Part 4: Welcome to my world
Lord Razer: I haven't watched much of Game of Thrones so you'll have to correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought Jaime Lannister was in an incestuous relationship with his sister, not mother. I mean either way it's messed up and created what I understand to be the most hated fictional character in years Joffrey. And speaking of messes up, don't worry because I (being also slightly messed up) was planning on give Junior and Daniela a moment when I first started writing this story, not to mention what'll happen when Minnie enters the picture.
nightmaster000: Glad to hear you think so. I was really afraid the idea would turn a lot of people away from the story so I am glad to hear that you liked the twist. As for Minnie she will come into the story later, and while I won't say whether or not she already knows, when she does enter the story her feelings regarding Junior's feelings for Mandy will be made quite clear.
As for Junior having any kids he doesn't know about, it's not likely given that Junior, even with his Nergal flesh, is still a creature of Death, not meant to give life, just take it. So if he wanted a kid, which he doesn't because his life is hectic enough as it is and he wouldn't feel right bringing a child into all this, he'd have to try very hard to actually impregnate a woman.
DPSS: Yeah, sorry about that. If it's any consolation the idea of Junior lusting after Mandy wasn't created just for the sake of perversion. It will be part of the plot and Junior will be dealing with these feelings quite a bit. As for Minnie what she's doing will be revealed later, though I will say that she's able to protect herself and magic is slightly involved. Heck, even Junior knows some magic and he'd admit to not having the patience usually for it (admittedly it is just the one spell and technically it's not even that). As for your answers:
1: Pretty accurate overall.
2: Exactly right. Plus it's not exactly like he's been around much for either of his youngest siblings and does slightly miss being an older brother (one of the few normal family things he can actually be apart of).
3: Sink or swim definitely describes Mandy. I imagine the exception to this would be whenever their decision goes against her or gets in the way of what she wants. She does care for her children but she is still Mandy.
4: Yep.
5: Neither have I. Dallas is just an old TV show that was well known and mocked for the "It was all just a dream" plot, where one of the main characters died, an entire season's worth of stuff happened in the aftermath, and then one episode the character's wife wakes up and sees that he is still alive, making his death just something she dreamed of, meaning nothing that happened in the episodes after his death mattered in the slightest because it was all just a dream. It is an idea that is very hated by people. And with Junior dreaming about him and Mandy, my question is did I really pull the hated "It was all just a dream" card or was there more to it than being just a simple dream?
Brandon Storm: Yeah, I don't blame you. But still thank you for giving this story a read in the first place and hopefully I'll see you around in another of my stories. Take care.
AMTT94: To answer your questions: yes, there are real reasons for why Junior feels the way he does. They will be revealed later, as will Minnie's reaction to Junior's feelings when she enters the story. Dan Phantom will be in story (kind of have to since one of his kids is a main character). And in this story's continuity Mimi never tried to break into Mandy's vault. The timeline goes right up until the "What about Mimi?" chapter of the actual Grim Tales comic and then diverges into its own history. And don't worry, Junior's problem will be treated seriously. There's nothing more he wants than to not feel the way he does.
Emeraldalex123: Ah, always nice to hear from you and your pun based humor. More so I'm glad to hear that you liked the chapter, even with the slightly twisted twist. And don't worry there is a reason why Junior feels the way he does and you could definitely call it an obstacle. As for the Ammits, the original Ammit comes from Egyptian mythology as a creature/god that eats the hearts that are too heavy with evil to be raised by the scales of Ma'at and I thought that'd be a perfect creature to just have roaming around the land of the dead (took some liberties making it a pack animal since in the myth there is only one Ammit).
Chapter start:
Junior and Daniela walked along the rocky path that soon turning to polished cobblestone, as they made their way into the small town that laid along the border. It was a deceptively nice looking town, all things considered. Slanted red tiled roofs. Spotless green tinted windows. It was a very pleasant medieval architecture meets modern times mix, with the older aspects being slightly more dominant. Unsurprising honestly. You'll never find a greater mix of cultures than in the land of the dead, but that doesn't mean it likes to change that much over time.
They walked in silence for a bit as they passed by numerous shops and buildings when Junior finally had to say something about Daniela's noticeable pouting.
"You're not still mad about it, are you?" Junior asked.
"Those beasts ruined nearly all my clothes." Daniela moaned.
"Yeah, but you still got that outfit left. Hell, you look just like you did when I found you in Hel. What's the problem?"
"The problem? Brother, I have nothing else to wear! I will be stuck wearing this same filthy garment for who knows how long until I can find more clothes that fit. Perhaps days or even weeks after today! Who knows what kind of disgusting build-up will occur during that time?"
Junior shrugged. "Honestly, Daniela, I think you're overacting. Nobody is going to judge you for a little bit of dirt and mud out here."
Junior then noticed that Daniela started looking over his own outfit after he'd said that.
"Hey, I didn't say never clean it." Junior defended as his little sister continued to give him that look of accusation. "…Look, if you're really that broken up about this maybe we can go through one of these stores after we're done in the bar."
"Bar?" Daniela questioned, this quickly gaining her attention as Junior had not mentioned before where they were going.
"Yeah. You said you wanted to help find mom's missing items, right? Well there's this bar that I stop by every now and then that might be a good place to start. RPG rules and all that."
"What's an RPG?"
Junior stopped in his tracks, turning to her. "You…you don't know what an RPG is?"
Daniela shook her head.
"A role-playing game? You know, questing? Leveling up through experience points? Mute protagonists often with red or blue hair?"
The blank confused look on Daniela's face showed that she honestly had no idea what he was talking about.
Junior just stared at her. "…What do you and Manny do all day?!"
"Mostly study or train to use our abilities." Daniela explained.
"That's it?"
"Yes. Well…that is when we're not fighting each other." Daniela hesitantly admitted.
"Hrm." Junior muttered, getting back to the path. "Suppose I don't remember my childhood being much different. Though the fights Minnie and I had weren't very physical."
"I don't think I recall you and big sister ever fighting at all." Daniela commented.
"You were four when I left, Daniela. Trust me, Minnie and I had plenty of issues between us to fight about." Junior said, noticeably not looking at her as he said this.
"You could have fooled me." Daniela commented as she continued to follow him. "Big sister never had a single bad word to say about you. …Not even after you left." She muttered. Junior couldn't help but notice the slight bit of distain in her voice as she said that last part. It was so slight that she probably didn't even realize how she'd said it, but he supposed Minnie was a bit of a sore subject for the both of them, though he imagined for different reasons. Thankfully this was not something he had to address at the moment, as they'd finally arrived at their destination.
"Here we are." Junior said, changing the subject and snapping his sister's attention forward. The building they faced looked basically the same as any of the others, albeit slightly more run-down in appearance and old style western double doors in place of the metal sliding ones on the rest of the stores.
"The Last Resort?" Daniela read off the bar's neon sign hanging over the door.
"Yep." Junior said. "This is the second one. The first used to be in the living world but turns out it's not a good idea to build stuff on Mars. At least not if you need to breathe. But give the owners credit. Not everyone can just set up shop in the Underworld after all that."
"Wait…Mars?" Daniela quickly twisted her head to him.
Junior smirked and opened the doors.
The inside of the bar was only slightly less dingy and dirty than it was on the outside and had significantly less light quality. Booths lined the edges of the building with the bartender's counter lying far in the back and easily the most well-lit section of the bar. Round wooden tables filled out the rest of the placed, scattered randomly across the creaky wooden floor. There was a low hum of chatter from the many patrons seated across the bar, mixed with the clacking of glasses and the music coming from the jukebox close to the doors that sounded suspiciously like Soul Bossa Nova. All in all, it was basically what one would expect a bar to look and sound like and thus was not what caused Daniela to go wide-eyed.
In her studies, like with her siblings, Mandy had made sure Daniela was aware of all the species that naturally make their home within the Underworld. Quite a few of them Daniela could even recognize right now. Vampires, werewolves, Franken-weasels, demons, ghosts, swamp-things, platypus bunnies, warlocks, and so on. It was the creatures that she didn't recognize that got her attention. Things with long necks and scales. Things short, muscular, and furry with pointed ears. Fish-men clearly not from any oceans she'd ever heard of in her studies. Red and green colored waitresses and dancers with three eyes (and apparently three of a few other things too, given some of the male patrons' excitement). It took Daniela a few minutes to work through her shock before she could even say anything.
"Th-…those are…"
"Aliens?" Junior finished for her. "You betcha." He said with a smile. "Welcome to The Last Resort. Biggest hive of supernatural and extraterrestrial scum and villainy this side of Mos Eisley."
Daniela gave him another blank look, same as before.
"Oh come on! Even people who've never seen Star Wars know what that is!" Junior exclaimed. "Urg. Look…why don't you go find us a seat? I'm going to go check the board and see if there's anything new up."
"Wait! But I-"
But it was too late, as Junior was already making his way to the end of the bar, leaving Daniela standing paralyzed by the entrance. Noticing that some of the patrons were starting to stare she quickly decided to move away, not wanting to draw attention to herself in a place like this.
As she made her way around the floor, searching for an empty table or booth she couldn't help but feel incredibly out of place and not just because she was one of the few ghosts in the building. She was basically a toothpick in comparison to a number of the patrons, even the women, as there seemed to be a few literal amazons in the mix, with muscles bigger than her head.
"I wonder if this was big brother's plan when he said I could come with him." Daniela pondered as she held her arms close to herself, careful not to bump into anyone. "Take me here to scare me out of leaving the castle again."
Unfortunately Daniela had been so worried over bumping into the sitting patrons that she paid no attention to what was in front of her, causing her smack face first into a very large and heavily built being.
Literally heavy built it would seem, as after Daniela shook herself back to her senses she saw that the being she bumped into was made of metal. Orange metal, strangely enough, though the joints and thighs of the machine were composed out of grey colored titanium by the look of it, connecting to massive orange legs and wide forearms that would put Popeye to shame (if she knew who that was). At the top of the robot's 10-foot stature was its pointed cylindrical head, which turned a full 180 degrees to cast its gaze down at the cowering teenager who just disturbed it.
"I-I'm sorry." Daniela quickly apologized. "I-I should have been watching where I was going."
The robot turned the rest of its body to face her. The biggest part of this machine was easily its chest area and now Daniela could see why, as this section of the robot's body was designed to look like the frowning face of a jack-o'-lantern. The openings that made it allowing her to feel the full intensity of the blazing heat coming from the robot's core. The robot's slanted yellow eyes focused in on her, making Daniela sure she was about to be vaporized. But then it simply tilted its head back up and walked away from her without a word.
Daniela stood motionless in the middle of the floor, daring not yet to move as if she were standing on a landmine, completely shocked that she was not dead.
She shook herself back to her senses, quickly moving back to finding a table, hoping the sooner she found one the sooner her brother would return to her.
Junior approached the bulletin board near the back of the bar. Even from a distance one could see there was not a single bit of unused space, with wanted posters covering the entire thing. While he didn't like to stop in here too often given how close it was to home he had to admit it was the best place for finding new or possible future jobs. He supposed the logic of it was that enough dead people pass through here that you get plenty of eyes out for whoever or whatever you put the bounty on.
At the moment there appeared to only be one other person at the board. A black human male in an overcoat and sunglasses, cradling the sniper rifle in his arms like a baby.
"Morning, Benny." Junior said as he stood beside him.
"Junior." The assassin greeted, his eyes still searching through the posters.
"Haven't seen you around in a while. What've you been up to?"
"I was in the mortal world helping an obsessed fangirl kidnap an internet reviewer she wanted to be her boyfriend." Benny said, all with a completely straight face and tone.
"Huh. So how'd that work out?" Junior asked.
"She's now dating a man named Devil Boner."
"…So step up? Step down?"
"She's got me on speed dial regardless." Benny stated.
"Ah." Junior said, getting the idea.
He turned his focus to the board. Most of the posters on here he already had copies of, just in case he stumbled across any of them. As he scanned for any new ones he spotted a reprint. It was of a ghost with flaming white hair and a small beard to match. The presence of his face on the wanted posters was nothing new. However, the higher number in the reward section was.
"Bounty went up again." Junior commented to himself, reading in the info section about how the ghost had recently pissed off the queen of the Twilight Realm. Junior gave a small chuckle. "Dan, one of these days you're going to make it very hard for me not to bring you in. At least not if my wallet has anything to say about it."
Junior continued to look through the posters, not finding much in need of his attention. But just at the moment he was about to leave he took notice of a certain poster. In was not a "wanted" poster but rather one of the few "missing" posters that littered the board. While not as common there were plenty of bounty hunters who had no problem taking on a missing person job, so long as the money was still good. But this poster…it was of Mina Harper, an eternal child due to being a vampire and ward of Vlad the Count. She'd been missing for over a year and the Count had placed a very high reward for her safe return. Junior had glanced over it at first because he'd seen it before. But what caused him to look back was the realization that it shouldn't still be there.
"Hey, Benny, what's the deal with the Mina Harper posters? I thought Constantine or Blade or one of those guys took the job months ago."
"They did." Benny replied. "They couldn't find her."
"You're kidding me." Junior said disbelief. "Those guys are like bloodhounds when it comes to this kind of work. Sometimes literally. How could they not find her?"
"I don't know and it doesn't make things look good for me either." Benny told him. "I've been trying to pick up on the trail of Youngblood for a while now and haven't turned up a thing."
"Youngblood? The ghost kid?" Junior asked.
"That's the one." Benny nodded. "It seems whoever is doing all these child kidnappings is doing a pretty good job at it." When he noticed Junior looking at him in confusion, he said "You…have heard about the kidnapping, haven't you? It's been in all the papers."
"Yeah, yeah, I've heard about it. I just…didn't think they were this bad." Junior said as he now realized that all the missing posters were of the children of the Underworld.
"Yeah. It's times like these that make me glad I don't have any children down here." Benny commented.
And at those words Junior's mind went to Daniela. He knew she shouldn't be in any danger as she was outside the age range for these kidnappings (the physical age range anyway, given that Mina was supposed to be in her forties). But still, he couldn't help but worry, especially since he'd brought her out her, and quickly turned to leave the board and find her.
Thankful it wasn't hard for a Reaper to find a ghost in a crowd if he knew what he was looking for and quickly spotted his younger sister sitting at one of the round tables close to the bar's edge.
And there was someone standing right next to her.
Junior tensed, prepared to draw his sword and any other weapons he might need, until he got a little closer and recognized who it was.
Standing, with one foot up on a chair as he talked to Daniela, was a skeleton, just barely about Junior's own height, wearing a very old and faded brown cowboy outfit with a hat to match and a red scarf wrapped around his neck. Junior had met the man before, though under better circumstances, for even from where Junior was approaching he could tell that the man was hitting on her.
"So…what do ya say?" Django flirted with her.
Daniela's face was incredibly red from the man's offer and the only thing that kept her from completely flipping out on him and calling him a disgusting pervert was that she did not want to attract more attention to herself.
"I…appreciate the offer…but I am already here with someone else." She said, doing her best to be respectful and let him down gently."
"And I bet he wouldn't mind you going home with someone else." Django smiled, not backing down so easily.
"Ahem." Junior interrupted from behind Django, much to Daniela's relief.
Django turned, surprised to see the Reaper. "Oh! Hey Junior. Long time no see." He greeted friendlily. "Look, I'd love to catch up, but right now I trying to…" He cocked his head over at Daniela. "You know…"
"That's my little sister." Junior pointed out, folding his arms and putting on his best protective older brother face.
Django looked back and forth between the ghost girl and the Reaper. "So…you got first dibs or something?" He asked.
"Django…" Junior warned.
"Kidding. Kidding." Django said, trying to ease the tension. The skeleton then sighed. "It's probably for the best anyway. I need to get back to searching."
"Searching?" Junior questioned.
"Aye. My abuela, Sartana, is missing." Django told him.
"Lot of that going around." Junior commented, thinking about the missing children.
"Yeah, but this one makes sense. My grandmother has had a bounty on her head since the day she plucked her first guitar string. Figured I'd check here first to see if anyone's collected the reward yet. You bounty hunters like keeping track of what the other guys have bagged."
"Can't say I've heard anything." Junior said honestly. "Though I am willing to keep an eye out for you. That is if you're willing to pay."
Djanjo chuckled at that. "Well, thank you for that offer of extortion, but I think I can handle things pretty well on my own. Personally, I'd prefer it that way."
"I didn't know you and your grandmother were so close."
"Eh. It's hit and miss." Django shrugged. "However, whoever took out Sartana also has her mystic guitar and that's something I cannot allow to fall into any wrong hands (other than my own, of course)."
"Well, good luck to you." Junior said, bidding the man a farewell as he sat across from his sister.
"Thanks. Oh. And kid…" He said, addressing Daniela, clearly showing that he hadn't even learned her name yet. "I was willing to risk incredible mystic power slipping through my grasp just for a chance to have you jump my bones. So trust me, this little event is something you should take as a compliment." He winked at her.
"Django…" Junior said sternly, making it clear that this was the final warning he was giving him.
"Alright, alright, I'm going." Django said as he walked away, leaving to ask others about his grandmother's whereabouts.
"Quite the interesting friend you have made since you've been away, brother." Daniela commented dryly.
"Eh, he's not so bad once you get to know him, though I have told him he needs to work on not coming on so strong." Junior said as he adjusted his seat.
"How would that even work anyway?" Daniela asked as she watched Django move around the bar.
"That is not a conversation I'm going to have with you." Junior stated very bluntly. "It was bad enough when dad had to give that talk to me. All I can say is thank the gods for polymorphic Nergal demon flesh."
Daniela gave a small giggle at her older brother's uncomfortableness, though her laugher was soon silenced when something big, grey, and round approached their table. It was the same height as she was and over three times as wide, with, as far as Daniela could tell, no eyes. She feared at first when she saw the creature put out what she thought was a weapon at first, but soon realized it was a notepad and a pen.
"Grim Jr?" The creature said in a voice that was surprisingly feminine and slightly southern sounding. To Daniela's horror the creature literally grew in a set of eyes from its previously blank forehead. Three eyes to be exact, each of a different color. "Oh! Junior! Baby! You do not stop by here often enough for my liking! Where you been, sugar?"
"Hey, Debbie." Junior greeted her with a friendly smile. "How're the kids doing?"
"Oh, you know those five. Still digesting."
"Five? You sure? Because it looks like you only got one or two in there."
"Oh ho! Junior, you sweet-talker!" The alien modestly waved his complement off with a laugh. "What can I get for you both today?"
"Cyanide and Happiness, leave the bottle, and a glass of milk." Junior said politely.
"I'll have that right out for you." Debbie said as she finished writing it down and walked to the bar counter.
Junior watched as the alien waitress left, but soon noticed the blank nervous stare Daniela was giving.
"You ok?" He asked, startling her back to her senses.
"W-what? Oh, yes. Yes, I'm…I'm fine. Just…just feeling a little…"
"Overwhelmed?" He finished for her. When he saw that she was about to protest his choice of words, he quickly followed up with "Relax. It took a bit for me to wrap my head around it too."
Her brother's words eased her tension a little bit, but she still felt somewhat anxious. "But brother, how can there be so many alien beings here in the Underworld?" She asked with a hushed voice as to not antagonize the surrounding patrons.
"Well, you met rustbucket and tentacle-face back in Hel, remember? It's pretty much the same story with a lot of these people." He answered with a shrug. "Aliens come to Earth. Some of them die on Earth. And then dad drags their butts down here, assuming some god or demon hasn't taken an interest in them first. Basically you land on Earth then Earth's Underworld gets a claim to you."
"Then…by the way you say that…are there Underworlds for other planets?" Daniela asked.
"Oh yeah." Junior nodded. "One thing dad always told me that while he loved his job you could not pay him enough to get him to collect the dead for the rest of the universe. Said it was bad enough when he had to cover the Martian Reaper's shifts there for a bit. That's how this place ended up here." He explained, gesturing to the establishment.
Daniela blinked, her worldview having just been so suddenly expanded. The studies their mother made she and Manny go through made it clear to her that aliens exist. She just hadn't realized how prominent they were when it came to the afterlife realms.
"This is all quite a bit to take in." Daniela admitted.
"Trust me, you'll see far freakier when you travel with me." Junior smiled. "Speaking of which, since we are traveling together you should probably become familiar with some of the other bounty hunters that work around these parts. Might need you to play lookout for me one day and warn me if they're coming to take my target."
"Alright." Daniela said, listening intently, eager for a future opportunity to prove herself.
Junior looked over the bar, searching for any other hunters in the immediate area. "Alright…you see the red guy with the mummy taters wrapped around himself?" He asked, pointing. Daniela looked over and indeed saw the man sitting at another table, talking with (or more accurately being talked to by) a small cat looking creature completely covered with bandages. "That's the Scorcher." Junior explained when she turned back to him. "As his name would imply he's a pyromancer, from the Fire kingdom, most suspect. He prefers more hitman based work. You know, stuff he gets directly hired for. He's not too bad of a person to deal with. He's just very dedicated to getting the job done and has even been known to turn on his employers if he thinks they're an obstacle to his work."
Junior scanned the bar again. "The cowboy with the half melted face? That's Jonah Hex." He pointed. "Big bounty hunter from the old west. He's basically just human but the old timer's still got some moves. Overall probably one of the most trustworthy hunters down here (relatively speaking) but apparently he's hung with a few superheroes in his day so he keeps getting brought back to life every now and then to deal with their remaining crap."
"The guy he's talking to in the green armor? That's Boba Fett, a big time bounty hunter from the galaxy he came from. That's where he died too, but due to some bureaucratic nonsense that went on in their Underworld, something something dark side and balance, and holes in space-time, he ended up here. Also human but plenty of weapons and skill to back him up. However, whatever you do don't bring up how he died. It's still a sore spot for him."
"How did he die?" Daniela asked.
"You'd know if you watched the movies." Junior said pointedly. "Worst day of his afterlife was when the Underworld got VHS."
"Anyway…" He said, getting back on topic. "The redheaded woman that Django's hitting on, in the outfit that would make even mom blush, that's Angela, daughter of Odin. She's an angel/guardian of a galaxy/bounty hunter and apparently she and Spawn had a love/kill relationship with each other. She's actually how I met Hela, as the good queen hired me to help knock her butt off her throne. Thus, Angela doesn't like me very much."
"That big ghost in the black power armor and green flames? That's Skulktech 9.9. He's what happens when the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter goes and pisses off the wrong Underworld lord. Aku mauled him so badly that he had to form a symbiotic relationship with the Ghost Zone's greatest technological mind just to keep going, hence the creepy green face in the center of his armor." He then looked directly at Daniela. "Whatever you do, do not change form in front of him." He warned her sternly. "He does this job almost solely for the trill of the hunt and values whatever prize he captures way more than any monetary reward. Just another ghost is not going to attract that much attention for him. But a half human/half ghost? Well…that'll be a prize he can't just ignore."
Daniela sat in silence, watching the cybernetic ghost from across the bar. She was not used to seeing other ghosts other than herself and Manny, so something as different as Skulktech 9.9 took a moment to truly get her head around.
"Well…those are mainly the ones to concern yourself with." Junior went on as Daniela absorbed everything he was dumping on her and the waitress finally returned, bearing the bottle of cyanide and the glass of milk on her. Debbie placed them down on the table, giving Junior a flirting wink as she did so, before leaving to tend to the other tables. "There are plenty of others but the only other big ones are people like Deadpool and Deathstroke and they don't tend to hang around here much. Bounty hunting is one of those funny jobs where anyone can do it but very few are actually any good at it."
Junior uncorked the bottle and took in a whiff. "Ohhh yeah…that's a good year! Daniela, you ever come back to this place on your own, be sure to ask for Debbie. She knows her stuff. That is…when you're old enough to drink, of course.
Daniela looked towards the glass of milk on the table, eying it with some distain. "Brother, while I agree it's best for me not to subject myself to any fool's drink that would dull the senses, I'm sure there was something else I could have been given to drink. Something more age appropriate, perhaps?"
"Who said this was for you?" Junior retorted as he picked up the glass and downed the entire thing in one gulp. "Souls do wonders for me but sometimes you need something that's just for the bones. Besides, you were planning on leaving before I caught you so you must have brought some money with you. If you want something go ahead and order."
Daniela gave a bit of a frustrated look off to the side.
"What?" Junior asked.
"…My money was in the clothes the Ammits tore up."
"Oh…" Junior said, understandably feeling like a bit of an ass (though interesting that she focused more on the loss of clean clothes than the money. "Well…guess we'd better keep an eye out for possible jobs then. Get you something to spend with."
With that Junior leaned back in his chair, making room as his chest literally opened itself up (a bit to Daniela's disgust), revealing two books sitting inside his torso. Junior reached in and pulled out one of them, his chest sealing itself back up.
"I…suppose that's one way to store important items." Daniela said, a bit put-off by what she just saw.
Junior smirked. "Trust me, the only people who get that close to me have much bigger things to worry about than stealing a couple of books."
As Junior flipped through the musty old pages, to Daniela's surprise she actually recognized it by the skull on its cover, shaped very similar to that of the Grim Reaper. It was the old family photo album, which their father had given to Junior before she was even born, as it also used to be Grim diary. She was surprised to see that he still had it, given how long he'd been away for, but soon saw the wanted posters that littered the pages her brother currently searched through, making it clear he was keeping it to chronicle his past and future hunts.
Daniela watched the bar in quiet for a minute while Junior kept serching when a thought came to her. She looked to her brother. "Brother…would you happen to know of a large orange robot? One that looks like a frowning jack-o'-lantern?" She asked.
Junior looked up from his papers at her, his eyes going a little wide in surprise at her question. But he soon after smiled, showing that it was an okay question to ask. "Noticed him, did you?"
"I was afraid he was going to crush me from bumping into him when I was searching for a table." She explained.
"Oh." Junior said, sounding a little disappointed. "I thought you were asking because he's staring at us right now from across the bar."
Daniela's eyes went wide and she turned her head sharply, indeed seeing the large robot from before sitting in a booth at the far end of the bar, its yellow eyes locked onto the two of them.
Daniela's head snapped sharply back to Junior. "Brother…!" She whispered in panic.
"Relax." Junior told her, patted her shoulder to get her to calm down. "He does that every time I come in here. Hasn't tried anything yet so I doubt he's going to do anything now when there's two of us."
Her brother's reassurance did little to calm her down. "But…but…who…what is he?"
"Don't know." Junior said simply with a shrug. "Nobody really knows much about him other than just random rumors. Hell, even his name, Lantern, is just what the people here started to call him because we could never get the guy's name out of him. Popular theory is that he's the reanimated remains of the Pumpkinator, brought back to life and given new form by dark magic or a very curious scientist."
"The Pumpkinator? The beast that was responsible for our sister's death?" Daniela asked.
"That's the one." Junior said, taking a drink.
Daniela looked back and forth between her brother and robot. "…And that doesn't bother you at all?!" She whispered sharply.
"Daniela, it's just a rumor. And even if it was true, he hasn't actually done anything to provoke me. Trust me, out here it's very important not to just show off to everyone what you can do unless you need to. Otherwise guys like these will see you coming and take you down." He explained, gesturing to the wanted posters in his book.
Daniela still felt uneasy about the machine still staring at them, but knew it would be best to follow her brother's lead on this since he was far more experienced in this kind of thing than she was. Craning her neck up she did her best to see the pages of the old book. When Junior noticed he simply handed it over to her so she could look through it freely. Giving a nod in thanks, Daniela flipped through the posters, with some of them noticeably marked on.
"Are the crossed out posters the ones you've apprehended?" She asked.
"No. The green checkmarks are the ones I've gotten. The X's are the ones other people did."
Daniela flipped through a few more, not recognizing most of what Junior had done but remembering a few of the crossed out ones from her studies.
"The Lich, Rita Repulsa, Wuya. Brother, these are all very big names." She commented.
"Yep, and most of them, like Django's grandmother, don't have a clear answer as to who took them in or even if anyone did. While there are not as many heroes around as there were back in the Megaville days, there are still people like Finn and Jake or the Power Rangers who take down people like these for no reward or credit (selfless bastards). That or they're just in hiding, biding their time and scheming, as you do when you're a villain."
Daniela continued to flip through the posters, finally coming across a checked off one she recognized from their mother making her study the history of Hell.
"The Ghost Rider?" She said, slightly impressed.
"Oh yeah…that one was me." Junior said, but strangely a bit hesitantly, scratching his head. "Not very proud of how that one came up, let me tell yo-"
"Grim Jr!" someone called out with an angry tone.
Both Junior and Daniela turned to the noise, seeing a tall thin man with cracked circular glasses limping his way over to their table. "You got some nerve showing up in my bar!" The man slurred. This, along with the bottle of bourbon in his hand and the stagger of his walk made it pretty clear that he was drunk.
"This isn't your bar, Nigel." Junior calmly reminded him. "Your bar went under, remember?"
"Shut up! I know!" Nigel yelled at the sitting Reaper, pointing his hand holding the bottle at him. "I know." He said again, a bit more sadly this time. "It fell apart. Just like my family's peanut farm. Just like my career as a wizard. Just like everything else in my life. Ever since your damn parents came into it!" He yelled, smacking the bottle of cyanide off the table, smashing it against the wall and getting the attention of everyone inside the bar.
"Hey!" The bartender warned. "No fights inside the bar! You want to scrap, you take it outside."
Nigel looked at Junior daringly. "Yeah…come on, Junior. Let's take this outside!"
"I'm not going to fight you, Nigel." Junior said calmly.
Nigel didn't take that as an answer. "Come on!" He yelled, shaking the table with his hands to get some kind of reaction out of him. "What? You afraid to fight me, Reaper baby?!" With the wizard's face so close Junior could practically smell the alcohol fuming from his mouth.
"Nigel…" Junior again said calmly, trying to defuse the situation. "It isn't worth it."
Junior's words only seemed to make him angrier. "Not worth it? What, like how I was never worth anything to your mom and dad? Not enough for them to ever look back after they destroyed my life?!"
"Nigel…"
Before any more could be said Nigel took the bottle he'd been holding and held it over the Reaper's head, dumping the contents within all over him.
"How about now? Am I worth it now?!" Nigel jeered at the dripping bourbon covered Reaper.
Nigel then found himself grabbed by the collar, but not by Junior. By Daniela, whom he'd not been paying any attention to up till this moment as she was not as recognizably a child of Grim and Evil as Junior was.
"How dare you!" She yelled at the wizard, her raised hand lighting up bright green with power. The anger in Nigel's face was replaced by fear as he scrambled to get his wand from inside his clothes.
"Daniela!" Junior yelled, startling the both of them into stopping what they were doing. "Let him go." He ordered.
The ghost girl looked back and forth between her brother and the wizard in her grasp, struggling with the why of doing such a thing. But in the end she relented, the light fading from her fist and releasing her grip on the man. As soon as his collar was free Nigel stumbled backwards, almost falling over, before turning and fleeing to the other end of the bar.
As the commotion died down the white noise of chatter refilled the bar. Junior pulled a cloth out of his pocket to wipe off the bourbon covering him while Daniela just stared blankly yet with a slight bit of anger at him.
"How could you let him treat you in such a way?" She asked him.
"Because he's drunk, depressed, and down on his luck." Junior explained simply as he wiped his face. "We've all been there."
"But you are the prince of the land of Death and a powerful warrior! You should never stand for anyone treating you as he did!"
"Ah yes, the old family motto: if you have power, make sure that everyone knows it." Junior said flatly.
"And is it wrong?" Daniela pointed out. "Our empire has many enemies yet many dare not try anything because they are well aware of what we can do to them. We do not allow people to think they can just walk all over us."
"There are already plenty of people who know not to mess with me." Junior retorted. "Nigel Planter is a fairly unimpressive wizard who was expelled from Toadblatt's and owned a peanut plantation until it went out of business. He blames mom and dad for all his problems because they all started happening after he first met them. Maybe he's right to, maybe he's not, but does that sound like someone I absolutely have to prove myself to?"
Daniela opened her mouth to retort but fell silent, knowing he had a point.
Seeing that Daniela hesitantly saw his point of view Junior put away the damp cloth and reopened his torso. "Now then, I believe we came here to see if we could get some answers." He said, as he picked up and closed his father's old journal.
As the two sibling talked over how they were going to investigate the recent break-in without attracting to much attention to themselves, Nigel stood across the bar from them, barely supporting himself on one of the tables. He was breathing hard, both from the fear that he was going to be killed and from the exhausted state his heavy drinking had put him in. The adrenaline from a mere moment ago had been enough to get his mind to focus enough to know to run away when he'd been given a chance, but now his senses were starting to dull again, along with his judgment. He'd always had a bit of a large ego, even as a child. But the many years of bad luck and misfortunes had chipped away at his self-image, slowly breaking him down into the hopeless loser he was now. And seeing the children of those whom had caused him misery in the past, those who've had nothing but success while he was stuck at rock bottom, simply talking to each other as though nothing had happened, as though his presence had done nothing to be of notice to them…it was more than he could take. And as he stared at the two with anger and bitterness returning to his drunken gaze he noticed Junior shelving he journal right next to another book inside his body. And that gave him a thought. It was a simple thought that soon became action. The simple thought that did not go past making the son of Mandy acknowledge his presence.
Nigel pulled out his wand. "Accio journal!" He cried out, pointing the wand towards the two.
His yell caught the attention of several of the bar's patrons, including Junior and Daniela. It was only a second before they were made aware of what he was doing, as the book beside the journal flew out from Junior's open chest and into the wizard's hand, which held the book up in triumph and pride.
As anyone would have guessed this triumph did not last long. However very few could have guessed it would end as badly as it did. In the blink of an eye Junior had left Daniela's side and was already upon the wizard. But his cool temperament was far gone. With one solid motion the Reaper grabbed Nigel by the arm which held the book and tore it clean from his body with a bloody rip.
Nigel's scream of agony filled the entire bar, the suddenness of such violence causing most of the patrons to take a leap back. Junior other hand grew massive, his fingers wrapping around Nigel's entire body as it crushed him against the floor.
"DON'T YOU TOUCH THAT!" Junior practically roared in his sudden demonic voice. This along with his increasing bulk and the red tears that started to split open along his body made he almost seem like a completely different person to his sister, who watched on in shock. "DO YOU HEAR ME?! DON'T YOU EVER TOUCH THAT!"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Nigel screamed in terror at the Reaper's green thrashing jaws, his terror completely overshadowing the pain caused by his missing arm.
Junior picked Nigel up and threw him violently across the bar, smashing him through a number of tables, including the bartender's counter, causing him to crash into the numerous glasses and bottles.
The bar went deafly quiet, all eyes on two sights. The bleeding, moaning wizard lying in the pile of broken wood and glass, and one the panting, glowing Demon Reaper, practically dripping with rage. Junior's own eyes viewed around the bar. He could see everyone who had any slowly reaching for their weapons, getting ready in case he was about to attack. Junior's knuckles cracked, ready for any of them, know he could take them all easily.
And then his eyes fell to Daniela and her own eyes, staring at him with a mix of fear and confusion, like she didn't even recognize him anymore.
Junior's red eyes softened and reverted by to their normal green. The tears in his body resealed and his form returned to normal. After a moment of standing in the awkward silence, Junior reached into his jacket and pulled out a small roll of money.
"Sorry about the damages." He said, tossing the roll over to the bartender who immediately dropped it in shock and surprise. Junior then picked up the book out of Nigel's disembodied arm and turned towards the entrance. "Daniela. Let's go." He called out to her as he started to leave.
Daniela, like the rest of the patrons, sat in stunned silence for a long minute. But eventually she shook herself out of it, leaving her chair and running to catch up with her brother.
After the two left chatter refilled the bar, hushed whispers discussing what had just happened. The bartender and a few of the waitresses did what they could to help Nigel, or at least do enough to get him to stop bleeding over their remaining merchandise. And the machine known as Lantern took this given opportunity, turning inwards into his booth with his back to the crowd. He opened up a small compartment on his arm and his metal fingers lightly tapped the controls, entering in the commands to bring up a small holographic projection, which his bulk prevented the other bar patrons from seeing.
The projection took shape, forming the image of a reasonably tall man covered head to toe in a black and yellow robe, much like a monk would wear, with the hood hiding his full face.
"I have a report to give." Lantern informed the man, his deep robotic voice giving a small echo.
"Are you in The Last Resort?" The man asked him, annoyance in his tone. "Why are you talking to me from a public place?! Secret organization, remember? That means not attracting any attention to ourselves or even the fact that we exist!"
"Trust me. No one is paying any attention to me after Grim Jr's little show with Planter." Lantern stated.
"Planter?" The hooded man said with a bit of surprise. "Nigel Planter? That dropout wizard who used to own The Leaking Wand?"
Lantern nodded. "Uploading the video now." He said, his eyes glowing a brighter shade of yellow as he transferred the information.
As it loaded onto his screen the man continued to talk. "I know the big guy was talking recently about taking a look into Planter, see if his powers or his history would be of any use to us."
"I doubt he would have found anything of worth. Especially not now that Junior's disarmed him." Lantern stated.
"I'm sure we could get him another wand." The man said.
"Not that kind of disarming." Lantern explained.
The video finally popped up on the robed man's side of the screen and Lantern had to admit he took some enjoyment out of watching the man give a startled jump much like the bar patrons had at Junior's sudden brutality.
"Eugh." The man gave a shiver of disgust at seeing and imagining Nigel's incredible pain. "Well, at least we can say this: that is definitely Mandy's kid." The robed man leaned in the look closer at the video. "He lost it over a book? Again, I can easily see the boy's mother reacting the same way, but that was quite the sudden outburst. Any idea what that book is about?"
"None." The Lantern stated. "You've had me keeping eyes on the Reaper child for over a year now and I've never seen that book before. He either got it very recently or he's had it since before you put me on this assignment and he's never once taken it out."
The man in the hologram stroked his chin. "Hmm…curious. Very curious indeed. We'll have to look into this. Good work, Lantern."
"I'm not finished." Lantern said before the man could end the transmission.
"Oh?"
"His sister is traveling with him." Lantern explained.
Though he could not see his eyes under the shadow of his hood Lantern could still tell how wide the man's eyes became once he shared this information.
"Minimandy?" He said with a sense of urgency.
Lantern shook his head. "No. The younger one. The ghost hybrid."
"Oh." The man said, sounding disappointed. "Well that's not as big a deal. Our intel tells us that she's not much of a fighter. We shouldn't need to adjust our plans much to account for her."
"I could take her out just to be sure." Lantern offered. "I could take them both out and be done with it."
"Lantern…" The man said with a sigh, knowing where this was going.
"I'm more than equipped to deal with Junior. You made me equipped to deal with him."
"It's not time for that yet."
"Then when will it be time?!" Lantern yelled in anger. If the other patrons were not otherwise distracted by Junior's previous commotion, his yell would have drawn attention to himself. "I have been waiting for years to get my revenge! And every time he's near you make me sit back and watch, knowing full well that I have the power to snap him like a twig and move on to the rest of his family!"
"Now. Is not. The time!" The man finally snapped back at the robot. "You think I don't get your desire for revenge? I want it more than you could possibly imagine with that brainless body of yours. You think I don't want to hear their endless screams of agony after what they did to me? But if we're going to do this, then we are going to do this right. Which means you are going to follow your orders and wait. Is. That. Clear?"
Lantern glared at the hologram. "…Fine."
The robed man glared back. "Good." He said before hitting a button and ending the transmission.
"Milk-sucking asshole." Lantern muttered as he closed the compartment on his arm. Turning back to the rest of the bar he was surprised to see the waitresses sweeping up the remaining broken glass and wood, with Nigel Planter nowhere to be seen. Adjusting his scanners he found a small trail of blood drops that led from where Junior had left the wizard to out the side door that lead to the alley.
Lantern gave shrug at this, it being no loss to anyone what would happen to Nigel Planter. And so he decided to stay seated for just a little longer in his booth, knowing that with how angry he was he might just try to kill Junior out of spite for his partner.
Nigel stumbled out into the alley outside The Last Resort, nearly falling into some garbage bins against the wall. His wand had already cauterized the wounds and he'd cast a spell to start regrowing his arm. Unfortunately it was a very slow process and a very painful one throughout.
"Stupid Reapers. Stupid Underworld. Stupid Grims." He muttered and cursed under his breath as Nigel continuously winced in pain.
"Yeah. He's quite the temperamental little bugger, isn't he?" Asked a male voice from down the alley.
Nigel's head perked up in surprise, not having expected anyone to be out here. "H…hello?"
"Over here." The voice called to him, though he still couldn't tell where it was coming from. Nigel looked around in confusion and saw no one. But after blinking his eyes he then saw someone casually leaning with his back up against one of the alley walls. Someone Nigel, even in his still partially drunken state, was sure hadn't been there a moment ago.
Nigel squinted his eyes as he walked towards the person, it being too dark to make out much of them. The most he could make out was the man's long white jacket and his basic outline against the little light there was in the alley. But as Nigel got closer, this outline started to look…familiar.
"Junior?" Nigel asked, still squinting.
The man wagged his finger playfully at him. "No, no. Not quite. But don't worry, the confusion is not insulting to me." He said in a friendly tone. "You'll have to forgive Junior for his little mood swing back there. He's going through a bit of a rough patch in his life right now. Not saying you should be happy that he Ben Kenobi'd your arm, but I mean, come on, the guy wants to bang his own mother. That's an entire textbook worth of issues right there to give you some sympathy for the kid."
"Wants to bang his…? Who are you?" Nigel asked.
"Me?" The hidden man said. "Well…I was the guy who was going to offer you the opportunity of a lifetime. But after that little performance in there I think we'll be just fine as we are. Sorry."
"O-opportunity?" Nigel stumbled towards the man. "Wait! What opportunity?!"
The man didn't seem to hear him. "Still…don't want this trip to be a complete waste." The man said, not acknowledging the wizard's question.
Before he even knew what was happening the man had grabbed Nigel by the jaw, lifting him up high in the air with one arm. With the man's hand covering his mouth Nigel could not scream or call for help, leaving only to beat his remaining arm against his attacker in a vain and futile attempt to escape.
"You know what the worst part of this probably is for you?" The man asked the struggling Nigel. "If you had been this pathetic just a few years ago, I probably would have come to help you instead of the other guy." The man shrugged. "Ifs and buts, candy and nuts, am I right?"
Nigel felt his flesh begin to burn as his entire body started to glow. The stranger's hand muffled his screams of agony as the light enveloped his being. And when it had finally completely consumed him he went silent.
The light went out and the remains of Nigel Planter slipped through the man's fingers as nothing more than bits of sand and dust.
The man in the white jacket flexed his muscles for a bit. "Huh. There was more in there than I thought there'd be." He commented, mildly surprised. "Good on ya, man. Guess everyone always was just underestimating you."
The man's head then perked up, taking notice of the presence behind him.
"I really wish you hadn't seen that, Django." He said dryly.
The man turned behind him and indeed there was Django of the Dead. As the man in the white jacket would assume, the skeleton saw everything. But it was not surprise, fear, or even disgust that filled his features. No. From under his hat the eyes of Django stared with only one emotion. Rage. Pure and barely being held back.
Natural the man had to egg him on.
"So…" The man said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. "Did you come back here to ask Nigel some questions about Sartana in case he saw anything, or maybe just rob him, because honestly I wouldn't think he'd have much of either to offer."
Django did not respond, still glaring at the man.
"Not much for small talk today, huh?" The man commented.
Finally Django did respond. "…When my grandmother went missing there wasn't a trace anywhere of her to be found. No portal residue left in her house. No money missing to suggest she was going underground to hide. It was like she'd just vanished. In fact, the only thing that was even slightly out of place was that her house was a little dirtier than usual, which in itself is nothing unusual. This is the Underworld after all. Nothing really stays clean down here. And that little bit of extra dirt and sand that we found in her house…we didn't feel anything magical about it, and it didn't give us any leads to where my grandmother might be, so no one thought much of it. And until just now, neither did I."
Django and the man in the white jacket stood across from each other, tensing themselves as they waited to see what the other's first move would be.
"Well then…" the man said evenly, doing well to hide what he was thinking from Django. "Now that that's all out there, let's indulge your curiosity by indulging mine. Is your first question going to be about her? Or about this?" The man held his hand out and from a flash of flames the golden mystic guitar of Sartana appeared in his grasp.
Django eyed the guitar with anger and caution. It was an object of power he'd grown up around for his entire afterlife. He knew what it could do and from its very presence he could tell that it was real.
"And my grandmother?" He asked.
"If I burped would that answer your question, or would you need me to walk you through it?" The man mocked with a smirk.
That was the last bit Django needed to set him off. In much the same fashion as his grandmother's Django's own red and black guitar appeared in his hands through a flash of fire. And though the man in the white jacket had Sartana's guitar out first, his speed proved less than her grandson's, as before could even point his forward Django had already gotten a shot off, energy blasting from the end of his guitar and knocking the weapon from the man's hands, sending it spinning up into the air.
"Wow! You're quite the little gunsling-OOF!" The man commented, interrupted by the blast that then hit him dead-center in the chest, knocking him back into the far wall. As the man got back to his feet Django twanged another of his guitar's strings, summoning forth his grandmother's skeleton banditos out from the ground and the wall, each grabbing him by the arms, legs, and neck to restrain him.
Sartana's guitar stopped spinning upwards and fell towards the ground, landing in Django's free hand. As he walked forwards the skeleton glared at the man he had trapped and pinned against the wall.
"I'm going to make you pay!" Django yelled, his fingers steady on his guitar's strings, already planning the endless and increasingly horrific punishments he'd make the man go through.
Strangely, the man did not struggle against the grasp of the numerous servant of Django. Instead simply looking over them and back to his captor quite calmly. "I was hoping to leave you out of this, Django." He said.
"I'm sure you were." Django said, fire in his eyes.
"I mean it." The man said honestly. "Yours and Sartana's powers are already pretty much the same, so there was no real need to get both of you. Plus you're still growing. Heck, to even get me against a literal wall like this I'd say your guitar is already getting to be as powerful as hers. Maybe even more. I wanted to see how far you'd get."
"Well then, congradulation! You get to." Django stated darkly, twanging the final string on his guitar. At their master's command the skeleton banditos pulled out their pistols, each aiming for a part of the body where it'd hurt: the knees, the shoulder, the lungs, and the midsection, for their master wanted his grandmother's killer to suffer.
At his order the click of the guns was heard.
But none of them fired.
"What?" Django said in confusion, as he continued to play his guitar but the banditos would not respond to his commands.
"Unfortunately, Django…" The man said, his voice commanding the boy's attention. "No matter how great you power gets, it's still magic."
The man's eyes glowed into a fiery pink and as this light illuminated his face so too did it light up the emptiness of the banditos' eye sockets. For a moment they did not move. Then their heads turned sharply towards Django.
The skeleton banditos released their hold on their prisoner and then advanced upon their former master, guns drawn and firing.
Django reacted fast, knowing that this was no time to gape in shock. With the same speed he'd used before he struck down the banditos, one after another, the blasts taking out their bullets and their bodies as they approached him. Django knew he could not risk summoning more banditos to aid him, in fear that they might be turned as well, but thankfully he did not need to, as they proved little match for the guitar of power that they normally obeyed.
When the last minion was struck down he saw that the man was approaching and hesitated not for a single second to fire at him again, this time an even more powerful blast than the last, knowing he needed to take him out now.
To his relief, the blast hit dead-on.
To his horror, it did absolutely nothing, not even slowing the man down as he just kept walking through it.
"And magic…" The man continued, as though nothing of significance had happened in the past minute. He then grabbed Django by the neck, holding him up as he had the late Nigel.
And like Nigel, Django struggled greatly to escape.
And like Nigel, it amounted to nothing. For like Nigel, the body of Sartana's grandson glowed brightly, before fading into nothing but dust, the guitars falling from where his hands had been before evaporating into flame.
"…Is what I'm all about." The man finished, before taking a pair of dark sunglasses from out of his jacket. He put them on and simply walked away, whistling a tune as he did so.
Daniela shifted slightly on the cold rocky ground. Time had clearly passed due to the dimming campfire so she must have slept somewhat, but it certainly did not feel like it. Not helped by the fact that the Underworld seems to have the same dreary red sky no matter what time it is.
Since they'd left the bar Junior had hardly said a word to her. In fact the only thing she could remember him even talking to her was when they were miles past the border, the furthest she'd ever been outside of Death's domain. And what he said was simply "We'll stop here for the night." Not even looking at her when he said it. Though she could hardly say whether she was grateful for that or not.
Since they'd left she had not once mentioned that they'd forgotten to search for information about the vault's break-in. She wasn't sure if she should. She'd seen Junior fight before, twice resulting in him saving her. Hell, she'd even almost fought him herself when she was trying to escape his capture. But during all those times though he was powerful and intimidating, possibly even a little sadistic, he was calm. In-control. But back there…she didn't know how to describe it in any way other than savage. Brutally wrathful. And as she laid here mere feet from the one who had so suddenly snapped, she realized she really didn't know him at all. He was her older brother, sure. But that scene at the bar she now realized was one of the very few memories she had of him.
As she shifted again, trying to get comfortable, she found herself facing where Junior was sitting. He was across from her, leaning against Dragonslayer, which he had inserted into the ground, and he sat reading what she soon realized was the book that Nigel had snatched away from him.
She had not gotten a good look at the book when Junior had put it away before and was a bit surprised by its design. It bore a purple hardcover, with a more rounded looking skull with a single eye in its right socket on the center of the book's cover, in much the same style as their father's old journal. However unlike that book this one was in much worse condition and not likely due to old age, given that the skull on the cover was made to resemble Junior. Though she could not see what Junior was reading Daniela could tell that many of the pages wrinkled or ripped. In fact, given how wide the spine of the book was it seemed that the book had quite a few pages missing from it. And the books hardcover was quite worn out, seemingly due to abuse rather than age.
And as she looked upwards towards Junior's face, still remembering his beastly rage from before, Daniela could not have been more shocked by what she saw. Whatever Junior was reading out of that book seemed to be making him quite upset. Not in the angry way. No, just the opposite in fact. From where she was lying, it almost looked like he was…crying.
Junior looked up from his book and Daniela quickly shut her eyes, pretending to still be asleep. For a few minutes Daniela didn't hear anything and then came a bit of shuffling. After another few minutes after the noise had stopped Daniela carefully reopened her eyes. Junior was still sitting against his sword, though now with his arms folded and his eyes closed. The book was nowhere to be seen, likely having been put back to within his chest.
She could not say for sure whether he'd noticed her watching or not. Either way, she still would not be sure of what to make of what she'd just seen.
And again, she was reminded of how little she really knew about him.
The next morning the two continued on their way. The path they walked on was seemingly random, but Daniela imagined that was often how Junior travelled around. Unfortunately, just as with the previous day's travels, it was spent with nothing but silence between the two.
Daniela hated it. Several times she looked up at her brother, wanting to say something. Anything. To just get him to stop looking straight ahead and talk to her. To say something to remind her of why she'd felt so happy that it was him of all people who'd invited her to come with as he explored the vastness of the Underworld. But each time she tried, she hesitated and backed down, unable to bring herself to do it. She berated herself internally for her cowardice, knowing how disappointed her mother would be for her failing to work up the nerve to simply say-
"I'm sorry." Junior said.
Daniela looked back up at him, caught off guard. "…What?"
Junior stopped walking. He didn't look at her at first but slowly he turned to face her. "…I didn't mean to scare you. …I'm sorry."
Daniela didn't quite know what to say, not having expected Junior to say anything at all like this. "N-no. It's ok." She said. "That wizard…he just kept pushing it and you finally decided he needed to stop."
"It's more than that." Junior said a bit distantly. "That book…it's something very personal to me. Something that I made personal. Because there's someone I want to read it someday. And even then…not really. And the idea of someone else seeing it…was more than I could take." He looked and spoke gently to his sister. "I just want you to know…that you never should have to be afraid of me. Not even when I'm like that. I'm your older brother. Protecting you is what I'm supposed to do, and I'm sorry that I made you feel, even for a second, otherwise. Especially over a book."
The silence between the two had returned. Only this time it was not due to fear of speaking, but rather having so much to say that one could not properly put into words.
"I was…startled, brother. Indeed." Daniela said, choosing the words carefully. "But I feel less danger from you than I do from Manny and he actually has used lethal attacks against me in our youth."
"One of those things I sure other families don't talk casually about." Junior commented quietly.
Daniela smiled a little. "I do not fear your wrath, for I know you will not direct it at me."
Junior gave a small relieved smile back. "I'm glad to hear that."
The two continued back onto their walk, the mood lightened a bit.
"I'm…assuming that the contents of your book…that is something that is not something you are willing to share. Not now." Daniela asked carefully
"Right." Junior said simply.
"I understand." Daniela said, not wanting to start up the problem again. …But that's not to say an idea didn't come to her mind. "Brother, that book would not happen to be filled with the posters of those who've gotten away from you, would it?"
Junior gave her a smirk, knowing she was trying to egg him on. "You really think anyone's ever gotten away from me when I've set my sights on them?" He asked.
"I believe I am proof of that, given that I got away from you and you did not catch me again." She pointed out.
"What do you call what happened near the border then?"
"That was the Ammits' doing, remember? They seemed to have done a much better job of trapping me than you did."
"Shut up."
Daniela giggled. "They may even have done it with more proper manners towards a lad-!" Daniela found herself interrupted by Junior's sudden hand over her mouth.
"No, seriously, shut up. Do you hear that?" Junior asked as he looked up and around.
Slowly he removed his hand from her mouth and indeed Daniela started to hear something in the distance.
"Are those…bagpipes?" She asked in confusion.
The noise went on for another minute before suddenly stopping. The two looked at each other in confusion when then in the distance they saw something get launched skyward. It made an arc as began to fall back to the ground, eventually landing mere feet away from where Junior and Daniela stood. And indeed it was a pair of bagpipes.
That were on fire.
Green fire to be exact.
"Well that's…unexpected." Junior said, a bit dumbfounded.
The two walked forward to inspect the burning instrument, though Junior had Daniela stay behind him just in case.
As Junior used his eye to trace the sky to determine where the bagpipes had been flung from Daniela's breath for a quick minute became visible and cold. This came as something of a surprise to Daniela, as this strange event usually only tended to happen whenever Manny was attempting to sneak up on her in ghost form.
Junior's eyes then went wide and he pushed her back. "GET DOWN!" He yelled as he held his sword out upside-down in front of him.
For a second she had no idea what was wrong. Then everything went green.
It took her eyes a second to adjust and then she saw what was happening. Her older brother in front of her, using his massive blade as a shield to protect them both from without a doubt the most powerful ecto-blast she'd ever seem in her life. It was simply a constant eruption of energy bombarding them from above, with Junior pushing against his sword with all his might to fight against the stream of power.
Finally, the blast ended. But not the threat, for before them appeared something so fast Daniela could only make out white flames and a pair of glowing red eyes. Junior moved quickly to act, seemingly knowing what was coming next.
And what came next? The creature that attacked them, whatever it was, wailed. Wailed in very much the same way that Daniela had known her twin to do when he wished to deliver a great finishing blow. Only this was far beyond anything Manny was capable of producing. The waves of sonic split the ground apart below and around them, the sheer force of it being enough to send them flying back as though they were hit by a truck going full speed. From being so close to the source Daniela almost blacked out, her eyes and ears pounding from the incredible pain.
For moments she didn't know where she was. She just knew that the wail had stopped. When she felt well enough to she reopened her eyes. At first she panicked, seeing nothing but blackness. But soon she calmed, realizing that it was not a lack of vision but rather Junior that'd caused the blackness. He'd created a wall of thick Nergal flesh from his body to protect her when the wail hit. Now that it was finished the extra flesh broke away from the rest of him, the damage it'd taken causing it to crack apart and crumble like a piece of drywall.
Daniela breathed, amazed that she was still alive, while Junior simply stood where he was, staying with his sword drawn between her and the enemy she now saw before them.
The one standing smugly before them was a man and a rather muscular one at that, wearing what seemed to be a black and white jumpsuit that likely was designed to show off his powerful physique. The two things that really stood out from the man's outfit was the long white cape and the D insignia on his chest. The white flames that she'd seen earlier were actually what made up the man's hair, both for his head and small beard. And given his green tinted skin and everything he just showed he could do, it didn't take much deduction on Daniela's part to realize that the man was a ghost.
A very, very powerful ghost.
"Well…" Dan smirked, looking directly to Junior. "Wasn't expecting to run into you today."
Chapter end
Author's notes: So I believe this chapter brings the count to 5 of characters I've introduced into the story just to kill off (though in fairness 4 of them were already technically dead). If I start having the characters act vastly out of character with no explanation (except for Junior's incest issues because those will be addressed throughout) please let me know because I don't want to turn into Brian Michael Bendis (just ask people what they think of Marvel's Civil War II). So to anyone who is a fan of Nigel Planter from the original show I do apologize. I wasn't trying to make him look bad exactly, I was trying to show him as I guy who's had his life completely fall apart because, honestly, I imagine that how it went for a lot of Billy and Mandy's friends and enemies and family members. Really anyone they tended to cross paths with. I like the show and the characters but you got to admit those kids are monsters (and boy is it fun to watch).
Anyway sorry about the delay on this chapter. I wanted to have it up earlier, but…well, for the past year or so people have been recommending that I watch Steven Universe. So I did. And I couldn't stop watching until I was completely caught up and am now waiting impatiently for the new episodes to air. Maybe not the best excuse but it is the reason this took so long to write.
Well now that my various butts are covered, let's talk about the chapter. We got some antagonists introduced, one of whom may or may not have something to do with the Pumpkinator. I'm not going to say who the three are yet (not that you probably wouldn't be able to guess), but I will give the hint that technically none of them are OC's (I personally just don't like introducing OC characters into my stories unless they're the children of already existing characters).
We also got missing children (always a pleasant topic) and Junior nearly mauling a man over a book. So either a lot of stuff happened in this chapter or nothing did. You make the call. Either way the next chapter should be a little more exciting. Dan Phantom's in it and he and Junior do have some history between them since Junior left home. Not the yaoi kind but the more beat each other senseless kind.
Also, the bar from this chapter, The Last Resort, is the bar on Mars from the movie Total Recall (the original). Some part of this chapter were made with some of the recent pages of the actual Grim Tales comic in mind, where Chi is in a part of the Underworld that seems to be filled with aliens, mainly those from Samurai Jack and Ben 10. This is my idea of how you could explain them being in the Earth Underworld. Heck between shows like Justice League, Ben 10, and My Life As A Teenage Robot, all of which have been confirmed to take place in the PPGD and Grim Tales Universe, that's a lot of aliens who've tried and failed to invade Earth.
P.S: This is one of those times where I'm upset I can't draw worth a damn because if this was an actual comic I'd have placed random characters all over the bar for people to spot, one coming to mind that I'd really want would be Rick Sanchez and Stanford Pines (the real one) playing poker in the back against a bunch of dogs.
QTP: Who is Lantern working for/with? What other children of the Underworld have been kidnapped? Why did Junior suddenly flip out about the book Nigel took? What happened to Nigel and Django? How much does Daniela really know about her older brother? How will Daniela meeting her biological father for the first time go? And what's the deal with the bagpipes?