"And Hell Came With Him"

Chapter 11: "Black Surge, Massacre Prince"

Disclaimer: Teen Titans, the comic on which it's based, and the larger universe that comic series inhabits belong to DC Comics and Time Warner, not me. Soul Edge and Soul Calibur are products of Namco, not my invention. Most everything else belongs to me or to a friend of mine who came up with it.

Author's note: Now things have gotten really, really bad. Nightwing is possessed by a shard of Soul Edge and driven into a killer rage that has also amplified his powers drastically. With the Justice League's Division of Magic apparently gunning for him, along with a warrior angel whose roots and origins are still unknown, it is to be seen just what happens to Nightwing. Can he reject the power of Soul Edge or turn it against the evil forces it intends to twist him into a servant for, or will he have to be put down? For the answers to those questions, read on.


The breastplate of Nightwing's new armor vaguely resembled a ribcage, tarnished silver against a black background. Bisected and vaguely spiky guards covered his shoulders, while vented guards covered his thighs and calves and guards with hornlike protrusions covered his knees. A tarnished silver codpiece covered his pelvis, while vented guards covered his arms and ridged pads covered the backs of his gauntleted hands. His face was now entirely concealed by a helmet with vented sides and a vaguely asymmetrical top edge, while his eyes were covered by a visor shaped like a wicked M.

"Slade . . . you've been a pain in the ass for far too long," he whispered menacingly. "I wouldn't mind so much if you'd limit it to me, but time and again you've seen fit to endanger the people I love just to force me to play your twisted games. Well, now it's time for you to play my game, and the name of the game is . . ."

Nightwing dashed past Slade, and Slade felt another crack in his armor, a crack that was beginning to leak blood. "You . . ." he snarled.

"The name of the game is pain."

With an enraged roar, Slade swung Soul Edge at Nightwing, who agilely ducked under it and spun to slash Slade with the thin jade blade he now held. Slade merely jumped over the blade and brought Soul Edge down with the intent of splitting Nightwing in half. Nightwing barely managed to dodge and stab Slade with the jade blade.

Slade snarled. "Your Vampire Sword, I presume."

"So clever. And yes, that is her. And she is very unhappy with you."

"What the hell is he talking about?" Beast Boy asked.

"When Rij'ze's power corrupted the sword Zauriel gave Nightwing, it also granted that sword a measure of sentience," Raven replied. "It has become its own unique entity and personality . . ." She declined to add, "One that's become very attached to Nightwing."

"You . . . are unworthy . . . of Soul Edge," Nightwing hissed, grabbing Slade's sword arm and breaking it with brutal ease, forcing him to drop Soul Edge. Immediately, Nightwing pulled the transformed Vampire Sword out of Slade and picked up Soul Edge, which changed form into a black broadsword with red veins running through its blade and a blood-red eye at the base of the blade. "Time to die."

"You first . . ." Slade snarled, throwing hellfire at Nightwing, who crossed the Vampire Sword and Soul Edge to deflect and toss aside the attack.

"Nice try," Nightwing taunted. "My turn."

"NIGHTWING!" Seraph screamed, launching herself into a corkscrew kick that caught him in the chest. As Nightwing staggered back, Seraph glared at him. "I cannot allow you to continue down this path. Either surrender the Cursed Blade, or prepare to die."

"How about . . . you die, angelcakes?" Nightwing retorted, lunging at Seraph with both swords. Seraph grabbed both blades and sent a charge of holy energy through them to attack Nightwing. With a roar of hellish rage, Nightwing ripped both swords out of her hands and slashed her multiple times in the space of a single second.

"Anybody have popcorn?" Videl asked.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Red X asked. "He's going to kill her!"

"Yeah, I know," Videl answered with a blissful smile. "Isn't he so fucking awesome?"

Kushier transposed herself between Nightwing and Seraph. "You will have to contend with me if you wish to take her life."

"Don't . . . think you're doing me . . . any favors . . ." Seraph snarled to Kushier.

"I'm not," Kushier answered. "I am saving Nightwing's soul. Were it not for your reflexive fear of the dark, you'd be doing the same thing. Lion Host Confrontation Armor, on." Immediately, the leonine black armor formed over Kushier's body, augmenting her combat abilities and hopefully shielding her from the worst of Nightwing's assault.

Nightwing crossed the Vampire Sword and Soul Edge again, his armor having mutated further upon acquisition of Soul Edge. The breastplate now had red highlights with a sickly green oval orb in the center of his chest. The other parts of his armor had also taken on red highlights, while his helmet had taken on red accents and the visor had mutated into sickly green eyepieces that burned with bloodlust.

"Come on, then," he taunted.

"Heavenly Lion's Roar!" Kushier shouted, channeling her holy energy into the form of a spectral black lion that charged at Nightwing. Unfortunately for her, Nightwing sliced through the spectral lion with both swords while lunging at Kushier, who blocked his slashes with her gauntleted hands. With a mighty roar, she used his swords as leverage to throw him, only for Nightwing to twist in midair and land on his feet.

"Peels," Zatanna whispered to Nightwing.

Nightwing tilted his head, then began wavering, as though he was losing consciousness. Just as his head dropped, his arms spread out with both swords out. "Nice try, Miss Zatara." He flashed in front of her, one sword at her throat and the other at her stomach. "But not nice enough."

"Batman might be blinded by the fact that you're his protégé, but I'm not," Zatanna retorted. "You're too dangerous to live, and I'm going to do what should have been done from the start. Fate, hold him!"

Dr. Fate cast a restraint spell on Nightwing, which manifested as mystical chains that emerged from out of nowhere to bind him, taking care to press his arms against his chest so he could not use his swords to attack. Zatanna stalked toward Nightwing, her mouth open to speak . . . when a red X taped her mouth shut. With rage flashing in her eyes, she turned to Red X.

"Sorry, babe," Red X said. "But that's my bro, and you know what they say about bros."

"Do you realize what you're doing?" Doctor Fate asked. "Nightwing is too dangerous now. He has to be stopped."

"And he will, but you're not going to kill him or lobotomize him or any fucked-up thing like that!" Red X snapped. "You fucking hear me?"

"That goes for us, too," Cyborg added, Starfire, Blackfire, Beast Boy, Raven, and the Wonder Girls beside him. "Once a Titan, always a Titan. And Titans look out for each other to the end."

Nightwing struggled fiercely in his chains, but the chains held fast . . . until wisps of hellish purple energy began emanating from him. The wisps grew thicker and more voluminous, until an explosion of hellish black-and-red energy ripped Nightwing free of his chains. "Much better." As he stalked toward Slade, ready to finish him off now that he had Soul Edge and the Vampire Sword in his possession, Nightwing was suddenly tackled by Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, Starfire, Blackfire, Red X, the Wonder Girls, and Rose.

"Get . . . the hell . . . off me!!" Nightwing screamed, attempting to force them off him through a burst of dark power.

"No," Starfire answered. "We will not let go of you. We love you far too much to let this evil sword kill the man we know you are."

Raven reached into Nightwing's mind through their empathic link and found Nightwing chained by an oppressive darkness, a darkness that took the shapes of Slade and Nightmare. The two gripped his arms, leaving him helpless to do anything but watch as his body rampaged about, under the control of Soul Edge. Not only were his arms bound, the darkness was creeping up his legs to form a virtual cocoon around him.

Within Nightwing's mindscape, projections of Starfire, Blackfire, Red X, Beast Boy, and Cyborg emerged. Blackfire spoke up first. "Get the hell off our man."

Slade and Nightmare turned to the assembled Titans and attacked them, leaving Nightwing to slowly be consumed by his own darkness and the darkness of Soul Edge. "We don't have time for this shit!" Red X snarled, unleashing the Right Arm of the Damned in a vicious punch to Slade's masked face. Beside him, Cyborg shot Nightmare in the chest with dual Sonic Cannons.

Raven, Starfire, and Blackfire moved to Nightwing. "Come on, baby. You can do better than this," Blackfire said, gripping his shoulders tightly. "You're stronger than this. Way stronger than this."

Nightwing looked at Blackfire sadly. "It's probably best you get away from me. As far away as you can . . . before I . . ."

Blackfire slapped Nightwing with a starbolt-charged hand. "Damn it, Night, weren't you listening?! You're stronger than this! You gonna let some sword boss you around?!"

Just then, Nightwing heard Donna asking him a question . . . "Who are you?" For some reason he could not quite comprehend, he was compelled to answer . . . and answer with the truth he knew, deep in his soul.

"I . . . am Dick Grayson, son of John and Mary Grayson. I am Nightwing, leader of the Teen Titans and heir to the Dark Knight. I am the lover of Komand'r, first princess of Tamaran who learned that she could be loved, of Koriand'r, second princess of Tamaran who taught me passion, and of Raven, the daughter of Trigon who rejected the evil inside her and fought for the light. As I . . . Dick Grayson, Nightwing . . . reject the evil inside me . . ."

Immediately, bluish light radiated with impossible brightness from Nightwing's astral form . . . and from his real body, shining through increasingly numerous cracks in his Soul Edge-granted armor. The Titans who had tackled Nightwing got off him, although the Wonder Girls kept him bound in their lassos. The armor began to separate from his body, while the blue light turned a dark indigo color, in the sense of Nightwing's true darkness reasserting itself over the cursed darkness of Soul Edge. Finally, the dark indigo fire pushed the armor off him entirely, leaving behind Nightwing's standard costume.

At that moment, Doctor Fate removed the X-gag from Zatanna's mouth and turned to look at Nightwing. "It's . . . incredible . . ." he whispered.

"I'll say," Zatanna agreed. She started to smile. "Maybe . . . just maybe . . . I was wrong about him."

Black Alice whistled. "Gotta say, you're quite the catch, 'Wing."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nightwing asked.

"All these guys were willing to die for a chance that you might actually listen to them," Black Alice replied. "You've gotta be something special."

"Not really," Nightwing demurred sheepishly. "That's just what people who love each other do when the people they love are in trouble."

"And humble, too," Black Alice commented.

Etrigan came forward, carrying a somewhat unconscious Morgana. "You are . . . every bit the man Batman believed you would grow to be. He would be . . . quite proud if he saw you now."

"Will you guys please stop embarrassing me?" Nightwing asked. "It wasn't me who did all that." He smiled slightly as he looked at Donna, Starfire, Raven, and Blackfire.


"Hey, what happened to Soul Edge?" Beast Boy asked.

Azrael looked at the Cursed Blade, its red veins gone and its "eye" changed into a death's head with a multitude of curving arrows extending from its sides and stopping at the bottom edge of the blade. "Soul Edge's evil has been repressed," he uttered, "but it will not stay that way forever. The only way for that to happen is for it to be near its counterbalance." He walked up to Nightwing and handed him Soul Calibur.

"Soul Edge should be destroyed," Seraph stated, having healed from her wounds and wanting another go. "It is too dangerous to let its existence continue."

"Possibly, but there is a principle in Eastern tradition called yin and yang," Jason Blood answered, having switched with Etrigan. "Yin is the cold, feminine darkness. Yang is the warm, masculine light. They may exist opposite each other, but they also exist dependent on each other. A world of only light or only darkness would be a stagnant world, but light and darkness together transform the world. Where you find one, there is often a shard of the other within. That is why those who use power sourced from the darkness can fight for the forces of good and servants of the light can fall from grace."

Seraph looked questioningly at Jason Blood, who simply smiled and spoke again. "You know this better than most, Matrix. You bonded yourself to a human whom even you believed to be beyond redemption because you believed her life deserved to be spared. Even though you didn't recognize what it was, you sensed that there was a kernel of light inside her that could be nourished and nurtured, to bring her soul back from the brink of damnation."

Everyone looked at Jason, startled. "No wonder she felt wrong," Nightwing said as he held Soul Calibur and Soul Edge. "She was really an angelic spirit intermixed with a human soul."

"Yes, that is correct," Seraph admitted. "My name is Matrix, and this form belongs to the girl whose life I now share."

"This girl . . . does she still exist at all inside you?" Cassie asked.

"Where I end and she begins, I do not know," Seraph acknowledged.


"As much as I hate to interrupt this heartwarming moment . . ." Slade started to say, pure sarcasm in his tone. ". . . you still have a fight on your hands."

"I should warn you, Slade," Nightwing responded. "You're still outmatched. Just you, against all of us? You're screwed."

Slade tilted his head, as though smirking. "You really are confident, aren't you?"

Seraph lunged at Slade, a sword of fiery golden light aimed for his heart. Slade merely grabbed her outstretched wrist and squeezed brutally, as though trying to crush her wrist. Seraph grabbed Slade's wrist and swung herself up into a kick to Slade's masked face that was forceful enough to shatter his mask. Seraph followed it up with a series of bicycle kicks performed while hovering in midair, only to be stopped by Slade trapping her primary leg between his forearms and using the leverage to toss her. Seraph flipped in midair, her angelic aura forming into wings and sending her shooting like a bullet at Slade.

Slade was not daunted by this attack, as he slid under Seraph and moved into a jump kick to her stomach. Seraph rolled with the kick, twisting to land on her hands and feet in a battle-ready crouch. Just then, Slade straightened up, allowing his face to be seen . . . and he was surprisingly handsome. His hair was an extremely pale shade of blond, almost white, and cut very short in the back while a thick fringe up front covered his right eye, leaving only an icy blue eye exposed. He had a sharp nose, and his lips were thin and set in an almost flat line that only curved in one corner, as though he were barely concealing his amusement, or contempt, or both. A neatly trimmed goatee, just as pale as the hair on top of his head, decorated his chin.

"Surprised?" Slade taunted, looking specifically at Nightwing. "Were you expecting me to look as I did when my face was first exposed to you? I told you then, I was incomplete."

Nightwing looked at Slade. "At least I can finally put a face to you, you bastard. And once I figure out who you are, that's going to be the end of it."

"Even if you were to figure out my dirty little secrets . . ." Slade answered. "You still wouldn't have a clue about me."

Nightwing brandished the Soul Swords, smiling darkly. "Really? We'll see." There was virtually no pause between words and actions; one millisecond after Nightwing had finished speaking, he slashed at Slade with Soul Edge and Soul Calibur. Slade dodged Nightwing's slashes and swept his leg out to trip Nightwing, only for Nightwing to jump over it and twist into a kick to Slade's unmasked face. Slade blocked Nightwing's kick and repelled him with a burst of hellfire.

To Nightwing's surprise, a pair of gentle hands he didn't recognize caught him. "What the . . . who?"

"It is I, your sword," the gentle voice whispered. "Regina Roz Aprins, at your service always."

Nightwing turned and saw a beautiful woman who seemed to be made almost entirely of red. Her skin was a pinkish shade of red, while her eyes were a much darker shade of red and her even darker red hair was tied in a braid that went down to her hips. She wore a red vinyl half jacket over a black corset-like vest with red laces and stitching and red vinyl pants with black laces up the legs. Her feet were encased in black platform heels, adding to her already considerable height.

"Regina?" he asked. "How . . . I thought . . ."

"Soul Edge only destroyed my physical substance," Regina replied. "My spirit is always with you. Always. I am your weapon, your right hand, your sword . . . forever."

The plain devotion Nightwing heard in her voice almost made him cry. "Thank you . . ." he whispered.

"You are welcome," Regina answered. "Now . . . shall we kick his ass?"

"Yeah," Nightwing agreed.

Regina faded into red mist that wrapped around Nightwing's sword-holding arms and seeped into both Soul Edge and Soul Calibur. As red-and-dark indigo energy lashed around him, Nightwing stood in a combat-ready pose. Slade smiled tauntingly at Nightwing and spread his arms out.

"One free hit," he said. "That's all you get, and if you can't take me down in that move, you're a dead man."

"It's a trap!" Cyborg shouted, but Nightwing had already attacked Slade, slashing him multiple times in the space of one second with both the Cursed Blade and the Spirit Sword.

Slade panted from how badly he'd been wounded, but he seemed to be smiling, while the fringe of hair covering his right eye had been pushed away, revealing a hellish orb of crimson energy where an eye would be. The smile turned just as demonic as his right eye and madness seemed to burn in his left eye. "Not bad, Nightwing. My turn."

Slade attacked Nightwing, shooting hellfire in conjunction with his physical assaults. Even if Nightwing was able to dodge Slade's fists and feet, he would still have to block the infernal powers Slade was putting behind his attacks. "Two can play at that," Nightwing said, answering Slade's hellfire-boosted attacks with sword slashes augmented by the powers of both Queen Crimson and Rij'ze.

"Heavenly Lion's Charge!" Kushier shouted, leaping over Nightwing and descending to punch through his midsection with a fist coated in dark energy. The dark energy exploded through Slade's back, and when Kushier withdrew her hand, Slade was bleeding severely from his midsection.

"The Lion Host was infamous in Hell for their ferocity in battle," Slade remarked. "The Fallen would often comment that the Lion Host was just one bad day removed from being just like them. I see it holds true even today."

"You're talking a whole bunch of shit for a man who just got ripped open," Nightwing retorted. "Just what the hell's keeping you going, anyway?"

"You don't already know?" Slade asked. "I thought your houseguest would have told you already."

"Anj'ze, the Crimson Phoenix of the Sanguine Hells," Nightwing replied. "Am I right?"

Slade smiled. "You are. Not that it's gonna buy you any extra seconds of life." He lunged at Nightwing, his hand reinforced with hellfire as he slashed at Nightwing with it. Nightwing trapped Slade's forearm between his swords, only for Slade to twist into a kick that caught Nightwing in the side of the head. Nightwing moved back, the kick having come with enough force to make him bleed, but that was quickly healing.

Immediately, the Wonder Girls, Superboy, the Tamaranean sisters, Captain Marvel, Black Alice, and Etrigan moved to attack Slade, who acrobatically evaded and countered their assaults. With a single uppercut motion, he sent a wave of hellfire flying at Superboy, who shielded himself telekinetically. Captain Marvel called out, "Shazam," which summoned a bolt of divine lightning that Captain Marvel tackled Slade into the path of. Cassie trapped Slade in her lasso and channeled the power of Apollo through it, burning him with divine fire, although unfortunately Slade countered it with an intense wave of hellfire, freeing himself in the process.

Starfire and Blackfire leaped into the air and came down with a drop kick and a descending punch, respectively. Unfortunately, Slade caught both their attacks and contorted himself to kick them both. Raven attacked Slade telekinetically, although Slade sliced through everything she threw at him with his hellfire-charged hand. Etrigan breathed hellfire at Slade, only for Slade to slice through Etrigan's attack just as he sliced through Raven's attacks.

"Cut through this!" Jinx shouted, aiming a barrage of entropy waves at Slade.

"Gladly," Slade answered tauntingly, and countered with a slicing wave of hellfire that did in Jinx's entropy magic. Kid Flash attacked Slade with a barrage of hyper-fast punches, building up speed and force with each hit until he whirled into an uppercut that threw Slade into the air.

"Yeah, that ought to do it," Kid Flash scoffed. He turned to Jinx. "You all right?"

"Yeah, Kid," Jinx replied.

"That's probably not the end of him," Red X remarked. "Slade's a slippery bastard."

Indeed, Red X was proven right when Slade came back for another go. Videl smiled cruelly at him. "You still have my mistress's ring. I'm going to get it back."

"You're welcome to try," Slade challenged.

Videl dashed into a vicious hyper-speed attack on Slade, punching him thousands of times in the space of seconds. While the blows did stagger Slade, they didn't finish him, much to Videl's annoyance as she kept punching. Finally, Slade caught her fist and backhanded her to the ground with such force that she skidded along that ground for some distance. Slade leaped into the air and came down with a hellfire-charged fist, ready to plant it in Videl's head, only Videl had rolled aside to evade the punch.

Videl rotated on her hands and contorted herself for a kick to Slade's stomach. Slade absorbed the force of her kick and grabbed her ankles, swinging her into a throw that sent her flying. Videl simply flipped and hovered in midair before launching herself toward Slade, who caught her outstretched arm and tossed her. Videl twisted in midair and came back around for a vicious kick that dislocated Slade's shoulder. Slade merely relocated his shoulder and threw a hellfire-charged punch at Videl, who countered with a punch charged with dark lightning.

The two punches collided, generating a shockwave so powerful that it forced them both back. Red X dashed in, punching Slade with his Right Arm of the Damned and knocking him back with the power behind the punch. Slade skidded backward, and Red X dashed behind him to throw a punch at the back of his head, only for Slade to move out of the way of the punch and deliver a hellfire-charged uppercut to Red X, knocking him down.

Red X rose to his feet and the red veins and claws in his demonic hand began to glow. He thrust his Right Arm of the Damned out and Slade was pushed back by an invisible force, to the point of being knocked off the boardwalk and into the water. Red X straightened up and looked at his arm, flexing the claws. "Well, that was interesting."

"My hero," Videl purred, draping herself on Red X.

"Get off me," Red X snarled.

"Aw, what's the matter, don't like being touched?" Videl asked coyly.

"Not by you," Red X retorted harshly.

"That's a shame. You and I would make such a fine couple . . . and make very fine babies, too. I hope they have your eyes."

"I'm going to be a bachelor forever. No marrying, and no kids. And certainly neither with you."

They were interrupted by Slade leaping out of the water, glowing with hellfire, and launching himself into a flying kick aimed at Red X. To the surprise of Red X, Violet had dashed in front of him to take the hit, pushing him and Videl away just before the kick could strike either of them. The kick came with such force that Violet fell back a great distance and when she landed, she did so harshly tumbling until a final stop at which she was virtually motionless.

"VIOLET!" Kushier shouted.

Red X stood stock still, shocked at just what Violet had done. Even Videl wore an expression of naked surprise, showing that something had gotten through the fog of her infernal lusts. "She . . . I can't believe she just did that!" Videl exclaimed.

Kushier stalked toward Slade, naked anger in her body language. As she moved toward Slade, Slade moved toward her with a sardonic smirk on his face, as though he were amused by the response he'd elicited with his act. Once they'd gotten sufficiently close to each other, Kushier lashed out with fists engulfed in fiery black energy, which Slade was able to bat aside. Kushier jumped up and kicked Slade in the chest with both feet, knocking him down but regrettably not out.

Slade flipped onto his feet and delivered a roundhouse kick that Kushier blocked with a chop. Undeterred, Slade lifted off with his other leg and delivered a kick to Kushier's armored head. While the kick did stagger Kushier, it did not stop her. Her aura flared a bright black-and-gold and formed into the shape of a spectral lion that brutally attacked Slade. As a finishing move, the spectral lion grabbed Slade in its jaws and threw him into the air. Kushier ran through the spectral lion, reabsorbing it, and used its power to launch herself into the air and deliver multiple kicks to Slade as they descended. She finished with a somersault that ended in a heel drop that brutally knocked Slade to the ground.

Kushier landed on her feet before Slade. "I'm going to see to it that you suffer for what you did."

Slade got up again, only for Kushier to brutally knock him down once more. She grabbed him by the throat and squeezed tightly, only to be repelled by an explosion of hellfire from Slade. When the flames faded, Slade was gone, something that frustrated Kushier to the point that she screamed to the heavens. She released the Confrontation Armor and ran to Violet, who was already being cradled gently in Red X's arms.


"Don't even think about dying," Red X hissed. "You hear me? You're going to live. You're going to stay here and live. Understand?"

Nightwing's grip on the Soul Swords tightened to the point that his hands would have bled if not for his reinforced gloves. He slowly walked over to Red X, Kushier, and Violet, with Starfire, Raven, and Blackfire following. Even Videl hovered over Violet, unsure of what to say or what to do. Her usual responses to just about anything was to either steal it, break it, screw it, or kill it . . . and this was something completely outside her usual parameters.

Then there was the matter of Slade still having Blaze's ring . . . and now she had a dual purpose. She would get that ring back, and then she would cut Slade's head off and present it to Violet on a silver platter. Hmm, maybe this wasn't so completely outside her standard modes of conduct after all. It was doable; it just took a little bit of thinking.

"How is she?" Nightwing asked.

"Not good," Red X replied. "Slade hurt her pretty bad. I could always use the electroshock function of my suit to jumpstart her, but . . . I'm not sure that wouldn't just make things worse."

"If you concentrate it, it might not," Raven suggested.

Red X flexed his left hand and then slammed it onto Violet's chest, sending a charge into and through her heart. Violet went into a spasm for a moment and then stilled again. Red X tried again, this time increasing the charge. Violet went into another spasm and then stilled once more. Red X gritted his teeth beneath his mask and thrust his hand onto Violet's chest once more, turning up the juice even more. Violet's spasm lasted longer this time, and while she stilled again, her chest rose and fell with breaths unconsciously taken.

"You did it," Nightwing said.

"Yeah," Red X admitted. "But Slade's still going down for this."

"Save some for me," Videl chimed in.

"Only because you asked so nicely," Red X drawled sarcastically.

"I can finish the healing process," Seraph offered, walking slowly but steadily toward Red X and Violet. She kneeled before them and gently placed her hands on Violet's chest, golden light streaming from those hands and infusing Violet's body. Violet's back arched, and she awoke with a gasp.

"Violet!" Kushier exclaimed in blessed relief.

"Next time . . . warn me before I do something that crazy," Violet quipped.

"Sure," Red X replied. "Next time you feel like saving my ass, I'm going to let myself get killed."

Violet looked up at Red X, noticing that they were in a rather intimate position. Videl also noticed, and grinned savagely. "Sweet. I always wanted a threesome. You're so considerate, X."

Red X growled low in his throat. "You're really starting to get on my nerves."


End Notes: There you have it. "And Hell Came With Him" will actually be heading toward a conclusion in the next chapter, with the assorted heroes – some more so than others – taking on the forces of Hell before their internal war can completely overwhelm the human plane. In the meantime, feelings might just very well come out, bridges could very well be mended (or just burned), and devils could be raised! For the continuation of this awesome adventure into the Inferno, you'll just have to wait for the next chapter, and in the meantime thank you for reading this one.