A/N: Thanks to all who are still reading Perspective, who follow and favourite it and very special thanks to justaguest for the review of the last chapter. It made me really happy after a really bad day. I hope all of you will enjoy this chapter as well.
Since Vergil's downfall is released I should tell you that I wrote most of this story much earlier, so Vergil's recent events are ignored in Perspective.
Status: not beta-ed again (Sorry, but things didn't work out like expected); part 4 of 6 (This part of the story got 2 chapters because of the length.)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything of DmC.
4. Memories of places - I
Kat led the way to the Virility factory.
"Why would he come to this place?", Dante asked looking at the giant logo of the drink. Good thing that he didn't use to drink it often for he was more the whiskey type. Although this stuff wouldn't influence him he now knew the ingredients and that was reason enough to never drink it again.
"This place is large with a lot of labyrinth like aisles."
"Yeah, completely unlike Raptor News", the hunter commented.
"And it was the greatest factory of chemical mind control."
"Do I see a running gag about that mind control stuff?"
Kat smiled a devilish smile Dante didn't knew she could muster. He wanted the shy, innocent woman back who tried to help him although he didn't ask for it. The events changed her. Or maybe she just unbend.
"Phineas, stay close", he whispered. Bad enough his only male support was an ancient demon.
Surprisingly there were still humans around the mixing room although they could see the demons now.
"Are they crazy? Why don't they run?", Dante asked unbelievingly.
"It's the drink. They are addicted to it", Kat explained.
They watched as a man smashed a chair on the head of another one. No one seemed to care but all of them got aggressive when someone came too close. They fought for the rest of the drink. Since the succubus was dead the production stopped. Virility became hard to achieve while at the same time the whole town seemed to need it to stay sane.
"This could be useful", Phineas said but earned a solid "NO!" from both, Kat and Dante.
"We don't use mind control", Kat explained looking at Dante as if she feared he would change his opinion.
The demon hunter nodded. Something else was on his mind though. "Phineas, how is it the succubus in the club could manipulate me if the secretion of them is in Virility? Vergil said it would only afflict humans."
"The succubus touched you. The concentration on their skin is much higher than the secretions used for this liquid."
"In Limbo it still hurt me."
"In Limbo it was more acid like. You know where the secretions came from?"
"Yeah ... but it's not acrid now. They still drink it."
"Limbo and the human world are not the same although Limbo collapsed. The surrounding here is more stable for example."
Dante nodded. This was something he was really glad for.
"How can we stop them from drinking it?" Kat asked.
"I don't think there is an easy way. They see where the stuff comes from and they still drink it." His eyes were fixed on one of the demons which had a tap in its stomach. "This is sick." He stepped closer to Kat who was leaning over the handrail to look down the path Dante had used last time to get to Poison. The hunter glanced down, too. There was a lot of that yellow liquid now, enough that it was almost within reach if Dante stretched down a little. He could see chunks of something floating on the surface. Someone had hung a pump and a pipe into the stuff. It lead to a place where many people fought.
"What happened to the succubus in this facility after you defeated it?" Kat apparently knew how to find the most disgusting topics unerringly.
"Let's say it got mixed." Virility with extra meat for more weight and stupidity. Now that he thought about it, this new, higher concentrated drink could have some side effects. Her silence told Dante Kat was thinking the same. He looked around the room. "It doesn't seem to kill them - directly." That was good news he assumed.
"We need to be careful", the medium said.
"I always am."
"My staff!", they heard Phineas' scream. The stupid demon had wandered off while nobody paid him any attention. He stood face to face with a guy who tipped the scales at at least a ton. "Give it to me!"
Kat ran over to the demon. She was right in time to see him getting hit by a powerful right hook from close range. There was a lot of weight behind that punch. According to the human worlds physics it send the demon flying. Dante took his time to join the scene. With all of his power he could kill the man but with a normal dose he doubted the guy would even feel a thing. He settled for the easiest of his options using Ophion to catch and pull the man until he fell. The man stayed aggressive, cursing the world in general it seemed. And he still clung to the staff like it was more important than to get back up to his feet. Maybe because it meant lesser effort.
"Be a nice boy", Dante recommended but only got insults in response. One well aimed kick send the man to sleep. "You've been warned." He picked up the staff and went over to where Kat knelt next to Phineas. "What's wrong with him?"
"He's out cold."
"Makes two of them. Here", he gave her the staff, "Stay here with him. I go and clean the area." He draw Ebony and held the gun out to Kat. "Take her for defense but be careful. The trigger is easy going."
"Her?", Kat asked but took the weapon.
Dante didn't answer. He turned, watched the people around for a moment to decide if they were a threat and then went to the door he remembered from his last visit. While he went through the aisles he considered if Vergil came here to get a bit Virility. If he knew how the succubus ended he could use it even against other Nephilim. With the complete demon inside the stuff ought to be much stronger.
"Not a single demon", the hunter declared when he came back into the mixing room. Phineas was on his feet again unlike the fat man. He and Kat went over to Dante and they reentered the aisles.
"How can that be?", Kat asked.
"I don't know. There are a few people wandering around - confused and disoriented - but no demons."
"I can feel something", Phineas said after a while. They had reached a part of the facility which was drowned in Virility. The demon tapped his eye until it shone in red light.
"And now?", Dante asked as nothing happened.
"This is the point but the memory is weak. Follow me." Phineas led the way around a few corners. When he stopped Dante stared in disbelief.
"Is this another illusion?", he asked. A few feet in front of them knelt the red silhouette of Vergil. Next to him stood another red figure. It looked like a knight in a thick armor armed with a hell of an axe.
"I see it, too", Kat whispered.
"This is the memory of the place", Phineas explained.
"You're the son of Sparda?", the knight asked. He held his axe over his head ready to strike and probably decapitate his opponent. Surprisingly Vergil didn't seem to care. He waited with his head low. At a closer look he seemed to be injured and exhausted. One of his hands looked scarred. It held a jar. His other hand was empty and touched the ground. Yamato had been discarded, laying on the floor behind the knight.
"You're disgusting, dishonorable and not worth to be called his son", the dark voice rambled on.
The silhouettes disappeared and the red glimmer faded.
"What's wrong?", Dante asked, his voice sounding more impatient than intended.
"It ended. Places don't have a good memory. It drips off. Only few events are intense enough to stay."
"Is he dead?", Kat breathed. She stared with wide eyes to the spot where Vergil had knelt.
"No, there is no blood. Yamato is gone, too. He's fine", Dante reassured her. It was unlikely that some cleaners found their way here and blood didn't just disappear. The sword could have been taken like Phineas' staff but Dante didn't want to believe it. He turned to look at Kat. There were tears in her eyes and she covered her mouth with both her hands like keeping from screaming. "He's fine", the hunter repeated, reaching out and holding her in his arms until her breathing evened. Meanwhile he watched Phineas who did nothing but wait.
"This is a dead end", Dante said when they left the facility. "We got no hint at where he went after that."
Kat nodded. She hadn't said a word yet.
"I'm afraid I can't do more. We can only look for another place with memories of him", Phineas answered.
"HQ maybe", Dante thought aloud.
"We had been there when you recovered from the succubus. He had not been there or the memory was to weak to stay."
"Speaking of succubus, we should do something about the rest of Virility." They stopped and the hunter turned around to look at the building. "I could try to destroy the entrance but there is no way to get the people out before unless we carry them one by one when they are knocked out. I doubt we would even find them all. The facility is gigantic." He looked at the demon hoping he knew a way.
"You can't neutralize the secretion of a succubus."
"And we can't stop them from drinking it. They would rather die than leave their only source of the stuff." Dante wondered if this was the only Virility facility of the world. He doubted it. The drink would probably survive the death of Mundus. This trip had been a waste of time. They couldn't do a thing nor could they find Vergil. It was worse now because not even Dante was sure about Vergil's condition. He was worried. His brother could be dead no matter how often Dante would deny it. And even if Vergil was still alive - what happened to him after being defeated by a demon? Sparda got condemned to endure eternal punishment in hell. A fate worse than death, Vergil had said. Could that have happened to him now, too?
Back in the flat all three of them set together at the kitchen table. They wanted to make a plan but all seemed too busy with their own thoughts or cluelessness. Kat stared out of the window. It led to the other side of the town, pointed at the outer parameter of it. In this direction laid the St. Lamia's Orphanage and Paradise - the first too small to recognize it from here and the letter too far away. Maybe she could see the playground Eva had used to bring the twins to. The sky had started to darken even more, soon the sun would set although nobody would see it because of the clouds. Kat would go to sleep then. Phineas would probably write like he had done before. Dante wondered what he should do. He had slept for a long time and was wide awake now. It would be easy to turn night into day but he knew how this would end. On the other hand, he couldn't sit the whole night out, waiting in his room for the sun to rise. He'd die of boredom.
"Anyone any suggestions?", he asked tired of sitting around in silence. "Kat you know him better than me. There must be things he used to do, places he used to visit."
"Barely", she answered. "He used to stay hidden while watching the demons on the computer monitors. He did not come back to HQ nor did he visit the Raptor News Tower. There are millions of other places with computers though. Silver Sacks Towers - but we've been there. He left it after the fight. I don't think he's looking for computers anymore. I can't imagine what he would need them for."
"True. He had been at Virility. I doubt they had useful software he could have been interested in. But surveillance could still be an option." Things would be much easier if Vergil had gotten drunken and laid like normal men would. It wasn't the most intelligent pastime but it was probably exactly what he needed. Dante didn't wonder anymore why his brother saw mankind so differently. He hadn't spend much time among people. Nobody knew since when he had started to remember his heritage. If it had begun early enough he must have grown to think he was better than mankind years ago. He didn't act like he had ever been told different by anybody. Unlike Dante Vergil seemed to have had a carefree childhood. He was nothing like his brother or Kat who had been told they're crazy most of their lives.
"He had a laptop", Kat said after a while of more uncomfortable silence. "He could use it to hack into CCTV cameras."
Dante looked up. "Let me guess: You didn't remember this tiny, little detail until now?" But he shouldn't complain for he knew about it, too, but didn't remember until now.
"It used to be in his room." She ignored the Nephilim, jumped to her feet and hurried into Dante's/Vergil's room. There she opened a drawer which was hidden under the bed. It had a double bottom.
Dante was surprised how unerringly she found this hiding spot. "Why do you know where he kept it?"
"It's empty. He must have been here." She turned to Phineas and looked expectantly at him. The demon touched his eye until it shone red. At the window appeared the reddish silhouette of Vergil. All three of them watched the memory in silence.
"Your eye has hung up", Dante said after a while. Nothing happened. The figure just stood there and looked out of the window.
"He is just not doing anything."
"This is the most intense memory? I mean, this is a bedroom ..." It didn't make the slightest sense. Why did nothing happen?
"Maybe his thoughts and feelings were intense. We can't see them." At least Phineas sounded a bit clueless, too.
"He's not injured. Maybe this happened before he went to Virility", Kat suggested.
"He can heal in a matter of seconds. I can", Dante added when he noticed Kat was looking at him. She was not as Vergil- centric as he thought she would be.
Vergil finally moved. He picked up the laptop which laid on the bed. "I need to hide you somewhere else", he whispered touching the computer almost affectionately. Something was still on his mind because he froze in the movement again. He seemed to have heard something for his muscles tensed. Then he looked around before he left the room in a hurry.
"Okay ... Does anyone have any guesses?", Dante asked. Kat had followed the silhouette into the floor but already came back. Apparently the memory had ended with Vergil leaving the room.
"He wouldn't hide the laptop at Virility so he must have went somewhere else", the medium concluded. "A place he thinks is safe."
"A safe place? After Limbo broke down? Where?" He stopped urging Kat as he saw the look on her face. She was concentrated and he didn't want to disturb her.
"Maybe a sealed place. But there aren't many places I sealed. HQ would have been one but we know he didn't went there."
"Or nothing 'intense' happened there. What about another place?"
"I don't know. He taught me how to use my abilities. I guess he can seal places himself."
"So this memory is as useless as the last one?"
"Don't blame me", Phineas said when Dante made eye contact. He sounded offended.
"I'm not blaming you." But your abilities in Limbo had been much more helpful, Dante added silently. "You know what? You should get some sleep. We'll think about this tomorrow." While watching Vergil standing at the window he had noticed that it had gotten dark.
"What a wonderful idea", Phineas agreed. The demon was remarkably happy all of a sudden. Suspicion made Dante follow the old guy to his room. Phineas didn't seem to mind him. He just sat down in the middle of the dark room, touched his eye until it gleamed white and picked up the papers which covered the whole ground.
"What are you writing?", the hunter asked.
"I'm old, you know", Phineas said and caused Dante to think "No shit", "My memory gets weaker and weaker so I started to write about the events before I forget them."
"You keep a diary?"
"I like to call them memoirs."
"So there are more of them? Where do you keep them?"
"They got burned or lost when Mundus imprisoned me. But I hid one of them especially well. It should still be somewhere. It contains the story of Sparda."
"Where did you hide it?" There was a tiny spark of hope to get to know more but then again it would just distract him. Whatever happened before Sparda was caught had nothing to do with looking for Vergil right now.
"Another town close to the oldest gate." Phineas had started to write again and his voice had gotten quieter.
"What a gate?", Dante asked, trying to keep the demons attention. "Phineas?" He didn't get an answer. For another minute he just watched him writing then he turned to leave.
"What are you going to do?", Kat asked when he found her standing in the door-less room.
"I slept enough for months. Guess, I'll wander around the town, kill some demons."
"Getting drunk", she added.
"A little maybe", he relented."I'll be back and sober when you wake up. I promise."
She nodded and went to her own room.
Dante roamed around downtown which looked already better. There were lesser fires, debris and garbage. The people seemed a tiny little bit more relaxed, too. It was still no pleasure to meet them. Dante fought when he met demons and visited a few clubs but only stayed for a drink or two. They summed though and soon he felt the alcohol kicking in. It was always funny at first but soon he became musing. He couldn't tell if Vergil had gotten his laptop before he had went to Virility but it seemed more likely. The computer was important to him so he wouldn't leave it behind. He had went to the flat, picked up the PC and hid it somewhere safe. Then he had went to the facility where the knight demon defeated him. And now he was somewhere - either as good as dead in hell or still alive in this town.
"He's safe", the hunter whispered to his bottle. He had entered a Rock music club. There weren't many people around and most of them were male. It lacked a decent amount of poles and dancing women. This was a change to his routine but he believed it would help him to stay as clear in his mind as possible.
"Who's safe, buddy?", a man asked and took the seat next to Dante.
"Who wants to know?", the Nephilim asked back. He eyed the man suspiciously. Usually he rarely got any male company and even rarer in recent days.
"A friend if you like. You're Dante, aren't you?"
"You'd know. There is only one me." Well, unless the guy knew Vergil who had the same face but that was unlikely.
"You changed your style a bit. It's cool."
"It's not", Dante retorted. He had forgotten about his white hair but now he remembered.
"I saw you slayed some demons outside."
"Did you follow me?"
"To tell the truth, yes, I did. I'm a fan, you know?" The guy seemed excited. He had short brown hair and wore the common jeans stuff. There was a gun at his belt and the hand in his pocket probably wore knucks.
"Speak a bit louder. You'll get your own 'fans' soon enough."
"No, I mean it. I always believed The Order, you know. Me and my friends are killing demons, too." The man waved at a group of people. More men joined them. Some of them really looked like they could fight a battle. Dante didn't know what to think about them. They were only human and armed with just common weapons.
"You need something more powerful", he said, pointing at the man's belt with his bottle.
The man smiled and ordered himself and his friends something to drink. They stayed with the hunter although Dante didn't encourage them. They tried to impress him with stories about the demons they killed. One of them seemed very proud of his shotgun he wore on his back. It reminded Dante that Kat still had Ebony. That was OK though. Maybe she'll still need her.
Much time passed until one of his new 'friends' came back from the toilet with a can of Virility. Dante lifted a brow. Vergil must have forgotten to actually name the threats when he warned the citizens in his little TV show.
"Want a cigarette?", another guy offered. They had told them their names but Dante hadn't listened. The man hold out an already smoking ciggy to him. The hunter took it and drowned it in the Virility can which got handed around.
"If you survive the demons this stuff will kill you. And I mean both, the cigarette and Virility." He tried to explain them the mind controlling effect of the liquid. There was no way around the succubus while doing so and soon they had effectively urged him to tell the whole Limbo story. Meanwhile he watched the guys to keep them in a condition that would allow a fight. Sooner or later they had to leave the club and the streets were still filled with demons. He didn't want them to die although he thought the idea of humans fighting demons was stupid. And while he was so unusually caring he forgot to get more drunken himself.
At some point of the night the men had left and Dante had started strolling around again. Until the sun rose he had gotten sober instead of laid. That was another change. He was worried that he was actually reaching mental adulthood now.
Kat was already awake when he got home. She was making coffee and breakfast, offering him some, too. He declined. It was a strange feeling that rose while watching her doing something so normal. Soon Phineas joined them in the kitchen. Again they sat together, ready to make a plan. And again there was icy silence.
"How was your night", Kat finally asked - probably only for the sake of saying something.
"Interesting. I think I met a few friends of yours."
"Really? Whom?"
"I don't remember their names. They'll probably die even in this week. Who got the idea that humans can kill demons?"
"I killed a demon", she said. Dante remembered that part of her story.
"Vergil helped you", he argued.
"He told me how to do it. And I told others how to do it." She leaned back and crossed her arms.
"It's not a good hobby though. Humans die easily", Dante commented, watching her closely.
"Do you say we're not allowed to fight demons?"
"I can't stop you from tying."
"But you would if you could?"
Dante hesitated. He thought he knew where this conversation was leading.
"Many people will die regardless of whether they fight or not", Phineas interfered in a surprisingly human way. One could think he really cared a little bit.
"Do whatever you want. All I'm saying is that these people stand no chance against demons like the succubus or Bob Barbas for example." Dante crossed his arms as well.
"Maybe we're not as strong as you are but we are outnumbering. And I dare to say some of us are smarter than you and the demons", Kat said. There was something in her voice and her eyes that resembled humor.
"Which has to be proven", the hunter answered. It was true that most demons weren't brainiacs but there was no way he would let her doubt his wits.
She smiled. "So, I guess, you found a place we can look for Vergil then."
"Do you?", he asked back.
"Don't answer questions with counter-questions."
So they ended up where they had started.
"Actually I have a guess", Dante said after a while. He remembered one of his new 'friends' talking about his family, saying that the safest place was his home. "We should visit Paradise."