Disclaimer: Nothing you recognise is mine, although I like to think that I came up with an interesting central concept for the plot of this part of my trilogy...
Feedback: Feel free
The Satan War
As he took in the sight that awaited them on the other side of the door they'd just broken down, Angel tried not to wince at the sound of screams that now reached his ears; even knowing that some of the people here had probably deserved what happened to them didn't change the fact that he knew there were also some good people here who'd just made bad choices at certain times.
The entire courtyard before them was filled with all kinds of torture implements, ranging from racks and iron maidens to elaborate 'torture machines' covered with various instruments, ranging from straightforward knives and whips to what Angel assumed were vats of acid- some of these last were connected up to tables with needles pointing at them, most likely to inject the acid into the victims' bodies- and the conventional fiery pits, people practically lined up near the various implements as stereotypical demons- red skin, horns, and goat-like feet- used the machinery on them, broad, sadistic grins on their faces making it clear that they enjoyed their work. There were simplistic buildings and walls in a few parts of the courtyard, but even a quick glance confirmed that the habitats in question hadn't been designed with anything more than basic accommodation in mind.
"Hi there," Faith said, waving at the vast array of demons in front of them with a casual smirk as the torturers and their victims stopped their routines and turned to look at the new arrivals. "We're the Coven of Reformed Supernaturals, and we're here to kick Satan's ass; anyone got a problem with that?"
Angel wasn't sure if he wished that Faith had been less blunt or was grateful that she had decided to get the obvious details out of the way first; he'd never kidded himself into thinking that they could just sneak into Hell, but he'd wondered if they'd at least have the opportunity to try and get through the first few stages without having to deal with whatever demons were in here...
As the torturers abandoned their work to charge towards the Coven, thoughts on their ability to use stealth in this situation were pushed aside in favour of the immediate task of survival. Drawing his sword, Angel neatly decapitated the first attacking demon, the rest of the Coven flying into action as though they had just been waiting for their leader's cue. As gunshots and energy blasts filled the air around the combatants- Angel just hoped that Blade, Dante and Hellboy had enough ammunition for what they were up again, although he was fairly sure that Blaze, Milton and Caine wouldn't have to worry about reloading given that their guns here were probably manifestations of their will rather than actual physical weapons-, the rest of the Coven lashed out with physical assaults, swords and fists flying as they tore through the first wave of demons.
Angel wasn't sure if he should be concerned about the obvious glee on the demons' faces as they tried to claim the Coven, but after he'd killed what he thought was his seventh adversary he stopped thinking about it too much; these things might look intimidating to the layman, but clearly they weren't expecting anyone to actually try and fight back against them once they arrived here. Paige and Leo were actually causing the demons' skin to burn just by coming into physical contact with them, and some of his stronger teammates, such as Hellboy, Illyria and Spawn, were managing to shatter the demons' skulls with a few well-placed punches, while the rest were making relatively quick work of their own enemies. Angel even saw a few of the former torture victims turn on their former torturers as the fighting continued, their seemingly broken spirits rallied by the opportunity to fight back against the demons who had tormented them for so long.
"Oh yeah!" Spike yelled, spinning his sword around himself as he slashed out at the approaching demons; those that weren't killed by the attack were knocked back into their previous victims, who took advantage of their weakness with an almost disturbing glee. "Now this is what I'm talking about!"
"They are simple adversaries, but it is inordinately satisfying to eliminate them," Illyria said, grinning as she kicked out at the nearest demon, seemingly flattening whatever it had in the way of ribs with the force of its punch.
"Tell me about it," Blue Devil added, as he blasted a couple of attacking demons with his staff. "Always good to have something to hit after all this crap we've been dealing with for the last few hours..."
"Oh yeah!" Danny added, shooting a few quick ghost rays at the demons nearest him (Angel noted the ghost-boy wince slightly at the sight of his enemies being blown apart like that, but to his credit he continued the fight despite that; he might be more used to fighting ghosts rather than physical enemies, but the fact that the demons were so blatantly not human probably helped the kid cope with this more physical style of violence). "Take that, you... freaky horn guys!"
"Less talking, more blasting!" Spawn yelled, launching a few of his chains to impale the immediately surrounding demons through the chest, the spikes on the chains expanding outwards to virtually rip the demons apart from the inside.
"OK, as fun as this is, does anyone see any way to stop these guys coming at us?" Dante asked, rapidly alternating between his sword and his gun as he blasted away at the surrounding demons. "We're not exactly going to get anywhere if we're stuck fighting the minions-!"
Before Dante could finish his sentence, the various demons around them paused in their assault and turned to look in a certain direction, as though they had just heard something that drew their attention away from the matter at hand. For a moment the Coven tensed, ready for whatever their enemies might do next, but then the entire demon 'army' turned and ran towards the buildings around them, slamming the doors behind them and leaving the Coven alone with their former victims.
"Am I the only one thinking that that was too easy?" Paige asked, looking apprehensively around herself.
"They probably just decided to save on sending minions after us so that they could get a better idea about what it would take to bring us down," Cole pointed out with a grim smirk. "After all, it's not like anyone would really feel a need to stop anyone breaking into Hell; who'd be dumb enough to try something like this under normal circumstances?"
"It's like Man in the Iron Mask; 'Of course, there's no trouble getting in. The problems will come when we want to get out'!" Danny added, the broad smile on his face belying the obvious terror in his eyes at the thought of what they might be about to face.
"Crude, but pretty accurate, yeah," Angel confirmed, before he turned his attention to the group of tormented souls around them.
"OK..." he said, looking awkwardly at the former victims of the demons' torments- from his own experience of Hell, he wasn't sure how much of their sanity would remain intact, but he had to try-, "as Faith said, we're looking for Satan; can anyone... direct us to...?"
The shaken expressions on the faces of everyone around him made it clear that he wasn't going to get anything out of the people around them; the initial thrill they'd felt at rebelling against their masters had probably been more than could be expected from most of the people before them, particularly after everything else that they must have gone through before the Coven arrived.
"Uh... moving on?" Deadman asked, looking awkwardly at the vampire.
"Yeah... probably should," Angel admitted, nodding awkwardly at the ghost before he turned around and began to walk down the 'street' before him, the rest of the Coven quickly falling into place behind him.
"So..." Faith said after a brief pause, looking uncertainly around herself, "what'd people do to end up here?"
"Probably nothing major; most likely they just did a few questionable things that they subconsciously felt they should be punished for more than they were up on Earth," Jason said, shrugging slightly as he looked back at the dark Slayer. "The problem with Hell, Miss Lehane, is that it was primarily shaped by the desires and expectations of the people who came here; some particularly religious or moral people only come here because they feel they should come here."
"Hold on; Hell's based on accepting people who feel they should be in it?" Blue Devil asked, looking indignantly upwards. "Someone really needs to re-think this system..."
"No, you're generally allocated to an appropriate division based on your actions in life," Dante added. "They'd only let people in under those circumstances Blood described if the person really feels a personal need to be punished for something even if others think otherwise, and they'll let you off after a bit anyway; you just need to reach a point where you feel you've suffered enough based on whatever it was that you did-"
"And what about if you committed atrocities for what you think were good reasons and everybody else regards as evil?" Spawn put in, looking grimly over at the half-demon. "Does self-perception count then?"
"Not if the actions you committed were bad enough, no," Leo said, shaking his head as he looked at Spawn. "That's one reason Cogliostro was able to escape Hell's 'radar' before you met him, really; you'd both committed questionable actions, but you were both already doubting that you'd done the right thing before you even went to Hell, so it didn't have as great a claim on you as it might have done because you both wanted to be more than a demon where it really counted."
"Ah," Spawn said, walking along in contemplative silence for a short while before he smiled grimly. "Good to know..."
"Encountered a few bad eggs when you were alive, I take it?" Cole asked.
"More than the occasional terrorist who used religious crap to justify what he was up to, anyway," Spawn confirmed.
"You ran into terrorists?" Batman asked, looking over at Spawn uncertainly. "Who... what... were you in life?"
"Black ops assassin," Spawn clarified, looking grimly back at his predecessor (The Coven had never really talked much about Batman- he'd been on the team for too short a time to really bond with anyone-, but what they hadn't said had been almost as telling as what they had said as far as Cole was concerned).
"Ah," Batman said, before his eyes narrowed in confusion. "But... if what you say is accurate, why were we sent to purgatory?"
"Well, in Caine's case," Leo explained, turning to look at the other man, "he rejected a belief in God and most of your old morals, but he'd probably still have just ended up in this kind of area even if he hadn't died under the circumstances described because he never actually harmed any innocent people; saving the world from the AntiChrist just pushed him to Purgatory."
"So... because I never did anything to someone who wasn't trying to do something to me first- and often do something unpleasant to other people while he was at it-, I get relocated there rather than here?" Captain Jack asked.
"Pretty much, yeah," Leo said, nodding in confirmation at Jack before he looked over at Batman, Catwoman and Lucian. "And as for you three, Catwoman's theory that you were there because of what you were was basically accurate; you've killed people in your transformed states that you wouldn't have killed if you were human, but from what you've told us you never killed anyone who wasn't actually trying to kill you first... or, at least, had already killed others..."
"Guys?" Constantine said, the Holy Shotgun out in front of him as he studied their surroundings. "Might be barking up the wrong tree, but this doesn't look like what we saw earlier..."
Looking at their surroundings, the Coven quickly noted that their resident exorcist had a point. While this area of Hell was still filled with the usual fiery pits and the uncomfortable scent of brimstone, there was also a significant absence of the instruments of torture present when they'd originally arrived here. This new part of Hell was filled with various small buildings, each one a straightforward grey block with a thick-looking wooden door and nothing else around it.
"What's this place?" Hellboy asked, looking uncertainly at their surroundings. "I get that I haven't been here much, but this looks a bit more... comfy than the last bit?"
"Trust me; if anything, this place is worse," Milton said, looking grimly at one of the buildings. "We're in my old section now."
"'Your section'?" Blue Devil repeated, looking at Milton in confusion. "What do you mean, 'your section'?"
"What we went through out there was just for people who did a variety of bad things for no particular reason that just kept adding up; this is where they kept people who did a whole lot of bad things for the sake of it," Milton clarified, looking grimly over at the blue-skinned demon. "We've got your fire and brimstone here, sure... but it's what they show you on the screens inside those rooms that are the worst."
"The screens?" Hellboy asked.
"The screens showing you the family and friends who are still alive up on Earth," Milton explained, grimly indicating one of the constructions around them. "Every time something bad happens to someone you care about... every time your daughter's raped, every time your wife suffers from the tumour in her brain, every time your grandson gets picked on at school... you're stuck in one of those things, forced to watch as it happens, and unable to do anything about it, knowing that you could help while being stuck in a position where you can't actually do anything about it..."
He paused for a moment, a faint trace of what looked like tears in the corner of his eyes as he stared at one of the nearer buildings, before he shook his head and turned to look at Angel. "Trust me, there's no point questioning anyone in those things; all they know about is what their loved ones are up to up on Earth, and that's only if they're going through crap."
"Right..." Angel said, nodding sympathetically at Milton before he turned around to look at the space around them. "So, if you've... 'lived' in this area, where do we go from here?"
"To get to Satan?" Milton said, smiling slightly as he indicated an area in front of them. "Just look there."
"Oh yeah..." Hellboy muttered, his heat-adapted eyes spotting what Milton was indicating before the rest of them.
"Well, at least the guy's ego seems to be about what I've come to expect in this kind of situation," Danny said, shrugging slightly as he glanced back at his new friends while indicating the large castle in front of them, surrounded by even thicker walls and obviously well-defended battlements compared to what they had encountered outside.
"Looks pretty strong," Blade commented, looking grimly over at his teammates. "Guess they're more concerned about people getting into that thing, huh?"
"I broke in once, but I was on my own and I was just trying to recover this weapon from the armoury; given that we're trying for a bigger target, I somehow don't think that's going to help much now," Milton added, shrugging apologetically at his new associates.
"Tell me about it; breaking into somewhere by yourself isn't the same as leading a team into somewhere..." Spawn grimly muttered.
"Well, we're just have to-" Cole began, before the sound of a rock moving nearby prompted them to spin around, Cole raising an energy ball as others drew their various weapons.
After a few seconds of observation, the source of the sound was identified as a small group of tortured souls from the last section, each of them looking around the Coven as though they were searching for something.
"What... are... they... doing?" Swamp Thing asked, looking uncertainly at the group before them, even as he stepped closer to Hellboy; he'd been lucky so far, but clearly their new teammate wasn't allowing himself to forget that he was made of plants even if he was capable of repairing most damage he might sustain.
"They..." Leo began, lowering his sword as he looked at the group before him in confusion. "They're... looking at... Illyria."
"Illyria?" Spike repeated, quickly following the direction of the creatures' gazes to confirm that they were looking at the blue woman in dark red leather. "Somethin' you want to tell us, Blue?"
"I am as... uncertain as you are, half-breed," Illyria replied, looking at the creatures around them with the same confusion as her teammates. "I have never been to this realm even when I was in my true form..."
"And you definitely haven't been here since you started using Fred's body, because we'd know about it," Angel finished for her, looking thoughtfully at the tormented victims around him before he finally focused on one that seemed to have a slightly clearer expression in its eyes than the others. "Look, sorry if I'm being rude, but... is there something wrong?"
He wished he'd thought of a better way to phrase that question- the Coven were living beings in Hell; how much more 'wrong' could you get?-, but given their current situation he didn't have time for delicacy, and it would probably be best for them to try the direct route to get answers for why they were attracting so much attention at this time.
"How...?" one of the figures suddenly said, its body and the remaining scraps of clothing so covered with blood that it was difficult to determine its gender, its gaze fixed on Illyria as it spoke.
"'How' what?" Milton asked, looking at the creature in obvious frustration.
"How... did you... escape?" the thing that had been human before the torture asked, still looking in confusion at Illyria as he indicated an area with what seemed to be slightly larger versions of the buildings in their current location. "You were... in there... and now... you're here... with them..."
If it was possible, Angel's blood became even colder as he looked over at Spike, both of them quickly realising what this man must be referring to.
This thing- this guy, whoever he'd been in life- thought that he'd seen Illyria in Hell.
Illyria had never even had a near-death experience.
But, on the other hand, someone had died to bring her into this world...
"Could it...?" Angel began, unable to finish the sentence; if he said what he thought had happened and it turned out to be wrong, he wasn't sure what he'd do.
"Ain't possible; everything we had said..." Spike tried to protest, but the gleam of hope in his eyes was something that neither of them could shake; the possibility that it was nothing was strong, but the chance that there was something they could do to make up for their greatest failure was something they couldn't overlook.
"What?" Deadman asked, looking between the two vampires curiously. "Something wrong?"
"To say the least..." Angel said, his eyes narrowing as he and Spike began to run in the direction that the creature had indicated, the rest of the Coven soon following them.
As they reached the building at the end- one of the more elaborate facilities in the current wasteland; Angel noted a few symbols above the door that the other buildings had lacked, but this wasn't the time to take in more detail beyond the fact that they matched what he was looking for-, the two vampires kicked the door open. As they led the Coven into the room, they barely seemed aware of their teammates' presences as their eyes were instantly drawn to the trembling form kneeling on the floor in front of them, chains attached to her wrists and ankles, two tall demons that looked like a bizarre kind of bug dressed as samurai warriors, the girl herself dressed in a dark brown T-shirt and dark trousers as she looked up at them.
Even with her visible skin covered in dried blood, the girl's eyes still seemed to light up as soon as she saw who had come to her.
"Handsome man..." she said, smiling weakly up at Angel. "You saved me..."
"Oh my God..." Angel whispered, unable to take his eyes off the girl before him. "Fred?"
"Yep..." Winifred Burkle replied, smiling back at her friend. "It's me..."
