The Doll That Commands those Murderers

The air was heavy and the movement of those around them appeared to had been slowed. Mary's heart skipped a few beats as she tried to figure out their connection. She couldn't stop looking at the man who approached them, it felt like she had met him before.

Tanaka raised and kept his hands in the air while both of them shared the same serious gaze before Albert broke it off with a laugh. He then stepped back with a wide smile and gave his shoulders a scratch before he grabbed Tanaka's hand with glee.

"Nice to see you, it's been… I dunno maybe fou-"

"Two years, It has been two years since I whooped your ass and you dare forget when that happened." Tanaka chuckled and stroked his neckbeard before he gave Albert a pat on the back. "Aaah.. those were fun times and you looked like a tick that I stepped on. I was even surprised that you could bleed, fun times indeed."

"This was probably the reason why your wife called you a degenerate and left you for heaven" Albert squinted his eyes and averted his gaze. Mary then saw him pout his lips as he reached out for the back of his head. "Your old ass and all that bragging"

"Naaah... The past is past and besides, we're already dead. Though I did spend half a year brooding over it…" Tanaka placed his arms around his shoulders as soon as he noticed that his mood felt a little off. He then adjusted his glasses and whispered, "Get your sore loser ass out of here. Can't you be more happy that we're working together?"

"Shut up you old geezer" Albert breathed in a muffled voice as he kept his eyes on the wall.

"Come on maaan... cheer upp" Tanaka leaned to his side and made him slouch. He reached out to his ear with a smile and said, "Then how about this, since we're working and all, have you thought about doing some power combos or something?"

"Weeell… I guess we could talk about that later…" Albert pushed himself away and covered his mouth to try and hide the satisfied smirk formed at the corner of his cheeks. "We're gonna be late after all…"

"Maaan... Young people are so easy…" He shrugged with a conceited tone.

"Shut up Daddy!... Don't make me want to pull out my knife so I could stick it down your throat and choke you to death!" Albert leaned forward and raised his voice. He was about to follow up but he then stopped midway as soon as he saw Mary's staring at her fingers with a beet-red face.

"Hohohoho, No need to go over the details please and I'm not into that kind of things" Tanaka gave him a grin as he waved his hands around. "Man, what a pervert."

Albert clicked his tongue as he shut both of his hands at the pockets of his cloak. He then turned his back and introduced a person that came in waving his shaking hand. His dark brown hair had dropped down to his cheek and contradicted his face that looked like a crumpled sheet of paper.

"When I figured out that you went for the little girl and took her out for shopping, I went and got the other one." Albert pushed the corner of his lips with a hint of desperation as he tried to act like nothing had happened.

"Ah, you could call me Rei… nice to meet you." He pushed his bangs at the side of his head and stepped right next to Albert. He had a medium frame holding on to the silver hilt that stuck out from his shoulders. Mary was surprised that he never got to notice him and the two of them bore the same thought as well. He got uncomfortable that the three of them kept their gaze so he lowered his head and followed, "If you didn't notice me, then it means that I'm doing my job well so no worries. Thank you for letting me work with you."

Everyone waved their hands as response and the group proceeded to walk with Albert in the lead. They passed through the group of reapers going into their business; there were people getting their weapons checked, some were trying on their new masks and some were just enjoying a casual chat as they walked along. They continued to move their feet until the colors of the halls had changed and until a huge door had kept them in place. Mary raised her head together with Rei and looked towards the sign that said,

'Gathering Hall'

Albert and Tanaka kept talking like old people seeing their friend after an eternity. They pushed through the door, the group was then greeted by a rancid smell of sweat and noise coming from the people that stood inside it. The reapers that occupied the room were a mix of veterans that kept their calm stature and some newbies that can't do anything except ask those around them. They all shared the same determined expression but some of them looked like they had another plan in mind.

Mary stood at the entrance and felt lost for a second until Tanaka reached out to her and grabbed her arm to drag her towards the corner. She got a glimpse of what lies ahead of them, she saw a large group of men standing in front of a white stage with their passionate gaze. She felt like she had seen them before somewhere and she couldn't stop herself from asking why.

"Oh.. you're gonna see that later. It's gonna weird as hell" Rei replied with an awkward tone before turning his face towards Albert.

"Oh, so she's the leading the operation huh?" Tanaka then walked closer and pushed his glasses up. "I haven't had the chance to work with her before... interesting, you guys think she's good?"

"Yeah, I mean… this is pretty easy compared to what she's got on her hands, some say that she's pretty mad that she got this in the first place." Albert leaned against the wall. He took a slight pause to scratch his neck inside of his cloak and followed, "I did work with her since they needed some extra hands before but I was placed far from the main action. I never got to fight, that girl doesn't really trust anyone except her handpicked minions."

"Wait… Who are we talking about?" Mary felt that she fell out of place so she raised her voice to join in their conversation. Tanaka then glanced at her with a smile and said,

"Oh, my bad… Her name is-"

"MC-CHAN! MC-CHAN! MC-CHAN! MC-CHAN! MC-CHAN! MC-CHAN! MC-CHAN!"

The crowd went wild as a childlike figure entered the stage. They had begun shouting and some ever raised their flags as well as their light sticks. Their voices soon took over the entire hall until the other reapers turned their head towards the doll that pranced around the platform. They all wore a smile on their faces as they raise their hands in the air and one of them was Albert.

"You're into this? Albert froze as soon as he heard Tanaka's voice, It wasn't long before he retracted his arm and shoved it back in his cloak. Tanaka then let out a huge laugh and said, "Man, you and your bad taste."

"See? weird…" Rei pointed Mary to those people on the front with a forgiving gaze.

"Looks like there were a lot of people who wanted to see her…" Mary replied with a half-hearted smile. She crossed her arms as soon as she saw Albert and Tanaka shouting at the corner of her eye."How many people do we have here by the way?"

"I'd say around four hundred-ish? I don't know but there could be more…"

"What… are we gonna fight an army?" Her eyes sparkled with uncertainty. "What's up with all the numbers."

Rei took out the notebook from her hand and flipped a few pages. He stopped after a few seconds and pointed at it with his finger. "Around 90 but of course, again, there could be more…"

Mary fell silent. "Isn't that a little too m-"

"It's fair," Albert said as he walked towards the two.

"Are you done fanboying over there?" Rei replied with a wide grin on his face.

"Yes… and he's mad that he got out-fanboyed by those passionate people in the front." Tanaka jumped in at the conversation.

"Aaaannnyywayyy… The numbers are just fair. Those spirits are strong as hell and some even could kill you with a flick of their fingers."

"Just like what I did with him, to be honest." Tanaka scoffed, making Albert close his eyes and let out a long breath through his nose.

"Aaaaahhh… Dammit... fine" Albert tightened his jaws as he looked through her eyes. "Well, I guess that proves my point, they have the ability to destroy you even if they behaved like a pussy halfway through your confrontation."

"Oh.. that kinda-"

"GET IT TOGETHER YOU ASSHOLES" A deafening voice cracked the mic as soon as it echoed throughout the hall.

"HAAAAAAAAIIII" The crowd then died down in an instant as they took their stance like seasoned soldiers obeying their general's commands.

"I guess she's finished with her weekly dose of admiration…" Tanaka said as he turned his attention towards the stage within the distance.

Silence filled the air as she looked around her with a satisfied grin. That's the time when Mary saw a copper-skinned young girl. Her thin frame was enhanced by her dark frilly dress and silky brown hair. She looked like an expensive doll that spoke with a cadence of an old unsatisfied grandmother. Her voice might not be suited for a one's wet dream but her tone could get something done. She then stomped the stage to call for everyone's attention before she pulled out a remote on her back.

"So a hospitalized toddler saw something and told her parents about it. These people had enough money and wanted to keep their little boy happy so they did the 'right' thing and called a spiritist. That dumbass had lit a candle that signaled death and that's why all of us have extra work today."

The crowd began to murmur.

"Wait... so that's how that works?" Mary asked.

"Yep, pretty funny right?" Albert then replied as he stepped forward and stood at the tip of his toes so he could get a glimpse of her. "These guys thought that lighting a candle would appease a bounded spirit but it just works like a dial-up button so we could murder them on their behalf..."

"The location would be a Hospital Complex in North America. I don't care if these were the country roads that would lead you to the place where you used to belong, you're there to kill those bastards that gave us work. And all of these are mainly these guys' fault." The girl pointed the remote to her side and four pictures appeared on the screen. The crowd had begun to whisper to each other.

"The reports had said that they detected around ninety signatures but you know candles… so there could be more"

"Just ninety?" Mary asked her group mates "Are we around fi-"

"Yes, five hundred… and again that number is just fair" Albert gave her a pat on her back.

Mc continued to talk.

"Now that we got that out of the way, your main targets are these four." MC pointed at the first photo that showed an old man and followed, "William Rodriguez aka The General, ex-military. All of his comrades died off of an airstrike and he died of old age. Has a kill count of 35, no more details on the abilities except for that fact that those he killed had their heads squashed like an egg"

Some had laughed and some just gave her a thoughtful nod, after that she had seen that almost everyone were done taking notes, she then pointed the remote onto the next photo.

"Next, James Jhonson aka The Cowboy, an actor famous for films starring the wild west and died due to drunk driving. He sits at the top of this raid's list with 77 kill counts before he disappeared a decade ago, all those who went with him got gunned down."

Some guy whistled in the background and some had still laughed. She kept her self-conceited grin and moved on to the next image.

"Ricardo Santos aka All-Mother. A prostitute that found dead in a ditch in Death-knows-where... Shit, I'm confused. Well, she could summon imps that could overrun and kill you like a pack of dogs so yeah, she sits at 21 confirmed kills."

The others had laughed at her remark and with that, she moved on to the last one.

"Lastly, here's Zhang Wei, a drug lord killed by the police in a raid. Has little to no combat capabilities but he has the ability to read minds and relay information. That's what the last reaper said before he died. He has a kill count of 3 but his skill is really dangerous. Killing him would be your top priority. If you think that he's gonna get his hands off you, you might as well kill yourself."

The crowd fell silent, some had knitted their brows and some crinckled their nose. She cackled with her face up in the air and with the ends of her hair swaying back and fort. She then froze before she covered her mouth and straightened her spine as if nothing happened.

"Oh wait yeah. You can't commit suicide, well… just do your best to die instead of blowing my whole operation down. Anyway, a more detailed report explaining my plan's specifics were already sent out in your books. Be sure to have fun with that."

Mary then pulled out her notebook before her eyes ravaged through its pages. Her hands were shaking and there were cold sweat dripping down her cheeks. Tanaka was about to reach out to her and calm her down but then Albert stepped forward and said,

"No need to go through everything, just learn the specifics… and well… she already mentioned those."

"What… why? Don't we have to learn their background to know how they think and I-"

"You're missing the point, don't try to cram everything in your head. We're not gonna go on a quiz bee, and we won't certainly be knocking door to door and sell them some cable subscription. Encountering them all would be highly unlikely unless we're really unlucky and besides, there are better things to talk about."

"Well that's true I guess, what is it?"

"Wombo Combos… I think… is what he would say." Tanaka walked close beside her and placed his hand over her shoulder. He then smiled.

"I was gonna say planning and teamwork, you lolicon." Albert bit his lip and clenched his fist. Rei then walked to his side as soon as Tanaka took off his hand out of her and shoved it into his cloak's pockets.

"Mary, would it be rude to ask you how young are you when you died?" He lowered his head and whispered to mary by his side.

"Twenty... Twenty-six" Mary looked to him with a confused expression. "Why?"

"See? Perfectly legal and as simple as a display of fatherly love" Tanaka's face jumped out and taunted Albert with a grin. Mary just then twitched her eyes as she bore the same confused look from before.

"Oh, she's finishing it up… I think that you all should better listen." Albert was about to say a word but then Rei gave him a pat at the back and directed their attention to the one on the stage.

"Lastly, you'll be boarding my boat and the five hundred of you would drop down and start the assault in these four directions. We have set up a perimeter so don't get funny with me and run back with the hopes of catching those who ran away."

The crowd began to laugh and fell silent after they saw her put her finger over her lips. She then took a deep breath and gave her last command at the top of her lungs.

"To sum it all up, you'll be out there to kill everyone on sight. If they kneel, cut off their heads, if they try to bargain, cut off their legs and if they beg, break off their necks. We're not there to colonize or take prisoners, we're there because it's our job to clean them off. Understood?"

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIII!!!" The men in the front screamed as some pointed their flags in the air.

"Go everywhere you wanna go, do what you wanna do and let's meet up here in one hour. Dismissed."