There was movement at the Lexington estate in the early hours of the morning.. Everyone seemed to be in a tizzy. The HELLSING intelligence officers had been reporting on the activity for quite a while, but then, the radio fell dead. They were quiet for a minute before picking back up.
"Oh, things have quieted down again." Johnathan said, putting on the now deceased officers' headset while he imitated the man's voice. He had moved so fast. The first officer to go down never even realised he was there, while the other only had a second of realisation before having his neck snapped as a rather wry smile, he gave his compatriots the signal before they started to move again. "False alarm. One of their animals got in the house. Looks like a dog."
Everyone else started loading the vehicles- soldiers, maids, weaponsmiths- everyone. The soldiers that were delegated to the task of claiming Gehenna donned their gear and took hold of their arms, taking a moment of rest only to hug their friends and loved ones goodbye. Then, they stepped into their designated vehicles and began to ride. They would meet up with operatives waiting elsewhere when they arrived. Those that had already been reached out to in Gehenna waited as well.
No one else knew that anything was amiss. Johnathan kept up the charade until it was too late. Abhartach's forces had reached the gates of Gehenna.
Now, security had increased since Baldassare's death, with an entire squad of soldiers out front instead of just two. There were also the few soldiers who had arrived in anticipation of the battle, but they weren't ready. They were anticipating things to take place days later, so they weren't anticipating the assault. When they saw the first truck, they didn't know what to make of it right away. It was covered in metal- armoured, with only a small gap for the driver to see through the windshield with. The women in the hot seat's hearts pounded in fear and anticipation as they lined up the vehicle. Just as the soldiers got the wits about them to pull out their guns and begin firing, the driver stomped on the gas pedal. The tires squealed as they struggled to gain traction at first before launching them forward.
Bullets bounced off the metal plating while a lucky shot or two hit the gap and shattered the windshield, forcing the two Philosophers to drive blindly as the bodies of soldiers struck and bounced off their vehicle. Some found their way under the tires while most of them were able to jump out of the way. They did what they needed to do and took down the Southern gate, creating an opening for their compatriots to file into.
Some of the soldiers who were left standing began firing again in hopes of taking out the two in the vehicle, while others looked out for more. Within moments, HELLSING was contacted and first word of the invasion reached headquarters. It wouldn't do those men and women much good, however. It would take a while for help to arrive, but they didn't have that much time to spare.
The two women in the truck moved it to the side of the road, parking it on the sidewalk before getting out and beginning to fire back with their own weapons, using the vehicle as cover. Larger trucks soon followed after them, filled with soldiers. Several of them got through the gate before the HELLSING soldiers found themselves surrounded on both sides. They didn't last much longer and soon, the last one fell. The Southern gate to Gehenna had been claimed by Abhartach's forces.
They began piling out of the trucks before splitting up, going through the town to take out any HELLSING soldiers they could find. Citizens heard the gunshots from the gate and began closing up their homes, locking them tightly, but the doors were kicked in by the physically stronger Philosophers and the buildings were searched. The families were harassed and forced out to kneel in the streets with their hands on their heads so that they wouldn't cause any trouble. Calls to the police were so numerous that they clogged up the lines and the station had to give up on answering them all. Finally, word came in from HELLSING on the radio.
"Chief! Incoming message from HELLSING!" one of the officers barked out, catching Chief Sybil's attention. Hastily, the elf made her way over and took the device in her hand.
"This is the GPD Chief, Tegwen Sybil. What is the situation?" the woman demanded, in an unusually authoritative tone. She looked very serious and it was no wonder. Even without the phones going haywire, she could feel it in her bones that something bad was about to happen.
"HELLSING Dispatch to GPD: Heavily armed supernatural hostiles have broken through the Southern gate." said the voice on the radio. "You are hereby authorised to use lethal force to exterminate them. Armoury access is approved until further notice. All HELLSING operatives are on high alert. Those stationed throughout the city are now heading to your location to provide assistance. Please have an officer on radio standby to receive further information and instruction."
It was loud enough for the other officers in the room to hear it. All of them were dead silent, even Tegwen. All she could do was stand there in shock for a few moments as she let that sink in. Swallowing, she hit the button to reply.
"GPD Chief to HELLSING Dispatch..." she said, "We copy, over. Preparing for combat."
With that, she calmly handed the receiver back to the officer she took it from before turning to address the others. "You heard them." the woman began, her voice calm, but firm. "Forget the phones. I want people on the radio to listen for HELLSING. As for every other officer, I want them armed and ready to fight. This is our worst-case scenario, ladies and gentlemen. I want everyone to keep their heads on, though. We won't win this by screaming and crying. Move."
With that, the other officers began heading toward the armoury, spreading the word throughout the building in the process. As for the Chief herself, she picked up the nearest phone and began dialing. After moment or so of listening to it ring, it picked up and she began to talk.
"Kyung-Soon," Tegwen began, "We have a major problem. I'm going to need Girasol's help..."
Minutes later, the gunshots were growing louder as the Philosiphers were approaching Main Street, showing Kyung-Soon that she arrived just in the nick of time. It wouldn't be long before they would reach Macken Street, so she needed to act fast. With her band of goons, she approached the right building and began frantically banging on the door. In a loud, booming voice, she shouted: "Girasol! Open up! We're here to save your ass!"
The vampires with her were armed and were making no secret of it. They carefully scanned the area, making sure that nothing was sneaking up on them. After a while, Kyung-Soon pounded her fist against the door again. "Open up!" Just as she yelled again, however, the door opened and a large box was shoved into her arms.
"I heard the shots!" Samantha said. "Take these! They're Baldassare's!" Before Kyung-Soon could protest, the Westley girl ran back upstairs to her apartment, forcing the vampires to wait on her. Shoving the box into the arms of one of her underlings, the vampiress furrowed her brow and snarled as she ascended the steps.
"What the fuck are you doing, you crazy bitch?! There's people shooting outside and they're gonna kill anybody associated with HELLSING they can find! This isn't the fucking time for this!"
"These are the people who killed Baldassare!" Samantha declared, picking up another box and shoving it Kyung-Soon's way. It was filled to the brim with manuscripts and novels and weighed a ton. Samantha was only able to carry it from the adrenaline in her system. "If they find them, they'll burn them and they'll be lost forever!"
With that realisation, the Girasol vampire raised her brows. "I thought you were going to put them in a safety deposit box in london?!"
"I did! Most of them… This is all that's left!" the Westley replied before beginning to push the other woman toward the door. "If we don't take these to your saferoom, they could be lost forever!"
"Wait, how did you know about the saferoom?!" Kyung-Soon gawked. "Nobody should know that!"
"I went to a party at the Phantomhives a few days ago." Samantha said, shutting the door behind them as they left. Rapidly, she continued talking as they ran. "Alois- I mean, Mister Lion told me that there were shelters in various important places in the city, and that there was probably one at Girasol, if he knew Baldassare. I felt like Baldassare would do that, too. He knew you'd come for me if I didn't already make it to one of them."
"What about your brother?"
"The Welfare Center is one of those buildings!"
True to her word, she was correct. Daniel had made it down safely before the commotion on main street reached his office. It wasn't exactly "comfortable," but it was never going to be. He and his coworkers knew what lurked up above them. It didn't matter how well put together the place was. It was well-lit, stocked with enough food for a few weeks and had beds and a bathroom. It also had a generator, a phone, and cellphone chargers so that they could contact the outside. Naturally, Daniel was frantically trying to call his sister, but since she was busy, she couldn't pick up right then, causing his heart to pound so fast in his chest that it felt like it was going to burst.
"You look like you've been running a marathon..." said one of his coworkers, a mister Theodore Ravenscroft.
"I can't get a hold of my sister..." the Westley replied, still holding the device up to his ear. "Good thing you decided to bring your daughter to work today..."
"Yeah…" the warlock said, holding his young child closer. The poor girl was in tears, as any four year old forced into a scary situation would be as she clung to her father.
"I'll see if I can get Kristopherson, next, Helen." Daniel informed the woman who also manned the front desk alongside Mister Ravenscroft. "He and Logan know about the saferoom beneath Andrea's. Logan's a good guy, so he definitely brought your husband with him, I'm sure of it."
"I hope so..." the anxious woman replied. "They've probably reached us by now and they're only down the street… Oh, Jeffery..."
"Fuck!" aggressively hissed the Westley, snarling at his phone. He then looked up at Theodore and his daughter, Ruby, and nervously smiled. "I mean… 'Shoot!'" he corrected before dialing a different number. Within moments, he got an answer.
"Oh, hey, Dan. You're still alive?" answered the voice on the other end.
"That's not funny, Kris!" barked the Westley, finally losing his temper.
"Sorry, sorry. I take it you made it underground?" the wolfman inquired. He was underground in a saferoom of his own, but it wasn't of HELLSING design. It was his own made with his own money, given how common it was for supernatural nonsense to strike at just the wrong time. He was glad he had it, too. It would have cost him a few seconds longer if he had to make it to the Welfare Center and he didn't know if he had the time. With all this talk about invasions at the Phantomhive party, he took the hint and stocked up on everything as soon as he possibly could.
"Yeah. You did, too?"
"Yeah. Me, Logan, my workers, and his workers are all here."
"So is mister Steele there, too?"
"Yeah. He's just fine. He's chillin' over here, unharmed. His wife okay?"
"Yeah. She's fine." Taking the phone away from his ear for a moment, Daniel looked to the woman and gave her a thumbs up, mouthing the words "he's okay." Naturally, the woman gave a massive sigh of relief. "She was worried about him."
"Same with him. He's ecstatic." Kristopherson said.
"Did you get that thing set up with Audrey in time?"
"You bet. Just in time, too! We only got it functional yesterday." the woman stated. He was sitting on the floor with his legs crossed and a laptop in his lap. Staring at the screen, he was watching his shop and the street outside of it through the cameras he had installed ages ago. Recently, however, he adjusted the position of them. "I got a call from Audrey and the feed is heading straight to the Intelligence Department. It's not much, but I'm pretty sure they'll take what they can get."
"How's it looking out there?"
"Bad. They're already going in and out of my shop. Why are they so interested in fabric? For their stupid capes? If they're here, then they're probably there, too, so keep your loud-ass voice down, okay? I'll be really pissed off if you get fucked up and I don't think you want Samantha to be raised by a vampiric gang."
"Even in a life-or-death situation, you still find a way to be a dick..."
"Shhh!" Theodore hushed, prompting the Westley's attention.
"Anyway, keep me posted if anything happens, alright?" Daniel asked in a hushed tone.
"Will do. Same goes for you. Mister Steele wants to know if anything happens to his wife, too."
"Same goes for Missus Steele. Bye." With that, he hung up and both groups were left in complete silence.
Apart from the occasional crashing and rumbling from Kristopherson's videofeed, however. Thank God he had been at that party. Thank God all of them had been. Thank the devils that they formulated a plan just in case! The demons were so confident that they wouldn't get past the HELLSING troops, but they wanted to make sure. Unfortunately, while the information the traitors Philip and Farroel had given them was not inaccurate, it wasn't updated. Thus, they were taken by surprise. While HELLSING was in the process of dropping troops down there, the ones that were already there fought back.
The wolves charged at them and the wolves on their side shot at them. HELLSING and the GPD joined forces, firing as enemy forces advanced as they hid behind bulletproof shields and the corners of buildings. The police were overwhelmed while the soldiers held fast. Tegwen tried to keep her wits, but it was hard when they were being closed in on.
"Who can throw really far?!" she shouted, taking a moment to reload her pistol.
"I can!" spoke up one of the other officers, a vampire who raised their hand.
"Take this, then. Pull the pin and throw it into as big of a crowd as you can." the chief ordered, giving them a wolfsbane grenade. The officer did as they were told and when the grenade went off, it sent to faoladh into a fit, but the vampires and other supernaturals on their side persisted. It was still enough to give them time to change their position. They hid between a few buildings.
"Fuck! Where did they come from?!" one of the officers demanded.
"I don't know, Farthington!" Tegwen shouted back, looking her temper a bit. "Just keep throwing things at them!"
There was no answer from the officer. Not even a "yes ma'am" or "no, ma'am." Nothing. Just silence.
"Farthingt-" the officer was cut off as a different officer behind her screamed, grabbing her attention. She saw the officer who screamed, but she also saw Farthington and why he was so quiet. His head was tossed out from their hiding place and into the street, where it laid and oozed as the blood drained from the officer's cheeks.
Standing over them as they crouched was a woman wearing a cape. They couldn't see her face from the shadow behind the building, but they could clearly see the large, bloodied sword in her hand. Upon witnessing this sight, two of the officers remaining with Tegwen, including the one with the good throwing arm screamed again before starting to run.
"No! Don't run into the street!" she shouted after them, but more gunshots went off and they both went down. She could see where they were shot. One of them was shot in the leg and stayed low to the ground as to not be shot again, but the other one had an obvious puddle forming around their head.
Instantly, the chief of police turned back around to face her foe with a raised pistol just as the faoladh was about to swing. Firing twice, she struck the other woman in the shoulder and chest. One bullet went between the gap of her chestplate while the other bounced off of it, missing her heart, but buying enough time to grab a shield and bark orders to those who were left.
"Grab a shield and follow me!" she said as she ran out into the street with her compatriots, pausing only to pick up the living one that fell and maneuvering him onto her back.
"Let's go!" one of the remaining officers shouted, running past her just as she was able to get up. Once everyone was on the other side, Tegwen took a moment to look back, only to see the faoladh staring after them. It appeared that she thought against pursuing them as she put her sword back into her sheath. Breathing a sigh of relief, Tegwen continued to run, trying to think of a new plan as she went.
Her attacker, however, already had other ideas in mind. Staring up at the building beside her, the woman's arms grew hairier as her fingernails enlongated into fearsome claws. With a grunt, she leapt high into the air, clearing an entire story of the building before latching onto the side of it. She moved quickly as to not lose momentum and scaled the building before landing on the roof with her heavy boots. From there, she took a running start and jumped the gap to the next building. From there, she kept running and running until she spotted the next gap. There, she stopped for just a moment.
The soldiers down below weren't oblivious. They were checking all of their sides, but they weren't looking up. Thus, when Claire pulled out the pistol on her other hip and aimed it, they didn't notice they were already full of holes. Quietly, coldly, she carried on as if their lives meant nothing. Then again, they did the same thing to her forces as well. Neither of them saw the other as having lives that were worth anything. They weren't people, they were just obstacles. They needed to be overtaken as quickly and efficiently as possible.
After that, she reloaded the weapon before putting it back in its place and moving on. Both HELLSING and the GPD were getting overwhelmed very quickly. Although the invaders fought with swords and cheaply made close range weapons that were homemade, they also had a mix of the same quality of weapons that HELLSING itself used, supplied by none other than Johnathan Beattie. Help needed to arrive fast if they were going to win the day. Already, however, things seemed rather bleak.
"Stop cryin'!" one of the Philosiphers shouted at one of the captured police officers. They had a group of them rounded up, laying in the street on their stomach with their hands on their heads.
"You're lucky you're not HELLSING!" one of the other soldiers added as she began digging through the pouches of a fallen enemy. "They would've been killed and stripped of everything useful."
"Yeah… You'd think they'd have a bit of gratitude! We free them from the humans and they cry about it! God give us strength..."
"You're not freeing us and we don't want freeing in the first place!" one of the captive officers snapped. "You're shooting at our friends and families!"
The poor man let out a loud "oof" as the Philosopher's boot came down on his back. "They gave you a pretty cushy job, huh?" she asked. "They give you a little authority and you lick their boots? Lick mine while you're down there..."
"Shh! Shut up! It's the boss!" the other one hushed, prompting her attention. The pair of them stood up straight at attention as a man with greying hair and a long cape strolled through. His hand was resting on the handle of the sword on his waist as he strolled through the group.
Lazily, his eyes examined the area. "What is the status of the police station?" he inquired.
"We've taken it as ours, Lord Feargus." one of them dutifully informed. "We've cut off their contact with the outside and taken their supplies. These are the ones that were left inside to keep contact."
"Any sign of anyone in charge?" he questioned.
"No, sir. These all appear to be flunkies."
With a growl, the man beneath the soldier's boot bared his teeth. "You'll never get a hold of her!" he declared. "She's the best we've got! As long as people like her stand, so will Gehenna!"
"Saoirse, step to the side for a moment." instructed the head of the Whelan clan, prompting his underling to do as she was told. When she did, the policeman coughed and began to hoist himself up as he heard the sound of a blade being unsheathed behind him. The next thing he knew, he felt a sharp pain in his back that went all the way through to his chest and he had fallen into a growing pool of warm, red, liquid. His coworker began to sob harder, but tried her best to be silent as he suddenly grew colder.
Pulling his blade out of the fallen policeman, Feargus swung it in order to shake off some of the blood before putting it back in its sheath. "If I leave the battlefield with no blood on my sword, his majesty will kill me..." he muttered. "Though why he sent me in the first place, I'll never know..."
Turning, he frowned deeply as he examined the streets. Lions. Lions everywhere. It disgusted him how proud they were and how they littered the place with their symbols. Then, he gaze fell onto his own soldiers.
"There is a flag hanging on a pole on the police station over there." he pointed out. "Burn it and any flag like it. Replace that one with our own. Gehenna belongs to King Abhartach, now. There's no longer any need for those ugly things."
"Yes, sir!" one of the women said before running off toward the station. As she did so, the man shook his head.
"A lion..." he scoffed. "How could such a lowly people use a symbol like that?"
Lions were a symbol of courage and valor, strength and nobility- how the king of beasts could be used to represent such a weak group of people that fell to the slightest inconvenience? The reason why had already been informed of the situation and was en route to rectifying it. Although the name started as a playful attempt at a codename due to the fact that the boy he once was allegedly resembled a small lion cub, historically, "The Lion" was an epithet given to exceptionally brave, noble, and ferocious warriors. Jim Phantomhive was more than deserving of that moniker and he was absolutely furious.
Gehenna was his crowning achievement. He created a peaceful world for those who had nothing and nowhere to go. He brought down the amount of supernatural attacks in one fell swoop in the construction of this place, but more importantly, those people were safe and happy. Now it was being trampled on and that was something he could not allow. He knew the horrors that they were undoubtedly going through. He knew that many of them would die and would see people they care about die. Their homes may be destroyed and he failed to stop it. He failed. It was his duty to protect them and he failed. His accomplishments- all the good that he had done in the world felt like it was all going up in smoke. He wasn't good enough to save them and it felt like it was his own fault for even trying.
He had to try harder, though. As tempting as it was to wallow in his grief, duty came before that. He might not be able to save everyone, but he knew that he could save a few.
"We've just got a call on the radio." Lieutenant Chu informed. "Chief Sybil has made it to the Girasol saferoom."
"Good. If they find her, they'll kill her. As much as I would love to have her on the field right now, it won't do us any good until we get backup down there." the blonde said, his expression dead serious.
"Help is already outside the Southern gate."
"Hmmmm…" Jim thought for a moment, trying to consider what to do. "It won't do any good if it's just from the one side..."
"If we could attack on all sides, that would be ideal." his spouse added, pointing at the map. "The more we can reduce the possibility that they can circle around behind us, the better."
"True, but if we do that, more civilians will be caught in the crossfire."
"They already are, Jim."
"There has to be a way to do both..."
"Sometimes, you can't do both..." Ciel stated. "Jim, if we don't act now, they will completely take over the city!"
"I know! But if they're dead, there is no city!"
"Our forces within the city are about to be wiped out." Audrey said, rushing in with his company tablet. "The drones we've got out there on surveillance have spotted supernaturals wearing capes resembling the ones worn by the staff of the Gardening Center advancing past our forces."
"They're circling around..." Ciel pointed out. "They're going to swarm us!"
Jim's mind was racing. They were too slow! There's no way that he or any of the supernaturals down at the base would be able to get there in time to make any impact, but if they somehow did, it would only prolong the battle. Clenching his fists, he looked down at the table he was leaning on. They were too late. At this rate, their forces within the walls would fall. There was no way around it.
"Tell them to retreat to the nearest saferoom." he instructed. "Tell them to conserve as many supplies as possible. Nobody eats a stale Digestive without thinking about it first, got it?"
"Alois, what the fuck are you thinking?" Audrey demanded. "C'mon! Come up with a way to kick their ass!"
"I am! We can't win this fight with the situation at hand!" Alois barked back. "We need to regroup! Stay in contact with both them and the other saferooms, but especially Girasol. We're gonna need all the help on the inside we can find."
"Jim…" Ciel began, "You don't mean..."
"A resistance." the blonde concluded for him. "That's exactly what I'm thinking off. We've gotta be smart about this. As much as I wanna go in there and bash the brains into the motherfuckers, I don't wanna kill anybody else. You've got experience with this, don't you? So put that brain of yours to good use and help me come up with how to use what we have!"
Raising his eyebrows, the bluenette was genuinely surprised at that. He knew he should have expected it though. Alois was a man of many abilities. He was flexible and able to take hold of the situation with the tools he had no matter how grim it was. He knew he could win this. After all, he had pulled off more impossible feats before. That's how they both got there in the first place. This is how the man shined the most brilliantly. He was both tenacious and tactful. He could win even after it appeared as though he had soundly lost. Loss of a home did not stop him, loss of a family did not stop him, loss of his dignity and personhood did not stop him. Not even the loss of his life and his body did not stop him. This was a frustrating setback, but he had the tools to win already in place. He would have his people hide for now, but from the shadows, they would destroy the invaders before they even knew what hit them.
Although he was stubborn and had a tendency to seldom give up when his heart was set on something, Alois wasn't an idiot. He wasn't giving up. He was strategising. A lesser leader of men would have seen retreat as failure or weakness rather than for what it really was: a strategy. Alois would persist, but when he had rearranged things. At this point in time, he realised that brute force wasn't what was going to bring the group down.
"We wait." he said. "We can't beat them with the way we're doing things now. It's time to regroup. I suggest we wait and hit specific targets in order to weaken them, rather than trying to take all of them out at once."
"Right..." Ciel replied, thinking to himself. "Ordinarily, there is an order to things. When taking out a group of enemy troops, one kills whoever is in charge of communications so that they can't call for help, then we take out their leader so they're disorganised and don't know what to do. After that, it's simply down the chain of command, but since I doubt these are experienced troops, we might not have to go far..."
"Why do you think they're inexperienced?" the blonde questioned, prompting his beau to point at the tablet in Audrey's hands.
"The way they're circling around…" replied the Watchdog. "They're splitting up. While you and I are used to being able to split up and covertly take out enemies, they're being far too brazen about this. It's like they think that they're invincible. If we try, we should be able to outsmart them."
"Let's start talking to Girasol." Alois suggested. "They're supernatural, so if the rest of the information that those two traitors gave us is correct, they should be able to get in closer than our agents."
"How do we know their information is reliable at all?"
"I read up on Abhartach. The stories, anyway… Legend has it that he was a bloodthirsty chieftain that was cruel to everybody, including his own people. They were so sick of it, that they went to a neighbouring tribe to get somebody to kill his ass, and they did. He was betrayed by his own..."
"The Vampire of Derry..." noted the bluenette.
"Exactly. In some stories, he's a revenant, and Philip says he's a revenant, so that seems true. Point is, though, if I were Abhartach and I was betrayed like that, I'd make sure it didn't happen again. Since Philip was adamant that he would die if he went back, I suspect I'm right, and if I am, since Abhartach was also a warmonger, I'd say he took that into account and changed the date on us." theorised the menace. "He's also the type to come back and ask for bowls of his betrayers' blood, so what does that tell you about how petty this guy is?"
"Alois, you're scary..." Audrey said, butting into the conversation.
"No," the demon replied, "I'm pissed off."
With that, they got to work. Although they gave the order to retreat, they didn't have a moment to spare for sitting around and twiddling their thumbs. They went straight to business, staying in contact with those they have in bunkers below the city and formulating a plan. Gehenna was hurting and was severely weakened. It had been beaten by the bad guys for now, but it had not succumbed to them. They were still fighting, even if the Philosophers could not see them. They were still fighting, even as their invaders celebrated their victory.
In the town square, a good portion of the invaders gathered as the sun began to set, illuminating the back of Feargus' head as he stood on top of the fountain in the center. The Philosophers smiled while the citizens of Gehenna frowned with a look of absolute defeat on their faces. They could not believe that this had happened. The cheers of their captors were drowned out to them, sounding like a low hum as their minds struggled to come to terms with it. All the while, Feargus addressed the crowd.
"Philosophers, Gehennans, the sun sets on today with us as the victors over the HELLSING scum that plagued this city!" he declared. His voice boomed as he raised his arms triumphantly. "Fear of the unknown may grip you today, but tomorrow, all will become clearer. We do not wish for your extermination, nor for the extermination of your culture. We do not wish for your pain and your suffering. We wish to have you by our side as our brothers and our sisters in order to usher in a new era: The dawn of the era of the supernatural! No longer, will we hide in the shadows. No longer will we take the orders of humans and be tucked away from the rest of society. We will walk freely into the world with our heads held high, wearing our true faces!"
Gritting his teeth, the Philosophers cheered as they grew sharper and his bones and his muscles began to break and reform. Hair grew all over his body and his ears became pointed. He stood before the crowd as a man-wolf, with his previously loose-fitting clothes now fitting him perfectly and the colour of his fur patchy. It was white in some places and dark in others as he lost his natural hue.
"We will recreate the world in our image- not in the image of humankind! It will be our rules, our conventions, our customs and ways! Our King, the mighty and clever Abhartach of Derry has us on the path to victory!" he continued, his voice now deeper. "All of the pieces are in place. We will claim what is ours at will and we give you, our fellow supernatural beings, the chance to be a part of it and take your destiny in your own hands! If you believe in this world as I do- If you believe in paradise, step forward and join us! Our arms are open to you! Make your choice: victory, or tyranny."
Naturally, Abhartach and Feargus knew that this speech would not capture the hearts and minds of everyone. It was catered to a few. In particular, those who were impressionable or simply hadn't found their place in Gehennan society just yet. Those who came to Gehenna hoping for one thing and realising that it was not to be were also eager targets. If Gehenna could not provide the fantasy that they sought after, Ahbartach would promise it to them. Whether or not he actually delivered, however, was "questionable" at best. If this wasn't enough to fill out their ranks, they would drum up some involuntary volunteers and put them on the front lines. They knew it when Feargus gave this speech and a good portion of Gehennans realised this too.
From the crowd, people raised their hands and shouted out, just as expected. "I'll join you!" "We'll join you!" All expecting different things, of course. Their vision of the world was probably very different from Abhartach's. It was like it was a game to them. They hadn't been in Gehenna long enough to understand that this was paradise for most supernaturals that lived there and that the thought of changing it was a living nightmare. Many of them still thought the "supernatural" thing was still not anything to take seriously, now that they were supernaturals. They, too, like many Philosophers, felt invincible.
"Mystic Moon Pack will join you!"
"The Black Blood Soceity will, too!"
"Noctus Dementia will join you!"
They were often young. They were often new. They were the small babes of supernatural society and often did not yet understand that movies were not the same as reality and that werewolves did not typically come in packs and that covens were serious organisations that were in reality, not a social club. Girasol was not there. Girasol stood with Gehenna always, as it was the thing that their founder loved above all else as if it were his own child. They would try to protect Gehenne until the bitter end and as these groups called their names out, people knew it. They were lurking somewhere, now waiting to strike.
"I'll join!" shouted Brittany, one of the most recent faces admitted to Gehenna after being stamped with the seal of The Lion himself, while raising her hand. If other citizens knew about that seal, they would have wanted to stone her to death. Their attention was captured elsewhere, however, as a name came up amongst the crowd that was unlike all of the others before it.
"The New Scarlet Order joins you!" shouted one voice from the crowd, causing heads to turn. The Philosiphers did not know the significance of that name, but everyone else did. They stared venomously at the group before them, trying to kill them with their eyes.
They were a young bunch, like the others before them, but they seemed a lot rougher. Quite a few people recognised them as youths who had been causing trouble around town since they arrived. Suddenly, it became clear who was spray painting the insignia of the Scarlet Order on things. They seemed pleased with themselves- proud, even. They smiled as the world of those around them continued to crumble.
With their addition, however, things only seemed to get worse. Older people were starting to volunteer, now. People who were either too afraid to join Preston when the Scarlet Order was formed or were once members and were still quietly loyal to the cause upon surrendering. It was their second chance. Some joined because they were afraid of what would happen if they didn't. Most remained silent, however, choosing to side with Gehenna.
"We welcome you to the cause." Feargus declared. "The invitation still stands to those who are currently afraid to speak your minds. Stand with us and we will not fail you like the Lion has failed you! We will rise up and tomorrow will be grand! Glory to King Abhartach!"
The voices of the traitors blended with the voices of the invaders to the point where they were indistinguishable. They were not Gehennan. They were savages who wanted nothing more than to fulfill their own selfish desires. That was the nature of war. They understood that just by watching them squeal and holler like rabid animals. The bloodshed would not benefit anyone on the bottom. Only those at the top were safe from harm.
"Glory to King Abhartach!"
A/N: Oof... Well... That happened...
Glory to King Abhartach, I suppose? I can't think of anything to say...
It's a sad day in Gehenna...
Until the next chapter, my duckies...
