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Chapter 8 - Drowning Park

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Back in the prison, Black was not having much success interrogating the prisoners. They had gone mad. Fully determined to kill themselves before they would speak or even ripping themselves apart while singing and laughing. Even the few cards that he suspected were hers had eaten suicide pills before he could stop them. Many flipped him as they died.

They had been clearly trained and prepared to do it so fast that he had been unable to do anything. And then there were the ones that had planted fricking bombs and traps on themselves. It was damn fucking annoying.

She was moving fast doing whatever she was doing. The news from Hearts had reached him too late. It had been the damn silkworm the one to break the news to him that Hearts had fallen and was crumbling too. Only one holder from that territory was left and currently the mad dog was loose without any screws in his head after the mortician had been killed.

He had screamed curses until he ran out of breath, but he had not calmed down in the least. Big bad Aria was planning something big and she was on the hunt for holders apparently. And obviously half the underworld at least would have sided with her already. He was sure that this was her doing and it was his own damn fault.

So far she had already managed to kill various holders, including the clockmaker which made things already a shit show, and they could not be replaced yet as their bodies had not dissolved yet away from their clocks entirely. He didn't want to fucking admiting it but he had underestimated her. Her anger, her cunning and her utter capacity and tendency to overreact in catastrophical ways. And he had been the one to fucking cause it!

He couldn't allow this to continue. He had to stop it and fix it. It was not only his fault, but it was his duty. Getting to her, though, would be impossible. And even if he did, there was no fucking way to convince her to stop now. He didn't want to kill her either, and it wasn't as if that was an option. Killing her would be a bad idea because then whatever shit she was doing would remain. All she had caused so far would be set. That made things tricky because he was sure others were already trying to get her and kill her to stop her.

The only choice was to open up her heart again. Then things would turn back to the time before she got it sealed. Joker knew that much. He just had to find out how and then somehow do it.

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Gray was on his way to find Aria. Nightmare had sent him to try and capture her if possible or, if things were getting too dire, to kill her as a last resort but to try and avoid it. The best would be to capture her. The incubus had been frantic but hadn't shared much information before telling that he'd try to find clues in the dream realm and to close off Clover tower.

The ex-assassin had already finished a couple packets of cigarettes and had found nothing yet. Clover seemed clear but he had learned that Hearts and the Clock tower had been destroyed. Surely it had been exaggerated. In any case he had to find her … somehow. Which he wasn't exactly positive that was achievable.

Finding her had been impossible in the past. Maintaining a low profile had been her daily bread all along, but this time, since the castle of hearts and the clock tower had fallen already, it only made sense that she would target the other territories.

Clover had seemed fine. Restless but fine and Nightmare had closed the tower and was hiding in the dream realm, so he could not be reached but he could reach anyone trying to invade and detect any disturbance this way. So it would be too risky to approach the Clover tower. The Hatter's mansion was extremely well guarded and their holders had another foreigner on their side, it was too well defended; so, that left the amusement park as the most likely next target.

He was on his way there when he felt the pull on his clock towards a duel. He cussed and searched for more cigarettes but he had finished them already. Of all the damn moments! … or not. He was close, so he arrived fast and saw why this duel was needed this time.

His opponent was already here, or rather, the duel had been called to where his opponent was already.

"Oh? Hello Mr. Lizard."

The knave of hearts was standing over the bloodied mutilated corpse of the cheshire cat. His coat was drenched in blood and Ace looked completely deranged and mental. Smiling with a dark and maddened gaze. He looked as lost as much as he looked furious.

"It seems the cat couldn't escape this time." Gray approached and got into mid range. Waiting for the start of the duel time and knowing that there would not be a set ending time in this occasion given the knights state. Ace would not stop until he was ripped apart or he ripped apart everyone else, so much was clear.

"It seems you are ready for some training, Mr. Lizard." Ace swung his sword, to get some blood out of the blade. "Can we make this quick? I have to visit the amusement park."

Gray took out his knives, ready for what was to come. He now knew that what he heard about the Clock tower was true. He could not let the crazy knight kill even more holders with how things were right now. Any other territory destroyed would tip the balance off. "You don't seem to be in the mood for fun and rides." This fight could only end with one of them dead.

"I'm sure this world is having quite a lot of fun laughing at us, so why don't we, for once, try to crush out the board?" Ace took his own stand and didn't wait for the duel to start. He attacked.

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Aria had reached the amusement park, concretely the stage of the karaoke contest event where everything began. This was the place that started her trek underground and the mission where they sent her to die and eventually lead her to spades, be trapped in the nightmare realm and then to this very moment. But things had never been fine. Back then she thought she could and would still go back to her world, but since in reality that was impossible, she would be bringing her world back unto her.

She waltzed around a bit over the empty and decrepit stage. It was practically just as she had left it. Gowland had clearly not done anything to it since that time. All the decorations were still in place, just ruined as ragged. Even the trap door that had meant to lead her to a trap was still there in the floor, but the trap she had set for the amusement park had been planted since she made her first move, since hse headed to the Clock tower.

Still, she needed to be relatively fast or at least careful of her timing. Ace was not as stupid as everyone thought and he was on his way. He would not fall for something so obvious that would directly incriminate another territory, but if a third party was on the run from the amusement park or it was made obvious that they were trying to incriminate the amusement park … well, surely the amusement park would know of them, right? In his mental state there was almost no one capable of stopping him, and he didn't kill the park's residents on his quest for vengeance then some other holder would. The trap was indeed set and wether the demented knave killed anyone or was killed or not, it would give her more time and opportunities to destroy yet more prey.

She smiled, extended her hand to the nightless sky and synched with the amusement park one more time.

Music began playing and she began hummin, as absolutely every ride was turned on. Her secondary synch mode was active and she was becoming one network with all connected devices and machines of the amusement park. The trap was set and in motion, even if she was trapped too temporarily in this state.

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Gowland was checking the machines. It seemed as if he had run out of mechanics and engineers. The machines and rides had not been repaired yet and most personnel weren't around; the ones that were had told him that certain rides were functioning weirdly. They were turning on randomly on their own and they suspected that it was something like a faulty connection somewhere but they couldn't figure out why as they were just general cards.

The park owner understood. It was bothersome that there was so much to do before the park could be repaired and opened again. But at the very least the cards that were left had been very enthusiastic and eager to get the amusement park back into operations, as if not having specialized cards meant that they would get better chances, and thus they had been taking him from ride to ride continuously for various time changes, as night time had not happened since a while ago, and they had tried to help as much as they could, although they hindered his efforts more than helped.

Currently he was in the underground engine room for the water park, checking on the great motors that turned most water rides on and kept the water flowing. He was a bit tired after so many time changes going around fixing things, but if he fixed this he would be fixing a big chunk of the park and maybe even get the water park to be opened soon.

He was trying to see what was wrong with the machinery when the lights at the other end of the room turned on, distracting him for a moment before everything else turned on.

"Mr. Gowland! Everything is on!"

A card came rushing in, distracting him as the motor that he was checking activated, pulling on his clothes while tossing water around. Another card came in with a gun in their hands and shot. The doors closed and water began filling the area. The card that had come to tell Gowland that things had been activated turned around and took out a pistol, and shot towards the door, failing in his shots, then it jumped back towards Gowland to stand in front of the holder while the other card rushed forward. Gowland used his shotgun over the card in front of him and then said card pushed himself back, dropping to push the holder back towards the machine as the other card kept running, trying to further push them back.

Gowland's shotgun killed them both but he had taken a step back. Just then, the motor changed its mode and began working in reverse at full speed, pushing water out and pulling on the already grabbed tailcoat of the park owner's clothes. Gowland found himself trapped and pulled in along the cards' bodies. He didn't have time to scream before the motor mauled him.

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Up in the park's stage Aria fell to the floor coughing blood and all rides stopped working but the park was already flooding and burning. Her time flickered and her components advanced. It took her some minutes to realize she was still a person, barely so, but someone with just 1 body albeit the many components in it.

Currently she could feel all the enhancements she had gotten on her spine and her joints. Her cochlear implants were more advanced now and her eyes had gotten a new layer of circuitry. Physical sensations had diminished too.

She realized that she was coming quite close to her real time, making her abilities much more powerful but also making her conscious that at some point there will be nothing but a programmed mission within her living corpse. Something that she would do well to leave already ingrained into her remains.

The merc smiled with a predatory grin. She was well advanced into her plans as only a mad dash was in sight to finish her mayhem in this world before her time ended herself.

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