A/N: I'd like to say I've had very little experience writing action and fight scenes so I'm more than open to suggestions or pointers on how to improve them!
Also, I apologize for the slow posts lately. I entered the National Novel Writing Month contest, albeit a bit late, and am therefore trying to write a 50,000 word novel by the end of the month :P When I'm done with it my posting chapters'll be a bit more regular.
At least a demon would have let him get to the lobby, possibly even out the door before attacking him.
Because an elevator is a really bad place to get into a fight.
Dante discovers this before they even make it two floors. It starts going wrong the second the doors close and the car starts rumbling down. Dante is in a foul mood so he doesn't bother taunting the elevator man this time. Instead he turns his head and looks at the fuzzy version of his reflection that shows up in the polished walls. When he squints, the reflection from the opposite wall creates a faint corridor of Dantes he thinks he can make out, versions of himself that get more and more indistinct until their mere blobs of faint white and red.
It is silent in the car, just the rumble of machinery and the nervous shuffling of the elevator man behind him. Dante can see his reflection too when he flicks his eyes to the right. The man's reflection turns his head slowly and looks at Dante, then grins. Dante looks behind him sharply, but the elevator man is looking at the numbers above the door, tapping his foot. And so is his reflection. But something is still off. It takes Dante a moment to realize the reflection is tapping his foot faster than the man actually is.
"Oh, hell."
"Sir?" The elevator man looks at him, startled.
"Well, I guess it wouldn't have been any better on the stairs." There's no room to pull his sword so he goes for his guns as both of their reflections turn and start toward them. The elevator dude makes a sort of high pitched squeaking sound and Dante shoves him down. His reflection reaches out and the wall ripples like water, the ripples spreading and spreading and spreading until the shining surface of every wall is moving busily. There's a loud grinding noise and the car jerks violently, throwing the human onto the floor and making Dante brace himself, fighting to keep his balance. The floor buttons explode outward in a shower of sparks and the elevator man screams. Dante pulls his hands away from the guns, and brings an arm up as the wall suddenly shudders and bulges inward, striking at him. He feels the jolt of it all the way up his arm and braces himself as the wall tries to pull him toward it. His other fist strikes out at the tentacle holding it, its surface as hard and shining as the wall it's made from.
Which is impossible. If it's bending and twisting like that it should have been soft, but his knuckles split and bleed as she pounds on it, denting but not breaking its hold.
It pulls him again, his hand and half of his upper arm disappearing into the wall. He feels pain rocket up the length of his arm and snarls, wrenching backward. The metal gives, raking his skin as he tries to pull it out. His body heals almost instantly but in this case it works against him, the healed skin torn open again in seconds. As if sensing it, the tentacle holding him sprouts dozens of spikes, spreading up his arm and stabbing him again and again as he heals. Dante grits his teeth and slams his fist into it again, jerking back with all his strength at the same time. The blood sheeting his arm from the wounds helps, making it easier for him to tear his arm free. He ducks as the tentacle lashes out at him and twists as another emerges from the second wall, metal groaning around him. The elevator man is screaming, blubbering, cowering on the floor with his arms over his head. Dante ignores him, growling as the tentacle beside him stabs its tip into its side and tries to burrow in, twisting sinuously. He rips free and twists, kicking out hard at the tentacle in front of him and the wall it came out of. The sheer amount of strength behind the kick makes the wall shudder, and even with the chaos around them the wall bends under the force of it. Dante kicks again, ignoring the slashing tentacles, sparks flying as the wall starts to break. Both tentacles retreat, sliding smoothly back into the wall's gleaming surface. Dante doesn't stop, smashing the wall once more. It's enough the wall finally gives, the darkness beyond the hole glaring against the bright light of the car.
The car shudders and jerks again and Dante hears the distinct sound of cables breaking above. Dante shoves his hands through the hole and rips the wall open, forcing it bigger bit by bit until he can fit. He reaches back and grabs the elevator guy, ignoring the man's shrieking, and pokes his head through the hole, judging the best place to aim for. As he pulls back, the hole starts to close and the walls ripple again. Dante backs up a step, dragging the elevator guy along with him, and kicks again, the wall bending outward and already starting to try and pull back together even as Dante bursts through it, lashing a hand out to grab one of the cables for the second car. Behind him, the elevator walls burst inward, shining brass spikes shooting out from all sides. Elevator man is still kicking and writhing, so his foot is still inside. His screams reach a fever pitch as the brass points shred his shoe and the flesh beneath it. Dante curses and jerks him forward, straining with all his might against gravity and the man's weight as the wall finishes closing. He manages to get the guy's foot free before it gets severed but he's bleeding profusely and Dante's willing to guess it won't take too long before he can't be saved. He's got to get him to one of the floors.
The sound of more cables breaking makes Dante look up and he curses again. The entire elevator car is jerking back and forth and back and forth, pulling itself free of its moorings below and above so it's hanging by one cord. It's still for a moment, and then starts swinging again, the loose cables writhing around it. Dante does the only thing he can do as the thing starts to swing at him like some hellish wrecking ball, dragging the elevator man up and letting go of the cable. The man isn't screaming anymore, probably in shock, which is the only relief Dante gets as he plunges down the elevator shaft with the human tucked under his arm.
They're in luck; the second car is coming up instead of going down. Dante can hear the screams inside as he lands on top of it. Prying open the door at the top of it, he gets a glimpse of several well dressed people staring up at him in shock as he drops the injured human into their midst and slams the door shut again, trusting the elevator man in that car will take care of his coworker even if the others won't. He doesn't have much time to think on it because the car is going up and the other elevator is swinging down to meet him. Cables whip around his arms and shoulders and he launches himself off the other car before they can tighten completely, swinging toward the wall to get it away from the people.
There's one good thing about being outside of the car and hanging on for dear life in the middle of an elevator shaft. He can pull his sword now.
He's got room and the civilians are out of the way.
Playtime, Dante's lips curve into a smile, is over.
Dante wrenches free enough to pull it, sparks flying as his sword tears through the cable. He falls a short way, out into more space…and transforms. Dark power explodes out from him, enough to shake the building around him. His remaining wounds close as his body reconfigures itself. He tucks his wings against his back, his claws tearing into the metal of the elevator. He feels the metal soften and try to drag him down but he moves fast enough it can't get a proper hold. He moves up, aiming for the top of the car and the remaining cables holding it up. Loose cables slash at him from all sides and his wings sweep out and down, tearing the cables loose and giving him more momentum.
The shriek of tortured metal as Dante slashes through the final cables is almost human.
Dante leaps free of the car as it falls, watching it plunge down the shaft and smash into the ground far, far below as he holds onto the wall.
He wonders if they'll find anything strange about the remains or, like everything so far, the power stalking him will leave no real sign of itself.
He pries open the doors right above him before he changes back and heads for the stairs, ignoring the gaping looks of people passing him by. He figures he doesn't need to tell them the elevator is out of order.