"Move it, fatty!" Loona hissed, kicking the back of his legs, "We don't have all night."

Moxxie groaned, "Fine."

The halls around them were dead silent, only occasionally interrupted by the hum of the ship's engines. Unlike the upper decks, which were blooming with activity and stimulation, the lower parts of the ship were lackluster and mundane.

Which would make it the perfect hiding place for a shady salesman with a valuable book.

And Moxxie was happy to be out searching for the book, that wasn't the issue.

What he was unhappy about was the group he had been put into.

After Stolas has briefed them on places to look, he and Millie paired up before heading out the door. The two of them were strong and resourceful enough to get the job done without any issues. After all, they had been training almost a fifth of their lives to be assassins.

But Stolas hadn't been content with it. He ordered Loona to join them, claiming that "Little imps like you are going to be easy targets."

And Loona was probably the last person he wanted to see, besides maybe the creepy businessman that had been following him all day. He didn't have the energy to put up with her snideness, but didn't have any choice, either.

Him and Loona didn't necessarily harbor any ill-will towards each other, but they had never gotten along. He felt that being stuck in an enclosed floating prison with her was the worst thing that could've happened. Besides maybe death.

What little self-control he had left in him was quickly leaving, mixed with the alcohol flowing through his system, it would be a miracle if any of them made it out alive. Biting your tongue long enough only made your mouth bleed.

In a vain attempt at distracting himself, he focused all of his energy at the task at hand: Finding the book and the one who took it.

Moxxie couldn't afford to be thrown back out into the streets. Not again.

And he used that fear to keep himself from snapping, able to keep his cool even in a drunken state.

Focus, Moxxie, you've gotta find that book so you can work. You make money at work, and if you don't work, you don't make any money.

And if I don't make any money, I can't pay for our apartment.

His mind began to wander, the alcohol getting the best of him.

Oh, home, how I wish I was there.

Everything was familiar at home. Sure, there was blood and everything, but it was still home.

Blitzo would be so mad if he found out about the book.

Wait, doesn't he already know?

I'm hungry…

I'll need to make sure I eat breakfast tomorrow. Maybe I'll have a banana or something if they have any.

Wait, I don't like bananas.

Wait, why are we down here again?

"Where does this door lead?" Millie asked, running her hand against a brass door handle that was covered in what was either mold or soot.

That door could use a cleaning.

He smacked himself in the head.

Focus on the objective, Moxxie! Don't let your mind wander...even if...the wine...

"Only one way to find out!" Loona said, throwing the door open and shoving the three of them inside, slamming Moxxie especially hard into the floor.

A blast of heat greeted him as the door slammed shut, followed by a splitting headache and a throbbing in his temples. The floor was hard and hot, and he had taken a direct hit to the side of the head, the air knocked out of his lungs while trying to recuperate.

The hull seemed to thunder around them, deep roars and hisses filling the air, along with what smelled like smoke, immediately sending Moxxie into a coughing fit as he struggled to cover his nose and mouth. Whatever was filling his lungs, it was making them burn, and he struggled to take in a full breath, panic setting in as he became dizzy.

So much fire. Wait, I'm in hell. Shouldn't I be used to this?

Where's Millie?

Oh, right next to me. Why is there so much soot on the floor?

"Where the hell are we?" Loona asked, ignoring his struggle.

"Looks like some sorta big engine room" Millie said, "Let's...get the hell out of here-"

Engine room?

But the second she spoke, a loosely-secured mound of coal crashed to the ground from a shelf above their heads, pelting them with pebbles and covering the door.

Shit, was that an avalanche? Aren't we on a ship? Those don't happen on ships, right?

Millie helped him cover his mouth with the collar of his shirt, then turned to stare at the new destruction before them. A black cloud obscured their view, and he could only imagine the lung damage it was giving him, even if he had only been there for a few seconds.

Thanks, Millie. Now where the hell am I?

A sign on the wall read "Boiler Room 6" in black, soot-covered letters.

Alright, we're in the boiler room.

And we're looking for the book, right?

Focus, Moxxie. Focus.

Now able to breathe somewhat, he expunged the ash that coated his lungs, his throat on fire. He brushed soot from his clothes, not able to tolerate seeing them dirtied.

Loona rushed over and gripped the handle, sweat dripping down her face as the room only grew hotter, the fires of burning coal serving as their sole source of light in the hellish wasteland.

"It's not budging!" she grunted, "Get your asses over here and help me!"

Him and Millie ran over to help, pulling on the handle and pushing away as much coal as they could, the door refusing to move so much as an inch .

He pulled and pulled, straining his arms as he used what little strength he could still muster, the heated brass scorching his hands until he could no longer hold on.

And if things couldn't get any worse, the crash had drawn attention to them, coming under the gaze of angry and tired coal workers, gathering around them with furrowed brows and metal shovels. Spending all day down here couldn't be pleasant, and if they weren't somehow pissed off at the least or murderous at worst, it would be a surprise. He had only been down there three minutes and the heat was already getting to him, and these guys had to deal with it for hours or days at a time. The fear alone was enough to clear up his booze-muddled mind.

"Shit…" Millie muttered, "Now what?"

Moxxie held his breath as they moved in closer, the three of them quite literally stuck between a rock and a hard place. The fire illuminated their faces, an angry shade of red running up the front half of their heads.

These guys could easily fuck me up.

"You've got a lot of explaining to do!" one of the workers shouted, "What the hell happened-" A flabbergasted expression spread across his face, "Wait a damn minute. You guys ain't no stokers!"

Shit.

Loona smiled nervously before speaking, "Well, boys, you see, we sorta…"

Her voice grew quieter, and he knew what she was about to do, Moxxie bending his knees and preparing for the command.

"Sorta...GUYS RUN!" she shouted, throwing coal in their faces and making a run for it, Moxxie and Millie not far behind.

Running had never been an activity that he considered himself good at, doing it purely for exercise and nothing else. It had always been too much for him to handle, especially with backwards goat-legs like he had.

But tonight, despite choking on ash and smoke, and being intoxicated, he still found himself running faster than he ever had before, bolting ahead of Loona at lightning speed, far more than he believed he was capable of. Perhaps it was a mix of drunken oblivity and adrenaline that allowed him to pull off his feat, or maybe some higher power had smiled down on him. Whatever it was, it provided the perfect opportunity for them to escape and hide.

Moxxie swung right and threw himself onto the ground behind a boiler, careful not to graze the searing metal that he knew would give him third-degree burns in an instant.

Millie and Loona landed next to them, Moxxie leaning over to help his wife get off to the side and out of sight, a chorus of footsteps sounding out from a few feet away.

"What the hell was that?" Loona whispered harshly, "I didn't know you could actually run, scrawny little guy like you"

He wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, trying to keep his panting to a minimum, "I don't know. I-"

"They're coming!" Millie said, ducking down even lower as the deep voices of the coal workers passed them by.

Moxxie could see their boots through the slit beneath the boiler, covered in ash and torn apart, barely serving their purpose as footwear. Each step kicked up more dust, getting caught in his throat as he muffled his coughing.

Once the footsteps moved away from them, Moxxie realized just how screwed they were. Trapped in the boiler room, surrounded by angry workers and machinery that could kill them all in an instant, whether it be with a knife through the heart, or being thrown into the boilers themselves. Demons were creative with their killing methods, and he knew for sure that they wouldn't show any mercy.

Loona and Millie seemed just as nervous as he was, which did nothing to help him keep his cool. Usually when he was a wreck, there were other people to rely on to try and get them out of whatever trouble they were in.

But the two of them stared back with beady eyes, their faces coated in ash and soot.

And that's when he got an idea, one so ludicrous that it just might work. Even if the alcohol was inhibiting his judgement, he would listen to the light bulb that had gone off in his head.

He scooped up a handful of ash and coated his face with it, then his clothes, despite the fact that he had just been cleaning himself off. Then, he picked up a shovel laying next to the boiler, the handle hot from having been in front of a flame for satan-knows how long.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Loona asked, "You look like an idiot."

"Wait," Milie said, perking up, "Give me one of those!"

Obeying her command, and happy that she was finally catching on, Moxxie picked up another shovel and tossed it over, Millie already following his lead and covering her face with soot.

Loona, on the other hand, wasn't as cooperative, "You guys have fucking lost it. And I live with Blitz, so that's saying something."

"Shut up and grab a shovel!" Millie hissed, shoving a shovel into her hands, "Do ya not get it?"

Millie threw a handful of ash onto Loona's face, and then stood up, while Moxxie moved over to a nearby boiler and began shoveling.

Finally seeming to realize what they were doing, Loona covered herself in soot and joined the two of them at the boiler, shoveling coal into the mouth of the hungry beast, flames reaching out and around almost like a tongue, the machine happy with what they were feeding it.

Almost on cue, the group of angry workers came back, and Moxxie's heart began to race as they called out to him, not sure if they were seeing through his disguise or not.

"Hey, you!" a tall hellhound-looking man shouted, "Have ya seen a group of weirdo demons running around here? Two short ones and a hellhound?"

The three of them exchanged a silent glance of confusion, their disguises apparently working.

"N-No, we haven't…" Moxxie said, lowering his voice to sound more masculine, "Why? Did something happen?"

Both of them froze before answering, the hellhound speaking first, "N-Nevermind, just keep your eyes open, alright? I don't want 'em gettin-"
Another worker jumped up from behind, pushing his way to the front of the group before suspiciously eyeing Moxxie, like an officer about to apprehend a criminal.

Shit.

"Are you really that fucking blind?" the worker shouted, turning around to face the crowd, "Look!"

He grabbed Moxxie's horns, "Two imps and a hellhound. How the hell did that go over your head?"

But before any of the angry stokers could react, Moxxie had already taken off, Loona and Millie right by his side.

The smoke still choked him, but he was able to force himself ahead, racking his booze-ridden brain for any ideas. They would only be able to keep up their sprint for so long before they came to a dead end, or collapsed from exhaustion.

That's when it hit him, another gear turning in his head.

Back before they had boarded, Moxxie had assiduously studied the ship's blueprints on the brochure, exploring every inch that the map would allow him to, even the boiler rooms.

Boiler Room 6

According to the blueprint, every room below the waterline had an emergency ladder, in the event of a compartment breach. It would be towards the back of the room, an alternative to the main exit that was currently blocked.

It was also their only way out.

He smiled to himself, glad that his obsession over safety and preparedness was paying off, being useful instead of compromising a mission like had happened so many times before.

"Follow me," Moxxie huffed, nearly breathless, "There should be a ladder around here somewhere."

"Like that one over there?" Millie pointed to a rusty metal ladder mounted on a wall, two boilers on either side.

Seeing as it was the only ladder within their eyesight, he decided that it was, in fact, the emergency escape ladder.

"Yep, keep going!" he shouted, glancing over his shoulder to see a mob of stokers on their tail, "And hurry!"

Millie rushed ahead of him and pulled herself up onto the ladder, before helping Moxxie and Loona get up as well, the crowd closing in on them at an alarming pace. Boilers hissed around them, like Satan himself was going to waltz into the room and eat them all up, the heat becoming too much to bear.

They climbed to the top of the hatch , while the first stokers reached the base of the ladder. Moxxie caught the reflection of a knife in one of their hands, the blade shimmering as flames licked its sides.

Remembering the handgun in his pocket, he debated whether or not to take it out. He was never comfortable with killing in such a spontaneous manner, not to mention that his aim would probably be off until he was sober.

His wife, however, beat him to it, taking out a surprisingly compact battleaxe and slicing away, tossing it back and forth like a boomerang.

"Take this, bitches!" Millie shouted psychotically, "That'll teach ya!"

Time seemed to stop.

Heads rolled and bodies fell, their gurgled screams overshadowed by the hissing of the engines. Blood coated the walls in seconds, some of it splashing onto Moxxie's face. Limbs and organs spread out across the floor, melting into the floor as the metal continued to heat up.

One of Millie's throws managed to cut the hellhound's head in half, falling to the floor as his fellow workers screamed in terror around him.

The few who managed to survive dove for cover towards the front entrance, burying themselves in the coal pile as a shield from the attacks. Why Millie didn't do it earlier, he would never know.

Then, as if nothing had happened, Millie reached up and opened the hatch, allowing them to climb out and take refuge in a room without blood and fire at every turn, a cool breeze welcoming him back.

He slumped himself up against the wall and panted, still hacking up ash and stained with blood.

I've had way too much action for one day…

Way too much…

Looking to his side, Millie seemed even more exhausted than usual, struggling to stand and leaning up against the wall just like he was, like every ounce of energy inside of her was being sucked out.

"Damn, girl," Loona laughed, "You killed them like it was nothing!"

"It wasn't," Millie said, "I've killed more people in my sleep!"

She wasn't lying.

Multiple times, he had been woken up by Millie "sleep-killing," when she would sleepwalk and grab her weapons before going outside and slaughtering whoever was unlucky enough to cross her path. The blood-curdling screeches were normally enough to wake him up, and he would have to go out and take her back inside, locking her weapons away in a safe location.

Which only made it stranger when it would happen again the next night.

She also was a sleep-stabber, sometimes grabbing a knife and hacking up her side of the bedframe during the night as her brain drifted between sleeping and waking. They were on their sixth bed of the month.

Loona's eyes drifted over to Moxxie's broken form, rolling her eyes at him

"I'll give you credit," she sighed, "We wouldn't have gotten out if you hadn't found that exit hatch. You're still a pussy though."

Somehow, that snarky remark was the kindest thing that Loona had ever said to him.

The extent of their pleasantries ended there, however, as more pressing matters arose.

"Well," Moxxie sighed, "Did any of you happen to spot a creepy businessman in there?"

"Shit," Millie muttered, eyelids fluttering, "We...still haven't found...that damn book."

Loona flipped them off, "No kidding."

A clock on the wall chimed, just like the one in their cabin.

"One o'clock," Moxxie muttered, "I don't think we're finding it tonight."

"You're weak," Loona said, "Look. You guys can rest for a bit, but I'm not giving up on finding that damn thing. You should be more concerned than I am!"
"I am," Millie sighed, "But none of us are going to find it if we're more tired than a tranqued bull. Just let us rest for an hour and we'll be back."

And it wasn't until then that Moxxie realized just how tired he was. Everything ached, his chest was sore, and he could barely keep his eyes open. It felt like he had a boulder tied around his neck, weighing him down as he struggled to function.

"I second that," he slurred, "We'll be back...I promise."

Defeated, Loona waved the two of them away while she sniffed the air, probably trying to pick up the book's scent or something. He wasn't sure how effective that would be, however, since they didn't exactly have a scent to go off of.

The two of them hobbled back to the cabin, Moxxie not even bothering to change out of his clothes as he flopped onto the bed, feeling like absolute garbage.

Millie wound up an alarm clock on the nightstand, barely able to speak, "This should wake us up."

"It better…" Moxxie said, "Because I'm too tired for this-"

He didn't even finish his sentence before being pulled away to sleep, the world going dark around him. He'd be sure to get up when the alarm went off, and then they'd be back out and looking for the book.

Right?

. . .

Sure enough, an hour later the alarm went off and woke him up, the obnoxious beeping piercing his eardrums.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he regained his bearings and stepped off of the bed onto the floor, his face greasy and his hair ruffled. The clock on the wall read "3:03," the sky dark outside of the window, nothing but the stars and sea.

It's too early for this.

He resisted the urge to lay back down and sleep, knowing that there was a more important matter to attend to. Each second he was idle was another second that Monte was getting away with the book.

"Millie," he tapped her on the shoulder, "Wake up. We need to get going."

But she only snored louder.

"Millie, c'mon, we have things to do!"

Still no response.

She was quite tired earlier.

Eh, it'll be fine.

Deciding that she deserved some extra sleep anyways, he snuck out into the hall to continue searching, still dizzy and tired from the combination of a spotty sleep schedule and two glasses of wine.

Gently closing the door behind him and making sure not to create a ruckus, he walked further along, the lights seeming dimmer than they once had before.

The hallway was the same as they had left it: Silent and quaint. His footsteps were quiet against the velvety carpet, the fabric soft against his aching toes. It was much cooler out there than it was in the cabin, a breeze whipping against his head as he passed a vent.

Out of nowhere, a different, familiar cold feeling gripped him, his heart beating rapidly as he felt eyes on him, although he couldn't tell from where. It was the same way he had felt back on the dock, when he had spotted the suited man watching him from afar right before carrying the luggage away.

The brief flicker of a shadow at the end of the hall confirmed his worst fear:

He wasn't alone out here.

"Hello?" he called out, hoping that the shadow wasn't who he thought it was.

"Hello, Moxxie." a voice responded from right behind him, much closer and louder than he was expecting.

Shit.

He spun around just in time to spot a familiar face looming over him, monocle and all.

"Sorry about crashing your dinner," Monte said, waving his cane, "How about you come over to my cabin for dessert?"

Oh hell no.

Moxxie knew it! Something was up with this guy, he knew it from the first minute he had laid eyes on him.

"N-no thank you," Moxxie responded, "I'm good."

Monte lunged over and covered Moxxie's mouth, his other hand gripping his shoulder tightly.

"I wasn't asking." Monte hissed, "You're coming with me."