THE DEMON RETURNS (7)

"Kuso!" Lucy cursed as she stormed up the stairs to her apartment. The search had not gone as she had hoped it would. She looked in every tunnel underneath Lefferts, but Snake was no where to be found. She couldn't understand why. She'd been watching him for roughly two and a half months. Each time Snake went to Lefferts at the very same place, and at roughly the same time. How could she lose him?

The thought enraged Lucy worse than anything. All this time she spent hunting him was beginning to feel like a wild goose chase. Something wasn't right, something just wasn't adding up. Lucy needed to think, but the only thing she could think about was smashing Snake's face in.

"Son-of-a-fucking-bitch!" Lucy continued. She wanted to throw something. She wanted to hurt someone. She needed to vent her frustration, but she controlled herself. She knew getting angry wouldn't solve anything, but at the same time she couldn't help it. It was impossible for her to be calm and relaxed after what happened.

She was tired, she was sore, and she had a splitting headache. There was also a party going on in the apartment above her's, and the noisy occupants weren't helping matters.

"Mother fucker!" Lucy grunted as she sat down beside her kitchen table. She was tired; she'd been working hours on end trying to get Snake. She spent very little time to herself, and when she did, she was too tired to do anything but sleep. She had gotten very little of that these past few weeks. Her sleeping scheduel had practically gone to hell at this point, as did a lot of her other daily activities, but she was to invested in her search to care.

Lucy could feel the pressure beginning to weigh on her. It was becoming too much. She felt like she was about to cry, but she didn't want to show her weakness, even when there wasn't anyone around to see it.

She felt the light from her overhead kitchen lamp glinting off of something. It was a photo of her and Amy. She picked the framed image up out of frustration and glared at it. The photo of the two had been taken six years ago They'd just finished a very difficult case, and the two were celebrating at an Applebees. Amy had a bright smile on her face and was making bunny ears behind her partner's head with her fingers. Lucy was also smiling in the picture, and although it wasn't as intense as Amy's it was sincere. The words "Lucy and Amy, Sisters Forever" were written in cursive at the bottom right corner.

Lucy began to feel more at ease as the calming memory relaxed her. She thought about some other moments she'd spent with her sister. She thought about Amy a lot during those two months. Lucy felt tears streaming down her cheeks as she laughed in between fits of sobbing. In that moment, Lucy didn't care that she was crying. She didn't care about much of anything then. The only thing she wanted worse than killing Snake was to have Amy back. Lucy would've given everything she had to see her sister awake again, even if it was for one last time. That would be more than enough for her.

"God, I miss you, Amy... I miss you so... so much." Lucy sniffled. "I love you, sis..." She told the pictured image as she held it up to her forehead. "I love you so so much... I'll see you later," She said before setting the picture back down.

/

Lucy walked into her bedroom; she felt a short aching in her stomach when she did. She hadn't eaten anything all day. She'd been to focused to notice she was hungry. Maybe there's a reason why Imouto worries about me so much, She thought humorously

She began to undress, taking her shirt, vest, and jacket off to reveal a black tanktop underneath. She countinued thinking about Amy as she did so. Amy was constently on about Lucy "taking it easy". Although that wasn't normally her style, Lucy did fold every now and then. This was one of those times. Lucy had nothing better she needed to do, she was still suspended, and although she still wanted to get Snake, she was too flustered. Besides she'd been saving some vacation time anyway, why not use it?

Lucy suddenly heard the sound of her closet door opening. It was faint, but she could hear it. I knew it. She thought before rolling to the side, dodging the vertical swing of the intruder's crowbar. She ripped her Beretta from its holster, flipped the safety off, and blasted the son-of-a-bitch. It all happened so fast the guy barely had time to react. He was dead before he even hit the floor. The noise from the party upstares was so loud it probably deafened the sound of the gunshots. Lucy hoped someone had heard it, that way they could call the police, but she wasn't relying on it. It wasn't over though.

Someone jumped out from behind her and the two began to struggle. The intruder had his hands around her throat, attempting to chock her. Lucy couldn't get a shot. She looked at her nightstand, and saw her night-stick. She'd kept it ever since her rookie years. She reached for it, accidently dropping her Beretta as she did so. The guy made a move for the pistol, but before he could do anything with it, Lucy was able to reach her baton and smashed the guy in the face with it, forcing him off. She proceeded to beat the man until his face was a bloody pulp.

Before she could check if he was still alive, someone else tried to take a swing at her with a baseball bat. Lucy blocked with her baton, reached for her fire arm, and blew a hole in the guy's kneecap. The guy fell to the ground, yelping in pain as he held his leg. The guy dropped his baseball bat when he fell. Lucy kicked the weapon away before kneeling down on him. She held her baton at his throat while keeping her pistol pointed at his face. If he tried to retaliate she'd shoot. The man struggled, but after he saw the gun, he stopped.

Lucy tore the figure's hoody off. It was Cobra Hoody from the car lot. "Small world isn't it?" Lucy said with a sinister look. "I'm going to make this simple, shit face. You answer my questions and don't pull any funny shit, and I don't blow a hole in your face. How does that sound?" The guy responded with a compliant nod. "Where's Snake?"

Lucy heard a creak coming from behind her. She turned around, but before she could react in time something hit her face...

/

Lucy felt cold water hit her face, the shock of it woke her up. She was groggy, the pound on her head wasn't helping her headache, and she felt an irritating strain on her hands and feet, but she didn't care about that. She was still in her bed room, and was sitting down, her hands tied behind the seat, and her feet affixed to the legs of the chair.

"Ey thair, Sleeping Beauty," Snake said with a grin on his face. "Have a nice nap?"

Lucy whipped her head up when she heard him. Lucy looked around; the vipers surrounded her on all sides, and all of them were armed with a weapon of some kind. Snake was standing in front of her with a bucket.

"You!" Lucy's eyes focused angrily as she met his gaze.

"Miss me, sweet'art?" Snake chuckled as he tossed the bucket aside. "Ya know, wheneva a hot piece a ass wanna play. All 'ey gotta do is call," Snake said suggestively.

"Go hump a pile of garbage." Lucy sneered.

"Oh, I love it when 'ey talk dirty." Snake cheered as did some of the other gang members. Lucy wanted to strangle them.

"So you knew I was following you, and you used Lefferts as a setup to throw me off." Lucy deduced. Snake was smarter than he looked. You didn't get to be a drug dealer simply by having a lot of muscle and charisma.

"Sma't bitch," Snake complimented. There was a short pause as he looked at her for a moment. "Ya still pissed off at me, ain'chya?" Lucy didn't respond. "Ey, it ain't my fault ya buddy was a snitch." Snake chuckled.

"You put my partner in the hospital." Lucy told him.

"'At bitch 'at tried to get me durin' tha bust. She's ya partna? 'At's what 'is about, ey?" Snake smirked. "Pissed off cause I put a cap in ya patna, ey. Wanna get even wi' me, 'at's it." He paused. "Bitch had it commin'. Pretty good lookin' cop, but not too sma't. Shoulda known betta." He said.

"Jigoku ni iku!" Lucy growled.

Snake laughed. There was another moment of silence. "Heard ya waz at da Tilla Hotel coupla weeks ago. When Kingi and Pueblo bit da big one. Heard sum of 'eir boyz ez skinned," Snake said.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Lucy asked.

"Remindz me ov a story granny use ta tell." He began. "When shez a kid, 'ere waz 'is guy. Ol' Cold War weaponz deala, smuggled all kindz a shit inta tha country. Got hiz shit from the Ruskiez, Cubanz, Porta Rica, even got some shit from sum guyz in Venezuala." Lucy couldn't understand where he was going with his story. She imagined he was trying to intimidate her, but she didn't know why.

"One summa, shez out playin', Wandad, lil' too far from home, and foun'a guy dead, 'long wi' a coupla buddiez a hiz." Snake paused. "Place looked like it waz a fuckin' war. Guyz got torn ta shit. And tha guy. He didn' even have a head when she foun 'em. Coul' only tell it waz 'im cause of hiz clothz. An' sum of the otha boides waz skinned." Lucy's eyes went wide when he said that.

"She told me 'bout 'is thing, came every now an' 'en. Sum'in that comes wit' tha heat. Called it El demonio que hace trophias de los hombres. Means, Tha demon who makz trophiez a men. Only came on tha hottest a summas. An' if ya as' me it'z pretty damn hot."

Lucy was intimidated, not by Snake or his goons, but by his story. The thing he talked about was the same thing that killed Kingi and Pueblo at the Tiller Hotel. The same thing that killed those people on the subway train five days ago. The same monster that killed her parents.

Snake turned around and saw the look of fearful interest on Lucy's face. He laughed when he saw it. "Ghost storiez, am I righ' guyz." The room began to cackle like hyenas. Their commotion brought her out of her nervous stuppor. She glared at Snake with murderous intent.

"Have fun wi' da pig, guyz." He told them before baring his tongue at Lucy. He, Cobra Hoody, and a couple other vipers left the scene.

Suddenly one of the vipers behind Lucy tore her hair back and pulled out a razor blade, holding it up to her neck. The others began to close in on her. Lucy knew what was about to happen.

"We gonna have us sssum fun t'night." The guy hissed before he licked her neck and reached his hand down towards her chest.

So am I, She thought in anticipation. "Keep you tongue to yourself!" She roared back in disgust as she retaliated. She smashed her head into the guy's face forcing him off.

"Bitch!" He said as he held his bleeding nose.

The rest of the gang reacted immediately to the offense. Before they could do anything though, Lucy tore her legs forward, breaking the legs off of the chair. She stood up on her feet and pushed back just as the first shot cracked. She went through her bedroom window, and landed on the fire escape stairway, outside. The chair broke into splinters when she landed. Lucy pulled her legs up before bringing her arms around to get them in front of her. The shooting intensified as she did that. Lucy kept low to the ground, and swiftly crawled away from the window before booking it down the stairway. Lucy wished she could have had time to grab her pistol or her body armor before running, but it was too late now. She had to keep running, and at least hope someone had called the police.

She made it two floors down before the goons in her apartment began to chase her. One of them tried to shoot her, but she'd already broken into another apartment. There was a family inside ejoying what looked like a fun Friday movie night.

"Police!" She screamed at them, "Everyone out, now!" They all did as she commanded and retreated into the next room.

Lucy charged towards the apartment door and effortlessly broke it down with her foot. She'd accidently bumped into some of the other Pit Vipers as she did so. Snake wasn't with them. The door fell on two of them, knocking them out as it came down. Lucy saw what happened and reacted quickly. One of them had a S&W holstered in the back of his pants. She took it. As she did, two of the goons tried to shoot her, but she dropped them before they could get a shot off. The other four only had edged weapons. They didn't bother trying to fight her and simply dropped their weapons.

The people in the surrounding apartments heard the commotion and pooked their heads out to investigate. Suddenly, gunfire erupted from the apartment Lucy had just came from. Everyone dropped to the ground when they heard it.

"Stay inside and call the police! Now!" She ordered an elderly couple who stared at her from their door. They did as she told them.

Lucy scrambled to her feet and ran down the hallway. She wasn't just trying to get away from her attackers, Lucy was hoping she'd make it down in time to catch that bastard ,Snake. She wasn't going to let him get away this time.

Lucy heard gun shots sounding behind her as she ran. A round clipped her in the arm. Thankfully for her, it was only a flesh wound. Lucy turned, sighted two targets and fired, managing to hit them both. Unlike her attackers, Lucy practiced regularly at the police range, and it was paying off. Lucy only wished she'd taken some hearing protection before this, but there was nothing she could do about it now.

Lucy got up and began sprinting down the stairs, putting considerable distance between her and her assailants. She just hoped she was going fast enough to catch Snake, and that she was going in the direction he was headed. Once she reached the bottom floor she began looking. As she did, she ordered everyone to hide and call the police. The sooner they came, the better.

Lucy felt a sharp pain sting her in the side, as she turned around the enterance corner. She screamed in pain as she collapsed to the ground. Lucy looked down the hallway, and saw Snake. The bastard had a grin on his face as he and the Pit Vipers opened fire. Lucy began crawled away, seconds before gunfire began erupting behind her. The gang members from earlier had caught up with her. Another round hit her in the leg. She welped as she felt it. Lucy managed to find cover behind a breakfast counter.

"Waste that bitch!" Lucy heard one of the Vipers roared.

Lucy felt her side, and grunted when she touched it. She felt her warm blood draining from the wound. She tore off a piece of her tanktop and painfully held it at the wound.

Lucy knew this was the end of the line for her, and although she was going to die, she was going to do her best to take Snake down while doing it. The department was on it's way, and if she couldn't get them on her own, she'd at least buy them enough time to get here.

"Come anf get me, fuckers!" She said before charging out to attack.

Lucy sighted the targets and killed them quickly. When Lucy turned the corner to go after Snake, he wasn't there. Lucy was caught off guard by that. Suddenly she was tackled to the ground. It was Snake. He and the other vipers must have gone around her while she was behind the counter.

The two fought for control of the gun in her hands. Lucy's hands were still tied together, so she had less control. Snake managed to rip the gun away, and beat her with it. He pinned her down before pointing the gun at her head.

"Bye-Bye pig." Snake said with an evil grin. Lucy closed her eyes tightly.

Just as he was about to pull the trigger, an explosion went off. Smoke filled the air and debris flew in all directions. The energy of it forced Snake off of her, and drove the others gang members back. All was quiet for a couple of seconds. The dust settled and Lucy saw the aftermath. The blast had taken out the lights in the room and there was a hole in the wall beside her. Lucy saw blood, but it wasn't hers. One of the Pit Vipers behind Snake had been hit.

"Wha' tha fuck waz 'at?" One of the Pit Vipers asked fearfully.

"Ey yo, Ricky! He'z dead, man!" Cobra Hoody told them.

"F'get about 'em, get he-!" Snake said, when they hear a faint crashing sound. The vipers swung their weapons around, they couldn't tell what it was they'd just heard or where it was coming from.

Lucy felt a sharp tingle run down her spine. It's here!

"Wha' tha fuck iz goin' on, man?" The guy didn't receive an answer as the wall beside him came down a second after, crushing him. An invisible form appeared in front of them as the wall came down.

"Nightmare." Lucy shuddered as she saw the monster.

The creature stood over her. It turned sharply to face her. It's red eyes glowed when it saw her. "M-M-Mommy... Daddy..." It said in recognition.

The creature brought it's arm up. Lucy heard a metallic slice as it did so. Before the monster could bring its metal claws down on her, one of the vipers shot at the creature. The bullets bounced off it harmlessly. The monster responded by smacking him to the ground. The creature then picked him up before driving its claws into the guy's torso.

Two of the Pit Vipers responded by shooting at the thing. Lucy saw something on the camouflaged monster's shoulder swivel. She heard a buzzing noise as three little red lasers formed a triangular pattern on one of them. In a moment of realization, Lucy remembered what the thing on the creature's shoulder was. The shoulder cannon erupted with a powerful zapping sound. The plasma projectile tore through the first guys chest cavity and through the wall behind him.

Before the guy beside him could react, something enveloped him, pinning him to the wall. It was a net projectile. The net begaan to tighten around the viper. He tried pushing back with his rifle but the net began breaking through it. Snake and the remainder of his gang stood there long enough to watch the net cut into his skin before running. The guy called out forr help but his cries went unanswered.

Lucy saw it too. She also noticed the monster was distracted as it watched its prey struggle helplessly. She took that opportunity to grab an AR-15 one of the Pit Vipers had dropped and began shootoing at the behemoth in front of her. The bullets bounced off ineffectively, but then something hit. The creature grunted as green ooze billowed from the fresh wound. That had gotten its attention.

The monster turned and laughed. Lucy got up and ran away. As she did so she heard the buzzing sound of the shoulder cannon's targeting system. She dove to the side as the blast came. The resulting explosion sent her flying. Lucy hit her head on the wall hard. The last thing she heard befroe blacking out was the sound of Nightmare's laugh.