What Feels Like An Eternity Ago…

Walking through the renovated and rejuvenated Hackerspace, Sitara looked around in a mixture of concern, annoyance, and confusion. This had become one of 'those days' where there was clearly an issue, but Wrench wouldn't talk about it, Ray slept through it, Josh didn't understand it, and Marcus was too busy trying to resolve it to tell her what happened, clearly feeling like he could handle this on his own. But, that still left one member of Dedsec unaccounted for…

"Kace?" Sitara called out, only to be met with silence as the immediate – and only – response. She frowned, knowing that the small boy they had taken in was most likely, no, not most likely, he was the root of the problem, and since Marcus wasn't talking to him right now, that meant he was hiding… something he was really, really good at when he wanted to be. Aside from being small (Sitara estimated he was around eight or nine years old, and he didn't seem to know himself…) if there was one thing he had already picked up from T-Bone and Marcus, it was how to be discreet when one needed to be. On the one hand, if for some reason, he ever had to try and make it on his own, then this would probably serve him great, allowing him to move about without being seen, finding his own way to survive, taking what he was being taught and carving a whole new life for himself… it didn't sound too impossible. But, on the other (and more important) hand, this also meant he was a little boy who could run away from a situation when talking things out was the preferred, nay, better solution, but since he was afraid, his instincts for flight or fight kicked in, and he flew off, and was now impossible to find.

"What did my idiots do this time…?" She couldn't help but mutter to herself. She had already caught Wrench showing Kace what explosives were – which went about as well as you'd expect, Kace nearly killing himself, Ray and Wrench when he dropped a pipe bomb by accident – Ray continued to be his completely 'unfiltered' self, Marcus… was Marcus, and was honestly just really nice to the kid, really, the only person who didn't seem to get along with Kace was Josh.

Granted, it wasn't because of anything either had done. Sorta.

Well… okay, that was complicated.

Oddly, Josh had been the first one Kace approached after settling into his new home. Sitara reasoned it was because he was quiet, but she wasn't sure. Kace always seemed to just sit and watch Josh work, which wasn't an issue with the hacker, so long as Kace was quiet. But, Kace began asking Josh to play games, or was simply asking what Josh was doing. If this was anyone else, that wouldn't be a problem… but with Josh, well, it was an issue. Not because Josh was mean or anything, but it was hard to explain certain topics to someone as little an inexperienced as Kace was, but, they also needed to get work done, and Josh was always an all-or-nothing kinda worker.

She didn't know what had happened, but apparently something had happened between Kace and Josh. For about two weeks Josh wouldn't even look at Kace… and then… well, they found common ground and-

The rattling of a shelf caught Sitara's attention, and the hoodie-clad hacker turned and entered a mostly unused room in the new Hackerspace. There were ideas for what they should do with this room, but none of them were unanimously agreed on. The ideas ranged from arcade, to bar, to 'runway for shows', to server room. Admittedly, Sitara wanted to use it for her art, but that was something to consider later.

(Seriously. What happened?) She texted to the group chat, deciding to wait a minute before checking to see if Kace was hiding in there. She waited… and got no response. (Guys. What happened?)

(Somethin happened?) Came T-Bone's reply after a minute. (What?)

(IDK. Ray. Trying 2 find out.) Sitara replied. (Have U seen Kace?)

(No.)

(Me neither.)

Faintly, Sitara swore she could hear T-Bone yelling for Josh, Marcus or Wrench to tell him what he had slept through this time, and Sitara decided to get back to finding Kace. She looked around the room, but it was clear no one was in here. That, or Kace was beginning to gaslight her. Sighing, she left, and moved onto the next place she figured Kace might hide, the kitchen. More than once, she had found the small boy hiding in the pantry, buried under the absurd number of bags of chips which Wrench and Marcus had. According to Josh's calculations, for every opened bag of chips, there were seven or eight unopened ones. And seeing as how they had roughly eleven open bags at the moment… yeah, there were a lotta chips. She wandered around the kitchen, checking in a few locations, only to find nothing. But, she did have an idea… grabbing a bag of cookies, she kept walking, hating herself for doing so, but she shook the bag like one would shake a bag of dog treats to try and entice a pet to come to them. She thought it was funny, but hated doing it, as Kace was a boy, not a pet. Despite how he was treated sometimes…

She kept shaking the bag as she walked, feeling almost embarrassed for doing so, but she wasn't sure what else to do. Honestly, she hadn't been certain if she should let Kace stay here, really. This wasn't exactly the safest place for a child. But, on the other hand, they had found him in an alley, near death, and he was somehow healing from wounds which should've killed a full-grown man. Something which still concerned Sitara. The human body couldn't do that, ever. So, he was clearly some sort of mutant, or living experiment. That ran the risk of some sort of government organization like Overwatch being behind him, and eventually they'd be hunted down for 'stealing' their property.

"He's not property, don't you DARE call him that!" Sitara suddenly snapped at herself, shaking her head. She wasn't sure why she was so angry with- okay, no. She knew, she knew all too well. Dedsec had recently been partially responsible for exposing a known predator, who apparently had connections to some sort of human trafficking ring. Unfortunately, he was found stabbed several dozen times with his tongue ripped out and both eyes gouged out in his prison cell, so any further leads he could've given them (or the police) were gone. Still, Dedsec had decided that was enough for them, as Sitara wasn't sure how much further they could go before essentially delving into an all-out gang war… still, Sitara wanted to help, and would do anything she could, but right now, she needed to focus on-

Rattle

Something moved, and Sitara stopped, looking around. She saw a can of Mountain Dew roll across the floor, and the hacker had a sneaking suspicion she knew where Kace was. Entering her room, she noticed that a shelf she had against a wall was moved in front of a corner. It was both adorable (as Sitara knew Kace would assume no one would notice that drastic change in location, as this was his attempt at being 'stealthy'.) and somewhat concerning, as Kace only did this when he was genuinely upset.

"Kace?" Sitara blinked, pulling away a shelf which had been moved in front of a corner. "Kace, what's wrong?" She looked down and felt her heart sink at the sight of Kace, curled up and quietly crying into his knees, trying to remain hidden from everyone. "Aww, what's wrong?"

"I-I-I-I was trying t-t-to help." Kace weakly stammered out, clearly afraid of however Sitara was going to react. "B-b-but it all went wrong. It's all my f-fault!" From the way he pulled himself back, it appeared as if Kace expected he was going to be struck. Sitara didn't know what had led Kace to reacting with such terror, but it always unsettled her.

"Hey, no… I mean-" Sitara began, but realized she had no idea what had happened, so she had no idea on what to say or do. But, she could also tell that simply holding him close was enough to seemingly soothe his nerves. So, with a smile, Sitara settled down in the corner of the room, setting Kace on her lap.

"Okay, so. How about we start at the beginning?" She said, kindly. "What happened?"

And so, Kace did.

Sitara wasn't sure what to expect, but she hadn't been expecting… that.

She wasn't sure if she should be horrified, or find it hilarious… but, there was one thing she wanted to reassure the small boy she was holding onto.

"I promise. If you ever do something stupid, I'll listen to why." Sitara said, trying her best not to laugh. Kace was clearly emotionally distressed right now, so laughing… may not be the best thing she could do. Instead, she pulled him onto her lap and wrapped her arms around him. Letting the tiny boy practically melt into her embrace, surrounded by warmth and a sense of protection.


"Oh… holy… holy shit." Mad Dawg stammered, horrified at what he saw before him. Charlie whirled around, and didn't speak for a few moments, as if trying to decide what she was going to do next. There was such passion and excitement in her voice, in her eyes… and all of that was gone. She looked like she had been betrayed by everyone she ever cared for, and while Dawg knew it wasn't true (Vaggie was still by her side) he knew he had betrayed her, at least in a small part.

"You have done well, child." Delilah smiled.

"No!" Mad Dawg shouted, whirling around on Delilah. "I- I- I WOULDN'T! THIS WASN'T ME! I was going to stay in hell! I'd never destroy the hotel, I'd-"

"Child, don't lie." Delilah shook her head. "You had the tools, the means, the reason. It was part of our deal, you remove the hotel, and I would be able to take you to heaven. You have done a great service, little one, and-"

"BULLSHIT!" Mad Dawg roared, shoving Delilah off of him in a fit of pure fury. He spoke with such venom and toxicity that those present were taken aback. It seemed like something else was taking hold of him… Mad Dawg growled, biting into his lip before shaking his head, looking back up. "I-I-I-"

"It's… gone…" Charlie whispered, tears filling her eyes once more as she looked at the smoldering wreckage of her dream. The building still seemed to be caving in, chunks of his snapping off and falling to the ground below, shattering upon impact when they hit the ground.

"GO!" Charlie screamed, anger and tears mixing on her face. "THIS IS YOUR FAULT!"

"Charlie… I… I'm so…"

"I DON'T CARE! THIS WAS MY ONE CHANCE TO HELP THOSE HERE! AND BECAUSE OF YOU, IT'S GONE NOW! JUST! GO!"

"I-I-I-I never…this wasn't…"

"Kid, it's time for you to go." Husk said solemnly, both disappointed that all his booze was gone, but also angered at the loss of the place he kinda, sorta liked. He didn't believe in 'redemption' the way Charlie did, but it was clear this was her dream, this was her… everything! And Mad Dawg had just gone an destroyed it. Mad Dawg didn't say another word, he didn't even look to the other demons, he just turned and fled into hell.

"He- he- he couldn't! He wasn't like the other men…" Nifty mumbled, looking from the remains of the hotel to where Mad Dawg had run off too. This made no sense! She had seen Mad Dawg since he got here, she had been by his bedside on more than one occasion (something it occurred to her now, Dawg may not have known about, but considering how bad the nightmares had clearly been, she just wanted to help…)

"He was the only one here." Alastor remarked, eerily quiet. "He had the perfect motivation… if that wretch from God's hive told him he had to destroy this place to earn his salvation… don't you think he'd take such a tempting offer?"

Charlie's breath hitched, and then… she felt anger. Nothing but hot, burning anger. Before anyone could stop her, she had taken off in her demonic form after Mad Dawg, a burning trail of hellfire left behind her.


Delilah stared with a blank expression at the scene before her, feeling, anger, disappointment, and resentment. She shook her head to clear it, and looked behind her as a small company of other angels, disguised as to keep their true natures a secret, appeared and saluted.

"Thank you for coming." She nodded curtly.

"Miss Delilah? What's wrong?" One of the younger Angels asked.

"Gregory, tell the others that the ARC Program will activate. Authorization Code, 03-23-99, Under the Authority of Delilah, and the All Father."

"Wh…what?"

"These… monsters are keeping one of God's children here against his will. If he is not found in three days, we will give them the ultimatum to release him." Delilah said, coldly.

"An- and if they don't?" The younger angel asked, timidly.

"Then by the laws set forth by the father, we will purge every last demon we need until we find him." Delilah said, matter-of-factly. "And then, he too, will DIE."


"I TRUSTED YOU! AND YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME!"

Another explosion sent Mad Dawg skidding along the ground. Frantically, he pulled himself up and took off running again. He couldn't look back, both because he didn't want to see how close Charlie was, and because he couldn't look her in the eyes. Not after this.

He could feel the fires crawling after him, and all he could do was try and outrun them.

"baCK tO basIcs, EH bETA? jusT LiKE WIth OVerwATCh, iN NUmBaNi!" Virus spoke up, appearing alongside Mad Dawg as he ran. "SOONeR OR latEr, You'lL lOse everYoNe YoU cARE FOR! AnYoNe YoU cArE FoR, yoU'll ENd uP hUrting! yOu'rE NothiNG bUT a mOnsTer! AnD mOnstErS shOulD Be KILLED!"

"I've… spent my… whole life… fighting… monsters!" Mad Dawg retorted, knowing what Virus was trying to do, and refusing to let him get away with it. But the issue was, he wasn't sure what he could say or do to stop him…

"You know I'm right!" Virus shouted, his voice sounding different now, as if the mechanical filter was gone.

Jumping onto a billboard, Mad Dawg launched himself off of it as a blast of fire incinerated half of it, he landed on another one across the street, and launched himself off of it and onto a rooftop. From the sounds of crackling fire and moving air, he knew Charlie was still after him. Truth be told, Mad Dawg wasn't sure how he was gonna ditch her.

Head to another ring of hell? Mad Dawg wasn't sure how to do that, and more importantly, if he could. He had heard that some demons couldn't go between rings… and he figured if any demon could, it'd be Charlie.

So… there was only one thing he could do. It was stupid, reckless and downright idiotic, but he figured what the heck.

"CHARLIE! WAIT!" Mad Dawg suddenly shouted, stopping dead in his tracks, whirling around, and holding his hands up. To his surprise, Charlie was surprised by this and forced herself to stop, but the heart break and anger on his face was still clear.

"What?" Charlie demanded as she floated above Mad Dawg. By now, a number of demons had appeared, all wondering why the Princess of Heck was chasing after… whoever she was chasing after. Notably, the news was there… great…

"Look- I- I- know this looks bad!" Mad Dawg sputtered to get out. "And- and the truth is, I was told I had to either destroy the hotel, or stay in hell!"

"WHY?!"

"Well-" Mad Dawg began to speak, trying to figure out what was the right thing to say here? Did he tell her about what Delilah and her dad had shown him down below? Would she believe him? And if he did tell her, how would she react? "…damn it, there's no easy way to explain this! I just- I thought I was doing the right thing. But I was wrong… but I made a choice! I chose to stay in hell! I wasn't gonna destroy the hotel, you have to believe me!"

The next thing Dawg knew, Charlie had grabbed him by the throat, her demonic claws digging into his windpipe.

"I believed you when you were hurt." She snarled. "I believed you when you claimed you were from another world. I believed you when you said you were an unjudged! But now, with those I care for hurt, and my hopes of helping those down here in literal ruins, you DARE ask me to believe that you WEREN'T behind this?! YOU were the only one at the hotel! YOU had the explosives! YOU had the motive!"

"Princess*grrk*- please!" Mad Dawg wheezed, feeling tears form in his eyes as he fought to breathe. "I… wanna… be… better!"

"yEt yOu ToOK yoUr oNE ChAncE for That ANd BurnEd it TO ashES." Charlie spoke, now in Virus' voice. Mad Dawg gasped, unsure of how to react as he saw Virus staring at him, his mask over Charlie's face… and in that moment, Mad Dawg, panicked.

Crack!

Mad Dawg bashed his head against Charlie's. He hated doing it, but he wasn't sure what else he could do. Struggling against Charlie's hold, Mad Dawg knew he would hate himself for what he had to do, but he had to do it. Unsheathing his claws he slashed at her hands, making Charlie cry out in shock and drop him. Unfortunately, they were much higher up than Dawg anticipated, and he plummeted back down to the ground… until something, or someone, caught his leg.

"Ho… crap…" Mad Dawg mentally groaned as Charlie dragged him back up to eye level, and seemed to consider something, before viciously smashing him into a building wall, dragging him along the exterior of the building, and sending him flying down into the ground. By now, the crowd which had gathered was watching with interest, like a pack of hyenas, but none entered or attempted to help. Among this crowd was Dust, Molly, Vaggie and Alastor, all of whom had varying feelings on this, and all of whom remained on the sidelines for one reason or another. Charlie flew down and drove her heels into Dawg's back, driving his head into the ground and shattering several of his teeth. Stepping off of him, Charlie slammed his head into the ground several more times out of anger, letting her demonic heritage control her.

"do it! DO iT! hE tOOk EVeRYTHinG fROm YoU! mAkE hiM sUfFEr!"

That voice…

That voice made Charlie pause and look around in shock. She knew that voice, she hated that voice… how was it down here? Before she could consider that, Mad Dawg suddenly lurched up, grabbing her head and slamming her face into his knee. Dawg hate, hate, hated fighting Charlie, as much as he hated attacking Angela during the whole 'Bad Blood' incident, but he wasn't sure what he could do at the moment. Still, he had to make up his mind on what he was going to do. On how he was going to stand, and how far he was willing to fight.

However, Charlie made up her mind on what she was going to do. She threw Mad Dawg like a rag doll. The teenaged mutant-demon-hell-beast-thing crashed into the ground, and tore up the road as he skidded along the ground, before finally coming to a stop and weakly looking back up at the one who had thrown him.

"Go back to Imp City." Charlie spat, tears in her eyes as she spoke. "Go back to Valentino. Go… ANYHWERE. I don't care, anymore. Just don't come back here. Ever again."

"Princess Charlotte, I-"

"GO!" Charlie roared, and Mad Dawg didn't reply.

Mad Dawg looked up, and he knew Charlie could see the tears in his eyes. But he knew it made no difference. He turned around, and quietly walked away. The Princess of hell watched as Mad Dawg walked away… then disappeared into a smoke cloud. When the smoke dissipated, Mad Dawg was gone. Just like her dreams, her chances of helping those in hell, and, her friend…

Gone.


A.N. Eh, shorter chapter here. Originally, this was going to lead into the final leg of the story, but that chapter is taking a bit longer than I expected. So… enjoy this preview of things to come! Expect the next chapter soon, though…