Author's Notes: This chapter was originally longer, but as I was writing it I was coming up with so much material it was going to be way longer than even chapter 10. So I decided to split it in half and this seemed the best place, and that comes with the good news that I've already written about half of chapter 13 :D. Anyway, it's a little short, but I hope you all enjoy it. There's a lot of Arson in this one XD.
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Dark clouds swirled ominously over the summit of the Temen-Ni-Gru. They did this mostly to spite the weathermen, who had predicted today would be a brilliant sunny affair and just one of those outdoor times. They had of course overlooked the showers of Hell spawn and mild spell of apocalypse threatening the city when compiling this report, but who ever trusted the weatherman anyway?
"So, what now?" Arson asked, half-distracted by imagining the clouds were carrying protest signs, and trying to read what they said. He raised a valid point though; they were back and intact, several city blocks from the tower where presumably, Mary Sue still resided. All they lacked now was a course of action.
"Now, we go and rip her more new ones than she can find use for" Zone replied, glaring at the tower with intent. He had a score to settle, for the rodent could accept defeat, to a degree, but he saw it as no excuse not to try again. After all, where would we be if we all gave up after one failed attempt, he reasoned.
"No, that would be very unwise" Reiko countered, considering that she had mopped the floor with all three of them the first time and they'd not even landed one real blow in return. It would be foolish verging on suicidal to reattempt the confrontation without acquiring some kind of new edge or advantage.
Zone however did not share this point of view, and looked up at Reiko with a challenging expression, "Why not, chicken?" he taunted. He wasn't especially trying to be mean or spiteful, but after his very-near-death experience, he very much wanted to grasp being alive, and able to make a difference, with both paws.
Sensing a potential argument breaking out between the other two, although such bickering was just one of the ways the hamster and vampire communicated, Arson took the initiative and cut in. "Hey, no fighting you guys! Didn't you read the reviews? We have to get back to humorous content now!" he blurted out.
The other two just started at him, Arson blushing and covering his mouth when he realised what he'd said. "Well, there goes the fourth wall" Reiko muttered, shaking his head at the hybrid's reckless impulsiveness.
"May it rest in pieces" Zone concurred, Arson having unwittingly united them in disbelief at his actions.
Suddenly lightning arced across the sky from all around the horizon, striking a central point where the sky seemed to darken. With a deafening clap of thunder, the sky itself split apart, darkening around the wound, the centre of which was glowing an ominous red. The rift widened and the red glow was revealed to be coming from three blood-crimson orbs hanging in the sky in a perfect triangle, lightning crackling between them. The hamster, vampire and hybrid all looked up silently at Mundus, Emperor Of The Underworld.
"I'M MAKING A CANON-DEFYING CAMEO" The ruler of all that was demonic announced, his voice shaking the ground, rattling windows and upsetting small children. Then, with a superfluous crackling of energy and some severe orchestration, the vortex into another dimension imploded spectacularly.
Zone and Reiko stared dumfounded, the sky quickly returning to the almost-normal way it had been before, the pair struck speechless. Arson however growled and cupping his hands around his mouth, he yelled at the top of his voice "You big show-off!", picking up a piece of rubble and hurling it at the sky angrily.
Normally such a gesture would result in the thrown object landing nearby in anticlimactic failure. However due to the hybrid's unordinary strength, it continued to zip upwards and eventually disappeared from view.
"OK… And we're risking our necks for this place?" Zone said eventually, breaking the silence that ensued.
Reiko shook his head, wanting to point out to the hamster that he asked to come along, but he didn't feel up to it after the world's latest attempt to torment him with the frustratingly inexplicable. "Yes" the vampire replied, quickly closing the topic and giving Zone a look as the rodent's mouth opened, silencing even him.
Pondering their circumstances, those being that they were free and alive but currently unable to defeat their opponent, Reiko considered their options. Realising he didn't know how to resolve the problem, he struck on a course of action, "What we need is to seek council, to learn how to overcome Mary Sue's powers".
Zone, his defiant personality overriding the chilling effects of the gaze after a moment (a fair tactic in his view), considered this. He had protested earlier, but realised he'd been hasty, and with a small swallow of pride admitted it. "Yeah, you're right" he said, and then added "But uh, where do we even start looking?".
Reiko didn't have an immediate answer for this, but he was sure he could come up with something and lapsed into an intense brooding focus, staring fiercely into space. That space happened to be on the ground and contained a chunk of rubble, which Arson picked up after a few moments. Feeling sorry for the rock for being basked in Reiko's intense gaze, he coddled it maternally, "There there little guy" he cooed. "You want something to eat, or drink?" he asked the piece of concrete, remarking "I'm kinda thirsty myself".
"Aha!" Reiko suddenly exclaimed, not the kind of person to use a word like eureka. The sudden noise from the vampire made Arson yelp and drop his rock, the hybrid subsequently breaking down into tears, crying that he was a terrible mother. Not to be deterred by this Reiko turned to Zone, and briefly wondered at what point the world went so wrong that he was looking to the hamster as the sane party. "There's a bar around here somewhere, it's one of the few locations outside the tower in the game, so any survivors are probably holding up there. It's a good place to start asking, at least" he explained, further punishing the fourth wall.
Zone tilted his head, scanning his memory for a moment, before recognition hit him. "Oh, the one with the strip club in the back?" he asked with a grin, proud of his successful recollection.
Reiko rolled his eyes but nodded, "Trust you to remember it for that quality" he said with a resigned grin.
Zone shrugged and chuckled in feigned innocence, "What? Alcohol, cheap sex, I didn't decide to put Dante's office just down the street from places offering such things" he replied with coy amusement.
Reiko crossed his arms and didn't reply, the crafty rodent having narrowly evaded having blame for his earlier association placed on him. "Fair enough, anyway, come on, hopefully we can find something useful there" the vampire said, turning to Arson and trying to help him stop lamenting his dropped baby/rock.
Zone turned to watch him and smirked, "Oh I doubt it, they'd probably be closed for business during a crisis like this" he said with an incorrigible grin as Reiko managed to get the weeping hybrid standing. The vampire scowled at the rodent's perpetual cocky innuendo, and gave him a not unkind kick along.
"Get moving you furry pervert" he remarked, again finding himself resisting the urge to grin, as Zone yelped and stumbled forwards, snickering and eventually nodding. He complied, having had his fun, and fell in step besides the others as Reiko consoled the stricken Arson while guiding him along the street.
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"Ah, this is the place" Reiko announced, standing at the corner of Slum Avenue (that really is its name) and pointing, Arson who was behind him and Zone besides the hybrid, following his finger. It indicated a door on the left just before a heap of wreckage blocking up the street; the entrance to the bar they sought. Smiling in satisfaction at their progress, which had been uninterrupted by attack, Reiko stepped forwards.
The unmistakable crack of a gunshot snapped through the air, and with inhuman reaction speed the vampire dived to the side, the bullet narrowly missing him… And heading straight for Arson.
The hybrid, lacking his friend's exceptional reflexes, didn't even have time to blink as the round smacked with cruel misfortune right into his forehead, kicking him off his feet. The teenager was jerked backwards and fell to the ground on his back, laying motionless for a long moment. Then, he burst into tears, loudly.
Reiko, who had just stood up alert and scanning for the source of the attack, was relieved to see the teenager was alive, if not exactly fine. "OOW! Something hit me!" Arson bawled, sitting up and pounding the ground between his splayed legs as he wailed in upset rage, further damaging the cracked street.
As the vampire continued to search for the shooter, they made themselves apparent. Stepping out from concealment behind some debris near the door, the figure was holding a faintly smoking pistol and as it advanced, raised another in its hand and pointed it at Reiko, the first trained on the weeping Arson. We could go into descriptive detail about the individual, finding original ways to describe the white top, the raven hair or the distinctive scar over the nose and so on. But we'll save time and just say it was Lady.
The young demon hunter advanced steadily, keeping a gun on each target; originally she'd considered Reiko the threat, but after seeing the kid survive a gunshot to the head she was wary of him too. "A vampire and a demon huh" she spat the words with vitriolic disgust, "Any reason I shouldn't kill you both now?" she asked, having to raise her voice slightly over Arson's ceaseless crying.
Reiko waved his hands quickly, "We're not evil, we're original characters, good original characters" he explained hastily, finding it hard to sound diplomatic while having to half-shout over Arson's crying.
Lady rolled her eyes slightly at this, not lowering her guns a fraction, "Why should I believe you? And does he ever stop crying!" she had to start yelling to be heard over the incessant bawling.
"It really really hurts!" Arson half-yelled, half-sobbed, tears streaming from his eyes as he rubbed one sleeved-hand against his forehead, glaring at the woman pointing a gun at him with a mix of fear and anger.
"Well, duh, you did get shot in the head, you're supposed to die" Lady elaborated to the bizarre youth, whose eyes wobbled anew at the suggestion that someone wanted to kill him. Then he burst into a new bout of ear-splitting wailing, Lady wincing and starting to think perhaps the vampire was being honest. After all, surely this kid couldn't be one of the demonic predators she'd been fighting and killing all day. A demon yes, but apparently a benign one, after all, original characters were strange, she thought to herself silently.
"Damn it woman, do you want to go deaf!" a voice yelled up at Lady. Looking down, she saw Zone, standing a couple of feet from her and holding his ears down against his head, wearing a very aggravated expression. She hadn't noticed him before, and he'd stayed silent because he had a great view up her skirt.
With an exasperated sigh, Lady lowered her weapons; a talking hamster pretty much proved it, these three had to be original characters. "Fine" she groaned, tucking away her weapons and gesturing to the door, "You can go in, but don't" she emphasised, "cause any trouble, or else" she let the unspoken threat linger.
Getting a cooperative nod from Reiko, a surprisingly enthusiastic "OK!" from Zone, who almost didn't stop staring between her legs in time, and a sob from Arson, she turned and went back to take up her post. Reiko let out a relieved phew and helped Arson up, the hybrid only sobbing quietly now, much to Zone's delight. "Well, now I know what an air raid warning sounds like" he muttered as they headed to the door.