A/N: This chapter is a little short, but that's just how it ended up breaking with the Tools.
Dark and murky were the skies of Hell. Thick clouds blocked light from any star, making the expanse above feel as endless and hopeless as life below. The clouds stirred in a few places, forming whorls and spirals where the Sun had grumbled past. Only a few multicolored "scratches" broke through the gloom.
Suddenly an object streaked across the sky. It moved like a comet, blazing orange and yellow.
The salamander demon fled at mach speed. Their suit was smoking, steam curling off of their skin to release excess heat from the magma. Their hat had fallen off, cast aside and doomed to fall somewhere below. But otherwise, they were unharmed. Wings flapped behind them, large, orange, and curved enough to glide masterfully through the air. Skin was ripped on their back from where the wings had broken through.
"Hyahahahaha!" They laughed in relief. "That foolish detective never saw it coming. Didn't you know? Salamanders are related to dragons!"
They turned their head back, looking through goggles that now had one crack across the lens. "No matter how fast your wings might be, you'll never catch up to-"
"HI, THERE!"
There was a blur to their left. A smudged shape like a large beak open and grinning against a black backdrop, blonde hair whipped sideways, and two horrible, beady eyes staring out…
They didn't even have time to scream.
CHOO-CHOO-CRASH!
With a noise like seventy brass bands falling at once, the entire conglomeration came crashing down to earth.
It took a full thirty seconds for the dust to settle.
"Whew." Neuro poked his head out from the wreckage. "Now that was a wild ride. "
He hopped out of the mangled doorway and stood to admire the damage. The Tool next to him most resembled a steam train or some other kind locomotive. Once it had looked demented—now it was merely dented. Its body was sleek and shiny black. The top of the main body was ridged leading up to the operator's cabin. The operator's cabin itself had four windows from which to look out, and the decal of an eye resting above the front.
Strange-looking legs rested underneath the train's chassis, where its wheels should have been. However, judging by the couplers that ran along its sides, they worked just the same as a wheel system. The front of the device was morphed into a face, with two lamp-light eyes and a hefty set of teeth resting in place of a protective grille. A circular collection of bumps decorated its forehead. One waxy protrusion came out of the top, looking like a melted smokestack.
The machine glinted in the hellfire light. It was the latest model in demonic transport, a feat of Hellish engineering and the best speed that blood-contracts could buy. A status symbol…and Neuro had just crashed it into the ground.
"777 Tools of the Demon World – Evil Rapid," Neuro mused. X's crossed out the train's eyes. The majority of its face was shoved irrevocably into the dirt. A groaning sound came from the boiler. "I must say, it caught up rather well. Zero to Mach 1 in the span of one second…how very useful. It requires some extra energy to withstand the gravitational forces, but I managed to endure its speed."
"Thank you for the experience, dear salamander." Neuro's voice was colored by a hint of derision—or was it disgust?—as his gaze passed over the orange splat between Evil Rapid's nose and the hard, unforgiving soil. "Or rather, for the lesson."
"May their soul rot," Neuro muttered as he turned away. He did not wish to spend one further iota of time or energy on such a being. They were dead, and that was all that mattered.
Neuro faced the horizon, his beak lifted slightly as if to test the breeze. "Come, flea," he announced. "The bomb shouldn't be far now."
He scowled. "There's a city up ahead. How troublesome. If it flew to that length, that could mean bad things for us…"
Suddenly Neuro noticed the silence.
He turned. "Worm. Have your ears devolved into micro-ossicles?" he called.
Neuro walked around to the side of Evil Rapid. The second flank of the Tool's body slowly came into view. "If you don't speak up when spoken to, then I will leave you here with no-"
His words cut off.
There was a figure curled over one of the back windowsills. Their brown suit hung in tatters.
Magnus's neck stretched out to an impossible length. His head hung limp. His arms were bent and cracked against the window ledge, some bones pressed against the ridge and curling over as if embracing it. One arm, fully dislocated from its socket, draped. His body was all too still, the kind of stillness that signals even in Hell that it's over, it's all over, and there is nothing, nothing at all that can ever be done. Part of his wings had been ripped away in the Mach 1 winds.
The demon, the one that had been so sickeningly loyal to Neuro, the one so convinced he would take them on as an apprentice, hung there in horrible stillness.
Magnus's fringe was flipped up, showing every bit of his eyes. They were round and blank, like two black buttons. They stared at nothing. Neuro had the choice of whether or not to look. He did.
Neuro stood there for a few moments. His gaze remained fixed on the body.
Then he turned and, without a word, strode away.
RING, RING.
RI- Click.
"Crime detective Neuro? Status report!"
"…"
"Hello!?"
"Alive."
"Oh well thank the Devil for that. Obviously you are! Given the crisis we're facing, I'd hate to think smart-ass avian zombies were now on our list, too."
"If you have time to sass, you have breath to spare, HQ manager Doomfang. Shall I assume the crisis is over, then?"
"Com-ple-tely freak-ing opposite! Everybody is losing their thricedamned tails over here. Where are you? Location report."
"Flying. South-Southwest of Blazing Gate. Something happened with the bomb-"
"Oh I know about the Damned bomb."
"You do?"
"Everybody knows about the Damned bomb! We got word of it crashlanding in central Yzguth two minutes ago. Our teams are scrambling to respond. Reports say that it came from the direction of Blazing Gate, where our intel said we'd find it. What the blazes is going on, detective?"
"The bomb was protected by a guard. It was an…unforeseen event. I have neutralized the perpetrator. However, the bug was sent away before I could act. Am now in pursuit."
"You'd better be. Devil take it all!" There was some more cursing and noises in the background of demons rushing around.
"This is bad…a bomb that freaking size is gonna cause a lot of damage if it explodes. Yzguth is the second capital city—there are plenty of buildings to wreck and demons to kill. Civilians at the scene are rowdy enough already. It's all we can do to keep things under some semblance of control. That bomb would unleash pure chaos!"
"Even worse!" Neuro cried. "If that bomb explodes, then I won't get my mystery!"
"That's what you're worried about? Hold on, linking us to the universal line…"
"All units, listen up! This is crisis level scarlet. The bug has landed in central Yzguth, repeat, central Yzguth. Bug reportedly on ground floor of a company building. No one is to approach aside from authorized personnel."
"Roger," came a tinny voice over the phone, sounding as if it came from far away.
"Roger."
"Roger."
"Roger," said Neuro. "Requesting authorization. Crime detective, squad of one. Access code: 777. Check with Executive Officer Leonfang if needed."
"No need. Code pre-cleared. Operative Braineater granted access. Don't any of you other mudsuckers dare follow him or I'll kill you."
"Already adjusted my course. E.T.A. ninety seconds."
Neuro stood with one foot propped up on a pile of rubble. He looked down into an enormous crater.
The impact had blasted a hole in the earth. Although it was twenty feet wide, the crater itself was shallow. Its sides sloped down gently, meeting at a dip in the middle littered with chunks of rubble. The ground that shaped its sides was granite in color, and smooth, as if someone had just taken an artist's scraper to the concrete.
On the far side, two lines traced the path of something that had skidded into the leaning frame of a building. The first floor of the structure had been completely blown out upon impact. Most of its windows were shattered.
Neuro half-jogged, half-skidded down the side of the crater. Behind him, Evil Rapid disappeared. He could just hear the beginnings of growling demons stepping out from alleyways as he crossed to the other side.
Neuro slipped into the shadows beneath the building's overhang. It was easy to enter—the front corner of the structure had been completely blasted away. The structure itself leaned precariously to the side. It felt like this building alone had gotten to witness a preview of the end of the world.
It was so dark that Neuro heard the demons up ahead before he saw them.
A group of about five beast-types were gathered around a shape. They snarled and pawed at a box by their feet. The box was still glowing a light orange, though its heat was fading quickly. A pile of rubble kept it propped up on one side. Its edges were rounded, having been melted down and softened.
One of the demons give it a hard kick in the side. The box resounded with a clang. Two other demons raised their hands, preparing to bring down their fists on its metal chasis-
CRASH
BANG
In less than two seconds all of the demons lay, dazed and broken, in a heap on the ground. Neuro flexed one hand. "Phew. I've gotten better at direct combat, it seems."
He grabbed the demons by their collars and hefted them outside one by one. They flopped down into a groaning pile. Neuro would just have to hope that their noise wouldn't attract others.
Neuro knelt down in front of the box. There was no mistaking it. This was the bomb that had been in Blazing Gate. Neuro raised his fingers to the display and lightly brushed off its surface. Now the only question was whether it or not it had really been able to charge. Maybe he had been in time. Maybe the landing had jarred its system-
Neuro cursed.
"It's active."
"What?" came the HQ manager's response over the universal line.
"The bomb is active. I've found it. I'm standing right in front of it."
Neuro's gaze ran over the explosive's surface. The display panel was glowing dimly, numbers flashing irregularly on its surface. A panel on its side showed that the power bar was at full. It hummed like a contented feline.
Neuro grit his teeth. This was all his fault. The shock from landing must have jarred its system. He had been too late to get the bomb out of its charging station, and ended up triggering an even greater danger instead.
"What now?" Voices came over the line, tense as a tightrope.
"You said the bomb was active," said HQ manager Doomfang. "Any countdown?"
"No," said Neuro. He watched the numbers tick back and forth on the display. Eight, twelve, three, twenty-two... "It's not distinct yet."
More cursing. "Just get out of there, detective. Our bomb squads can deal with it. We'll focus on putting a barrier around the city-"
"You can't!" came another voice. Extra static and shouts nearly obscured their message. "No barrier will hold! My demons are being overrun now. The local people are in a frenzy, and they're headed towards central!"
The captains and commanders began to argue. Their voices fused together in Neuro's ears, building up and amassing into one big distraction. Then, as Neuro fought against frustrating, he thought he saw something. A flicker ran around the edges of the bomb. A multicolored ribbon floated above its surface and then vanished.
Neuro looked again at the display. He looked at the keypad just below it. He looked back at where he thought the multicolored light had been. Something clicked.
"There's no need," he spoke up, silencing the voices over the radio. "I'll solve it."
"'Solve'? What are you talking about?"
"This bomb contains a mystery," Neuro said, his smooth voice sounding more assured than any of them. "And mysteries are my specialty. There is the option here to enter a password-"
He tapped the display. Indeed, after Neuro had pressed a random button, the prompt PASSWORD and a multitude of lines had appeared on-screen. "…And I have no doubt that doing so will deactivate the bomb. It's our only chance. Unless you would let chaos be released unchallenged."
"I can handle this case. Remain on support and do whatever you slugs want out there. I am not leaving."
There were a few seconds filled with muttered doubts.
"He can really do it?"
"He is the OB prodigy."
"If a mere crime detective wants to put his own hide at risk…"
HQ manager Doomfang's voice rang out. "We don't have time. If the Operative is so damn confident, then let him bet his life."
"Neuro," they said. "Can you really do this?"
Neuro's green eyes remained fixed on the bomb's screen. "I will solve it."
"Then good luck," said the HQ manager, although all demons knew luck didn't exist. "Operative Braineater is granted permission. All commanders and captains report back to your ranks, focus on containment and punishment of the rioters. No penalties for brute force. After ten minutes we'll all check in, keep your phones on-"
Beep.
Neuro turned off his communications device. It would only be a distraction. He took a deep breath and tried to clear his mind. He flexed the fingers of both hands and concentrated on the puzzle before him.
Now then…how must this meal be prepared?
The screen read: PASSWORD – ************
Afterword: Goodnight, sweet guinea-pig prince. May flights of Demon World lettuce lead thee to thy rest.