Spoilers/Warning: This fic contains spoilers about the game and its ending so consider yourself warned. And also there's some swearing in here, due to the Sparda brothers' potty mouths.
Dedication: To Laryna6 ( 3), Evil Fang, The Tyrant Hamster :), HolyBatman!, rose-mirror21, Hithluwen, Kerrianne Harrington (your questions are answered in this chapter!), Some Random Reviewer, BladeMaster16 (thanks for your previous suggestion!), Meirelle (hugz!), Zeromaru Chaos Mode, Avrile, AnimeGamer10, Inujoey20, ulysess, Brandon, yodel (glad you liked the last chappie!), Yasmine, and Ryoko-starwind (I hope you feel better!). Whoo! Chinese fortune cookies for you all!
Disclaimer: Gosh, I hate doing this! Devil May Cry isn't mine; Capcom owns it.
A/N: Umm, this chapter ran a little longer than expected so I didn't get to the part I thought I'd get to. Not much humour happening now but hopefully the action will make up for it? I tried to use the correct gymnastics' terms but eh, I'm not sure if I succeeded. Enjoy. :) Reviews and constructive criticism are always welcomed!
Oh and also, I'm not sure if some of you have tried to contact me via e-mail, but if you did so, your messages might have ended in my junk mail. I've got some ambiguous email but I played it safe and deleted it. Please make the title obvious to me so I can take your e-mail out of the junk mail folder! OK now I'm done blabbing.
Chapter 08: Guns Are a Girl's Best Friends
Lady watched with some apprehension as the Prides and Lusts started walking towards her. It looked like they were planning on surrounding the lone devil hunter, but this wasn't the first time she's seen them do it.
Simultaneously squeezing the triggers of her pistol and Uzi, she sent bullets flying towards the two closest Prides. The projectiles went through the hooded demons' foreheads and they jerked backwards with the impact. Some sand fell from the holes in their heads, but aside from that they didn't seem too injured.
'Huh, they're tougher than usual,' Lady frowned as she dashed to the right. Usually a bullet to their vital areas was enough to put them down for the count. She briefly wondered at the cause of this new strength as she used her Uzi to send a spray of bullets at them.The automatic fire cut down a few Prides and Lusts but the majority managed to survive.
Lady ground to a halt as a Lust appeared from the shadows in front of her. She somersaulted backwards and immediately pointed the Glock as soon as she landed on her feet. A few bullets to its head ended that demon's time in the human world.
Then she noticed something that she had been too distracted to see before; the dead demon left behind a very faint spectral imprint in the air. It quickly dissolved into white mist that seemed to be sucked in by the green peridot of her ring. As soon as the mist was finished being absorbed by the center stone, it would glow just a little brighter.
The Lust's interference and the odd behaviour of the ring allowed the other Lesser Demons to catch up. Several Prides used their scythes to swipe down at Lady's exposed back. She twisted out of the way and used the momentum to pivot herself around.
The Uzi went to work once more and barraged the demons with bullets. The front rank fell in a rain of sand but the demons behind them used it as a cover. They suddenly dashed at her, and she barely managed to avoid them. Her legs went into a split and she dropped to the floor. Lady felt her hair move as the scythes rent the air above her. Once they were done swinging she went into a reverse split which put her back on her feet.
Her right arm raised and she emptied the pistol's clip into as many demons as she could. Holstering the Glock, her hand went around her body and took hold of the other Uzi strapped to her back.
Before she could fire another round though, a loud whirring sound split the air. Points of light appeared from a catwalk overhead and they illuminated something that looked like nothing she had ever seen. It had several spindly limbs all around its body and a single giant eye in the middle of its torso. The demon, for what else could it be, vaguely looked like a spider, but even that description was off.
The sound it made intensified as well as the lights around it. They reached their peak and suddenly the lights shot towards her. Seeing the blue, arrow-like projectiles, Lady managed to somersault out of the way. However a Pride wasn't so lucky and was pierced in the back. It wailed before disintegrating into sand.
'Shit!' she thought as she looked back up at the new demon. It was a long-ranged enemy, and its high vantage point increased its attack radius. She didn't think her guns could reach it, and once again she wished for her Kalina Ann.
'Stupid Dante!' she thought vehemently as she dodged a few more scythes. Her bazooka would have been the answer to her current dilemma. Not only would it clear up a large portion of these demons on the floor, the rockets it launched could also have reached the one on the catwalk.
But of course her Kalina Ann was uselessly stuck in some weird statue buried under tonnes of rubble. She really would have to beat Dante up for this.
Dropping her Uzis so that they hung from their straps, Lady turned around and started to run. She'd have to find a better position than the one she was in now. Hopefully there would be a way up the catwalk so that she that could deal with the arrow-shooting demon later.
Seeing a mass of thick wires hanging from some machinery in front of her, Lady said a quick prayer and leaped through them. Miraculously the wires didn't entangle her and she kept on running.
She heard more than saw the Prides and Lusts cutting through the wires. It provided her a few vital seconds to get ahead, and she hoped it would be enough.
Leaping onto a conveyer belt, she ran along the rubber belt till she reached a machine in front of it. Grabbing onto the top, she hoisted herself up and then looked behind her.
The Prides and Lusts were only a few feet away and spotting their stationary victim, they rushed at her en masse.
Grabbing her Uzis once more, she pointed it at the crowd and let loose with a hail of bullets. Some of them died under her constant fire, but more and more seemed to emerge from the surrounding gloom.
'Dammit,' Lady thought as she stopped firing for a moment to change the Uzis' clips. Once she had reloaded her weapons she began to shoot again.
This situation was worse than she had ever imagined; she found herself sorely wishing for Dante and/or Vergil's presence.
'Yeah right!' she snorted at herself for the errant thought. 'What are they gonna do, sneeze on the enemy? Dante's more likely to puke at their feet since he's so damned sick. And Vergil might re-open his wound and pass out from all that blood loss. He'd need a blood transfusion, and I don't know how that would work on a half-demon.'
Seeing that the demons were almost to the machine she stood on, Lady dropped her guns again and leapt onto the roof of another machine. Fishing for the AK rifle at her back, she took it and set it to full automatic.
A steady staccato of bullets assaulted the demons, but like before they ignored their casualties and made straight for her.
A familiar whirring sound started again, and taking the chance, Lady looked up and saw that new demon once more. It looked like it was getting ready to shoot at her again when suddenly a small shape darted towards it.
Lady watched with relief as Cerberus finally made his appearance and started to attack the demon. It tried to avoid the three-headed puppy, but his jaws clamped onto the demon's central red eye.
The devil hunter watched in amazement as the red eye glowed fiercely. The demon shuddered violently for a few moments before falling apart. However before it disappeared the red glow seemed to leak onto Cerberus and enter him.
All three heads went stock still for a second before he turned around to face her. Lady saw his multiple eyes glowing with power, and … had he gotten bigger somehow? Instead of being the size of a Jack Russell Cerberus now looked to be on par with a Labrador.
Cerberus' middle head gave her a bark, and somehow she heard the warning in it. Lady jerked backwards and narrowly missed having her head cleaved in by a scythe.
Berating herself for getting distracted she took a knife from her boot and stabbed it into the Lust. The blade pierced its white glowing eye and it shrieked in pain.
"Ha!" she said as she kicked the Lust in the stomach. It fell from its precarious perch on the machine's top and landed on a few of its approaching brethren.
Using the rifle to take care of them, Lady quickly glanced back up at Cerberus. It seemed that a few more of those one-eyed demons had appeared on the catwalk, and the hellhound was making short work of them.
Glad that she didn't have to climb up all that way. Lady concentrated on her demons once more. She finished off three extra clips of ammo before her rifle was useless.
Dumping the weapon on the ground, she grabbed her Glock, reloaded it, and then fired single round bursts at the enemies.
'Looks like they're tapering off,' she commented to herself. It seemed that there were less Prides and Lusts emerging from the darkness, and she was glad for it. She was starting to get dangerously low on ammo.
As she shot at the Lesser Demons her ring continued to increase in brilliancy. It was getting to the point where it was hard to look directly at it. Lady wondered what this meant; she was killing the demons so the ambient demon energies should be lessening, right? So why was the ring glowing so much?
Suddenly a loud wail ripped through the factory; it was so loud that she thought even Mr. Gunderson could hear it in his car.
Lady watched in amazement as darkness, something even deeper than the shadows, emerged from the floor. It seeped across the ground like inky water, and the Prides and Lusts hastily backed away from it.
If even the Lesser Demons feared this thing, Lady didn't think she'd be particularly happy with its arrival either.
The darkness stopped and then seemed to bubble upwards. It coalesced into the form of a black robed creature with pallid skin and glowing blue eyes. When it opened its mouth to deliver a shrill laugh, Lady saw that its mouth was also bluish in colour.
"Not another one!" Lady groaned in frustration as she took up her Uzis again. This one seemed particularly powerful and menacing as it started to stalk towards her.
Almost languidly it made sweeping movements with its giant scythe. The blade sliced the air and the Lesser Demons surrounding it. They all fell to its casually delivered attack so that it was only Lady and the Grim Reaper looking demon on the floor.
She almost didn't dodge in time as the demon suddenly lunged towards her. Lady threw herself off the machine as the creature attacked with blindingly fast speed. There was no chance to fire her guns as she frantically ducked, rolled, and leapt away from it.
Fear blossomed from her heart as the thing kept attacking her with devious skill. It would maliciously laugh in its high-pitched voice as she desperately tried to keep away from its dancing scythe. It was all she could do to stay away from its weapon.
"Shit!" she yelled as she suddenly felt her feet slip out from under her. The copious amount of sand on the floor had made her fall, and she stuck out her hands to take the impact.
Her palms hit the floor painfully, and the grains of sand bit into her skin. She didn't have time to check if they were bleeding though as she instinctively rolled away.
Lady had escaped just in time. The sharp point of the scythe dug into the floor where her head had been a few nanoseconds before. Ending up on her back, Lady reached into her other boot and took out her last knife.
Throwing it at the powerful demon, she watched in satisfaction as the blade imbedded itself into the thing's neck. However the demon didn't even react; it merely plucked the offending blade from its throat and threw it back at her.
"Aaah!" Lady gave a brief shout of pain as she felt her own knife bite into her left shoulder. Looking at the wound, she saw that it was a long but shallow cut.
A shadow suddenly loomed over her. When she stared into the reaper's face she saw sadistic glee in its eyes. The garish mouth was quirked in a vicious grin as it chuckled at the sight of her blood.
The demon was toying with her.
"Bastard!" she snapped at it. Using her right arm she took the Glock from its thigh holster and pointed it at the demon. She managed to get three bullets into the reaper's torso but like before it didn't seem to have any affect.
Its grin widen to inhuman proportions at it raised its scythe. Her eyes widened as the demon prepared to strike.
Almost faster than she could see, Cerberus unexpectedly leapt from behind. The three-headed dog, now the size of a large Rottweiler, landed onto the reaper's back, which made the demon fall on Lady.
For several Hellish moments her entire world consisted of cold darkness and the smell of sulpher and rot. She heard the creature wailing in anger as it thrashed around, knocking Lady's body in the process. Cerberus' distinct barks and snarls also filled the air so that the factory echoed with frightening noise.
Finally the reaper rolled off Lady and she could properly breath again. Taking in lungfuls of air, she painfully sat up and watched as Dante's doggy battled the much larger demon.
All three heads growled fiercely at his opponent, and she was glad to see that the back of the reaper's robes was torn. There were deep furrows on the creature's corpse-white skin, and purplish-black blood flowed from the wounds.
'No … not blood,' she amended as she looked closer. It didn't flow like liquid. Instead it seemed to act more like a vapor that was disappearing into the air.
Lady looked at her ring again and saw that it was glowing brightly. It was like having a piece of pure magnesium burning at her finger, but there was no heat emanating from it. The magical light illuminated the darkness and made her shirt look green.
A loud thump drew her attention back to the fight. Cerberus slammed his paw on the floor several times and large spikes of ice shot up from the ground. They pierced the reaper but it managed to rapidly float away.
Making that wailing noise that irritated and terrified her at the same time, the demon disappeared into the same ball of darkness as before.
'Is it gone?' she asked herself but then saw the darkness appear beneath Cerberus' feet.
"Watch it!" Lady yelled but her warning wasn't needed. The three-headed guardian was familiar with this type of enemy and had already bounded away. A moment later the reaper re-appeared and shot upwards, its scythe spinning in a fatal motion.
Cerberus' growl deepened as he faced his opponent again. It looked like the Hell Vanguard didn't know whom it was messing with, but the hellhound was more than willing to show it who was superior.
Vergil's eyes slid from one irritant to another.
On the futon couch Dante had fallen asleep. His arm was thrown over his eyes as he softly snored in his slumber. The TV was on some sort of idiotic game show where people answered foolish and embarrassing questions. It seemed that even the show was inane enough to drag his brother under.
However the (fake) laughter of the audience was slowing driving Vergil mad. And the volume was set pretty high too.
Then there was Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum. Agni and Rudra were in the kitchen peeling and chopping vegetables for dinner. They had offered to use themselves to cut the food and he hadn't known what they meant until the twin demons had grabbed their heads and pulled. To Vergil's immense surprise (which he successfully hid, of course) they had tugged their heads off.
Attached to their noggins were hilts and blades. Apparently their heads were the pommels of the weapons while their bodies served as sheathes. The blades looked vaguely like scimitars but were much wider than usual.
' …Eww,' he remembered thinking as he stared at them. He'd seen some pretty strange things in his life, and even he had done a few inhuman actions as well. But there was no way in Hell he'd let Agni and Rudra use … themselves to chop vegetables; he had limits on weirdness too.
Vergil had flatly refused their request and told them to use regular kitchen knives instead. After they had replaced their heads back onto their shoulders and had thoroughly washed themselves in the sink, he let them get to work.
The pair didn't seem offended at his cold denial. Instead they had started to sing as they used paring knives to peel potatoes.
The eldest Sparda did his best to tune it all out. He walked over to a storage bin (one of the few they kept) and began rooting through it to find a first aid kit. Dante had condensed all the leftover medical supplies into two large kits. Finding one of them, Vergil hefted the heavy item up and walked towards the bathroom.
"We interrupt this program for some late breaking news," the TV suddenly said. "The ruins that inexplicably appeared in the heart of the urban area have been blamed for the city-wide black out last week. Sources claim that it had somehow damaged the power lines running underneath the city streets …"
Vergil stopped in front of the television and watched as the local news anchor delivered his bit. The remains of the Temen-Ni-Gru were the talk of the town; no one knew how it had appeared so suddenly. He knew that it was likely some form of magic that had hidden the Tower from regular humans when it had emerged. Why else would the Temen-Ni-Gru be so undisturbed when it had appeared during the night? No police or army had come; only those who were expressly meant to enter the Demon Tower had seen it at all.
But now that the Tower had fallen, its magic had failed and so mundane people could see it. The discovery had caused quite a ruckus, and people were demanding an explanation, something the mayor of the city was hard pressed to give.
The news anchor said that a team of forensic experts, archeologists, and engineers would be sent to investigate. Then the annoying game show was put back on the air.
'Pointless,' Vergil snorted as he went to the bathroom. The special team wouldn't find anything of real worth there. And even if they did find any demon artifacts, the items had an odd way of disappearing from sight. Either thieves would steal them for their black market value, or they would simply disintegrate. Not everything demonic could survive for long in the human world.
Shutting the bathroom door behind him, he found that it didn't completely block the racket from outside. How Dante had managed to fall asleep in that bedlam was anyone's guess.
Tugging his blue linen shirt out from under his black dress pants, Vergil unbuttoned the shirt and then hung it on the hook at the door. He stared into the bathroom mirror and saw the white gauze wrapped around his torso.
He knew that underneath it the wounds that Dante had dealt him were slowly mending. The worst one was a stab wound to his spleen but there were numerous other slashes on his chest and abdomen.
'Who knew that the brat could fight,' Vergil thought crossly to himself as he began to unwind the gauze. He knew he had pushed Dante into this entire ordeal, and that their final showdown had been inevitable. But still … it had hurt on the inside whenever his twin had managed to land a blow on him.
It injured Vergil's pride as a warrior but more importantly, it hurt his feelings as a brother.
"Don't be stupid!" Vergil harshly admonished himself. He glared at his reflection, which angrily glared back. Finally he broke eye contact with the reflective surface and finished unwinding the white strips of cotton.
'I don't care that Dante almost killed me. I don't care that I almost killed him,' he repeated in his head like a mantra. Raising the Temen-Ni-Gru, fighting all those guardian demons, working with Arkham … it all had a purpose.
He needed power, the power of Sparda, his father. It was his birthright and if, no when, he had it nothing could stand in his way. Vergil knew that weakness didn't allow you to protect anything, much less yourself.
'But I wonder what Father would think of this.'
Vergil stopped mid-motion at the random thought.
What would the Legendary Dark Knight think if he knew his eldest had raised the Demon Tower, the same one he had sealed so long ago, and had almost plunged the Earth into Hell? What thoughts would run through the powerful demon's head if he knew that Dante, easy-going, goofy, mischievous Dante had saved the world Sparda had come to love?
Vergil never could read his father's emotions although he'd try when he'd been a child. Sparda tended to hide his expressions well, and it was something Vergil had strived to emulate.
He'd always admired his father's strength, wisdom, and control. Vergil recalled long afternoons just looking at Sparda as he went about his business. Everyone who met him instantly respected him. Vergil had wanted the same thing.
On the other hand Dante had a love-hate relationship with their father. It was true he also respected Sparda, but the youngest son was more rebellious. He didn't like their sire's strict manner and cold expression. Dante found it much easier to be with their mother and he would almost constantly be by her side (unless he knew he'd done something naughty and would get in trouble for it later).
And in return, Eva had loved Dante back.
Vergil always thought his mother doted on Dante too much back then, but some secret part of him had also yearned for that loving attention.
"Foolish," Vergil muttered as he ripped off the cotton square over his worst injury. The medical tape burnt his skin as he almost savagely tore it away from himself. Vergil didn't mind; the pain served to distract his thoughts.
He didn't need to care about what Father thought of his earlier actions. Sparda and Eva were dead now so he could do whatever he wanted.
'But what is it I want?'Ignoring the question for now, he looked at the wound. He saw that it had scabbed over nicely. The flesh around the gash was slightly pink, but he didn't think it was infected.
Wetting a face cloth he carefully cleaned off the old ointment he'd used before. He did the same for all the other cuts on his skin before re-applying some antibiotic cream. Afterwards he covered his largest injury again with a cotton pad and taped it in place.
Using a new gauze strip he wrapped his torso once more.
Done with his daily ritual, he put his shirt back on. He frowned as the linen rubbed against his muscular arms; the linen was smooth but it was incomparable to silk.
'Dante owes me new clothing,' he snorted to himself as he tucked the hem of the shirt into his pants.
Once he'd cleaned up the bathroom with its awful green tiles, he stepped back out into the din of the main room.
Dante was still asleep on the couch with his mouth open wide. Some drool was trailing down to his chin. Vergil was momentarily tempted to drop something into his younger sibling's gaping mouth but he quashed the thought. He was the mature son after all and wouldn't stoop down to Dante's level.
Instead he replaced the first aid kit back to its original spot and then turned off the TV. The annoying sounds from it thankfully stopped, but now he could clearly hear Agni and Rudra's off key singing.
Glaring at the kitchen counter, Vergil willed them to stop.
And to his great surprise, they did.
"Brother, what do we need to do next?" Agni asked.
"I think he wanted us to cut some of this," Rudra answered. "Let me get it for you."
"I appreciate that greatly, Brother."
He heard the patter of feet as Rudra went off somewhere. Then Vergil saw several stalks of celery seemingly move on its own accord.
"Ah, thank you, brother! Now let us resume our task!"
"You are most welcomed! These large vegetables shall fall under our combined strength!"
And to Vergil's chagrin, they began a jaunty tune.
But the momentary lapse into silence had let Vergil hear something. Quietly bending down over his brother, he could hear Dante's raspy breathing. It seemed that his illness was getting worse and the mucous had gotten into his lungs.
Eyeing Dante's clothes, which only consisted of a tight pair of black jeans, Vergil shook his head. Of course the dolt wouldn't wear something appropriate for his condition …
Grabbing Dante's shoulder Vergil roughly shook him awake.
"Huh? Wha?" the younger twin asked confusedly before sniffling.
"Go sleep in your room."
"I don't wanna," Dante blearily frowned at him. Honestly, Vergil was so damn bossy!
"Just do it," Vergil snapped and hoisted his brother to his feet. All but dragging him to his bed, Vergil pushed him onto the mattress. Dante landed with a little "oomph!" and rolled onto his back.
"Jerk," he mumbled but rested his head on a pillow anyway.
"Imbecile," Vergil countered. He was about to leave but saw that Dante wasn't going under the covers. Tsking in annoyance Vergil dragged the blanket out from under Dante and put it over him.
"Thanks, mommy," Dante grinned cheekily. "Now how about a good night kiss?"
"Don't push me," Vergil growled.
Dante only smirked in response before snuggling deeper into the blankets. He turned himself over so that his older sibling couldn't see the pleased smile on his face.
Lightly snorting at his brother's immaturity, Vergil stalked over to the kitchen. Checking the wall clock he observed that it was almost six p.m.
Glancing outside the window he saw that the sun was on its was down. She only had an hour of sunlight left.
'I wonder how Lady's doing?' he asked himself as he stepped into the kitchen. She seemed competent enough when it came to fighting demons, but he couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive about her going it alone.
'Well it's that stubborn girl's fault if she dies,' Vergil sniffed dismissively as he washed his hands in the sink. Now wasn't the time to think about a rude, gun-wielding tomboy with attitude problems. Now was the time to start dinner.
Additional A/N: The long ranged demon Cerberus was fighting is called an Enigma. But Lady doesn't know that. :) Also I want to give kudos out to the website called Devil's Lair. It's a pretty good DMC3 info site, so check it out. It saved my neck since I haven't played DMC3 in a while and forgot how some of the lesser demons looked like.