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Each step echoed.
This particular part of the castle didn’t have much furniture to absorb sound, the king had yet to find what suits his fancy.
He would need to bring Murder and Horror later for a briefing, to keep the king’s routine alive. As fun as the idea of pissing the king off sounded right now, Nightmare seemed a bit irritated today, he didn’t think the king would tolerate much.
When he reached the king’s study, the door was closed, not very odd behavior on any other day, but the king would usually leave it slightly open during mission planning days to signal that he could enter, this however, just signaled that he needed to stay out.
He decided to test his luck, so he knocked on the door, waiting for a response. When a few seconds passed and none came, he took the risk and entered. It was a 50/50 situation anyway, he either did not enter and pissed the king off for making him wait and wasting precious seconds ticking by, or he entered now and pissed him off for entering without permission. Either that, or entering without waiting for a verbal permission was the right move and it should save him from a few broken bones.
When he was finally inside, he closed the door behind him, another one of Nightmare’s never ending unspoken rules, if you enter a room the king’s in, you close the door. The gentle click of the door echoed through the room, alerting the king of his arrival. When he was not immediately met with pain, he knew that entering was the right move.
The King didn't even acknowledge his existence, continuing to work on his journal, apparently a new archive for a universe he didn't make any archives for yet, the pages half empty. Killer didn’t interrupt, making his way to the king’s desk before standing a few meters away, patiently waiting for the king to order him to talk, or to take a look at him to permit him to.
He could wait, he always did.
A few minutes passed before the king closed the journal between his hands and looked at him, still maintaining his silence.
Not even a single word? The king was most definitely really pissed. Silence was the most telling sign of the king’s temper. While the king did not speak much, he was never completely silent either. That was his que to be the one to carry the conversation, so he did.
“Murder’s still asleep, Horror’s in the library, and I’m here for our planning phase for the next mission. Nothing interesting to report otherwise.” easing in with what the king always loved to hear, a sense of control over things.
The king still didn’t speak, looking intently at him, waiting for him to speak more. He played this game many times, the one and only rule most important to win: never speak unless spoken to, and he already said his piece, but the king wanted to play the long game this time. Good thing Killer knew how to be quiet, only staring back at the king.
With every second passing the king grew more agitated by his silence, but Killer knew better than to let that agitation on the king’s face fool him into speaking in an attempt to please him, and pleasant it would have been, at his own expense. The king wanted him to slip up and be at the receiving end of his wrath, to be the scapegoat for letting his anger out. Killer knew the rules to these games, there simply wasn’t any chance the king would win here.
Soon enough, the king spoke up. Killer: 1, Nightmare: 0.
“This next mission is going to be a solo mission.” The king tapped on his new archive for the universe he started journaling on. “I expect you to scout ahead, memorize every corner of it, it takes place on the surface, so it’ll take you a good while.”
Killer knew by now how to read the fine print of the king’s words, that sentence had an unspoken statement, something along the lines of how he trusted that Killer won’t take that good of a while, and would finish this mission in a timely manner, as the king came to expect of his precious killing machine. If there was one thing the king hated most, it would be wasting time, and he would punish severely for it, considering how it would throw the king’s routine off track. Nightmare never dealt with change and irregular routine well.
The king continued.
“After you’re done with scouting through it, I expect a full report.” The king leaned forward on his desk, hand over the other, eye never leaving him for a second. “For your sake, I expect that report to be correct and complete.”
Of course, the king always did things himself before he entrusted them to someone else, he shouldn’t have expected any less than the king already memorizing the universe front to back, up and down. This was simply one of those missions to ensure that he was aware of the universe and inhabitants for whatever next mission that targeted it, joy.
“Is everything clear? Any questions?”
There it was, the permission to speak. There was only one single right answer to this, any other would lead him down a path of pain.. not that he minded, pain grounded him with reality, but he didn’t want that to be the start of his day, and certainly not after he went through the risk of entering the room, and especially not when the king was this agitated.
“Clear as day, Master.” Throw in a title to stroke the king’s ego, it always helped in calming his temper down. Which title to use at which point in time was something he learned to do, and right now, “Master” was the only correct title.
“Good, you will immediately depart.” He didn’t question the king’s order, usually he would be informed of a mission two weeks prior, plan it ahead and watch to see if any developments would lead to said plan to be tweaked. This is not what was happening right now, but Killer could always keep up with the king’s moody reckless decisions, his life depended on it.
Depart he did, the king didn’t waste another second, he was pulled into darkness before emerging from it, and from the moment he stepped into the universe, he could tell it wasn’t a universe he had ever visited before. This was a completely new one for him, not for long, because he needed to discover this new area, and if he knew the king well enough, it was expected of him to bring in what the universe is called in the multiverse, at which point in time it was, as well as its specific coordinates. A dull mission, but one that could end badly for him if he didn’t meet the king’s expectations.
Good thing a killing machine is programmed to work as efficiently and as effectively as possible, and with that, his mission began.