A/N: Well, here's the next mission. Sorry I'm late; by all rights, I could've had this up by Friday, but I guess I got lazy. Plus, I had an orchestra concert, but I still should have had this up by last night the latest.
This one happens to be a personal favorite of mine, since the bridge chase at the end is just plain freaking' awesome. Hope you enjoy!
Just one thing about said bridge chase: the acceleration is on the right, correct? Then how exactly is Dante using Ivory instead of Ebony?
Oh, and I think I kind of overdid it by adding an extra scene to the part where Dante and Patty their appearance. It was just a spur of the moment thing that popped into my head. Let me know what you think; if most of you don't like it, then I'll refrain from coming up with new scenes in the future.
--
Three men driving motorcycles at very unsafe speeds tore out of the tunnel, the one yelling out a whoop to the sky as he did so. They kept going, completely oblivious to the two men wearing suits on the freeway watching them. None of the three motorcyclists showed any signs of slowing down.
That is, until the one in the rear lost control of his ride, screamed, and crashed. The one in the middle looked back when he heard the scream of terror, and noticing that his friend was down, turned to face the man in the lead, "Hey, Michel!!"
"What?" Michel called back. He was wearing black leather with a matching helmet.
"You're riding way too fast tonight! Slow down!"
Michel looked back, "Well, if you're so scared, you can always slow down!"
He sped up, and his friend yelled, "Michel!!!!"
The leather-clad motorcyclist didn't look back. Rather, as he began crossing the bridge, he sped up even more, "I won't stop no matter what…there's nothing better than this wind!"
Just then, he heard another motorcycle approaching from behind on his right. At first, he though his friend had decided to catch up anyway, but then he noticed that the motor sounded different than the one his friend used. He stole a quick glance back, just as the new arrival was passing him. Michel noticed the ominous red headlights, but they didn't really register. When the man passed him and pulled ahead, Michel felt insulted, "Are you…challenging me?! You bastard!!"
Michel twisted the accelerator as far as it would go, and sped up. But before he could even get the motorcyclist with the red headlights back even into his field of view, he lost control. One terrible scream and crash later, and Michel was lying dead, his helmet facing the burning wreckage of what was once a beautiful motorcycle…
--
It was pouring, and a man ran up the street. He had blond, spiky hair, and was wearing a purple shirt that was tucked into some white pants. He was also wearing large orange glasses. He noticed the woman wearing the black rain slick standing in front of a store, and ran up net to her, "Geez, I give up! What's up with this rain?
"Are you waiting for someone? Your boyfriend, maybe?" He noticed that her legs were exposed, and said, "You're going to catch a cold if you stay like that. How 'bout you forget about your boyfriend and come with me?" He gave her a thumbs-up "I'll treat you with a meal!"
The woman seemed to hesitate for a second, and then nodded. The man smiled and said, "Great! By the way, my name's Chad. What's yours?"
The woman didn't respond, instead opting to just start walking down the street. "Hey!" Chad called, pulling out an umbrella, "Wait up!"
--
"Haha!" Chad laughed after taking a single look around the warehouse, "What kind of place is this? There's nothing here!"
"Oh? Is that what you think?" The woman asked, speaking for the first time.
Lady, for indeed, that was her name, moved towards a door near the back. She opened said door, revealing a treasure horde of skulls; one of them fell to the floor as she did. Chad gasped, "Wh…what's this?"
"You're playing the innocent? How rude, considering that they're here because of you."
"Huh?!"
"Recently, a large number of women have gone missing from this city…it was reported that they all met a man. And after spending one night with this man in a hotel, they all ended up here."
"And you think it was me?" Chad adjusted his glasses, "That's a bit rude…do I honestly look like the type of man who would…"
"Did you say 'man'?" Lady interrupted him, and Chad seemed to be on the verge of panic, "I don't really think so…"
Chad immediately showed his true form; he morphed into a huge white demon with horns, three fingers on each hand with talons, and white markings on his body. He swiped at Lady, and succeeded in tearing apart her rain slick, but nothing else. The female devil hunter leaped into the air, pulling out one of her .35 caliber pistols and opening fire on Chad with three rounds. All of them impacted the demon, and he began bleeding from his torso. Lady watched the blood drip to the floor with a sadistic smile and pleasure born of a dark childhood, and said, "I like you more like this."
Chad roared and swiped twice more at Lady, who nimbly hopped back to avoid both attacks. She jumped over a third swipe, and again pulled out her gun, but this time, Chad knocked it out of her hands. When the female devil hunter landed, Chad, with another roar, launched into another charge. Lady didn't flinch, but instead pulled out two more guns: another .35 cal pistol, and an Uzi with a small bayonet attachment. The devil never stood a chance.
--
The two agents approached the warehouse, clearly hearing the single shots from a pistol, and small bursts of rapid-fire from an Uzi. They reached the entrance, and saw Lady standing over the dead corpse of the demon.
"Amazing skills." Complimented the taller of the two.
"Who are you?" Lady asked, turning around to face them, "And why are you dressed like the Blues Brothers?"
"We're from the Highway Administration Office. We've been looking for you for quite a while, now."
"Oh, really?"
The shorter one stepped beside his partner, "Yes. We've heard of you…the female devil hunter, known as Lady. But your real name is…"
"What do you want?" Lady cut him off, refusing to let him go any further with that sentence.
The only indication that the man was annoyed by her interruption was that he allowed his partner to answer, "We have a job a for you…"
If they were expecting a reply, they were disappointed. Lady stayed silent, waiting for either of them to continue.
--
The next day…at Devil May Cry…
"Really now." Patty admonished, still in the midst of redecorating, "How come your house is so dirty?"
Dante, sitting behind his desk and reading a magazine with his feet up on the table, didn't answer. Patty decided to drop the conversation, and starting singing a song to go along with her cleaning. Which caused the half-devil to grind his teeth together and think, Must. Really! Resist. Urge. To. Kill.
The most 'interesting' part of the makeover was when Patty worked on a certain back room. Dante shivered at the memory…
--
Flashback
The half-devil was sleeping on the couch. He had tried to talk Patty out of the redecorating, but she had turned a deaf-ear to everything he said. So he let her be. Well, at least until she screamed. Dante fell out of his chair, and stood up, looking for the young lady. Then he saw the door to the Devil Arm room open, and froze in near panic.
He rushed in, took in the three-pronged nun-chucks, the two swords with faces (which had their mouths taped shut), the purple guitar, two pairs of gauntlets and grieves, and Alastor all hanging on the wall. Finally, he saw Patty standing in front of…Patty. Then Dante noticed that the second Patty was completely black, clothes and everything, with an equally black aura, "Doppelganger! Heel!"
The shadow-Patty zoomed towards Dante, and kneeled before him. Patty stared at him, shaken, "Wh…what is that thing?"
"Patty, meet Doppelganger. Doppelganger, Patty."
The shadow devil gave the girl who's form he was currently taking a nod, then disappeared. Dante then turned his attention to the room at large, "Everyone! This girl here is Patty. She's a friend. Nobody hurts her, got it?"
"Um, who are you talking to?" Patty asked nervously. Then she felt the slender finger tap her shoulder, and she jumped into Dante's arms, in the style of a certain popular Great Dane.
"My! Who's this little cutie, Dante?" Nevan asked. She was dressed in her usual fashion. Which was to say, hardly dressed at all. In fact, she was only decent because her long hair fell over and covered her rather ample bosom.
Dante put Patty down, but still kept a hand on her since she looked rather shocked at the sight of the succubus. The half-devil cleared his throat, "Patty, this is…" he didn't get the chance to finish the sentence.
"I can't believe you!" Patty yelled, "I thought you were one of the few good people in the world, and here I find that you hang out with…with some kind of whore!"
"Excuse me?!" Nevan yelled indignantly, "Listen, little girl, I'm a devil. And I'll have you know…"
--
Dante stopped thinking about it. Everything just kind of escalated out of control from there, and it was bad enough that it happened once. He'd rather not relive it. Although, he had to admit, he did owe Patty congratulations for winning the argument, as well as the following slap-fight.
"Hey! Dante!" A man's voice called from outside.
Patty gasped, "A customer!" she exclaimed, climbing down the ladder.
The man opened the door and poked his head inside, smiling, "I've got your pizza!"
Dante rushed to the door, hoping to keep the delivery guy from seeing too much. He was too late. The half-devil took the pizza box from a different person than the one who originally brought it. In other words, the man was scarred for life.
He left, and Dante walked back to his desk. Unfortunately, Patty wouldn't leave it at that, "Pizza again? When're you going to get an actual job? Hmm…maybe I should redecorate the outside, as well."
Dante's eye twitched; enough was enough! "Didn't you see the delivery guy's reaction?! No one's ever gonna come in with the place looking like this! Fix everything.
Patty was about to give a scathing reply, but just then the door opened. She spun around, saying, "Welcome to Devil May Cry!"
"Hmm…" Lady began, looking the store over, "Well, it looks like your taste has changed quite a bit in the time since we last met, hasn't it, Dante? Or were you hiding this from me the entire time we've known each other?"
Dante's eye twitched again, but he refused to take the bait. It would lead to a total argument, and the only one of those that he's ever won against her was the one they had in the library of the Temen-Ni-Gru. Lady took advantage of his silence to look around. She walked to the windows, and pushed the new curtains aside so she could see outside.
"I get it, now." She said, looking at Patty, "So you must be this 'Patty Lowell' I've heard so much about."
Patty gasped, pleasantly surprised, "How'd you know? Am I famous?"
"Well, there've been rumors of a girl hanging around the Devil May Cry recently."
"But…" Dante interjected, "You obviously didn't come all this way just to see some brat. (Patty pouted when he said that) What do you want? If it's one of those jobs, the answer is 'no'."
"Wow, aren't you cold."
"Only because the jobs you bring me are pretty shitty, and they don't pay good in the least."
"Fine, then. Have it your way. But first…do you realize how much money you owe me? Do you get it now? I'm here to collect."
"And you should know…" Dante started, "That I don't enough money to pay such a large debt. I couldn't pay you if I wanted to. And just so you know, I don't want to."
Lady walked over to the pool table, "Then how 'bout a bet? If I pot ball number 8, then you'll do the job unconditionally."
Dante sighed as he watched her chalk the tip of the cue, "You can never do things the simple way, huh? Alright, fine. But if you miss, you give me complete amnesty for my debt…"
"I'm surprised you know the word 'amnesty' and how to use it properly in a sentence."
"…and you give me twenty thousand in cash.
"Deal."
As Dante looked away, apparently believing that she stood no chance, Lady aimed, and hit the cue ball. Dante took a bite of his pizza as he listened to the balls clacking together behind him, but was forced to look as he heard what must have been six balls crashing together. He turned just in time to see the 8 ball roll into the corner pocket.
"Wow!" Patty exclaimed, having moved in close to watch the spectacle, "That was amazing!"
"Shit…" Dante muttered, grabbing his coat, "You know, you could make a hell of a lot more money being a hustler."
"Sorry, that doesn't cut it for me. I have a need to annihilate and destroy."
"Okay, who's the poor sunovabitch you're sending me after, this time?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Lady asked, narrowing her eyes sadistically, "Demons, of course."
--
The pair approached the gasoline shop, where a large group of motorcyclists seemed to be having some gathering; some of them were riding their bikes around, while others were setting off fireworks. There was even a stereo. "What the hell is this?!" Dante asked Lady incredulously, "There is no possible way in hell that these idiots are demons."
Lady pointed at the leather jacked one of the was wearing, which read 'Devils Nest', "Well, according to the Highway Administration Office, these guys are demons. Scared?"
"Don't toy with me. Why would a demon hunter waste time taking care of these morons?"
"Which is exactly why I'm passing the job on to a Jack-of-all-Trades like you. I don't know what the hell the HAO was thinking, if they were thinking at all, giving me this job. So I figured…"
"Enough!" Dante growled in annoyance, and starting to walk away, "You're on your own."
"Why?"
Dante stopped, and the light reflected off of Rebellion's hilt into Lady's blue and red eyes, "I can't use swords or guns on humans. In a way, they're more of a pain in the ass than demons. And to make matters worse, they won't listen to a goddamn word I say. Bye?"
"Please. Who needs words or guns when dealing with these idiots? Follow my lead." And with that, she walked towards the group.
Sighing, Dante stuck around to see what happened. He watched Lady almost immediately get into an argument with one of them. He couldn't make out the first few words, but as their voices grew louder, he heard "Just what do you want?"
"I don't want anything from you." Lady replied, " I want to see your boss."
"What's your problem, bitch?" Another guy joined the argument.
Then the music stopped, and a man came over. He had blonde hair, and was wearing a green shirt, a black leather jacket, and pants a little lighter in color than his jacket, "I'm the leader, Vincent. What do you want?"
Lady pushed one of the men she was talking out of her way and approached Vincent, "Sorry, but you guys are gonna have to hit the road."
"What do you mean?"
Another man wearing a bandana went up to Lady, "We do what we want, when we want!"
"See?" Dante asked, attracting everyone's attention, "Told you talking to them would do no good. Trying to reason with a bunch of losers who don't even realize what a pain in the ass they are is just a waste of time. Bye?" He tried again.
"What did you say?!" Bandana man asked heatedly, starting towards Dante.
Vincent stopped him, addressing the two devil hunters, "I'm sorry about the inconvenience to you guys, but could you leave? We're planning a race. My older brother Michel raced against someone three weeks ago, and was killed." Vincent clenched his fists, "That bastard's a legend on the highway. Everyone who races against him dies. I have to avenge my brother!"
"Pathetic…" Dante snorted, "Your brother was an idiot to get himself killed in a race of all things, and you're even stupider to try to avenge him by racing against a guy who kills all competitors!"
"Oh, you little!"
"Wait." Lady stopped him from attacking Dante, "How about a race?"
"Huh?"
"If you lose, then you and your crew clear out, immediately."
"Hey, Lady!" Dante called, "Don't go making decisions for me!"
"What's wrong? If you win, you'll be able to pay your debt, with interest."
"Shit…"
"Now wait one minute!" Vincent yelled, "I never agreed to…"
Lady put a finger to his lips, "The guys you're trying to race. It's Red-Eye, isn't it?"
"How did you…?"
"Who know? Maybe if you race…he'll show up?"
"You…" Vincent gasped, as Lady winked with her red eye.
--
Not half-an-hour later, Dante and Vincent were ready to race. Lady came up to friend with a helmet, "Here."
"I don't need it." The half-devil claimed dismissively, jumping onto the motorcycle.
"I didn't think you would."
Vincent growled, throwing off his helmet, "I don't need it, either!"
"What!" One of his friends exclaimed, "That's crazy!"
Dante ignored them, deciding to question his friend, "You…what are you up to?"
"Why do you say it like that? I'm just trying to make sure you don't get yourself killed."
"I'm not talking about the helmet…but fine, I'll play your game for a little longer." He grabbed Rebellion from his back, and held it out to Lady, "Here. I won't need it."
"I guess you're right." Lady took the sword, smiling, "At least for right now."
A minute later, the female devil hunter held her hand up, signaling Dante and Vincent to get ready. They both revved their engines, and when Lady suddenly dropped her hand, the racers took off.
Vincent took an early lead, but the moment he looked back to see how far behind Dante was, the red-clad hunter was already pulling up beside him. Growling, Vincent pulled ahead, but the next time he looked back, Dante was actually ahead of him. "You'll never avenge your brother at that slow speed!" Dante called mockingly.
"SHIT!!" Vincent roared. Then he pressed a button right under the handle bar, labeled 'nitro'. Predictably, he took off at an amazing speed, tearing right past Dante.
--
The entire time, a man in black leather, sitting on a motorcycle with red headlights, watched.
--
"Nitro?!" Dante muttered in exasperation, speeding up, "That idiot!"
Vincent neared the bridge. The speed he was going at almost forced his eyes into his head. He was seconds away from the bridge. He grunted with exertion from trying to keep the motorcycle from swerving out of control. Then he reached the bridge…and he saw his brother.
Dante had reached the bridged a good five seconds later, and he heard the clearly demonic laugh. If anyone had seen him, they would have seen an expression of shock on his face. Apart from the laugh, he also sensed some type of aura around the bridge. It seemed familiar, but he couldn't quite place what it was.
He whipped out Ebony, and fired two rounds at Vincent's tires. He wasn't quite sure what was going on, but whatever it was, it was time for Vincent to get out of the way. Both bullets flew straight at the back tire, but they suddenly veered off course and collided into the metal of the motorcycle instead, where they could do no real damage.
"Shit." Dante growled, returning Ebony back to its holster and knowing that something was keeping him from stopping Vincent. As such, logic would show, the motorcyclist must be the target of the demon doing this.
"Brother!" Vincent yelled, his thumb reaching for the nitro button.
"No! Don't do it!" Dante roared.
Vincent took no notice of him as he pressed the button three times, "Brother! Brother, brother, brother!!"
"Stop!!!"
With an insane cackle, the motorcyclist said, "I won't stop no matter what…there's nothing better than this wind!"
That's when Dante remembered, "This is…demonic possession!!"
The possessive power was laced around the bridged, so Dante used the only method available to him; he destroyed it. Again pulling out Ebony, he opened fire on the bridge's supports. Round after round tore into the metal, effectively weakening them enough so that they would crumble. Eventually, Dante stopped firing and focused on his steering. A good thing, too, since he ended up needing both his hands to avoid the metal supports raining down on him!
He clamped his jaws around Ebony, leaving both hands free to steer. He evaded all the falling supports and cleared the bridge just a few seconds after Vincent. As Dante pulled along side the motorcyclist, he confirmed that the demons possession had worn off with the destruction of the bridge; Vincent no longer looked crazed, but dazed. "So tell me: Why are you following the shadow of your dead brother?" Dante asked.
He shot Vincent's back tire out, and the motorcyclist swerved out of control, but landed safely in the grass next to the street. Then Dante sensed someone's presence, and looked to his left; there, riding on another bridge, was a motorcyclist wearing mostly red leather, with a matching helmet…and she was carrying Kalina Ann and Rebellion.
Lady grabbed Rebellion from her back and, with strength that really shouldn't have been available to a human, used a single arm to throw the sword to Dante. The half-devil watched it spin in the air towards him, and caught it deftly by the hilt with his left hand.
Lady gave him a thumbs-up, then proceeded to speed toward the edge of the bridge she was on. She launched into the air, and landed perfectly on the street Dante and Red-Eye were on. "That bitch. This was the plan all along." Dante sighed irritably, then grinned, "All right, let's go there!"
Lady grabbed her two .35 cal's and opened fire on Red-Eye. All the rounds hit their target, but to no effect. "Shit." Lady muttered.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Dante yelled, pulling along beside her, "You called me here 'cause you knew this was gonna happen, didn't you?"
"Well, if you knew that already, why don't hurry up and get him?!"
"Easy to say."
"What's wrong? Is it too difficult for you?"
"Nope! Easy as can be!" Dante sped past Lady and after Red-Eye.
This close, Dante could see the aura Red-Eye was giving off. The demon laughed, which only served to irritate Dante and make him speed up.
The wind seemed to part as the half-devil sped up. He came up right next to Red-Eye, and with a roar, pushed the accelerator past what was supposed to be its limit. As a result, the speedometer broke with an electrical discharge, and the exhaust began spitting flames. Dante sped past his opponent. He had won. Okay, well, not yet. The half-devil heard the noise as Red-Eye revealed his true form and leapt into the air. Dante spun around in his seat, swinging Rebellion at the same time. His aim was perfect, as the blade stabbed Red-Eye just next to the tire.
Red-Eye was totally grotesque, with the red eye he was named after being just that; a glowing red eye.
"Hey, buddy!" Dante said, "You're going over the speed limit! What are you tryin' to do, cause an accident?"
The red-eyed demon didn't take kindly to the joke, however lame it was. He roared, and grew four arms, which he used to move around. Also, the front tire transformed into a saw wheel, which started turning in an attempt to chop Dante into confetti. The Son of Sparda pushed with Rebellion to keep the saw at bay, then he saw Lady approaching from behind Red-Eye. With a burst of strength, he cut through the wheel with Rebellion, leaving the motorcycle demon bleeding profusely from a sizable wound.
Lady leaped from her motorcycle and aimed her descent towards Red-Eye. Unfortunately, the demon saw her coming, and punched her with one of his four arms, sending her helmet flying. Dante was about to step in to help, but when he saw Lady recover quickly and grab Kalina Ann, he decided that it would probably be safer to step back, instead.
The female devil hunter flew over Red-Eye, and launched a missile into his namesake. She landed neatly on her motorcycle, which had still been going since she jumped off, and braked into a complete stop. She brushed a stand of hair from in front of her eyes, and a moment later, the motorcycle demon exploded into brilliant flames.
Dante watched him burn for a moment, then turned on Lady angrily, "You were planning on using me from the beginning!"
"I'm sorry." Lady apologized sincerely, "But that was the real request from the Highway Admin Office."
"Brother!"
Dante and Lady turned to see who had shouted, and saw Vincent running to the remains of Red-Eye. Vincent kneeled next to the corpse, which was for whatever reason in the form of Michel, and when the body melted into nothing, he screamed, "BROTHER!!!!!"
Neither of the devil hunters said anything, realizing that this was something Vincent would have to come to terms with himself…
--
The next day…at Devil May Cry…
Patty was tapping the drum set, playing the same note over and over again, "Not one customer has come in since I removed all the decorations…"
"My idea of life is resting six days a week." Dante joked. Well, Patty hoped he was joking. Dante continued, "Besides, the payment from the last job should be coming in any minute now."
"Hmm? You mean the motorcycle devil, right?"
"Yep. Lady should be at the HAO right now, discussing my payment." Then the phone rang, "Ah, here it is now!"
He banged his foot onto the desk, and the phone went flying into his outstretched hand, "Lady! I was waiting for your call! Now about my…"
--
"The debt's increased." Lady cut him off from inside the phone booth just outside Devil May Cry.
"Huh? It's increased?"
"I got the money for taking out Red-Eye, but don't you remember that bridge you destroyed? I had to cover the cost."
"So?"
"So, the cost took up all of your cut, as well a bit of my own. I'm adding it to your debt." Lady went to hang up phone.
--
"Wait, Lady!" Dante yelled. He was too late.
He threw the phone back onto the receiver, "Shit! That bitch!"
Patty found herself pitying him, "You're not very lucky, are you?"
"Shut up!" Dante pouted, his face covered by a magazine.
Then the door opened, and Vincent walked in. A few minutes later, Patty served him tea, "Here you go."
Vincent nodded his thanks, but directed his words to Dante, "That woman told me your office was here, so I came to thank you…so thank you. It was almost like…like I somehow heard my brother's voice. I chased after it, but if you hadn't stopped me, I wouldn't have found my brother. Rather, I would have found my death.
"And so, I've made my decision. I will no longer do things for Michel. From now on, I race for myself! And then…" Patty looked back, interested. Vincent finished, "Please, race me again!"
Dante, who hadn't said a word since the motorcyclist came in, looked up at him from under the magazine. He saw the new clarity in Vincent's eyes. The half-devil stood up, and made his way to the pool table, "How 'bout a bet?"
"A bet?"
Patty looked like she wanted to smack herself as Dante continued, "If you win, I'll race you again. But if I manage to pot ball number 8…"
"Pot ball 8?"
"…you'll treat me with a meal."
Dante took the shot. Predictably, he lost. Then he was subsequently arrested for speeding that night during the race. The Son of Sparda had to borrow money from Lady to pay the fine. Just another two grand that was added to his debt.
On the bright side, though, Vincent got away!