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
AN: Last new member of the Coven will be introduced here, but I warn those readers familiar with her in advance that I've taken a few liberties with her character, such as tweaking her origin and motives, to help my own plot, rather than using a pre-existing version of her...
Still, I hope her presence meets with your approval anyway; once I read a bit about her, I felt that she was definitely worth including at this stage of the proceedings
The Satan War
"Look," Dante said, his voice low as he addressed Spike and his gaze constantly flicking to the woman standing in the centre of the group that was even now marching patiently through the fields of Hell, "I get that she's your friend and she's been through a lot, but are you sure bringing her is a good idea?"
"Why'd you ask?" Spike asked, glancing back at the part-demon P.I.
"I mean... well, she's not exactly imposing, is she?" Dante said, staring back at Spike despite the vampire's intense gaze; he might have encountered a lot of things more powerful than Spike in his career, but the vampire could deliver a good stare like nobody's business. "Milton and Caine might be in the same position as her, what with them being dead humans who made an impact on the right people and all that, but at least they look like they could do some damage in a fight; this Fred girl-"
"Survived for five years in a dimension where she was a slave to a whole race of demons who could've blown her head off if she'd screwed up, stayed on the run from a Higher Power that was trying to make humanity do nothing but worship it all day and commanded most of the city she was in at the time, and killed more than a few vamps and demons in her time," Spike interjected. "Granted, I wasn't present when she did most of that, but I got it from pretty reliable sources that she did that stuff, so let's not start questioning her competence just because she doesn't look like she can beat Big Red in an arm-wrestling match, OK?"
"Can we focus on the immediate problem?" Spawn asked, glaring impatiently over at the vampire and the part-demon. "We've got a lot of distance to cover until we can get to that central castle, no idea how time's passing here compared to how it's going back on Earth, and we've still not really got any real idea how we're going to put Satan down when we get there..."
"Actually, that's a good point; how were we planning on taking out the Devil?" Captain Jack asked, looking curiously over at Angel. "I fought an immortal or two in my time, and both times I only won because of my knowledge of a subtle but interesting little weakness of theirs that they took care not to make too public; we don't have that advantage here and Satan's probably got a lot more tricks than what they demonstrated at the time..."
"The current plan is to go for an overwhelming show of force and hope for the best," Angel said, looking grimly back at the rest of the team. "It's not a perfect plan, I know, but at a time like this I think we should focus on the fact that we're alive to carry out any kind of plan in the first place and worry about the fine details when the time comes."
"Better than anything I've got, anyway," Milton muttered grimly as he looked over at the vampire. "I was able to steal a weapon that might be useful against him last time I broke out, but he took it back when they took me back, and I don't know where it is now anyway..."
"He has a weapon that could kill him?" Caine asked, looking over at the former criminal in surprise. "What was it?"
"The God-Killer," Milton said, his tone even grimmer than it had been previously as he looked over at his fellow Purgatory resident. "A gun that only a few bullets were ever forged for, with one very distinctive power; if it was fired at you, it completely destroys your soul."
"Completely?" Leo repeated, looking back at Milton with an almost incredulous glance. "As in... you're totally gone?"
"Everything about your soul ceases to exist if one of the bullets from that thing hits you," Milton confirmed grimly, before he sighed slightly in frustration. "Of course, just because I know where it was is no guarantee that I can find it again; he might have even destroyed it..."
"In other words, keep an eye out for the thing but don't go out of our way to look for it; gotcha," Cole said, nodding briefly at Milton before he groaned in frustration. "We can never get it easy, can we?"
"We're a bunch of part-demons, ex-demons, reformed demons, human-raised demons, weird vampires, and a few dead guys fighting to save humanity from the Apocalypse after said event has taken place; I think we should probably assume that something's weird if things were going easy for us," Eric said, shrugging as he looked around himself with a slightly teasing smile.
"Talking of going places, how much of this are we going to have to go through?" Raven asked, her expression grim as she took in the stretch of land in front of them. "I know that we have to stay low to stop attracting attention to ourselves before we get too close, but this is taking way too long..."
"Well, considering our location, and the nature of the area that we're currently trying to get across, and the potential amount of demons and tortured souls we might have to face between here and there..." Angel said, trying to sound flippant before he shook his head in grim frustration. "Quite frankly, transportation-wise, we've got a problem; we're not exactly moving that fast, and I don't think we've got any way to cut down on the time it'll take us to get there."
"Tell me about it..." Johnny muttered. "Even if I could get the bike going, that only gets me where we need to go; I can't take more than one or two people with me when I get started without people getting burned..."
"I might be able to get a car or two together, but that still doesn't take us that far, and the power I'd need to get it would probably just draw attention to us anyway," Milton added, grimly looking over at Angel. "Anyone else got any tricks?"
"You know..." Faith pointed out, looking around at her teammates as though she was trying to figure out why she was the first person to realise that they had that as an option. "We do have a few teleporters available-"
"And use of those powers would send up a proverbial red flag that would alert Satan to our presence here pretty much instantly," Cole pointed out grimly. "The minor demons we've run into so far probably won't say anything to him, but if we keep on attracting attention to ourselves that's not going to last."
"Cole's right," Spawn said with a grim nod. "Surprise is one of the few advantages we've got in this mess; we start using magic to get there quicker, we increase the chance that we'll get attacked before-"
Spawn's insights were cut short when a creature that resembled a large armoured insect suddenly crashed into him, knocking him to the ground as its mandibles tried to tear at his face before Spawn knocked it away. The ex-Black Ops assassin had only just gotten back onto his feet when he found himself facing a renewed assault from the creature, now flying in the air as it snapped at him.
The rest of the Coven quickly found themselves facing a variety of similar creatures, some of them looking more like animals than insects and wearing a metallic armour, while others looked similar to the tortured souls that they'd encountered earlier, but these figures were wearing armour and generally appeared to be in far better shape, even if the healed scars on their visible skin made it quickly obvious that they'd been through a great deal at some point. Some of this last group even appeared to be using modern weapons such as guns, although the weapons in question somehow gave the impression that there was something abnormal about them despite the fact that they looked relatively normal-, but all of them clearly enraged and ready to strike at their intended prey.
"What the Hell?" Faith asked, ducking as a dog-like monster charged at her, fangs nearly biting into her arm before she was able to duck underneath the creature's leap, using her sword to essentially gut the creature as it jumped over her. "What are these things?"
"Apart from the obvious, you mean?" Jason Blood said, glancing over at her as he kicked out at the nearest creature. "Mostly hench-demons and assorted minions; whoever's controlling these must have found us! Everyone stand back!"
"What...?" Swamp Thing began from where he was ducking around an attack by one of the apparent former victims of Hell- the sword couldn't do any permanent damage but it was clearly still annoying-, only for his eyes to widen in shock as flames began to blaze about Jason's form.
"Gone, gone, the form of Man," Jason began, fire seemingly consuming his body as he spoke, "Arise the demon... ETRIGAN!"
With that incantation, the ancient magician vanished, leaving only the large, powerful form of Etrigan, who instantly leapt back into battle, hurling fireballs at some of the more distant demons as he also began to physically grapple with the creatures nearest to him.
All around, the various Coven members were attempting to employ their respective strengths against this latest assault. Spawn's chains were practically invisible as they rapidly moved around him, neatly knocking various demons off their feet and hurling them into their fellows, while Hellboy used his bulk to his advantage as he ploughed through the creatures facing them, using his arm to block their more damaging attacks as the transformed Ghost Rider cut through them with chains or incinerated them with his Hellfire blasts (evidently he could generate a greater burst of heat than what people were used to even down in Hell). Lucian and Selina had followed Jason's example and transformed, his lycan form and her were-cat strength tearing through the creatures around them with ferocious ease, while Danny and Cole launched various blasts at their opponents as Illyria and Faith slashed and hacked their way through the field witht heir own weapons, Deadman diving into various demons to provoke them into knocking each other out before he 'jumped ship' into the next available body. Blue Devil, Willow, Raven and Dante released their own unique blend of physical violence and long-range assaults on the creatures around them, taking care to protect Swamp Thing from fiery counter-attacks as he used what little plantlife existed around them to his advantage- it might seem dead but there was evidently enough life in it for his powers to take effect- while Caine, Milton, Paige, Fred, Leo and Eric were doing what they could with their respective weapons despite a lack of physical enhancements. As for the team's vampires, while Batman was relying on an aerial bombardment as he dived down to slash at his foes before returning to the sky, Angel, Spike and Blade moved rapidly around the field of combat, taking on each new opponent with a speed and strength that had made vampires history's most infamous supernatural beings, channelling their strengths and exploiting the absence of their weaknesses in the current environment.
"There's too many of them!" Blue Devil yelled, his trident setting a couple of demons on fire even as he used the rod at the other end to knock those in his immediate vicinity back. "We need some kind of plan to clear the field!"
"Like what?" Blade yelled, his sword narrowly deflecting a blow that could have cut his throat if he had missed it. "Just beating the crap out of these guys isn't going to do anything, and we need to save something for the final fight; we didn't come this far to get worn out fighting the goddamn minions!"
"If you've got any bright ideas I'm open to suggestions- knife!" Paige yelled, a knife that had been about to impale Fred in the chest suddenly vanishing in a swirl of white orbs to reappear in Paige's hand. "OK then; let's-"
"HOLD!" a voice suddenly yelled, prompting what seemed to be every demon in the area to come to a halt, the Coven pausing in their own fights as they registered the fact that their enemies were no longer trying to kill them.
Looking in the direction of the voice that had just given that order, the Coven were surprised to see a tall, majestic-looking woman standing there, her skin and hair totally white and her body virtually nude apart from what looked for all the world like a black bikini, although elbow-length gloves, knee-high boots and a long cloak in the same colour made the outfit appear more modest. Her hands rested on the handle of a sword that hung in a scabbard on her left side, but she seemed to be looking at the Coven in a thoughtful manner that didn't encourage the idea that she was planning how best to kill them, even if the manner in which the various demons surrounding them stopped their attack made it clear that she was their leader.
"Who the Hell are you?" Etrigan asked, looking pointedly at the woman before them.
"I am Lady Death, Etrigan," the woman said, her eyes narrowing as she looked at the yellow demon, the obvious contempt in her stance tempered by a more-than-slight curiosity at the same time.
"I take it you're in charge of these goons?" Hellboy muttered, indicating the array of demons that currently surrounded them, still but equally clearly still ready to go into action.
"Indeed I am, Amun-" the self-proclaimed 'Lady Death' began.
"Hellboy," Hellboy interjected, glaring at the white-skinned woman.
"Trust me; you don't want to say his name," Batman put in with a slight shake of his head as he landed on the ground beside his old teammate. "He has been known to get... angry with those who use that name."
"I don't like what it does to me," Hellboy clarified as Lady Death looked sceptically at him.
"I... see," she said at last, before she turned to look at Angel. "You are... Angelus, are you not?"
"I go by 'Angel' now, but I was Angelus once, yes," Angel said, nodding briefly at her.
"And... you lead this group?" Lady Death continued.
"Out of the lack of anyone else who could do the job like he could, anyway," Spike said, even as the slight smile he shot at his grandsire took any potential sting out of his words.
"I... see," Lady Death said, looking briefly at Spike before she focused her attention back on Angel. "Your group includes demons, yet you travel with at least one being who possesses powers of a holy nature; how is this?"
"If you're talking about me, I'm actually one of three; Leo's a Whitelighter and Cole's a Goldlighter," Paige interjected, indicating the two men in question before her eyes narrowed as she looked at the speaker. "And who are you, anyway?"
"You may call me... Lady Death," the woman said.
"We already got that; I think she was more curious about what you're doing with an army of demons who suddenly aren't trying to kill us," Danny clarified.
"To put it simply," Lady Death said, looking around at the Coven with a slight smile, "I am the descendant of both the high angels and the fallen ones; my father was distantly connected to the angels who rebelled against God, while my mother's bloodline was so pure that it reached to Heaven itself."
For a moment, the Coven could only stare, until Selina broke the silence.
"Is that possible?" she asked, looking curiously over at Etrigan (Evidently Jason didn't feel relaxed enough to return to human form yet).
"Likely? No," the yellow demon said, red eyes narrowing as he stared at the woman before them. "Possible, on the other hand... well, nothing's impossible, shall we say?"
"It was possible enough for me to be burnt at the stake as the Devil's consort after my father was chased out of our village for his cruel dominion over the people," Lady Death replied grimly. "When I faced execution at the stake, I attempted to escape with an incantation that summoned a demon to aid me, but the result transformed me into the shape you see before you as I was brought into Hell. My father offered me freedom if I swore my allegiance to him and his master, but I broke away from him, and have been gathering an army to mount an offensive against Satan himself to break the curse that I placed upon myself; only Satan or the first among his fallen may rescind the conditions that I find myself in restore me to humanity."
"Ah," Blue Devil said, wincing slightly as he looked at the group of demons around them before he turned his attention back to her. "So... you thought that we were..."
"Further agents of Satan, yes; you are a fairly wide collection of demonic and darkly supernatural 'talent'," Lady Death said, her grim expression shifting slightly as she looked at Paige, Leo and Cole. "But... if you travel with holy beings..."
"You're at a loss, huh?" Eric said, smiling slightly at her. "Well, Angel's really the man to ask about that; he's the leader of our little group."
"We're... well, the guy who brought us together called us the Coven of Reformed Supernaturals, so we've generally gone by that name ever since," Angel explained, as Lady Death turned to look at him. "We're basically a group of demons or demonically-enhanced humans who, for various reasons, ended up fighting against our demonic natures to try and help innocent people; Leo was our contact with the higher Powers when we first came together, Cole was killed on our first mission and returned as a Goldlighter, and Paige... well, she's a new addition for this mission."
"Which is?" Lady Death asked.
"Long story short; we're here to kill Satan," Spike said, shrugging slightly as he looked at the other woman. "You interested in helping out?"
"What-?" Spawn said, turning to look at the vampire.
"If you believe that you can do damage in your assault, I will be grateful to join you," Lady Death said, smiling slightly at Spike's offer. "You may consider my forces at your disposal in your assault; my forces are considerable, but I require some more powerful fighters to serve as leaders than what I possess at the moment."
"You want us to lead your army?" Deadman asked.
"I would like you to help me lead it, anyway; what you precisely do to assist me is your call," Lady Death said. "I can provide you with the means to reach Satan's palace in a short amount of time- I have equipment salvaged over the years that will make it easier for us to reach the castle fairly quickly-, but we must move quickly; I have noticed that he is gathering his forces to him recently, so we must strike-"
"Can you just... give us a minute?" Spawn asked, raising a hand to halt Lady Death as he glanced back at Angel, the vampire already beckoning the rest of the Coven over to talk to him.
"Of course," Lady Death said, nodding in brief understanding at the ex-black-ops assassin as she turned her attention back to her army. "Withdraw for a moment; our new allies must... discuss things."
"She's already calling us her allies?" Eric asked, looking between the group as his crow flew down to land on his shoulder. "Does that seem a bit cocky of her, or am I just being paranoid?"
"Given the possible intellect of some of her minions based on what I can see of them here, she may just be giving them a basic explanation that they can understand," Jason said, having transformed back from Etrigan as the demons withdrew from around the Coven, turning his attention to the others. "I don't suppose anyone could tell whether or not she was lying for definite?"
"I have some degree of empathy, but it's not something I've explored in detail; I can tell that she believes what she's saying, but that doesn't automatically extend to accounting for her motives," Raven said, looking slightly apologetically over at Etrigan.
"Well, it's more than we'd have otherwise," Hellboy said, checking his gun before he turned his attention over to Angel. "Your call, boss; what do you think?"
"She doesn't appear to know about the planned Apocalypse, which at least suggests that she's not officially aligned with Satan at the moment-" Angel began.
"You sure about that?" Blade asked.
"What would an army this size be doing all the way from Satan's palace with the apocalypse virtually imminent?" Spawn pointed out to the Daywalker. "She's here because she doesn't want to go over there until she has to; Raven things she's telling the truth, and I've picked up a few things about telling when people are telling me crap, so the situation seems straightforward enough to me."
"OK, so she's being honest about wanting to help; does that mean we can trust her?" Faith asked, glancing between her new teammates. "She sold her soul; ignorance of what she was doing or not, am I the only one who's worried about that?"
"I'm not exactly happy about that part of her history either, Faith, but in case you hadn't noticed, we don't exactly have a lot of options available to us right now," Angel said, looking over at the Slayer. "If we had a quicker way to get to Satan's castle, I'd take it, but we don't; add in the fact that she's got an army, and the means of transporting that army, and she's probably the best chance we've got of getting there in time to do what we came here to do."
"That does not mean that we should neglect the possibility that she could turn on us," Illyria said, looking solemnly over at the white-skinned woman for a moment before she turned her attention back to Angel. "I will keep an eye on her as we travel, and take action if it is appropriate."
"Good," Angel said, nodding briefly at the former God-King before he looked over at Willow, who looked like she was about to object. "It's not a matter of trust, Willow, it's a matter of practicality; we can't afford to trust anyone we meet here without question when we've got so much at stake."
Willow still didn't look like she was totally satisfied at the vampire's assessment, but the grim, accepting nod she gave him in response indicated that she accepted his reasoning even if she didn't entirely like it.
Angel just hoped that they didn't need to resort to those methods; the last thing they wanted was to have to deal with a power struggle for control of Lady Death's army on top of the fight that awaited them...