He hears a pair of distant voices arguing. Blinking the sleep from his eyes, He props himself up on an elbow. A girl whose monochrome bright shade of pink is blind argues with Dante.
"Oh look who's up." Dante says, chalking his pool cue. He must have been practicing his game for a few hours. The clock on the wall read 9 o'clock.
"Yeah, yeah, wise guy." Danny says. "So what's the world ending over now?" as he swings his legs off the couch he crashed on.
"Oh, short fry over there wants a hundred different things." Dante shrugs. "She can't get any of them without her own money."
"Don't you have a job to pay for this place?" she says. She would have been no taller than Dani but the blonde hair was too different. "Those items aren't that much." She says rocking in her chair.
"Well, if he's broke, then I'm even more broke. Because he hired me." Danny says ruffling his hair. He mutters something about his hair. "Hey Dante, you still got running water and a shower?"
"Yeah go ahead. It's in the back."
After a good 20 minutes soaking out the sore joints, he steps out of the shower and tosses the boxers and pants back on. The shirt was filthy and a bit torn up. He heard another argument start about three minutes after the shower. Looking in the mirror, he studies the reflection. It seems those three months in the demon world did me some good. I beefed up pretty good. It was true. Once he was a shrimp, no more than 100 pounds at most. He put on a healthy layer or two of muscle during his 'stay'.
"Well might as well see what the world has gone to war about this time..." He steps out with a towel, drying his hair. Satisfied, he tosses it back in to the room. "So whats the war now?"
"Three day old pizza, I don't see what so wrong about eating it." Dante says, munching away on a slice.
"You only eat pizza. It's a wonder you're not sick of or with it yet!" She says "Isn't that right Don?"
"My name is Danny." He corrects.
"Oh whatev-"
"But you are right. Dante you need to have something else once in a blue moon."
"I do, I do. I have a milkshake for lunch." He says with a large smart aleck grin. The reply bugged the kid even more than he anticipated.
"Hmph. Fine then. At least someone has some common sense around here." She says looking at Danny. "I'm Patty Lowell. Pleased to meet you Danny."
"You too Patty." Danny goes back to the couch. He searches his pocket. "Ah here it is! I knew I didn't lose it yet. Dante, I'm off to get myself some more clothes."
"I thought you were broke! Even more broke than I am!" A glint in Dante's eyes flickered with anger.
"I forgot I didn't spend all my paycheck yet." Danny says. With flick motion he's on his feet again. "Be back in an hour or so."
"Take your sword." Dante says dropping the glint and fake anger.
"Why would I do that? I'd get arrested." Danny pulls a double take.
"Use a guitar case right over there. That should keep you out of trouble." Dante says with a gesture to the case. "But be quick, you still have that job to do."
"And who says I won't just take off, huh?"
"You met Lady when she was in a good mood. You don't want to see her mad." Dante says, managing to sink the the billiard ball he was aiming for. "It gets messy."
"Alright then."
After an hour or so of looking through various shops he finally gets a few things he wanted. A long coat to keep warm as it was transitioning into a cooler autumn than he is used to. He finds a black coat that looks similar to the red coat that Dante seems to wear everywhere. The edging and thread in the seams are neon green in colour. A good pair of black jeans and a white button up shirt. And a pair of black leather gloves that he modifies later to remove the first fingers of each hand to allow for better firearm precision firing.
Looking in the mirror, he says, "Much better."
An explosion outside the shop breaks him from his reverie. He rushes out the door. A huge club tries to smash him on the spot. "Missed me!" Danny says. "Missed again." as the club shakes the ground again where he was. The taunting seems to be successful in driving the demon mad.
The club strikes the ground and sweeps for his legs. He leaps into a back flip and lands on the club. The long coat flaps in the air during his movement. The club flies up. Danny leaps off and lands on the head of the giant. He flips open the guitar case and slashes through the neck of the giant.
At least that was the plan. The giant reaches over and grabs him with his other hand. With a flick of the wrist Danny flies into the air. The giant opens his mouth and swallows the half demon.
But plans don't survive first contact with the enemy. Danny stabs the roof of the giants mouth. It roars with pain and the tongue tries to smash Danny into nothing. What it manages to do is get Danny off the roof of it's mouth.
It swallows and belches. It then goes for one of the bystanders who were frozen in terror. It's hand goes for a little girl standing there scared witless. Suddenly it convulses. The hand goes up to his chest. The little steps back. The giant falls backwards. It's stomach bulges in a grotesque manner. Then a sword flies out with Danny holding the hilt. The giant roars in pain, it's screeching causes by standers to collapse holding their ears. The horrendous fades as the demon pales to a pure white and shatters into dust.
With great effort, Danny stands upright. Pulling the tip of the blade out of the ground he slings it to his back. The horrendous smell, of blood and stomach acid mixing, makes him noxious. The weather, as if taking pity on him, starts raining. The vile combination washes off. But the stench remains.
"Good thing I paid for all this first... dry cleaning is going to be a pain."
"Actually, I have a solution." Dante says from behind him.
"How did you get there?" Danny says spinning on a dime, blade drawn and directed at Dante.
"I was here the whole time. Thought I'd be needed if you weren't enough." Dante shrugs.
"So then why'd you let it eat me?" Danny says pointing a thumb at himself.
"I figured you'd have a way out," He says as he shrugs. "And look You managed to kill it and get out."
Danny says through grit teeth. "I could have died!"
"You're wrong."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Danny says outraged.
"Being Half-demon, half-human you are close to immortal." he says. "Only another Cambion could kill you."
"What? Back up a sec." He says. "What does being half-human and half-demon have to do with being immortal?"
"With the strength of the demon half and the adaptability of the human half you could survive things that would kill whole demons." Dante says
"And only another Cambion could kill me because?" he asks incredulous.
"Only another Cambion would be strong enough to." Dante says. "And it's also time to go."
"Sorry, I smell like blood and guts, I don''t think any mode of transportation would let me anywhere near them."
With a snap of his fingers, a sigil lines the ground around the two. "Welcome to Hell again." with a second snap they were out. "There it should be gone."
He sniffs the city air. Hell's supremely hostile atmosphere must have destroyed the cause of the odor, because only the smell of the city air with no blood polution detected. "I need to learn how to do that."
Dante laughs, "Eventually, kid."
"So we are off to this Jump City huh? So what's it like there?" Danny asks rotating his shoulders once back and once forwards."Isn't that already protected by someone? Why would they need us."
"You." Dante says, not breaking stride, coat blowing back in the sudden breeze. "The rest of Devil May Cry has an emergency to deal with, you're the only one we can spare."
"First day on the job and I already get an assignment?"
"Minimum pay though, until we know just how well you handle collateral damage." He says. "Anyways, here's the bus to Jump, enjoy the trip, kid!"
"I'm not a kid." Danny steps on the bus and says over his shoulder.
Dante laughs in full mirth "We'll see about that."
The doors close and Danny sits in the third row and looks out the window, his luggage in front of his knees. The city lasts for a few more minutes before the country side begins. Grimy, graffiti-covered skyscrapers and apartment complexes melt away into lush green fields. By sunset, the bus screeches to a stop on the outskirts of Jump City. Danny stands to get off the bus, when he sees a flicker out of the corner of his eyes. The bus was empty. It had been empty since he boarded it. Why were there suddenly people on it. Had they made a stop and he fell asleep for it?
Their eyes had colour, but lacked focus. Some were looking at other 'people' on the bus. In synchronous movement they all stop what they were doing and look at Danny. An inaudible pop fills the empty space of the bus as the dozen pairs of eyes focus on him. He lifts up his guitar case. "Alright, since I know your not people, how about you let me leave and none of you have to die, deal?"
"... A ... 'deal'? With... the son... of a traitor?" the occupants of the bus mock. "There is no deal, Gara-then. You shall pay for the crime of your father."
"Worth a shot, but oh well." He kicks open the guitar case and grabs the claymore-like sword. "Who wants some?" He says leaping out through the window. It was a demon bus anyways. The bus erupts in flame-like shadows as the six occupants burn their way out. "So this is why he sent me on the bus to the edge of town."
"Die you son of the Traitor!" A shadow claw cuts through the air to clash with a sword. The claw shifts in density to slash Danny's shoulder.
"Aw crap." he looks at the coat shoulder. "I hope you have enough to replace this!" He points to the cut fabric. He slashes at the beast but the blade cuts through nothing. Rolling back to avoid a second cut, he draws his fire arms. "Eat this." the sounds of repeating gunfire draws the attention of the pedestrians and then they notice the demons and the lone young man fighting them. Seeing as they are average folk in the outer edges of town, they are rather used to to concept of battles taking place in the streets. But gunfire was different. Hearing guns starting to fire the crown in unanimous fashion, turn and run away from the fight.
The bullets catch the demons off guard and connect after 5 bullets connect, the demon reverts to it's human like disguise. A second cut from Revolt, as Danny temporarily named his sword, ends the demon and it dissolves into nothing. "And stay dead." But this did do much, because now the large spirit changes into 15 or so smaller ones. Gunfire did prove effective against the demons once more, but this time the defeated demons reformed at the bus.
After the fifteen were defeated, one giant demon remained. Danny studied the bus for a moment. If I can destroy the bus, then these guys can't keep reforming. Rather than fire at the demon, Danny shifts his gunfire to the bus. The bullets shred the glass and strike the engine block.
The demon howls with pain. The bus must have been tied to them. He holsters the guns and goes for the good ol' four piece attack pattern. A down cut. Left slash, right gash. Uppercut into a hail of gunfire. He back-flips out of reach of the demon, who now stands significantly taller than him. I should focus on the bus so that it can't reform. Danny charges at the bus, cutting it in half. This finished off the bus, but the outburst of shadow left the demon he was now stuck with even stronger.
"How dare you. Striking such a blow against me, I will crush your shadow, Descendant of the Traitor!" The beast charges at Danny. Who retaliates after dodging the initial two swipes with a crippling hail of gunfire. As the demon reverts to the human disguise, Danny proceeds to cut it to shreds. Leaving nothing behind.
With battle finished, Danny slings the sword onto his back. "Well that's a wrap." He brushes his hands off and turns walking into the city proper. As the sun lowers, Danny finally reaches the hotel and announces his stay. Lady already made arrangements for him to stay in a decent room for the week. If Jump City wanted him to stay, though, they'd have to cover his expenses.
The room was modest, but not quite spartan. The windows have drapes, the floor is carpeted. The walls are a bland builder's beige, though, something that might drive Danny mad if he stays too long. The bed is a double, more than large enough for the half-demon. He flicks on the TV... only for the power to flicker out moments later. "At least here, the villains aren't my problem.." He dropped the next word he was about add as he knows that word is the easiest way to jinx himself. "I'll probably have to set up a meeting with the Teen Titans tomorrow. It couldn't be that bad..." Oh how little he knew...
TO BE CONTINUED!.!.!
Writer's Note: As this is the third chapter, I have poke my nose in here for a second. I've been busy with school and other things again. So if you notice me not posting anything for a few weeks at a time, that would be normal enough. Without further ado, good night, and see you whenever I get the next chapter up.
