Moxxie was more than surprised by Loona's sudden presence.

That being said, he was also eternally grateful for it.

Alastor shouted something into a radio as soldiers began to pour out of the woodwork in the lower levels of the prison. Moxxie could see their helmets through the hole in the roof beneath him. There had to have been over a thousand of them mobilized and ready to take on the mob as they broke inside of the opening gates. The building itself was beginning to shake as the lower levels filled with angry demons, ready to give the Guard hell for everything that they had been through.

And Moxxie was ready to watch.

The time to act was small. In the few seconds Alastor had his head turned, Moxxie looked to Morningstar, who then looked at him and then nervously glanced at the tower next to them.

Edrich might not have been able to get them into that tower. But perhaps, if Moxxie played his cards right, he could do it.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Morningstar asked.

Moxxie nodded, "Let's go."

Octavia quickly took the lead with him. They both knew what they had to do. They had already been inside of the tower once. Getting inside one more time wouldn't be an impossible task.

Their group of eleven survivors fell into formation with impressive speed. Moxxie eyed the tower with one hand shielding his eyes from the glare and another one tightly wrapped around his newfound gun. Octavia did the same, while also trying to distract Alastor with occasional bursts of fire from her hands.

They had already squandered one of their chances of escape. And Moxxie damn well didn't want to do it again.

"What the hell do we do about the red guy?" the spider-demon asked, "He's gonna be on our asses pretty fast."'

"We're just gonna have to outrun him!" Moxxie shouted, "NOW!"

Him and Octavia glanced frantically for a way out. There was only one wall of the prison that was facing something other than the lake of fire. And that was the forwardmost wall of the prison. It was the same gate where the demons were rushing in and fighting off the soldiers.

A group of demons was present outside. Moxxie had an idea, although it was going to be a risky one.

"How the hell do we get down there?" Octavia asked as she hurled a fireball behind them, watching as Alastor scrambled to protect his prison, "We won't survive that fall!"

"I've made it through worse," Tom Trench remarked, to which everyone else responded by staring daggers into his soul.

Moxxie waved his hands in the air and flagged down the demons. They noticed him and probably recognized his face from the broadcast. They rushed over to the ground beneath them and began hollering up.

"What do you need?!" the demons shouted, "We can help!"

Moxxie thanked his lucky stars for their receptiveness. He was going to need all the help he could get if they had any chance at getting inside that tower again.

A hellhound in the back of the pile of demons emerged. They had been seemingly busy shouting orders as the invasion unfolded. Their fur was white with splotches of black and stained portions of red. No doubt that hound had been through a lot during their expedition towards the others.

That was when he made eye contact with the demon. He realized at that moment that the graze carried an aurora of familiarity. Blitzo seemed to take notice too, rushing over to the edge of the roof with Moxxie and excitedly shouting the hellhound's name.

"LOONIE!" Blitzo cheered, "HOLY SHIT!"

"Yeah, it's me, woo-hoo," Loona said quickly, "Now tell me what you fuckers need before he catches up to you!"

"A way down from here would be nice!" Octavia shouted, "A rope or something?"

From the ground below, Loona shrugged. It was to be expected. Aside from the now burning gallows around them, there was no rope to be seen.

The simple fact that Loona was still alive amazed him. Moxxie had seen the news. He had heard rumors of her being involved in a rebellion, but never to such an extent. The Guard had to have been hunting them down for days. Her stories probably echoed the ones he had with Octavia. Of course, she had successfully avoided capture, unlike the two of them.

There wasn't much time for him to marvel at her survival. Moxxie had to think fast to get them to the ground and to the tower, otherwise Octavia's distraction would have been for nothing. He still wasn't one-hundred percent sure what was going on with her that had granted her the fire-spitting powers, but he didn't care as long as it was keeping the rest of them alive and out of Alastor's grasp.

That was when he got an idea.

"I'm jumping down," Moxxie said in a sudden burst of impulsiveness, "Loona, catch me."

"What the fuck-?!" she started.

He was already in the air by the time she had finished talking. It was a risky move, yes, but risky was the new normal. A warm breeze kicked up as he began to pick up speed and hurdle the five stories down towards the ground. Loona was going to be more essential to the mission now more than ever. If she missed, he would be a pancake in fifteen seconds. If she succeeded, their plans for escape would remain alive and feasible.

"Moxxie!" he heard Millie yell from above.

The ground came closer as the temperature rose. He braced for impact on the chance Loona decided she didn't like him and allowed him to splatter onto the pavement. Given their interactions at I.M.P. it hadn't seemed unbelievable.

A pair of fur-covered arms caught him and broke his fall just as he thought she had given up on him. Moxxie couldn't help but smile to himself as he hopped to the ground. Loona hadn't left him for dead. In fact, it was one of their first positive interactions in a very long time.

"Don't fucking do that again," Loona barked as she set him down, "You scared the fuck out of me-"

"Watch it!" Octavia shouted from above as she too leapt from the top of the building.

Loone let out a groan as she let out her arms to catch the owl-demon. Moxxie rose to his feet and held out his gun, ready to take out any soldiers that dared to approach them.

From the back of the prison he could see a wave of Guard reinforcements arriving by the hundreds. Moxxie watched with heightened anxiety as each member of his group leapt from the building one by one.

Members of Loona's mob charged the soldiers with weapons of their own. The fight would hold them off for a few moments, but he could see Loona's mob beginning to lose the fight. It was only a distraction. The true fate of the rebellion fell on Moxxie and the others to get to the top of that tower

"That was fucking stupid," Octavia remarked as she wiped dust off of her clothes, "Not ever doing that again."

"Hey, you went along with it!" Moxxie shot back, "Come on, it was the only way out!"

The two of them walked over to help Loona get the rest of their group on the ground. Stolas was the last of them to make the descent. Just in time too, as he could swear he saw Alastor's green glow moving closer to the edge of the group from their spot down on the ground below.

"You fuckers are heavy…" Loona remarked while Blitzo attached himself to her hip, "Think you screwed up my shoulder."

Blitzo ignored her complaints, instead running his mouth about how much he had missed her. And he didn't blame him. Moxxie found himself relieved that Loona had pulled through. As limited as their affection for each other had been during their time at I.M.P. she had shown her true colors when the time had demanded it. It was something he had never expected to see her do in his entire life.

That being said, they had more important things to focus on.

"Glad you're alive, Loona" Moxxie said, "But we have a tower to invade. You in?"

Loona shook her head, "My guys are headed for the prison. We've got others swarming the tower. They'll keep you guys safe when you head in."

"Fantastic. Come on, let's go."

They began to run away, while Blitzo gave Loona one final embrace. Even his dimwitted boss knew the importance of their mission. He could have a proper reunion with her when Alastor was hopefully dead.

"Wait a minute!" Loona shouted as Moxxie began to run away.

All eleven of them stopped dead in their tracks.

"What?" Moxxie asked as the one-eyed demon dusted his shoes beneath him.

The hellhound had a pained stare in her eyes. Like a mother watching her son get shipped off to war. A display of emotion that Moxxie had never seen on his stone-faced receptionist before.

"Just…please promise me you'll stay alive," Loona said with a voice that sounded pained, "Please…"

Moxxie raised a hand in the air, "I promise."

Loona smiled, "Good. Now go save hell."

With that, the group took to their feet. Flames rose up from the crater of fire surrounding the prison. Moxxie tried to ignore the screams of agony ringing out from the pit. Perhaps after Alastor was taken care of they could work at rescuing whatever souls were left alive in the barren wasteland.

The base of the tower became visible as they ran close. And he could tell that Alastor had the same idea as he did.

A wall of Guards seemingly materialized out of thin air. It was halfway between the crowd at the base of the tower and where Moxxie currently was. There had to be at least two hundred of them marching towards them with alarming speed.

Moxxie looked at the gun in his hand. He knew what he had to do.

Millie, Blitzo, and Octavia were all armed and standing by his side. Even Princess Morningstar had a gun in her hands. Those that weren't armed had seemingly picked up pieces of debris from the ground and were ready to fight as well.

Taking a single glance at his group, he could see the spider demon, whom he recognized as Angel Dust from a few…questionable videos Blitzo had left on the work computer. To his right was a small demon with one eye who carried what appeared to be a sharpened feather duster. Morningstar and her wife were using the same gun. Tom Trench and Katie Killjoy didn't seem to be doing much else other than recording the chaos. Stolas was standing by with a flaming piece of metal in his hands. They all had gathered armor from the dead soldiers on the roof.

For the first time ever, they were all fighting the Guard.

Moxxie fired the first shot. It knocked one of the forwardmost soldiers down with a clean headshot. Even with burned hands and shaky aim, Moxxie still had his aim. His lifetime career as an assassin was finally paying off.

"Make sure you get this on camera,' Moxxie said to Tom and Katie, "I think this'll make a much better story."
Millie was next. She took out the soldiers to the right as she flipped in the air and landed more than enough headshots to get a few kills. It was the first time they had been out killing together since their capture. And Moxxie was loving every second of it.

"M&M is BACK, bitches!" Millie shouted, "Take that, crimson FUCKERS!"

The gun fired beautifully. Nearly every shot was hitting its target.

Octavia filled in the gap by using her fire-comet- or whatever the hell she wanted to call them- powers on the soldiers further back in the line. It was going to be a long and miserable battle before they fought through the thousands of soldiers. But Moxxie was ready for it.

A bullet bounced off of his chestplate and fell to the ground. It reminded him of their time in Qaburn. The final moments before he had been forced to detonate the mines and nearly brought their journey to the end. He couldn't wait to get home and tell Millie the full version of his story. That was, assuming they were able to get home at all. Their lives and hell's safety still hung in the balance. And right now, they were fighting a battle eleven versus one thousand.

"How do I fire this thing?!" Morningstar called out, "I've never used a gun before!"

Blitzo took a break from the firing to try and give her some pointers. So far, it seemed like they were making impressive progress.

Moxxie ducked to the ground as he reloaded the gun. Blitzo had been courteous enough to supply them with rounds. Enough rounds to take out the rest of the army and then some. At least, assuming Moxxie hit most of his shots.

Filled with adrenaline and a second chance at life, Moxxie filled them with lead faster than his own brain could process it. The soldiers were falling down left and right. The few shots the Guard was managing to get out were hitting Moxxie on the armor he had snatched off the roof after Blitzo had given him the gun. It was far better than any equipment he had seen back at home.

The ground began to run red with blood. More blood than Moxxie had ever seen in his life. It pooled into large puddles, much like the blood in the elevator back in the tower. He kicked it away with his feet. The damned blood was already spilling over the top of his shoes and soaking his feet with an uncomfortable warmth.

Then again, a little discomfort was the price he had to pay for such a successful kill. If this didn't prove his skills as a marksman, nothing would.

Octavia, much like Moxxie, was riding the high of a good kill.

Mixing the powers with alternating rounds from the guns, Octavia was knocking down line after line of soldiers. Her kills were lining up with Moxxie's and Millie's.

She had to admit, she was still getting used to using her powers. They had chosen quite a convenient time to come in. It was like teaching a child to ride a bike. It was shaky, but the groove was slowly coming to her. Occasionally a burst would come out when she hadn't intended it to. And sometimes her aim would send a fireball hurling in the wrong direction. But overall, she felt confident.

The soldiers she hit walied in agony as they went up in flames. She didn't feel bad for them. They had spent their lives fighting for a regime that was doing the same thing to innocent demons. Only a few minutes ago, Octavia herself had been next in line for Alastor's sick torture methods.

And yet thanks to a twist in fate, she had avoided it.

The fear of death- or more specifically, Moxxie's death- must have triggered something inside of her. She wasn't sure why or how it had happened, but it had. The fluke that had given their asses a second chance at life, even if it hadn't gone the way they had imagined. Poor Edrich would never get his chance to see them freed.

His name was one of many that went through her head as she killed soldier after soldier. Edrich was the only one of those fuckers that deserved to live. Yet he was the one laying on the floor of the prison as his body slowly began to decay. Octavia would avenge him. She had become the angel of death to those soldiers. Some of them were making attempts to retreat.

Octavia didn't give them the chance.

A group of ten soldiers trying to run away were mowed down with a single fireball. She even brought in a couple of comets for good measure. Those soldiers were the lucky ones, getting the faster deaths. If Octavia had the choice she would have them thrown in the pit to revel in the suffering that they had forced onto other innocent demons.

She shot a glance behind her to see what Alastor was up to. She could see him still standing on top of the roof. He was yelling at two men in front of him, presumably Vox and Valentino. Even with thousands ripping his prison apart and freeing the inmates, Alastor was fighting to the bitter end.

That was what scared her.

As powerful as she felt, she knew Alastor still had the upper hand. He would almost certainly wipe out that mob within a few minutes. They were only there to buy them time. If that time was squandered, Octavia would be rounded up and thrown into the pit without any hesitation.

Time was ticking away. Every dead soldier brought them closer to their ultimate goal. The base of the tower was only a hundred or so feet away from them. They were so close. Alastor was determined to put as many obstacles in their way as they possibly could.

After only a few minutes of fighting, Octavia found her energy levels beginning to drop. She had never been told that using her demonic powers would be so difficult. The novelty was making it hard.

"Come on, Via!" Stolas shouted, noticing the frequency of her hits beginning to decrease, "KILL THEM!"

She kept pushing. It was something she had become good at during her time in the streets with Moxxie. Every day had pushed her to her limits and shown her that she was capable of far more than she had let on. If she had been told two weeks ago what she was going to go through, Octavia would have assumed herself dead. There were amounts of strain that were unthinkable. Never before had she been so repeatedly pushed past her limit. And yet she was still standing.

Another wave of fire knocked out more soldiers. Moxxie and Millie finished off those that had avoided the initial impact. And yet more lines of soldiers were coming. It was like they were fresh out of a factory. Even with explosions rocking the ground and bullets killing their comrades, the soldiers marched on with perfect form and terrifying speed. They acted as if they had a deathwish. None of them had gotten close enough to the group to deal any actual damage through their armor. They were nothing more than targets for them to practice on. Their bodies were beginning to pile up in the fiery wasteland before them. The soldiers in the back were forced to climb over the bodies of their fallen comrades.

"I'm trying!" Octavia shouted back, "GO TO HELL, MURDERERS!"

Blitzo moved closer to her and covered some of the soldiers to Octavia's left. Stolas stood near them, trailing behind as his own weapon would do little against the far-range enemies.

Her vision began to blur, forcing Octavia to take a quick break from her powers and focus on using the gun. The number of soldiers began to grow as her splash damage had been taking most of them out. She fought to try and get more use out of her aching body and powers. Every time she came closer and closer to collapse.

Even the assassins seemed to be nearing the point of no return with the hordes moving towards them.

In just a matter of seconds the situation flipped the favor of the Guard. The group that had once been slaughtering the soldiers by the dozen was now only picking off a few at a time.

"This…this is getting bad!" Octavia shouted, "A little help over here?!"

Blitzo began firing bullets like there was no tomorrow. He even snatched the gun from Princess Morningstar, who was struggling to fire it efficiently anyways. It bought them time, but once it came time to reload they would be in big trouble.

Octavia took to the ground as bullets whizzed through the air. She was going to get overwhelmed by the gunfire if she didn't find a way around it soon. The armor over her was only going to do so much.

"We're dyin' out here!" Blitzo yelled, "Fight harder!"

A horde of soldiers had survived the gunfire and was now barreling down on them. Octavia kept firing, only to watch the soldiers use their own comrades as bullet shields. They were catching up. Fast.

To her right, Moxxie and Millie began to back up as the soldiers barreled towards them. They were still killing them off left and right, but that wasn't going to last long if they got closer.

She braced for the worse. Her last salvation was her armor, picking up dents as bullets slammed into the metal.

A sudden explosion in front of her knocked her back to reality.

The smoke was blinding. Octavia fired blindly into the crowd, not sure whether or not the explosion had been friendly or not. For all she knew it was something Alastor had pulled out of his sleeve in an attempt to blind them.

"Hey! Watch it!" a voice called out from the black cloud, "I'm trying to save your asses!"

A woman with a single eye and frizzled hair ran out of the smoke. She had a belt with grenades strapped around her waist. She had gashes all over her body along with burn marks on her clothing. Octavia could swear that she had seen the woman somewhere before. But she couldn't quite place her finger on it.

That was, until the spider-demon behind her shouted out a name she recognized.

"Cherri?!" the demon shouted, "Holy shit!"

Octavia's mind went back to a particular news broadcast from a couple of years ago. Right after Morningstar's pitch of the Happy Hotel, the story had been interrupted with coverage of a turf war in the Pentagram. Cherri-bomb had been one of the most important players.

That turf war had been cut short by a certain demon seizing power and assassinating the ruling party. But Octavia still recognized the name. And it was perfectly in-character of her to be saving their asses with grenades.

"You think I'd wave off a chance to kill some crimson fuckers?!" Cherri laughed, "Come on, Angel. You know me better than that."

At that moment, yet another demon that "Angel" seemed to recognize appeared in the smoke. This time it was a catlike demon with large wings and a burned top-hat. Octavia didn't recognize him at all. But the more allies that they had, the better off they were.

"Husk too?!" Angel shouted, "Dear God…"

"Hate to spoil the reunion," Vaggie stepped in, "But we need to get moving. Because I don't like what Alastor's doing over there…"

They all shot a worried glance behind them. A bright green glow was coming from the roof of the prison. Alastor himself appeared to be in the center of the magic. He was preparing something for them. Something big that Octavia knew they couldn't counter without help.

The cast of characters around her was getting too large to keep track of. There was a break in the soldiers, as the grenades had knocked out most of the forwardmost formations. Octavia called on them to continue their charge, the base of the tower within their sights.

"Come on!" Octavia shouted, with her and Moxxie taking the lead again, "If you don't wanna die, follow us."

Brimstone and dust was kicked up under their feet as the group of thirteen charged the tower. A few stray soldiers tried to shoot them down, but Moxxie mowed them down with ease. They had lucked out having so many gangsters and assassins in the group. Otherwise they would have been shot down.

The two anchors continued to narrate their pursuit. They were hellbent on getting their story. As long as they didn't get in the way of things, Octavia didn't care, although she thought that surviving was far more important than a pretty picture. But that was just her own opinion.

"Get a shot of the bodies!" Katie shouted, "This story is gonna make us rich!"

Her feet were blistering under the heat of the ground around her. Bloodied footsteps followed behind her in their mad dash to the tower. There were already demons swarming the outside and fighting the soldiers that were in charge of guarding the exterior. Octavia had to use her last remaining bits of agility to leap over the bodies that were becoming obstacles on their journey inside.

"How many fuckers does this guy have left?" Moxxie asked, "My god…"

He had a point. Alastor had no shortage of bodies to send after them. They had been expendable. The death count had to have been in the tens of thousands if not more. There was a surprising number of demons that had been willing to take up arms to fight for such a twisted man. It made her sick just to think about it.

To think, Moxxie had been offered the chance to join them. He would have probably ended up as one of the dead ones. Alastor would have used him as cannon fodder. It's what he did with all of his soldiers. That had been made even more clear to her with how easily he had killed Edrich.

"Glad you didn't join these guys?!" Octavia asked half-sarcastically.

"Very," Moxxie replied, "They would've killed me."

"You act as if they aren't already trying."

Trying to ignore the scent of burning flesh, they finally arrived at the base of the tower. There were more Guard members pouring out the bottom. Which meant that their fighting wasn't yet done.

What caught her attention even more, however, was the growing shadow on the ground in front of her. And she knew it could only belong to one man.

Alastor.