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"Did you find any of yours?"
"Not a single soul. You?" Sarah Fortune asks, staring at the magic trickster popularly known as Twisted Fate, and known for many around Bilgewater as Malcolm Graves's smartest part.
"Nope, neither a card nor a hat" the man answers, calm and chilling in the small couch he's currently lying on, probably a lot less worried about the situation than he should be.
And what situation is that, you may be wondering? Nothing more and nothing less than... No one knows what's happening.
That's a lie... Half a lie at least. What's happening? There are multiple universes mixed with theirs at the moment, and that means clones, or something close to it.
Everyone that found one (or ten!) of their clones had related that it is a case of similarities; it's the same soul, but not the same flesh, nor the same history, and sometimes not even the same morals. And this last characteristic is probably the reason the trio of equally dubious morals (plus the scary smiling woman) hazards are currently trying to find their own clones, but to no avail.
"Maybe we don'-"
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M A ROBOT ?"
And there's Malcolm Graves, also known as Twisted Fate's strongest part, giving one of his characteristic graceful entrances of kicking open the door to Sarah's captain cabin.
"You are not a robot. An Alternative You is a robot. There's a big difference" Fate hears the happy answer coming from behind his partner, who's busy settling down his human sized gun on top of the table.
"How many times do I need to say -"
"Go catch some abissal dwellers, why don't you? I ain't the one who's been sitting on my ass this whole day" Graves grunts, grumpy to the core, griping Fate's legs rather roughly and raising them so he could sit in the couch, elongating a grunt followed by his hand instantly going to the top of his eyes, his other dropping Fate's legs over his lap.
T.F. decides to let this one go, since Graves is obviously done with the world at the moment. Plus, Graves has one hand unconsciously caressing Fate's covered ankle, so it's a win win situation anyway.
"What happened?" Sarah asks, staring at the smiling woman still in her feet.
"We walked a bit, he got into some fights with the locals, and I found Malcolm Graves's robot version near the docks of slaughter. It disappeared through a portal of sorts- "
"A portal, you mean, in the sense of..." The captain interrupts, head indicating the card mage, who stretched his arm a bit and is nonchalantly caressing Graves's gloved hand.
"No, more in the hextech sense. Malcolm Graves is upset for some reason since he knew about it, approximately a minute and a half ago" the ascetic warrior announces, her voice always edging both comical and disturbing.
"Yeah, we heard" T.F. answers, not bothering with looking at her. Small politeness won't make her like him anyway, and he isn't in the mood to try to decipher her grins. "Why you bothered anyway? It's not even that far fetched. The pilties and the zaunites have be-
"I'm not bothered at being a robot. I'm bothered cuz there's no way in bloody hell I'd want to be a robot. I'd rather die" the outlaw answers, still grumpy "It's not even different moralities at this point"
"Well, while I am a bit curious about the... intensity of this dislike, I reckon I can sympathize" Sarah says, stretching her arms and popping some joints in the process "what we do?"
"What do you mean?"
"We try to find machinery Graves or what?" She explains, face directed to Graves but eyes locked in on Nilah.
"No, there's no need. He's not any danger to us, and you can't get anything out of him... Other than metal" the smiling woman says, an almost honest laugh in her voice.
"What are we looking for, anyway?" T.F. gives voice to the doubt of the three, trying to sit. Graves makes an annoyed sound, holding his knees to prevent him from getting up. He even has the nerve to smirk, and Fate doesn't need to see his eyes to know it's a challenge
"Grumpy bastard" Fate curses, softly, trying to snatch his legs, but to no avail. "Anyway, what I mean is, aside from Missy Fortune here, we don't really care about reputation, and I don't think any Alternative Us would want to give us trouble "
"Yeah, say that again when Destiny's alternative version tries to kiss ya" Graves mumbles in his corner of the couch, returning to massaging Fate's ankle.
"Well, aside from that part, I guess" T.F. shrugs, ignoring the memory of sickness in his stomach at every almost close enough shot back when Graves tried to shot his head off. "I lost you for a loooong time, right under your nose may I add. It shouldn't be that difficult to lose your counterparts. Maybe they ain't even in that part of history yet"
"Funny how neither of you consider that maybe you haven't met each other in another universes" Sarah jumps to add.
Both men stare at her, equal expressions of comical confusion in their faces, as if that alternative has never even crossed their minds. Sarah rolls her eyes, snorting at their antics
"Anyway, Fate's being a bit positive there, but still, you're right. Aside from Graves's revenger urges, why are we looking for ourselves anyway? I'm sure my O.S. are smart enough to lay low until they get back to their universes."
"O.S.?"
"My Other Self-
"It's mostly because I don't trust you... And I don't have anything to do at the moment" Nilah interrupts, sitting cross legged in the wooden floor, her strange sword and... Circular vessel? In her lap.
"You don't trust us yet here you are" T.F. mocks, picking one card from his pockets to roll over his fingers.
"Correction, I don't trust you , Tobias Felix. About the others is more of a small doubt"
"Don't call m-!"
"Don't even try. Trust me, I lost an entire evenin' tryin' once" Graves interrupts, torso leaning to the side so he could cover the mage's mouth "Why don't you trust my partner in this situation, anyway? I know you dislike him, but distrus-"
"You talk like either one of you three deserves actual trust outside of your circle... But what I speak of is there's demons in the other universes, and I don't trust Tobias Felix to not have accepted one of them" she explains, ignoring the mage's displeased face.
"Excuse me! I know enough of demons to not accept their deals, we river folk have lived near the King of the River for centuries !" T.F. growls, angrier than he'd normally be
"For once I agree with you. You and your people know enough to not interact with demons. Who knows if you're superstitious enough in another world, though? The ambition sure is-
"Hey now ma'am, there's no need to be talkin' bad 'bout my partner for no reason, I know him better than ya, and I don't think he'd be stupid enough to do that" Graves barks, annoyed.
"Okay, I won't continue, but my point stands. Tobias Felix has the knowledge and the magic to do something dumb." She ends, cheerfully.
"So... We look for T.F.'s poker club?" Sarah asks, cutting the tense atmosphere.
"Looks like that, yeah. You comin', hotshot?" T.F pouts, slapping Graves's hand away a few times and getting to his feet. Graves barely moves just enough to completely lie in the now empty space.
"Graves is staying there? And here I thought we'd have an all night party together" Sarah comments, checking her hand cannons.
"I reckon he is. I'll give the other Graves's probably hunting my ass his regards" T.F. jokes, crossing the cabin and opening the door.
**************
Chh-chunk
It's pure instinct that saves T.F., his body shooting back in the fraction of a second before the place he had been on explodes with wood chips and parts of fish from some barrel.
The card in his hand shines with its red glow, illuminating the dark alley and reveling Graves, mere seven feet away, smoke escaping Destiny's barrels.
The shock of the situation is only worsened by the appearance, undistinguishly Graves, even with the different beard cut and the formal attire - tuxedo, red tie, black pants, that, yeah, T.F. isn't going to lie, makes him fuming hot. Destiny is undistinguishly Graves as well, aiming straight for his torso, and the telltale sound of reloading shells bring T.F. back to reality.
Well, there's burning tides all over again.
"Is the gun really necessary? I thought we were friends?" He begins, looking for an opening to distract this Graves.
For some reason his voice is enough, bringing a heavy frown over the gunman's face.
"T.F.?"
Destiny is lowered a millimeter of an inch, and T.F. uses the man's low guard to throw a card, faster than a snake's lunge. Red light explodes all over the alley, illuminating Tuxedo Graves's confused face, and giving the mage enough time to make his escape.
It's Graves, so he doesn't really nurtures any hope of losing him for long. The Bearded Lady knows how determined a Graves can be.
So, of course, he sets into the path to his Graves.
Thankfully the 'walk' is short lived, and in a few minutes he's jumping into Miss Fortune's ship and crossing the door to her cabin.
"What's all the rush for?" T.F. almost jumps out of his skin, but it's only his partner, still lying into that damned couch with an arm covering his eyes. T.F doesn't answer, busy with recovering his breath.
"Tobias? What happened?" Graves asks after a minute, raising his arm and instantly going to his feet as soon as he looked at the mage.
T.F. expected him to begin asking questions along the lines of what the hell ’s he running from, or how many are behind him, but Graves doesn't do any of it.
No, his partner shoots to his feet and rushes like a freight train, throwing T.F. aside as he dashes forward and crashes against something- no, someone. T.F. drops into the ground just in time to see the two behemoths hitting each other, Graves kicking away a big ass gun and... the other Graves snarling his teeth and sending a solid right hook into his Graves's face.
Sweet fucking Tahmy, that's confusing . But Tuxedo Graves's Destiny has the safety on, so that's promising.
"MALCOLM GRAVES" T.F shouts, successfully catching both of their attention for a total of thirty seconds before Graves uses the opportunity to make a surprise kick into the other's shin, starting the fight all over again.
" Gimme patience " Fate murmurs, picking up a card and channeling magic until it shines like a golden kraken. His Graves sees the light in the corner of his eyes, jumping back faster than people would consider possible for such a large man, but his counterpart is not so lucky, and the card hits him straight into the middle of his chest, sending him flying into a wall.
Fate almost feels bad at seeing him fall face first into the ground, thanks to the stun effect incapacitating him from stopping the fall, but well, he is the one who started the chase anyway.
Graves is staring at his snarling other version, cursing under his breath as he tries to put his broken nose (how many times has he broken it?) back in place. "Bastard knows how to punch, I'll give 'im that"
"Well, it's you, what ya expected anyway?" Almost as strange as Destiny having its secure on, is the way Tuxedo Graves's snarl dissolves into another frown when he hears Fate's voice. "Check Destiny over there, and pick up the ropes, Sarah has some under her table. My gold card ain't gonna hold for long"
"Sure thing, your highness" Graves mocks, turning his back to do said things. Fate sighs, long and suffering, before slowly approaching his partner's alternative self. He doesn't show any startling suggestion of aggressiveness; his face almost looks like it gets softer the closer he is.
"You-
A hand grips him by the shoulder, yanking him away with enough force to send him flying back. Thankfully Graves is careful enough to not let that happen.
"What the hell yer doin'?" Graves snarls, almost angry, though anyone who doesn't know him would think that he is absolutely furious. "I don't need Destiny to cause damage, 'specially to a scrawny ass like ya, and you know it-
"Pardon me, I can live through a fell hits, and he's still stunned " Fate says, shooing Graves hand away and sending Luck a prayer for patience. "Plus,I don't think he wants to kill me at the moment. Destiny has the safety on"
"And?" Graves asks, eyebrow raised.
"And I know for personal experience that ya'd never chase someone with safety on. Not someone ya'd want dead, 'least" He explains, pointing at said gun now in Graves's other hand "Also, he's not snarlin' all angry 'n ugly at me"
"He was chasin' you!" Graves adds, still searching for the possible danger.
"Well... I reckon that's something y'all love to do”
“Can you two stop talkin' like I ain't here?" The man of the moment asks, visibly more controlled than before, making the other two startle out of their argument.
" He's still stunned you said" Graves curses in a low voice, pointing Not His Destiny at Tuxedo Graves, body emanating pure aggression.
"Hello there, I'm assuming you're Malcolm Graves?" Fate starts, much more friendly than his partner.
"Assumed right. Can I get up now?" Not-Malcolm-Graves asks, trying to get to his feet.
"Not so fast" Graves threatens, aiming Destiny and getting the safety off with a loud click. "Why ya chasin' my partner?"
"I wasn't- Simply put, Tobias here is the only familiar face I've seen since I got here. That one shot was by instinct, my bad" the formal man explains, not particularly moved by the gun aimed at his face. "Can I get up now?"
"What 'bout yer TF? Yer not chasin' 'im then?" Graves asks, shrugging at Fate's impatient face.
"Why would I chase 'im?" Is the answer, genuine doubt in his voice that finally convinces the cartomancer.
"Nothin'. You can get up now- slowly 'cuz my partner here is a damned trigger-happy." Fate says, at last, poking Graves to move the gun away a little.
"The Locker happened here too, I assume?"
"Wrong thing to say" Fate singsongs at the same time Destiny returns to it's former place, aimed for the brain. "Calm down, Malcolm- yes. You two made up yet?"
"If you're wonderin' if I want to kill ya, the answer is no" Tuxedo Graves says, getting impatient.
"Well, bad for ya, that's not what he asked" Graves growls, equally impatient.
"In that case, yes, we did make up. I barely chased 'im, thought the bastard was dead for most of the time" he says, getting up in front of the shotgun like the dumbass Graves are all doomed to be when they reach a certain level of impatience.
"Don't" Fate sighs to his own Graves, a hand in front of Destiny "He tries anythin', shoot, but lets try usin' my methods first, a'ight?"
Graves grunts, obviously not totally on board with it, but before he can say anything Sarah Fortune enters the cabin, canon pistols in hand and a curious expression towards the additional person.
"Looks like TF did find himself a piece of heaven here" she jokes, lowering the pistols when no signal of aggression is shown. "Anyone cares enough to explain why the Graves are tryin' to kill each other?"
"Tuxedo Graves was chasin' me, Malcolm is a hypocrite and is holdin' a grudge" Fate explains, his friendly voice not matching the cold calculation in his eyes as he watches the other Graves analyze the cabin.
"You act like it's a normal behavior" Graves grunts beside him, finally depositing the gun in the table beside his own Destiny and sitting on the couch where he'd been sleeping.
"And it's not?" Fate mocks, sitting beside the outlaw and receiving an exaggerated roll of eyes "Well, I'll be calling the other you Graves, to avoid confusion. Do you remember how you ended up here?"
"No, I just woke here. Don't even remember sleepin' 'fore that" Graves says, moving around the cabin as if he had never seen the interior of a boat. "Y'all live inside this ships?"
"No- well, me and Malcolm don't, at least. Fortune does, she's the captain" Fate explains, shuffling a deck of shining cards that he keeps hidden between the boards of the captain's table "We role up here and there. This days we've been sleepin' here, though. Some bastard exploded our humble house"
"You callin' that bunch of broken ships a 'humble house' again and I'll make off with ya fancy hat" Malcolm rasps, hitting the side of said hat for better effect.
"You wouldn't dare -
"I'm still tryin' to understand why I'm havin' to deal with your homeless asses, so don't go pushin' your luck" Sarah interrupts, throwing a wood cup at Malcolm. "Do we have any idea when this Graves is gettin' back?"
"Maybe? I've heard a bunch of people say their clones had been transported back in one or two days" Fate says, now placing his deck over the table and starting to pick up the cards "how long you've been here?"
"Some hours, I don't know the specifics, but I'm pretty sure it's been more than ten hours. Why's this city's layout so weird?" Graves continues with one of his own questions, now watching the outside through the window.
"Are we really goin' along with this question playin'?" Malcolm asks, watching Fate and the weird symbols in his cards.
"Not like it'll give us anything bad. City's been growing by shipwrecks and wood bridges, it's a surprise it's not stranger. Why ar-
"How's your TF?" Fate asks in a strange tone, interrupting Sarah. Malcolm has the slightest suggestion of a clue that he's weird out by the figure in his blue card, the eye and the person inside it pink and twisted.
"Same as you. Doing his card tricks and caring far to much for his hat" Graves answers, nonchalantly. If he even noticed Fate's doubt, he sure hide it well. "Y'all ever fought against demons here? This place reeks like one"
"That might be the stripped sea monsters, Bilgewater's speciality. We're near the blood docks. How you know about demon's reek? Ever fought one?" Fate continues, searching for whatever answer he wants.
"Quite some, my city's floodin' with 'em. T.F. would now more 'bout it, though" that brings a frown to Fate's face.
"Why?"
"He's been fighting them for longer than I... and he searches for weak spots, that sorta thing. I just reload Destiny and shoot until they die. I don't know if he'll appear here or not, though" Graves finishes with a curse under his breath.
"What was that?"
"Oh, nothing important, just remembered I left my door open" Graves answers, seemingly having enough of looking out of the window.
"Found what you was lookin' for?" Sarah asks, finally deciding to sit in her chair.
"Guess so. Y'all sure you never fought demons h-
Graves is interrupted by a timpani shattering sound, somewhere in the other side of the island, followed by a torrent of air that makes all the ships move and creak.
"That's normal 'round here too?" Graves breaks the silence, going back to stare out of the window.
"That I'm not sure. You boys stay here, I'll see how's my crew down there" Sarah informs, already passing the door. It closes with a loud click, leaving the three men in a tense silence.
"So, what's the deal with the tuxedo?"
"Really, Malcolm? Out of everything you could ask?"
"Oh, you're gonna lie and say ya ain't even a bit curious?"
"Of course I am! But that's not the objective here!
"Oh, since when we have an objective here? I thought we was-
A flush of wind comes through the window, stronger than before, its sound masquerading the one of cards moving against each other. In the next blink of an eye, a humanoid figure materializes right next to Graves, one of its hands holding the brim of a bone white hat.
The effect is immediate: Malcolm Graves lunges for their gun, each of them moving at opposite sides of the room to block their own partners, but just one of the card masters canalize magic into his card, the other gazing curiously at the scene, its pink eyes shining like blood.
"Calm the fuck down!" Graves snarls, his calm manner all past the window.
“Oh, you're one to talk! Get your gun out of my face and I may consider that!” Malcolm rasps, his calm manner out of the window as well.
“Wait a minute, that's me?” Fate asks in a incredulous voice, lowering his blue card and taking a step ahead. Or trying to, since Malcolm steps to the side to prevent him from doing it at the last minute.
“That's one Malcolm more than what I was expecting to find here… and one me more, may I add” the figure says in a windy voice, disturbing and familiar at the same time. Fate's stomach twists a little when he realizes the lack of mouth in its face.
“ That's how you knew ‘bout demon's reek, you son of a anchor-licker bitch!” Malcolm shouts, his dubious humor triggered.
“Oh, good evening Missy Fortune” the eldritch creature says with all the calm of the world, a bizarre smile tearing the white flesh of its mouthless face in two.
“Why’s a demon in my cabin?”
“That smiling woman be damned, Tobias ain't stupid to deal with demons, I am!” Malcolm laughes, his dubious humor getting more and more triggered as the seconds passes by.
“Malcolm Graves is a monster fucker in every universe, I reckon” Fate sighs, putting his card in his sleeve. “Tell me, how the hell did the Locker happened in ya universe?”