Aria woke up to find herself looking up at a very white, tiled ceiling full of small, odd, bubble-like lights with an even smaller, heavily meshed vent in one corner. She groaned as she tried to get up, but the pounding headache bashing into her skull forced her back onto the hard and unforgiving, metal bed frame she was resting on. As Aria gently turned her head to see her surroundings without having to get up, she realized that the walls were made of a strange see-through material. Beyond her see-through walls was a larger room covered in what looked like old computers and strange machines, making Aria wonder where the heck she ended up.
As she stared at the see-through walls a little harder, however, she felt a jolt of fear run through her. A small phrase had popped up in her military grade scanner, indicating that she was in an Ancient Celestian Simulator designed to reveal the innermost desires of anyone placed inside of it. It also became instantly apparent that there were no windows and no doors.
How in the world had she been put in there, she wondered in fear and confusion, knowing full well that only a high-ranking angel could activate and access this kind of high-grade technology? The answer came to her almost instantly as she remembered the shock of what Alastor had revealed to her the very night they first met. The angels meant to oversee Hell had been compromised fast enough a hundred years ago to leave this device open for common use. The very thought of it sent chills of horror down her spine!
"Ah, you're awake, Miss Fogo! Jolly good!" an all too familiar voice quipped in a heavy British accent as Aria sat up faster than she wanted as the panic set in, making her gasp and groan loudly in pain as she held her head in her hands while she watched Mr. Kingsley appear around a corner lined with old Celestian tech. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd sleep the whole night away! I do want to keep suspicion off as much as possible, so I've sent word to your friend, Mr. Undertow, that I've invited you to the after party in my private quarters and you wholeheartedly agreed! I may have said it had something to do with gaining a private audience with Mr. Valentino, so I do believe we'll be left undisturbed for the evening!"
"You let me out of this thing right now, do you hear me!?" Aria demanded, trying to hide her panic with a loud shout of bravado as she forced herself to stand and shuffle over to the see-through wall until she was leaning on it hard from the dizzy spell that almost made her black out! "What the hell was in that tranquilizer? You know what, I don't care because if you don't let me out right now, I'm going to be sick!"
"What? And ruin such a productive night of finding out all your secret desires, Poppet? I think not," Mr. Kingsley asked seductively with a wicked grin, making Aria's heart sink like a stone as she beat her winged hands and pushed with her telekinetic powers onto the wall before her, but it wouldn't budge as another dizzy spell hit her, making her stop and lean heavily onto the clear wall once more. "Such a spirited and feisty little bird you are! I must say, I'm surprised you auditioned, Miss Fogo, given your obvious reluctance during your performance with Mr. Undertow. Yet, here you stand in my Fantasy Unfolding Computer Cell, or F.U.C.C. for short. I know, I know! Such an amazing show of word play, but back to the matter at hand."
"You have NO idea who you're messing with!" Aria bluffed, trying to sound intimidating as she fought the panic that was slowly making it hard to breath as she tried to mentally access her choker and use her angelic codes to access the simulator and override the controls, but the dreaded sound of her access being denied made her stomach tie up in knots as she hastily switched tactics! "I have powerful friends who'll gladly make you pay for ruining my audition to get in to see Valentino!"
"I ruined it, poppet? Ah ha ha! Oh, you are so refreshingly naive!" Mr. Kingsley stated with glee as his eyes suddenly glowed red, while his smile turned dark, long, and unnervingly menacing. "On the contrary! You passed with flying colors! Not only are you not required to audition any further, but you are exactly what I'm looking for!"
"What?" Aria asked in confusion as the mask of anger and confidence slipped, revealing the terror she felt at his words as his evil smile curled and lengthened even further with wicked satisfaction. "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean that you're already part of Porn Studios, Poppet! Blooming bloody Congratulations!" Mr. Kingsley announced gayly as he touched the see-through wall that separated them, making a host of ancient Celestial appear as Aria stepped back and tried to see what was going on.
She couldn't read it fast enough, since it was all backwards from where she stood as the ancient words raced across her vision until the light of thousands of Celestial phrases grew too bright for her to discern the words at all. Feeling suddenly disoriented, Aria closed her eyes for a second and shook her head a little until the dizzy spell finally wore off. When she finally opened up her eyes again, however, Mr. Kingsley was gone as she found herself in an empty, white space filled with no one and nothing but herself.
"Then why the hell am I in this thing and not training under someone to learn how to pole dance or lap dance or...whatever!?" Aria called out desperately in a tone she hoped sounded defensive, but all she could hear was Mr. Kingsley's laughter as blurred images suddenly flowed around her, making her close her eyes as that terrible dizzy feeling brought her to her knees. "Ugh!"
"Do you really think I wouldn't recognize your voice, Poppet? The last voice I would ever hear in life screaming for me to stop killing her before I was gunned down in the streets by some Bobby with a gun?" Mr. Kingsley asked in a triumphant, knowing tone that froze Aria to her core as another laugh escaped him like he couldn't believe his luck! "Oh, Poppet! I couldn't have asked for a better gift after barely surviving Hell's annual purge! You have no idea how hard it was not to show it on my face as you clumsily auditioned right in front of me! There really is a God if I get to re-torture the woman that got me killed and got me sent to Hell as a bloody cat demon! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get my own fur off my own clothing!? Oh, I'm going to enjoy this!"
"NO!" Aria shouted in fear as Aria felt another wave of dizziness overcome her so badly that she had to hold her head as she collapsed to the floor screaming as the dizziness escalated to full on pain as she felt something pull hard inside her very soul!
"The gloves are off, Poppet! Time to play!" Mr. Kingsley purred as she felt a deep sense of herself start to strain and scream in agony as though he were digging his claws into her very psyche and ripping it to shreds! "Yesss!"
"AHHH!" Aria screamed as she wished it would just stop as every part of her mind pulled, twisted, bent, and burned in absolute agony!
"Knock knock, you fucking, furry bastard! Times up! Your next shift just started!" a familiar, New York accent interrupted as Aria heard a slew of curses suddenly burst from Mr. Kingsley over her screams.
"What the blooming, bloody hell are you doing in here!?" Mr. Kingsley shouted as Aria felt the intense pain and dizziness subside, making her gasp for breath in relief. "Bugger off, Angel Dust! How many times do I have to tell you not to bother me while I'm at work, you chav!? Valentino will hear of this! Mark my words!"
"Ha! Valentino already knows I'm down here because he sent me, you fucking, stupid cat!" Angel Dust said in a voice that sounded cocky and bitter as Aria opened her eyes to find herself still in the white expanse, unable to see what was going on beyond the ethereal, white room. "He wants ya to be his extra eyes and ears as he parades Molly around like a fucking trophy during the after party."
"Oh, you have GOT to be bloody kidding me!" Mr. Kingsley growled as Aria heard someone slam both hands hard against the unseen walls of her cell, making Aria cry out in surprise as another dizzy spell forced her to close her eyes until it subsided, revealing the enraged and frustrated face of Mr. Kingsley through the now see-through wall. "He knows my work is far more important than his frivolous game of cat and mouse!"
"Mind if you tell that to his face? Because I seriously need to see you fuck it up so badly that he fails to do anything to my sister because you're too busy playing mad scientist!" Angel Dust taunted with a sneer, but there was a boiling rage behind his eyes that Aria felt he was barely containing.
"Hehehe...you must feel positively gutted at the fact that you were ordered to fetch me to make sure Valentino wins his little game," Mr. Kingsley suddenly chuckled as he enjoyed having a go at Angel Dust, who looked like he wanted to punch the cat demon as Mr. Kingsley sighed, sniffed, adjusted his clothing and picked off what had to be his own cat hair until he felt presentable enough. "Very well. I'll gladly see to it that your night, at least, will be a living nightmare. As for the girl, she's my one pick out of the auditions that Valentino promised I could have to experiment on, so forget you ever saw her. I have plans for her after the after party is over. An after party for me, if you will."
"Yeah, yeah, go fuck yourself," Angel Dust retorted with a few middle fingers as he didn't bother to move completely out of the doorway, making Mr. Kingsley huff uncomfortably as he was forced to push his body against Angel's to pass, making the sexy spider give out a moan that rankled the black cat badly as he patted down his ruffled fur, adjusted his suit, and gave Angel a glare before he quickly took off without a second glance.
Aria watched as Angel pretended to adjust one of his boots as he leaned out in the hallway where Mr. Kingsley had disappeared. It seemed like forever as Aria held her breath and waited. Finally, Angel let out an exasperated sigh as he finally stopped manhandling his boot and made his way over to her like a runway model and tapped on the see-through wall briskly.
"Ya know, princess, we really need to stop meeting up like this!" Angel said with an impatient click of his tongue as he kept tapping at different points of the wall before stepping away and looking at her pointedly as he suddenly pulled out a gun. "People are going to start talking and think that we're some sort of item or some shit, so could ya get the fuck outta there, already? You getting caught cost us most of the night! Molly is already here schmoozing with Valentino, while that two-timing fucker, Damian, already got invited to the after party, that nasty, fugly, scaley freak! I don't mind using the direct approach, though, if ya need a new door."
"No, no! Don't shoot! I might never get out of this thing if you do that and, besides, do you really think I planned for any of this?" Aria hissed out agitatedly as she looked around and, sure enough, her military scanner picked up two hidden cameras in the room and, unfortunately, both were aimed in her direction. "Dang it! If you were hoping I'd just change to escape, then you're going to be disappointed. There's too many eyes watching me to just slither out into the tiny vent above me. Besides, even if I tried, this kind of tech is designed to keep sinners with a slew of powers inside the cell so angels could help them process the desires they keep running away from. It was breakthrough technology a hundred years ago and an easier way to understand how to help with the personal weaknesses that kept sinners in certain sins, like lustful or murderous desires. Speaking of murderous desires, I really want to get out of here before Mr. Kingsley comes back because if I'm still here, I'm going to get murdered! Literally! If you wanted an easy escape, though, then we're out of luck. I can't physically leave this cell until I've been...processed."
"Ya, I know, but I really wanted to have a reason to shoot the fuck out of that stupid machine so I can see that old pussy cat lose his shit! It would be fucking hilarious!" Angel said with a chuckle to himself as he fiddled with something around the same corner Mr. Kingsley had been behind when he first appeared, tapping away at something as an access denied sound interrupted his tapping. "Damn it! The fucker has this freaky computer demanding an access code!"
"You need to be on the list of those permitted to analyze a subject in this cell, namely me," Aria explained as patiently as she could as she tried not to think of Mr. Kingsley or what he'd planned to do to her here in this angelic lab turned torture chamber as she sighed and looked around, but nothing really stood out to her as she tapped at the see-through wall thoughtfully. "I was obsessed with the ancient tech and stories from the first war in Heaven and read extensively on the subject after I died. Long story short, tech this old still used powerful book artifacts to list the names of those who were given authority to study and analyze willing sinners and their desires. I'd guess that it would look like a white book of some kind...maybe a small one that's easy to put in and out of a pocket and looks rather boring on the outside."
"Like this one right here?" Angel asked with a grin as he revealed a white pocket book that her military analysis program identified as an angelic artifact, making Aria stare at him in shock as he chuckled to himself as he flipped it from hand to hand like a juggler. "Ya think you're impressed now, I once pick-pocketed the wallets off of ten guys having a gang bang with me and I had no clothes on! I had to get more creative stashing all that cash, but whatever! Pick-pocketing with this many hands is incredibly easy, especially if ya can put your hands on very sensitive parts of the body to mask where your free hand is really reaching for!"
"Well...good to know!" Aria said with mixed approval, her surprise at their good luck suddenly turning sour as something dire occurred to her while she looked at the white notebook in Angel Dust's hand. "Wait...you didn't just take that off of Mr. Kingsley, did you?"
"Well, what if I did? The furry had it coming!" Angel Dust said obnoxiously as he flipped through the pages before getting impatient as he went over to the hidden computer, again. "Okay. I have the book now, so do I just put in whatever code I want or what?"
"No! Change of plans! That book you hold in your hand makes you the absolute king of this entire lab!" Aria explained quickly as her stomach dropped into her toes as she suddenly realized she might not have as much time as she first thought she had. "It has to stay out of Mr. Kingsley's hands at all costs! Look, normally, you'd put your name onto the artifact and be assigned a code, giving you full access to the computer system, but we don't have time for that! You're expected to go back to the party A.S.A.P. and we both know I can't leave here quick enough before you rouse suspicion if you help me! Sigh...I hate to say this, but unless you know someone who can sign up to help me, while you keep that book away from Mr. Kingsley by any means necessary, you're going to have to leave me behind. He's going to come looking for it and I need him far, far away from here!"
"I might just be the answer to your prayers!" Damian suddenly announced out of the blue as cherry blossoms and glitter filled the doorway behind Angel Dust as the kimono-wearing water demon strutted through it. "Don't worry! I'm here to help!"
"The fuck are you doing here!?" Angel Dust snarled, his two, hidden Tommy guns appearing quickly, along with three pistols as Angel Dust quickly hid the white notebook somewhere underneath his sexy, pink dress, which only made Aria wonder how in the world he hid stuff away when he wore so little. "You have ten seconds to fucking walk away before I fill ya full of lead!"
"Angel, don't!" Aria shouted as Damian looked at Angel Dust confidently, but a sad smile played upon his lips as he shook his head at his former lover.
"My sweet Angel!" Damian said sadly as he put a hand to his heart like he was suddenly wounded. "I've done nothing but go along with your plans as willingly as I used to for our glorious sexcapades! Surely you can see that only I can stay and set her free, so that we can save your beloved sister? I mean, it'll be incredibly troublesome if Lady Aria is left here imprisoned, preventing your sister from ever knowing the true villain she's fallen in love with until it is everlastingly too late!"
Angel stood there, his guns trained on Damian as Aria looked from one demon to the other. Damian stood there, completely unarmed and confident, while Angel seethed and growled like a jungle cat just waiting to be let out of its cage so it could tear Damian apart! Aria hoped Angel would see reason as the temptation to say something weighed heavy on her, but she really didn't want to test whether the see-through wall was bullet proof or not. She knew all too well what a stray bullet could do to the old Celestian system and she really didn't want to know first hand.
"What the fuck are you playing at?" Angel Dust asked angrily as he never took his eyes off of Damian as he closed the distance between himself and the water demon until every single gun was resting on either Damian's head or chest. "How the fuck did you even get down here!? There's a shit-ton of guards that goes all the way back up to the lobby! There's no way Valentino gave you full access to all this shit! It doesn't make any fucking sense!"
"If you're worried that I had to get through here on brute force alone, no need to fear!" Damian said with a very slow and careful flourish as Angel encouraged him to take it real slow at gunpoint as Damian pulled out a shiny, gold card that made Angel's jaw drop as the letters V. I. P. were clearly marked on the card in red for all to see as he put it back into his kimono. "Full access. Not even Mr. Kingsley's little lab was off limits, although I hardly think I have access to the lowest level."
"Wait...you know about the lowest level!? I don't even know what fucking goes on down there and I've been working for Valentino for years!" Angel said incredulously, but Aria had enough of the distraction as she cleared her throat loudly, making Angel and Damian turn their heads to look at her.
"Ahem! We don't really have time for this!" Aria insisted impatiently as she tapped on the see-through wall and looked at both Angel and Damian pointedly. "We don't have a lot of options and I'm not going to die a second time by the hands of Mr. Kingsley! Angel, give Damian the book and let him sign it. He'll have to be the one to free me, despite the fact that I'm starting to doubt if that's such a good idea. Frankly, I would've liked you to do it, but I guess you're just too popular to leave the after party unnoticed."
"Heh! Ya really do want a piece of me!" Angel Dust said with a grin and a wink as he struck a seductive pose that made Aria blush and turn away from him in embarrassment, while Damian looked very put out.
"My lady! You speak so coldly!" Damian whined sadly as he pantomimed her words hitting him like a slew of arrows to his heart, but Aria just rolled her eyes as she continued.
"Whatever! Once Damian's done, it may be best to leave the book with me once I'm freed, which means you'll need to leave it with Damian," Aria tried to insist, but Angel angrily interrupted her.
"There is no way I'm handing over this book to that stinking fish fucker!" Angel said furiously as he kept his guns drawn, while his dark, pink eyes glared daggers at Damian's soft, careless, yellow gaze. "If ya want this book bad enough, make an appearance at the after party as your actual self long enough to actually do the fucking job you were hired for, Princess! Do that and then I'll give it to ya! Otherwise, all bets are off and I'll sell the damn thing to the nearest druggy looking to sell anything for his next fix! I think I saw Next-Fix Felix somewhere around the booze at the bar."
"Okay, okay, deal! Sheesh!" Aria agreed hastily as Angel angrily opened the white notebook, while Damian pulled out his own, personal pen as he quickly signed his name inside the book, making something chime in the lab as an automated, female voice welcomed Damian and Andrew Undertow to the Lab of Desire. "Creepy."
"Yeah, no kidding," Angel commented tersely as he placed the white notebook inside his pink dress where his heart on his poofy chest was as he glared at Damian and Aria. "I expect ya both up there in a half an hour or so. If ya ain't back before then, I'll come down here and shoot you two myself!"
"It shouldn't take anymore than an hour, so we'll see you later, okay?" Aria answered placatingly as she watched Angel Dust look at both of them suspiciously before he put his guns away, adjusted his chest, and then angrily walked out of the doorway like some primadonna as he flipped them both off, while Aria let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Phew! I thought he was going to shoot you!"
"He has once or twice, but I was lucky enough to get away with my life last time, so why should this time be any different?" Damian said with a hearty grin and a laugh as he boldly walked over to the hidden computer Aria couldn't see before he turned to look at her with a quizzical expression from the hidden alcove, making him look like he only had a head and no body. "My lady, I do hope you know what you're doing, because all this looks like a bunch of gibberish to me on this weird computer."
"I'm not answering that until a few things are cleared up, first. First off, with what I'm about to face because of being trapped in here, I have to be honest with you," Aria said bluntly as she sighed and ruffled her feathers on her head with her feathered hands, no doubt messing up her crest as she looked at Damian with a stab of pain. "I don't trust you, Damian, and I don't think I can, now. With all that Angel has said and done ever since you came onto the scene, I can't just trust you blindly, anymore. There are just too many questions about who you are and not enough answers!"
"What!? But you insisted that I must be the one to save you!" Damian insisted, the hurt heavy in his tone as he strode up to the see-through wall to touch it. "Doesn't that mean you trust me?"
"Don't touch it!" Aria snapped out, her heart racing at what might happen if he activated the simulator as she swallowed and fought to face one of her worst fears as Damian quickly pulled away from the see-through wall like it had stung him. "I hate to say it, but you sound more like an emotional shield put up by Andrew when things get too hard to handle than an actual person. I don't know why he keeps hiding from me by having you take over like some sort of burly, macho apparition that fights for the ladies and fights evil or whatever, but I am not about to open myself up to some stranger without said stranger being willing to do the same thing!"
"What are you suggesting?" Damian asked slowly as he spoke his words very carefully.
"I want Andrew to walk me through my desires, not you," Aria answered bluntly, her voice cracking in the middle of the sentence as her feathers ruffled all over her body in agitation at the very idea of what it all meant, but she knew she didn't have a choice. "It's not fair that you have a double life where you've hurt Angel Dust and then turned into someone else to escape that life! I might have the ability to change, but I haven't hurt people with it, like you have! Unless Andrew is willing to let go of you and face me with his true face, then this process to free me will be futile. I can't open up to anyone who is still running away from their problems and knowing that, this machine will lock us in with no way out. The person helping to process the one in the cell must be willing to offer the same amount of honesty and trust they demand of the one being processed. It's why this Ancient Celestian Simulator was looked on as both a blessing and a curse. Some angels couldn't handle being that real with a sinner and too many sinners knew they couldn't open themselves up because some angels refused to open up to them! An order was going around a hundred or so years back to reestablish traditional missionary work after word got to the higher ups about the reluctance of volunteers wanting to participate in the Desire Simulations, but obviously this one was still operational when the ministering angels were slaughtered a hundred years ago. Lucky me!"
"You believe Angel Dust's word over mine, when you don't know either of us at all?" Damian asked, trying to change the subject and make Aria doubt herself as she refused to yield on what she'd said as she folded her arms and tapped her clawed foot, making Damian sigh dejectedly. "I'm disappointed, Lady Aria. I open myself up to you, declare my undying loyalty to you, and make no claims to hide my desires for you, and yet you seek my other half, who hides. Why pick him over me? I am Andrew and so much more!"
"It's not right!" Aria insisted as she looked at Damian sadly, but firmly as she shook her head at him. "When I met Andrew, I felt sorry for him, but more than that, I saw goodness in him. I wanted to know why he was in Hell, why he works at a job he hates, and why he was so kind to me despite this being...well, Hell! He killed my murderer because he said I'd given the stupid tiger another chance and he wasted it. Why did Andrew say that? What motivated him to kill someone he didn't even know, for me? I need to know that, but when I see you, I sense nothing but a hollowness to you. You're the perverted superhero he puts on and I want to know why he feels the need to rely on you and not himself!"
"I'm everything Andrew wishes he could be, but can never be!" Damian insisted angrily, making it the first time Aria had ever seen him angry as she just shook her head and turned away from him. "I am superior to him in every way! He is nothing without me!"
"If you insist on living a fantasy, then get out and live it, because despite Mr. Kingsley's insistence on calling this simulator a fantasy unfolder, it's not," Aria said tersely as a frustrated sigh escaped her before she walked away from Damian and sat on the cold, metal bed frame without looking at him. "It was never designed to force the one inside it to reveal their desires, which I'm sure is why Mr. Kingsley is abusing it the way he is. It'll kill me before he succeeds in revealing any of my deepest desires. I just wish I could've kept my promise to Angel Dust and Alastor. Boy, they're going to be mad when they hear I was killed by my murderer a second time. Man...I hate this! I just can't seem to win, no matter how hard I try! Ha...hehehe. All I can do is laugh at how pathetic it all is. I can't believe it. Undone by an outmoded Desire Simulator thought discontinued by Heaven itself! I'm absolutely fucked by the F.U.C.C., pardon my language."
The silence between them was long as Aria refused to look back as she heard Damian eventually turn and walk away.
She didn't hear any footsteps for a while, making her wonder if she'd get shot by Angel before Mr. Kingsley came back as the minutes ticked by. She secretly hoped so as the echo of footsteps suddenly caught her attention as they echoed down the hall. She looked back at the empty doorway, afraid of what she'd find as she hoped it wasn't Mr. Kingsley as the footsteps drew near.
"Y-you better p-promise me you won't tell anyone about w-what you find out, okay?" Andrew stuttered as he appeared through the doorway wearing his white, button-up, long-sleeved shirt, black slacks, and black and white sneakers, making Aria beam with a smile of relief so wide, it made Andrew blush purple as he adjusted his thick glasses before he hesitantly walked over, reached for the see-through wall, and touched it.