Maleficent and Doom returned to Avalon's library. With their next destination in mind, the two were busy discussing what the next best course of action would be. They were so wrapped up pouring over various cosmic atlases that they scarcely looked up when they heard a Corridor of Darkness open in the room with them. After all, both assumed it was simply Loki and Hades returning to base.
"Hard at work, are we?' Amora asked.
Maleficent glanced up to find Amora standing before her all alone without either of the two gods that had gone along with her. Maleficent immediately stood and shot a venomous glare at the Asgardian sorceress.
"Where are Loki and Hades?" Maleficent asked.
The mention of Loki's name drew Doom's attention away from the atlas and prompted him to also stand firmly against Amora.
"Back in Mephisto's Realm," Amora asked. "They've been taken prisoner. It seemed they walked right into a trap."
"Foul, treacherous, lying witch!" Doom spat. "You dare betray us?"
"I told you that I was going to betray you," Amora said. "You cannot fault me for the fact that you jumped to the conclusion that I was not going to follow through with it."
"But you knew that we would draw that conclusion," Doom pieced together. "And you did not bother hiding your intentions because you knew that Loki would know if you lied. Clever girl."
"Men always underestimate beautiful women," Amora said with a smile. "Truthfully, though, I was disappointed that Loki was so easy to dupe. He seemed emotionally compromised. Quite unfortunate timing."
"Why have you come here?" Maleficent asked. "To gloat? That will be a bravado you will live to regret!"
"As much as I enjoy the gloating, no," Amora replied. "Your earlier conclusion was partially correct: I do want to ally with your Overtakers against Mephisto."
"And what makes you think we'd have anything to do with a traitor like you?" Maleficent sneered.
"Give me time, I grow on everyone," Amora said with a smirk. "Besides, I'm going to help you save Loki and Hades."
"No, we will not fall for the same trick twice," Doom said. "Do not insult our intelligence."
Amora wordlessly dropped a piece of cloth on the table with the black outline of a key sketched onto it.
"You'll need to find this to save both of your friends," Amora said. "If you do not, one of them will perish. Believe me or don't. That is your decision. But if you seek that key, you will need to find the demon Blackheart. He detests his 'father', Mephisto. He should not be hard to convince to help you."
With her message delivered whether Doom or Maleficent believed in it or not, Amora vanished into the darkness just as quickly as she had come.
"What do you think?" Maleficent asked. "Did she speak truth?"
"I do not know," Doom admitted, picking up the drawing of the key. "At the very least, we may be able to sway Blackheart over to our side, and he could confirm or refute her claims."
"Provided that is not another trap," Maleficent said. "I do not like this."
"Yet it is what we must contend with," Doom said. "I will be braving Mephisto's Realm to rescue Loki, and you cannot stop me this time."
"You love him," Maleficent said. It was not a question.
Doom did not turn to face her. "Love is for lesser men."
"Yet you feel it all the same," Maleficent said.
Doom could not reply to that, and so he remained silent. He wanted to tell Maleficent off for prying into his business after having just strong armed him into submission. He wanted to be done with her and her forcefulness and with how his desires for power kept him from snapping back. But he couldn't. Not yet. There were more pressing matters at hand. Loki's life was in danger.
"You deny your feelings for Loki for the same reason you act like a rebellious child towards me," Maleficent continued. "Your ego leads you to believe that you want and need no one, yet that is a lie."
"You know nothing," Doom spat.
"On the contrary, I know quite well," Maleficent said. "Because in you I see clearly a reflection of myself."
Doom hadn't been expecting that. While he'd certainly made the connection himself, he never thought Maleficent would ever actually admit it. Doom turned to face her but did not offer any words in response.
"Take the advice of one who has endured this path before," Maleficent said. "Do not deny yourself the opportunity to connect with others. The Overtakers are my second chance; they can be yours as well if you set aside your resentment towards me."
"I will set aside my resentment towards you when I feel I am shown my due respect," Doom said. "You think us similar? Then speak to me as you would wish to spoken to in my position."
"A fair request," Maleficent nodded. "If we can show one another mutual respect, I see little reason why we cannot both prosper as allies."
Doom had no idea how serious Maleficent was about fostering respect and cooperation, but it was certainly a starting point that they could build off of. After all, she was right: they were very similar. And if they allowed their individual egos to continue getting in the way, there was little hope of the Overtakers obtaining the Book of Prophecies, let alone the two of them managing to save Loki and Hades.
Doom nodded. "Very well. Now then, shall we rescue our gods?"
Jafar and Ursula, as per Sarah Newlin's instructions, made their way to the Tru Blood packaging assembly line in the facility. It wasn't difficult for the two experienced dark sorcerers to kill every single guard in their way. Ursula found hysterical the sheer shock they all had seeing an octopus woman attacking them. Humans had such a limited scope on the universe. Sure enough, once they were alone with the Tru Blood, it was blatantly obvious that the product was being laced with some kind of toxin.
"Jafar, would you care to do the honors?" Ursula asked.
Jafar grinned evilly. "My pleasure!"
With an insane laugh, Jafar began to destroy the assembly line. Blasts of red lightning shot from the eyes of his staff, causing the entire operation to combust around him. Glass shattered and synthetic blood erupted everywhere, painting the entire room a brilliant shade of crimson. All the while Jafar continued to cackle at the destruction he unleashed. It was art, and he was its Van Gogh.
Ursula and Jafar both knew that while the destruction of the Tru Blood would save countless vampires from a plague of Hep V, it would also force them to seek sustenance by feasting upon human beings. That knowledge made their destruction all the more tantalizing. After all, never let it be said that those two ever did anything truly altruistic.
Sarah stormed into the testing facility to find Dr. Overlark observing Steve running on a giant hamster wheel to assess his vampiric speed.
"Ah, Sarah, I was just examining your ex-husband," Overlark said. "He has-"
"I'm gonna stop you right there," Sarah said. "This session is over, and I'm going to be taking Steve with me."
"By yourself?" Overlark asked. "Ma'am, he may be a young vampire, but he's still strong enough to overpower you if he was so inclined."
"Oh Steve's not gonna do that, will you honey?" Sarah asked.
Steve was too busy catching his breath to respond.
"Ms. Newlin, I strongly advise against this," Overlark said.
"Noted," Sarah replied. "Come on, Steve. We're leaving."
"Oh thank you, Sarah!" Steve said, running after her like a puppy following its master.
Sarah wordless escorted Steve down the facility hallways. Once the initial relief wore off, Steve becameabsolutely terrified that she was leading him someplace much worse than Overlark's laboratory. He briefly contemplated attacking her and making a break for it, but he knew he wouldn't make it very far in this facility.
"Sarah, please tell me where we're going," Steve begged. "I promise I've been on my best behavior, and I can give you more information if you-"
"We can dance until we die," Sarah relied. "You and I will be young forever."
Steve briefly wondered if Sarah had gone absolutely batshit crazy... well, crazier. But then he realized where that quote came from. Steve couldn't suppress his grin if he wanted to. He came for him! He was still alive!
Sarah led Steve to a room labeled as the head security office and escorted him inside. The bodies are the camp's security personnel littered the entire area. But that wasn't what caught Steve's eye. Bloody tears started to stream down his face when his realization was confirmed: Russell Edgington was alive and well. Steve and Russell ran towards each other and began to passionately embrace and make out. Distance had indeed made the undead hearts grow fonder.
"Good girl," Fish said to Sarah. "We're almost done here. Just-"
Fish stopped short when she realized that Russell and Steve had already started removing each other's shirts.
"Oh Hell no, none of that," Fish said, before they could move on to the pants.
Fish grabbed the back of Russell's neck and allowed her toxin to seep into him.
"Wait until we get back to base... when I'm out of the room," Fish commanded.
The two aroused vampires stopped in their tracks and started to put their clothes back on. Fish shook her head. It was like dealing with two rabbits in the spring time. Once Russell was fully dressed again, he turned his attention to the computer in front of him.
"If we can override this system, all the vampires Governor Burrell and this blonde whore have locked up will be free to wreak havoc," Russell said.
"You heard the man," Fish said to Sarah. "Override the system."
Sarah typed in her security code and instantly all throughout the base, vampires were released from their cages. Everything Sarah and the governor worked towards came crumbling down in an instant. Russell grabbed the microphone connected to the P.A. system.
"Vampires of this miserable camp," Russell began. "My name is Russell Edgington and reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. I have set you all free from the torturous clutches of humans. They've been tryin' to poison the Tru Blood to take advantage of how badly you've all been starvin'. We've taken care of their assembly line but others may be contaminated.
"So I ask you all instead to not drink Tru Blood, but rather true blood: blood that is living, organic, and human. Humans have proven their cruelty here to you now. Give 'em some cruelty back. Show them what happens when you fuck with vampires! I assure you my friends, the war has begun!"
Russell shut off the P.A. system and smiled to himself. For all that he loathed what Sarah had done here, her actions would almost certainly light a fire under the vampires' asses. The war he so longed for was finally upon them. Ursula and Jafar appeared in the control room from a Corridor of Darkness.
"Whoa! Holy shit!" Steve declared, looking them over. "You're... half an octopus?"
"A brilliant mind for observation, this one has," Jafar sneered.
"Steve, allow me to introduce you to my new friends," Russell said. "That's Ursula and Jafar, and the lovely lady controlling your formerly blushing bride is Fish Mooney. Let me tell you, darlin', you're gonna love what we've got in store."
"Back to your mansion or the one in the Underworld?" Ursula asked.
"Let's head back to mine first," Russell said. "Get it all hooked up to the other two bases so we can expand our reach a lil' bit."
Ursula nodded and summoned up a new Corridor of Darkness.
"What are we gonna do with this one?" Fish asked, pointing to Sarah Newlin.
"Well Hades did say we had a torture chamber in the mansion," Ursula said with a chuckle, prompting Sarah's eyes to widen in horror.
"No, Doom turned it into his lab," Russell said. "But we are pretty close to Tartarus. I think we can make do bringin' her along."
Ursula, Jafar, Fish, and Sarah proceeded into the dark portal, leaving the two vampire boyfriends alone on the other side.
"Where exactly are we going?" Steve asked.
"First back to Jackson, and then to the Greek Underworld," Russell said.
Steve looked incredibly confused. "What?"
"I'll explain later," Russell said with a laugh. "In a nutshell, though, remember how I told you if you stuck with me, I'd give you the world? We'll now I know I can give you more than just one world."
Maleficent and Doom arrived in the Peninsula of Perfidy in Mephisto's Hell, the region that Blackheart currently called home. True to its name, it was a jut of land surrounded on three sides by a sea of molten lava. All around the region were black barbs and dead plant life, calling to mind images of the region's master.
"This should be the location of the key," Doom said.
"You guys looking for a key?" a voice asked.
Doom and Maleficent saw the man who spoke was a handsome man who appeared to be in his twenties. He had liquid paper white skin and dark black hair and was dressed in a black trenchcoat and an all black ensemble underneath that gave a "Goth" impression. Ever present on the young man's face was a devilish smirk.
"We have little time to concern ourselves with the souls of the damned," Doom said. "We seek the master of this region."
The young man simply laughed. "Oh Doc, you don't recognize me?"
Half of the man's face melted off to reveal what looked like the head of an all black porcupine with a glowing red eye. Doom recognized him immediately.
"It is fortunate that we have found you, Lord Blackheart."