Chapter Text
Branzy was so bored. So comically bored. It was a slow day in the restaurant, and on top of that there were like five other waiters. Why none of them were cut Branzy had no idea, well he actually did have an idea, it was called his manager being on a power trip.
Most of his coworkers didn’t care, but Branzy did. He hated his dumb job that he was probably going to be stuck in for the rest of his life.
Just then the hostess told him that a table had been sat in his section. At least there was something to do.
Branzy scanned his section and couldn’t help himself from lighting up a bit. Some of his preferred “regulars” were sitting at there usual table. Branzy hesitated to call them regulars since it was two men who liked to have their business meetings at the old restaurant.
Branzy liked them because one; they were just demanding enough that they weren’t boring but not enough that they were annoying, two; one of them tipped extremely well, the other one didn’t but oh well, and three; the business they were discussing, definitely wasn’t legal.
Or well, it probably was but only through a loophole with a pay wall.
Either way, it was fun to watch. Branzy wasn’t dumb enough to listen in on two very rich men’s potentially illegal conversations, but it was still fun to watch.
“Hello gentlemen! What can I get you tonight, Branzy mainly talked to the one who tipped well, that’s a luxury he had bought a while ago.
He was wearing a mask and sunglasses so you couldn’t see his face, but they weren’t cheap sunglasses, they were luxury. Old money luxury. The stuff that didn’t have obnoxious logos plastered all across it. They probably cost more then Branzys rent, same with the mask.
The only design on the black mask was a little jester logo on the side.
“Hmmmmm I don’t really know. I think you know my taste by now Branzy, surprise me.”
I’ll have a sweetberry wine and the 16 oz pork chop. The other man said.
Of course.
Branzy went to punch in the orders. He did know Mr. Pierce’s taste by now. Something meaty, and bloody, and water. He’s also learned that they both like their drinks and meals delivered at the same time.
Branzy carried the dishes on the big plate effortlessly with one hand setting them down in front of the men with a little flourish.
“One ribeye steak on the bone, rare. And a water.” Branzy explained to his masked regular.
“Hmmm nice. Been a while since I’ve had a steak.”
Branzy pored out the wine into the other man’s glass. Branzy thought it was a particularly stupid idea to drink alcohol at this kind of meeting but Branzy wasn’t going to judge.
Branzy then slipped away to his favorite spot, obviously out of hearing distance but still got a good view of the meeting.
Branzy was fairly confident Mr. Pierce had figured out what he was doing but he didn’t seem to particularly care.
After a few hours the two men left. As usual one man left no tip. Branzy went to look at the tip he got from Pierce and… he was used to big tips from the guy but wasn’t expecting a 300% tip.
Even after having to tip pool that was going to make him a ton of money. Good because he currently didn’t have enough money to pay his rent that month.
Branzy cleaned up the table and clocked out for the night.
Heading out around the building, into the bizarre, winding alleyway behind the restaurant, to get the parking lot, and his bike.
Walking down the alley he saw to guys arguing over something, who wore masks looking suspiciously like Mr. Pierce. Usually he’d be concerned about seeing masked people in the alley on a random Thursday with no event nearby, but the two guys weren’t paying the slightest attention to him when he walked by, so he disregarded it.
When he rounded a couple of corners though… he suddenly wished he didn’t.
The scene displayed out in front of him looked like something out of a horror movie.
He saw Pierce, looking directly at him, mask bloodied holding a bloodied knife. With the limp lifeless body of the guy he was having dinner with moments before, laying mangled to the side.
Most people would run away and scream in this situation, Branzy is not most people.
He looked away from the body on the ground looking at Pierce, who was twisting the knife around in his hand. He was waiting for him to run. However Branzy had already determined that would be a terrible course of action.
Branzy’s face was pulled into a line, he was calculating how to get out of this situation alive. Eventually, he landed on simply asking.
“So… don’t suppose there’s anyway I can get out of this situation? Alive preferably.”
Silence hung in the air when he asked the question, before Pierce started laughing in a way that indicated disbelief.
“Well with that answer, probably.”
Branzy felt a incredibly tiny sense of relief, but he knew better then to think for a second he was out of the death zone. Pierce, who Branzy realized probably wasn’t his actual name, started creeping closer spinning the knife in his hands.
Branzy forced his feet to stay planted in the ground.
“Hmmmm so who exactly am I talking to Mr. Branzy Craft? I already checked and you don’t have any connection to the police or my associates. Pierce said the last word with a bit of a sting which let Branzy know he ment the mob.
“If you checked you already know.” Branzy was trying to keep the fear out of his voice, because clearly his lack of reaction to the dead was keeping him among the living.
Pierce laughed in response. “A medic student who got kicked out of ticker academy for illegal possession of a firearm.”
Branzy winced slightly, remembering that stupid random dorm inspection that ruined his life.
“But that’s not what I want to know. What I want to know is…” the man grabbed Branzys chin and forced him to look at the body. “Why you didn’t react to that.”
Branzy looked over the body, it was sliced up pretty dramatically. It wasn’t a quick death. Or it wasn’t going to be. Branzy felt a incredibly awkward in this situation but…
“He’s still alive, is that on purpose?”
Pierce looked over a noticed the shallow breaths the man still barely heaved, and threw his knife into his eye socket. As if there wasn’t enough blood already. He walked over, releasing Branzy, before retrieving his knife and stabbed it through the guys skull a couple more times for good measure.
Branzy just looked, dead body’s were something he was very familiar with, though it’s been a while.
“I always forget to double check, thank you. Anyway…” Pierce turned back towards Branzy. “Answer my question.”
“My dad was a doctor and he performed… less then legal surgery’s if you know what I mean. Sometimes he would drag me along.”
It wasn’t the complete truth but it was most of it.
“Drag you along huh? Does that mean you know how to perform the surgery’s and treatments yourself?”
Branzy knew were this was going. He didn’t like it. He didn’t like the idea of being dead more.
“Yes... I know almost all of them by heart.”
“Well isn’t that useful?”
Yup. It went exactly the way he thought it was going to.
Suddenly her heard footsteps approaching, two sets.
The two men he passed earlier appeared rounding the corner. They promptly froze seeing Branzy, who realized a while ago they were ment to stop someone from rounding the corner.
“Ah, there you two are. What exactly am I paying you for again?”
One of them stuttered out an excuse the other one stayed silent until;
“Branzy?”
“Rek?” Branzy recognized his old colleague roommates voice. He knew Rek was doing something illegal, he didn’t guess mafia right off the bat though.
Rek pulled his mask down to reveal the his face, which was certainly twisted in an expression that can only be described as “I I’m no sorry I fucked up so bad.”
“Clown-“ Rek started.
“I’m don’t really care what led to your old roommate into this situation, and I’m not planning on killing him.” Pierce- Clown said.
Branzy felt both relieved that he probably wasn’t going to get killed tonight and worried knowing why he probably wasn’t going to killed tonight.
“How good of a doctor is he Rek?” Clown asked
Rek looked at Branzy with a pinch of sympathy and relief on his face.
“He’s one of the best I know! Fixed me up in college once, didn’t ask questions or report the bullet holes!” Rek smiled.
Rek had payed for the entirety of rent for the following two semester’s and Branzy had just been fired. No he didn’t ask questions.
“Ah good, good!” Clown responded before putting his hand, which somehow was now clean of blood, on Branzys shoulder.
“Let’s go take a walk shall we?” It was phrased like a question. It most definitely wasn’t one.
Clown started to push him along and Branzy saw Rek mouthing “sorry.” Giving him another sympathetic smile.
Clown lead him out of the ally and into a different one, with a mini limousine parked in it. Clown opened the door and motioned Branzy to get inside. Branzy obeyed, realizing that this was a kidnapping.
The inside of the limo was luxurious with two rows of seats facing one another and a black window presumably blocking the driver from view.
Branzy sat down on the middle seat facing the window. Clown got in and sat directly opposite him and closed the door.
“Safety first!” Clown said pointing at Branzys seatbelt. Branzy pulled it down expecting it to lock as soon as it entered the buckle. It did.
Once Clown secured his own seatbelt, which didn’t lock, he pushed a button on the bottom of the window and the car started to drive.
“Well Branzy, let me introduce myself properly. I’m Clownpierce. But you can call me Clown.” He said holding out his hand for Branzy to shake, Branzy obliged.
“Now would you be so kind as to hand me your phone.” Again, it was phrased like a question, it wasn’t one. Branzy handed the phone over.
Clown looks it over and presses another button underneath the window and a little box pops out. Clown puts Branzys phone into the box and closes it.
He also opens yet another box and takes out what looks to be a pile of fabric, then he pushes yet another button and a long cloth drops from the ceiling blocking Branzys view of Clown. Quickly the cloth is wound back up into the ceiling and Clown is now wearing a Jester’s mask and hat.
The mask looks like a white porcelain and has a black line down the center, one half looks like a comedy mask and the other looks like a tragedy mask. The hat is red and black with bells on the ends.
“That’s more of a jester mask then a clown.” Branzy comments. Clown just laughs in response.
“So Branzy. You seem to be a smart man. I assume you can be interested in a job.”
“I assume the payment is my life?” Branzy responded.
“And rent in one of my apartment buildings, and essentials. Oh and of course protections from other mafias.”
Branzy shrugged. “I don’t have much of a choice do I?”
“No.”
Branzy looked out the window to see he was in the expensive part of the city. That wasn’t to shocking but Branzy still started at all the luxury on display.
The limo stopped outside a particularly tall building.
Clown reached over and inserted a small key into the buckle holding Branzy’s seatbelt. It suddenly unlocked.
The car door was opened by a servant and Clown got out, Branzy followed.
“Welcome to your new office, and place of residence.” Clown said gesturing at the biggest building Branzy had ever seen in his life.
It was so tall Branzy had to comically strain his neck to see the top. The entire building was covered in black tinted glass.
Clown put his hand on his shoulder and guided him into the building.
It was even more luxurious as the outside. There was a huge lobby with a marble white and gold tile floor and a red carpet. The ceiling was several stories tall ending with complex arches holding up everything up. The walls to the left and right were the same black glass as outside and behind him, floor to ceiling windows. There was a big desk at the front with a big wall behind it with a sign saying;
“Welcome to the Funhouse.” In big gold cursive lettering.
Looking closely at the tile Branzy realized the patterns were spelling out words. To the left; apartments. To the right; offices.
Clown led him to the left and they came to elevator doors. Clown pushed the up button and the doors opened instantly. They stepped inside. It was bigger then the average elevator. Branzy looked over to see the buttons, trying to figure out exactly how big this button was. Instead he was greeted by a key pad with a glowing screen above it.
Next to the keypad there was a little hole in the wall. Clown stuck his finger into it before pulling it out after a while. The hole was covered by something that looked like camera lens.
Clown then pushed the keys; 1, 2, 5. Then the elevator began to move. Branzy realized they were going to the one hundred twenty fifth floor. Oh gosh.
Branzy also realized it was going to be a pretty long elevator ride.
“So how many floors is this place?” Branzy asked.
“Above ground? A hundred and fifty.”
Branzy’s mouth hung open a little. The tallest building in the city was one hundred fifty five. Branzy then realized the first part of Clowns response.
“Above ground?” Branzy asked.
Clown just chuckled as the elevator stopped and the doors opened.
Branzy followed Clown out into a hallway, which was also screaming with wealth, no not screaming, whispering with wealth. Far more impressive.
There were doors lining the hall, though not as many as one might expect.
“What’s your favorite color Branzy?”
“Huh? P- Purple..?” Branzy was not expecting that question.
“Ah good.” Clown grabbed Branzy again and led him to the third door on the wall.
There was a what looked like a key card sensor on it. Clown reached out and put one of his fingers on the side of it until Branzy heard a “click.”
Clown opened the door at gently pushed Branzy in.
The room was huge, at least three times the size of his current apartment. The walls were painted purple, suddenly Clowns question made sense. There was a king sized bed pushed against one of the walls directly across from it was a big screen TV, in the middle there was a living room. With a long plush purple sofa and chairs. On the other side of the room was a full kitchen complete with an island and purple bar stools.
“Please make yourself comfortable. Just don’t use the phone yet. Someone will come up and explain things to you.” Clown said behind him
Branzy turned around and Clown closed the door with another soft “click.”
Branzy knew it was probably locked but he tried anyway. It was.
Branzy looked over everything closer. Underneath the bed was a super fluffy white rug, a matching one was in the living room.
Walking over to the kitchen he saw the back was huge floor to ceiling windows. The fridge was empty but the cabinet’s had various different cooking utensils. Except knives.
There were knives, but they were connected to some kind of holder on the windows with some kind of chain.
Branzy saw two doors on the wall and went in the door on the right. It was a bathroom, that was around the same size as his old apartment.
The floor was a light lavender marble tile. The shower had built in seating with what looked like a waterfall shower head. The tub was big enough to fit four people and had jets. The bathroom cabinets were empty.
Branzy went into the second door and found what looked like a walk in closet, but it was hard to tell because it was empty.
Branzy walked out back into the main room. It screamed old money. Branzy felt so incredibly out of place in his restaurant uniform. He still had his apron on, he forgot to return it when he clocked out.
Branzy continued to walk around spotting a big wooden desk in the corner with an office chair. Some notebooks and some various stationary were on the desk. There was also a computer. Branzy turned it on. Password screen.
Branzy went over to the bed and ran his head across the blanket, it was incredibly soft. Branzy then spotted the phone on the side of the bed that Clown told him not to use. He didn’t touch it but he did look over the little piece of paper with a handful of numbers to call.
Room service.
Plumbing.
Restaurant.
Groceries.
When Branzy was reading that he heard a nock on the door. Then Rek peeked his head through.
“Shesh! This place is nice!” Rek said walking in looking around. “Long time no see!”
Rek hugged Branzy and he hugged back. He’d missed Rek. They tried to stay in touch but it just didn’t work out.
“I missed you man! Hopefully we’ll be able to see each other more now that were “affiliates.” Rek said the last word with air quotes, and a chuckle.
“Do you not also work for Clown?” Branzy asked sitting down on the bed.
“No, I work for a different mafia boss, Parrot. They work pretty closely together though. Wouldn’t be surprised if you ended up stitching a couple of us up.” Rek flopped down next to Branzy on the bed.
“Right. So is this like a temporary apartment or..?”
“Nope this is your permanent residence for the foreseeable future.” Rek replied. “Not bad though right?”
Branzy laughed as a reply. He missed Rek.
“So who was the guy I saw Clown kill?” Branzy asked.
“I don’t think I’m allowed to tell you that.” Rek replied, he looked apologetic. “So anyway there’s some thing Clown told me to help you with.”
Branzy noticed the tablet in Rek’s hands. Rek flipped it on.
“Mainly your “employee benefits.”
Rek swiped through some menus on the screen.
“First is grocery delivery, you can order food from the employee restaurant on the phone or order groceries- also from the phone. But you get groceries every week.
Rek handed Branzys the tablet, it had a bunch of different groceries listed with a quantity counter. Branzy went through a selected all the things he usually needed throughout the week, plus some snacks he liked. Before handing the tablet back to Rek.
“Really that’s it?” Rek asked.
“Yeah?”
“Guess you can order more stuff later.” Rek shrugged. “Next is new clothing-“
“What about my old clothes at my apartment?”
“That stuff will also get delivered, but I’m not sure if you’ve seen the closet in here… also you should probably have some fancy stuff.”
Branzy wondered what Rek meant by “fancy” but he quickly realized when the tablet was handed back over. Websites of designer clothing were all over the screen. Branzy had been frugal with the groceries but he had a guilty pleasure in the form of nice clothing.
Branzy immediately went to all the old money shops. Ignoring anything with obnoxious logos. He was certain that he was going to fill up the closet.
“That’s more like it.” Rek said when Branzy handed over the tablet.
“Is there anything else other than your clothing from your old apartment you want to keep?”
Branzy thought for a minute before saying, “my notebooks and my old textbooks.”
“Those things are going to be looked over thoroughly.”
“Figured.” Branzy shrugged.
Rek tapped a few things on the tablet before putting it away and handing Branzy a phone.
“The thing is heavily monitored, and has a tracking device in it. Whenever you’re in the building you’ll be expected to have it on you. It also can’t call anyone. There are two apps on it that you need to know.”
Branzy unlocked the phone- it had the same passcode as his old phone, and saw two app icons. One black and the other red.
“The black app is your schedule. It will show everything you need to do for the day. The Red app is a map of the building, it will only show you places you’re permitted to go.”
“Ok… is that it?” Branzy asked.
“There’s one last thing, you might have noticed Clown putting is finger on things… that’s because he doesn’t use key cards, he uses blood pricking.”
“Ah.”
“Yeah, so I’m going to need a sample of your blood so the system recognizes you.”
“I saw key card slots on the door?” Branzy asked as he pulled up his sleeve to let Rek get a sample.
“That’s for room service staff. They have temporary key cards for people’s rooms that stop working after ten minutes.” Rek explained as he got the sample.
“You start work tomorrow, and the computer password is; ***************. Good luck!” With that Rek left.
______________
The next morning Branzy was looking over his schedule, it just said “perform daily tasks in office. Regular uniform.”
Branzy knew what his “regular uniform was” it came with the rest of his clothing. It was pretty standard scrubs, except they were red and black with a jester face in the corner. They also had a black surgical mask, and a red hair net. So far so normal standard.
Branzy went to the red app on his phone and searched “office” to his surprise, a room lit up labeled “your office.”
Branzy set off to get there. He looked at the door locked at noticed the tiny little red dot. He pressed his finger to it and felt the little prick and the click of the door unlocking.
Branzy opened it and was about to walk out when he saw Clown looking down at him.
Branzy just now noticed how Clown towered over him. He had to be over six feet.
“Oh good you’re in uniform.” Clown exclaimed when he saw Branzy. “I trust you’ve figured out loosely where you’re going.”
Branzy held up the phone showing the map with “your office.” Marked.
“Oh good. I’m just here to explain what your “daily tasks” are. Lead the way.”
Branzy went up to the elevator and pushed the down button. The doors opened and the two stepped inside.
Branzy took another look at his map and saw his office was on floor negative one. Branzy looked at the number pad, there was no negative symbol.
“There’s a separate elevator for below ground. Go to the ground level.” Clown said practically reading Branzys mind.
He went to press the ground button but luckily remembered to check his blood first. Branzy felt the little prick, and then he hit the ground level. Clown hummed in approval.
The elevator soon opened up to the lobby and Clown lead him to some “staff only” doors in the back.
They also had a little red dot. Opening the doors up Branzy say a couple of hallways and an elevator right in front of him. He went up to it and pushed the down button. The doors opened and Branzy was met with another key pad. This time, all the numbers were negative.
When Branzy came to his “office” he realized it wasn’t an office. Which he had been expecting considering he was in scrubs.
He was in a small little doctors room. There was a surgical table with wheels in the center. There were various different instruments on the walls, and bright lights all around. But what caught Branzy’s attention were weird automatic dumb waiter, looking things.
“The elevator in the center is where patients get thrown down when they can’t walk.” Branzy looked at the “elevator” in the center, it had a blue cushion on the bottom.
“If your patient is unconscious after you’re done treating them put them on the left elevator and flip the lever.” The left elevator looked mostly the same as the middle one, but in the back it had a “z” stamped into it.
“If your patient is dead put the on the right elevator.” The right elevator didn’t have a cushion. Only a skull stamped into the back.
“When you start for the day flip that lever on.” Clown pointed at a lever on the wall next to the middle elevator. “When you’re done for the day flip, or if you’re treating a patient flip it off. Simple enough right?”
“When am I done for the day?” Branzy asked.
“Check your phone.”
Branzy did and saw something new in the schedule. “Done at 5:00pm.”
When Branzy turned around Clown was gone.
Branzy looked over and next to the lever was a pack of surgical gloves. He flipped the lever on and wondered how long it would take before he got his first patient. Not even five minutes later the elevator moved and a guy was on the plush cushion, screaming about how someone shot him. Branzy put on a pair of gloves, it was a familiar motion, and sighed.
“It’s going to be a long day.”
____________________
Branzy had been working for Clown for a little over six months at this point. Rek was right, Branzy had stitched him up more than a few times at this point. He had even stitched up Clown a few times. Branzy remembered those late night calls, going down to floor twenty, crossing the bridge from the apartments to the offices, and going up to floor twenty five, which apparently had Clowns office on it.
Branzy sighed looking at his phone, usually his schedule consisted of three sentences; “perform daily tasks in office. Regular uniform. Done at 5:00pm.” But Branzy still checked, because sometimes it would be different. Once he even had to go into the field to yank out bullets real time, but today there was only one sentience; “report to lobby”
Branzy did as instructed but on the elevator ride down he wondered what he could possibly be doing today.
When he got to the lobby he was met with a familiar porcelain mask.
“Branzy! Right on time. I have a special task for you today.” Clown seemed excited as he grabbed Branzy and slowly led him to the employees only door.
Branzy was confused to say the least. Clown didn’t seem injured so he had no idea what was going on. He got even more confused when, instead of going straight into the elevator that led to Branzy’s office they went down the right hall. Which after a few twists and turns led to a different elevator.
Branzy sat inside watching clown punch in “negative twenty.” On the keyboard. Just how big was this place?
When the elevator opened up Branzy was in a concrete hallway. Sure the employee only areas were usually more bar boned but they were still a little bit more stylish. There were also guards all over the place, more then normal.
One of the guards was Rek. Branzy was surprised to see him. Rek looked horrified. There wasn’t any time to chat though. Clown quickly pulled Branzy away.
Further down the hallway Clown pulled Branzy into a different room. Which looked a lot like his office, just minus the surgical table and elevators, and add the blindfolded, gagged, tied up man in the center. His hands were cuffed onto the table in front of him.
Branzy quickly realized that this was an interrogation room.
“Branzy, today you’re going to help me get some information out of this gentleman right here.” Clown grabbed the man by the shoulders who looked horrified.
This was a loyalty test. Luckily for Branzy, he got expelled before he could take the, “do no harm” doctor pledge, and he didn’t have an issue with blood.
Branzy grabbed a amputation knife from off the wall. “So what do you want?” Branzy asked bluntly.
“What?” Clown replied, sounding surprised.
“You want information, what do you want?”
“Oh I’ll tell you when to stop.” Clown replied
There was a series of alarmed grunts from the man and a sad attempt of escape.
Clown removed the guy’s gag and he started pleading to be let go, until Clown took off the blind fold. The man looked at Branzy for a moment before laughing.
That was until Branzy used the amputation knife for what is was designed for, and took off the guys index finger. The finger statistically most likely to cause the most pain being chopped off.
Then there was screams of horror. Branzy was in his normal uniform, despite one not being listed on his schedule, so truly Branzy had no idea what the man thought was so funny about a surgeon holding a knife.
Branzy cut into the median nerve. One of two nerves in the arm that causes the most amount of pain, also the nerve that controls the thumb and the index finger. The second one wouldn’t be a problem for the man.
Before Branzy could get the chance to start cutting deep that man started yelling out every single piece of information he knew. Branzy stopped cutting. He hadn’t been told to stop by Clown but he would be shocked if the man hadn’t shouted out what Clown wanted.
Branzy looked up at clown. It was difficult to tell were he was looking at with the mask on but it seemed like he was staring at Branzy.
“Did you get what you wanted?” Branzy asked
Clown didn’t respond. Branzy had to call his name a few times before he did.
“Huh? Oh- yeah…” Clown replied, he seemed nervous Branzy didn’t know why.
Branzy looked down at his hands, they were coated in blood. In Branzys opinion two much blood for how painfully little cutting he actually got to do.
“You’re uh… dismissed.” Clown mumbled. Maybe he was also disappointed with the lack of cutting. Branzy took one last look at the now trembling man at the table, and chuckled at his handy work.