3. The Sound of Fire

The small and shady establishment of the Devil May Cry agency has never attracted much attention. It's foreboding exterior was expressly designed to keep the unwanted away. The only real contact that was ever made with the outside from within was via phone. Even then, a password system makes sure that conversations are short. If you don't say the magic word you get the hook. Right now the phone was off the hook and disconnected. Dante didn't want any callers, rare though they are. In his dimly lit room, he tossed his Harley Davidson emblazoned shower towel onto the bed. It landed beside his now cindered crimson leather coat. Dante stared at it.

"Asshole ruined my coat."

Digging into his limited wardrobe, Dante extracted a pair of diesel jeans and an army green jacket to cover his casual black shirt. Without the benefit of a coat his sword and guns would have to go in plain sight. However that didn't matter much. Nothing was going to come between him and getting Henry Todd, Inferno. Stepping out into the alley behind his agency, Dante's bike awaited him. The sound of its motor was music to his hears. With the engine roaring he rode off into the main street. Dante drove up the ramp that connected to the express way heading south, out of the city. He knew that Inferno would come after him. He may not know the particulars, but a merc is a merc, and this merc's job was to take him out. When he comes hunting for him, he'd rather not involve anyone. Too much collateral damage like at the bar. The safest thing to do is to head out of the city and wait for him to show up. After that, it was just a matter of killing him.

As the lights of the oncoming traffic in the opposite lane glared into his eyes, Dante was reminded of the blue light which hit him before. As a half devil he had never been hurt by fire before. While the blue meant that the fire was extremely hot, it was still just fire. Or was it? The only fire that could possibly hurt him was blue hellfire. That kind of fire could only be found in the deepest recesses of hell. It burned in a place where only the Devil himself could bear to stand. How the did Inferno get a hold of it, Dante asked himself. Could the Devil be so desperate that he cut a deal with a two bit merc to reel him in? It was the most likely answer. It was one that he would enjoy squeezing out of Inferno, personally.

Traffic on the express way was light. After all, it was late at night, soon to be early in the morning. Behind him Dante could see a few cars trailing behind him. Ahead of him was a large trailer truck marked "Dasani" Purified Water. Dante was ready to pass the truck when he saw something catch his eye on top of the trailer.

"Hey there Devil Merc!" Inferno hollered from atop the trailer. "Let's play catch!" Inferno began once more with his fireballs and launched them in Dante's direction.

Only with great precision was Dante able to avoid them. Very soon, Inferno began to throw his fires not only at Dante but at other as well. He was baiting him. A fiery blue ball rocketed at a nearby pickup and sent it flying into the air. Dante could see its two occupants, a woman and her son.

"Shit!" Dante cursed Inferno's name and forced his bike to a screeching halt. Looking back the headlights of the car behind him were upon him. The car bumped him and sent him forward. Looking upwards, the pickup was still in mid air but had begun its descent. Leaping from his seat Dante felt a different sort of fire overwhelm him, his own hellfire as he transformed into his devil form. Wingspread wide he soared upwards and rammed into the roof of the upside down pickup. His clawed hands ripped a hole and he reached in and grabbed the two occupants inside. Moving out of the way, he allowed the pickup to crash. His wings slowed his descent onto the roadside. The woman was crying hysterically and checking her son for injuries. The young boy looked into Dante's fiery eyes.

"Mom, it's the Human Torch." The boy said pointing at him.

The mother stared at Dante fearfully. The fact that he resumed his human form did not seem to help matters. Shaking his head Dante addressed the mother. "You kid isn't reading enough comics. I'm not the Human Torch." Dante winked and ran for his bike.

Dante could still see Inferno in the distance and the trail of destruction he was leaving in his path. A construction sign rushed past him as he drove on ahead. Dante revved his engine and his bike responded by gaining speed. Inferno was still poised atop the trailer truck literally raising hell. Ahead of the truck to the right Dante eyed a flat bed construction truck with a fork ramp. At full speed Dante launched his bike up the ramp and into the air. With his forward wheel inclined, he directed the bike and landed on top of the trailer. He also managed to land on top of Inferno. Dante looked downwards at the pinned Inferno underneath his bike.

"You know what I hate, Inferno? Roadkill."

With the bike's rear tire positioned over Inferno's face, Dante accelerated. Inferno screamed as the tire at first scorched then ripped the skin from his face. The skull underneath however proved to coated in the same blue hell fire that had struck Dante before. The flame touched Dante's gas tanks and the resulting explosion combined with the trucks forward motion flung Dante backwards. Inferno rose from the debris of the extinct bike and walked to the back edge of the trailer. There he found Dante dangling with one hand on a horizontal bar. Ripping the remaining flesh from his skull, Dante could still recognize his signature grin. A scream sent both of them looking for the source. Jumping from the side of the truck was a lone figure. It was the driver.

"Looks like the captain jumped ship. Why don't you join him?"

Inferno placed his palm over Dante hand. At first only smoke was visible but slowly droplets of blood began to pour from his hand. Dante finally did something that he rarely did, he screamed. His hand released the bar and he fell downwards. His hand reached out and grabbed a bar on the lower edge of the trailer. His body however was touching the road and he felt the street ripping at his clothes. With both hands clasping the bar, Dante turned face up so that his back was to the road. With all his strength he kicked backwards and launched his body so that it lay flat against the back of the trailer. Like a spider, he crawled underneath the truck and out of Inferno's view. Beneath the trailer, Dante made his way to the truck and came up the side and into the driver seat. Everything that he wanted to avoid had unfortunately happened. With total disregard for the lives of innocents, Inferno attacked him in public a second time. That was going to cost the cold hearted merc, even if it was the last thing he did. Jamming his foot onto the accelerator Dante took the truck off the expressway. He had already caused enough damage there. As reluctant as he was, he was going to take his chances in the city. Shooting a quick glance into the rear view mirror, he could still see Inferno's blue glow atop the trailer. Luckily enough the streets were still empty. The truck came down the off ramp at full speed with nothing to stop it. Suddenly Inferno's flamed arm crashed through the driver side window and grabbed hold of the steering wheel. Instantly it became to hot for Dante to hold onto.

"You know what? I always wanted to crash one of these, ever since I was a kid."

Jerking the steering wheel abruptly to the right the truck toppled over. Dante was now looking at the road ahead sideways almost at the street level and Inferno was now riding the truck on top of him. The momentum kept the truck moving forward. Straight ahead Dante could see the gas pumps of a 7-11. Inferno seemingly disappeared and Dante took this chance to climb up out of the driver's seat. He leapt from the truck just as it hit the pumps. Dante felt the blast on his back. This time, Dante landed on his feet. He turned and saw that the flames were engulfing the truck. The trailer had exploded as well and had sent all the water bottles inside flying all over. Dante scanned the streets.

"Still empty," he mused to himself. Then he caught a two figures standing on the sidewalk across from the 7-11 which was now in flames. One was the store manager, obviously in an uproar that his place was in flames. From the plastic bag in his hand the man to his right seemed to be a patron. Dante heard him speak.

"Dios mio."

My God.

There was something that caught his eye about the man but his mind was too hyped from the moment in the truck. He couldn't place it. Then it hit him. Inferno hit Dante across the back of his head, surprisingly not with flames. Dante turned and faced him.

"You knew what we were walking into all those years ago. But you didn't tell us anything. Why?" Inferno asked as he blew hot flames directed at Dante's face. Once more he became light headed and his vision blurred.

"Do you know what happened to me when I died? I woke up in hell, literally. Imagine my surprise that all that shit my mom told me when I was a kid was true. You know, be good or else Santa won't bring you toys. Be good or you'll go to hell. Shit like that." Inferno grabbed Dante by the collar and punched him. "Time works differently in hell. It always feels like yesterday, and tomorrow is always far away. You exist in the moment. And guess what? The here and now feels like an eternity when you're getting eaten by demons 24/7. I don't know how long I was down there, years, decades, or even centuries. The thing is, I finally remembered something about the moment before I died. You were face to face with that other demon, and you told him 'tell them Dante sent you.' Big mistake. You may not have been talking to me, but I told them you sent me there.

Holding Dante's head between his hands, Inferno butted his head against his and sent him to the ground. He then picked him up and readied his fist to punch him once more.

"The big guy downstairs was amused. You know what was even funnier. He offered me the chance to get even. He gave me these nifty powers that are so kicking your ass. Apparently he has an idea that the 'Son of Sparda' would make a good delicacy. So he charges me with importing you. I will do that momentarily when I rip your devil heart out of your half breed chest. First, I want to know something."

Inferno's fist burst into flames and slammed into Dante's side.

"You led us right into that demon's nest and you didn't warn us. I want to know why before I send you to hell. Why did you turn us in?"

His blood was streaming down from his lips. Dante managed to gather enough saliva and blood to spit at Inferno's flaming skull.

"Every job I took as a mercenary, I took for a reason. I never cared about people's wars or politics. I never took those kinds of jobs. I only took ones where I knew a devil was behind it. You and the others, you would have napalmed that village if that demon hadn't been there. Women, children, and all, you would have killed them. That makes you just as bad as the devil I went to kill. And you know what, I was right. You died and woke up in hell. That's where you belong you psychotic bastard."

"Really? Well guess what? You're joining me this time!" Raising him above himself with both hands, Inferno threw Dante to the floor.

Lying face down Dante cocked his head upwards and saw the 7-11 patron still standing, motionless. It hit Dante again, but this time it wasn't one of Inferno's blows. Dante's hand reached out and clasped a nearby tubular object. With his other hand he began to crawl forwards. Inferno patiently followed him.

"Where are you going, Dante? You got a hot date or something?" Inferno broke into laughter. "Oh no, the only hot one you got waiting for you is in hell. HELL! You hear me!" Inferno looked up from Dante and saw that he had stopped at the feet of an old man standing on the sidewalk.

"What, you think this guy is going to save you?" Inferno chided.

Dante looked up at the man and outstretched his hand to the old man. "Bendiga esta aqua, Padre."

"You speak Japanese Dante? I never knew?" Inferno's laughter continued until he saw the old man's collar. The old man had a white plastic collar.

Dante turned and at up. In his left hand he held his trusty pistol Ebony, in his right, a bottle of Dasani.

"He's a Spanish priest, asshole. And he just turned this into Holy Water." Dante tossed the bottle at Inferno and shattered it with a bullet. The water splashed onto Inferno and extinguished the flames that had engulfed his skull. Dante could see Henry Todd's face once more. He was no longer grinning. Dante jumped to his feet and thrust his fist into Inferno's face and sent him flying backwards. When Inferno landed he was unconscious and the flames engulfing his body were extinguished. Dante turned to the priest.

"Gracias, Padre."

"Vaya con Dios!" he hollered after him as he walked away.

"Yo si, pero este se va para el carajo." Dante answered back.

Dante stood above Inferno who was just now opening his eyes. Dante took the precaution of dousing his whole body with more holy water compliments of the Spanish priest.

"Wha…?"

Dante stared into Henry Todd aka Inferno's eyes. "Hey Inferno, I hear James Brown playing. It's a man's world. And I am the man."

The streets then echoed with the sound of fire, gunfire.

FIN