Beyond Grim And Evil: The Infected Of Endsville

(A/N: I'm getting somewhere with this story, finally. And trying to make it a bit dark, as well. Feel free to offer suggestions or tell me where you want me to go with it, and depending on the request I'll edit as I go along.)

Of Pestilence and Plague

Two Days Earlier…

Nergal sat upon a black throne watching them approach. As they neared, he asked, fingers drumming on the armrest, "Grim, Eris, is it something so terribly important that you have to disturb me at work?"

"Ya don't know de half of it," Grim replied, sensing immediately that the Sumero-Babylonian god was in a dark, cold, and dangerous mood. They would have to tread carefully. It took his all to keep his bones from rattling in a shiver.

"Something is wrong up above, Nergal, and don't pretend you haven't sensed it," Eris said, one hand on her hip as the other tossed the Apple of Discord up and down.

Nergal closed his eyes and folded his hands in front of his mouth. "I take it you had something to do with it, Discordia?"

She smirked at the name and answered, "I had my fun with it." Smile falling she added, "Then things started to get… unsettling."

"Something unsettling is always happening in Endsville," Nergal said.

"More so den usual," Grim flatly declared. "Eris is thrivin' off of de Chaos goin' on up dere, but she don't know de depth of it. Neither of us do." Nergal said nothing.

"It's getting worse by the moment," Eris said.

Nergal cocked his head looking vaguely at her. "Your point is?" he asked.

"You know what this thing is, don't you?" she asked. "Will you do nothing?"

"Why should I care?" Nergal asked.

"Because, mon, your wife and kid are mortal," Grim replied. "Whatever's goin' on is worse den you t'ink. I've had me hands full reapin' souls up above, more den usual."

Nergal pursed his lips. After a moment he replied, "I don't know what's happening up there. I suppose some of the deities do, but I am not among them. It is something similar to a pestilence, but it is manmade. If it were a natural ailment I would know what it was. It's not."

"You are the Sumero-Babylonian god of the Underworld, one of the highest ranking deities there are. I'm sure you aren't completely powerless in this regard," Eris said in a challenging tone.

"I cannot interfere unless I get the green light from the higher ups. If our fellow divines have turned a blind eye to the mortals, it isn't our place to step in on their behalf," Nergal said, attempting to evade them.

"Mon, you can taboo almost all of dem, higher up or not. And since when did it matter? I t'ought you were on de mortal side," Grim argued. Nergal said nothing, tentacles squirming from his back. He was about to throw them out, Grim knew. Unlikely. "Careful of your next actions, mon," Grim growled threateningly, lighting his scythe. He was as much a god as Nergal was, whether Nergal ranked higher or not.

Eris frowned and stepped back. History's lessons had shown time and time again that when a battle broke out between gods, nothing good came of it. She would have no part of this fight. "Are you threatening me, Reaper?" Nergal asked, standing menacingly.

"I only go where de death is, mon. I don't cause it unless I'm in a particularly nasty mood. Step up, Nergal, or de next souls I fetch may be your wife and son, and I won't have been the one to cause it," Grim replied.

Nergal almost instantly backed down, eyes becoming worried and fearful. After a long moment he finally relented, saying, "Fine. I'll investigate. But why come to me? This is a job for the police force down below."

"Oh come now, darling, you didn't think we would be clueless forever, did you? After that first incident with the mysterious package you received? Do you take us for fools? It took a little prompting, but I finally got Grimmy to help me do some investigating of our own. We found something rather interesting. You're chief of the secret police down here," Eris purred.

Nergal cringed. He knew they'd find out eventually, but still. "Fine. Come on. Let's see if we can't find out what this mystery malady is. If you impress, you may even be rewarded."

Grim and Eris exchanged looks then turned back to him. "We're in," they said together.

"I say we try Lord Pain. If this thing is something like pestilence yet isn't, one of the Evils probably has something to do with it, likely Plague," Eris suggested.

"Right. No one knows more about de Evils den Pain, and no one can contact dem so easily," Grim agreed. Nergal grinned and snapped his fingers, poofing them all away.

GAoBaM

Lord Pain sat in his throne, eyes closed as he thought. Something seemed off in the balance of things. He was sensing more sensations of pain than usual, and more intense. He pursed his lips. He didn't like it. At the same time he felt certain there were those of the evils who were becoming stronger. Ones that shouldn't have been. He opened his eyes looking frustrated. He wondered, but doubted, if any of them were as attuned to each other as he was.

He rose and paced anxiously back and forth, checking off some of the ones getting more powerful by the moment. Plague was intensely strong right now, and only growing more so, but he'd heard of no recent or suspected outbreak of disease. He hadn't felt this amount of power from his sibling since the Spanish Flu. Then there was Murder, and Murder was growing steadily more powerful. There was Mourning, who was slowly becoming greater. Desperation was almost as powerful as Plague now. Then there was Fear… And fear was beyond even Plague in power, but Fear didn't know that. Of course he didn't. He'd never learned to tap into it or to feel it as the others had. The only one who matched Fear was Madness, and madness was raging and cheering this newfound supremacy that it had never had before.

Lord Pain growled in frustration. He didn't like this. Something was going on up above. He looked up. All at once there was a bang and he gasped, sharply looking ahead and drawing his mace as he went into a fighting pose. There in front of him appeared Nergal, Eris, and Grim! Lord Pain scowled and called to them, "So the Immortal Triad is trying this again, hmm? Hardly a fair way to win, ganging up against one when my own allies are far away!"

"Oh hush Charles, we're not here to fight you. Simply to investigate," Eris replied, walking towards him and swaying her hips seductively. He let his eyes watch them. He smirked but then started and snapped out of it and scowled, looking up at them.

"What do you want?" he demanded.

"Somethin' ain't right on de mortal coil, and somethin's tellin' us you have some answers," Grim replied.

"Hardly," Pain replied.

"Oh no? Which ones are growing more powerful, Pain?" Nergal asked.

"Which what?" Pain asked, playing dumb.

"Which evils!" Nergal shot.

"I haven't a clue as to what you are talking about," Pain answered.

GAoBaM

The four were staring each other down now. After a long moment Nergal asked, "Do you take me for a fool? I am the god of pestilence. I sense Plague, at least, is feeding from whatever is happening up there. If you will not tell us the identities of the other Evil's feeding off of it, then you will call Plague to us so we can quiz him."

"If you are the god of pestilence, figure it out," Pain growled, steadily becoming angrier. "You don't need him to tell you."

"You're challenging me. You know exactly why I can't determine what it is. You see, this is manmade. Because it is manmade only your fellow evil feeds off of it, but I don't. It's not a naturally occurring pandemic, epidemic, or any other such thing. You bring Plague here or I drag him by force, and I will not be kind. My family is up there," Nergal said icily.

Pain pursed his lips. Finally he answered, "What makes you think he will respond to me?"

"You've certainly done enough for the Evils, darling. Surely they owe you something," Eris said, coldly smirking. She knew full well the evils didn't do favors, she knew they were ungrateful, and she knew that it was a sore spot for the eldest of them all.

Pain scowled. He looked up at the roof and closed his eyes, contacting the other. "Plague, I call you forth. Come unto me," he murmured.

"Why should I, brother?" the evil whispered back.

Pain grimaced at the title. "Because if you do not come willingly, you will be dragged here at the hands of a deity," Pain answered, not in the mood for the attitude.

Plague was silent a long moment, then finally asked, "What does Irkalla's King want with me?"

"So you sense Nergal's wrath, hmm? Good. He wants questions answered. Come now, for your own sake, little brother, not mine," Pain replied, knowing Plague had tapped into whatever deity wanted him.

GAoBaM

There was a flash and suddenly a skeletal figure appeared; not a skeleton, not human, but some hideous monster with browning bones, arched back, and long teeth and claws. He was trying to intimidate the deity, Pain sensed. It was working on Eris and Grim, who looked disgusted, appalled, and slightly horrified, but Nergal was unmoved. "Oh drop it," Nergal ordered. Plague hissed but then became a normal form.

"What do you want, oh great immortal one? Why have you singled me out? What have I done to offend you, my liege?" he asked, bowing low. Eris and Grim were fully aware of the way he hid slightly behind the older Evil. Rarely did Nergal get such deep respect, but the Evil was terrified, and he was giving him everything.

"Pain's a pushover, defending dose who don't appreciate it. Can't he see de other evils are usin' him?" Grim murmured to Eris.

"He knows full well," she answered. "He doesn't care."

"I would find your attitude refreshing, if it was at all sincere. I want answers and I want them now. What is happening up there?" Nergal asked.

"Men and women and beast, fish, and foul alike are becoming mad, becoming like shambling shades. They attack their fellow man either infecting them or tearing them to pieces. They are growing in number and none know the origin. Except for me," Plague replied.

"Which is?" Nergal asked.

Plague chuckled darkly and replied, "Humans."

"That is a given. I don't care which humans brought this monstrosity to light. I care to know by what method it is spreading," Nergal growled.

"Ask the creators, or find out for yourself," Plague replied. Pain shook his head, feeling Plague's power growing. He knew what his sibling would do. He was becoming cocky, power radiating from him, and before Nergal could draw a tentacle Plague had poofed away and hidden from the deity's sight. Nergal, furious now, began muttering curses in Babylonian. Pain shrugged and went back to his throne, sitting.

"You can try Madness, you can try Fear, you can try Murder and Mourning and Desperation, but it will all end the same, and none of them know how it is spread except for Plague, so don't bother interrogating me further. I only know I feel power unlike any I have felt for years. Power gets to us, as you will soon see with my next words," Pain declared. He leaned forward in his throne and ordered, "Get out of my plain. Get out or pay the consequences. I will force you out if I must, and with this power, don't doubt that I can. I have become almost equivalent to the gods themselves. Do not test me further. Farewell, Thanatos my old master, Discordia, Nergal."

The three deities scowled viciously. Oh they could tear into him now, they knew, use their full power and drag him down. But could they really? At this point he would only regenerate all the faster. It would be a losing battle for all sides. Finally they harrumphed and vanished. Lord Pain laughed evilly and sat back in his throne. He could afford to relish in this newfound power for a while.