressed in a black jacket stepped forward and removed the hood of his jacket revealing white hair that resembled his former leader Blade.
"Argg" Torch replied growling as he lifted his hand up towards them, the others noticed their old comrade before them and took a few steps towards him until Blade's voice stopped them in their tracks.
"Stay where you are. Torch, we are your comrades. Much has happened since your re-animation including transferring our souls into human bodies. Let us talk first" Blade watched Torch's reaction, with him it could go one of two ways: he could let them speak or he would incinerate them without questions or concerns.
"Argg…" Torch growled as he prepared to burn the humans surrounding him until footsteps came from behind him followed by a loud yell.
"It worked?! Holy shit! No….no this isn't real! I'm dreaming….Torch? You're alive?"Lilly stared curiously at the small puppet pointing his hand at the Bodega Bay Inn staff; she bent down on her knees and tilted her head to the side staring at Torch with her chocolate eyes. She couldn't believe the small puppet she left in the upstairs room a few minutes ago was really walking around on it's own!
"I'm Lilly…Lilly Toulon…I-I brought you back…with my uncles book" She hesitated a moment wondering if she should have shared that much information with the people around but seeing as how it was too late she decided to worry about that later and focus on the present now which was Torch alive.
"Argg..?" Torch questioned as he looked at the girl who had re-animated him from his deep slumber. She was the chosen one; Toulon's heir. How much time had passed exactly? He couldn't remember much before he reawakened and even then his memories were hazy at best.
"You don't need to hurt anyone, Torch. These people are my uncle Toulon's erm…staff? And they work for him or uh...me and they don't mean you any harm. I can show you the book if you'd like, there's some entries about you and other puppets that I think you'd enjoy." She tried her best to soothe him, after all a reanimated doll with flame-throwing capabilities running around aiming his flamer at the staff wasn't exactly an ideal situation to begin with. She hoped that was enough to get him to not roast anyone and to her surprised she watched as he lowered his hand and walked to her side slowly.
"Come on, we got some bonding to do with one another" She smiled as she lifted him up and placed him on her shoulder he groaned at her babying him but let it slide, he had just awakened after all and he was in no mood to do any serious damage at the moment. He would talk with Blade and the others later, for now he wanted to learn what the new master knew. And from what he gathered about the others and her reaction to them, she had no clue they were the puppets in the book.
"She has Toulon's secret of life book, but I thought it was burned?" Tunneler asked curiously making sure Lilly and Torch were far out of their earshot. He did not want anyone to overhear their conversation.
"Perhaps, Toulon made another for his heir; one in secret?" Jester surmised and Leech woman frowned crossing her arms over her chest as she contemplated what that meant. To her it meant Toulon did not share that information with them, and wondered why? Did he not trust them or her? Was she not his former wife? Why wouldn't he tell them about a second book of secrets?
"Do not fret over such minor details, Leech. The important thing is that she has the book, it is safe for now, and she has brought us back our brother Torch. Things are beginning to change and soon we will find Decapitron and bring him back as well."
"She still knows nothing of who we are, and what Toulon's powers really are! How can we be sure she won't be the end of us?"
Six stepped up, until now he had not really said much and he just preferred to keep out of the line of fire when those two argued but he spent a bit of time with the girl and he could see though she was timid and shy she had a strength all her own and she didn't deserve the distrust Leech had been showing her since her arrival.
"She has done nothing to deserve our lack of trust. We do as Toulon says; and that is to protect our new master who happens to be that girl now. Just because we have human bodies do not associate their rash behavior with us. Clear your head of all the other unnecessary things and think of what Andre would have wanted us to do. And show some respect for our master."
"I agree, Six. Though in some ways she is still a child her veins run with Toulon blood and that heritage though buried deep inside her, is still there. Torch's reanimation proves that." Jester adds.
"That proves that she can read just as well as anyone else!" Leech countered with a sneer and Six shook his head in annoyance at her stubbornness. "It proves that she has the power Toulon had, do not forget the secrets Afzel entrusted to Andre before he passed."
Leech Woman had heard enough from all of them though Pinhead was quiet and mostly to himself away from the others she knew he agreed with the rest of them about the new master. Why couldn't they just see that she was a hindrance rather than an asset!
She was beginning to feel like an outsider in her own group, she had been with Toulon just as long as and actually even longer than they had so she had every right to voice her opinion. She didn't want to waste her new human life on a ridiculous half-witted human as their new master was turning out to be.
"Perhaps if we simply told her the truth…she accepted Torch easily, why not the rest of us?" Pinhead finally spoke up as he uncrossed his arms and went to stand beside Tunneler and Jester. Each bore faces of seriousness and Leech Woman had had enough of all the arguing they had all been doing over Lilly Toulon.
"No! We cannot tell her! Not yet! She has yet to prove herself..."Leech began and was immediately cut off by Blade who gave her a meaningful look and nodded his head.
"Leech is right, though I do not agree with her lack of trust she is just taking precautions which is understandable, the girl has yet to prove she can hold her own as a Toulon. Torch's' revival is only half of what she must accomplish before we can fully entrust ourselves to her."
Jester shook his head furiously and walked away from the room, he never really got angered but Blade and Leech's' words did just that. How could they not see her for what she was: A Toulon? A true Toulon, the one that is hiding behind her fragile smile, the one that is slowly coming to life coming back to this old relic of a hotel.
That day he spoke with her he got a glimpse of her life before, so sheltered and manipulated from the moment she was born, she was a creature trapped in an invisible cage that she herself had slowly been breaking inch by inch and soon enough she would be set free.
Blade watched as Jester left and took a deep settling breath, soon he would have to talk to him, every since becoming human they all had fallen out of sorts from each other especially where Leech was concerned.
Everything was slowly falling apart, his closeness with his brothers and sister was disintegrating as the human feelings were distorting things he used to never feel and he didn't understand how to place them or even identify them.
He used to be able to have conversations with Leech, Jester and Six-Shooter but as of late they hardly spoke only when it was about the girl, and even then not many of them said much. What had happened to them all?
Hours after the encounter with the young heir, Blade stared out at the ocean waves as the sun began to set; the events of earlier that day played over repeatedly in his mind. With this human body he felt torn between his former self and someone who was now questioning something that had been ongoing and unwavering for the past several decades.
You are no longer a servant; you have a body and will of your own now. You can do and say as you please, you are your own master.
I owe my very life to him, how dare I presume to no longer serve his will when it was his that saved my once human life.
Decades and decades of killing those who came close to the Toulon secret have met the very end of your sharpened hook and knife, is that not enough payment?
A knock came to his door abruptly ending the inner turmoil with himself for the time being, he was sure later it would resume.
"Mr…uh Blade? I brought you Torch he wants to talk to you." Lilly nervously spoke as she opened the door and stared at ground shyly, she helped Torch onto the floor from her shoulders where she liked to sit him at and he padded his feet across until he reached Blades side and growled at him.
Lilly thought it would be best to leave them alone, the look in Blade's eyes earlier when she first found Torch was a deep sadness for him. And even though she was extremely curious about how they didn't find a reanimated puppet disturbing in the least only served to flame her curiosity about this strange group of her uncles' workers.
[En route to California- Airlines]
"We will be landing shortly, please place your seat-belts on and lift up all trays in your area. Thank you" The automated voice of the airplane stewardess instructed them all, he hesitated for a moment unsure of what to do and then he looked to the person beside him and mimicked his movements.
"I'm nervous, are you nervous? Is this your first flight? I hate the landing, I get jittery, too much Final Destination methinks" the chattering of his seat companion grated on his nerves slightly, he snapped his head towards the left of him and waved his hand in front of the man's face who in turned passed out as a ripple in air shot out through Anukeh's servant' hand.
"Quite better" He commented to himself, and closed his eyes his thoughts were at the task at hand; once landing in California he could then take an automobile and travel to this place Bodega Bay Inn and from there he would be able to find the heir and puppet and annihilate them in Anukeh's name.
Thought it sounded simple in his head, he knew there was no easy way to go about it. His first task was to infiltrate his target which was a girl; apparently the new owner of the Bodega Bay Inn according to what Master Anukeh had advised him. The plane began to shake a bit as the descent towards the ground began but his mind was far too preoccupied to worry about such a silly thing.
His mission was to find; discover the puppets' and the secret of life and destroy it all along with Toulon's heir the girl referred to as Lilly Toulon. His master had shown him her face and that of Andre Toulon. Though the old man had been dead for quite some time, he lived on through his puppets and spirit. For a thousand years Anukeh had waited patiently for his turn to succeed where his brother Sutekh failed and finally the time had come when his father Osiris gave him the opportunity.
"Do not fail me, servant"
He could hear the distant echo of his master's voice reverberate in his mind, though the task would prove complicated it was better to serve under Anukeh than to stand in his way and be slaughtered by his ancient powers. Sutekh seemed like child's play compared to the amount of power Osiris had given to Anukeh. Although his powers mimicked Sutekh's they were far greater, though for all the power Anukeh possessed his reach into this world only extended to servants and not his own corporeal form. He often wondered when Anukeh wasn't invading his mind, on why for all the power he possessed he could not manifest a body able to stand the dimensional cross-way.
"Welcome To California…" The stewardess announced and the servant smiled to himself as he looked at the passenger beside himself still knocked out and grabbed his bag beside him.
"I'm positive you will not need this" He murmured as he got up from his seat and made his way behind the other people waiting to board off the plane.
"Enjoy your stay in sunny California, sir" The stewardess smiled at him, which he returned and descended down the stairs looking out at the several people scattered all around. He was closer to his main goal, now all he had to do was find a suitable car and driver competent enough to take him to his destination and then set the plan in motion.