Hey everyone. Sorry for the wait. I wanted to thank everyone who favorited the story. You motivate me to keep making these. Also if you find any plot holes, or mistakes that don't match up with the lore from the comics, please let me know in reviews or DMs. This is a learning experience for me as much as a passion.

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Chapter 8: Forgot about that

The communications room wasn't lit very well, but the numerous screens, the blinking lights that emanated from the consoles and chatter by the staff, livened up the place. Mandy sat at one of these consoles, as she was about to end her conversation with Isaac after he completed his mission.

"Good idea Isaac." she said, grinding here teeth slightly, "I'll put that into consideration."

He replied with "No problem. I'll be back soon." then hung up.

Mandy ended the call, got up out of her chair at the communications console and preceded to leave the room. She was stopped however by Grim's confused glare.

"What?" she asked.

"Dat was very unlike you."

"Don't you think it's a good idea?"

"On deh contrary, me tink it's an awesome idea. It's just I expected you to say someting along deh lines of 'Listen here you little shit! I pay you to do as I say, not make requests!', or someting."

"Well, you would be right." She replied, making her way to the door, "Come, let's congratulate our new operative on his first successful mission."

Grim, still perplexed by her attitude, said "I never t'ought I'd say dis but, you're beginning to scare me."

At the highest point of the Land of Tainted Souls, lies the castle belonging to the all-powerful and cruellest underlord of all the 7 realms, HIM. At this particular time, he was enjoying a nice warm bath.

"Ah! There's nothing more relaxing than this! The best part? The serenity."

It remained silent, to his liking, for the next few seconds, until the commander intruded of course.

"My Lord. May I ask a…OH MY GOD!"

"FUCKING HELL! You scared the shit outa me!"

"I…I'm sorry my Lord, I'll come back later."

"No Commander. You've already ruined the silence, you might as well ask me what you came here for."

"O…kay. It concerns the men you've supplied for the army."

"What of them?"

"You see, more and more soldiers are coming in and as a result, grow more and more unpredictable, and to some extent, problematic."

"And by that, you mean harder to train."

"Yes, perhaps we could get some different soldiers, ones that are more disciplined."

"Well, commander, that sounds like YOUR problem!"

"Uhh, come again?"

"All the soldiers I've supplied are all of the greatest warriors and war criminals that the world has ever seen! Throughout history! Who I then mutated with necroplasm! It's your job to adapt! It's your job to work with what you have! Deal with it!"

"I…I understand my Lord, but with my modern training style, vehicle and fire-arm based formation tactics, I don't think…"

"Are you saying you're not cut out for the job, Commander?"

"N-No that's not what I…"

He rose out of the bath tub, asserting his dominance, while also exposing himself.

"Because I specifically remember when I was crushing thirty story buildings under my heel, you tried to stop me with your army. You failed, BUT you didn't do a terrible job. You also surrendered your allegiance to me, throwing all your men and government under the bus doing so, but still, not terrible. So when someone surrenders their very soul to me, I expect them to complete the tasks I set out for them!"

"Y…Yes my…"

"AM I CLEAR?!"

"YES MY LORD!"

"Good." He said as he receded back into his warm bath.

The commander turned and made his way out, but before he could leave, HIM spoke to him once more.

"I forget you are just a feeble human commander. Perhaps you need a rest! How do you humans put it? Count some SHEEP? HA!"

"How the hell did he know that?" he said under his breath as he left the room.

Grim and Mandy stood outside and watched as Isaac descended from the sky, sticking the landing this time.

"Good job. I've already sent a new team to refortify the checkpoint."

"Cool." Isaac replied before tossing her a burnt and oversized collar. "This was on the Chimera. For you to analyse or…something."

He attempted to move around her, but she stopped him, grabbing him by the shoulder.

"I wanted to clear the air." She said.

"Hmm?"

"I apologize for my outburst last night. Usually when I see a risk, no matter how small, I eliminate it before it can do me and my family any harm. When you came around, well, let's say I wasn't in an opportunistic mood."

"Hmm." He paused, "Mandy, I'm here for one thing, and one thing only. HIM's head on a goddamn pike. If that means I have to sign my soul away for a few months, and get paid for it, then I'm willing to do it. Not here for any drama."

"Glad to hear we're on the same page." She replied.

Grim, looking pretty confused at that point, then interjected with "We had some food prepared while you were gone. Why don't you make your way inside Isaac?"

"I would but the smell of burning chimera face is stuck in my nose. Killed my appetite." He said before making his way inside.

Mandy began to do the same, before Grim stood in her path.

"What are ya up to?" Grim questioned.

"Isn't it obvious?"

"No. You're not evan dat nice when you're tryin teh get in dier pants."

"He's a demi-god, Grim. And we have him under a cursed contract. He can't hurt us even if he wanted to."

"You're point?"

"If he knew the things we've done."

"YOU'VE done" Grim reminded.

"…then that would affect his work ability, and his malice would boil up in him like a pressure cooker bomb. And we both know once Kære is dead, he's out, and there's no telling what he'll do. We might have second war on our hands for all we know. One we probably won't win."

"Hmm" he said, rubbing his bony chin, "You bring up a good point. It might be better to keep your past on deh down low."

Isaac entered the building and began to walk to his room, passing the kitchen. A few feet away from the kitchen door, he heard it swing open, followed by the squeaking of sneakers on the stone paved floor. He could also smell the delightful scent of chocolate chip muffins, and hear the rattling of bony fingers on a cooking tray. It was clear that it was Junior following behind him. He would have just ignored the boy and continued on his way, but incidentally he had forgotten where his room was. If there was one thing Isaac hated more than HIM, it was being lost.

Instead of looking around to find his room, he skewed off to the left a little bit before stopping altogether. He expected Junior to continue walking and overtake him, but instead he also stopped.

"Ah, for fuck sakes" he thought.

He listened over his shoulder, trying to understand what the boy was doing. He heard him whisper to himself, things like "What's he doing?" and "What do we do?". Eventually, after a few seconds, he heard him whisper "Fine! I'll move!". As Junior was about to overtake him, Isaac began to move again, walking alongside Junior.

"Oh shit!" the tentacle shouted, "He's gonna kill us!"

"No I'm not." Isaac replied.

Junior looked up at him, flabbergasted, under the impression that Isaac had just heard and understood what his tentacle had just said.

"My contract prevents me from harming you and your family."

"Uhh..."

"And yes, I speak Demon. I've hunted them most of my life, it becomes a good tool."

Junior was shocked by his bluntness.

"'You' hunted demons?" he asked laughingly.

"Yeah, and killed them too. Sometimes I burned them, beheaded them, and even flayed them alive."

"Woh! Okay. Only the bad ones I hope."

"You're implying there are good ones?"

"Yeah actually. I do know a few good ones."

"There's one thing I know kid, and it's that demons never have good intentions. The reason why you think these demons are good, is probably because that's what they want you to think."

"Oh really?" he said sarcastically.

"You're sister for example. You think she gave you her eye because she had to? Or maybe, to plant a seed for something sinister?"

Junior looked at back at him, shocked. Not only was he offended by what Isaac said, but also that he could tell that Mini gave Jr her eye, granting him her demon abilities.

"Hey asshole!" Junior's tentacle called out, "Junior's my bro! I would never betray him!"

"To your knowledge?" he replied.

"Okay. That's it!" Junior interrupted, "You know, you've been here half a day and you think you have us all figured out, but you don't! You don't know me, my tentacle, or my sister! In this case, your 'experience' has no weight!"

Isaac sighed, "Don't take it to heart, kid. I'm just sayin', I get a bad feeling around your sister. A strangely familiar one at that."

Junior paused, slightly intrigued, then asked "What kind of bad feeling?"

Isaac looked at Junior, visibly serious "Like an 'apocalyptic evil' kind of feeling."

"Looks like we finally agree on something." said the tentacle.

"You seem like a good kid Junior. Even if you are a…Grim Reaper. Trust me when I say this. Be wary of your sister. She has 'anti-christ' written all over her."

As they came up to Junior's room, Junior approached the door and his tentacle opened it for him.

"Alright, uhh…good talk?" Junior said.

"Hmm" Isaac replied.

"...bye" Junior said, about to enter his room, until Grim appeared behind them.

"Makin' friends already, are we?" Grim asked from the shadows.

"JESUS!" Isaac and Jr shouted in fright

"We're…just making conversation Grim." Isaac replied.

Grim frowned and raised his eye brow, or the skull equivalent of one, "…you're lost aren't you?"

"I swear it was around a corner or something!"

Jr smirked at Isaac's confession, just before Isaac gave him a nasty look. Jr stopped smirking after that.

"It's just down dere to deh left." Grim said, pointing down the corridor.

Isaac sighed, "Thanks".

"I'll meet you dere. We must talk."

"Okay? See you shortly." Isaac said, making his way down the hall.

Grim waited silently for Isaac to leave listening distance, then went to tell Jr what his concern was.

"Jr, about your friend."

"I know." Jr replied, "I wasn't planning on letting him know about her either."

"Well technically, he already does, tanks to Mandy's comment yesterday."

"So what do you want me to do about it?"

"Just make sure he doesn't come in contact wit her. Her affiliation wit HIM will most definitely be a death sentence for her."

"No problem. Thanks dad."

"You're Welcome. Good night." Grim said, leaving towards Isaac's room.

Jr entered his room, then locked the door and placed the tray of treats on the ground.

"Mimi!" he called out, "Dinner!"

Immediately, a pink and black blur scurried out from under his bed and attacked the tray, devouring its contents with monstrous ferocity. The blur was actually a little girl with long black hair, wearing a pink dress. Tragically, she only had two bandaged stumps where her hands used to be. This behaviour didn't faze Junior, as this was just a normal six o'clock for him.

"So Mimi, there's something you need to know."

Mimi's attention still stuck to her meal despite Junior's words.

"There's a new guy living in the castle."

Her gaping, crumb filled maw froze in place as her eyes drew to Junior's direction, quietly waiting for him to finish.

"Okay good! You're listening! So, this guy is a bit of an asshole, and I think it would be for the best if you at least 'tried' to stay put, and not leave the room while he's here."

Her left eyebrow raised, indicating she was still lacking information in an area, an area that she couldn't verbalise to him, so he had to guess.

"Uhh, he's some kind of Van Helsing type? He might not like you for your "history" with HIM and that sort. He may be here for a few months."

She gave him a little nod, then immediately began to devour the muffin tray once more.

"Anyway, I'll just make sure to lock all the doors and windows from now on."

"Not that she can open them! Ha!" commented the tentacle.

"Shut up! That's not nice!"

"Dude, she literally bites me on a regular basis. I think I'm entitled to throw some shade." It replied.

Grim walked up to Isaac's door and knocked, and very shortly afterward Isaac opened it.

"You tink you'll have a better time finding it now?" Grim asked Isaac.

"I think so. What's going on?"

Grim pushed past him to enter the room.

"Okay. Privately then." Isaac commented, closing the door.

Grim was about to say something, then cautiously checked behind the mirror, then the dresser, then under the work bench.

Noticing this, Isaac said "Don't worry. I just checked for bugs."

"Good" Grim replied, "Because it's about Mandy. She isn't who she's making herself out to be."

"How so?"

"Deh reason why I married her Isaac, is because she is deh most evil, most vile, most despicable, most wretched woman I have ever known in the thousands of years of my rule."

"Okay Grim, I don't really need to know about your kinks."

"What? No! What I mean is, if she's playing nice, it's because she has someting horrible in mind. Remember dat."

"Hmm. How evil are we talking here?"

"If I told you, you would leave dis room and try to kill her right where she stands, so I'm not gwan into any specifics."

"Well now you're getting me all curious." Isaac said enthusiastically, "Are you sure telling me about this was a good idea?"

"Yes, because I'm telling you where I stand." He said as he tightened his grip on his scythe, "I respect you for deh tings you've been t'rough, but I will not sacrifice me family for your 'crusade'. If you even tink aboot harming me family, I'll end you like dat." snapping his fingers.

"So why did you let me write the wrong name?"

"Because if I she knew dat was deh wrong name, on top of deh whole 'demi-god' ting, she would have pulled deh trigger."

Isaac scratched his fuzzy chin, then asked "So, you saved my life then?"

"No." He replied, "I saved her life."

"Hmm. You're not wrong."

"I believe you're deh key to victory Isaac, but I had a plan. You screwed dat up by writing dat name. I had to improvise. Now I suggest dat you follow deh rules to deh dot, or we're all going to pay deh price."

"You're afraid of her?"

"No, I'm afraid of not winning dis war. Dis could be what dictates our odds."

"Alright. I'll play along. On another note…" Isaac then asked "How am I getting paid?"

"We'll give you dis week's pay on Friday, but here's some on me." He said, handing Isaac a few fifties in underworld currency.

Isaac grabbed the cash and looked at it. It was glossy and purple, bearing the face of what looked like Cthulu in the middle of the note.

Confused, Isaac asked "What the hell am I supposed to do with this?"

"Deh exchange rate is about deh same." Grim replied, "I'll see you." then made his way to the door.

"Yep. See ya round."

As Grim closed the door behind him, Isaac thought to himself "Hmm, was I doing something?"

After Grim confronted her, Mandy felt that she needed to change into something less worn, that didn't stink of hard-drive ventilation and desk chair that had seeped into her dress, thanks to the couple hours spent in the communications room. Since the night had fallen, she was about to remove her dress to jump into her pink felt night gown. As she plucked it from her wardrobe, she finally noticed the faint sound of wind passing through the open window, one that she didn't remember opening. She already began to reach for the pistol she stashed in the wardrobe, but the thin wrinkly and rotted fingers had already clasped over her mouth, muffling her call for help. A second hand came into her view, its fingers shifting into razor sharp claws. It slowly came closer to her neck, certainly to open her throat and spill her blood all over the carpet. She desperately tried to reach for the gun, but he held her back too far, holding her up off the ground.

She was almost sure she was about to finally meet her end, until the door slammed open, followed by a quick gunshot, blowing the assassin's head right off. Her feet dropped to the ground, with the assailant's arms still tight around her. She pried the stiff and rotting arms off of her, allowing the corpse to fall to the ground dead.

After he saved Mandy from the undead hitman, Isaac said "Sorry. I forgot about the 'assassin on the loose' part."