Chapter 47
Bathhouse Battle
Husk looked out a window as he made his way up to the area the fox kids picked out for him. It turned out they led him to a rather freaky looking building obscured by fog, and it was quite a ways away from the bathhouse. Honestly, the location was damn near perfect. The only problem was what was going on inside the building.
It was a Japanese bondage house, and the only thing the cat could think of all the way up to his prospective perch was how fucking hilarious it would be to see Alastor glitch out the moment he walked through the front door. It might ruin his opinion of the color red forever. If his aura didn't render cameras useless, he might have even taken a picture of his face as a memento of the last time the Radio Demon would ever set foot outside the West Point. Honestly, he wondered if the asshole would actually ever recover from the shock.
Probably not.
Finally making it to the top, he quickly settled into position. He had a perfect view of the balcony, and when he looked through his scope, he saw that things were going well. Alastor was reclined and talking in a rather animated fashion, so apparently he was rather calm. Husk was a bit surprised to see that, but if things went well then he'd earn his booze without wasting ammo. Win-win.
Fairly certain he'd hear Alastor's signal even from this distance, he put down the box of fried tofu for the kids to gorge themselves, and as they did so he showed them some magic with a silver coin. It would be easier to put away than his cards if his attention was called away.
As the fox pups watched him eagerly, he found himself relaxing a bit. Kids really were his favorite audience; they had the best reactions. One of the pups started looking every which way when he pretended to be unable to pull the coin out of thin air, and when he 'found it' behind her ear, she barked happily.
His ear twitched as he heard a high-pitch frequency in the distance, and he turned around to look through the scope. Seeing the woman sitting on his lap told him everything. "Goddammit! Show's over, kids. Time to earn my fuckin' booze."
When he turned to shoo the foxes away, he found himself utterly alone and smirked. At least now he only had himself and his boss to worry about. Jorōgumo's head was too close to his, and he needed her to back up just a bit.
"Goddammit, Al," he growled, seeing that the wendigo's eyes were closed. "Bad time for a fuckin' nap. Cocky dumbass..."
When Eliza finished her ascent to the bathhouse, she found it to be as empty as Husk described. Despite the army of spiders that seemed to reside on the cliff-face under the building, there were very few in the bathhouse itself, and most of them were strategically placed in corners. Probably a form of demonic security camera, relaying information. All she had to do was make sure she wasn't suspicious.
'Just another visitor,' she thought to herself, keeping her gait slow and casual. 'Don't mind me.'
Still, she realized that she could probably make them give away Alastor's location. After all, they'd be extra protective of the balcony; she just had to figure out where it was. That was the easy part, apparently. Looking confused, she called out for assistance but went ignored, and as such she walked through like a lost, stupid tourist looking for someone who worked there. When she touched a particular sliding paper door, she heard an irritated chattering sound and looked up to see one of the spiders moving.
"Can you help me?" she asked quietly in slow, almost condescending English. "Is this the right room?" When all she received was more angry clicks, she back-tracked slightly to the very next door and put her hand on it. "This one?" The sentry returned to its perch in the corner with a hiss, and she smiled sweetly. "Thank you!"
Sure enough, she opened the door and found herself in the right place. Tiled floors cleared of water, as if freshly cleaned, and the baths were piping hot. There were racks near the front to hang her clothes, which meant that there wasn't a changing room. Really, after going to that lingerie store in the West Point, such things probably shouldn't surprise her anymore.
Taking a moment to take off her clothes and put them up, she picked out a bath in the middle that would likely give her a good listening spot without being too obvious. Lowering herself into the water, she sighed happily as her body melted into it. It surprised her a bit that her vines sprouted from her back to soak in the bath directly behind her, but when they did she almost felt faint. Her head was swimming from all the heat, and for a brief moment she forgot the whole reason she was here. It wasn't until she heard the muffled sound of excited chatter that reality broke through her moment of bliss.
He actually sounded rather boisterous, and she wondered if it was an act to get the sponsorship or if it was genuine. It was always so hard to tell with him, especially now.
'Don't think about it,' Id sighed. 'Just enjoy the bath. So hot…'
'Do you think it was all just an act?' Superego asked. 'The whole friendship thing?'
'Don't ruin this for me,' Id hissed. 'We never just relax like this. It's always work, meditation, budgets and now all this emotional shit! Let it go, damn it!'
'After all this is over, we're going back to the hotel,' Superego reminded her. 'We'll have to deal with it eventually.'
'Tomorrow,' Id sighed, the vines going even more limp than before. 'Definitely tomorrow.'
As Eliza started to let her mind wander, she heard something that made her curious. Before, the voices nearby sounded relaxed, but now it sounded… tense. Was something happening already?
'You know what? Maybe we should just leave him alone. He can handle himself just fine. What the hell would he need us for, anyway?'
'But if the Yokai tries to-'
'What, get rapey? With Mr. Voodoo Cannibal? Ha!' The laugh that echoed in her mind was nothing short of bitter, and apparently it was only the beginning. 'You think he fucking needs us? She so much as touches him and he'll chop off her limbs and serve them up with rice. Besides, if he gets caught, what can we do about it? Anything that overpowers him will be too much for us, anyway, and I don't know about you, but I don't feel like finding out what being erased feels like, assuming it feels like anything.'
'We should do something,' Superego insisted.
'Why?' Id asked, the vines starting to twitch irritably. 'The guy basically walked out on us because he didn't get his way, goes out of his way to avoid us, and now there's the possibility that every good part of the relationship we had was a lie. Frankly, the guy's starting to remind me of Dad, and I'm not sticking my neck out for someone like him.'
'...Even Dad didn't resort to rape,' Superego huffed. 'Even if we don't forgive him in the end, we can't just leave him to that.'
After a moment of quiet, Id grumbled, 'I hate caring, and I hate you for making me.'
And with that sentiment, Eliza suddenly didn't feel comfortable sitting in the bath anymore, but she didn't dare move. If nothing happened, then she'd just go about her business and enjoy the festival as planned, and hopefully he'd be none the wiser until after the festivities were over.
But then she heard a noise. A loud, alarming noise that legitimately made her jump as she briefly tuned out of the incomprehensible conversation. It was like something from Alastor's radio, but she's never heard it sound quite like that. Or that loud, for that matter. Was it a signal?
Whatever it was, she noticed after a moment that the spiders in the room were moving, clearly agitated as they slowly made their way towards her location. At first, all she heard was whispered Japanese, but after a moment she started to understand it, though whether it was some sort of magic or just one of the creatures speaking English, she could not say.
"Leave!"
Her vines, now less achy than before, slowly formed into the bulky black wings that made her feel far more secure, especially now. In her most entitled voice, she asked, "Why? What's happening? I haven't done anything!"
And at that moment, there was a moment where she could very clearly understand the conversation as Alastor's demon voice seemed to echo through the building.
"Get your filthy mouth away from me, you whore!"
The spiders were done with warnings. Increasing their gait, they closed in on the therapist quickly.
As her body shifted, Id moved to the forefront of her mind with a snarl. She was in a bad mood, and now she had a way to vent it. 'Fuck. You. All!'
Jorōgumo pulled away from her filthy kiss to see Alastor sleeping peacefully. Well, outwardly. Inside that vicious red head of his, he'd be having wonderful dreams of pleasure. After all, surely his lack of libido didn't extend to the safety of his mind. All pleasures would be available to him there as she took what she needed before devouring him. It was a small mercy that Jorōgumo didn't bestow to all, but with everything he would give to her, it felt inappropriate to make him suffer more than necessary. Still, she needed to play it safe, and if he woke up early, she needed him as weak as possible.
With a soft chuckle, she cupped his face with both hands, weaving her fingers into his short, well-kept hair. Carefully moving his head to the side so as not to harm the web, she leaned in to kiss his neck. Despite him being unconscious and clearly unable to feel her touch, she felt compelled to treat him as she does all her victims, if only because of habit. Then, after a moment, she drew out her fangs and sank them into his skin. Then she turned him slowly to the other side and repeated the process, just in case one dose wasn't enough. After all, there was still a fair chance that he might wake up before she was finished with him, so the venom would hopefully keep him too weak to break out. But now, if he awoke at all, the ache in his bones would be unbearable. It would be the price he'd pay for escaping her illusions. Not many in her position would give their victims the gift of pleasurable dreams, and she would see him punished for his impudence if he refused to partake in them.
Now that she was free to do as she pleased with him, she moved on to what she did best. She didn't dare waste precious time removing his clothes, especially as layered as he was, but even through them she could feel his lean form. Her face scrunched slightly; he felt almost… unhealthy. Sure there was muscle, but it was almost morbidly lean. Briefly she wondered if this would be a meal of skin and bones with no substance, and he smelled of blood and death. He clearly kept himself clean, but perhaps not as regularly as he should.
Shaking her head, she moved her hand down to his groin. Now was not the time to get picky. Expertly kneading him into a ready state, she leaned back slightly to give him one final look. It was still irritating that her daughter failed to properly prepare him, as a kimono would be far easier to work with than his trousers, but she would make due.
When she heard a crashing sound nearby, her head shot up as she looked to her right. /Who is there?!/ she demanded, looking up at one of the many spiders keeping watch. /This bathhouse is supposed to be-/ Her eyes widened in surprise as her vision became impaired, and she fell limply to the side in shock as something lodged itself loudly into the tile floor near the back wall.
What just happened?
Over in the bondage house, Husk grinned to himself. Oh, that was a beautiful shot. Then he grimaced when he saw that it wasn't enough to wake up his boss. Oh well.
Taking a moment to reload, he pulled the bolt back, dumped the shell and shoved a new bullet inside, slamming it back into place and lining up another shot. At first, the demoness didn't move, and for a brief moment he felt confused. It's not like his sniper rifle is a blessed weapon; there was no way the shot was lethal. Maybe she's more fragile than he thought?
When she finally did start to rise, he lined up another shot and had his trigger finger in position when the wall nearest his target blasted open, spreading mist everywhere and obscuring his line of sight. In spite of the interference, he chuckled. "Fuck her up, girl."
Then he heard a noise. A freaky, scuttling sound that made his fur stand on end. Pulling himself away from his scope, he looked behind him. Nothing. Then he looked down.
Spiders.
The swarm moved up the building in droves, and he heard the screams of the bondage patrons as they were quickly overwhelmed and unable to escape.
"Oh, fuck!" he snarled, dismissing his gun and the spare ammo before taking off, barely escaping the horde of arachnids. How had she made him so quickly? Then he took note of the ground beneath him, where a spider army appeared to be covering the entire area. "Well, that's one way to rout out your enemies. So much for a safe distance." Pulling a revolver out of thin air, he dislodged the cylinder and filled the other five chambers with bullets. He'll just have to remember to empty it before his next game of Russian Roulette. Not much of a gamble if it's a guaranteed shot.
Meanwhile, Eliza was squashing spider after spider as they started to climb up onto the balcony from the cliff-face, carefully avoiding their mistress. However, as she slowly rose onto her eight black-and-gold spider legs, she saw that they were starting to go after Alastor and hissed. /No! Leave him be; he's mine!/ Unfortunately, the spiders continued their advance to protect Jorōgumo, identifying every living thing aside from her to be a threat that must be eliminated. Furious, she shrieked for all of her children to return to the cliff, leaving her alone with her captive and the intruder.
Wait, where did the intruder go?
Looking around the balcony, she failed to notice that the black dragon had taken to the air to get away from the swarm. Now that they were gone and she had successfully shaken off the stragglers, she found a great angle and folded her wings.
Jorōgumo looked up just in time to see a large, scaly black missile ram into her from above. While Eliza didn't squash her as she'd hoped, she did hear a very satisfying crack as the two created a wake of upheaved tile and earth before blasting through the back wall.
When both women tentatively rose from the devastating impact, Eliza held her pounding head with her left wing while Jorōgumo (figures it would take a concussive impact for her to remember the Yokai's name) looked in horror at two of her eight beautiful spider legs, which were both shattered up to the femur. Turning on the dragon, she rose to full height on her six remaining legs as her mouth split her once lovely face and her claws broke through her fingers as ugly, red hooks.
/YOU WRETCHED BEAST!/
Pain.
Alastor's ears were ringing, and there was pain shooting through his entire body. His eyes were almost too heavy to open, and movement was still frustratingly impossible. In the end, there was only one bit of good news; he didn't feel himself being violated as he tried to regain consciousness, and that was no small blessing.
He thought he heard something, but it sounded so distant. Still, he focused on it; the sounds of a struggle. Husk must have taken a shot already, if the overlord still had his dignity, but did he have to resort to a brawl already? How long has he been asleep? And why couldn't he open his blasted eyes already?
Barely able to squint, he managed to open his lids into narrow slits, and after a moment he realized that the violent racket was taking place behind him. He heard a flurry of angry, foreign words, and surmised quickly that Husk must be giving her hell somewhere out of his view. It was irritating, not being able to see, but when he saw his microphone sitting just out of his reach, he decided to ignore it and focus his efforts on taking hold of his staff. The sooner he could get his boost, the sooner he could rip that wretched woman to shreds and be done with this place.
He tried to call out to Olly, but even his internal radio was on the fritz, and all he could produce was a scrambled, broken line of static. All attempts at movement failed, as the only part of him that seemed to function was his eyes, and his shadow didn't respond to his silent demands. Then he looked down at his trousers and felt a spike of frustration. Of course that still worked; the most obnoxious and useless part of him. Despite being regularly plagued by it whenever he awoke, he had no doubt that it's current state of arousal was her doing.
Oh, he would see her humiliated for this.
Trying to concentrate past the rather brutal sounding brawl behind him, he focused every ounce of will he had on extending his shadow. The darkness around his claws moved slowly, and he felt fatigued quickly. Every shallow breath hurt as he strained against this damnable web and the magic that bound him to it. Black claws flexed as his shade did its best to separate from him, but when the shadow's hand started to detach from him, it suddenly melted as his powers were abruptly restricted. The strands stuck to his skin prickled as it absorbed his strength, and he wanted to roar from the frustration. Unless he found a way to escape this web, his every effort was futile.
When he heard a roar behind him, he felt rather nervous. That didn't sound like Husk, and he doubted Jorōgumo would sound quite so bestial, even at her worst. Has she called in reinforcements? What was going on behind his back? If anything happened to his little war-cat, he would-
"Damn, that's badass."
Despite being unable to move already, he would have frozen to the spot when he saw his reliable companion land gracefully on the balcony, his pistol at the ready. In front of him. Not behind him, where the battle was raging. Meaning…
Who's fighting Jorōgumo?
Husk's ears flattened and his face fell before he dove to the side, narrowly escaping a large, black object being flung at him. After a moment, that creature scrambled to its feet, seemingly having trouble coordinating but desperately trying to steady itself. The overlord could hardly believe what he was seeing.
Eliza?!
Alastor tried to speak once again, but just like last time the only sounds he could make were choppy static and scrambled signals. He wanted to know what was going on, but then a large spider leg appeared over his chair, and he was lamentably reminded that Jorōgumo was still here, although looking quite different from how she had been before. Her human legs were gone, replaced with the large golden abdomen of her arachnid children. Her two front legs were splintered most of the way up, forcing her to rely on her remaining six. Her mouth was a large, gaping maw of sharp, black teeth stretching and tearing her pale face, and her fingers all ended in nasty red hooks.
The matriarch was in a frenzy. Husk took shots, but for the most part had to dodge and weave as the two women seemed hell-bent on destroying each other. When one of Eliza's wild swipes connected with Jorōgumo's face, drawing blood, one of Alastor's claws twitched in excitement. He could watch that all day.
Wait a second…
Looking down at his claws, he kept his eyes trained on the one that moved. With great concentration, he was able to make it twitch again. And again.
Movement!
"O… lly…" he tried again, but his inner radio was still too garbled and broken. The microphone remained inanimate, and his powers were still bound by the web. His shadow could barely extend a few inches out, and he wanted to scream from the frustration.
When Husk's eyes met his for a moment, Alastor looked between the veteran and the staff, silently pleading that he would understand. He knew better than to touch it in its powered-up state; he could find a way to bring it to him safely if he could just get away from…
Suddenly, Jorōgumo was flung in his direction, crashing into the side-table and sending the microphone flying. No! Still, Husk got the message loud and clear and started looking around. He couldn't let it come in contact with his person; he needed something; even a cloth would be enough. But this was a bathhouse in Hell; if you actually care to use a towel, you bring your own. What could he…
Then he saw something through the broken wall. Clothes! Specifically, Eliza's shirt and pants, still hanging up from when she entered the bath.
Perfect!
Definitely ready to ask forgiveness over permission, he ran over and wrapped the shirt over one paw and the pants over the other. Now he just needed to navigate a battlefield to get to it, because when he returned to the balcony, he saw Jorōgumo's legs stabbing into the ground all around it, missing the microphone by mere inches.
Entering a runner's starting position, he took a deep breath and leapt into the fray. Halting one route to find another, he was in just as much danger of being mauled by Eliza as Jorōgumo. The dragoness was in an absolute fury, and while he never pegged her as a berserker type, he could see that he was clearly mistaken.
Finally they moved far enough to the side that his path to the microphone cleared, and he made a dive for it. Carefully holding it out in front of him, he turned on his heel to give it to Alastor.
Unfortunately, his attempts did not go unnoticed, and the next thing he knew a screeching spider demon barreled down on him, stabbing one of her razor-sharp legs into his right wing. Falling to the ground, the microphone went flying out of his paws, skidding across the upheaved tile and passing Alastor by a few feet.
He turned to sink his teeth into the spider leg, but immediately let go when sour, nasty blood filled his mouth. Coughing up a storm, his throat felt like it was burning, and he felt more than a little sick and weak. Then he noticed something else; something that made him realize that they were all in big trouble: Jorōgumo wasn't the only one who noticed what he had tried to do. Looking between Husk and the staff, Eliza bounded over to it, and the veteran was too busy choking to call out and stop her.
When Alastor watched the dragoness pass him to grab the staff, his eyes widened. "Don't-" he called out in garbled static.
Too late. The moment she collected Olly in her mouth and turned towards him, her eyes went white. Red sparks shot off her scales, and she let loose a tormented shriek as some of the power entered her body. It would not be much, as she didn't know how to use the staff properly, but it was more than enough.
She fell to the ground, motionless, and Olly rolled a little ways away from her.
/FINALLY!/ Jorōgumo cried, throwing an injured, gagging Husk over the balcony. She didn't even bother to make sure he fell all the way down to the ground; she had no time to waste. Well, maybe she had a spare second. Turning toward the dragon, two of her appendages rose up high above the unconscious sinner. /You should never have interfered with my plans, beast!/
When they slammed down, piercing Eliza's back all the way through to the tiled floor underneath, Alastor's left hand clenched so hard that all of his clawed fingers punctured through his palm, sticking at least an inch out the back of his hand.
The ground rumbled underneath them, and the webs became so flooded with energy that they quickly exhausted their power, becoming nothing more than normal, sticky spider silk. "Olly," he commanded, "Come!"
At once, the staff flew towards him before halting just in front of his face, where the wendigo took hold of it with his aching hands. The pain from the venom wracked through his bones, his poisoned muscles screaming, but he didn't care. His microphone would handle the fatigue that his powers brought him, which nearly brought him to his knees before he felt his strength returning. It wouldn't purge the venom from his blood, but it would take care of everything else.
Jorōgumo shrieked like a banshee, turning to run before black tentacles burst up from the ground, wrapping around her and squeezing tightly. It wasn't just her, either; they popped up everywhere, surging upwards like eldritch pillars to wrap around the entire establishment. A loud hissing was heard and hundreds of spiders on the cliff-face were squashed, drenching the people underneath in rancid-smelling blue blood.
Struggling against her restraints, she would have screamed if her mouth wasn't covered by a small coil when tiny, shadowy freaks started crawling out of the black tendrils. Grabbing hold of her spidery limbs, she let out a muffled cry when they started tugging painfully, and she could feel the muscles tearing inside, one by one.
"You know something strange?" Alastor began, his current calm somehow more frightening than his anger from earlier. "I might have forgiven you before. If you had just released me, even after trapping and molesting me… I think I could have managed it." Standing over Eliza's still body, he stood still as several symbols appeared around him to quickly verify that her wounds, while grievous and undoubtedly painful, were not lethal to her existence. Satisfied for now with the knowledge that she would recover in time, he turned his attention to Jorōgumo.
She wanted to plead with him, but the tendril covering her mouth only seemed to tighten, threatening to cover her nose and suffocate her if it remained any longer.
"But I'm afraid you've made a terrible mistake," he continued, enjoying the fear in her eyes. "You see, these two-" His long claws reached out, his right hand gesturing to Eliza and the balcony where Husk fell while his left, still bleeding from his self-inflicted wound, took hold of her throat. "-belong to me." His empty, bleeding eye-sockets sat a mere inch away from her face as he transformed into the hateful wendigo he was. "And I am very protective of what belongs to me!"
The tendril covering her mouth pulled back, and he released her throat. Her screams were like music to his ears as all six of her remaining legs were pulled apart segment by segment. The claw marks Eliza left on her body bled profusely as the shadows licked at her wounds, causing them to fester with disease. This torture would cost him dearly in strength, but he didn't care. Right now, he only wanted one thing.
Pain.
"That's it," he cooed, sadistically. "Sing for me!" Her cries echoed over the balcony, and every soul nearby got an earful of Jorōgumo's suffering. "All your seductions and ploys, and you didn't even think to offer me a proper serenade? How boorish."
The torture continued for another few minutes before Alastor felt the presence of another. The sound of a rustling wind was heard, but the puff of unnatural smoke that swirled around him was what made him turn in alarm.
Eliza's body was gone!
Snarling furiously, he looked around rapidly before hearing a metallic snap behind him. Turning back to Jorōgumo, he saw nothing but empty tendrils and confused shadows, all of which melted back into the void from which they came.
When a bruised and bleeding Husk stepped over a pile of rubble that used to be the back wall, he saw something that made him pause; Alastor as his normal self, all alone and standing perfectly still, looking carefully over the balcony. Jorōgumo missing came as no surprise; he could only assume that Alastor fed her scraps to the ever-hungry void he served. However, that still left one person unaccounted for. "Uh… boss? Where'd Eliza go?"
After a moment of silence, Alastor finally turned away from the balcony. "Husker, my friend, could you be a pal and wait outside the building for a moment?"
The cat didn't even bother asking why before turning to walk right back out the way he came.
Sitting on the ground nearby, he almost wished he had popcorn as several large, black spikes sprouted out of the earth. There was a pregnant pause, and the veteran just knew that it was for effect, because there was a frightened audience at the base of the cliff that the wendigo couldn't resist putting on a show for. Then the spikes snapped shut like a giant bear-trap, crushing every part of the bathhouse and crumbling the cliff into rubble that fell onto the heads of the people below, who ran away in fear.
When the man appeared a few feet away, Husk just grumbled, "Fuckin' showoff." When the overlord didn't respond, the veteran looked up at him. After a moment of shock, the cat moved just in time to catch the wendigo as he collapsed. "Shit! Don't do this to me; I can't fly us outta here, damn it!"
"I will be fine," Alastor told him, breathlessly. With the aid of his companion he slowly rose to his feet once more, carefully holding himself up with the help of his microphone. "However, we aren't done here."
"Let me guess; Eliza didn't get up and leave on her own."
"No," Alastor growled.
"Shit," Husk hissed. "Not surprised though, with her pickin' up Olly when he's juiced up."
The wendigo flinched internally, even if that unfortunate detail was utterly unintentional. He knew she would recover; the damage isn't meant to be permanent. Even so, he could only hope she wouldn't think it was an actively vindictive move on his part.
Even if he has been contemplating her death over the last few days. Just thinking about that made him feel like such a fool, but now was not the time to dwell on it.
"I'm afraid your payment will have to be delayed," Alastor informed his companion.
"Yea, yea," Husk droned, "figured that shit out on my own, thanks."
"This won't be easy," Alastor sighed. "Exploring foreign soil in a weakened state… We will have to be cautious."
"It may not be that hard," Husk mentioned.
The wendigo's head tilted, curiously. "Oh? And how, pray tell, do you intend to simplify our search?"
Pulling out his cards with a smirk, the cat told his boss, "I know a guy."
