"Hazbin Hotel?... Kind of an odd name." Said the Courier, looking up at the sign of what would likely be his new home. In the walk through the city, he'd managed to calm himself down, and get a grip on his current predicament. Being in Hell, in an alternate universe, in the past were concepts that only a few men could take, especially at the same time, however, the Courier was definitely one of those men, even if he was still a bit jittery.
"It used to be the Happy Hotel." Charlie responded with a chuckle. "Up until Alastor changed it."
"Alastor." Six said, pondering the name. "What's he like?" Asked the Courier, and Charlie seemed rather hesitant to respond.
"Well, he's… hard to explain. He's one of the most feared demons in all of Hell." She explained, making the Courier's ears perk up. "He's powerful enough to make even the other Overlords of this place scared."
"Overlord… Wouldn't Satan be the only king of this place?" Asked the Courier.
"He's the king… but there's dozens of other demons around here trying to make a name for themselves. To the point where they're willing to completely wipe out smaller groups to gain more power." She explained with sadness in her voice.
"Sounds too familiar for my liking..." The Courier said with distaste.
"You've… dealt with something like this?" She asked.
"Sort of." He said, pausing. The Courier remained as still as a statue, almost as if he was pondering continuing. "Ever hear of the Romans?"
"Well, yeah, though there's not a lot of demons from that time period knocking around here today." She said.
"Well all you need to know is someone put their own spin on them… and now I really, REALLY don't like thinking about the Romans anymore." Six said, making Charlie confused at both the vagueness of his words and the sheer oddness of them. Romans? After 2077? Regardless, she didn't press, as he continued his questioning.
"So, you said there aren't too many ancient demons kicking around here anymore." He said, changing the subject. "Why's that."
"Well…" It was Charlie's turn to pause, thinking on what exactly to say. "Every year Heaven unleashes a swarm of angels on Hell. They..."
"Commit controlled genocide." He guessed bluntly, but sympathetically, getting a sad nod from the demoness. The Courier sighed. "Guess even the most magical of places have to deal with the same issues humans do… But with all of this violence, you'd think that the population would even itself out." He pondered.
"No." Charlie said, shaking her head. "You need very specific weapons to destroy demons. Exterminator class weapons are what the angels use. Otherwise a demon soon reforms back, a few hours, or even days to weeks later."
"Huh… so that asshole back in the park. Think he'll be back?" Asked the Courier.
"I… don't know. I'd say yes but that pistol you shot him with… May I see it?" She asked, before the Courier shrugged and pulled out the Light Shining in Darkness. Charlie instinctively flinched back at the sight of the weapon, causing the Courier to quickly holster it.
"No!" She said. "I'm… I'm fine." He reluctantly nodded, and pulled out his weapon again. He went to hand Charlie the pistol, however, the second she touched it, she let loose a hiss of pain, and jerked her hand back, biting her lip as she did. She looked at her fingers to find they were now red, like she'd touched her hand to a stove.
"You alright?" Asked the concerned Courier, quickly taking a look at her fingers.
"It's fine." She said, gently pulling away. "We demons are tough… even against holy weapons like that..."
"Holy?" He asked, looking over the pistol.
"I don't know if it's the engravings, or what, but that pistol is powerful enough to kill most demons for good." She explained. "Did you make it?"
"No… it's previous owner was..." The Courier paused. "The most religious man I think I've ever met… when it comes to Christianity at least."
"That explains it." Charlie said. "I'm not a massive expert on all the different types of Exterminator weapons, but yours seems to be similar to some of them, though typically a demon can wield them with ease, others have so much holiness in them that they can hurt a demon regardless, even if said demon is kindhearted or noble."
"So I'm a one man judge, jury, and executioner now." Said the Courier. "Looks like things really haven't changed." He continued with a saddened sigh.
"I don't know how you can hold that thing, but it must mean you're special somehow." Charlie said. "I don't know how you wound up here, but maybe you were meant to be an angel!" She offered with a faint sense of child-like excitement in her voice. This made the man shake his head.
"I appreciate the sentiment, but… I'm not going to walk around calling myself an angel. I don't think demon even properly fits me… but it's damn sure a lot closer than an angel." Charlie remained silent after that, giving the man a solemn nod.
"Six… regardless of whatever you are, whatever you do… please just promise me one thing." She said, her tone just as solemn as her demeanor.
"Yeah?" He responded.
"Please don't use that weapon on anyone that doesn't deserve it." She pleaded.
He turned, looking at her for a moment, as he remained silent. After a few moments, he pulled out a small cloth bag, before taking the Light. He took the magazine out of the pistol, and made sure that there wasn't a bullet in the chamber, before he gently dropping the small weapon into the bag and handed it to a now surprised Charlie.
"Just… do with it what you think needs doing." He said, complete trust in his voice. "I understand you might not want something like that kicking around a place like this. If any assholes get too big for their boots, I've got a hell of a lot more than that to put them in their place."
Charlie nodded, still surprised at the man's complete willingness to hand her what was very much likely one of the strongest weapons in Hell without even putting up a fuss. Her only response was to give the man a surprise hug. The Courier didn't really know how to respond, thus he just gave her a few awkward pats on the back. Charlie noted this, and felt a sense of sadness. The Courier must not have been the person to get hugs often.
Soon enough the two broke off the one sided hug and entered the Hotel, with the Courier immediately noting that the place looked a bit vacant. Normally when thinking of a hotel, he thought of Vault 21, but this place was a ghost building by comparison. He did find a bar nearly instantly though, almost making him chuckle, though the creature behind said bar reminded him of something the Big MT would've cooked up.
It was a winged anthropomorphic husky, with a small top hat and tie. Said wings themselves also had various symbols covering them. Spades, hearts, clubs, diamonds… The Courier got the vibes of a gambler off of the creature. He was used to seeing gamblers and such, though the creature's appearance did make him pause, albeit briefly.
"That's Husk!" Said Charlie with excitement, with the demon just giving an annoyed roll of the eyes as he didn't so much as wave. The Courier didn't have time to ponder the winged demon much longer, as he heard a high-pitched, feminine voice shout.
"Goodness sir, your clothes are filthy!" The Courier looked around, and then finally, downwards to see a tiny demon that came up just below his waist. She had only one eye, which reminded Six of the ancient myth of the cyclops he'd read about in a few pre-war books.
She had a bright pink dress with the silhouette of a poodle on it. Along with that, she wore a white shirt with a few pink splotches on them. She then quickly rushed over to the Courier with a feather duster and wet rag. The Courier himself actually jumped out of the way of the small demon, before quickly grabbing her by both of her wrists as she ran at him again.
"Sorry kid, but no one touches the armor except for me." He said, trying to sound as nice as possible.
"B-But…" The tiny demon said, before Charlie cut in.
"Sorry Niffty, he's a new arrival. Just give him some time and he might come around." Said Charlie with a smile, causing the tiny demon, now known as Niffty to nod sadly before she quickly wandered off deeper into the hotel.
"Odd group you have here. Kinda familiar, honestly." Mused the Courier.
"I assume you've had a group of mismatched friends before?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah... " Said the Courier, giving a small sigh of sadness. "I wish they would've stuck together, even for a bit longer, but I suppose that's how all groups work. Everyone has their own problems, and eventually have to go their own ways. That's just life."
Charlie frowned at that, though remained silent. Suddenly though, she remembered who exactly she was missing from this introduction.
"Hey, wait, where's Angel and Vaggie?" She said, looking around.
"Saw Angel leave a few hours ago, Vaggie chased after him." Husk said simply and uncaringly, before downing a shot of hard whiskey.
"Oh great." Sighed the demoness. "Now I'm gonna have to go all over the city looking for them!"
"I could track them down for you." Said the Courier, getting Charlie to look at him in thought.
"I'd consider saying yes, but you don't have any idea where they'd be." She said.
"Just give me a bit of basic info." Six said, assuredly. "I've got a bit of a knack for finding people who don't want to be found."
Charlie thought it over for a moment before she nodded and pulled out a set of pictures before handing them to Six, who quickly looked them over. He found one of the pictures in question to be of the spider he'd seen earlier, and the other of a dark gray-skinned woman, with a bright red 'X' over where her left eye should've been.
"Your friends list just keeps getting weirder." Said the Courier with a smile under his helmet. "I like it. Makes me feel… at home."
A bar nearby.
Angel Dust sighed, leaning back in his chair as he did. This had been the fifth bar of the night, and that crazy broad had been chasing him all day. Now he was stuck in this nearly empty shithole, with no potential customers in sight. Said shithole was one of the least fancy places he'd been in, and that's saying something, with practically every single table in the joint being chipped and scratched to hell. The chairs were wobbly, with the legs not being all the same size, and the lighting was poor, with the humm of cheap wiring making the demon nearly go mad with boredom. He'd almost considered just returning to the hotel, but it was the principle of the matter that kept him here. He'd had a few drinks, but now he'd finally just gotten a buzz.
He downed another shot of the cheap stuff and sighed, leaning back further, extending his slender, feminine body as he propped himself up on the chair. However, this proved to be a mistake, as his wobbly chair soon gave out, and he was sent tumbling backwards into the table right behind him. Said table just so happened to be occupied by several large, muscular demons.
Those large muscular demons were now covered in booze, as when Angel Dust hit the table, they had their cheap looking suits covered in the stuff, likely staining them. All of the demons growled and looked down to see a very flustered looking spider.
"Uhh… sorry?" Offered Angel with a smile, before quickly standing up, and pulling out his wallet. "Look, let me just give each of ya guys ten bucks apiece, huh? I mean those god awful suits couldn't have been more than that."
The demons growled in rage as they'd lost the little patience they'd had with that remark.
"Come on man, I'm not trying to start shit tonight." Angel Dust said as the burly demons surrounded him.
"Too late for that." Said a massive, muscular one as he towered over the lanky spider, with a massive, beefy hand soon tightly grabbing onto one of Angel's wrists.
"You'd better let me go." Growled the white furred demon, ready to reach for one of the many guns he had stashed on himself.
"I'd listen to him." Said a new voice, butting into the conversation. The demon actually let Angel go and turned to see the Courier standing several feet away. Angel Dust instantly recognized the man he'd met a few hours earlier, though he now questioned what he was doing here.
"This doesn't involve you, asshole." Growled the demon. "You'd better fuck off before you get hurt."
"Can't we all just have a pint and be friends?" Asked the Courier with a smile under his mask as the demons began to surround him instead, with them taking their attention off of Angel. Six then pulled out and began to chug an entire Nuka Cola. Well, chug is a generous term, it was more like the Courier was letting the sweet substance seep through the filters in his gas mask. He looked like a lunatic as the deep brown liquid was soon running down his neck and shoulders. Even Angel Dust raised an eyebrow at the armored man.
One demon had enough of the man's antics and went to reach for him, only for Six to turn and bash the empty bottle against the demon's head with enough force to shatter it, leaving the red skinned creature's face covered in glass. He screamed in pain as the shards sunk deep into his skin, before the Courier pulled out a little gift he'd gotten from the Courier's Mile. It was a Bowie knife known simply as Blood-Nap. Six then silenced the demon with a swift yet powerful knife slash to the neck.
Blood spewed from the demon's beefy neck like a geyser, and soon coated the Courier's helmet and upper chest in redness before the demon's body fell backwards. Another demon quickly snapped out of his shock, and reached to pull out his gun, only to get a knife through his hand, making him roar in pain. The Courier then grabbed the demon by the wrist and yanked him into a headbutt, which both broke the monster's nose and knocked him out at the same time. The Courier then pulled the knife from the demon's hand, and turned, before smiling as the remaining demons growled, with each and every one of them pulling out pistols as they did.
The Courier was about ready to rush them down despite their perceived ranged advantage, however, it seemed he was beaten to the punch as suddenly several bullets flew towards the group of pissed off demons, downing one of them before the others quickly scattered, kicking up tables and such for cover. The Courier turned to see who'd fired the shots, only to find Angel Dust had now pulled out a Tommy Gun.
"Well so much for conserving ammo." Said the Courier, before stashing away his knife and kicking over the table Angel Dust had sat at, allowing the two to duck behind it. As they did, the Courier wiped the blood from his eye lenses and pulled out a pump-action shotgun, with a forest camouflage finish on the stock and pump. Said shotgun was lovingly named Dinner Bell. He then began loading it with slugs.
"So who the hell are you?" Asked Angel as the Courier loaded his weapon, with the demon himself reloading.
"Charlie sent me. Wanted me to bring ya back to the hotel." Six responded.
"Wait, Charlie sent ya?" Angel Dust responded in surprise. "Damn, wouldn't take you as the type of person to help her out."
"World's full of surprises." Said Six, before he looked out from his cover, and fired. Instantly a table several yards away exploded into wood fragments, as the shotgun slug tore through both it, and the demon behind it. The damage towards the demon was so severe that the Courier could see right through his torso, with his ribcage and spine being completely destroyed by the Courier's powerful weapon. After a moment of shock, the demon dropped to the ground dead before the Courier ducked back under the table, avoiding several bullets as he did.
"So, got a name, hotstuff?" Angel asked with a toothy grin.
"Courier Six." Was the man's simple response.
"Uh… that it?" Was the spider's reply to the strange name.
"'Fraid so." The Courier shrugged, as he put another slug into Dinner Bell. He then waited, letting the bullets fade into the background as he listened for the click of a gun running out of ammo. After a few moments he heard one and leaped up from his cover, before shooting at the demon whose mag had run dry.
Said demon's head soon exploded into gore, with brain matter and chunks of skull painting the walls red. The demon's body twitched for a moment before dropping. The Courier then saw another demon rising from his own table to fire at him, only for said demon to be riddled with bullets from Angel Dust, before he too dropped dead. The Courier nodded to his white furred companion, and the duo ducked behind cover again, avoiding fire from the last two demons.
The Courier then decided to end this battle quickly, and rolled out of his cover, before firing several slugs from Dinner Bell at one of the remaining demons. One exploded the table he hid behind, forcing him to quickly get to his feet to rush out of the way, however, the Courier expected this, and smiled, as everything instantly began to slow, taking on an orangish glow.
V.A.T.S. had come into play.
"Got ya." Six said simply, as he targeted the demon's head.
The demon Six wasn't targeting saw as the Courier's fingers moved faster than he could react, causing two slugs to quickly launch towards his companion's head. The running demon didn't have a second to think before half of his brains were blown out the back of his head, leaving a hole in his head big enough for Six to fit his fist through it. The second shell missed, and exploded harmlessly into a wall somewhere behind the demon. The Courier didn't really care though, as that shot was merely a precaution.
The remaining demon then realized how fucked he was and quickly got to his feet, before rushing for the door, with him taking deep breaths all the while.
"Oh no you don't asshole!" Shouted Angel Dust, as he himself began to fire at the demon. However, he didn't need to, as the moment the big demon got to the exit door, a spear slammed straight through his chest, making the demon lurch over, before he was casually tossed aside by a familiar looking demon.
"Vaggie!?" Angel screamed upon seeing his pursuer.
"You son of a bitch!" Growled the spear master as she began to rush towards Angel, who let out a shout of surprise, and turned to run, only for him to be clotheslined by the Courier. Angel growled, looking up to see Six's red lenses looking back down at him.
"What the fuck, man?" Growled Angel.
"Can't risk you running off again." Said the Courier, before he suddenly picked up the spider demon and hoisted him over his shoulder. Vaggie herself paused as she watched this, and she didn't know whether to laugh, or confront the strange new arrival. Likewise, Angel didn't know if he should slap his abductor, or ask him for cash. As it was, he settled for halfheartedly struggling, though he found that the Courier's grip was stronger than he expected.
"I'm with Charlie." Said the Courier as he approached Vaggie. "Let's get back to the hotel."
That eased the spearwoman's mind, as she gave a nod. "So, what are you, a new arrival?" She asked in curiosity. "I don't think I've seen any mercenary like you before."
"New arrival? Yes. Mercenary though... I prefer the term vagabond." He said.
"Okay, we get it, you're a homeless nutjob." Angel Dust growled. "Can you please put me down now!?"
"No, I don't think I will." Was the Courier's simple response, making Vaggie chuckle as the trio left the bar in ruins, leaving an old, tired looking demon to sigh as he pulled out the mop and bucket to clean everything up.