Blade
«Devil May Cry.» Dante sighed into the phone that had been persistently ringing for a good 20 minutes. «Dante-sama? This is Asuka, can you come back here to my Condo when you are ready, so we can have a little chat?» Asuka said in the other end of the phone line. «Yeah I've got time, give me five and I'll be right over.» Dante replied before he hung up. Smells like a job, a nasty one at that, he thought to himself as he picked up his gear.
After parking his bike outside Asuka's Condo, Dante headed for the pool side of the place, flipping the bike keys in his hand while humming a rock tune that was stuck on his mind. He found Asuka standing on the inside of the sliding doors leading to the pool. Tapping the glass pane with his finger, Dante got her attention. It didn't take long before he was let inside the luxurious Condo.
Not saying a word, patiently waiting for Asuka to take the lead, Dante simply stood there watching. «I've a job for you Dante-sama.» She began. «Unfortunately we can't afford to have the police involved in this one – not even your forensic assistant, so you'll be on your own.» She continued. Well just as good, all things considered Dante thought, while staying mute.
Asuka was unusually cautious around the subject. Dante figured that she suspected her Condo bugged, so she used vague terms. It didn't give him much to work with, but she managed to slip a note to him while pretending to adjust the collar on his coat for him. «My... offer from back then still stands, Dante-sama.» She whispered in his ear.
Putting his hand over hers, Dante cracked the faintest of smiles and took his leave. Local cops were not really an issue for Asuka, so it had to be someone higher. Federal perhaps? Asuka and her brother did come from overseas so that could draw attention of the federal guys if things got a little too noisy. Thread lightly, he reminded himself.
After driving around with no sense or purpose for a good hour, Dante pulled over and took a look at the note Asuka had slipped him earlier. A name, a location and a time. Ray Machowski, Belleville Park at 18:30. Checking the clock on one of the TV sets that stood on display in the shop window on his left, Dante noticed he would make it easily with time to spare. «High definition sure looks nice.» He muttered to himself before starting up his bike again.
Dante arrived at Belleville Park and walked around, looking for something that might stand out. Nothing did. Then again whomever this Ray fellow was, he'd be careful as well and not stride around in the open. Only place around here that offered privacy was the WC. Taking a closer look at the door Dante noticed the out of order sign. Cute.
The place was in bad shape, no kind of cleaning had been done here for weeks if not even longer. Dante stopped on the dime as he felt a gun pointed at the back of his head and the cock pulled backwards. «I know what you're thinking, another bent cop. Well it's a bent world. Just 'cause I lost a few partners, those suckers from internal affairs have started sniffing around. Reckon they can smell me. Well, this city is just one big open sewer. But I'm gonna need some non-union help. And that's who you are, right?» The man said with an uneasy edge to his words.
«Detective Machowski, I presume?» Dante said with a humors tone. «Yeah and no funny stuff.» Ray spat back, making a point by pressing the gun deeper into the back of Dante's head. Slowly turning around, Dante smiled a wicked smile. Standing a full head taller than Ray, Dante looked intimidating to say the least.
Not affected by the presence of a gun, Dante bent down a little and bit the tip of the gun barrel, his smile widened to a evil grin. «You're crazy!» Ray spat out. «Have to be in order to do what I do.» Dante shot back. «And you're dead if you pull that trigger.» He added. Dante might take a serious blow from such a shot, but he'll come through. Ray on the other hand would have to answer to every gangster in town for what he did, and run from the law at the same time.
Ray wasn't dumb, he could connect a few dots ahead of the game. That was no doubt in credit of his police training. He was in no position to bark around orders. «So the deal is that I bail you out and you tell me what Asuka should be telling me?» Dante asked when Ray put his gun away. Ray just nodded. «Good, now lets get out of here. This place smells like piss.» Dante suggested, heading for the exit.
On their way back to Dante's bike several police cars rushed in on them, sirens screaming and lights flashing. Ray didn't waste time. Despite his rather round figure, he was quick on his feet. Dante followed him just feet away. The strange duo made their way into a clothes store, pushing employees and customer out of their way while scrambling over cloth stands and crashing into change closets.
Despite their efforts, getting indoors proved to be a mistake. Ray had secured a half naked customer as hostage while anyone else had made it safe outside. This was getting bad, worse and flat out terrible. At the end of the day Dante couldn't care less what happened to this guy. Asuka might be an issue depending on the final outcome, but Dante had plenty of cards in his deck to play.
«Talk to me Ray, tell me what I need to know and I'll...» Dante didn't get to finish. Ray started babbling his head off so fast Dante had trouble keeping up. Asuka had been in conflict with a Columbian drug cartel for the past few months. Push came to shove and Asuka's men ended up badly killed. The few that came out with their lives intact spoke of dragons leaping out of the ground.
Ray had been on Asuka's payroll on this matter, sweeping the worst details under the carpet to make sure federal involvement would not become a reality. However with the bodies piling up there were limits to what Ray could do. It cost him two partners and three other co-workers, but with internal affairs musing into between the lines, Ray couldn't keep up. He had to get out, and Asuka had put Dante up as his ticket to freedom.
«Now do something!» Ray demanded of Dante. «Like what?!» He snapped back. «Anything!» Ray pleaded in response, his gun trembling in his hand. Dante stomped up to Ray and twisted the gun out of his hand, grabbed him by the neck and lifted him a good feet off the floor. It was written all over his face, Dante could see the words clearly: what the hell are you doing?!
Dante slammed Ray's face into the counter causing the cashier to ping open from the shock. Ray was out cold and had just gotten a broken nose along with some busted teeth. «Wh-what did you do?» The customer who had been taken hostage stammered. «Anything...» Dante smiled coldly. Turning his attention to the hostage he was tempted to give her the same treatment, but went for the old scare tactic instead.
After whispering some encouraging words to the lady, Dante sent her off out to the cops while he secured himself the tape for the surveillance camera and ruined the tape utterly as he climbed the stairs to the roof. Once there he could hear the police were making sweeps of the store on the ground floor, securing the knocked out Ray. If all went according to plan, tomorrow's newspapers would have a heading saying heroic hostage knocked out crooked police officer in hostage stand-off. Best of all, not a word about Dante.
What Ray might say that could hurt Asuka would have to wait for another day. Her Yakuza empire would take a beating, but it would still stand tall enough to recover over time. Asuka might have given him money, but she'd never give a disloyal dog like that into the things that could lock her away in jail. Even if he spilled the beans on Dante, he'd have one witness saying different and no video tape to back up his words.
The cops might suspect and think their quiet thoughts but leave it at that. Chances are that not even Leon will learn of this until much later. All the better Dante thought to himself. With the smaller pebbles out of his way, Dante could focus on what he did best, hunting down and killing devils.
Shoreside Vale was the place things went down. More precisely the Beach Park, which is a small beach park east of Cedar Grove where one can have a lovely picnic. Or a gang brawl. It was quite a drive form where Dante was right now and with the cops crawling all over he didn't really feel like wading through that crowd. Instead Dante changed to his devil self and flapped his dark wings all the way to his destination.
Once there nothing really made the place reek of evil, which was a letdown for Dante. To the untrained eye this place was as calm and normal as it could get, but Dante could spot clues here and there that Asuka's clean-up crew had been over this place at least a few times. Footsteps caught Dante's attention and on reflex he spun around, guns ready. «Wow easy there, devil kid.» Trish said, sweeping her head to the side in an effort to dodge Dante's guns.
Who's the devil kid, Dante grumbled in his head while he holstered his guns. «So what gives?» He asked her, taking a seat. Trish had spotted him from her apartment and got curious on what he was up to this time. The two exchanged some ideas and thoughts about what Dante was up against this time. Trish put her money on a demon-kin commonly referred to as Blade.
«They are soldiers created by the Dark Emperor to take control of the surface. They use a kind of reptile as a host body, thus having much lizard-like characteristics.» Trish informed Dante. When they notice that their pray is weakening, they will with out mercy, come to finish you. So remember to always be on guard was another advice she offered. Trish offered a cautious warning that these were possessors of superior agility, the Blades can resume their positions even when they're struck up into the air. Trying to defeat them with monotonous attacks will be a difficult task.
Dante asked about weaknesses that he might exploit. Trish frowned for a long time, trying to remember. «Their weak points lie beneath the armor they wear, which protects them from most attacks. However, not all their vulnerable parts are covered. It is safe to say that by attacked exposed areas, you can inflict a lot of damage.» Was all that she could come up with, although it was common sense really. Even so, it was better than nothing.
They were about to leave the park to get something to eat and as they haggled of who should pay for the extra large pizza, Dante heard a distant rumbling sound coming closer and an ever so faint tremble in the ground. «Trish...» He said sounding dead serious. She turned her head with a mild interest in her eyes. Just behind Dante two man sized lizard like creatures shot up from the ground, shooting dirt and pebbles everywhere.
Throwing his massive sword into the chest of the left most lizard and a fraction of a second later pumping bullets into the belly of the right most lizard, Dante bent his knees and kicked off into the fight as he called out for Trish to get away and to safety. He couldn't see it, but Trish allowed herself a smart little smirk before jumping to inhuman heights and out of sight.
With the surprise attack failing, the main group came in for the lead attack. Securing his sword, Dante went to systematically test his opponents defenses. The round shield on their forearm is reinforced with evil powers and deflects most attacks, or so it seemed to Dante as regular sword slashes just slided or bounced off. Given his swift kills of his two ambushers, their defense is good against attacks that come from above, but not so for the attacks that come from below.
The mask they wear protects them well against bullets, Dante spat curses and other foul language as he had wasted two whole clips for just a few scratches on the mask. He could either destroy the mask quickly with alternative attacks or go around the enemy to attack it from other angles. Figuring them for close combat type, Dante pulled back through a series of exotic jumps, dodges and short dashes. Flipping a table over for some improvised cover, Dante to a second to catch his breath and reload his guns.
With his hands trembling from the adrenaline, the silver clip made a clinkering sound before Dante managed to slide it in and take a loading grip, sliding the first bullet into the barrel. A quick series of 3 finger long, tooth like bones sliced through the wooden table like it was newspaper. Glancing over the edge of the table Dante got his first surprise. «They can pressurize their blood, concentrate it to their claws, and shoot them out like missiles!?» Although their front paws were a bloody mess, the self inflicted injuries healed at an unnatural rate. He could even see the bone growing out with his naked eyes. When I see them take the stance to fire, do I best to dodge them, Dante mused to himself, getting pumped even more up with the new challenge ahead.
«Alright, I'll give you a little special treat.» Dante smirked to himself and rushed out to the demons. With a swift and powerful move, Dante drew his sword and swung it in an upward arch, scraping up the ground as he stepped forward. Hitting one of the Blade demons with the broad side of his sword right under its chin, the clash sent it up in the air. «HIGH TIME!» Dante screamed with sadistic delight as he holstered his sword and pulled out his guns, ready to unload their massive bullets into the demons guts.
The demon had other ideas however. It managed to get its bearings, wiggle around while in the air and slapped Dante across the face with its tail, sounding like a massive bull whip went off. Bleeding black blood badly from his upper lip and across his left cheek up to his ear, Dante skidded backwards. Possessors of superior agility, the Blades can resume their positions even when they're struck up into the air, huh? Trying to defeat them with monotonous attacks will be a difficult task. Dante mused, licking his wound with his tongue.
Even Blades equipped with masks, claws, and agility will not stand a chance when they are put off balance. If I attack from behind and take them down face first, then attack from the air to finish them for good. It made sense in Dante's head. While it took a few tries to get into a rhythm, Dante managed to find a general way to put these beast out of their misery. With all the demons dead or at the very least dying, Dante was beaten and tired, yet happy. He felt... alive when running along the edge of a sword or staring down the barrel of a gun.
A faint applause caught his ears and he looked over his left shoulder where he saw Trish sitting atop of 4 dead demons with a pizza in her lap. «12 demons in less than 30 minutes and you didn't even give in to your demonic blood.» She said as if praising him. With an annoyed look Dante pointed his silver gun in her direction and just as Trish's blue eyes widened with disbelief he pulled the trigger.
The shot missed Trish and made a splatter of an entrance into the top-most demon Trish was sitting on. «It wasn't dead. How rude.» Trish let out a nervous giggle as she looked down on the gaping bullet wound. Dante remained silent, his hands still trembling from the adrenaline. He didn't want Trish to seem like this; wounded, battered, sweaty and covered with demon blood and gore. It was just – wrong.
Making their way back home to Trish's place, the two chatted about causal everyday things. «What kind of person runs off and orders pizza in that kind of situation anyway?» Dante protested. «I do, all the time.» Trish smiled back. Just to rub it in Trish had ordered a custom pizza, heavy on the olives. «But I hate those!» Dante protested, but Trish just laughed a rich merry laugh, not listening to his pleas. She never intended to listen to them from the very beginning.