"...And that's what she told me.", Chay said into her phone.

Chay was perched on top of a nearby warehouse, close to Val's place, using the focus feature on her hellphone as a makeshift telescope. The weather was less humid then it had been the previous two days, and she had gone back to wrapping her scarf around her face. Below her, she could see some of Val's employees chatting it up near the building, either smoking or displaying what they had to offer (two of them were even making out with each other in order to entice business. She wasn't sure if it was working).

"I shoulda' figured that they'd be recruiting Imps.", Husk groggily answered. He was hanging out on top of a fire escape next to the empty building that was once's Flynn's dive bar. The studio for 666 News could be seen just down the street, and a billboard with the grinning visage of anchor Katie Killjoy was polluting the view in Husk's binoculars. "Imps get treated like garbage as it is down here, so they're easy marks for shit like this."

Munching sounds could be heard from Crol's end. "You were right, Husk. These donuts are amazing!".

"Fuckin' told ya!", Husk replied.

Crol had managed to take the donut shop as his area of surveillance. Crol thought it would be a good mid-way spot as it was located in an area that was equidistant to both the Red-light District and the border with Pentagram's center.

(Chay, of course, thought he took it because he was a coward.)

Crol was sitting on the street corner outside of Evil Donuts, eating his way through a box of chocolate-glazed crullers and eyeing the scantily-clad demon ladies that wondered past him. One demon's particularly voluptuous rear-end had especially caught his attention.

"Just don't get distracted.", Chay said. "I don't want to have to do this again tomorrow night if I don't have to."

"How are we sure they'll even make an appearance?", Husk said. He was focusing his binoculars on the road, the sidewalk, and every possible entryway onto the street. "They ran away with their tail between their legs last time, don't you think they'd rather lay low for a couple of days and regroup?"

"Oh, they're gonna make an appearance. I'm counting on it. If what I think about their leader is right…"

Then he heard the skidding tires.

Crol immediately jumped up from the sidewalk and climbed up the Evil Donut's drain pipe, plopping himself on the building's roof.

"Guys, I think I hear them coming!"

"Which way are they going?!", Chay shouted.

Crol peeked over the side of the building, eyes darting left and right. The black assault vehicle had finally made it's appearance, drifting around the street corner and slamming into a light pole and a mailbox before taking off down the road, leaving dust and rubber-burned smoke in it's wake.

As far as the kobold-demon could tell, it was heading west.

"It's heading downtown, Chay!", he shouted into his phone through a coughing fit. His nostrils burned with the smell of burning rubber.

Husk spread out his wings, giving them a test flap. "Alright, I'm ready for a fly-over if you need it!"

Chay focused her hellphone's camera towards midtown. "Understood! I'll see if I can get a trace of…"

There was a puff of smoke, and the sound of an explosion reverberated towards Chay's location.

"I think Cherri may have just intercepted them!", Chay cried.

Her phone vibrated. Chay looked at the caller ID, but she didn't recognize the number…

"Hello?"

"Good evening, Miss Ong. I am checking in on your progress on behalf of my employer."

It was the receptionist from Valentino's studio.

"Not a good time right now, I'm out in the field as we speak."

"Very good, Miss Ong. Any progress so far?"

"Tell your boss that I've identified the culprits, and am currently tracking them to their hideout. They are on the move as we speak, and I intend to finish this tonight."

"Excellent. I shall inform Mr. Valentino immediately."

Chay suddenly had a thought. The receptionist had said that he was willing to help her in any way necessary. Perhaps he could….

"Wait! Before you go, I need one small favor."

"Within reason, Miss Ong. How may I be of service?"

"You control the security cameras around Val's place, right?"

"I have access to them, yes."

"Including the ones on the street corner?"

Husk's wings flapped furiously as he hovered over the highway, attempting to stay just out of sight as the Inferna assault vehicle skidded madly down the block.

Cherri was right on their tail. She had managed to chase them all the way from the Red Light District all the way to the central district.

On foot.

And it didn't look like she was going to run out of breath anytime soon. She was screaming every known profanity known to mankind and hurling a bomb every time she got to within a few feet of the vehicle.

(She was also cursing in her Australian accent, so she was really pissed).

Each bomb sent up clouds of dust and smoke, each of which rose up into the air and clouded Husk's line of sight.

"Are you watching them, Husk?", Chay's voice said over the hellphone.

"Yep, I gotta a bead on them! Cherri ain't too far behind, though!" Husk squinted his eyes as he tried to keep both Inferna and Cherri in the chaos below.

"But Cherri's kicking up a lot of debris for me up here, it's getting' hard to track 'em!"

"That's just fine. If we're lucky she'll scare them off to where ever they hide. Just try not to lose them"

"Hold on, it's looks like they're stopping…"

The vague outline of the Assault Vehicle came to a slow halt right below Husk, covered in a choking cloud of smoke and dust.

"Watch yourself, Husk! They have a minigun on that thing and they might try to use it!"

The sound of the vehicle's engine roared up again. The sound of screeching tires echoes in Husk's eardrums.

"That's only if Cherri doesn't get to them fir-wait, what the fuck?!"

Husk suddenly came to a halt in mid-air….over the now empty road.

"Husk? What's wrong?"

Husk squinted his eyes…..nothing. Other than a cloud of smoke, there was nothing but bare pavement.

"They…..they're gone. Just….gone."

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean they fucking vanished! No Inferna, no nothing!"

The line was silent for a moment.

Then Chay answered: "Where are you right now?"

"Errr….lemme see…."

Husk looked around him. About a block away was the familiar facade of Rosie's Emporium (formally co-owned with the now-erased Franklin), and the neon sign of Klub Kaiju just down the street.

"I'm over the highway about a block away from Rosie's Emporium."

"Crol, do you know where that is?", Chay asked.

Crol's voice crackled through. "Yeah, I know where that is! You want me to pick you up on my soup cart?"

"Yeah, but you might want to stow the pots. Husk?"

"Yeah, I hear ya."

"Hang out somewhere nearby. We'll be there in a few minutes."

It actually took them half an hour, but Chay and Crol finally made it to Husk's position, puttering along on Crol's cart.

Cherri, however, had beaten them to the punch. She was texting on her hellphone as Crol hit the brakes. Husk, surly as ever, was sitting on the crosswalk giving Cherri the stink-eye. Other than the still-visible cloud of smoke, the highway was completely empty.

"This is your fucking fault.", Husk grunted.

"Mhmmm", Cherri said nonchalantly as she tapped away on her phone.

"Goddammit, it is!". Husk stood up and stomped his way over to Cherri. "We were actually tracking these fuckers and then you had to go turn the city block into a fucking after-party in Belfast! Now we gotta start back again at square-fucking one!"

Chay was shaking her scarf free of insects and waving the smoke away. "We shouldn't give up so easy. They disappeared in this general area, so they had to have gone somewhere…."

Crol looked around himself. There was no smoldering craters or blast marks to be seen. "Awful clean for a bombing..."

"I ran out about a mile back.", Cherri said, face still buried in her phone.

Chay pulled out her own hellphone and went through her contacts. "Cherri, did you see where they went?"

"No, they fucking vanished."

"That so, huh? Just straight disappeared?", Husk said, now clearly irritated. "And yet we're standing in a cloud of smoke caused by one of your bombs!"

"I don't have any more bombs!", Cherri shouted as she haphazardly shoved her hellphone back into her pocket. "I told you, I ran out of bombs about a mile back!"

Husk just grunted to himself. "Well….you still fucked up our operation.". He planted his butt on the ground, his grimace almost turning into a pout.

Chay tapped a button on her phone's screen. "I got a call a few minutes ago from Val's receptionist. I asked him to look and see if there was anything unusual he saw in security footage for the building. In the meantime…"

Chay wandered over to Husk. "Husk, stop being a dick."

Husk stuck his tongue out.

A voice suddenly piped up from Chay's phone.

"Miss Ong?"

She quickly put the phone up to her ear. "Yes sir, it's me. Have you found it yet?"

"I believe I may have. Your phone is capable of video calls, yes?"

"You would know, you went through it."

"I know, I just wanted to be polite. Hold for a moment, please."

Crol and Husk crowded around Chay and her phone. The screen went blank before the image of Val's Receptionist appeared. He was sitting in a room that was covered with security screens. Static and dynamic images from security cameras showed footage of the various offices and sound stages in Val's building (some of which were still in use).

"Am I coming through clearly?", he asked.

"Yes, crystal.", Chay replied.

Husk's eyes widened. "Wait, I've seen this guy in some of Val's movies!"

Chay raised an eyebrow. "No, this is his receptionist. I met him at the front desk."

"I've done other jobs for Mr. Valentino, Miss Ong. Including in front of the camera. But to get to the issue at hand…."

The image swung around as the Receptionist's tentacles began tapping away on the security console.

"You asked me to inspect the footage over the last two weeks. I intend to tell you the results of my investigation now."

"You did all of that in thirty minutes?"

"Twenty minutes, actually. I was going to contact you later in the evening. But you will wish to see this..."

His tentacles tapped one last button. "I'm going to shift my phone's camera to face the screens in front of me. Please pay attention to what I am about to show you."

The Receptionist turned his phone towards the screens. It focused on one particular screen, one that showed an image of the street corner next to Val's building, marred by verticle lines in the footage.

"You are seeing the image, yes?", the Receptionist's voice could be heard in the background. "This is from exactly one month ago, shortly before 5 PM. I shall play the footage now."

The video began to play at an accelerated rate. Not much was happening aside from random passersby. One random Sinner was drinking beer from a bottle before tossing it into a nearby garbage can. Another was smoking from a meth pipe. Other than the setting sun and rising Pentagram moon, nothing else of interest was happening.

"Seems pretty normal to me", Chay replied.

"Indeed. This is a normal piece of footage, as it would flow unaltered and undoctored. I have shown you this to compare to the following…"

The image on the security screen shifted over to yet another piece of footage. It was still the same street corner, except now the garbage can had been overturned, and a pack of horned rats were digging through the refuse.

"This is from a few days after the previous footage, around the time that Mr. Profera disappeared. Please watch."

Again, the footage began to play at an accelerated rate. More images of random passersby and Val's employees walking about or plying their trade. Again, the sun set and the Pentagram Moon rose.

"Looks pretty much the same", Husk replied.

"Do you think so? Please watch again. Pay attention to the moon."

The footage played again. Same passersby, same employees, the setting of the sun….but something about the moon rising was off.

"Do you see it now?"

Crol and Husk looked at each other and shrugged.

But Chay saw something odd. Something about the way the moon rose appeared...off.

"Sir, could you please play that last bit back for me?"

"Ah, you've spotted it as well."

The footage rewound to a couple of hours back, then played again.

Everything appeared normal...except for the moon.

"The moon-rise. It's...rather choppy."

"Indeed it is, Miss Ong. That is because this footage has been tampered with."

"Holy shit….", Husk exclaimed. "You've got a fucking mole in your operation!"

"That would appear to be the case, yes. This security room is heavily guarded, and only a select few of Mr. Valentino's employees have access to it. I can access it, of course, as well as Mr. Valentino. A select few of his personal guard also have access. Furthermore, the footage is broadcast over a private channel, which cannot be accessed from the outside. Only one of that number could enter this room, access the security footage, and alter it."

The image in the phone shifted back over to the Receptionist. "As you can now assess, we have experienced a security breach. That is why I decided to go through more footage over the following weeks. I found similar alterations, some of which were very difficult to pinpoint."

"Did you find anything?", Chay asked.

"I believe I may have. I wish to show you one more piece of footage…"

The view shifted back to the security council, only now it was facing a different screen.

"This footage was recorded exactly twelve days ago. Watch carefully…"

Once again, there was the familiar street-corner. The trashcan was now gone, but the landscape was still the same. More random passersby, more of Valentino's employees…but this time, Chay was able to immediately see the alteration.

"Someone just vanished into thin air…"

"Indeed. A total of fifteen minutes have disappeared from the footage."

"That's a pretty big chunk of time missing.", Husk answered.

"Yes, but their editing was much sloppier this time. I was able to pick up one single still-frame of the unaltered footage before the cut…"

The footage rewound fifteen minutes in the past, just at the moment the unauthorized editor erased it.

It was the same street corner, and the same backdrop.

Except that now, there was a large green object floating in the air. An object that swirled in on itself, like a whirlpool in space-time.

It was a portal. A teleportation portal. Surrounded by a cloud of smoke.

"Holy fucking shit….", Husk slapped his forehead. "I fucking recognize what that is!"

"Indeed, this is very clearly a magic portal. One that uses a very specific spell, from a very specific book, produced by one very specific individual."

Chay's eyes widened. "Overlord Stolas."

"Quite. Mr. Stolas gifted Mr. Valentino one of his magical tomes some time ago. He kept it in his treasure room underneath the building, in a heavily-locked vault that only his most trusted advisors can access."

"Where is that book now?", Chay asked.

"Gone. One of the guards reported it stolen to Mr. Valentino some time ago. He decided to send one of his loyalest advisors to find it."

-One of his loyal est …

"Miss Ong, I believe you now understand what it is I am communicating to you."

Chay closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The last piece of the puzzle had finally fallen into place.

"Yes, I do. Thank you very much for your help, sir."

"I should also inform you of something else Miss Ong…", the picture shifted back to face the Receptionist. "That particular tome did not just include the spell, but it also included a number of adhesive emblems that could be used to trigger a portal."

"You mean like stickers?"

"Indeed, like stickers. This teleportation spell can only be used in two directions, to two locations. If you wish to find your suspects, you will need to find one of those stickers."

The Receptionist got up from the chair he was sitting in.

"Now then, I'm afraid I must cut our conversation short. I shall inform Mr. Valentino of your progress. Good luck, Miss Ong."

He ended the call, and the screen went dark.

Chay shoved her phone back into her pocket. "Well, that at least explains how they were able to disappear."

Husk scratched his stomach with his over-sized claws. "So we are back at square one. Fuck!"

"I wouldn't say that just yet", Chay said. "They obviously used that teleportation spell somewhere in this general area…"

"Yeah, but how did they use it? Did they have the book with them? One of those stickers?"

Chay glanced around herself. There was still no traffic; apparently any potential drivers had been scared off by the chaos of Inferna and Cherri's indiscriminate bombing. Although visible damage could be seen in the distance, there was no cracked pavement or debris to speak of in the general vicinity.

There was, however, a pair of skid marks on asphalt...a pair of skid marks that came to a sudden halt, as if cut off in mid-smear.

"Well, this all but confirms that they used that spell here". Chay bent down to get a closer look at the marks. The marks ended in a perfect line, as if they had run up against a solid wall. "It's perfectly symmetrical."

"Meaning?", asked Husk.

Chay looked up at Husk incredulously.

"Oh for fuck's sake….you were in Vietnam, right Husk? Think about it: You're in the jungle, and you see some foot prints that suddenly stop. Why do you think that is?"

"….Because the VC laid a tiger trap."

"And a tiger trap is like a….?" Chay said, rolling her hands and trying to egg Husk on to the correct answer.

Husk closed his eyes and thought for a moment.

"….A portal."

"Exactly!"

"It's like someone ripped up some painter's tape after a fresh coat.", Crol remarked.

"That still doesn't answer how they summoned the portal", Husk said. He reached into his collar and produced his flask, which was somehow completely full again.

Chay stood back up, brushing off her knees. "You said they skidded to a halt before they disappeared, right Husk?"

"Yeah, for like a nanosecond before they floored the pedal". He tipped the flask up and gulped loudly.

"So they stopped briefly, and then accelerated before vanishing. Why do you think that is?"

Husk shoved the flask back into his collar before belching loudly.

"I dunno….to use the spell?"

"Yes, but if they had the book in their possession, wouldn't they have been able to use the spell while still driving? Instead, they had to stop the car for a brief moment while our one-eyed friend over there was throwing explosives powerful enough to blast their vehicle off of the highway."

Husk's bloodshot eyes suddenly widened. "Fuck me….one of those stickers is around here somewhere!"

"Yes, exactly!"

'Jesus wept but this guy is dense', Chay said to herself.

Crol, meanwhile, was walking along the highway's guardrail, peering down at the ground below.

He poked his head through the median rails to get a closer look. Much like the highway above them, it was a ghost town. It was getting close to sundown, and the empty roadway made it seem even more apocalyptic then what was usual for this part of Hell.

Then, something caught his eye. Something that was actually stuck behind one of the median rails, towards the base, almost touching the asphalt.

"Hey Chay!", Crol called. "Any idea what one of these stickers might look like?"

Chay crossed her arms in thought. "That's...actually a pretty good question. We know it's one of Stolas's items...does Stolas have some kind of calling card?"

"Something like an owl face, maybe? Or something with a crown?", Crol answered back.

Husk shrugged his shoulders. "That would be my best guess. Guy is kinda vain…"

Chay nodded. "Yeah, it would probably have to be something that could be directly tied to him. Why?"

Crol peered to his left, behind the median rail. There was a small brown circle, with the caricatured face of an owl, wearing a crown.

And it was glowing .

"Yeah, I think I did! Behind the guardrail!"

Chay and Husk ran over to where Crol was bent over, head shoved between the median rails. Cherri, meanwhile, wandered gingerly over, still texting away as if oblivious to the world around her.

Chay got down on her knees and bent over the guard rail, next to Crol. Holding her scarf to her face, she slumped over the rail and peered at the other side, her hair falling over her cheek.

She nodded. "Yes...that appears rather Stolas-y. But how do we activate it?"

Husk piped up. "Touch it, I guess."

Chay looked over shoulder at Husk. "That seems a little too simple. Don't they usually bind these kind of spells to the user, or something like that?"

Husk grinned and shook his head. "If that were the case, then they wouldn't be able to use it. They said it was a gift to Val, right? So either Val never bothered to bind it to himself, or it could be used by anybody else."

"That makes….a lot of sense, actually. You can figure out that much but you couldn't figure out the portal…"

"Hey! I heard that!"

"I know you did, that was the point." Chay reached over the rail and placed her hand near the sticker. It radiated warmth, and her fingers tingled.

"OK...I'm going to try and activate it. Everybody stand clear!"

Chay sucked in breath through her teeth, and slapped her hand over the emblem.

The sound of an explosion, like a sonic boom, assaulted her ears. The air filled with smoke, seeping into her nose hole and through the fabric of her scarf, nearly choking her.

"Holy fucking shit!", Husk cried over the noise. "There it is!"

Chay looked back over her shoulder. Hanging in the middle of the air, within the smoke, was a glowing green portal, over three meters high, swirling into itself like a whirlpool.

She took her hand of the sticker. The portal hung in the air, still swirling and smokey, for roughly fifteen seconds.

Then it disappeared again.

"That's it. We actually fucking found it!". Husk jumped up and down with excitement. "We can finally end this bullshit!"

Chay stood back up, wiping dust off of her knees. "Yeah, but we don't exactly know where it leads to. It could lead to their HQ, or it could lead to another rally point."

"But it's the best fuckin' chance we have! For fuck's sake Chay, that sonic boom may have already alerted them to our presence!"

The Hungry Ghost girl sighed to herself. She reached into her pocket, feeling for her gun.

The cylinder was fully loaded, and the dagger was sharpened.

This might be their one opportunity.

Chay nodded. "Alright, fine. You have a point. But we're flying blind here, so I'm gonna need you on defense, understood?"

Husk's grin almost reached his ears. His wings stretched out and flapped against the warm air. His claws bend to extend and glisten from his hands.

"Oh yeah, I'm ready to fuck some shit up!"

"Fantastic. Crol?"

Crol pulled his head out from between the rails and looked up at Chay. "Yeah?"

"You've helped us this far. I've got one more thing I need you to do."

The kobold-demon puffed out his chest proudly. "Yeah, Chay?"

"I'm gonna need you to remain here, and keep your 'cart running. You might end up being our get-away if it comes to it."

He nodded. "Understood. I'll text you if anything happens on this side."

Chay bent back down over the guardrail.

"Alright, I'm fixing to reactivate the portal! We only got about fifteen seconds before it deactivates again, so be prepared!"

"Got it!", Husk answered.

Chay slapped her hand over the sticker again. Another sonic boom thundered, and smoke once again choked the air.

Chay jumped back up to her feet and ran towards the portal. "In we go!"

She jumped through the portal head first, disappearing on the other side. Husk, claws bared and wings flapping, flew in behind her.

Fifteen seconds later, the portal closed once again, leaving only one kobold-demon, a block of un-molested highway, and miles of cracked asphalt heading towards town.

Crol looked around himself.

"….Cherri? You still there?"