Dante's eyes narrow as he watches the screen. It is her, on a grainy security camera, standing on a corner and waiting for the light to change. He recognizes the flower shop behind her, one he passes by in Fortuna on the times he's headed over there, and he swallows thickly when she glances upwards as if looking at them. The film plays without sound as she checks her phone and lifts it to her ear. Then a van pulls up, the back opening, and Dante's blood turns cold as he watches a man exit out the back and drag Kyrie inside, her mouth open in a silent scream. The light changes and the van peels away, the back door slamming shut with the force, and Morrison pauses the video.
"It's not demons at all," Dante sighs.
"Nope," Morrison replies. "Just your regular, run-of-the-mill greedy ass humans."
"We don't know that for sure," Nero says sharply, glaring at Morrison. "How did you get this?"
Morrison shrugs. "You needed help. I delivered." Then his mouth curves a bit wryly. "You can just make out the license plate. Easy enough to get an address. You want it?" He nods towards the door. "I brought a car."
Nero looks at the others, and Dante lets go a slow breath, waiting for the kid to decide. If it is humans, that changes everything—and if he's being honest, Dante doesn't know what they should do. Killing demons is one thing; he never was good with humans.
"Let's go," Nero says through gritted teeth.
Morrison's car is an old-fashioned town car, well-loved and well-cared for. Dante climbs in the front as Morrison starts it up, and they pull out of the parking lot with a squeal of the tires. He heads towards Fortuna, the world around them a deep gray as it waits for the sun to start to rise.
"Are you disappointed it isn't demons, Nero?" Morrison asks.
Nero huffs in the backseat. "We don't know for sure it's not demons. Or people working for demons."
"Nico said that there are plenty of people after Kyrie," Dante muses. He leans an elbow on the window and taps a finger to his lips thoughtfully. "Might be old Order leftovers after all."
"It doesn't make sense," Nero insists. "Kyrie was doing so much good for everyone. No one in the Order blamed her for what happened, and neither did the city. I don't believe Nico, no one was after her. This has to be demons trying to get to me."
Dante glances over his shoulder. "I don't know. I've known a lot of shitty people."
"This is why I don't care for humans," Vergil sighs. Dante smiles humorlessly and shakes his head. "What?" Vergil snaps. "At least with demons you know what to expect. Humans can look like one thing and be another. Not worth the trouble."
"That's stupid," Nero mutters. "Kyrie is human. So is Morrison. So am I."
Vergil snorts. "Not completely."
"You always like shooting that back at me, don't you?" growls Nero. Dante rubs his face at the sudden sharpness in his tone; just when the kid was finally calming down and focusing, Vergil gets under his skin again, innocently or not.
"That you're half-demon?" Vergil challenges. "You are."
Nero's hand clenches into a fist. "Quarter. My mother was human."
"There is more than enough of Sparda's blood in you," replies Vergil.
"Well I didn't ask for that!"
"You say that a lot, you know. It gets old," Vergil complains, Dante listening with a growing aggravation. "We all know how you came to be."
"As if I had a choice," mutters Nero.
"None of us were dealt the life we would have chosen. But unlike you, the rest of us deal with it."
Nero folds his arms with a pout. "Easy for you to say. You don't know shit about my life, since you left it."
Vergil lets out a low growl. "How long will you be punishing me for that? I didn't know."
"You say that a lot," Nero snaps. "It gets old."
"You—"
"Hey, lay off," Dante says gruffly.
Nero's mouth twists into a smile. "Yeah, lay off."
Dante turns around from the front seat and narrows his eyes. "Not him. You. You need to get over all this shit."
"What?" Nero gapes.
He points his finger at Nero, trying to keep his temper in check. "Stop blaming Vergil for everything. He didn't know about you. And yeah he's a pain in the ass and a prick and will probably end up fucking everything up—"
"Thanks," Vergil mutters.
"—but he didn't. Fucking. Know." Dante leans his arm over the back of the seat and Nero shrinks back. "But he knows now. We both do. And you don't give me half the shit you give him. So lay off."
Nero doesn't respond to the chastisement, turning to look out the window with a scowl. Vergil is as seemingly nonplussed as ever, which also annoys him. "And you're such an asshat," Dante sighs. "Kid is scared, anyone can see that. He loves Kyrie and she's missing. He just watched her get taken away, and that hurts like hell. At least pretend you care."
"I know he loves her. He says it every two minutes." Vergil leans forward, looking Dante straight in the eye. "I'm sick of being blamed for every problem he has. Nero needs to grow up."
"He has grown up! You'd see that if you'd open your damn eyes," counters Dante. "He's got kids at home and a family and it's a fuck ton more than either you or I have. And he did it on his own."
"He's not the only one who has been on his own," argues Vergil.
Anger swells inside Dante, his fingers digging into the leather seat. "We were both on our own."
"It made us stronger," Vergil states matter-of-factly.
"Are you saying you wouldn't change anything?" Dante practically shouts. "If you could go back, you would have still wanted to be alone?"
Vergil rolls his eyes. "What a moronic question. We can't go back, so what is the point of asking?"
"The point is that you still haven't learned a damn thing."
"Okay, enough," Nero says. He puts his hand out as if to keep the two apart, the change in him surprising Dante. His expression is almost pleading, his voice tight. "You guys have done nothing but argue since we started. Can you just… just can it already?" His lips press together into a thin line. "We gotta get to Kyrie. And…" Nero clears his throat. "I'm sorry for snapping at you both. I really am. We gotta do this together, and we can't be fighting."
There is a long silence, and once again Dante finds himself trying to figure out what to say; but again, before he can think of something, Vergil says, "We haven't fought the whole time. Don't exaggerate."
"Yeah," Dante laughs. "And besides, we're fighting about you. You should be happy we care enough."
Nero glances between them incredulously. "You're both so fucked up."
The brothers both start to laugh, and Dante laughs even harder when he sees Nero's confused look. "Yeah, but aren't families supposed to be fucked up?"
"Mine isn't," Morrison says.
Dante groans and slides down a bit in his seat, stretching as best as he can. "Pipe down and drive," he mumbles, smiling when Vergil snorts behind him.
They are a few miles from Fortuna when Dante says, "Let's go to Red Grave City first. We can load up at the shop."
Morrison takes the next exit and weaves through the early morning streets, mostly empty as the sun is just rising. Nero climbs out of the car and follows in last, thinking about how he had rushed in there maybe twelve hours before, frantic to find Kyrie. It will be almost twenty-four hours since whoever those guys are had taken her, and he can still hear her voice, soft and insistent and afraid on the phone.
"Let's go," Dante says, leading them inside.
Nero is surprised to find Nico there, half-dozing on the couch. She jumps up when Dante calls over, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and stretching.
"What are you doing here?" he asks as he strides over. "What about the kids?"
"They're fine, don't worry." She glances over her shoulder where Dante and Vergil move around the shop, pulling items from the wall and from inside various furniture. "I figured you'd end up here, so I took a cab over and brought Red Queen. And I wanted to get the latest, see if I could help."
"Thanks, but you should go home and get some sleep," Nero says gruffly.
He turns to walk away but Nico grabs his arm. "No way! How am I supposed to sleep when Kyrie is missing?" Nero pauses when he hears the slight catch in her voice. "I care about her too. Do you know where she is yet? You have to, if you're here, right?"
"Morrison has a lead," he sighs. "He thinks it's humans, but just in case, we're gearing up."
Nico nods. "I can drive."
"Actually…" Nero rubs the back of his neck, his expression sheepish. "We had some trouble with the van."
"Trouble?" Nico's eyes narrow into dangerous slits. "What trouble?"
"Nothing you can't fix!" He tries to sound cheery as he claps her on the arm. But his fatigue makes his nerves feel thin, and when Nico doesn't relent he sighs. "The van is… kind of wrecked."
"Wrecked!" she shouts. "What about my things? My work? What did you do?"
"They're fine, I promise!" He puts up his hands as Nico starts to advance on him. "We got attacked by some demons and had to get out of there fast, and something must have blown—"
"Where is the van now?" she growls.
Nero gives a little shrug. "We left it on the highway. I'll get it towed, don't worry."
Nico sighs loudly. "It's fine. When you're done you can run me up there, and I should be able to figure it out and fix it. Don't want no tow truck driver poking through my stuff anyway."
"Yeah, I don't know if you're gonna be able to fix it that easy. I kinda got mad and…" He drops his head and moans, "I fucked up, okay? Seems to be what I do best."
Nico grinds her teeth as she looks at him furiously, before finally rolling her eyes. She puts her hands on her hips and snaps, "Stop being such a pussy. Man up and get Kyrie back." Then she pauses, sucking in a sharp breath, before saying quietly, "We need her."
He glances up to catch Nico's lip trembling slightly, which is more alarming than he wants to admit. "Keep it together," he mumbles, and Nico laughs.
"So if I'm not driving, what can I do?" she asks. Before she can answer, she looks over Nero's shoulder, then gasps and pushes him out of the way. "Wait! What are you doing with those?"
Nero turns to see Vergil and Dante carrying armfuls of weapons, dropping them unceremoniously on the floor. "What the hell?" Nico cries. She crouches down on the ground, glaring up at the two men viciously. "You can't treat these weapons like this!"
"Most of them used to be demons," replies Dante as he scratches his head. "Pretty indestructible."
"Ugh, you don't know anything," she scoffs. Nero folds his arms as she starts sorting through the Devil Arms, amused by her exasperation. "These are more than works of art—they're living weapons! You can't sling 'em around like a sack of potatoes!"
Nero snorts as Dante and Vergil exchange a look. "We need to go kick some ass," Dante says in explanation.
She shoots a sharp stare at them both. "I'll kick your ass if you don't pipe down for a minute while I figure this out."
Nico returns to her sorting, while Dante grumbles. "She used to be a fan of mine, you know," he says to Vergil.
Vergil looks decidedly unimpressed. "Hard to believe that. The girl obviously knows what she's talking about." Nero spies how he watches Nico, his lips pressing together as he sees an idea that could only mean trouble sparking behind Vergil's eyes. "I've been saying for months that I should have these items, not Dante. Don't you agree? Nico, wasn't it?"
Nero is about to object when Nico stands, hands on her hips. "Neither of you deserve this stuff. These should be in a museum or something." Vergil scowls at her, but Nico ignores him and continues, "But none of this is gonna do you any good anyway. You can't fight humans with this stuff. It'll be a bloodbath."
"Maybe we want a bloodbath," Vergil argues.
"We don't want a bloodbath," says Dante.
"I wouldn't mind a bloodbath," replies Vergil with a shrug.
"Well I know you wouldn't but—"
"Okay, okay," Nero interrupts. "Nico, what do we do then?"
She considers a moment before giving him a sideways glance. "You boys are pretty… big. Just use your fists."
Vergil frowns deeply at the idea, but Dante grins and rubs his hands together. "Yeah, now we're talking! Get a little one-two action going on." He starts to hop from one foot to the other, pretending to jab at Vergil's arm, bobbing and weaving like a boxer. "Kick some ass the old fashioned way."
Nero hides a chuckle as Morrison joins them. "Got the address," he says, holding up his little notepad. "You boys ready?"
"Who is it?" Nero asks.
Morrison flips it open. "Traced the plate to an owner, last known address just outside of Fortuna." He nods to Nico. "Looks like your girl was on the money."
Nico looks smug but Nero feels a surge of anger. Kyrie had been there the whole time, as he was running from city to city chasing after nothing? "What's the name?" he demands.
"Mammon," Morrison says.
"Mammon?" Nico tilts her head. "I know that name." Nero's brows go up as he watches her think. "I read it in my asshole old man's stuff."
"One of the Order?" Nero growls.
Slowly she shakes her head. "No. Mammon was a demon in his research."
Nico gives him a pained look, and Nero feels his blood go cold. "Looks like we're gonna need those Devil Arms after all," he says.
