DEVIL MAY CRY

CHAPTER SEVEN: I DON'T TRUST YOU NO MORE

Grinding his teeth, Dante glared at Shaun knowing that he was spying on him the entire time when he tried to access the secret laboratory as their teams rode together in an armored car. Shaun displayed no signs of concern for Dante the entire ride. Dante's concentration was broken when Marcus put his hand on Dante's shoulder. "Something on your mind, big guy?"

Dante turned away. "Nothing."

The whole car was filled with eleven people, not including the driver, with the rest of the space in it filled with an awkward silence. The only thing thicker than the silence was the tension between Dante and Shaun. "I don't like that guy either." whispered Marcus.

Dante turned back to him. "What do you know about him?" Marcus shook his head. Dante turned away with his answer to notice Tifa. She wasn't scared like the last mission. She was calm and patient. Maybe it's because they were facing a different enemy compared to the taberu chi. Sakura was the same as always. She too was calm and very patient. She sat quietly while inspecting her pistol. Dante leaned forward and placed his arms on his knees. It was a long, bumpy ride to the old mines where demons were expected to reside.

Shaun spoke to the driver for a moment before turning back to his men. "We are almost at the designated location men, are you ready?"

"Can hardly contain ourselves." Dante answered for the group. The truck came to a halt and the lock on the door released. "Let's get this party started." He and the others stood up from their seats and headed for the door. The twin doors swung open to the outside, which was an old abandoned section of the city. All of the buildings were abandoned and on the verge of toppling over on each other. Most of them were already ground level. Dante leaped out and landed on the dirt and walked around to the front of the truck to view the large hole with rail road tracks leading down into it. They were obviously on the far outskirts of the city where demons are free to roam. "Is this the place?"

"Yeah." said Wong Li.

Shaun walked up to the cave and turned to face the others. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to go deep into enemy territory where the enemy has the overwhelming advantage." He said as he started pacing back and forth. "Remember that these creatures despise sun light, which is why they reside in this cave." He said pointing to the sky.

Dante looked up at the sky to see if he can see even a small glimmer of sun in the overcast. He looked back down at Shaun. "If they hate sunlight, then why did we come here when the sun is nowhere to be seen?" he asked. "If you as me, this is bad planning." Shaun didn't seem amused with Dante's comments. "Can we go home and wait for the sun to come out? Because I can always be teaching Tifa how to drive in that time." The sound of being in a car with Dante at the wheel again made Tifa make a worried face.

"We have put these demons aside too long, Dante." He said. "Fifty-seven civilians is more than enough."

"Right." said Dante.

"We'll all go in together." said Shaun. Shaun motioned for his men to follow behind him as he entered the cave. Shaun took four armed men in with him.

Sakura followed Shaun's lead and signaled her group. "Let's go, everyone." He group readied their weapons and followed. Dante stood his ground while staring past Sakura. "Is there something wrong, Dante?"

Dante pulled himself out of his concentration and turned his attention to her. "No, must be my imagination." he said in an irritated tone. He followed Sakura and the others into the cave. When they wondered about twenty yards into the cave it was like some one had thrown a black sheet over your face. There was no light, nor anything for the light to reflect off of, other than the light from the flashlights attached to rifles or hand lights. "Looks like we've caught up with the expedition crew."

Shaun noticed Dante and Sakura joining their ranks. "Do you have a torch on you, Dante?"

"I didn't think I needed to bring a lighter." He responded.

"He means a flashlight." said Sakura.

Dante looked at her and back to Shaun. "Well why didn't you say so?" Dante reached into his pocket and pulled a hand light from it.

Sakura turned to Shaun. "I apologize for his rudeness."

"Don't be." he said. "That level of ignorance is to be expected of him." Shaun moved his light over the two groups to inspect the people present. "Good, everyone's here." He pulled his rifle strap over his shoulder. "Now be on the alert everyone, these tunnels have plenty of places for demons to hide." Dante yawned with annoyance. "Oh and try not to get lost." he said with his eyes fixated on Dante.

About a minute or two later, the crew had begun navigating through the caves for demons. Shaun led the two teams with Dante and Sakura next to each other in the middle. Shaun's group was concentrated in front with Sakura's in back. Dante cracked his neck. "Tch, if you ask me, this is more like a suicide mission."

"Shaun knows what he's doing." said Sakura. She had her light pointed towards the ground to be able to see things she might trip over. She stepped over a large rock in her path before continuing her usual walking pattern.

Dante glared at her. "Why do you support that prick so much?"

"Pardon me," she began while looking forward at Shaun. "But that prick you speak of is my combat instructor." She turned to Dante. "He's also the person that looked after me when I joined the organization."

Dante turned away and clicked his tongue. "Did you know that there are people in your team that don't like that guy as well?"

"And what makes you think that?"

"Just ask Marcus."

"Marcus?"

Shaun turned his head to Dante. "Mister Dante, might I ask you something?"

Dante stared at Shaun with a sour expression. Was he listening to their conversation? "Sure, why not?"

"You're familiar with the demons we are hunting, aren't you?"

"Yeah, they're called Sliders." He said. They are named that way because of their quick wall crawling ability in which they appear to be sliding across the surface." Dante looked to the wall next to him when he noticed dozens of holes, probably big enough to fit Tifa in, dug into them. "They are also top class burrowers."

"You intellect is impressive Son of Sparda." He stated. "What would you say would be the best means of dealing with them?"

"Take em' on in tight areas where you can reach them, or draw them into the sunlight like we should have."

"I couldn't have agreed more." He said in response.

Shaun was mocking him is what Dante thought. If Dante had his way, he would have worked over Shaun in a one man beat down so he would know his place. However, he could not strike out at him with other members of the organization all near by. Dante kept on track with the current situation for now until the search group came to a split in their path.

"It appears we've come to a fork." said the all so stoic Li.

Shaun stepped forward and turned to the group. "We are divide our group and search as two." He started. Shaun pointed to Sakura. "Sakura, please take your group and Mister Dante down the left tunnel—my team will take the right."

"Yes, sir." She said and motioned for the others to follow. Li and the others followed with Dante following behind with his eyes watching Shaun until he was out of sight. Sakura lead at the head of her group with Dante right behind her. "Stay on your guard, everyone."

"You don't have to tell us twice." said Dante with each of his guns in his hands. Dante swung his head back and fourth to watch for movement until, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Tifa. She looked as if she was in a panic. Her hands clutched the rifle tightly and she panted as she watched the ceiling with shifting eyes. Dante put his hand on her shoulder and she jumped with surprise. "Keep your body relaxed, or you won't be able to react in time in a fight."

"B-but it's—" she said.

"Yeah I know it's scary." He said in his usual flat tone and not even looking at her. "But fear is the number one killer in a fight against demons." Dante finally faced her. "Remember: in a fight, surprised is another word for dead; if your enemy catches you off guard, you're finished."

Tifa nodded with acknowledgement and started to slow down her breathing. "I had no idea you were so good with kids." said Sakura noticing their interactions.

"I hate kids." said Dante. The tunnel finally came to a large chamber. The chamber's ceiling was high and shaped like a dome with holes all around it. On the far end was a pool of still water that looked like a mirror. The heavy scent of mold was in the air as well. The chamber was quiet.

"We must be in the mountain." said Marcus.

"It looks that way." said Loran. She was looking around with her flash light pointing in front of her when she noticed a ball of light in the corner of her eye. It was floating around the chamber. As it explored the room it would light up the surrounding walls when it came close to them. Some everyone came to notice this ominous presence and saw it as a possible threat. "What is that?"

Dante's eyes followed it as it swung back and fourth through the air with his guns locked onto it. The light made its way to the other side of the chamber and stopped to hover over a lift on the other side of the pool. Then the light it produced got brighter and brighter until it created a large flash. The flash was not long lasting; and when it was done, the mysterious floating light had become a creature standing in dark red and battered robes. Around its neck were several necklaces hand made with beads and bones. Its head was the skull of a ram with glowing red eyes and its hands were boney with a strange wand in its hand. This creature cackled wildly as it waved the wand. "A demon charmer! Shoot it now!"

Sakura and the others brought their guns up and fired off several rounds at the witch doctor look-alike. This creature summoned up a demon in front of him which took all of the shots that could fatally injure it. As some as that single demon collapsed, more demons sprung up from the shadows and started charging at the group. "Dammit!" said Marcus. "How often do you come across these things, Dante?!"

"Eh…" he started while firing off shots at the attacking demons. "Every six or seven months, sometimes a year!" He moved his gun to his left and fired into the head of another demon. "Thank god too, because these guys are a pain to get rid of!"

As they continued to fight off the surrounding demons, the demon charmer continued to produce more. Marcus was good with a gun. Each time he fired a shot from his hand gun, it would connect with a demon. Li fought off his pursuers with his acrobatic fighting skills as best as he could with both swords drawn. Loran, Tifa and Sakura were back to back as they let off shots from automatic rifles. The fight seemed endless; for every demon they killed, the demon charmer would produce two more. Dante was getting tired of it. Dante pulled out his other hand gun and ran after the charmer. "Dante, where are you going?!" called Sakura.

Dante got a running start before he leaped to the ledge and grabbed the charmer. "Gottcha', fucker!" He pushed the demon charmer to the wall and into one of the holes burrowed into it. Both Dante and the charmer fell in. As they fell through the tunnel, Dante would shout obscurities every time he hit his head. The tunnel was, for the most part, was a shaft that sloped at ninety degrees and Dante rolled down the whole trip. At the bottom, Dante rolled out and onto the demon charmer. Before he knew it, Dante was on his back, staring at a black ceiling. Dizzy and annoyed, Dante sighed. He looked to his left and right into the demon charmer's face, which was smashed and the rest of its body mangled. He made a sigh of relief. "It could have been worse; I could have ended up like you."

Too dizzy to do a kick up or anything acrobatic to get to his feet, Dante rolled over onto his hands and knees and pushed himself to his feet. He rolled his neck around his shoulder and stretched his arms as he did then he dusted off his jacket. He soon found Ebony and Ivory lying in the dusty ground before him and picked them up to examine their condition. "Nothing a little polish won't fix."

Suddenly, he heard a very faint, but familiar whistling noise. Before any other thought came to mind, Dante jerked his head back and saw a silver streak pass by his face and hit the stone wall near him. Dante looked over and saw this item on the ground after it bounced off the wall. It was a silver dart. This was an all too familiar scenario for Dante. "So you followed me?" he said as he turned his head towards the darkness of the catacombs from where the dart shot from. "Well come on out and show yourself then!"

Dante started hearing heavy foot steps coming towards him in a steady pattern. The sounds grew louder but nothing seemed to be in view. Dante took out his flash light and shined it in the direction of his attacker to see a man dressed in the same fashion as Sakura and the others. He was part of the organization. Dante brought his flash light up to his face to identify him. He was bald with a very muscular build and his eyes were bright. They almost seem to shine. Dante had seen this man before. He was a member of Shaun's group. This man reached into a pack on the back of his belt and pulled out a flare. He ignited it and threw it on the ground as it lit up the room around them. It was obvious to Dante that this man could see the area around them even under the worst conditions. Dante discovered this when he noticed how well he could throw a dart in near blackness and the fact that he did not even blink when a flash light was shining in his eyes. Then why would he light a flare so everyone can see? Was it for Dante? "Looking for a fair fight are we?" Dante threw the flashlight to the ground and stabbed his sword into the ground while keeping his guns in their holsters. "I'm game."

The man walked within five feet of Dante and stood staring at him and Dante stared back. A few seconds later, the man swung his right fist at Dante while grunting. Dante pulled his head back and swung his right arm at him. His opponent blocked the hit and threw a hook punch at Dante's head. Dante block that attack and tried for a hit to his ribs. The man quickly defended himself wit his left arm and brought his leg up to kick Dante in the head. Dante quickly raised his arms and blocked the blow as he stumbled backward. Dante brought down his arms and chuckled. "This seems like it's going to be fun." Dante casually walked towards him and stopped at five feet like before. Dante raised his arms and clenched his fists. "C'mon."

The man ran three steps towards Dante and struck at him with a back spin kick. Dante ducked it and maneuvered around him to get behind him. When his attacker turned around to face Dante, Dante landed one punch to his face and two to his body. Then he finished off with a stomp kick. The man was pushed off his feet and he fell flat on his back. He was not down for long, however; he got up with a twist up and ran after Dante with a hook punch with his right arm. Dante managed to dodge the punch, but the man used the swinging momentum from his punch as he got down and swiped Dante's feet with his left foot. While Dante was still air borne after having his feet swept out from under him, the man got up again, thrusted out his other foot and stomp kicked Dante. The force sent him flying across the cave and he struck the wall, cracking it, and falling to the ground face first.

The man looked at Dante's motionless body and felt satisfied. He smirked and turned away. As he walked he saw Dante's sword, Rebellion, and stopped. He believed it would be proof enough that he finished Dante off so he pulled it out of the ground and put it over his shoulder as he began to walk off. "Put the goods down, baldy." He stopped after hearing this voice. He quickly turned around to see Dante pushing himself off the ground and looking up at him with a confident smirk. As he did, Dante put his right hand over the dart that had been thrown at him a while ago and clutched his hand over it before standing straight up. The man grunted and noticed that the flare was going out. He looked to Dante and smiled as the room faded to darkness. Though a normal person would only see utter blackness, this man could see everything as clear as day. He gripped Dante's sword in his hand and ran at him. He brought it over his head once he was right in front of Dante and swung down. To his surprise, Dante caught the blade in his hand. "Hate to disappoint ya, buddy; but I can see in the dark just fine."

The man grunted and tried to pull the sword free from Dante's grasp. Dante was not going to allow this and kicked him in the side with his left foot. The man lost his grip as he flew back into the powdery floor. Dante put his sword back into the ground as the man kicked up dust as he scrambled to his feet. Dante put the dart in his left sleeve and ran at his opponent. He threw a straight punch with his left followed by a hook with his right. Both were dodged, but Dante put his left hand over his left fist and used the extra pushing force as he thrusted his elbow into the center of man's rib cage. The force of the blow made him lose balance and he stumbled backwards. Dante smirked as he ran up to him. Dante leaped into the air and swung his feet at him. Each kick was blocked easily. Dante landed, spun around, and shot his left foot out. The man quickly caught his foot and twisted it. Dante lifted his other foot off the ground and let his body follow the twisting motion into a butterfly twist. Dante gracefully landed back on his feet and when he did, his attacker ran at him with a hook punch with his right. Dante pulled his head back and avoided it. Then the man threw a straight punch at him. Dante grabbed his wrist with his left hand and pushed it to the side. He quickly put his right hand on the man's wrist and pulled it up and over his head as he spun his body. The man followed the motion as he spun as well. This is exactly what Dante wanted. As he turned his body, he saw the silver darts sticking out of a sleeve on the back of the man's belt. Dante removed his left hand and successfully plucked one dart from the sleeve and let go of the man's wrist. Dante stopped his body as he turned and faced the man. He reached up and pulled the dart from his sleeve and griped each dart in the reverse direction.

Both of them faced each other. The man put his fists back up ready to attack. Dante did nothing to prepare himself; he let his arms to hang and cracked his neck. The man dashed forward and swung his arm at Dante followed by his left. Dante dodged both of them as he moved his body out of the path of each punch. Then the man swung at Dante's head with both arms. Dante put his arms up and blocked both arms. Smiling, Dante pushed them out to the sides, leaving the man wide open. He pulled his arms back with the darts still clenched in each hand. "Lights out!" He swung both of them down and plunged both of them into each of the man's eyes.

The man yelled out in pain as he back away. Dante let go of each dart and left them in the sockets of his blinded opponent. "Looks like you won't be able to see much anymore, ay' crazy eyes?" Finally, Dante took a couple of steps and positioned himself right in front of the man. He put up both of his hands and thrusted them forward over the darts. His hands pushed the darts into his brain and out the back of his skull. The man let out his last breath as he fell backwards and slammed onto the ground for the last time.

Dante dropped his hands and let them swing as he let out a breath of relief and pleasure. Dante walked over to his fallen adversary and looked at the damage. The darts barely stuck out as blood leaked out from the eye sockets and his ears and poured onto the dust covered ground forming a small puddle. Dante made a small laugh, "Heh, looks like spending all that time watching those kung fu movies really paid off." Dante looked up and stared in the direction of the readers, that means you. Then he lifted his finger and pointed at you. "Jet Li for the win!" However, the writer begs to differ because he is more of a Jackie Chan fan. That is unimportant, however.

Suddenly, a flash light flashed over Dante. Dante turned around to see where it was coming from. He saw Sakura standing at the entrance of another tunnel, holding the flashlight and staring at him with her jaw dropped. Dante stared at her and looked back to the corps of her comrade on the floor near him. Dante looked back to her. "…ah shit." Sakura was panting from surprise and fear. "I know this looks bad." said Dante as he slowly approached her. "But believe me when I say that it was all in self defense."

Sakura quickly pulled out her gun, pulled down on the hammer, and pointed it at Dante. "Don't come near me, you monster!"

Dante stopped and sighed out of disappointment. "It appears my worst fears have come true." Dante and Sakura turned their heads. Shaun was also in the room with his hands held together in front of him. "It looks like Dante has found more common ground with those monsters than he does with humans."

Dante's anger grew from the sight of him. "You! You fucken' set this up!" he yelled as he pointed at him.

Shaun's expression did not change. "Sakura, if you will please do have the honor of ridding the world of this demon."

Dante gripped his hands as he turned away from Shaun and back to Sakura, who still held him at gunpoint. "…yes, sir!"

Dante turned his body in her direction. "I told you your prejudice was going to get you in trouble." Sakura did not show any signs of concern. Dante took his eyes off of her and looked to Shaun. "This isn't over." Dante turned back to Sakura and she began to let off rounds into his head. Sakura pulled the trigger over and over again and each time a bullet would launch out and pass right though Dante's head and blood would fly out in all directions. Her gun's clip finally emptied after eleven rounds and Dante's body collapsed on the ground. She began taking deep breaths and began to slowly lower her gun as she realizes what she has done.

Shaun nodded. "You made an excellent decision today, Sakura." Even though Shaun said those words, Sakura could not stop thinking that she did something wrong as she looked to Dante's motionless body laying on the ground. Shaun walked to the tunnel behind Sakura and turned to her. "It's time to pull out." Shaun started walking away. Sakura stood and watched Shaun head out of the room. She turned and looked upon Dante's body one more time before deciding to follow Shaun.

Sakura exited the dark caves behind Shaun and looked up at the cloudy sky. The armored van was still outside the cave and everyone was piling into it. Sakura walked over to the van and looked at everyone's injuries. Marcus had an ice pack on a cut on his head that was still bleeding. Li's left arm was cut wide open. His head lay on Loran's shoulder as he gripped his shoulder to stop the pain and Loran, who had some minor scrapes and bruises, had her arms around him. Shaun's group had some minor injuries as well. Tifa was holding onto her left arm, which had a large cut on it right below her shoulder. Tifa looked up when she noticed Sakura. "Miss. Katsuragi, you made it." She said. Then she looked around as if looking for someone. She looked back at Sakura. "Where's Dante?"

Sakura exhaled. "He didn't make it…" Tifa hung her head after hearing the news. Sakura looked to the sky upon hearing thunder close by. Sakura hoped into the van and closed the door behind her. The van immediately started to drive away as the rain came down hard. Sakura looked out the window at the cave where they left the last son of Sparta.

THE END

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……………………………Nah, just kidding.