A Zoo in the Fog (PersonaxZoophobia)

Never Ending Pain

            With little info to go on except the killer using this other dimension to kill others, the group disbanded for the day, though Damian took Jackson out of the house. It wasn't often that the cousins went out together as Jackson was always wary of the places Damian would bring him to. He still loved his cousin, but Jackson had a bit of a lack of trust in Damian when it came to little things. Though the place Damian took Jackson to was a model weapons store. It was in a side alleyway, looked exceptionally sketchy, and some of the lights on the 'open' sign barely worked.

"And you brought me here why?" Jackson looked down at his cousin. The place looked like the kind of places Damian took him for his pranks.

"Well, you gotta fight things with some style. Besides, maybe you could find something better than what you got." Damian gave a little shrug and walked inside. Jackson would follow and be surprised to find Rusty tending to the counter. He didn't think anyone would allow Rusty a job with his kind of background. "Hey 'I Heart Boobs' man!" Damian shouted at him. Damian was insinuating something with his tone, but it was hard for Jackson to tell what.

"Ugh, as if I didn't have enough headaches today." Rusty looked up from what he was doing and was surprised to see Jackson there. "What are you doing here jackass?"

Jackson pushed aside the insult. He was used to it from Rusty. "So, for a self-defense measure, Damian suggested this place. The luck has been getting worse and Zill suggested I fought back." It sounded somewhat convincing, but Jackson was immediately nervous now he was dealing with Rusty.

"Well ya got something in mind?" Rusty seemed competent at this job. He was disassembling a BB gun when they came in. It mimicked the look of a standard issue military service rifle. It looked almost real.

"Well, something like this?" Jackson shows his pistol that he got from the shadow world.

Rusty sighs and looked over the gun. "This rickety piece of shit? It'll jam more than it fires." Rusty began looking through a few boxes, then shifted to a model revolver and hands it over to Jackson. "You need a piece like this. It's light enough for your wimpy arms and has a satisfying fire rate. I can give it to ya for eighty."

Jackson looked into his wallet. It was a little steep for him at the moment. Though Damian shoved up the money as soon as the price was said. "Done. Jackson is getting into airsoft and he needs to get comfortable with something." Jackson gave Damian a look, questioning how he has that much. Damian saw this look and responds with "I may be the prince of hell, but that's still a royal title. My dad's fucking loaded."

"Well that all? I need to get back to work." Rusty gave a little glare as he gets back to disassembling the BB gun he was working on before they came in.

"Whatever. So, Jack, how ya gonna dig stuff up about the mur..." Before Damian even finished that thought, Jackson shoved a hand over his mouth. There was angry muttering from the other side of the hand. Rusty noticed this immediately and raised an eyebrow. Now this caught his attention.

"Oh, Marine! Thanks for reminding me Damian." Jackson glared at Damian but tried to make a cover story for Rusty. "The uh, fish of peace stopped showing up. Observatory has me looking into things!" Rusty didn't believe that. Jackson couldn't lie worth a damn. "Well goodbye!" Jackson says as he rushes out with Damian in hand. It wasn't long until Damian licked his hand and Jackson immediately moved his hand away.

"The hell was that for cuz?" Damian growled a bit.

"We can't go around saying 'we're investigating a murder'. It'll make the culprit know we're looking for him." Jackson growled back.

"Ya know that's one of the smarter things you've said." Damian snickers a bit.

"Like your Rocky Road and Tabasco that put three women in the hospital?" Jackson grinned a bit at his comeback.

"Fuck you, your mother buys you Mega Blocks instead of Legos!" Damian floats off, giving angry little grumbles. Jackson chuckled and began heading home.

Rusty didn't go home after work. Rather, he went to Autumn's place again to check in on him and tell him something interesting he heard at work. He knocked on the door, three times in rapid succession. Autumn came to the door, a tired look still in his eyes. "Ruben, what are you doing here?"

Rusty didn't enjoy the mention of his real name yet responded anyway. "I came to check on you Doe Boy." He walks inside, looking over Autumn. "And, I got something you might wanna hear."

Autumn tilted his head and closed the door. "Ok. What's going on?" He was almost afraid to ask. It was Rusty he was talking to.

"The annoying devil dog, Damian showed up at work, only he brought his cousin." Rusty began to explain. This was already odd to Autumn, but Rusty continued on. "They bought something and left, but Damian said something. Jackson covered his mouth before he finished but, I think they're looking into your cousin's murder." This sent a chill down Autumn's spine, and so many questions. Did they know something he didn't? Did they find something that he had missed? Why are they even looking into this? More ideas rushed through Autumn's head, and all at the center, was Camilla's body. He couldn't get the image out of his head. The event of finding the body kept repeating over and over again like some foul movie he couldn't leave. Autumn must've been lost in his thoughts because Rusty began shaking him. "Dude, what the fuck you doing staring off into space?"

Autumn could only speak a few words. It was short, but behind them, he held all the emotion he felt. The pain, the sorrow, and the anger. "They're not doing a damn thing without me."