An Angel in the Midst of Weird (vs. Sicko)
Apr 4, 2019 14:33:49 GMT -5
Holden Ross and Gerard Angelo like this
Post by David Hunter on Apr 4, 2019 14:33:49 GMT -5
A phone’s dial tone is the first thing we hear. That goes on for a few loops around the block until the sound of it being picked up can be heard.
“Yo David, what’s up?” Mercury’s voice says.
“Uh hey, Merc, I just got the newest job from the boss. Um…there…” David interrupts himself to let out a chuckle. “…must be some mistake.”
“What seems to be the problem?” Mercury asks.
“By the looks of things, it seems to me that he wants me to go to the Falls,” David says.
“Uh…yeah, that would be correct,” Mercury.
“No, you see, that has to be wrong. Not only are the Falls a no-no zone for anybody in the Game, but it’s also a place I am never stepping foot into,” David.
“Look, David, I know how much you hate that place, but the boss said—”
David speaks up, interrupting Mercury before he can finish his sentence.
“Not only that, but he wants me to break into the Pines lab and steal a dimensional power charge? It’s not only a suicide mission, it’s also fucking insane!”
“David, just relax. You’ve broken into worse and come out alive. Just do this one job, I swear you’ll never go back there again.”
There’s a pause in the call. David allows himself a few moments of calm.
“Promise?”
“Yes, David, I promise.”
“Alright.”
“There is one more thing though.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake…” David mutters to himself.
“After the fiasco of you getting arrested by the Council and…not getting the Crow’s Eye, Noxurus doesn't want you going on these missions alone. Not with somebody else as a guardian or an eye or anything, just to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
“Of course he does. What poor sap has he strapped me with?”
There’s another pause, this time on Mercury’s end.
“Mercury…” there’s a small notion of irritation seeping through David’s voice.
“I want you to know this wasn’t my call, okay?” Mercury asks.
“Who is it?”
“Dr. Animo.”
The line suddenly goes dead, leaving Mercury alone with another dial tone.
“He—hello? David? You there?”
Mercury allows a few seconds to pass before responding once again.
“Shit…”
Indeed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
While most people would spend their time in a place they hate against their will completing the task they’re there in the place they hate as soon as possible…David is an outlier.
On one hand, he could stake out the Pines’ residence, stalking everybody who lives there (apparently a Mexican guy runs the joint now), planning every entrance and exit, and wondering how the fuck is he going to break into the Pines lab without serious damage.
On the other hand, he could leave that shitty part of the job to his temporary ally in Dr. Animo. The old, animal-loving bastard would enjoy being alone in a forest filled with strange creatures and weird occurrences. Hopefully he will, anyway. David didn’t really give him much choice.
Whilst Dr. Animo is busy doing whatever people like him do while staking out places, David has decided to get an early morning start on some breakfast. You see, despite hating the town with a passion matched maybe only by his disdain with Wuya, David would be a fool to deny that one of the best damn restaurants he’s ever eaten at just so happens to be within the town’s borders.
Greasy’s Diner.
It does not sound appetizing.
You would be wrong.
David enters, accompanied by the usual rusty ding of a two-decade old bell. He keeps his head low, avoiding the wandering eye of the matriarch and defacto owner of the place, currently kneeling over the counter, talking to another weary traveler.
How the hell you’d end up traveling through this place is a mystery, but hey, that’s kind of what this town’s known for: mysteries.
David sits down in a booth, pulling up the hood of his white hoodie with four blue crystals on the front. He glances around, waiting patiently for the waitress to approach.
It takes him a solid couple minutes before a young, black woman, probably a couple years older than him, approaches. She sets down a menu on the table with her left hand, leaving the filled coffee pot in her right.
“Welcome to Greasy’s Diner. Nice to see a new face rolling through town, one with apparently great taste,” she says.
David doesn’t look over, but cracks a smirk.
“Not exactly my first time through here, but it has been a while. Figure I’d kick-start my memory of how great this place’s food is,” he says.
The waitress lets out an obviously fake chuckle, probably to roll with the conversation or get me interested. Whatever.
“Can I get you started with a cup of coffee? Glass of orange juice maybe?” she asks.
David shakes his head.
“If it’s all the same with you, I’m gonna take a look at the menu, refresh my pallet on what I’ve missed,” he says.
He clasps the menu, opening it up randomly to a list of current specials.
“Well then. I’ll leave you to it,” she says, wandering away.
That brings a pause.
Still staring at the menu, trying not to lose his composure, David’s eyes wander around the page. Decisively not paying attention to any of the options, David just sits there, controlling his breath so as not to freak out.
That line.
‘I’ll leave you to it.’
Such a basic line for a waitress to leave on. Anybody could use it.
That’s not the problem.
The problem is how damn familiar it was. How she said it. The way she said it. It’s been haunting his mind for years. Memories of a lost soul, lost to even those who find something in the tiniest cracks. A person missing and unable to be found.
He found her.
The person he’s been looking for.
By the time David manages to maintain a steady breath, the waitress—she—returns.
“Anything come to mind?” she asks.
Now that he knows who it is, the clear remnants of a hacked-up New York accent is all he can hone in on.
“Um…yeah, a cup of coffee, black please,” David says. “And a number 5, scrambled with cheese, the side of hash browns, and the sausage…please.”
“Number 5, scrambled, cheese, browns, and sausage,” she mutters.
The scribbling of her pen on a notepad stops.
“That be all?” she asks.
“That’ll be fine, thank you,” David says.
She soon walks away.
Oh good, she doesn’t know. Or is suspicious. Or knows and is using her incredible acting skills.
Fuck, shit, god dammit.
Come to Gravity Falls, have a few laughs, steal a dimensional power charge, it’ll be fun, bring Dr. Amino, I’m sure he could find a gnome to dissect.
Yeah, globnar fuck yourself, Noxurus. One job in and it’s already not worth the price of admission.
David spends the next half hour in absolute agony. Between eating up his breakfast while trying not to choke under pressure, David has a pretty bad time. And this coming from the guy who can hold a tense conversation with that accursed skeleton while trying not to die.
Hell on Earth would be a fucking vacation compared to this.
Once the food is done and a fifth mug of coffee is drowned down, she hands him the check and a pen.
David glances down at it, watching her approach the one-eyed woman leaning over the counter.
Taking the chance, David takes out a solid fifty bucks, probably double what the actual amount on the receipt was. He sets it on the table before taking the pen and the receipt. He flips the piece of paper over, writing down a message on the blank white.
A simple message and a risky one. David’s probably getting arrogant here (oh jeez, what a shock), but he’s desperate. Desperate and scared. Desperate and scared and about to have a heart attack.
Once the message is written, David hides it under the fifty bucks. He keeps his hood in place, standing up and running out of the diner. He barely hears the rusted bell before collapsing towards a nearby bush and releasing whatever contents he just so happened to ingest.
He glances over, catching his eyes on a nearby payphone, hidden away from the diner. He might have like…three minutes, at most, before she notices the message and makes haste.
Through his troubled mind, he does manage to hone in on some rough breathing.
David looks up and sees a bear with three heads staring down at him. His look is more disappointed than angry. On his foot is whatever David just upchucked.
“Dude…not cool…” the bear says.
“Sorry Multi-Bear,” David says.
David doesn’t stay and chat, opting to hustle towards the payphone. He closes it shut, putting in the quarter and dialing the number.
Come on, come on…
Dial tone, dial tone…
“Hey kid—”
Before Qrow can get almost any words out, David proceeds to vomit out again, this time with words.
“Qrow I only have like two and a half minutes but I’m in Gravity Falls on a job and I was at Greasy’s Diner and I saw her. Yes, her, Angel. I saw her. She’s here. She’s probably going to chase after me in a bit but I’m losing my goddamn mind not telling anybody and I just puked out whatever I had to eat because I’m having a god damn panic attack and am probably going to pass out unless I breathe but I can’t because she’s fucking here man. Right here in the place I never wanted to visit ever again. What are the fucking odds right? She’s here. Here.”
David breathes in and out, trying not to pass out despite his forewarning.
“Well then,” Qrow says.
Qrow takes a few more moments to digest what was just told to him.
“I gotta hang up soon and deal with this shit, but I just thought you should know that I found her. Don’t tell anybody, obviously,” David says.
“Good luck kiddo. Seriously. Don’t go overboard. Don’t do anything rash…again. Just do what you came there to do and get the fuck out.”
“Thank you,” David says before hanging up the phone.
Having been reinvigorated and somewhat calmed down, David opens the door for the payphone, hightailing it across the diner's lawn, away from the diner itself and towards his car.
Why is the parking lot so far away?
-------------------------------------------------------
In the diner, the waitress finally approaches the table. She notices the fifty dollars, and her eyes widen. She pockets it in her apron. This reveals the note, which only leads to more confusion.
She lifts it up and reads it aloud.
“Are you finally satisfied?”
The receipt drops. Her jaw opens. Her hands to start to shake and her body starts shivering.
“Yo Schuyler, you alright?” one of the teenage boys—the black hoodied one hanging off the arm of the girl on her cell phone—asks.
“Um…” she whispers.
“Peggy…how about you take a break, alright? Come back in later if you feel it,” Susan—one-eyed lady leaning on the counter—says.
“Okay,” the waitress—‘Peggy’—says.
She rushes out of the diner, apron still on and fifty dollars still in her pocket. Her truck is parked on the other side of the building, so it takes her only a few moments to reach it.
------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Amino is focusing intently on the computer monitor in front of him. He barely recognizes the sounds of a car screeching outside.
He does notice, however, when the door to their temporary hideout of a wooden, abandoned shack is kicked open.
He looks up, noticing a sweating and heavily breathing David.
Amino merely raises an eyebrow.
“Hey Aloy…” David says.
“David…” Dr. Amino responds wearily.
“How’s…fuck me…” David says between breaths. “How’s the camera search going?”
“I’ve found some footage with the password to the lab. It’s apparently at a vending machine, one that neither the new owner, his wife, or his grandmother use. If you hit it at night, I see no issues,” Dr. Amino says.
“Apart from whatever they keep in their lab…”
David takes a couple moments of their silence to catch his breath. Kinda hard while tasting vomit, but hey, this is what happens when you freak out as badly as he did.
“How was your breakfast?”
“I wouldn’t know. I puked up most of it right after.”
Speaking of which...
Dr. Amino raises his eyebrow once more.
“And I’m assuming you won’t tell me why?” he asks.
“If you tell me that you knew Angelica was here, than maybe,” David says.
Amino’s eyes narrow. It takes him a few moments to collect himself before sighing.
“Of course. No, I didn’t. But it explains why Noxurus chose me to come with you,” he says.
“You’re a neutral party, so to speak. Wouldn’t know or care about my relationships. More intent on getting the job done than anything else. Also can’t hold a secret worth a damn. It makes sense. Fuck…”
David takes a few moments to relax himself further.
“I’m sorry, David. She has no way of knowing where we are, so maybe take some time and relax until tonight, alright?”
David looks over at Dr. Amino. For a moment, the animal-crazed scientist actually seems fairly fatherly.
Huh. Weird thought, but okay.
“Yeah…yeah, alright. Thanks Aloy. Just keep on watching the footage. If something odd comes up or more definitive, let me know when I wake up.”
“Will do,” Dr. Amino says.
------------------------------------------------------------
It’s night. The moon is shining down on the decrepit building with its title missing an S.
Mystery Hack.
Irony. Or a joke. I dunno, sometimes this kind of thing is pre-planned, and other times Fate is just an asshole.
David approaches the backdoor of the building. Inside, he sees a dining room/kitchen, not too far away from his target.
Having prepared for the worst, David grabs a downrod he nicked from the local hardware store. Seriously, a downrod. Like for ceiling fans and shit. Cheaper and just as hard as a pipe.
He lifts it up and takes a downswing on the doorknob. It makes a noise.
He tries it a couple times before the knob is bent, revealing the hole in the door.
David shoves the rod into the hole in the door, sending metal and screws onto the floor inside. When the door opens up from there, David enters, sending the downrod to the ground outside.
He looks around the lifeless kitchen before walking into the adjacent hallway.
There it is. The vending machine.
And a fat guy waiting in a t-shirt and sweatpants.
And a fez.
Da fuck?
“I guess Peggy was right,” the fat guy says.
Shit, this must be the new owner.
“Really? She mention somebody coming to invade your home and steal something?” David asks, his hand floating over the gun in his left pocket
“Well…not like that, but she mentioned a hoodlum of some sort wanting to enter the Mystery Shack after hours,” the fat guy says.
Of course she did. Even after all these years she still treats him like he needs protecting.
David takes out his pistol, throwing it at the fat guy’s face. It hits him square in the forehead. By the time he goes to grab the now damaged part of his dome, David sends the whole head right into the vending machine. The thud of the head meeting metal causes the fat guy to collapse.
Gripping his pistol once more, David waits a minute or so for anybody to come after him.
Nothing.
Good.
“Sorry big man, but I can’t be having you stop me or anything,” he says.
David sets the man against the wall to the right of the vending machine, his head slumping slightly down. At this point, he’s just sleeping peacefully.
With a nod, David approaches the machine itself. He presses a few buttons on it before a click resonates in his ears.
The vending machine sides to the left, revealing an elevator illuminated in a blue light.
After a final sigh, David enters the elevator. The vending machine closes in front of him, leaving him alone in a new, unknown area. Far from the first time, farther from the last.
The elevator descends underground, going further and further away from the surface.
Eventually, and with a ding, the elevator stops. The door opens, revealing a hallway filled with lasers littered up and down from ceiling to floor, left and right from wall to wall, and diagonal from corner to corner. On the tops of the walls are camera-guns, swiveling around trying to catch the slightest movement.
David merely droops, letting another belabored sigh out.
“Yeah, that’s probably par for the course,” he says.
---------------------------------------------------------
It’s a new day for Greasy’s Diner. The sun is shining, the mutated birds are chirping, the gnomes are thieving, and a car is being driven up to it despite the parking lot being a five minute walk away.
‘Peggy’ Schuyler watches from her spot at the counter as the car door opens. Out steps David in a white t-shirt with a green alien in a purple uniform on it. He’s also wearing blue denim and black converse.
Oh, the white t-shirt is stained with blood, David’s eyes are sagging, and there are cuts located on his cheeks and arms. I suppose that's probably important.
David enters the diner, accompanied by the rusty bell once again. In his right hand is a bottle of whatever cheap alcohol he could find at the local warehouse store (David still isn’t convinced it’s not straight up ethanol).
Despite ‘Peggy’ still staring at him, David ignores it. He enters the same booth as yesterday.
‘Peggy’ grabs a tall glass from behind the counter as well as the full coffee pot. She walks over to David who has started a go at the bottle of ‘alcohol but probably not’.
She sets the glass in front of him before pouring the coffee into the glass. Yes. Black coffee. Into a glass considered ‘large’ by some establishments.
“Hey Susan,” ‘Peggy’ calls.
“Yes, darling?” Susan asks, still leaning over her counter.
“Mind if I take a break?” ‘Peggy’ asks.
“No problem, sugar.”
Ms. Schuyler sits down across from David, who takes his bottle of ‘alcohol but probably not’ and pours it into the glass. It fills to the near-top.
‘Peggy’ raises an eyebrow.
With a sigh and a shrug, David takes a drink of pure black coffee with shitty cheap liquor.
The result is like smoking a pound of grass laced with LSD and acid.
Or something to that nature. Either way, it wakes David up immediately. His eyes start to bug out, glancing around the diner with new and empowered vision.
“Whoa…” David says.
“I feel like that was stupid,” Ms. Schuyler says.
“Probably,” he says.
A smile graces her lips.
“Hello David,” she says.
“Hello Angel,” he says.
The two stare at each other for a bit, neither losing eye contact.
“So then…what brings you to Gravity Falls?” Angel asks.
“A job. What brings you to Gravity Falls?” David asks back.
She glances towards the table, her hand covering most of her mouth.
“It’s the one place I knew you wouldn’t find me,” Angel whispers out, barely audible but to those nearby.
David is definitely nearby. He tries to hide the twitch of pain across his features by drinking the ungodly black coffee/cheap ‘alcohol’ combination once more.
“Wow!” David exclaims.
“Sorry. That sounded bad, but considering you’re the only person in this time frame who knows who I really am, I couldn’t risk going anywhere you would,” she says.
“If I knew you were trying to avoid me…” David says.
Angelica, Angel, whatever, releases a batch of breath.
“I didn’t run away because of you. You know that. Stop being stupid, please,” she says.
“Yeah, okay,” David says.
“Now then. What have you been up to?” Angelica asks.
David shakes his head, taking another gulp of the horrific combination he calls a beverage.
“I’ve fallen out with my dad, but fallen back into the Game. I’ve gotten a new gig as a ‘for hire’ again, this time for someone big. I’ve gotten into some shit, but nothing I haven’t gotten past. It’s just…no, it’s…it’s fine,” he says.
Angelica tilts her head to the right.
“David…” she says, somewhat impatiently.
“Well…it’s this new gig. It’ a good gig but it feels like I’m losing everybody in an attempt to finally forge my own path. I can afford to lose Dad—”
Something that Angelica snorts at.
“—but Uncle Rick, my sister, Lydia…all I have left are comrades. Well, Qrow and Argit, I guess, but they’re staying away right now for their own safety,” David finishes.
“You were always the kind of guy to let things fall as they might and adapt to what comes up. Not my kind of style, but that’s a product of my time,” Angel says.
“Yes, well, if I was born a woman pre-Revolution I’d probably also be as motivated and heartfelt about forward-moving-progress as you are.”
Angelica smiles, holding up her left hand, the pointer and middle fingers crossed.
“Work,” she says.
David does the same in return.
“Work.”
A few more moments pass, with David trying not to bug out on his horrid combination of a drink, all while keeping his eyes on the woman sitting across from him.
“So then…Angel…what’s a city girl doing out here in Gravity Falls?” he asks.
“I told you: to get away. I knew that anybody looking for me would try to avoid this place. Until now, it obviously worked. The barrier keeping the ‘weird’ contained also keeps out most magical energies, especially the tracking kind. I knew I was safe. I also knew it was only a matter of time before you showed up again to ask me.”
“Well?” David asks.
The two lock eyes.
“Well what?” Angel asks.
“You weren’t able to answer my question. Are you? After all this time? Are you finally satisfied?” David says.
Angelica lets a smirk show on her face, but her eyes just aren’t into it.
“You know how people like us are, David…” she says.
“Yeah. I suppose. I was just hoping you’d give me an excuse to stop everything. To give up and not have to deal with everything else again. But…how though? It’s been years. You can’t go back, and despite everything being taken from you, all the heartache and pain he put you and your sister through, not to mention what other secrets he was hiding in that closet he hid himself in…how? How can you still have a place in your heart for him?” David asks.
Angelica doesn’t answer. She just looks down at the table in front of them.
“I could ask the same of you. After all these years of me saying no. All these years of me holding true. All these years of me deciding to wait, to find a way home, to see my sisters again, to get those intelligent eyes of his back in my life…how? How can you find me years later, still hoping for a chance?”
The two of them share glances for a few moments, but it’s fairly fleeting. David takes another gulp of his shit-tier liquid while Angel just fiddles with her hands.
“Look at us. Two poor souls, wandering around forever, trying to find their way in life. It’s a fool’s dream,” David says.
“But who are we but fools? One out of her own time, trying to live on despite no hope. The other looking for their destiny, sacrificing whatever it takes to achieve it,” Angelica says.
“Not everything. Not everyone.”
“Give it time, David. Even the strongest of flames wilt away eventually.”
David shakes his head, the pain in his eyes causing Angelica’s heart to ache.
“I’m sorry, but…you know how it goes…”
The two refuse to lock eyes now, with Angelica opting to stare out the window.
“…we will never be satisfied,” they say in union.
With a sigh, David stands up. He takes one final gulp from his accursed drink before looking over at Angelica.
“Well Angel…at least now I know where you are. Maybe a few years down the line I’ll ask you again. But until then, I have a job to complete. It’s nice to see you again…my sweet…innocent, Angel,” he says.
Angelica opens her mouth, but doesn’t say anything.
After a bit, she closes her mouth and smiles. She nods up at David.
“Until we meet again, David. May you always be…”
She doesn’t finish it. She can’t. She knows. He won’t. She won’t. Imparting such a lie on him at this juncture is an insult.
David stares on at her impassive face. The tears start to form in the corner of his vision.
As she herself can feel the tears on her cheeks, David turns around. He doesn’t look back until he enters the illegally parked car. Even then, he never meets her eyes as he exits the area around the diner.
The farther he drives away, the more helpless he feels.
Huh. Maybe he’s more like Eliza than he thought.
“Yo David, what’s up?” Mercury’s voice says.
“Uh hey, Merc, I just got the newest job from the boss. Um…there…” David interrupts himself to let out a chuckle. “…must be some mistake.”
“What seems to be the problem?” Mercury asks.
“By the looks of things, it seems to me that he wants me to go to the Falls,” David says.
“Uh…yeah, that would be correct,” Mercury.
“No, you see, that has to be wrong. Not only are the Falls a no-no zone for anybody in the Game, but it’s also a place I am never stepping foot into,” David.
“Look, David, I know how much you hate that place, but the boss said—”
David speaks up, interrupting Mercury before he can finish his sentence.
“Not only that, but he wants me to break into the Pines lab and steal a dimensional power charge? It’s not only a suicide mission, it’s also fucking insane!”
“David, just relax. You’ve broken into worse and come out alive. Just do this one job, I swear you’ll never go back there again.”
There’s a pause in the call. David allows himself a few moments of calm.
“Promise?”
“Yes, David, I promise.”
“Alright.”
“There is one more thing though.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake…” David mutters to himself.
“After the fiasco of you getting arrested by the Council and…not getting the Crow’s Eye, Noxurus doesn't want you going on these missions alone. Not with somebody else as a guardian or an eye or anything, just to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
“Of course he does. What poor sap has he strapped me with?”
There’s another pause, this time on Mercury’s end.
“Mercury…” there’s a small notion of irritation seeping through David’s voice.
“I want you to know this wasn’t my call, okay?” Mercury asks.
“Who is it?”
“Dr. Animo.”
The line suddenly goes dead, leaving Mercury alone with another dial tone.
“He—hello? David? You there?”
Mercury allows a few seconds to pass before responding once again.
“Shit…”
Indeed.
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While most people would spend their time in a place they hate against their will completing the task they’re there in the place they hate as soon as possible…David is an outlier.
On one hand, he could stake out the Pines’ residence, stalking everybody who lives there (apparently a Mexican guy runs the joint now), planning every entrance and exit, and wondering how the fuck is he going to break into the Pines lab without serious damage.
On the other hand, he could leave that shitty part of the job to his temporary ally in Dr. Animo. The old, animal-loving bastard would enjoy being alone in a forest filled with strange creatures and weird occurrences. Hopefully he will, anyway. David didn’t really give him much choice.
Whilst Dr. Animo is busy doing whatever people like him do while staking out places, David has decided to get an early morning start on some breakfast. You see, despite hating the town with a passion matched maybe only by his disdain with Wuya, David would be a fool to deny that one of the best damn restaurants he’s ever eaten at just so happens to be within the town’s borders.
Greasy’s Diner.
It does not sound appetizing.
You would be wrong.
David enters, accompanied by the usual rusty ding of a two-decade old bell. He keeps his head low, avoiding the wandering eye of the matriarch and defacto owner of the place, currently kneeling over the counter, talking to another weary traveler.
How the hell you’d end up traveling through this place is a mystery, but hey, that’s kind of what this town’s known for: mysteries.
David sits down in a booth, pulling up the hood of his white hoodie with four blue crystals on the front. He glances around, waiting patiently for the waitress to approach.
It takes him a solid couple minutes before a young, black woman, probably a couple years older than him, approaches. She sets down a menu on the table with her left hand, leaving the filled coffee pot in her right.
“Welcome to Greasy’s Diner. Nice to see a new face rolling through town, one with apparently great taste,” she says.
David doesn’t look over, but cracks a smirk.
“Not exactly my first time through here, but it has been a while. Figure I’d kick-start my memory of how great this place’s food is,” he says.
The waitress lets out an obviously fake chuckle, probably to roll with the conversation or get me interested. Whatever.
“Can I get you started with a cup of coffee? Glass of orange juice maybe?” she asks.
David shakes his head.
“If it’s all the same with you, I’m gonna take a look at the menu, refresh my pallet on what I’ve missed,” he says.
He clasps the menu, opening it up randomly to a list of current specials.
“Well then. I’ll leave you to it,” she says, wandering away.
That brings a pause.
Still staring at the menu, trying not to lose his composure, David’s eyes wander around the page. Decisively not paying attention to any of the options, David just sits there, controlling his breath so as not to freak out.
That line.
‘I’ll leave you to it.’
Such a basic line for a waitress to leave on. Anybody could use it.
That’s not the problem.
The problem is how damn familiar it was. How she said it. The way she said it. It’s been haunting his mind for years. Memories of a lost soul, lost to even those who find something in the tiniest cracks. A person missing and unable to be found.
He found her.
The person he’s been looking for.
By the time David manages to maintain a steady breath, the waitress—she—returns.
“Anything come to mind?” she asks.
Now that he knows who it is, the clear remnants of a hacked-up New York accent is all he can hone in on.
“Um…yeah, a cup of coffee, black please,” David says. “And a number 5, scrambled with cheese, the side of hash browns, and the sausage…please.”
“Number 5, scrambled, cheese, browns, and sausage,” she mutters.
The scribbling of her pen on a notepad stops.
“That be all?” she asks.
“That’ll be fine, thank you,” David says.
She soon walks away.
Oh good, she doesn’t know. Or is suspicious. Or knows and is using her incredible acting skills.
Fuck, shit, god dammit.
Come to Gravity Falls, have a few laughs, steal a dimensional power charge, it’ll be fun, bring Dr. Amino, I’m sure he could find a gnome to dissect.
Yeah, globnar fuck yourself, Noxurus. One job in and it’s already not worth the price of admission.
David spends the next half hour in absolute agony. Between eating up his breakfast while trying not to choke under pressure, David has a pretty bad time. And this coming from the guy who can hold a tense conversation with that accursed skeleton while trying not to die.
Hell on Earth would be a fucking vacation compared to this.
Once the food is done and a fifth mug of coffee is drowned down, she hands him the check and a pen.
David glances down at it, watching her approach the one-eyed woman leaning over the counter.
Taking the chance, David takes out a solid fifty bucks, probably double what the actual amount on the receipt was. He sets it on the table before taking the pen and the receipt. He flips the piece of paper over, writing down a message on the blank white.
A simple message and a risky one. David’s probably getting arrogant here (oh jeez, what a shock), but he’s desperate. Desperate and scared. Desperate and scared and about to have a heart attack.
Once the message is written, David hides it under the fifty bucks. He keeps his hood in place, standing up and running out of the diner. He barely hears the rusted bell before collapsing towards a nearby bush and releasing whatever contents he just so happened to ingest.
He glances over, catching his eyes on a nearby payphone, hidden away from the diner. He might have like…three minutes, at most, before she notices the message and makes haste.
Through his troubled mind, he does manage to hone in on some rough breathing.
David looks up and sees a bear with three heads staring down at him. His look is more disappointed than angry. On his foot is whatever David just upchucked.
“Dude…not cool…” the bear says.
“Sorry Multi-Bear,” David says.
David doesn’t stay and chat, opting to hustle towards the payphone. He closes it shut, putting in the quarter and dialing the number.
Come on, come on…
Dial tone, dial tone…
“Hey kid—”
Before Qrow can get almost any words out, David proceeds to vomit out again, this time with words.
“Qrow I only have like two and a half minutes but I’m in Gravity Falls on a job and I was at Greasy’s Diner and I saw her. Yes, her, Angel. I saw her. She’s here. She’s probably going to chase after me in a bit but I’m losing my goddamn mind not telling anybody and I just puked out whatever I had to eat because I’m having a god damn panic attack and am probably going to pass out unless I breathe but I can’t because she’s fucking here man. Right here in the place I never wanted to visit ever again. What are the fucking odds right? She’s here. Here.”
David breathes in and out, trying not to pass out despite his forewarning.
“Well then,” Qrow says.
Qrow takes a few more moments to digest what was just told to him.
“I gotta hang up soon and deal with this shit, but I just thought you should know that I found her. Don’t tell anybody, obviously,” David says.
“Good luck kiddo. Seriously. Don’t go overboard. Don’t do anything rash…again. Just do what you came there to do and get the fuck out.”
“Thank you,” David says before hanging up the phone.
Having been reinvigorated and somewhat calmed down, David opens the door for the payphone, hightailing it across the diner's lawn, away from the diner itself and towards his car.
Why is the parking lot so far away?
-------------------------------------------------------
In the diner, the waitress finally approaches the table. She notices the fifty dollars, and her eyes widen. She pockets it in her apron. This reveals the note, which only leads to more confusion.
She lifts it up and reads it aloud.
“Are you finally satisfied?”
The receipt drops. Her jaw opens. Her hands to start to shake and her body starts shivering.
“Yo Schuyler, you alright?” one of the teenage boys—the black hoodied one hanging off the arm of the girl on her cell phone—asks.
“Um…” she whispers.
“Peggy…how about you take a break, alright? Come back in later if you feel it,” Susan—one-eyed lady leaning on the counter—says.
“Okay,” the waitress—‘Peggy’—says.
She rushes out of the diner, apron still on and fifty dollars still in her pocket. Her truck is parked on the other side of the building, so it takes her only a few moments to reach it.
------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Amino is focusing intently on the computer monitor in front of him. He barely recognizes the sounds of a car screeching outside.
He does notice, however, when the door to their temporary hideout of a wooden, abandoned shack is kicked open.
He looks up, noticing a sweating and heavily breathing David.
Amino merely raises an eyebrow.
“Hey Aloy…” David says.
“David…” Dr. Amino responds wearily.
“How’s…fuck me…” David says between breaths. “How’s the camera search going?”
“I’ve found some footage with the password to the lab. It’s apparently at a vending machine, one that neither the new owner, his wife, or his grandmother use. If you hit it at night, I see no issues,” Dr. Amino says.
“Apart from whatever they keep in their lab…”
David takes a couple moments of their silence to catch his breath. Kinda hard while tasting vomit, but hey, this is what happens when you freak out as badly as he did.
“How was your breakfast?”
“I wouldn’t know. I puked up most of it right after.”
Speaking of which...
Dr. Amino raises his eyebrow once more.
“And I’m assuming you won’t tell me why?” he asks.
“If you tell me that you knew Angelica was here, than maybe,” David says.
Amino’s eyes narrow. It takes him a few moments to collect himself before sighing.
“Of course. No, I didn’t. But it explains why Noxurus chose me to come with you,” he says.
“You’re a neutral party, so to speak. Wouldn’t know or care about my relationships. More intent on getting the job done than anything else. Also can’t hold a secret worth a damn. It makes sense. Fuck…”
David takes a few moments to relax himself further.
“I’m sorry, David. She has no way of knowing where we are, so maybe take some time and relax until tonight, alright?”
David looks over at Dr. Amino. For a moment, the animal-crazed scientist actually seems fairly fatherly.
Huh. Weird thought, but okay.
“Yeah…yeah, alright. Thanks Aloy. Just keep on watching the footage. If something odd comes up or more definitive, let me know when I wake up.”
“Will do,” Dr. Amino says.
------------------------------------------------------------
It’s night. The moon is shining down on the decrepit building with its title missing an S.
Mystery Hack.
Irony. Or a joke. I dunno, sometimes this kind of thing is pre-planned, and other times Fate is just an asshole.
David approaches the backdoor of the building. Inside, he sees a dining room/kitchen, not too far away from his target.
Having prepared for the worst, David grabs a downrod he nicked from the local hardware store. Seriously, a downrod. Like for ceiling fans and shit. Cheaper and just as hard as a pipe.
He lifts it up and takes a downswing on the doorknob. It makes a noise.
He tries it a couple times before the knob is bent, revealing the hole in the door.
David shoves the rod into the hole in the door, sending metal and screws onto the floor inside. When the door opens up from there, David enters, sending the downrod to the ground outside.
He looks around the lifeless kitchen before walking into the adjacent hallway.
There it is. The vending machine.
And a fat guy waiting in a t-shirt and sweatpants.
And a fez.
Da fuck?
“I guess Peggy was right,” the fat guy says.
Shit, this must be the new owner.
“Really? She mention somebody coming to invade your home and steal something?” David asks, his hand floating over the gun in his left pocket
“Well…not like that, but she mentioned a hoodlum of some sort wanting to enter the Mystery Shack after hours,” the fat guy says.
Of course she did. Even after all these years she still treats him like he needs protecting.
David takes out his pistol, throwing it at the fat guy’s face. It hits him square in the forehead. By the time he goes to grab the now damaged part of his dome, David sends the whole head right into the vending machine. The thud of the head meeting metal causes the fat guy to collapse.
Gripping his pistol once more, David waits a minute or so for anybody to come after him.
Nothing.
Good.
“Sorry big man, but I can’t be having you stop me or anything,” he says.
David sets the man against the wall to the right of the vending machine, his head slumping slightly down. At this point, he’s just sleeping peacefully.
With a nod, David approaches the machine itself. He presses a few buttons on it before a click resonates in his ears.
The vending machine sides to the left, revealing an elevator illuminated in a blue light.
After a final sigh, David enters the elevator. The vending machine closes in front of him, leaving him alone in a new, unknown area. Far from the first time, farther from the last.
The elevator descends underground, going further and further away from the surface.
Eventually, and with a ding, the elevator stops. The door opens, revealing a hallway filled with lasers littered up and down from ceiling to floor, left and right from wall to wall, and diagonal from corner to corner. On the tops of the walls are camera-guns, swiveling around trying to catch the slightest movement.
David merely droops, letting another belabored sigh out.
“Yeah, that’s probably par for the course,” he says.
---------------------------------------------------------
It’s a new day for Greasy’s Diner. The sun is shining, the mutated birds are chirping, the gnomes are thieving, and a car is being driven up to it despite the parking lot being a five minute walk away.
‘Peggy’ Schuyler watches from her spot at the counter as the car door opens. Out steps David in a white t-shirt with a green alien in a purple uniform on it. He’s also wearing blue denim and black converse.
Oh, the white t-shirt is stained with blood, David’s eyes are sagging, and there are cuts located on his cheeks and arms. I suppose that's probably important.
David enters the diner, accompanied by the rusty bell once again. In his right hand is a bottle of whatever cheap alcohol he could find at the local warehouse store (David still isn’t convinced it’s not straight up ethanol).
Despite ‘Peggy’ still staring at him, David ignores it. He enters the same booth as yesterday.
‘Peggy’ grabs a tall glass from behind the counter as well as the full coffee pot. She walks over to David who has started a go at the bottle of ‘alcohol but probably not’.
She sets the glass in front of him before pouring the coffee into the glass. Yes. Black coffee. Into a glass considered ‘large’ by some establishments.
“Hey Susan,” ‘Peggy’ calls.
“Yes, darling?” Susan asks, still leaning over her counter.
“Mind if I take a break?” ‘Peggy’ asks.
“No problem, sugar.”
Ms. Schuyler sits down across from David, who takes his bottle of ‘alcohol but probably not’ and pours it into the glass. It fills to the near-top.
‘Peggy’ raises an eyebrow.
With a sigh and a shrug, David takes a drink of pure black coffee with shitty cheap liquor.
The result is like smoking a pound of grass laced with LSD and acid.
Or something to that nature. Either way, it wakes David up immediately. His eyes start to bug out, glancing around the diner with new and empowered vision.
“Whoa…” David says.
“I feel like that was stupid,” Ms. Schuyler says.
“Probably,” he says.
A smile graces her lips.
“Hello David,” she says.
“Hello Angel,” he says.
The two stare at each other for a bit, neither losing eye contact.
“So then…what brings you to Gravity Falls?” Angel asks.
“A job. What brings you to Gravity Falls?” David asks back.
She glances towards the table, her hand covering most of her mouth.
“It’s the one place I knew you wouldn’t find me,” Angel whispers out, barely audible but to those nearby.
David is definitely nearby. He tries to hide the twitch of pain across his features by drinking the ungodly black coffee/cheap ‘alcohol’ combination once more.
“Wow!” David exclaims.
“Sorry. That sounded bad, but considering you’re the only person in this time frame who knows who I really am, I couldn’t risk going anywhere you would,” she says.
“If I knew you were trying to avoid me…” David says.
Angelica, Angel, whatever, releases a batch of breath.
“I didn’t run away because of you. You know that. Stop being stupid, please,” she says.
“Yeah, okay,” David says.
“Now then. What have you been up to?” Angelica asks.
David shakes his head, taking another gulp of the horrific combination he calls a beverage.
“I’ve fallen out with my dad, but fallen back into the Game. I’ve gotten a new gig as a ‘for hire’ again, this time for someone big. I’ve gotten into some shit, but nothing I haven’t gotten past. It’s just…no, it’s…it’s fine,” he says.
Angelica tilts her head to the right.
“David…” she says, somewhat impatiently.
“Well…it’s this new gig. It’ a good gig but it feels like I’m losing everybody in an attempt to finally forge my own path. I can afford to lose Dad—”
Something that Angelica snorts at.
“—but Uncle Rick, my sister, Lydia…all I have left are comrades. Well, Qrow and Argit, I guess, but they’re staying away right now for their own safety,” David finishes.
“You were always the kind of guy to let things fall as they might and adapt to what comes up. Not my kind of style, but that’s a product of my time,” Angel says.
“Yes, well, if I was born a woman pre-Revolution I’d probably also be as motivated and heartfelt about forward-moving-progress as you are.”
Angelica smiles, holding up her left hand, the pointer and middle fingers crossed.
“Work,” she says.
David does the same in return.
“Work.”
A few more moments pass, with David trying not to bug out on his horrid combination of a drink, all while keeping his eyes on the woman sitting across from him.
“So then…Angel…what’s a city girl doing out here in Gravity Falls?” he asks.
“I told you: to get away. I knew that anybody looking for me would try to avoid this place. Until now, it obviously worked. The barrier keeping the ‘weird’ contained also keeps out most magical energies, especially the tracking kind. I knew I was safe. I also knew it was only a matter of time before you showed up again to ask me.”
“Well?” David asks.
The two lock eyes.
“Well what?” Angel asks.
“You weren’t able to answer my question. Are you? After all this time? Are you finally satisfied?” David says.
Angelica lets a smirk show on her face, but her eyes just aren’t into it.
“You know how people like us are, David…” she says.
“Yeah. I suppose. I was just hoping you’d give me an excuse to stop everything. To give up and not have to deal with everything else again. But…how though? It’s been years. You can’t go back, and despite everything being taken from you, all the heartache and pain he put you and your sister through, not to mention what other secrets he was hiding in that closet he hid himself in…how? How can you still have a place in your heart for him?” David asks.
Angelica doesn’t answer. She just looks down at the table in front of them.
“I could ask the same of you. After all these years of me saying no. All these years of me holding true. All these years of me deciding to wait, to find a way home, to see my sisters again, to get those intelligent eyes of his back in my life…how? How can you find me years later, still hoping for a chance?”
The two of them share glances for a few moments, but it’s fairly fleeting. David takes another gulp of his shit-tier liquid while Angel just fiddles with her hands.
“Look at us. Two poor souls, wandering around forever, trying to find their way in life. It’s a fool’s dream,” David says.
“But who are we but fools? One out of her own time, trying to live on despite no hope. The other looking for their destiny, sacrificing whatever it takes to achieve it,” Angelica says.
“Not everything. Not everyone.”
“Give it time, David. Even the strongest of flames wilt away eventually.”
David shakes his head, the pain in his eyes causing Angelica’s heart to ache.
“I’m sorry, but…you know how it goes…”
The two refuse to lock eyes now, with Angelica opting to stare out the window.
“…we will never be satisfied,” they say in union.
With a sigh, David stands up. He takes one final gulp from his accursed drink before looking over at Angelica.
“Well Angel…at least now I know where you are. Maybe a few years down the line I’ll ask you again. But until then, I have a job to complete. It’s nice to see you again…my sweet…innocent, Angel,” he says.
Angelica opens her mouth, but doesn’t say anything.
After a bit, she closes her mouth and smiles. She nods up at David.
“Until we meet again, David. May you always be…”
She doesn’t finish it. She can’t. She knows. He won’t. She won’t. Imparting such a lie on him at this juncture is an insult.
David stares on at her impassive face. The tears start to form in the corner of his vision.
As she herself can feel the tears on her cheeks, David turns around. He doesn’t look back until he enters the illegally parked car. Even then, he never meets her eyes as he exits the area around the diner.
The farther he drives away, the more helpless he feels.
Huh. Maybe he’s more like Eliza than he thought.
