A/N: Thanks for all the comments so far! We're not far off the climax, so I hope you keep enjoying the story
Chapter 9: The Siege of the Hotel
Angel couldn't help but flinch back - his hands automatically going to draw his weapons - when the doors burst open. The muscle he'd been expecting to see was where – Val's enforcers, the ones who beat in the face of anyone they were told to – but the Studio staff were, too. They stood out in front, a mixture of sadness and anger on their faces.
Dia and Summer were the leaders of the back, both with a golf club in one hand and pistol in the other. "Joyride's over, Angel," Summer said sharply, cocking the gun and pointing it straight at his chest. "Come quietly and we can all get back to normal, OK, sugar?"
Dia started to say something, discomfort in her eyes when suddenly there was a deafening BANG and Summer gasped, dropping the gun to clasp her bleeding arm.
Angel looked around to see Molly stood behind him, a smoking gun in her hand. She raised her other hand to Angel, gesturing for him to come toward her. "You threaten my brother again, ya get worse than that, sweetheart," she warned.
"No, Molly, stop-" Angel put himself between the two groups, standing firmly rooted to the spot even as Molly tried to drag him back. The hotel staff were all gathering, everyone there except Alastor and everyone with a weapon in hand – Vaggie with her spear, horns sprouting from Charlie's head, even Husk had produced a bolt-action shotgun from somewhere. And Henroin looked over at Angel.
"They here for you, Tony?" he asked, reaching into his jacket for his favoured six-shooter. He'd never been one to back down from a brawl if he thought it meant protecting family honour, even if that included Angel.
Angel's heart sank – he could see on everyone's eyes a complete determination to fight. If he didn't stop this now -
"Everyone shaddup and listen to me!" He started to walk straight towards Val's heavies. "I have ta-"
Molly threw herself forwards, shoving Angel behind her and opening fire at the other demons gathered there; Dia shoved Summer out of the way and the rest roared with anger and started to shove their way into the hotel, only the narrow lobby stopping them all flooding in at once. Angel swore, forced to draw his gun and fire on the ones bearing down on his sister, doing his best not to injure any of his former colleagues if he could avoid it.
One of the meathead heavies swept Molly to one side with a beefy arm, pinning her against the wall and he knocked the gun clean from Angel's hand with his other arm, swinging again to clock him on the head.
Angel grabbed his fist in all his hands, stopping him dead. The muscle head saw the fury in Angel's eyes, just as he watched Angel's third set of arms appear right before Angel punched him in the gut with it. Angel dodged back, getting his gun off the floor and pulling Molly with him, getting her behind him as the hotel denizens rushed forward, deaf to his protests.
Angel stared, disbelieving, as the hotel residents, his friends, went all-out against the Studio goons – Vaggie stabbing and slashing with her spear with full fury, sweet little Charlie showing a slasher smile as she tossed first one, then the other cute little goat helper at the crowd, where they grew in size (and teeth) and sunk their teeth into the nearest demons, while she herself attacked with a strength he never would have expected from that small frame.
Nifty yelled, "I'll get Alastor!" and raced off, snapping Angel out of frozen position. He turned to Henroin, who was busy trying to get a clear shot, and pushed Molly towards him.
"Pops, listen ta me! Take Molly 'n go to ground like I said! It ain't safe here!"
"What?" Henroin yelled over the noise, annoyed. "Ya think I'm gonna jes' run off after they attacked one of us?"
Molly attacked first, Angel wanted to yell, but he bit it back. He ignored Henroin and grabbed Molly by the arm, calling to the others, "C'mon! Let's regroup behind the bar!"
Husk shot him a look but did as asked, all their energy focused behind knocking back the oncoming demons as they retreated to the main room, Angel pushing Molly towards the bar and shutting the doors as soon as everyone was through, looking around for something to barricade the doors with.
Vaggie caught on to what he was doing and shoved her spear through the door handle to hold it shut, buying them precious seconds to push whatever chairs and tables they could manage as a barricade. With that done she took her spear back and they all rushed over to the bar, pushing it over so they could use it as cover.
"Looks like Valentino found out where you are," Charlie said, gravely. Angel cleared his throat, rubbed the back of his neck.
"Uh, yeh. About that..."
Husk took him off guard by seizing him by the front of his shirt and pulling him down to hide behind the bar. "What the hell's the matter with you, spider?" he snapped. The others knelt down beside them, all eyes on Angel. "You were actin' like you were going to go with them."
The others chimed in with angry agreements, only Henroin watching and saying nothing. The door banged as the demons tried to tear down their barricades. Angel swore, rubbing his head.
"Look, I thought it might work out, but it ain't gonna," he said, stopped. He wanted to tell them about the note, Val's ultimatum, all of it.
But he just couldn't.
"Val...Val's gonna rip this place to shreds," he said. "And I ain't gonna stand here and-"
"Where is he, then?" Henroin suddenly interrupted.
They all looked over at him, taken off-guard. "Uh, what?" Angel said stupidly as the doors banged again.
"Valentino. I don't see him anywhere." He reloaded the shotgun, adding almost casually, "And I'd know that bastard anywhere. His cigars stink something awful."
"Uh…well…" Angel couldn't find an answer to that. With Val having delivered the note himself, he'd just assumed the Overlord would be here.
But Henroin was right – if the Overlord had been here, they'd have had much more of a fight on their hands.
"Come on, Tony," Henroin said, sounding annoyed. "You remember how these things go. Looks t'me like this here's just the first wave."
"And if that's all it is, we can fight them off, easy!" Molly added.
Angel hesitated. He'd already had to hurt some of his former co-workers, he didn't relish the thought of doing worse. But the way all the Hazbins were looking at him now.
Husk grabbed his shoulder, forceful enough that he accidentally pricked Angel with his claws. "Listen up, Angel. You try'n go with them, I'll knock ya to the floor an' beat some sense into you. Got it?"
Angel nodded, mute. Husk quickly let go, snatching a bottle off the floor and taking a big gulp. "But goddamn," he muttered. "Where the hell's Alastor gotten off to?"
The doors banged again, splintering.
"Ready," Charlie said, "Everyone watch someone's back!"
"I'm with you, hun," Vaggie said immediately, the weird goat-creatures nodding and sticking close to her side.
"Pops, look out for Molly," Angel said, taking a pistol in each hand. Molly was doing the same with a wicked grin.
"He's gonna need to look out for himself," she said. Henroin grunted, didn't argue.
"I'm with you then, spider," Husk said, actually holding Angel's gaze when he let a small smile slip.
The doors burst open.
The Hazbins leapt over the bar, weapons raised. The Studio heavies were prepared for them that time, their own guns blazing. They all worked in separate directions – Molly and Henroin kicking over a table for cover, Charlie consuming the bullets in a blaze of demonic fire, Husk shoving Angel to the side with a massive push from his powerful wings, all of them returning fire in the next second.
The room was consumed by the intense firefight, the walls and floor getting totally chewed up with bullets as some of the Studio heavies dropped, replaced with more and more lackies of Val's. Some of them would try to get near Angel and grab at him, but the rest of the Hazbins anticipated it straight away and knocked them back with a viciousness that surprised him.
Angel went all-out, reluctance put to one side now that his family were fighting alongside him. And it was working well, he and Husk fighting back to back as if they'd been doing it all their lives, until suddenly another wave of heavies struck, leaving Dia and Summer and opening to get between him and Husk.
Dia looked between them, obviously unhappy even though she was now badly hurt and went after Husk, leaving Summer to dive at Angel, firearms forgotten in favour of bare knuckle knife fighting and a violent fury he had never seen from her before.
"Come on, Angel cakes," she taunted, slashing at his arm when he struggled to get back enough to open fire on her. "Just come back to the Studio already and be Val's moll again! What else're you good for?"
"You wouldn't get it," he snapped, swinging his Tommy gun like a club to get her to back off. But she didn't, seizing hold of the end and hissing like a feral animal. "You just stood and watched every time Val tried it on wit' me! Every time I-"
She howled at the top of her lungs and threw herself at him, so much force in the movement that she knocked him clean onto the floor. Angel hit the ground, hard, sliding back from the impact before she was on him, trying to stab the knife at his chest, at his face, anywhere she could get it and all of Angel's street smarts went out the window, all six of his hands grabbing at her and trying to throw her off.
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" she yelled, hair flying in his face, too beside herself to see he was successfully holding her off. "DON'T YOU GET IT? Val ALWAYS gets what he wants and you should GIVE IT TO HIM so the rest of us DON'T HAVE TO!"
"Go to Hell!"
She recovered her senses then, dropping the knife and taking him off guard by leaning in close. "Val wanted me to tell you himself – last chance before he burns it down," she hissed. "Go back tomorrow or he'll raise this place down to the ground personally and drag you through the streets back home."
Angel's blood ran cold. With a spurt of adrenaline, he threw her off him so hard she slid back against the floor, cold victory in her eyes.
"And he'll get his buddies, Vox and Velvet to help!" she added, her voice carrying over the din.
Angel started to say, "No-", to demand she tell him it wasn't true, when suddenly a black shadowy arm crashed through the door and threw her back into the wall, knocking down several of Val's goons in one go.
There was a shocked pause before everyone collectively looked over at the doorway, where Nifty and a shadowy figure were standing.
Alastor took a step inside the torn up room, surveying the carnage with a pleased look on his face, the Cheshire grin morphing into an all-out serial killer smile in two seconds flat.
"Well, my dear," he said, addressing Summer, "What was that you said about Vox?"
"I...I just…"
"Because if he were to set foot in this fine establishment," he continued, the radio static falling from his voice as the black aura around him increased, "I couldn't be held responsible for what happened next."
She shrank back but the shadowy arms swept up, shoving the lot of them out into the hallway in one fell swoop, more arms growing from them and smashing and seizing up any stragglers.
In a matter of seconds, they were chased from the building. The air of doom around Alastor faded and he looked over at the others, smiling.
"Well, that was a ruckus! How are we all?"
No one responded. They were all bearing cuts and bruises, Angel slashed in one arm, Husk bleeding badly from the leg and a severe bite wound to his ear. Vaggie was bleeding from her head, chunks torn out of her long hair. Even Charlie, horns and all, was worse for wear: her tux was torn at the edges.
And Molly was cradling one of her arms, a bullet wound bleeding from its base. Henroin supported her, looking hard at Angel. "Quite a brawl, Tony," he said. "You sure never made as much of a mess when you were alive."
Angel's legs trembled. He found a nearby chair and pulled it upright, his arms trembling.
"Is...is everyone…?"
They didn't answer him. Vaggie brushed back her hair from her eyes, grabbing Charlie in a hug. The Princess patted her on the back, whispering, "It's OK. It's OK."
Molly was saying the same thing – "I'm OK, Pops," but he was busy herding her to the door, stopping only once to look back at Angel with a strange look in his eye.
"Keep – keep her safe," Angel called after him, his voice nowhere near as strong as he would have liked.
There was a long silence before Husk rounded on Alastor. "Hell took you so long?" he snapped.
"Not much, Husker!" He looked brightly around the room. "Was that all? Are they gone?"
"Yeah," Angel said. Summer's words rang through his head: he'll raise this place down to the ground. By the looks on the other's faces, they hadn't heard.
No one knew but him.
"Yeah," Angel said. And they ain't gonna be back here again, he thought to himself.
Not if he could help it.