When the dust cleared, one of Hell's most infamous crime lords stomped out on the broken concrete.

She was a cyclops-demon, about six feet tall, pale skinned with blonde hair (with pink and white highlights) tied into a rough ponytail and one single bloodshot eye. Her skin was sprinkled with pink freckles, and her clothing was haphazard and torn, like a Less That Zero reject or a coked-up extra from a Cindy Lauper video. She wore torn leggings, a torn red miniskirt, an off-shoulder crop top (that was worn over a black bra), and a single red boot. She was juggling an unlit bomb between her hands

And she didn't look happy.

"Are none of you fucking cowards gonna answer me?! Is Cherri gonna have to blow more shit up until she gets a fucking answer?!"

Then she turned her single eye to Chay, who stood alone among the rubble.

"You. I don't know you." She jogged up to Chay, bearing a sneer sharp enough to cut granite.

"I think I have an idea who you are, though." replied Chay. "I'm going to guess you're the one they call Cherri Bomb, right?"

Cherri skidded to a halt mere feet away from Chay. "Good, you recognize me. That still doesn't tell me who the fuck you are, or why you're standing in the middle of a fucking warzone in my territory!"

Chay raised an eyebrow. "To be fair, at least half of this was from your bomb."

"I didn't cause those fucking bullet holes!", Cherri angrily waved her arm at the chipped bricks and broken windows caused by the assault vehicle's mini-gun. "I also didn't dump a giant piece of trash out on to the-wait, who is that?"

Cherri slowly walked over to Shakie's unconscious form, still lying limp on the sidewalk.

"You recognize her?", Chay asked.

"Yeah. I've seen her working out here a few times before." Cherri bent down and moved a piece of black cloth away from Shakie's hair.

"You're the second person I've encountered who recognizes her. Angel Dust was the other."

That got her attention.

"This is Shakie, isn't it?" Cherri jumped back up to face Chay. "This is the girl Angie has been telling me about for the past week. Who the fuck are you? How do you know Angel?"

Chay brushed dirt and debris off of her shirt.

"My name is Chay Ong. I'm a private investigator that was hired by Valentino to find some of his employees who had disappeared...well, only one now." She tightened her scarf around her face.

"Angel Dust was the one who first brought it to Valentino's attention. I met him outside of the Studio to learn more."

Cherri whipped out her hellphone and starting tapping away furiously on the screen.

"I'm texting Angel now. Let's see if you're…."

The phone vibrated. Cherri read Angel's reply.

"Huh...so you were telling the truth."

"You should probably tell him that we found Shakie."

"Yeah, I'm working on it...wait, he's calling me."

Cherri hit the 'answer' button and put the phone to her ear.

"Hey Angie! What do ya need?"

Chay stood awkwardly as Cherri continued a conversation she wasn't in on.

"Yeah, she's still here. What? You wanna talk to her?"

Cherri handed over her phone to Chay. "He wants to talk to you. Don't use up my minutes, dammit!"

Chay shook her head as she put the phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Miss Bones!", Angel's excited voice shouted from the phone's speaker. "You ain't fucking with me, right? You found her?"

"Yes, we found her. Those guys you were talking about just dumped her on the sidewalk."

"After they fucking trashed the place!", screamed Cherri.

"Great, f-fucking great.".

Was Angel actually….crying?

"Look, bones. Don't go nowhere. Some of the employees at the Hotel are headed over there right now."

"The Happy Hotel? What for?"

"I told you, already! She was thinking of moving in! The owners have this policy about protecting the guests, and technically she's a guest."

"When should I expect them?"

The sound of yet another pair of tires speeding through the road screeched into Chay's senses. Both Chay and Cherri braced themselves for yet another encounter with the 'group'.

"Sounds like they're almost there. It's the guy who runs the front desk, and the chick whose the head of security. You'll know em when you see em."

Chay followed the sound of the tires as a white limousine pulled up to meet them.

The car stopped in front of them, mere feet from where they were standing. It was a luxury stretch limousine, with a shiny ivory chassis and gold trimming on it's body and rims. It had three pairs of headlights on it's front, which wreathed a gaping toothy maw for a grill.

The left rear door flew open, and the first thing that emerged from it was not a Sinner or a demon.

It was a sharp Exterminator's harpoon, pointing directly at Cherri's face.

"Back the fuck up, Cherri.", said a deadly serious voice from within the limo's interior.

Cherri threw up her hands in protest. "Whoooa, there girl." Cherri slowly backed away from the car. "I'm not the villain here."

"And yet, you're here. Now back off."

The harpoon's owner slowly emerged from the limo. She was a slim moth-demon, with bright white hair that had pink tips, gray skin, a yellow eye and an eye-patch (with a red 'x'), and a red bow on her scalp. She was wearing a white mini-dress with black crosses on the chest and a belt, light-blue gloves and a choker around her neck, and a mismatched pair of stockings: one navy-blue, and the other striped with pink and blue stripes.

"Now, where is she?"

"She's over here", said Chay. "She unconscious but breathing."

The woman carefully put the spear back into the limo and jogged over to Shakie's sleeping form.

"How long has she been here?", she asked as she knelt down next to Shakie's head.

Chay knelt down next to her. "About fifteen minutes. The org's goons chucked her onto the pavement and took off after Cherri showed up."

The woman reached down and pried open one of Shakie's eyelids. Her feline pupils were dilated.

"They drugged her, apparently. No telling what else they've also done."

Chay looked into the woman's one good eye. There was a lot behind that eye: anger, sadness, pain. Like she was reliving something in her head.

The woman looked over at Chay. "And I guess you're Angel's contact?"

Chay nodded. "Yes, that would be me. His boss hired me to find out the source of these recent disappearances."

The woman looked at the rest of Shakie's face and neck. There didn't appear to be any other wounds.

"I guess you're also to thank for her remaining relatively uninjured."

Chay shook her head. "No, that was mostly pure luck. That and me managing to distract Cherri long enough for her to recognize who this was."

The woman stood up and walked back over to the limo. She opened the door and called into the interior.

"Husk! Get out here! I need your help with something!"

A gruff, whiskey-soaked voice answered in kind: "Calm your tits, Vaggie, I'm comin!".

The door on the other side of the limo popped open. The first thing Chay saw was an enormous pair of cat ears, with a tiny tophat in the center. As the figure rounded the corner, she could see an enormous pair of red-feathered wings, patterned with various symbols from playing cards (spade, heart, diamond, and club).

It was a felinoid-demon, with taupe-colored fur on most of his body (with white fur for his face, chest and upper arms). He had brown eyes, with orange pupils, and black hearts positioned just below his sharp red eyebrows. His fingers were topped with enormously long claws, at least a foot in length. His eyes looked droopy and exhausted, and his face was plastered with a permanent grimace. He angrily mumbled to himself the whole way.

"Awright, where's the guest?", he asked.

"Right over there", the woman said. "She's alive, but she's unconcious. Place her in the back of the limo, and be gentle dammit!"

"Yeah yeah, I know the drill." The demon known as Husk bent down and picked up Shakie, slinging her over his shoulder. "Don't ever say I didn't do something nice for you.", he grumbled.

"It's your job, Husk. Do you want me to tell Alastor?".

Husk rolled his eyes and grumbled as he gently placed Shakie into the interior of the limo.

Chay took a peek inside. The limo was a real luxury outfit, with leather interior and trimmings.

"Whoa. Nice car."

"It's the royal limousine.", said the woman. "One of the benefits of dating the Princess."

She stuck out her hand for a handshake. "I'm Vagatha, manager and assistant to Princess Charlotte Magne, and head of security for the Happy Hotel. My friends call me Vaggie."

Chay shook her hand. "Chay Ong, private investigator."

Vaggie eyed Chay up and down. "You're the one Angel was talking about. The one Valentino hired, right?"

Chay raised a bony eyebrow. "It's been barely 24 hours and I'm already getting noticed".

"News travels fast in Pentagram City", Vaggie replied. "Especially when the Overlords are concerned. Valentino wouldn't have agreed to hire you if your work history wasn't already known. Me and Charlie try to stay out of the Overlords' business if we can, but-"

"Charlie?", Chay asked.

"The Princess", replied Vaggie. "She prefers to go by Charlie. You really are out of the loop, aren't you?"

"Hey, gimme a break! I live in a fucking hole in a wall."

The limo door slammed shut. Husk dusted off his hands as he lumbered back over to Vaggie. "Awright, she's lyin' on a blanket near the back. What now?"

Vaggie scratched her nose. "Well, at this point I'm guessing we're gonna be taking her back to-"

A vibrating sound came from Vaggie's dress. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her hellphone. She eyed the caller idea.

Her eyes widened.

"Whoa….OK. I gotta take this. Chay?"

"Yes, Vaggie?"

"Watch Husk and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

Husk eyed Vaggie incredulously.

"Hey, what the fuck?!", he said as he through his hands up. "I'm the guy who works for you and….meh, fuck it.". Husk reached into his collar and pulled out a flask. He popped off the top and drank. He belched as he re-covered the flask and shoved it back into his collar.

His droopy eyes suddenly took an unusual interest in Chay.

"Hey you…..do I know you from somewhere?"

-The fuck?

"Ummm….I don't think so?", she replied.

Husk leaned in closer. Chay could smell the alcohol on his breath.

"No no no…..I definitely have seen you from somewhere.". He pointed at her with one of his lengthy claws. "Were you in 'Nam?"

-Vietnam? He doesn't sound Vietnamese.

"No, I'm not from Vietnam. I mean, I'm from that region?"

Husk shook his head vigorously. "No, I mean the war . Were you in 'Nam during the war? Were you partyin' with Uncle Ho?"

-This is starting to sound kind of racist…

"No, I did not fight in Vietnam. I barely ever wandered near the border. I was a kid through most of that!"

That seemed to annoy Husk even more.

"Look…", he said rather authoritatively. "I may have been picklin' my liver down here for a few decades, but I ain't completely pickled my brain yet. And I know that I've heard that accent….", he pointed at her shit, "…and had seen people in that getup during the time I was farting around the South China Sea. Now who are you trying to fool here?"

Chay was going to reply (peppered with a few choice expletives), but was interrupted by the sound of Vaggie clearing her throat.

"Husk? Drop it."

Both Chay and Husk turned to face Vaggie.

"Husk, I just got off the phone with management. Change of plans."

Vaggie walked over to Chay and Husk, standing in between them.

"I'm going back to the Hotel with Shakie. But you're sticking around with Miss Ong, here."

Husk's eyes widened (so much so that Chay could see the stringy red veins in his retina). "The fuck are you talkin' about?"

"Nifty can handle the front desk for a little while. You're other skills are needed."

Vaggie turned to face Chay.

"Chay, was Shakie the only person you were hired to locate?"

Chay shook her head. "No, Valentino also hired me to locate one of his procurers as well. He also ordered me to….deal with whoever this new competition is supposed to be."

Vaggie groaned as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. "So you're an assassin as well."

"Not normally, no. But I took this job as a favor for a colleague, so my hands are tied."

Vaggie rolled her eyes. "Fine, whatever. But you should know that any order from an Overlord is automatically overruled by a royal decree."

Husk raised an eyebrow. "Oh fuck, you weren't kiddin' when you said 'management'. She's interested in this?"

Chay was confused.

"That phone call, was that..?"

Vaggie raised her hand to cut off Chay's sentence.

"Chay Ong, as manager and messenger of the Princess I have been given the honor of delivering to you the following message. Treat my voice as Her's."

Vaggie cleared her throat, and spoke in extremely formal language.

"As Princess of Hell and Heir to the throne of King Lucifer Magne... I, Charlotte Magne, hereby order that Chay Ong use whatever skills needed, and whatever means deemed necessary, to discover the source of these current disturbances, and to deal with them with the severity that you deem needed. I furthermore order that my employee, Husk, use his military skills and experience to assist you in this endeavor. You shall me compensated for your labor, as well as the labor undertaken for your current employer. I have spoken, so mote it be."

Husk stared.

"You gotta be shittin' me.", he said.

Vaggie smirked. "You wanna talk to her yourself? Or maybe to Al?"

Husk looked between Chay and Vaggie.

"…..No.", he replied quietly.

Chay was flabbergasted. She threw her hands up in protest.

"Whoa, hold on here. This all sounds like a sweet deal, but you barely know me. Fuck, you only know me by my reputation via Valentino, and just how trustworthy do you think he is?!"

"Yeah! What she said!", Husk replied in kind.

"I'd vouch for her!"

All three whipped their heads around to see Crol standing in the door-frame of the apartment building. Chay grunted in aggravation.

"How long have you been standing there, Crol?"

"Around the time the limo rolled up. You guys say something about military experience?"